Marsh

Marsh
by Laura MacMahon
Family Parents Mother Siblings Kelsier
Abilities	Seeker, Steel Inquisitor, Hemalurgy, Worldhopper
Aliases	Ironeyes, Death
Residence	Luthadel
Ethnicity	Skaa
Homeworld	Scadrial

Marsh is a half-skaa Seeker from the Final Empire on Scadrial.

Appearance and Personality

He was stern and determined, earning him the name "Ironeyes" as a result of his piercing gaze. Marsh looks very similar to his brother Kelsier, even after becoming an Inquisitor. Steel Ministry tattoos and spikes through his eyes are a prominent feature of his face after being made an Inquisitor. ^[expand]

History

Mistborn Era 1

Like his brother, Kelsier, Marsh hated injustice. As a result, he led the skaa rebellion for many years. However, the two brothers did not get along. While Marsh was busy trying to overthrow the Lord Ruler, Kelsier led a band of thieves - and was wildly successful at it. Though she would come to marry Kelsier, Marsh had also loved Mare, which only further increased the division between the brothers. When Mare and Kelsier failed during a heist of Kredik Shaw, they were sent to the Pits of Hathsin, ultimately costing Mare her life. It was the final nail in the coffin for Marsh. He gave up the rebellion, unable to deal with the deaths of those he cared about, considering the whole endeavor dangerous and futile.

When Kelsier Snapped, becoming Mistborn, and escaped the Pits, he returned to his old thieving crew with plans help the current Rebellion, under the leadership of Yeden. His new plot to overthrow the Lord Ruler only served to get under Marsh's skin yet again, and he doubted the veracity of Kelsier's intentions, thinking it was still all just a game to him. But despite it all, the brothers still loved one another and Marsh eventually agreed to help infiltrate the Steel Ministry, hoping his abilities as a Seeker would smooth his way in. Marsh continued to feel like he had been a failure compared to his brother and was determined to finally make a difference.

Placing himself within a batch of new Ministry recruits flowing into Luthadel, he was accepted into their ranks. He quickly began to reveal important Ministry secrets to the rebellion using secret messages and drop sites. One such secret was the soothing stations, positioned by the Lord Ruler across Luthadel to inspire depression and docility in the skaa population.

However, not everything went as planned. An urgent message from Marsh suggested he'd been discovered, and he directed them to one of these stations for extraction. However, when the crew arrived, they discovered only a headless corpse, butchered by Inquisitors, and assumed Marsh dead.

It was later revealed that he had been watched by the Canton of Inquisition, as Seekers were particularly desired, and they had 'recruited' him, turning him into an Inquisitor using Hemalurgy. This caused his innate Seeker abilities to be heightened even further, an ability which was of great use to the Inquisitors. It's quite likely that this allowed Marsh to pierce copperclouds, similar to Vin's earring. Despite it all, he continued to aid the rebellion behind the scenes, and when Vin confronted the Lord Ruler following Kelsier's death, he quietly removed the spikes from all of the other Inquisitors in Luthadel, most of which had gone to recuperate and refill their goldminds. Without the support of his Inquisitors, Vin was able to focus and finally succeed in killing the Lord Ruler.

Following the downfall of the Final Empire and the beginning of Elend's rule in Luthadel, Marsh would lead Sazed to the Conventical of Seran, though he exhibited strange behavior, unlike the Marsh of old. Doing so allowed Sazed to discover Kwaan's inscription, but Marsh prevented him from translating it on the spot and instead forced him to make a rubbing, fleeing the Conventical, after which he promptly disappeared. Left to his own devices, Sazed was motivated to bring his discovery back to Luthadel for research. However, it is likely that Marsh was already under Ruin's influence, forcing Sazed to make a copy of the metal inscription so that Ruin could alter its message without anyone realizing it had been changed.

Following the Siege of Luthadel, when Sazed finally realized there was a problem, Ruin again brought Marsh, who was more and more aware that his actions were not his own, to distract Sazed and prevent him from warning Vin about giving up the power at the Well of Ascension. It's implied that Ruin had been causing Marsh to commit atrocities across the Final Empire.

After Ruin was freed from the Well, it took total control of Marsh. During this time he had no physical control over his body. In the horrifying prison of his mind, he held out hope that he could remove a crucial spike and end his life when Ruin's attention was diverted. However, he was never able to accomplish much more than twitching a finger before Ruin asserted total control and brought him back in line. As Ruin was undoubtedly aware of Marsh's continuing resistance, though it could not read his thoughts, Marsh was implanted with many additional Hermalurgic spikes, further increasing Ruin's hold over him and granting him the greatest set of Allomantic and Feruchemic abilities of all the Inquisitors through the deaths of many Terris Keepers.

For most of his existence under Ruin, he was unable to aid Vin and Elend in any way, allowing his mind to drift into the insanity of Ruin, where destruction turned to bliss, giving his last vestige of rebellion the relief it needed to stay alive in the dark corners of his mind. This last burst of Marsh's incredible willpower finally emerged during Vin's battle against the Inquisitors at Kredik Shaw. With the support of Kelsier, directing Preservation's power to distract Ruin and bolstering Marsh's ability to resist, he pushed out Vin's earring. This allowed the mists, and the full power of Preservation, to flow into her, saving her life, allowing her to destroy all of the remaining Inquisitors, and Ascending to become the Vessel of Preservation. Only Marsh survived the onslaught by a stroke of luck: as the empowered Vin was about to remove his second head spike, she Ascended beyond her physical form.

Ruin reasserted his control, eventually sending Marsh to the Battle of Hathsin, where he would behead an exhausted Elend in Ruin's rage - who had burned through all of his metals, including the secret atium stash within the Trustwarren. However, this act gave Vin the final motivation she needed to sacrifice her life in order to destroy Ruin's Vessel and prompt the Catacendre.

Mistborn Era 2

Portrait of Marsh as an inquisitor by User: Luaru.

Marsh and his nickname, "Ironeyes", survived the events of the Catacendre. He has become a mythical figure in Elendel's popular culture, being the personification of Death. He is also the focus of Sliverism. Though likely given far more autonomy under the direction of Harmony, he continues to serve as one of his agents.

He delivered a book to Wax through Marasi, using emotional Allomancy to make her curious enough to follow him.

He has been investigating the Southern Continent of Scadrial.

Abilities

Marsh was a Seeker, a Misting who could burn bronze. He was highly skilled and taught Vin how to use bronze effectively.

Upon becoming an Inquisitor, he gained further abilities in Allomancy and Feruchemy, allowing him to extend his life as Rashek had. He gained many more spikes than were usual for an Inquisitor in the Lord Ruler's time; upwards of twenty. He also has a Feruchemical Atium spike which carries an unknown Hemalurgic property as well as being able to store age. In addition to this, he kept the bag of Atium that KanPaar attempted to sell, meaning that he has enough to stay alive for a very long time.

Notes

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