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So Obsidian/Hellstone is assumed to be "dead" black luxin (not entirely sure how it can be dead), it's properties are:

  • Absorbs luxin when touched to the blood of the drafter
  • Shimmers as it absorbs luxin (akin to coming back to life perhaps?)

All we know about Black luxin however is that to draft it, blood and darkness are needed.

I'm part way through the Blood Mirror (book 4) and we learn that

Dazen (the living Guile brother, currently going by Gavin) drafted some kind of shadow with some of his emotion/personality into the prison he built for his brother. This was done using Black luxin.

Along with this we also learn a little more about the properties of black luxin:

Dazen was told by the mirror, Janus Borig, that he could only draft black. He could after being beaten by the White Oak brothers (7 polychrome drafters) became a full-spectrum polychrome.

This leads us to believe that Black luxin doesn't just absorb luxin as Obsidian does, but perhaps also allows you to pass it to another person and give them the ability to draft that colour?

This supports many theories about the Blinding knife, a combination of black and white luxin, housing coloured "gems" of some sort when colour is absorbed.

My question is, what do we currently know about Black luxin's properties and effects? This includes Obsidian/Hellstone.

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  • Will-casting (what he did when he created the dead man) does not require black luxin, or even benefit from it.
    – Dave Johnson
    Commented Feb 15, 2017 at 15:54
  • Not the last one, the last is apparently some kind of will-cast black luxin
    – Stormie
    Commented Feb 16, 2017 at 0:06
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    Well, technically, will-cast into. It did not require the use of the luxin except as a receptacle. But it explains it a bit more as you read on.
    – Dave Johnson
    Commented Feb 16, 2017 at 13:28
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    @DaveJohnson I'm hoping to finish the book tonight, I'll review my question once I've finished.
    – Stormie
    Commented Feb 16, 2017 at 13:35
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    Having finished book 5, there's more (a lot more) on Black Luxin, but the properties for a magical theory answer are vague.
    – Jontia
    Commented Nov 7, 2019 at 11:46

1 Answer 1

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This question is almost certainly going have a better answer around August 2019 when the last book in the series comes out.

Blood Mirror (Book 4) contained a huge amount of information that either invalidated entirely or at least cast doubt on a significant portion of the backstory in the earlier books as one of the properties of drafting Black Luxin is that it takes away memories, but also appears to hide this fact. It's not clear whether the false memories Gavin has are a general response to drafting black, or it is something psychological that he's done to himself.

"Dead" Black Luxin, or hellstone appears to simply mean sealed Black Luxin. Just like Yellow Luxin can be sealed into the shape of a sword that can be used by others sealed black luxin becomes Hellstone.

The known properties of Black Luxin (so far) appear to be;

  1. Sealed Black Luxin is Hellstone. Ironfists reaction on seeing the Blinding knife with it's living Black Luxin.

    The Blinding Knife: Chapter 69 "I'd always though black luxin was simply obsidian. Hellstone. This..."

  2. Hellstone absorbs open luxin from a drafter's body via a blood connection.
  3. Hellstone appears to be harder and more durable than other types of sealed Luxin. (As hard as stone, which puts it at a minimum up with Blue). It does not require light to refresh it.

    Black Prism: Chapter 45 Most drafters were happy it was rare because it was the only stone that could draw luxin directly out of a drafter.

  4. Drafting Black Luxin appears to have an additional cost of memory sacrifice.

    Blood Mirror: Chapter 61 I drafted so much black luxin that day that it obliterated other people's memories as well as my own.

  5. A Black Luxin drafter appears to be able to absorb the ability to draft a colour by killing a drafter of that colour.

    Blood Mirror: Chapter 61 "Is that what the freeing was always about?" Gavin Asked. "Giving provender to feed a black luxin drafter?"

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  • Do you have any quotes you can edit in to strengthen this?
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Commented Jul 25, 2018 at 12:15
  • Yes... Although not on me. I'll try to tighten it up tonight.
    – Jontia
    Commented Jul 25, 2018 at 12:19
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    Okay doke, my comment was more of a reminder than anything else :)
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    Commented Jul 25, 2018 at 12:20

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