Below is a chapter summary of Mistborn: The Final Empire, the first book in Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series.
Prologue
Lord Tresting, the owner of a skaa plantation in one of the outer dominances of the Final Empire, walks with an obligator, surveying the skaa working in the fields. He finds Kelsier smiling at him in an act of definiance. He orders a task master to beat Kelsier only to find out that he has disappeared. Later, Keslier drops in on some of the skaa, traveling around the plantation at his leisure. He hears about what Lord Tresting has been doing to the skaa women, and, as he hears one of their cries in the night, he runs over and ends up killing Tresting and burnikng down his home so that more skaa will join in his fight against the Lord Ruler.
Chapter 1
Vin and Camon win a contract from Prelan Laird by disguising Camon as a desperate nobleman, Lord Jedue, along with a little help from Vin’s allomantic abilities.
Chapter 2
Kelsier and Dockson follow Vin and Camon into the Ministry’s Canton of Finance, where Vin learns Camon intends to cross Theron, the man who put their crew up to this mission. They bring their proposal to high prelan Arriev, and in the process, Vin uses her allomancy on him, which is a bad idea, because the obligators are trained to detect this. Kelsier and Dockson lead the steel inquisitor off their trail.
Chapter 3
Kelsier takes over Camon’s crew, and explains to Vin about Allomancy, where they learn she can use more than two of the metals, which means she is a Mistborn.
Chapter 4
Kelsier lays out the plan to take down Lord Ruler and take over the city.
Chapter 5
Kelsier steals a safe from Lord Venture.
Chapter 6
Kelsier and the crew pass around their plan to overthrow Lord Ruler. It consists of the following:
- They plan a house war first
- Kelsier then gives Breeze a year to use his allomancy to “encourage up” an army.
- They plan to purchase weapons legally, using an imposter of a man named Lord Renoux – Kelsier killed the real Lord Renoux, but has hired a kandra to take his place. They can’t use the kandra to infiltrate the nobility, however, because inquisitors will know.
- They agree that Vin will play the role of a noblewoman to infiltrate the great houses to start a war between them.
At the end of the chapter, Kelsier’s brother Marsh shows up.
Chapter 7
Kelsier takes Vin out into the streets of Luthadel at night with him and teaches her all about Allomancy.
Chapter 8
Kelsier brings Vin to the fake Renoux’s manse in Fellise. Here, she meets Sazed, his Terrisman servant. Kelsier disappears for a moment, and comes back to her with the plan. At first, they want her to be a royal heir for Renoux, but decide it’s too risky, as it won’t allow her to spy effectively. Instead, she will be “simply a young scion” Renoux brings with her to Luthadel.
Chapter 9
Kelsier goes on several nightly raids for a period of two months, putting in appearances on the properties of a dozen different noble houses, both in Luthadel and in Fellise, using various disguises and motives to pit the Great Houses against one another.
The crew also decides that Vin will infiltrate Luthadel’s high society with the fake persona of Lady Valette Renoux, fourth cousin to Lord Teven Renoux. They make up a backstory in which Lady Valette’s parents had sent her down to Luthadel to spend some time at court as part of a trade agreement with their distant cousin.
Later, Vin trains with both Kelsier and Sazed in allomancy and in becoming a noblewoman. She gets a haircut that makes her look more feminine. Kelsier asks Sazed to look out for Vin.
Chapter 10
Kelsier sends Vin off to train with Breeze to learn more about Soothing. Breeze is able to skillfully Soothe the crowd Kelsier is making a speech to, and Kelsier is therefore able to convince several of them to join Yeden’s rebellion, finding a “good set of volunteers to send off to the caves.”
They plan on infiltrating the ministry by finding an obligator along Theron’s canal route who is open to bribes, and having him add an “acolyte” to the group from his local chapter.
At the end of the chapter, Ham announces that the ministry has found Camon’s lair.
Chapter 11
Vin and Kelsier’s crew discover the massacre of Camon and his crew. The inquisitors have made a bloody mess of them. Camon was hung out in the square, the common punishment for allomancers who use their abilities incorrectly, indicating he may have known Allomancy, or at least been aware of Vin’s abilities.
Chapter 12
Vin goes to her first ball disguised as Lady Valette accompanied by Sazed. She refuses several dances from different noblemen, and she later meets Elend Venture, who brazenly reads a book in front of her. He makes a memorable impression on her.
Chapter 13
Vin follows Kelsier to Kredik Shaw.
Chapter 14
At Kredik Shaw, Vin and Kelsier are attacked by several inquisitors. She’s able to survive by burning Atium, but suffers a nearly fatal wound in the process.
Chapter 15
Sazed returns Vin’s body to the crew, and she is hanging on for life. Dockson chastises Kelsier for bringing her along to Kredik Shaw.
Chapter 16
After recovering in Clubs’s shop, Vin takes a carriage with Sazed over to Lord Renoux’s in Fellise. They talk about Kelsier’s past, and the Keepers. Sazed tells her to rest.
