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While I won’t dismiss the possibility that the kandra were genuinely unable to replicate the same process as Wax, I really wouldn’t dismiss the possibility they do know. Especially when you consider the running theme of Sazed sending the kandra, or letting them go on independent incursions, while simultaneously watching and planning over them. And you should remember that Shardic planning is extremely subtle, done so mortals and fellow Shards don’t catch up onto obvious planning. Sazed’s future sight and godsight was only blinded for a year, Wayne’s death chapter confirmed Sazed was seeing the future during the blinding, and TLM’s Kelsier epilogue confirms he put a plan in motion in the years before the blinding. Remember when Sazed sent Wax the note saying “You’ll need to make a second [earring], once the proper metal arrives.” Sazed was tracking Marasi and Wayne’s mission of fighting Granks’ gang - who was pierced by trellium. And in this, Sazed had a lot of motives in mind. Including getting some lerasium into Wax and Wayne. “Harmony puts people where they need to be, but then they must act. It is his way.”

Is there a WoB for this? First I’m hearing about it. If this is true, how do the electrum-atium Mistings tie into that alteration. And if it’s true, then my eyes are wide about malatium being included. Does this mean Preservation predicted Ruin would eventually manipulate humanity into creating malatium?

Yes. Sazed definitely has a plan for the lerasium dust he’s been ordering the kandra to secretly gather.

This sounds completely right from Ruin’s perspective. But I would say that Leras knew what effect using his mind would have on him. Leras made the prophecies and Mistsnapping before sacrificing his mind, because he knew sacrificing his mind would result in his memory declining over millennia. So he wanted to leave clues and tools to humanity. This would be in line with Preservation having much better plans and future sight than Ruin. And thus much more knowledgeable. When I mentioned killing rulers, I was pointing to what he planned with the Eleventh Metal and Spook. He planned for the Eleventh Metal to be the key to Rashek’s death, and iirc he planned for Spook to kill Quellion as part of the greater plan to destroy Urteau. Even though Ruin was intelligently, subtly, and craftily planning things out it all fell under the umbrella of directly destroying cities or killing rulers. Manipulate people into using and believing in the Eleventh Metal -> causes the Lord Ruler’s death and decline of the Final Empire. Drive Penrod to madness -> destroys Luthadel. Enflame Quellion and Spook’s adoration of Kelsier -> destroys Urteau. It’s decay and destruction in the long run, but it’s still decay and destruction in the direct way. This is why I say a more intelligent Vessel could strive to push humanity towards warfare. While it could be considered a Preservation thing, destruction and death is always involved in war. Even Ati showed this capability in canon, to an extent. He pushed for people near the Far Peninsula to create malatium, which was very much a new discovery (outside of TLR’s discovery which Ruin definitely played a hand in). He used the Deepness to push Alendi towards a path of war and death. But like I said, this all served his ultimate, ancient desire to destroy Scadrial and fulfill the bargain. And I wonder if a more intelligent or wicked Vessel wouldn’t be so straightforward.

Thoughts on lore revealed in this Warbreaker chapter (Mistborn spoilers included) I finished chapter 32 today. This chapter gave a lot of unique implications for Nalthis’ history, and the plans of the Returned’s creator (who seems to be a Shard). The uniqueness of Hanald’s valley and the Tears of Edgli brought my attention. The valley being the only jungle in the world, and the only place where the Tears can grow. I found it cool that the valley is a place where rain is never cold and food grows spontaneously. And that the Tears of Edgli ended up being used by Vo’s crew to turn the valley into a global superpower. (Full Mistborn Spoilers) Vo being Returned, giving the five Visions and dying, then his crew creating Hanald, and his wife starting the royal family with their Royal Locks. It all seems like a butterfly effect foreseen and orchestrated by the planet’s Shard. (Full Mistborn Spoilers) There’s also four important Returned here - Vo the first Returned, the Returned who predicted the Manywar, Strifelover/Kalad, and Peacegiver. It seems like Kalad and Peacegiver were both Returned with enough Breath to be Awakeners. Though honestly, I thought the Returned and Awakening were going to be much older phenomena than 400-600 years. I’m curious about the five Scholars.

After reading chapter 30, some big things are going on. Lightsong questions why the Returned have different body styles. Blushweaver is thin and well-endowed, Mercystar is curvaceous, Allmother is old. Hopefinder and Susebron were Returned at very young ages, so their aging process and maturity can be different from other children. Or different from other Returned. Lightsong wonders if Returned looks have to do with Hallandren's ideals of beauty, or how society saw them. He also wonders why language, skills, and social competence survive the transformation. But not memory. [Secret History Spoilers] [Era 2 full spoilers]

I think you misinterpreted this post. I'm not concluding "Sazed didn't need to put Wax through that pain." That's the conclusion I see from most people. I'm going against it because, as you said, Sazed saw that not doing so would yield the conquest or destruction of Scadrial. A viable possibility given what Wax and Wayne accomplished in the last two books. But despite that, I'm still going to question the ethics and morality of Sazed or even Rashek's actions. I won't jump to conclusions, but I will ask questions. Though I admit with Rashek, it's only because his actions were vital pieces of Preservation's Plan. And because we lack true insight into Rashek's mind.

