Mistborn series (HoA) ending. Major *SPOILER* (duh)

[Vatdoro]

I remember the end of book 2 being very emotional and crying. I can't recall crying at the end of book 3, but books choke me up all the time, so I'm assuming I shed a few tears at the end of book 3. That would seem to agree with most of your comments that the end of book 3 wasn't as emotional as the end of end of books 1 and 2. Interesting .. I hadn't ever thought about it, until reading your posts.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

We finally finished reading it out loud last night. I was the one reading, and I knew what was coming, but I still got really choked up. Of course, books make me cry a lot (and books that touch me emotionally are my favorite books), but you'd think the lack of a shock would make it less emotional. It didn't.

Brandon really ramped it up in the revision. For me, everything was just right.

[VegasDev]

What did it for me was Spook's scene.

He had just realized that he had been used by Ruin and stripped himself of his hemalurgical powers. Because of his long sacrifice to the cause, he felt pain when he was using his Allomantic abilites and absolutely nothing when he was not. For his final sacrifice he emulated Kelsier, extinguishing his tin so that he would not succumb to the pain and forsakeing a life with Beldre so that others could survive.

I felt the book ended as it should. Vin and Elend dancing off into the yonder, Beldre seeing the man despite the damaged flesh, Spook healed from the sacrifice he should not have survived, Sazed finding his purpose and everyone else rewarded with a new world full of possibilities beyond just living to see another day.

[achren99]

I really loved the ending for Spook.  His parts in the whole book were great.  I loved seeing his past--and I think he did have some of the most emotional parts in the book for me. 

Also, Demoux lived--that was my side character that I liked and was sure would die every scene he was in since book one.  He's going to die in the first attack (first book)...(second book) oh no he's the spy kandra!  (third book) Surely he can't survive the final battle...
But hurray (or huzzah )!

It's just the whole no Vin and Elend to rule the world thing that makes me sad.  I really do love Mistborn...I just don't deal well with death I suppose.

[Kranel]

Hey all. I am new to this forum. I started reading Brandon Sanderson like 2 weeks ago, and finished the Mistborn series as of yesterday night. Now, I consider myself a fan and a bigtime fan to be(Yeah, I think he is THAT good).

Anyway, the ending did seem..peculiar to me. I guessed a lot of stuff throughout the book before they happened but Sazed ending up as a God? Now that IS certainly unexpected. It was a very, very clever thing to do I guess. He had all the knowledge in the world and dismissed them because of his despair in the last book(turning our head in another direction). His lack of faith(again turning our head in another direction). His politeness, life of servitude (I think he would make a god to answer prayers as much as he can, sounds like serving where as Kelsier, Vin and Elend are resting in the afterlife) and him being Eunuch (I'm not a native speaker, and I thought the word was spelled as "Unique", made it brilliant for me) so being a bit less (or more maybe?) man in turn human in that sense.. Yes, it was very, very clever plotting in deed.

Still, I can't say I was completely satisfied though. I am biased, for Sazed was not my favorite character. I LOVED Vin. The urchin, the lady, the mistborn, the knife, the empress, the goddess. I simply loved her. I was hoping that the small writings in the beginning of each section was Vin's, not Sazed's.

That being said, after Kelsier's death, Vin's perspective gave us enough insight and time for his death to sink in. And it DID hurt. But Vin and Elend being the very core of the books, I think the time (the pages rather) was not enough for their deaths to sink in. Too much happened in too little time.  One could almost say their deaths were told in a matter of factly tone. In my opinion, that explains why people cried at Kelsier's death, but not for Vin and Elend's.  But maybe, that was the intention, we were on "god perspective" so to say, how could one man's death be so important?

I loved the final note of Sazed though.

All in all, I think that was an ending far more interesting then most(maybe all) books I've read.

[Bookstore Guy]

I didn't get emotional at Kel's death because I saw it coming from miles away. Books 2's ending was full of tragedy, and I remember feeling the deaths of the characters strongly. Book 3, for me, had every bit the emotional impact as the prior books, but it wasn't sad at all for me. It was a completely different feeling. I fully expected Vin and Elend to bite the dust. It was one of those things where I thought, "well, either the world will die or those two characters will." The impact of Sazed becoming a god - and having his faith restored - was far more powerful than any other ending I could imagine. The intense feeling I was filled with was satisfaction and peace.

[pirsquared]

Where to start...

Vin and Elend's deaths were inevitable.  I can't really imagine a world in which Vin and Elend are living as king and queen.  They're just not the type to live in a peaceful world.  Also, I'd like to point out that all the good books I've ever read almost always kill a character who you don't want to die.  It's basically essential to put some tragedy in it; otherwise it seems like defeating the dark lord was simple and easy.  A book needs to surprise you to the extent that you're never quite sure what's going to happen.  Without that, there is no suspense and the reader is never afraid of something bad happening.
The third book ended on a happy note, and that is good.  I, personally, don't really enjoy a series that ENDS on a tragic note.  It needs tragedy, but doesn't need to leave you with it.
Kelsier's death in the first was very tragic.  I'll admit I was a little mad when it first happened, but the series gave it time to sink in and at the end it seemed necessary.  The reflections on his last words helped with that especially (I am hope).  I really like how he's looked at like a hero through the rest of the books, in memory.  And besides, as I think Brandon Sanderson said Kell just needed to die because if he didn't, he'd always be in control of everything.  He didn't allow the other characters to develop.
I loved the series as a whole, especially its system of magic.  There are only two things I didn't like:
1) I was a little dissappointed in how Rashek turned out to be good.  I realize Ruin was strongly influencing him, but I still think it kind of ruins the horrifying way the first book portrays the Final Empire.  Mistborn set it up as a horrible, cruel world (I know there's a better adjective I'm looking for here, but I can't think of it) and that was the main reason why Kell's death was so meaningful.  By making the Lord Ruler a good person the book kind of ruined Kell's whole purpose.
2) The ending of HoA seemed a little rushed and/or cut short.  I think there should have been a little more epilogue material.
OK, that was a little harsh.  The series, all in all, was amazing.  I'm looking forward to Brandon's future work.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

I don't think Brandon was unequivocally saying Rashek was good. I think there's a lot of evidence that he wasn't a very good person—just because he was trying to save the world doesn't mean he went about it in a good way. The ends do not justify the means.

When it comes to denouement, sometimes as much as some readers want is too much. Yes, Brandon could have told us what happened to everyone (how Cett spent all day just enjoying walking around, how TenSoon got his sanity back), but it would have lessened the impact of what he did put in the epilogue.

[deathgate]

1) I was a little dissappointed in how Rashek turned out to be good.  I realize Ruin was strongly influencing him, but I still think it kind of ruins the horrifying way the first book portrays the Final Empire.  Mistborn set it up as a horrible, cruel world (I know there's a better adjective I'm looking for here, but I can't think of it) and that was the main reason why Kell's death was so meaningful.  By making the Lord Ruler a good person the book kind of ruined Kell's whole purpose.

Not really as because as the Lord Ruler is revealed to not be completely evil another being is being revealed to be worse the Lord Ruler ever was. The creapiness just increases.