Mistborn: The Original Trilogy / Characters

While Mistborn: The Original Trilogy doesn't have as big a cast size as some other fantasy books, it still has a sturdy group of characters.

This page is for characters from Brandon Sanderson's original Mistborn trilogy. See here for characters in the Sequel Series, Wax and Wayne.

For characters from the other worlds of The Cosmere, see Elantris, Warbreaker, and The Stormlight Archive. See here for characters from the greater Cosmere, including characters which appear in Mistborn itself.

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The Crew

Vin

Vin/Lady Valette Renoux

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vin.jpg

"I'm not a good person or a bad person. I'm just here to kill things."

The main character of the series. Vin is a Mistborn, a special type of Allomancer who can use the powers of all the metals. This is because she is the bastard child of a Skaa woman and Lord Prelan Tevidian Tekiel, the leader of the Steel Ministry. At first, she is the member of a thieving crew, but Kelsier recruits her to his rebellion. For some strange reason, she has powers unlike any Mistborn ever before.

Achievements in Ignorance: While Kelsier very clearly lays out the rules of Allomancy for her, Vin has no problem trying to break them just to see what will happen. In particular, she tries combining Allomancy and Feruchemy by asking Sazed to let her burn one of his disposable metalminds. While it doesn't work, Sazed compliments her on a well-thought-out experiment. In later books, she actually starts researching other Allomantic metals, discovering (or rediscovering) duralumin and electrum, which turn out to give her huge advantages.
Action Girl: A powerful and well-trained mistborn, by the time she gets a handle on her powers she's pretty much a one woman army.
Action Hero:... and she's usually the first to solve her problems by beating the bad guy to a pulp with her bare hands.
A-Cup Angst: A mild case. Vin is a slender young woman, and notes several times that despite how gorgeous her gowns are, the other noble ladies fill theirs out much more than she does. It doesn't stop her from attracting quite a few potential suitors, and at least two very serious ones.
Alliterative Name: After getting married to Elend, her name is Vin Venture.
Anti-Hero: She's pretty ruthless when she needs to be and has basically no hesitation when it comes to killing people, but at the end of the day she is genuinely trying to help the people around her. She does veer into darker territory at several points, most notably when she assaults Cett's keep with Zane in The Well of Ascension.
Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: In the finale of the first series, Vin manages to become the Shard of Preservation, giving us the first look at what its like being a Shard in the Cosmere.
Badass Cape: Mistcloaks are very cape-like and Vin wears one for quite a while. They're the most common symbol of a Mistborn; when you see someone wearing one of these, you look away, mind your own business, and pray to the Lord Ruler that they're not after you.
Battle Couple: Thanks to Elend getting Mistborn powers at the end of The Well of Ascension, the two of them fight together in The Hero of Ages.
Berserk Button: Anything that is targeted at Elend.
Beyond the Impossible: She can pierce copperclouds, something which the laws of Allomancy and all of Kelsier's crew state is impossible. The Hero of Ages reveals that she's actually using Hemalurgy to enhance her abilities as a Seeker. She can also push and pull metals inside someone's body while burning mists.
Book Dumb: Vin isn't very well educated and doesn't think very highly of reading and books in general. She is however a quick thinker, a quick learner and good at piecing together information.
Boyish Short Hair: Initially, owing to her fear of being even slightly feminine. She grows it out a bit longer as the series goes on.
Broken Bird: At the beginning of Mistborn: The Final Empire, but she gets better after joining Kelsier's crew.
Bullying a Dragon: Constantly on the receiving end. Despite being an open Mistborn and correctly reputed to have killed the Lord Ruler as of Well of Ascension, that she is ninety pounds soaking wet leads to all manner of aggressors towards her, Elend and Luthadel disregarding her.
Chosen One: Sort of. She's Preservation's chosen successor, but not the Hero of Ages—so she's a Chosen One, but not the Chosen one. As well, she was Ruin's Chosen One since her combination of an insane mother that Ruin could manipulate, a baby sister who was a seeker and fuel for a hemalurgic spike, and her being a Mistborn made all added up to person who Ruin could manipulate to his ends.
Cute Bruiser: As a Mistborn, she can burn pewter for enhanced strength and endurance. She may look like a scrawny teenager, but she could tie an Olympic weightlifter up in knots without breaking a sweat.
Dating Catwoman:
- In Mistborn: The Final Empire. She's a member of a thieving crew trying to overthrow the Final Empire; he's the heir to the most powerful Noble House in the Final Empire. They fight crime!
- Echoed darkly in The Well of Ascension, when she feels drawn to Zane, Straff Venture's (duplicitous, mad) Mistborn son.
Deadpan Snarker: Vin has a very dry, dark wit.
11th-Hour Superpower: Drawing on the mists in Mistborn: The Final Empire. Later in The Hero of Ages, she absorbs all the mists near the end, becoming the host of Preservation's power.
Emotion Bomb: She has a penchant for using emotion-affecting Zinc or Brass in combination with the power-enhancing Duralumin, to either compltely overwhelm or dampen someones emotions. Straff Venture compares the dampening effect to the feeling of death itself. It also comes in handy when she needs to uses massive amounts of emotional Allomancy take control of a Koloss.
First Time in the Sun:
- In Mistborn: The Final Empire, she uses Tin to see the stars for the first time.
- In The Hero of Ages, her Duralumin-Steelpush is so powerful that it sends her above the mists and makes her the first person in a thousand years to see the stars without the mist.
Girliness Upgrade: She becomes more traditionally feminine as the series progresses, particularly as an early part of her character is infiltrating parties as a noblewoman. This in no way makes her less of a Badass Action Girl, and if anything she Took a Level in Badass as her femininity increased, although she has a hard time figuring out how to balance her enjoyment of being both a proper lady and a super-powered assassin in her view of herself.
Guile Hero: She's nowhere near the planner Kelsier is, but don't think that means she's not really good at thinking on her feet.
The Hero: She's the main character of the books, and evolves into the Big Good and biggest badass on the good guys' side after Kelsier dies. Subverted in that she's not actually the Hero of Ages.
Heroic Bastard: She's the child of a Skaa prostitute and Tevidian Tekiel, the leader of the Steel Ministry.
Heroic Sacrifice: Uses the full force of her power on Ruin so that they both die.
Hyper-Awareness: Even before gaining tin, Vin's senses are unusually keen and she is extremely alert. With them, she's capable of outwitting atium-burners. She's even wary enough that when she spots Hoid in The Hero of Ages, she immediately cons onto the fact that there is something very wrong about him. She's right, too, as he is not exactly from around Scadrial....
Indy Ploy: How she wins all her major fights, including her battle with Ruin in The Hero Of Ages. Special note goes to her atium-challenged battles, such as her fight with Shan Elariel in Mistborn: The Final Empire, and her battle with Zane Venture in The Well of Ascension. It's notable that in a series where you can't wave a stick without hitting a Chessmaster, Vin's plans hardly ever work out. Fortunately, she's good at thinking on her feet.
The Infiltration: Her role in the crew is infiltrating the nobility under the guise of Renoux's favorite niece.
Insecure Love Interest: Thinks that she is too violent and unintellectual for Elend.
I Surrender, Suckers: During her fight with rival mistborn Shan Elariel in Mistborn: The Final Empire, she stops burning her atium to give her opponent the belief that it has run out. Then she stuns and kills them by reactivating it.
Jeanne d'Archétype: How the skaa see her, more or less. Vin herself is deeply bothered by this.
- Gets much worse when her Love Interest and later husband Elend joins The Church Of The Survivor for political reasons, which means that he officially accepts her as this.
Killed Off for Real: She dies in the third book. Secret History confirms she went into The Beyond, so she isn't coming back like Kelsier did.
Luke, You Are My Father: After the Lord Ruler uses emotional Allomancy on her, she points out Tevidian as her father.
Meaningful Echo: Her Pre-Mortem One-Liner to the Lord Ruler echoes Kelsier's last words.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The ending of The Well Of Ascension where she releases Ruin from the Well.
Not Quite Flight: Can use Steel and Iron in tandem to "fly" across long distances. She actually invents a technique of using three-to-five horseshoes, in coordinated Pushes and Pulls, to "fly" pretty much wherever she wants, dropping one and Pushing off it, Pulling up the one behind her, and throwing another down in front of her.
"Not So Different" Remark: She admits she has a lot in common with The Lord Ruler: they're both powerful Allomancers with bizarre powers, they both forcibly subjugated their lands, and they both killed the one who would use the Well of Ascension and used it themselves.
Obfuscating Stupidity: As Lady Valette Renoux and also as Vin the Street Urchin at the beginning of the first book, she hides how intelligent and capable she really is.
Older Than She Looks: Her short stature sometimes throws people off. There was a skaa couple in The Well of Ascension that mistook her for a child.
One-Woman Army: Elend actually refers to her as 'an army' in The Hero Of Ages.
Orphan's Plot Trinket: The earring her mom gave her. It's a Hemalurgic spike.
Parental Abandonment: Her mom was crazy and tried to kill her. Her dad was high priest of the Corrupt Church and never knew nor cared that she existed. She was raised, more or less, by her half-brother, who wound up abandoning her too. Or so she thought. Turns out he was captured by Steel Inquisitors that had been trying to find her for years.
Physical God: In The Hero of Ages, she becomes the Shardvessel of Preservation after absorbing all of the mists.
Pintsized Powerhouse: Barely over five feet tall, about 90 pounds, and made of 100% asskicking. Ham suggests in Well of Ascension that Vin's small size might actually be a boon, as the energy released by burning pewter is concentrated in a much smaller area, making Vin able to achieve acrobatic feats a typical heavy Pewterarm would not.
Power Nullifier: The earring. While still fully capable as a Mistborn, the earring is a Hemalurgic spike, and makes it impossible for Vin to access the power in the mists, as Ruin blocks Preservation. Once Marsh pulls it free, however....
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Her page quote is the one she gives the Lord Ruler.
Professional Killer: Considers herself an assassin, though there's more to her character than that.
Properly Paranoid: Doesn't trust anyone, sees secret Allomancers everywhere, automatically assumes powerful nobility to be Mistborn especially after almost being killed by atium-burning Shan or have one within reach and is constantly worried about someone assassinating Elend. It's not paranoia when you grow up in Luthadel.
Rags to Royalty: From a Street Urchin to an Empress.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: She delivers a scathing one to the crew, accusing them of knowing nothing of the skaa's troubles and being little better than noblemen themselves. Even Kelsier can only respond with Stunned Silence.
Red Baron: The Heir of the Survivor.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Empress Vin Venture is every bit as badass as Vin the Mistborn insurgent was.
Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Very, very much on the cynical side, with instinctual trust issues. Becomes less cynical and learns to trust others as the series goes on.
Street Urchin: Where she starts the series, the younger half-sister of a minor street tough and daughter of a prostitute. Then Kelsier finds her and realizes what she is...
Taking You with Me: She defeats Ruin by causing her power to react with his, destroying them both.
Together in Death: With Elend in The Hero of Ages. Was actually an invocation by Elend, as he his death would no longer give Vin a reason to live, and thus be capable of her necessary Heroic Sacrifice.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: Vin is almost this ensemble in one person.
Tsundere: She constantly scoffs about how dumb the crew is for being so trustful, sometimes lashing out and berating them. Still, she really does love the group. Her attitude mostly fades after the first book.
Violently Protective Girlfriend: DO NOT mess with Elend.
Elend: "Plus, you've mangaged - in our short three years together - to kill not only my god, but my father, my brother, and my fiancée. That's kind of like a homicidal hat trick.”
Waif-Fu: Her ability to burn pewter gives her this - she may look small and harmless, but she can acquire incredible Super-Strength pretty much whenever she needs it. This works especially well against Koloss, who literally do not seem to be able to comprehend that someone so small can match them in combat.

Kelsier

Kelsier ("Kell")

He forced himself to smile-not out of pleasure, and not out of satisfaction. He smiled despite the grief he felt at the deaths of his men; he smiled because that was what he did. That was how he proved to the Lord Ruler-and to himself-that he wasn't beaten. No, he wasn't going to walk away. He wasn't finished yet. Not by far.

One of the most legendary men known to the Skaa. Before the trilogy began, Kelsier was the greatest Crewleader any Skaa had known. Together with his wife Mare, he led daring heists and gained great renown. However, during an attempt to rob the Lord Ruler, he and his wife were captured and sent to work in the Pits of Hathsin, the Lord Ruler's Atium mine. After being a slave to the Final Empire for many years, Kelsier was Allomantically Snapped by the death of Mare. Awakening as a Mistborn, he used his powers to escape the Pits of Hathsin, which was said to be impossible. This feat earned him the title "The Survivor of Hathsin".

When Mistborn: The Final Empire begins, he has returned to attempt the greatest job the world will ever know. Gathering a team of Allomantic Specialists, Kelsier sets out to end the thousand year reign of the Lord Ruler and topple the Final Empire. Armed with the fabled Eleventh Metal (Malatium), which is said to hold the key to defeating the Lord Ruler, Kelsier begins his battle.

