Lake in Mistborn *Spoilers*

[Deano Stormblessed he/him]

I was just doing a re-read of mistborn: the final empire, and I came across this reference on the epigraph of chapter 33:

The lake that Fedik discovered is below us now - I can see it from the ledge. It looks even more eerie from up here, with its glassy - almost metallic - sheen. I almost wish I had let him take a sample of its waters.

Perhaps his interest was what angered the mist creature that follows us. Perhaps...that was why it decided to attack him, stabbing him with its invisible knife.

I was wondering, does anyone know anything about the origins of the lake? This reference makes me think of the lake in Elantris, which is infused with a shards power. Maybe the reason it is described as metallic is because it is infused with the power of ruin/preservation?

(I may post this up on TWG as well)

[Silus - Shard of Flame he/him]

We know it isn't the Well of Ascension, so it's probably the counterpart for Ruin.

[Munin he/him]

We know it isn't the Well of Ascension, so it's probably the counterpart for Ruin.

I thought Preservation's mind was in the mists.

[Link Von Kelsier Harvey he/him]

I think what he meant was that it was Ruin's lake.  Preservation gets Lerasium, The Well, and The Mists.  Solid, liquid, and Gas.  Ruin has Atium, which is just Solid.  Ruin's power in Liquid form?

[Deano Stormblessed he/him]

Yeah, didn't think about that. It would make sense that Ruin gets his own lake. It could explain why Fedik was killed by Preservation (the mist spirit) for showing interest in the lake.

Wonder what happened to it after the Accession?

[Emeralis00 she/her]

Slight of topic but...

In the well of ascension, Vin saw a black mist while going to the Well.

Maybe this was Ruins gas form?

(I am not sure if this was in an earlier version or is even in the book.  will have to double check...)

[Deano Stormblessed he/him]

Slight of topic but...

In the well of ascension, Vin saw a black mist while going to the Well.

Maybe this was Ruins gas form?

(I am not sure if this was in an earlier version or is even in the book.  will have to double check...)

I am about start my re-read for WoA, so I'll keep my eyes out for any passages that may hint at Ruin's gas form, or where Ruin's liquid form may be now.

EDIT: I think Ruin's gas form is intwined closely with the mists of Preservation, which is why the mists started becoming so thick that things began to die. This might be why the black mist might be the only reference to Ruin's gas form. This would explain why the deepness, which is obviously something created by Ruin, was also the mists, which is part of Preservation's body.

[Silus - Shard of Flame he/him]

Can we get a Spoiler Warning on this topic?

EDIT: Never mind, I forgot this was in GT.

Well, Brandon has said that there would still be mists in the second Mistborn Trilogy (well, duh) but that there would be black mists as well as the white ones.  I'm pretty sure he said it would correspond to Sazed's use of Preservation and Ruin's power in different places.  But I'm not sure if that's what he said, I could be wrong.

[Deano Stormblessed he/him]

Interesting, to bad it'll probably be some time until another Mistborn is done.

[Emeralis00 she/her]

Interesting, to bad it'll probably be some time until another Mistborn is done.

In the interveiw (I think) Sanderson said that he would complete at least another Stormlight Archive book before doing any other book.

[Deano Stormblessed he/him]

And first he must complete AMoL

[Chaos he/him]

You are all correct. This second lake is the liquid manifestation of Ruin's power. That smoke in the chamber before the Well of Ascension is Ruin's "mist-like" form.

I asked Brandon where that liquid Ruin was during the times of the books. He said it was in the Pits of Hathsin.

[Silus - Shard of Flame he/him]

You are all correct. This second lake is the liquid manifestation of Ruin's power. That smoke in the chamber before the Well of Ascension is Ruin's "mist-like" form.

I asked Brandon where that liquid Ruin was during the times of the books. He said it was in the Pits of Hathsin.

Now that is interesting!  But then is the lake that Alendi's group found NOT Ruin's liquid form, or did TLR simply move it underground?

[Link Von Kelsier Harvey he/him]

I'm thinking he moved it.  Didn't want anyone to find it, did he?

[Andrew the Great he/him]

I'd say it matches too closely to not be Ruin's liquid form.

The geography got shifted around the Well of Ascension, so it would make sense that the same thing happened with Ruin's lake. If you're Rashek and you know what it is, wouldn't you want that power to be as far away from where people could do anything with it as possible?

Now if you're Rashek and you don't know what it is, I have no idea why you'd decide that the random scary lake needs to be stuck deep underground except that a random mist spirit knifed your friend there.....

EDIT: Blast! Link beat me to it. Oh well, I'll leave it.

[Zas678 he/him]

You know, I think at one point, Vin was supposed to see it...

(From the Alternate Ending in WoA)

"Lord Ruler!" Elend whispered, stepping up onto the small plateau.

Vin joined him, looking down at the valley they had left a day before. She turned to the right, looking past Elend at. . . .a lake. It was formed in a basin just to the east of the valley wall. With a coinpush, Vin might have been able to leap from the ledge on her peak down to the lake's shore.

"That's not water," Elend said slowly.

