Editing Terris Prophecies

{{culture
|image=Vin by ToastSamurai.jpg
|related=[[Terris]]
|world=Scadrial
|universe=[[Cosmere]]
|books=[[Mistborn Era 1]]
}}
{{for|The Hero of Ages|the [[Mistborn (series)]] novel|pre="Hero of Ages" redirects here}}

{{quote
|The Hero will have the power to save the world. But he will also have the power to destroy it.
|{{book ref|mb3|82}}
}}

The '''Terris Prophecies''' were a set of legends which foretells that the Hero of Ages will save the world. [[Preservation]] created them with incredible foresight as part of his ultimate plan to defeat [[Ruin]].{{wob ref|8056}}

== Alendi and Rashek ==
The '''Hero of Ages''', also called '''Rabzeen''' and the '''Anamnesor''',{{epigraph ref|mb2|12}} was a prophesied savior who would supposedly take the power of the [[Well of Ascension]] and use it to save the world.{{wob ref|6070}} [[Kwaan]] believed [[Alendi]] to be the hero,{{epigraph ref|mb2|15}} and while initially his claim was scorned by the rest of the [[Worldbringers]],{{epigraph ref|mb2|13}} eventually they conceded Kwaan had been right,{{epigraph ref|mb2|30}} earning him the prophesied title of the '''Announcer.'''{{epigraph ref|mb2|34}} By the time Alendi was recognized, Kwaan had started to doubt the integrity of the prophecies.{{epigraph ref|mb2|30}} However, the rest of the Worldbringers did not notice the changes in the prophecies because they trusted their copperminds, never realizing they could be altered.{{epigraph ref|mb2|epilogue}} Kwaan eventually realized that the prophecies had been edited to require the Hero to give up the power of the Well once taken,{{epigraph ref|mb2|epilogue}} and sent [[Rashek]], his nephew, to prevent Alendi from reaching the Well of Ascension.{{epigraph ref|mb2|epilogue}} He and his trusted friends went as Alendi's packmen.{{epigraph ref|mb2|epilogue}} Rashek killed Alendi at the end of the journey, and took up the power of Preservation at the Well of Ascension.{{epigraph ref|mb3|65}} Instead of giving it up as Alendi would have and as Ruin wished, he used it to try to protect the world, and became a [[Sliver]] of Preservation.{{epigraph ref|mb3|18}}{{epigraph ref|mb3|6}} From then on, Rashek pretended to be Alendi, taking his title of the Conqueror and believing himself to be the Hero of Ages.{{epigraph ref|mb2|37}}

== Vin and Sazed ==
After a thousand years, the same narrative repeats itself, but with Vin as the Hero of Ages. The Terris Prophecies were written in the Terris language, and all of them refer to the Hero with gender-neutral pronouns.{{epigraph ref|mb3|69}}{{book ref|mb3|71}} But these pronouns were most commonly translated so that the Hero is referred to as 'he', while the word was best translated as 'it'.{{book ref|mb2|45}} This led to most assuming the Hero of Ages was male, but Sazed believed the prophecies had been using the neutral case so that they could have been referring to a female, who he believed to be Vin.{{book ref|mb3|71}} The Hero of Ages was prophesied to create and destroy nations. When Vin defeated the kings laying siege to [[Luthadel]], [[Sazed]] began to believe the Hero to be Vin.{{book ref|mb2|55}} Eventually{{expand}} she became the holder of the shard Preservation, Ruin's equal and opposite, and after the death of Elend, attacked Ruin hard enough to kill him, though it killed her in the process, and unbound both Shards.{{book ref|mb3|82}} As Preservation had foreseen,{{wob ref|5667}} Sazed took them, bonding Ruin and Preservation together into Harmony and became a vessel of both shards. He fixed the world's failing ecology and renewed the land, and remained to guide and protect the world as the Hero of Ages.{{book ref|mb3|82}}

By 348 PC, Harmony began to lose stability and began to slip towards Discord, standing on the edge, as mentioned in the prophecy.{{book ref|mb7|19}}{{book ref|mb7|66}}{{book ref|mb7|71}}{{book ref|mb7|epilogue|4}}{{wob ref|11676}} The full transformation does not appear to have occurred yet, as of three weeks after the [[harmonium]] detonation and the retreat of [[Autonomy]].{{book ref|mb7|epilogue|4}}

== Prophecy quotes ==
The majority of these quotes are said in awe by Sazed while watching Vin do things making her appear to be the Hero of Ages. A record of the prophecy is never given.  Note that some of these prophecies could have been changed from their original text by Ruin:{{cite}}

=== Exact prophecy quotes ===
Direct quotations of the original or altered prophecy.

