Terris Prophecies

[GiveMeASpren(I'mCrazy)]

(I just want to preface this by saying that I have no idea if there are any WoBs or anything about this or anything)

 

How were the Terris prophecies created? Were they passed down from Preservation, from the time when he still interacted with the world (but if so, why would their language be so deceptive while technically true? Could they have technically be wrong, like when Odium etc. predicted the future? Can Harmony now see and predict the future just as well, knowing that the language of his predictions will definitely be true?), or were they created by feruchemists by storing an incredible amount of Fortune, and then tapping it all at once? Is this a valid method of predicting the future?

[Bort]

Have you read all three of the Mistborn (era 1) books?

[RShara]

Here you go.  The annotations also have a lot of info.

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Chaos

How were the Terris Prophecies created in the first place? Every other magic related thing is quite logically explained in terms of Ruin and Preservation, except that one.

Brandon Sanderson

The Terris prophecies were created by Preservation before he attempted his imprisonment. He knew that he wouldn't be able to do much for the world after he did what he did, and he foresaw a LOT of what was to come.

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Kaimipono

What was Vin supposed to do at the end of Well of Ascension? How exactly did not-using the power, end up releasing Ruin? I still don't get how that all worked. Can you explain it?

Brandon Sanderson

What was she supposed to do? Well, this is difficult to answer, since the prophecies have been changed and shifted so much. Originally, the prophesies intended for a person to go take the power every thousand years and become a protector of mankind for a period of time. Someone to keep an eye on Ruin in Preservation's absence and watch over the world as he would have done. Imagine an avatar who arrives every thousand years and lives for their lifetime blessing the people with the power of Preservation, renewing Ruin's prison, and generally being a force for protection. (Note that Ruin wouldn't have gotten out if the prison wasn't renewed, he'd simply have been able to touch the world a little bit more.) Obviously, it changed a LOT during the years that Ruin was playing with things.

What should she have done? Well, Ruin's release was inevitable. Even if she hadn't let him go, the world would have 'wound down' eventually. The ashfalls would have grown worse over the centuries, and the next buildup of the Well might not have come in time for them to do anything. Or, perhaps, mankind would have found a way to adapt. But Ruin was going to get himself out eventually, so the choice Vin made was all right. There weren't really any good choices at this point. She could have decided to take the power and become a 'good' Lord Ruler, trying to keep the world from falling apart. Of course, she would have had to make herself immortal with Hemalurgy to make that work right. And since she was already tainted, chances are good she wouldn't have ended up any better than the Lord Ruler himself.

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[Guest Breaker]

I’ve always been fascinated by the Terris Prophecies, since it seems that they had to do double duty for Preservation.

 

Firstly, the original prophecies described a Hero who would return throughout the ages every millennium to take the power at the Well and act as the world’s guardian. An avatar, in Brandon’s words.

 

But the prophecies also had to account for the Final Ascension, and describe the events leading up to Sazed taking the power for himself. Somehow, important lines survived, such as “bear the fate of the world on his arms,” in order to inform Sazed’s decision, while the prophecies had been subverted by Ruin over an enormous period of time.

 

So, Preservation managed to get to the Terris a prophecy that would describe a cyclical avatar, also fit the Catacendre, and somehow predict Ruin’s changes enough to still make some of it apply when Sazed paid attention. Subtlety indeed, circles within circles. 

 

Preservation’s future sight had to have been at least Odium-tier for that to work.

[Borio Singaldi]

So we understand how Preservation created the Prophecies using future sight, but HOW did he physically create the written prophecies for the Terris people to even know in the first place? How did he transfer this knowledge to the Terris? Did he use his special knife as a mist spirit and carve the words of the prophecy into a mountainside or something? If that was the case, how would the Terris know it was from their god and not just a random rambling inscription made by one of their own? Did he reach into the minds of broken people who had a strong Connection to them and seed the ideas in there like he did when pushing Kelsier to survive in the Pits of Hathsin? If that was the case, why would the Terris people listen to what seemed to them to be the ramblings of madmen? I just wonder how Preservation gave the Prophecies to humankind.

[Guest Breaker]

I’d imagine that he used Connection, as Kelsier did for Spook, to speak to those who are most Connected to him among the followers of the ancient Terris religion that worshipped Preservation and Ruin. Seeking out those who are most attached to the worship of Preservation, he chose one or many among them to act as his prophets, then, before Ruin could change too much of them, thereby eliminating the need to change the prophecies subtly, Preservation blocked his every action and shortly thereafter performed his gambit, locking Ruin away at the Well, and leaving to humanity his trust that they would use his Well wisely and eventually enact his final plan. 

Edited March 18, 2018 by Breaker

[RShara]

There is no Spoon!

Also, since he had more of his mind back then, I figured he could create some sort of physical form to interact with people.