Theory: Sazed is limited by the Balance

[Ryan]

[Waxilium] groaned again, leaning his head back against the floor. I thought I asked for a little help.

A voice returned to him, distinct and unexpected. And a little is what you received, I think.

Waxilium started. Well...could I have some more, then? Um, please?

I must be careful in playing favorites, the voice inside his mind replied. It upsets the balance.

So, it seems that Sazed (Harmony) is limited in what he can do by the need to maintain balance between his two shards. Back when they were held by two people, neither could accomplish much, because whenever one tried to do something, the other would try to block them. (Hey, sounds a lot like Congress!) I found this very interesting, because I assumed that, now that both were held by a single mind, more could get done. But, it seems, not very much more.

Hmm...

[darniil]

Almost reminds me of a joke that a friend of mine had for a truly True Neutral character in an RPG:

Town hires your party to clear a nearby mine of a goblin infestation. For every goblin the TN character kills, he should sneak back into the town at night and kill a townsperson.

Now with Sazed, of course, it's not a balance between good and evil, it's a balance between preservation and ruin. Applying the above concept, I wonder if Harmony is trying to keep a tally - "Helped this guy knock some stuff over, over here, now I need to help this guy keep the peace, over there."

[CrazyRioter]

Wax did manage to blow up a lot of random objects, including a building while trying to stop the Vanisherrs lol.

[darniil]

Ha. So that makes Wax Harmony's Champion - he'll preserve order, but via means that leave lots of collateral damage.

[Joe ST]

Harmony is like the perfect sponsor for any action hero, as they're prone to making much collateral damage.

[KChan]

Well, more can get done: look at what happened at the Hero of Ages, and what Sazed was able to accomplish by using both Shards in concert. But certain actions would be more of one Shard than the other.

However, there's also the possibility that Sazed wasn't talking about the Balance between Shards, but rather the more mundane balance of the world. Too much direct intervention could potentially disrupt the world too much, which Sazed would want to avoid, especially after seeing what the Lord Ruler's interventions did to Scadrial.

[Chaos]

However, there's also the possibility that Sazed wasn't talking about the Balance between Shards, but rather the more mundane balance of the world. Too much direct intervention could potentially disrupt the world too much, which Sazed would want to avoid, especially after seeing what the Lord Ruler's interventions did to Scadrial.

That's pretty much how I interpreted it.

[KChan]

Me too. I honestly didn't even consider that he was referring to a Balance until I saw this thread.

[Moose]

Hi just found your site after browsing Brandon's main site. I had some thought's on Harmony and how he will need to maintain the balance between the two shards as time goes on.

Ruin and Preservation started out balanced in the begging. Whatever Ruin and Preservation made had an equal amount of influence from those shards. So all of the creatures of Scadrial were equally of Ruin and Preservation. However when Ruin and Preservation made man Preservation wanted to add more of himself than Ruin did to give them sentience I believe. This action tipped the balance between the two shards insuring that Ruin would eventually be able to destroy the world. So to stop Ruin from destroying the world he Imprisoned Ruins mind in the well of Ascension. This action weakened Preservation to being no more than the mistspirt we see in the books. The lord Ruler then hid way part of Ruin's body at the pits of hathsin during his time at the well. Witch left Ruin and Vin matched in strength when she took Preservation's power.

So here is my question. Will Sazed have to maintain the the pits of hathsin to maintain balance between his shards and if he doesn't will Ruin again win out over Preservation?

[ReaderAt2046]

Hi just found your site after browsing Brandon's main site. I had some thought's on Harmony and how he will need to maintain the balance between the two shards as time goes on.

Ruin and Preservation started out balanced in the begging. Whatever Ruin and Preservation made had an equal amount of influence from those shards. So all of the creatures of Scadrial were equally of Ruin and Preservation. However when Ruin and Preservation made man Preservation wanted to add more of himself than Ruin did to give them sentience I believe. This action tipped the balance between the two shards insuring that Ruin would eventually be able to destroy the world. So to stop Ruin from destroying the world he Imprisoned Ruins mind in the well of Ascension. This action weakened Preservation to being no more than the mistspirt we see in the books. The lord Ruler then hid way part of Ruin's body at the pits of hathsin during his time at the well. Witch left Ruin and Vin matched in strength when she took Preservation's power.

