Mistborn
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Mistborn, or Allomancers, are a fictional group of people from Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy. They have the ability to "burn" (or use) ingested metals, thereby enhancing various physical and mental capacities. A person with only one of the abilities listed below is known as a Misting. If someone has more than one of the abilities below, they have all of them, though their capabilities with each may vary.
|
There are 13 known metals or alloys, linked to 13 different abilities, which are used by Allomancers as listed below. The metals and alloys must be pure when ingested, or the Allomancer could become very ill or possibly die.
[edit] Types of Misting
The metals and alloys below are the 8 basic Allomantic metals
[edit] Coinshot
Coinshots have the ability to burn steel, which allows them to "Push" on nearby metals. This can allow them to make metallic objects that weigh less than they do to fly through the air away from them (using coins, for instance, as weapons). For metallic objects which weigh more than they do, this can cause them to be pushed away from the object. It was generally assumed that a Coinshot could not Push on metals that pierce or are otherwise contained in the body of another Allomancer (e.g., ingested metals), however it can be achieved by an exceedingly powerful Allomancer.
[edit] Lurcher
Lurchers have the ability to burn iron, which allows them to Pull on nearby metals. This can allow them to make metallic objects that weigh less than they do to fly through the air toward them. For metallic objects which weigh more than they do, this can cause them to be pulled toward the object. It was generally assumed that a Lurcher could not Pull on metals that pierce or are otherwise contained in the body of another Allomancer (e.g., ingested metals), however it can be achieved by an exceedingly powerful Allomancer.
[edit] Rioter
Rioters burn brass in order to inflame the emotions of those nearby. This can be used to set off a riot (hence the name) or to enhance any emotion of the target. Only an exceedingly powerful Allomancer can affect those burning copper.
[edit] Seeker
Seekers can determine if someone is using Allomancy in the immediate area by burning bronze. With practice, an Allomancer can determine the location of the other Allomancer, which metal the other Allomancer is burning, and to what extent the other Allomancer is burning his or her metal. An extremely powerful Seeker can penetrate the copperclouds of other Allomancers.
[edit] Smoker
Smokers burn copper in order to mask the active use of any Allomancy in a specific area. Groups of them can effectively mask an entire building. This ability is not omnipotent as a coppercloud can be penetrated by an extremely powerful Seeker. In addition to masking Allomantic pulses, this Misting ability provides its user with immunity to Soothing or Rioting.
[edit] Soother
A Soother burns zinc, giving the ability to soothe or guide emotions in a particular direction. A group of soothers can affect all the individuals in a particular area. Only an exceedingly powerful Allomancer can affect those burning copper.
[edit] Thug
Thugs, or Pewterarms, receive greatly enhanced physical capabilities by burning pewter. While burning pewter, a Thug can fight or perform physical labor longer than a normal person, and is also many times stronger than his or her normal self. This enhanced strength also allows a Thug to shrug off wounds that would kill or incapacitate a normal person. Pewter-burning also provides a Thug with an increased sense of balance and vastly increased speed and dexterity. A Thug performing a "pewter drag" can run for many hours at speeds up to approximately that of a galloping horse. This is extremely draining on the Allomancer's body and will require the Allomancer to burn pewter after completing the physical parts of the pewter drag, just to keep the Allomancer's body from collapsing in near-death exhaustion.
One danger for a Thug is when the Thug carrying something that he or she normally couldn't carry and he or she runs out of pewter to burn, the object he or she is carrying will crush him or her, causing serious injury. Another danger is that a Thug who shrugged off earlier wounds could succumb to said wounds when he or she runs out of pewter to burn.
[edit] Tineye
Tineyes burn tin in order to enhance all of their senses. This can be overwhelming in the case of bright light, strong odors, and loud noises. The sense of touch is also enhanced. This allows the Allomancers to see through the nightly mists with greater clarity.
[edit] Additional metals
These metals are known as the higher Allomatic metals.
[edit] Atium
Atium is the most valuable metal in the world, and it is slowly mined from the "Pits of Hathsin". The metal is mined by prisoners of the Lord Ruler, as using Allomancy near the atium-producing crystals shatters them. This metal allows the Mistborn to see a few seconds into the future, thereby allowing them to anticipate the moves of an opponent. It also enhances the mind to cope with and understand these new insights, effectively turning a Mistborn invincible for a short time. Atium burns very quickly.
The only known counter to atium is to burn it yourself, showing you what the other person will do. However, this in turn changes what you will do, which changes what the other person will do, creating a confusing "vortex" of atium shadows.
In the second book it is revealed that if someone burning atium attacks someone not burning the metal there is a way to combat the atium-burner. The person being attacked can allow their attacker to begin intercepting their future move before they make it allowing the victim to change what they are doing, and as the attacker is aware that the victim has no atium to burn they will see their victim's atium shadow "split" into two separate attacks causing a presumable fatal outcome.
[edit] Gold
Gold allows a Mistborn to see what they might have been if they had made different choices in the past. It is rarely used due to possible severe emotional trauma.
[edit] The eleventh and thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth metals
The eleventh metal allows a Mistborn to see what another person could have been if they had made different choices in the past. The author reveals in the commentary for Mistborn: The Final Empire that this metal is an alloy of atium, and it is called malatium. (The alloy pair metal for gold is also mentioned and given the name electrum.)[1] The thirteenth drains all other metal reserves of the mistborn, leaving them powerless. None of these three metals is named in the first book, and electrum isn't even mentioned, but on the author's website and in the second book, it is revealed that the thirteenth metal is aluminum[2]. The fourteenth metal also appears in the second book; it reacts with other metals currently burning to create an exceptionally large flare of the metal, consuming the remaining supply. This metal is an alloy of aluminum called duralumin. (citation needed) At the end of the second book, it is hinted that a sixteenth metal might exist. This metal apparently transforms a normal person into a Mistborn, thereby giving him the power to employ all the other metals.
[edit] See also
- Mistborn: The Final Empire (2006)
- Mistborn: The Well of Ascension (2007)
- Mistborn: The Hero of Ages (2008)
