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{{character
|merge-family=y
|relatives=[[Kwaan]]{{epigraph ref|mb2|53}}
|
|titles=Lord Ruler, Sliver of Infinity, the Father, the Conqueror,{{book ref|mb2|37}} First Emperor{{book ref|mb6|3}}
|abilities={{tag+|Feruchemist}}, {{tag+|sliver}}, {{tag+|mistborn}}, {{tag|twinborn}}, {{tag+|hemalurgist}}, {{tag+|Savant}}
|born=[[Classical Scadrial]]{{epigraph ref|mb1|11}}
|died={{date|1022|fe}}{{book ref|mb1|38}}
|nation=Terris
|world=Scadrial
|universe=[[Cosmere]]
|first appeared=[[Mistborn: The Final Empire]]
}}
{{quote
|I did not make a mistake. I have never made a mistake. However, it is time for a change.
|Rashek's words after Lord Prelan [[Tevidian Tekiel]]'s death.{{book ref|mb1|36}}
}}
'''Rashek''' is a [[Terrisman]] from [[Scadrial]]. Known as the '''Lord Ruler''', the '''Sliver of Infinity''' and the '''Father''', he has access to the full range of abilities of both a [[Feruchemist]] and an [[Allomancer]], and has [[Hemalurgic]] spikes in his body. As a result, he is an extremely powerful [[Compounding|Compounder]], and he was able to unify much of the world into an empire that lasted for around one thousand years.
== Appearance and Personality ==
{{image|Rashek movie concept.jpg|side=left|width=200px}}
{{for|/Gallery|more images}}
Rashek is tall, handsome and charismatic, with pale skin and black hair. He wears black and white clothing that resembles an exaggerated nobleman's suit, with a coat that runs down to his feet and trails behind him and a black vest accented with white markings. He also wears several rings, both as show of his wealth and as [[Feruchemical]] storage.{{book ref|mb1|34}}
He enjoys playing and listening to music and keeps a small wooden flute among his [[Terris]] relics.{{wob ref|3606}}{{book ref|mb2|46}}
Prior to his Ascension, he disliked the people of [[Khlennium]], and was hostile and angry towards them, despite never having been to the state, because of their oppression of the Terris people.{{epigraph ref|mb1|7}}{{epigraph ref|mb2|50}} Though he hated them, he also envied several aspects of their culture, later incorporating them into the culture of the [[Final Empire]].{{epigraph ref|mb1|32}}{{epigraph ref|mb3|26}}
Towards the end of his life he grew extremely weary of the world and appeared resigned in almost every interaction he had with others, likely due to his immense age rendering every experience trivial and taxing.{{wob ref|15290}} Rashek treated those who stood against him with disdain and was unconcerned when a rebellion was approaching his palace, instead finding it annoying that he would have to go through the trouble of killing hundreds of skaa personally.
== Attributes and Abilities ==
{{image|The Lord Ruler by Ari Ibarra.jpg|side=left|width=200px}}
Rashek was born with the powers of a full [[Feruchemist]]. When he used the [[Well of Ascension]], he became a [[Sliver]] of [[Preservation]] and also used its power to make himself an extremely strong [[Mistborn]].{{wob ref|4499}}{{wob ref|685}} In addition to this, he has [[Hemalurgic]] spikes, charged with unknown attributes.{{wob ref|5865}} With a combination of all three [[Metallic Arts]], he is able to [[Compounding|Compound]] any metal that he has a metalmind made of, which he uses to pull off his most impressive feats. Rashek has used his metals enough to become nearly a [[savant]], if not a full savant, in every area.{{wob ref|4070}}{{wob ref|13393}}
By Compounding steel, tin, and pewter, he possesses unparalleled speed, strength and enhanced senses. He can influence the emotions of over ten thousand people with zinc and brass and can Soothe individuals with enough force to induce an effect similar to depression.{{book ref|mb1|14}}{{book ref|mb1|26}} His power allows him to easily pierce copperclouds and to Push and Pull on metal in human bodies.{{book ref|mb1|38}} He can further increase the power of his ironpulling and steelpushing by increasing his weight with his ironminds. He also has a flawless memory, likely either inherited from his uncle, [[Kwaan]], or a result of Compounding copper.{{book ref|mb1|6}}{{wob ref|2303}} He can detect that a person is lying with his Allomantic senses.{{book ref|mb1|36}}
By Compounding Feruchemical gold and Feruchemical atium, Rashek effectively made himself immortal.{{book ref|mb1|epilogue}} However, as he aged, he required more and more stored youth to keep himself alive, often keeping himself in a weakened state within a hut inside his palace to recharge his bands. He would have eventually had to resort to other means to retain his immortality.{{wob ref|5504}} He can heal quickly and cannot be killed by conventional means while using his stored health making him difficult to kill; as a result he has survived decapitation, burnings, dismemberment, and flaying.{{book ref|mb1|15}} As a result of his age and experience, it is nearly impossible to deceive him.{{wob ref|2465}}
Rashek has musical abilities and plays the flute.{{wob ref|3606}}
== History ==
{{image|False Hero by Hinumay.png|side=left|width=300px|Betraying Alendi at the Well of Ascension}}
=== Pre-Ascension ===
Rashek was part of a growing number of young [[Terris]] who had more violent attitudes than was seen as typical of their people. They believed that their [[Feruchemy]] should have been put to greater use than it was as a tool for simple labour. [[Alendi]] believed Rashek and his fellows to be dangerous, given the opportunity.{{epigraph ref|mb1|11}}
Rashek believed that Alendi was not the true [[Hero of Ages]], and was resentful of him.{{epigraph ref|mb1|21}} He thought that an outsider -- someone not pure Terris, as well as an oppressor of Terris -- could not be the Hero, and that Alendi had tricked the Terris philosophers.{{epigraph ref|mb1|27}}{{epigraph ref|mb2|50}} He led Alendi to the [[Well of Ascension]] and killed him, under instructions from his uncle, [[Kwaan]]. He was ignored by [[Ruin]] up until the moment he murdered Alendi.{{wob ref|5767}} He then took and used the power of [[Preservation]], Ascending to become the Lord Ruler.