Alternate Character Interpretation: In-universe, no one is entirely sure whether he's just an egotistical Glory Hound, a Magnificent Bastard bent on rather spectacular revenge, or a Guile Hero who really does care for the ideals of the revolution, possibly a little too much. Or all of the above. As shown in Mistborn: Secret History, even he isn't entirely sure.
Anti Anti Christ: It's all but stated he was influenced to overthrow the Lord Ruler by Ruin. While he managed to set his goal of restoring the world in motion and eventually watch it succeed, and may or may not have had ultimately good intentions, Mistborn: Secret History and The Eleventh Metal make it clear he had more in common with Ruin than he would've liked to admit.
Anti-Hero: Kelsier is ruthless, manipulative, and driven by an obsessive desire for personal revenge. He is a liar, a career thief, and a murderer who has killed probably hundreds of people, though most or all of his victims were the evil nobility or their servants and generally deserved it. At least, he assumes that they do. Whether or not Skaa guards that worked for nobility count is something that both Kelsier and his brother argue about. But he has a sense of compassion and honour, fights a genuinely evil and tyrannical empire, and really does believe in the cause of Skaa liberation. Which Type he is ultimately depends on how selfish he truly is, and that is left largely ambiguous.
Back from the Dead: He returns from the dead in Mistborn: Secret History.
Badass Cape: His Mistcloak.
Battle Couple: With Mare until she died.
Byronic Hero: Kelsier has a very scary dark side, though the fact that he's given a clearly evil enemy to square off against keeps him one of the good guys.
Catchphrase: "There's always another secret."
The Chessmaster: Manipulates everything so that he can overthrow the Lord Ruler. Unfortunately, this is played by an even better Chessmaster... who he subsequently outplays.
Condescending Compassion: Vin notes that his attitude to the skaa is a lot closer to that of a father and child than a relationship between peers.
Covered in Scars: Both of his arms are covered completely in scars. He was a slave in Hathsin, forced to dig for atim with his bare hands, frequently getting his arms cut on the crystals the metal is found in.
Crazy Is Cool: In-universe, his crew thinks he's insane, but nobody can deny he's good at what he does, usually.
Crippling Overspecialization: Vin worries that Kelsier is so focused on using all the metals that he is merely "good" at them all, and would fall to a true master in one of them. Subverted when she realizes that Steelpushes and Ironpulls have always been his specialty, which was hinted throughout the book.
Crystal Dragon Jesus: Is revered by his own church in the rebuilt world, and seems to be more popular than the actual god, Harmony.
- In Era Two Twice as the Church of the Survivor and the Southerners both view him as this.
Decoy Protagonist: Gives every indication of being the main character. Dies at the beginning of the climax of the first book, leaving Vin to shoulder protagonist duties from there out.
Dimensional Traveler: In Rhythm of War, it's all but outright said that he is Thaidakar, the leader of the Ghostbloods who are operating on the world of Roshar. He is referred to as the "Lord of Scars" and Hoid mentions having beaten him up.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Becomes something of a signature for Kelsier. Not only does he fight the Lord Ruler, but after his death, he ends up punching Ruin, Preservation, AND Hoid in the course of a single novella.
Doomed Moral Victor: Deliberately invoked; he martyrs himself against the Lord Ruler to provoke his skaa followers to rebel.
Deuteragonist: He's our second POV character who handles leading the rebellion while Vin handles the nobility.
Edgy Backwards Chair-Sitting: He frequently sits on chairs "the wrong way" during meetings.
Famed In-Story: And he knows it and uses it as part of his campaign against the Lord Ruler.
Fantastic Racism: He hates all aristocrats with a passion and is very satisfied when he has to murder one. Of course, one can hardly blame him, given what they did to him and since most of them are evil anyway. However, it makes him unable at first to realize that there are a few Token Good Teammates among them. His hate also extends to the guards Just Following Orders, including the skaas who chose to serve them to escape poverty.
Gentleman Thief: A half-skaa, half-noble, he's equally at home on a heist on in high society.
Good Is Not Nice: Not to noblemen that is.
Heroic Bastard/Bastard Bastard: As a skaa Mistborn, he's half-noble and half-skaa. Still, nobody can tell what his character was actually like. In the end, not even him.
Hope Bringer: Deliberately sets himself up as one of these to the skaa so they'll have something other than the Lord Ruler to believe in.
I Am the Noun: "I am hope."
I Have Many Names: He begins to rack up quite a collection: Survivor of Hathsin, Survivor of Mists, Survivor, Lord of the Mists, Sovereign, Thaidakar, and Lord of Scars.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: After the Lord Ruler bitchslaps Kelsier to the ground, he kills him with a spear through the chest.
Improbable Weapon User: Early in Mistborn: The Final Empire, he defeats six Hazekillers with a paperweight.
Like a God to Me: Deliberately invoked to give the skaa something other than the Lord Ruler to believe in.
Master of None: Vin worries that he spent too much time learning to use all the powers of Allomancy, leaving him without a specialty. During the Fountain Battle, she realizes that he does have a specialty: Steelpushing and Ironpulling.
Memetic Badass: In-universe, he becomes the standard against which other Chessmaster heroes are held after the first book. Also parodied, in that Elend believes that "even his handwriting is legendary".
The Mentor: Teaches Vin basic Allomancy.
Mentor Occupational Hazard: Killed by the Lord Ruler so, narratively, Vin can come into her own.
Messianic Archetype: Invoked in order to give the skaa a figure to rally around so that the rebellion could actually succeed.
My Death Is Just the Beginning: Dying to trigger a massive skaa uprising was his master plan... or at least that's what he let everyone else think. He made it work for him, though.
Not Quite Flight: Can use Steel and Iron in tandem to "fly" across long distances.
Not Too Dead to Save the Day: Twice. Unusually for Sanderson, he manages to keep himself intact as a temporary host of Preservation postmortem, giving hope to Spook, then Vin, as a voice. He is thrust out to true death when Vin takes up Preservation. Except not really. Sanderson has even lampshaded the unusual nature, saying that he had too much force of personality to stay dead the first time.
Parental Substitute: He comes to view Vin as the daughter he and Mare never had. Vin admits in The Well of Ascension she viewed him the same way.
Person of Mass Destruction: When Kelsier gets involved in a fight, things blow up very quickly.
Rebel Leader: Basically hijacks the pre-existing skaa rebellion to get his own revenge and bring down the Final Empire.
Red Baron: The Survivor of Hathsin. This is shortened to just "the Survivor" after his death.
Sad Clown: He always laughs and cracks jokes as a way of rebelling against how bleak the world is.
Secretly Selfish: Possibly. While his plan will bring up a lot of good for others, his friends aren't entirely sure that he's not doing it for revenge and/or to stroke his own ego. Nobody is sure. Not even him.
Slasher Smile: Kelsier always smiles, but his smiles are calculated and certainly come off like this to his enemies.
Sociopathic Hero: Confirmed by Word of Brandon to be intended as this. While he is instrumental in the defeat of The Lord Ruler and Ruin, posthumously, he doesn't do it with any altruistic purpose. He spent decades ignoring the tyranny of the Final Empire before changing his mind because the Pits of Hathsin made it personal, and he only started trying to defeat Ruin because he considered it an interesting challenge. In a lot of other stories, his callous, egotistical ambitions would have made him the villain.
- When talking about Warbreaker, Brandon has said that he wrote Denth to be an Evil Counterpart to Kelsier as a charismatic and cunning man driven by revenge. The major difference between the two is that Kelsier is working with the protagonists whilst Denth is revealed to have been working for the antagonists the entire time.
- In fact, it's heavily implied in Rhythm of War that he's the leader of the Ghostbloods, a secret organization that is... morally-ambiguous at best.
Shrouded in Myth: He worked hard to make himself a semi-mythic figure.
Spirit Advisor: A fake Kelsier appears to Spook in The Hero of Ages and acts as one, but was really Ruin. Then, after Spook turns on fake Kelsier, the real Kelsier shows up and restores Spook's hope and determination.
Stepford Smiler: Despite not feeling happy very often, he always wears a smile. He says that while the Lord Ruler has enslaved the Skaa and taken their freedom, he can never take away happiness.
Straight Man and Wise Guy: The Wise Guy to Dox's Straight Man.
Thanatos Gambit: His plan was to die so that the skaa would be inspired to start their uprising.
Together in Death: With Mare. Subverted Trope, as he had an opportunity to do this, but he's too determined to survive and help people to allow himself to die for real.
Villain of Another Story: Brandon has often said Kelsier could be an unusually literal example of this. As of Rhythm of War this appears to have come to pass, since he is the leader of the Ghostbloods, who are major antagonists in Shallan’s plotline.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Often veers perilously close to this. If his plan succeeds, he will free the skaa from a tyranical opression. But his methods are often extreme.
What Measure Is a Mook?: He invokes this trope to justify his killing of the guards Just Following Orders, arguing that every skaa knows deep in his heart that it's the worst crime to defend the Final Empire and its oppression on other skaa. Marsh's introductory scene has him butting heads with Kelsier over this.
Xanatos Speed Chess: Despite several major hiccups with The Crew's original scheme, he manages to pull off as inspiring and legendary a death as he had in mind all along. His final bout with a Steel Inquisitor was, after all, the result of Renoux's household getting captured...
You Are Not Alone: To Vin in Mistborn: The Final Empire and to Spook in The Hero of Ages.

Sazed

Sazed ("Saze")

"Belief isn't simply a thing for fair times and bright days, I think. What is belief-what is faith-if you don't continue in it after failure?"

A Terrisman who is a member of Kelsier's rebellion. He is a Feruchemist, a person with the ability to conserve their attributes (such as strength, weight, etc.) and use them later. He is also the true Hero of Ages, as a result of taking the Shards of Preservation and Ruin.

Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Near the end of The Hero of Ages, Sazed claims Ruin and Preservation and ascends to godhood. By The Alloy of Law, he is known as Harmony.
Badass Bookworm: He manages to incapacitate a Steel Inquisitor early in the first book; it happens off-camera, but it's the first instance of a Steel Inquisitor encounter being treated as anything other than "run or die".
Battle Butler: He's trained as a high-class servant and scholar, but is fully capable of getting his hands dirty if pushed to that point.
Big Damn Heroes: Pulls this several times throughout the trilogy.
- At the end of the second part of Mistborn: The Final Empire, he uses his Feruchemy to save Vin from the Steel Inquisitors attacking her.
- In part five of Mistborn: The Final Empire, he lets himself be captured by the Steel Inquisitors so that he can break Vin out of the cage they put her in.
Bling of War: His physical metal minds are rings and earrings.
Catchphrase: He says "I think," almost every other sentence.
Chekhov's Skill: The Feruchemist skill to store vast amounts of knowledge in copperminds. Sazed's specific field of knowledge is pre-Ascension religions, driven extinct by the Lord Ruler's persecution. This knowledge is not only theological: several religions studied fields related to their deities, such as astronomy, agriculture and human phisiology. The combination of all this knowledge is what truly qualifies Sazed to be the Hero of Ages and return the world to what it once were, using both Ruin's and Preservation's powers.
The Chosen One: Inverted: He is the last person who anyone expected to become the Hero of Ages.
The Confidant: Both Vin and Elend trust Sazed and his advice implicitly.
Cultural Rebel: An incredibly subdued example. His ever so slight snarks and, more importantly, refusal to follow some of the Synod's instructions make him practically unruly when compared to other Terrisman.
Deadpan Snarker: Occasionally snarks at his masters' expense.
- Disabled Snarker: A eunuch, to be specific.
- Servile Snarker: He remains unfailingly polite, especially while snarking.
Despair Event Horizon: Tindwyl's death hits him very hard.
Eunuchs Are Evil: Averted. He's quite possibly the nicest character in the whole series. In fact, his status as a eunuch is actually one of the signs he's the Hero of Ages.
A God I Am Not: Tries to avoid taking the powers of Ruin and Preservation by claiming he would only make things worse. He snaps out of it when he realizes that he can use the memories in his Copperminds to put the world back to normal.
God's Hands Are Tied: He writes some of the chapter headers in Rhythm of War, explaining his discoveries regarding the Shards and their Vessels, noting that the Vessel's free will gets more limited over time, as the nature of the Shard asserts itself more and more. As such, Sazed, bearer of the conflicting Shards Preservation and Ruin finds himself less and less able to act as the centuries pass.
Heroic Self-Deprecation: He's the only one unable to see his many qualities.
I Surrender, Suckers: In the fifth part of Mistborn: The Final Empire, he lets himself be captured by the Steel Inquisitors and taken to Vin's cage. The trick is that he ate his Pewterminds, allowing him to gain enough strength to break her out.
Let's Get Dangerous!: He's a polite, kindly servant/scholar who hates fighting. Threaten his friends or his life's work, though, and you'll find out one of the reasons why the Lord Ruler feared Feruchemists.
Magical Negro: Member of an oppressed people? Check. Mentor-slash-father figure to one of the main characters? Check. Mysterious past? Check. Not a bad fighter himself? Check. Becomes a main character from the second book onward? Che - wait a second. Ends the series as the real Hero of Ages? Now hold on just a minute—
Magical Jew: The Modern Terris culture is based somewhat off Jewish communities, and their oppression in Era 1 more closely resembles that of the Jewish communities as well (as opposed to the Skaa, who more closely resemble Black Chattel Slavery), making them something of a Fantasy Counterpart Culture. This means Sazed fits this trope as well, though - as above - it is subverted.
Messianic Archetype: He's the real Hero of Ages.
Nice Guy: The most consistently nice character in the series
No Man of Woman Born: What marks him as the Hero of Ages in the end. The original language describing the Hero of Ages refers to the Hero as gender neutral. Sazed is a eunuch, and so can be considered genderless.
Photographic Memory: Variation. He doesn't actually have one himself (though his memory is very well trained) but through the use of his copperminds he can perfectly store a tremendous amount of memory. Basically, he achieves this through magic rather than being born with it.
Physical God: Becomes one after taking the powers of Preservation and Ruin.
Religious Russian Roulette: During Hero of Ages, he runs through all his religions disproving them while trying to come to terms with Tindwyl's death.
Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Keepers are explicitly forbidden from aiding in the rebellion, but Sazed saw the potential to win. A few characters wonder what must annoy the Synod more: that Sazed disobeyed them and fought, or that Sazed disobayed them and won.
Super-Strength: When he taps his pewterminds.
Title Drop: "I am, unfortunately, the Hero of Ages."
Yin-Yang Bomb: The power of both Preservation and Ruin makes him the Hero of Ages.

Dockson

Dockson ("Dox")

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

Badass Normal: The only non-magic user in the crew, but certainly capable.
Boring, but Practical: Everyone else have the cool magical abilities. Dockson is simply very good at organizing things, at buying what they need and at handling the group's finances. Vin quickly theorizes that the whole band would fall apart without him.
Deadpan Snarker: His drier, more understated wit is a contrast to the more enthusiastic Kelsier.
Face Death with Dignity: Against the attacking koloss in Well of Ascension.
Fantastic Racism: He hates all aristocrats, even though he's less passionate than Kelsier. Of course, one can hardly blame him, given what they did to him and since most of them are evil anyway. However, it makes him unable at first to realize that there are a few Token Good Teammates among them.
He Who Fights Monsters: Of all Kelsier's crew, he is probably the most violently prejudiced against the nobility outside of Kelsier himself. This proves problematic once Elend takes over.
Hypercompetent Sidekick: Of sorts. Kelsier's the one with the vision, but Dox's careful eye for details keeps the crew running long enough for him to realize it.
Killed Off for Real: He dies in the second book.
Master of Disguise: He's very good at making costumes that can be used for the purposes of disguise.
My God, What Have I Done?: Defied. A large part of the reason he refuses to accept that not all Aristocrats Are Evil stems from having to reflect on what Dox did to them in revenge. No, it's easier to accept they were the monsters than realize he might have been the bad guy.
Number Two: Again, to Kelsier.
Only Sane Man: He's the most down-to-earth, straightforwardly rational member of the crew, a fact he's rather strongly aware of.
The Runaway: Ran away from his plantation after the girl he loved was killed.
The Smart Guy: For the old crew. He's got a knack for organization and logistics.
Star-Crossed Lovers: He loved another Skaa when he lived on a plantation. However, the lord raped and killed her.
Straight Man and Wise Guy: The Straight Man to Kelsier's Wise Guy. Vin thinks he feels too stuff and serious after Kelsier's death since his attitude has no one to complement.
The Team Normal: Again, the only ordinary human in the crew.

