Prophecy in Mistborn - How Was it Achieved?

[JLMullins]

My Theory:

 

Prophecies in the Mistborn world could be made by a feruchemist storing up physical speed, mental clarity, and luck for a prolonged period of time (maybe their whole life), and then, they would burn them in conjunction, to "guess" at what is coming, or to "guess" at what information their people will need about the days to come? (Mental clarity would be so they could fully understand what their luck was telling them, and physical speed would allow them to write it all down, quickly, allowing them to compound their luck and mental clarity, further.)

 

This would also explain the vagueness of prophecy: the prophet doesn't actually see anything they are just making an incredibly "lucky" guess about what is to come.

 

This is my theory on prophecy in that world. 

 

What do you gals and guys think?

[Moogle]

I think this is too easy.

 

Consider a Shard: they could power Feruchemy, easily giving more power to fill a metalmind than a Feruchemist could manage over their entire life. And they can do this over and over, because their Investiture returns to them.

 

What's to stop a Shard from doing this 'luck' thing to see the future? We know some Shards can't see the future, so it seems like there's something here I'm missing. Maybe not being able to see the future means they can't power Feruchemy easily?

[Khyrindor he/him]

I thought it was Preservation that told the Terrispeople and the First Generation of Kandra. Wasn't that confirmed in book three?

[JLMullins]

@Khyrindor: Preservation was no longer, really, a consciousness, when the first Generation were created by TLR.

 

@Moogle: I don't know if I would call it easy. You would have to regulate the amount of luck you stored, or you would become so unlucky you'd die from one accident or other. It would be very tricky.

 

How could a Shard power feruchemy? I must have missed something.

 

My theory is more one of: Why wouldn't it work? You could even simply draw random lines, while inordinately lucky, and they would form the prophecies. This, however, would require that luck could be somewhat directed, which may not be the case.

 

It might be that, if you were in a casino, and tried to use luck to win at Roulette, instead, a winning lottery ticket would blow into your pocket, or some such. You could lose the roulette spin, and feel like your luck failed, when, in fact, your luck did more than you hoped. It would depend.

 

Again, if it functioned on your deepest desires, then only those who could release the cares of "the now" and truly seek the best for their people in the years to come, would be able to give prophecy in this manner.

 

But, just a thought.

[Moogle]

How could a Shard power feruchemy? I must have missed something.

 

When you Compound, you use Preservation's power to fill a metalmind. There's no need to bother with the middleman of a Feruchemist+Allomancer, though - Shards have control over their own magic systems, so they can usually replicate most of the features of anything. Preservation couldn't power atium, but was capable of powering every other metal Elend had. And, if Preservation did some tinkering, it could most likely also power an ability like atium.

 

WoBs:

 

Czanos (17 October 2008)

Preservation can fuel Allomancy, (Minus Atium.) but can Ruin fuel Hemalurgy? (Or Atium?) And could Sazed fuel all three Metallic Arts?

Brandon Sanderson (17 October 2008)

Both gods could, if they wanted, fuel all of the metallic arts. Preservation is stronger at fueling Allomancy, Ruin stronger at fueling Allomancy or Feruchemy when it has been given via a spike. Both are balanced when it comes to Feruchemy. But this rarely comes up in the books, as it required expending power in a way that the gods were hesitant to do.

(source)

 

Andrew the Great (19 October 2008)

Why can Vin fuel Elend's atium-burning, even though Atium is Ruin's Body and Vin is using Preservation? Or did I misread that and he was just burning atium and had run out of everything else?

Brandon Sanderson (20 October 2008)

Yes, as has been pointed out:

A powerful peace swelled in Elend. His Allomancy flared bright, though he knew the metals inside of him should have burned away. Only atium remained, and the strange power did not—could not—give him this metal. But it didn’t matter. For a moment, he was embraced by something greater. He looked up, toward the sun. (From the text.)

 

As a note here, the powers granted by all of the metals—even the two divine ones—are not themselves of either Shard. They are simply tools. And so, it's possible that one COULD have found a way to reproduce an ability like atium's while using Preservation's power, but it wouldn't be as natural or as easy as using Preservation to fuel Allomancy.

The means of getting powers—Ruin stealing, Preservation gifting—are related to the Shards, but not the powers themselves.

