Mistborn: Secret History

Mistborn: Secret History is a fantasy novella by American author Brandon Sanderson, serving as a companion piece to the original Mistborn trilogy. It follows Kelsier from Mistborn: The Final Empire and ends with the events of the final book in that trilogy, The Hero of Ages.

Sanderson wrote the novella over twelve years, aiming to keep fans occupied while they waited for the third Stormlight Archive book. He intended it to remain a secret until release, but Amazon accidentally published the last few pages of The Bands of Mourning along with the author’s comments about the story in that novel’s postscript. In a blog post, Sanderson warned that the novella contained major spoilers for the original Mistborn trilogy and minor spoilers for The Bands of Mourning, adding that even knowing the story existed was itself a spoiler.

After the Lord Ruler kills him, Kelsier meets Preservation just before he would move on to the spiritual realm. He refuses to go and races to the Well of Ascension inside the Lord Ruler’s palace, touching its power and anchoring himself to the world. While trapped at the Well, he discovers another trapped entity: Ruin, Preservation’s opposite, who plans to destroy the world. When Vin gives up the power at the Well and accidentally frees Ruin, Kelsier is also released. With Ruin now threatening the world, a dying Preservation tasks Kelsier with finding help. Following Preservation’s guidance, Kelsier meets two people from other worlds, Khriss and Nazh, who direct him to a covert group called the Ire as his only chance for aid.

Despite Ruin’s attempts to discourage him, Kelsier travels to the Ire’s fortress. There he learns they plan to steal Preservation’s powers once he dies, using a strange artifact. Kelsier tricks the group by pretending to be Ruin and takes the artifact for himself. When he returns to his world, Preservation tells him he cannot pass his powers to Vin because Ruin has spiked her. After Preservation dies, Kelsier uses the stolen artifact to take up Preservation’s power. He tries and fails to contact Vin due to Ruin’s interference and his own inexperience, so he instead travels to Urteau and frees Spook from Ruin’s influence.

Under Kelsier’s direction, Spook sends a message to Vin about her spike and Ruin’s control over her.