Summary:The Hero of Ages
This page contains a chapter by chapter summary of The Hero of Ages. We hope this summary will make it easier to find specific areas of the book, as well as providing a quick plot refresher for anyone who doesn't want to take the time to reread the entire book.
Prologue
From the very start the process of Hemalurgy is revealed. Marsh basks in the pleasure of the fear of the Terrisman steward tied to the table. Below him is the Inquisitor they are about to create. For a moment, Marsh is able to regain control of his own mind, seeing the horry in what he is about to do, before Ruin completely subjugates him into continuing the task. He drives a brass spike through the heart of the Terrisman.
Part 1: Legacy of the Survivor
Chapter 1
The book opens several months since Vin released Ruin from his prison within the Well. Fatren and his town are one of many that have been devastated by Ruin's malevolent horde of koloss and the 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 Allomancer identifying himself as their emperor: Elend Venture.
At first Fatren considers Elend to be lying about who he is. Elend doesn't try to assume control of the town, but instead allows the people to assume that Fatren had called for his aid. Two armies are approaching the town but they will not arrive in time before the koloss so Elend offers to train the men in fighting koloss while he can.
The koloss army comes within sight, setting up camp a little distance from the bulwark of the town. Instead of mounting it for a defensive gambit, however, Elend convinces the town to charge the koloss camp with him while they're tired from marching. At first Elend leads the assault alone, but is shortly joined by Fatren and then the towns-people.
Chapter 2
TenSoon moves about his prison cell in the kandra Homeland, awaiting his sentence. His form lacks bones and sensory organs but he can feel the vibrations of his cell being opened, the pain of being lifted out by hooks. By the First Contract he should have a chance to state his defense: the guards give him a skull but begin to dissolve him with acid, twisting the words of the law.
Though TenSoon in his practise is able to form the necessary components to force speech and asks for judgement. By law, the guards have to grant him his request, though they urge him to accept death than speaking in a public forum and condemning himself to an eternity of suffering. Still, he persists, desiring something else than his defense.
Chapter 3
Leading the charge, Elend muses how Allomancy has given him the abilities to be in this position. His assumption about the koloss proves true as they're startled about the initial attack. This gives the assailants enough time to take down several hundred koloss before the blood frenzy kicks in. As the sounds of it alert Elend to its start he calls for the men to form up, simultaneously Soothing away their fear and Pushing on their emotions as he emboldens them. The battle drags on and Fatren loses his confidence, screaming about Elend leading them to die before Elend points at a speck in the sky.
Vin drops into the middle of the koloss, a storm of death and effortless acrobatics. Seeking out a thirteen foot koloss is all she needs to envigorate the fear in the surrounding koloss, killing it with a single boot to the head. Sparing a glance for Elend's force there are now several koloss fighting alongside the humans. Their plan was to instill fear in the koloss army and take control of them by the secret TenSoon had betrayed to her in Well of Ascension.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; refs with no name must have content
The combination of Elend and Vin taking control of the koloss one by one pulls a Steel Inquisitor into the battle as she'd intended. Trying Kelsier's trick of wrenching out the spike in its back Vin finds a metal plate protecting that particular weakness of the Inquisitor's. Soon, Elend joins Vin's struggle as they move the fight to the top of a hill, away from the koloss. They struggle against the Inquisitor's experience but Vin manages to take control of a nearby koloss to kill the Inquisitor moments before it had a chance to kill Elend.
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Part 2: Cloth and Glass
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Part 3: The Broken Skies
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Part 4: Beautiful Destroyer
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Part 5: Trust
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Spook awakens from his ills and is given a message to send to Vin by Kelsier in a vision. Goradel takes it out of the city.
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Marsh kills Goradel and reads Spook's note to Vin.
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Sazed gets told about the First Contract, and the lower Generation's stage a coup.
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
TenSoon rescues Sazed and the First Generation from their imprisonment in the Homeland. He then impersonates FhorKood and allows the Firsts to regenerate.
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Epilogue
Notes