Sazed is a Terris Keeper and Feruchemist and an important member of Kelsier’s crew in the Mistborn series. He plays an instrumental role in bringing about the Hero of Ages.
See below for a table of contents on Sazed’s character analysis:
Appearance
When we first encounter Sazed in the Mistborn series, he is described as having earlobes that have been stretched out, and his ears contain studs that run around the perimeter. He wears the lavish, colorful robes of a Terris steward, the garments made of embroidered, overlapping V shapes, alternating among the three colors of his master’s house (1.154).
Later, in The Hero of Ages, we get a more detailed description of his appearance:
“He wasn’t what one could call an athletic man. Tall and long-limbed, he had the build of a scholar, and still wore the colorful robes of a Terris steward. He also still kept his head shaved, after the manner of the station he had served in for the first forty-some years of his life. He didn’t wear much of his jewelry now—he didn’t want to tempt highway bandits—but his earlobes were stretched out and pierced with numerous holes for earrings” (2.37).
Additionally, we are told he has a smooth voice with a higher pitch, with an “almost melodic accent” (1.154).
Personality
Charisma & Hidden Strength
When we are introduced to Sazed, we can immediately see he has a charisma about him, a sort of hidden strength, if you will, like that of a monk or a yogi.
For example, Vin notes the unique manner in which he sits:
“Though he sat with a stiff posture, there was still something…relaxed about him. It was as if he were as comfortable when sitting properly as other people were when lounging” (1.163).
He also has an incredible, hidden strength within him, which we later learn is due to his Feruchemy. When Kelsier asks him to protect Vin as she infiltrates the ministry, he thinks:
“He looked innocuous, but Kelser knew the strength that Sazed hid. Few men, Allomancers or not, would fare well in a fight with a Keeper whose anger had been roused” (1.184).
We also get the impression that Sazed is a hardened warrior. For example, when Camon’s crew is brutally murdered, Vin notes how Kelsier had brought him to Camon’s lair, even though it was dangerous, which to her means that he must be some kind of warrior. Naturally, he reacts calmly to the carnage of Camon’s crew.
“He didn’t appear shocked by the carnage” (1.205).
Calmness
Sazed is rarely roused to anger through the Mistborn series. Vin notes this when she finds out that he is a eunuch.
She thinks this calm manner is a function of his condition, that he is bred to be a docile, even-tempered steward (1.274). However, one could argue that Sazed is simply naturally inclined to be calm.
Wisdom
Sazed is both intelligent and wise. It’s a natural trait he displays throughout the Mistborn series, over and over again. However, there are a couple instances of his wisdom truly stands out.
For example, when Kelsier dies, Sazed remarks on how faith and perseverance aren’t only reserved for when things are going well. Faith, in fact, is something that is proven in difficult times:
“Belief isn’t simply a thing for fair times and bright days, I think. What is belief—what is faith—if you don’t continue in it after failure? Anyone can believe in someone, or something, that always succeeds, mistress. But failure…now, that is hard to believe in, certainly and truly. Difficult enough to have value, I think” (1.579).
It’s a wise perspective that will ultimately be tested to the extreme within him. In a way, he is foreshadowing his own loss of faith later in the series.
Sazed also notes the importance of wisdom when Vin goes back to save him at the Lord Ruler’s palace at the end of the first novel. He tells her that she cannot help him, that “there is beauty in compassion, but one must learn wisdom too” (1.614). He is criticizing her decision, however, but Vin proves him wrong here and is able to save him, just as she proves everyone else wrong throughout the series.
Optimism
From Vin’s point of view, Sazed is quite optimistic. Despite being a eunuch, he is still thinks that his life has been easier than Vin’s, as he hasn’t had to live on the streets as a skaa. Vin points out his optimism, and he remarks that perhaps he is just more foolish than optimistic (1.485).
Loyalty
Sazed follows Vin into the royal palace after she attempts to assassinate the Lord Ruler, telling her that he vowed to Kelsier that he would see to her safety. He tells her the oath of a Terrisman is not something given lightly. He went after her, despite knowing he would be captured (1.611).
Here, and throughout the rest of the series, Sazed shows great loyalty to the ones he loves. Even as he is broken and has lost his faith in religion and in himself, he still fights on for Vin and Elend.
“Yet a little part of him—a spark from before—refused to simply give up. He would at least continue his research and would do what Elend and Vin asked of him” (3.207).