Chapter 17
Kelsier, Breeze, Yeden, and Dockson show up at Lord Renoux’s manse to discuss their plans. Vin tells them she is well enough to start mingling with the nobility again. She’s excited for her next ball, and Kelsier tells her about his deceased wife, Mare, and how she used to keep pictures of flowers. He says he wants to create a better world, one that Mare had once envisioned.
Chapter 18
Vin goes to her second ball, the Elariel Ball, and mingles with Elend Venture again. He asks about the skaa, and she learns that he has a fiancee. She talks to the fiancee, Shan Elariel, and Shan sends her Terrisman over to read Elend’s books. Vin stops the Terrisman, reading Elend’s books herself, and finds that he is reading critical texts of the Lord Ruler. She also learns that Elend has been mingling with the boys from rival houses. As she’s leaving, she and Sazed find a beggar skaa outside who gets slaughtered by the nobility.
Chapter 19
Kelsier kills one of the noblemen, Lord Charrs Entrone. He meets with his informant, Hoid, and learns that they are unaware of the situation with Lord Renoux. He also instigates further division among the Luthadel houses by telling Hoid rumors of a covert relationship between Shan Elarial and a lord named Salmen Tekiel, and that she had secured a secret (non-existent) deal with House Hasting. He then sews further division by pretending to be a skaa with Straff Venture, telling him that House Erikell is ripping them off with their arms deals, selling the arms to House Tekiel for half the price that House Venture is paying. Straff Venture mentions the rumors about the Survivor and the Eleventh Metal to Kelsier, showing him that the nobility are aware that something is up with their rebellion.
Later, Vin, Kelsier, and Sazed debrief about the night’s events. They agree to spread rumors to confuse the nobility about the eleventh metal. They discuss Vin’s relationship with Elend Venture, and she sticks up for him, saying that he is reading rebellious books, while Kelsier and Sazed tell her that he is not a friend to them.
Chapter 20
Vin has been to several balls now. She trains with Marsh in burning copper.
Chapter 21
Kelsier visits the caves where the rebel army is gathering. He relieves Ham of his duty, replacing him with Yeden. He’s able to win the faltering soldiers over by having a small, weakling challenge a big man who has been outspoken against their plans. Using allomancy, Kelsier is able to get the smaller soldier to win in a fight in front of the army, and makes a speech to them, saying that they will never be left alone, as long as he is around. This rouses them, getting their spirits back into the fight.
Chapter 22
Vin studies the Lord Ruler’s logbooks, and learns about Feruchemy from Sazed. She learns that Spook is courting her, that several of the men in the crewhave wives, and she learns of Dockson’s backstory. She learns from Dockson that all noblemen sleep with skaa women, knowing that they must be killed afterward.
Chapter 23
Vin starts getting gossip from Elan and the other ladies at court about the growing divisions between the houses. She confronts Elend about sleeping with Skaa women. He tells her that he has only slept with one, when he was 13, because his father made him, and he didn’t know what was to happen afterwards. Vin trusts him again, thinking of him as honest. She follows him after the ball, and finds that Kelsier has been following him too. Kelsier explains that Elend and his friends from the other houses are not trying to rebel against Lord Ruler, but instead they are simply drinking and talking politics and philosophy, nothing more, and that they aren’t on the same side as their crew.
Chapter 24
Ham returns, and he and Vin go out to the skaa garrison in Luthadel (the ones who fight for Lord Ruler) and learn that they’ve gotten wind of the rebels gathering in the caves, and that a force has been sent out to head them off.
Chapter 25
Kelsier and Vin run out to the caves for 16 hours straight, burning Pewter. They find that most of the rebel army has been slaughtered in a battle. They marched out to battle because Yeden seemingly got the yips, getting too excited by Kelsier’s charisma. They learn that Yeden has been killed in the fighting.
There are a few soldiers remaining in the caves, however. Kelsier meets a man named Mennis, from the skaa plantation he was on when the story began, and Mennis tells him it’s a moral victory, to have something worth fighting for, even if they are going to lose. This re-energizes Kelsier, who had felt the battle and death was his fault. Now, he wants to show Mennis and the others that it really can be done, that the Lord Ruler can truly be defeated.
Chapter 26
Tensions with the crew come to a head, and Breeze directly calls Kelsier out, saying he is only in this for the money and the glory. They are interrupted by the Lord Ruler’s executions in the town square, and Kelsier makes a speech to the crew, telling them they have to trust him, and stop questioning him at every turn. He tells them that he is only in this thing to stop the Lord Ruler. At the end of the chapter, Vin, too, believes that their true purpose is to stop the Lord Ruler, and to change the way things are.
