Kelsier's mother
| Unknown | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
| Ethnicity | Skaa | ||||
| Homeworld | Scadrial | ||||
| Universe | Cosmere | ||||
Kelsier's mother is a skaa on Scadrial. She is a resourceful mistress to a high-ranking noble lord.[1]
She deceived her lover about her skaa heritage, successfully hiding it for many years. Although her children Marsh and Kelsier were illegitimate, they grew up privileged until their father discovered the truth, at which point she was taken by obligators[1][2] and presumably executed. Marsh and Kelsier were very young at the time; the loss of their mother caused Marsh to Snap.[2] Their father did not report the mixed heritage of the boys to the Steel Ministry, but they lived out their childhoods in constant fear of being discovered and killed.[3]
“You know how Kelsier feels about the nobility? Well, I feel the same way about the obligators. I'll do anything to hurt them. They took our mother—that’s when I Snapped, and that’s when I vowed to destroy them. ”
—Marsh[2]
By the time Kelsier and Marsh reached adulthood, they had no living relatives except each other.[4] Kelsier's loathing of nobles was partly fueled by the treatment of his mother,[5] although he sometimes wondered what his life would have been like had he remained in noble society.[3] Marsh focused his anger on the obligators[2] and dedicated his life to overthrowing the Final Empire;[6] he did not agree with Kelsier's wanton violence against nobles.[2]