Best Plot Twist in Mistborn *Spoilers*

[tipbruley]

All of these were very good plot twists in the series.

I would have to say Ruin corrupting the prophecies was the best. Just truly shocked me, and completely changed my perception of the series.



The only one that I truly saw coming way before it became obvious was the earing being a hemalurgic spike. I put that together in the beginning of the third book, as soon as hemalurgy was mentioned in the beginning of the Hero of Ages

 I remembered Zane saying something about how he had something sticking into him (as to why he didn't wear the mist cloak) and he heard ruins voice
I remembered what they said about Vins mom hearing voices and killing her sister before giving it to her
Also, I remembered the Lord Ruler had his feruchemy medals implanted in him, and that Vin had her earing shot away when she drew in the mists.


What was everyone's favorite twist?

[Chaos]

Gah! You're asking me to pick between five different awesome things. It's like a parent trying to play favorites on their children--well, at least if the children are good

How am I supposed to answer this!

Let's see. Ruin's manipulations made the whole Book Two worthwhile. If there was not that plot twist, I would not have liked Book Two very much. The whole book relied on that plot twist, and it made the entire book satisfying and amazing. It completely surprised me.

Kelsier's plan made his death worthwhile and one of the best character deaths I've seen in a while. Combined with the revelation about Rashek, these two things made Book One amazing.

Sazed being the Hero of Ages. Well, this is fantastic foreshadowing and he healed the world in an extremely satisfying way, which is the biggest plot thread that had to be resolved (bringing the flowers back, essentially). I can't think of anything better foreshadowed than how Sazed healed the world, because all of those religions had been introduced throughout the series.

...Writing this, I am no closer to deciding which were the best twists. Kelsier's plan, while cool, would be eliminated first in my opinion. That makes it no less awesome, but Rashek/Ruin/HoA? Those are mysteries from the epigraphs, tying each book and the overall mythology together. Kelsier can't compare with that.

So I'm not going to vote and choose between those three. It's too difficult.

[Recovering_Cynic]

I have to vote for Kel planning--and executing--his own martyrdom.  There are hints throughout the whole book (Kelsier's constant study of belief and religion and what made for a resilient belief system).  The answer was right there in front of me, everything he had planned to do, but when it happened, it was so shocking and saddening that I never saw it coming.

I am tempted to, but can't vote for Sazed becoming the HoA.  It was pretty clever, the whole emasculation of the prophecies bit, but by then we had been through so many uncertainties about whether the prophecies were ever accurate that this twist wasn't so much hidden as it was distorted.  (The prophecies are infallible!  Oh wait, the prophecies are corrupted!  Oh nope, wrong again, the prophecies are still right--but only the author gets to pick which bits are still right... Nope, that's too much hiding the ball for me.)

I also can't vote for Ruin's altering of the prophesies because that one was pretty heavy handed and it kind of felt like cheating.  The whole time I knew there was a plot twist there, although I couldn't put my finger on it specifically.

Of all the plot twists, Kel's self-martyrdom is the only one that surprised me fair and square.

[Aranfan]

I'm fond of "I write these words in steel, for anyting not set in metal cannot be trusted."  Because it subverts a staple of the Fantasy Genre.

[ErikHolmes]

The earring all the way. I told Brandon that at class. I was like:

ME: "So I finished Hero of Ages last night . . ."
BRANDON: "So, what did you think?"
ME: "Fetching earring . . ."

[Plasman]

Well, i still claim the title of "first person on this forum who was not an alpha reader to come up with the theory that the earring was a hemalurgical spike" (i know, i'm in desparate need of an acronym) so even though it was completely awesome, i saw it coming.  also, sazed being the HoA was an excellent twist, but even on the synopsis on the inside cover it asks the question "Who is the Hero of Ages?" and with only  a select number of charcters to choose from Sazed was always a suspect. the way in which the twist was fulfilled was a hundred times cooler than the twist itself.  which reminds me... you left out one of the coolest twists in the series! OreSeur really being TenSoon. like the hero of ages, we were always wondering who the kandra spy was, but this twist was so expertly pulled off that i never suspected OreSeur.
So, with that twist not an option, i narrowed it down to Kelsier's master plan and the corruption of Ruin.  Both of which were just awesome. Kelsier's plan was brilliant, moving, and powerful, and pushed the book to an amazing climax.  And the fact that Ruin was manipulating everything changed the whole way i thought about the series.  it showed the Lord Ruler in a new light, revealed the behind-the-scenes, titanic struggle of the gods, and that was truly terrifying. i spent the year between WoA and HoA hating Brandon for being so cruel.
in the end, i went with ruin.

[sortitus]

Kelsier planned to die. It was the only up there that I didn't spot. I expected him to die, but the fact that he planned to die to properly get revenge was awesome.

TLR being Rashek was pretty heavily foreshadowed. It was one of those things I was shouting at the characters throughout the book.

Ruin corrupted the prophecies. Yeah, that was pretty heavy too.

Vin's earring was a little too small of a twist for me, and was basically explained straight out in the first book. After the process of becoming an inquisitor is detailed, it became obvious (Your Mileage May Vary).

Sazed being the HOA was pretty obvious from the point that the prophecy used a gender-neutral pronoun, but I dismissed it out of had because it sounded too obvious. Once Vin died, everything clicked and I accurately predicted the ending.

