Difference between revisions of "Summary:The Hero of Ages"

*[[Rashek]] (mentioned only)

}}

The book opens several months since [[Vin]] released Ruin from his prison within the [[Well of Ascension|Well]]. [[Fatren]] and his town are one of many that have been devastated by Ruin's malevolent horde of [[koloss]] and the [[Mist|killer mists]]. As they prepare for death having reports of an approaching koloss army they are greeted by a lone rider. This rider proves to be an [[Allomancy|Allomancer]] identifying himself as their emperor: [[Elend Venture]].

 

Elend has mental control of the koloss army, with the steel inquisitor now deceased. Vin realizes this inquisitor had a non-allomantic speed enhancement, and after investigation, finds and removes a pewter spike from its heart. Elend ponders if there is a third power besides allomancy and feruchemy. Elend and Vin discuss their losing battle against their [[Ruin|nebulous foe]].

 

 

=== Chapter 6 ===

*[[Ruin]] (mentioned only)

}}

Marsh regains lucidity as Ruin lessens his control over the inquisitor. He is in a large koloss camp, and is accompanied by several inquisitors, many of whom have new hemalurgic spikes charged by Terris keepers. He ponders that he will never get enough control to kill himself, and that he wishes Ruin would keep control over him permanently to let him see the beauty in the destruction of the world.

 

*[[TenSoon]] (point of view)

*[[VarSell]]

*[[Rashek]] (mentioned only)

}}

TenSoon consumes a new body. Four kandra of the Fifth Generation, including [[VarSell]], escort TenSoon to trial in the [[Trustwarren]].

 

{{epigraph|Rashek moved the Well of Ascension, obviously.

It was very clever of him—perhaps the cleverest thing he did. He knew that the power would one day return to the Well, for power such as this—the fundamental power by which the world itself was formed—does not simply run out. It can be used, and therefore diffused, but it will always be renewed.

He constructed his palace around that room at its heart, the room where he would meditate, the room that was a replica of his old hovel in Terris. A refuge created during the last moments before his power ran out.}}

 

}}

 

Spook explores his past in a fever-dream, reliving the day he was taken in by [[Clubs]].

=== Chapter 24 ===

{{icon|iron|mb3|70px|center}}

 

;Plot Summary

 

Kelsier tells Spook that he has to kill the guards to save the prisoners from being executed. Spook finds a secret bolt-hole where some of the Citizen's soldiers were liberating one of the prisoners, and attacks, killing all the soldiers, though he ends up locked in the burning building with one of the prisoners, a young girl.

 

;Plot Summary

 

Marsh observes in secret as surgeons confer about Penrod, deciding to leave the spike in place since they aren't able to safely remove it and since he seems to be in good health even with the spike, all according to Ruin's plan.

*[[TenSoon]] (mentioned only)

}}

Vin confronts Reen, demanding who or what he really is. She tries a duralumin zinc blast but nothing happens, proving the creature is not a kandra. She goes on the offensive, though Reen only backs away defensively, not attacking, and asks her to stop to talk. The lights go out, but Vin is still not able to hit the impostor. In the dark, she focuses on the allomantic pulses and realizes they match the ones from the Well of Ascension, and that the creature is Ruin. Ruin tells her that all things must end and that he is not her enemy. It also says that it has always been with her, even when she couldn't see it, since she was a child.

 

*[[Elend Venture]] (mentioned only)

}}

Sazed, Breeze and Allrianne await Spook's return to the storage cavern, and speculate on his actions and his ability to jump two stories without being severely injured. Sazed thinks that are no known examples of an allomancer gaining new powers after snapping.

 

*[[Ashweather Cett]]

*[[Demoux]]

*[[Hammond]]

*[[Noorden]]

*[[Aradan Yomen]] (mentioned only)

}}

Vin ruminates on all the knowledge she has about Ruin to try to figure out how to defeat it. Having no light, it takes her some time to explore the cavern. She finds the metal plate and reads it by touch. The Lord Ruler wrote that Ruin had spoken in his mind, that he tried to be a good ruler, and that he cared despite the fact that if anyone read these words that meant he was dead, and that he hid Ruin's body well and that Ruin is not omnipotent.

