Editing Pits of Hathsin

{{Shardpool
|shard=[[Ruin]]
|use=Produce [[atium]]
|world=Scadrial|region=Central Dominance|nation=Final Empire
|books=[[Mistborn trilogy]]
}}
The '''Pits of Hathsin''' are a system of caves near [[Luthadel]] on [[Scadrial]] at the time of the [[Final Empire]] in which [[atium]] crystals grow. 

The Pits also a [[skaa]] labor camp the [[Lord Ruler]] set up to mine atium crystals. It serves the dual purpose of punishing skaa criminals and concealing the location of the atium mines, as the prisoners cannot leave. During the events of the FInal Empire, the Pits of Hathsin are the only known place where atium can be mined. [[Allomancy]] cannot be used to retrieve the crystals, because an [[Iron]]pull would cause them to shatter. As a result, imprisoned skaa are required to mine the rare metal by hand. All skaa in the Pits have small scratches along their arms from the jagged crystals. The Pits are overseen by [[House Venture]]. Each skaa has to find an atium geode every week; if they fail, they are savagely beaten to death.{{book ref|mb1|21}}

==History==
[[Kelsier]] is the only known person to survive imprisonment in the Pits. This feat gains him the title, "The Survivor of Hathsin". He is forced into labor there along with his wife [[Mare]] as punishment for attempting to infiltrate and rob the Lord Ruler's palace, [[Kredik Shaw]]. After Mare dies in the Pits, Kelsier [[Snap]]s and escapes using his newfound abilities as a [[mistborn]]. {{book ref|mb1|4}}

Several days before the fall of the [[Final Empire]], Kelsier returns to the Pits. There, he sets free the enslaved skaa prisoners and proceeds to destroy the majority of Hathsin's atium-producing crystals using allomancy. Afterwards, he remarks that his actions will likely end atium production in the Final Empire for the next three hundred years, as the crystals will need time to regrow before any more atium can be mined.{{book ref|mb1|32}}{{book ref|mb1|33}}

After the Collapse of the Final Empire and the end of the atium mining, the Pits in the Central Dominance become the new home of the Terris people, as the remaining infrastructure from the old mining camp have buildings, shelters, and most importantly, fresh water along with farm crops of resilient hardy plants adapted to ash that need little water. Once settled, the Terris people improve the valley, building more structures, brushing ash from the plant foliage to provide grazing for the adapted short-legged sheep that roamed the hills, and returning to their heritage of herding, before the Lord Ruler's Ascension. The Terris people's lives become easier than most on Scadrial, living in pastoral villages that replace the once brutal prison camps.

The Pits are also the location of a [[Ruin's Shardpool|Shardpool]] that is the liquid form of [[Ruin]], as the [[Well of Ascension]] is to [[Preservation]].{{qa ref|691|15|Does Ruin have a pool similar to the Well of Ascension?|date=2010-05}}

After the events of the [[Final Ascension]], the crystals in the Pits are ultimately removed by [[Harmony]].{{qa ref|727|20|The Well (and the small wells in the Pits) is no more. For now at least.|date=2008-10-15}} It is, however, possible that they have since been recreated. Harmony is doing something to reduce Ruin's power to balance out the power Preservation lost to humankind.{{qa ref|977|85|How is Harmony balanced?|date=2012-09}} It is possible that the crystals are now in the [[Pits of Eltania]].

== Notes ==
<references />
{{partial}}
{{Mistborn|trilogy}}