No Earthpower in Metal?

[Hashi Lebwohl]

I briefly touched on this in a different thread but felt it deserved its own topic.

We know that wood and stone are "alive" with Earthpower and used in a variety of ways. We also know that people have knowledge of how to forge steel weapons (smelting iron then mixing it with coal to increase the rigidity and hardness of the metal) but we never see any instance of metal being "alive" with Earthpower like wood and stone are.

Why not? Is there something about metal that makes it less useful or less able to channel Earthpower? Does the act of forging it reduce its connection? If so, would forged metal containing no impurities work better, like a pure iron sword?

As I note in my other topic, Kasreyn uses pure gold to channel power (which must be Earthpower, the source of everything) but other metals don't have this. Well, at least, we never see evidence of this.

Perhaps no one ever studied/uncovered metal lore. *shrug* Perhaps because wood and stone are already understood there was no real need for metal lore or perhaps it takes too much energy to channel Earthpower through metal, making it non-user-friendly.

Anyway...my curiosity has been piqued.

[Orlion]

Wood and stone are made up of various elements (iow, Earth). Metal is a part of stone, but isn't stone in its entirety. As a result, I think metal on its own possesses so little of Earthpower to be used as such, much like how playing poker with bones would be pointless.

[High Lord Tolkien]

I think, from a story standpoint, having other powerful metal objects lessens the importance of the white gold ring.

The use of regular gold as a talisman was interesting because of the lack of metal ever being important up to that point.

The Heels of the Staff are powerless, inert.
The Krill is dull until the gem within it is "activated".

It will be interesting to see what the Kemper's sword is capable of doing.

[satansrevenant]

Even though Loric's Krill contains a gemstone it still seems to be primarily a metal weapon.

[peter]

Even though Loric's Krill contains a gemstone it still seems to be primarily a metal weapon.

This is I think the point. Metal is by it's feel when fashioned into a tool, a thing of violence. Earth and wood have the peace orientated feel; the natural ambience that takes us away from a metal (technology/industry) based world and places us in one where harmony and care for the surrounding Land is paramount.

[T H E O M A C H]

Perhaps no one ever studied/uncovered metal lore. *shrug* Perhaps because wood and stone are already understood there was no real need for metal lore or perhaps it takes too much energy to channel Earthpower through metal, making it non-user-friendly.

Anyway...my curiosity has been piqued.

The ur-viles use iron staves / jerrids to channel their power.

Spoiler

Also the manacles in the Last Chronicles.

In TWL, don't the Riders use iron rukhs to control aspects of the Sunbane?

Maybe the peoples of the Land were never granted any "metal-lore". Maybe the act of smelting rock deprives it of its Earthpower, or subtly changes it (so that the ur-viles can access its power with their own lore). Donaldson only invents what he needs!

I think the metal heels of the Staff of Law must contain some power, otherwise why did Vain have to retrieve them from Revelstone?

[Orlion]

Some good observations, Theo, here's my take:

The ur-viles use a different lore and power other then Earthpower, they are apart from the natural order so can use (or rather, have to use) unnatural power.

The Rukhs were containers for blood, which controlled the Sunbane.

Now, the interesting thing is the heels of the staff... I think, personally, it serves as a sort of cap, or restriction... but I'm not sure.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

I suppose it all comes down to this--metal has to be worked in a forge, which changes it away from its "natural" state while wood and stone retain their "natural" form even when used. Rukhs were all forged iron and, yes, were hollow to contain blood; the iron rods the ur-viles used were also forged. Even the Heels of the Staff of Law, which many people seem to think have some special meaning but which I think are merely decorative ornamentation, are forge-worked metal and have no special power or ability themselves.

[duchess of malfi]

Perhaps no one ever studied/uncovered metal lore. *shrug* Perhaps because wood and stone are already understood there was no real need for metal lore or perhaps it takes too much energy to channel Earthpower through metal, making it non-user-friendly.

Anyway...my curiosity has been piqued.

The ur-viles use iron staves / jerrids to channel their power.

Spoiler

Also the manacles in the Last Chronicles.

In TWL, don't the Riders use iron rukhs to control aspects of the Sunbane?

Maybe the peoples of the Land were never granted any "metal-lore". Maybe the act of smelting rock deprives it of its Earthpower, or subtly changes it (so that the ur-viles can access its power with their own lore). Donaldson only invents what he needs!

I think the metal heels of the Staff of Law must contain some power, otherwise why did Vain have to retrieve them from Revelstone?

There is also a lot of power in human blood as revealed in the Second Chronicles in the blood harvest of the Clave. Some iron in human blood. Just sayin'.

[Falconer Winterleaf]

Perhaps no one ever studied/uncovered metal lore. *shrug* Perhaps because wood and stone are already understood there was no real need for metal lore or perhaps it takes too much energy to channel Earthpower through metal, making it non-user-friendly.

Anyway...my curiosity has been piqued.

The ur-viles use iron staves / jerrids to channel their power.

Spoiler

Also the manacles in the Last Chronicles.

In TWL, don't the Riders use iron rukhs to control aspects of the Sunbane?

Maybe the peoples of the Land were never granted any "metal-lore". Maybe the act of smelting rock deprives it of its Earthpower, or subtly changes it (so that the ur-viles can access its power with their own lore). Donaldson only invents what he needs!

I think the metal heels of the Staff of Law must contain some power, otherwise why did Vain have to retrieve them from Revelstone?

There is also a lot of power in human blood as revealed in the Second Chronicles in the blood harvest of the Clave. Some iron in human blood. Just sayin'.

Good point! There are quite a few metals in blood. One would think that if metal was powerless, blood would not be so potent a...fuel? Trigger? Thingamagig? Yes. Fear my technical terms!

And I am personally inclined to think there is some sort of power in the iron heels of the Staff.

WAIT A MINUTE! Iron. Iron in blood, Iron heels on the staff, Iron ruhks, Iron staves. It all fits. Iron is the metal that holds any power in Earthpower! That has to be it! Iron is the object of any "metal-lore".

[Vraith]

I think it's just antithetical to the Land's peoples ethics/nature to do large-scale iron work. For one thing, you have to break rock and burn wood to do it.

The thing with the ruhk's...it was really the blood that was the power, and it was the life in it, not the metal [the haruchai didn't make more powerful sources because their blood has more metal in it...] and wood was corrupted/tortured by the sunbane...and no way, even if it wasn't, would LF want his Clave peeps getting in touch with real, undamaged earthpower through wood.

And, in fact, iron in general, IIRC, never has power of its own...probably the process of making it from ore "kills" it...it either channels it [ur-vile staves, Loric's krill, the gold circles] which is a structure thing, or is "enchanted" [Longwrath's sword].

There's a partly practical, partly aesthetic difference between wood/stone and metal work...ask any sculptor...they claim to "see" what they sculpt in wood/stone IN the materials...and think of how the giants work stone. With wood/stone you can work with what it is, itself...with metals, you have to turn it into something else before you can do anything with it.

[balon!]

I think it's just antithetical to the Land's peoples ethics/nature to do large-scale iron work. For one thing, you have to break rock and burn wood to do it.

Right...

I could see the people of the Land possibly using a source of naturally aquired metals. They'd probably be pretty powerful too, in terms of Earthpower...but how often does one find a lump of pure iron, copper, aluminum, what-have-you lying around?

It's be interesting to see what a Lord could accomplish with a large ingot of pure iron.