The Hero of Ages (Mistborn, #3)

by Brandon Sanderson

I believe that the mists were searching for someone to become a new host for them. The power needed a consciousness to direct it. In this matter, I am still confused. Why would power used to create and destroy need a mind to oversee it? Yet it seems to have only a vague will of its own, tied to the mandate of its abilities. Without a consciousness to direct it, nothing could be created or destroyed. It’s as if the power of Preservation understood that its tendency to reinforce stability was not enough. If nothing changed, nothing would ever come to exist. That makes me wonder who or what the minds of Preservation and Ruin were. Regardless, the mists—the power of Preservation—chose someone to become their host long before all of this happened. She, however, was immediately seized by Ruin and used as a pawn. He must have known that by giving her a disguised Hemalurgic spike, he would keep the mists from Investing themselves in her as they wished. The three times she drew upon their power, then, were the three times when her earring had been removed from her body. When she had