History YMMV / Mistborn

** ''Literature/WaxAndWayne'': [[spoiler:[[AmbitionIsEvil Telsin Ladrian]]/[[TheHeavy Sequence]] is a ruthless member of the Set, and is the very worst of their ranks, [[CainAndAbel far from the sister Wax once knew]]. Overseeing the torture and experimentation of Malwish, Telsin fools her brother into thinking that she was an unwilling participant, even killing one of her own men to maintain the guise. Telsin ultimately uses this opportunity to shoot her own brother when he's off guard. After the search for the Bands of Mourning turns against her, Telsin promptly flees and leaves all her subordinates behind. Resurfacing six years later, [[ManipulativeBitch Telsin]] masterminds a plot to destroy the entire city of Elendel and its millions of inhabitants, claiming that it is necessary to stop an invasion from the god Autonomy, [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist when in reality]], her plan will be nearly as destructive as the invasion, and is actually intended to impress Autonomy enough [[GodhoodSeeker so that they will make Telsin a god]]. When it appears her plan will succeed, Telsin reveals to Wax that she has always hated him since childhood, and [[EvilGloating gloats]] about her success over him, revealing her to be nothing more than a petty and callous individual who [[ItsAllAboutMe only cares]] about proving herself superior to her brother, indifferent to the countless lives that her actions take.]]

** ''Literature/WaxAndWayne'': [[spoiler:[[AmbitionIsEvil Telsin Ladrian]]/[[TheHeavy Sequence]] is a ruthless member of the Set, the very worst of their ranks, and [[CainAndAbel far from the sister Wax once knew]]. Overseeing the torture and experimentation of Malwish to try and find the Bands of Mourning, Telsin fools her brother into thinking that she was an unwilling participant, even killing one of her own men to maintain the guise. Telsin keeps up appearances until a critical moment to find the Bands of Mourning, where she shoots Wax. When the search for the Bands of Mourning turns against her, Telsin promptly flees and leaves all her subordinates behind. Resurfacing six years later, [[ManipulativeBitch Telsin]] masterminds a plot to destroy the entire city of Elendel and its millions of inhabitants, claiming that it is necessary to stop an invasion from the god Autonomy, [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist when in reality]], her plan will be nearly as destructive as the invasion, and is actually intended to impress Autonomy enough [[GodhoodSeeker to make Telsin a god]]. When it appears her plan will succeed, Telsin reveals to Wax that she has always hated him, and [[EvilGloating gloats]] about her success, revealing her to be nothing more than a petty and callous individual who [[ItsAllAboutMe only cares]] about proving herself superior to her brother, with no care to the countless lives that her plans take.]]

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* YMMV/TheMistbornAdventures

