Do Steel Inquistors need to burn metals? *Possible Spoilers*

[Phaz]

I know, I'm feeling a little like Sazed and twyndil, making all these notes on writings and texts, not knowing that I'll later find all I have believed to be false.

I just know he has some twists and turns planned that I can't even fathom.

Plus, when we get close to figuring something out he will probably also play the roll of Ruin and go through and edit our posts to modify the original point we were making so people who read them are thrown off the trail.

[Comatose]

OR change the books as we reread them, maybe that's why chaos keeps forgetting about Zane, EUOL/Ruin doesn't want him to know too much .

[Chaos]

OR change the books as we reread them, maybe that's why chaos keeps forgetting about Zane, EUOL/Ruin doesn't want him to know too much .

Sweet, I have a new scapegoat to rant on! Currently, my favorite is Shiro Tagachi, who is the demon who lives in my dialup modem. Surely only an evil maniacal force like that would cause dialup to suddenly disconnect for no rhyme or reason.

And obviously, Ruin is just playing up my natural dislike for Zane for dramatic effect! I hate him, too .

[Isix]

    The inquisitors could possibly be dead in the first place, having there entire body fueled by allomancy.  Being that allomancy and fueromancy have the right properties to give health, power, senses, memory etc. what I figured when reading mistborn 2, when marsh finally turned on sazed, was that they were a controlled abomination of the Lord Rulers creation, Something the power of the well changed over time. A corpse I guess you could say controlled by the power of the well, and the spikes, were his way of controlling them.could it be that they are hard to come by because it is a corpse possed by the deepness or the power of the well? could the deepness or the power actually have had soldiers, not just mist? And once the lord ruler bound the power he enslaved those, which became the inquisitors?  It is believed in the books that the Lord Ruler created them, the Kandra and the Koloss, But it also says that the hero of ages would set the power free from the well and change that world. A lie that had been changed through lore, memory and writings not on steel by the power of the well.They were also one of the only religions that remained, other than that of the obligators.  I'm not trying to make the inquisitors sound like dawn of the dead, or that I am even close to right on this, it was just one of the possibility's I figured up after finishing the book.  It  does however have Vin finding a way to control the lord rulers creation's, the kandra and the koloss, but not the inquisitors, I figure in book 3 they will be the soldiers of whatever power was released from the well, but it looks like only Brandon and the possibly the mist spirit actually have any idea of whats going on with it, cause i know this theory has flaws. But i did imagine them looking something like this with spikes in there eyes

[Comatose]

Nice picture, the inquisitors could be dead, I've never thought about that before, it would explain wh ythe become so emotionless, however there are several points that go against this: they still feel pain, the transition goes slowly, marsh was still himself after he got the spikes, it took a while for him to change to be like the other inquisitors, also they weren;t completely controlled by the lord ruler, as illustrated by Marsh's treachery.  I think than in book 3 Vin will learn to control the inquisitors like ruin does, because I believe he does it through soothing as well.

[Andrew the Great]

I think than in book 3 Vin will learn to control the inquisitors like ruin does, because I believe he does it through soothing as well.

I disagree. I think that ruin rather steadily tries to convince them that what he wants them to do is what they should do. This is supported by the fact that Zane never really loses control of himself, just hears God's voice. In fact, in MB2, he specifically mentions that he knows he is insane, he just refuses to act irrationally because of it.

MB2, Chapter 18, Page 164

He found insanity no excuse, however, for irrational behavior. Some men were blind, others had poor tempers. Still others heard voices. it was all the same, in the end. A man was defined not by his flaws, but by how he overcame them.

Now if Zane hears the voice of Ruin all the time because of his one spike, and the amount of influence Ruin has is proportional to the amount of metal in your body (as supported by Zane cutting himself and Ruin's voice getting weaker), then the Inquisitors should constantly be hearing Ruins voice. If you hear the same thing enough times, no matter what it is and what you originally think about it, it starts to change you.

So, long story short, it makes more sense that the inquisitors are not being soothed, just constantly hearing a voice.

[Comatose]

I agree that their always hearing voices, but what I think is that the well spirit uses some form of soothing to broadcast those voices.  Remember, soothing isn't complete control (exxcept in the case of kandra and koloss), it's just suggestion to the emotional state, isn't Ruin's voice changing the emotional state of his victims?  I think he's using this voice to make suggestions like emotional allomancy, wear down hisd "victims," resistance, and then control them like kandra and koloss.  whether or not Vin is eventually able to do this  is questionable, it was just a random thought.  The reason I thought mabye is because the koloss have that nail, and some have said she controls them through the nail, then I thought, maybe she could control hemalurgists throught their spikes.  Like I said, random thought.

