Lord Ruler in the court partys

[Ianastor01]

Does anyone know how he behaved during those noble partys?
The only time he is mentioned at a ball is when Docksons says that he won't be able to go because Lord Ruler saw him once. I don't remember him being at any balls after that.

So what was he like? Did everyone have to greet him or something? Did he appear without noticing it? Vin was never warned about it and the nobles never talked about it.

I remember Sanderson saying that the ruler ran his empire with money first in mind, and that only the obligors had any sense of religion. So he was sociable? Could you talk to him? Did he even care?

 

[Treamayne]

5 hours ago, Ianastor01 said:

Does anyone know how he behaved during those noble parties?
The only time he is mentioned at a ball is when Docksons says that he won't be able to go because Lord Ruler saw him once. I don't remember him being at any balls after that.

So what was he like? Did everyone have to greet him or something? Did he appear without noticing it? Vin was never warned about it and the nobles never talked about it.

I remember Sanderson saying that the ruler ran his empire with money first in mind, and that only the obligors had any sense of religion. So he was sociable? Could you talk to him? Did he even care?

Unfortunately we have almost no information about this. The mention in TFE Ch 6 was mostly as a means of foreshadowing (see below), but from the way he acts during the climax of TFE we can guess that he likley attended sporadically (mostly to keep the Noble houses guessing) and likely stayed mostly aloof (like the higher-ranked Obligators) But, that is just supposition. 

TFE Annotations to Ch 6:

Spoiler

Small Spoiler

We mention the Lord Ruler’s flawless memory here. This is actually the only time in the entire series that it’s mentioned. However, this is an important clue for later. However, as I’m writing this, without being able to hide this text, I don’t want to explain too much and inadvertently ruin something. However, if you’ve finished the book, you might be able to figure out why the Lord Ruler might have a reputation for being able to remember things.

We do have indications that he did interact with (at least) the heads of the Great Houses, based on Straff's talking at Elend (TFE Ch 36):

Spoiler

Lord Venture shook his head. “We were leaving anyway. Something… happened at the Pits a few days ago. The Lord Ruler isn’t going to be happy when he discovers it.” He stepped back, waving over his lead narrowboat captain.

<snip>

Suddenly, Lord Venture smiled. “Stay, then, boy. That’s a good idea. Someone should maintain our presence here while I go rally our forces. Yes… a very good idea.”

Elend paused, frowning slightly at the smile in his father’s eyes. The atium—Father is setting me up to fall in his place! And… even if the Lord Ruler doesn’t kill me, Father assumes I’ll die in the rebellion. Either way, he’s rid of me.

This implies that House Venture reports directly to TLR about its Atium contract and the Pits of Hathsin.

Hope that helps

[The Sibling she/her]

9 hours ago, Ianastor01 said:

So what was he like? Did everyone have to greet him or something? Did he appear without noticing it? Vin was never warned about it and the nobles never talked about it.

I remember Sanderson saying that the ruler ran his empire with money first in mind, and that only the obligors had any sense of religion. So he was sociable? Could you talk to him? Did he even care?

I like to imagine that he would just kind of show up randomly and everyone would panic but they would all have to act like it was no big deal, so there would be all these nobles posturing and pretending like they see TLR every day but internally they're freaking out.

[Ianastor01]

11 hours ago, The Sibling said:

I like to imagine that he would just kind of show up randomly and everyone would panic but they would all have to act like it was no big deal, so there would be all these nobles posturing and pretending like they see TLR every day but internally they're freaking out.

That sounds like something he would do, but it's strange to me that Kelsier didn't mention it to Vin, or that TLR never showed up .

[RoyalBeeMage he/him]

1 hour ago, Ianastor01 said:

That sounds like something he would do, but it's strange to me that Kelsier didn't mention it to Vin, or that TLR never showed up .

it is a little strange. maby he did but vin was too far down in the social hierarchy to get to find out.

[The Sibling she/her]

6 hours ago, Ianastor01 said:

That sounds like something he would do, but it's strange to me that Kelsier didn't mention it to Vin, or that TLR never showed up .

That's a good point. If that was something that the lord ruler was doing on a regular basis, it would have been vitally important that Vin know that and be prepared. It's possible that Kelsier told her about it off screen and it just never happened, but I don't know.

[Treamayne]

On 2/27/2024 at 3:09 AM, Ianastor01 said:

That sounds like something he would do, but it's strange to me that Kelsier didn't mention it to Vin, or that TLR never showed up .

On 2/27/2024 at 9:25 AM, The Sibling said:

That's a good point. If that was something that the lord ruler was doing on a regular basis, it would have been vitally important that Vin know that and be prepared. It's possible that Kelsier told her about it off screen and it just never happened, but I don't know.

Dox's story makes it sound much more like a "Not unheard of, but not common" event. . . And far more likely for established House Leader functions than the "balls our children throw" events.

 

Edited February 28 by Treamayne
SPAG

[+robardin he/him]

On 2/27/2024 at 3:09 AM, Ianastor01 said:

That sounds like something he would do, but it's strange to me that Kelsier didn't mention it to Vin, or that TLR never showed up .

I like to think that TLR would show up in a mask at random balls, turning off his mega-Soothing while claiming to be a Lord... uh, Shekar from some outer Dominance, and everybody would have to pretend to be fooled.

Except for that one guy who actually was fooled, and acted/talked badly around him like he was some bumpkin nobleman he'd never seen or heard of before, and made fun of his unusual accent.

Everybody waited to see the guy get wasted, but instead they became great friends, because Rashek found he liked that could actually be himself around that guy - go hiking, jam with him while playing the flute, etc., ...Until eventually the secrets came out that tore them apart.

It was over a woman, of course.

Her name was Lutha. She lived on the second floor.

Edited February 28 by robardin