History Characters / Mistborn

!!Kelsier "Kell"

!!Sazed "Saze"

!!Dockson "Dox"

!!Ladrian "Breeze"

!!Hammond "Ham"

!!Cladent "Clubs"

!!Marsh "Ironeyes"

!!Lestibournes "Spook"

* [[spoiler:HeroAntagonist]]

* [[spoiler: AntiVillain]]
* [[spoiler:[[DiscOneFinalBoss Book One Final Boss]]]]
* [[spoiler: CrazyPrepared / SurvivalistStash : The supply caches and shelters he built across the Final Empire in case of his death.]]

* [[spoiler: MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning]]
* [[spoiler: NiceJobFixingItVillain]]
* [[spoiler: NoImmortalInertia]]

* [[spoiler: WellIntentionedExtremist]]
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Unusually, both inverted and played straight. WordOfGod is that [[spoiler: Rashek]] actually grew as a person as a result of acquiring and being forced to responsibly use godlike power; pity that the [[spoiler: hemalurgy]] he used brought him into telepathic contact with [[spoiler: Ruin, who wormed his way inside his head and drove him to increasingly brutal, irrational, and tyrannical actions in the name of the greater good]].

* AlphaBitch: She's in a court, rather than school, setting, but otherwise fits the trope to a "t" [[spoiler: though she's rather more dangerous than most]].
* [[spoiler: DarkActionGirl]]

* [[spoiler:DeadPersonImpersonation]]: [[spoiler:Pulls one of several people, notably Kelsier (to Spook and Quellion), the Lord Ruler (to Penrod), and Reen. Vin sees through the last pretty quickly, at least when it's more than just the voice]].

* [[spoiler: TheManBehindTheMan]]

* [[spoiler: NiceJobFixingItVillain:]] [[spoiler:He could have prevented his eventual defeat simply by not forcing Marsh to read the message he intercepted from Spook]].

A young and idealistic noble who is the heir to the powerful Venture house. He meets Vin by chance, and grows quite close to her. [[spoiler:After the Lord Ruler is killed by Vin, he becomes Emperor.]] Also, [[spoiler:as a result of consuming Lerasium, he becomes a Mistborn.]]

!!The Lord Ruler/[[spoiler: Rashek]]

[[folder:Unsorted (Page Cleanup and rearrangement ongoing.)]]

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Though he apparently became quite ruthless, he always remained dedicated to helping the world and ''not'' taking up the power of the Well of Ascension for himself. [[spoiler: Which is why Ruin chose him in the first place]].

!!Kelsier

!!Sazed

[[folder:Supporting Characters]]

!!Dockson

A friend of Kelsier, and a member of his rebellion. He hates nobles, but not with the same fiery passion as Kelsier.
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!!Breeze

A Soother, one who has the ability to calm emotions. He aides Kelsier in his rebellion.

!!Ham

!!Clubs

!!Reen

Vin's abusive half-brother, who warned her to beware of being betrayed. He eventually betrayed her one day, disappearing and never returning. His words still ring clear in Vin's head. [[spoiler:Actually, the voice in Vin's head is Ruin, pretending to be him.]]

* [[AbusiveParents Abusive Parental Substitute]]
* BigBrotherBully: Bizarrely mixed with BigBrotherInstinct. He abused Vin because he thought that [[BrokenBird breaking her]] was the only way she'd survive.
* {{Jerkass}}
* [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Nice Job Breaking Her, Big Brother]]: It's pretty clear that Reen was cruel to Vin primarily because he thought that she'd only survive if he toughened her up and taught her to always be suspicious and cynical. Unfortunately, this ''also'' lead directly into the BrokenBird nature she exhibits, particularly early in the series. Probably an example of why emotionally damaged cynical {{Jerkass}}es, even well-intentioned ones, shouldn't raise kids.
* ParentalSubstitute: To Vin, after their mother went crazy.
* PetTheDog: [[spoiler: Sacrificing his life rather than telling the Inquisitors where to find Vin]]
** RedemptionEqualsDeath
* PosthumousCharacter
* PromotionToParent: What with [[DisappearedDad their father being out of the picture]] and their mother going AxCrazy, he became Vin's primary caretaker.
* SpiritAdvisor: Vin frequently hears his voice, normally warning her not to trust people. [[spoiler: Turns out to have actually been Ruin most of the time]].