Chapter 27
Vin is asked to get some intel from Elend so the crew can take down house Venture in the house wars they are instigating. Vin and Keslier talk about the Eleventh metal, and about gold. Vin flares gold for the first time, and finds out the two versions of herself she could be. Marsh returns with news from infiltrating the obligators at the ministry. They have several soothing stations all around the city. Kelsier asks him to obtain a map of these soothing stations.
Chapter 28
Vin attends the Lekal ball. She and Elend talk at length. She warns him of Lady Shan Elariel, while he tells her he wants her to leave the city before the house wars begin. He also spills a secret to her, telling Vin that his family mines atium for the lord ruler, and they are completely dependent upon him. Elend’s friends warn him that Lady Valette is up to something, and his father tells him not to see her again, that he’s set up a luncheon with the daughter of Lord Tegas. Elend agrees, so long as he can have a spy follow Lady Valette.
Chapter 29
Vin finishes the Lord Ruler’s logbook, and asks Sazed where the rest of it is. They talk about Feruchemy, and Vin tries to use his metals for allomancy, but it doesn’t work. Kelsier and the crew get the Soothing map back from Marsh, and decide to use thieving crews to take out the Lord Ruler’s Soothing crews all at once.
Chapter 30
House Venture holds another ball, and there is an uneasy feeling in the air. It’s the last ball, in fact, before the house wars begin. Vin learns that Kliss, one of the gossipers/noblewomen at court, is an informant. She tells Vin she knows House Renoux is behind the attacks on the barges of House Hastings. She promises to keep quiet for a fee, and she tells Vin that Elend’s days are numbered, that his father has arranged for him to be assassinated. Vin runs after Elend to stop the assassination, and she learns that Shan Elariel has been sent to kill him, and is an allomancer. She fights off two mistborn allomancers and wins by burning her Atium, killing Shan as she escapes several archers.
Chapter 31
Vin returns from killing Shan, and tells the crew the news about the fomenting house war. When the group criticizes her for risking her life to save Elend, she scolds them, telling them that they’re not true Skaa. Later, as she calms down, Kelsier talks to her, and they agree that it hurts when someone you love betrays you. Elend learns that Lady Valette was actually part of a skaa thieving crew, and he is not discouraged by this. His father tells him that Shan attempted to assassinate him.
Chapter 32
Vin and Kelsier visit a skaa tenement, and find Marsh’s body. He was apparently killed by an inquisitor, and had with him a sheet of paper, claiming that the inquisitors have a weakness, he just didn’t know what it was. Later, Kelsier explores the crystal mines, knowing, apparently, how to find Atium to ostensibly destroy it and get revenge against the Final Empire.
Chapter 33
The obligators bring more people out into the street for executions, including Spook. Kelsier runs out into the town square and starts fighting the inquisitors,
Chapter 34
Kelsier saves Elend, fights some inquisitors, and kills one of them in the process. He then faces off with Lord Ruler himself, telling him that he can’t be killed. Lord Ruler then kills him.
Chapter 35
The crew goes to the warehouse Kelsier rented, and his kandra hands them a map with some words Kelsier wrote to them from beyond the grave.
Chapter 36
Vin sneaks into Kredik Shaw by soothing one of its guards. Elend parts ways with his father. Vin is caught by the inquisitors. One of the Inquisitors, Kar, points out that Vin is the illegitimate daughter of Tevidian, the Canton of Orthodoxy. The Lord Ruler allows the Inquisitors to then kill Tevidian, and take Vin to a cell for questioning.
Chapter 37
Elend goes to Dockson, and asks him to stop his armies from attacking the nobility. Sazed goes to save Vin at the Lord Ruler’s palace, and uses his Feruchemy to bust her out of her cell. Elend shows up after she is freed, but she goes back to try to kill the Lord Ruler.
Chapter 38
Vin goes to the Lord Ruler’s throne room and attacks him. She burns the 11th metal and attacks the Lord Ruler’s malatium ghost with no success. She fights off the inquisitors around the Lord Ruler as well, and Marsh arrives, as he seems to have risen from the dead. Marsh attacks as well without any success. Vin is able to draw on the power of the mists to remove the Lord Ruler’s jewelry off his arms, which is likely infused with Feruchemy. The Lord Ruler rapidly ages because of this. Sazed arrives and gives Vin some metals so that she can use her allomantic powers once again to defeat the Lord Ruler. The Lord Ruler tells Vin, Marsh, and Sazed that they don’t know the mistake they have made by choosing to kill him. Vin kills him with a spear anyways.
Epilogue
Marsh tells Vin and Sazed about how he became an inquisitor. They talk about Kelsier’s kandra, the one that imitated Lord Renoux, and they have discovered that Kelsier transferred this kandra’s contract to Vin. Vin worries about the Lord Ruler’s warning to them about the mistake they made by killing him, and they talk about the Deepness. Vin contemplates escaping the crew one final time, but decides to go to join Elend instead, as he is the new ruler of Luthadel and the Lord Ruler’s Final Empire, the one that Kelsier had helped create for the skaa.
