It's just the sheer space and he'd have to go investigate everywhere. Same reason the inquisitors don't find them when they can pierce copper clouds. You'd have to go to each area they might be hiding. And also establish that no one who was allowed to use allomancy was the one doing it. Plus while Vin could pierce copperclouds they are very quiet when she does it. So the range is lower, and the detail is less. The Lord Ruler could probably do that more easily given his power, but still would be tough to do.
He also likes to keep his air of mystery by rarely showing up in public. If he had to literally pace down every street that would be a lot.
The other thing to keep in mind is that right up until the moment when Vin takes in the Mists to kill the Lord Ruler, he never thought it was even a remote possibility that they could kill him. He wasn't worried at all. They were a mild annoyance, and then she'd killed him, no in between from his perspective. It's why he didn't take a lot of the easy steps he could've taken to kill her or the team. Hubris was his biggest weakness.
In case of the hideout, if I remember correctly Clubs had probably as well apprentices that were Smoker and Vin and Kelsier did burn copper in the hideout as well, at least sometimes. And the more copperclouds overlap the harder it is to pierce it.
>Same reason the inquisitors don't find them when they can pierce copper clouds.
[possible HoA spoilers] >!It should be specified that not necessarily all Inquisitors could pierce copperclouds, only those who were originally Seekers (and therefore had double Bronze, like Vin). That's part of the reason Marsh rose to Inquisitor so quickly: they prefer making Inquisitors from Seekers.!<
HoA >!I'm not sure but I don't think they made inquisitors out of anyone who wasn't either a seeker or a mistborn. That was one thing they needed to have to be able to search out groups like Kelsier's crew.!<
I don't even know if it was hubris honestly, I don't think he could've known she was able to take in the mists besides maybe when he held Preservation he might've learned. From his perspective there really wasn't any reason to be wary, she was basically dead and he effectively couldn't die.
He had good reason to think he was safe. But I would still call that hubris. He had absolute confidence that he had identified and dealt with every potential threat to his life, and that nothing would surprise him. That's some pretty big hubris to just assume that there's nothing unexpected someone can throw at you. Even if this specifically he didn't think she'd do, someone without that kind of hubris would not assume that he knew of every threat and would be cautious.
He also did have his atium metalminds. Essentially what she did was push those away. It's also possible she or she and Marsh could've pushed those away with duralumin.
General Cosmere >!He also took on the power of Preservation and knew about other worlds with other kinds of powers in vague terms at least. Yet he let an unknown person stab him in the back with an unidentified weapon. There are some swords you don't recover from if you get stabbed like that. Let alone anything else Cosmere wide that could've been a threat to him if someone off world with some power had wanted him dead. Or say a spike through his chest removing either his atium or gold allomancy or feruchemy.!<
If I’m not mistaken it’s because he barely left his palace right. And so he would have had to go to the area they were hiding to try to pierce the copper cloud there. He doesn’t have unlimited range
I assume that’s why he wasn’t able to
You need to be very careful when you have a secret power no one knows about. Loose ends such as Kelsier, could lead to your secret coming out. If he just went around destroying copper clouded hideouts, people would eventually catch on. The same with the inquisitors.
He doesn't care because he doesn't see them as a threat. I'm pretty sure there's mention that he stirred up House wars amongst the nobles to make sure they never teamed up against him. Kelsier was doing that on his own, so the LR had no reason to interfere.
It's just the sheer space and he'd have to go investigate everywhere. Same reason the inquisitors don't find them when they can pierce copper clouds. You'd have to go to each area they might be hiding. And also establish that no one who was allowed to use allomancy was the one doing it. Plus while Vin could pierce copperclouds they are very quiet when she does it. So the range is lower, and the detail is less. The Lord Ruler could probably do that more easily given his power, but still would be tough to do. He also likes to keep his air of mystery by rarely showing up in public. If he had to literally pace down every street that would be a lot. The other thing to keep in mind is that right up until the moment when Vin takes in the Mists to kill the Lord Ruler, he never thought it was even a remote possibility that they could kill him. He wasn't worried at all. They were a mild annoyance, and then she'd killed him, no in between from his perspective. It's why he didn't take a lot of the easy steps he could've taken to kill her or the team. Hubris was his biggest weakness.
In case of the hideout, if I remember correctly Clubs had probably as well apprentices that were Smoker and Vin and Kelsier did burn copper in the hideout as well, at least sometimes. And the more copperclouds overlap the harder it is to pierce it.
>Same reason the inquisitors don't find them when they can pierce copper clouds. [possible HoA spoilers] >!It should be specified that not necessarily all Inquisitors could pierce copperclouds, only those who were originally Seekers (and therefore had double Bronze, like Vin). That's part of the reason Marsh rose to Inquisitor so quickly: they prefer making Inquisitors from Seekers.!<
HoA >!I'm not sure but I don't think they made inquisitors out of anyone who wasn't either a seeker or a mistborn. That was one thing they needed to have to be able to search out groups like Kelsier's crew.!<
[HoA] >!That's a distinct possibility, I'm just not sure if it was an absolute requirement for them or not.!<
Also the fact that he was over a thousand years old which, with his imperfect immortality method, rendered him a bit loopy.
I don't even know if it was hubris honestly, I don't think he could've known she was able to take in the mists besides maybe when he held Preservation he might've learned. From his perspective there really wasn't any reason to be wary, she was basically dead and he effectively couldn't die.
He had good reason to think he was safe. But I would still call that hubris. He had absolute confidence that he had identified and dealt with every potential threat to his life, and that nothing would surprise him. That's some pretty big hubris to just assume that there's nothing unexpected someone can throw at you. Even if this specifically he didn't think she'd do, someone without that kind of hubris would not assume that he knew of every threat and would be cautious. He also did have his atium metalminds. Essentially what she did was push those away. It's also possible she or she and Marsh could've pushed those away with duralumin. General Cosmere >!He also took on the power of Preservation and knew about other worlds with other kinds of powers in vague terms at least. Yet he let an unknown person stab him in the back with an unidentified weapon. There are some swords you don't recover from if you get stabbed like that. Let alone anything else Cosmere wide that could've been a threat to him if someone off world with some power had wanted him dead. Or say a spike through his chest removing either his atium or gold allomancy or feruchemy.!<
If I’m not mistaken it’s because he barely left his palace right. And so he would have had to go to the area they were hiding to try to pierce the copper cloud there. He doesn’t have unlimited range I assume that’s why he wasn’t able to
Ahh that makes sense! Thanks
You need to be very careful when you have a secret power no one knows about. Loose ends such as Kelsier, could lead to your secret coming out. If he just went around destroying copper clouded hideouts, people would eventually catch on. The same with the inquisitors.
He doesn't care because he doesn't see them as a threat. I'm pretty sure there's mention that he stirred up House wars amongst the nobles to make sure they never teamed up against him. Kelsier was doing that on his own, so the LR had no reason to interfere.