Curiosity
In The Well of Ascension, Sazed shows his natural curiosity when he and Marsh are exploring the Conventical of Seran. Marsh forges ahead of him at one point, exploring the darkness underneath them, and tells Sazed that he can stay behind. But Sazed’s everlasting curiosity pushes him forward:
“Even as he turned back to his description of one of the wall mounts, he knew that he would eventually find himself walking toward that darkness. It was the same as ever—the curiosity, the need to understand the unknown. This sense had driven him as a Keeper, had led him to Kelsier’s company. His search for truths could never be completed, but neither could it be ignored. So he eventually turned and approached the stairwell, his own whispering voice his only companion” (2.133).
Culture
Sazed places great value in civility and culture. The koloss are an interesting foil to these values of his, as they represent the exact opposite of these ideas.
“The Keeper in him believed strongly that nothing should be lost, that every society was worth remembering. The brutality of the koloss camp—the wounded creatures who sat ignoring the gashes in their skin, the flayed corpses along the path, the sudden bellows of anger and subsequent murders—tested this belief” (2.224).
Simplicity
Sazed values simplicity and an almost spartan nature to things as well.
“His window shutters rattled. Sazed looked up. He was in his quarters at the palace—a tasteful collection of well-decorated rooms that were far too lavish for one who had spent his life as a servant” (2.357).
Cleanliness
Sazed is characteristically clean, organized, and meticulous in everything he does.
Elend is an interesting foil to this, as he is nearly always dirty, sloppy, and even slovenly at times. He notes how Sazed keeps his books organized at one point, pointing out the contrast to his own books:
“The Keeper had at least a dozen volumes stacked around him—though amusingly his stacks were neatly arranged, spines pointing the same direction, covers flush. Elend’s own stacks were characteristically haphazard, pages of notes sticking out at odd angles” (2.405).
Even when he is dirtied from travel, “Sazed still gave off a sense of tidiness” (2.266).
He is even meticulous when it comes to how he studies and presents information.
For example, when he returns with troubling news of the koloss and the mists in The Well of Ascension, Vin notes that something must be going on. That “Sazed was not prone to exaggeration. He was meticulous—that much showed in his mannerisms, his cleanliness, the way he spoke. And he was even more meticulous when it came to his studies. Vin was inclined to believe his discoveries” (2.277).
Feruchemist and Keeper
Sazed is a Terris Keeper, which means that he was bred to be a servant of the Lord Ruler, but he now rebels against him by keeping forgotten truths of the past stored up in his metalminds through Feruchemy.
In particular, Sazed is a Keeper of the old religions before the Lord Ruler’s times. However, religious rites are not the only thing that Keepers like him stored in their uncanny memories – their metalminds also contain vast wealths of information on culture, philosophy, and science.
However, Sazed doesn’t consider himself a Keeper, rather, he thinks of himself as a Feruchemist. He claims that what he does is similar to allomancy – while allomancers draw power from metals, he uses them create memories (1.273).
Feruchemist
Coppermind
The way Sazed remembers everything is through his copper:
“In order to fill a coppermind with memories, Sazed had listened to another Keeper recite his entire collection of histories, facts, and stories. Sazed had memorized each sentence, then shoved those memories into the coppermind for later retrieval” (2.126).
He may remember very little of an actual experience, but he could draw forth any book or essay he wished, recollecting them as crisply as when he had first memorized them. “He only had to have the [copper] bracers on” (2.126).
Views on Allomancy
Notably, Sazed is not jealous of Allomancers.
He knows they are better in a fight, but he values allomancy less because it cannot expand the mind, “giving one access to the dreams, hopes, and beliefs of a thousand years of culture” (2.128), nor can it give the power to “treat a wound, or help teach a poor village to use modern fertilization techniques” (2.128).
He notes that the metalminds of Feruchemy weren’t “flamboyant,” but they have far more lasting value to society, and that he knew a few tricks with Feruchemy that would surprise even the most prepared warrior (2.128).
Keeper
As a Terris Keeper, Sazed has memorized details of all the forgotten religions.
When asked why he remembers all of this – i.e., what’s the point – he says because “people are valuable” and so “are their beliefs. Since the Ascension a thousand years ago, so many beliefs have disappeared. The Steel Ministry forbids the worship of anyone but the Lord Ruler, and the Inquisitors have diligently destroyed hundreds of religions. If someone doesn’t remember them, then they will simply disappear” (1.179).
This shows his sort of moral philosophy hinges upon people not being forgotten, even if they are already deceased. It’s a sort of rebellion in its own way – to keep the things the Lord Ruler and Steel inquisitors have tried to suppress alive, is a sort of rebellion on its own. It also stresses the importance of the past, of memory, to keep the integrity of truth alive.