!!Marsh "Ironeyes"

Kelsier's brother, who aides him in his rebellion. He is a Seeker, an Allomancer who can detect the use of Allomancy in others. [[spoiler:He eventually becomes a Steel Inquisitor, but one working for the good side.]] Also, [[spoiler:the spikes within him allow him to be made Ruin's puppet.]] However, [[spoiler:after Ruin dies, Sazed allows him free will, so he is essentially immortal.]]
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!!Spook

!!Tindwyl

* CoolOldLady
* CynicalMentor: To Elend.
* DeadpanSnarker: She can even give Vin a run for her money in this regard.
* DrillSergeantNasty: Elend finds out the hard way. It's explicitly stated she's like this to him because as an idealistic nobleman's son, she feels he needs to be hit over the head with reality before he can become a good leader. She's much nicer to Vin, based on the fact that Vin's been the target of physical and emotional abuse for good chunks of her life and what ''she'' needs is confidence and self-worth.
* GoodIsNotNice
* [[spoiler:MentorOccupationalHazard]]
* SternTeacher

!!Ashweather Cett

* BadassBeard: Vin even calls it a "monster".
* BigBadWannabe: Cett presents himself as a powerful, CardCarryingVillain tyrant [[spoiler: but he's neither as evil or as powerful as he'd like you to believe]].
* BoisterousBruiser: Played with; he has the personality, but is actually a cripple.
* CardCarryingVillain: Subverted. He certainly talks the talk, but then does a HeelFaceTurn.
* HeelFaceTurn: Allrianne initially tricks him into it. Vin's threats cement it.
* ObfuscatingDisability: Subverted. Vin thinks he's faking his paralysis to hide being a very powerful Mistborn. [[spoiler: Nope- it's genuine, and he's had the condition since childhood]].
* SirSwearsALot
* TokenEvilTeammate: Sort of. He's not exactly ''evil'', per se, but is the most traditional Imperial nobleman in Elend's court.
* [[spoiler: WarriorPoet: Not expecting that, were you?]]

!!Allrianne Cett

* BrattyTeenageDaughter: How she presents herself. It's only part of the truth, though.
* TheChick
* HiddenDepths
* MayDecemberRomance: With Breeze
* ObfuscatingStupidity: More like Obfuscating Superficiality. Most of what you see ''is'' Allrianne's real personality, but it's not all there is to it, and she's much smarter than she looks.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: She's the Girly Girl to Vin's Tomboy. Yes, even Vin at her most feminine looks ''plenty'' tomboyish next to Allrianne.

!!Beldre

* [[spoiler: ActionGirl: Sort of. She hates fighting, but because she's a Coinshot, she can still take out most trained soldiers if they're not ready for her]].
* TheChick
* [[spoiler: GlassCannon: Being a coinshot who isn't a warrior otherwise, she can't take much punishment but can dish out a ''lot'' of it if she's in the right mood]].
* [[spoiler: HiddenDepths: She may look and act like a sad, rather naive girl- but she's also a Misting, and her brother's hidden bodyguard]].
* MoralityPet: To her brother Quellion [[spoiler: and later, to Spook]].
* WideEyedIdealist: She's basically Vin's opposite in this regard; where Vin doesn't trust anybody easily, Beldre wants to trust everybody and thinks she can solve the conflict between her brother and Spook just by talking it out. [[spoiler: Actually, that probably would have worked if Ruin hadn't been prodding both Quellion and Spook to act more and more irrationally]].

!!Alendi

* AngstDissonance: In-universe- Vin thinks he's far too angsty to have become an EvilOverlord. [[spoiler: She's right]].
* TheChosenOne: [[spoiler: Subverted in that he was killed by Rashek before he did what he was Chosen to do- and then deconstructed to boot when it was revealed he was only chosen in the first place because of Ruin screwing with the prophecies]].
* {{Expy}}: Of any number of generic ChosenOne types, but in particular he resembles [[WheelOfTime Rand al'Thor]]- which became HilariousInHindsight when Sanderson was contracted to finish WheelOfTime.
* PosthumousCharacter
* StartOfDarkness: [[spoiler: Subverted, because he was never the Lord Ruler, and though he was heading towards dark territory he never fully jumped off the slippery slope before he was killed]].
* {{Wangst}}: [[invoked]] His journal is full of it, in Vin's opinion.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Though he apparently became quite ruthless, he always remained dedicated to helping the world and ''not'' taking up the power of the Well of Ascension for himself. [[spoiler: Which is why Ruin chose him in the first place]].

