10th Heightening - Easiest way

[Aspiring Writer]

2 hours ago, Bondranx said:

I would imagine that the fact that shards typically see ‘mere humans’ as being so far beneath them that smiting them is pointless. The thought of “this being is trying to stop me, but realistically I am so far beyond their capability, what can they really do to me.”

secret History spoiler:

  Hide contents

Ruin for instance saw Vin as so far beneath him that it wasn’t worth it to just destroy her. Instead he mocked her and gloated that nothing she could do would stop the end. And realistically without the mists and taking up preservations power, he was right. Even though he likely could have just destroyed her, like he tried with Kelsier in Secret History after he used Preservation’s power.

 

That's a bad example. Vin was at first his pawn and then a piece of information. I think the reason they don't smite them is that they can no longer manipulate them then. Yes, their working against them, but Ruin is clearly capable of manipulating them to do what he wants. Killing them may not have the best effect. that's Why he kept spiking them, for more direct control. Stop looking at it like a battlefield and more of a very intricate game of chess. Remove Vin? Loses pawn and possible information. Kill Elend? Someone else will take command who is possibly less able to be manipulated, will cause Vin to lose her mind and go into rage/depression, and other effects we may not even know, and he seems to be certain that he can manipulate him. Kill Yolen? He might put someone who is more likely to work with Elend. And that's without mentioning that him killing someone and an assassin killing someone is VERY different in how people will react.

 

Goddamn it, why is it always my post that starts a second section!

Edited October 7, 2020 by Aspiring Writer

[Bondranx]

2 hours ago, Aspiring Writer said:

That's a bad example. Vin was at first his pawn and then a piece of information. I think the reason they don't smite them is that they can no longer manipulate them then. Yes, their working against them, but Ruin is clearly capable of manipulating them to do what he wants. Killing them may not have the best effect. that's Why he kept spiking them, for more direct control. Stop looking at it like a battlefield and more of a very intricate game of chess. Remove Vin? Loses pawn and possible information. Kill Elend? Someone else will take command who is possibly less able to be manipulated, will cause Vin to lose her mind and go into rage/depression, and other effects we may not even know, and he seems to be certain that he can manipulate him. Kill Yolen? He might put someone who is more likely to work with Elend. And that's without mentioning that him killing someone and an assassin killing someone is VERY different in how people will react.

 

Goddamn it, why is it always my post that starts a second section!

I apologize, this was in a way the intent behind what I meant, a pawn would be lost, even if it was actively working to stop him, in his opinion her every action to stop him was playing into his plans. He isn’t very capable of looking at what others are working towards and that was his downfall, if he’d been able to predict where her actions would lead I’m sure he would have taken a harder course of action himself. It was still a very ‘this creature is beneath me, even on an intellectual level mindset’

Edited October 7, 2020 by Bondranx

[Aspiring Writer]

6 hours ago, Bondranx said:

I apologize, this was in a way the intent behind what I meant, a pawn would be lost, even if it was actively working to stop him, in his opinion her every action to stop him was playing into his plans. He isn’t very capable of looking at what others are working towards and that was his downfall, if he’d been able to predict where her actions would lead I’m sure he would have taken a harder course of action himself. It was still a very ‘this creature is beneath me, even on an intellectual level mindset’

That very well may be, but it still makes sense as a possible reason as to why many Shards don't just smite people. The easiest people to smite aren't worth smiting, and the ones that are have massive ramifications that they need to be aware of and it removes and potential of using that person for your own ends. It seems simple to us with our omnipotent world view and hindsight, but it would actually be difficult to just remove someone by smiting them and then realize that you should have just left that person alive because he would have been useful later in a different event. Shards seeing people as beneath them may make them less likely to just smite anyone and everyone, but all of them seem to like the use of pawns in some way.