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Brandon Sanderson / Re: ***SPOILERS Official Hero of Ages Spoilers Thread. Includes Q&A w/Brandon****
« on: April 11, 2009, 02:40:28 AM »
happyman, I can totally see where you're coming from. I'm not saying that having them both die at the end wasn't an excellent way to tie up the series in terms of plot.
Here's another angle that just came to my mind. You mention Elend AND Vin had to "prove" their own integrity. So tell me why Elend had to die? The reasoning to me seems like this:
Elend is alive -> Vin loves Elend -> Vin wants to be with Elend -> Vin values life with Elend.
Therefore Elend commits suicide (senselessness fully implied) to force Vin to comply with his ideals and do what he wants by removing any incentive for her to remain in the world of the living.
Wow. Haha. That's probably the ultimate way of being used right there, proving what I'd always thought wasn't true - that Vin is just a knife for Elend's ideals. If Vin had truly been willing to "Sacrifice" her life and been the saint upholding her integrity and noble ideals that you make her out to be, Elend wouldn't have had to die. (On that point - if she HAD been willing to die, she could have saved Elend by killing Ruin and therefore freeing Marsh) And I think that's why I like Vin - because she isn't the idealist. She might not be empress, and Elend was certainly best for that role, but SHE started the Empire. She slaughtered innocents in cold blood and felt nothing but like a god.
Also, one last point that makes the ending rather muted - the future of the Mistborn world. Elend was the best ruler for the Empire. Without Vin at his side I could've seen him still succeeding. But with neither Vin nor Elend, I find it hard to imagine anyone else being able to hold the empire together...Breeze? Cares too little. Spook? Too young and with no understanding of politics. Cett? Maybe a good man inside, but we've had his flaws pointed out enough that we should be familiar. He lost his own kingdom.
Here's another angle that just came to my mind. You mention Elend AND Vin had to "prove" their own integrity. So tell me why Elend had to die? The reasoning to me seems like this:
Elend is alive -> Vin loves Elend -> Vin wants to be with Elend -> Vin values life with Elend.
Therefore Elend commits suicide (senselessness fully implied) to force Vin to comply with his ideals and do what he wants by removing any incentive for her to remain in the world of the living.
Wow. Haha. That's probably the ultimate way of being used right there, proving what I'd always thought wasn't true - that Vin is just a knife for Elend's ideals. If Vin had truly been willing to "Sacrifice" her life and been the saint upholding her integrity and noble ideals that you make her out to be, Elend wouldn't have had to die. (On that point - if she HAD been willing to die, she could have saved Elend by killing Ruin and therefore freeing Marsh) And I think that's why I like Vin - because she isn't the idealist. She might not be empress, and Elend was certainly best for that role, but SHE started the Empire. She slaughtered innocents in cold blood and felt nothing but like a god.
Also, one last point that makes the ending rather muted - the future of the Mistborn world. Elend was the best ruler for the Empire. Without Vin at his side I could've seen him still succeeding. But with neither Vin nor Elend, I find it hard to imagine anyone else being able to hold the empire together...Breeze? Cares too little. Spook? Too young and with no understanding of politics. Cett? Maybe a good man inside, but we've had his flaws pointed out enough that we should be familiar. He lost his own kingdom.