***SPOILERS Official Hero of Ages Spoilers Thread. Includes Q&A w/Brandon****

[EUOL]

Folks,

Use this thread to discuss The Hero of Ages with as many spoilers as you care to mention.  Don't read on unless you have read the book!

Feel free to post questions for me here, and I'll do my best to find time to answer them.

--Brandon

[Kirrin]

Just wanted to say, great work on the book. It kept me completely occupied from around 11 am to 8 pm and i have got to say that it had the most well thought out ending ever put into a book.

Also, do you have any plans for more mistborn books? or is this the end?
And what happened to Marsh? The book doesnt mention him after he fights with Elend.

also, you should tell us what the last two metals are 

[CthulhuKefka]

Wow, where to begin?

Probably the first thing is to congratulate you on your best book to date, IMO. 

That being said, WOW!!!!!!!

It was an emotional roller coaster the whole way through. And that ending was simply pristine. Superb job. I always loved Sazed as a character and had inklings that he was destined for great things, but I did not see the whole "ascending to Godhood" thing coming. 

And the best part is that the ending is open! If anymore books are to be written, there is a plethora of avenues to explore and, of course, there is always another secret. 

Ah yes, those elusive last two metals. I imagine the obviously inevitable thread about the speculation of the last two metals will probably be one of the largest threads ever to dominate this forum. 

Again, Bravo Zulu (military slang for good job) on such an outstanding book. 

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Here's what Brandon told me after I finished the book and asked him my questions—25 months ago to the day (wow, it's been a long time).

TenSoon, and maybe Marsh, will get endings.  I will do something about that. In my mind, Marsh is dead--burned away by the sunlight.  TenSoon and kandra are still around, though.

He may have changed his mind since then.

Brandon, do you mind if I post, well, most of that e-mail?

[Agate]

I can guess 2 possible ptions for the kandra.
1.  God Sazed  endowed the gift of presence  on the now mistwraiths.
2. Some of the Kandra survived in the cave with the Terrisman and people of the city, along with the small mistwraiths, these are re-born with the spikes they pulled out during the resolution.
I can imagine too that some kandra on assignment may have hidden in the shelters with the rest of humanity.

[kaimipono]

Very fun book.  Well done. 

It looks like someone's already asked the "what happened to Marsh?" question, which was the main one that I had at the end. 

Other minor questions:

-On a broader level, is hemalurgy officially dead, then?  Or is it still extant in some Ruin-free (but still messy) form?  (If it's gone, is there any imbalance since Preservation's magic power is kept and Ruin's isn't?)

-Also, are koloss just naturally bad-tempered, even without Ruin's influence?  Cause the koloss are still taking swipes at Sazed immediately after the merger. 

-(And, does Sazed zap all the koloss?  Did they all get toasted by the sun?  But what about Human and his friends underground?  Are there still koloss around?  Just wonderin'.)

[Chaos]

Man, I had forgotten how small of a font your pages have, Brandon. It took me a good 16 hours of reading to get through, but then again, anything of note I actually wrote down with page references. At least, up until the end, where I stop worrying about things like that. It's a beast of a logbook, coming out at like 4400 words. That probably took me a lot of time and I didn't even see the time flying by. That, and maybe I'm just a slow reader.

Firstly: Wow. ...I think that pretty much states it all.

Secondly: I have a few questions for you, whenever you get a chance to answer.

1.I really want to know what the last two metals are. I always thought the bead Elend ate was one of them, but perhaps they are just things of Preservation, not meant to be understood.

2. Do all three Metallic Arts still exist after the events of the book? Are Allomancy and Hemalurgy slightly degenerated now that Ruin and Preservation are dead, or does Allomancy still draw upon Preservation's power (just held with Sazed now)?

3. How were the Terris Prophecies created in the first place? Every other magic related thing is quite logically explained in terms of Ruin and Preservation, except that one.

4. When did Preservation decide to imprison Ruin in the Well? No need to be specific, I should think. A simple "Near Alendi's time" or "Way before Alendi's time" would suffice, or whichever time of reference you want to use.

Also, this one is not a question, but nice Hoid reference in there. I especially like it how the Ars Arcanum refers to Slowswift as "bears a striking resemblance to a well-known storyteller." I'm on to you...

All in all, phenomenal book. It wasn't what I expected, but that's an excellent thing, because you explained everything I wanted to know wonderfully (the epigraphs were a superb worldbuilding tool) and you did every character justice, even the Lord Ruler. My favorite character still must be Elend, followed by Breeze for moments of sheer hilarity. I just loved the book. My eyes hurt, but that is probably because I stayed up so late reading it. Great job!

--------------

And now for you theorizers, since the other Spoiler topics were closed.

I have been beaten. My ideas were way out there. Yeah, pretty much all of my theories can be disregarded. Reaves wins the bet for the epigraphs, but I object on the grounds that he didn't pick any specific person.