I started Warbreaker about two months ago. But school and learning about mental health slowed down my pace. I’ve been slowly reading it and I’m finally halfway through it. I'm on chapter 31. So far the pacing is slower than a Mistborn book, but faster than Elantris. I think it’s worked pretty well. Much like the other Cosmere books I’ve read, the scope/history of Warbreaker's world isn’t as descriptive or vast as I would like. Much like Era 1's outer Dominances, or the Roughs and explorers and unknown regions of Era 2, the nations don't have much interconnection apart from Hallandren and Idris. The other nations exist to establish a vast world outside the "central" nations. This isn't a dealbreaker, but I wish Sanderson's worldbuilding delved far beyond them. However, in terms of describing a unique world, this is Sanderson’s best. Everything about this world is so colorful and descriptive. Awakening is shaping up to be my favorite Cosmere magic system! I'm a fan of versatile magic systems that anyone can access. Everything about the Returned is so engaging, and even the brief mentions of non-Hallandren Returned are cool. Vasher’s POV is very cool. Vivenna’s arc didn't have an interesting start, but I'm warming up to it. Siri's arc is very compelling and I was NOT expecting Susebron's character development. Or the talking storming murder sword Nightblood and Susebron are so cute. Denth and Tonk Fah are so funny. Lightsong and the other Returned are the best parts of the book. The politics, Lightsong’s theory on Returned appearances, the dreams and visions, the Third Heightening! MY GOD! It's all so beautiful. I’m especially intrigued by Llarimar's theory that all Returned come back with a purpose. It seems this world’s Shard gives tiny pieces of their future sight to certain dead people, who become the Returned. Then the Shard uses the Returned to play a game of future sight 5D chess. Vo, Peacegiver, Lightsong, Blushweaver, Hopefinder, and the God Kings all seem like important pawns. Also, I'm making a few connections to Secret History

Omg thanks so much!

If you want to interpret his motivation like that, this can work. But after his daughter’s death, his motivation became to destroy (or at least overthrow) the council of Startouch Elves and the “cosmic order” they uphold. In which case, I think he’d be a much better Vessel of Ruin than Ati. I can see Aaravos directing Ruin towards the societal direction implied by Sazed and Ati's Eleventh Metal plan. Towards terrifyingly long term, contingency-having, contemplative, manipulative decay of stagnant empires or hegemonies.

Did someone say The Dragon Prince and Arcane?! Love them both, especially Arcane!!! Made a crossover post just now hehe. It contains spoilers for Secret History.

This gorgeous, silver tongued, manipulative, contingency loving Starman from The Dragon Prince. What would happen if Aaravos was in Ati's position as the original Vessel of Ruin? Secondly, how would this change Ruin's mindset, intellect, plans, and relationship with Preservation? I’ve read: every Mistborn story, Elantris, and Emperor’s Soul.

I think this all connects back to how Scadrian Shards all manifested God Metal. And so, the circumstances of how perpendicularities were able to appear. Ruin - Did not deliberately leave any amount of atium before his imprisonment. Heck, it’s a continuity snarl of whether his perpendicularity appeared near his “prison” and was moved by Rashek, or was always in the Pits of Hathsin. Not to mention the interconnected snarl of… where would Ruin’s perpendicularity have been before his imprisonment? Preservation - His perpendicularity is definitely an instance of it appearing due to Investiture leakage. But not because of God Metal. Compared to his manipulation of Ruin’s body or the South’s supply of harmonium, Preservation left very little lerasium at the Well of Ascension. Harmony - Now that you mention this, I do think his perpendicularity was leakage. But his God Metal was a deliberate creation. There’s so much harmonium compared to the lerasium beads. So much that it fuels all airships, skimmers, primer cubes, and bombs.

So I’m gonna make a list of what I assume your points 1. At any rate, he definitely knew about the Southerners. BUT it’s unconfirmed if Harmony intentionally left them or caused the Ice Death. Remember that the Catacendre is in line with Harmony’s Intent - Preserve life and the world, Ruin the old cities/societies and break some of the world. I’m not sure if the Ice Death would have some Ruin, considering there would be no Ashmounts to Ruin. 2. Remember that Harmony left harmonium and a perpendicularity to the Southerners. Then there’s the possibility he sent or nudged Kelsier to help them. 3. You really need to define who are the “innocent people.” Southern Scadrians, unconfirmed circumstances and he helped them anyways? Paalm… yeah he messed up there. But when she became insane, he saw in most future possibilities that Wax wouldn’t be willing to kill her. 4. He manipulated his swords and shields. But he didn’t ruin their lives. He trusted Wax to bounce back from his pain and be the Sword who could lead Wayne to the Set’s bomb. He cultivated Wayne to be the hero to stop the bomb. Cultivated Marasi into being the socially conscious, trusting Governor of Elendel. You aren’t wrong to hate Harmony’s decisions. However, demanding that he solve everyone’s problems and put no one through pain ignores Era 2’s philosophical themes. It also ignores the fact he is NOT Preservation, but he’s also NOT Ruin. I don’t want to get into real world religious debate, but God in our world can be very questionable. Why should we assume Sazed to be any better?

I feel like you’re taking Harmony’s actions out of proportion. You’re going to need to define the parameters of “harmed the innocent,” “global genocide,” and “driven many of his best agents to suicide.” I have ideas on what you mean. But even then, it feels like you’re trying too hard to paint Harmony as an evil manipulator.

To be completely fair. In our world where many people believe in an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God there are still many people with shaky faith or evil intentions. The problem of evil is a philosophical topic for a reason. Shards are not the three Os on a cosmere-wide scale, only on a planetary scale (more or less). And you need to remember that Harmony’s role is not to remove all pain and harm. You could even argue that’s an essential role for a god or God. Removing pain/harm is Preservation’s role, and Preservation would be horrific in that instance.

