Timewaster's Guide Archive

Ookla's right—anyone can make a Listmania. This is the biased opinion of a semi-fan. If it wasn't, Brisingr would be on it. As would several of the other books here listed.

Still, I know Hero of Ages is my most anticipated novel this year. That's what counts.

Wise Man's Fear is next year's.

That's my point, though. If the Lord Ruler was burning age-enhancing atium, why did he die when Vin pulled his bracelets off? You can't burn metals externally—at least, that's not how it's explained in the books. If he was using the bracelets to stay alive, how could they have given him the magnified power of age, as Sazed has theorized? Wouldn't he have had to be burning them for the extra power? That's what I don't get.

You can't believe anything posted on April 1st. =D That was fun, though.

I doubt it. However, that would be interesting.

You missed "The Lord Ruler's Identity."

As for myself, I don't think I could label one of Mistborn's twists as the best. They're all good.

There seems to be a lot of confusion regarding Elend’s transformation near the end of Mistborn II. Some people think Elend was already a Mistborn—that the stabbing of the mist spirit was the traumatic event which caused him to Snap. These people believe that the metal Vin washed down his throat was simply pewter. Others, however, believe that the metal Vin washed down his throat was what caused him to become a Mistborn in the first place, while the pewter—which Elend burned in order to withstand his wounds—came from the vial of metals Vin used to wash the metal down.

I don’t know if this has already been pointed out, but Vin herself settles this confusion in the Epilogue of Mistborn II. Below is a snippet of her final conversation with Elend on the wall, after he’d become an Allomancer at the Well of Ascension.

---

“I’m an Allomancer,” Elend said.
[Vin] nodded.
“Mistborn, apparently,” he continued.
“I think . . . we know where they came from, now,” Vin said. “The first Allomancers.”

---

Vin speaks here of Allomancy’s origins, and I think we can easily draw from this that the metal Elend ingested was what turned him into a Mistborn.

Anyway, I apologize if this has already been discussed. I just wanted to put this out there and hopefully clear up any misconceptions.

I think the Kandra are going to be very prominent in Book Three. Brandon seems to be building them up as the story progresses. I would love it if we got to go into a Kandra's POV at some point, perhaps get a glimpse into their society. But I doubt that will happen. Either way, I have a feeling they're connected directly to the novel's plot in some way. I hope so, anyway.

At first, I thought Vin's unexplained power came from her earring—that the truth behind her power was simply a mingling of Feruchemy and Alomancy. It seemed likely. If the Lord Ruler was able to increase the power of his Steel-Pushing by this uncanny mingle of genetic magics—making him capable of touching metals inside the body—I assumed that Vin Pulling the Lord Ruler's bracelets out of his arms was done not from the mists, as she had thought, but from the unknown power stored within her earring.

But, after rereading Mistborn: TFE, I realized this wasn't the case. When Vin attacked the Lord Ruler, he had already Steel-Pushed her earring from its place. It was only then that she was able to draw on the mists.

But does this mean she doesn't have Feruchemical abilities? I don't think it does. It simply means that she has another power—a fourth power, perhaps—similar to that of the Inquisitors, except that she's also able to draw upon the mists. From what I can see, the Inquisitors can't do that.

So what does this mean? It's possible that Vin not only has three powers—as you suggested—but four. Perhaps the stud in her ear gives her the extra boost she needs to pierce copperclouds, like the Inquisitors. Perhaps not. It's possible that Vin's earring is a Feruchemical store, and that it is what allows her to pierce the clouds. Perhaps it's a little bit of both.

This is, of course, pure speculation. I haven't read any annotations, so I'm not up to date on all the possibilities. I do not, however, believe that Hemalurgy—what the Inquisitors use—is the same power Vin uses to draw from the mists. It just doesn't add up for me.