Mistborn: The Final Empire (2006)

**Mistborn: The Final Empire**, also known simply as **Mistborn** or **The Final Empire**, is a fantasy novel written by

   American author Brandon Sanderson. It was published on July 17, 2006 by Tor Books and is the first novel in the Mistborn trilogy, followed by The Well of Ascension in 2007 and The Hero of Ages in 2008.

## Summary

Vin is a street urchin, who was saved by her brother Reen from her mother, who killed her baby sister at the same time she pierced Vin's ear, and gave her an earring. She lived with Reen for a while, while he taught her how to survive on the the streets. She eventually winds up in Cammon's crew. Cammon is a criminal gang leader, who uses Vin for her allomantic abilities. She is then taken into a group of thieves led by Kelsier.  They are intent on overthrowing the Lord Ruler, a god-like tyrant who has ruled for a thousand years. The band of thieves are promised the cache of the Lord Ruler's atium, an allomantic metal that allows allomancers to see a few seconds into the future, as reward for their contributions.  The group is hounded by Steel Inquisitors, intent on stopping their plans from succeeding.

Kelsier uses Vin to infiltrate the parties of the noblemen, gaining information and spreading disorder. She is originally terrified of these parties, but eventually succeeds in becoming skilled at manipulating people. She meets Elend Venture, a nobleman/scholar, who also opposes the lord ruler.

Kelsier is a Mistborn, utilizing the powers of Allomancy to fight against The Lord Ruler. He trains Vin, who he discovers is a Mistborn like himself. He has discovered the Eleventh Metal, which he claims is going to be used to defeat the Lord Ruler, and spreads this knowledge to the skaa.  This encourages their revolt, and their deifying of him. Kelsier sacrifices himself fighting The Lord Ruler, but a kandra named OreSeur steals his bones and impersonates him, giving him the illusion of immortality in the minds of the Skaa.

After his sacrifice, he leaves Vin the Eleventh Metal, which he never discovered how to use. Vin confronts the Lord Ruler, burning the metal as she does so. She sees an alternate past, and finds out that he is not Alendi, the prophesied savior of mankind, but Rashek, a Terris packman and a Feruchemist. Using this knowledge, Vin separates him from his metalminds, causing him to age rapidly and die.

## Characters

### Main Characters

* Vin:  Mistborn, discovered by Marsh and Kelsier. She was trained by Kelsier as a Mistborn, and becomes incredibly skilled at using all 10 metals. She is notable for having an exceptionally strong ability to burn Bronze, including the ability to pierce copperclouds. She is often plagued by the voice of her brother, Reen, who taught her how to survive on the streets. She is skilled at surviving in harsh situations, and throughout the course of the books, becomes skilled at manipulating lords. She becomes romantically involved with Elend Venture while disguised as a noblewoman.
* Kelsier: Kelsier is a Mistborn who is skilled at theft and conning. He is a visionary who plans the seemingly impossible, his plans often succeeding. He was sent to work in the Pits of Hathsin, which are a mine for atium where the most dangerous criminals are sent to mine for the rest of their lives. He is the only known survivor of the pits of Hathsin, giving him the name 'Survivor'. He has long horizontal scars on his wrists from digging in the pits. He gathered a group of Mistings with a variety of skills intent on stealing the Lord Ruler's cache of Atium. He also planned on leading the skaa in revolt against the Lord Ruler. He is able to use all the metals skillfully, but is especially skilled at steel (pushing), and iron (pulling). He rescues Vin from the streets, taking her into his group. His former wife was Mare, until she died in the pits of Hathsin.
* Elend Venture: Son of Straff Venture, a nobleman with high ideals intent on a new form of democratic government. He was born into one of the most powerful noble houses at the time, but is not interested in the monarchical system of government. He is an intellectual, and loves to read. He read books such as "a false dawn", that criticize the Lord Ruler.
* Breeze: A very skilled Soother, soothes emotions of everyone around him, often without thought. Believed to be one of the more powerful Soothers in the final empire. He is a nobleman, and despite his involvement in the rebellion, prefers more relaxing jobs, such as being around during a con to sooth people's emotions.
* Spook: A young Tineye, speaks often in street slang and is sometimes incomprehensible. Spook is just a nickname, his actual name is Lestibournes, which is street slang for "i've been abandoned." He is clubs' nephew.
* Marsh:  Kelsier's brother, also a Seeker. Infiltrates the Steel Ministry, but is turned into a Steel Inquisitor through Hemalurgy.
* Sazed: Kelsier's Terrisman steward, and also a Feruchemist, played a crucial part in the downfall of the Final Empire. He specialized in religions and mythology, and he would preach a different one to the crew members at every opportunity. He contains all this detailed information in his copperminds. Because he is a terrisman steward, he is a eunuch, and submissive by nature although apparently he is considered a rebel among other terrismen.
* Hammond: A pewterarm, or thug, who works in Kelsier's gang. He is an excellent soldier, and is strong even without burning pewter. Unlike most pewterarms, he loves to discuss philosophy.
* Clubs: The Smoker of Kelsier's crew, able to burn copper to hide Allomancers around him. The crew uses his shop as a secret base of operations in Luthadel. He is usually grim and pessimistic.
* OreSeur: Impersonating Lord Renoux, OreSeur is a mysterious kandra who has a contract with Kelsier.

