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'''''WARNING: {{Late Arrival Spoiler}}s abound for previous books in Literature/WaxAndWayne.'''''
Third book in the ''Literature/WaxAndWayne'' series.
Six months have passed since Wax was called to do Harmony's dirty work, and he is finally getting married to Steris. Despite a shootout shortly before the wedding, he manages to make it mostly on time. The scars from Lessie's death haven't quite healed, but he is able to put it aside and go through with the marriage. Midway through the ceremony, however, the church is attacked, and Wax barely manages to get himself and Steris to safety in time.
Shortly before the wedding, Wax was approached by a kandra mentioning that Harmony has been conspicuously silent, and they want Wax's help to find out what's going on. He refuses, but kandra are not known for giving up easily...
And then of course there are the Bands of Mourning, the metalminds belonging to the Lord Ruler himself, said to give any wearer the godlike Feruchemical/Allomantic abilities that he used to rule the world for over a thousand years. Most people dismiss them as superstition, but some scholars and adventurers have found some promising leads, and Wax's uncle might be after them as well...
----
!!This book provides examples of:
* AmusingInjuries: Downplayed with [=MeLaan=]. As a Kandra, injuries can hurt, but aren't fatal, and can be ignored if she shuts off nerves. Her being able to reduce everything into AmusingInjuries lets them [[spoiler:set off traps in the Bands of Mourning's temple with impunity]]. Well, except for the pit traps, which are really deep and hard to climb out of.
* AndADietCoke: Played for laughs when Steris carries steel flakes suspended in cod liver oil for Wax, since it's healthier than whiskey and she wants him to live healthier... never mind he needs those steel flakes to get into insanely violent Allomantic gunfights.
* BigDamnKiss: Steris and Wax kiss for the first time after flying above the Mists.
* BloodMagic: We get another glimpse into Spook's hemalurgy research. Beyond the basics of [[MegaManning killing someone for their power]] by tacking their soul onto yours, hemalurgy can also rewrite a soul depending on how the spike is used, explaining some of the creatures the Lord Ruler and Bleeder were able to create. [[spoiler: The Set has also advanced their own research into hemalurgy, although we don't see dead victims, just the results. They have learned the upper limit of "How many spikes before Harmony takes over", namely, three hemalurgic boons. Most of the Set leadership has access to stolen powers now.]]
* BookSafe: Steris takes a knife to her book of contingency plans [[spoiler: to hide one of the open-use brassminds [[CrazyPrepared just in case]].]]
* BrickJoke: During a conversation with Marasi [[spoiler: regarding the culture of the Southern airship crew, Allik]] mentions that social decorum is extremely valued and things like the ability to dance well are important, even mentioning a friend of his who was thrown overboard (while tied to the ship still and eventually pulled back up) for his terrible dancing. During the climax, while rescuing the remnants of his crew [[spoiler: Captain Jordis mentions her mild dislike of Allik and comments on how at least his dancing ability has improved, implying Allik was actually the man thrown overboard.]]
* TheCameo:
** Hoid's back, and taking an active hand in the plot this time. [[spoiler: Poses as a beggar outside the New Seran party, and when Wax gives him money, hands back "change"... in the form of a special coin related to his search, that Wax uses to get answers much more quickly than would otherwise be possible... and then [[ChekhovsBoomerang doubles down]] as an open coppermind, containing a suggestion that someone is NotQuiteDead... ]].
** He also appears in the story from New Seran's broadsheet ''New Ascendancy'' "Nicki Savage, Paranormal Detective in The Constructs of Antiquity" as a young white-haired man who offers to tell Nicki a story (which is his typical modus operandi). She declines.
* ChekhovsGun:
** [[spoiler: The spear tip and the coin. ]]
** Ranette's sphere devices (basically, an improved version of hook-and-line especially for Coinshots). Wax gets three of them at the begining of his journey to New Seran and uses them to illustrate a talking point to Steris. In the fights that follow, each of the three spheres has its use and is accounted for.
* CranialProcessingUnit: Averted for Kandra, even if they're shapeshifters not robots. Kandra generally keep their brain anywhere on their bodies but their heads, since they know that's where people aim. [=MeLaan=] prefers a metal container in her thigh.
-->'''Marasi:''' [[LampshadeHanging So what's in your head?]]
-->'''[=MeLaan=]:''' Eyes, sensory apparatus, [[MundaneUtility and an emergency canteen.]]
* CrazyPrepared: Steris. To such an incredible (and open and honest) degree that she's quickly becoming a serious partner to [[MarriageOfConvenience her originally distant fiancee]].
** Steris had ''six'' copies of their wedding pendants made. Considering that four of them never made it to the church, this falls into ProperlyParanoid. She also had two backup dresses and scheduled a second ceremony at a different church for two months later in case the first church exploded. And the church was indeed ruined by a water tower being rigged to collapse, both requiring a backup wedding and ruining her dress.
** On arriving at their lodgings in New Seran, she gives a list of possible disaster scenarios to their proprietess, along with response instructions for each. [[spoiler: Successfully turned into a BrickJoke when one actually does.]]
** Started stocking vials of steel flakes on herself, anticipating Wax getting into trouble and running out. And earplugs for her and her sister.
** Wax and Steris attend a political party hosted by some shady people. Planning on Wax's usual event-filled life, and anticipating he wouldn't be allowed to take his guns in, she tapes a spare to her leg. And adds extra layers of clothing to prevent embarrassment when he needs to retrieve it. At the same party, she also carries a mixture to induce vomiting, in case someone wanted to poison them. Turns out, it has other uses as well.
* CrystalDragonJesus: The Survivorist religion has always looked very similar to Christianity, and their weddings are no exception. They have pendants instead of rings, girls spreading ash instead of flowers, and the guests are segregated into bride and groom sections. Even their wedding clothes are very similar, though there doesn't appear to be any superstition about seeing the bride before the ceremony. [[spoiler:Oh, and their Crystal Dragon also managed to come back to life somehow, and [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade left behind a spearhead-shaped relic]], and hid it in a temple heavily armed with traps, guarded by the faithful behind a trap where runes spell out something significant to the Crystal Dragon, with the relic hidden in plain sight to be found only when the hero seeking it puts themselves in the mindset of the Crystal Dragon to decipher where the relic is really hidden.]]
* DontFearTheReaper: Like Preservation before him, Harmony greets the souls of everyone who dies on Scadrial before they pass Beyond.
* DramaticGunCock: Rare literary version, when [[spoiler: ''Wayne'' gets pissed enough to pick up Wax's shotgun and try and kill Telsin.]]
-->'''[[spoiler: Telsin]]''': You - you can't - guns -
-->'''[[spoiler: Wayne]]''': Yeah. (racks shotgun) About that. (Boom)
* EvilAllAlong: [[spoiler: Telsin. Not only is she a Set member of apparently higher rank than Suit, she recruited ''him'']].
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: [[spoiler:Mr. Suit equates Wax's drive as a lawman to a hunger for violence and death, when his goals are something more noble]].
* FantasticRacism: The Set clearly [[spoiler:don't see the Southerners as human, and have no problem torturing them in order to discover the secrets of their technology]]. They also disparagingly refer to kandra as "creatures."
* FastballSpecial: [[spoiler:Apparently a move that Wax and Wayne have pulled in the past, although mostly as a way of infiltrating past a line of guards. They call it a Spoiled Tomato because Wayne tends to splash.]]
* FlightOfRomance: At one point, Wax uses his Steelpushing on a misty night to show Steris the "Ascendant Fields": the top of the mists. It's here they have their first BigDamnKiss.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** Everything about the Bands of Mourning seems to make no sense, as the characters point out repeatedly. Why would the Lord Ruler make a weapon anyone can use? Why would he tell the southerners where to find the Bands, then forbid them from looking? Why all the tricks and traps with the temple? None of it makes any sense. [[spoiler:...for the Lord Ruler. It makes ''perfect'' sense for Kelsier]].
** As early as the 4th chapter, [[spoiler:why would a temple about the Lord Ruler and his Bands have ''spear'' iconography in the murals? After all, who is the spear a symbol of in this world?]]
* FridgeLogic: In universe, Khriss asks Wax how changing his weight effects his Coinshot powers, and openly wonders why speed bubbles don't create a red-shift (according to WordOfGod, it's [[RequiredSecondaryPowers a required secondary power]] to keep Wayne from microwaving himself).
* GameChanger: One of the biggest limitations of Mistborn's Metallic Arts was that one had to be born with the power to access them, and the potential is inherited. Most of the lucky gifted are then only given access to one Art with one metal, and further feruchemical metalminds can only be drawn on by the person who stored power in them. The only exception to this was killing and stealing another's power via hemalurgy. Now, research into nicrosil, long included in the metal charts but never explained, allows for the creation of open metalminds, usable by any random person who picks one up. Nicrosil also allows the storage of allomancy powers, breaking open those magics for anyone to use as well. A source of the original magic is needed, and there seems to be new limits with combining magics, but this one metal can potentially change everything in the Elendel Basin. The southerners and their {{Magitek}} are a taste of things to come.
* GodsHandsAreTied: [[spoiler: Discussed with Wax by Harmony, who acknowledges that he could intervene, but states that as soon as he did so openly, people would keep asking for more of the same. Not to mention, [[GlowingEyesOfDoom he is a bit busy trying to keep]] [[RedEyesTakeWarning some unknown power out of Scadrial.]] ]]
* GoodIsNotNice: Being Harmony's servant, kandra [=VenDell=] is by definition one of the good guys. However, he is also highly irritating, obnoxious, patronizing and has no people skills. Wax has a very strong urge to punch him and [=MeLaan=] admits she feels the same.
* GreaterScopeVillain: All the members of the Set and their servants appear to bow to a pre-Final-Empire god named Trell, whom Marasi has been trying to get details on. [[spoiler: The epilogue shows that Trell is very much an active god who hails from some other world (he could possibly be [[OhCrap Odium]] from ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' or Autonomy from ''ComicBook/WhiteSand'') and seems to be finding ways to manifest power on Scadrial despite Harmony keeping him at bay. One of its servants implies that their original plan for the Set takeover is no longer stable enough, so the new plan is destroying all life on Scadrial.]]
* HeartIsAnAwesomePower:
** When they discover the {{Magitek}} device that can essentially function as an Allomantic grenade, Marasi's power becomes quite useful, as she can now throw the device and capture someone ''else'' in a slow bubble. A Leecher with the Set uses the device in a similar manner earlier, draining Wax of his Allomantic Reserves.
** The iron metalminds enhanced with nicrosil Feruchemy allow anyone to store weight and make themselves lighter, which, as it turns out, is incredibly useful when in a flying machine where every ounce counts.
* HiddenDepths: Once again, we get to see more behind Steris' stoic facade. She is extremely nervous before the wedding, and reveals that while she knows she can't plan for everything, she at least feels better for trying. She's also deeply insecure due to her lack of social skills her entire life, and is planning to start [[TookALevelInBadass learning skills that will help her on adventures]].
