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marvelousmagicalaura · 3 months ago

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Reviewing the Terris Prophecies (pt. 1)

One of the best things about the Mistborn trilogy was the way Sanderson wrote the tropes of prophecy and the Chosen One. And I have a lot to say about. Future sight, prophecy and Shards manipulating mortals have been my hyperfixations with Mistborn's plot. That's one reason this project exists. The other reason is the Terris Prophecies' history and intentions are shrouded in ambiguity.

Why are the Terris Prophecies so vague?

We know Ruin was altering them so Alendi (and later Vin) could release him from his chains of impotence. However, Ruin claims he was imprisoned for several thousand years. As such he would've been altering the prophecies for just as long. So the altered and "unaltered" prophecies of the First Generation, Rashek, Alendi and Kwaan's time would've unfortunately been successors to millennia of already-warped prophecies.

Then there are Preservation's actions. Before Ruin was imprisoned millennia ago, he created the original and unaltered Terris Prophecies. He used future sight that stretched out thousands of years into the future, used those predictions as the basis of prophecies, and gave prophecies to the original Terris people through an unknown method. I believe his intentions with the original Terris Prophecies were similar to those of the Mistsnapping's sign of sixteen. Mistsnapping happened around every 1024 years, and hid clues to the ultimate outcome of destroying Ruin's body.

I think when Preservation created the original prophecies, he made them intentionally vague. He intended for Scadrians to use them as a guideline that described the desired traits of each cycle's Ascendant. But that guide hid layers to trick Scadrians and Ruin's relatively poor future sight, for it hid the ultimate purpose of the true Hero of Ages. I believe each Ascendant was positioned by Preservation (mixed with tricking Ruin), so they achieve certain things that would make it easier for Pres to nudge towards the true Hero of Ages. For example, we know from SH he positioned Rashek. Rashek's role might've been to cause an apocalypse, officially reveal the existence of Allomancy, and hide atium. So that Leras could create the circumstances for his immediate successor, the atium Misting army, and a Terris rebel. I think even if Leras no longer remembered the plan by the time of SH, Vin's true role was to release Ruin, Ascend to Vessel, and make the way for Sazed.

Though with all this said, something I need to keep in mind is that even Preservation's future sight would've been more unreliable than initially thought - infinite web of layers upon layers of possibilities, probabilities of a possibility occurring, exact cause of death is cloudy to foresee, rippled by Ruin's future sight, can be wrong, doesn't always know the "whys" of a possibility.

What is this review about?

In my opinion the Terris Prophecies contained traits that were seen in people besides Sazed, Vin, or Alendi. Traits that could've made each of them the true Hero of Ages. If their experiences, personalities, and Connections were different from the story we followed.

I will be reviewing each known excerpt of the Terris Prophecies, and see how they could correspond to these characters - Alendi, Rashek, Kwaan, Vin, and Sazed. The first part - this post - will cover the excerpts from The Hero of Ages.

The second part will cover the excerpts from The Final Empire. The third part will be for The Well of Ascension.

Throughout this analysis, I will be keeping in mind possible reasons for why the prophecies exist:

There was never an ultimate Hero of Ages, and the plan was just to delay Ruin's escape as long as possible. IMO this was definitely not the plan.

Either the Ascendant or a Terrisman in each cycle could've been the true Hero of Ages. Reasonable but unlikely imo.

The Ascendants - false Heroes of their Ages - were steps towards the true Hero of Ages. IMO this was the plan, even if Leras no longer remembered it by the time of SH. Especially since he was facilitating people like Rashek, Kelsier, Vin, Elend, and possibly Sazed.

Excerpts from book 3

Sazed shook his head. "I believe that she is. These prophecies still refer to her—even the unaltered ones that you have told me. They talk of one who is separate from the Terris people, a king of men, a rebel caught between two worlds. Ruin just emphasized that Vin was the one, since he wanted her to come and free him."' HoA Chapter 71 -Sazed and the Firsts speaking of Vin's altered prophecies, and the "unaltered" ancient prophecies known by the Firsts.

Alendi - Alendi was not of the Terris people, in a literal sense. He was from an unimportant village, then became the king of Khlennium. He was a king of men, as he united several nations (including Terris) under the banner of Khlennium. Throughout the epigraphs of The Final Empire, we learned about the emotional and literal conflicts he faced during his time as Khlennium's king. I think those conflicts were what made people believe him to be a "rebel caught between two worlds."

