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I'm probably deeply misguided for thinking this. But hear me out. This has been bugging me for YEARS. Since the first time I read and completed the mistborn trilogy as a teenager. And it seems like no one’s addressed it. At least not comprehensively. So I will attempt to now. I humbly ask that you read the whole thing through before commenting. So you can see the full picture I’m trying to paint. Then judge my argument on its full merit. I am very open to the (probable) reality that I am very wrong. Still, it can't hurt to rant a bit ya? Brandon Sanderson (A living printer & absolute gigachad of an author) has either made the biggest accidental blunder regarding one of the most important magic systems in the Cosmere. Or has been setting up one of the biggest plot twists in the Cosmere’s history. And this is why; Allomancy, which Brandon categorised as ‘Preservation’s power’ in era one. Is NOT actually Preservation’s power, but rather Harmony’s. And I will be attempting to convince you that that is the case. Argument: Allomancy, functionally, has nothing to do with preservation, but in contrast, ferruchemy absolutely does. Ferruchemy’s whole shtick is that it allows its user to preserve attributes within metals for a practically indefinite amount of time for use later on. While allomancy on the other hand, not only doesn’t give one the power to preserve anything. But instead REQUIRES that one destroys metals by burning them in order to gain investiture and abilities. Yes, you get more out than you put in. But the same could be said about splitting an atom in a nuclear fission reaction. You destroy something in order to gain the power to do something. Ruin’s influence within this magic system is quite obvious. And yet we can’t say that it is purely his power, because even though mistborn are walking killing machines. Their power can be used to create and preserve just as well. (Ferruchemy being Preservation’s power also acts as a perfect contrast to hemallurgy. The two are exact mirrors of each other, just as the shards are.) Ferruchemy preserves. Pure and simple. Hemallurgy kills, steals, twists, and decays. Allomancy on the other hand just doesn’t quite fit either shard completely. It’s the odd one out. It always has been. Allomancy is an end-positive power precisely because it is not Preservation, or Ruins’ power singularly. And we can deduce this by looking at the natures of the two shards themselves. On their own, neither shard is capable of creating. Only preserving or destroying. Neither one is capable of producing an end-positive system. It was only when the two shards came together, agreeing to work in harmony. That they had the power to create an entire planet, biosphere, and human race entirely from scratch. Harmony did that. Not Preservation. Not Ruin. But the harmonious efforts of the two shards. And later on at the end of era one. It was only through the unification of the shards into Harmony that all the mistakes and errors made by either shard could be mended, and the world restored to its original state. The entire story is about Harmony. Harmony created the world. But once the world was created, and the agreement between the two shards fulfilled, discord followed. The two shards warred, each motivated by opposing intents. Leading to the gradual destruction of their world. And in the end, it was only the rebirth and re-establishment of Harmony that put it all back together. This thematic truth can also be observed within the characters themselves. One could argue that Vin’s entire story was about finding harmony within herself. Learning to accept the fact that she can’t cling to everything and everyone hoping that they don’t change. That they don’t leave her alone(Preservation.) While simultaneously accepting the darker parts of herself. Her capacity for violence is foremost among them(Ruin.) And through the marriage of these two sides of her, the part that seeks to protect, and the part that causes destruction. She finds harmony within herself. Learning to use that destructive force for the sake of preservation. The ruin within her yields to the preservation within her. And it is that resultant internal harmony that not only makes her so potent a mistborn, but gives her the strength to sacrifice herself to destroy Ati once and for all. Mistborn are children of Harmony. And this truth can also be seen by simply thinking about what separates them from all other allomancers. As well as what separates the normal mistborn from the great ones. Their ability to use all of their abilities in conjunction with each other to accomplish incredible acts. Vin’s creativity, her willingness to experiment, to see how two metals no matter how unrelated their powers may first seem, could work in unison with each other to produce unexpected and fantastic results. That is what made her a force of nature. Vin is the greatest mistborn we’ve ever seen precisely because she, more than any other character, mastered the art of using ALL her abilities in harmony. Viewing them as complementary pieces within a greater harmonious whole, rather than entirely distinct and separate elements. The way others, such as mistings, typically would. Counter: Platitudes! That’s all a stretch. We know that allomancy is preservation’s power because it comes from consuming beads of lerasium! Rebuttal: Does it though? This wouldn’t be the first time that the characters in the story said one thing about the nature of a metal, only for Brandon to come out later stating the opposite. I.e Atium’s true nature in era 1. So the same thing could be said about ‘Lerasium.’ I think that what we’ve been led to believe is ‘Lerasium’ is actually ‘Harmonium.’ And the fact that the beads are only found around the well of ascension is evidence of this. Why? Because the well of ascension is the location of the final clash between Ruin and Preservation. It is where Preservation died, sacrificing himself to trap ruin. I believe that when the two shards clashed here, the two clashing investitures produced beads of Harmonium as a side effect, scattering them around the well. And that it is the consumption of Harmonium that actually makes one a mistborn, not Lerasium. Counter: But in Era 2 we see what ‘Harmonium’ is actually like. It doesn’t make people mistborn. It stores allomantic charges and is extremely reactive and combustible. It can’t even be consumed! Rebuttal: Aha, exactly! Because what we see in era 2 isn’t actually ‘Harmonium.’ It’s DISCORDIUM! Somewhere in between the end of era one and the start of era two, something went wrong with either Sazed, his shard, or both. And this is what led to the shift in his shard’s capabilities and attributes in era 2. It is why he’s incapable of wielding the same degree of power he did at the end of era one. Because he’s not in harmony any more, he’s discordant. And that subtle shift has been reflected in his god-metal, twisting it from an inert metal, something that creates mistborn, to a hyper reactive metal capable of nuking cities if agitated enough. It also fits with the hero of ages prophecy. “They shall call him discord(not harmony!), and they will love him for it.” Counter: Okay then but if the beads that create mistborn are actually shards of ‘Harmonium’ created when Preservation and Ruin last battled at the well of ascension. Then what does true Lerasium actually do? Where do mistings come from? Why is it that Vin could burn Preservation’s mist to fuel her allomancy? Argument: Simple. Lerasium’s true property is that it creates ferruchemists. And in order to better support that, I need only ask. Why is it that only Sazed’s people have ferruchemy. What distinguishes them from other people on Scadrial? Simple, they are the only group of people that have been living around Preservation’s perpendicularity for centuries. They are the closest to preservation’s influence than any other group of people on the planet. I believe that either through continued exposure to high levels of preservation’s investiture over countless generations. Or the consumption of trace amounts of lerasium forming within the environment around the perpendicularity. Or even just being descended from the initial group of people who discovered the perpendicularity, who perhaps interacted with it and consumed the invesiture there somehow. And then passed on the power genetically. Mistings emerge naturally because all humans on scadrial have souls formed from both preservation and ruin. And I believe that a misting could snap from both the white or the black mist. Vin was able to use preservation’s mists to fuel her allomancy because 1) she aligned with the shard’s intent very strongly, hence why only she had the power to do this. And 2) She could absolutely have done the same thing with Ruin’s black mist if her personality aligned with his shard’s intent instead. Because allomancy arises from the union of both shards’ powers. Whichever one you can use to fuel it is entirely dependant on how strongly you align with the intent and not with the nature of your allomantic abilities. Counter: But in era 2 we see that when Wax splits ettmetal it produces atium and trace amounts of lerasium, which then go on to turn him and Wayne into mistborn! Rebuttal: No, we think that’s what happened, because that’s what the characters think happened. But the truth is, none of the characters actually know what true Lerasium is. Or what it’s supposed to behave like. Heck, they don’t even know what true Atium is like, because we’ve still never seen it! What we’re actually seeing here is the correction of an imbalance within the Ettmetal. The excess influence of ruin’s investiture in the metal is being removed, resulting in a metal that’s perfectly balanced between ruin and preservation. I.e, true ‘Harmonium.’ Ettmetal is actually ‘Discordium.’ It is innately imbalanced, carrying within it a bit more ruin than preservation, making it extremely volatile. But once split in this explosive reaction. The excess ruin investiture becomes malatium(not pure Atium, which we’ve never seen, because of whatever Leras did to ruin’s power in era 1), while the rest which is perfectly balanced with preservation’s investiture becomes true ‘Harmonium.’ And THAT is what turned Wax and Wayne into mistborn. If one wanted to produce actual Lerasium, they’d have to repeat the splitting procedure once more in order to fully split ruin’s investiture from Preservation’s. Producing pure Atium, and pure Lerasium. Whether or not that’s actually possible though is up for debate. Brandon seems to have eluded in past interviews that this should not be possible. The truth is that in era 1, Preservation did something spiritually to ruin’s power that made it so that it spawned into the world not as pure Atium, but rather as a twisted or dirty version/alloy. Malatium. Perhaps because he feared what true, pure Atium could do if people tried to burn it. And Somewhat similarly, there is a spiritual defect within Sazed and his shard that is reflected in his metal. Preventing it from manifesting as pure ‘Harmonium.’ But rather as a hyper reactive alloy, ‘Discordium.’ Which the characters refer to as Ettmetal. The truth is, we have never actually seen pure Atium, or Lerasium in ANY of the books. Only their alloys. I think that this may actually be intentional. And these intricate layers and webs of contradictions, and misconceptions will serve as the catalyst for the conflicts in the upcoming stories. And perfectly explain why Sazed has never been quite the same as the Sazed we saw at the end of Era one. Something insidious is going on. And he might not even be aware. It’s entirely possible that the main reason Sazed struggles to use his shard is because he mistakenly still thinks of the shard as Harmony, when in actuality it is Discord. The shard and the vessel are not in sync, and this is slowly destroying Sazed from within. Perhaps leading to the development of something… other. I personally think that this spiritual defect is a leftover consequence of the conflict between Ati and Leras in the past. We already know thanks to stormlight 4 that new shard holders inherit changes made to their shards by past holders. The shard’s investiture retains those spiritual bonds and quirks from the previous holder. My theory is that Sazed’s problems emerge from a confluence of 1) Whatever Leras did to Ruin’s power when he split it from him. 2) A weakening of preservation’s power, or rather output/influence/capacity, when he put more of himself within humanity than ruin did. 3) His own lack of awareness on the true nature of his shard’s nature and intent, gradually leading to him becoming an unfit vessel for the power, and thus incapable of using his powers as easily as he otherwise should. Setting up massive implications for future stories and conflicts. Conclusion: Perhaps I’m deeply misguided. Perhaps Brandon made a little mistake and I’ve been reading far to deeply into it for all these years. And in actuality none of this means anything. Perhaps Brandon is entirely unaware that this one little categorization choice he made ages ago could potentially yield all these implications. Or, maybe, just maybe. He did all this on purpose. Maybe Sazed was fated to walk the path of Discord from the start. Maybe we’ve all been duped for years and he’s been gradually working towards this grand reveal. If the latter is true my soul would quite literally ascend into the beyond. And I’ll feel like an absolute legend for having seen the whole thing coming from day one. But if not… Frankly speaking I’ll be so mad XD. Lots of love though Brandon! Thanks for the headache *End Note: The implications of all this kind of answers another question that's been bugging me as I’ve watched the grander narrative of the Cosmere slowly unfold. And that's the fact that Scadrians, without a singular doubt, seem like absolute A-holes in every story when viewed from an other-outworlder's POV. They seem exploitative, apathetic, and in many cases, they sow discord wherever they go. E.g. Sunlit Man, most interactions between ghostbloods and other-worlders, & the new secret project prologue. I noticed this because (in case you couldn’t tell by now) Scadrial and it’s people are the closest to my heart in the Cosmere. So their consistent douchebagery in other Cosmere stories has been very glaring to me. If my theory is true, and Sazed is actually Discord. And the traits of a shard can be seen reflected in the people of their world. This would all make perfect sense. Modern day Scadrians are children of Discord and that naturally makes them more prone to A-holery than most.*