* HiddenInPlainSight: [[spoiler: Kelsier hid the Bands of Mourning in the form of a spearhead on the statue of him in front of the temple (which appears to be aluminum at first glace). Then, he armed a corridor with booby-traps galore, only for the room at the end to contain a shattered case, as if the bands had been stolen. A second decoy is in a lower room along with the bodies of the ones who constructed the temple, all to distract from the spearhead. He ''is'' a con-man, after all.]]
* HistoricalInJoke: The southerners, who come across as aliens, are flying around in super-advanced airships that they run like a pleasure cruise. Some of the first alien sightings were [[UnbuiltTrope mysterious airships, full of people on pleasure cruises]].
* HostileTerraforming: Sazed/Harmony saved Scadrial by reforming it from Ruin's damage and creating the Elendel Basin so the survivors of the Final Empire could live in relative comfort. [[spoiler: The people inhabiting the ''other side'' of the planet, however, had long adapted to their overheated conditions, and were ''freezing to death'' in the new "normal" climate. It took a very different divine intervention for their society to survive and adapt.]]
* HumanAliens: [[spoiler: The southerners]] give this impression, despite being of terrestrial origin. They have very advanced technology and have been secretly flying airships over the northern lands for some time. And the investigation by the Set of a wrecked airship plays out exactly like stealing the technology of a crashed UFO. The only biological oddity about them is that they can survive scalding temperatures, and will freeze to death in even mildly cold weather [[spoiler: without the help of their allomantic technology]].
* IncompatibleOrientation: This book finally confirms that Wayne's crush, Ranette, is a lesbian.
-->'''Marasi:''' She has a ''girl''friend, Wayne.\\
'''Wayne:''' 'S only a phase. One what lasted fifteen years...
* InterspeciesRomance: [[spoiler: Once Wayne moves on from Ranette, he quickly finds the next most implausible relationship. Wayne and [=MeLaan=]. Wax thinks they were taken in the train battle until he finds them [[InterruptedIntimacy stuffed in a luggage compartment in significant undress]] and [[DistractedByTheSexy completely oblivious to the attack.]] ]]
* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: [[spoiler: Karma finally catches up with Suit in his jail cell when the mysterious power behind the Set decide he has served well, and [[DeadlyEuphemism he will be allowed to serve further in another Realm.]] ]]
* KillTheOnesYouLove: [[spoiler: Discussed. When they finally talk, Wax rages over Harmony's manipulations that forced him to kill Lessie a second time. Harmony bluntly turns it around on him, noting Wax's hatred is also self-hatred. Wax knows, and finally admits, that with how far gone Bleeder was, even knowing Bleeder was Lessie, he would still have tried to take her out. Harmony in turn admits he hid Bleeder's identity to save Wax the pain of that crisis, of having to shoot her, or failing to, knowing she was mad and suffering.]]
* {{Magitek}}: The southern people have discovered how to manipulate the Metallic Arts with technology, allowing them to create Push-powered airships. Best of all, however, is their use of nicrosil feruchemy to create simple feruchemical tokens that anyone can use. Their airships, for example, require all their passengers to wear iron discs so they can store weight and reduce the load.
* ManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: Wax's sister Telsin is not a hostage, but a member of the Set, and outranks Suit.]]
* MayflyDecemberRomance: Wayne and [[spoiler: [=MeLaan=] ]]. He's thirty-some and she's [[spoiler: about six hundred and virtually immortal, not to mention a GenderBender]]. However, they do get along fabulously.
* TheMole: [[spoiler: Telsin plays along with Wax's rescue, acting the bit of a traumatized survivor, but Wax does put it together. Just a hair too late.]]
* MookHorrorShow: The first chapter of the book starts from the perspective of a common criminal whose gang is in a fight with Wax and Wayne. It makes it very clear just how terrifyingly unstoppable those two are for regular, non-powered opponents.
* MundaneSolution: The Set [[spoiler:captured the Southerners, dismantled their airship, and started torturing them to discover how their technology worked. It never occurred to them to just patch the poor souls up and politely ask for details. It took them months to get even the slightest idea of how the technology worked, but Wax's crew got answers from Allik in a few hours just by showing him some common decency]].
* NatureAbhorsAVirgin: Played with. Steris is a little too fascinated with a book on the train ride. Wax nicks it and find out that it's a book on sexual anatomy and reproduction. They are both mortified. Steris naturally has no experience. She's been trying to learn more, [[NoSocialSkills but nobody has any interest in discussing details with her]].
-->'''Steris:''' I know the basics; I'm not an idiot. But I ''need'' to provide an heir. It's vital. How am I supposed to do this properly if I don't have any information? [[RefugeInAudacity I tried to interview some prostitutes about it--]]\\
'''Wax:''' Wait. You did?
* NeverMyFault: [[spoiler:Wax was mad at Harmony for keeping the truth about Lessie from him, true, but he also projected his self-hatred at having to kill Lessie/Bleeder at Harmony.]]
* NoodleIncident: Wayne has apparently had to impersonate Death on four occasions.
* NothingIsScarier: [[spoiler:When Wax is dead, Harmony shows him the threat of what is apparently another god towards Scadrial, and tells him that he's not sure what it is]].
* NotQuiteDead:
** It is suggested by both the myth of the Bands of Mourning and what little is gleaned of the Southerners' religion that the Lord Ruler was arranging some things even after his death and after Harmony's Ascension. Some details never quite line up though, like being depicted with a spike in one eye and carrying a spear. [[spoiler: It's strongly implied by the end that it's another legendary character, who is also supposed to be dead. Twice over. '''Kelsier.''']]
--->'''Allik:''' The Sovereign was our king from three centuries ago. He told us he was your king first. And your god.\\
'''Wax:''' The Lord Ruler? He died.\\
'''Allik:''' Yes. He told us that too.
** [[spoiler:Marasi manages to get the Bands to Wax before his soul passes Beyond, allowing them to heal him]].
* NotSoDifferent: Everything about Wax and Steris in this book.
** Steris is hyper aware of all the rules of society, and finds herself isolated when she can't figure out the proper social responses, and won't just naturally fit in. She explains this to Wax not two minutes after he muses similar thoughts about his handling of the party.
** Wax can't understand why Steris is so interested in the house financials, not seeing that his own reaction is a result of his uncle's influence on his childhood. Steris explains it in his idiom of investigation, like putting a story together from a hundred different pieces, and he is soon digging into some unbalanced accounts beside her with amusement.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: [[spoiler:Wayne is ''so'' mad about Telsin's betrayal, Wax's death and [=MeLaan=] left mindless after her spikes were removed that he manages to pick up a shotgun and shoot Telsin, if non-fatally)]].
* PhysicalGod: The Bands of Mourning grant anyone full access to the Lord Ruler's powers. Fans have speculated for years how stupidly overpowered a full Mistborn/Feruchemist like the Lord Ruler would be--and it turns out that they were severely '''underestimating''' it. [[spoiler:Marasi taps so much speed she ''leaves behind a vacuum when she moves'' (then throttles it back to merely causing a sonic boom), and has Steelpushing and Ironpulling strong enough that she can fly by pushing off the trace metals in the ground. When she gives the Bands to Wax, there's enough healing power to bring him back from the dead, then he flies over to his uncle's airship, increases his weight enough to keep it from flying away, increases his mental speed enough that he can calculate all possible outcomes in the time between one spoken word and the next, has his tin flaring hard enough that he can hear someone talking in the engineering bay on the other side of the ship, and finally is able to Pull the ship down to the ground when it tries to fly away again. He can even see and recognize people's souls.]] ''And this still wasn't utilizing the powers to their fullest extent''.
* PublicDomainArtifact: An expy of it anyway. [[spoiler: The Survivor's Spear, which makes you a PhysicalGod, is standing in for TheLanceOfLonginus. Especially because both Christ and Kelsier were pierced by a spear - although in the case of Christ it was just to make sure He was dead. The only important difference is that the Survivor's Spear isn't the weapon that killed Kelsier, but rather an artifact he made later to match his own religious iconography.]]
* RageAgainstTheHeavens: Wax to Harmony, for keeping him in the dark about who kandra Paalm really was and as a result, making him kill [[spoiler: his beloved wife Lessie. Again]]. He gets over it.
* RefusingParadise: [[spoiler: Waxillium Ladrian dies of gunshot wounds from Telsin, and crushing rock from a trap Suit triggered. After being greeted by Harmony and talking a bit, he offers Wax his hands. In one hand is what Wax calls freedom, an adventure into the unknown beyond. In the other hand, which Wax calls duty and Harmony calls [[SweetAndSourGrapes just a different adventure]], is Marasi giving the Bands to Wax's corpse and begging him to use them to heal. Wax chooses to return with zero hesitation.]]
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler: After watching Telsin tear out [=MeLaan's=] [[SoulJar spikes]] and leave her for dead, and then witnessing Wax die from wounds she inflicted, Wayne is pissed enough to [[BatmanGrabsAGun ignore his gun phobia]], track her down, and put a shotgun blast in her back before she escapes. [[NoKillLikeOverkill Then another to her face.]] [[SubvertedTrope Somewhat subverted]] - he noticed she had gold metalminds for healing, and allowed her to escape once he got the spikes back to restore [=MeLaan=], figuring Wax would've done the same.]]
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: We get to see how others react to this trope when Elendel's new governor complains to Wax, at the end of the book, that it really isn't fair that Wax can do whatever he wants, cause whatever problems he wants, and then have one of Harmony's own [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Faceless Immortals]] explain things.
* ShootTheHostageTaker: [[spoiler: Marasi has this as a reflexive reaction when a train robber takes a human shield against her, leaving her shocked at her own ruthlessness.]].
* ShoutOut:
** A plot where CrystalDragonJesus [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade leaves behind a holy relic hidden in a desolate temple]] [[spoiler:heavily armed with traps, guarded by the faithful behind a trap where runes spell out something significant to the Crystal Dragon, with the relic hidden in plain sight to be found only when the hero seeking it puts themselves in the mindset of the Crystal Dragon to decipher where it is really hidden. Oh, and the new girl is a traitor.]]
** At one point, [=MeLaan=] disguises herself as [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} a muscular, handsome man, while wearing a metal skeleton under her flesh.]]
** While waiting for Wax and Steris to return from the party in New Seran, Wayne is again reading a book, this time about a [[Series/BlakesSeven group of seven convicts who steal a spaceship]].
* ShowdownAtHighNoon: Subverted. Wax himself claims that he's conducted testing and such showdowns make no sense, as the one that draws first, always shoots first. [[spoiler: And when his clueless [[EvilUncle uncle]] Suit proposes a shooting duel, Wax does not shoot but throws himself at Suit - getting shot in the process - and then uses his Allomancy and Feruchemy to defeat him]].
* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace: Played with, though the line is never invoked. Wax and Steris' wedding is ruined in the opening pages. Wax was having a bit of a panic but was proceeding, when a nearby water tower is tipped and dumped on the church, flooding it out. [[spoiler: Wayne set up the sabotage, thinking Wax wasn't ready yet so soon after [[Literature/ShadowsOfSelf losing Lessie for the second time,]] and having a mild ship for Wax and Marasi.]]
* ThemeNaming: The Set's leader is called the Sequence, both mathematical terms. A rank within the Set is called an Array. [[spoiler: In Suit's conversation with Trell's servant, it speaks in a very logical, almost calculated fashion, possibly hinting at the nature of Trell.]]
* TheyDo: [[spoiler: Having been through hell and back on this trip, and finding much more in common with each other than their [[MarriageOfConvenience initial agreement]] suggested, Wax dispenses with Steris's contract arrangements, and flat out proposes to her with a priest standing by. [[ShutUpKiss She emphatically says yes]].]]
* TrainJob: Wax and company are on the receiving end of one as their train is attacked on the way to New Seran. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] to the point of mockery; Wax thinks they must have gotten their ideas from too many pulp stories, as he's never actually seen anyone [[AwesomeButImpractical try to rob a moving train on horseback]] instead of just forcing the train to stop. The cliche dutifully includes a safe fall into a river and a TraintopBattle.
* TranslatorMicrobes: Duralumin metalminds can be filled with "blank connection" to no place. When you tap it, it automatically connects you to the nearest land, making your soul think you were born there and allowing you to speak the language. When paired with nicrosil, anyone can use it, but it only works for visitors to a land, since it's just redundant if someone from a land uses it to connect to that same land.
* VillainHasAPoint: As the book wears on, it becomes increasingly clear that the outer cities have genuine grievances against Elendel. While comparing Elendel's economic hegemony to the Final Empire's tyranny is laughable, the situation does bear quite a bit of resemblance to events that caused real-world revolutions. Of course, the Set is intentionally making things worse, inflaming the populace and squashing any possibility of a non-violent solution. Many of them are Elendel nobles, but they only used their positions to make things worse. They actually owned the governor outright for a time, but still only ramped up tensions.
* XanatosGambit: Mr. Suit sets a great one up, reinforcing his MagnificentBastard tendencies. [[spoiler: Wax is puzzled by inconsistencies in the TrainJob, and is requested to help collar the rest of the gang, but regretfully declines to get to New Seran. Once there, he finds a symbol left by a serial killer and is ''sprinting towards the latest crime scene'' before he stops himself and focuses back on the task at hand. Both were diversions set up by Suit, playing on [[ChronicHeroSyndrome Wax's tendency to jump at dangling plot threads]] to draw him away from the case. When these fail and Wax catches Suit's Dragon at a rally against Elendel, [[YouHaveFailedMe the Dragon is killed]], and Wax framed for it, sparking civil war between the outer cities and Elendel, forcing Wax to deal with anything other than Suit. [[RevengeBeforeReason Amazingly, this doesn't take,]] [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight possibly due to Wax's sister being on the line.]] ]]
* WhamLine: [[spoiler: Spoken in a coppermind memory, to suggest that the ancient historical figure behind the Bands of Mourning and the Southerners' mythology is not actually the Lord Ruler.]]
-->[[spoiler: '''Kelsier:''' ''Survive''.]]
----
Third book in the ''Literature/WaxAndWayne'' series.
Six months have passed since Wax was called to do Harmony's dirty work, and he is finally getting married to Steris. Despite a shootout shortly before the wedding, he manages to make it mostly on time. The scars from Lessie's death haven't quite healed, but he is able to put it aside and go through with the marriage. Midway through the ceremony, however, the church is attacked, and Wax barely manages to get himself and Steris to safety in time.
Shortly before the wedding, Wax was approached by a kandra mentioning that Harmony has been conspicuously silent, and they want Wax's help to find out what's going on. He refuses, but kandra are not known for giving up easily...
And then of course there are the Bands of Mourning, the metalminds belonging to the Lord Ruler himself, said to give any wearer the godlike Feruchemical/Allomantic abilities that he used to rule the world for over a thousand years. Most people dismiss them as superstition, but some scholars and adventurers have found some promising leads, and Wax's uncle might be after them as well...
----
!!This book provides examples of:
* AmusingInjuries: Downplayed with [=MeLaan=]. As a Kandra, injuries can hurt, but aren't fatal, and can be ignored if she shuts off nerves. Her being able to reduce everything into AmusingInjuries lets them [[spoiler:set off traps in the Bands of Mourning's temple with impunity]]. Well, except for the pit traps, which are really deep and hard to climb out of.
* AndADietCoke: Played for laughs when Steris carries steel flakes suspended in cod liver oil for Wax, since it's healthier than whiskey and she wants him to live healthier... never mind he needs those steel flakes to get into insanely violent Allomantic gunfights.
* BigDamnKiss: Steris and Wax kiss for the first time after flying above the Mists.
* BloodMagic: We get another glimpse into Spook's hemalurgy research. Beyond the basics of [[MegaManning killing someone for their power]] by tacking their soul onto yours, hemalurgy can also rewrite a soul depending on how the spike is used, explaining some of the creatures the Lord Ruler and Bleeder were able to create. [[spoiler: The Set has also advanced their own research into hemalurgy, although we don't see dead victims, just the results. They have learned the upper limit of "How many spikes before Harmony takes over", namely, three hemalurgic boons. Most of the Set leadership has access to stolen powers now.]]
* BookSafe: Steris takes a knife to her book of contingency plans [[spoiler: to hide one of the open-use brassminds [[CrazyPrepared just in case]].]]
* BrickJoke: During a conversation with Marasi [[spoiler: regarding the culture of the Southern airship crew, Allik]] mentions that social decorum is extremely valued and things like the ability to dance well are important, even mentioning a friend of his who was thrown overboard (while tied to the ship still and eventually pulled back up) for his terrible dancing. During the climax, while rescuing the remnants of his crew [[spoiler: Captain Jordis mentions her mild dislike of Allik and comments on how at least his dancing ability has improved, implying Allik was actually the man thrown overboard.]]
* TheCameo:
** Hoid's back, and taking an active hand in the plot this time. [[spoiler: Poses as a beggar outside the New Seran party, and when Wax gives him money, hands back "change"... in the form of a special coin related to his search, that Wax uses to get answers much more quickly than would otherwise be possible... and then [[ChekhovsBoomerang doubles down]] as an open coppermind, containing a suggestion that someone is NotQuiteDead... ]].
** He also appears in the story from New Seran's broadsheet ''New Ascendancy'' "Nicki Savage, Paranormal Detective in The Constructs of Antiquity" as a young white-haired man who offers to tell Nicki a story (which is his typical modus operandi). She declines.
* ChekhovsGun:
** [[spoiler: The spear tip and the coin. ]]
** Ranette's sphere devices (basically, an improved version of hook-and-line especially for Coinshots). Wax gets three of them at the begining of his journey to New Seran and uses them to illustrate a talking point to Steris. In the fights that follow, each of the three spheres has its use and is accounted for.
* CranialProcessingUnit: Averted for Kandra, even if they're shapeshifters not robots. Kandra generally keep their brain anywhere on their bodies but their heads, since they know that's where people aim. [=MeLaan=] prefers a metal container in her thigh.
-->'''Marasi:''' [[LampshadeHanging So what's in your head?]]
-->'''[=MeLaan=]:''' Eyes, sensory apparatus, [[MundaneUtility and an emergency canteen.]]
* CrazyPrepared: Steris. To such an incredible (and open and honest) degree that she's quickly becoming a serious partner to [[MarriageOfConvenience her originally distant fiancee]].
** Steris had ''six'' copies of their wedding pendants made. Considering that four of them never made it to the church, this falls into ProperlyParanoid. She also had two backup dresses and scheduled a second ceremony at a different church for two months later in case the first church exploded. And the church was indeed ruined by a water tower being rigged to collapse, both requiring a backup wedding and ruining her dress.
** On arriving at their lodgings in New Seran, she gives a list of possible disaster scenarios to their proprietess, along with response instructions for each. [[spoiler: Successfully turned into a BrickJoke when one actually does.]]
** Started stocking vials of steel flakes on herself, anticipating Wax getting into trouble and running out. And earplugs for her and her sister.
** Wax and Steris attend a political party hosted by some shady people. Planning on Wax's usual event-filled life, and anticipating he wouldn't be allowed to take his guns in, she tapes a spare to her leg. And adds extra layers of clothing to prevent embarrassment when he needs to retrieve it. At the same party, she also carries a mixture to induce vomiting, in case someone wanted to poison them. Turns out, it has other uses as well.
* CrystalDragonJesus: The Survivorist religion has always looked very similar to Christianity, and their weddings are no exception. They have pendants instead of rings, girls spreading ash instead of flowers, and the guests are segregated into bride and groom sections. Even their wedding clothes are very similar, though there doesn't appear to be any superstition about seeing the bride before the ceremony. [[spoiler:Oh, and their Crystal Dragon also managed to come back to life somehow, and [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade left behind a spearhead-shaped relic]], and hid it in a temple heavily armed with traps, guarded by the faithful behind a trap where runes spell out something significant to the Crystal Dragon, with the relic hidden in plain sight to be found only when the hero seeking it puts themselves in the mindset of the Crystal Dragon to decipher where the relic is really hidden.]]
* DontFearTheReaper: Like Preservation before him, Harmony greets the souls of everyone who dies on Scadrial before they pass Beyond.
* DramaticGunCock: Rare literary version, when [[spoiler: ''Wayne'' gets pissed enough to pick up Wax's shotgun and try and kill Telsin.]]
-->'''[[spoiler: Telsin]]''': You - you can't - guns -
-->'''[[spoiler: Wayne]]''': Yeah. (racks shotgun) About that. (Boom)
* EvilAllAlong: [[spoiler: Telsin. Not only is she a Set member of apparently higher rank than Suit, she recruited ''him'']].
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: [[spoiler:Mr. Suit equates Wax's drive as a lawman to a hunger for violence and death, when his goals are something more noble]].
* FantasticRacism: The Set clearly [[spoiler:don't see the Southerners as human, and have no problem torturing them in order to discover the secrets of their technology]]. They also disparagingly refer to kandra as "creatures."
* FastballSpecial: [[spoiler:Apparently a move that Wax and Wayne have pulled in the past, although mostly as a way of infiltrating past a line of guards. They call it a Spoiled Tomato because Wayne tends to splash.]]
* FlightOfRomance: At one point, Wax uses his Steelpushing on a misty night to show Steris the "Ascendant Fields": the top of the mists. It's here they have their first BigDamnKiss.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** Everything about the Bands of Mourning seems to make no sense, as the characters point out repeatedly. Why would the Lord Ruler make a weapon anyone can use? Why would he tell the southerners where to find the Bands, then forbid them from looking? Why all the tricks and traps with the temple? None of it makes any sense. [[spoiler:...for the Lord Ruler. It makes ''perfect'' sense for Kelsier]].