Rashek - Rashek was of the Terris people, but not of their mentality. Most of the Terrismen that Alendi knew were content with using Feruchemy for scholarly and agricultural needs. Rashek loved his people. But Alendi believed Rashek represented a growing faction of rowdy, violent Terris youth who thought the Teris people could do greater things with Feruchemy. Whereas most Terris and nations accepted Alendi as the Hero of Ages / Rabzeen / the Anamnesor, Rashek disliked Alendi and saw him as an oppressor. Interestingly, even Kwaan admitted Alendi was an oppressor.

Rashek was a king of men in the "greatest" way possible. He created an empire that ruled over a continent for 1000 years and crushed all forms of resistance. But he was a person who clearly loved the Terris people and Feruchemy. He ultimately knew the world's safety and stability took priority, and so did so many awful things to the Terris people. It definitely caused him much pain, but he thought it was the best thing to do. Rashek was a rebel of the Terris people caught between the two worlds of passion/love and duty. He might've even been a rebel to non-Terris people caught between the two worlds of hatred and protection. He wanted to protect humanity from Ruin's escape, but there was definitely a lingering sense of hatred towards Terris' oppressors or more advanced nations.

Kwaan - Much like Rashek he was of the Terris people, but not of mentality. Kwaan studied nature and the Cognitive aspect of trees, whereas other Worldbringers studied religion. Kwaan was initially the first Worldbringer to believe Alendi was the Hero of Ages, while the others scorned him. He was the Announcer, the prophet who identified Alendi as the Hero of Ages. And as such, he received much renown among the Worldbringers. So while he wasn't a king of men, he was probably near that level of recognition on the world's greater scale. And I'd imagine he was the main advisor to Alendi.

Vin - Vin wasn't a Terrisperson and didn't interact with Terrispeople often. But in a way, she was a king of men. Her actions during the siege of Luthadel was the catalyst for why Elend became the emperor of the New Empire, while Vin became its empress. The two worlds refer to her skaa urchin side VS noblewoman side.

Sazed - Sazed was the only Keeper to openly rebel against the Lord Ruler, whereas the others stayed in their secret organization. A king of men because he was the Chief Ambassador of the Final Empire, and would've been emperor in the event of Vin and Elend's deaths. A rebel who experienced struggles with rebellion, acceptance, masculinity, and faith.

Sazed as a Vessel - Harmony is not bonded to just the Terris people; he's bonded to all humans. He's the King of Mankind - creator of all present and future humans. The essence of his component Shards created all past humans. The Vessel Sazed is a rebel caught between the worlds of stagnation and decay. Sazed wants to act, but his actions are forced to be an exact balance of stagnation and decay. Could that change with Discord?

HoA Chapter 71 - “We always assumed that the Hero would be a man,” Haddek said in his wheezing voice. “So did everyone else,” Sazed said. “But, you said yourself that all the prophecies use gender-neutral pronouns. That had to be intentional—one does not use such language in old Terris by accident. The neutral case was chosen so that we wouldn’t know whether the Hero was male or female.” Sazed before Ascending - The prophecies always used the gender-neutral, he thought. So that they could refer to either a man or a woman, we assumed. Or… perhaps because they referred to a Hero who wasn’t really either one? Sazed writing the Words of Founding - “...And who decided to use the neutral pronoun, so that we wouldn’t know if the Hero was a woman or a man?

The First Generation of kandra told Sazed their era’s prophecies used gender-neutral pronouns. Sazed in the same conversation assumed the gender-neutral was used so humanity wouldn’t know if the Hero was male or female. Sazed right before he takes up the Shards and taps his copperminds, he wonders if the gender-neutral referred to a Hero who "wasn't really either one." As while Sazed identified as a man and didn't identify as a woman, he had doubts about his masculinity.

As Sazed wrote the Words of Founding he made the same conclusion as when he was conversing with the Firsts. The entire epigraph seems to be about Sazed not yet knowing Preservation created the original prophecies, or from questioning the identities of the original Terris people to whom Preservation gifted the prophecies. Or perhaps he was being humble and didn't want to jump to conclusions about their history.

But he did come to understand certain intentions tied to the prophecies. I think while Preservation was hiding layers about the gender of an Ascendant or the true Hero, he did so for when his future sight eventually showed the true Hero's gender. I doubt he foresaw it all the way back then.

