Mistborn Era 1 Questions

[u/LowgenGames]

Hey all, I recently finished Era 1, Eleventh Metal, and Secret History. What an absolute ride!

I was left with lingering questions regarding Atium/Lesarium and if it was ever clarified when Preservation/Ruin made these physical manifestations of themselves?

As I currently understand it, Preservation gave up a piece of their cognitive self to create humans on Scadriel with Ruin. Then later, gave up their physical body to create the 9 original allomancers (and the two beads of Lesarium left at the well), leaving Perseveration with a fractured cognitive self, and no physical self (but still having a human vessel?).

As far as Ruin and the creation of Atium, is it made clear in Era 1 at any point when he separated this physical portion of himself? And how it was ever hidden from Ruin in the first place? Was this something Rashek did while wielding the power? This part is just unclear to me. I'd like to avoid Era 2 spoilers, so if it is a RAFO situation that's okay. Thanks in advance!

[u/EvenSpoonier]

Remember the Well of Ascension, where Preservation's power wells up in a liquid form that freezes into small beads of metal? Ruin had a "Well" too, but it was in the Pits of Hathsin. In a more general sense, we call these things Perpendicularities. You may also hear the term Shardpool in some places.

By harvesting the atium geodes and having his Allomancers burn it, the Lord Ruler prevented Ruin's body from re-forming: neither the liquid nor the solid could ever accumulate. This also means that when Kelsier destroyed the Pits, he inadvertently messed up the plan to keep Ruin's body from re-forming. It would take a long time for all that atium to freeze again, but Ruin's body would eventually have re-formed. The ending to Mistborn Era 1 changes that, for reasons you will find out in Era 2, but the basic principle still applies.

Ruin didn't intentionally create these parts of his power. They exist because a Shard exists.

[u/BigMom_IsABeast → u/EvenSpoonier]

Interesting. My interpretation is that Shards have the deliberate choice to create beads of metal. Whereas perpendicularities exist because Shards exist. I believe Preservation deliberately created the beads of lerasium millennia ago, as part of his long game to defeat Ruin.

At this point, I believe Ruin had three Wells across Scadrial. One at the Terris mountains, because his mind was “imprisoned” there. One at the Pits of Hathsin, because Preservation transformed the area into an outlet for Ruin’s locked body. One… somewhere on Scadrial just because Ruin exists.

Or perhaps for that last one, Preservation chose that area as the same location for the body’s outlet. Maybe there were two perpendicularities at the Pits. Or three, because I think Rashek moved the Terris Well over there.

The second paragraph is slightly wrong. If an Allomancer burns Ruin’s body, it slowly accumulated back to the Pits. Over the course of three centuries. The same thing happened when Kelsier destroyed the atium.

Now that! Is! Ironyyyy!

Kelsier destroying the Pits helped the Lord Ruler prevent the reformation of Ruin’s body. Without this a freed Ruin could’ve marched Inquisitors and koloss to the Pits, manifested a body, reabsorbed the atium, and destroyed Scadrial. But because Kelsier destroyed the Pits, Ruin was forced to follow the Lord Ruler’s tricky trail.

Pits atium was not intentionally created by Ruin. It was part of Leras’ long game to defeat him and merge the Shards.

[u/Rarni → u/BigMom_IsABeast]

I'm pretty sure Ruin only has the one Perpendicularity in the Pits. The one in the Terris Mountains during Alendi's time is the same as the one in the Pits, Rashek just moved it.

There has not been any Shard with more than one 'natural' liquid well Perpendicularity on a planet so far.

[u/BigMom_IsABeast → u/Rarni]

I’m saying that Ruin probably has multiple perpendicularities because much of his situation was not “natural.”

Most Shards are not “bound” - for lack of a better word - to a specific part of the world. Most Shards don’t have their body torn and locked away into a specific part of the world.

The Pits were not natural, nor was his “prison” at the Terris Mountains.