Difference between revisions of "Summary:The Hero of Ages"

This oversight cost him much, but gained the world so much more.}}

 

 

Sazed is escorted through the kandra tunnels, and notices the kandra displaying fear toward him. He inquires about the status of the First Contract, now that the Lord Ruler is dead, but the kandra who answers doesn't know. He is led to the Trustwarren, and proclaims himself the Announcer, and that he is Terris as are the kandra, and that he discovered the Hero and has watched her and tells them the end is here. He is given a table to write at, and a crowd of kandra gathers, but they are only the Second Generation.

 

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

 

 

 

=== Chapter 70 ===

The point, however, is that people with unstable personalities were more susceptible to Ruin's influence, even if they didn't have a spike in them. That, indeed, is likely how Zane got his spike.}}

 

 

Elend and Yomen tour the city of Fadrex. Elend lectures Yomen on the fact that leading soldiers is about more than tactical knowledge and that emotion and courage are important. They travel to the infirmary in the Canton building. A boy with a case of mistsickness is brought in. Elend asks Yomen if he knew anything about the mistsickness and mentions the statistical anomaly, which Yomen didn't know about but which he doesn't seem excited about, since he says that sixteen is a sacred number in the Lord Ruler's religious doctrine. Yomen states there must be sixteen allomantic metals, including two undiscovered ones, to fit in with the pattern of sixteen. Elend watches the boy in pain and realizes that his experience is similar to the beatings used to snap allomancers. He goes to the infirmary to find someone who is mistfallen and has him drink an allomantic vial. After a few moments, the soldier feels odd, and Elend tells him to burn his metal, and Elend senses an allomantic pulse. He explains the mists were snapping allomancers, not harming them. Ruin sends his koloss to attack. Elend has Yomen gather every bit of physical allomancy powder he can find and have the mistfallen inbibe it since they will be able to burn it allomantically to fight the koloss.

 

As for the other aspects of the number . . . well, even I am still investigating that. Suffice it to say that it has great ramifications regarding how the world, and the universe itself, works.}}

 

 

 

TenSoon finds a large river of lava blocking his path to Fadrex, and feels despair that he won't be able to reach his destination in time due to the required detour.

Of course, this did give us a slight advantage, at the end. Ruin had a lot of trouble giving duralumin to his Inquisitors, since they'd need an Allomancer who could burn it to kill before they could use it. And, since none of the duralumin Mistings in the world knew about their power, they didn't burn it and reveal themselves to Ruin. That left most Inquisitors without the power of duralumin, save in a few important cases—such as Marsh—where they got it from a Mistborn. This was usually considered a waste, for if one killed a Mistborn with Hemalurgy, one could draw out only one of their sixteen powers and lost the rest. Ruin considered it much better to try to subvert them and gain access to all of their power.}}

 

 

Vin reaches Luthadel, sensing that a dozen mistborn are chasing her. She goes to Kredik Shaw, and Ruin questions her, saying his minions already search the Lord Ruler's palace for the atium. Vin says she will never reveal the __cpLocation of the atium cache, and Ruin orders his Inquisitors, thirteen in all, to attack her as Marsh watches. She sees one of them use feruchemical speed from extra spikes that it has. She fights well but is eventually overpowered, and pleads for the mists to aid her in her moment of desperation but nothing happens. Marsh tortures her, breaking her arms and one of her legs, telling her to reveal the __cpLocation of the atium.

 

There is at least one other case of a person who could pierce copperclouds. In her case, however, the situation was slightly different. She was a Mistborn from birth, and her sister was the Seeker. The death of that sister–and subsequent inheritance of power via the Hemalurgic spike used to kill that sister–left her twice as good at burning bronze as a typical Mistborn. And that let her see through the copperclouds of lesser Allomancers.}}

 

 

TenSoon senses a change in the mists, and notices that instead of swirling chaotically, they seem to be all flowing toward Luthadel. He feels invigorated by this and heads toward the capital.

 

There were other reasons, of course. But even Ruin didn't know them.}}

 

 

Elend and Yomen discuss the disappearance of the mists and the unusual heat. Elend orders everyone gather inside the caverns. Yomen gives his bead of atium to Elend, and reveals that he is a [[Atium|Seer]], an atium misting. Elend leaves to find Vin.

