The Hero of Ages (Mistborn, #3)

by Brandon Sanderson

In those moments when the Lord Ruler held the power at the Well but was feeling it drain away from him, he understood a great many things. He saw what Feruchemy could do, and rightly feared it. Many of the Terris people, he knew, would reject him as the Hero, for he didn’t fulfill their prophecies well. They’d see him as the usurper he was—the one who killed the Hero they sent. I think, over the years, Ruin would subtly twist him to do terrible things to his own people. But at the beginning, I suspect his antagonism toward them was motivated more by logic than by emotion. He was about to unveil a grand power in the Mistborn. I suppose he could have kept Allomancy secret and used Feruchemists as his primary warriors and assassins. However, I think he was wise to choose as he did. Feruchemists, by the nature of their powers, have a tendency toward scholarship. With their incredible memories, they would have been very difficult to control over the centuries. Indeed they were difficult to control even when he suppressed them. Allomancy not only provided a spectacular new ability without that