Vin nodded. The lake rippled slowly in the wind, though at these temperatures, water would have been frozen. It was also the wrong color: a deep, ashen black that reflected the light of a sinking sun. "It's metal," she whispered.

Elend frowned. "Liquid metal?"

Vin nodded. "I can see it, with iron. Blue lines, streaking out to it. And. . .I can hear it."

Thump. Thump. Thump.

"Hear it?" Elend asked, frowning.

Vin shook her head, turning away, toward the cavern. There was another, smaller pulse coming from inside of it. "Come on," she said, stepping toward the icy hole.

Then Later when she's looking at the Well of Ascension

Vin and Elend stepped into the room. Elend gasped quietly beside her, but Vin wasn't paying attention to him. She was staring at the pool.

It was like the lake outside. Far smaller, of course

[Deano Stormblessed he/him]

Was Fedik as Terrisman, or one of Alendi's friends?

Also, I think that's interesting with the Alternate ending. Probably better not having Ruin's pool nearby, just incase someone stepped into it (in case the LR died, as he did). And the Pits of Hathsin are the best place to have it, since no one would go down there willingly.

[Andrew the Great he/him]

Also, keep in mind that that's the alternate ending. The entire location of the Well of Ascension changed, if I recall correctly, so it's perfectly reasonable to assume that Ruin's lake might not be as close.

That, and the Pits of Hathsin aren't that far from Luthadel, apparently. A couple of days. Which seems to fit with the number of logbook entries we get between the mist spirit knifing the random guy and alendi making it to the well of ascension.

Oh, and I believe that Fedik was one of Alendi's friends. I'm not really sure what I meant when I talked about one of Rashek's friends getting knifed.

[Deano Stormblessed he/him]

Except that walking up a mountain takes longer that walking on flat land to cover the same distance. (I'm assuming that Rashek stretched out the land, so while the two lakes were once on top of each other, they are in fact a couple of kilometres apart.

[Morderkaine he/him]

I wonder, could the fact that Ruin's "lake" is under the Pits off Hathsin be the reason why Atium forms there. This could also explain why using Allomancy around the pits destroys the Atium crystals; it creates a direct conflict between Preservation and Ruin's powers, a sort of collision between two pressure waves of opposing magical energies. Somebody needs to go through any scenes that mention using Allomancy at the pits and look for any clues as to if this may be the case, perhaps evidence of Allomantic power being weaker there.

Expanding even further on the idea that having a Shard's "lake" underground produces and effect in the ground, maybe Endowment's lake is under T'Telir and that's why the Tears of Edgli only grow there.

[Zas678 he/him]

Lerasium is only found near the Well of Ascention. Oh! and Aons work best next to the Pool.

I wonder. Is Elantris the center point of Aonic power? Or is it the pool? They are close enough that it may not matter, but if the pool was the center it would make the tears of Edgli more likely.

But then again, Allomancy seems to be no stronger at the Well than far away.

Ooh! Or maybe Seons are made at the Pool. That would probably make the most sense.

[Deano Stormblessed he/him]

Metal is the power source of Allomancy, I don't think the pool has anything to do with it. Moving this idea across the Cosmere, Elantris is the power source of Aons, so I don't think the pool affects the power of the aons, though maybe the aons resonate with the power of the pool, making them stronger?

The tears of Edgli idea could still work though. The power of endowment is breath, not the tears of Edgli. The tears are more like atium is to allomancy.

EDIT: Would that make Endowments name something similar to Edgli? Its been a while since I read warbreaker, and I can't remember where the name Edgli came from.

[Silus - Shard of Flame he/him]

Metal is the power source of Allomancy, I don't think the pool has anything to do with it.

Actually not so much.  The power comes from tapping into Preservation's power.  Lerasium creates a constant connection to that power that you need other metals to use.  The other metals are focuses, like Commands in Awakening.  Remember when Vin tapped into the mists?  That was her literally absorbing Preservation's power, which superfueled her Allomancy in its gaseous form.  The pool might not have anything to do with the power of Allomancy, but metal isn't the power source of Allomancy, so that isn't an effective case against it.

[Andrew the Great he/him]

It's possible that the lake is the source of power, though I see no reason to believe so.

In fact, I'd say the mere fact that Elantrians were ever creepy deformed undead is a good indication that it isn't - if it were the pool that made the Aons more powerful, as opposed to Elantris, Raoden's completion of the Aon Rao formed by the four cities shouldn't have mattered.

[ROSHtafARian]

That actually brings up a very good question...we've seen the pools or the Shards cognitive aspects in Mistborn and Elantris, and seen their spiritual aspect in the mist forms in Mistborn, and the physical bodies of the Shards in Lerasium and Atium, and most likely in the Tears of Edgli....so what in Elantris could be the physical bodies of Aona and Skai? 

I'm wondering if the lands are the physical bodies of Aona and Skai.  The Seons are too intelligent to be just the physical form of the Shards, and language, the power medium of Elantrian magic doesn't make sense as a physical body, but AonDor only works by essentially making a map of the Alethi lands...a map of Aona's body perhaps?  Remember, Jaddeth is said to be a god sleeping in the earth...maybe the bone shapes of the Dakhor monks make a similar map of the Fjordell lands, or Skai's body?