I feel like this sort of conversation requires Cosmere knowledge I don’t have yet. Especially since you mentioned Odium. I will say that when it comes to Ruin or Autonomy, you’re completely right. But it’s more complicated for Preservation and Harmony. Preservation had a complex plan to permanently defeat Ruin, and it had steps ranging from questionable (Vin and Elend sacrificing themselves) to reprehensible (getting Lord Ruler to Ascend then use lerasium to form the Final Empire). So when it comes to Preservation I certainly wouldn’t put him in the same category of “very evil” as Ruin or Autonomy. But I would certainly call Preservation a being of questionable morality. In his plan did he truly understand the importance of Ruin, or did the plan only exist because Ruin was around? It’s even harder to categorize Harmony. He’s facing off against a Shard much more conniving, long-term, and precognitively able than Ruin. So I think it’s necessary to have a debate about Harmony’s actions instead of categorizing him as “functionally good” or “functionally evil.” If I had to choose between arranging for a person to be in the position of self-sacrifice that can save the whole world, or my world’s destruction, I’m choosing the former.

After watching Dune Part 2 yesterday, I'm starting to realize something that Sanderson might want to explore with Mistborn's storytelling. I would like to re-explore this once I start The Stormlight Archive. Ignoring the presence of Shard's Intent... I think Sanderson wants us to question the ethics of people who hold knowledge of the past and future. When holding the Well's power Rashek learned about atium, Ruin's blindness to metal, and saw a glimpse of Preservation's Plan. If not, a glimpse of Preservation's future possibilities. I believe those revelations were partially why he created the brutal labor camp at the Pits of Hathsin, and turned the Feruchemists into kandra who could hide the atium. On a grander scale, it seems that Preservation's Plan required Rashek to Ascend and be a tyrant for so long. Rashek's efforts put the Plan's final phases into motion, but now my eyebrow is raised towards this reprehensible step. Sazed was facilitating plans to make Autonomy withdraw from Scadrial. Sazed holds infinitely more knowledge of the past, present, and future than Rashek ever did. And yet, Era 2 still left me questioning the the steps he takes to make his desired outcomes come true. Was it ethical for Sazed to put Wax through his pain? Is it necessary for Sazed to lie to Kelsier? Is it necessary or ethical for Sazed to hide the creation of lerasium and atium dust? Does he have a grand plan in motion for Kelsier and the Ghostbloods? Heck, I believe this question extends to people who want to protect the world at any cost - i.e. Kelsier (and partially) Rashek. Rashek partially wanted to protect Scadrial from Ruin, so he created the world's most stable empire through brutal methods. But I don't think he needed a caste system to protect humanity from Ruin. An epilogue brings up the difficult question of whether or not Kelsier would engage in eugenics, Hemalurgy, or hunts for lerasium. The story brings into scrutiny why the Ghostbloods hid info from Elendel, but it doesn't villainize them. Mistborn Era 2 does not box Kelsier or Sazed into good or evil. They're morally gray figures. The story questions the costs and morals of their plans, but never answers for the characters or readers. The story also questions the problem of evil. Ruin is not truly evil, but why does Ruin need to exist? It questions why Sazed doesn't lean towards Preservation to stop all pain and harm. Discusses why leaning towards Preservation can be awful. I really hope Sanderson expands upon this in Era 3. And keeps them ambiguous.

So before I get into my theory, I want to summarize the facts we know about Ati and Leras' influence on Scadrial. Which play into my theory on why their planning abilities were so different. We know that a Vessel of Preservation sees future possibilities much better than a Vessel of Ruin, by orders of magnitude. We see this in the steps of Leras' Plan and Kelsier's plan to give Preservation to Vin. Their precognitive abilities seem to be caused by Intent. A Vessel of Ruin formulates plans that decay and break down worlds, destroy cities, or kill people. A Vessel of Preservation formulates plans that keep things the same, stagnate progress, prevent change, protect people, or stabilize things. So fundamentally speaking, a Vessel of Preservation might have a mindset that's significantly more considerate of long-term dangers than Ruin. Some parts of Leras' Plan depending upon Ati underestimating certain possibilities or wanting to prevent some. For example, Ati foresaw Vin's small chance of Ascending to Vessel, so he used the earring to prevent this. Ati foresaw the potential for Elend's death driving Vin to murder-sucide. Yet, he dismissed this. Ati and Leras had different touchstones for their goals and influence on Scadrial. Ate initially agreed to the bargain to create humanity. This was only so he could eventually destroy Scadrial without Preservation's interference. He was okay with waiting forever, so long as Leras let him directly destroy Scadrial when the time was right. Later on, Ati only wanted to break out of his prison. And if he destroys some cities, causes some riots, or kills some rulers along the way that's even better. Ati could only speak to the minds of the spiked and insane, or alter text not written in metal. Ati didn't deliberately output his Investiture in other ways to facilitate his plans. Leras proposed the bargain to create humanity. He already knew he needed to formulate a complex plan to defeat Ati, and that creating Scadrian humanity needed to be the first step. Leras' Plan was to get people to burn away all of Ruin's body, and arrange for someone to take up the powers of both Preservation and Ruin. He didn't fully remember The Plan by the time of Secret History, but he was clearly facilitating it throughout millennia. And not just through the prophecies, Mists, Well of Ascension's users, or lerasium. For example, Leras hid hints in all the world's religions for the Hero of Ages. And clearly had a plan for Kelsier. Furthermore, Leras hears the thoughts of ALL HUMANS, can alter any text not written in metal, and fabricate text from scratch. Something that really caught my attention is that Ati not only failed to foresee the intended outcome of the Terris Prophecies, but failed to foresee the true purpose of Leras wanting to create humanity. Despite Leras creating the prophecies before imprisoning Ati. Despite humanity being created long before the prophecies. Before millennia of Ati's imprisonment and Leras' mental decay made them slip deeper and deeper into their Intents. Not only that, but Ati didn't want to create humanity. He just wanted to directly destroy worlds, or at least Scadrial. Which is weird to me. Humans are the last thing I would classify as “stable and unchanging.” Humans constantly destroy, kill, and break things to their smallest form. Even when we aim to preserve. Humans age, so we also wind down. So it seems like we’d be loved by Ruin and disliked by Preservation. But instead, it was the opposite even from the beginning. My theory is that a Vessel's intelligence and/or planning ability influences 1) the god's approach to making plans, and 2) the god's ability to consider certain future possibilities. Ruin could've chosen to create humanity that engages in war/conquest, discovers warfare tactics, or invents devastating tech. Instead he just wanted to directly destroy Scadrial. Even later on, Ruin had the mindset of influencing humanity into directly killing rulers or cities. See his plans for the Eleventh Metal, Spook, or Penrod. I believe this was influenced by Ati being a short-term, straightforward, less cunning, and spontaneous schemer. Preservation could've been diametrically opposed to creating humanity, because humans are inherently beings of chaos and change. Instead he chose to create such beings for his plan. I believe this was influenced by Leras being a calm, patient, and Xanatosian planner who took many outcomes into consideration. We might already be seeing a similar dichotomy between Ati and Sazed. When Sazed wrote the Words of Founding, he acknowledged that when humans create something they always destroy something. I think part of this was due to Sazed being a very contemplative, calm, reasonable, and humble person who takes all differing mindsets into consideration.

