The Irony of Ages

[Mason Wheeler]

The Wheel of Plot turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that pass into legend.  Legend fades to myth, and some of those myths end up looking really silly to people familiar with the source material!  For example:

• The silly, nearly incomprehensible inner-city slang of a thieving street urchin in one age is regarded in another as the High Tongue.
• In the Final Empire, Kelsier was a sociopath and an anarchist, dedicated to destroying the existing social order, whereas Sazed was a great preserver of knowledge and bringer of stability.  In Wax's time, we see that the Church of the Survivor is a powerful, organized institution with churches, doctrines, and commandments, and their adherents look aghast at Sazed's Path, viewing it as a dangerously Chaotic (in the D&D alignment sense) religion.
• Marsh, who saved the entire world from Ruin and destruction by fighting off a dark god's influence just barely enough to pull Vin's earring out, who has acted (mostly) as a benevolent servant of Harmony ever since, is viewed centuries later as the Grim Reaper, bringer of death.

It makes me wonder what sort of strange ironies (not to be confused with Ironeyes, of course!) we'll end up seeing in the Mistborn Modern series.  How will they look upon Wax, Wayne, Marasi, Steris, and the rest?

[Kingsdaughter613 she/her]

I suspect one of those will be little more than footnotes. (Wayne.)

Wax will probably get a paragraph or two, for his part in Aradel becoming governor. Wax and Steris will probably be mentioned for helping in the initial meetings between North and South. As they seem to have stepped back now, it will likely be little else. Wax might be shoved onto a list of lawmen. They'll both be listed in the peerage.

Marasi is the wild card. If she ends up as a reformer she may end up the best known of the bunch.

These four aren't radically changing society; they are keeping the status quo which means that, while important, they are not going to be of much interest to anyone but historians focused on the time.

[Landis963 he/him]

3 hours ago, Kingsdaughter613 said:

I suspect one of those will be little more than footnotes. (Wayne.)

Wax will probably get a paragraph or two, for his part in Aradel becoming governor. Wax and Steris will probably be mentioned for helping in the initial meetings between North and South. As they seem to have stepped back now, it will likely be little else. Wax might be shoved onto a list of lawmen. They'll both be listed in the peerage.

Marasi is the wild card. If she ends up as a reformer she may end up the best known of the bunch.

These four aren't radically changing society; they are keeping the status quo which means that, while important, they are not going to be of much interest to anyone but historians focused on the time.

Well, they will be fighting off the Set and their creepy, immortal masters.  That's the sort of thing that becomes legend really really quickly, if it turns out to be flashy enough.  The problem is that they don't have a lot of current fame to serve as a foundation for these legends.  (Wayne, as mentioned, will fade into the background, Wax is known as a walking Roughian adventure story protagonist, Steris will undoubtedly be relegated to either "Girl Friday" or "Damsel in Distress" and never the twain shall meet, and Marasi has no such fame)

[Oversleep]

Don't forget the Tarcsel. Soon enough she might have a company and she may name it after her great benefactor... Down in the line I expect a CEO of the Wayne company whose name is Bruce

For the rest of the gang, much depends on how things will go in the Lost Metal.

[Mason Wheeler]

1 hour ago, Oversleep said:

Down in the line I expect a CEO of the Wayne company whose name is Bruce

Does Wayne actually have a last name? I don't think it's been mentioned anywhere yet...

[KnightGradient]

2 hours ago, Mason Wheeler said:

Does Wayne actually have a last name? I don't think it's been mentioned anywhere yet...

At one point in SoS, MeLaan calls him 'Kid Wayne', so maybe(but probably not) he goes by his last name.

[soyperson]

Someone will be a casualty in the Basin Civil War (a la Dockson in tFE)

Hopefully not Wayne. He should be a politician somewhere down the line.

And I expect someone in Era 3 to read about Wax Dawnshot in a history book. 

[Jondesu he/him]

22 hours ago, Mason Wheeler said:

Marsh, who saved the entire world from Ruin and destruction by fighting off a dark god's influence just barely enough to pull Vin's earring out, who has acted (mostly) as a benevolent servant of Harmony ever since, is viewed centuries later as the Grim Reaper, bringer of death.

I doubt many people, if any, have witnessed Marsh being benevolent.  I suspect when he shows up, it's to kill or otherwise stop people who are doing things Harmony feels are worth shutting down, or that he feels are worth it.  Speaking of which, why couldn't Marsh have provided a little backup to Wax and Wayne in their adventures?  He barely factored in.  Is he maybe not on Scadrial at the moment? 

jW

[Mason Wheeler]

Just now, Jondesu said:

Speaking of which, why couldn't Marsh have provided a little backup to Wax and Wayne in their adventures?  He barely factored in.  Is he maybe not on Scadrial at the moment? 