### Other Characters

* Lord Ruler: Rashek is a Terrisman from Scadrial. Known as the Lord Ruler, the Sliver of Infinity and the Father, he has access to the full range of abilities of both a Feruchemist and an Allomancer, and has Hemalurgic spikes in his body. As a result, he is an extremely powerful Compounder, and he was able to unify the world into an empire that lasted for one thousand years.
* Dockson: Dockson is a member of Kelsier's crew on Scadrial. He performs as Kelsier's right-hand man and the two have been friends for a long time, working together to topple The Lord Ruler. Dockson is the only non-Allomancer amongst the crew.
* Lord Renoux: Lord Teven Renoux is a noble from the Final Empire.  He is replaced by the Kandra OreSeur at Kelsier's orders.  OreSeur appears as thin and aging but dignified, with a sparse gray mustache, wearing a rich suit and aristocratic spectacles, and not requiring a cane.  He is a prominent noble from the Farmost Dominance, but sets himself up in Fellise under the guise of elevating his families status. He plans to construct a prominent trade route for weapons made in the south to be sold in the north.
* Yeden: Yeden was a skaa from the Final Empire on Scadrial.  He was the one who contracted Kelsier's crew in a bid to bring down the Lord Ruler. Originally, he has also financed the undertaking, as he was the leader of the skaa rebellion. While he disliked the style of life of the skaa thieves, he acknowledged the skill of the crew to overthrow the Final Empire by supplying them with an army and then providing an opportunity to take control of Luthadel.  During the first stages of Kelsier's plan he was unsure about it , and often seemed ready to abort it, but as the plan progressed and the results started to show, his attitude improved.  He started to wear nicer clothing, no longer emphasizing his skaa worker roots, and deferred to Kelsier more.  Somewhere close to the fruition of the rebellion's plans, Yeden was given temporary command of the accumulated skaa army.  He already believed in Kelsier's vision, but actually being made general seemed to make him overconfident. After being given control, he led the army against the Holstep Garrison, well before the planned time.  The army finished off the Holstep Garrison, then tried to march back to the caves. But Valtroux city was only a few days away, and its garrison was five thousand strong. They intercepted and massacred the army, including Yeden.
* TenSoon: TenSoon is a kandra of the Third Generation. He was one of the most experienced kandra due to the length of his field service. He held two Blessings during the Final Empire, the Blessing of Potency and the Blessing of Presence. He raised MeLaan.  He is known as the Guardian of the Ascendant Warrior after the Catacendre.

## Magic

### Allomancy

Allomancy is one of the three Metallic Arts on Scadrial. At the time of the events of Mistborn: The Final Empire, only eight basic allomantic metals are known, with Gold (allows user to see into their possible past) and Atium (allows people to see a few seconds into their future) being referred to as 'Higher Metals'. The eight basic metals are iron, steel, tin, pewter, zinc, brass, copper, and bronze.  By the end of the novel, Aluminum is introduced as another allomantic metal.

### Feruchemy

Feruchemy is a Metallic art used by Sazed, and other Terris Keepers. It uses the same metals as Allomancy to store physical and mental attributes for later use. You can only draw from your metalminds as much as you put in previously. While you are storing an attribute for later use, you have less of that attribute at that current time. For example, when you are storing speed, you will move incredibly slowly.

## Statistical Analysis

This page contains some statistical analysis of Mistborn: The Final Empire, the first book in the first Mistborn trilogy.

For a full series overview see Mistborn/Statistical analysis, and for other books in the series see The Well of Ascension/Statistical analysis and The Hero of Ages/Statistical analysis.

The information on this page can be found her.

## Notes

1. *The Final Empire* chapter 2
2. ↑ *The Final Empire* chapter 4
3. ↑ *The Final Empire* chapter 10
4. ↑ *The Final Empire* chapter 35
5. ↑ *The Final Empire* epilogue
6. ↑ *The Final Empire* chapter 38
7. ↑ *The Final Empire* Ars Arcanum