Breeze

Breeze/Lord Edgard Ladrian

A Soother, one who has the ability to calm emotions through Allomancy. He aides Kelsier as part of the Skaa rebellion.

Dark Secret: He's a full noble. He just never told anybody.
Deadpan Snarker: Especially when dealing with Ham.
Defector from Decadence: He's actually a full-blooded aristocrat, albeit he never revealed this secret to anyone.
Embarrassing First Name: Claims that his name "Ladrian" is one, but it's actually a lie. In reality, he doesn't want anyone to connect him to a certain Lord Edgard Ladrian who mysteriously disappeared several years ago.
Famous Ancestor: Becomes this for the main character of Wax and Wayne, Lord Waxillium Ladrian, who's a direct descendant of his.
Getting Smilies Painted on Your Soul: An arguable and generally benevolent case; he often toys with the emotions of those around him, lessening the effects of negative emotions such as fatigue, fear, or sadness, in order to emphasize the effect of positive emotions the subjects already feel.
Good Is Not Nice: He's overbearing, manipulative... and caring to a fault.
Heroic Bastard: Subverted. Because he's a member of the skaa rebellion, everybody thinks that he's a half-skaa, half-noble. In reality, he's a full noble.
Heroic BSoD: Suffers one of these after seeing all the suffering and death at the fall of Luthadel. He gets better by the next book, with Sazed's help.
Hidden Heart of Gold: He's not nearly as selfish as he acts, but he prefers to downplay this.
I Love You Because I Can't Control You: The foundation of his friendship with Clubs. As a Smoker, Clubs is immune to emotional Allomancy, and he is immune to mundane manipulation because everything just makes him grumpy.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He appears, at first, to be a pompous, selfish, lazy, egotistical, and manipulative scoundrel. All of this is absolutely true, but it becomes clear (especially in the second and third books whenever he becomes a point-of-view character) that at least as much of his manipulation goes toward helping others as toward getting his own way.
May–December Romance: With Lady Allrianne Cett. He's over 40, she's in her early 20s. Note that she's the one who seduces him, and it takes him a while to get comfortable with the idea of having a relationship with someone that much younger than him.
Non-Action Guy: Despite carrying around a dueling cane, there's little indication that Breeze is a warrior of any kind.
Only Known by Their Nickname: His name isn't Breeze. It's Edgard Ladrian. His first name isn't even revealed until the Wax and Wayne series, centuries after he's dead..
Seen It All: By the end of the trilogy he doesn't even react to a talking dog or Spook suddenly going from horrifically burned to fully healed. The world being restored though, that surprises even him.
Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Claims to be on the cynical side, despite his actions and emotions pushing him toward idealism.
Vitriolic Best Buds: Has something of this sort of relationship with Ham, due to the latter's insistence on submitting philosophical questions for consideration.

Ham

Hammond ("Ham")

A Pewterarm, one who has the ability to enhance their physical prowess with Allomancy. He aides Kelsier in his rebellion.

The Big Guy: As a pewterarm, his primary role in the group is to enhance his strength and then, to quote Breeze, "hit things, usually people, that are interfering with what the rest of us are doing".
Dumb Muscle: Word of God is that he's a deliberate subversion- between his physical appearance and role in the crew, you'd expect him to be this, but he's really an intelligent, thoughtful guy.
Foil: In the annotations of Mistborn: The Final Empire, Brandon states that he made Ham because he wanted a character to contrast Breeze.
Genius Bruiser: He's the most physically powerful non-mistborn in the crew, but also enjoys pondering, though not answering, philosophical puzzles.
Gentle Giant: He may be a hulking professional soldier, but he's also an amiable family man who'd rather not fight at all if he can avoid it.
Happily Married: Though his work with thieving, the rebellion, and running a country keep him away from home most of the time.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Ham's little philosophical puzzles are more just for fun, and he never comes to an answer for them. So when he directly tells Elend that marching a koloss army on Fadrex is wrong it hits Elend hard.
The Philosopher: Though he's more interested in posing questions than answering them.
Red Herring Mole: Suggested as a possible impostor in The Well of Ascension. The listed trope should be enough for you to know that it's not him.
Sleeves Are for Wimps: Ham wears vests rather than shirts if he has any say in the matter—he even rips the sleeves out of his general's uniform to create a makeshift one.
Super-Strength: As a Pewterarm, he can use Allomancy to become extremely powerful.
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Breeze.

Clubs

Cladent ("Clubs")

"The Lord's going to get me sooner or later. At least this way, I'll be able to spit in his face as I go. Overthrowing the Final Empire...It's got style. Let's go, kid."

A Smoker, one who has the ability to hide Allomantic pulses. He aides Kelsier in his rebellion.

Cruel and Unusual Death: Dies violently at the hands of a Koloss during the Battle of Luthadel, said death being what first really pushes Breeze into a Heroic BSoD.
Four-Star Badass: Becomes a general in Elend's army.
Good Is Not Nice: He's kind of a jerk. He's also very loyal and dependable and a key member of the crew.
Grumpy Old Man: The most basic way to describe him.
Handicapped Badass: Has a permanent limp as a result of an old war wound.
Hidden Depths: Despite being mainly a grumpy old ex soldier, he has a deep passion for his art as a carpenter.
The Infiltration: Infiltrates the Lord Ruler's army.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's not always a particularly pleasant person, but he's loyal, honest, and brave.
Killed Off for Real: He dies in the second book.
Parental Substitute: To his nephew, Spook.
Power Nullifier: To an extent; as a Smoker, he's immune to emotional Allomancy himself and can shield others from being detected by Seekers, but he can't interfere with other Allomantic powers.
Retired Badass: Left the army a long time ago and doesn't really get into the thick of it again until near the end of the first book.
Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: He's the oldest member of the crew, and also the grouchiest and most standoffish, but his word is good and when he gives his loyalty, he means it.
Sixth Ranger: From the perspective of the other crew members- though he joins up near the beginning of the book, he's the only major crewmember apart from Vin who Kelsier has never worked with before.
Sour Supporter: Kelsier has his loyalty, but he's also one of the first to criticize when things go wrong, just because that's his personality.

Marsh

"They were people, just like everyone else. And you killed them. Is this all a game to you, Kelsier?"

Kelsier's older and more level-headed brother. He is a Seeker, an Allomancer who can detect the use of Allomancy in others. He was involved in a love triangle with Kelsier over Mare, and grew a deep resentment of his brother when Mare died in the Pits of Hathsin. Marsh was formerly the the leader of the Skaa Rebellion, but he decided that his cause was hopeless and quit.

In the present day, he returns to call out Kelsier on his murderous tendencies. Kelsier ends up recruiting him to the Crew. Marsh's role in the mission is to infiltrate the Steel Ministry, learning their secrets and telling to Kelsier and his crew.

Actually Pretty Funny: He finds the Second Era Scadrians viewing him as The Grim Reaper to be pretty amusing.
And I Must Scream: Trapped inside his own head, forced to watch as Ruin does terrible things using his body, and often overwhelmed so completely he's forced to like it.
The Atoner: In The Alloy of Law, we find out he's working for Harmony, probably for this reason.
Brainwashed and Crazy: Courtesy of Ruin.
Demonic Possession: Ruin takes control of him because of his spikes.
Determinator: Manages to resist Ruin some even with the most spikes in him.
The Dragon: To Ruin, being the Inquisitor used for the most important tasks.
Eye Scream: Has spikes shoved into his eyes when he becomes a Steel Inquisitor.
Gave Up Too Soon: One of his deepest regrets was leaving the Skaa Rebellion shortly before Kelsier managed to win. He considers never giving up to Ruin's influence to be his redemption.
Gone Horribly Right: When he vanishes and is presumed dead, the others assume the Canton of Inquisition must have found out that he was The Mole. In reality, they never knew - they converted him into an Inquisitor because he had impressed them with his diligence and competence as an acolyte, which ultimately leads to him becoming The Dragon, which is infinitely worse.
The Grim Reaper: By The Alloy of Law, the Church of the Survivor has a god of death named "Ironeyes." Kelsier would probably have found this hilarious.
Heroic Willpower: Resisting Ruin even to a small degree required phenomenal amounts of this. It pays off when he saves the world.
Immortality: The same way as the Lord Ruler; in fact, he's still alive three hundred years later in The Alloy of Law.
The Infiltration: Kelsier's plan has him infiltrate the Steel Ministry. He chooses to infiltrate the Canton of Inquisition. This later leads to his transformation into a Steel Inquisitor.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's grim and embittered, but he loves his brother and nobody believes in the rebellion as strongly as he does.
The Leader: Formerly lead the skaa rebellion. Later leads the Steel Ministry.
Phlebotinum Rebel: Initially. He kills every other Inquisitor in Kredik Shaw, then helps Vin fight the Lord Ruler.
Reforged into a Minion: Turned into an Inquisitor near the end of the first book. Subverted in that he retains control of his faculties and helps Vin take down the Lord Ruler. Played straight in the next two books, when Ruin takes control of him.
Sour Supporter: He's extremely skeptical of his brother's motives in fighting the Lord Ruler, and helps the group more despite Kelsier than because of him.
Spikes of Villainy: During his stint as Ruin's super inquisitor. He had upwards of 20 spikes by the time he confronted Vin.
The Stoic: Earns him the nickname "Ironeyes". Prophetically, as it turns out.
That Man Is Dead: He doesn't say it himself, but in The Hero of Ages, Vin repeatedly tells herself that Marsh is dead, and only Ruin is left.
Tragic Monster: He never wanted to be an Inquisitor, and certainly didn't want to be Ruin's puppet.
Walking Spoiler: Everything that happens to him from the climax of The Final Empire through The Hero of Ages is a massive spoiler.
Was Once a Man: Being turned into an Inqusitor gives you tremendous power, but also makes you something other than human.
What the Hell, Hero?: To Kelsier when he first shows up, pointing out Kelsier's disregard for human life.

OreSeur

Lord Teven Renoux (Impostor)/OreSeur

A man working for Kelsier as part of his plan to overthrow the Lord Ruler and the Final Empire. After Lord Renoux's death at the hands of Kelsier and OreSeur himself, his life is taken over by this man. He somehow looks exactly like Lord Renoux, and has copied all of his mannerisms. His role in the operation is to serve as a front for the weapons purchased for use by the crew and the skaa rebellion. He is actually a kandra, a special type of mistwraith who has human level intelligence due to the third magic art on Scadrial, Hemalurgy. His true role is only revealed after Kelsier's death: he is to devour Kelsier's bones to make the Skaa of Luthadel believe that Kelsier is a god. This will make them rise up and overthrow the Lord Ruler.

In The Well of Ascension, his contract has been passed to Vin.

Blob Monster: In his true form, just like every other kandra.
Canine Companion: Forced to take a dog's form at Vin's request since she doesn't want to kill a person just to give him a body. He never gets to use it, because he is killed by TenSoon.
Dead Person Impersonation:
- He impersonates Lord Renoux, who died because of Kelsier. He was able to do this because his race's ability to assume the form of living creatures after absorbing their bones naturally makes him very good at this.
- His impersonating talent gets reversed on him when he is killed and impersonated.
Posthumous Character: We learn most of what we know about him after his death.
Squick: invoked When Breeze realizes what he is, he tells Yeden not to ask about it, as the answer would seriously squick him out. When his secret is finally revealed to the members of The Crew who were left in the dark, it really, really bothers Vin. This feeling is increased tenfold because one of the people he ate was Kelsier, albeit with permission.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: Kandra have precise control over their physical bodies once they have a skeleton to operate. OreSeur demonstrates this by creating an opening in his shoulder for Vin to store metal vials inside him.
You Are Who You Eat: Kandra, like Mistwraiths, consume dead bodies and keep their bones to create a skeleton for themselves. Kandra memorize the exact physical details of what they ate and form the right flesh around their new bones, becoming a perfect physical copy of who or what they just consumed.

Spook

Lestibournes ("Spook")

A Tineye, one who can enhance their senses with Allomancy, who is the nephew of Clubs. He aids Kelsier's rebellion, becoming more important as the story progresses. By the time of Hero of Ages he's become so dependent on tin that he is permanantly forced to burn it, giving him extreme senses at the cost of not being able to turn them off.