 

}}

 

Sazed researches how to refill the canals with water, withdrawing a book on engineering from his copperminds. Sazed speaks in detail to Breeze about how canals work, which pleases Breeze since Sazed is showing interest in his scholarship again. Breeze tells Sazed to be himself and do what makes him happy. Breeze also expresses confidence in Spook's leadership though Sazed has reservations about him. Spook joins them and states that it feels wrong that Quellion hasn't attacked them. He says that Quellion came to power by getting people to go into the mists and declaring all who lived were pure, and by killing nobles in the name of the Survivor, though Quellion concealed the facts that no nobles died in the mists. Sazed says he is ready to start construction of the structures to redirect water to the canals. Goradel shows up to say Beldre has appeared asking to speak with Spook.

 

}}

 

Spook talks with Beldre, who tells him that she is half-skaa and that she was going to be executed but was saved when the Final Empire was overthrown. Beldre says that Spook is like Quellion but he denies this. Spook speaks of his life in Kelsier's crew and of Sazed and Breeze allowing him to give orders even though he feels like he isn't really in charge. He speaks of Vin and Elend, and promises to try to save the city and not harm Quellion, then leaves to go out to the city.

 

*[[Kelsier]] (mentioned only)

}}

Vin awakes in chains, and with no metals in her stomach to burn. Yomen describes all the precautions that are in effect to keep Vin from escaping. Yomen took Vin's earring to examine it, and it confuses him, since it is made of silver and bronze, a combination of little use to an allomancer. He allows her to take the earring and she does, putting it back in place. One of Elend's soldiers is escorted in to ask Vin a question to verify that she is still alive and not a kandra impostor. Yomen says that she was captured to be executed for the murder of the Lord Ruler, though he will allow her to speak in her own defense. Ruin whispers to her to kill Yomen.

 

*[[Tindwyl]] (mentioned only)

}}

 

Spook works on a plan for Quellion to reveal his allomantic ability. He discusses the plan with Beldre, who asks to be allowed to write a letter to Quellion to convince him to not oppose Spook, and he gives permission. Goradel summons Spook to alert him that the Citizen's soldiers left the Canton building. Spook sends scouts to investigate where the soldiers went to.

Ruin gloats to Vin about his pending victory. Vin listens to his ramblings, looking for clues to defeat him.

 

 

Marsh shows up, smiles at Vin, bows to Ruin, and tells Yomen that an attack is imminent. Marsh says he isn't there to protect the city, but rather to take the atium cache, but Yomen replies there was no great cache, just seven beads, and that he was bluffing Vin about having more. Ruin screams in frustration at learning this. Yomen pleads for help from Marsh but is rejected, saying the Lord Ruler is dead and that he was an unprofitable servant. Vin interjects that Elend won't attack and offers an alliance to Yomen now that Marsh refuses him. Marsh scoffs that Elend wouldn't attack the city to save Vin, but she says that Elend is a better man than that.

Elend asks Hammond if attacking the city with his koloss is the right thing to do, and Hammond replies that it isn't. Elend orders the camp packed up, and for them to return to Luthadel.

 

 

Elend and Hammond observe Yomen's inferior force charge out to attack their army, but is suspicious of this and orders the koloss to retreat, since it is similar to his own strategy when he took control of the koloss.

This oversight cost him much, but gained the world so much more.}}

 

 

Sazed is escorted through the kandra tunnels, and notices the kandra displaying fear toward him. He inquires about the status of the First Contract, now that the Lord Ruler is dead, but the kandra who answers doesn't know. He is led to the Trustwarren, and proclaims himself the Announcer, and that he is Terris as are the kandra, and that he discovered the Hero and has watched her and tells them the end is here. He is given a table to write at, and a crowd of kandra gathers, but they are only the Second Generation.

 

And who decided to use the neutral pronoun, so that we wouldn't know if the Hero was a woman or a man?}}

 

 

 

=== Chapter 70 ===

The point, however, is that people with unstable personalities were more susceptible to Ruin's influence, even if they didn't have a spike in them. That, indeed, is likely how Zane got his spike.}}

 

 

