Energy into Gems Options

[Byakko]

With the Belt of Beloth the Wise, Aren and the gem in the pommel of his sword, Eragon has an insane amount of possible storage for energy. Why then, does he not use them? And, how is it possible to know how much Energy one of these gems can hold?

In either Brisingr or Eldest, it stated that the Belt of Beloth needed several days-worth of Energy to be filled, but is this the whole belt, or the individual gems? Also, what happens when one of these is full and more energy is forced into it? Does it break? Or is there a limitless amount that the gems can hold?

As for Aren, it says "Brom must have squirreled every bit of energy into it while he was in hiding", does this mean then, that Aren is (roughly) full? Or is it just a more convenient method of storing energy - as we all saw what happened with Naegling?

[wyvvern]

With the Belt of Beloth the Wise, Aren and the gem in the pommel of his sword, Eragon has an insane amount of possible storage for energy. Why then, does he not use them? And, how is it possible to know how much Energy one of these gems can hold?

In either Brisingr or Eldest, it stated that the Belt of Beloth needed several days-worth of Energy to be filled, but is this the whole belt, or the individual gems? Also, what happens when one of these is full and more energy is forced into it? Does it break? Or is there a limitless amount that the gems can hold?

As for Aren, it says "Brom must have squirreled every bit of energy into it while he was in hiding", does this mean then, that Aren is (roughly) full? Or is it just a more convenient method of storing energy - as we all saw what happened with Naegling?

he does use them , just it is so hard too fill them that it would probably take years to completely do it. i say this because of arens diamond is really samll, and the belts are big. brom squirreled every bit of HIS energy into it, and it is still not full after roughly 16 years in carvahal. as for the rest, i do not know.

[Deej]

I'm under the impression that different gems, due to their cut or purity and other factors, hold varying amounts of energy at a time. Note that the phrase "saturated" is used a few times in the books, meaning there IS a limit to them. If you think about it, if one pushes the gem beyond it's holding point it more than likely DOES break, due to the amount of energy or atoms or such vibrating around in there.

Aren was of elven make; I can't recall if CP or the books confirmed this. But it's noted that because of this it can not break due to any means, most likely the reason it is able to hold such a large energy store in it.

[Sinitar]

I think he had no time to fill them.Eragon and Saphira traveled a lot, and you can't say they had a vacation, which is needed to fill the gems with magic.Eragon needs his energy to complete his various tasks, and I don't think he wants to risk being atacked while in a weakened state due to supplying too much of his energy for the gems.

I also do not agree with the idea of those gems breaking up.It's not like Eragon uses electricity or various elements to infuse the gems, all he is using is magic, which has nothing to do with atoms.Magic cannot really be explained, thus the gems have no valid reason to go boom.I think Eragon will know when the gems are filled and will refrain from transferring more of his own energy into them.

[Byakko]

Theoretically though, if he were to continue storing energy into a gem that was already full, would it explode? The energy couldn't just disperse.

I like the idea that Elven gems are better for that kinda thing, but weren't the gems on the Belt Elven too?

[toushiro22jinta]

I believe I read that when something becomes too "saturated" with energy it give off a static shock. There was also a scene in the book Eragon where Eragon wen to grasp a staff and it shocked him because i asume it was overfull of energy. Though why Solembum said that is what it was meant to do beat me...

[Jm33]

I'm under the impression that different gems, due to their cut or purity and other factors, hold varying amounts of energy at a time. Note that the phrase "saturated" is used a few times in the books, meaning there IS a limit to them. If you think about it, if one pushes the gem beyond it's holding point it more than likely DOES break, due to the amount of energy or atoms or such vibrating around in there.

Aren was of elven make; I can't recall if CP or the books confirmed this. But it's noted that because of this it can not break due to any means, most likely the reason it is able to hold such a large energy store in it.

I think you hit the nail on the head. Oromis explained all of this to Eragon in Eldest. The type, cut, purity, size, etc. all determine the amount of energy a "gem" can store. For example, a diamond can hold the most energy which is great for Eragon because the Belt of Beloth the Wise has 12 diamonds. However, he hasn't had the time and energy to fill all 12 gems. And the bigger a gem is, the more it can hold.

As for Aren, when Eragon altered his hands in Brisingr, he put the ring on to test the effects of punching something. He wasn't worried about Aren breaking because it was Elven.

[marislily]

It's really interesting how Paolini inserted the whole gems-as-repository-for-energy part. It makes me think of crystal therapy, although to the best of my knowledge it implies that diamonds cleanse your aura and ward off negative energies.

Considering that the belt of Beloth the Wise is made of diamonds, I think it would take several days to fill, if eragon does nothing but eat drink and sleep in those days in order to put all his energy into them. And even then, I doubt they'd be full. And I'm sure the Belt can hold more energy than aren or the sapphire in the hilt of his sword.

And if a diamond was "too full" maybe it would become like a piece of self-sustaining magic until the surplus energy ran out (two such examples are given in the books: a crystal in the haradac desert and a cave in the beor's)

[Jm33]

It's really interesting how Paolini inserted the whole gems-as-repository-for-energy part. It makes me think of crystal therapy, although to the best of my knowledge it implies that diamonds cleanse your aura and ward off negative energies.

Considering that the belt of Beloth the Wise is made of diamonds, I think it would take several days to fill, if eragon does nothing but eat drink and sleep in those days in order to put all his energy into them. And even then, I doubt they'd be full. And I'm sure the Belt can hold more energy than aren or the sapphire in the hilt of his sword.

And if a diamond was "too full" maybe it would become like a piece of self-sustaining magic until the surplus energy ran out (two such examples are given in the books: a crystal in the haradac desert and a cave in the beor's)

I think it would take a lot more than a few days to fill one of the Diamonds. Just use Aren as an example. It took Brom 20 years to fill it's ruby which is tiny compared to the diamonds on the Belt (and we don't even know if Aren maxed out) Plus, Diamonds can hold a lot more energy. It would probably take decades to fill one if not more.