I’m still hoping one of the mods can reopen my old tarot thread in Mistborn. Until then... Please be aware that most of these cards were made four years ago. These cards are hypothetical tarot deck from Era 3 Mistborn: The Fool: Retaining it’s name from pre-Catascande Scadrial, it represents beginnings. Hence the Lord Mistborn heading from the World of Ash to the Anteverdant one. The Sovereign/The Fullborn (The Magician): This card was called the Mistborn in pre-Catascande Scadrial. Post-Catascande gave it the name Fullborn, and it has slowly transitioned toward being called the Sovereign. It represents Power and Manipulation. The Sovereign points to the four suits (Bands, Medallions, Spears and Metals or Spikes) representing his mastery of them. As the card becomes more strongly identified with The Sovereign, some interpreters have begun pairing it with the Survivor and creating unique meanings based upon the drawing of both cards. This has yet to become widely accepted, however. (If you know the RL history of this card you should know why Kelsier is so perfect for it.) The Misting (the Priestess): This card retains its name from pre-Catascande Scadrial. It represents Intuition and Secrecy. It is unclear when the cards began displaying Beldre, wife of the Lord Mistborn, but she is the most common portrait in modern tarot decks. (Do you have any idea how hard it is to substitute Lunar imagery because Scadrial doesn’t have a moon? Literally all I remember from making this card.) The Lady (The Empress): Also known as the High Lady. There is no mystery to Lady Alriane’s place on this card; her many discourses on a woman’s role in society have made her the perfect depiction of Feminity, represented by this card. The Lord Ruler (The Emperor): Pre-Catascande this card’s upright and reversed meanings were switched. Skaa readers traditionally swapped the meanings and today that is the accepted interpretation. It represents Domination and Authority. (Considering Scadrial’s history it made more sense for the meaning to be reversed.) The Obligator (The Hierophant): The Last Obligator adorns this card, as quickly became customary after the Catascande. This card represents Tradition and Government. The Lovers: Another card that retains its name, the Imperial pair represent Love. The Hound/The Guardian (The Chariot): Featuring the Guardian, the Hound card represents Determination and Self-restraint. Indications are that this card may have always featured a large dog of some sort. Strength: The Strength card is often misunderstood, as it does not refer to physical strength. Rather, it represents Integrity. The Kandra (The Hermit): Custom has it that this card features OreSeur, the Kandra who served the Survivor. It represents Introspection and Isolation. Fortune (Wheel of Fortune): Unsurprisingly, this card represents luck. Death/Ironeyes (Justice): Once known as the Inquisitor, this card was often referred to as ‘Death’ by both nobles and Skaa. So it’s not all that surprising that it became associated with Ironeyes. This card can be paired with The Survivor to create a unique trump pair known as The Brothers. In readings the two cards are said to symbolize familial relationships. Note that the Sovereign cannot pair with Ironeyes. As with the Lord Ruler, Skaa traditionally reversed the meanings of this card. However, this tradition has faded due to the card’s association with Ironeyes, who is viewed as a more just figure (albeit a terrifying one.) This card represents Law. Sacrifice (The Hanged Man): The Sacrifice card is an old one and it represents Insight. The Survivor (Death): This card has a fascinating history. The earliest versions call it Dust or Death, and it portrayed the Deepness. Pre-Catascande Nobles called this card the Deepness and portrayed it traditionally with dark swirls. Skaa were not taught religion in the Final Empire, so when the game made its way to them they - rather ironically - began referring to the card as The Mist. When the cards began being used for divination, this one came to represent Change. The Survivor quickly became associated with the Mists and no one can deny that he was - and is - a tremendous force of change. So it’s rather understandable that he became associated with this card. (In case anyone is confused: RL Tarot Decks have a Justice and Death card. Scadrians call the former Death and the latter the Survivor.)