[Vintage]

Inquisitors have to face two different agravating factors : the constant hearing of the well's will for them (i.e. destruction, killing), the constant pain from the eleven spikes. Now only the pain would be sufficient to bend to the well's will. Have you ever seen someone really suffer ? Once, a friend told me that he could face anything, no problem, but the pain he was enduring was just too much. He was ready to do anything to make it stop. Think of yourself sick, so sick that you are only a massive pain and that someone tells you "kill him". Well, you just can't think no more. It's called brain washing by the way and that does exist even today. You might fight it at the beginning, but you cannot fight it forever and you end up bending. It has nothing to do with emotions, it's only physical. No need of soothing or rioting. You are just enraged with pain.

[Andrew the Great]

This is what I was trying to get at. Eventually the Inquisitors just lose all will to resist and become "mini-Ruins." They run around and do exactly what he wants them to.

[Comatose]

you're right of course, I know what you are saying, and I agree.  What I'm trying to say, si the same way allomancers soothe and riot others emotions is the same way ruin is broadcasting his voice to the inquisitors.  I don't know how to make this more clear.  Is that undertandable now? 

[Andrew the Great]

I am fairly sure I understand what you are trying to say, but I still disagree with it. You are saying basically that ruin doesn't outright soothe people, he just kind of gently does it so that they don't realize and are more likely to do what he wants.

My biggest problem with this is Zane. From what we have seen, the only communication he receives from God are the voices. He never mentions feeling any pressure on his emotions. He could have missed it, true, but you would think he would recognize what was being done considering that he himself can do it.

This could also be due to the fact that there are fewer spikes in Zane than in Inquisitors.

There is little evidence that this is the case, however, and I usually just stick with what the books say unless I can see a good reason not to. So while what you suggest is possible, I don't find it probable.

[Isix]

Then again we must also remember that in truth, the Lord Ruler did not actually defeat or should I say kill the deepness or the ruin. From what I gather, He really just held it at bay, Imprisoned it you could say. So we really have no idea what power it could wield, Yes the primary power in the Final Empire is Allomancy, But that power is wielded by humans. What they are facing now is something completely different.  It is said in the book many time's that the Lord Ruler was a divine creature, But when Vin finally killed him, we learned that he was just a man fueled by the same power and as Vin and Sazed. What I am saying is that possibly the power the ruin wields is not allomancy, something else yet. From a story stand point, Vin has fought pretty much every power the world can throw at her, So where does she stand. Another book having her fight yet another allomantic power is not what I would write as an author. She is now facing the most powerful enemy in the land, one that even the Lord Ruler didn't truly kill, So it is very hard to say whether or not the ruin uses allomancy or not, I would assume that it does in some way, but to affect those that it can enslave. I believe it's true power is going to be something else, But I would assume it uses allomancy in some way or another, and I still believe that the Inquisitors are going to be its primary henchmen.

[darxbane]

My argument as to why Ruin's control over the Inquisitors is more than suggestion is based on Marsh's fight with Sazed.  Sazed directly asks him why he is doing what he is doing, and Marsh says "I dont know".  This leads me to believe that he is controlled more directly.  He is not fully aware of his actions or motivations.

[SarahG]

The inquisitors could possibly be dead in the first place...

I know Comatose already pretty much refuted this, but I have one more reason they're not dead and controled by TLR: they clearly can think independently, when they scheme to overthrow the obligators, and also when they torture Reen and disagree about whether he is lying.  If they were all completely controlled by a single power (either TLR or Ruin), it doesn't make sense that they would have either individual ambition, or differences of opinion among themselves.

In saying this, I'm not disagreeing with the idea that after TLR's death, they become more completely controlled by Ruin.  We see very little of Inquisitors in MB2, so it's very hard to tell what they're doing, why, and under whose control.  But I still don't think they're actually dead.

On another tangent, is there such a thing as a female Inquisitor?  If so, why haven't we seen any?  If not, why not?

[Andrew the Great]

I agree with your post sarah. In response to your question, we haven't seen any female inquisitors, but we (most likely) have seen female hemalurgists, which means that theoretically there could be female inquisitors. The reason there aren't any is likely due to gender discrimination.