Mistborn Trilogy

by Sanderson, Brandon

  LLAMAS, MISTBORN: Brandon’s writing group. Mistborn Llamas burn various kinds of plants to gain super-llaman powers. T-shirts can be found on the Web site.

  LORD RULER: The emperor who ruled the Final Empire for a thousand years. He was once named Rashek, and was a Terris servant who was hired by Alendi. He killed Alendi, however, and went to the Well of Ascension in his place, and there took the power and Ascended. He was finally killed by Vin.

  LURCHER: A Misting who can burn steel.

  LUTHADEL: Capital of the Final Empire, and largest city in the land. Luthadel is known for its textiles, its forges, and its majestic noble keeps.

  MALATIUM: The metal discovered by Kelsier, often dubbed the Eleventh Metal. Nobody knows where he found it, or why he thought it could kill the Lord Ruler. It did, however, eventually lead Vin to the clue she needed to defeat the emperor.

  MARDRA: Ham’s wife. She doesn’t like to be involved in his thieving practices, or exposing their children to the danger of his lifestyle, and generally keeps her distance from the members of the crew.

  MARE: Kelsier’s wife, and a friend of Sazed. Was very active in the skaa rebellion before her death in the Pits of Hathsin.

  MARSH: Kelsier’s brother. A former leader of the skaa rebellion who infiltrated the Steel Ministry and allowed himself to be made into an Inquisitor in order to help take down the Lord Ruler.

  METALMIND: A piece of metal that a Feruchemist uses as a kind of battery, filling it with certain attributes that he or she can later withdraw. Specific metalminds are named after the different metals: tinmind, steelmind, etc.

  MIST: The strange, omnipresent fog that falls on the Final Empire every night. Thicker than a regular fog, it swirls and churns about, almost as if it were alive.

  MISTBORN: An Allomancer who can burn all of the Allomantic metals.

  MISTCLOAK: A garment worn by many Mistborn as a mark of their station. It is constructed from dozens of thick ribbons of cloth that are sewn together at the top, but allowed to spread free from the shoulders down.

  MISTING: An Allomancer who can burn only one metal. They are much more common than Mistborn. (Note: In Allomancy, an Allomancer has either one power or all of them. There are no in-betweens with two or three.)

  MISTWRAITH: A nonsentient relative of the kandra people. Mistwraiths are globs of boneless flesh that scavenge the land at night, eating bodies they find, then using the skeletons for their own bodies.

  NOORDEN: One of the only obligators who chose to stay in Luthadel and serve Elend.

  OBLIGATOR: A member of the Lord Ruler’s priesthood. Obligators were more than just religious figures, however; they were civil bureaucrats, and even a spy network. A business deal or promise that wasn’t witnessed by an obligator was not considered legally or morally binding.

  ORESEUR: A kandra employed by Kelsier. He once played the part of Lord Renoux, Vin’s uncle. Vin now holds his Contract.

  PENROD, FERSON: One of the most prominent noblemen left in Luthadel. A member of Elend’s Assembly.

  PEWTERARM: Another term for a Thug, a Misting who can burn pewter.

  PHILEN: A prominent merchant in Luthadel and a member of Elend’s Assembly.

  PITS OF HATHSIN, THE: A network of caverns that were once the only place in the Final Empire that produced atium. The Lord Ruler used prisoners to work them. Kelsier destroyed their ability to produce atium shortly before he died.

  PULL (ALLOMANTIC): Using Allomancy to Pull on something—either people’s emotions with zinc, or metals with iron.

  PUSH (ALLOMANTIC): Using Allomancy to Push on something—either people’s emotions with brass, or metals with steel.

  RASHEK: A Terris packman before the Ascension, Rashek was hired by Alendi to help him make the trek to the Well of Ascension. Rashek never got along well with Alendi, and eventually killed him. He took the power himself, and became the Lord Ruler.

  REEN: Vin’s brother, the one who protected her and trained her as a thief. Reen was brutal and unforgiving, but he did save Vin from their insane mother, then protected her during her childhood.

