Another Possibility For the HOA

[Comatose]

It just wouldn't seem to fit with the times, and I think it would have been mentioned, why wouldn't a nobleman just have his favorite skaa mistresses use it so he wouldn't have to kill her?  PErhaps the method is just too expensive.  It just seem like an awful lot of trouble, when they just kill the mistresses anyways, and noblemen have trouble having children in the first place, meaning birth control is unlikely.
Then again the low fertility rate of nobleman does decrease the likelihood of Vin getting pregnant since she's 1/2 and 1/2, and Elend's noble.  Depends whether or not her Skaa side is stronger I suppose.

[Chaos]

Vin isn't pregnant for the same reason that we know the person in chapter one is indeed Elend (not like some weird doppelganger): because it wouldn't work narratively. Book Three isn't about parenthood, it's about fighting Ruin and finishing off the trilogy.

At least... it SHOULDN'T be about parenthood...

[Miyabi]

Maybe EUOL is looking to become a new Doctor Spock

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Just wait for book four.






I'm kidding. Really. (Or am I?)

[Comatose]

If Brandon tries to pull an Ian Irvine (continued in the next quartet), or a Christopher Paolini (I realized my story is crappy, so I'm gonna have to make some huge modifications and add another book), I'd probably cry.  Although the likely hood of him doing either of those things are probably like 1/99999999999999999999, so I don't think I have much to worry about (and yes I just held down the 9 button for a randomly big number).
I'm not saying a Vin pregnancy is likely to happen, what I'm trying to say is it would bring up some interesting character development.
Vin is stuck at home because of her condition, Elend is Mistborn now, she starts to feel uneeded, and then she has to deal with the fact that up until recently she has never had a real family and now she is expected to start one of her own, that's got to bring up some insecurities.
But who knows if it will actually happen, maybe it won't until near the end, so we still get some of this development and less of the Vin is on Maternity leave from her Mistborn awesomeness... sorry.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

The trilogy's story is complete in book 3. Who's to say whether or not Brandon might want to go back later and tell a new story in the same world though?

[Miyabi]

Then it would be a different story, not the same one.  So different Trilogy/series/book.

[Comatose]

I wouldn't be opposed to another story in the mistborn world, even if it's a prequel.  But Brandon seems to like moving on to different things all the time, why stick around in this world, when I'm sure he has many other's to fill with stories (At least I hope he does, when I'm done with Mistborn, and get around to warbreaker, I want more!)

[]Accident[]

Unquestionably the best example of completing one story and then starting more out of the same realm and framework is Feist's. What started with Magician: The Apprentice, and has now continued through more than 20 books stands alone in its scope and depth. Pug is the first and only remaining major character from the earliest parts of the story, but each series within has its own heros and villains. Early on the larger than life characters were Duke Borric and his family in Crydee, then on to Prince Arutha, his sons, Jimmy the Hand, and many others. The most remarkable thing about it all is that each story has its own power apart from the larger chronology, but each adds to the total if you read them all.

I think that the world in which Mistborn is set could easily lead to a similar, if smaller, set of continuing stories for Brandon, if he wishes. Certainly even if the Deepness is vanquished and Ruin brought to, well, ruin, there are always new enemies to face, and new heroes to rise up to the task.

[Comatose]

Ian Irvine also does the multiple Quartets in the same world (or set of three, for those of you who have read them), but in my opinion they sort of deteriorate.  The first ones were by far the best, and he keeps adding new concepts that characters weren't even aware of in previous books.

[]Accident[]

Yes, I've read other authors where such continuations "deteriorate". I believe Brandon's sense of the realm, and his own purview of the larger story, to be stronger than would allow such, if he so chose. But it is a risky proposition. Besides, he probably has a dozen half-formed stories in completely different themes running around in his mind waiting their turn to be churned out.

[Comatose]

Yes, I do think Brandon can do it, but you're right as well in saying that he has other stories on the go, then there's that pesky WOT thing that's keeping him from writing his own books . 
So I think from what we've written it's safe to assume that although there is possibility of there being a child or pregnancy, I doubt the child is most likely not (meaning it's not) the hero of ages.  Especially after reading those excerpts, I don't think a baby can write thank-you very much, a least not big words like unfortunately.

[Pygmalion]

If Brandon tries to pull an Ian Irvine (continued in the next quartet), or a Christopher Paolini (I realized my story is crappy, so I'm gonna have to make some huge modifications and add another book), I'd probably cry.

LOL, that cracked me up. 

But who knows if it will actually happen, maybe it won't until near the end, so we still get some of this development and less of the Vin is on Maternity leave from her Mistborn awesomeness... sorry.

I hope Vin isn't on maternity leave either... I'm so looking forward to seeing Elend and Vin pull off a majorly awesome Mistborn fight together. I also really wanted to see Vin teaching Elend, but it looks like from chapter one that Brandon moved the story past that point already... bummer.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Brandon does have a plan for how he might continue the Mistborn series one day. When he mentioned it to me, it made me really, really excited. It's an extremely ambitious plan.

I don't think he'll get to it for several years yet, though, not until he's finished a bunch of Way of Kings books first.

[Comatose]

NICE!  Well, I'll take your word for it.  Maybe in several years time, I'll know Brandon Personally, and become an Alpha Reader.  Guess it's time to move to Utah!