What are the powers of regular pure gold?

[Dirty Whirl]

Gold is mentioned once in the first chronicles by atrian I think, and we see it in the second. Its power seems quite different to white gold as it seems its used with lore? I personally assume that gold wields wild magic, excpet that it is bound by complicated rules. It would be good to find out what were the limits of normal gold and what you could do with it.

[Creator]

In the One Tree, Kasreyn has gold - including his ocular. He suggests that gold is perhaps only found in Bhrathairain and that is why he is there. It powers his magics. However, he states that he must place one 'imperfection' in all his gold powered magics due to the purity of the metal and his arts.

from The One Tree

You have seen that I possess an ocular of gold. Purest gold-a rare and puissant metal in such hands as mine. ... But my arts are also pure, as a circle is pure, and in a flawed world purity cannot endure. Thus within each of my works I must perforce place one small flaw, else there would be no work at all. ... But ... white gold. ... is an imperfect metal-an unnatural alliance of metals ... Its imperfection is the very paradox of which the Earth is made, and with it a master may form perfect works and fear nothing.

[dlbpharmd]

Yellow gold seems to be a conduit for other power - remember the Kemper channeled Covenant's wild magic through several loops of yellow gold before throwing it back at him.

[Relayer]

Whirl, interesting question. I don't have anything to add directly, but this caught my attention (like I've never seen it before? )

Its imperfection is the very paradox of which the Earth is made, and with it a master may form perfect works and fear nothing.

Is this a hint to something coming in the future books?

(Maybe this question should be in the Runes forum... )

[wayfriend]

"But my arts are also pure, as a circle is pure, and in a flawed world purity cannot endure. Thus within each of my works I must perforce place one small flaw, else there would be no work at all."

I consider that this is Kasreyn's interpretation of a truth, skewed by his controlling and greedy nature, which was stated by Donaldson in the GI¹:

• After all, life necessitates death. Anything that lives carries within it the seeds of its own destruction. (And our own bodies demonstrate just how *many* seeds there can be.) The alternative is stasis. Indeed, anything that doesn't both grow and die (usually in that order) can't really be described as being alive. (04/29/2004)

In other words, Kasreyn considers death and destruction to be "imperfection". Does he not believe that his own finite lifespan is intolerable? And he places his imperfections, aka seeds of destruction, in his creations so that, in some sense, they can be alive. (I don't mean sentient here, but viable, vital ,and significant.)

In that context, it follows that his statement about white gold, with it a master may form perfect works and fear nothing, is a reference to wild magic being unbound by Law, by the rules of creation. So it is unbound by the rule of life requireing the seeds of destruction in order to be viable.

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¹ Laugh it up, furball.

[Dirty Whirl]

Man, I have got to stop going on this forum so late at night and not checking my posts, my spell is atrocious.

I agree with everything said here (thanks for the replies). I hope that we see gold again, just to see more of its limitations, and whether its power is accessed by lore or passion.

Thinking of it, gold would make a more conventional 'hero' weapon than white gold, not being all powerful in its nature. Although the Covenant books are anything but conventional, haha.

[The Dark Overlord]

I think Peven got it right on page 4 of the posts of the Kemper revisited- check it out.