Hello all! Here is part 2 of my chain of posts that analyzes each line of the Terris Prophecies, and links them to the major historical figures that were concerned about them. Here is of the chain. This entry covers the excerpts covered in The Final Empire. Alendi and Vin - Interpreted that line the same way someone would "in his hands" or "on his shoulders." Rashek - The atium bracers on his arms. They granted Rashek virtual immortality, which gave him enough time to formulate countermeasures to delay Ruin and protect humanity from his apocalypse. Rashek's countermeasures were also a vital piece of Preservation's plan. Kwaan - Doesn't apply to him, but a nice twist does. The lack of anything on Kwaan's arms - his lack of copperminds - ensured the world's survival. It was the catalyst for Rashek, and later Vin, to know about a vital piece in delaying Ruin. Sazed - The iconic epigraph that started it all. Bearing the future of the entire world on their arms fits Sazed the best. Sazed bore his coppermind bracers on his arms, and used their 1000 year-old knowledge to save the world from burning down. And to restore the world to what it once was. Alendi - He could've destroyed the world with the Well's power in two ways: 1) either accidentally wreck something due to inexperience, or 2) give up the power and release Ruin. Rashek - Rashek accidentally destroyed the world with the Well's power. But he also created the Ashmounts and ash eating microbes/plants, to ensure humanity could survive in the new environment. I also believe that line could've been referring to his actions as the Lord Ruler. The Lord Ruler could've chosen more altruistic ways to unite humanity against Ruin's threat. Vin - With the Well, same reasons as Alendi. As a Vessel of Preservation, Vin's erasure of all ash almost burned all life to a crisp. But as a Vessel of Preservation, she also committed the penultimate step of Leras' Plan. Thus saving the world and ending the millennia long conflict. Sazed - The Hero of Ages would bear both Preservation and Ruin. Alendi - It seems that Alendi tried to respect the Terris culture and prophecies. But his interference as the Hero and major ruler was a violation, in some people's eyes. He tried to save all nations including Terris, but some Terris saw him as a heretic. Rashek - Humanity wanted to be safe from the Deepness. Rashek tried to protect them from the Deepness, but almost burned and froze down everything. He protected them from a worse threat, but did so by ruining everything familiar to humanity. Vin - Vin defended the nobility's preference for a stable world, but did so by against it. Instead of keeping the old world's cruelty and callousness, she destroyed it and helped make something better. And now, long after her death, Scadrial's people love the Ascendant Warrior, Sazed - He defended the Terris people's desire to be free, yet violated their isolationist ways. He worked to save them, yet he was derided. But the Terris refugees at the Pits of Hathsin grew to admire him, and even asked him to lead. Sazed as God - The Lost Metal heavily hinted that Sazed's Shard is becoming Discord. My theory is the other parts of this verse were a major plot point of era 2, and will be major again in Era 3. I think a big part of Era 2 was the people of Scadrial hating Sazed for being inactive, and yet all the books showed him subtly planning/acting without anyone suspecting a thing. The Southerners thought Sazed was angry at them; instead he gave them harmonium and a perpendicularity. Which they put to amazing use. Wax thought Sazed never helped defeat each book's threat; but Wax didn't know he subtly arranged pieces for the enemy's defeat. The Ghostbloods think Sazed dislikes them, unaware HE was responsible for their mobilization. Kelsier thinks he distrusts him; and yet Brandon implied in a WoB that Sazed trusts Kelsier and has a big plan for him. Alendi - He survived many attempts against his life, and wasn't only married to one person. Rashek - During his brief Ascension, Rashek was a literal Sliver of Infinity. The Lord Ruler was a force. No army could defeat his armies or TLR himself, no woman could keep him for long, and he survived many assassination attempts from other kings. Vin - Vin is a woman, and a soldier of the highest caliber. As a devotee of Elend's government and its eventual empress, no other warlord could claim her. No woman shall keep her... ?? No "king" had the power to slay her, not even the Lord Ruler. Sazed - The Terris didn't claim him, because he rebelled. The nobility didn't claim him, he was only a steward to them. Tindwyl died. And he survived all the turbulence the trilogy's events put him through. But at many moments Sazed didn't have faith in himself. Sazed as God - The Hero of Ages is not a human, but a force of pure Investiture. No nation can claim him, because he's known and worshipped in all nations. No woman shall keep him, for no mortal can do that to a Shard. And no king may slay him, as that's currently impossible for Scadrians. I'm afraid of the last line. I don't want Sazed to be overtaken by Intent. I don't want him to be like the other Shards... I want him to keep the nuanced viewpoint seen in SoS and BoM. Alendi - Defending the Summer Hill. Rashek - Not applicable. Everyone rejected him as the Hero. Vin - Killing the Lord Ruler, encountering the mist spirit, and defending Luthadel from the siege. Sazed - Taking up the powers of Preservation and Ruin, and tapping all the memories stored in his copperminds. All for the burden of ending the Shardic conflict. Alendi - POLYGAMIST! Rashek - Gave lerasium beads to nine kings, who became his first allies in exchange. Vin - Connected to Elend as his loving wife and confidant. Sazed - Trusted advisor to Elend and officiant for his wedding. Sazed as God - Harmony/Discord has Connections - Spiritual bonds/relationships - to everyone and everything that was, is, and will be on Scadrial. Alendi - Ruin manipulated people into spiking Alendi with earrings, giving Ruin fingers into his mind. Rashek - I don't remember Rashek wearing earrings. Vin - Bronze earring given by her mother under Ruin's influence. Sazed - The many earrings that are part of Terris fashion. Rashek - Emperor of the Final Empire. Could do anything he desired. Vin - Exact storming opposite Sazed as God - Can do anything he wants, so long as the ultimate goal falls under his Shard's Intent. Difficult to do so with Harmony. I hope Discord makes it easy. Rashek - No one should rule over an entire continent for 1000 years Vin - No one else has taken up the Well of Ascension's power, the Mists, AND the Shard of Preservation. Sazed as God - Judging from The Lost Metal, it seems that no other Vessel has taken up two Shards. Yet. This line and Preservation's Plan make me wonder... if Leras ever regretted taking part in the Shattering. Maybe his Plan was partly made from seeing or foreseeing the Shattering's consequences. Especially with someone as shortsighted as Ati-Ruin, or as considerate of the long-term as Bavadin, around. Alendi and Vin - Neither were ever born in Terris. Rashek - An outsider to his era's preference of using Feruchemy for agriculture and scholarship. Sazed - An outsider to his era's dislike of open rebellion.