OK, I don't know if I've seen this theory before, but I think it's definitely possible: Discord will be more Preservation than Ruin. Most people assume that Discord will be more Ruin than Preservation for several reasons. But I don't think that is the case. I'm going to try to articulate in a few points: (1) Atium was burned by Elend and crew right before Sazed took up the shards of Preservation and Ruin; (2) Major discord happened in Era 1 because of Preservation's influence; (3) Sanderson uses music and psychophysics a lot to help us understand the shards (i.e., discord happens a lot when you are "preserving" a note too long). 1) From what I understand, Leras splintered off a part of Ati's power to create Atium. As long as Leras, as Preservation, could block Ati from retrieving it, Ati was somewhat weakened. This helped make sure Ruin could not overpower Preservation. When Vin takes up Preservation's power, she is equal to Ati's power. Ati's goal was to get the Atium and thus have the upper hand. However, Elend and his Atium mistings burned it before he could regain it. The atium should theoretically regenerate, but that takes time. The power that was burned is in a transition state, waiting to seep back into the world at the Pits of Hathsin. But this takes hundreds of years. Merely minutes after all the Atium was burned by Elend, Vin kills Ati, and Sazed takes up their shards. The Atium in the transition state would not turn back into Atium. It would turn into Harmonium, equal parts Preservation and Ruin. Half of the Atium that was burned got converted into Preservation's power. Sazed, holding both shards, would have access to it (i.e., Leras is dead, and no one is acting as a gatekeeper). Harmony, therefore, has a tiny bit more Preservation in them than they do Ruin. 2) Discord happens whenever the two shards are out of balance. It doesn't just happen when Ruin is stronger than Preservation. Case in point, Era 1 was dominated by Preservation's influence. Preservation had "locked up" Ruin in the Well of Ascension. The Lord Ruler was Preservation's idea, and the Lord Ruler was not a harmonious leader. As a matter of fact, I would argue he created quite a bit of discord. 3) If there's anything we've learned from the Rhythm of War, it's that Brandon Sanderson uses music to help us understand investiture. The right musical harmonies can be used to combine stormlight and voidlight for example. Harmony, meaning Sazed, is currently in harmony, when using music as a metaphor. But how could there be discord (i.e., something not in harmony)? Well, there are a couple ways. One way would be to play sort of random notes that aren't octaves, perfect fifths etc. That would be something like "ruining" the music. People would hate that. Another way, however, is to keep playing a note even as the rest of the music moves on. You're "preserving" a note that doesn't harmonize with new chords. This creates discord. People LOVE discord in music, especially when it is mixed with harmony. You're not ruining the music, but making it better. Hence the " His name shall be Discord, yet they shall love him for it." Just a crazy idea (that I think is just crazy enough to be correct)!

