Hero of Ages: Why can‘t Vin break her prison?

[Macrush]

Hello everyone, 

this is my first post in the forum. I read the Mistborn-Series and loved it, but there is this one thing that I just can’t grasp and that bothers me - so I hope you can help me. 
The whole magic system and it’s use are fantastically well thought-through! So when I felt like finding an ‘error’ I assumed that I must have misread something. But I just can’t figure it out. So instead of saying ‘I found a mistake’, I’m gonna ask: What do I not understand here? 
 

In Hero of Ages, Vin is imprisoned in chapter 44 (also 45, 48, 50) in the cavern underneath Fadrex city. The metal plate in the door has been removed. Yet still I ask myself: Why was she not able to break out on her own? 

 

I understand that she cannot simply push against the door and have it open, since the metal inside has been taken out. She tries that at the end of chapter 44. 
However, she notes that ‘with duralumin-enhanced pewter’ she should have been able to push even that open’ - but she can’t get any footing. So I assume that she has duralumin.
She also has a coin pouch. Since she’s shooting them around later, she also must have steel. 

So immediately I asked myself: Why can she not simply place one or multiple coins against the door and steel-push, duralumin-enhanced, against the door? Of course she would have to push in the opposite direction as well, just as it is described when she opens the previous cavern. Opposite to her should be the steel plate she reads later - and even if it’s not exactly opposite of her, she could place coins there as well! Should this not be enough to open the door again right away?

 

Friends of mine have suggested that it is different if you push only against a small coin to open a large door as opposed to the huge metal plates that were inside the door. If that is so, can someone explain to me, why? My understanding of steel-pushing is that every person has a different strength, that does not relate to the size of the pushed object. If at all, it relates to the person’s weight, but that seems to be somewhat misleading. However, weight should not be important in my question…

 

i hope someone can explain why it would not be possible for Vin to simply break out like this - and restore my feeling of logic in all of this. Thank you! :-) 

 

Edited July 17, 2022 by Macrush

[Frustration he/him]

52 minutes ago, Macrush said:

So immediately I asked myself: Why can she not simply place one or multiple coins against the door and steel-push, duralumin-enhanced, against the door? Of course she would have to push in the opposite direction as well, just as it is described when she opens the previous cavern. Opposite to her should be the steel plate she reads later - and even if it’s not exactly opposite of her, she could place coins there as well! Should this not be enough to open the door again right away?

The cavern is the size of a small town, the metal plague is too far away for her to push on.

[Treamayne]

3 hours ago, Macrush said:

Friends of mine have suggested that it is different if you push only against a small coin to open a large door as opposed to the huge metal plates that were inside the door. If that is so, can someone explain to me, why? My understanding of steel-pushing is that every person has a different strength, that does not relate to the size of the pushed object. If at all, it relates to the person’s weight, but that seems to be somewhat misleading. However, weight should not be important in my question…

The size of the anchor will determine how far away you you can push on it. Also, as shown in Kelsier's FIght with the Inquisitor (M:FE Ch 34), a skilled allomancer can select anchors at the edges or corners of larger objects (allowing the force to be distributed). In this case, consider what happens when a 5 ft Vin tries to push on a coin that is not physically connected to a 12ft stone door. It would likely slide right off, since the spacing can't effectively get a push against the direction of movement at both corners (if lined up to the bottom anchor, the top anchor would be tangential to the plane of movement). 

[Duxredux he/him]

Welcome Macrush!

I might be remembering wrong, but I think immediately after they shut the cavern, Yomen's people buried the door with rubble or other debris. If Vin had gone all-in immediately, maybe she could have gotten out, but a few frantic minutes of adrenaline-filled soldiers piling dirt and rocks against the door would likely make it too heavy to open even with Duralumin. Ruin also distracted her at this point with his guise as Reen, taking away this narrow window of opportunity.  At any rate, that's my head canon, since it's a solution that allows the narrative to work and highlights Yomen outwitting them through conventional means, but doesn't make Vin an idiot for not using all of her resources to get out. Sending Telden Hasting down was a calculated risk since it required them reopen the doors and give another opportunity to escape, but Vin was again distracted, this time by Telden and his servants. As shown with the subsequent interaction, Yomen and Telden genuinely believed that Vin does not kill needlessly.

[Why Kaladin?]

Also I don't know how much traction the coins could have they might just fly off when subjected to enough pressure to open the door since that is the path of least resistance.