One of the best things about the Mistborn trilogy was the way Sanderson wrote the tropes of prophecy and the Chosen One. And I have a lot to say about. Future sight, prophecy and Shards manipulating mortals have been my hyperfixations with Mistborn's plot. That's one reason this project exists. The other reason is the Terris Prophecies' history and intentions are shrouded in ambiguity. Why are the Terris Prophecies so vague? We know Ruin was altering them so Alendi (and later Vin) could release him from his chains of impotence. However, Ruin claims he was imprisoned for several thousand years. As such he would've been altering the prophecies for just as long. So the altered and "unaltered" prophecies of the First Generation, Rashek, Alendi and Kwaan's time would've unfortunately been successors to millennia of already-warped prophecies. Then there are Preservation's actions. Before Ruin was imprisoned millennia ago, he created the original and unaltered Terris Prophecies. He used future sight that stretched out thousands of years into the future, used those predictions as the basis of prophecies, and gave prophecies to the original Terris people through an unknown method. I believe his intentions with the original Terris Prophecies were similar to those of the Mistsnapping's sign of sixteen. Mistsnapping happened around every 1024 years, and hid clues to the ultimate outcome of destroying Ruin's body. I think when Preservation created the original prophecies, he made them intentionally vague. He intended for Scadrians to use them as a guideline that described the desired traits of each cycle's Ascendant. But that guide hid layers to trick Scadrians and Ruin's relatively poor future sight, for it hid the ultimate purpose of the true Hero of Ages. I believe each Ascendant was positioned by Preservation (mixed with tricking Ruin), so they achieve certain things that would make it easier for Pres to nudge towards the true Hero of Ages. For example, we know from SH he positioned Rashek. Rashek's role might've been to cause an apocalypse, officially reveal the existence of Allomancy, and hide atium. So that Leras could create the circumstances for his immediate successor, the atium Misting army, and a Terris rebel. I think even if Leras no longer remembered the plan by the time of SH, Vin's true role was to release Ruin, Ascend to Vessel, and make the way for Sazed. Though with all this said, something I need to keep in mind is that even Preservation's future sight would've been more unreliable than initially thought - infinite web of layers upon layers of possibilities, probabilities of a possibility occurring, exact cause of death is cloudy to foresee, rippled by Ruin's future sight, can be wrong, doesn't always know the "whys" of a possibility. What is this review about? In my opinion the Terris Prophecies contained traits that were seen in people besides Sazed, Vin, or Alendi. Traits that could've made each of them the true Hero of Ages. If their experiences, personalities, and Connections were different from the story we followed. I will be reviewing each known excerpt of the Terris Prophecies, and see how they could correspond to these characters - Alendi, Rashek, Kwaan, Vin, and Sazed. The first part - this post - will cover the excerpts from The Hero of Ages. The second part will cover the excerpts from The Final Empire. The third part will be for The Well of Ascension. Throughout this analysis, I will be keeping in mind possible reasons for why the prophecies exist: There was never an ultimate Hero of Ages, and the plan was just to delay Ruin's escape as long as possible. IMO this was definitely not the plan. Either the Ascendant or a Terrisman in each cycle could've been the true Hero of Ages. Reasonable but unlikely imo. The Ascendants - false Heroes of their Ages - were steps towards the true Hero of Ages. IMO this was the plan, even if Leras no longer remembered it by the time of SH. Especially since he was facilitating people like Rashek, Kelsier, Vin, Elend, and possibly Sazed. Excerpts from book 3 Alendi - Alendi was not of the Terris people, in a literal sense. He was from an unimportant village, then became the king of Khlennium. He was a king of men, as he united several nations (including Terris) under the banner of Khlennium. Throughout the epigraphs of The Final Empire, we learned about the emotional and literal conflicts he faced during his time as Khlennium's king. I think those conflicts were what made people believe him to be a "rebel caught between two worlds." Rashek - Rashek was of the Terris people, but not of their mentality. Most of the Terrismen that Alendi knew were content with using Feruchemy for scholarly and agricultural needs. Rashek loved his people. But Alendi believed Rashek represented a growing faction of rowdy, violent Terris youth who thought the Teris people could do greater things with Feruchemy. Whereas most Terris and nations accepted Alendi as the Hero of Ages / Rabzeen / the Anamnesor, Rashek disliked Alendi and saw him as an oppressor. Interestingly, even Kwaan admitted Alendi was an oppressor. Rashek was a king of men in the "greatest" way possible. He created an empire that ruled over a continent for 1000 years and crushed all forms of resistance. But he was a person who clearly loved the Terris people and Feruchemy. He ultimately knew the world's safety and stability took priority, and so did so many awful things to the Terris people. It definitely caused him much pain, but he thought it was the best thing to do. Rashek was a rebel of the Terris people caught between the two worlds of passion/love and duty. He might've even been a rebel to non-Terris people caught between the two worlds of hatred and protection. He wanted to protect humanity from Ruin's escape, but there was definitely a lingering sense of hatred towards Terris' oppressors or more advanced nations. Kwaan - Much like Rashek he was of the Terris people, but not of mentality. Kwaan studied nature and the Cognitive aspect of trees, whereas other Worldbringers studied religion. Kwaan was initially the first Worldbringer to believe Alendi was the Hero of Ages, while the others scorned him. He was the Announcer, the prophet who identified Alendi as the Hero of Ages. And as such, he received much renown among the Worldbringers. So while he wasn't a king of men, he was probably near that level of recognition on the world's greater scale. And I'd imagine he was the main advisor to Alendi. Vin - Vin wasn't a Terrisperson and didn't interact with Terrispeople often. But in a way, she was a king of men. Her actions during the siege of Luthadel was the catalyst for why Elend became the emperor of the New Empire, while Vin became its empress. The two worlds refer to her skaa urchin side VS noblewoman side. Sazed - Sazed was the only Keeper to openly rebel against the Lord Ruler, whereas the others stayed in their secret organization. A king of men because he was the Chief Ambassador of the Final Empire, and would've been emperor in the event of Vin and Elend's deaths. A rebel who experienced struggles with rebellion, acceptance, masculinity, and faith. Sazed as a Vessel - Harmony is not bonded to just the Terris people; he's bonded to all humans. He's the King of Mankind - creator of all present and future humans. The essence of his component Shards created all past humans. The Vessel Sazed is a rebel caught between the worlds of stagnation and decay. Sazed wants to act, but his actions are forced to be an exact balance of stagnation and decay. Could that change with Discord? The First Generation of kandra told Sazed their era’s prophecies used gender-neutral pronouns. Sazed in the same conversation assumed the gender-neutral was used so humanity wouldn’t know if the Hero was male or female. Sazed right before he takes up the Shards and taps his copperminds, he wonders if the gender-neutral referred to a Hero who "wasn't really either one." As while Sazed identified as a man and didn't identify as a woman, he had doubts about his masculinity. As Sazed wrote the Words of Founding he made the same conclusion as when he was conversing with the Firsts. The entire epigraph seems to be about Sazed not yet knowing Preservation created the original prophecies, or from questioning the identities of the original Terris people to whom Preservation gifted the prophecies. Or perhaps he was being humble and didn't want to jump to conclusions about their history. But he did come to understand certain intentions tied to the prophecies. I think while Preservation was hiding layers about the gender of an Ascendant or the true Hero, he did so for when his future sight eventually showed the true Hero's gender. I doubt he foresaw it all the way back then. Alendi - Unless it turns out Khlennium was once a massive empire way before Alendi's time, I have no comment. Scadrial lore is way too underdeveloped. Rashek - Now that! Is! Ironyyy! Rashek did more sundering than he did uniting things. He ripped apart every kingdom, religion, culture, and societal group on the continent. Compartmentalized his continent's population into nobles, skaa, and Terris people. Moved all Scadrial's crust to a different latitude, and Isolated the Southern Scadrians from the rest of the world. The only unification he did was bring all humanity under one empire. And even then, well, he did it through so much division. Vin - For the first time since Ruin's imprisonment, the Shard of Preservation was used by a Vessel with a whole mind and presence in all three Realms. Not even Kelsier's Ascension meant the Shard found its "whole," for he lacked presence in the Physical Realm. Sazed - Adonalsium's essence was sundered during the Shattering, splitting into 16 Shards. So when Sazed took up Ruin and Preservation, it was the first time since that Shards were in their "whole." The first time they were united in a singular essence. Sazed as a Vessel - I believe Sazed has a plan to permanently defeat Bavadin and take the Shard of Autonomy. Making it so a Shard of Adonalsium mixes with another, yet again. This comes from a quote in the Bands of Mourning where Wax asks Sazed if he's omnipotent, and implies "parts of me could be omnipotent if I make it do so." If he takes up Autonomy, his essence would be stretched all across the cosmere via Autonomy's territories, Avatars, and perpendicularities. He would gain the knowledge, memories, thoughts, and plans of an extremely competent, long-term thinking Vessel who seems to wield fantastic future sight. Sazed wouldn't literally become omnipotent, but getting Autonomy would be the closest thing. I think. Alendi - Alendi was the son of a blacksmith in an unimportant town. Saw himself as a very unremarkable but mischievous kid. Started out as Kwaan's assistant, and most didn't believe he was the Hero of Ages. Even when most people believed him, Terrismen like Rashek or the Firsts hated him. But he lived a life full of death, war, and betrayal to save the world from the Deepness. He wasn't raised to be a warrior or king, but became the king of Khlennium that would fight to save all nations. Rashek - Except for the monarchs he bribed with lerasium, all of humanity rejected Rashek's crusade. Yet, his actions saved humanity. Using the Well prevented Ruin's escape, hiding the atium set into motion a final phase of Preservation's plan, and building the storage caverns protected humanity from Ruin's apocalypse, He was the nephew of a Worldbringer raised in a nation of herdsmen and scholars. Wasn't raised to use Feruchemy for combat, but learned to do so. Wasn't born a king, but became emperor. Kwaan - He was a scholar not taken seriously by his peers, then scorned, accepted, and finally exiled. His investigations of the prophecies brought Rashek into action. Kwaan's knowledge of Ruin's blindness was the catalyst of Rashek's knowledge, which prevented Ruin from getting the hidden atium. Kwaan saved the world, and he fought to expose Ruin's manipulation. Vin - The nobility and Yomen rejected Vin's accomplishments. Yet, she saved the world and made it a better place. She was never a warrior, but fought to protect. She was never a royal member, but became empress. Sazed - Sazed's rebellion was rejected by the Terris people, but he helped save them from the Lord Ruler's tyranny. Was a humble scholar, but would fight the Final Empire and monsters. Wasn't a king, noble, or member of the Synod. But he would Ascend to become the King of Mankind.