I've recently listened to Mistborn 1 and Alloy of Law within a short span of time. I noticed something that I thought was pretty cool and wanted to share it. To set the stage, here's the end of Mistborn: The Final Empire. Spoilers of course. Vin sets off to confront the immortal Lord Ruler in his palace, Kredik Shaw. She gets captured by Inquisitors and put in prison, her mistcloak and metals stripped from her. Skipping forward a bit, Sazed gets himself captured so that he can come to her aid by ripping the door off of her cell. They run down the hall defeating soldiers, Sazed low on attributes, Vin drained of metal reserves. They come across Elend Venture accompanied by guards, who have come to save Vin. Vin and Sazed prepare to flee, until Vin spots a tassel from her mistcloak sticking out of the closed lid of a trunk. She recovers her lost cloak and metal reserves, saves her future husband, and continues on to confront the Lord Ruler. There she draws upon the mist and defeats the immortal Lord even while he was in the process of crushing her to death by his Steelpush. Fast forward 300 years to the end of The Alloy of Law. Even more spoilers. Waxillium sits in the Breaknaught with Vindication, carried by the Vanishers to their lair, preparing to confront the nigh-indestructible Miles Hundredlives. There the door to the vault is ripped off by the Vanishers, and Wax causes havoc among the gang members. He, Wayne, and Marasi fight until they are low on weaponry, metals, and Feruchemical storages. Wax gets injured in an explosion and hides among some crates. There he calls upon Harmony, Sazed, for some help. Sazed responds and sends him a little help in the form of a trunk with his old possessions, marked by the tassel of his mistcloak duster sticking from beneath the lid. Guns and cloak recovered, Wax goes on to save his future wife (possibly draws upon the mists) and defeats Miles with the help of Marasi, even while Miles was methodically beating him to death. It's such a little detail, a tassel of a mistcloak signaling a hidden reserve of resources that brought victory, but Sazed was there for both of them. I doubt Wax knew the significance of the event that Sazed was alluding to with the tassel, but I think Sazed was honoring Wax by connecting him to Vin. There's always another secret, and Brandon still surprises me with books that I read a decade ago.

