The Hero of Ages

The Hero of Ages, a 2008 high fantasy novel by Brandon Sanderson, concludes his original Mistborn trilogy. It picks up after the cataclysmic finale of The Well of Ascension, where Vin mistakenly released the godlike force of entropy and destruction known as Ruin, believing she was saving the world. Volcanic ashmounts cover the world in ash, crops fail, and the mysterious mists are now killing people. Vin and Elend rush to find the final cache of the metal atium in an attempt to save their people, while Sazed has a crisis of faith in a world increasingly devoid of meaning. As the world hangs on the brink of ruin, the truth behind the Hero of Ages prophecy finally comes to light.

This guide is based on the 2008 e-book edition published by Tor Books.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide feature depictions of graphic violence, death, illness, suicidal ideation and self-harm, animal death, death by suicide, and child death.

Plot Summary

After Vin inadvertently released Ruin, the personification of destruction, at the end of The Well of Ascension, the world of Scadrial teeters on the brink of total annihilation. Marsh, as a Steel Inquisitor, is now controlled by Ruin through the metal Hemalurgic spikes that give him his powers, and he is forced to commit atrocities for him. Elsewhere, Elend Venture, the new emperor, commands a desperate, unprepared force to protect the town of Vetitan from an oncoming army of monstrous koloss—creatures engineered centuries ago by the now-dead Lord Ruler, Rashek, for maximum violence. Despite the odds, they manage to turn the tide when Vin arrives and uses her Allomancy—magical powers derived from burning metals—to command the koloss. When they secure the town and find the cache of the rare metal atium beneath it, left by the Lord Ruler, Vin discovers a message implying that Ruin is always listening.

TenSoon, a member of a shape-shifting race known as the kandra, is held prisoner for betraying his kind by siding with Vin and receives a public trial. His defense hinges on the argument that TenSoon can fulfill the Lord Ruler’s First Contract, which binds the kandra to serve humanity, by serving Vin, who will become Lord Ruler’s successor. However, his words are deemed blasphemous. While imprisoned, he escapes with the help of a younger kandra. Disillusioned by the inaction of his people, TenSoon decides to seek Vin and serve her. Meanwhile, Sazed, a formerly devout Terrisman steward, examines various religions in his stores of knowledge, searching for truth following the death of his beloved Tindwyl. In the Lord Ruler’s Final Empire, the Terris people were heavily oppressed, and few of them now remain. They follow an ancient religion dedicated to Preservation, the antithesis of Ruin.

Another former member of Kelsier’s crew, Spook, now operates in Urteau to deal with the brutal regime of Quellion, who is killing the nobility in retaliation for their past treatment of the lower-class skaa. After surviving a near-fatal stabbing, Spook discovers he can now burn, or use the power of, pewter rather than just tin, which lets him recover and fight back. He begins to hear what he presumes is Kelsier’s voice, pushing him to challenge Quellion’s authority from the shadows. However, his plans are complicated by his growing relationship with Beldre, Quellion’s sister.

At Elend’s camp, he and Vin prepare to siege the city of Fadrex, ruled by Lord Yomen, who is still loyal to the deceased Lord Ruler. There, they hope to find the Lord Ruler’s final cache, which they also believe contains a supply of the special metal atium. On the way, Elend exposes the troops to the mists to build their immunity to them, but he feels guilty for doing so. Many soldiers also became suspicious of the “Mistfallen”: those who became sicker than the others when exposed to the mists. Elend sends the Mistfallen back to Luthadel to help quell unrest and improve morale among the others. Vin, meanwhile, is upset by the mists’ continued failure to answer her, and she struggles with the pressure of fulfilling the role of the prophesied Hero of Ages. They attempt a combination of diplomacy and subterfuge on Yomen by crashing the balls he holds. During one, Vin slips away and finds the cache, only to be trapped inside by Yomen, who is revealed also to be an Allomancer. Taking on the form of her dead brother, Ruin finally speaks to Vin, telling her that he’s been manipulating events in Scadrial in his favor for years. He also claims that destruction is natural and necessary, meant to end what his counterpoint, Preservation, helped create. Yomen denies Vin access to the metals she needs to use her Allomancy. He tells her that he plans to execute her for killing the Lord Ruler. When Marsh arrives demanding the atium for Ruin, it’s revealed that the supply was never in the cache. During the ensuing fight, Vin sways Yomen to her side and fights off Marsh. Ruin takes control of the koloss, and during the subsequent slaughter, Elend and his troops shelter in the city, finally allowed inside by Yomen. Vin sets off alone to Luthadel to draw Ruin’s attention away.