He also does this because he believes the Steel Ministry will inevitably end, and when that day comes, “men will wish to return to the beliefs of their fathers. On that day, they will look to the Keepers, and on that day we shall return to mankind his forgotten truths” (1.179).
He believes in all of the religions, even if they contradict each other.
“I respect the truths behind them all–and I believe in the need for each one to be remembered” (1.207).
He chooses the prayer that fits the moment, essentially.
He also claims that keepers are storehouses, that they remember things, so that they can be used in the future – religious truths are just his particular specialty (1.272). He also specializes in languages, and he knows 172 of them, most of which are no longer spoken.
Gathering Legends
In the first Mistborn novel, Sazed decides to gather stories about Kelsier, because he believes he was a religious figure to the skaa. When Vin presses him on the fact that Kelsier was not a prophet or a god, just a man, Sazed responds that “so many of them are” (1.580).
Clearly, he thinks of religion in a different way than Vin – it isn’t necessitated by prophets, gods, and the supernatural, but simply the belief in someone or something.
“He [Kelsier] always asked what gave religions so much power. Each time, I answered him the same…I told him that it was because their believers had something they felt passionate about. Something…or someone” (1.582).
He collects legends. When Vin asks him about this, he replies:
“As a Keeper I collect many things…stories, legends, religions. When I was young, another Keeper recited all of his knowledge to me so that I could store it, and then add to it” (1.552).
Relationship with Vin
In the first Mistborn novel, Sazed quickly takes a liking to Vin, and he watches out for her, both mentoring her and trying to keep her safe.
For example, when Vin is getting bruises from her training with Kelsier, he warns her to be careful, saying that “Makeup could only cover so much, and she would have to look like a proper young noblewoman if she were going to infiltrate the court” (1.174).
When Vin is talking to Elend in the beginning of The Well of Ascension, she notes that Sazed enjoyed being with people, helping them, and that she never got the sense that he resented her (2.54).
This is contrasted by her feelings about OreSeur, the kandra. She says that he may do everything she commands, but that he doesn’t like her, and he never has (2.54).
Vin also serves as a good foil to Sazed with her intuitive nature. As they discuss the Deepness, Sazed notes how certain she is about her theory that the Deepness is the mists. He thinks, incredulously, “did she know nothing of proper research techniques? Of questioning, of studying, of postulating and devising answers.” (2.361)
To which, he answers himself that “Of course she doesn’t…she grew up on the streets—she doesn’t use research technique. She just uses instinct. And she’s usually right” (2.361).
Here, we see an interesting contrast between Vin and Sazed, and even Elend for that matter. While Sazed and Elend operated off of thorough research and understanding, Vin operates off of pure instincts alone.
Later on in the series, Sazed eventually realizes that Vin is the true Hero of Ages once she has conquered Straff’s army and united the leaders under Elend. He thinks, “We had the wrong gender all along” (2.731).
Of course, he wouldn’t end up being quite right about this.
Relationship with Tindwyl
Among the Terris, Sazed is something of a juxtaposition. On the one hand, he represents everything they’re all about – he is calm, humble, careful, respectful, and wise.
On the other hand, Sazed is the one who worked to overthrow the Final Empire for ten years, who played the most risky hand in overthrowing the Lord Ruler, and bucked his leaders (the Synod’s) advice on this issue.
When Sazed and Tindwyl first start working together in The Well of Ascension, Sazed believes that Tindwyl is disappointed in him for this reason, although he doesn’t believe she despises him.
“I don’t understand you…you should be a leader among our people, Sazed. Not our greatest rebel and dissident. Everyone wants to look up to you—but they can’t. Must you defy every order you are given?” (2.277).
Despite Tindwyl’s reservations, through their studies of the Deepness, she and Sazed quickly develop a close relationship and a fondness for one another. Sazed clearly develops a crush on her.
“Sazed didn’t respond. He glanced to the side, seeing her concerned eyes. Beautiful eyes. Foolish thoughts, he told himself, looking away. You’ve always known that. Some things were meant for others, but never for you” (2.454).
Tindwyl reciprocates his love, and she sums up his character quite well at one point:
“Do you know why I love you, Sazed?…because you never give in…other men are strong like bricks—firm, unyielding, but if you pound on them long enough, they crack. You…you’re strong like the wind. Always there, so willing to bend, but never apologetic for the times when you must be firm. I don’t think any of your friends understand what a power they had in you” (2.661).
Of course, their love for one another will end up being a source of tragedy for Sazed, and it will ultimately break him in The Hero of Ages. However, it is an integral part of his character arc and is a big part of how he fulfills his mission to help save the world at the end of the series.