Brandon Sanderson *reading a personalization request* Did Kelsier fill copperminds for reasons other than to share knowledge? Did he want to forget certain memories? *written* Yes. Yes. Those may not be causally related. You asked two separate questions and got two separate answers. JordanCon 2016 (April 23, 2016) Soooo..... Here the theory. We know that kelsier has one spike stapling his identity to a mistwraith. But apparently he believes he cannot get more to regain allomantic powers. What if, this is actually because this would open him to harmony's influence? What if he once had more, but had his mind taken over by sazed, in order to save south scadrial. What if thats where the coppermind is from. Sazed tried his best to delete kelsier's memories of the intrusion? Just a crackpot theory

Ok, so I've been listening/reading the mist born books in preparation of the lost metal, and something occurred to me. According to TSH, the reason that Sazed was able to take up both Preservation and Ruin at the same time was because he was balanced between both. Tindwyl's death instilled a sense of acceptance of death within him, which allowed him to take up Ruin, while still wanting to maintain life, allowing him to take up Preservation. The balance he represents between both is what makes him Harmony. I remember reading a WoB that stated that if Kelsier had managed to take up both Preservation and Ruin, he wouldn't have been Harmony; he would have been Discord. Sazed represents the balance between the two Shards, while Kelsier would represent the conflict between them. Based on their respective personalities, I think this makes a great deal of sense. But what if Vin had somehow managed to take up both Shards? She was both a destroyer and a preserver, something THOA makes perfectly clear, which seems to me to be another type of balance that could allow someone to take up both shards. Does anyone know if there is a WoB on this? It seems like the kind of question someone would have come up with a while ago. I don't think Vin would have been Harmony or Discord, although Harmony seems much more likely than Discord. The way she talked about life and growth just before she killed Ruin makes me think Vin would have been something like that. Maybe Life. What do you guys think?