Elend and Yomen tour the city of Fadrex. Elend lectures Yomen on the fact that leading soldiers is about more than tactical knowledge and that emotion and courage are important. They travel to the infirmary in the Canton building. A boy with a case of mistsickness is brought in. Elend asks Yomen if he knew anything about the mistsickness and mentions the statistical anomaly, which Yomen didn't know about but which he doesn't seem excited about, since he says that sixteen is a sacred number in the Lord Ruler's religious doctrine. Yomen states there must be sixteen allomantic metals, including two undiscovered ones, to fit in with the pattern of sixteen. Elend watches the boy in pain and realizes that his experience is similar to the beatings used to snap allomancers. He goes to the infirmary to find someone who is mistfallen and has him drink an allomantic vial. After a few moments, the soldier feels odd, and Elend tells him to burn his metal, and Elend senses an allomantic pulse. He explains the mists were snapping allomancers, not harming them. Ruin sends his koloss to attack. Elend has Yomen gather every bit of physical allomancy powder he can find and have the mistfallen inbibe it since they will be able to burn it allomantically to fight the koloss.

 

As for the other aspects of the number . . . well, even I am still investigating that. Suffice it to say that it has great ramifications regarding how the world, and the universe itself, works.}}

 

 

 

TenSoon finds a large river of lava blocking his path to Fadrex, and feels despair that he won't be able to reach his destination in time due to the required detour.

Of course, this did give us a slight advantage, at the end. Ruin had a lot of trouble giving duralumin to his Inquisitors, since they'd need an Allomancer who could burn it to kill before they could use it. And, since none of the duralumin Mistings in the world knew about their power, they didn't burn it and reveal themselves to Ruin. That left most Inquisitors without the power of duralumin, save in a few important cases—such as Marsh—where they got it from a Mistborn. This was usually considered a waste, for if one killed a Mistborn with Hemalurgy, one could draw out only one of their sixteen powers and lost the rest. Ruin considered it much better to try to subvert them and gain access to all of their power.}}

 

 

 

Marsh, under Ruin's almost total control, breaks Vin's other leg and starts breaking her fingers while a small part of his brain tries to resist. He thinks of how Kelsier treated her as the daughter he and Mare never had and how he had given up shortly before the rebellion that he worked so hard to bring about succeeded. He notices Vin's earring and remembers her story about it, and thinks of the note from Spook about the dangers of any metal piercing the body. Without thought, Marsh rips the earring out of Vin's ear.

There is at least one other case of a person who could pierce copperclouds. In her case, however, the situation was slightly different. She was a Mistborn from birth, and her sister was the Seeker. The death of that sister–and subsequent inheritance of power via the Hemalurgic spike used to kill that sister–left her twice as good at burning bronze as a typical Mistborn. And that let her see through the copperclouds of lesser Allomancers.}}

 

 

TenSoon senses a change in the mists, and notices that instead of swirling chaotically, they seem to be all flowing toward Luthadel. He feels invigorated by this and heads toward the capital.

 

{{icon|zinc|mb3|70px|center}}

{{epigraph|She once asked Ruin why he had chosen her. The primary answer is simple. It had little to do with her personality, attitudes, or even skill with Allomancy.

There were other reasons, of course. But even Ruin didn't know them.}}

 

 

Elend and Yomen discuss the disappearance of the mists and the unusual heat. Elend orders everyone gather inside the caverns. Yomen gives his bead of atium to Elend, and reveals that he is a [[Atium|Seer]], an atium misting. Elend leaves to find Vin.

 

In most cases—depending on the size of the spike and the length of time it had been worn—a single spike gave Ruin only minimal powers over a person. He could appear to them, and could warp their thoughts slightly, making them overlook certain oddities—for instance, their compulsion for keeping and wearing a simple earring.}}

 

 

Sazed learns a great deal about the kandra, their god Terr which translates into "to preserve" and the Terris prophecies which speak of the Hero of Ages being Preservation's successor. Other tenets of the religion focus on scholarship and building over destroying, aspects that seem mundane to Sazed. He then reviews his metalminds for information about the followers of the religions that he studied, and finds that their religious beliefs had more to do with their perception of the world than with the tenets and rules of the religions themselves. Sazed realizes that he has to decide whether or not to accept that the sign he witnessed was divine or simple chance. He realizes that as Breeze said that he is not meant to be an atheist. Having come to a decision, he goes to seek out the First Generation to learn about the First Contract.