Ascended Extra: In the first book, he's just the kid with the weird accent who tags along with Clubs and has a crush on Vin. In the second, he's somewhat more prominent. In the third, he's one of the main viewpoint characters.
Blindfolded Vision: In The Hero of Ages his constant tin burning his enhanced his super senses to such a level that he needs to wear a blindfold during the day to even function.
Dark Messiah: Ruin tries to turn him into one in The Hero of Ages. It almost works.
Dating Catwoman: With Beldre in The Hero of Ages.
Discard and Draw: At the end of the series, Harmony reverses the transformation into a tin savant and makes him Mistborn instead.
Elective Broken Language: He speaks with such heavily accented street cant that the rest of the crew barely understands him. Half the reason for it is that he is a kid who feels out of his element with the rest of the (much older) crew and does it on purpose. By book three he has mostly grown out of it.
I Just Want to Be Special: He wants to be a Mistborn like Vin, or even just to be able to say that Kelsier choose him for the crew instead of just being an extra. He finally gets his wish when Harmony turns him into the world's only Mistborn, though he seems content in who he is by then.
Irony: His character is partly defined by his Overshadowed by Awesome and I Coulda Been a Contender! attitude to the full Mistborn members of the crew. He gains full Mistborn powers from Harmony at the end and is the only Mistborn left in the world. By the time of The Alloy of Law he is known as "the" Lord Mistborn.
Jive Turkey: He speaks a certain dialect of street slang. It is very nearly utterly incomprehensible to both the reader and to anyone in-setting. At least one bit of translation is given in The Hero of Ages, saying that 'wasing' means 'was doing,' and 'wasing the run of there' means 'I was running to that place'. It's still confusing.
- Hilariously, by the time of The Alloy of Law this once annoying street slang is now known as High Imperial, the world's equivalent to Latin.
Kung-Fu Clairvoyance: As a tin savant, his senses are so acute that he can perfectly pinpoint an enemy soldier through hearing his heartbeat, or track a sword swinging at the back of his head by the noise it makes cutting through the air.
My God, What Have I Done?: When he realizes he's being manipulated by the Ruin-created hallucination of Kelsier and tears out his pewter-burning spike, he immediately understands that in his attempt to help against an apparent Evil Overlord in the city he had been sent to, he in fact has just resulted in setting the entire city on fire and causing mass chaos. He makes quick work to revert the damage as best as he can.
The Only Believer: Was the only member of the original Crew to actually believe in Kelsier's divinity, which also meant that he was the only one who Kelsier could speak to while holding the power of Preservation.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Lestibornes is street slang translating as "Lefting I'm born", or "I've been abandoned." So far as anyone knows, it's his real name; he never uses or thinks about his birth name Jedal because he was named after his father.
Overshadowed by Awesome: Being a Tineye is pretty cool. Unfortunately, being surrounded by people whose powers are even cooler leaves him feeling somewhat left in the dust. By Hero of Ages, he's clearly got something of a complex about it, but becoming a Tin Savant helps bring him up to par.
Parental Abandonment: Rejected by his parents for being an Allomancer.
Power Incontinence: Due to his permanently enhanced senses.
Super-Senses: Especially in The Hero of Ages.
Super-Strength: With pewter.
Took a Level in Badass: In The Hero Of Ages. First, he becomes a Tin Savant, having super-enhanced senses beyond what any Tineye should have. Then, Ruin gives him pewter. After learning the truth about Hemalurgy he pulls out his spike, but he later gets pewter back when Sazed makes him a full Mistborn.
The Unintelligible: The accent/slang he has at first. He gets better.

Yeden

The leader of the skaa rebellion. He joined Kelsier's crew in hopes of overthrowing the Lord Ruler.

Decapitation Presentation: Though it's never confirmed if he was decapitated in battle or posthumously, scouts sent to look over the remains of the slaughter to confirm deaths report finding his head mounted on a spear left in the battlefield.
General Failure: His only act as a military leader got most of his army slaughtered.
Hero-Worshipper: He slowly comes to idolize Kelsier.
Hot-Blooded: He's aggressively determined to topple the Lord Ruler, but doesn't have the sense to back it up.
Killed Off for Real: He dies in the first book.
The Leader: Of the skaa rebellion. He's serious and competent enough, but Kelsier's prowess at raising his hopes works too well.
Rebel Leader: Until Kelsier basically swoops in and takes over the job.
Sacrificial Lion: When he's killed off about two thirds of the way into the first book, it becomes apparent just what a bind the heroes are in.
Suicidal Overconfidence: Believes that Kelsier can grant his Mistborn abilities to others, and so attacks a Final Empire shipment full force. He's wrong, and everyone knows its Kelsier's fault.
Took a Level in Kindness: He becomes much nicer over the course of Mistborn: The Final Empire.

The Skaa

Reen

Vin's abusive half-brother, who warned her to beware of being betrayed. He eventually betrayed her one day, disappearing and never returning. His words still ring clear in Vin's head.

Abusive Parents: Not Vin's actual parent, but very abusive.
Aloof Big Brother: Seems to have shown hardly any affection for his sister, beyond being the only person who paid attention to her at all.
Asshole Victim: Played with in an odd way. He was an asshole who got tortured and killed by the Steel Inquisitors, but he did so heroically, protecting Vin from danger.
Big Brother Bully: He beat Vin quite frequently. This is later revealed to be a bizarre mix with Big Brother Instinct. He abused Vin because he thought that breaking her was the only way she'd survive.
Big Brother Instinct: He will do anything to protect Vin, including beating her up to toughen her up and withstanding torture to protect the secret of her existence.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Both warns Vin of it and exhibits it himself.
Dead All Along: He never betrayed Vin. He was actually captured and killed.
Heroic Sacrifice: Letting Kar and the other Inquisitors kill him so that they wouldn't find Vin.
Jerkass: Not a nice guy by any stretch of the imagination. The rest of this entry should make the details abundantly clear.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: It's pretty clear that Reen was cruel to Vin primarily because he thought that she'd only survive if he toughened her up and taught her to always be suspicious and cynical. Unfortunately, this also lead directly into the Broken Bird nature she exhibits, particularly early in the series. Probably an example of why emotionally damaged cynical Jerkasses, even well-intentioned ones, shouldn't raise kids.
Parental Substitute: To Vin, after their mother went crazy.
Posthumous Character: Though his presence hangs over Vin's storyline, he disappeared shortly before the first book began. It later turns out he was captured and tortured to death by the Inquisitors.
Promotion to Parent: What with their father being out of the picture and their mother going Ax-Crazy, he became Vin's primary caretaker.
Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Never personally threatened Vin with this, but did threaten to sell her to a skaa brothel fairly often. Skaa brothels have very high employee turnover rates, since by law noble men are required to kill any skaa women they sleep with, to prevent Allomancy from making its way into the genetics of the slaves. So he never personally threatened to rape and murder her, just send her to a place where she'd be raped and murdered in very short order. What a swell guy. On the other hand, he took great care to help her downplay her femininity, so the men of the thieving crews they were staying with would be less tempted to rape her. Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other
Spirit Advisor: Vin frequently hears his voice, normally warning her not to trust people. Turns out to have actually been Ruin some of the time.
Tough Love: Deconstructed. His frequent beatings of Vin were supposed to toughen her up, but they end up doing a lot more bad than good on the long run.

Camon

The abusive leader of Vin's thieving crew.

Asshole Victim: Killed by an Inquisitor who believed him to be an Allomancer. Honestly had it coming.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Happens often, but it's most notable when he betrays Theron, who had spent years building up a plan, simply to get a few boxings.
Jerkass: A pompous, cruel, ill-tempered man all around.
Laser-Guided Karma: Kelsier ensures it by getting his crew to turn on him and beat him.
The Leader: Of a thieving crew.
Master of Disguise: He's supposedly really good at imitating noblemen. In reality, he's so arrogant that everyone thinks he's a nobleman.
Small Name, Big Ego: As Vin and Kelsier put it, he thinks of himself as a predator, but he's actually a scavenger.
Smug Snake: Camon's competent enough at what he does, but he's hardly the genius he thinks he is.

Milev

The second in command of Camon's thieving crew.

The Leader: Takes over after the crew turns on Camon.

Ulef

A member of Camon's crew. Vin considers him almost a friend, although he's just as bad as the rest.

False Friend: He's not so much a "friend" as "slightly less sadistic."

Theron

The leader of a skaa thieving crew. He uses Camon as part of a plan he had been setting up for five years.

Chekhov's Gunman: When Vin and The Crew need to get Marsh on the obligator boats, Theron and his contact come in handy.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: He's perfectly willing to betray anyone to get ahead.
Enemy Mine: Works with Camon against the Steel Ministry.

Demoux

Captain/General Demoux

A younger man in the rebel army. He has a prominent scar on his head, and is appointed a captain by Kelsier, due to his bravery.

Combat Clairvoyance: He's an atium Misting.
Four-Star Badass: He eventually becomes one of Elend's generals. And yes, he is badass.
Mauve Shirt: He's pretty much the face of the rebel army.
Neat Freak: In contrast to Ham, he always keeps himself neat and tidy.
Plot Armor: He's named after one of Brandon's friends, and Brandon had to promise said friend that Demoux would survive to the end of the story and find a Love Interest. By Word of God, this is the reason he survived the mistsickness and the koloss battle.
- He's still alive 300+ years later on Roshar
Red Herring Mole: Vin believes that he has been impersonated by a kandra. In reality, he was just joining the Church of the Survivor.
Scars Are Forever: Picks up a fairly impressive collection of these as the series goes on.
Swords Are Heroic: His preferred weapon.
Younger Than They Look: His prominent scar makes him look older than he really is.

Goradel

Captain Goradel

A skaa soldier from Luthadel who works for the Lord Ruler and The Final Empire by extension. In the climax of Mistborn: The Final Empire, he is standing guard at Kredik Shaw when Vin decides to raid it. She tells him about the skaa uprising, leading to his decision to leave the Final Empire and join Vin.

Badass Normal: He has no allomancy and thus died very quickly to Marsh in The Hero of Ages, but he lasted longer than most would have against a Ruin-controlled Steel Inquisitor.
Big Damn Heroes: Shows up with Elend in Mistborn: The Final Empire when they go to save Vin from the Lord Ruler.
Courier: Carries Spook's secret message about Hemalurgy in The Hero of Ages. Ruin has Marsh kill him and read the message, but this actually gives Marsh the knowledge to free Vin from Ruin's influence the moment he regains control of his body.
Dropped a Bridge on Him: Ruin tracks him down via Marsh in The Hero of Ages. He stood no chance of winning, let alone winning, but still made Marsh work for the kill.
Mook–Face Turn: He starts out as one of the Lord Ruler's guards, but Vin convinces him to change sides.
Small Role, Big Impact: He's a very minor character, but he is pivotal to saving the world on two separate occasions.
Tuckerization: Named after the author's friend Gordon.

Quellion

Also known as "The Citizen". A man who wants to follow Kelsier's ways, which he does by executing nobles and Allomancers. He rules in Urteau.

Black-and-White Insanity: Skaa with no noble blood are good. Anyone with the slightest connection to the nobility is evil though he'll make an exception for his half-sister. This attitude was doubtless provoked beyond all reason by Ruin.
Bread and Circuses: How he maintains his Villain with Good Publicity status. He allows the people small freedoms like cheap wine and no curfew, coupled with constant invocation of the Survivor, to distract them from his increasingly tyrannical methods.
Dramatically Missing the Point: Severely misinterprets Kelsier's views on nobles, which was that their society was corrupt and everyone who defended them could be killed, skaa or noble. He never suggested that people should be executed for simply being related to nobles - in fact Kelsier himself and most of his crew would have been fit for execution under Quellion's metrics.
From Nobody to Nightmare: He went from just another skaa to rebel leader to a tyrant in his own right.
The Fundamentalist: An extreme follower of the Church of the Survivor.
Heel–Face Turn: Upon being freed from Ruin's influence, he expresses regret and horror at what he did and helps the heroes.
He Who Fights Monsters: Few would deny that the Final Empire's system was corrupt and brutally oppressive. Quellion's methods of creating a new order are hardly any better, though. It's unclear at what stage of the proceedings Ruin got involved.
Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Though it might be better to say that Ruin pushed him off.
Just the First Citizen: Or rather, just "the Citizen".
Knight Templar: He follows a radical interpretation of the Church of the Survivor and kills anyone who disagrees with him.
Modest Royalty: Though essentially the king of Urteau, he wears regular skaa worker's clothing (albeit dyed red or, later, blue) and takes no title grander than "The Citizen" - the better to present himself as a man of the people.
My God, What Have I Done?: his reaction after being freed from Ruin's control.
Non-Action Big Bad: Despite being the main villain of Spook's storyline in the third book, when separated from his followers he's not that tough in a fight.
President Evil: His role in Urtaeu, after kicking the nobility out.
The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: Took over Urtaeu and promptly set himself up as dictator while brutally executing any nobles he got his hands on.
Spikes of Villainy: Ruin got a spike in there at some point.
Straw Hypocrite: Denounces allomancers while being a coinshot himself. Except he's not - his sister is the coinshot, though Quellion does have a Hemalurgic spike that grants him the power of a Seeker.
Tyrant Takes the Helm: After the revolution in Urteau he set his own tyrannical system in place.
Villain with Good Publicity: He's charismatic enough to be popular in Urteau despite his despotic rule. Spook has to spend a lot of time tearing his reputation down, partially by building up his own.
Young and in Charge: Though his exact age isn't specified, he's noted to be young for the ruler of a city-state.

Beldre

Quellion's sister. She doesn't like her brother's extreme methods, but she does believe that he is a good person.

Action Girl: Sort of. She hates fighting, but because she's a Coinshot, she can still take out most trained soldiers if they're not ready for her.
Dating Catwoman: With Spook.
Glass Cannon: Being a Coinshot who isn't a warrior otherwise, she can't take much punishment but can dish out a lot of it if she's in the right mood.
Hidden Depths: She may look and act like a sad, rather naive girl, but she's also a Misting, and her brother's hidden bodyguard.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: She's basically Vin's opposite in this regard; where Vin doesn't trust anybody easily, Beldre wants to trust everybody and thinks she can solve the conflict between her brother and Spook just by talking it out. Actually, that probably would have worked if Ruin hadn't been prodding both Quellion and Spook to act more and more irrationally.

Mennis

One of the Skaa on Lord Tresting's plantation.

Breakout Character: His popularity among the alpha readers caused Brandon to increase his role in the first book.
Chekhov's Gunman: Takes charge of the rebellion until Kelsier can arrive.
Intro-Only Point of View: His only POV is in the prologue to the first book.
Morton's Fork: He has this placed upon him by Kelsier's actions: Stay and be killed by the Final Empire, or leave and be forced to join the rebellion.

Tepper

One of the skaa on Lord Tresting's plantation.

Properly Paranoid: He was right to believe that no noble would pay his skaa. The man Kelsier told him about was actually a kandra. Though it's strangely subverted by supplementary material, which reveals that aristocrats from the Farmost Dominance actually do reward loyal skaa with lands or titles.

Amaranta

A herbalist who was a former mistress of Straff Venture. Nowadays, she hangs around Straff and prepares antidotes for Zane's poisoning attempts. In reality, Amaranta got Straff hooked on drugs, and by Zane's suggestion, tricked him into thinking that drug withdrawal was a poisoning attempt. She's also Zane's lover.

The Dog Bites Back: She finally gets sick of Straff and turns on him after Zane's death. It didn't do her much good.
Killed Mid-Sentence: Straff strangles her as she gloats to him.
Love Makes You Crazy: But it's actually her love for Zane, not Straff.
Magic Antidote: She has a herbal mixture that can cure every single poison that Zane throws at Straff. Actually, that's not true. Straff mistakes the feeling of drug withdrawal for the feeling of being poisoned, and she simply prepares him more of the drug.
Old Maid: How Straff views her. Though the extent of how unattractive he finds his objectively beautiful and most devoted mistress, along with the comment that he started to view her like this in her early 20's says a lot of how repulsive Straff is as a human being.
Woman Scorned: Straff treated her cruelly and rejected her when she was too old to meet his ridiculous standards of attractiveness so she teamed up with Zane to get revenge.

