what would the lord ruler have done with the power of the well?

[king of nowhere]

If Vin hadn't killed him, the lord ruler would have taken the power of the well again, because the well was refilling anyway.

Do we have any clue at what he would have done with it? Would he, with his increased experience in the power's use (after all, he had already used it once), have tried to fix his previous mistakes, and put an end to the ashworld - but still keeping himself as the head of the new world?

Would he have have tried to fix the flaws in his power he left the last time? Stuff like extinguishing for good the genes of feruchemy, stomping out all remaining voices of what was before his reign, remove what few allomancy had gone to the skaa through interbreeding?

Would he apply "maintenance" needed for the final empire to work? refill the ashmounts that would eventually go empty? alter his age, make himself younger so he won't need incremental amounts of atium to survive (which would lead eventually to a point where he cannot stay young anymore)? create a few new beads of lerasium to restore the original power of the allomancy? refill the mineral deposits that would otherwise go exhausted over time?

Would he do nothing and content himself with having kept ruin at bay for another thousand years?

[Green Hoodie Mistborn he/him]

Interesting question... 

 

My inclination is that he would have used the power to further cement his rule. Maybe alter the existing Feruchemists to make them all sterile, etc. and then done some maintenance on the world. 

 

I don't think he would have tried a big move of the world again because he just didn't know enough about astronomy like Sazed did and would have continued to mess it up, I think he learned that lesson. 

 

Or maybe not... Ruin was getting to him, maybe he would have pushed Rashek to try that, just so it would destroy the world more quickly... 

 

I doubt he would care to increase the potency of Allomancy again, weaker powered allomancers are easier for him and the inquisitors to control/fight if needs be. 

 

Great question!

[king of nowhere]

that brings another question: if the lord ruler had won, vin would have died.

we know that both ruin and preservation had plans for her: ruin wanted to use her to be released, preservation wanted her to take the shard. What would ruin and preservation have done if vin had died?

[Tamzin Ashevai she/her]

In fantasy fiction, it's a theorist's playground to posit that which would've/should've/could've happened.  Vin did die and Sazed picked up the pieces (so to speak) as Harmony.  Ruin and Preservation cancelled one another out.

 

If the Lord Ruler had won?  There wouldn't be a story and Kelsier's sacrifice would've been in vain.

[Awesomeness Summoned he/him]

In fantasy fiction, it's a theorist's playground to posit that which would've/should've/could've happened.  Vin did die and Sazed picked up the pieces (so to speak) as Harmony.  Ruin and Preservation cancelled one another out.

 

If the Lord Ruler had won?  There wouldn't be a story and Kelsier's sacrifice would've been in vain.

Not sure this is the most constructive comment. 'What if's' are kinda the point of a forum like this so to say someone shouldn't wonder about an alternative outcome of a book isn't much different then going around to all the different threads and telling people to stop theorizing and just RAFO.

Besides, the point of his post was really just to theorize what TLR's plans were for the well since we'll never get to see what he intended to do, not so much about an imagined alternative ending to the book.