Mistborn | The Lord Ruler Wasn't Evil?

Upon my first read through of Mistborn Era 1, I never really questioned the initial impression I got from the Lord Ruler. He was the big baddie. The evil emperor that the heroes must defeat to save the world. And at first it absolutely seemed that’s what was happening.

But if you’ve finished the trilogy, you probably know there were a lot more logical reasons behind his actions than what was at first apparent...

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[LevityRhodes]

So... I can see where you're coming from, but at the same time, this is laboring under the assumption that what he did wasn't worse than just letting the entire planet go extinct from Ruin. He likely managed to kill more people over the span of a thousand years than Ruin could have done by wiping out the planet all at once.

He created a race who's only job is to work, get raped, be murdered, reproduce, and sometimes, if you just so happened to be raped and lose a roll of the genetic dice, your child would be killed too.

Or. If there was a rebellion, even a rebellion you WEREN'T involved in, from people you never met and don't even know, you, your husband/wife, and even kids would be murdered simply to make an example.

Creating a species of human with cognitive thought and a severe degree of desperate self-preservation, ones who would feel the unreal suffering that comes with being sexually assaulted by your master for committing the crime of being born conventionally beautiful... And state-mandating that they have to die before they give birth... That's more evil than any amount of collateral damage that Ruin could ever possibly do.

Ruin, as far as I know, likely wouldn't have tied you up, tortured you, stuck a spike through you, then used you to empower his monsters with brute-forced allomancy.

Statistically, by 'preserving' humanity, he possibly wiped out the population of earth - circa first ascension - over a hundred times across the duration of his time spent as The Lord Ruler.

I don't want to generously call it 'surviving' for a millennia if you are a Skaa who's only job is to POSSIBLY make it to maybe 20 or 30 years old in constant servitude. I refuse to call it 'living' if you are pulled into your Lord's tent at the age of 14 or possibly even lower, then killed days or weeks later so you don't give birth.

If we could go into the beyond, I'd like to understand what the Skaa people would have thought about being 'preserved'. I highly doubt they were grateful for The Lord Ruler's generous kindness of ensuring that they'd live and die never knowing the taste of freedom. The Lord Ruler assumed the mantle of Ruin and tormented billions over billions of people.

If I were to make a video, I'd make one explaining how TLR is Ruin on steroids.

[maxlee]

I always saw the Lord Ruler as an embodiment of the darker side of preservations power. He kept things stable and constant for a thousand years but through his aversion to change within his empire he stifled all the goodnes from it. He was so focused on preserving humanity he forgot to preserve morality.

[SpectralLuna]

As the old saying goes: "the path to hell is paved with good intentions"

[EvilNinja]

Book 2 makes it pretty clear that he was the one keeping ruin at bay and I think it just wore away at him over time

[nachoyoutube]

I think he was both a cold blooded murderer and a hero. He used his power to benefit his friends and to enslave his enemies, but he saved humanity (as a single entity) from Ruin for a thousand years. That's what makes him such a complex and interesting character

[costelinha]

Considering what just a small taint of Ruin managed to make Quellion and Spook do.... I'd say that Rashek over here wasn't.... thinking straight when he was the final emperor. Like Spook said, even a small bit of metal can corrupt a man.

[jonathanmccullough]

It feels like everyone forgets that the vast majority of his empire lived in utter destitution as slaves. Doesn't seem like a particularly heroic way of treating the skaa.

[Hyperversum]

Actively allowing an upper class to literally be able to rape civilians and the kill them, no matter the supernatural context, isn't never going to be anything but Evil.

Rashek may have started with good objectives, but he lost his way from the very start, turning into a straight up villain soon enough.

The way he describes himself and hoards power thinking he is the only one allowed to not only "save humanity" but rule over it while denying knowledge is beyond villainous. And that's something he did from the very start. He decided through his actions that the world should be dictated by his actions, he took away other people choices that already were made before his journey started

[timroemer]

Ends don't justify the means #Snape

[DavidMedic]

He wasn’t evil. Just slowly driven mad by Ruin over time.

[Morgoth]

Instant subscription and bell. I’m waiting for your deep dives in Mistborn Era 2 and The Stormlight Archive. Keep up the good work my man.

[nicholasfultz]

I love the way he's written, but I would expect him to supress allomancy before forsaking the Terris that he loved so much. I often wonder what Rashek would have done if he had gotten the power again tho

[MapEffects]

There’s certainly layers to the character that I appreciate. But the ends do not justify the means. There’s plenty of real world examples of men doing things for the “greater good” and leaving a bloodbath in their wake. A good act does not make up for an evil act. Rashek may have thought he was doing the right thing, but his actions were still by definition evil.

[KaizenEveryDay]

It would actually be really cool if we got a book about him, his full story.

[calpal]

Rashek was just another angry fool who thought he knew best, but eventually became a hypocrite to everything he believed in. Causing so many problems that he didn't know how to fix. And then held Scadriel back in the dark ages for almost a thousand years. Drove his own people to the brink of extinction. Meanwhile surrounding himself with people that could easily be controlled by Ruin. Any "Good" he hope to achieved would have only made things worse.

[lonebattledroid]

I feel like if Brandon wanted to make Lord Ruler more sympathetic, he should've made the Uncle the Lord Ruler and explained (either through Flashbacks or Ruin explaining) that Ruin drove him mad and made him a tyrant.

[BoyKagome]

My problem is this, Ruin defeats himself. All he had to do was ignore his body and wait another week for the ash to drown the world and he would have won. But he wanted his body first and it cost him.

[governorTarkin]

I see Rashek as a man who said "Damm the consequences." He had a greater goal, and was quite good in reaching it. The costs just didnt mean anything to him. He did what he thought had to and all else, he just didnt care about.

[macmay]

No, you're wrong. He was pure evil. He didn't kill Alendi because it was the way to save the world; he did it because he was a racist murderer.

The only reason he ever saved the world is, the world is where he keeps his stuff. He doesn't care if other people die, so long as he gets to be in charge.

He established a national policy of, rape but only if you murder. He's a horrible person.

The fact that he assumed no one could possibly save the world but him, isn't kindness or generosity. It's just pure arrogance. The fact that he didn't want Ruin to kill him, himself, doesn't make him a perfect angel. It just makes him an arrogant moron. I mean, look at what happened... he wasn't just wrong about everything, he ended up playing directly into Ruin's hands. Your entire argument is that everything he did, he had to do, in order to save humanity... and then he failed. So why are you excusing a thousand years of atrocity because it saved humanity... when it didn't?

[picivyvortac]

Funny story: in the old extended universe of star wars Palpatine wanted to unify the galaxy so that it could oppose the coming intergalactic invasion by the Vhong.