Religion & Sazed’s Character Arc
Initial View of Religion
As noted earlier, as a Terris Keeper, Sazed believes in all religions, and he thinks they all have great value. He chooses the prayer that fits the moment, essentially.
We get even more insight into his views of religion in The Well of Ascension. As he and Tindwy study the Deepness, they discuss the subject in depth. Very quickly, it is obvious that he and Tindwyl differ greatly on the subject, and it’s when they are talking about the merits of studying religion that we get to see his perspective on it a bit more.
For example, he tells Tindwyl that “religions are an expression of hope” and “ that hope gives people strength.” He doesn’t claim to believe the gods exist, however, only that they deserve to be remembered (2.566).
Furthermore, he tells Tindwyl that religions are promises:
“Promises that there is something watching over us, guiding us. Prophecies, therefore, are natural extensions of the hopes and desires of the people. Not foolishness at all” (2.566).
Later on in the novel, Clubs confronts him about his belief in multiple religions, saying it’s a situational belief, and that these foolish ideas aren’t going to help his men survive this battle.
In response, Sazed makes a wooden disc for him, representing the Dadradah faith, the one that values artists above all else, hoping to appeal to Clubs’s woodworking side.
“He set the wooden disc on the table. Then, with effort, he smiled at Clubs. It had been a long time since he had preached a religion, and he wasn’t certain what had made him decide to offer this one to Clubs. Perhaps it was to prove to himself that there was value in them. Perhaps it was stubbornness, reacting against the things Clubs had said earlier. Either way, he found satisfaction in how Clubs stared at the simple wooden disc with the image of a brush carved on it” (2.655).
Here, it’s obvious to see that Sazed believes in all religions from a utilitarian perspective. He believes religion is good because it gives the masses hope. He believes not with an insistence that the supernatural exists, or that any one religion is correct, but with the idea that all religion has unique value in its teachings.
With Tindwyl’s death, however, he tragically loses sight of this view and his belief in religion in general.
Losing Faith
In the battle of Luthadel, Tindwyl dies manning one of the gates of the city. Her death is devastating for him, and it truly breaks him as a character.
A numbness fills him as he stands with the refugees and soldiers, facing what they believe to be their doom as they are later about to fight Straff Venture’s army. Sazed notes that he wasn’t cold, despite barely tapping his brassmind for warmth:
“Maybe he was simply getting too numb to care” (2.718).
As he stands there among his soldiers, he notes that “there was little hope left in them.” He stands alone in the quiet snow, contemplating himself and his loss of faith:
“A spindly, bald scholar, nearly naked. He, the one who preached the religions of the fallen. He, who had given up hope at the end. He, who should have had the most faith of all” (2.718).
When Sazed finally finds Tindwyl’s body, he laments that despite her hard life as a breeder, she had still found her death in this way:
“After years of being abused by the breeding masters, after surviving so much, she had found this. Death in a city where she hadn’t belonged, with a man—no, a half man—who did not deserve her” (2.721)
Tindwyl’s death makes Sazed feel hollow, and he has this sort of survivor’s guilt tied up with how she perished:
“He didn’t know how to deal with Tindwyl’s death. He felt…hollow. He wished that he could simply stop feeling. He wished that he could go back and defend her gate, instead of his own. Why hadn’t he gone in search of her when he’d heard of the northern gate’s fall? She’s still been alive then. He might have been able to protect her…” (2.727)
Standing over her body, he tries to think of something to say, and this is when he turns on his own religious beliefs:
“He tried to think of something proper to say—something proper to think—but suddenly all of his religious knowledge seemed hollow. What was the use in giving her a burial? What was the value in speaking the prayers of a long-dead god? What good was he? The religion of Dadradah hadn’t helped Clubs; the Survivor hadn’t come to rescue the thousands of soldiers who had died. What was the point?” (2.722).
None of his knowledge gives him comfort. Despite accepting the religions he knew and believing in their value, it didn’t give him what he needed. They didn’t assure him that Tindwyl’s spirit still lived. Instead, they make him question everything.
“If so many people believed so many different things, how could any one of them—or anything at all—really be true?” (2.722).
At this point, he believes his whole life to be a sham.
“The skaa called Sazed holy, but at that moment he realized he was the most profane of men. He was a creature who knew three hundred religions, yet had faith in none of them. So when his tears fell—and nearly began to freeze to his face—they gave him as littl comfort as his religions…My life, he thought, has been a sham” (2.722).
In his grief, Sazed finds that he doesn’t want to take his mind off Tindwyl, and debates whether the pain of remembering her or forgetting her is worse. Ironically, as a Keeper, forgetting is not in his nature:
“He was finding more and more that he didn’t want to take his mind off her. Which was more potent? The pain of memory, or the pain of forgetting? He was a Keeper—it was his life’s work to remember. Forgetting, even in the name of personal peace, was not something that appealed to him” (2.748).
