Difference between revisions of "Kelsier"
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=== Appearances After Death === |
=== Appearances After Death === |
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| − | + | Kelsier's body is used by the [[Kandra]] [[OreSeur]]{{book ref|mb1|35}} and later by [[TenSoon]]{{book ref|mb3|52}} after his death to make appearances to and inspire his followers. |
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An apparition with Kelsier's features appears to [[Spook]], giving him the ability to burn pewter, but this is later revealed to be [[Ruin]], who is using Kelsier as a guise. |
An apparition with Kelsier's features appears to [[Spook]], giving him the ability to burn pewter, but this is later revealed to be [[Ruin]], who is using Kelsier as a guise. |
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Revision as of 16:13, 2 January 2016
| Kelsier | |||||||||
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 by Kit Buss
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| Born | c. 984 FE[1] | ||||||||
| Died | 1022 FE | ||||||||
| Abilities | Mistborn, Sliver | ||||||||
| Titles | Survivor of Hathsin, Survivor of Mists[2] | ||||||||
| Residence | Luthadel | ||||||||
| Ethnicity | Skaa | ||||||||
| Homeworld | Scadrial | ||||||||
“There's always another secret”
—Kelsier's mantra
Kelsier is a half-skaa Mistborn from Scadrial.[3] He is stern and intense but always smiling; another act of rebellion against the Lord Ruler's oppression. He hates injustice and takes this hatred to the extreme, which results in him being unable to see good in any of the nobility. His wife Mare collected pre-Ascension memorabilia, he keeps one piece, a flower[4], to inspire his crew. Kelsier is the younger brother of Marsh, who is disappointed at Kelsier's apparent lack of direction or purpose until Kelsier begins the skaa rebellion. He always keeps a smile on his face, believing that is the best way to fight.
Appearance and Personality
Kelsier is tall and hawk-faced and has light-blonde hair[5]; he has a multitude of large scars crossing both arms from his time in the Pits.[6] He usually wears a nobleman's suit (A colored vest with dark trousers and a coat) and for night time activities his mistcloak.
He is almost always late to any gatherings, which he attributes to always having somewhere better to be[7]. He always smiles and projects an excited and positive attitude, which is particularly unusual in the skaa underground. He does this in order to fight the Lord Ruler's oppression of all the skaa, he wants to have one thing which cannot be taken away from him.[6] He hates all of the nobility and tends to believe that all of them are to blame for the plight of the skaa, although near the end of his life this attitude changes due to Vin's insistence that Elend is different and that not all the nobles should be fought. He has an imposing presence and is a natural leader, easily taking charge and swaying even the downtrodden skaa of Luthadel into joining the rebellion with his charming personality. However he is not above using this personality to manipulate those around him to his own ends, as can be viewed through his spreading of the rumours of the "eleventh metal".
Kelsier is a psychopath, though this is debatable due to the intense anger he exhibits when innocents (or rather his idea of innocents) are harmed, which is a very empathic trait. Nevertheless, Sanderson states that Kelsier derives pleasure from killing people, but only allows that part of his personality to surface occasionally, when he is fighting noblemen, and he tries to channel this aspect of his personality into a good cause.[8]
History
Early Life
Born to a noble father and skaa mother[9], his mother kept both Kelsier and Marsh alive by pretending that she was a noble to their father so that their children would be considered merely illegitimate noblemen instead of half-breeds; however, their father eventually found out. Thus Kelseirs mother was killed, hence both of the brother's deep hatred for noblemen. Kelsier then made his living as a thief, becoming famous throughout Luthadel. However, after a failed attempt at stealing from the Lord Ruler himself in his secret room inside Kredik Shaw, he was sent to the atium mines in the Pits of Hathsin[10]. There he spent his time believing that Mare had betrayed him to the Lord Ruler, until he witnessed his wife being beaten to death by guards after she gifted her Atium bead to him. He then "Snapped", becoming a Mistborn[4]. Using Allomancy he was able to escape the Pits. Kelsier was then trained by a mistborn named Gemmel[11] and they travelled to the far north of the Western Dominance to a city called Mantiz where Kelsier heard rumours of the Eleventh metal from the skaa in Keep Shezler. Kelsier sought and eventually found the Eleventh metal as he believed it would help him to defeat the Lord Ruler.[11]
The Skaa Rebellion
After discovering the Eleventh metal Kelsier travels back to Luthadel and takes a job from the skaa rebellion to bring down the final empire. After gathering a team of some of the best (and Kelsier believed, the kindest) thieves in the city, including skilled mistings, he sets in motion a plan to destroy the Final Empire and kill the Lord Ruler. After saving her and her former crew, he takes on Vin as a student after confirming his suspicions about her being a Mistborn and saving her from Camon[5]. While pulling off the plan Kelsier himself takes on many roles, acting as a beacon to the repressed skaa he assists in recruitment[12], he attacks many Noblemen to increase the tensions between the Great Houses[13], he collects information by purchasing it from informants and also poses as an informant himself in order to provide misinformation to Noblemen.[14] Though they suffer many setback, Kelsiers leadership allows the rebellion to attain an army of sufficient size to hold Luthadel.
