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Marsh


Windrunner

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Sorry for the necropost, but I think I have this figured out.

From the Brandonothology:

"What would have happened if Ruin *did* get the atium? Yeah, the world is destroyed, but how does Ruin "absorb" the atium so he can utilize the power?

He would metabolize it, just like the normal people have to do. However, if he did get it he would then be able to destroy the world."

Marsh was given Atium spikes so that he could burn the Atium on Ruin's behalf (and this is probably the reason for him being spiked so heavily, to make him a suitable avatar). He was given the Allomantic ability to burn it, obviously (and perhaps during the initial spiking; TLR liked his Inquisitors to be competitive), and the Feruchemical ability to be able to compound the invested youth in case it took an absurdly long time to find the full cache.

(Consequently, it may be that when he compounds after Sazed becomes Harmony, he just ends up restoring whatever power Sazed put into the Atium in the first place, meaning there's no loss of Balance. That's another thread, and I'm not happy necro'ing this one already without tacking on a double-post in another, so sorry for the semi-tangent.)

Edited by Eric
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That would be an excellent explanation for why Marsh got both Allo and Feru Atuim spikes from Ruin. There might even have been a spike for Feruchemical Nicrosil as well to give him even more time to look.

I would say that one of the reasons Saze would have for giving marsh the Atium he needs to live for a long time is to keep in balance, remember that there's more Preservation in people than there is Ruin, so if Saze wants to keep in balance he needs to get rid of some of ruin's power. Giving atium to Marsh seems to kill two birds with one stone, as it were.

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While this may still indicate that Ruin wanted an Inquisitor to metabolize Atium for him, Marsh did not in fact get a Feruchemical Atium spike from the get-go, although he presumably was under Ruin's control when he did, so Ruin cared enough about it to take the time to make Marsh spike himself while there was a human-race to be exterminated.

From the recent Reddit Q&A:

[–]zas678 7 points 10 days ago*

I've got some questions. Spoilers!

1. Why on earth does Marsh have a Feruchemical Atium Spike? You've said that Ironeyes is in fact Marsh. Did Ruin spike someone for him? Or did Sazed grant him the power?

[...]

[–]mistborn 5 points 9 days ago

1) Dead inquisitors Vin killed. Some were granted the spike for reasons I haven't spoken of yet.

The "reasons [he] han't spoken of yet" might still be to metabolize Atium, with Brandon simply forgetting that he's already given this answer, but the possibility exists that there is still an unknown reason.

Edited by Kurkistan
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Another option- maybe Ruin wanted to be able to destroy other planets (or Shards) too, and so he wanted servants who could live long enough to help him do it. So he has the Inqusitors start travelling (whether through Shadesmar, or through other means is unknown), and then they can use Atium to last until they get there.

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Another option- maybe Ruin wanted to be able to destroy other planets (or Shards) too, and so he wanted servants who could live long enough to help him do it. So he has the Inqusitors start travelling (whether through Shadesmar, or through other means is unknown), and then they can use Atium to last until they get there.

Interestingly enough, there was some discussion in the Atium Alloys topic about the possibility of the atium alloy of one of the mental metals having the ability to send a mistborn to Shadesmar. If that's true, then Ruin would probably know it, since atium is his metal. So the bolded idea is certainly possible. Sounds a bit like Odium all over again.

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Another option- maybe Ruin wanted to be able to destroy other planets (or Shards) too, and so he wanted servants who could live long enough to help him do it. So he has the Inqusitors start travelling (whether through Shadesmar, or through other means is unknown), and then they can use Atium to last until they get there.

I like this a lot! One idea I had is that Ruin was possibly hedging a bit, and making sure that if Vin did take up Preservation, that he would still have eternal servants under his absolute control to use as tools while he and Vin contested for control of Scadrial. He didn't realize however that Vin would be able to sacrifice herself to destroy Ruin.

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Another option- maybe Ruin wanted to be able to destroy other planets (or Shards) too, and so he wanted servants who could live long enough to help him do it. So he has the Inqusitors start travelling (whether through Shadesmar, or through other means is unknown), and then they can use Atium to last until they get there.

Now that makes sense! I couldn't ever figure out why either TLR or Ruin would give Marsh a Feruchemical Atium spike (and it bugged me a LOT) but this idea, combined with what we know of Ruin, makes a lot of sense. Ruin is building up something (and simultaneously breaking it down through Hemalurgic spike soul splicing), specifically through Marsh and the other Inquisitors, to tear something else down, using superpowered Inquisitors to kill off the followers of the other Shards (which become even more powerful with each successive conquest, if Hemalurgy can indeed steal other Shardic magic), while increasing his own power. Creepy (and awesome.)

Edited by Thor
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I like this a lot! One idea I had is that Ruin was possibly hedging a bit, and making sure that if Vin did take up Preservation, that he would still have eternal servants under his absolute control to use as tools while he and Vin contested for control of Scadrial. He didn't realize however that Vin would be able to sacrifice herself to destroy Ruin.

Yeah-one thing to keep in mind is that while Ruin was going to be able kill everyone shortly, it wasn't a fair accompli that he'd get to destroy the world completely (his actual goal). That's why he freaks out when he learns that Elend had destroyed the atium. It's very plausible to me that he wanted to have some immortal servants hanging around.

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when the inquisitors cleared out the terris held location ( cant remember the name) surely they would of spiked everyone possible and stole all of the powers. Ruin wouldnt want the hard to come by ones to be extinct. So he probably spiked all his inquisitors with Atium Age as a way of storage of the powers.

Failing that he may of picked it up from an Atium Age Ferring who was dying from something or a criminal he executed after a few years of using health to extend his life.

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