Elends Sacrifice

[Navy Seon he/him]

So in Elends final moments, he burns duralumin with atium. What happened? He couldn't see more than Marsh? Why did he die? What did he see?

So my theory is that he saw the whole future at least until Sazeds ascension. He knew that if he survived and killed Marsh, then Vin and Ruin would just be fighting for eternity, but if Elend died, then like Vin said, there was no one else for her to stay alive for, and then she would indeed sacrifice herself to destroy Ruin. Elend saw that Sazed would pick up the powers after and create peace. He even let Marsh live because he knew he would be good in the future, and since it was too late to stop the blow he just changed it course a tad to not kill Marsh. That's why he wasn't surprised to see Sazed as Harmony. Plus he knew that this was the only way he and Vin would be together again.

This my theory. Any thoughts? 

 

 

 

[DeadFencer]

That's the implication of what happened, yes. Elend saw 30 to 60 minutes into the future when he duralumin-flared atium, which let him see what would happen if he died. This does raise interesting points about fate, however. The shards can't see what will happen, only possibilities. Perhaps atium shows what will happen if everyone continues the way they are? We know Vin was able to change how things would be by making a new movement at the last second during her fight with Zane.

[king of nowhere]

as far as I know, it was established that burning atiium with duraluminium would let you know "the ultimate consequence of an action". Since the future is not immutable, that is probably restricted.

[happyman he/him]

That's the implication of what happened, yes. Elend saw 30 to 60 minutes into the future when he duralumin-flared atium, which let him see what would happen if he died. This does raise interesting points about fate, however. The shards can't see what will happen, only possibilities. Perhaps atium shows what will happen if everyone continues the way they are? We know Vin was able to change how things would be by making a new movement at the last second during her fight with Zane.

 

I would say, based on other things I have read recently, that Elend saw something like all the possible futures, no idea how far.  Yes, it's rather hard to maintain that knowledge, but in this case, there were really only two different outcomes:  the multitude of bad endings with the world ripped to shreds by Ruin, or the single good ending with Sazed taking the powers.  That's all he really needed to keep.

[Yata he/him]

as far as I know, it was established that burning atiium with duraluminium would let you know "the ultimate consequence of an action". Since the future is not immutable, that is probably restricted.

Well but in minutes I suppose Elend may see the future quite with a lot of accuracy (after all, after his death the event goes pretty fast)

[King's Twit he/him]

That's the implication of what happened, yes. Elend saw 30 to 60 minutes into the future when he duralumin-flared atium, which let him see what would happen if he died. This does raise interesting points about fate, however. The shards can't see what will happen, only possibilities. Perhaps atium shows what will happen if everyone continues the way they are? We know Vin was able to change how things would be by making a new movement at the last second during her fight with Zane.

 

I've been wondering if Shards do have near-perfect future-sight when only dealing with humans, but the influence of other Shards clouds the future and makes it so that they can only see possiblities because they lack the ability to predict exactly what another Shard will do, either because of the power and expanded mind of a Shard, or because, as we've seen, Investiture from different Shards does not mix together well.

[KOOZ]

This my theory. Any thoughts? 

 

Pretty much what I thought happened in the book: by "supercharging" atium, Elend saw how the endgame can unfold, at least up to the point where Ruin is destroyed. In a way, he chose not only to sacrifice himself, but Vin too (and, as indicated by Sazed and in SH, Vin does not mind in the least), in order to give Scadrial a chance. 

 

Actually, it would be interesting to know, how far ahead Elend could see - was it minutes, was it hours? 

Also, given that multiple futures are possible with atium, seems that using duralumin also helped him greatly to enhance his understanding of the myriad of possibilities in the future and all the key cause-effect nodes. 

 

Hmm, since he saw the future where he dies and then the events that would follow (otherwise why choose death), did he also see what would happen to him in other Realms? And if he saw so far ahead into the future as to see Sazed picking his powers and reshaping the world, could he have glimpsed the Beyond (I guess it is unlikely, even Shardsholders apparently can't see there, yet they can glimpse the future, and predict their own deaths)?

[Stormgate he/him]

I've been wondering if Shards do have near-perfect future-sight when only dealing with humans, but the influence of other Shards clouds the future and makes it so that they can only see possiblities because they lack the ability to predict exactly what another Shard will do, either because of the power and expanded mind of a Shard, or because, as we've seen, Investiture from different Shards does not mix together well.

So when the Dark Side grows powerful, there appears a disturbance in the Force?