Marsh as Death?

[Raijai]

     Maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention.. but how did Marsh actually become "death". Like, what is his actual job, because while he may be scary I don't really see him as a grim reaper. Also... did Harmony just give him immortality? I haven't read Secret History yet, and it may be in there; I'm just curios.

     Did he even get a say in his new job? Does he care? Why exactly does everyone call him Death? Just some random questions.

[+robardin]

Harmony did not make Marsh immortal - we have multiple WoBs that he was doing the atium Compounding trick that Rashek had done to survive into Era 2.

As for the Era 2 folks calling him "Death", that's never really explained outright, it's just something that happened over 350-ish years... I mean, they have the Words of Founding and therefore should know that "Ironeyes", aka "The Last Inquisitor", the guy with spikes in his eyes and all those Metalborn powers, is/was Marsh, Kelsier's brother, who is/was the Survivor.

In fact we know that there is still a small group of people adhering to the religion of "Sliverism", a relic of the cult of The Lord Ruler (the Sliver of Infinity), that reveres him as exactly that - the last Inquisitor and thus the spiritual heir to the entire Steel Ministry.

How does that become entwined with him being considered a psychopomp? Who can say? You'd think they'd know that Harmony, like Preservation before him, takes that role seriously Himself... But maybe not, because it's not like there are a lot of people who get to meet Harmony and then come back to tell about it.

And hey, there is a WoB about that, too! Which basically amounts to a RAFO!

Quote

Questioner

Can you tell us why he's called "Death"?

Brandon Sanderson

Because he is seen usually in creepy situations, and looks creepy, and mythology has grown up. Though that one's also a RAFO for the Secret Histories-- that's a real RAFO for the Secret Histories. I might get into that. But you can assume that the allure of... I mean, there's a little more to it. But I mean, let's say you saw him...

Questioner

*laughs* That would be... *inaudible*

Brandon Sanderson

You'd be like, "Ahhhh!" So... But no, I do intend-- there are little things like that, that if I write Secret History 2 I can get into where some of these legends started. So you'll be able to see some of the starts of those and things like that.

Footnote: Questioner is referring to Marsh in Mistborn era 2.
White Sand vol.1 release party (June 28, 2016)