The Mists

[Chaos]

Brandon said in one of his Mistborn 1 annotations that his Allomancy-Feruchemy-Hemalurgy triad is the most complicated system he has ever devised. He's also said that the mists exist in a "fundamental level" to them all.

So, I'm making this topic so we can discuss our mist related theories. Obviously, the mists are very important, so they should have its own special discussion for them.

I had some thoughts, then, about Allomancy and the mists. As it was said in the Ruin and Preservation thread, there is something we are missing, something that ties everything together, most likely. We see all these different points that Brandon needs to cover in MB3--explaining Ruin and Preservation, Hemalurgy, why Vin has the powers she does (for example, drawing upon the mists), why the sun is red and the Ashmounts, and of course, tying it all together in a great climax. It seems overwhelming. I've been feeling lately that all our speculating... isn't really getting us much closer. We are missing something.

And, from what seems to be said about MB3 by alpha readers, the book is as fantastic as the others. I think I remember Ookla saying Brandon was a "dirty genius" in one older thread. So, I have every hope that Brandon will succeed in his quest to explain everything and wrap up Mistborn in a great way.

The key that we are missing, I think has to be the mists. We know not how or why, but the mists are important. Let's get back to theorizing-land, shall we?

Okay, I'm rambling. Here's my theory about Allomancy and its relation with the mists:

Allomancy is weird. Eating metals, and subconsciously burning them to release energy? It's sort of out there, but we like it. For all Brandon's explanation about Allomancy, we never know the fundamentals--the real, deep fundamentals about Allomancy. Namely, how Allomancers burn metals.

I am pretty sure Brandon knows the answer to this question (he likes to make things logical). I recall this one passage where we are in Vin's viewpoint, and she thinks to herself that "she doesn't need to know how she burns metals. All she needs to know is that she can." (something like that). That subtle reference points to a reason for Allomancy, one which isn't understood by anyone (except probably the Lord Ruler).

We are also very aware that Allomancy has a link with the mists--equally mysterious. You use Allomancy, and the mists are pulled to you. Heck, the name "Mistborn" and "Misting" successfully links Allomancers to the very nature of the mists. The two are linked.

How, then? Let's think for a moment. Brandon says mists are "fundamental" in the world of Mistborn and its magic. So--go with me here--what if, the mists were the reason why an Allomancer can burn metals?

It's weird, in itself. I could be totally in crazy land with this one, I'll admit. I have very little evidence to support this theory. But, the link seems logical and reasonable to me.

In fact, I'm beginning to think we all have it backwards. Our normal analysis says that when we use Allomancy, the mists move. That's cause and effect. The Allomancy--cause--makes the mists move--effect. Well, switch that around. An Allomancer uses his or her subconsious, and somehow that channels the mists--pulling the mists towards the Allomancer--and that, in turn, lets the metals burn. The mists are the cause, rather than being the effect.

Oookay, call me insane, because it sounds weird. It just feels... right.

The theory doesn't explain why Inquisitors push away the mists. It doesn't explain a lot of things. But, unless I've completely missed a cool thread, there hasn't been a theory that explains how an Allomancer burns metals. Think about it.

By the way, I don't want this thread to just be a discussion about this theory. Let's discuss everything mist related. I, personally, would love a unified topic to discuss why the killing mists don't usually kill...

[White]

I have a question in regards to the feruchemy/allomancy thing.

Okay, so if memory recalls feruchemy existed before allomancy, why?

Allomancy is obviously related to the mists of course isn't it? their coming over the world / the well of ascension etc.

Why *is* the well of ascension called that? because people ascend to becoming mistborn? If the well of ascension is the one source of allomancy, where was the source of feruchemy? What is it that makes allomancy and feruchemy so different?

[Chaos]

Feruchemy did exist before the Ascension, as referenced by Alendi's logbook and Kwaan. Allomancers only existed after the Ascension.

The source of Feruchemy... I have no idea. I don't even have a wild theory for that one.

I think the Well is called the "Well of Ascension" mostly because of the Lord Ruler, because that is the place where he "ascended" to godhood (supposedly, but we know that's a lie). Of course, Kwaan also called it the Well of Ascension, so maybe that name is a lot older than just the Lord Ruler.

[Comatose]

I definately agree, there something fishy about the mists, they don't quite make sense.  We know they are both stability and chaos, abd both Ruin and the mist spirit that opposes him (possibly preservation) manipulate the mists, they have started killing randomly during the day, only sometimes they don't kill, I think that's important, I'm pretty sure it's not random, some people die in the mists, some people live, some people are partiallly effected, they must have something in common.  We also know that there is not definate records of the mists until the ascension, although it is likely that they are the deepness.

[Eudaimoniac]

It is only a feeling. I have no text-place to support it, only the feeling that when the mist kills and almost kills, it is the product of something that happens somewhere else. It is tied into allomancy in some way, so when allomancy is used in some extreme way, maybe Flared when you use it all up at once, then the mist reacts somewhere else, and that reaction is killing or almost killing.

I know it does not really make sense, just feels it

As to the 3 magic systems. They are really really interconnected. They supplement and compliment each other completely. Since they are so interconnected, what are the odds that one existed before the others ?

In the well-room there are the beads that makes you mistborn. Can we assume that TLR did not create them. Can we assume that who ever imprisoned Ruin also left the beads? So, prior to the imprisonment of Ruin (which is prior to TLR) there were beads that bestowed mistborn abilities. ((or did Preservation turn into those beads??)). So, prior to TLR's ascension there was allomancy.

I simply have a problem with believing that the 3 interconnecting systems did not evolve simultaneously. It would make no sense to me that there was one system, and then evolved two others, so closely related.