** As early as the 4th chapter, [[spoiler:why would a temple about the Lord Ruler and his Bands have ''spear'' iconography in the murals? After all, who is the spear a symbol of in this world?]]
* FridgeLogic: In universe, Khriss asks Wax how changing his weight effects his Coinshot powers, and openly wonders why speed bubbles don't create a red-shift (according to WordOfGod, it's [[RequiredSecondaryPowers a required secondary power]] to keep Wayne from microwaving himself).
* GameChanger: One of the biggest limitations of Mistborn's Metallic Arts was that one had to be born with the power to access them, and the potential is inherited. Most of the lucky gifted are then only given access to one Art with one metal, and further feruchemical metalminds can only be drawn on by the person who stored power in them. The only exception to this was killing and stealing another's power via hemalurgy. Now, research into nicrosil, long included in the metal charts but never explained, allows for the creation of open metalminds, usable by any random person who picks one up. Nicrosil also allows the storage of allomancy powers, breaking open those magics for anyone to use as well. A source of the original magic is needed, and there seems to be new limits with combining magics, but this one metal can potentially change everything in the Elendel Basin. The southerners and their {{Magitek}} are a taste of things to come.
* GodsHandsAreTied: [[spoiler: Discussed with Wax by Harmony, who acknowledges that he could intervene, but states that as soon as he did so openly, people would keep asking for more of the same. Not to mention, [[GlowingEyesOfDoom he is a bit busy trying to keep]] [[RedEyesTakeWarning some unknown power out of Scadrial.]] ]]
* GoodIsNotNice: Being Harmony's servant, kandra [=VenDell=] is by definition one of the good guys. However, he is also highly irritating, obnoxious, patronizing and has no people skills. Wax has a very strong urge to punch him and [=MeLaan=] admits she feels the same.
* GreaterScopeVillain: All the members of the Set and their servants appear to bow to a pre-Final-Empire god named Trell, whom Marasi has been trying to get details on. [[spoiler: The epilogue shows that Trell is very much an active god who hails from some other world (he could possibly be [[OhCrap Odium]] from ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' or Autonomy from ''ComicBook/WhiteSand'') and seems to be finding ways to manifest power on Scadrial despite Harmony keeping him at bay. One of its servants implies that their original plan for the Set takeover is no longer stable enough, so the new plan is destroying all life on Scadrial.]]
* HeartIsAnAwesomePower:
** When they discover the {{Magitek}} device that can essentially function as an Allomantic grenade, Marasi's power becomes quite useful, as she can now throw the device and capture someone ''else'' in a slow bubble. A Leecher with the Set uses the device in a similar manner earlier, draining Wax of his Allomantic Reserves.
** The iron metalminds enhanced with nicrosil Feruchemy allow anyone to store weight and make themselves lighter, which, as it turns out, is incredibly useful when in a flying machine where every ounce counts.
* HiddenDepths: Once again, we get to see more behind Steris' stoic facade. She is extremely nervous before the wedding, and reveals that while she knows she can't plan for everything, she at least feels better for trying. She's also deeply insecure due to her lack of social skills her entire life, and is planning to start [[TookALevelInBadass learning skills that will help her on adventures]].
* HiddenInPlainSight: [[spoiler: Kelsier hid the Bands of Mourning in the form of a spearhead on the statue of him in front of the temple (which appears to be aluminum at first glace). Then, he armed a corridor with booby-traps galore, only for the room at the end to contain a shattered case, as if the bands had been stolen. A second decoy is in a lower room along with the bodies of the ones who constructed the temple, all to distract from the spearhead. He ''is'' a con-man, after all.]]
* HistoricalInJoke: The southerners, who come across as aliens, are flying around in super-advanced airships that they run like a pleasure cruise. Some of the first alien sightings were [[UnbuiltTrope mysterious airships, full of people on pleasure cruises]].
* HostileTerraforming: Sazed/Harmony saved Scadrial by reforming it from Ruin's damage and creating the Elendel Basin so the survivors of the Final Empire could live in relative comfort. [[spoiler: The people inhabiting the ''other side'' of the planet, however, had long adapted to their overheated conditions, and were ''freezing to death'' in the new "normal" climate. It took a very different divine intervention for their society to survive and adapt.]]
* HumanAliens: [[spoiler: The southerners]] give this impression, despite being of terrestrial origin. They have very advanced technology and have been secretly flying airships over the northern lands for some time. And the investigation by the Set of a wrecked airship plays out exactly like stealing the technology of a crashed UFO. The only biological oddity about them is that they can survive scalding temperatures, and will freeze to death in even mildly cold weather [[spoiler: without the help of their allomantic technology]].
* IncompatibleOrientation: This book finally confirms that Wayne's crush, Ranette, is a lesbian.
-->'''Marasi:''' She has a ''girl''friend, Wayne.\\
'''Wayne:''' 'S only a phase. One what lasted fifteen years...
* InterspeciesRomance: [[spoiler: Once Wayne moves on from Ranette, he quickly finds the next most implausible relationship. Wayne and [=MeLaan=]. Wax thinks they were taken in the train battle until he finds them [[InterruptedIntimacy stuffed in a luggage compartment in significant undress]] and [[DistractedByTheSexy completely oblivious to the attack.]] ]]
* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: [[spoiler: Karma finally catches up with Suit in his jail cell when the mysterious power behind the Set decide he has served well, and [[DeadlyEuphemism he will be allowed to serve further in another Realm.]] ]]
* KillTheOnesYouLove: [[spoiler: Discussed. When they finally talk, Wax rages over Harmony's manipulations that forced him to kill Lessie a second time. Harmony bluntly turns it around on him, noting Wax's hatred is also self-hatred. Wax knows, and finally admits, that with how far gone Bleeder was, even knowing Bleeder was Lessie, he would still have tried to take her out. Harmony in turn admits he hid Bleeder's identity to save Wax the pain of that crisis, of having to shoot her, or failing to, knowing she was mad and suffering.]]
* {{Magitek}}: The southern people have discovered how to manipulate the Metallic Arts with technology, allowing them to create Push-powered airships. Best of all, however, is their use of nicrosil feruchemy to create simple feruchemical tokens that anyone can use. Their airships, for example, require all their passengers to wear iron discs so they can store weight and reduce the load.
* ManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: Wax's sister Telsin is not a hostage, but a member of the Set, and outranks Suit.]]
* MayflyDecemberRomance: Wayne and [[spoiler: [=MeLaan=] ]]. He's thirty-some and she's [[spoiler: about six hundred and virtually immortal, not to mention a GenderBender]]. However, they do get along fabulously.
* TheMole: [[spoiler: Telsin plays along with Wax's rescue, acting the bit of a traumatized survivor, but Wax does put it together. Just a hair too late.]]
* MookHorrorShow: The first chapter of the book starts from the perspective of a common criminal whose gang is in a fight with Wax and Wayne. It makes it very clear just how terrifyingly unstoppable those two are for regular, non-powered opponents.
* MundaneSolution: The Set [[spoiler:captured the Southerners, dismantled their airship, and started torturing them to discover how their technology worked. It never occurred to them to just patch the poor souls up and politely ask for details. It took them months to get even the slightest idea of how the technology worked, but Wax's crew got answers from Allik in a few hours just by showing him some common decency]].
* NatureAbhorsAVirgin: Played with. Steris is a little too fascinated with a book on the train ride. Wax nicks it and find out that it's a book on sexual anatomy and reproduction. They are both mortified. Steris naturally has no experience. She's been trying to learn more, [[NoSocialSkills but nobody has any interest in discussing details with her]].
-->'''Steris:''' I know the basics; I'm not an idiot. But I ''need'' to provide an heir. It's vital. How am I supposed to do this properly if I don't have any information? [[RefugeInAudacity I tried to interview some prostitutes about it--]]\\
'''Wax:''' Wait. You did?
* NeverMyFault: [[spoiler:Wax was mad at Harmony for keeping the truth about Lessie from him, true, but he also projected his self-hatred at having to kill Lessie/Bleeder at Harmony.]]
* NoodleIncident: Wayne has apparently had to impersonate Death on four occasions.
* NothingIsScarier: [[spoiler:When Wax is dead, Harmony shows him the threat of what is apparently another god towards Scadrial, and tells him that he's not sure what it is]].
* NotQuiteDead:
** It is suggested by both the myth of the Bands of Mourning and what little is gleaned of the Southerners' religion that the Lord Ruler was arranging some things even after his death and after Harmony's Ascension. Some details never quite line up though, like being depicted with a spike in one eye and carrying a spear. [[spoiler: It's strongly implied by the end that it's another legendary character, who is also supposed to be dead. Twice over. '''Kelsier.''']]
--->'''Allik:''' The Sovereign was our king from three centuries ago. He told us he was your king first. And your god.\\
'''Wax:''' The Lord Ruler? He died.\\
'''Allik:''' Yes. He told us that too.
** [[spoiler:Marasi manages to get the Bands to Wax before his soul passes Beyond, allowing them to heal him]].
* NotSoDifferent: Everything about Wax and Steris in this book.
** Steris is hyper aware of all the rules of society, and finds herself isolated when she can't figure out the proper social responses, and won't just naturally fit in. She explains this to Wax not two minutes after he muses similar thoughts about his handling of the party.
** Wax can't understand why Steris is so interested in the house financials, not seeing that his own reaction is a result of his uncle's influence on his childhood. Steris explains it in his idiom of investigation, like putting a story together from a hundred different pieces, and he is soon digging into some unbalanced accounts beside her with amusement.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: [[spoiler:Wayne is ''so'' mad about Telsin's betrayal, Wax's death and [=MeLaan=] left mindless after her spikes were removed that he manages to pick up a shotgun and shoot Telsin, if non-fatally)]].
* PhysicalGod: The Bands of Mourning grant anyone full access to the Lord Ruler's powers. Fans have speculated for years how stupidly overpowered a full Mistborn/Feruchemist like the Lord Ruler would be--and it turns out that they were severely '''underestimating''' it. [[spoiler:Marasi taps so much speed she ''leaves behind a vacuum when she moves'' (then throttles it back to merely causing a sonic boom), and has Steelpushing and Ironpulling strong enough that she can fly by pushing off the trace metals in the ground. When she gives the Bands to Wax, there's enough healing power to bring him back from the dead, then he flies over to his uncle's airship, increases his weight enough to keep it from flying away, increases his mental speed enough that he can calculate all possible outcomes in the time between one spoken word and the next, has his tin flaring hard enough that he can hear someone talking in the engineering bay on the other side of the ship, and finally is able to Pull the ship down to the ground when it tries to fly away again. He can even see and recognize people's souls.]] ''And this still wasn't utilizing the powers to their fullest extent''.
