The Mists

[Eudaimoniac]

it seems that there would not be so many inquisitors if each one needed 8 mistings, a mistborn and 2 feuromachers.  8 rare people, 1 very rare person (and besides from a few - always noble) and 2 extremely rare people, mostly residing somewhere else than the lord ruler...

[darxbane]

I agree that the Feruchemist and Mistborn sacrifices would be a little much.  It would be hard enough to find Mistings to sacrifice.  My theory was that sacrificing Mistings made the piercings more potent.  They were obviously able to create Inquisitors with just the slaves at the Conventical. 

[Comatose]

OK, but what happens then to the feruchemists that the lord ruler catches?  It always says that the keepers must remain in hiding, but what happens when they do, and like I said, perhaps it's only one feruchmist, still, I admit, it's a stretch but remember, there's only like 20 inquisitors in the entire empire, is it such a stretch that the lord ruler couldn't have caught at least 20, in the past 100 or so years, (or more, Inquisitors are longm lived, remember).  As for mistborn, I'm sure he could find 20.  I admit my theory is still weak in some places, but If they just use mistings to get their powers, how can they burn atium, how do they heal so quickly?  And I still am definately sticking to my Skaa theory, I'm sure they have to power to amplify allomancy.

And as for the inquisitors created at the conventicle, who says they are complete inquisitors, maybe they are just partial ones, like Zane.  Maybe they just have the enhancement ability, from the Skaa slaves, and they are seeking to complete themselves, byt killing off the keeperes, and then dragging their bodies off with them for their hemalurgic rituals.

[darxbane]

We would have to assume that he has caught Feruchemists recently.  It appears that they do an excellent job of hiding in plain sight, and there doesn't seem to be any way to detect them.

[Comatose]

How do we really know though, er've only met two: Sazed and Twyndyl, and we've only seen Sazed during the lord ruler's rule, I don't think it is much of  a stretch that at least one feruchemist could have been caught every 5 years or so, very uncommon, but think of all that has happened to you in the last five years, surely that is enought margin for at least one feruchemist to slip up and get caught, after all, Sazed did get caught in the last book, and whose to say that one wasn't caught a while ago and saved until a new inquisitor was chosen.  I'm not saying my theory is correct, I'm just trying to point out that it's definately within the realm of possibility that someone like the lrod ruler could catch a keeper once and a while.

[Chaos]

It's actually referenced a couple of times in MB1 that the Lord Ruler believed that the Keepers were completely eradicated. I find it quite unlikely and convoluted for there to be a massive conspiracy surrounding Feruchemist sacrifices like that.

However, you have to realize, in MB1, Brandon makes a point to describe how the Ministry executes skaa allomancers in deep detail. Blood is involved in that, by the way...

[darxbane]

That's right.   What a horrible way to go;  hanged by the inside of the throat like a foul-hooked fish.  The theory is possible, but it just doesn't seem very probable to me.  It's makes the Inquisitors a little too hard to create.   It's bad enough that, if a spike of Atium is required, it would use enough of the metal to buy an entire plantation or more.  Anyway, I reread the last few pages of MB2 again, and I started to wonder why the Mist Spirit could be seen at the well, even though there was no mist there.  the description of Vin entering the pool of metal is interesting, also. 

[Chaos]

Well, the Lord Ruler said they are really hard to replace.

Okay people, no more Hemalurgy talk unless its in direct relation with the Mists. That's what we are focusing on here, and we are getting way off-topic.

[Iahawki99]

Chaos you stated:

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.

So...
If the mists are really the "cause" of the metal burning, then why are Allomancers able to burn their metals during the day. The mists have only recently started appearing during the day, correct? 

[Comatose]

Ok, I admit it, my theory is out to lunch, the lord ruler probably couldn't catch a keeper, but if that's true, than how do they heal so fast.  I'd guess what it takes to make an inquisitor is different than we thought, I still think the skaa blood has something to do with it (sorry for that last bit of hemalurgical stuff, I'll stop now, see that thread for more details, I guess.)

Anyways, yes the mists recently came during the day, but here's a thought, everyone always says the mists just appear.  What if the mists are always there, just the way the sun shines renders them invisible, and the reason they come during the day now, is because they are growing thicker and stronger?  Just a thought.

[Chaos]

It's a fundamental theory of physics that matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed. The mists aren't "destroyed" when the sun comes out. I don't exactly know how, but if they were destroyed daily, that would mean they would need to be "recreated" each day. Which is so HIGHLY unlikely and impossible that we should not even go off on a tangent on that one

[Comatose]

Well they wouldn't be destroyed when they came out, they would just fase and evaporate, into vapour, not destroyed, just changed, unless of course I'm riught, and they are always there.

[Comatose]

I have a question?  Does the Mist Spirit only appear when the mists start coming during the day and killing people, or was it there all the time, it just wasn;t interested in Vin until now.  If my theory about Preservation is right, it could be that Preservation was just trapped recently.  It's been stated the the lord ruler is preservation to the extreme right, well, what if the lord ruler was holding back the mists by freeing preservation from them, and when he died, ruin was able to trap preservation in the mists again.  Just thinking aloud here, just something for you guys to think about.

[Vintage]

Something wasn't mentionned about the mist that could maybe help us figuring it out. Most of the times, the books say that the mist is moving around the Mistings and Mistborn, but I remember reading twice of the mist moving AWAY from mistborn. One it was from Zane and another one from Vin herself, Elend makes the remarks on that second one... I have to find the passages, both in MB2 to see the context.

As someone else said... I'll be back.

[darxbane]

  It definitely happened, but on three occaisions.  The other time was when Vin fought Rashek.  She notices that the mists are being pushed away by the Inquisitors.  This is how we have connected Hemalurgy to Vin.  Zane has a metal spike in his chest, and he repels the mists.  Vin drew on the mists at the end of book one, but only after her earring was torn from her ear by the Fraud Ruler.  She has been unable to recreate this because her earring has Hemallurgical properties, and she has been wearing it every time she has tried.  It is why she can feel the well pulsing, why Zane hears a voice in his head, and why Marsh could no longer control himself.  All is due to Hemallurgy.  It seems that the mists react based on the amount of Hemallurgy metal is in one's body.  Vin's very small earring didn't start pushing away the mists until she got very close to the Well, and only after it had reached its full millenial power cycle, yet the Inquisitor's effect was quite obvious.  It is believed that Hemallurgy repels the mists because it is a fabricated or unnatural power.  It could also be derived from a power that is opposite the power of the  Mists.  Or [evil grin], Hemallurgy could repel the Mists because they come from the same power, like to positive poles of a magnet!  I can't wait for Coma and Chaos to read this.  Ha!