  RELEASE (FERUCHEMICAL): When a Feruchemist stops tapping a metalmind, no longer drawing forth its power.

  RENOUX, LORD: A nobleman that Kelsier killed, then hired the kandra OreSeur to imitate. Vin played the part of his niece, Valette Renoux.

  RIOT (ALLOMANTIC): When an Allomancer burns zinc and Pulls on a person’s emotions, enflaming them.

  RIOTER (ALLOMANTIC): A Misting who can burn zinc.

  SAZE: Sazed’s nickname on the crew.

  SAZED: A Terris Keeper who joined Kelsier’s crew against the wishes of his people, then helped overthrow the Final Empire.

  SEEKER (ALLOMANTIC): A Misting who can burn bronze.

  SHAN ELARIEL: Elend’s former fiancée, a Mistborn whom Vin killed.

  SKAA: The peasantry of the Final Empire. They were once of different races and nationalities, but over the thousand-year span of the empire the Lord Ruler worked hard to stamp out any sense of identity in the people, eventually succeeding in creating a single, homogeneous race of slave workers.

  SMOKER (ALLOMANTIC): An Allomancer who can burn copper. Also known as a Coppercloud.

  SOOTHE (ALLOMANTIC): When an Allomancer burns brass and Pushes on a person’s emotions, dampening them.

  SOOTHER: A Misting who can burn brass.

  SPOOK: A Tineye on Kelsier’s crew. The youngest member of the crew, Spook was only fifteen when the Lord Ruler was overthrown. He is Clubs’s nephew, and was once known for his use of garbled street slang.

  STEEL MINISTRY: The Lord Ruler’s priesthood, consisting of a small number of Steel Inquisitors and a larger body of priests called obligators. The Steel Ministry was more than just a religious organization; it was the civic framework of the Final Empire as well.

  STRAFF VENTURE: Elend’s father, king of the Northern Dominance. He makes his home in Urteau.

  SURVIVOR OF HATHSIN: A cognomen of Kelsier, referring to the fact that he is the only known prisoner to ever escape the prison camps at the Pits of Hathsin.

  SYNOD (TERRIS): The elite leaders of the Terris Keeper organization.

  TAP (FERUCHEMICAL): Drawing power from within a Feruchemist’s metalminds. It is parallel to the term “burn” used by Allomancers.

  TATHINGDWEN: Capital of the Terris Dominance.

  TELDEN: One of Elend’s old friends, with whom he would talk politics and philosophy.

  TENSOON: Straff Venture’s kandra.

  TERRIS: The dominance in the far north of the Final Empire. It is the only dominance to retain the name of the kingdom it used to be, perhaps a sign of the Lord Ruler’s fondness for his homeland.

  THUG (ALLOMANTIC): A Misting who can burn pewter.

  TINDWYL: A Terris Keeper and a member of the Synod.

  TINEYE: A Misting who can burn tin.

  URTEAU: Capital of the Northern Dominance, and seat of House Venture.

  VALETTE RENOUX: The alias that Vin used when infiltrating noble society during the days before the Collapse.

  WELL OF ASCENSION: A mythological center of power from Terris lore. The Well of Ascension was said to hold a magical reserve of power that could be drawn upon by one who made the trek to visit it at the right time.

  WORLDBRINGER: A sect of scholarly Terris Feruchemists before the Ascension. The subsequent Order of Keepers was based on the Worldbringers.

  YEDEN: A member of Kelsier’s crew and the skaa rebellion. He was killed during the fight against the Lord Ruler.

  YOMEN, LORD: An obligator in Urteau who was politically opposed to Cett.

  SUMMARY OF BOOK ONE

  Mistborn: The Final Empire introduced the land of the Final Empire, ruled over by a powerful immortal known as the Lord Ruler. A thousand years before, the Lord Ruler took the power at the Well of Ascension and supposedly defeated a powerful force or creature known only as the Deepness.