I’m caught up with all of Mistborn. This series means so much to me. It's my first foray back into reading, ever since I stopped in middle school. First foray into the Cosmere. First book series I've ever finished. And I am beyond excited for The Stormlight Archive. The Good The characters: Sanderson knows how to write great characters. Even when they start out abrasive or unlikable (Steris and Wayne), he knows just how to develop them the right way. Kelsier's mission to save the skaa and Scadrial, Sazed’s depression arc, Marsh resisting Ruin's control, Elend's growth in becoming a better king, Wayne's journey in TLM to become a better person etc. Vin, Marasi and Steris are great examples on how to write compelling and badass female characters. Wax is my least favorite POV character in Mistborn, and Sanderson still manages to make him great in his own way. Plotting and twists: This man makes so many freaking plot twists layered into very interesting plots. I didn't even like The Lost Metal's focus on cosmerey stuff, but I still loved the plot. And even loved The Well of Ascension's mystery of who is the Hero of Ages. Magic systems: No surprise here. The praise for Sanderson's magic systems is what got me into Mistborn, and they did not let me down. Prose: I like Sanderson's simple prose. It's pretty easy to read, and it can be really descriptive and beautiful. The descriptions of Shards' Intent come to mind. Or the sacrifices of Vin, Elend and Wayne. Or Sazed's Ascension. Worldbuilding: Sanderson is a master at creating a unique world. From the ash sodden, mist covered, glob ridden, human rights violating world of The Final Empire. To the industrial city of Elendel and New Seran, or the violent politics of the Roughs and Outer Cities. Or the potential behind the magitech of Southern Scadrial. I don't think there are many other fantasy worlds with firearms and industrial revolution. But I could be very wrong, considering my limited experience. Endings and climaxes: Sanderson's endings and climaxes hit HARD. Even if I have a lot of issues with a book's writing (The Well of Ascension and The Lost Metal), I always have great things to say about how they end. Every time they PUMP ME UP, satisfy absolutely insane plot twists, build up the future of a series, make me ANXIOUS about the future, and break my heart into 16 million pieces. Every. Single. Time. Except for The Alloy of Law lmao, but that book's climax was pure adrenaline. The Lord Ruler, Autonomy and Paalm: They're easily the best antagonists of the series. I loved how Sanderson gave depth and tragedy to the Lord Ruler, while keeping him as a reprehensible man who could've found better ways to help humanity. Paalm is incredible. Autonomy's meticulous planning and compelling contrast/syncing with Sazed... it was so refreshing after Ruin’s shortsightedness and almost-portrayal as an evil doomsday villain. Ruin and Preservation's Chessmastery: I love how those two gods manipulated many things throughout the trilogy. I love that Secret History expanded upon Ruin's present plans - manipulating Terris libraries and copperminds, enflaming Sazed's depression, preparing the birth of a child like Vin, arranging Kelsier recruiting Vin. I loved the confirmation Preservation arranged Rashek's Ascension and presently foresaw the possibility Sazed could take the powers. I love that years ago Preservation trusted Kelsier to make his plan work. Preservation's plan is currently my inspiration for writing chessmasters; along with Autonomy, David Xanatos, and the Weird Sisters. Harmony / Discord The Neutral Preservation: I will give all the praise to Preservation's plan and descriptions of his Intent. And I appreciate Sanderson wrote "God has a Plan for Everything" while including free will and probabilistic future sight. However, I'm mixed on Preservation himself. I think Sanderson leaned too much in the direction of Preservation being the "good god that plans everything," while Ruin is the "evil god who's a stooge." This is especially a shame because of how subversive Mistborn's worldbuilding can be - the prophecies, Chosen One trope, evil emperor, God's role in era 2. I know there are cosmere relevant reasons for why Ruin was relatively dumb and shortsighted... But I think Era 1's plot would be more impactful if Ruin was closer to being the "good guy," the one with the plan, the one who created the prophecies. Especially since Rashek is basically the representation of Preservation, while Kelsier genuinely cared about the world and skaa despite being the representation of Ruin. And it would add to the nuance from era 2. Though... that might require Ruin having a different Intent that allows that caliber of love, future sight, and complex planning. Which goes into fanfiction territory, which I'm happily going into LMAO. "Rashek was a good man" - This is from Sazed in his note to Spook. And iirc, Elend and Vin had similar thoughts. I understand there was likely so much more to Rashek's motives and history. After all, Kwaan acknowledged his hatred of Khlennium was valid. I understand that Sazed gained much insight into Rashek's thoughts, goals, Ruin's whispers etc. However, I think all that could've been done without calling Rashek a "good man." We lack deep information about Scadrial's ancient history, and we got no POVs from Rashek. And so, that line feels jarring. Sazed's character arc - I like it. But it could've been better. I would love if he grew into a legitimate, prominent leader of the Terris people. And in the process learned the true depth of Ruin and Preservation's nuance. A person can be an assassin, but desire stability and protection. A person can be a killer, while at the same time a revolutionary who possesses a deep sense of community and love. If a man slaughters life with cold apathy, is he truly a preserver? If a man knows love and works to better the world, is it right to claim he’s only a destroyer? The Bad Ruin: I don't hate Ruin. I said before, I like his plans. He was chilling even when Kelsier's plan and the Fadrex City stuff foiled him. But compared to the Lord Ruler, Autonomy and Preservation, he feels weak as an antagonist or planner or character. There's so much missing in Ruin's writing. Ruin lacks plans within plans. He lacks a nuanced and compelling conflict with his enemy, unlike Autonomy VS Sazed. He feels like a doomsday villain that approaches most things with a sledgehammer. This is preference, but I'm not a fan of this type of villain. The Terris and Worldbuilding: Sanderson was great at making Scadrial an interesting world. But he didn't make it a deep world. He didn't flesh out the outer Dominances and he wrote the Terris as nothing more than a vehicle to develop Sazed. He only gave crumbs of what happened in Scadrial's ancient history. There was nothing about the Well's previous users, or the very first Terris Prophecies, or an exact number of how many years Ruin was imprisoned. I think this serves as a detriment to the plot's larger machinations. Tindwyl and Allrianne: Vin, Paalm, MeLaan, Marasi and Steris are much better examples of how good Sanderson's female characters can be. No question. Tindwyl deserved so much better than just being the vehicle for Sazed to fulfill one line of the prophecies. Sazed's character arc could've been an interesting person. Allrianne was just... there.