 

In most cases—depending on the size of the spike and the length of time it had been worn—a single spike gave Ruin only minimal powers over a person. He could appear to them, and could warp their thoughts slightly, making them overlook certain oddities—for instance, their compulsion for keeping and wearing a simple earring.}}

 

 

Sazed learns a great deal about the kandra, their god Terr which translates into "to preserve" and the Terris prophecies which speak of the Hero of Ages being Preservation's successor. Other tenets of the religion focus on scholarship and building over destroying, aspects that seem mundane to Sazed. He then reviews his metalminds for information about the followers of the religions that he studied, and finds that their religious beliefs had more to do with their perception of the world than with the tenets and rules of the religions themselves. Sazed realizes that he has to decide whether or not to accept that the sign he witnessed was divine or simple chance. He realizes that as Breeze said that he is not meant to be an atheist. Having come to a decision, he goes to seek out the First Generation to learn about the First Contract.

 

This, then, should have been our first clue. Allomancers could see through the mists because the mists were, indeed, composed of the very same power as Allomancy. Once attuned by burning tin, the Allomancer was almost part of the mists. And therefore, they became more translucent to him.}}

 

 

 

Vin is floating above Luthadel, full of power, and encounters Ruin in the form of a cloud of shifting smoke. He says welcome to godhood. Vin's awareness and understanding expand greatly and she sees that the planet is rapidly dying, though many people have sought shelter in the storage caverns. She intervenes to block up the Ashmounts and clean the air, and instantly the world heats up from the release of the obstructions to the sunlight. She starts making changes which cause other macro problems as Ruin laughs at her futile efforts and blocks her from keeping a tidal wave from hitting some cities. Ruin speaks of his frustration at the balance between their two forces, like allomancy pushes and pulls having consequences. Ruin speaks of Preservation's desire to create humanity which was intentionally imbalanced. Vin realizes that she and Ruin are currently balanced but won't be if Ruin finds the hidden part of his self. Vin sees Elend heading to Luthadel.

More telling, perhaps, was the fact that when a Hemalurgist used his abilities, it drove the mists away. The closer one came to Ruin, the more under his influence, and the longer one bore his spikes, the more the mists were repelled.}}

 

 

;Summary

When people burned atium, then, they were drawing upon the power of Ruin—which is, perhaps, why atium turned people into such efficient killing machines. They didn't use up this power, however, but simply made use of it. Once a nugget of atium was expended, the power would return to the Pits and begin to coalesce again—just as the power at the Well of Ascension would return there again after it had been used.}}

 

 

 

=== Chapter 79 ===

The three times she drew upon their power, then, were the three times when her earring had been removed from her body. When she had fought the Lord Ruler, his Allomancy had ripped it free. When fighting Marsh in Fadrex, she had used the earring as a weapon. And, at the end, Marsh ripped it out, freeing her and allowing the mists—which were now desperate for a host, since Preservation's last wisp was gone—to finally pour themselves into her.}}

 

 

Vin senses a change, and follows Ruin to the Pits of Hathsin, where she sees a refugee camp where Terris people are helping out. She sees something shining brightly, and hears KanPaar order some atium to be sold so that they could become rich and rule instead of serve. Vin feels a new appreciation for the lengths the Lord Ruler went to in concealing the atium. Ruin seizes control of KanPaar and demands to know where the atium is.

 

Elend arrives at the Pits of Hathsin, and sees some of his soldiers there, the mistfallen he had sent away with Demoux.

 

 

=== Chapter 80 ===

They were of Preservation all along.}}

 

 

;Summary

Ruin, subtle as ever, knew that he couldn't stop the mists from doing their work. However, he could do the unexpected and encourage them. And so, he helped make them stronger. That brought death to the plants of the world, and created the threat that became known as the Deepness.}}

 

 

Vin watches as the refugees flee to the kandra caverns. Ruin continues to taunt her. She sees the approaching doom, and grows angry and attacks Ruin. This surprises Ruin as he did not think attacking was possible due to Preservation's [[Intent]]. She is not able to defeat Ruin since they are too evenly matched.

 

{{epigraph|Once Vin died, the end came quickly. We were not prepared for it—but even all of the Lord Ruler's planning could not have prepared us for this. How did one prepare for the end of the world itself?}}

 

 

 

== Epilogue ==