Chaos, the only problem I've got with that theory is if the mists are so essential to all the magic systems, why does the magic still work when the mists aren't out? Even if the mists
are still there, and just invisible during the daylight, during pre-Ascension times Rashek and co.'s Feruchemy worked fine when Alendi said that they were above the Deepness/mists. (And welcome back by the way. I haven't seen you posting in a little while.)
--- Discussion continued from page 30 of the Comprehensive Hemalurgy Thread ---
In response to Chaos' very long late-night post. . .
I agree with almost all of what you've got there, Chaos, but there are a few points I'd like to make. Let's see . . .
. . . (Side note: We also don't see any mist spirits in MB1. The Lord Ruler could have a similar hold on Preservation to prevent the manifestation of such a mist spirit.). . .
Another possibility is that Preservation was just reluctant to do any more changing than it had to in order to keep Ruin at bay, and The Lord Ruler was just doing a good enough job of preserving the world that Preservation felt no need to manifest itself if it didn't have to.
The Lord Ruler, both knowing about Hemalurgy and of Ruin's existence [. . .], would not create an army of super-Mistborn like the Steel Inquisitors if he knew that Ruin could so easily get a hold on them. I think the logical explanation is either: 1. He was not aware of Ruin's power to influence metals, merely that it was killing mists or 2. The Lord Ruler was aware of that ability of Ruin, but, he never anticipated on actually dying. . . .
I'm pretty sure that the second option here is a lot more plausible. The Lord Ruler was nothing if not arrogant, and Kwaan knew of the abilities of which you speak, and I think he would have told Rashek as much as he could, especially after he ascended.
Now that I think about it, Ruin must have some way to sense what people are thinking. He couldn't manipulate them, but merely be aware of them. . . .
Doesn't it say on the jacket flap of Hero of Ages that Elend and Vin must struggle to fight Ruin without even speaking of their plans to each other? If that's the case, I highly doubt Ruin could read minds, otherwise what's the point of not speaking? Perhaps Ruin could read minds while inside of the Well of Ascension, but not now that he's free. (Maybe because of the whole omnipotence factor the Well of Ascension seems to have.)
Other than that, I wholeheartedly agree with your post, it makes a lot of sense that Ruin couldn't affect the world while The Lord Ruler reigned.