HoA Chapter 75 - “Yes,” Haddek said. “But that is not Preservation, just an image—a remnant. Now that Ruin has escaped, I think we can assume that even it has been destroyed.” “I think it is more,” another began. “We could—” Sazed held up his hands, getting their attention. “If Preservation has not returned, then has, perhaps, someone else taken up his power to use in this fight? Is that not what your teachings say will happen? That which has been sundered must again begin to find its whole.”

Alendi - Unless it turns out Khlennium was once a massive empire way before Alendi's time, I have no comment. Scadrial lore is way too underdeveloped.

Rashek - Now that! Is! Ironyyy! Rashek did more sundering than he did uniting things. He ripped apart every kingdom, religion, culture, and societal group on the continent. Compartmentalized his continent's population into nobles, skaa, and Terris people. Moved all Scadrial's crust to a different latitude, and Isolated the Southern Scadrians from the rest of the world. The only unification he did was bring all humanity under one empire. And even then, well, he did it through so much division.

Vin - For the first time since Ruin's imprisonment, the Shard of Preservation was used by a Vessel with a whole mind and presence in all three Realms. Not even Kelsier's Ascension meant the Shard found its "whole," for he lacked presence in the Physical Realm.

Sazed - Adonalsium's essence was sundered during the Shattering, splitting into 16 Shards. So when Sazed took up Ruin and Preservation, it was the first time since that Shards were in their "whole." The first time they were united in a singular essence.

Sazed as a Vessel - I believe Sazed has a plan to permanently defeat Bavadin and take the Shard of Autonomy. Making it so a Shard of Adonalsium mixes with another, yet again. This comes from a quote in the Bands of Mourning where Wax asks Sazed if he's omnipotent, and implies "parts of me could be omnipotent if I make it do so." If he takes up Autonomy, his essence would be stretched all across the cosmere via Autonomy's territories, Avatars, and perpendicularities. He would gain the knowledge, memories, thoughts, and plans of an extremely competent, long-term thinking Vessel who seems to wield fantastic future sight. Sazed wouldn't literally become omnipotent, but getting Autonomy would be the closest thing. I think.

HoA chapter 82 - The Hero would be rejected of his people, Sazed thought. Yet, he would save them. Not a warrior, though he would fight. Not born a king, but would become one anyway.

Alendi - Alendi was the son of a blacksmith in an unimportant town. Saw himself as a very unremarkable but mischievous kid. Started out as Kwaan's assistant, and most didn't believe he was the Hero of Ages. Even when most people believed him, Terrismen like Rashek or the Firsts hated him. But he lived a life full of death, war, and betrayal to save the world from the Deepness. He wasn't raised to be a warrior or king, but became the king of Khlennium that would fight to save all nations.

Rashek - Except for the monarchs he bribed with lerasium, all of humanity rejected Rashek's crusade. Yet, his actions saved humanity. Using the Well prevented Ruin's escape, hiding the atium set into motion a final phase of Preservation's plan, and building the storage caverns protected humanity from Ruin's apocalypse, He was the nephew of a Worldbringer raised in a nation of herdsmen and scholars. Wasn't raised to use Feruchemy for combat, but learned to do so. Wasn't born a king, but became emperor.

Kwaan - He was a scholar not taken seriously by his peers, then scorned, accepted, and finally exiled. His investigations of the prophecies brought Rashek into action. Kwaan's knowledge of Ruin's blindness was the catalyst of Rashek's knowledge, which prevented Ruin from getting the hidden atium. Kwaan saved the world, and he fought to expose Ruin's manipulation.

Vin - The nobility and Yomen rejected Vin's accomplishments. Yet, she saved the world and made it a better place. She was never a warrior, but fought to protect. She was never a royal member, but became empress.

Sazed - Sazed's rebellion was rejected by the Terris people, but he helped save them from the Lord Ruler's tyranny. Was a humble scholar, but would fight the Final Empire and monsters. Wasn't a king, noble, or member of the Synod. But he would Ascend to become the King of Mankind.

#long post #mistborn #mistborn series #mistborn saga #cosmere #terris prophecies #brandon sanderson #mistborn era 1 #mistborn era 2 #mistborn era two #the final empire #the well of ascension #the hero of ages #the alloy of law #shadows of self #the bands of mourning #the lost metal

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