=== Ascension ===
As Rashek was using the power of the Well, he changed many aspects of life on [[Scadrial]], in order to save the world from the [[Deepness]]. Many of his changes, however, created even more problems that needed to be addressed. He moved the planet closer to its sun in an attempt to burn the mists away. The new orbit was too close to the sun, and he created active volcanoes to produce large amounts of ash and smoke to cool down the world.{{epigraph ref|mb3|4}} The climate of ceaseless ashfalls required some mechanism to break down the ash, that the world did not suffocate on it, so Rashek altered the plant life to be able to survive the ash and created microbes to break it down. However, that was still not enough to save humanity. Rashek altered the physiology of humans on Scadrial to be able to survive the ashfall.{{epigraph ref|mb3|5}}{{epigraph ref|mb3|15}}
Further alterations to the world and humanity were made to secure his rule over the world. The original Terris mountains were flattened, and new mountains were raised in the north in an area which he renamed Terris in order to hide the location of the Well of Ascension.{{epigraph ref|mb3|12}} While he had adapted humanity to the ash, he made other changes, creating the [[Noble|nobility]] and the [[skaa]] of the [[Final Empire]] with slight alterations to their physiology. The nobility he made taller, stronger and more intelligent, but less fertile. The skaa he made more fertile, shorter and hardier.{{epigraph ref|mb3|25}}
He offered his friends a choice to make on behalf of all living Feruchemists, to transform them into [[mistwraith]]s. His friends he further transformed into [[kandra]] to allow them to retain their minds and their memories. In this process, he failed to account for Feruchemy genes still dormant in the Terris population, an oversight which allowed more Feruchemists to be born into following generations.{{epigraph ref|mb3|68}}
Though he had already created the kandra in his Terris friends, he gained much knowledge of the three [[Metallic Arts]] in the brief moments he held the power of the Well. With his knowledge of [[Hemalurgy]], he was able to create [[koloss]] and [[Steel Inquisitors]]. Despite all the knowledge gained from his holding the power of the Well, in a thousand years he was unable to create more than the three Hemalurgic constructs which he had already created.{{epigraph ref|mb3|9}}{{epigraph ref|mb3|44}}
Finally, he rebuilt himself to be a [[Mistborn]], rather than ingesting one of the beads of [[lerasium]] at the Well of Ascension.{{wob ref|9889}} He was aware of the possibility of life on other planets in the [[cosmere]], but had no interest or experience in leaving Scadrial. If he so wished, he could have left Scadrial during his Ascension.{{wob ref|955}}
{{image|Vin vs the Lord Ruler by Luna Guardiola.jpg|side=right|width=400px|Fighting [[Vin]]}}
=== The Final Empire ===
He formed the Final Empire, partly as a means of revenge against the people he viewed as encroaching on Terris land,{{wob ref|10043}} and conquered the whole of the world. He was obsessed with order, and he subjugated all but eight foreign kings, whom he made [[Mistborn]] and allowed to rule over the masses.{{wob ref|8001}}{{epigraph ref|mb3|22}} In his early reign, he erased all knowledge of the religion of Terris. He also destroyed technologies that he considered dangerous, like gunpowder.{{epigraph ref|mb3|28}} He made use of both Allomantic and Feruchemical powers in order to [[Compounding|Compound]] to keep himself alive. Rashek was also called ''Sliver of Infinity'' by the people of the Final Empire.{{book ref|mb1|4}}{{book ref|mb1|8}}{{book ref|mb1|10}} This was due to worldhoppers recognizing him as a [[Sliver]].{{wob ref|13150}} Rashek formed the [[Steel Ministry]], a religion that worshipped him as a god and banned all other religions. The followers of the religions who did not voluntarily dissolve were hunted down and destroyed. The last religions were destroyed about five hundred years after Rashek's Ascension.{{book ref|mb1|11}}
He had several children, who had some relation to his attempt to end the Final Empire. His children mixed among the population, and post-[[Catacendre]], he still had living descendants.{{wob ref|2005}}{{wob ref|3434}}{{wob ref|4868}}{{wob ref|2624}}
