One nagging question...

[Cernwennan]

First of all, hi everybody! I've been lurking a while, but after my tenth read-through of the trilogy, I couldn't help but to put this out there so that someone may find the answer. It's driving me insane!

The question is specifically about the Hero of Ages prophecies. It is as follows :

Who is the (real) Announcer?!

Now, I've asked friends (who are nearly as obsessive as we) and the knee-jerk reaction is always; "Sazed". But I have to remind them that the prophecies themselves were about Sazed being the Hero. Let me elaborate.

This is all done off the top of my head, but here are the (assumed) unRuin-d criteria :

1. Tall of stature. (When first meeting Sazed, Vin remarks on his height. Kel does as well when they stand on the hideout roof. In fact, Sazed is the only Keeper or Terrisman to be described as exceptionally tall!)

2. Be an outcast from his people, but come to lead them. (Sazed, despite refusing the position, is likely the last Keeper alive in HoA and thus, is in command. )

3. Would destroy kingdoms and then remake them. (Sazed is the key to The Lord Ruler's defeat. If he doesn't save Vin [twice], then TLR kills the rebellion with his own hands.)

4. Not a warrior, but would fight. (Yeah, we all remember Sazed's frequent badassery.)

5. Finally, bears the future of the world on his arms.

There's more, but these are enough to illustrate my point. Sazed was always meant to be the Hero of Ages, but I'm not telling any of you anything you don't already know.

So the question again, who is the Announcer? While Ruin changed it in the trilogy, we know from TenSoon that there was supposed to BE an Announcer. But who?! I may be going insane trying to figure it out. It's the last thing, for me at least, before I can be satisfied with fleshing out the secrets of the original trilogy.

Oh, and since I'm on the subject. I had an epiphany. The Lord ruler was right all along. In both the Log book and Kwon's testimony, he is repeatedly known to believe that no outsiders should be the Hero.

I now see TLR very differently. Like a tragic hero. A martyr. He is convinced his uncle is right, kills a famed and loved King, takes the power, and tries to defeat the Deepness. He screws it up, of course, but he tries. His youthful hatred causes him to commit the atrocities he does on the people, but I think he actually had good intentions. Even now I think that The Lord Ruler's depressive soothing he used during the series was a manifestation of his own grief And sorrow. He probably went about collecting information like Sazed used to fix things, and was planning to right the wrongs he committed. Unfortunately Ruin had corrupted him to such an extent that he had truly become a monster after the thousand years. I think Elend's books even describe how the Lord Ruler's methods changed over the millennia.

Anyway. I'm rambling because I'm tired. Looking forward to your responses!

[Windrunner he/him]

You and I seem to think same about the Lord Ruler. I think Sazed says it best, “He suffered much beneath Ruin's hand, but he was a good man, who ultimately had honorable intentions.” As for the announcer question, here's a quote for you.

KAIMIPONO (16 OCTOBER 2008)

If Sazed is the Hero of Ages, then who is the Announcer?

BRANDON SANDERSON (17 OCTOBER 2008)

The Announcer was a fabrication of Ruin intended to reinforce the person HE wanted to be the Hero.

Source

If you follow that link it'll take you to the interview database, where we keep all our Brandon interviews (We share it with theoryland, so there's Robert Jordan stuff too). You should look around there if you want to see more of just about every Brandon interview ever. Also welcome to the forums! You should make a topic in the Introduce Yourself thread, when you get a chance, so everyone here can say hi. I hope you enjoy your time here!

[Eric]

3. Would destroy kingdoms and then remake them. (Sazed is the key to The Lord Ruler's defeat. If he doesn't save Vin [twice], then TLR kills the rebellion with his own hands.)

While your actual question has already been answered, I'd like to point out that he was also instrumental in building and keeping the fledgeling Empire together, both as Vin's second after she made Elend emperor and when consolidating the Dominances, fulfilling the latter part of the statement.

Edited May 25, 2012 by Eric

[Odium's_Shard]

So Ruin made up the 'Announcer' so that Sazed would feel comfortable that he was, or had, a 'role' in the Ascendancy, and s wouldn't question as much the discrepancies in the prophecy, as he would feel (as he did feel) up until the last that he was only the Announcer, and that Vin must be the HoA? That was cleverer than I would have attributed to Ruin, who's very intent is to destroy now and think later.

Though he did have 1024 years to plan. Bit of an advantage.

[Gagylpus he/him]

That was cleverer than I would have attributed to Ruin, who's very intent is to destroy now and think later.

That isn't quite correct, though I don't have quotes to back it up. Ruin is his intent - his ultimate goal - but he is very capable of destroying in a planned, deliberate way. I think Brandon said somewhere that he can build something up if it would result in further destruction later.

[Odium's_Shard]

He can, but would he? I feel Odium is more of the 'orchestrated plot' type.

[Commander Spoonface he/him]

Has anyone considered the possibility that Ati was fully aware of what he was doing, and decided to act in a certain way that, while not being contrary to his nature, (he Ruins the crap out of a bunch of stuff) still results in the best outcome for what are, after all, his creations? I mean, he worked together with Preservation before...

</outtaleftfield>

[Eric]

No, no I had not. It's entirely possible... He might have been doing it for centuries, actually. He could even have locked away the bit of his consciousness that knew he was doing it, both to weaken himself to make it more likely to eventually lose and keep from changing his mind. Huh.

