Mysterious Reen ?

[Vintage]

I am sorry if this has been discussed already. I did not look on all threads that were created before I arrived. But this has to be discussed and studied...

Reading Brandon's annotation is enlightening

Kelsier's warning about not flaring metals too much is a foreshadowing for book three of the trilogy. You'll see what I mean in a couple of years. Also, there's something very important about Vin's brother that will be hard to pick out, but has been foreshadowed since the first book. . . .

So I would wish us to discuss what we think we discovered about Reen that would be so hard to pick... for one person by his or herself... 

[Phaz]

I am sorry if this has been discussed already. I did not look on all threads that were created before I arrived. But this has to be discussed and studied...

Reading Brandon's annotation is enlightening

Kelsier's warning about not flaring metals too much is a foreshadowing for book three of the trilogy. You'll see what I mean in a couple of years. Also, there's something very important about Vin's brother that will be hard to pick out, but has been foreshadowed since the first book. . . .

So I would wish us to discuss what we think we discovered about Reen that would be so hard to pick... for one person by his or herself... 

The main thing about Reen that struck me as interesting was that Vin hears his voice in her head.

When reading MB2 for the second time, it reminded me a lot about how Zane was spoken to by God.

I don't think there is any evidence of the God/Ruin <-> Hemalurgy link in the first book, but that is when you learn about the history behind Vin's earing.

Thus, I supposed that IMO what is "hard to pick out" is that Ruin (or maybe Preservation in this case) is speaking to Vin as Reen.

[Vintage]

I did think something like that... some days or weeks back, but how would the Inquisitor tell her that Reen had been screeming that she had died way before before they killed him ?

Otherwise, everything seemed to fit. The beatings could have been anybody but Vin could have thought they were Reen's doing if she was half-concious. She could have taken care of herself after her mother had fled. Do we ever have a physical description of her brother ?

[Comatose]

I think darxbane means the voice of reen in Vin's head is ruin or preservation

[Chaos]

Sure, it sounds good to say that Reen's voice is Ruin--I quite like the idea. But, what does Ruin have to gain by doing this to Vin? I thought the entire point of MB2 was to make sure Vin was the perfectly noble hero in order to "stop the Deepness". If Ruin was acting as Reen's voice, constantly saying that "anyone can betray you" does not sound like the thing to say to groom the perfect hero.

Secondly, for most of the second book, Vin doesn't hear the voice, and yet does wear her Hemalurgic earring all the time. If we say that the Lord Ruler was supressing the power of Ruin during the Final Empire, then wouldn't after the Lord Ruler is dead, Vin's voices get worse?

That is not to say Ruin couldn't do that. He's insanely manipulative; he could have easily done it. It could easily be some super-secret enigmatic plot on his part that we can scarcely comprehend.

(But I doubt that very much.)

[Comatose]

It could also be preservation, at the end of book one, before "Reen's" whispers cease, the voice says, go to him. 

[Phaz]

Sure, it sounds good to say that Reen's voice is Ruin--I quite like the idea. But, what does Ruin have to gain by doing this to Vin? I thought the entire point of MB2 was to make sure Vin was the perfectly noble hero in order to "stop the Deepness". If Ruin was acting as Reen's voice, constantly saying that "anyone can betray you" does not sound like the thing to say to groom the perfect hero.

Secondly, for most of the second book, Vin doesn't hear the voice, and yet does wear her Hemalurgic earring all the time. If we say that the Lord Ruler was supressing the power of Ruin during the Final Empire, then wouldn't after the Lord Ruler is dead, Vin's voices get worse?

That is not to say Ruin couldn't do that. He's insanely manipulative; he could have easily done it. It could easily be some super-secret enigmatic plot on his part that we can scarcely comprehend.

(But I doubt that very much.)

I honestly think the reason that Reen's voice doesn't appear much in MB2 is because if it did, it would be easier to make the connection between Reen's voice and Zane's.  Thus, I think Brandon minimized the use to try and leave this as a surprise for as many readers as possible.

[Chaos]

Good point. With so much villains and manipulation going on in the first place, placing another element into our down-to-earth protagonist would be completely confusing.

[Comatose]

Or maybe PRESERVATION (sorry, it's just what I think) was unable to keep talking because of Ruin's growing influence.

[Andrew the Great]

I suppose that makes sense, Comatose, but I just can't see a reason for preservation to talk to Vin.

[Comatose]

True, and I guess if it was preservation, and preservation is the mist spirit, then we'd see some conjunction there.  The mist spirit seems unable to communicate by mental or verbal means, relying on pointing and tearing paper.  This inablity to communicate leads my back to my theory that preservation is trapped in the mists by ruin.

[Vintage]

Reen talks less, and the Mist Spirit appears around Vin...

Would you think it could be related ?

[darxbane]

my theories about Reen have mostly been against the idea that Ruin is using his voice, as Reen's comments to Vin seem counterproductive to moving Vin away from someone who only cared about herself to someone who would do what appeared to be the right thing no matter what personal loss she would incur.  That with the fact that Reen's comments changed at about the same time Vin found out that he gave his life to protect her led me to believe that it was all in her head.  However, the annotation above just gave me a crazy idea.  What if Reen's spirit was chosen by Preservation to act as her guardian, and has taken the form of the Mist Spirit?  Hehe!  Even if it's not true it's still cool.  When the Mist spirit "attacked" her, it was actually Reen trying to remove the earring.  He watches Elend because he does not trust him, and even tries to get him to head away from Luthadel.  Finally, after unsuccessfully attempting to convince Vin not to release Ruin, he shows her how to save Elend.  He can't communicate with her directly, but he can use allomancy.  I wonder what would happen if she flared zinc or copper at the mist spirit?  Would it create a link between them? 

[Vintage]

It would make sense. Ruin wanted to be released and worked hard to prepare Vin for the job. And Ruin did want her alive so much that it never told Zane to kill her. In a sense, Ruin protected Vin. On the other end, Reen always told Vin to question everything that was around her, always encouraged her to be suspicious. It would have been a very good chanel for the Mist to use his voice. For one thing, Vin trusted Reen and therefore the Mist Spirit would get her attention.

Thinking of this, though, makes me think at something else. If the Inquisitors were from Ruin (I strongly believe they are but now...), they could not wish to kill her. So why were they looking for her ? And obviously, TLR wanted her to be found as well...

My poor head...

[Phaz]

I think most people now think that Reen's voice = Ruin's voice, but here is a bit more evidence.

In the first book, every time you have Reen's words, she never 'hears' them.  She always "thinks" them. 

i.e. "Vin thought ....."

Later on, we get the format:

"Reen's voice said, "

Interestingly enough, when you first see the earing in the book, and she first puts it in (when she get's back to the Lair & the Ministry is on to them) she walks out and is beaten by Camon.  During that time, just after she puts the earing in, the text reads:

"In her mind, she thought she heard a voice whispering to her.  Reen's voice." 

From then on, it changes to Reen's voice actually speaking to her, and not just her thinking what he would of said.

IMO that seals the deal.