[[folder: Antagonists]]

!!Quellion

* {{Expy}}: He's very remniscent of Robespierre.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters
* KnightTemplar
* PresidentEvil: His role in Urtaeu, after kicking the nobility out.
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized
* ShadowArchetype: To Kelsier [[spoiler: and Spook, too]].
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler:To Ruin.]]

* ChosenOne: Sort of. [[spoiler: She's Preservation's chosen successor, but ''not'' the Hero of Ages- so she's ''a'' Chosen One, but not ''the'' Chosen one]].
** In a way she was [[spoiler: Ruin's]] ChosenOne since her combination of [[spoiler: and insane mother that Ruin could manipulate, a baby sister who was a seeker and fuel for a hemalurgic spike, and her being a mistborn made]] all added up to person who [[spoiler: Ruin]] could manipulate to his ends.

* [[spoiler: BrainwashedAndCrazy]]
* [[spoiler: TheDragon: to Ruin]]
* [[spoiler: FaceHeelTurn: Forcibly.]]

* [[spoiler:BigBad: Of the second book.]]
** [[spoiler: BigBadWannabe: He spends most of the book being outwitted or outplayed or reacting to events, and is a threat mainly because he has the biggest army, the greatest resources, and the fewest moral qualms of all the kings (that is to say, [[TheSociopath none]]. After he is killed, the story continues for another Act until ''Ruin's'' EvilPlan comes to fruition, and Ruin had been manipulating half the cast the whole time]].

* UnwittingPawn: To Ruin.

* TheChessmaster: Barring the Lord Ruler and Ruin themselves, he's probably the smartest "bad guy" in the series.

!!Preservation/[[spoiler: Leras]]

* AllPowerfulBystander: Justified because initially all his power is tied up in keeping Ruin imprisoned [[spoiler: and after Ruin gets out, one of his first acts is to kill the weakened Preservation's mind]].
* AnthropomorphicPersonification
* BigGood
* TheChessmaster: Preservation is the best Chessmaster in the whole GambitPileup. Culminates with [[spoiler: Vin absorbing his power and using that to destroy Ruin, because while Preservation himself ''can't'' destroy, humans ''can'' because they are of both Preservation and Ruin.]]
* [[spoiler: GodIsDead]]: But [[spoiler: [[MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning His death is just the beginning]]]].
* TheManBehindTheMan: A rare heroic example.
* [[spoiler: ThanatosGambit]]

* MagnificentBastard

!!Ruin/[[spoiler:Ati]]

* AboveGoodAndEvil
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: [[CaptainObvious Of Ruin]]; that is to say, of entropy and destruction.
* BadassBoast: "I am mountains that crush. I am waves that crash. I am storms that scatter. I am ''the end.'' ...I am Ruin."
* BigBad
* TheChessmaster
* TheCorrupter: To people who have hemalurgic spikes, with subtlety ranging from making them hold onto an item to convincing them to do morally dubious experimentation to simply urging them to kill everyone they meet.
** He's so good at this last one that he sometimes has to force his victims to ''not'' kill everyone they meet, as it is slowing them down.
* [[EvilCannotComprehendGood Destruction Cannot Comprehend Life]]
* DeadPersonImpersonation: Pulls one of several people, notably Kelsier (to [[spoiler: Spook]]), the Lord Ruler (to Penrod), and [[spoiler: Reen]]. Vin sees through the last pretty quickly, at least when [[spoiler: it's more than just the voice]].
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin
* HannibalLecture: Loves doing this to Vin.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: When Ruin and Preservation worked together to create the world, they both put part of themselves into humanity, thus allowing humans to both preserve and destroy. Thus, when Vin absorbed Preservation's power (just as planned) she could use that same power to attack and destroy Ruin, unlike Preservation.]]
* [[spoiler: TheManBehindTheMan]]
* ManipulativeBastard
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast
* [[spoiler: NiceJobFixingItVillain: He could have prevented his eventual defeat simply by not forcing Marsh to read the message he intercepted from Spook]].
* OmnicidalManiac: His very nature is the end of all things, and [[spoiler:part of the bargain that allowed the two gods to create life at all stipulated that Ruin would eventually get to destroy it all.]]
* OurGodsAreGreater
* SealedEvilInACan: [[spoiler:''Two'' cans. His power is sealed in the Well of Ascension, and his body is atium... also known as ''the single most valuable substance in the Empire.'']]
* WeaksauceWeakness: He can't see or directly affect words written in metal- a rather potent weakness, as his greatest success came from [[spoiler: altering written records, especially prophecies]]. He also can't read minds, though he can influence them if the person has a Hemalurgic spike.

