Author Topic: Written in Steel - Spoilers  (Read 6102 times)

SarahG

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Written in Steel - Spoilers
« on: April 29, 2008, 08:21:01 PM »
Why can words written in metal be trusted, more than words written on paper or in a metalmind?  I would think that Ruin or whoever is trying to warp the prophecy could just melt down the steel.  If Ruin itself didn't have that ability, it could make the Inquisitors or someone else do it.

On a related note, I think it's very sneaky of Sanderson to have distorted prophecies and metalminds like this, especially along with the Ministry's propaganda.  The combination means we can't trust anything any of the characters say about the Ascension or the Deepness or the Hero of Ages or about any other history or religion.  This allows all the rampant speculation in this forum, while ensuring that none of us can be sure our theories are correct.  We just have to wait for MB3, and anything in it that contradicts what came before can be explained by Ruin's corruption of metalminds.
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darxbane

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Re: Written in Steel - Spoilers
« Reply #1 on: April 30, 2008, 02:15:39 PM »
That is not entirely correct.  There are certain experiences in the book that help us deduce certain things to be true.  Also, the writings on the iron plate are not changed, so we know that they are true.  The problem with a lot of theories on this forum is that, since they can't be validated yet, people will choose to either ignore certain facts or just come up with an idea without checking to see if what they said is true.  Even if they do believe a theory is correct, they may still come up with something else, just for fun. 
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AvalonDreamer

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Re: Written in Steel - Spoilers
« Reply #2 on: April 30, 2008, 03:01:45 PM »
It's how we keep our creative edge, by posing ridiculous theories despite evidence to the contrary.
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darxbane

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Re: Written in Steel - Spoilers
« Reply #3 on: April 30, 2008, 03:19:46 PM »
Precisely. 
I wanted to write something profound here, but I couldn't think of anything.

SarahG

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Re: Written in Steel - Spoilers
« Reply #4 on: April 30, 2008, 07:20:59 PM »
I agree with you both.  But I still don't get why the metal plate couldn't just be melted or filed down.
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darxbane

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Re: Written in Steel - Spoilers
« Reply #5 on: April 30, 2008, 09:30:52 PM »
It must be that the power Ruin uses to change letters on a page or thoughts stored in metal minds can not manipulate the physical appearance of metal.
I wanted to write something profound here, but I couldn't think of anything.

Peter Ahlstrom

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Re: Written in Steel - Spoilers
« Reply #6 on: April 30, 2008, 10:13:22 PM »
Here's what I posted in the Hemalurgy thread:
Quote
As of book 2, there are two things we know Ruin can affect directly: Words written down on paper (or paperlike material) and words recorded in metalminds. That he can alter metalminds but not metal seems like a contradiction unless you think of it as a macro/micro question. Moving a few loosely-bonded atoms around on parchment is apparently much easier than reshaping metal (speaking as if book 2 is all I've read). Also, how do metalminds work? For the sake of argument, let's rule out straight "magic" and consider other options: How about quantum computers? If the memory inside metalminds is encoded in quantum bits, then changing it is simply a matter of flipping a few quantum bits, which are much tinier than the atoms involved in moving ink/charcoal around on parchment. It may be that it's even easier for him to affect metalmind memory than paper memory.

(Note: None of this is inside information, but is just the theory I developed while reading MB2 the first time.)

Yes, melting the metal would erase the words, but how much direct power over people has Ruin had during the time he's been trapped in the well?
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SarahG

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Re: Written in Steel - Spoilers
« Reply #7 on: April 30, 2008, 10:36:01 PM »
Thanks, Ookla.  That makes sense, more or less.
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AvalonDreamer

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Re: Written in Steel - Spoilers
« Reply #8 on: May 01, 2008, 01:24:21 AM »
Actually that makes perfect sense, though it makes me wonder more now into the physics of how all the other metalminds work... Digressing though, now that it's escaped (assuming it was the one trapped), does it have the force behind it to alter things like steel now? And why wouldn't it just order an inquisitor to do it? The slab was right under their home base...
My friends held an intervention, to stop my ridiculous plans to take over the world (Jake ended up in the hospital). I convinced them to let me take over other worlds though.

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Isix

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Re: Written in Steel - Spoilers
« Reply #9 on: May 01, 2008, 05:58:23 AM »
Maybe the ruin has a phobia of metal  :P maybe the lord ruler spun his milk so bad he is scared of metal, or.....maybe not, yea definitely not :D
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darxbane

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Re: Written in Steel - Spoilers
« Reply #10 on: May 01, 2008, 02:36:15 PM »
Ookla, Are you saying that you believe he influenced people to subconsciously change what they wrote or thought in metalminds?  I always thought his control was more focused on the objects themselves. 
I wanted to write something profound here, but I couldn't think of anything.

AvalonDreamer

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Re: Written in Steel - Spoilers
« Reply #11 on: May 01, 2008, 02:50:05 PM »
The way I'm interpreting what he's saying is that Ruin possess a little bit of ability to manipulate physical things, and that the levels at which you can easily alter simple carbon atoms floating freely on a page or bump the spin of an electron the right way in a metalmind, are well within it's ability, but that altering something so fundamentally solid as an iron lattice would be beyond it.
My friends held an intervention, to stop my ridiculous plans to take over the world (Jake ended up in the hospital). I convinced them to let me take over other worlds though.

*Evil grin*

RIP: James Oliver Rigney, Jr.

darxbane

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Re: Written in Steel - Spoilers
« Reply #12 on: May 01, 2008, 03:19:07 PM »
That's what I got the first time he posted it.  It was what he added on at the bottom that confused me a little bit.
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Re: Written in Steel - Spoilers
« Reply #13 on: May 01, 2008, 04:29:12 PM »
I say it's because Ruin lacks spoon-bending powers.



(The reference here being that spoons are metal. So he is not a spoon-bender.)
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SarahG

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Re: Written in Steel - Spoilers
« Reply #14 on: May 01, 2008, 04:42:30 PM »
OK, assuming Ruin couldn't change the words written in steel, what interest do the Inquisitors have in preserving it?  I wouldn't have thought of them as wishing to safeguard the true history of Alendi, Rashek, and Kwaan over the past millennium.
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