So here is my question. Will Sazed have to maintain the the pits of hathsin to maintain balance between his shards and if he doesn't will Ruin again win out over Preservation?

I think so. Note that atium shouldn't be in circulation by AoL, since the crystals have barely had time to regrow.

[name_here]

I've never bought the theory that Shard powers, as distinct from what they do with them, are limited by Intent, on account of how thoroughly Rashek and Vin trashed things with Preservation. Stuff like creating or destroying matter, moving physical objects, and other things not directly connected to their magic systems seems to be stuff all Shards can do.

I figure there's no reason Sazed can't intervene, but he doesn't like picking sides. He wasn't terribly confrontational as a human, and now he is literally named Harmony, which is not conducive to favoring one side in a conflict. I don't think he believes he has the right to pick winners simply because he has the power to do so. If he were restricted in how he could use his power, he could simply have told Marsh to handle this, or he could have simultaneously destroyed some of the Vanishers and boosted Wax's Allomancy.

[Aminar]

I think so. Note that atium shouldn't be in circulation by AoL, since the crystals have barely had time to regrow.

Has there been discussion on the possibility of an Atium Rush akin to the Old Wests Gold Rush?

Admittedly Atium is less powerful now, what with the apparent disappearance of mistborn, but there should still be Ferrings and Mistings for it. I can see it still being worth a lot due to rarity and past reputation.

[ReaderAt2046]

Have't we heard that mistborn will be reentering circulation soon?

And there are still Seers. What will keep atium's power down a bit will be that there are now two metals to counter it. I imagine oracles will become very popular bodygurads once atium gets back it circulation.

Edited December 31, 2011 by ReaderAt2046

[Aradel]

Have't we heard that mistborn will be reentering circulation soon?

And there are still Seers. What will keep atium's power down a bit will be that there are now two metals to counter it. I imagine oracles will become very popular bodygurads once atium gets back it circulation.

Wasn't it revealed that preservation removed Bendalloy and/or Cadmium from the normal 16 mistings and replaced one or both with Atium?

To keep balance, there would have to be Lerasium mistings too.

They would be like temporary mistborn, burning lerasium gives them all 16 allomantic powers at once, but only for as long as the lerasium lasts. (like when in HoA Vin used the mists to power Elend's allomancy when he ran out of metals)

[The Lord Ruler]

But Lerasium Mistings wouldn't work, because once a person swallows the Lerasium, he/she becomes a Mistborn. Or does this not work with Mistings?

[b4dave]

I believe that Brandon has said that becoming a full allomancer is a side effect of burning lerasium on someone who isn't already an allmomancer...he hasnt said what would happen if someone already an allomancer burned Lerasium....I just cant remember where I saw it....

[Zas678]

No, what it is is that when you ingest Lerasium, your body automatically burns the metal. This metal is a form of Pure Preservation. Burning this metal automatically dramatically increases your connection to Preservation.

The side affect of this is that you become a Mistborn.

If a Mistborn were to burn Lerasium, their powers would double.

[Eric]

To further clarify, here's the quote from the Brandonothology:

17th Shard: If a Mistborn burns lerasium, as in, not just ingests it, what effect would it grant Allomantically?

Brandon: That is a RAFO. It would do something, but the thing you've gotta remember is that, when ingesting lerasium for the first time and gaining the powers, your body is actually burning it. Think of lerasium as a metal anyone can burn. Does that make sense?

17th Shard: It does.

Brandon: By burning it you gain access to those powers. It rewrites your spiritual DNA, and there are ways to do really cool things with lerasium that I don't see how anyone would know. Were most Mistborn to just burn it, it would rewrite their genetic code to increase their power as an Allomancer.

I do like wondering what, precisely, those really cool things are and when we'll see them.