How would he blend in?  Worldhoppers are easy enough to spot already; you can tell one nearly every time (unless it's Hoid) by the way the locals look at them and can't quite place their ethnicity.  But a guy with spikes through his eyes?  That's way too conspicuous!

[Jondesu he/him]

1 minute ago, Mason Wheeler said:

How would he blend in?  Worldhoppers are easy enough to spot already; you can tell one nearly every time (unless it's Hoid) by the way the locals look at them and can't quite place their ethnicity.  But a guy with spikes through his eyes?  That's way too conspicuous!

Conspicuous if you're seen, sure.  But I'd bet there's at least some places he could go where he'd be able to just keep himself unnoticed and concealed, while still gathering information.

EDIT: Besides, on another world people wouldn't understand the significance of the spikes.  So while yes, it'd cause a huge stir and he'd definitely be noticed, it might not affect what he's trying to do in some places.

jW

Edited August 29, 2016 by Jondesu

[king of nowhere]

14 minutes ago, Jondesu said:

Conspicuous if you're seen, sure.  But I'd bet there's at least some places he could go where he'd be able to just keep himself unnoticed and concealed, while still gathering information.

EDIT: Besides, on another world people wouldn't understand the significance of the spikes.  So while yes, it'd cause a huge stir and he'd definitely be noticed, it might not affect what he's trying to do in some places.

jW

I wonder how our own society would react if someone with spikes through the eyes wandered around. assume sanderson books do not exist.

[Mason Wheeler]

47 minutes ago, king of nowhere said:

I wonder how our own society would react if someone with spikes through the eyes wandered around. assume sanderson books do not exist.

Bear in mind that the spikes aren't just "through the eyes"; they're pounded in so far that they're sticking out the back of the head!

[goody153]

1 hour ago, Jondesu said:

I doubt many people, if any, have witnessed Marsh being benevolent.  I suspect when he shows up, it's to kill or otherwise stop people who are doing things Harmony feels are worth shutting down, or that he feels are worth it.  Speaking of which, why couldn't Marsh have provided a little backup to Wax and Wayne in their adventures?  He barely factored in.  Is he maybe not on Scadrial at the moment? 

jW

He's on Scadrial on Southern regions in WoB . Though he's doing much more important Harmony stuff, he's his strongest champion after all.

[DeadFencer]

On August 27, 2016 at 9:58 PM, Kingsdaughter613 said:

I suspect one of those will be little more than footnotes.

These four aren't radically changing society;

Possible BoM spoilers, but certain actions of the four changed society on a level not seen since the Catacendre. 

[Kingsdaughter613 she/her]

Yes, but then they stepped back. Wax and Steris will likely be recalled for beginning negotiations with the South, but it will be the leaders on both sides that will be the major players. It's quite possible that the negotiations will be what is actually remembered; those involved will be forgotten. (Do YOU know the names of the people who wrote the Magna Carta? I don't. John signed it to Richard's chagrin, but the people who actually wrote it?) 

If we are talking about the other major revelation, a lot depends on Wax's actions. If he keeps it quiet, which he may well do, then he isn't going to be remembered in regard to it. The Bands are going to be kept quiet, if anyone has any sense, and medallion technology will likely be associated with the above treaty negotiations. 

The greatest irony may well be that, despite all they've done, our quartet is all but forgotten by most people. Somewhat like Richard Henry Lee. (For those not into US history, he was the one who brought the official motion for independence to the continental congress. The result of which was a, considerably better known, Declaration...)

[DrakeMarshall he/him]

Logically, there are many cases in which they take sideline roles.

And they definitely can't strive to take the roles in culture that Vin, Kelsier, and Sazed took. All of those three literally held divine power at some point and are major figures both in the history of the human race on Scadrial and in all the major religions of Scadrial.

This being said... I highly doubt they will be completely relegated. I think, Sanderson being a good storyteller, he will want to weave in their mark on Scadrial's culture (How could you write four in depth books and then disregard their future impacts? Historically it happens sometimes, but considering this is being written to make a good story, I don't know if it will happen). It could be as small as a nod like reading about Wax Dawnshot in a history book, but it could be anything more, like them becoming common household names, depending on how the fourth era 2 book goes.