(source)

Edited May 29, 2014 by Moogle

[JLMullins]

When you Compound, you use Preservation's power to power a metalmind. There's no need to bother with the middleman of a Feruchemist+Allomancer, though - Shards have control over their own magic systems, so they can usually replicate most of the features of anything. Preservation couldn't power atium, but was capable of powering every other metal Elend had. And, if Preservation did some tinkering, it could most likely also power an ability like atium.

 

Yes, in that case a Leecher(or mistborn) who was also a Chromium ferring(or full feruchemist) could write a prophecy if the other conditions were met (not focused on the now, but genuinely interested in the well being of those to come: I think you are underestimating how rare that would be). However, Feruchemy is not of Ruin, or Preservation, but of both, thus, prophecy would be a power requiring two shards: very powerful indeed. (I don't know if Sazed is still a feruchemist, after becoming both Shards. Arguably, Vin was no longer an allomancer when she became Preservation. But it might be a moot point, since one ceases to crawl once one can run.)

 

All that being said, I want to emphasize, this would NOT be seeing the future. To say that it was would be like saying that throwing a basketball over a house and happening to make a basket is the same as seeing the basket through the house. They might have similar outcomes, but they are, in fact, different abilities. (Look at Mat's luck in The Wheel of Time. He has almost prophetic abilities, at times, and it works to his best interest and towards his personal, deep seated goals, even when he doesn't see how in the moment.)

 

To that end, simply being able to see possible futures would not make you capable of writing a good prophecy, which would help accomplish your goals. Again, these would be different abilities.

Edited May 29, 2014 by JLMullins

[Cstryon he/him]

I might be wrong, it's been a while since my last Mistborn read through. But I got the impression that Preservation gave the Terris the Prophecy of the Hero of Ages. Preservation knew that the well would need to be taken up and the power would need to be released. We know that at least some Shards can see into the future.

Also we know Ruin changed some things, to take advantage of the people that knew the Prophecy, manipulating Alendi, and Vin (among others) so that his will, instead of Preservation's would come about.

I ddon't think, at least for the prophesy of the Hero, that it came from any magic system, I'm pretty sure it came straight from Preservation to the Terris people early in their history.

[Chaos he/him]

I do believe there is indeed a quote that says Preservation was directly responsible for the prophecies. Not sure where it is though...

[JLMullins]

Sazed/Harmony actually says:

 

"The question remains, where did the original prophecies about the Hero of Ages come from? I now know that Ruin changed them, but did not fabricate them. Who first taught that a Hero would come, one who would be an emperor of all mankind, yet would be rejected by his own people? Who first stated he would carry the future of the world on his arms, or that he would repair that which had been sundered?

And who decided to use the neutral pronoun, so that we wouldn't know if the Hero was a woman or a man?"

 

But, it is made quite clear that whoever holds a Shard can see the history of the power, and see how it could be used:

"Holding the power did strange things to my mind. In just a few moments, I became familiar with the power itself, with its history, and with the ways it might be used."

 

The first quote says that he knows the prophecies didn't come from Ruin, and this second quote implies that he would know for sure if it could have/did come from Preservation, and that does not seem to be the case. (See the first quote, above.)

 

Thus, the prophecies must have come from man and their magic, the only magic before the assertion being Feruchemy, or a different one of the Shards, which would be kind of odd but, I suppose, not out of the question.

 

Thoughts?

Edited June 12, 2014 by JLMullins

[Chaos he/him]

I know what Sazed said

I'll search for the quote I am thinking of and let you know.

[JLMullins]

I guess my point was this: If he could know for certain that Ruin didn't create the prophecies, he should have known, for certain, if Preservation did. It is not stated as a guess or conjecture, but a fact. It would seem odd if he could know absolutely one Shard was not involved while being uncertain if his other one was. It comes back to his lengthy query on where the prophecies come from.

 

But, again. I don't know if my theory is correct, It is just a theory. I am more asking if anyone sees a flaw in my theory. I am not asking for you to say: "Yes, that is how it happened," or: "No, it happened this way..." (Unless someone in the know wants to enlighten us...)  ;-)

 

I am looking for: "That couldn't work because..." or: "I don't see a reason why it wouldn't work, but I am still not sure if that is the source."

 

Thanks for all the replies!