In Kelsier's epilogue, he and Sazed discuss whether or not Sazed should lead the people of Scadrial to a technological revolution. Sazed states that it's better for the people to discover things on their own. Kelsier counters the conflict wouldn't have happened if the people of Scadrial had been more advanced. Sazed has admitted previously that he thinks he's made things to easy for the people of the Basin, and that's why they haven't advanced as much as he'd expected. But if he'd given them the technology, they wouldn't need to discover it. Who's beliefs are more valid? Personally, I think Sazed's opinion is more valid. This resonates with several other fictional sources I'm fond of, and I think it's true. In Stormlight Archives, Dalinar discusses with one of his ardents the value of growing stronger through adversity, both as an individual and as a people. And the two discussions resonate, I think. Beyond that, the concept of people valuing things they've earned over what they've been given is something that's often explored in literature and other media. And that appreciation affects how they treat whatever it is. Be it technology, peace, or even financial wealth. Right now, Sazed says he puts people where they need to be, but allows them to make their own decisions. That's not a bad approach, all things considered. Perhaps Sazed could help nudge people in the right direction a little, but just giving the secrets away seems unwise. Hand outs are dangerous, because people can start to rely on them very easily, and because once it happens a first time, it's much harder to argue against doing it a second time. Teach a man to fish, and all that.

Harmony is currently having trouble acting, because he is limited by the conflicting intentions of Ruin and Preservation. Consider Ruin and Preservation as two parties in a negotiation with each other. Since they are equally strong, they are at an impasse. Imagine a third, much weaker party joins the negotiation. Say, a pinch of Devotion's Investiture. As was mentioned in Mistborn Era 1, in a negotiation involving three parties, the weakest party is actually the most powerful, because each of the stronger parties needs the weakest party on its side to defeat the other strong party. So if Sazed had a splinter of Devotion, then whenever Ruin and Preservation were deadlocked, Devotion's splinter would break the tie. Obviously, Sazed would want to choose Investiture carefully for this purpose, since his Intent would probably become a watered-down version of the third Shard. Devotion would probably be fine. Odium would not. The original Vessels would probably be opposed to such a plan, because it is moving toward a re-unified Adonalsium. They should see, however, that it only slightly enhances Sazed's Investiture power, and might greatly increase his freedom, since the Intent of whatever Investiture he eats a pinch of might be so diluted by the neutral Intent of Harmony that Sazed's will might be able to steer the new Intent quite a lot. As far as I know, the Vessels have no problem with freedom, though they may object on the grounds that it gives Sazed too much power in practice. What do you think?

Can somebody remind me how Sazed was able to pick up Ruin again? I don't remember his personality or actions having much connection to Ruin, and usually your personality has to be related to a Shard's Intent before you can pick it up, so how could he take both Preservation and Ruin? He certainly seemed to embody Preservation as a Keeper.

So at the end of AoL, Marsh delivers Spook's book to Marasi, which informs her, as well as Wax and Wayne, of the existence of Hemalurgy. I've just been rereading HoA and realized that Sazed wrote about Hemalurgy in the epigraphs of the book. Those epigraphs were part of the books that he left the founders of the new world. So why wouldn't Hemalurgy be widely know about in Era 2 already?

I keep finding little details that I totally missed before. This one I'd be surprised if it hasn't been noticed already. It's a small detail that doesn't draw attention to its importance, but in Hero of Ages, Elend notes that the Imperial line of Succession goes from himself, to Vin, and then to Sazed. Minutes before he Ascended, at the death of first Elend, then Vin, Sazed became Emperor. The Hero of Ages was removed from the Terris people. He was not royalty himself, but came to it eventually. ...One who is separated from the Terris people, a king of men, a rebel caught between two worlds. I had somewhat glazed over these, as I wasn't sure if they were altered by Ruin to make first Alendi, then Vin as Empress appear as the Hero. Nope, coming in at the last minute, Sazed became the rightful king of men before becoming their god. It's fitting, I think. Maybe this was obvious to everyone else, but I thought this was cool.