[PPKNexus]

I now see TLR very differently. Like a tragic hero. A martyr. He is convinced his uncle is right, kills a famed and loved King, takes the power, and tries to defeat the Deepness. He screws it up, of course, but he tries. His youthful hatred causes him to commit the atrocities he does on the people, but I think he actually had good intentions. Even now I think that The Lord Ruler's depressive soothing he used during the series was a manifestation of his own grief And sorrow. He probably went about collecting information like Sazed used to fix things, and was planning to right the wrongs he committed. Unfortunately Ruin had corrupted him to such an extent that he had truly become a monster after the thousand years. I think Elend's books even describe how the Lord Ruler's methods changed over the millennia.

I've actually looked at TLR as you have stated here since the end of book one. There was something always underlying about him. My impression of him was one of sadness and bitterness, not hatred or evil. Also, you're hypothesis of the depressive soothing was pretty spot on with my own.

My question is how much influence did Ruin have over Rashek? How many of the atrocities committed were due to his influence combined with TLR's weakened sanity?

[Commander Spoonface he/him]

No, no I had not. It's entirely possible... He might have been doing it for centuries, actually. He could even have locked away the bit of his consciousness that knew he was doing it, both to weaken himself to make it more likely to eventually lose and keep from changing his mind. Huh.

Mostly the reason I thought of this was because Mystery-Letter-Maybe-Hoid-Person described Ati as "kind and generous man". I like to think that he discovered the influence that his shard had upon him and spent his last amount of time being able to act against its intent setting up things so One-Track-Mind Ruin would act in the ultimate best interests of all. I don't know. I like the idea of setting up a course of action for a predictable enemy so you can make them do what you want, and the idea of doing it to yourself just takes it up 11.

[Cernwennan]

@Windrunner. damnation it I can't believe I missed that.

@PPKNexus. I agree, with the snippets of the log book, and some extremely subtle hints, I began to suspect TLR wasn't the monster he was made out to be. His final words drive it home, and then I began to suspect an even bigger twist when Kwon was mentioned to have betrayed the log book author.

In the HoA, when the tablets even talked about Ruin corrupting his thoughts, I began to think that most, if not all, of TLR's atrocities could be attributed to Ruin. Even early on in his reign. Considering the wars and devastation TLR left in his wake on his bid for world domination, the excessive murder of the people... Well, it just smacks of Ruin. In fact, his destruction of the world's religions could've been a similar tact. It's said that Presevation hid clues in them, and Ruin would want to seek out and destroy those. It seems there was an easier answer to stop Ruin from getting freed in another thousand years, one that could completely cripple Ruin's ability to manipulate the world at large. Rashek was effectively immortal, and he could have simply told the World Bringers.

@Commander Spoonface : That is quite profound... I like the idea of Ati intentionally sabotaging his own ability to destroy... But I'm not sure. I think he was too twisted even by then. I'll have to think on it.

I also believe, though I have very little proof, that the letter in WoK is TO Hoid. Its a gut instinct... But I think it will prove true. Think of it this way :

The books are chronological, right? Hoid has been slowly, yet steadily, increasing his presence until he takes a direct approach in WoK. (He outright interferes and warns Dalanar. His disappointment that Dalanar doesn't know the term Adonalsium is evident. What if he had? I think Hoid would've become outright involved and spoken what he knew/knows then). From Elantris to WoK, Hoid has been there but hasn't intervened in any regard. He's just been watching.

Hoid, I think, is the one who has a stance of nonintervention. Or had. I think the letter changed that. I think he's now fully involved, evidence being his larger role in WoK.

He also says that he's on Roshar to meet a friend, but has been putting it off. I wish I could back this up with quotes, but I'm on my phone.

I also think he's collecting the powers of the shardworlds. He took the bead of Lerasium, and was supposedly going for it all through WoA. He was the one to transport supplies to New Elantris. And he was a storyteller who was requested by the Returned. I think he's collecting the powers to add to his own. To fight, perhaps? Or something more...

[Oxinabox]

He [Ruin] can, but would he? I feel Odium is more of the 'orchestrated plot' type.

Yes,

Take Atium as an example.

Atium doesn't kill people or destroy things.

It is much better at keeping people alive than killing them.

Don't get me wrong, on a scale of 0-10 where 10 is best possible human ability to kill someone,

Atium scores 30. (And pewter 15)

on a scale 0-10 of keeping people alive, Atium scores 50. (and electium 30, pewter 15).

Maybe i'm exaggerating a little.

But Atium really just isn't that great for destuction, compaired to what it could be if Ruin wasoptimsing for short term effectiveness.

(Eg, if could allow you to kill with a glance)

But instead Ruin opimises for the long term.

Make the killer good yes, but keep him alive to kill more later

[name_here]

It always seemed to me that TLR largely committed atrocities because he was desperately trying to keep humanity alive during the ashfalls and had no idea how to run a government, so he slapped together a ton of bits of various successful ones.

Thing is, good government by modern standards is a pretty recent invention. So all the bits of government were horribly oppressive. The Skaa in particular were stated to be based off the slave farming caste of somewhere. The ash makes farming incredibly labor-intensive but not terribly complex, so from a pure productivity standpoint it worked fairly well. Since altering it would have risked mass starvation and Rashek didn't know much about farming, he felt it was necessary to carry out mass executions to keep the system in place.

Edited June 12, 2012 by name_here

[Asha'man Logain]

That isn't quite correct, though I don't have quotes to back it up. Ruin is his intent - his ultimate goal - but he is very capable of destroying in a planned, deliberate way. I think Brandon said somewhere that he can build something up if it would result in further destruction later.

Sazed says this in the HoA pre-chapter epigraphs (is that the right word?) that ruin was capable of long term thinking, and says verbatum "Ruin was capable of building things up in order to destroy more"

Edited June 16, 2012 by Asha'man Logain