* YMMV/TheAlloyOfLaw

* CompleteMonster: Straff. All the other villains in the series have some sort of reason or excuse for their actions [[spoiler: the Inquisitors and several other characters were [[BrainwashedAndCrazy mind-controlled]], the Lord Ruler was genuinely [[WellIntentionedExtremist trying to help the world]], Zane was nuts, Ruin was a cosmic force of destruction, etc.]] Straff's just power-mad, and there doesn't seem to be anything he won't stoop to in order to get it.
* CrowningMomentofAwesome: The entire final section of ''Hero of Ages''. Also Kelsier fighting an Inquisitor one-on-one.
** Vin beating Zane, a Mistborn who's actually more powerful than she is due to his Atium and [[spoiler: hemalurgic spike]] by discovering the trick you can use to beat someone who can see the immediate future.
** In the same book, Elend singlehandedly kills a Koloss in one-on-one combat. It was a small one, but even a single Koloss is considered to be worth several dozen soldiers in battle.
** Also Sazed at the Battle of Luthadel, overcoming his uncertainty and [[LetsGetDangerous getting dangerous]] on a whole mess of Koloss.
** Kelsier's [[spoiler:death and the subsequent rebellion of Luthadel's ''entire skaa population'']].
* MagnificentBastard: The Lord Ruler, in the way he manipulates the nobility and [[CorruptChurch obligators]] and especially post-mortem when it becomes obvious [[spoiler: all the plans he had in place for the event of his own death]]. Pity for him that Kelsier is [[GuileHero is more magnificent than he is]].
* NightmareFuel: Where to start? Inquisitors, Kandra, and the rampant rape and murder of skaa women are just a few examples from the first book alone. Also, Hemalurgy in all its applications - [[spoiler: the Kandra actually turn out to be its ''least'' scary manifestation]].
* {{Tearjerker}}: [[spoiler: Preservation]]'s death. [[spoiler: Sazed]]'s annotations say that if Elend had stuck around for a few minutes after the final appearance of the mist spirit, he would have seen [[spoiler: the corpse of the man that Preservation once was form out of the mists before being buried in ash.]]
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The trilogy was originally two separate works- Mistborn, which had the magic system, and Final Empire, which had the basic concept and setting. Sanderson, dissatisfied with both of them, put them together and came up with something he liked a lot more.
** Vin also went through several concepts. The original Vin was actually ''male'', but got genderflipped when the character just wasn't gelling. The next concept had Vin already being the leader of her own crew when Kelsier recruited her- this was scrapped because the "weak person discovers her own power" aspect of Vin's arc looses a lot of punch if she's already starting from a position of comparative strength. The version immediately before the Vin who made it into the published trilogy was essentially her canonical self, but much more critical of the people around her, even doing a running mental commentary of everything her crewleader, Camon, was doing wrong in her first scene. This was cut because it made Camon look incompetent and Vin more than a little obnoxious.
* TheWoobie: Vin, early on. She has some moments of it later, but by that point the fact that she's enough of a {{Badass}} to take on fake gods [[spoiler: and a real one]] kind of offsets it...
** And [[DemonicPossession Marsh]]. Seriously, with all the stuff that happens to him, Marsh needs a hug. [[spoiler: Provided he doesn't stab you or something.]]

* StupidEvil: Straff Venture in spades; ItsAllAboutMe to the extreme. Thinks the idea that someone saved his son Elend from murderers (that Straff hired) because Elend is an innocent man is hilariously stupid; thinks that Mistborn are addicted to atium for some reason; avoided going bankrupt because of the collapse of the Final Empire and was implied to have mismanaged it anyway; seems to think Zane has been trying to kill him repeatedly even though Zane is a OneManArmy who Straff would never be able to stop if he ''actually'' tried to kill him; drinks lethally poisoned tea on purpose just to give the impression that he is a {{Badass}} is easily manipulated by both his children; and ascribes selfish or nefarious motives to anything anyone ever does because altruism [[EvilCannotComprehendGood is a completely foreign concept to him.]] Naturally, he ''thinks'' he is a consumate MagnificentBastard, but in reality he is just a SmugSnake with a serious LackOfEmpathy who is married to the VillainBall.robab
** Probably justified; as the head of the Final Empire's most powerful noble house, under the Lord Ruler's system Straff really never had to be anything but the biggest bully in the playground to get anything he wanted and was pretty much untouchable by reprisal. When everything falls apart, this leaves him with the attitude of an EvilOverlord absent most of the skills needed to act as a ruler in his own right.

* CrowningMomentOfFunny: Several, especially conversations involving Vin's dry humor. Most notably when the chivalrous Elend enters Vin's private rooms.
-->Vin: Why did you knock?
-->Elend: Well . . . you might have been changing, or getting dressed.
-->Vin: So . . . ?
** In the same book . . .
-->Oreseur: What about you? Are you a good person?
-->Vin: Oh, no, not me. I'm not a good person or a bad person. I'm just here to kill things.
** "He ate my horse."
** From ''Hero Of Ages,'' Elend and Ham have just decided [[spoiler: not to send a force of 40,000 Koloss to attack Fadrex City, which would likely have resulted in the deaths of most of the population]]
-->Ham smiled. "Cett's going to be furious."
-->Elend shrugged. "He's a paraplegic. [[CrossesTheLineTwice What's he going to do? Bite us?]]"
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: Elend coming to rescue Vin at the end of the first book. Sure, this was before he took a level of badass and as a result ''she'' wound up saving ''him'', but it was the thought that counted- especially since Vin spent most of the book thinking that people were inherently untrustworthy. He may not have saved Vin, but together with [[spoiler: the Inquisitor's revelation about Reen]] he just may have saved her faith in humanity.