The Nobility

Elend

Lord Elend Venture

"We're going to do what we've always done, Vin. We're going to survive."

A young and idealistic noble who is the heir to the powerful Venture house. He meets Vin by chance, and grows quite close to her.

Amazon Chaser: Considering he's in love with Vin, should be obvious.
Author Avatar: More specifically, Brandon Sanderson has said he's partly based on a younger version of himself, who likely really would get out a book at a party. His character is also influenced by one of Sanderson's friends as well.
Badass Bookworm: Always a bookworm, slowly becomes a badass across Well of Ascension culminating in becoming a mistborn himself.
Dating Catwoman: In Mistborn: The Final Empire. He's the heir to the most powerful house in the Final Empire; she's a member of a thieving crew that's trying to overthrow the Final Empire.
Deuteragonist: Of The Well of Ascension as he tries to grow into his new role as king.
Dub Name Change: The German translation changed his name to "Elant", likely because "Elend" in German means "suffering".
Face Death with Dignity: At the end of The Hero of Ages, having seen the future effects of his actions by way of flaring his atium, he allows Marsh to kill him knowing that Vin will defeat Ruin immediately afterward.
Gentleman Snarker: He has a rather caustic sense of sarcasm, which is one of the reasons Vin is initally attracted to him.
The Good King: From the end of Final Empire on.
Has a Type: Coincidentally, Vin is so exactly Elend's type that his friends belive she's a plant.
Jastes: They created the perfect woman to attract you: dark-haired, a bit mysterious, and outside the regular political structure. They made her lowborn enough for it to be a scandal.
Heroic BSoD: In Hero of Ages he has a brief one before Preservation manages to snap him out of it.
Honor Before Reason: For the first couple of books. He eventually gets over it.
Hunk: Come the third book, his regal bearing mixed with his toned warrior's figure and beard makes him quite a sight to the ladies of the court.
Hypocrite: Yomen accuses him of being one. Elend likes to tote on about giving the people a say in their government, but after they voted Elend out he just took rule again through force. Elend mentally admits Yomen's right.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: He gives Vin the freedom to do what will make her happy, even if that means she leaves him. Remembering this is what ultimately stops Vin from going with Zane, since she realizes she'd rather be with someone who she can trust and who trusts her in turn.
Light Is Good: when he becomes the Good King and later Emperor, he dons an all white outfit, in contrast to Vin's black clothes.
Mirror Character: In Hero of Ages he starts to realize his actions as emperor are very similar to what the Lord Ruler did to keep the empire intact.
Nice Guy: If you can say anything about Elend it's that he's an honorable man who truly cares about his people.
Nice to the Waiter: Downplayed in regards to his attitude towards the skaa. He views them more as a fascinating subject rather than outright people, but that's still leaps and bounds better than any other noble's view. It becomes a straight example when he learns more about them.
Non-Action Guy: At least until the third book.
Off with His Head!: Marsh lops his head off with an ax.
The Power of Trust: His unquestioning trust of Vin helps her solve a few problems. It's convinces her not to go with Zane, and allows her to have his support against Ruin without giving anything away.
Professional Sex Ed: Straff forced him to sleep with a whore when he was 13. Elend later found out the woman was executed to prevent half-breed children, and this would haunt him for the rest of his life.
Protectorate: To Vin.
Rebellious Princess: Gender flipped. Basically, became an idealistic scholar initially for no other reason than because he knew it would tick his father off. Then he found out it suited him.
Satellite Love Interest: He doesn't get much development in the first book, though when he becomes a POV character in books two and three, this changes.
The Smart Guy: After Sazed, the most intelligent and well-read of the main cast.
Together in Death: With Vin in The Hero of Ages.
Took a Level in Badass: Twice. First under Tindwyl's tutelage in The Well of Ascension, and then another after becoming Mistborn himself at the end of that book.
Troll: Elend is an expert on annoying people, both to get a reaction out of them and to draw their attention.
Unskilled, but Strong: As a Mistborn, he's got more raw Allomantic power than anyone in the series short of the Lord Ruler himself- but he's also the first to admit that Vin has a far more subtle affinity for her powers. Justified because he acquired his Mistborn powers directly from the same metal that was used to grant the original, near-godlike Mistborn their powers by the Lord Ruler.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: Politically, at least.
The Wise Prince: Dedicates himself to scholarly pursuits and is one of the few nobles who cares at all about the injustices of their system and the plight of the skaa.

Straff

Lord Straff Venture

"I set the fashion now, boy."

Elend's abusive father, who is also a Tineye. In The Well of Ascension, he leads a massive army in an attempt to take over Luthadel.

Abdicate the Throne: He makes Elend the leader of House Venture, but only because he thinks that his son is going to die.
Abusive Dad: Pretty much made no secret of the fact that he thought Elend was worthless. Zane got treated even worse.
Aristocrats Are Evil: Very evil. Even most of the other nobles, corrupt and tyrannical and they are, think Straff is excessive in both regards.
Ascended Extra: Was a minor, although important, villain in Mistborn: The Final Empire. In The Well of Ascension, he's one of the contenders for the title of Big Bad.
Big Bad Wannabe: He spends most of the second book being outwitted or outplayed or reacting to events, and is a threat mainly because he has the biggest army, the greatest resources, and the fewest moral qualms of all the kings (that is to say, none). After he is killed, the story continues for another Act until Ruin's Evil Plan comes to fruition, and Ruin had been manipulating half the cast the whole time, including Straff's own Dragon Zane, whom Straff never truly controlled anyway.
Bullying a Dragon: Despite being only a Tineye Allomancer, Straff starts off The Well of Ascension personally antagonizing not one but two dangerous Mistborn. He browbeats Zane despite the latter being Ax-Crazy and alternates between scorning Vin and implicitly threatening her with sexual abuse and Elend with death. Elend's ultimate gambit on escaping Straff's camp is pointing out exactly how suicidal messing with Vin is, with Vin emphasizing the point with blatant emotional manipulation.
Composite Character: Of a sort. The original version of Kelsier's informant scene had Kelsier talking to Lord Hastings, and it was the only scene featuring the latter. In the final version, Kelsier speaks to Straff Venture, making Straff a combination of himself and Lord Hastings.
Dirty Old Man: Keeps a HUGE number of mistresses, which he prefers to be young. How young? Finds his mature but still beautiful mistress in her late 20's repulsive, and reminiscent about how she had been once beautiful... a decade ago.
Ephebophile: Prefers his mistresses in this age range. He even has one who looks a lot like Vin, who he uses to taunt Vin and Elend with what he can and will do if he gets his way.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Dear God, does he have a bad case of this. The very idea of altruism is alien to him and he ascribes nefarious or selfish motives to everything that anyone ever does. For example, the idea that somebody could save the life of another because they didn't want to see an innocent man die is an idea he finds both hilarious and stupid. He's also surprised that his second in command, Janarle, didn't take over the army after acute drug withdrawal nearly kills him, and ends up concluding the man is afraid of Zane's retribution rather than personal loyalty.
Evil Overlord: Sets himself up as one after the Lord Ruler dies.
Expy: To Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. They are both presented as powerful nobles under an Emperor, and widely know as sadistic Dirty Old Men who like much younger partners. They are primarily Non Action Big Bads and rely on more talented (if somewhat mentally unstable) younger relatives to do the legwork and their arch-enemies are also people from their blood. They are disposed with little fanfare and, after their deaths, the descendants they opposed would succeed on become Emperors themselves.
Fantastic Racism: Continues to viciously abuse skaa even after the system that demanded it is overthrown. In fairness, he doesn't treat most nobles much better, his son included.
Half the Man He Used to Be: Vin comes screaming down from the sky using a duralumin-Steelpush, wielding a Koloss sword and lops him in two, along with his horse. Lengthways.
Hate Sink: There isn't a single redeeming quality about Straff aside from MAYBE his cold sense of propriety in the first book. But once he becomes a king in The Well of Ascension, and he's allowed to indulge in his basest desires openly, he does so with relish, leaving even Elend surprised at what a monster his father is in every regard, as well as how reliant on more competent minions he really is.
Elend: "You are a pig, Father. A sick, disgusting man. You thought you were a brilliant leader, but you were barely competent. You nearly got our house destroyed—only the Lord Ruler's own death saved you! You may take Luthadel, but you'll lose it! I may have been a bad king, but you'll be a terrible one. The Lord Ruler was a tyrant, but he was also a genius. You're neither. You're just a selfish man who'll use up his resources, then end up dead from a knife in the back."
Insistent Terminology: In The Well of Ascension, Straff wants everyone to call him King Straff Venture.
It's All About Me / Lack of Empathy: Straff doesn't seem to care at all about anyone who isn't him.
Jerkass Has a Point: while talking to a disguised Kelsier, he claims that there is no legend of an Eleventh Metal, and that Kelsier might have been replaced by a kandra. Both of these are eventually revealed to be true.
Manipulative Bastard: Though he's just as often the one being manipulated, and fails to realize it.
Offing the Offspring: Sends assassins to kill Elend, and tries to have Zane killed. Near the end of The Well of Ascension, it backfires on him when he does kill Zane, prompting his mistress to turn on him.
Politically Incorrect Villain: Viciously misogynistic and racist.
Pride Before a Fall: His final moments are filled with self gratification at his percieved victory...mere moments before Vin bisects him with a BFS. As fitting as it is cathartic.
Smug Snake: He's competent enough, but his ego far exceeds his capabilities.
The Sociopath: Devoid of empathy and compassion with a distinct sadistic streak.
Super-Senses: It comes with being a Tineye.
Tyke Bomb: Straff made it a point to have many mistresses so that he could produce countless children who could potentially possess Misting or Mistborn powers, to serve as his personal assassins. He went so far as to deliberately violate the Lord Ruler's prohibition against allowing skaa women to bear children born from noblemen to ensure he had Misting children.
Villainous Breakdown: During The Well of Ascension as it sinks in that Zane is uncontrollable and Vin is virtually unstoppable. And again, when Vin has killed Zane and Amaranta reveals she's been addicting him to drugs rather than curing (nonexistent) poisons.

Janarle

Straff Venture's second in command. He becomes one of the three kings under Elend Venture.

Dragon with an Agenda: Implied, Straff suspects that Janarle will betray him if he learns of Zane's death. Of course, it could just be Straff projecting what he'd do in Janarle's place.
Even Evil Has Standards: Played with. While Janarle was willing to have a chuckle with Straff at the idea of letting the Koloss "have their fun" for a bit by sacking Luthadel, thereby doing most of the hard work for them, he seemed taken aback by the ever-paranoid Straff's idea to let the Koloss raze the whole of Luthadel entirely and killing everyone within the city before coming in and slaughtering them.
Heel–Face Turn: Vin basically scares him into swearing fealty to her and Elend.
What Happened to the Mouse?: The heroes stop hearing from him after a certain point in The Hero of Ages, and while it's heavily implied that he's one of the offscreen casualties of Ruin's destruction of the world, it's neither confirmed nor denied by the end of the book. Word of God indicates he was captured by koloss and turned into one of them.

Shan

Lady Shan Elariel

Elend's fiance. She's a soother, and is arrogant and manipulative.

Alpha Bitch: She's in a court, rather than school, setting, but otherwise fits the trope to a "t" though she's rather more dangerous than most.
Dark Action Girl: Very capable in combat, very arrogant and ruthless.
Getting Smilies Painted on Your Soul: She's a Soother, so she can mess with emotions. And she can also Riot, due to being a full Mistborn.
Hidden Badass: She's not just a soother, she's a full mistborn.
Murder the Hypotenuse: Vin kills Shan when she tries to assassinate Elend. It wasn't Vin's intention, but Shan was Elend's fiancee. Elend makes a dark joke along these lines in Hero of Ages, mentioning that Vin married him after killing his fiancee, his father, his brother and his god, to boot.
Not-So-Harmless Villain: She pretends to be obnoxious but ultimately not a real threat. But she's a mistborn.
Psycho Knife Nut: Like Vin, favors the traditional allomancer's glass knives. Unlike Vin, she's quite crazy.
The Reveal: For most of her appearances, she's built up as practically a female Draco Malfoy- arrogant, obnoxious, and annoying, but ultimately harmless. Then it turns out she's a Mistborn nearly as powerful as Vin and fully trained besides. Even Kelsier is surprised that Vin lived through the fight.
Rich Bitch: Shan is the daughter of a wealthy, powerful House and is extremely proud of that fact, looking down not only on the skaa but on lesser nobles as well.
Smug Snake: Exceedingly arrogant though it may at least partially be a facade.
Starter Villain: Odd mix with Arch-Enemy. As a full Mistborn, she's Vin's first real Allomantic opponent, and Vin defeating her proves she has the skills to challenge the first book's real nemesis, The Lord Ruler. Though she is the primary antagonist Vin deals with for the majority of the first book.

Kliss

Lady Kliss

The court gossip, who Vin uses to spread rumors about House Hastings. She's actually an informant, and she's on to Vin.

Entertainingly Wrong: She successfully guesses Vin and Renoux are up to something, and are using her to spread rumors in order to weaken other noble Houses. However, she completely misinterprets their end goal. She thinks House Renoux is trying to weaken its political rivals, when in truth the Crew is attempting to escalate the tensions and cause a House War. When she blackmails Vin, the Crew plays along and pays her, as it helps them to conceal their secret.
Gossipy Hens: Her initial impression on Vin, and pretty much everyone else, is that of an air-headed gossip. It's only a front.
I Fight for the Strongest Side!: Well, the side with the most money. A girl's gotta eat.
The Informant: Pretends to be a gossip in order to gather plenty of juicy information to sell to the highest bidder.
Obfuscating Stupidity: She pretends to be an air-headed gossip, but it's only a front to make people let their guard down. In truth, she's an informant.

Hastings

Lord Hastings

The leader of House Hastings. He's apparently a pretty evil guy, even if we don't get to meet him. He gets what's coming to him when his house is destroyed by Elariel assassins.

Aristocrats Are Evil: What we're told about him suggests this.
The Ghost: We never actually get to meet him. He was originally going to have a one-shot appearance when Kelsier was posing as an informant, but his role was given to the much more important Straff Venture.

