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Why is it called Atium?


thdl

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**Very minor (I think) cosmere spoilers in OP, I don't know about the answer. Also, _major_ Mistborn trilogy spoilers**

So, somethings being bugging me since I found out about the naming of Atium and Lerasium. If Atium is called Atium because Ruin's cognitive aspect was named Ati, how do the people in world know to call it this? Ruin never reveals his name himself, and Leras hasn't had the mental capacity to do so for (presumably) thousands of years. And yet, the name must have made it into the vernacular somehow.

My first guess is that TLR found out Ati's name from the well and named the metal himself, but it bothers me that it would have this sort of specific knowledge stored in the shard (with the intuition of how to use it).

The other possibility would be the Ati introduced himself to Rashek while Rashek held the power or while Ati was trying to twist Rashek in the early part of the 1000+ years. It would have to be the early part, or a different name would have taken hold, as Atium was the basis of the economy. This seems very improbable, as Ruin had no incentive to divulge such a personal secret. Indeed, it would be more likely that Ruin told TLR Preservation's name.

Both of the above seem unlikely, so it raises other questions like:

-Was Atium known of and named before the events of Rashek and Alendi?

-Did Hoid visit Scadrial long ago?

-Did the pits of Hathsin exist before Rashek and Alendi?

-Did Ruin and Preservation interact with humans a lot personally more 2000+ years ago? (giving the oppurtunity to name it)

I think the answer to the third question is yes, as Ruin's body needed a collection point. Based on the above information, my bets on Hoid, as he's the only one ever to name Ati. This is not a firm bet though, as it feels wrong too. Number 4 works, but I doubt Ruin and Preservation were still using their names by the time they created humans.

What are your thoughts? Have I missed something in the books?

P.S. I'm sorry if this has been asked before - I couldn't find it with a search on Atium.

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I've considered this as well. Notice that AonDor is named for Aona, another shard. Keep in mind that the Terris people interacted with Preservation, and would probably learn things from him that way. It could also be something you inherently learn from holding the power of Atium, similar to the well.

Also, I'd imagine the Elantrians had interaction with Devotion, so that could explain it too...

Argh, so much we don't know! I hope the next Cosmere book is a much a goldmine as WoK was, because we really need a few more Red Herrings to run in circles with...

Edited by Observer
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Atium probably existed before the Lord Ruler, since Preservation made the Pits to contain Ruin's essence. I'm guessing the Well cycle occurred more than once, but if each one wasn't a Feruchemist, then they might be remembered as gods (Trell and company, perhaps?) or maybe just really powerful kings. Rashek may have just been the only one who thought of shoving the planet close to the sun.

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On the shoving it closer to the sun, I thought that he was trying to ward off the mists. Perhaps the mists were not a threat until then. I agree that the well probably cycled more than once, but I still find it odd that Ruin would reveal his name. I also think its odd that no previous record survived - they would be more than Kings, Rashek created entire species and microbes. The cycling is also weird because it means none of the previous owners took the Lerasium, though they must have intuitively known what it did. It makes sense to me that the well makes 1 nugget every cycle like an atium geode. This also fits with the numerology of 10 and 2. Vin would have killed ruin on the 10th cycle of 2^10 years.

If they had, there would be many more mistings and mistborn around (I'm taking as an assumption that preservation occasionally dumped enough investiture into a human to make them a misting - thus Alendi could exist without mistborn/mistings in his ancestry). Also, the lord ruler would not have made 9 original mistborn, but strictly fewer than that. In any case, either they ignored a powerful tool, or the well randomly made lerasium nuggets the one time the lord ruler showed up.

Speaking of ancestry - how is it that it is both genetic (can be bread out) AND exactly 16% of people were mistings waiting to be snapped at the right time (Or did mist sickness not automatically mean misting - I thought I read it did)? That's getting a little off topic though - perhaps I will start a thread later (the statistics of that scenario have bothered me too).

Oh, I just had a thought: perhaps the mists were never an issue until the power at the well was not taken up at the appointed time - it then took 9 cycles to become a real problem. This would give 9000+ to dilute misting DNA and would explain the prophecies being so vague (1000 years is not all THAT long). The only problem with this is the progression of civilization at this point - 9k years with godly guiding should be past pocket watches (depending on where they started human development).

On Preservation revealing his name to old terrismen: I would have thought Leras sacrificed his mind very soon after creating humans, and I still can't fathom why that bit of information would be conveyed.

I completely forgot that the same thing happened with AonDor. I would be much more willing to give that to Hoid as he tends to know a lot about the shardworlds religion and magic - perhaps he started some of the myths and did some of the original naming. Or maybe it was not Hoid, but a similar actor. This would give humans (who are not beholden to shard intent) a much better chance of being a major force in shard politics*. It seems he needs people with power to survive for something (or he's just a nice guy).

*not sure of a better term for shards warring/interacting with each other.

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