The Prophesied Imperial Succession

[Duxredux]

I keep finding little details that I totally missed before. This one I'd be surprised if it hasn't been noticed already.

It's a small detail that doesn't draw attention to its importance, but in Hero of Ages, Elend notes that the Imperial line of Succession goes from himself, to Vin, and then to Sazed.

Minutes before he Ascended, at the death of first Elend, then Vin, Sazed became Emperor.

The Hero of Ages was removed from the Terris people. He was not royalty himself, but came to it eventually.

...One who is separated from the Terris people, a king of men, a rebel caught between two worlds.

I had somewhat glazed over these, as I wasn't sure if they were altered by Ruin to make first Alendi, then Vin as Empress appear as the Hero. Nope, coming in at the last minute, Sazed became the rightful king of men before becoming their god. It's fitting, I think.  Maybe this was obvious to everyone else, but I thought this was cool.

[Treamayne]

9 hours ago, Duxredux said:

Minutes before he Ascended, at the death of first Elend, then Vin, Sazed became Emperor.

Don't forget, Sazed was already a (reluctant) King before that too. . .
 

Spoiler

HoA Ch 18:

Quote

His approach soon attracted attention. Children ran for their parents, and heads poked from shacks. Sheep began to gather around Sazed as he walked, as if hoping that he had come bearing treats of some sort.

Several aged men rushed up the hillside, moving as quickly as their gnarled limbs would allow. They—like Sazed—still wore their steward’s robes. And, like Sazed, they kept them cleaned of ash, showing the colorful V-shaped patterns that ran down the fronts. Those patterns had once indicated the noble house that the steward served.

“Lord Sazed!” one of the men said eagerly.

“Your Majesty!” said another.

Your Majesty. “Please,” Sazed said, raising his hands. “Do not call me that.”

 

 

Edited May 18, 2022 by Treamayne

[Duxredux]

1 hour ago, Treamayne said:

Don't forget, Sazed was already a (reluctant) King before that too. . .
 

  Hide contents

HoA Ch 18:

 

 

You're right of course, leadership of the remains of a small decimated dominance may count, but there's a difference thematically, symbolically, and legally that he was the designated ruler over all of the empire, not just the remnants of Terris. He wasn't like Alendi, Rashek, Elend, or Vin who conquered by force of arms or Allomancy. True, he inherited their throne, but he was the first to rule who received the right without ousting or conquering the previous leader (counting Vin in that). That's significant.

At any rate, I think the timing as part of Brandon's avalanche was intentional. I highly doubt he made Sazed third in line for succession as a whim.

[Treamayne]

1 hour ago, Duxredux said:

I highly doubt he made Sazed third in line for succession as a whim.

I wasn't doubting your theory or reasoning, just pointing out he was both a King and Emperor (if the wording should matter)

[cometaryorbit]

Yeah - this is one of several really subtle clever bits I missed when I first read. I know I've seen this mentioned before, maybe in the annotations?

One that really floored me when I re-read book one is the comment that Kredik Shaw means Hill of a Thousand Spires "in the ancient Terris language"... I was like, how did I miss that as a clue that TLR was Terris?