* PublicDomainArtifact: An expy of it anyway. [[spoiler: The Survivor's Spear, which makes you a PhysicalGod, is standing in for TheLanceOfLonginus. Especially because both Christ and Kelsier were pierced by a spear - although in the case of Christ it was just to make sure He was dead. The only important difference is that the Survivor's Spear isn't the weapon that killed Kelsier, but rather an artifact he made later to match his own religious iconography.]]
* RageAgainstTheHeavens: Wax to Harmony, for keeping him in the dark about who kandra Paalm really was and as a result, making him kill [[spoiler: his beloved wife Lessie. Again]]. He gets over it.
* RefusingParadise: [[spoiler: Waxillium Ladrian dies of gunshot wounds from Telsin, and crushing rock from a trap Suit triggered. After being greeted by Harmony and talking a bit, he offers Wax his hands. In one hand is what Wax calls freedom, an adventure into the unknown beyond. In the other hand, which Wax calls duty and Harmony calls [[SweetAndSourGrapes just a different adventure]], is Marasi giving the Bands to Wax's corpse and begging him to use them to heal. Wax chooses to return with zero hesitation.]]
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler: After watching Telsin tear out [=MeLaan's=] [[SoulJar spikes]] and leave her for dead, and then witnessing Wax die from wounds she inflicted, Wayne is pissed enough to [[BatmanGrabsAGun ignore his gun phobia]], track her down, and put a shotgun blast in her back before she escapes. [[NoKillLikeOverkill Then another to her face.]] [[SubvertedTrope Somewhat subverted]] - he noticed she had gold metalminds for healing, and allowed her to escape once he got the spikes back to restore [=MeLaan=], figuring Wax would've done the same.]]
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: We get to see how others react to this trope when Elendel's new governor complains to Wax, at the end of the book, that it really isn't fair that Wax can do whatever he wants, cause whatever problems he wants, and then have one of Harmony's own [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Faceless Immortals]] explain things.
* ShootTheHostageTaker: [[spoiler: Marasi has this as a reflexive reaction when a train robber takes a human shield against her, leaving her shocked at her own ruthlessness.]].
* ShoutOut:
** A plot where CrystalDragonJesus [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade leaves behind a holy relic hidden in a desolate temple]] [[spoiler:heavily armed with traps, guarded by the faithful behind a trap where runes spell out something significant to the Crystal Dragon, with the relic hidden in plain sight to be found only when the hero seeking it puts themselves in the mindset of the Crystal Dragon to decipher where it is really hidden. Oh, and the new girl is a traitor.]]
** At one point, [=MeLaan=] disguises herself as [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} a muscular, handsome man, while wearing a metal skeleton under her flesh.]]
** While waiting for Wax and Steris to return from the party in New Seran, Wayne is again reading a book, this time about a [[Series/BlakesSeven group of seven convicts who steal a spaceship]].
* ShowdownAtHighNoon: Subverted. Wax himself claims that he's conducted testing and such showdowns make no sense, as the one that draws first, always shoots first. [[spoiler: And when his clueless [[EvilUncle uncle]] Suit proposes a shooting duel, Wax does not shoot but throws himself at Suit - getting shot in the process - and then uses his Allomancy and Feruchemy to defeat him]].
* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace: Played with, though the line is never invoked. Wax and Steris' wedding is ruined in the opening pages. Wax was having a bit of a panic but was proceeding, when a nearby water tower is tipped and dumped on the church, flooding it out. [[spoiler: Wayne set up the sabotage, thinking Wax wasn't ready yet so soon after [[Literature/ShadowsOfSelf losing Lessie for the second time,]] and having a mild ship for Wax and Marasi.]]
* ThemeNaming: The Set's leader is called the Sequence, both mathematical terms. A rank within the Set is called an Array. [[spoiler: In Suit's conversation with Trell's servant, it speaks in a very logical, almost calculated fashion, possibly hinting at the nature of Trell.]]
* TheyDo: [[spoiler: Having been through hell and back on this trip, and finding much more in common with each other than their [[MarriageOfConvenience initial agreement]] suggested, Wax dispenses with Steris's contract arrangements, and flat out proposes to her with a priest standing by. [[ShutUpKiss She emphatically says yes]].]]
* TrainJob: Wax and company are on the receiving end of one as their train is attacked on the way to New Seran. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] to the point of mockery; Wax thinks they must have gotten their ideas from too many pulp stories, as he's never actually seen anyone [[AwesomeButImpractical try to rob a moving train on horseback]] instead of just forcing the train to stop. The cliche dutifully includes a safe fall into a river and a TraintopBattle.
* TranslatorMicrobes: Duralumin metalminds can be filled with "blank connection" to no place. When you tap it, it automatically connects you to the nearest land, making your soul think you were born there and allowing you to speak the language. When paired with nicrosil, anyone can use it, but it only works for visitors to a land, since it's just redundant if someone from a land uses it to connect to that same land.
* VillainHasAPoint: As the book wears on, it becomes increasingly clear that the outer cities have genuine grievances against Elendel. While comparing Elendel's economic hegemony to the Final Empire's tyranny is laughable, the situation does bear quite a bit of resemblance to events that caused real-world revolutions. Of course, the Set is intentionally making things worse, inflaming the populace and squashing any possibility of a non-violent solution. Many of them are Elendel nobles, but they only used their positions to make things worse. They actually owned the governor outright for a time, but still only ramped up tensions.
* XanatosGambit: Mr. Suit sets a great one up, reinforcing his MagnificentBastard tendencies. [[spoiler: Wax is puzzled by inconsistencies in the TrainJob, and is requested to help collar the rest of the gang, but regretfully declines to get to New Seran. Once there, he finds a symbol left by a serial killer and is ''sprinting towards the latest crime scene'' before he stops himself and focuses back on the task at hand. Both were diversions set up by Suit, playing on [[ChronicHeroSyndrome Wax's tendency to jump at dangling plot threads]] to draw him away from the case. When these fail and Wax catches Suit's Dragon at a rally against Elendel, [[YouHaveFailedMe the Dragon is killed]], and Wax framed for it, sparking civil war between the outer cities and Elendel, forcing Wax to deal with anything other than Suit. [[RevengeBeforeReason Amazingly, this doesn't take,]] [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight possibly due to Wax's sister being on the line.]] ]]
* WhamLine: [[spoiler: Spoken in a coppermind memory, to suggest that the ancient historical figure behind the Bands of Mourning and the Southerners' mythology is not actually the Lord Ruler.]]
-->[[spoiler: '''Kelsier:''' ''Survive''.]]
----
to:
Third book in the ''Literature/WaxAndWayne'' series.
Six months have passed since Wax was called to do Harmony's dirty work, and he is finally getting married to Steris. Despite a shootout shortly before the wedding, he manages to make it mostly on time. The scars from Lessie's death haven't quite healed, but he is able to put it aside and go through with the marriage. Midway through the ceremony, however, the church is attacked, and Wax barely manages to get himself and Steris to safety in time.
Shortly before the wedding, Wax was approached by a kandra mentioning that Harmony has been conspicuously silent, and they want Wax's help to find out what's going on. He refuses, but kandra are not known for giving up easily...
And then of course there are the Bands of Mourning, the metalminds belonging to the Lord Ruler himself, said to give any wearer the godlike Feruchemical/Allomantic abilities that he used to rule the world for over a thousand years. Most people dismiss them as superstition, but some scholars and adventurers have found some promising leads, and Wax's uncle might be after them as well...
----
!!This book provides examples of:
* AmusingInjuries: Downplayed with [=MeLaan=]. As a Kandra, injuries can hurt, but aren't fatal, and can be ignored if she shuts off nerves. Her being able to reduce everything into AmusingInjuries lets them [[spoiler:set off traps in the Bands of Mourning's temple with impunity]]. Well, except for the pit traps, which are really deep and hard to climb out of.
* AndADietCoke: Played for laughs when Steris carries steel flakes suspended in cod liver oil for Wax, since it's healthier than whiskey and she wants him to live healthier... never mind he needs those steel flakes to get into insanely violent Allomantic gunfights.
* BigDamnKiss: Steris and Wax kiss for the first time after flying above the Mists.
* BloodMagic: We get another glimpse into Spook's hemalurgy research. Beyond the basics of [[MegaManning killing someone for their power]] by tacking their soul onto yours, hemalurgy can also rewrite a soul depending on how the spike is used, explaining some of the creatures the Lord Ruler and Bleeder were able to create. [[spoiler: The Set has also advanced their own research into hemalurgy, although we don't see dead victims, just the results. They have learned the upper limit of "How many spikes before Harmony takes over", namely, three hemalurgic boons. Most of the Set leadership has access to stolen powers now.]]
* BookSafe: Steris takes a knife to her book of contingency plans [[spoiler: to hide one of the open-use brassminds [[CrazyPrepared just in case]].]]
* BrickJoke: During a conversation with Marasi [[spoiler: regarding the culture of the Southern airship crew, Allik]] mentions that social decorum is extremely valued and things like the ability to dance well are important, even mentioning a friend of his who was thrown overboard (while tied to the ship still and eventually pulled back up) for his terrible dancing. During the climax, while rescuing the remnants of his crew [[spoiler: Captain Jordis mentions her mild dislike of Allik and comments on how at least his dancing ability has improved, implying Allik was actually the man thrown overboard.]]
* TheCameo:
** Hoid's back, and taking an active hand in the plot this time. [[spoiler: Poses as a beggar outside the New Seran party, and when Wax gives him money, hands back "change"... in the form of a special coin related to his search, that Wax uses to get answers much more quickly than would otherwise be possible... and then [[ChekhovsBoomerang doubles down]] as an open coppermind, containing a suggestion that someone is NotQuiteDead... ]].
** He also appears in the story from New Seran's broadsheet ''New Ascendancy'' "Nicki Savage, Paranormal Detective in The Constructs of Antiquity" as a young white-haired man who offers to tell Nicki a story (which is his typical modus operandi). She declines.
* ChekhovsGun:
** [[spoiler: The spear tip and the coin. ]]
** Ranette's sphere devices (basically, an improved version of hook-and-line especially for Coinshots). Wax gets three of them at the begining of his journey to New Seran and uses them to illustrate a talking point to Steris. In the fights that follow, each of the three spheres has its use and is accounted for.
* CranialProcessingUnit: Averted for Kandra, even if they're shapeshifters not robots. Kandra generally keep their brain anywhere on their bodies but their heads, since they know that's where people aim. [=MeLaan=] prefers a metal container in her thigh.
-->'''Marasi:''' [[LampshadeHanging So what's in your head?]]
-->'''[=MeLaan=]:''' Eyes, sensory apparatus, [[MundaneUtility and an emergency canteen.]]
* CrazyPrepared: Steris. To such an incredible (and open and honest) degree that she's quickly becoming a serious partner to [[MarriageOfConvenience her originally distant fiancee]].
