Mistborn: The Final Empire

Book Detail

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson (2006) is the first in a series of fantasy novels set on the planet Scadrial. It follows a heist organized by Kelsier, a Mistborn with the ability to draw certain physical powers from metal. The book follows Kelsier as he and his companions work to overthrow the Final Empire, exploring themes of friendship, heroism, and morality.

Author Highlights

This is the second novel published by Sanderson, who earned his BA and MA degrees from Brigham Young University. Although many of his novels are for adults, he has also written several books for young adults and children, including Steelheart (2016). He has also published several graphic novel series, and notably, finished Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.

Series Detail

Mistborn: The Final Empire is the first novel in the Mistborn series, and the first book in the first series trilogy, referred to as "Era One." It is followed by The Well of Ascension (2007) and The Hero of Ages (2008). The series continues into "Era Two," or the Wax and Wayne series with a quartet of novels including The Alloy of Law (2011), Shadows of Self (2015), The Bands of Mourning (2016), and The Lost Metal (2022). Mistborn is a part of Sanderson’s Cosmere, a shared universe where many of Sanderson’s young adult and adult fantasy and science fiction novels take place.

This guide uses the 2016 paperback published by Tor.

Prior to the events of Mistborn: The Final Empire, the planet Scadrial was threatened by a mysterious power known as the Deepness. Philosophers predicted the coming of a Hero of Ages who would use the power of the Well of Ascension to defeat the Deepness. The Hero of the Ages arrives and travels through the mountains, guided by a packman named Rashek, who keeps a logbook during the journey, sections of which act as epigraphs for each chapter in the novel.

At the Well of Ascension, Rashek betrays the Hero of Ages and takes the Well's power for himself. He becomes a skilled Feruchemist and Allomancer, two of the magic systems operating on Scadrial. Assuming the identity of the Hero of Ages, Rashek rises to Lord Ruler and establishes the Final Empire, subjecting all nations of Scadrial to his will. When the novel begins, the Lord Ruler has subjugated the skaa people for a century while the noble class lives in luxury. Since the Lord Ruler’s ascension, Scadrial has been plagued by nightly mists and frequent ashfalls. In addition, its land has lost much of its fertility.

Kelsier is a former thief from the capital city of Luthadel. He is a half-blood skaa with a father from the noble class. After his wife Mare betrays him during a job stealing from the Lord Ruler, Kelsier is sent to the Pits of Hathsin to mine atium geodes, one of the most sought-after Allomantic metals. Mare is killed at the Pits and Kelsier “Snaps,” or comes into his full Allomantic powers. He is a Mistborn with the ability to use every Allomantic metal. He escapes from the Pits and travels to Luthadel to gather a team of skaa thieves for his plan to overthrow the Lord Ruler.

Vin is a Mistborn, and her powers attract Kelsier’s notice. He offers her a position on his crew and the opportunity to learn Allomancy from himself and the crew’s Mistings, half-blooded skaa with only one Allomantic power. Vin learns the art of Allomancy, how to fight other Allomancers, how to “burn” metals she ingests, and about Allomancy’s dependence on the physical laws of Scadrial, Her role is to infiltrate the nobility and help Kelsier instigate a war between Luthadel’s noble houses.

The other members of the crew—Ham, Breeze, Dockson, Spook, Clubs, Sazed, and Lord Renoux—recruit soldiers from among the skaa for a rebellion they hope to start soon. Kelsier’s brother, Marsh, is assigned to infiltrate the Lord Ruler’s Steel Ministry and gather information about his Inquisitors, creatures with extraordinary Allomantic abilities that hunt skaa half-bloods.

Vin is taught how to act like a noblewoman by Sazed, who is a Keeper, a Terrisman with the power of Feruchemy (or, storing physical ability in metals to use later). He has collected the histories of hundreds of religions that existed on Scadrial prior to the Lord Ruler’s Ascension. He and Kelsier often discuss what makes a religion strong, with Kelsier believing that a religion must inspire passion in its followers. He hopes to inspire the skaa to believe in him rather than the Lord Ruler.

At the noble balls Vin attends under the name of Valette Renoux, she meets Elend Venture, heir to the empire's most powerful house. Elend detests his father and noble society; he and Vin bond over their disapproval of the treatment of the skaa. Vin is targeted by Shan Elarial, a popular lady of the nobility and Elend’s former fiancée. Vin and Elend begin a relationship. The crew comes into possession of the Hero of Ages’s logbook.

Kelsier appoints Yeden, the leader of Luthadel’s skaa rebels, to oversee recruit training outside the city. The crew learns that Yeden went against Kelsier’s orders and ordered the recruits to attack a nearby city. They lose most of their soldiers and must quickly revise their plan. Furthermore, they learn that the Inquisitors are trying to track down Vin and discover who her father is.

With Vin and Kelsier working to turn the noble houses of Luthadel against each other, tensions at the nobles’ balls begin to escalate. Elend’s friends follow Vin and discover that she is either a spy or a member of a skaa thieving crew; Elend breaks up with Vin at the last noble ball before the House War begins. That night, Vin saves Elend from assassination by killing Shan Elarial, who is also a Mistborn.

Kelsier’s brother Marsh requests to meet with them, but at the designated spot, Kelsier and Vin discover a brutalized corpse. Distraught, Kelsier attacks and destroys the Pits of Hathsin, effectively stopping the empire’s atium production. In response, the Lord Ruler holds public executions of skaa and Lord Renoux’s household staff, including Spook. Kelsier fights with Inquisitors to free the prisoners, which he succeeds in doing, but is killed by the Lord Ruler in turn. The crew hides in their warehouse while the House War begins in earnest, unable to believe Kelsier’s death.

The skaa, who believe that Kelsier was a godlike savior, rise in response to Kelsier’s murder; the crew quickly organizes a full-scale skaa rebellion. Lord Renoux takes on the appearance of Kelsier and further encourages the skaa people. Vin accepts the atium that Kelsier left for her, as well as the mysterious Eleventh Metal, said to be the Lord Ruler’s only weakness. She goes to his palace of Kredik Shaw and breaks into a secret chamber at the center of the complex; in it, she finds an old man who resembles the eternally young Lord Ruler. Vin burns the Eleventh Metal and sees a younger version of the Lord Ruler dressed as a Terris packman.

Inquisitors capture Vin and use her to convince the Lord Ruler to reassign control of his Steel Ministry to them. The Lord Ruler assents. Vin is kept in Kredik Shaw’s prison until Sazed breaks her out. She immediately confronts the Lord Ruler and, drawing from the power of the nightly mists, is able to fight him. She realizes that the Lord Ruler is Rashek from the logbook and uses Allomancy to separate his Feruchemical metals from him. The Lord Ruler ages rapidly, and Vin kills him. With the Lord Ruler defeated, the crew works with Elend to establish a democratic government to replace the Final Empire.