  The Lord Ruler conquered the known world and founded the Final Empire. He ruled for
a thousand years, stamping out all remnants of the individual kingdoms, cultures, religions, and languages that used to exist in his land. In their place he set up his own system. Certain peoples were dubbed “skaa,” a word that meant something akin to “slave” or “peasant.” Other peoples were dubbed nobility, and most of these were descendants of those people who had supported the Lord Ruler during his years of conquest. The Lord Ruler had supposedly given them the power of Allomancy in order to gain powerful assassins and warriors who had minds that could think, as opposed to the brutish koloss, and had used them well in conquering and maintaining his empire.

  Skaa and nobility were forbidden to interbreed, and the nobility were somehow given the power of Allomancy. During the thousand years of the Lord Ruler’s reign, many rebellions occurred among the skaa, but none were successful.

  Finally, a half-breed Mistborn known as Kelsier decided to challenge the Lord Ruler. Once the most famous of gentleman thieves in the Final Empire, Kelsier had been known for his daring schemes. Those eventually ended with his capture, however, and he had been sent to the Lord Ruler’s death camp at the Pits of Hathsin, the secret source of atium.

  It was said that nobody ever escaped the Pits of Hathsin alive—but Kelsier did just that. He gained his powers as a Mistborn during that time, and managed to free himself, earning the title the Survivor of Hathsin. At this point, he turned from his selfish ways and decided to try his most daring plan yet: the overthrow of the Final Empire.

  He recruited a team of thieves, mostly half-breed Mistings, to help him achieve his goal. During this time, he also recruited a young half-breed Mistborn girl named Vin. Vin was unaware of her powers, and Kelsier brought her into the crew to train her, theoretically to have someone to whom he could pass his legacy.

  Kelsier’s crew slowly gathered an underground army of skaa rebels. The crew began to fear that Kelsier was setting himself up to be another Lord Ruler. He sought to make himself a legend among the skaa, becoming almost a religious figure to them. Meanwhile, Vin—who had been raised on the streets by a cruel brother—was growing to trust people for the first time in her life. As this happened, Vin began to believe in Kelsier and his purpose.

  During the process of working on their plan, Vin was used as a spy among the nobility, and was trained to infiltrate their balls and parties playing the part of “Valette Renoux,” a young noblewoman from the countryside. During the first of these balls, she met Elend Venture, a young, idealistic nobleman. He eventually showed her that not all noblemen were deserving of their poor reputation, and the two became enamored of each other, despite Kelsier’s best efforts.

  The crew also discovered a journal, apparently written by the Lord Ruler himself during the days before the Ascension. This book painted a different picture of the tyrant; it depicted a melancholy, tired man who was trying his best to protect the people against the Deepness, despite the fact that he didn’t really understand it.

  In the end, it was revealed that Kelsier’s plan had been much more broad than simple use of the army to overthrow the empire. He’d partially spent so much effort on raising troops so that he would have an excuse to spread rumors about himself. He also used it to train his crew in the arts of leadership and persuasion. The true extent of his plan was revealed when he sacrificed his life in a very visible way, making himself a martyr to the skaa and finally convincing them to rise up and overthrow the Lord Ruler.

  One of Kelsier’s crewmembers—a man who had been playing the part of “Lord Renoux,” Valette’s uncle—turned out to be a kandra named OreSeur. OreSeur took on Kelsier’s form, then went about spreading rumors that Kelsier had returned from the grave, inspiring the skaa. After this, he became Contractually bound to Vin, and was charged with watching over her after Kelsier’s death.

  Vin was the one who in fact killed the Lord Ruler. She discovered that he wasn’t actually a god, or even immortal—he had simply found a way to extend his life and his power by making use of both Allomancy and Feruchemy at the same time. He wasn’t the hero from the logbook—but, instead, was that man’s servant, a Feruchemist of some great power. Still, he was much stronger in Allomancy than Vin. While she was fighting him, she drew upon the mists somehow, burning them in place of metals. She still doesn’t know why or how this happened. With that power—and with the knowledge of his true nature—she was able to defeat and kill him.

  The Final Empire was thrown into chaos. Elend Venture took control of Luthadel, the capital, and put Kelsier’s crew in prime governmental positions.

