CeeJayEm Posted July 25, 2016 Report Share Posted July 25, 2016 Stop me if this has been discussed before, I'm super new here and haven't perused too deeply into the forums yet. I'm just wondering, I was re-reading The Hero of Ages tonight and came across the part where Sazed, in the intro to chapter 49, said "The power in the Well was of Preservation, and an Inquisitor could only have taken it by first removing his Hemalurgic spikes. That, of course, would have killed him." So my question is in two parts. First, why were the inquisitors unable to hold the power while carrying Hemalurgic spikes? Was it because they were too tainted by the power of Ruin to hold the power of Preservation, or was it because the nature of the spikes themselves? If it's the latter reason, why was Vin able to hold the power if the earring from her mother had been blocking her and kept blocking her from the power until it was removed? Why didn't that Hemalurgic spike prevent her from taking and releasing the power at the well? I haven't read the Bands of Mourning yet, I'm getting to that as soon as my wife catches up to me here soon, so careful with those spoilers if possible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Kolten Posted July 25, 2016 Report Share Posted July 25, 2016 Vin has to remove her earring before she can take the well's power. She drops it to the bottom of the well along with her vials of metal. It is implied Ruin's taint has something to do with it, as all the times she is able to "draw on the mists" (which is essentially the same thing as taking the well's power, but on a smaller scale) it is when her earring has been removed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeTess she/her Posted July 25, 2016 Report Share Posted July 25, 2016 As for the inquisitor related question, I'd say the spikes are the dominant factor. After all, Rashek was capable of taking and using the power, and I wouldn't call him a paragon of preservation. Furthermore, as Sazed said, the inquisitors could have used it if they removed the spikes, if it weren't for the problematic case of begin dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goody153 Posted July 25, 2016 Report Share Posted July 25, 2016 Vin removed her earring at the time she dived in the well during WoA, if you reread that part she explains a tearing pain on her ear. It simply is not possible for anybody to take up the power of preservation with a hemalurgic spike (unless it's Harmony's reign then it doesn't matter) but during the time of Ruin even Vin as the literal soon-to-be actual vessel of preservation(not like Rashek with limited time or Kel that preservation itself is literally rejecting him) cannot ascend with the spike. Also even if lets say the inquisitor somehow doesn't die with removing the spikes taking the power of the well, i don't think it could just be anybody who could take the well or hold preservation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radiant Returned he/him Posted July 25, 2016 Report Share Posted July 25, 2016 Rashek had some semblance of Preservation in him because he didn't just kill Alendi because of jealousy, part of it was also him thinking it was the right thing to do and wanting to save the world. Hemalurgy is of Ruin, just like Allomancy is of Preservation, while Feruchemy is kinda a mix. So anyone spiked couldn't take on Preservation's power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eki Posted July 25, 2016 Report Share Posted July 25, 2016 The earring causing Vin pain when she enters the Well so that she has to rip it out is actually one of the early hints towards the nature of hemalurgy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeeJayEm Posted July 25, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2016 OH MY GOSH I can't believe I forgot that, she totally did take it out. I don't have the physical books so I couldn't go back and check, turns out I should've looked and I would've saved a lot of time. We were listening to HoA last night on our drive home and when I heard Sazed say that about the inquisitors not being able to draw the power, I thought it was way too big of a plot hole for Sanderson to have missed. So he didn't miss anything, she did have to take the earring out. I guess her proximity to Ruin's concentrated power at the Well probably allowed him to speak to her the same even when she took the earring out then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyman he/him Posted July 25, 2016 Report Share Posted July 25, 2016 1 hour ago, CeeJayEm said: We were listening to HoA last night on our drive home and when I heard Sazed say that about the inquisitors not being able to draw the power, I thought it was way too big of a plot hole for Sanderson to have missed. So he didn't miss anything, she did have to take the earring out. I guess her proximity to Ruin's concentrated power at the Well probably allowed him to speak to her the same even when she took the earring out then? Yeah, near the well, when it was full of power, the "distance" between the three realms was drastically reduced. Ruin had a far easier time reaching from the spiritual into the cognitive and physical near the well. Presumably this included speaking to Vin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Kolten Posted July 26, 2016 Report Share Posted July 26, 2016 Also by the time Vin has the power, Ruin already has everything in place. He did not really have to tell Vin to let it go, she was going to do it no matter what. Really some pretty impressive manipulation Though now that I think about it, I think it mentions somewhere that Ruin does manipulate the Lord Ruler while he was holding the wells power, so yeah being that near the well probably does allow him some extra liberties Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goody153 Posted July 26, 2016 Report Share Posted July 26, 2016 (edited) 4 hours ago, Kolten said: Also by the time Vin has the power, Ruin already has everything in place. He did not really have to tell Vin to let it go, she was going to do it no matter what. Really some pretty impressive manipulation Though now that I think about it, I think it mentions somewhere that Ruin does manipulate the Lord Ruler while he was holding the wells power, so yeah being that near the well probably does allow him some extra liberties Yeah Ruin is pretty impressive antagonist, apart from the part where all inquisitors got rekt by almost ascended Vin and Vin suicide bombing him at the end, Ruin pretty much played everybody in his hand and everything they did actually helped him lol I feel like it's not because Ruin is locked in the well as to why he had some semblance of manipulation over Rashek during his ascension. Don't forget that Ruin is a shard himself and an equal of preservation, he's still as powerful as preservation overall so even locked up he could still do some stuff, i doubt as a shard you could actually completely seal another shard even when you use your life like in the case of Mistborn and in Stormlight Archives where Spoiler Honor trapping Odium in Roshar star system whether that was intentional or not. It surely stopped Odium from going out of Roshar unless he does something about his situation in Roshar but ofc it also meant the death of Honor Edited July 26, 2016 by goody153 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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