Cett

Lord Ashweather Cett

The king of Fadrex, Cett left his city after hearing about Straff Venture's siege of Luthadel. Fearing that Straff would take the atium within the city, Cett besieged Luthadel himself, wanting to take the atium and increase his wealth.

At Least I Admit It: He's a greedy power-hungry tyrant, but he takes great pride in being upfront about how much of a bastard he is.
Big Bad Wannabe: Cett presents himself as a powerful, Card-Carrying Villain tyrant but he's neither as evil or as powerful as he'd like you to believe.
Boisterous Bruiser: Played with; he has the personality, but is actually a cripple.
Card-Carrying Villain: Subverted. He certainly talks the talk, but then does a Heel–Face Turn.
Country Mouse: Has a chip on his shoulder about Luthadel attitudes to provincial nobility like himself.
Evil Cripple: Subverted when he has a Heel–Face Turn.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Loves his son and his daughter.
Heel–Face Turn: Allrianne initially tricks him into it. Vin's threats cement it.
I Fight for the Strongest Side!: Defects to Team Elend when he decides that it holds the strongest chance of survival for him.
Obfuscating Disability: Subverted. Vin thinks he's faking his paralysis to hide being a very powerful Mistborn. Nope. It's genuine, and he's had the condition since childhood.
Sir Swears-a-Lot: "Where I come from, people are ashamed to use pretty words like "damn"!"
Throwing Off the Disability: His legs were healed a a part of Sazed remaking the world. Cett spends the epilogue just wandering around in shock.
Token Evil Teammate: Sort of. He's not exactly evil, per se, but is the most traditional Imperial nobleman in Elend's court.

Allrianne

Lady Allrianne Cett

Lord Ashweather Cett's young and idealistic daughter.

Babies Ever After: Inferred with Breeze, since the one of the heroes of Wax and Wayne is their descendent.
Bratty Teenage Daughter: How she presents herself to begin with. It's only part of the truth, though; underneath she's far more savvy and canny.
The Heart: Definitely the traditionally girly one, especially compared to Vin, and has extremely useful emotion-based powers, but is no fighter herself.
Hidden Depths: Allrianne is gradually revealed to be a much more intelligent and principled person than she initially lets on.
May–December Romance: With Breeze. Note that she is the one to seduce him.
Obfuscating Stupidity: More like Obfuscating Superficiality. Most of what you see is Allrianne's real personality, true - but it's not all that there is to it by a long shot; she's much smarter than she looks.
Opposites Attract: Both she and Breeze can manipulate emotions, but while he's a Soother who can calm people down and make them more suggestible, she's a Rioter who can amplify passions and feelings.
Princesses Prefer Pink: She is technically a princess, and boy is she pink.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: She's the Girly Girl to Vin's Tomboy. Yes, even Vin at her most feminine looks plenty tomboyish next to Allrianne.

Penrod

Lord/King Ferson Penrod

One of the members of Elend's Assembly, and later his political rival.

Anti-Villain: He plots to take Elend's place as king, but isn't particularly villainous. He never does anything truly evil before being mind-controlled by Ruin in the third book, he actually obtains the crown legally and without violence and he seems to respect Elend's idealism. He wants to give Luthadel to Straff, but only because he thinks that's the only way to survive.
Brainwashed and Crazy: Marsh sticks a spike in him to make him go mad.
The Caligula: Goes crazy because of Ruin's corruption.
Dying as Yourself: Kills himself in a moment of sanity.
Heroic Sacrifice: Kills himself so that Ruin can't further corrupt him.
Killed Offscreen: Elend arrives and finds him already dead.

Jastes

Lord Jastes Lekal

The young heir to the Lekal house. He is a good friend to Elend, and the two of them often sneak away from parties to discuss politics, along with Teldu. He is idealistic, but not to Elend's extent.

The Atoner: Tries to become this when he loses control of the koloss, but Elend doesn't buy it and chops his head off.
Big Bad Ensemble: Is on of the main villains of The Well of Ascension, alongside "King" Straff Venture and Lord Ashweather Cett.
Big Bad Wannabe: Though in the grand scheme of things, he's not personally that dangerous... it's his koloss you want to watch out for.
Face–Heel Turn: Goes from an idealistic youth in The Final Empire to one of the main villains in The Well of Ascension.
Freudian Excuse: He tried ruling the same way Elend did after the death of the Lord Ruler, only for his rivals to take advantage of it and overthrow him. And to slaughter his whole family.
Heel–Face Door-Slam: Starts to become The Atoner, but Elend beheads him because of what he did to his kingdom.
Kid with the Leash: To the koloss, though eventually he loses control of them.
Off with His Head!: Elend kills him by beheading him.
Properly Paranoid: He is convinced that Valette Renoux, the girl Elend has fallen for, is more than she seems. He's right to presume so, as she's a half-Skaa trying to overthrow the Final Empire, but his paranoia extended way too far. Granted, he probably couldn't have foreseen that she was trying to overthrow the Empire, so it's safe to say that his paranoia just didn't extend in the right directions.
Reformed, but Rejected: Played with. Elend does forgive him for his transgressions after he apologizes for it all. However, he reasons that his kingdom can't forgive him, so he executes him on the spot.
Right for the Wrong Reasons: His paranoia about Valette (Vin). He's completely right that she's more than she seems and she has an ulterior motive, but completely wrong about why. Not that he could've foreseen that, mind.
Sanity Slippage: Being surrounded day-in-day-out with koloss clearly took a toll on his mental wellbeing.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: He starts this way, but turns to the dark side when the Final Empire collapses.

Lekal

Lord Lekal

The leader of House Lekal. Flees during the Fall of Luthadel, but Sazed and Breeze later go to meet him.

Drowning My Sorrows: Drinks himself into a stupor when he realizes that the world is ending.
Human Sacrifice: Marsh uses his death to create a Hemalurgic Spike.

Tresting

Lord Themos Tresting

"One would think that a thousand years working in the fields would have bred them to be a little more effective at it."

One of the nobles of the Final Empire.

Aristocrats Are Evil: Noted to be cruel even by noble standards.
Asshole Victim: Seriously, nobody shed any tears when Kelsier killed him. Overlaps with Hate Sink, as it was important that the first person Kelsier kills was not sympathetic in the least.
Dropped a Bridge on Him: Killed by Kelsier off-page.
Intro-Only Point of View: He's the first POV in the series, but the prologue is the only time he appears.
Oh, Crap!: Has a moment of this when he notices one of his Skaa (actually Kelsier looking over the fields) smile at him.
Smug Snake: Like most nobles. Noticing a theme?
Starter Villain: He's the earliest bad guy in the series, as he is the villain of Mistborn: The Final Empire's prologue.
Villain Opening Scene: The very first scene of the trilogy features him and an obligator.

Renoux

Lord Teven Renoux

One of the nobles of the Final Empire. Kelsier offs him before the story begins. For the kandra impersonating him, see "OreSeur".

Dead All Along: A few characters are surprised to hear that Lord Renoux had been killed and replaced.

Melend

Lord Melend Liese

A young noble who asks Vin to dance with him at an early ball she attends.

Casanova Wannabe: Fairly flirty, but also noticeably self-conscious about it.
Shrinking Violet: A male variant. Vin notes that he won't stop blushing.

Entrone

Lord Charrs Entrone

Lord Entrone, in particular, would not be missed. He was infamous for his twisted sense of pleasure.

—Kelsier, thinking about Lord Charrs Entrone

A cruel man, who relished Skaa Bloodfights. After a bloodfight in which he gambled against Crews Geffenry, he got drunk and was killed by Kelsier on his way home.

Aristocrats Are Evil: Noted for his sadism.
Asshole Victim: Kelsier specifically singled him out for being a bad guy even compared to most nobles.
Tuckerization: Named after the author's friend Charlie.

Crews

Crews Geffenry

Crews was a known Mistborn, and a very competent knife fighter.

—Kelsier, thinking about Crews Geffenry

A Mistborn of the Geffenry house, and an excellent knife fighter. The Geffenry house had been petitioning for a stronger alliance with House Tekiel around the time of Lord Charrs Entrone's death. Because Crews was gambling against Charrs on the night of his death, Kelsier believes that Crews will become a suspect in the murder of Lord Charrs.

Aristocrats Are Evil: Anyone who takes pleasure in skaa bloodfights has to be pretty evil.
Badass Cape: Presumably sported a mistcloak, like most mistborn.
The Ghost: He never actually appears in the story, unless he was the Mistborn aiding Lady Shan Elariel when she tried to assassinate Lord Elend Venture near the end of Mistborn: The Final Empire.
Guilt by Coincidence: Kelsier believes that he will become a suspect in the Entrone murder purely by happenstance.

Final Empire Administration

The Lord Ruler

"How dare you? After what I gave you? I made you superior to regular men! I made you dominant!"

The immortal tyrant who rules the Final Empire. All-powerful and invincible, he is revered as God. He apparently defeated The Deepness in the past. After doing so, he somehow gained god-like powers, and used them to conquer the world. He calls himself "The Sliver of Infinity" because he is apparently only a small part of God. He is the main villain of Mistborn: The Final Empire.

Achilles' Heel: He is one of the deadliest magic users in the series, but without his Atiumminds he's toast.
A God Am I: Presents himself as God to the Final Empire.
All Your Powers Combined: The only known character to use Allomancy, Feruchemy, and Hemalurgy together. It makes him very powerful.
Anti-Villain: Believe it or not. He genuinely wanted to be a good king and tried his hardest to protect the world from Ruin even as he slowly went mad and became a terrible tyrant, and even that madness was at least partially due to Ruin tormenting him mentally for nearly a thousand years.
Arch-Enemy: Kelsier's stake in the scheme to cripple the Final Empire is deeply personal, as the Lord Ruler sent him to The Pits where he was tortured for months, causing a chain of events that led to Mare's death and making him awaken to Allomancy, kickstarting the events of the first book. He becomes Vin's as well after he kills Kelsier.
Beyond the Impossible: He is able to use Allomancy to do things thought impossible, like Push the metals inside a person's blood stream, pierce copperclouds, or Riot and Soothe hundreds of thousands of people at once. Justified due to the aforementioned All Your Powers Combined.
Big Bad: As the evil tyrant ruling the Final Empire, he serves this role. Except that there are forces much Bigger and Badder than him out there, and he was keeping one of them imprisoned...
Crazy-Prepared/Survivalist Stash: The supply caches and shelters he built across the Final Empire.
Creepy Monotone: He's extremely calm and composed in his speech and behavior even in the midst of attempts on his life. Ultimately subverted when Vin calls him by his real name and he flips out.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Gives Vin and Marsh - that's a Mistborn and an Inquisitor, for the record, two of the most powerful beings on Scadrial - a virtually effortless drubbing before Vin figures out his Achilles' Heel. The scary thing is, Fridge Brilliance and Word of God make it plain he wasn't even trying.
Dark Is Evil / Light Is Not Good: His usual outfit has black and white elements, and no other colors. Word of God indicates that it represents that the Lord Ruler feels he has gained mastery over all opposing forces like Ruin and Preservation. Though as Sazed notes in the last book's chapter headers, he was greatly overestimating his own importance.
Dark Messiah: Saved the world. Turned it into an ash-choked hellscape he ruled as king and god in the process.
Death by Depower: The bracelets he wears sustain his youth and Healing Factor. Once destroyed, he dies in seconds.
Deity of Human Origin: Even his followers agree that before he became the Lord Ruler, he was a mortal man. A mortal man named Rashek, as it happens. And though he's not technically a god by in-universe standards, he did briefly hold and use Preservation's power at the Well of Ascension.
Disc-One Final Boss: He dies at the end of the first book. There's two more to go in this trilogy.
The Dreaded: Almost everyone believes he's God. Even those who don't know he's the most powerful Allomancer alive. Either way, hardly anyone would dare cross him. In fact, he perpetuates this with his Emotion Bomb.
Emotion Bomb: Casts a super-powerful Soothing cloud wherever he goes, essentially projecting hopelessness and despair by deadening all other emotions.
Evil Overlord: Tyrannical ruler of an empire that covers the known world.
Fallen Hero: Zig-zagged. He's initially presented as being the Hero of Ages, who became corrupted and conquered humanity rather than saving it. Then we find out he's Rashek, the Hero's packman, who betrayed and murdered him and took his place. Then we find out that said murder was a case of Shoot the Dog to prevent Alendi from releasing Ruin, and Rashek actually was trying to protect the world, even as he gradually became corrupt and insane during his reign. So he was a Fallen Hero after all.
From Nobody to Nightmare: He went from a packman to a legendary tyrant.
God-Emperor: Spiritual and temporal ruler of the Final Empire, revered by his followers as the "Sliver of Infinity", a piece of God in human form. The skaa think he's evil and with good reason. The truth's a bit more complicated. He really does mean well and his harshness is arguably necessary, but Ruin's been attacking his mind for the last thousand years and it's getting to him.
Healing Factor: He has unlimited regeneration powers thanks to the Feruchemical applications of gold Compounded with Allomancy.
How Do I Shot Web?: When using the power at the Well of Ascension, he first sent Scadrial closer to its sun in order to burn away the mists he believed to be killing more than helping, but it caused serious overheating of the planet, leading to him creating the ashclouds to protect the planet's people, and making other changes to make sure the planet could survive with said ash. It ended up sucking for Scadrial, because his screw-up is what made it what it is today.
Immortality Inducer: His bracers are Atiumminds, which have been keeping him alive all this time.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Combined with a bare-handed slap to kill Kelsier. In the climax of Mistborn: The Final Empire, Vin kills him by ramming Sazed's spear into his chest.
Implacable Man: With a Healing Factor as good as his, he can keep coming with even being impaled little more than a minor nuisance.
Jerkass Has a Point: Much of the Final Empire, although for large values of "Jerk" and a point he's not planning to explain to you. Among the more notable: a vicious standing decree that any noble who sleeps with a Skaa woman is to put them to death. Why? So long as Allomancer births occur in the noble families he granted those powers to, the Lord Ruler knows who all of them are and how much of a threat they might be. In other words, no Vin, Kelsier or any other potential rival from low origins that might take him off guard. The "Point", however, was that much of his actions amounted to keep Ruin imprisoned.
- Wouldn't it be an even stronger deterrent to execute the Noblemen who sleep with Skaa women as well? You'd think so, unless you knew that creating Inquisitors requires the murder of multiple Allomancers. It's a lot less hassle to sacrifice illegal bastard Allomancers than noble children.
Last Villain Stand: Has a dramatic final duel with Vin and Marsh that basically consists of thrashing them with minimal effort until Vin figures out his Achilles' Heel.
Living Lie Detector: Thanks to his being a despair Emotion Bomb, mustering the willpower to lie to his face is nearly impossible. Even if you do, his combination of Super-Senses and a thousand years of practice at reading people means he'll almost always know.
Logical Weakness: His immortality and god-like power stem from his combination of Allomancy and Ferruchemy to multiply and store essentially infinite power on his person. Remove those tools, and he's just a guy.
My Death Is Just the Beginning: "In killing me, you have doomed yourselves..."
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: His delving into Hemalurgy opened himself up to Ruin's manipulation, and created numerous potential agents for the god of entropy to exploit. The excessive brutality of the Final Empire also was counterproductive, albeit that was caused by Ruin's influence.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: He thinks nothing of Pushing all the metals in Vin's body... and in the process Pushes out the earring that keeps her from using Preservation's power in the mist.
No Immortal Inertia: After Vin removes his Atiumminds, he rapidly ages until he is as old as he should be. It makes sense considering the magic system; the Atiumminds literally contained his youth and vitality.
One-Man Army: Claims to have defeated entire armies by himself, and makes casual comments that he will crush the rebellion personally if they become too irritating. Vin, who by this point has become a good judge of Allomantic power, sees no reason to doubt him.
Photographic Memory: In an early chapter of Mistborn: The Final Empire, he is said to have one. He actually just uses his copperminds to hold memories until he needs them.
Physical God: By combining Allomancy, Feruchemy, and Hemalurgy, he gained this status. Details given in Wax and Wayne make it clear that if he had been using his full power, no one would have ever lasted more than five seconds against him. If he had all 16 Allomantic metals, he could, among other things, speed his body infinitely, speed his mind infinitely, draw upon infinite reserves of strength, draw upon infinite healing, never age, draw upon infinite luck, never need to sleep, and never need to eat, drink, or breathe. ^* And on top of all that, Word of God is that he had been using his Allomancy for so long that he was either nearly or actually a savant with every metal. The only reason he didn't do most of those things is because he had been unchallenged for so long that he didn't see the need.
Plea of Personal Necessity: "You don't know what I do for mankind." It turns out that he's telling the truth.
Poor Communication Kills: Justified. He couldn't tell Vin about what was going on because Ruin would hear him.
Rapid Aging: After Vin pulls his Bracers off, his body quickly ages as it tries to make him as old as he should be.
Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Described as dark-haired and pale.
Shadow Archetype: To Kelsier^note and Sazed^note.
Shrouded in Myth: A large part of the series deals with finding out what kind of man the Lord Ruler really was, and where the man ends and the myth begins.
- Crucial to the plot of the first book, no one living has any real idea of what the Lord Ruler can truly do, other than be immortal and a powerful Allomancer. He's actually far more powerful than even Kelsier believes, much to Vin's horror. He doesn't need his various armies to crush rebellions, which makes Kelsier's brilliant gambit functionally mass suicide.
Story-Breaker Power: He's a Preservation-made Mistborn, so he has complete and undiluted Allomantic power. He's also a Feruchemist, and he knows how to use Allomancy and Feruchemistry together to create an infinite loop of Feruchemical power. This grants him immortality, regeneration, and numerous abilities that he can use in a pinch. If that wasn't enough, he has Hemalurgy as well, making him a master of all the magic systems on Scadrial. He may not be a real god, but that doesn't mean he's not just about the most lethal magic-user possible in the setting.
Sympathetic Murderer: He killed Alendi, but he had to do it to protect the world from Ruin.
Villain's Dying Grace: Minor example. He could have spent his last breath cursing Vin for defeating him, but instead he uses it to (try to) warn her about Ruin and give her a sliver of a chance, because whatever else he was, he didn't want the world to end if he could do anything about it.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Rashek will protect humanity from Ruin, no matter how many people he himself kills in the process.
Who Wants to Live Forever?: Before she kills him, Vin senses nothing from him but overwhelming fatigue and sorrow.
Will Not Tell a Lie: It's generally believed in the Final Empire that the Lord Ruler never lies. After all, he's the all-powerful god-king, so why would he even need to? The only exception seems to be the obfuscation neccessary to convince the world that he's the righful Hero of Ages, and even then he kept the document that would allow a clever reader to discern the truth around under guard rather than destroying it outright.
With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Unusually, both inverted and played straight. Word of God is that Rashek actually grew as a person as a result of acquiring and being forced to responsibly use godlike power; pity that the Hemalurgy he used brought him into telepathic contact with Ruin, who wormed his way inside his head and drove him to increasingly brutal, irrational, and tyrannical actions in the name of the greater good.
World's Strongest Man: Easily takes the cake for the series. Physically, politically, Allomantically, Feruchemically... if there's a form of raw power in this series, he beats any other human for it.
Young and in Charge: Physically, not mentally. Though he's a thousand-year-old tyrant, thanks to his atium compounding, he maintains the appearance and physique of a man in his twenties.

