Ati

Ati
by Maria Lia Malandrino
Died	1025 FE
Abilities	Shard of Ruin
Titles	Ruin
Aliases	Herr
Homeworld	Yolen
Universe	Cosmere
First Appeared	Mistborn: The Final Empire

This article is about the Vessel. For the Aon, see Aon#Ati. For the seon, see Ati (seon).

“Death is not evil, Kelsier. Death is necessary. ”

—Ati

Ati is a human and the original Vessel of the Shard Ruin, hailing from the planet Yolen. He and Leras, the Vessel of Preservation, created Scadrial together before Leras betrayed him and trapped him in the Well of Ascension.

Appearance and Personality

by botanicaxu

For more images, see /Gallery.

“Think of me as a caretaker—the one who watches the shop and makes certain that the lights are turned out, that everything is cleaned up, once closing time arrives. ”

—Ati

Appearance

Little is known about Ati's appearance; he has flame-red hair, and a welcoming, friendly smile. When taking on human form, he wears a robe, and has shadows moving beneath his skin, akin to spines or spider legs. They push against his form, making it pucker outwards erratically. How intense this effect is varies; it's sometimes less pronounced, and sometimes more. When speaking to Vin, Ati uses Reen's voice, though he sounds more aged and fatherly.

Personality

Mortal

As a mortal, Ati was known for being kind and generous. After taking up Ruin, he fought against the destructive impulses it brought about for many years. Over time, however, Ruin won out, and adapted this kindness to its own intent. This fundamentally warped his personality, leaving him nearly unrecognizable from his original self.

During his mortal life, he was driven to kill Adonalsium, either due to desire for power or a belief in the necessity of the action. Displaying the willingness to kill, either for a cause he believed in, or to gain power.

After dying and losing his Connection to Ruin, he quickly accepted his death and passed into the Beyond. If he continued to exist in the Physical or Cognitive Realms instead of passing away into the Beyond, his personality would have returned to his original one, though his soul would forever carry scars from his time as a Vessel, likely keeping his personality from truly returning to normal.

Vessel

As Ruin, Ati wants to see the destruction of everything in existence. He believes that all life must end eventually, and to force it to carry onward past its expiration date is cruel. In his opinion, the destruction he causes serves a creative purpose; without death, there can be no further life. Through this framework of understanding his Intent, he sees himself as a sort of caretaker of reality, and as the representative of change itself, and of necessary entropy and decay. Following from this, he does not see himself as evil, but as a natural and necessary force of nature.

He sees great beauty in destruction and endings, and sees it as something one shouldn't mourn, but rather take joy in. As he sees destruction as completion, and finds sublime beauty in that. He claims that the only reason to create something is to watch it die, to reach its ordained completion. He attempts to comfort those that resist him, and convince them of his own necessity, and of the inherent goodness in finality.

As a result of this insatiable craving, he hates how his force of change and destruction is always resisted by Preservation's stasis and protection, leading to neither being able to do anything. He considers this state of balance the curse of his existence. He even curses balance itself, due to his experiences with the concept.

At the same time, Ati is prideful and boastful. He considers himself to be a fundamental aspect of reality, and considers himself to be God. He seems to revel in mocking those he has defeated, and will appear in front of his victims to gloat about his victory. This very quality is his weak point, as it often leads him to underestimating his opponents. When people reject his perceived superiority, especially when they rebel against him, he becomes deeply angered.

As a megalomaniacal figure, Ati is subtly manipulative, manipulating people in order to fulfill his goals and desires. He subtly manipulates people in order for them to play into his plans, either through speaking directly into their mind, or through changing the text of documents in manners that fit with his agenda. He even directly controls the minds of those spiked with enough hemalurgic spikes to leave their soul vulnerable to his influence, warping their thoughts and emotions to fit his Intent and his greater plans, as he sees people as little more than pawns in his game. and feels a sense of ownership over them.^{[citation needed]}

Abilities and Attributes

by eyeronis

Commanding an Inquisitor

“I'm all around you—the air you pretend to breathe, the ground beneath your feet. I’m in that knife and in your very soul. ”

—Ati

Ati is a Shard of Adonalsium, making him one of the most powerful entities in the cosmere. He is immortal, unaging, and incorporeal; he fuels the magics of Hemalurgy and, in part, Feruchemy. Thanks to being heavily Invested in Scadrial, he can alter any text other than what is written in metal, changing it to suit his needs. He can also speak to any person wearing a hemalurgic spike. This all comes at a cost of a drastic personality change, as his mind was forced to adapt to Ruin's intent.