Apathy
Finally, his questioning/loss of religion turns into full-blown apathy.
As he is trying to assuage the arguments of the newfound leaders in the wake of their victory over the koloss and Straff, he thinks:
“He felt so inadequate. He couldn’t keep the men on topic, and he couldn’t do much to help them with their various problems. He could only keep reminding them of Vin’s power. The trouble was, he didn’t really want to. He was feeling something very odd in himself, feelings he usually didn’t have. Indifference. Apathy. Why did anything that these men talked about matter? Why did anything matter, now that Tindwyl was dead?” (2.745).
When he finds out that the prophecy about the Hero of Ages is a lie, and that there was a dark spirit that had tried to trick Alendi into giving up power at the Well of Ascension, Sazed, tragically, loses all faith completely.
“He knew at that moment that he would never believe again” (2.784).
Losing Tindwyl
In The Hero of Ages, Sazed is still in obvious pain from having lost Tindwyl, and he is broken because of it.
Breeze asks him if her death still hurts, and tells him that the pain will stop eventually.
“Will it? Sazed thought, looking away. It had been a year. It still felt…as if nothing would ever be right again. Sometimes he wondered if his immersion in the religions was merely a way of hiding from his pain” (3.45),
He notes that if this was so, then he’d chosen a poor way to cope with his pain because it was always there waiting for him.
“He had failed. No, his faith had failed him. Nothing was left to him. It was all just…gone” (3.45).
Here, he bitterly notes the difference between him and Breeze, thinking that he hasn’t recovered, while Breeze has, because only one of them lost the woman they loved.
Yes, you saw destruction and death, my friend. But the woman you love is still alive. I could have come back too, if I hadn’t lost her. I could have recovered as you did. (3.48)
Removing His Copperminds
When Vin meets him for the first time in The Hero of Ages, she asks why he no longer wears his copperminds. He tells he has become very selfish, and Vin says that nobob=dy is more selfless than him. He responds that he is selfish because he seems the only one unable to get over the death of someone he has loved (Tindwyl), that there is no reason he should still feel as he does.
“Still, I cannot wake up in the morning and not see darkness ahead of me. When I place the metalminds upon my arms, my skin feels cold, and I remember time spent with her. Life lacks all hope. I should be able to move on, but I cannot. I am weak of will, I think” (3.101)/
Later, he tells Spook why he no longer wears his metalminds. As he and Spook are talking about Kelsier as a religious figure, Sazed tells Spook that they both knew that Kelsier was no god. And Spook responds by saying the people of Urteau think he is. To which Sazed says:
“And where has it gotten them? Their belief has brought oppression and violence. What is the good of faith if this is the result? A city full of people misinterpreting their god’s commands? A world of ash and pain and death and sorrow?” Sazed shook his head. “That is why I no longer wear my metalminds. Religions that cannot offer more than this do not deserve to be taught.” (3.289)
Vin comments to Elend that Tindwyl’s death was more than just a death to him, that he sees it as a kind of betrayal:
“He always was the only one of us who had faith. Somehow, he lost that when she died” (3.112).
Sazed himself realizes that perhaps his loss of religion is tied to his loss of Tindwyl, that he no longer believes in religion, maybe, because she never had, and he is now studying what she was more interested in (politics), just as she had studied what he was more interested in (religion). He realizes this when Spook says to him:
“Your woman…the other Keeper—Tindwyl. I heard her talk about religion. She didn’t think much of it. I’d have thought that maybe you wouldn’t talk about religion anymore because that might be what she’d have wanted.”
Sazed then thinks:
“She’d wanted to be with him. She had suppressed her distaste of religion out of a desire to be involved with what he found important. And now that she was dead, Sazed found himself doing what she’d found important. Tindwyl had studied politics and leadership. She’d love to read the biographies of great statesmen and generals. Had he unconsciously agreed to become Elend’s ambassador so that he could involve himself in Tindwyl’s studies, just as she—before her death—had given herself over to his” (3.290).
Religious Portfolio
After Sazed has lost his faith in all religions, he obsessively studies them in an attempt to rule them all out as being “true” or “correct,” one by one.
“One year ago, the woman Sazed loved had died. Now he wanted to know—no, he had to know—if the religions of the world had answers for him. He would find the truth, or he would eliminate each and every faith” (3.41).
