Lady Truth the Era 2 "Originator": Allrianne, Beldre, or TBD?

[+robardin]

In the scene from Shadows of Self where Wax goes into the museum/mausoleum ("musoleum?") in the Field of Rebirth, he passes through an open foyer "with its murals of the Originators. Hammond, the Lord Mistborn, Lady Truth, Wax's own ancestor Edgard Ladrian", whose familiar and accurately captured self-satisfied look made Wax want to punch him.

The Originators depicted there, of course, would be the leaders of the remade world - primarily those of Kelsier's surviving crew, but also figures like Yomen and Ashweather Cett that Elend had recruited to lead his New Empire.

There were not many women in that number. So who was "Lady Truth"?

The Coppermind has no entry for such a name, and the Arcanum of WoBs have this where someone straight up asked Brandon this question, and got a RAFO (with the caveat that he said it is likely a case of "I know the answer to this, it's not a big secret, but I am not ready to just pin it down").

Maybe it's just me, but there is something just a tad chilling about a name like that. It seems... Stern and unforgiving. Like there's a bit of a dark story there to be told.

The way I see it, unless she was someone who only rose to prominence after the Catacendre (a period we readers know very little about), Lady Truth would have to be one of the leading characters we saw survive in The Hero of Ages to be considered a peer of Hammond, Spook, and Breeze, and to have later earned that sobriquet. Which means either Allrianne or Beldre.

Allrianne is in fact mentioned by that name elsewhere in Shadows of Self, when Marasi recalls that woman constables having to also be "ladylike" had a tradition "going back to the speeches of Lady Allriane Ladrian soon after the Catacendre". If Allrianne was involved with establishing the constabulary force, and maybe showed her tough side more openly than before, that could well earn her a name like "Lady Truth". But then, wouldn't Marasi the constable naturally think of her as "Lady Truth" rather than "Lady Allrianne Ladrian"?

On the other hand, Beldre was a "pampered rich girl" in the Last Days of Urteau, seemingly unlikely to end up a "Lady Truth"; but with her marrying(?) Spook who would then become The Lord Mistborn, leading (ruling) their new world for a hundred years, she would have had plenty of time to grow and to change. And power, too.

Add in the offhand WoB about Spook being "a stud" after the Final Ascension and fathering over a dozen children, combined with his long life and length of rule... Does that suggest him being a "player" who either set Beldre aside at some point, or simply had women on the side? Either of which could serve to harden Beldre.

[Weltall]

The implication is that it must be someone who survived the Catacendre (otherwise Tindwyl would be a perfect fit) and for my money I think Beldre is the more likely, with 'Lady Truth' having a nice resonance with 'Lord Mistborn' and following right after it during that passage. And as you said, Alrianne is mentioned by name but not title, while most of the surviving crew are thought of by Era 2 Scadrians by their titles first and their names second.

Found at least one other topic discussing this by the way.