Vin

Reader's Guide

Vin begins as a wary and abused street urchin recruited by Kelsier's crew after being discovered to be a Mistborn. She is trained to develop her Allomantic powers, including burning pewter to strengthen the body, burning tin to enhance the senses, and burning steel and iron to gain limited telekinesis over metal. She is given the duty of spying on the nobility by attending opulent balls in Luthadel, where she poses as Valette Renoux. During these balls, she meets and falls in love with Elend Venture. After Kelsier's death, Vin inherits the Eleventh Metal and goes to the imperial palace to kill the Lord Ruler. She is captured by the Canton of Inquisition but rescued by Sazed. She fights the Lord Ruler, discovering he is Rashek, and with hints from the Eleventh Metal and aid from the mists, she separates him from his Feruchemical bracelets and executes him with a spear.

The World of Scadrial and Its Magic

Mistborn: The Final Empire is set on the dystopian world of Scadrial, where ash constantly falls from the sky, all plants are brown, and supernatural mists cloak the landscape every night. One thousand years before the start of the novel, the prophesized Hero of Ages ascended to godhood at the Well of Ascension to repel the Deepness. The Hero took the title 'Lord Ruler' and has ruled over the Final Empire for a thousand years as an immortal tyrant.

Society is stratified into the nobility, believed to be descendants of his allies, and the brutally oppressed skaa, descended from those who opposed him. Magic is central to the world, with Allomancy allowing users to gain supernatural abilities by swallowing and 'burning' specific metals. Allomantic potential is a genetic trait concentrated in the nobility, though skaa Allomancers exist due to crossbreeding. Normal Allomancers have access to one power, but the rare Mistborn have access to every Allomantic power.

Kelsier's Rebellion and Strategic Sacrifice

Kelsier, a half-skaa thief who discovered he is Mistborn and escaped the Pits of Hathsin, returns to Luthadel to overthrow the Final Empire by stealing its treasury and collapsing its economy. He hopes to destabilize the city with a house war between the nobility and then invade with a skaa army. The crew succeeds in starting a house war by assassinating several powerful nobles and recruiting about seven thousand soldiers. However, about three quarters of the soldiers are slaughtered when they attack an unimportant Final Empire garrison with hopes of divine protection from Kelsier.

The remaining soldiers are smuggled into Luthadel. Kelsier is killed by the Lord Ruler himself in a dramatic confrontation in Luthadel's city square. It is revealed that his real plan was to become a martyred symbol of hope for Luthadel's superstitious skaa population. The skaa react to his death by rising up and overthrowing the city with the help of Kelsier's army.

The Final Confrontation with Rashek

Before his death, Kelsier attempted to unlock the potential of the 'Eleventh Metal,' rumored to be the Lord Ruler's weakness. He left it to Vin to finish the job. Vin goes to the imperial palace to kill the Lord Ruler but is captured by the Canton of Inquisition and left in a cell to be tortured. Sazed, her faithful Terrisman servant, rescues her using Feruchemy.

Marsh is revealed to be alive, having been made into a Steel Inquisitor; he betrays his fellow Inquisitors and slays them before being overpowered by the Lord Ruler. Vin fights the Lord Ruler, whom she recognizes as not the Hero of Ages, but his Terrisman advisor Rashek, who had killed the Hero and taken his place as an incredibly powerful Allomancer and Feruchemist. Vin is almost destroyed, but with hints from the Eleventh Metal and unexpected magical aid from the mists, she separates the Lord Ruler from his Feruchemical bracelets that provide constant youth, causing him to age rapidly. Vin uses a spear to execute the Lord Ruler, who with his last words warns her of a great doom.