One of the things that kinda bugged me is that sazed taking up two shards instead of the traditional one, seems to have been more of a detriment than an advantage. The two intents are against each other, so he finds it difficult to act or do anything. He needs agents like Wax to be able to do anything. That kinda sucks, doesn't it? Especially since it seems like he needs to fight against Trell, a new shard on the planet. Unless it's a blessing in disguise. Because what do we know about the original shareholders? That most of them fall prey to the intent of their power, slowly growing insane with time. But harmony is not in that danger. Preservation by the end could not even muster up the courage to stab elend in secret history. Ruin lost his humanity and became a force of destruction. But with harmony's two powers cancelling each other out, I suspect that harmony is in no danger of ever losing his sanity. He can go on for maybe eternity and still be as human and caring as he used to be and make the difficult choices his position requires. I don't think the cosmere will go on for that long, but i think we will never have to worry about sazed going insane. Add to this the harmony/discord issue and the excess ruin that elend burned off slowly coming back, we could have some interesting plots

STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE SPOILERS so we know that era two is a few years ahead of the current stormlight archive timeline, so I’m thinking, dalinar loses the contest of champions and odium turns him into this spacefaring warlord who will conquer stuff for odium,so what if odium has sent dalinar to scadrial to conquer it , kill harmony etc and also we see that red mist sazed shows wax, and I’m thinking it looks eerily similar to the red mist seen in the thrill in oathbringer (I think it’s oathbringer at least) which is odiums investiture so what if dalinar is trell?(this is extremely far fetched Ik)

I realiized something, Vin and Elend represent the concepts of ruin and preservation (Elend wears white, Vin wears black, Elend's character arc is not forgetting the good in himself, Vin's character arc is become comfortable with who she is becoming, Vin ascended to become preservation, Elend duralumin burned Ruins essence). Sazed was the one to marry Vin and Elend. Sazed symbolizes the unity of ruin and preservation literally and metaphoricaly.

In Bands of Mourning Sazed talks to Wax and explains how a god can’t get rid of all evil. In RoW, when Dalinar rides the storm, he has an argument with the Stormfather, who is arguably one of the most powerful entities on the planet, thereby classifying him as a god. He actually is worshipped as a god in parts of the west. Anyway, Dalinar tells the Stormfather to have mercy on some travelers, but the Stormfather refuses, saying that it is not his way and change isn’t good, but Dalinar insists that he must become something more, something better. This raises the question, would Dalinar and Sazed get along? Their philosophies seem to contradict one another.

Okay, so here’s my crazy theory about the basic plot structure and possible storylines: Book 1, our new SWAT protagonists track the mystery mistborn serial killer (mmsk). As they track him they discover a mysterious conspiracy that’s manipulating events on all levels. Around the time they defeat MMSK they learn that Kelsier is behind the conspiracy and he’s working with another Shard against Harmony. Book 2: Kelsier is the villain of this book, but there are hints all along that he’s playing this other Shard (revealed through his PoVs to be Autonomy.) Our heroes work to defeat him, pitting them against the entire planet. Along the way they (and we) become increasingly Cosmere aware. This ends up leading to them exposing (some of) Kell’s machinations to Autonomy prematurely. In typical Brandon penultimate fashion, they actually do manage to stop Kelsier’s plans, only for it to be revealed that what he was doing was intended to stop Autonomy who, it turns out, had been active on Scadrial since before Rashek’s Ascension. Of course, in typical Kelsier fashion, he didn’t tell anyone his plans and Autonomy - forewarned - now takes many of them over to turn against Scadrial. At this point Kelsier joins/is recruited by the heroes, who realize that he was, in his own way, trying to protect Scadrial. Total theory: The heroes discover that Kelsier is trying to steal HARMONY. They intervene, preventing this, but this leaves a hole that allows Autonomy to shatter Harmony. Kelsier then risks himself to save Sazed, to the shock of the SWAT crew. After this they learn that Kelsier knew Saze couldn’t directly act against Autonomy. He intended to take Harmony and, wielding it as Discord, use it to kill Bavadin allowing him to take her Shard. Then he would return the triple Shard to Sazed. Saze, upon learning all this, blankly asks why Kelsier didn’t just ASK him for the Shard, as he would have given it to him. The realization that this could all have been avoided if he hadn’t been so intent on one upping everyone is what finally breaks through Kell’s arrogance and forces him to acknowledge that he messed up - very, very badly. Book 3, then, is Kelsier’s parallel to Sazed’s journey in HoA. His confidence is deeply shaken by how badly he messed up, especially as Autonomy continues to use his own tools against him. This book becomes his redemption arc, as he rebuilds himself and finally learns that, for all his power, he isn’t invincible and he can’t be completely autonomous. This allows him to create a new plan from the dregs of the old, and work with the SWAT crew to defeat Autonomy and give her Shard to Saze. (Harmony being reconstructed as part of this.) At the end Kelsier and Sazed talk, as they did at the end of Secret History. Kelsier reveals that he told himself he was staying to protect Scadrial, but not only had he not done that, he now acknowledged that he just wasn’t ready to die. He then tells Sazed that he can’t willingly go Beyond now because Preservation’s Command won’t let him. Saze points out that Kelsier still doesn’t want to die - which he notes as very human - and removes/alters Preservation’s Command instead of forcing Kell Beyond. Saze then restores Kelsier, orders him to ‘do better’, and tells him he should go Beyond when he’s actually ready to do so. The book ends with Kell looking over Scadrial with two eyes and realizing that his hands are smooth and unmarred. His scars are gone. So, while some (most) of this is going to be completely wrong, and a whole lot is pure fancy and sap, I do think Kelsier is going to mess up very, very badly and that this will force the character to grow in ways he hasn’t yet. That’s the only part of this that I really think has any chance of being remotely accurate (aside from the ‘SWAT team chases MMSK’, which is from WoB.) Either way, with Mistborn Era 3 starting within the next 5 years, I wanted to get this out there on the off chance I’m even REMOTELY right. Mostly so I can claim bragging rights on the off chance any of the above occurs.