I think it’s interesting that everyone remembers Chapter 74’s epigraph, but no one remembers Chapter 79’s epigraph I think it should be noted that Sazed said the confluence of traits in Vin’s family was Ruin’s primary reason of choosing her, not his only reason. This seems to be an instance of wordplay. It could imply Ruin had at least one other reason for choosing Vin, albeit one that was less important. And this seems to be true. Sazed notes that Ruin knew the mists were Investing themselves into Vin, and so he acted to give her a spike to block them. The Hero of Ages Chapter 79 Epigraph Secret History expands on this. After showing Kelsier the web of future possibilities, Preservation confirmed that Ruin knew of the possibility of Vin defeating him. This is why Ruin used Vin’s spike and his plans for her, to prevent her from Ascending and defeating him. Both Shards knew that possibility had a tiny chance of happening, they just reacted in different ways. I have theories as to why only Vin could draw upon the Mists. I will speculate that Vin was special because Preservation not only foresaw Vin could be his immediate successor, but foresaw she could be willing to kill and sacrifice her life if it meant protecting her loved ones. And in response, Ruin reacted to this frail future sight chance, choosing to prevent the outcome by spiking Vin. If we’re talking about the cosmere mechanics of why only Vin could draw the mists… My guess is Preservation fiddled with Vin’s soul during fertilization or birth. Probably implanted things into her Identity and/or Connections that told the mists “only I can use your power. I am the one who can defeat Ruin.”