** Steris had ''six'' copies of their wedding pendants made. Considering that four of them never made it to the church, this falls into ProperlyParanoid. She also had two backup dresses and scheduled a second ceremony at a different church for two months later in case the first church exploded. And the church was indeed ruined by a water tower being rigged to collapse, both requiring a backup wedding and ruining her dress.
** On arriving at their lodgings in New Seran, she gives a list of possible disaster scenarios to their proprietess, along with response instructions for each. [[spoiler: Successfully turned into a BrickJoke when one actually does.]]
** Started stocking vials of steel flakes on herself, anticipating Wax getting into trouble and running out. And earplugs for her and her sister.
** Wax and Steris attend a political party hosted by some shady people. Planning on Wax's usual event-filled life, and anticipating he wouldn't be allowed to take his guns in, she tapes a spare to her leg. And adds extra layers of clothing to prevent embarrassment when he needs to retrieve it. At the same party, she also carries a mixture to induce vomiting, in case someone wanted to poison them. Turns out, it has other uses as well.
* CrystalDragonJesus: The Survivorist religion has always looked very similar to Christianity, and their weddings are no exception. They have pendants instead of rings, girls spreading ash instead of flowers, and the guests are segregated into bride and groom sections. Even their wedding clothes are very similar, though there doesn't appear to be any superstition about seeing the bride before the ceremony. [[spoiler:Oh, and their Crystal Dragon also managed to come back to life somehow, and [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade left behind a spearhead-shaped relic]], and hid it in a temple heavily armed with traps, guarded by the faithful behind a trap where runes spell out something significant to the Crystal Dragon, with the relic hidden in plain sight to be found only when the hero seeking it puts themselves in the mindset of the Crystal Dragon to decipher where the relic is really hidden.]]
* DontFearTheReaper: Like Preservation before him, Harmony greets the souls of everyone who dies on Scadrial before they pass Beyond.
* DramaticGunCock: Rare literary version, when [[spoiler: ''Wayne'' gets pissed enough to pick up Wax's shotgun and try and kill Telsin.]]
-->'''[[spoiler: Telsin]]''': You - you can't - guns -
-->'''[[spoiler: Wayne]]''': Yeah. (racks shotgun) About that. (Boom)
* EvilAllAlong: [[spoiler: Telsin. Not only is she a Set member of apparently higher rank than Suit, she recruited ''him'']].
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: [[spoiler:Mr. Suit equates Wax's drive as a lawman to a hunger for violence and death, when his goals are something more noble]].
* FantasticRacism: The Set clearly [[spoiler:don't see the Southerners as human, and have no problem torturing them in order to discover the secrets of their technology]]. They also disparagingly refer to kandra as "creatures."
* FastballSpecial: [[spoiler:Apparently a move that Wax and Wayne have pulled in the past, although mostly as a way of infiltrating past a line of guards. They call it a Spoiled Tomato because Wayne tends to splash.]]
* FlightOfRomance: At one point, Wax uses his Steelpushing on a misty night to show Steris the "Ascendant Fields": the top of the mists. It's here they have their first BigDamnKiss.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** Everything about the Bands of Mourning seems to make no sense, as the characters point out repeatedly. Why would the Lord Ruler make a weapon anyone can use? Why would he tell the southerners where to find the Bands, then forbid them from looking? Why all the tricks and traps with the temple? None of it makes any sense. [[spoiler:...for the Lord Ruler. It makes ''perfect'' sense for Kelsier]].
** As early as the 4th chapter, [[spoiler:why would a temple about the Lord Ruler and his Bands have ''spear'' iconography in the murals? After all, who is the spear a symbol of in this world?]]
* FridgeLogic: In universe, Khriss asks Wax how changing his weight effects his Coinshot powers, and openly wonders why speed bubbles don't create a red-shift (according to WordOfGod, it's [[RequiredSecondaryPowers a required secondary power]] to keep Wayne from microwaving himself).
* GameChanger: One of the biggest limitations of Mistborn's Metallic Arts was that one had to be born with the power to access them, and the potential is inherited. Most of the lucky gifted are then only given access to one Art with one metal, and further feruchemical metalminds can only be drawn on by the person who stored power in them. The only exception to this was killing and stealing another's power via hemalurgy. Now, research into nicrosil, long included in the metal charts but never explained, allows for the creation of open metalminds, usable by any random person who picks one up. Nicrosil also allows the storage of allomancy powers, breaking open those magics for anyone to use as well. A source of the original magic is needed, and there seems to be new limits with combining magics, but this one metal can potentially change everything in the Elendel Basin. The southerners and their {{Magitek}} are a taste of things to come.
* GodsHandsAreTied: [[spoiler: Discussed with Wax by Harmony, who acknowledges that he could intervene, but states that as soon as he did so openly, people would keep asking for more of the same. Not to mention, [[GlowingEyesOfDoom he is a bit busy trying to keep]] [[RedEyesTakeWarning some unknown power out of Scadrial.]] ]]
* GoodIsNotNice: Being Harmony's servant, kandra [=VenDell=] is by definition one of the good guys. However, he is also highly irritating, obnoxious, patronizing and has no people skills. Wax has a very strong urge to punch him and [=MeLaan=] admits she feels the same.
* GreaterScopeVillain: All the members of the Set and their servants appear to bow to a pre-Final-Empire god named Trell, whom Marasi has been trying to get details on. [[spoiler: The epilogue shows that Trell is very much an active god who hails from some other world (he could possibly be [[OhCrap Odium]] from ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' or Autonomy from ''ComicBook/WhiteSand'') and seems to be finding ways to manifest power on Scadrial despite Harmony keeping him at bay. One of its servants implies that their original plan for the Set takeover is no longer stable enough, so the new plan is destroying all life on Scadrial.]]
* HeartIsAnAwesomePower:
** When they discover the {{Magitek}} device that can essentially function as an Allomantic grenade, Marasi's power becomes quite useful, as she can now throw the device and capture someone ''else'' in a slow bubble. A Leecher with the Set uses the device in a similar manner earlier, draining Wax of his Allomantic Reserves.
** The iron metalminds enhanced with nicrosil Feruchemy allow anyone to store weight and make themselves lighter, which, as it turns out, is incredibly useful when in a flying machine where every ounce counts.
* HiddenDepths: Once again, we get to see more behind Steris' stoic facade. She is extremely nervous before the wedding, and reveals that while she knows she can't plan for everything, she at least feels better for trying. She's also deeply insecure due to her lack of social skills her entire life, and is planning to start [[TookALevelInBadass learning skills that will help her on adventures]].
* HiddenInPlainSight: [[spoiler: Kelsier hid the Bands of Mourning in the form of a spearhead on the statue of him in front of the temple (which appears to be aluminum at first glace). Then, he armed a corridor with booby-traps galore, only for the room at the end to contain a shattered case, as if the bands had been stolen. A second decoy is in a lower room along with the bodies of the ones who constructed the temple, all to distract from the spearhead. He ''is'' a con-man, after all.]]
* HistoricalInJoke: The southerners, who come across as aliens, are flying around in super-advanced airships that they run like a pleasure cruise. Some of the first alien sightings were [[UnbuiltTrope mysterious airships, full of people on pleasure cruises]].
* HostileTerraforming: Sazed/Harmony saved Scadrial by reforming it from Ruin's damage and creating the Elendel Basin so the survivors of the Final Empire could live in relative comfort. [[spoiler: The people inhabiting the ''other side'' of the planet, however, had long adapted to their overheated conditions, and were ''freezing to death'' in the new "normal" climate. It took a very different divine intervention for their society to survive and adapt.]]
* HumanAliens: [[spoiler: The southerners]] give this impression, despite being of terrestrial origin. They have very advanced technology and have been secretly flying airships over the northern lands for some time. And the investigation by the Set of a wrecked airship plays out exactly like stealing the technology of a crashed UFO. The only biological oddity about them is that they can survive scalding temperatures, and will freeze to death in even mildly cold weather [[spoiler: without the help of their allomantic technology]].
* IncompatibleOrientation: This book finally confirms that Wayne's crush, Ranette, is a lesbian.
-->'''Marasi:''' She has a ''girl''friend, Wayne.\\
'''Wayne:''' 'S only a phase. One what lasted fifteen years...
* InterspeciesRomance: [[spoiler: Once Wayne moves on from Ranette, he quickly finds the next most implausible relationship. Wayne and [=MeLaan=]. Wax thinks they were taken in the train battle until he finds them [[InterruptedIntimacy stuffed in a luggage compartment in significant undress]] and [[DistractedByTheSexy completely oblivious to the attack.]] ]]
* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: [[spoiler: Karma finally catches up with Suit in his jail cell when the mysterious power behind the Set decide he has served well, and [[DeadlyEuphemism he will be allowed to serve further in another Realm.]] ]]
* KillTheOnesYouLove: [[spoiler: Discussed. When they finally talk, Wax rages over Harmony's manipulations that forced him to kill Lessie a second time. Harmony bluntly turns it around on him, noting Wax's hatred is also self-hatred. Wax knows, and finally admits, that with how far gone Bleeder was, even knowing Bleeder was Lessie, he would still have tried to take her out. Harmony in turn admits he hid Bleeder's identity to save Wax the pain of that crisis, of having to shoot her, or failing to, knowing she was mad and suffering.]]
* {{Magitek}}: The southern people have discovered how to manipulate the Metallic Arts with technology, allowing them to create Push-powered airships. Best of all, however, is their use of nicrosil feruchemy to create simple feruchemical tokens that anyone can use. Their airships, for example, require all their passengers to wear iron discs so they can store weight and reduce the load.
* ManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler: Wax's sister Telsin is not a hostage, but a member of the Set, and outranks Suit.]]
* MayflyDecemberRomance: Wayne and [[spoiler: [=MeLaan=] ]]. He's thirty-some and she's [[spoiler: about six hundred and virtually immortal, not to mention a GenderBender]]. However, they do get along fabulously.
* TheMole: [[spoiler: Telsin plays along with Wax's rescue, acting the bit of a traumatized survivor, but Wax does put it together. Just a hair too late.]]
* MookHorrorShow: The first chapter of the book starts from the perspective of a common criminal whose gang is in a fight with Wax and Wayne. It makes it very clear just how terrifyingly unstoppable those two are for regular, non-powered opponents.
* MundaneSolution: The Set [[spoiler:captured the Southerners, dismantled their airship, and started torturing them to discover how their technology worked. It never occurred to them to just patch the poor souls up and politely ask for details. It took them months to get even the slightest idea of how the technology worked, but Wax's crew got answers from Allik in a few hours just by showing him some common decency]].
* NatureAbhorsAVirgin: Played with. Steris is a little too fascinated with a book on the train ride. Wax nicks it and find out that it's a book on sexual anatomy and reproduction. They are both mortified. Steris naturally has no experience. She's been trying to learn more, [[NoSocialSkills but nobody has any interest in discussing details with her]].
