"Rust and Ruin!" Theories

[heylukeatthat Darkeyes]

Brandon keeps being coy about how important the phrase "Rust and Ruin" is to the Mistborn Era 2 plot and I have seen discussion about who/what Rust is scattered throughout the site, but it doesn't look like there's a discussion dedicated to the topic.

 

Who is Rust?!

 

I have seen theories espoused from Trell to Odium to Autonomy to Kelsier (which may be a redundant list...) but why can't it just be Preservation?

 

In many worlds in the cosmere, we see characters cursing by the names of a shard that resides on their world (damnation, merciful domi, etc.). This is the only double-worded curse I can remember, and happens to occur on the only world where we have a vessel possessing two shards. It would make sense then for Rust and Ruin to refer to our best-bud Harmony.

 

Why say Rust and not some derivative of Preservation? What if Preservation is still weaker than Ruin, and Saze is having trouble "preserving" half of his duality? Rust is a neat metaphor for ruin-the-concept, showing something slipping from pristine condition to neglect. If a metal is improperly preserved, it will rust. So too might the power of a shard.

 

Anyway, just a thought that I hadn't seen around. I think with the obvious import of Rust on the next plot it's worth hashing out some of our thoughts in a formal manner, rather than fragmenting conversation throughout the boards.

[Master Elodin Misting]

Well, when something exists for a long time, it Rusts.

[Your3rdShadow Bridgeman]

I think it's just a natural language progression, after all, people will sometimes say "Hellfire and Damnation" why not "Rust and Ruin". In both cases the former is a product of the latter. Of course if there's WoB about this, by all means ignore me, I haven't seen it. Also, I think there's a WoB saying Harmony is stable and another that Sazed is using the extra Ruin power for something else. I'd think holding off whatever is in space.

Edited March 31, 2016 by Your3rdShadow

[ParadoxicalZen Svrakiss]

Well...when people like to curse, Alliteration is fun. I think in either AoL or SoS Wax or Marasi says "Preservation's Wings" as a curse (I still have no idea why)

[heylukeatthat Darkeyes]

Sure, it could be a throwaway curse, but why would Brandon keep drawing attention to it? I'm not saying it has to be Preservation, but it's something important.

[Your3rdShadow Bridgeman]

Or he's just trying to emphasize the world building and the effect past events have had on the culture.

[killersquirrel59 Artifabrian]

I think this is a red herring. Brandon has done this before, deliberately drawing our attention to misleading things. It's all part of the game. This seems far more like just a cool cultural curse and use of alliteration, a way to show the progression of the new culture while giving a nice nod back to the first trilogy. All part of the events of the first trilogy becoming myth and legend.

[zeppomarks Ardent]

If Preservation is given full control over a thing, like metal, then that metal would never rust. It would stay the same way forever.

If Ruin is given full control over the metal, it would be destroyed faster than it naturally should.

However, if the metal is freed from the influence of both Ruin and Preservation it would go about the natural process of rusting.

Now, if we extrapolate from this to consider said metal to be a metaphor for the people of Scadrial, "Rust" could be a reference to Trell's desire to free the Scadrians from Harmony's influence so that they can go about their existences proceeding down a more "natural" path, without divine intervention. 

This interpretation, it seems to me, lends further credence to the Trell-Autonomy connection.

[goody153 King's Tester]

Rust is just an expression i believe. It also fits with when you say "rust and ruin!" as a curse/exasperation since either is practically entropy.

It's kinda like saying "goddamn bastard" you know both can individually be a curse or exasperation but it can also said at once, i believe rust and ruin expression is like that.

Edited August 23, 2016 by goody153

[Savanorn High Prelan]

I think it is likely to be a byproduct of the culture. 

As metallic arts being so prominent in the culture it makes sense as slang. Characters also use "rusting" as an expletive. Makes sense. It is like how storming is a cuss on Roshar.

 

Maybe the ruin thing comes from the characters referencing the former shard, maybe it is mere alliteration, maybe it is that both are expressions of a distasteful state or event. 

I highly doubt rust is a person or identity.