My Hemalurgy theory was far too complex. Brandon's explanation makes far more sense. I wrote down in my logbook:

Epigraph 34 - It irks me that I did not think of Allomancy and Hemalurgy in terms of physics. Of course that's how they work. I'm a physics major, for crying out loud--I should have thought this in terms of Conservation of Energy. Still, nothing particularly enlightening about Feruchemy here. It's not the magics relation with the mists, it is their relationship with Ruin and Preservation. Of course it is.

We should've focused a lot more on the Ruin and Preservation thread.

Also, Ookla, we were right for saying that the mist spirit was, technically, part of Preservation! Blast you! You were just trying to tell us that it's not all of the power!

Speaking of that, Elmandr does not win the bet for the mist spirit. At all. That one died just as quickly as my "Rashek writing the epigraphs" and things. Oh, and Hemalurgy--you could say it crashed and burned like my Hemalurgy theory, and with my "mists cause Allomancy" theory. Okay, now that that is settled...

Time for the part where I shamelessly mention where I was right, because I'm humble that way.

On the bottom of page 24 on the Countdown thread, I totally called it out that the atium cache was the thing Ruin wanted. I had no idea why, but hey, it's the principle of the thing.

The earring. I was completely right that it was the thing that prevented the mist-burning, and in one of those later epigraphs, Sazed agreed with me. And, even more, it sort of had something to do with Hemalurgy. That counts. That counts big time.

Okay, and whoever made the topic that referenced the "on my arms" reference, I humbly do bow to you, because that was far more brilliant than any of my rants.

That also goes for everyone saying Ruin manipulated the 11th metal theory (Allomancy Hobo crashed and burned) and manipulated things during the Final Empire. Kudos to you.

So, yeah. That's all I have to say about that for now. If anyone cares, I could post my log of my thoughts on MB3 as I was reading, but not now. Now is a time for sleep, desperately.

[Anulith]

First time poster but I've been following Brandon's works since he was announced as WoT completer.  Since that time I've read Elantris and the Mistborn series.  They are both some of my favorite works of fantasy.

I thought there was a bit too much foreshadowing done.  It made it too easy to guess what was going to happen next.  However, there were a few things that still surprised me so that's not that big of a deal.

I loved the length of the chapters.  Most were only 5 or 6 pages.  This really kept the pace up the whole time and kept me from both getting bored and gave me a sense of urgency.

The Kandra were spectacular.  So many surprises with them and the mental pictures of their translucent bodies were great.

I'm not sure if it is bad or good but I have a real problem getting a grand picture of the world in the mistborn series.  Maybe this is because it is always changing and those who live in it never really get a good view of it because of the ash and mists.  However, in other fantasy novels I have a pretty easy time keeping a mental map of world.  With Mistborn I have good images of certain locations but my mental map is pretty much non existent.

I was wrong about the last group of Koloss that Elend took control of.  I really thought that the reason he couldn't detect the Inquisitor any more was going to be because his mass pulling had also taken control of it.  When Marsh showed up I really thought he was going to be a different Inquisitor and under Elend's control.

I think the series has definitely been left open for follow ups.  I doubt we'll ever see another sequel with the same cast though.  Sazed will obviously be a part of it and I think Vin and Elend will probably play some role but who knows.

I was so pissed off that we didn't find out what the two other metals were.  I had also assumed that the part of Preseveration must be one of them.

I expected the bones of Kelsier to come into play again since he had Tensoon carrying them all over the place.  I was surprised when they were just buried and then forgotten.

This may be a topic no one wants to talk about but I think you can see some of Mormonism coming through in this book.  I'm pretty sure I read an interview with Brandon where he said he was Mormon.  This makes sense as the most convincing stories have a basis in something the author is familiar with.  I'm not trying to start any religious debates or anything.  I just thought it was worth mentioning that some of these ideas seem to have their basis in the teachings of the LDS.

[Vaelith]

I would like to echo a question that someone beat me to.   The way you ended it seemed to leave the door wide open for other books with characters such as Spook and Breeze playing much larger rolls.  My question is was the ending planned as just an open-ended ending to make people wonder about what might happen, or was that with the intent of writing more books in mind?

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Brandon does want to write more Mistborn books, but not with the same characters. There would be two more trilogies. The second trilogy would be set a few hundred years later, in a modern day–type setting, when the events of the first trilogy have passed into legend. The third trilogy would be set a few more hundred years later, in a future, outer space–type setting.

It's such an audacious idea I wish he would write it right now because I want to read it, especially the third trilogy. But Brandon has announced his next project (pending Tor approval) will be Way of Kings, a 10-volume epic fantasy. He'll sprinkle in a book from another project here and there, so the next Mistborn trilogy might start before Way of Kings is ended, but it will be years yet before there is any more Mistborn.

[kaimipono]

But Brandon has announced his next project (pending Tor approval) will be Way of Kings, a 10-volume epic fantasy. He'll sprinkle in a book from another project here and there, so the next Mistborn trilogy might start before Way of Kings is ended, but it will be years yet before there is any more Mistborn.