-->'''Steris:''' I know the basics; I'm not an idiot. But I ''need'' to provide an heir. It's vital. How am I supposed to do this properly if I don't have any information? [[RefugeInAudacity I tried to interview some prostitutes about it--]]\\
'''Wax:''' Wait. You did?
* NeverMyFault: [[spoiler:Wax was mad at Harmony for keeping the truth about Lessie from him, true, but he also projected his self-hatred at having to kill Lessie/Bleeder at Harmony.]]
* NoodleIncident: Wayne has apparently had to impersonate Death on four occasions.
* NothingIsScarier: [[spoiler:When Wax is dead, Harmony shows him the threat of what is apparently another god towards Scadrial, and tells him that he's not sure what it is]].
* NotQuiteDead:
** It is suggested by both the myth of the Bands of Mourning and what little is gleaned of the Southerners' religion that the Lord Ruler was arranging some things even after his death and after Harmony's Ascension. Some details never quite line up though, like being depicted with a spike in one eye and carrying a spear. [[spoiler: It's strongly implied by the end that it's another legendary character, who is also supposed to be dead. Twice over. '''Kelsier.''']]
--->'''Allik:''' The Sovereign was our king from three centuries ago. He told us he was your king first. And your god.\\
'''Wax:''' The Lord Ruler? He died.\\
'''Allik:''' Yes. He told us that too.
** [[spoiler:Marasi manages to get the Bands to Wax before his soul passes Beyond, allowing them to heal him]].
* NotSoDifferent: Everything about Wax and Steris in this book.
** Steris is hyper aware of all the rules of society, and finds herself isolated when she can't figure out the proper social responses, and won't just naturally fit in. She explains this to Wax not two minutes after he muses similar thoughts about his handling of the party.
** Wax can't understand why Steris is so interested in the house financials, not seeing that his own reaction is a result of his uncle's influence on his childhood. Steris explains it in his idiom of investigation, like putting a story together from a hundred different pieces, and he is soon digging into some unbalanced accounts beside her with amusement.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: [[spoiler:Wayne is ''so'' mad about Telsin's betrayal, Wax's death and [=MeLaan=] left mindless after her spikes were removed that he manages to pick up a shotgun and shoot Telsin, if non-fatally)]].
* PhysicalGod: The Bands of Mourning grant anyone full access to the Lord Ruler's powers. Fans have speculated for years how stupidly overpowered a full Mistborn/Feruchemist like the Lord Ruler would be--and it turns out that they were severely '''underestimating''' it. [[spoiler:Marasi taps so much speed she ''leaves behind a vacuum when she moves'' (then throttles it back to merely causing a sonic boom), and has Steelpushing and Ironpulling strong enough that she can fly by pushing off the trace metals in the ground. When she gives the Bands to Wax, there's enough healing power to bring him back from the dead, then he flies over to his uncle's airship, increases his weight enough to keep it from flying away, increases his mental speed enough that he can calculate all possible outcomes in the time between one spoken word and the next, has his tin flaring hard enough that he can hear someone talking in the engineering bay on the other side of the ship, and finally is able to Pull the ship down to the ground when it tries to fly away again. He can even see and recognize people's souls.]] ''And this still wasn't utilizing the powers to their fullest extent''.
* PublicDomainArtifact: An expy of it anyway. [[spoiler: The Survivor's Spear, which makes you a PhysicalGod, is standing in for TheLanceOfLonginus. Especially because both Christ and Kelsier were pierced by a spear - although in the case of Christ it was just to make sure He was dead. The only important difference is that the Survivor's Spear isn't the weapon that killed Kelsier, but rather an artifact he made later to match his own religious iconography.]]
* RageAgainstTheHeavens: Wax to Harmony, for keeping him in the dark about who kandra Paalm really was and as a result, making him kill [[spoiler: his beloved wife Lessie. Again]]. He gets over it.
* RefusingParadise: [[spoiler: Waxillium Ladrian dies of gunshot wounds from Telsin, and crushing rock from a trap Suit triggered. After being greeted by Harmony and talking a bit, he offers Wax his hands. In one hand is what Wax calls freedom, an adventure into the unknown beyond. In the other hand, which Wax calls duty and Harmony calls [[SweetAndSourGrapes just a different adventure]], is Marasi giving the Bands to Wax's corpse and begging him to use them to heal. Wax chooses to return with zero hesitation.]]
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: [[spoiler: After watching Telsin tear out [=MeLaan's=] [[SoulJar spikes]] and leave her for dead, and then witnessing Wax die from wounds she inflicted, Wayne is pissed enough to [[BatmanGrabsAGun ignore his gun phobia]], track her down, and put a shotgun blast in her back before she escapes. [[NoKillLikeOverkill Then another to her face.]] [[SubvertedTrope Somewhat subverted]] - he noticed she had gold metalminds for healing, and allowed her to escape once he got the spikes back to restore [=MeLaan=], figuring Wax would've done the same.]]
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: We get to see how others react to this trope when Elendel's new governor complains to Wax, at the end of the book, that it really isn't fair that Wax can do whatever he wants, cause whatever problems he wants, and then have one of Harmony's own [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Faceless Immortals]] explain things.
* ShootTheHostageTaker: [[spoiler: Marasi has this as a reflexive reaction when a train robber takes a human shield against her, leaving her shocked at her own ruthlessness.]].
* ShoutOut:
** A plot where CrystalDragonJesus [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade leaves behind a holy relic hidden in a desolate temple]] [[spoiler:heavily armed with traps, guarded by the faithful behind a trap where runes spell out something significant to the Crystal Dragon, with the relic hidden in plain sight to be found only when the hero seeking it puts themselves in the mindset of the Crystal Dragon to decipher where it is really hidden. Oh, and the new girl is a traitor.]]
** At one point, [=MeLaan=] disguises herself as [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} a muscular, handsome man, while wearing a metal skeleton under her flesh.]]
** While waiting for Wax and Steris to return from the party in New Seran, Wayne is again reading a book, this time about a [[Series/BlakesSeven group of seven convicts who steal a spaceship]].
* ShowdownAtHighNoon: Subverted. Wax himself claims that he's conducted testing and such showdowns make no sense, as the one that draws first, always shoots first. [[spoiler: And when his clueless [[EvilUncle uncle]] Suit proposes a shooting duel, Wax does not shoot but throws himself at Suit - getting shot in the process - and then uses his Allomancy and Feruchemy to defeat him]].
* SpeakNowOrForeverHoldYourPeace: Played with, though the line is never invoked. Wax and Steris' wedding is ruined in the opening pages. Wax was having a bit of a panic but was proceeding, when a nearby water tower is tipped and dumped on the church, flooding it out. [[spoiler: Wayne set up the sabotage, thinking Wax wasn't ready yet so soon after [[Literature/ShadowsOfSelf losing Lessie for the second time,]] and having a mild ship for Wax and Marasi.]]
* ThemeNaming: The Set's leader is called the Sequence, both mathematical terms. A rank within the Set is called an Array. [[spoiler: In Suit's conversation with Trell's servant, it speaks in a very logical, almost calculated fashion, possibly hinting at the nature of Trell.]]
* TheyDo: [[spoiler: Having been through hell and back on this trip, and finding much more in common with each other than their [[MarriageOfConvenience initial agreement]] suggested, Wax dispenses with Steris's contract arrangements, and flat out proposes to her with a priest standing by. [[ShutUpKiss She emphatically says yes]].]]
* TrainJob: Wax and company are on the receiving end of one as their train is attacked on the way to New Seran. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] to the point of mockery; Wax thinks they must have gotten their ideas from too many pulp stories, as he's never actually seen anyone [[AwesomeButImpractical try to rob a moving train on horseback]] instead of just forcing the train to stop. The cliche dutifully includes a safe fall into a river and a TraintopBattle.
* TranslatorMicrobes: Duralumin metalminds can be filled with "blank connection" to no place. When you tap it, it automatically connects you to the nearest land, making your soul think you were born there and allowing you to speak the language. When paired with nicrosil, anyone can use it, but it only works for visitors to a land, since it's just redundant if someone from a land uses it to connect to that same land.
* VillainHasAPoint: As the book wears on, it becomes increasingly clear that the outer cities have genuine grievances against Elendel. While comparing Elendel's economic hegemony to the Final Empire's tyranny is laughable, the situation does bear quite a bit of resemblance to events that caused real-world revolutions. Of course, the Set is intentionally making things worse, inflaming the populace and squashing any possibility of a non-violent solution. Many of them are Elendel nobles, but they only used their positions to make things worse. They actually owned the governor outright for a time, but still only ramped up tensions.
* XanatosGambit: Mr. Suit sets a great one up, reinforcing his MagnificentBastard tendencies. [[spoiler: Wax is puzzled by inconsistencies in the TrainJob, and is requested to help collar the rest of the gang, but regretfully declines to get to New Seran. Once there, he finds a symbol left by a serial killer and is ''sprinting towards the latest crime scene'' before he stops himself and focuses back on the task at hand. Both were diversions set up by Suit, playing on [[ChronicHeroSyndrome Wax's tendency to jump at dangling plot threads]] to draw him away from the case. When these fail and Wax catches Suit's Dragon at a rally against Elendel, [[YouHaveFailedMe the Dragon is killed]], and Wax framed for it, sparking civil war between the outer cities and Elendel, forcing Wax to deal with anything other than Suit. [[RevengeBeforeReason Amazingly, this doesn't take,]] [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight possibly due to Wax's sister being on the line.]] ]]
* WhamLine: [[spoiler: Spoken in a coppermind memory, to suggest that the ancient historical figure behind the Bands of Mourning and the Southerners' mythology is not actually the Lord Ruler.]]
-->[[spoiler: '''Kelsier:''' ''Survive''.]]
----
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* PublicDomainArtifact: An expy of it anyway. [[spoiler: The Survivor's Spear, which makes you a PhysicalGod, is standing in for TheLanceOfLonginus. Especially because both Christ and Kelsier were pierced by a spear - although in the case of Christ it was just to make sure He was dead. The only important difference is that the Survivor's Spear isn't the weapon that killed him, but rather an artifact He made later to match His own religious iconography.]]
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* PublicDomainArtifact: An expy of it anyway. [[spoiler: The Survivor's Spear, which makes you a PhysicalGod, is standing in for TheLanceOfLonginus. Especially because both Christ and Kelsier were pierced by a spear - although in the case of Christ it was just to make sure He was dead. The only important difference is that the Survivor's Spear isn't the weapon that killed him, Kelsier, but rather an artifact He he made later to match His his own religious iconography.]]