He tells Breeze that he will not teach anyone a religion again until he can understand why a god would let so many people be killed by the Lord Ruler:
“If there was a God, Breeze,” Sazed said, “do you think he’d have let so many people be killed by the Lord Ruler? Do you think he’d have let the world become what it is now? I will not teach you—or anyone—a religion that cannot answer my questions. Never again” (3.47).
Portfolio Examples
Sazed painstakingly crosses out each religion, one by one, and views each of them in a quite pessimistic light.
For example, we first see his POV as he’s studying the Cazzi religion, he decides that the religion contradicts itself.
He claims it is contradictory because the religion explains that all creatures are part of the “divine whole” and implies that each body is a work of art created by a spirit who decides to live in this world, yet another tenet says that the evil are punished with bodies that do not function correctly
He finds it distasteful the way the religion denigrates the disabled, and further dives into its logical fallacies, thinking,
“Besides, which of the religion’s ideals were true? That spirits chose and designed their bodies as they wished, or that they were punished by the body chosen for them? And what of the influence of lineage upon a child’s features and temperament?” (3.40).
He notes that the religion is “logically inconsistent” and “obviously untrue.”
He almost relishes in criticizing religions like this now; whereas before he would celebrate them, in spite of their flaws.
Later, as he is studying the Larssta religion, he reads that they believed life was about seeking the divine, that they taught that art draws men closer to understanding divinity.
He thinks, “That was all well and good…but what about questions of life and death? What about the spirit? What was the divine, and how could such terrible things happen to the world if divinity did exist?” (3.92).
Sazed constantly works on this portfolio, in an almost desperate way to save himself from his grief and loss in faith. It’s not until he gets distracted by Spook, his newfound abilities, and the Church of the Survivor, that he becomes discouraged with his religious portfolio:
“There were fifty religions left in his portfolio. Why was he deluding himself, hoping to find any more truth in them than he had in the previous two hundred and fifty? None of the religions had managed to survive the years. Shouldn’t he simply let them be? Looking through them seemed part of the great fallacy in the work of the Keepers. They’d struggled to remember the beliefs of men, but those beliefs had already proven they lacked the resilience to survive. Why bring them back to life? That seemed as pointless as reviving a sickly animal so it could fall to predators again” (3.432).
Spook & the Church of the Survivor
Church of the Survivor
Just as Sazed has lost faith in all religions, he is confronted with the Church of the Survivor and all its seeming “impossibilities.” Before, he was dismissive about this religion, having known Kelsier. But things keep happening, and this religion, along with Spook, begins a turning point in Sazed’s character arc.
For example, as he sits to have a drink with Breeze in Urteau, he realizes, “The Church of the Survivor had spread much father than Sazed had expected. It wasn’t organized the same way in Urteau as in Luthadel, and the focus seemed to be different, but the fact remained that men were worshipping Kelsier. The differences were part of what made the whole phenomenon fascinating” (3.356).
Sazed wonders at what he is missing, what the connection is. He marvels at how the mists killed, yet these people went out in the mists, and they were not terrified of them (3.356).
However, he tells himself that it is not his problem, and that he needs to once again focus on his portfolio of religions he’s been studying—but the cracks in the surface are showing. He is beginning to be swayed by Kelsier’s religion.
When Sazed learns that there is another Survivor, like Kelsier, he is then filled with excitement.
He wonders what the future of this religion will be, theorizing that perhaps there will be a succession of Survivors for this religion’s people. He thinks there could be a foundation for the Church of the Survivor to have true lasting potential, considering it can reinvent itself to suit the needs of the people with multiple Survivors, each establishing himself as distinct from those he succeeded. He thinks about all the factions and divisions within the body of worshippers (3.376).
According to Breeze, he had spent the previous night and all morning “chattering” about it, showing that this religion has breathed new life into Sazed. At one point, Breeze asks him “What ever happened to not collecting religions?” to which Sazed says, “I’m…not really collecting this religion. I’m merely theorizing about its potential.” (3.376)
Spook
As Sazed learns of Spook’s newfound powers, the Church of the Survivor and the events surrounding Spook become something of a distraction from his meticulous task of going through every religion in his portfolio to find one of them that is true.
He is in direct internal conflict over these two opposing forces.
“No, Sazed thought. I made a promise to myself. I will keep it. I will not allow myself to become a hypocrite merely because some new religion appears and waves at me. I will be strong” (3.426).
Spook really seems to be his saving grace, however.
When he returns to Sazed and Breeze with his plan to overthrow Quellion, Sazed looks into his eyes, “and found something important. Spook cared. He cared about this city, about overthrowing the Citizen. He’d saved those people earlier, when Sazed and Breeze had done nothing but stand outside watching” (3.437).