But Ookla, he already wrote that one!

[Peter Ahlstrom]

I know.

The real story is that Brandon was writing (or revising?) Way of Kings when Tor offered to buy Elantris. Brandon signed a two-book contract for Elantris and Way of Kings. Then Brandon realized he wasn't in the point in his career yet where he could write Way of Kings the way he wanted to, so while he was supposed to be revising Way of Kings he secretly wrote the first Mistborn book instead, which he then sold to Tor as a trilogy, replacing Way of Kings in the original contract.

But for some reason Amazon already had a listing for Way of Kings, with a release date. Thence the fake reviews.

I've read an early draft of the first book, and it aims to be very epic. (No, Elvis is not involved.) I do wonder, though, whether when it actually comes out, the fake reviews will get attached to its Amazon listing.

[EUOL]

Just wanted to say, great work on the book. It kept me completely occupied from around 11 am to 8 pm and i have got to say that it had the most well thought out ending ever put into a book.

Also, do you have any plans for more mistborn books? or is this the end?
And what happened to Marsh? The book doesnt mention him after he fights with Elend.

also, you should tell us what the last two metals are 

Okay, I was expecting these.  Let's get to them first.

1)  More Mistborn Books
My plans right now are to do a second trilogy of Mistborn books set several hundred years after the events of the first series.  That means that technology would have progressed, and there's a good chance I'll decide to do the books as kind of an urban fantasy.  (But set in a completely different world from our own, so not quite like other urban fantasies.)  Guns, skyscrapers, cars--and Allomancy.

Now, I'm not 100% decided on that.  I know that adding modern technology ruins the fantasy flavor of a book for many people, so I'll have to think about it.  But I think the imagery would be compelling, and I would love to deal with a 'modern' world where the events of this trilogy form the foundation for the religions, history, and society of the book.  It would be a really challenge, since I'd have to decide how technology and society developed following this book. 

2)  Marsh is alive.  I changed this from when I talked to Ookla. I realized some things about his use of Allomancy that would allow him to survive.  Actually, he is immortal.  He can pull off the same Allomancy/Feruchemy trick that the Lord Ruler did.  (And he knows it too, since he was there when Sazed explained how it was done in Book One.)  He's actually the only living person who actually knows this trick for certain. (Though there's a chance that Spook, Ham and Breeze heard about it from Vin and the others.)  So yes, if there were another series, Marsh would make an appearance. 

3)  The last two metals are Chromium and Nicrosil.  We'll reveal what they do on the Allomancy poster.  Suffice it to say that in the next trilogy, the main protagonist would be a Nicrosil Misting.  And, to make a Robert Jordan-type comment, what those two metals do should become obvious to the serious student of Allomancy...  (It has to do with the nature of the metal groupings.)

[EUOL]

I can guess 2 possible ptions for the kandra.
1.  God Sazed  endowed the gift of presence  on the now mistwraiths.
2. Some of the Kandra survived in the cave with the Terrisman and people of the city, along with the small mistwraiths, these are re-born with the spikes they pulled out during the resolution.
I can imagine too that some kandra on assignment may have hidden in the shelters with the rest of humanity.

The Kandra.

Yes, they live.  The people were smart enough, eventually, to replace their spikes.  (And there were a couple who were on assignment who made it to storage caches.)

However, there will likely never be any more of them, since Hemalurgy is required to make them.  They are now some of the few people who can communicate directly with Sazed, who--like Ruin--can whisper to people most easily when they are connected to him via spikes.  With some speculation, you can probably guess what kind of roles the Kandra will end up playing in future books.

[EUOL]

-On a broader level, is hemalurgy officially dead, then?  Or is it still extant in some Ruin-free (but still messy) form?  (If it's gone, is there any imbalance since Preservation's magic power is kept and Ruin's isn't?)

-Also, are koloss just naturally bad-tempered, even without Ruin's influence?  Cause the koloss are still taking swipes at Sazed immediately after the merger. 

-(And, does Sazed zap all the koloss?  Did they all get toasted by the sun?  But what about Human and his friends underground?  Are there still koloss around?  Just wonderin'.)

1)  Is Hemalurgy dead?  No, not at all.  It, like the other two powers, was not created by Ruin or Preservation, but by the natural state of the world and its interaction with the gods who created it.  It still requires the same method of creation, but very few people are aware of how it works. 

2)  Koloss were bad tempered before Ruin's influence, though he certainly made them worse.  They were designed by the Lord Ruler to be aggressive, so aggressive that they would destroy themselves if they got loose and away from him.  (This was intentional.  Note that he didn't give the spark of  humanity in them enough credit, and they managed to overcome this and 'evolve' in a way to keep their species going, even after he died.) 

3)  There ARE still koloss around, though many of them were vaporized.  Human is alive.  Sazed took pity on them, however, and they have been transformed.  They are now a race that breeds true, like the Kandra, and have different thought processes from what they once had.  You'll see more of them in the sequel series.