 

This, then, should have been our first clue. Allomancers could see through the mists because the mists were, indeed, composed of the very same power as Allomancy. Once attuned by burning tin, the Allomancer was almost part of the mists. And therefore, they became more translucent to him.}}

 

 

 

Vin is floating above Luthadel, full of power, and encounters Ruin in the form of a cloud of shifting smoke. He says welcome to godhood. Vin's awareness and understanding expand greatly and she sees that the planet is rapidly dying, though many people have sought shelter in the storage caverns. She intervenes to block up the Ashmounts and clean the air, and instantly the world heats up from the release of the obstructions to the sunlight. She starts making changes which cause other macro problems as Ruin laughs at her futile efforts and blocks her from keeping a tidal wave from hitting some cities. Ruin speaks of his frustration at the balance between their two forces, like allomancy pushes and pulls having consequences. Ruin speaks of Preservation's desire to create humanity which was intentionally imbalanced. Vin realizes that she and Ruin are currently balanced but won't be if Ruin finds the hidden part of his self. Vin sees Elend heading to Luthadel.

More telling, perhaps, was the fact that when a Hemalurgist used his abilities, it drove the mists away. The closer one came to Ruin, the more under his influence, and the longer one bore his spikes, the more the mists were repelled.}}

 

 

Elend finds the ruins of Kredik Shaw, and searches throughout Luthadel for Vin. He finds Penrod's corpse at Keep Venture, and tries to figure out where the people of Luthadel went. He hears the wind whisper to him west, pits and heads that way.

 

When people burned atium, then, they were drawing upon the power of Ruin—which is, perhaps, why atium turned people into such efficient killing machines. They didn't use up this power, however, but simply made use of it. Once a nugget of atium was expended, the power would return to the Pits and begin to coalesce again—just as the power at the Well of Ascension would return there again after it had been used.}}

 

 

 

=== Chapter 79 ===

The three times she drew upon their power, then, were the three times when her earring had been removed from her body. When she had fought the Lord Ruler, his Allomancy had ripped it free. When fighting Marsh in Fadrex, she had used the earring as a weapon. And, at the end, Marsh ripped it out, freeing her and allowing the mists—which were now desperate for a host, since Preservation's last wisp was gone—to finally pour themselves into her.}}

 

 

Vin senses a change, and follows Ruin to the Pits of Hathsin, where she sees a refugee camp where Terris people are helping out. She sees something shining brightly, and hears KanPaar order some atium to be sold so that they could become rich and rule instead of serve. Vin feels a new appreciation for the lengths the Lord Ruler went to in concealing the atium. Ruin seizes control of KanPaar and demands to know where the atium is.

 

Elend arrives at the Pits of Hathsin, and sees some of his soldiers there, the mistfallen he had sent away with Demoux.

 

 

=== Chapter 80 ===

They were of Preservation all along.}}

 

 

Demoux tells Elend that there are several hundred thousand refugees at the Pits. Elend is concerned since an army of koloss is heading toward them, with no city walls or defenses for protection. Demoux tells Elend that the refugees came to the Pits because Kelsier told them to. Elend asks to speak to the men who saw Kelsier, and to have the mistfallen consume allomantic metals.

 

Ruin, subtle as ever, knew that he couldn't stop the mists from doing their work. However, he could do the unexpected and encourage them. And so, he helped make them stronger. That brought death to the plants of the world, and created the threat that became known as the Deepness.}}

 

 

Vin watches as the refugees flee to the kandra caverns. Ruin continues to taunt her. She sees the approaching doom, and grows angry and attacks Ruin. This surprises Ruin as he did not think attacking was possible due to Preservation's [[Intent]]. She is not able to defeat Ruin since they are too evenly matched.

 

Marsh attacks Elend burning the atium he got from a kandra. Elend's pewter runs out, but he is still able to burn pewter somehow. He looks up and sees Vin, and sees a dark force guiding Marsh. Elend then burns duralumin and atium, and has a flash of insight and knowledge.{{wob ref|5667}} Elend buries his sword in Marsh's neck as Marsh's axe takes him in the chest. However Marsh is able to heal his wound while Elend isn't. Marsh claims victory but Elend says that he is wrong and that Elend won.

 

 

Elend tells Marsh that all the atium has been burned up and none is left for Ruin.

{{epigraph|Once Vin died, the end came quickly. We were not prepared for it—but even all of the Lord Ruler's planning could not have prepared us for this. How did one prepare for the end of the world itself?}}

 

 

 

== Epilogue ==

Of all of us who touched it, I feel she was the most worthy.}}

 

 

 

 

 

== Ars Arcanum ==