I'd agree that TenSoon being the Kandra was one of the best twists. Something else that I didn't expect? Vin went for Elend instead of Spook. I really liked Spook better in the first book. He got his time in the sun though, so I'm satisfied with that.

[tipbruley]

Yea OreSur being TenSoon was a pretty good plot twist as well. Aparantly I should have included that instead of the Lord Ruler being Rashek

I really thought that Vin and Elend were the Hero of Ages. I think in the second book it is repeatedly questioned if  "all of the stories and prophecies were pointing to one man" or something like that. I thought the gender neutral meant it was going be be male and female because it was two different people. Totally guessed wrong on that one!

[Skywalkered]

I think that Sazed being the Hero of Ages was the best plot twist. It's what made that entire series, in my oppinion. I know a lot of people who didn't want to finish the book after Vin and Elend died, but the ending made it all worth it and more. I have to say, one of the reasons I think it was the best was because it was the ending so it had a bigger impact. Another reason why, is because you had to focus really hard to guess that one. I think that's what makes a great plot twist, is one with just the right amount of foreshodowing to the point where if you focus on the story enough while you're reading, you can guess the twist. Some twists pop out of no where, some twist are too easily seen, but Sazed being the Hero was perfect.

[Ari54]

Wow, I'm surprised corrupted prophecies gets such a big hit- I wonder if that's because of backlash against the "all myths are true" trope, or just because Ruin was a pretty awesome villain to begin with.

Personally I voted for the earring being a spike, because I thought it was just really well foreshadowed yet totally unexpected, which is ideally exactly what you want from a plot twist. It doesn't actually have to be world-shattering in my view to be a good plot twist, like the myth corruption, but it does have to be plot-shattering, (ie. matter a lot to the characters we care about) and Vin taking over as Preservation  just because someone figured out her earring is a spike is pretty plot-shattering.

As for Sazed being HoA, I personally didn't really feel the foreshadowing was quite as thorough on that point. The eunuch pronoun business bothered me as well- I would've said that the proper pronoun for a eunuch is "he". It was good that Brandon didn't make Vin HoA, however.

[Patriotic Kaz]

Yeah Ari supports the same thing, as my not so humble self, and for the same reasons!!! Though the Ruin prophesy thing wasn't suprising to me. I didn't predict it but it wasn't a whoa that was ideal, cool, whatamacallit candy bar expeirence.

[happyman]

Wow, I'm surprised corrupted prophecies gets such a big hit- I wonder if that's because of backlash against the "all myths are true" trope, or just because Ruin was a pretty awesome villain to begin with.

I'm pretty sure this isn't so much backlash against the "All myths are true" trope nearly so much as simple awe at how well it was subverted in this particular case.  Brandon subverted it, he even *told* us he was subverting it (Sazed's religions are, by and large, not true in any deep sense) and yet I still fell for it.

Personally I voted for the earring being a spike, because I thought it was just really well foreshadowed yet totally unexpected, which is ideally exactly what you want from a plot twist. It doesn't actually have to be world-shattering in my view to be a good plot twist, like the myth corruption, but it does have to be plot-shattering, (ie. matter a lot to the characters we care about) and Vin taking over as Preservation  just because someone figured out her earring is a spike is pretty plot-shattering.

Unfortunately my time spent theorizing on the forum primed me very well for this particular twist.  It may not have been obvious to the casual reader (my Dad was very surprised by it), but it did come out in FE and WoA with deeper study.  There was even a discussion thread discussing the importance of Vin's earring, and even one person who asked why Reen's obsidian shard wasn't obsessed over like the earring was.  Even though we didn't come anywhere near the truth in those discussions, they brought up most of the relevant foreshadowing and the existence of the connection between Vin, her sister, hemalurgy, and the earring.

As for Sazed being HoA, I personally didn't really feel the foreshadowing was quite as thorough on that point. The eunuch pronoun business bothered me as well- I would've said that the proper pronoun for a eunuch is "he". It was good that Brandon didn't make Vin HoA, however.

I have to disagree on this point.  I actually briefly championed Sazed as the Hero of Ages (however, I championed nobody else at all; he was my only real choice) based on the foreshadowing, primarily references to his height and the "No woman shall claim him" bit.

Much more important to my mind, however, is the fact that I had no clue what the term "Hero of Ages" would actually turn out to mean.  That Sazed was the hero did not surprise me.  That it meant becoming God and remaking the world?  Yeah, didn't see that coming.

[Plasman]

Even though we didn't come anywhere near the truth in those discussions, they brought up most of the relevant foreshadowing and the existence of the connection between Vin, her sister, hemalurgy, and the earring.

I think we came pretty dang close to the truth actually. http://www.timewastersguide.com/forum/index.php?topic=5697.0   But I agree with you that it was more obviously foreshadowed than some of the other twists. after reading all the annotations and some of the discussions on here it kinda stuck out and i was able to pin most of it down before HoA came out. it doesn't change the fact that this is an awesome twist though.

[Ari54]

Fans always obsessively try and pick apart books, and there will always be someone who guesses a plot twist so long as it's capable of being guessed for any popular book. The test is really if it was easy- and I don't think the earring thing really was easy, and I think it could easily have been a distraction or a character development point.

Guessability is really pretty irrelevant. It's inevitability that gets annoying. Hence why the HoA being different from who and what we thought about it was good, even if I personally didn't like the foreshadowing so much, and felt it misled us in a way that didn't really end up properly promising us the result we got.