Death
When several skaa from the rebellion are about to be executed, Kelsier attempts to save them. He is confronted by a Steel Inquisitor which he eventually manages to defeat by beheading him with the Inquisitor's own obsidian axe. However, Kelsier is then confronted by the Lord Ruler, who backhands him across the face and then stabs him in the chest with a spear, killing him.[15] Kelsier later reveals in his letter to Vin that he had intended to use the Eleventh Metal to destroy the Lord Ruler but could not discover how to use it in his fight.[16] His death results in the founding of the Church of the Survivor, who call him "Lord of the Mists". As a result of this Vin also becomes a major religious figure.
Appearances After Death
Kelsier's body is used by the Kandra OreSeur[16] and later by TenSoon[17] after his death to make appearances to and inspire his followers.
An apparition with Kelsier's features appears to Spook, giving him the ability to burn pewter, but this is later revealed to be Ruin, who is using Kelsier as a guise.
After Spook removed his pewter spike, Spook hears Kelsier's actual voice, telling him that they were friends, since Kelsier was able to 'piggyback' on Preservation's power after its death. Template:Annotation ref Kelsier appeared and spoke to Spook in a vision after he awoke following his flooding the canals of Urteau and escaping the fire at the Canton of Inquisition. For a time, Kelsier could only speak to Spook since Spook was the only one who believed in Kelsier as a deity, since Kelsier was a deity for a brief time, between Preservation's death and the coming of the Hero of Ages. Template:Annotation ref After Marsh removed Vin's earring, Kelsier was able to speak to her. Template:Annotation ref
Kelsier's bones survived the ascension of Harmony.[18]
Kelsier 'looked after' Preservation between Leras's death and Vin's ascension.[19]
“From the Well of Ascension, of course. It's the same power, after all. Solid in the metal you fed to Elend. Liquid in the pool you burned. And vapor in the air, confined to night. Hiding you. Protecting you.
Giving you power!”
After the Final Ascension Kelsier is with Harmony having not "gone towards the light" and is still hanging around causing trouble.[21]
Attributes and Abilities
Allomancy
Kelsier is a Mistborn, and so he can burn every Allomantic metal, although he is particularly proficient with the external physical metals; iron and steel[15], he is capable of using them with a high degree of precision to control the momentum and rotation of dozens of pieces of metal simultaneously. He lacks finesse in the external mental abilities of zinc and brass as he tends to create large changes in emotional states as opposed to the more subtle Soothing abilities of Breeze, although he can affect a relatively large mass of people.[12] He is quite proficient at pewter dragging and has enough practice to maintain it for hours and still maintain a fair amount of clarity afterwards.[22]
Quotes
“I decided that I’d see her dream fulfilled. I’d make a world where flowers returned, a world with green plants, a world where no soot fell from the sky...." He trailed off, then sighed. "I know. I’m insane.”
—Kelsier to Vin, after showing her the picture of a Marewill flower.
“If you’re always on time, it implies that you never have anything better you should be doing.”
—Kelsier to Dox on his constant tardiness.
“But you can't kill me, Lord Tyrant. I represent that one thing you've never been able to kill, no matter how hard you try. I am hope.”
—Kelsier to Lord Ruler, last words before death.
Trivia
Notes
- ↑ The Well of Ascension chapter 5#
- ↑ The Alloy of Law chapter 19#
- ↑ The Final Empire chapter 2#
- ↑ a b The Final Empire chapter 17#
- ↑ a b The Final Empire chapter 3#
- ↑ a b The Final Empire prologue#
- ↑ The Final Empire chapter 27#
- ↑ Kelsier is actually a psychopath.
— Theoryland - Jul 9, 2013# - ↑ The Final Empire chapter 8#
- ↑ The Final Empire chapter 4#
- ↑ a b The Eleventh Metal#
- ↑ a b The Final Empire chapter 10#
- ↑ The Final Empire chapter 5#
- ↑ The Final Empire chapter 19#
- ↑ a b The Final Empire chapter 34#
- ↑ a b The Final Empire chapter 35#
- ↑ The Hero of Ages chapter 52#
- ↑ The bones survived the events of the last book - Barnes&Noble Bookclub Q&A
— Theoryland - Jul, 2009# - ↑ Hero of Ages Q&A - TWG
— Theoryland - 2008-10-17# - ↑ The Hero of Ages chapter 72#
- ↑ Is Sazed with Tindwyl? - Barnes&Noble Bookclub Q&A
— Theoryland - 2009-07# - ↑ The Final Empire chapter 25#
- ↑ Hoid and Kelsier do not get along. At all.
— Theoryland - 15 April, 2013#