Comatose he/him Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 So, I didn't want to spoil things too much in the title, but the primary focus of this topic is the mechanics of the Well of Ascension, and how it works. The novella reveals that when a Steel Inquisitor dies, the other Inquisitors remove the spikes to be reused, and then dump the now spike-less body in the well. As far as we can see, the body vanishes into the light of the well and is never seen again. Maybe this has something to do with the well being a perpendicularity, and maybe the bodies are just being burned up by the light. What's interesting is that when Vin enters the well, she drops her earring and her metals, but then is able to retrieve them after from the bottom of the pit where the Well once was. When the power vanishes, what Vin doesn't find is a pit filled with Inquisitor bodies. So why do the bodies vanish, but the earring and her metal vials stay? Does it have to do with timing (before the Well was full vs. the time when the well was full), or the time spent in the Well (did the bodies vanish over time, and the earring and metal vials stick around because they were only there for moments), or because of composition (bodies are organic, whereas both the earring and the metal vials were metals and sources of invested power). There are also some interesting similarities to the [ELANTRIS SPOILER] Shard Pool where Elantrians go to die in Elantris. Since we know some Ancient Elantrians have some sort of prescence at the fringes of Scadrial's Shadesmar, might the Inquisitors have been influenced by this Elantrian practice? Both Inquisitors and Elantrians are extremely long lived and, shall we say, death resistant, and live in a changed state different from their old human forms. Were the Inquisitors trying to emulate the Elantrians for some reason? Why? So, yeah, what is going on with the Inquisitors and the Well. Is it really just a useless tradition? Where do the bodies go? Is the perpendicularity involved? What do you guys think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emailanimal he/him Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 I think that you are pretty much on it: bodies disappear because the pool, being a perpendicularity, provides a connection not just to the Cognitive Realm, but, perhaps, also to the Spiritual one as well. Metals are a thing of a Physical world though, so they stay. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParadoxicalZen he/him Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 The spikes are because of Haemalurgy being Ruin's domain and the Well was Preservation's investiture, with their opposing natures...well you've seen their natures 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Observer Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 It's notable that the body does not show up on Kelsier's side when thrown in, which begs the question of where it went. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pechvarry Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 I guess I assumed the power you find in pools overwhelms and destroys non-investiture. On Scadrial, there's something weird because "metal is power" even though it's not because metal is a key to power and i'm confused and moving on. Ok, so metal stays because metal is special. Bodies burn up. In all likelihood, investiture remains (like your soul). Inquisitor bodies no longer have their investiture. Their souls have moved on and their spikes removed. It's a Holy Incinerator. Side note: this may mean Vin "died" when she stepped into the Well, and a new body created back to the cognitive identity of what she just looked like when she gave up the power (indeed, she probably wouldn't even know her body was being rebuilt, so things like minor scrapes and cuts would be maintained). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordofsoup Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 (edited) Side note: this may mean Vin "died" when she stepped into the Well, and a new body created back to the cognitive identity of what she just looked like when she gave up the power (indeed, she probably wouldn't even know her body was being rebuilt, so things like minor scrapes and cuts would be maintained). But that doesnt explain why Raoden's body didnt heal after entering the shard pool. It seems more likely to just destroy anything that doesnt have enough Investiture to pass through it. Edited February 12, 2016 by lordofsoup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
echaozh he/him Posted February 14, 2016 Report Share Posted February 14, 2016 The dissolution of the body needs an intent, so Raoden came back because he didn't want to dissolve into the pool. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meg Posted February 14, 2016 Report Share Posted February 14, 2016 (edited) @Elantris I imagined that "old" and "tired of living" Elantrians use the pool to end their lives as for they don't die (probably changing to another plane [the Cognitive Realm?] from where they would move on to the "Beyond" which might be the same or part of the Spiritual Realm). Also the pool is a perpendicularity that can be used by worldhoppers to cross to the Cognitive Realm and back to the Physical Realm. I imagined that the Ire are not ones that were tired of their lives but came to the Cognitive Realm for the purpose they mention (i. e. not to go to the Beyond). I'm probably utterly wrong here and the Ire decided in a snap decision that their purpose changed and thus they stayed in the Cognitive Realm. That leads to @Intend I agree with echaozh though that rises the question which intend a dead inquisitor has? Here the intend seems to be at the surviving inquisitors which might have an idea or just a wish what might happen to the dead companion when thrown into the pool. The effect, though, of throwing the dead inquisitor in the Well seems to be the same as when Raoden and his friends put the old Elantrian in the Elantrian pool: dissolving. For the intend of the surviving inquisitors there's Fuzz's statementx that this action is meaningless (M:SH Part 1 Chapter 2). Getting back to Comatose's starting post, I think that it's meaningless because they don't have a soul anymore and their bodies just fade away in the Well. On the contrary I think that Vin's earring and the vials are -- as you said -- still invested. It can't be only about being a body or an object. Otherwise the clothes of those sunken in the Elantrian pool or the Well would remain (wouldn't they?). Even if anything (literally) has a soul (being represented in the Cognitive Realm) and thus is invested at least to a small amount, that of clothes (for example) is too small to withstand the consuming energy of the pools. That said, I'd think that Nightblood tossed into one of the pools would not vanish. xI am sure I saw that WoB but there's no chance of me finding it now. I'm confused now, if anybody can support or contradict my messed up memory, I'd be glad. Edit 2015-02-15: -- when I went home from work today it suddenly struck me that it's not been a WoB but that Fuzz told Kelsier, it's meaningless. Edited February 15, 2016 by Meg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KidWayne he/him Posted February 17, 2016 Report Share Posted February 17, 2016 Can someone point me to this part of M:SH? I've read it through twice but I must have glossed over this part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baby he/him Posted February 18, 2016 Report Share Posted February 18, 2016 It's right after Kelsier finds his way to the well. He sees a bunch of Inquisitors drag the one he killed into the well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Codebread Posted February 18, 2016 Report Share Posted February 18, 2016 It's notable that the body does not show up on Kelsier's side when thrown in, which begs the question of where it went. Well, the Inquisitor was already dead, and had been dead for some time. I imagine he (with his "body") appeared in the Cognitive Realm when and where he died, not when his body was disposed of. I don't think we'd expect to see a corpse move to the Cognitive realm upon it being destroyed, although I admit the case with the Well is a lot different than any conventional form of destroying something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormgate he/him Posted February 25, 2016 Report Share Posted February 25, 2016 Since everything is made of Investiture, perhaps it just turns into Investiture. On that principle, I thought of a device that turns matter into Investiture, which can be stored in beakers like when you separate hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis. So you separate Scadrial matter into Preservation and Ruin investiture, which can then be condensed into Lerasium and Atium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natc Posted February 25, 2016 Report Share Posted February 25, 2016 . . . okay, that can have potentially dire consequences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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