Tevidian

Lord Prelan Tevidian Tekiel

"What does a skaa girl have to do with the government of the Ministry?"

The leader of the Obligators, and a dutiful member of the Final Empire. He usually sticks to the laws, except for the one time when he inadvertently fathered a child. He is Vin's father.

Archnemesis Dad: To Vin, his daughter, but only from her perspective. He doesn't even learn he has a daughter until the Inquisitors reveal her as their trump card.
Alliterative Name: Tevidian Tekiel certainly is one.
Aristocrats Are Evil: He had to give up his noble status to become an obligator. Not that it made him less evil.
Asshole Victim: An evil man killed off brutally by the even more evil Inquisitors.
Bald of Evil: Shaved his head, like all obligators, and was certainly evil by all accounts of him.
Curb-Stomp Battle: He gets attacked by six Steel Inquisitors. You can tell how it turns out.
The Dragon: To the Lord Ruler, until he is deposed.
The Leader: He leads the obligators.
Minor Major Character: He has very little screen time, but holds a very high position.
Non-Action Guy: As a member of the government, he doesn't care much for fighting.
Oh, Crap!: When Vin tells the Lord Ruler that he is her father.
Sinister Minister: Goes with the territory of being head of the Corrupt Church.
Smug Snake: He thought he was untouchable. Not quite...
Villainous Breakdown: When Kar is trying to have him executed for having a skaa daughter.
We Hardly Knew Ye: After lingering in the background for most of Mistborn: The Final Empire, he finally comes into the spotlight after Vin's capture. Kar's plan for his execution immediately comes to fruition.

Kar

"By allowing common men to rule your Ministry, you have unwittingly allowed corruption and vice to enter the very heart of your holy place."

The leader of the Steel Inquisitors. For many years, he has been plotting to gain control of the Steel Ministry.

Achilles' Heel: He dies when his spikes are removed by Marsh.
Bald of Evil: Like obligators, Inquisitors shave their heads- but they're even more brutal.
Blood Magic: Hemalurgy, the magic art used to make him into a Steel Inquisitor.
Chekhov's Gunman: Introduced as a nameless Inquisitor during Vin and Kelsier's raid on Kredik Shaw. Becomes much more important in the conclusion of Mistborn: The Final Empire.
The Chessmaster: Spent years manipulating the Lord Ruler into granting the Canton of Inquisition power over the Steel Ministry. It backfires horribly for everyone involved.
Dragon with an Agenda: It's implied he has no real loyalty to the Lord Ruler, and privately calls him a fool for proclaiming himself infallible. Presumably his true master was Ruin, though he died before his allegiance was revealed.
Eye Scream: To become a Steel Inquisitor, he had to have spikes stuck into his eyes.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has some scars after being shot full of arrows.
Healing Factor: He gets shot full of arrows, but is able to heal from them.
Immortality: He has been alive for two hundred years. As Marsh proves, immortality and invincibility are not the same thing.
Implacable Man: As an Inquisitor, he can keep coming even after taking a ridiculous amount of punishment.
The Rival: He has a serious political rivalry with Tevidian. In the climax of Mistborn: The Final Empire, he ends up the winner when Tevidian is executed.
Slasher Smile: Has one when he leads Vin to the Lord Ruler as part of his plan to take control of the Steel Ministry.
Small Role, Big Impact: His plotting with Bendal and the other Steel Inquisitors caused a great deal of the bad events in Vin's life. They even have a background subplot in Mistborn: The Final Empire, in which the Canton of Inquisition gains power over the Steel Ministry, paving the way for Marsh's rise.
Smug Snake: On the high end of this. The man was certainly extremely clever, but he never imagined he'd be betrayed by one of his own order.
Spikes of Villainy: They serve a purpose, that being giving him the power of Hemalurgy.
Was Once a Man: Started out as a human before being turned into an Inquisitor.

Bendal

One of the Steel Inquisitors. He was sent by High Prelan Arriev to kill Camon's crew, but Kelsier led him off their trail.

Ax-Crazy: All Inquisitors are bloodthirsty, but Bendal relishes it particularly.
Chekhov's Gunman: He seems to drop out of the plot after he foils Kelsiers first infiltration of Kredik Shaw, but then he kidnaps Spook, OreSeur, and a bunch of Skaa.
Defeating the Undefeatable: Everyone thought that being a Steel Inquisitor made him unstoppable. Kelsier proves them wrong.
The Dreaded: All Inquisitors are The Dreaded, but Bendal shadows Kelsier's crew and Vin specifically for most of the first book.
Evil Is Petty: Casually beheads a few skaa in the skirmish at the city square late in The Final Empire, just to provoke Kelsier into attacking directly as opposed to leading him away.
Eye Scream: Has two spikes shoved through his eyes.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Kelsier chops his head off with his own ax.
Implacable Man: But he's still vulnerable to decapitation, as Kelsier proves.
Off with His Head!: How Kelsier kills him.
The Rival: He has a rivalry with Kelsier, and they battle several times throughout the first book.
Small Role, Big Impact: His plotting with Kar and the other Steel Inquisitors caused a great deal of the bad events in Vin's life.
Spikes of Villainy: Has many, as a result of being an Inquisitor. The two most obvious are the ones straight through his eyes.
Villain Respect: Gives Kelsier a respectful nod mid-duel after Kelsier proves more than capable of holding his own against him.
Was Once a Man: Started out human before being turned into an Inquisitor.

Yomen

Lord Aradan Yomen

An Obligator from Urteau who was Lord Ashweather Cett's political rival. When Cett left Fadrex to besiege Luthadel, he takes over.

Anti-Villain: He genuinely wants to rule well and protect his people. Unfortunately, he also wants the heroes (and Vin especially) dead for overthrowing the Lord Ruler.
Awesome, but Impractical: How he views his abilities as a Seer. Atium might be easily the strongest of all metals, but he's rarely in a position where he needs to use it. And it's not like he can just pop it ahead of time due to how rare and valuable it is.
Badass Bookworm: Can match Elend word for word in philosophical debate and defend himself capably from assassination.
The Chessmaster: Barring the Lord Ruler and Ruin themselves, he's probably the smartest "bad guy" in the series.
Combat Clairvoyance: He is an atium Misting.
Exact Words: He never actually said he had the atium, he just let Vin assume that he did.
Grey-and-Grey Morality: He and Elend both make good points, and considering the circumstances are both pretty justified in their actions- Yomen just has incomplete information.
He's Just Hiding: invokedHis opinion regarding the Lord Ruler. Since obviously a god can't be killed, he must have let the skaa overthrow him as part of some plan. Yomen spends a lot of Hero of Ages trying to figure out just what that plan is.
Heel–Face Turn: Ends up deciding that the Lord Ruler would rather he help Vin and Elend stop Ruin instead of work against them.
Shadow Archetype: He's basically Elend, if Elend had been an Obligator.
Worthy Opponent: Again, he's Elend's intellectual equal, and the two of them actually enjoy their philosophical sparring, though their larger conflict is very serious.

Laird

Prelan Laird

An Obligator who met with Camon to discuss a transport deal. In reality, the transport deal was a scheme made by Camon and Theodar.

No-Sell: He is able to shrug off Vin's emotional Allomancy thanks to his training.
Sinister Minister: Subverted. Unlike the other Obligators, he seems quite pleasant.

Arriev

High Prelan Arriev

An Obligator who met with Camon to discuss a "transport deal" (in reality a scam by Camon). He was actually meeting with Camon to investigate Laird's report of emotional Allomancy. He sends Bendal to kill Camon and his crew.

Sinister Minister: He's a high ranking member of the Corrupt Church, and is perfectly willing to send an Inquisitor after people who annoy him.

Kurdon

A taskmaster working for Lord Tresting. His role on the plantation is to make sure the Skaa are doing their duties well. He beats them if they don't meet his expectations. Kelsier blows him up at the end of the prologue of Mistborn: The Final Empire.

Asshole Victim: Another killed by Kelsier who really had it coming.
The Dragon: To Lord Tresting.

Hazekillers

The Hazekillers

Soldiers of The Lord Ruler or the Great Houses who are equipped and trained to counter Allomancy.

Badass Normal: Their enemies have Super-Strength, telekinetic coin-bullets, and more. They have wooden sticks, shields, and teamwork.
Cape Busters: Specifically trained to fight allomancers.
Elite Mooks: What they're presented to the reader as. Though every time we see them in battle it's against our main characters, thus the Hazekillers get their asses kicked.
Owershadowed By Awesome: They're recruited among the best fighters of the Empire. The narration and supplementary materials highlight they're a force to be reckoned with, as no Allomancer - save maybe for a Mistborn burning Atium or an Inquisitor - can easily emerge unscathed from a fight with a team of Hazekillers. Unfortunately for them, the Hazekillers we actually see in action are always extras pitted against main characters.

Other Modern Day Characters

Mare

Kelsier's wife, who died in the Pits of Hathsin. Together they were part of a thieving crew, which was one of the most successful crews in the Final Empire. However, during a daring heist on Kredik Shaw, Mare betrayed Kelsier to the Steel Inquisitors. The Lord Ruler thanked her, then sent her to the Pits of Hathsin anyway. She died giving Kelsier an atium geode, claiming that she had already found one.