There’s a scene in Secret History where Ruin reveals to Kelsier some of his plans. Like how he manipulated many humans into spreading info on the Eleventh Metal. And among those plans, Ruin reveals he knew Vin since the day of her birth. This makes sense because he created Vin, and definitely noticed Preservation doing weird things with Vin’s soul. But then Ruin said he was preparing Vin “for even longer” than her birth. Does this imply Ruin and Preservation were arranging the birth of a Mistborn they could use as the linchpin of their plans? Were they nudging Tevidian and/or Vin’s mother into breeding a particularly talented Mistborn that could manifest the personality traits they desired? The quote in question: “Leave her alone? She’s mine, Kelsier. Just as you are. I’ve known that child since the day of her birth, and have been preparing her for even longer.”

I think you're trying to say being smart is the same as being humble. That's not true imo. You can be smart but not humble. You can be humble but not smart. Plus... smart in what way? Even though there were definitely some unknown aspects to Rashek's motives, he was a glory hound. He wanted to be the hero, to slay the oppressor, to be the world's ruler. And he wanted to create a society that wouldn't be felled by rebellion or release Ruin. And for those goals, Rashek was pretty smart. If it wasn't for Preservation and Ruin backing Kelsier and Vin, their rebellion would've been another blip in Scadrial's history. You say that a "smarter person" wouldn't have swatted the planet, but that's not true. Using Shardic power isn't about being "smart," it's about experience and insight. When Vin used not a crumb of Preservation, but Preservation itself, to undo Rashek's Ashmounts she accidentally almost burned the planet down. If it wasn't for her rotating the planet 180 degrees, all life would've burned near instantly. Even then when the sun rose ~12 hours later, Preservation's desired Hero and all other life would've been burned to death. If not for the said Hero taking the powers at the right time. Sazed was humble but he would've done the same mistakes as Vin and Rashek. If not for him tapping his copperminds right at the moment of Ascension.