In Urteau, Spook becomes a symbol of the resistance against Quellion. He plans to expose Quellion’s hypocrisy in selectively killing Allomancers. He also plans to flood the canals and restore water to the city using the engineering knowledge of a newly arrived Sazed. However, Beldre exposes her Allomantic powers to protect Quellion at a rally, prompting the crowd to turn on them both. When Spook realizes that Quellion also sees the vision of Kelsier and that both he and Spook have Hemalurgic spikes, he removes them. This breaks Ruin’s influence, and the illusion of Kelsier vanishes. The resulting riot threatens to burn down the city, and Spook barely manages to activate the water systems in time, though he is injured in the process.

Soon after, TenSoon also arrives in Urteau and reunites with Sazed. Sazed, previously paralyzed by his loss of faith, is galvanized when TenSoon calls him the “Announcer,” a title Ruin had altered in his notes about the Hero of Ages prophecy. Realizing that the ancient Terris religion might still hold uncorrupted truth, Sazed returns with TenSoon to the kandra Homeland. There, he learns that the First Generation kandra are the original Terris people transformed by the Lord Ruler, and that the cache of atium is there, collected and protected by the kandra for centuries under the Lord Ruler’s orders to protect it from Ruin. However, the leader of the kandra, KanPaar, betrays the First Generation out of greed and pride, and imprisons Sazed.

After Spook wakes from his injuries, he dictates a message for Vin, warning her that Ruin can influence anyone with a Hemalurgic spike. Ruin has Marsh intercept and kill the messenger tasked with delivering it. After Marsh reads the message to Ruin, the entity has him travel to Luthadel. There, he and the other Inquisitors attack Vin and get the upper hand. Ruin forces Marsh to torture her, attempting to extract the location of the atium cache. However, Marsh wrests control back long enough to remove Vin’s earring, which is revealed to be a Hemalurgic spike, breaking Ruin’s influence over her. The mists flood back into Vin, and she slaughters the Inquisitors. As her power peaks, she merges with the mists and disappears.

Back in Fadrex, Elend realizes that the mists did not curse the Mistfallen, but instead woke their dormant Allomantic in an attempt by Preservation to equip humanity for the final battle against Ruin. After the battle ends, Elend sets off toward Luthadel as well. Though he fails to find Vin, he reconnects with the Mistfallen at the Terris refugee camp. Vin, meanwhile, has fully taken on the powers and disembodied form of Preservation and has been fighting to keep the balance against Ruin. She sways Elend and his forces to enter the tunnels beneath the camp, which lead to the kandra Homeland. There, they reconnect with Sazed and TenSoon, who had freed him from the prison. When the koloss army descends, now entirely under Ruin’s control, Elend arms his Mistfallen with the atium from the cache and leads them into battle. To Ruin’s horror, the army burns through all of the atium, denying him the power he sought. Once Marsh kills Elend, Vin sacrifices herself by merging with Ruin and destroying them both.

In the aftermath, Sazed takes the now-combined powers of Preservation to become Harmony, the new god of the world. He uses his stores of knowledge to restore the planet. Spook awakens among the survivors in the new world and finds the bodies of Vin and Elend lying hand in hand. A letter from Sazed reveals what happened, and that although he could not bring Vin and Elend back to life, they are content. As a final gift, Sazed grants Spook full Mistborn abilities and leaves behind his knowledge for future generations.