Sazed feels guilty about not being more like Spook, and grows frustrated with his own depression. However, seeing Spook’s newfound confidence and determined nature, Sazed feels something stir within him:
“His emotions had been so traitorous lately. He had trouble studying, had trouble leading, had trouble being of any use whatsoever. But looking into Spook’s eager eyes, he was almost able to forget his troubles for a moment” (3.437).
Notably, it’s at this point that he glances at his metalminds again, tempted by their knowledge. This represents Sazed finally coming back to his old ways for the first time. Returning to his metalminds would mean he would be returning to his old self, in a way.
As long as I don’t preach the religions they contain, he thought, I’m not a hypocrite. Using the specific knowledge Spook requests will at least bring some small meaning to the suffering of those who worked to gather knowledge of engineering. (3.437)
Spook continues to be the force that pushes him on the path of his character arc. At one point, Sazed points out to him how doomed they are, and asks him if he wonders if they’re going to fail. To this, Spook says:
“I do wonder if I’ll fail. I guess Tindwyl would be annoyed at me, wouldn’t she? She didn’t think that leaders should doubt themselves” (3.526).
At this point, Sazed is horrified at his outburst. He notes:
“During most of my life, I resisted the Synod, rebelling against my own people. Yet I was at peace, confident that I was doing the right thing. Now I come here, where people need me most, and I sit around and snap at my friends, telling them we’re all going to die?” (3.526).
Importantly, Spook tells him that faith means that it doesn’t matter what happens, that you can trust that somebody is watching. Trust that somebody will make it all right, that there will always be a way.
“Yes, Sazed thought. This is what I have lost. And it’s what I need to get back” (3.526).
Turning Point
Sazed finally finishes up his portfolio of religions and determines that none of them hold any answers for him.
“The stack of pages sat face down on the desk before him. They meant that there was no truth. No faith that would bring Tindwyl back to him. Nothing watching over men, contrary to what Spook had affirmed so strongly. Sazed ran his fingers across the last page, and suddenly the depression he’d been fighting—barely holding at bay for so long—was too strong for him to overcome. The portfolio had been his final line of defense” (3.579).
He thinks that he has stopped caring, but in the next sentence, he fights back against that very thought:
That’s a lie, he thought, forming a fist. Why do I lie to myself? I still care. I never stopped caring. If I’d stopped caring, then I wouldn’t still be searching. If I didn’t care so much, then being betrayed wouldn’t feel so painful (3.580).
Finally, the turning point in Sazed’s character arc begins when he realizes the Terris religion is not dead.
TenSoon & the Kandra
From TenSoon Saszed learns that the kandra are actually former feruchemists who had been The Lord Ruler’s (Rashek) friends. They had traded their feruchemy and humanity for immortality. This leads Sazed to believe that the Terris religion is not dead, since the First Generation of kandra had never died.
“The Terris religion, Breeze,” Sazed said, “The thing my sect was founded for, the thing my people have spent lifetimes searching to discover. It lives on . Not in written words that can be corrupted and changed, but in the minds of men who actually practiced it. The Terris faith is not dead!” (3.584).
Now, he now has one more religion to add to his portfolio. He travels with TenSoon back to the kandra homeland, and it is here he recognizes that “he now had hope himself” because “the Terris religion was the one that had taught about the Hero of Ages in the first place. If any contained the truth, it would be this one. Sazed needed to question the First Generation of kandra and discover what they knew” (3.615).
At this point, Sazed is beginning to become his old self again, as he is fascinated by the kandra people.
“Fascinating! Sazed thought. They make their own bones. I really do have a new culture to explore. A whole new society—art, religion, mores, gender interactions…” (3.618).
Later, he notes that he wishes he had more time to study their society (3.677).
Belief and Choice
The kandra help to show the errors in Sazed’s thinking. One of the Firsts, a kandra named Haddek, points out that in his quest, he is searching for something that cannot be found – “A religion that requires no faith of its believers.” (3.646).
Another kandra points out that they follow the Father and the First Contract, but their faith is not in him, but of something higher. They trust that Preservation planned for this day, and that his desire to protect would prove more powerful than Ruin’s desire to destroy.
Furthermore, Haddek tells Sazed that “faith isn’t about logic” and that perhaps this is Sazed’s problem.
“You cannot disprove the things you study, any more than we can prove to you that the Hero will save us. We simply must believe it, and accept the things Preservation has taught us” (3.646).
This still, somehow, isn’t enough for Sazed. As he digs into the Terris religion, he realizes that it is still hardly original – that they have the same sorts of rituals, rites, initiations, required offerings, etc – and this depresses him again.