Action Girl: As accomplished a thief as her husband.
Battle Couple: With Kelsier until her untimely death.
Happily Married: With Kelsier, but then she died.
Heroic Sacrifice: Gave Kelsier an atium geode so that he could survive, even though she knew that she would be beaten to death.
Love Triangle: Involved in one with Kelsier and Marsh.
The Mole: Although she claimed that she didn't betray Kelsier, nobody else could have. It turns out that she really didn't betray Kelsier, but her use of tin gave away the crew to the Steel Inquisitors, who can pierce Copperclouds.
Posthumous Character: She's been dead for several years, but her influence is felt throughout Kelsier's plotline.
Super-Senses: She is a Tineye, so she can enhance her senses by burning tin.
Together in Death: With Kelsier. If Kelsier had actually chosen to stay dead, that is.

Tindwyl

A Terriswoman who arrives in Luthadel during The Well of Ascension. She believes in things being "proper".

Breeding Slave: Was used as one in the past as part of the program to keep Terris stewards available for the nobility. Specifically, she was placed in the program by her own people to keep Feruchemical blood in the Terris population (when the whole point of the breeding programs, as The Lord Ruler established them, is to breed Feruchemy out of the Terris people).
Cool Old Lady: Intelligent, determined, and perhaps most impressively still alive and thriving after just about the crappiest backstory of anyone in the series (and in the Final Empire, that's saying something).
Cynical Mentor: To Elend.
Deadpan Snarker: She can even give Vin a run for her money in this regard.
Determinator: Even Vin is shocked she managed to survive her life working for the breeders.
Drill Sergeant Nasty: Elend finds out the hard way. It's explicitly stated she's like this to him because as an idealistic nobleman's son, she feels he needs to be hit over the head with reality before he can become a good leader. She's much nicer to Vin, based on the fact that Vin's been the target of physical and emotional abuse for good chunks of her life and what she needs is confidence and self-worth.
Good Is Not Nice: She can be pretty harsh, but it's mostly to force Elend to sit up and take notice of what she's saying.
Mentor Occupational Hazard: Killed in the Battle of Luthadel.
Stern Teacher: She's serious and no-nonsense, but she knows exactly what she's doing when it comes to training Elend.

Zane

Zane Venture/The Watcher

"You were supposed to save me!"

A mysterious Mistborn in The Well of Ascension. He haunts the nights, having Allomantic duels with Vin. He's House Venture's hidden assassin.

Ax-Crazy: But not quite for the reasons he thinks. He thinks he is crazy because he hears voices in his head—until the voice in his head tells him he isn't crazy, because the voice in his head is very, very real. On the other hand, he's still an emotionally unstable, sociopathic Stalker with a Crush, so he still qualifies.
Anti-Villain
Bastard Bastard: Is Straff's illegitimate son.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Straff puts up with Zane's constant attempts to kill him and his madness because otherwise he won't have a Mistborn. Turns out Zane hardly ever actually tried to kill him; not only were his few attempts half-hearted, what Straff thought was poison were actually withdrawl symptoms, the result of Straff being an ignorant drug addict. Ignorant in that the drug was the "antidote" his Woman Scorned servant had been giving him over the years to cure what he thought were Zane's poisoning attempts, which were usually either somebody else's poisoning attempts, or all in Straff's head to begin with.
Cain and Abel: He's Cain, Elend is Abel.
The Corrupter: Tries to convince Vin to abandon Elend because Mistborn like them don't need to serve others; they should stand apart from them, and be above them.
Crazy-Prepared: Keeps a private atium stash and always sleeps with at least some metals already swallowed, among other things.
Dating Catwoman: He thinks this is relationship with Vin. Except, Vin doesn't and never really loved him at all. He doesn't take rejection well.
Dies Wide Open: When he is killed.
The Dragon: To Straff.
- Dragon with an Agenda: It's pretty clear he feels little real loyalty to Straff; he's mostly in it to try and convince Vin over to his way of thinking.
- Co-Dragons: With Janarle.
Even Evil Has Standards: He doesn't kill his father because "a man shouldn't kill his own father", even though Straff has been a horrible parent and had just tried to kill him.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Tells Vin that he loves her. Also, he admits to himself that he loves his father despite everything.
Forceful Kiss: Does one to Vin whilst his knife in her chest.
Hearing Voices: Kill him. "Him" being everyone he meets. Except Vin, which is why he thinks she is the only one who can save him. But it's really because the voice in his head is real, and has plans for her.
If I Can't Have You…: Towards Vin in the end.
It's Personal with the Dragon: He's subordinate to Straff, but also a much more personal foil and enemy for Vin than Straff is.
Kick the Dog: A near literal example is when he kicks OreSeur (or rather, TenSoon) who is in the form of a dog.
Manipulative Bastard: Much, much more subtle about it than Straff is, though that isn't really difficult since Straff has all the subtly of a sledgehammer in nearly everything he does.
Might Makes Right: Believes that Mistborn are just plain better than everyone else, though he doesn't really desire to lord over others even if he thinks they should treat him like a god.
The Resenter: Towards Elend. For having everything he feels he should have had. Especially Vin.
Sanity Has Advantages: He certainly thinks so, and feels he has to compensate for his self-admitted insanity.
Shadow Archetype: To Vin.
The Sociopath: He's not quite as bad as Straff- he's more emotionally dead than sadistic, generally- but it's pretty clear that everything- even his relationship with Vin- ultimately comes down to what he wants, not how it affects anyone else.
Spikes of Villainy: The Well of Ascension mentions his spike several times. It's a Hemalurgic spike connecting him to Ruin.
Stalker with a Crush: To Vin, due to the voices in his head not telling him to kill her.
The Starscream: Subverted. He continually pretends to try and kill Straff, because that's what Straff expects, but he has no real desire to do it—he muses to himself that if he did, Straff would already be dead.
Unwitting Pawn: The voice in his head isn't just in his head.
Villainous Breakdown: When he realizes Vin neither loves him nor is going to save him, he has a total psychotic breakdown.
With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: He's an extremely talented mistborn, and more than a little unstable. Both can be at least partially put down his having a Hemalurgic spike.
Yandere: Turns out to be one towards Vin. Manipulating a series of rather dangerous events to drive a wedge between her and Elend, then going full on Ax-Crazy when she still chooses Elend.

TenSoon

A kandra employed by the Venture family.

Apologetic Attacker: He apologizes to Vin when he reveals his true allegiances to Zane.
Blob Monster: In his true form.
Briar Patching: During his imprisonment for his crimes against the Contract and kandra-kind, he is given a dog body after he complained loudly of how degrading it was. He neglected to mention how fast it was, but was perfectly happy to demonstrate during his trial.
Canine Companion: Forced to be one for Vin when impersonating OreSeur.
Chekhov's Gunman: You know the unnamed kandra mentioned in one scene of the first book? Thought he was a really minor character? Nope, he starts driving a major subplot in The Well of Ascension.
Commonality Connection: When Vin tells him of her experiences as a member of a thieving crew, he realizes the experience isn't that different from having to follow the Kandra Contract, both being beaten, used and feared by their superiors. Leads to an Odd Friendship of sorts.
Dead Person Impersonation: His race's ability to assume the form of living creatures after absorbing their bones makes him very good at this, and his dead kandra impersonation isn't too shabby either.
Demonic Possession: His Hemalurgic spikes allow Ruin to control his mind.
Face Stealer: As with all kandra, once he's eaten someone he can assume their form.
Fantastic Racism: He feels this as a result of the way humans treat him. Vin helps him change.
Heel–Face Turn: He comes to like and respect Vin after spending time with her. This leads to him going over to her side during her final battle with Zane.
Heroic Sacrifice: Pulls his spikes out to stop Ruin from controlling him.
Like a Duck Takes to Water: He's mentioned to be the best Kandra at shapeshifting, but never really got beyond average at impersonation. Being given the wolfhound body, with its impressive physical abilities and no personality to imitate, really caused him to blossom.
The Mole: In The Well of Ascension, he kills and impersonates someone in Luthadel.
Odd Friendship: With Vin after he warms up to her.
The Paragon Always Rebels: He's considered the most obedient and the biggest fundamentalist of his generation, so the seconds use his status as a contract-beaker to shame all of his generation.
Squick: invoked His need to eat someone before he can imitate them really bothers Vin.
Suicide Pact: All of the kandra are bound by oath to kill themselves if the Lord Ruler were to demand it. This is eventually shown to be another anti-Ruin measure when he and most of the other kandra follow through with it in The Hero of Ages. Sazed subsequently restores him and the other kandra after his Ascension.
Talking Animal: When using a wolfhound body.
Turned Against Their Masters: Turns on Zane so that he can save Vin.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: He can turn himself into just about anything, but needs to eat someone in order to perfectly memorize their features and get a rigid skeleton to use as base.
- He's noted on a couple of occasions to be quite possibly the best kandra at the biological side of impersonation. Notably, when he's given a set of random human bones for his trial, the body he makes is realistic enough that the kandra sent to escort him assumes that he had worn those bones before and knew what the body they came from was supposed to look like.

KanPaar

The leader of the second generation of Kandra.

Asshole Victim: He's an antagonist in his own right for most of the third book and then Ruin takes him over.
Demonic Possession: Ruin takes control of him because of his Hemalurgic spike.
Dirty Coward: Steals some Atium and flees the Kandra homeland when Ruin's army attacks.
It's All About Me: He has very particular ideas about how kandra society should work, and really cares nothing for how anyone else might object.
Jerkass: He's just plain pompous and unpleasant.
The Leader: Of the second generation of Kandra.
Obstructive Bureaucrat: Kandra tradition is far more important to him than doing the right thing, or even a little thing like the end of the world.
Smug Snake: Incredibly arrogant and set in his ways.
Spikes of Villainy: Like all kandra, has two Hemalurgic spikes, though he's the only kandra who's really villainous.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: It comes with being a Kandra.

MeLaan

A Kandra of the sixth generation. She was trained by TenSoon. She later becomes a major character in Era 2.

Suicide Pact: Like all kandra, she's bound to kill herself if the Lord Ruler were to demand it.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: She's young by kandra standards, somewhat naive, but very idealistic.

Haddek

The leader of the First Generation of Kandra. He was one of the Terris packmen Alendi took with him to the Well of Ascension. Rashek turned him and the other packmen into Kandra to make them immortal and to remove potential rivals.

Cool Old Guy: The oldest of the kandra, and also one of the wisest and most reasonable.
The Leader: Of the First Generation of Kandra.
Mr. Exposition: His role is to give Sazed information about the kandra and the Terrispeople.
Suicide Pact: Like all kandra, though he would have been one of the first to agree to it.
Was Once a Man: Started out human, was changed into a kandra by Rashek to spare his life.

Pre-Ascension Characters

Alendi

"Sometimes I worry that I'm not the hero everyone thinks I am."

The so-called "Hero of Ages", declared as such by Kwaan. He started off as an idealistic youth, but became cynical during his quest to defeat The Deepness. Although the prophecies said that he needed to give up the power at the Well of Ascension, he used it for himself instead, becoming the Lord Ruler. He didn't. Rashek killed him before he could reach the Well and give up the power, which would have released Ruin and started the end of the world.

Angst Dissonance: In-universe. Vin thinks he's far too angsty to have become an Evil Overlord. She's right. He was killed by his packman Rashek.
The Chains of Commanding: Experiences them as he takes over the world.
The Chosen One: The prophesied Hero of Ages, destined to find the Well of Ascension and defeat The Deepness. Subverted in that he was killed by Rashek before he did what he was chosen to do. Then deconstructed when it was revealed he was only chosen in the first place because of Ruin screwing with the prophecies.
The Poorly Chosen One: Instead of giving up the power at the Well of Ascension like he was supposed to, he took the power for himself and became the Lord Ruler. At least, that's what we're led to believe.
Expy: Takes cues from any number of generic Chosen One types, but specifically resembles Rand al'Thor- which became Hilarious in Hindsight when Sanderson was contracted to finish The Wheel of Time.
It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: He continually reminds us of this in his logbook.
No Name Given: We don't find out until The Well of Ascension that his name is Alendi.
Posthumous Character: He's actually been dead for a thousand years, and is not the Lord Ruler.
Rags to Royalty: Goes from a humble Farm Boy to the ruler of much of the world.
Red Herring: As they read the epigraphs in Mistborn: The Final Empire, the reader gradually comes to understand that the Lord Ruler wrote them. Then it turns out that he isn't the Lord Ruler.
Start of Darkness: His epigraphs detail what would lead up to his fall. In reality, it details the lead-up to Rashek's.
Unwitting Pawn: He was being manipulated by Ruin, who sought to free himself from the Well of Ascension. Fortunately, Rashek killed him before he could make things worse.
Wangst: invoked His journal is full of it, in Vin's opinion.
Warrior Poet: A warrior and conqueror, but also a thoughtful, somewhat brooding man.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Though he apparently became quite ruthless, he always remained dedicated to helping the world and not taking up the power of the Well of Ascension for himself. Which is why Ruin chose him in the first place.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: In the beginning. As time progressed, he eventually became more broken.

Kwaan

"My name is Kwaan. Philosopher, scholar, traitor. I am the one who started this all."

The Terrisman prophet who originally declared Alendi to be the Hero of Ages. Author of the epigraphs in The Well of Ascension.

Cassandra Truth: Nobody believed him when he claimed that Alendi was in fact, not the Hero.
Determinator: Deconstructed. His burning desire to prove that Alendi was the Hero of Ages allowed Ruin to manipulate the Terris prophecies for his own purposes. Had Kwaan not set up countermeasures, Alendi would have released Ruin.
It's All My Fault: Gains this attitude when he sets the world on the fast track to destruction. It really is.
My God, What Have I Done?: His reaction when he put the pieces together and realized that Ruin was manipulating the prophecies.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- By declaring Alendi to be the Hero of Ages, he paved the way for Ruin's release.
- Sending his nephew Rashek to stop Alendi worked, but it led to Rashek becoming a tyrannical maniac in his attempts to prevent Ruin's rise to power.
Photographic Memory: He can remember things perfectly without even needing to use a Coppermind. That's good, because Ruin is able to edit Copperminds.
Pride Before a Fall: He was already starting to have his doubts about Alendi being the Hero of Ages when the other Terris decided to agree with his views. He notes that it was his pride that kept him from doing the right thing.
The Man Behind the Man: He was the one who gave Rashek his mission.
Unwitting Pawn: To Ruin. But then he wises up.

Fedik

One of Alendi's Terris packmen. In his logbook, Alendi mentions that Fedik noticed a lake in the mountains.

Forced Transformation: Was turned into a kandra by Rashek. However, he wanted to become a kandra so that he could be immortal.
Immortality: As a kandra, he will never die.

Characters / Mistborn: The Original Trilogy

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