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* GreaterScopeVillain: All the members of the Set and their servants appear to bow to a pre-Final-Empire god named Trell, whom Marasi has been trying to get details on. [[spoiler: The epilogue shows that Trell is very much an active god who hails from some other world (he could possibly be [[OhCrap Odium]] from ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'') and seems to be finding ways to manifest power on Scadrial despite Harmony keeping him at bay. One of its servants implies that their original plan for the Set takeover is no longer stable enough, so the new plan is destroying all life on Scadrial.]]
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* GreaterScopeVillain: All the members of the Set and their servants appear to bow to a pre-Final-Empire god named Trell, whom Marasi has been trying to get details on. [[spoiler: The epilogue shows that Trell is very much an active god who hails from some other world (he could possibly be [[OhCrap Odium]] from ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'') ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' or Autonomy from ''ComicBook/WhiteSand'') and seems to be finding ways to manifest power on Scadrial despite Harmony keeping him at bay. One of its servants implies that their original plan for the Set takeover is no longer stable enough, so the new plan is destroying all life on Scadrial.]]
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* MookHorrorShow: The first chapter of the book starts from the perspective of a common criminal whose gang is in a fight with Wax and Wayne. It makes it very clear just how terrifyingly unstoppable those two are for regular, non-powered opponents.
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* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: We get to see how others react to this trope when Elendel's new governor complains to Wax, at the end of the book, that it really isn't fair that Wax can do whatever he wants, cause whatever problems he wants, and then have one of Harmony's own [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Faceless Immortals]] explain things.
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* DramaticGunCock: Rare literary version, when [[spoiler: ''Wayne'' gets pissed enough to pick up Wax's shotgun and try and kill Telsin.]]
-->'''[[spoiler: Telsin]]''': You - you can't - guns -
-->'''[[spoiler: Wayne]]''': Yeah. (racks shotgun) About that. (Boom)
-->'''[[spoiler: Telsin]]''': You - you can't - guns -
-->'''[[spoiler: Wayne]]''': Yeah. (racks shotgun) About that. (Boom)
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* FlightOfRomance: At one point, Wax uses his Steelpushing on a misty night to show Steris the "Ascendant Fields": the top of the mists. It's here they have their first BigDamnKiss.
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Incorrect. They use up to three spikes with one attribute each. Putting multiple attribues on a single spike requires much more knowledge of hemalurgy, per Word of God.
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* LoopholeAbuse: [[spoiler:Harmony's power over a being with Hemalurgic spikes increases with the number of spikes, the Set gets around this by grafting multiple powers (apparently up to three) to each spike, since the damage to their souls is only affected by the number of spikes, not the intensity.]]
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* NoodleIncident: Wayne has apparently had to impersonate Death on four occasions.
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According to John 19: 33-34, Christ was already dead when his side was pierced by the spear.
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* PublicDomainArtifact: An expy of it anyway. [[spoiler: The Survivor's Spear, which makes you a PhysicalGod, is standing in for TheLanceOfLonginus. Especially because both Christ and Kelsier were killed by a spear. The only important difference is that the Survivor's Spear isn't the weapon that killed him, but rather an artifact He made later to match His own religious iconography.]]
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* PublicDomainArtifact: An expy of it anyway. [[spoiler: The Survivor's Spear, which makes you a PhysicalGod, is standing in for TheLanceOfLonginus. Especially because both Christ and Kelsier were killed pierced by a spear.spear - although in the case of Christ it was just to make sure He was dead. The only important difference is that the Survivor's Spear isn't the weapon that killed him, but rather an artifact He made later to match His own religious iconography.]]
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* PublicDomainArtifact: An expy of it anyway. [[spoiler: The Survivor's Spear, which makes you a PhysicalGod, is standing in for the Lance of Longinus. Especially because both Christ and Kelsier were killed by a spear. The only important difference is that the Survivor's Spear isn't the weapon that killed him, but rather an artifact He made later to match His own religious iconography.]]
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* PublicDomainArtifact: An expy of it anyway. [[spoiler: The Survivor's Spear, which makes you a PhysicalGod, is standing in for the Lance of Longinus.TheLanceOfLonginus. Especially because both Christ and Kelsier were killed by a spear. The only important difference is that the Survivor's Spear isn't the weapon that killed him, but rather an artifact He made later to match His own religious iconography.]]
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Suit has a plural number of spikes, as stated when he's tied to the Sovereign's statue.
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* BloodMagic: We get another glimpse into Spook's hemalurgy research. Beyond the basics of [[MegaManning killing someone for their power]] by tacking their soul onto yours, hemalurgy can also rewrite a soul depending on how the spike is used, explaining some of the creatures the Lord Ruler and Bleeder were able to create. [[spoiler: The Set has also advanced their own research into hemalurgy, although we don't see dead victims, just the results. They have learned to graft multiple powers with a single spike, in order to avoid Harmony's ability to take direct control of creatures with multiple spikes. Most of the Set leadership has access to stolen powers now.]]
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* BloodMagic: We get another glimpse into Spook's hemalurgy research. Beyond the basics of [[MegaManning killing someone for their power]] by tacking their soul onto yours, hemalurgy can also rewrite a soul depending on how the spike is used, explaining some of the creatures the Lord Ruler and Bleeder were able to create. [[spoiler: The Set has also advanced their own research into hemalurgy, although we don't see dead victims, just the results. They have learned to graft multiple powers with a single spike, in order to avoid Harmony's ability to take direct control the upper limit of creatures with multiple spikes."How many spikes before Harmony takes over", namely, three hemalurgic boons. Most of the Set leadership has access to stolen powers now.]]
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* VillainHasAPoint: As the book wears on, it becomes increasingly clear that the outer cities have genuine grievances against Elendel. While comparing Elendel's economic hegemony to the Final Empire's tyranny is laughable, the situation does bear quite a bit of resemblance to events that caused real-world revolutions. Of course, the Set is intentionally making things worse, inflaming the populace and squashing any possibility of a non-violent solution. Many of them are Elendel nobles, but they only used their positions to make things worse. They actually owned the governor outright for a time, but still only ramped up tensions.
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* AmusingInjuries: Downplayed with [=MeLaan=]. As a Kandra, injuries can hurt, but aren't fatal, and can be ignored if she shuts off nerves. Her being able to reduce everything into AmusingInjuries let's them [[spoiler:set off traps in the Bands of Mourning's temple with impunity]]. Well, except for the pit traps, which are really deep and hard to climb out of.
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* AmusingInjuries: Downplayed with [=MeLaan=]. As a Kandra, injuries can hurt, but aren't fatal, and can be ignored if she shuts off nerves. Her being able to reduce everything into AmusingInjuries let's lets them [[spoiler:set off traps in the Bands of Mourning's temple with impunity]]. Well, except for the pit traps, which are really deep and hard to climb out of.
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* FantasticRacism: The Set clearly [[spoiler:don't see the Southerners as human, and have no problem torturing them in order to discover the secrets of their technology]]. They also disparagingly refer to kandra as "creatures."
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* MundaneSolution: The Set [[spoiler:captured the Southerners, dismantled their airship, and started torturing them to discover how their technology worked. It never occurred to them to just patch the poor souls up and politely ask for details. It took them months to get even the slightest idea of how the technology worked, but Wax's crew got answers from Allik in a few hours just by showing him some common decency]].
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-->[[spoiler: '''Kelsier:''' Survive.]]
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-->[[spoiler: '''Kelsier:''' Survive.''Survive''.]]
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Sanderson, Brandon. The Bands of Mourning: A Mistborn Novel (pp. 289-290). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition.
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* NotQuiteDead: It is suggested by both the myth of the Bands of Mourning and what little is gleaned of the Southerners' religion that the Lord Ruler was arranging some things even after his death and after Harmony's Ascension. Some details never quite line up though, like being depicted with a spike in one eye and carrying a spear. [[spoiler: It's strongly implied by the end that it's another legendary character, who is also supposed to be dead. Twice over. '''Kelsier.''']]
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* NotQuiteDead: NotQuiteDead:
** It is suggested by both the myth of the Bands of Mourning and what little is gleaned of the Southerners' religion that the Lord Ruler was arranging some things even after his death and after Harmony's Ascension. Some details never quite line up though, like being depicted with a spike in one eye and carrying a spear. [[spoiler: It's strongly implied by the end that it's another legendary character, who is also supposed to be dead. Twice over. '''Kelsier.''']]''']]
--->'''Allik:''' The Sovereign was our king from three centuries ago. He told us he was your king first. And your god.\\
'''Wax:''' The Lord Ruler? He died.\\
'''Allik:''' Yes. He told us that too.
Sanderson, Brandon. The Bands of Mourning: A Mistborn Novel (pp. 289-290). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition.
** It is suggested by both the myth of the Bands of Mourning and what little is gleaned of the Southerners' religion that the Lord Ruler was arranging some things even after his death and after Harmony's Ascension. Some details never quite line up though, like being depicted with a spike in one eye and carrying a spear. [[spoiler: It's strongly implied by the end that it's another legendary character, who is also supposed to be dead. Twice over. '''Kelsier.
--->'''Allik:''' The Sovereign was our king from three centuries ago. He told us he was your king first. And your god.\\
'''Wax:''' The Lord Ruler? He died.\\
'''Allik:''' Yes. He told us that too.
Sanderson, Brandon. The Bands of Mourning: A Mistborn Novel (pp. 289-290). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition.
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Changed line(s) 86 (click to see context) from:
* ShowdownAtHighNoon: Subverted. Wax himself claims that he's conducted testing and such showdowns make no sense, as the one that draws first, always shoots first. [[spoiler: And when his clueless uncle Suit proposes a shooting duel, Wax does not shoot but throws himself at Suit - getting shot in the process - and then uses his Allomancy and Feruchemy to defeat him]].
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* ShowdownAtHighNoon: Subverted. Wax himself claims that he's conducted testing and such showdowns make no sense, as the one that draws first, always shoots first. [[spoiler: And when his clueless uncle [[EvilUncle uncle]] Suit proposes a shooting duel, Wax does not shoot but throws himself at Suit - getting shot in the process - and then uses his Allomancy and Feruchemy to defeat him]].
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Added DiffLines:
* BookSafe: Steris takes a knife to her book of contingency plans [[spoiler: to hide one of the open-use brassminds [[CrazyPrepared just in case]].]]
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-->'''Marasi:''' [[LampshadeHanging So what's in your head?]]
-->'''[=MeLaan=]:''' Eyes, sensory apparatus, [[MundaneUtility and an emergency canteen.]]
-->'''[=MeLaan=]:''' Eyes, sensory apparatus, [[MundaneUtility and an emergency canteen.]]
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cleaned up wrong uses of Genre Savvy tropes as per http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=14517129060A14005800&page=1#1
Changed line(s) 28 (click to see context) from:
** Started stocking vials of steel flakes on herself, anticipating [[GenreSavvy Wax getting into trouble and running out]]. And earplugs for her and her sister.
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** Started stocking vials of steel flakes on herself, anticipating [[GenreSavvy Wax getting into trouble and running out]].out. And earplugs for her and her sister.