“What had he expected? Some astounding doctrine that would prove to him once and for all that there was a god? He felt like a fool. Yet he also felt betrayed. This was what he’d ridden across the empire, elated and eager, to discover?” (3.677).
He starts to question what it is that makes people believe, and he decides that it is the people themselves choosing to believe that creates faith:
“Why did they believe? Because they saw miracles. Events one person took as happenstance, a person of faith took as a sign. A loved one recovering from disease, a fortunate business deal, a chance meeting with a long lost friend. It wasn’t the grand doctrines or the sweeping ideals that seemed to make believers out of people. It was the simple magic in the world around them.” (3.678).
He then remembers that Spook said faith had been about trust. Trusting that somebody was watching and would make it right in the end, no matter how terrible things seemed in the moment.
“To believe, it seemed, one had to want to believe” (3.679).
Sazed then realizes that in his moment of despair, he had received an answer. When he was ready to give up on all religions, and life, essentially, TenSoon had revelaed that the Terris religion was not dead.
“As he had been about to give up. TenSoon had spoken. Sazed had begged for a sign, and received it” (3.679).
He realizes here that it’s his choice whether or not to believe, that he can decide if TenSoon’s arrival at the opportune moment meant there was something more, that his faith in something could be real.
“I do want to believe, he thought. That’s why I’ve spent so much time searching. I can’t have it both ways. I simply have to decide” (3.679).
He realizes he sought help and that something answered. It’s in this moment that he believes again.
“He would believe. Not because something had been proven to him beyond his ability to deny. But because he chose to” (3.679).
After Sazed Has Turned
Sazed’s newfound belief is confirmed when he comes to the conclusion that Vin has taken up the mists—Preservation’s power—and that’s the reason the mists are no longer present:
“Vin, Sazed thought, growing excited. This is what it means to be the Hero of Ages!” (3.684).
Now, Sazed starts to believe that the world isn’t going to end.
“Because, truth be told, he was beginning to believe that the world would not end. He had accepted that something, perhaps Preservation itself, was watching over and protecting mankind. He was more and more determined to follow the Terris religion—not because it was perfect, but because he would rather believe and have hope” (3.699).
He has faith that Vin will save them, even when things look their bleakest. As the koloss are coming for them and they have to protect the Atium from Ruin, Sazed tells Elend it will all be alright:
“Vin will come,” Sazed explained. “She is the Hero of Ages—she will arrive to save this people. Don’t you see how perfect this is? It’s arranged, planned. That you would come here, find me, at this exact moment…That you’d be able to lead the people to safety in these caverns…Well, it all fits together. She’ll come” (3.724).
However, what Sazed doesn’t realize is that the prophecy about the Hero of Ages is about him, and not Vin.
Hero of Ages
Sazed realizes, after Vin and Elend have died, that he was the Hero of Ages all along:
The Hero would be rejected of his people…Yet he would save them. Not a warrior, though he would fight. Not born a king, but would become one anyway” (3.741).
Sazed connects these words in the prophecy to himself: he was rejected by the Synod. He was a Terris servant, not a warrior. He was no king, but at this moment he would become one”
“The words of the prophecy were very precise…they say that the Hero will bear the future of the world on his arms” (3.742).
Sazed slams his arms into the twin mists emanating from Vin and another corpse, and takes up the power to become the Hero of Ages. He uses this power to set the world right and restore it back to its natural state. Once more, it is blooming with the green plants that Mare, Kelsier’s wife, had once dreamed of.
Funnily enough, his study of the portfolio of religions was beneficial all along:
“Every religion had clues in it, for the faiths of men contained the hopes, loves, wishes, and lives of the people who had believed them…The religions in my portfolio weren’t useless after all, he thought, the power flowing from him and remaking the world. None of them were. Not one had the whole truth. But they all had truth.” (3.744)
Finally, Sazed realizes what the words “Hero of Ages” actually means:
“It wasn’t until that moment Sazed understood the term Hero of Ages. Not a Hero that came came once in the ages. But a Hero who would span the ages. A Hero who would preserve humankind throughout all times. Neither Preservation nor Ruin, but both. God” (3.745).
Analysis
Sazed has one of the strongest character arcs in the Mistborn series, and he represents what Brandon Sanderson does so well in his writing in creating broken characters.
Sazed is a great vehicle in exploring religion as a theme, and he brings to light some of the deepest questions in regards to the value of religion. Like Sazed, we are often left wondering whether if there truly is one right religion, and if not, what value can religion bring to us today, if any, and what role can it play in consoling us in our grief. It’s a topic that doesn’t get explored enough in fantasy, and we get to explore it deeply through Sazed.