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: Where to start? Inquisitors, kandra, and the rampant rape and murder of skaa women are just a few examples from the first book alone. Also, Hemalurgy in all its applications - [[spoiler: the Kandra actually turn out to be its ''least'' scary manifestation]].

* CompleteMonster: Straff. All the other villains in the series have some sort of reason or excuse for their actions [[spoiler: the Inquisitors and several other characters were [[BrainwashedAndCrazy mind-controlled]], the Lord Ruler was genuinely [[WellIntentionedExtremist trying to help the world]], Zane was nuts, Ruin was a cosmic force of destruction, etc.]] Straff's just power-mad, and there doesn't seem to be anything he won't stoop to in order to get it. The only thing that comes close to "redeeming" him is the fact that he is also StupidEvil and really seems incapable of understanding the very concept of "good" in the first place.

* StupidEvil: Straff Venture in spades; ItsAllAboutMe to the extreme. Thinks the idea that someone saved his son Elend from murderers (that Straff hired) because Elend is an innocent man is hilariously stupid; thinks that Mistborn are addicted to atium for some reason; avoided going bankrupt because of the collapse of the Final Empire and was implied to have mismanaged it anyway; seems to think Zane has been trying to kill him repeatedly even though Zane is a OneManArmy who Straff would never be able to stop if he ''actually'' tried to kill him; drinks lethally poisoned tea on purpose just to give the impression that he is a {{Badass}} is easily manipulated by both his children; and ascribes selfish or nefarious motives to anything anyone ever does because altruism [[EvilCannotComprehendGood is a completely foreign concept to him.]] Naturally, he ''thinks'' he is a consumate MagnificentBastard, but in reality he is just a SmugSnake with a serious LackOfEmpathy who is married to the VillainBall.

* CompleteMonster: Straff. All the other villains in the series have some sort of reason or excuse for their actions [[spoiler: the Inquisitors and several other characters were [[BrainwashedAndCrazy mind-controlled]], the Lord Ruler was genuinely [[WellIntentionedExtremist trying to help the world]], Zane was nuts, Ruin was a cosmic force of destruction, etc.]] Straff's just power-mad, and there doesn't seem to be anything he won't stoop to in order to get it.

* TheWoobie: Vin, early on. She has some moments of it later, but by that point the fact that she's enough of a {{Badass}} to take on fake gods [[spoiler: and a real one]] kind of offsets it...

* MagnificentBastard: The Lord Ruler arguably qualifies, in the way he manipulates the nobility and [[CorruptChurch obligators]] and especially post-mortem when it becomes obvious [[spoiler: all the plans he had in place for the event of his own death]]. Pity for him that Kelsier is [[GuileHero is more magnificent than he is]].

* In the same book, Elend singlehandedly kills a Koloss in one-on-one combat. It was a small one, but even a single Koloss is considered to be worth several dozen soldiers in battle.

* AngstDissonance: In-universe example: Vin's reactions to reading the Lord Ruler's logbook that she found in Kredik Shaw. She decides that he sounds far too whiny for a man who conquered the world and became a PhysicalGod. Turns out [[spoiler:she's right. The diary belongs to someone else]]

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The trilogy was originally two seperate works- Mistborn, which had the magic system, and Final Empire, which had the basic concept and setting. Sanderson, dissatisfied with both of them, put them together and came up with something he liked a lot more.