Oh Oh
I Remembered what I wanted to ask/Say.
Somewhere in this thread Brandon said/inferred that for a time Kelsier held Preservation’s power after preservation died before it went to Vin.
I don’t remember seeing that in the book. I know Brandon has done some misdirection in subtlely saying some things so I may have missed it. Can someone point me to where it was presented to the reader?
Now my big speculation. Follow me if you can and let me know if it makes any sense. (Brandon??)
I have a theory about Ruin, Preservation, the body that fell out of the mist when “preservation” died, the prophesies and the WoT (yes I did say WoT) and how they all come together. There are holes in my theory, but maybe it will make some sense. And maybe someone can take my theory, fill in some holes and bring it together a little better since I have not read all of Brandon’s works. I have only read Elantris and the Mistborn books.
I think that “Ruin” and “Preservation” are the names of positions and that this whole 1000 year cycle (0r however many year cycle) of the prophesies are along the lines of the Wheel of Time and the Dragon reborn fighting the Dark One. Preservation being like the Dragon and Ruin being like the Dark One.
Laras may have been the original “Preservation” but that he (I'm chosing "He") may have perished along the way during one of the cycles of the wheel of time in this universe. Someone like Vin came along and took Laras’s place when he died. And this would role along the cycle until the next person took over “Preservation”. Ruin remaining as the same entity as the original Ati (like the Dark One has always been the same “person” while the Dragon keeps being reborn as another person). At the end of each cycle “Ruin's" prison gets renewed.
The body that fell out of the mist could have been just the latest “Preservation” just like Vin became “Preservation”. In past cycles the person that took over “Preservation” would have decided to continue the stalemate and then there would be another 1000 year (or 2000 year) cycle.
But this time Ruin was able to go farther than he (Still chosing "HE") ever did in the past and broke the cycle by tricking Vin into releasing him from his prison. This would be similar to the final battle in WoT. Ruin destroying the World is like the Dark One breaking out of his prison and recreating the world/universe in his own image. Vin was the final “preservation” (Dragon) that was able to FINALLY defeat “Ruin” (Dark One) by colliding with him and killing each other.
Balance…destruction and creation coming together.
Vin’s body would have fallen out of the Mists somewher and Sazed was able to collect her body and place it with Eland. Somewhere Ruin's body could have fallen out of the Mists too if his Body, in the form of the Atium, would not have been used up by the Atium Mistings. Since he didn’t have a body, one didn’t fall out of the Mists.
We come to the final battle and Vin “Preservation” won.
The combined powers of “Ruin” and “Preservation” being released at the same time were able to be combined in Sazed. They are “shards” of Adonalsium (broken pieces of a whole) and have been able to come back together.
In the ultimate scheme of the great question and answer of the universe I think all of the shards that were created when Adonalsium broke apart need to come back together as one body to reform Adonalsium.
Down the line Sazed (Laras-Ati or Ati-Laras) will need to combine with all of the other Shards to re-create Adonalsium.
Maybe, just maybe, the “Big Bang” that created the universe, was caused by (or actually caused) Adonalsium coming apart into the shards.
This is just my 2 cents…….uhm 2 dollars?
Firstly, I do think there is a cycle of sorts, but to say its a WoT type thing, every 1000 years, I highly doubt that. I do agree that Ati and Leras were once people like Vin. That they each somehow tapped into the power of the Shards of Preservation and Ruin, and became part of that power.
One of my main problems with the whole WoT thing is that, besides that fact from seeing Brandon's interviews, that he would not do something as to reuse the idea of the Wheel, being that this Trilogy was supposed to be the opposite of many big epic fantasy stories. So far Brandon's always tried to do something not seen before.
Besides that point, there is the problem of the prophecies themselves. If what the trilogy depicts happens over and over, we would assume someone like Sazed would gather both powers each time. However, how would he lose it, if he has both. The only thing that can oppose either power, is the other power. If they are acting as one, they cannot go against each other. As in one person controlling them, not working together as they did when Ruin decided he wanted more.
And actually Ruin did have a body that fell out of the sky along with Vin. It was only mentioned once. I believe it mentioned something about a prominent nose. And I believe it was a male figure, so in this instance, yes Ruin would be a 'He'.
Also, Vin as Preservation did not "win". It was a draw. They both were equal in power, so they both died, that being how Sazed could get both. If you want to say Vin won because Ruin did not, well then yes. To me, if Vin had won, she would have still been alive, instead of plummeting from the sky.
I do like your idea of the Shards eventually coming together. My only problem with that is that it would leave all the respective books words (magic) powerless, and so far all his books magic systems revolve around these systems. So, if this is to ever happen, it will not be for a long time.