How Would Ruin Have Gotten the Atium? What does that mean?

[MasterK-Bob he/him]

Hi guys,

I was just thinking about this upon rereading parts of Hero of Ages for a paper I'm writing, but how would Ruin have gotten the atium? Like, was it only his ignorance of where it was that kept it from just taking it into himself once he was freed, and once he found out where it was, was it just Vin's power as Preservation preventing him from doing anything active reflexively that did it? If so, what was the point of the Kolos even attacking for it. The world would have ended anyway, it would just have taken a few months for people to starve, if Vin hadn't killed ruin and Sazed had taken up both powers. Would the Kolos or Kandra under ruin's control taking control of Atium actually have done anything more as long as Vin was preservation? Were the pits protected from Ruin somehow that as long at the atium was in them, Ruin couldn't just like, absorb it into himself? What's going on here?

[RShara she/her]

He would have had to burn it.

Quote

Chaos (paraphrased)

What would have happened if Ruin did get the atium? Yeah, the world is destroyed, but how does Ruin "absorb" the atium so he can utilize the power?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

He would metabolize it, just like the normal people have to do. However, if he did get it he would then be able to destroy the world.

Ancient 17S Q&A (May 1, 2010)

 

[MasterK-Bob he/him]

But what does it mean for him to get it? What prevents him from doing that already? What about creatures he controls getting it into their hands would make it so Ruin could, basically, eat it?

[Weltall]

1 hour ago, MasterK-Bob said:

But what does it mean for him to get it? What prevents him from doing that already? What about creatures he controls getting it into their hands would make it so Ruin could, basically, eat it?

Have you read the annotations?

Quote

Brandon Sanderson

Ruin in the Cache

So, you'll notice that Ruin appears to Vin here in the form of Reen. One might wonder why he even needed her to investigate if he could visit the cache himself.

This reveals the main problem Ruin was dealing with in this instance. The Lord Ruler was very clever in how he placed and organized these caches. He planned them in locations where there was so much metal in the ground that it would prevent Ruin from discovering them. And, more importantly, he trained his obligators—Yomen included—not to speak of what was down below or reveal the locations of the caches.

Ruin didn't know there was a cache here, not until Vin found the previous plate. Even once he knew where the cache was, he couldn't see much when he visited it. He couldn't know if there was atium there, for the entire area—particularly because of the metal cans Vin mentions—glowed so brightly that Ruin had no idea what he was seeing.

He needed a pawn to visit, one through whose eyes he could see. One who could discover where the atium was. Ruin drew the same conclusion Vin did here—that if there had been atium, Yomen would have moved it. But where? Ruin still needed her to find it for him. Either that or bring in an Inquisitor, something he eventually decided to do.

The Hero of Ages Annotations (Dec. 8, 2009)

In other words, Ruin literally cannot find the atium without help because even once he knows where a given cache is, he's incapable of actually distinguishing the atium from all of the surrounding metal. In the case of the actual location of the atium, it was contained in a steel box which means Ruin couldn't possibly have found it even if someone told him 'hey, go check out the Trustwarren'. This is why he gets his various agents (which includes an unknowing Vin and Elend) to locate and search the caches for him.

Also, throughout the end of Hero of Ages Ruin isn't completely free to act because he has to worry about first Kelsier and then Vin having Ascended after Leras' death. Even with Kelsier struggling with the power, it was still a huge threat to Ruin and once Vin took it up there was no chance of Ruin going after the atium personally (even if Elend's plan hadn't made that impossible) because the minute he distracted himself by going for it, Vin would have attacked him. But as mentioned, Ruin was physically incapable of ever finding the atium for himself due to the measures that Rashek and the kandra took to hide it.

Edited June 9, 2019 by Weltall

[+robardin he/him]

On 6/9/2019 at 0:34 AM, Weltall said:

Have you read the annotations?

... Ruin was physically incapable of ever finding the atium for himself due to the measures that Rashek and the kandra took to hide it.

You don't know what I do for mankind, the Lord Ruler had said.

And we didn't, Vin thought. Thank you.

[RShara she/her]

Seconding the suggestion to read the Annotations. They're great!