Mistborn Extinction?

[stgermaine]

I have looked EVERYWHERE, and I am sure this is an easy answer, so I look forward to hearing it

 

What is the deal with no Mistborns in the new era? Did Sazed ban them or something? It's been years since I've read book 3, and it is packed away somewhere.

 

Thanks!

[Eki]

The 'official' story is that Allomancy in general has become more diluted in the population. Mistborn had become more and more rare even in the days of the Final Empire. The only reason there were as many Mistborn as there were, was that ten people a whole 1000 years ago had eaten lerasium beads and then got children. That power has been diluted since.

 

There is also the possibility that Sazed changed something for some reason, but who knows?

[Yata he/him]

It's like Eki said and also for another reason.

 

Now the Terris bloodline has merged with the rest of population. The Feruchemy Genes and Allomancy genes don't work well together.

They make some kind of Interference. This actually made possible the existence of Twinborn (but as you saw they are quite ananomaly) on other hands this has weakened the Feruchemical bloodline and this creates the Ferring.

 

In the AoL era is quite impossible the birth of a Mistborn and (as far as we know) high unlikely a Full Feruchemist birth(I think the secon more likely just because the Terrisman have close enclave and the interbreed may be less or none in some bloodline). 

[Voidus]

Yeah basically because before Harmony's Ascension there were a few years of Noble wars, battles, Ruin murdering everything and general calamity culling out a lot of Allomancer blood. Also Vin murdering a bunch of Mistings and Mistborn. So basically there weren't many Mistborn left afterwards to pass on strong enough genes (Maybe none except Spook, can't quite remember if it was mentioned)

[stgermaine]

Ok thanks guys. It all makes sense, and that's what I figured, I just didn't know if it was mentioned somewhere that I didn't remember.

[Espella]

For the record, WoB says that Harmony changed how Snapping works, which could have theoretically included something to stop Mistborn from happening.

[IndigoAjah he/him]

I think they are still technically possible. They were already rare 300 years ago (having become more rare every generation over 1000 years since the first ones were made, and 300 is a significant extension on that weakening process), and as has been mentioned above, most of their bloodlines were taken out in the original trilogy. I also agree that Saze has likely made them rarer to go with the increase in Mistings and Ferrings we have seen. But I don't think they are impossible. I think we will see another true Mistborn this era or next and they will be a gamebreaker and thus likely a bad guy. The spiritual and genetic circumstances needed to become one are just a lot rarer now.

[Eki]

I think they are still technically possible. They were already rare 300 years ago (having become more rare every generation over 1000 years since the first ones were made, and 300 is a significant extension on that weakening process), and as has been mentioned above, most of their bloodlines were taken out in the original trilogy. I also agree that Saze has likely made them rarer to go with the increase in Mistings and Ferrings we have seen. But I don't think they are impossible. I think we will see another true Mistborn this era or next and they will be a gamebreaker and thus likely a bad guy. The spiritual and genetic circumstances needed to become one are just a lot rarer now.

I believe Brandon has said that the next trilogy will be about

a Mistborn serial killer. But we also know that some people are trying to create Mistborn, so the killer might be the product of genetical engineering or something.

There is a parallel here to red hair, I think. There is an urban myth going around that red hair is going extinct. It's not - the genes are just being spread out, and red hair is recessive. But as long as people with the red hair genes get the same number of children as others, on average, the ratio of the genes within the population will remain the same.

I believe Allomantic potential behaves the same way - on average, the amount of potential remains the same over time, but it's getting spread out. Fewer people with a huge amount, and more people with just a little.

You could argue that Mistings on average would have an advantage in life over others, since many of them could get better jobs and therefore a better quality of life. But people also tend to get fewer children as they get richer, so... It's tough to say.

[IndigoAjah he/him]

but trying to genetically manipulate a Mistborn (the original plan, unless they were planning to harvest the offspring their kidnapped Mistings made for Spikes, also an option) could only work if it were possible without manipulation anyway, so either way that spoiler that I did not know about implies it can still be done "naturally"

[Eki]

but trying to genetically manipulate a Mistborn (the original plan, unless they were planning to harvest the offspring their kidnapped Mistings made for Spikes, also an option) could only work if it were possible without manipulation anyway, so either way that spoiler that I did not know about implies it can still be done "naturally"

Absolutely.