Okay so considering the fact that Sazed picked up two shards at his Ascension, does that make him the most powerful being in the cosmere? Or would that title depend on which shards were combined? For example, the opposite nature of Ruin and Preservation make changes hard for Sazed. If someone, say Rayse, were to have shattered Preservation and picked up Ruin, would that be a more powerful combo? Regardless, would Sazed be able to contend with Rayse given he is Harmony (Ruin AND Preservation) and Rayse is only Odium?

So it’s been about a year I think since I’ve last posted on here but I’m back with some more custom action figures. Today I have three based on Mistborn and one new stormlight custom. Starting off with Mistborn we have Sazed. He is almost completely repainted from the base figure, the bands and earrings are sculpted on. I would like to find him some glasses but haven’t found any that work yet. I’m pretty happy with how he turned out. My one gripe is that I wish I had chosen brighter colors for his robe. Next we have Marsh (or just a steal inquisitor, I haven’t decided if I want it to actually be Marsh yet). Marsh Steel Inquisitor probably has the most creative process for a custom figure that I’ve ever done. I decided to try to actually drive nails through the figure and it surprisingly worked. I wasn’t sure if it would ruin the base body or mess up the articulation and I’m very happy that it didn’t. The only place where it varies is with the shoulders where I cut the nail and drilled a small divot on the front and back of the shoulder and glued the nails in. If I had tried stabbing the nails through the shoulders, it would’ve ruined the articulation. I do wish I had been a little more careful with the markings around the eyes because they look a little messy but overall I’m very proud of this one. To wrap up the Mistborn customs is Spook. He is probably my favorite of these three Mistborn customs. This is his look from the third book. The body is completely repainted and the cape is some fabric I cut and then burned a bit. His clothing is also supposed to have a singed look. Very happy with this one. Now to the sole Stormlight custom, Navani Kholin! Navani is probably one of the hardest ones I’ve made so far. Her Havah was hand sewn by me and honestly for my first time sewing I think it turned out nicely. Her head was completely repainted by me and I’m really happy with how well the face tone matches the rest of the body as the head was taken from a different figure. This was originally going to be Jasnah but I figured since I couldn’t find a head that fit Jasnah and that she would probably have a dress that allowed for more movement (being a Radiant) Id just make this one Navani. Super happy with this one and since this technique with the dress worked, I’ll probably redo shallan in the same way as I’ve never been very happy with how the first one turned out. thanks for checking out my work! Currently working on a Dalinar and Kaladin (finally) as I found the perfect bodies for them. They should be posted hopefully in December January. I also have ideas for a Breeze, Elend and like I mentioned before Jasnah

When I read Mistborn I feel a constant gnawing sadness in my gut, especially after reading Era 2 and knowing what these heroes fought for and how much better life is for everyone (although still really flawed). And the fact that Vin, Elend, Kelsier, and the rest of the crew had to experience such pain but get to reap none of the rewards. Then I think about Sazed and how he’s trying to make it all work the best he can and I wonder if he thinks of them with longing or sadness, or is he too changed by the Shards to feel anything for his former friends? So I made this video to try to capture this sadness/emotional ache I get from this series Do y’all feel the same way?

Since I’m terrible with forums, forgive me if there’s already something on this. My Trell Suspicions (I’ve also only read Sanderson’s Mistborn world books) So when I was rereading era 1, I was trying to look at all the religions Sazed mentions to see if Trell was there. (Note: Trell as in the guy Miles Hundredlives believes in) Yes, Sazed does mention him. It’s a religion that worships the stars and night. Could it be that Trell is real? He’s written in a lot in era 2. More than any other religion Sazed preached.....