<<|CharacterSheets|>>

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[[folder:Protagonists]]

* AntiHero: Type II, mostly. She can be ruthless and has a dark streak in her, but at the end of the day she's fundamentally a good person. She does sometimes veer into Type III territory, most notably when she assaults Cett's keep with Zane in book 2.

!!Sazed/[[spoiler: Harmony]]

!!Marsh

* AxeCrazy: But not quite for the reasons he thinks. [[spoiler: He thinks he is crazy because he hears voices in his head- until the voice in his head tells him he isn't crazy, because the voice in his head is very, very real. On the other hand, he's still an emotionally unstable, sociopathic StalkerWithACrush, so he still qualifies, just not for the reason he thinks.]]
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Straff puts up with Zane's constant attempts to kill him and his madness because otherwise he won't have a Mistborn. [[spoiler: Turns out Zane hardly ever actually tried to kill him; not only were his few attempts half-hearted, they were actually withdrawl symptoms, the result of Straff being an ignorant drug addict-ignorant in that the drug was the "antidote" his WomanScorned servant had been giving him over the years to cure what he thought were Zane's poisoning attempts, which were usually somebody else.]]

* MightMakesRight: Believes that Mistborn are just plain better than everyone else, though he doesn't really desire to lord over others even if he thinks they should treat him like he does.

* AnthropomorphicPersonification

** [[spoiler: BigBadWannabe: He spends most of the book being outwitted or outplayed or reacting to events, and is a threat mainly because he has the biggest army and the fewest moral qualms- ie. none. After he is killed, the story continues until ''Ruin's'' EvilPlan comes to fruition, and Ruin had been manipulating half the cast the whole time]].

* ManipulativeBastard

* HearingVoices: ''Kill him''. "Him" being everyone he meets.[[spoiler: Except Vin, which is why he thinks [[StalkerWithACrush she is the only one who can save him.]] But its really because the voice in his head has plans for her.]]

* AxeCrazy: But not quite for the reasons he thinks. [[spoiler: He thinks he is crazy because he hears voices in his head- until the voice in his head tells him he isn't crazy, because the voice in his head is very, very real. On the other hand, he's still an emotionally unstable, sociopathic StalkerWithACrush.]]
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Straff puts up with Zane's constant attempts to kill him and his madness because otherwise he won't have a Mistborn.

* AxeCrazy

* HearingVoices: ''Kill him''.

* PoisonousFriend

* TheWoobie

* CompleteMonster

* ParentalAbandonment: Her mom was crazy and tried to kill her. Her dad was high priest of the CorruptChurch and never knew nor cared that she existed. She was raised, more or less, by her half-brother, who wound up abandoning her too.

* AntiHero: Type IV, or even Type V. Kelsier is ruthless, manipulative, and driven by an obsessive desire for personal revenge. He is a liar, a career thief, and a murderer who has killed probably hundreds of people, though most or all of his victims were [[ArtistocratsAreEvil the evil nobility or their servants]] and [[AssholeVictim generally deserved it]] (at least, he assumes that they do). But he has a sense of compassion and honour, fights a genuinelly evil and tyrannical empire, and really does believe in the cause of Skaa liberation. Which Type he is ultimately depends on how selfish he truly is, and that is left largely ambiguous.

* AntiHero

* [[spoiler: UnskilledButStrong: As a Mistborn, he's got more raw allomantic power than anyone in the series short of the Lord Ruler himself- but he's also the first to admit that Vin has a far more subtle affinity for her powers]].

* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler: Preservation is the best Chessmaster in the whole GambitPileup]].
* [[spoiler: GodIsDead: But [[MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning His death is just the beginning]]]].

* HeroicBSOD: Suffers one of these [[spoiler: After seeing all the suffering and death at the fall of Luthadel. [[IGotBetter He gets better]] by the next book, with Sazed's help]]

* HesJustHiding: [[invoked]]His opinion regarding the Lord Ruler- since obviously a god can't be killed, he must have ''let'' the skaa overthrow him as part of a XanatosGambit. Yomen spends a lot of ''Hero of Ages'' trying to figure out just what that gambit is.