{{quote
|The Hero of Ages shall be not a man, but a force. No nation may claim him, no woman shall keep him, and no king may slay him. He shall belong to none, not even himself.
|{{epigraph ref|mb1|21}}
}}

{{quote
|He shall defend their ways, yet shall violate them. He will be their savior, yet they shall call him heretic. His name shall be Discord, yet they shall love him for it.
|{{epigraph ref|mb1|8}}
}}

{{quote
|That which has been sundered must again begin to find its whole
|{{book ref|mb3|75}}
}}

{{quote
|The Hero will have the power to save the world. But he will also have the power to destroy it.
|{{book ref|mb3|82}}
}}

{{quote
|The Hero will bear the future of the world on his arms.
|{{book ref|mb3|82}} {{book ref|mb1|prologue}}
}}

{{quote
|The Hero of Ages was not simply to be a warrior. He was a person who united others, who brought them together. A leader.
|{{book ref|mb2|55}}
}}

{{quote
|The Hero of Ages was removed from the Terris people. He was not royalty himself, but came to it eventually.
|{{book ref|mb2|55}}
}}

{{quote
|He commanded the forces of the world. Kings rode to his aid. 
|{{book ref|mb2|55}}
}}

{{quote
|He left ruin in his wake, but it was forgotten. He created kingdoms, and then destroyed them as he made the world anew. 
|{{book ref|mb2|55}}
}}

{{quote
|...One who is separated from the Terris people, a king of men, a rebel caught between two worlds. 
|{{book ref|mb3|71}}
}}

{{quote
|He who is not of his people, yet fulfills all of their wishes.
|{{book ref|mb2|45}}
}}

{{quote
|He was born of a humble family, yet married the daughter of a king.
|{{book ref|mb2|21}}
}}

{{quote
|He could trade words with the finest of philosophers, and had an impressive memory. Yet, he was not argumentative.
|{{book ref|mb2|22}}
}}

{{quote
|The Terris rejected him, but he came to lead them.
|{{book ref|mb2|23}}
}}

{{quote
|He commanded kings, and though he sought no empire, he became greater than all who had come before.
|{{book ref|mb2|24}}
}}

{{quote
|He fathered no children, yet all of the land became his progeny.
|{{book ref|mb2|25}}
}}

{{quote
|He was forced into war by a misunderstanding yet he came to fight as well as any man.
|{{book ref|mb2|26}}
}}

{{quote
|He was no simple soldier. He was a force of leadership—a man that fate itself seemed to support.
|{{book ref|mb2|27}}
}}

=== Partial prophecy mentions/quotes ===
Prophecy fragments and non-verbatim quotations.

{{quote
|...Burden by which the Hero shall be dubbed...
|{{book ref|mb1|21}}
}}
{{quote
|...Bloodless bond to the world’s kings...
|{{book ref|mb1|21}}
}}

{{quote
|...the Hero of Ages will be an outsider.
|{{book ref|mb1|30}}
}}

=== Implied prophecy mentions ===
Indirect or uncertain references to the prophecy.

{{quote
|I think I've finally discovered why Rashek resents me so very much. He does not believe that an outsider such as myself - a foreigner - could possibly be the Hero of Ages. He believes that I have somehow tricked the philosophers, that I wear the piercings of the Hero unjustly.
|A quote from [[Alendi's logbook]].{{epigraph ref|mb1|27}} This implies that the prophecy mentions the Hero wearing piercings.
}}

== Notes ==
<references />
{{partial}}
{{Mistborn|Era 1}}
[[category: religion]]
[[category: Myths and Legends]]
[[category: Terris|*]]