As a result of the revelations from the Well of Ascension, Rashek gained a profound understanding of the Deepness, as well as Scadrial's [[Shard]]s, Ruin and Preservation. This led him to have [[storage cache]]s constructed throughout the Final Empire, five in total, each containing a large supply of food and basic necessities as well as information about Allomancy and the weaknesses of his Hemalurgic constructs. The text was inscribed on metal plaques to prevent their alteration by Ruin. It is from these storage sites that Vin and Elend learn about [[electrum]] and [[malatium]], although they had already discovered and utilized aluminum and duralumin.{{book ref|mb3|5}}{{book ref|mb3|31}}{{book ref|mb2|5}}{{book ref|mb1|36}}
Only a couple of years before the Well of Ascension was due to refill, [[Vin]] killed him using the power of the mists, after his own powerful steel push ripped her Hemalurgic [[Vin's earring|earring]] free, allowing her to access Preservation's power and use her newfound strength to remove his [[atium]] bracers. His death led to the [[Collapse]], and the end of the [[skaa rebellion]].{{book ref|mb1|35}}
=== Time In the Cognitive Realm ===
{{quote
|Only a year left. So close. I would have again ransomed this undeserving planet.
|Rashek to Kelsier and Leras{{msh ref|1|2}}
}}
A Sliver of Preservation due to his time holding the power of the Well, Rashek did not immediately pass on to the [[Beyond]] after his death. Once his spirit manifested in the [[Cognitive Realm]], he went to the location of the Well where he found [[Kelsier]] and the remnants of [[Leras]]. He spoke briefly to Kelsier, dismissing him and Leras as impotent annoyances. Rashek was annoyed that he had been killed before he had been able to collect the power of the Well a second time. Kelsier attempted to confront him about the source of his powers, while Rashek touched the power emanating from the Well, examining it before disdainfully stating that he would not remain behind in their company and departing for the Beyond.{{msh ref|1|2}}
== Quotes ==
{{image|TLR by Gar leyva.jpeg|side=right|width=300px|The Lord Ruler}}
{{quote
|Let the executions begin.
|Rashek, after killing [[Kelsier]].{{book ref|mb1|34}}
}}
{{quote
|My lord, look outside your window! Do we not have better things to discuss? The entire city is in rebellion! Skaa torches light up the night, and they dare go out into the mists. They blaspheme in riots, attacking the keeps of the nobility!
|[[Tevidian]] arguing against Rashek about the skaa rebels{{book ref|mb1|36}}
}}
{{quote
|'''God''' cannot be killed. '''God''' cannot be overthrown. Your rebellion—you think I haven't seen its like before? You think I haven't destroyed entire armies on my own? What will it take before you people stop questioning? How many centuries must I prove myself before you '''idiot''' skaa see the truth? How many of you must I kill!
| Rashek{{book ref|mb1|38}}
}}
{{quote
|You don't know what I do for mankind. I '''was''' your god, even if you couldn't see it. By killing me, you have doomed yourselves...
|Rashek's final words{{book ref|mb1|38}}
}}
{{quote
|He suffered much beneath Ruin's hand, but he was a good man, who ultimately had honorable intentions.
|[[Sazed]] on Rashek's corruption by [[Ruin]]. A note on the reverse of the [[flower picture]] in a book written by Sazed after his ascension.{{book ref|mb3|epilogue}}
}}
== Trivia ==
* If he had joined the [[Knights Radiant]], he would most likely have been in the [[Order of Skybreakers]].{{wob ref|2705}}
* He didn't destroy [[Alendi's logbook]] because Ruin manipulated his nostalgia in order to keep the book around.{{wob ref|4416}}
* Although it wasn't necessary for the process of atium Compounding, Rashek intentionally stayed aged at times in spite of that fact.{{wob ref|4534}}
* Rand from The Wheel of Time (Post Memory of Light) would win in a fight against the Lord Ruler.{{wob ref|1027}}
* There is a city in the [[Elendel Basin]] named [[Rashekin]], presumably named after him.
* It is not clear if there is any connection between Rashek's flute and the [[Trailman's flute|flute]] that [[Hoid]] gifted [[Kaladin]].{{wob ref|3606}}
== Notes ==
{{partial}}
{{Mistborn|
[[category: Twinborn]]
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