* SuperReflexes: [[spoiler: Well, he is an atium Misting]].

* PhotographicMemory: Variation. He doesn't actually have one himself (though his memory ''is'' very well trained) but through the use of his copperminds he can perfectly store a tremendous amount of memory. Basically, he achieves this through magic rather than being born with it.

* ShallowLoveInterest: He's not a shallow ''person'', but gets comparatively little development in the first book. When he becomes a POV character in books two and three, this changes.

* [[spoiler: AGodAmI: Deliberately invoked to give the skaa something other than the Lord Ruler to believe in]]

* MagnificentBastard / GuileHero (YourMileageMayVary)

* [[spoiler: AGodAmI]]: [[spoiler: Near the end of ''Hero of Ages,'' Sazed claims Ruin and Preservation and ascends to godhood. By ''Alloy of Law,'' he is known as Harmony.]]

* SuperStrength: When he taps his pewter minds.

* ReplacementScrappy: Becomes one in-universe for [[spoiler: Kelsier]] after [[spoiler: he becomes king in Kelsier's place after the later's death]]

* DeadpanSnarker: Especially when dealing with Ham

* HeroicWillpower: [[spoiler: resisting Ruin even to the small degree that he manages it is implied to take phenomenal amounts of this. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome It pays off]].]]

* [[spoiler:MoreThanMindControl]]

* [[spoiler:SpikesOfVillainy: During his stint as Ruin's [[TheDragon super inquisitor]] he had upwards of 20 spikes by the time he confronted Vin]]

* [[spoiler:AndIMustScream]]

* CanineCompanion: Forced to take a dogs form at Vin's request since she doesn't want to kill a person just to give him a body. He ends up liking it more than he expects after he sees it's usefulness.
* DeadPersonImpersonation: His race's ability to assume the form of living creatures after absorbing their bones makes him very good at this, [[spoiler: his Dead Kandra Impersonation isn't too shabby either.]]
* FantasticRacism: Both experiences this from humans and towards them, at least until he meets Vin...
* [[spoiler: HeelFaceTurn]]

* {{Squick}} [[invoked]]His need to ''eat'' someone before he can imitate them ''really'' bothers Vin.

* [[spoiler: TheMole]]

* ObfuscatingDisability: Subverted. Vin thinks he's faking his paralysis to hide being a very powerful Mistborn. [[spoiler: Nope- it's genuine, and he's had the condition since childhood]].

* {{Expy}}: Of any number of generic ChosenOne types, but in particular he resembles [[WheelOfTime Rand al'Thor]]- which became HilariousInHindsight when Sanderson was contracted to finishe WheelOfTime.

* {{Wangst}}: his journal is full of it, in Vin's opinion.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Though he apparently became quite ruthless, he always remainded dedicated to helping the world and ''not'' taking up the power of the Well of Ascension for himself. [[spoiler: Which is why Ruin chose him in the first place]].

* EvilOverlord: [[spoiler: sets himself up as one after the Lord Ruler dies]].

* PsychoForHire: Deconstructed. Zane's a violently insane CareerKiller, but he regards his insanity as a major flaw and tries to overcome it. [[spoiler: He fails]].

* BadassBoast "I am mountains that crush. I am waves that crash. I am storms that scatter. I am ''the end.'' . . . I am Ruin."

* TheCorrupter: To people who have hemalurgic spikes, with subtlety ranging from making them hold onto an item, doing moral corrupt experimentation or simply urging them to kill everyone they meet.
** He's so good at this last one that he sometimes has to force his victims to not kill everyone they meet as it is slowing them down

* DeadPersonImpersonation: Pulls one of several people, notably Kelsier (to [[spoiler: Spook]]), the Lord Ruler (to Penrod), and [[spoiler: Reen]]. Vin sees through the last pretty quickly, at least when [[spoiler: it's more than just the voice]].

* [[spoiler: NiceJobFixingItVillain: He could have prevented his eventual defeat simply by not forcing Marsh to read the message he intercepted from Spook]]

* AntiHer: Type II, mostly. She can be ruthless and has a dark streak in her, but at the end of the day she's fundamentally a good person. She does sometimes veer into Type III territory, most notably when she assaults Cett's keep with Zane in book 2.