Apart from his supernatural abilities, Ati has proven to be adept at deception, when he wishes to be. His alterations are subtle enough to trick the unaware into thinking they are still reading the original text. When appearing in person, he can easily play a role of another; most notably, he was speaking in Reen's voice in Vin's head for years without tipping her off to the fact that she wasn't hearing her own thoughts, and he mimicked Kelsier's voice to Spook to drive him to serve Ruin's purposes. Despite his destructive, megalomaniacal tendencies, he is easily able to play someone kind and affable.

History

Nothing is known about Ati's origins and life prior to the Shattering, other than that he came from Yolen. For unknown reason, ten-thousand years before the True Desolation, he and a group of others broke cosmere's creator deity, Adonalsium, into sixteen pieces. Of those sixteen, he took up Ruin, and departed alongside Preservation for an empty star system that would eventually become Scadrial.

For Ati's actions as Ruin, see Ruin#History.

Following his death at the hands of Vin, Ati's body reappeared at the site where the two clashed. His Cognitive Shadow briefly manifested in Scadrial's Cognitive Realm, where he was initially confused, wondering if he'd found himself on Vax. Unfortunately for him, he manifested near Kelsier, who promptly decked him in the face as retaliation. With glum acceptance, Ati faded away into the Beyond.

Relationships

Leras

“As if he could harm even me. ”

—Ati about Leras

It's unknown what, if any, relationship there was between Ati and Leras prior to the Shattering. The two left Yolen together, though it's unclear whether this was due to personal attachment or simply because they realized the need for their Shards to balance each other out. However, Leras tricked Ati; first convincing him to create Scadrial together, under the pretense that he'd be allowed to destroy it later, then sacrificing himself to trap Ruin's mind within the Well of Ascension.

By the time of Ruin's release, the two are extremely hostile to each other. Ati is dismissive of Leras, mocking his weakness and the limitations placed on him by his intent. Leras hates how Ati used his power to twist and change their religion to worship only himself, and bemoans the change in Ati's personality brought about by the Shard. Neither Vessel is afraid of the other; Ati, because he doesn't believe Preservation is capable of opposing him, and Leras, because he's already dead and thus out of Ati's reach.

Vin

by EccoS

Vin and Ruin

“You're all on my side, Vin. I created you. You’re my tools—each and every one of you. ”

—Ati

Ati considers Vin one of his greatest agents, and has taken great pains to twist her to his purposes in order to have an appropriate tool to bring about the end. She was selected at birth due to an unusual combination of circumstances: she herself a Mistborn, with a Seeker sister and an insane mother whom Ruin could influence. As such, he drove the mother to kill the sister and put her power into a Hemalurgic spike that would become Vin's earring.

After Reen's death, Ruin often makes use of his voice, speaking to Vin through the earring to influence her, mostly to make her less trusting of others. He also alters various texts to convince people that Vin is the Hero of Ages, leading to her visiting the Well of Ascension. There, he puts on a kindly persona to convince her to release the Well's power and thus free him.

In the period following his release, Ruin frequently speaks to Vin, trying to beat down her spirit and ensure she would not fulfill Preservation's plans for her. However, it's this very gloating that makes Vin realize that she's not speaking with a force of nature but a person, with very human failings. Rather than feeling defeat, she begins to hope once more that Ruin could be defeated. Ati's final mistake with Vin is killing Elend, thinking it would push her to the depths of despair. Instead, she rallies and, freed from her last tie to the world of the living, challenges him directly, killing them both.

Kelsier

“You can say what you wish, but you don't own me. I am not yours. ”

—Kelsier

Kelsier first learns of Ruin's existence after his death, when he witnesses Leras scream at Ati in defiance. During the time he spends trapped in the Well of Ascension, he learns more about the Shard and even uses bits of its power to see the events happening beyond the Well. He comes to fear the possibility of its release, and tries to aid Leras in stopping Ati from breaking free, albeit to no avail. After Vin releases Ruin, Kelsier sets out to find a way to defeat it.

Ati himself seems to find Kelsier amusing, and Leras notes that even the man's old self would laugh at the situation. When he appears to Kelsier, it's to mock him, and assure him that his own victory is inevitable. Much like Vin, Kelsier does realize that Ati is doing so partially because he is worried that Kelsier might find a way to oppose him; however, he still find Ati's words disturbing.

When Kelsier returns with the Ire's orb, Ati once again mocks him, suggesting that it was him who inspired Kelsier's quest in the first place. Kelsier tries to protect Vin from Ruin's influence, but even after taking up Preservation, he is unable to do that until the very end, when he passes the Shard's power onto her. It's only after Vin uses said power to kill Ruin that Kelsier is able to pay Ati back for all the verbal abuse, by punching him hard enough to make the former Vessel fall to the ground.

Trivia

• If Ati managed to give up Ruin without dying, his personality would return to something closer to the original one, though his nature as a Sliver would leave a permanent mark on his psyche.
• Ati is potentially named after Até, the Greek goddess of ruin.

Notes

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