Gold

[Smirnoff]

Well, I should have thought this question when the Gradual Interview was still alive on SRD official website but here I think I may find people more experienced in the Land than the Author himself
So...
One of the foundations of the entire saga is the magic of the White gold ring, that does not exist in the Land, and its powers are due to its alloy nature.
Yet, every gold ring is an alloy, not only the white ones. The color of the material is due to the percentile of silver and copper besides gold, and they are used not only to give a different tonality to the metal, but also to increase its strength. A "golden" gold ring has actually the same amount of gold than a white (or red) one, it's given by the number of carats. Only gold bars like the ones in Fort Knox are 100% pure gold. If a ring was only made of gold, it would deform at the first handshake, gold is a very soft material.
I just wondered if SRD was actually conscious of this fact, when he put emphasis on the alloy nature of Covenant's ring...

[Vraith]

Well it's obvious his science/metallurgy is a little wonky, but it's for the sake of the metaphor and just rooted in that "white gold" isn't a naturally occurring element, which ordinary gold is. It's all about the natural. Most who use metal, you'll notice, are both wielders of lore and use pure metals [iron staves of the ur-viles, kaseryn's gold...which is pure we know cuz he has to include a flaw in the work he does with it]. We could speculate outside the bounds of the text that something...a stricture in the Law, or the nature of the Arch for instance...simply prohibits Gold and whatever else [in the real world usually nickel or silver] from amalgamating properly, like oil and water they just won't mix and therefore it must come from outside.

[wayfriend]

Welcome to the Watch, Smirnoff. Na Zdorovie!

It may be that SRD hadn't considered your point about pure gold. (The pure gold rings that Kasreyn had, which never got bent, may demonstrate this.)

But consider this: if he had given Covanant a [just] gold ring, on the basis that this was still an alloy, I think would have confused the heck out of things. Explaining it was really an alloy to those who would not realize adds another burden to his already difficult task. By using white gold, it's more obvious all around it's an alloy, or at least not pure gold. People are already on that page, so to speak.

It is, in the end, the symbolism that matters, not the underlying physics. And symbolism depends on the literal side of the meaning being readilly apparent.

[Sherman Landlearner]

Welcome to the Watch, Smirnoff. Na Zdorovie!

It may be that SRD hadn't considered your point about pure gold. (The pure gold rings that Kasreyn had, which never got bent, may demonstrate this.)

But consider this: if he had given Covenant a [just] gold ring, on the basis that this was still an alloy, I think would have confused the heck out of things. Explaining it was really an alloy to those who would not realize adds another burden to his already difficult task. By using white gold, it's more obvious all around it's an alloy, or at least not pure gold. People are already on that page, so to speak.

It is, in the end, the symbolism that matters, not the underlying physics. And symbolism depends on the literal side of the meaning being readily apparent.

Plus, spring boarding here, white traditionally symbolizes purity, and purity/ corruption is a major theme in the books. Gold, like regular, is kinda yellowish, which really wouldn't fit in as well.
Furthermore, in response to the "gold is natural" stuff, it specifically says, "not of the Land, or ruled by its law", so that kinda enforces such a conclusion.