(But it could actually explain why feuromancu does not arrect the mist...)

[White]

I definately agree that if the three systems of magic are really inter-related that it seems unfeasible for them to have not evolved at the same time, or at least not without a good reason for why one (say, allomacy) was unable to manifest as a feasible force before a given point.

Also, Is it possible, that there is some sort of balance limit across all three systems?

Like, since the rise of allomancy and the ascension of T.L.R., the number of feruchemists has decreased (as a result of T.L.R.'s actions of course), but could that also have swayed any balance between the three systems so that as a result of there being fewer feruchemists there are able to be more allomancers?

Okay, so that's not necessarilly something that's really going on, but hey, maybe it's a possibility.

I really like this thread - and sorry for any typos, I haven't slept enough.

[Comatose]

I think those beads were either found at the original location of the well, or forged from the metallic lake.  I'm pretty sure feruchemy existed before allomancy, kwaan's accounts pretty much confirm it, as well as the log book.  I also think  their was something unnatural about the the lord ruler theat helped him keep Ruin and the mists in check, I don't think it was coincidence that the lord ruler was killed right before the millenial power had finished gathering.  His healing abilities seem supernatural at first- being able to regenerate from cinders, however, I realized that he probably just stores health in his gold minds and then burns them for extra health, the same way he gets age from atium, which is why he can heal so quickly from pretty much anything, but there's still something different about him.  His allomancy is extremely strong, even without the mists, and I don't think it's just because he ate the that bead, and I don't thin Elend will be as powerful as him, or as Vin.  I still think there's something supernatural about her as well, the way she was quickly able to grasp allomancy for example.  I'm sure there are explanaitons for these things, but I just htought they weres ome questions that haven't been dealt with much.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

His healing abilities seem supernatural at first- being able to regenerate from cinders

Don't believe everything the rumors or the Steel Ministry said about the Lord Ruler's legendary survival skills.

[darxbane]

You mean, his head didn't regrow after it was chopped off his shoulders?  Anyway, The Lord Ruler's extra power came from combining the magic systems together.  EUOL has already told us that the mix of Feruchemy and Allomancy together produces incredibly powerful effects.  EUOL has not said whether or not TLR used some form of Hemalurgy as well, but I believe he was using all three magic types.  Did the Mists make it to TLR?  I am thinking back now, and I believe they stopped at Vin.  That could have been because of Marsh, but it may have been to old Rashek himself.

[Comatose]

Like I said, I realize now that it was propably just him burning his goldminds, if that is even true.  Sorry, I have a habit of thinking while I type (just check out the ruin preservation thread,) which often leads to contradictions.  I'm not sure I believe the lord ruler to be a hemalurgist, I don't think he'd want to give himself any unnecessary weaknesses, hes' powerful enough already.

[Chaos]

I seem to remember two particular Mistborn 1 annotations. The first said SEEMED to reference that the Lord Ruler was a Hemalurgist--of course, since I don't remember which one it is, you shouldn't believe me at all there (and I remember it was a really weak reference, anyways). The second, however, I remember in greater detail. Brandon said that it would take him "three books to explain why the Lord Ruler is so powerful".

So, we don't have the full picture of the Lord Ruler just yet.

EDIT:

Maybe Allomancy and Hemalurgy did exist before the Ascension. It seems that Alendi's piercings being Hemalurgical in nature is a pretty popular theory. If they are Hemalurgical, then, we know that Hemalurgy exists in some form before the Ascension.

[Comatose]

Maybe Hemalurgy is just the process of passing the abilities of one onto another.
IDEA
What if that's how the inquisitors get allomancy?  I know darxbane touched on this before, he said that what if the spikes are all different metals and a differetn misting is used for each spike.  There are 11 spikes, right.  Well if we assume they have one allomatic ability to start, then seven spikes cover the other basic metals, so seven misting sacrifices.  As far as we know only mistbron can use the high metals, (excepting the 15 and possibly 16), so the eighth may be a mistborn sacrifice, then a a skaa, or several are sacrificed to pass on the allomancy enhancement ability, which is what cause inquisitors to repel the mists, because it's not the true form, the one Vin uses to draw on the mist, and then the last two spikes are by sacrificeing feruchamists maybe, to pass on the fast healing ability of gold, and another ability, or perhaps the 11th spike is what causes gives them their "eyesight."  It could also be a second skaa sacrifice.  This would reinforce why inquisitors are so hard to make, the lord ruler would have hunt down a feruchemist, get a mistborn, seven mistings, and then sacrifice them all to make one inquisitor.  He would also have to track down a skaa with the enhancement ability/ mist magic (for lack of a a better term). 
Alendi MIGHT have used Hemalurgy too, in order to gain great prowess as a warrior, talented warriors were scarificed, and their abilites were passed into his earrings.  Intersting, eh?

[dawncawley]

Ok, I know that the theory of the different spikes having different allomantic properties is a popular one, but it is called the "Steel Ministry" and I always took that to mean that all of their spikes were steel. I know it doesn't say anywhere that they are all steel, at least not that I can recall, but it is what I thought when I read it.

As for how they become full Mistborn, I have no idea. I always assumed it had something to do with having a bunch of spikes in your body switching around the flow and what not of your blood and bodily fluids. Or maybe the making of Inquisitors is what causes the "break", or kills the person....either way. Just my thoughts.

[Comatose]

What is theorized here is that they are called steel inquisitors because the steel spike is the most important.  I agreed with you, I thought they were all the same, until someon pointed out that when Sazed looked at marsh's, the eye spikes were made of two different metals.

[dawncawley]

I am obviously in great need of a re-read.