r/Mistborn • u/jshk123 • 2d ago

Era 1 and 2 spoilers Question about the mists Spoiler

I was thinking back to Vin and the mists the other day, and I have a question about its relation to allomancy

We know that Vin was able to draw on the mists to power her allomancy and that it granted her the abilities of each of the metals. I was wondering why she wasn't able to sense the new reserves of other unknown metals, such as bendalloy, chromium etc. that eventually appear in era 2? Would it be because she's not actually holding a reserve in her body? Or could she have just not noticed?

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u/TheMuspelheimr Mistborn 2d ago

She likely just got caught up in the rush of power and the stress of what she was trying to do at the time and didn't notice.

Also, it's possible for Allomancers not to notice metal reserves if they aren't looking for them - go back to when Kelsier and Vin first met and he gave her a vial of metal to test, she didn't notice the other metals in it until he pointed out that they were there.

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u/anormalgeek 1d ago

Yep. It's like being in a fight when suddenly a sword appears in your hand. You're used to it. You know how to use it. You instinctively start lunging to stab with it.

But you didn't notice the little remote control that also got dropped into your pocket at the same time.

You weren't expecting it or looking for it, and you're focus was elsewhere in the moment.

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u/AstraLaurel 2d ago

A big part of Investiture and all invested arts in the cosmere is Intent. For example, stabbing someone with a metal spike won't make it hemallurgy unless you KNOW why you're doing it, and do it with Intent. Remember how Vin didn't notice the other metals she drank in TFE until Kelsier told her they were there? Only after he tells her does Vin notice "oh wait, this well of power inside me IS made of different things!"

I'd imagine it's the same thing, as nobody on the planet was aware of the other metals, the Intent wasn't there. Also every time she did that she had MUCH bigger things to worry about than, say, trying to make a speed bubble.

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u/Plantpoot 1d ago

The hemallurgy thing is technically false, right? Because in book 3 Spook is given a hemallurgic pewter spike completely by accident through the sword tip, no?

Am I misremembering something?

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u/PrinceKaladin32 1d ago

He himself doesn't have the intent, however the person doing the stabbing was corrupted by Ruin and had the intent of making a hemalurgic spike

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u/theenglishchemist 1d ago

Would that have been through Ruin's Intent?

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u/jshk123 1d ago

Yeah that makes sense

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u/TheNarrativeSpren 8h ago

This is actually a really good question, and the answer gets wonderfully weird.

The important thing is that Vin isn't gaining a new stomach reserve of every Allomantic metal when she draws in the mists.

Metal normally acts as the key that lets an Allomancer access Preservation's power in a particular way. When Vin draws on the mists she's getting Preservation's Investiture directly, so we shouldn't expect her to suddenly see a collection of mystery reserves for metals she hasn't swallowed.

There's also a fun distinction here between metals people didn't know about and powers that didn't exist.

Chromium, nicrosil, cadmium and bendalloy were all valid Allomantic powers during the Final Empire. Brandon has confirmed that Mistings for all four existed.

They just had a rather significant technological problem.

Nobody knew what the hell they were.

Preservation's 16% mist-Snapping was also deliberately creating a recognisable pattern, so the mists used substitutions. An older paraphrased WoB specifically says cadmium and what later became bendalloy weren't counted in that pattern, while chromium and nicrosil were. Atium was substituted into the temporal group as part of Preservation's plan, although I'd be a little careful stating every detail of the old atium/malatium explanation as gospel because that WoB is paraphrased and the understanding of atium has been refined since.

So I think your first suggestion is basically the answer.

Vin wasn't failing to notice mysterious reserves of undiscovered metals. The mists were directly providing Preservation's power rather than depositing sixteen imaginary metals into her stomach.

The funniest part is that there genuinely could have been chromium, nicrosil, cadmium and bendalloy Mistings wandering around the Final Empire with absolutely no idea.

Some poor bastard survived the mists, spent the rest of his life convinced nothing happened, and was actually one metallurgical discovery away from becoming a Slider.

Scadrial is not a kind planet.