Demosthenes Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 This is going to be my first theory. I've read another theory about how TLR gained immortality, but I have another idea. Given: Atim stores youth/age. Ruin can change the content of metalminds. Theory: TLR gained immortality in this manner - Ruin ensured that his metalminds were constantly full, and thus kept TLR eternally youthful. The reason that he had to spend time in his room, aged, is that Ruin wanted to remind him where his immortality came from, and that he did not cause it himself. We know that Ruin would want to keep TLR alive until Vin kills him in the first book, to start the chain of events that will allow him to destroy Scadrial. I have not thought of any particular reason that TLR's immortality would work this way and not in the usual way it is believed to have happened, other than the fact that it is possible, afaik. We know that Ruin could have taken away TLR's stored youth at any time, but chose to keep him alive for his own purposes. I do not think it is too far of a stretch to believe he was responisble for TLR's immortality. Does anyone have an opinion about this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurkistan Posted December 3, 2011 Report Share Posted December 3, 2011 (edited) This is going to be my first theory. I've read another theory about how TLR gained immortality, but I have another idea. Given: Atim stores youth/age. Ruin can change the content of metalminds. Theory: TLR gained immortality in this manner - Ruin ensured that his metalminds were constantly full, and thus kept TLR eternally youthful. The reason that he had to spend time in his room, aged, is that Ruin wanted to remind him where his immortality came from, and that he did not cause it himself. We know that Ruin would want to keep TLR alive until Vin kills him in the first book, to start the chain of events that will allow him to destroy Scadrial. I have not thought of any particular reason that TLR's immortality would work this way and not in the usual way it is believed to have happened, other than the fact that it is possible, afaik. We know that Ruin could have taken away TLR's stored youth at any time, but chose to keep him alive for his own purposes. I do not think it is too far of a stretch to believe he was responisble for TLR's immortality. Does anyone have an opinion about this? Even if Ruin wanted to keep literally the only person in the world who knew about the importance of utilizing the power of the Well alive for some reason, I must disagree with your theory. As you say, Ruin guided the events of the Skaa Rebellion so that TLR wouldn't be the one to use the Well the next time around. Ruin wouldn't have needed to instigate a rebellion and/or rely upon Vin to get lucky after she was removed from Ruin's ability to influence her if he could just suck the age out of TLR and kill him instantly. I don't think that such an elaborate an chancy plot would have been the best option for Ruin if he had a more direct method of killing TLR. If that were the case, then I'm sure Ruin could have come up with a more reliable way to ensure his release. Maybe influencing the Inquisitors into a Ruin-cult a few hundred years before the Well refilled: dedicated to freeing their god. Something other than relying upon an un-influenced Vin using a split-second of opportunity to know that she has to Pull off the Atium bracers while somehow believing that it is possible. As to your basic premise that Ruin can change the contents of metalminds: we have very little knowledge about the nature of this aspect of his powers. The only influence that we have seen is on Copperminds, which might reasonably be assumed to be a special case, given the fragility of information - Ruin wouldn't so much have to add or subtract from Time-scuttled memories as tinker with them. Handing over enough age to keep a Millenarian alive is of a different magnitude. Edited December 3, 2011 by Ookla the Conformist 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ari Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 You're absolutely right that Ruin COULD fill TLR's atiumminds, similar to the way he can also fuel Allomancy, but there's no way in hell he would. Although that does bring to mind an interesting side-observation: Is it Ruin's ability to fuel metalic arts that allows him to alter copperminds? Is he essentially "filling" a coppermind with a false memory that overwrites one already in the coppermind? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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