  One year has passed.

  Acknowledgments

  First off, as always, my excellent agent, Joshua Bilmes, and editor, Moshe Feder, deserve high praise for their efforts. This book in particular required some thoughtful drafting, and they were up to the task. They have my thanks, as do their assistants, Steve Mancino (an excellent agent in his own right) and Denis Wong.

  There are some other fine folks at Tor who deserve my thanks. Larry Yoder (the best sales rep in the nation) did a wonderful job selling the book. Seth Lerner, Tor’s mass-market art director, is a genius at matching books to artists. And, speaking of artists, I think the amazing Christian McGrath did a brilliant job with this cover. More can be seen at jonfoster.com. Isaac Stewart, a good friend of mine and a fellow writer, did all of the map work and the symbols for the chapter headings. Find him at nethermore.com. Shawn Boyles is the official Mistborn Llama artist, and a great guy to boot. Check my Web site for more information. Finally, I’d like to thank the Tor publicity department—specifically Dot Lin—which has been wonderful in promoting my books and taking care of me. Thank you so much, all of you!

  Another round of thanks needs to go out to my alpha readers. These tireless folks provide feedback on my novels in the early stages, dealing with all of the problems, typos, and inconsistencies before I get them worked out. In no particular order, these people are:

  Ben Olsen, Krista Olsen, Nathan Goodrich, Ethan Skarstedt, Eric J. Ehlers, Jillena O’Brien, C. Lee Player, Kimball Larsen, Bryce Cundick, Janci Patterson, Heather Kirby, Sally Taylor, The Almighty Pronoun, Bradley Reneer, Holly Venable, Jimmy, Alan Layton, Janette Layton, Kaylynn ZoBell, Rick Stranger, Nate Hatfield, Daniel A. Wells, Stacy Whitman, Sarah Bylund, and Benjamin R. Olsen.

  A special thanks goes to the people at the Provo Waldenbooks for their support. Sterling, Robin, Ashley, and the terrible duo of Steve “Bookstore Guy” Diamond and Ryan McBride (who were also alpha readers). Also, I must acknowledge my brother, Jordan, for his work on my Web site (along with Jeff Creer). Jordo also is the official “keep Brandon’s head on straight” guy, with his solemn duty being to make fun of me and my books.

  My mother, father, and sisters are always a wonderful help as well. If I forgot any alpha readers, I’m sorry! I’ll put you in twice next time. Note, Peter Ahlstrom, I didn’t forget you—I just decided to stick you in late to make you sweat a bit.

  Finally, my thanks go out to my wonderful wife, whom I married during the editing process of this book. Emily, I love you!

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  THE WELL OF ASCENSION: BOOK TWO OF MISTBORN

  Copyright © 2007 by Brandon Sanderson

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

  Edited by Moshe Feder

  Maps and ornaments by Isaac Stewart

  A Tor Book

  Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

  175 Fifth Avenue

  New York, NY 10010

  www.tor-forge.com

  Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

  ISBN: 978-0-7653-5613-0

  eISBN 9781429989817

  FOR JORDAN SANDERSON,

  Who can explain to any who ask

  What it’s like to have a brother

  Who sp
ends most of his time dreaming.

  (Thanks for putting up with me.)

  CONTENTS

  MAPS

  PROLOGUE

  PART ONE: Legacy of the Survivor

  PART TWO: Cloth and Glass

  PART THREE: The Broken Skies

  PART FOUR: Beautiful Destroyer

  PART FIVE: Trust

  EPILOGUE

  ARS ARCANUM

  1. Metals Quick Reference Chart

  2. Names and Terms

  3. Summary of Book One

  4. Summary of Book Two

  ACKNOWLEDMENTS

  PROLOGUE

  MARSH STRUGGLED TO KILL HIMSELF.

  His hand trembled as he tried to summon the strength to make himself reach up and pull the spike free from his back and end his monstrous life. He had given up on trying to break free. Three years. Three years as an Inquisitor, three years imprisoned in his own thoughts. Those years had proven that there was no escape. Even now, his mind clouded.