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I recently re-read Dresden Files, including all Short Stories, Graphic Novels and Novels in chronological order (if somebody needs a list, let me know) and it got me thinking... Could I do the same with Mistborn? Granted, it's not all discrete stories that can "neatly fit btwn novels X and Y," but it seemed possible. So this last week I set out to do just that. Has anybody else tried to do similar? I started with Eleventh Metal (Obviously), then moved on to Mistborn: The Final Empire (TFE) until Kelsier dies. I then attempted to "integrate" the chapters of Mistborn Secret History (MSH) where they take place while reading the rest of the first trilogy. Below is my attempt at codifying at which point in the trilogy I read each chapter/section of MSH. Though, in many spots the MSH chapters would need to be parsed out into scenes to be truly integrated. Thoughts, Ideas, Concerns? PS: Now starting Allow of Law for the remainder of my most-recent Mistborn read through

In Secret History, and alluded to in Era 2, we find that Kelsier held preservation between the death of Leras and the ascension of Vin. He was able to do so because of IRE magical equipment, but he was not able to fully hold it like a living person could have, and so he was much more limited than Vin, just barely able to delay Ruin no matter what he did, while Vin was able, at the cost of her own life, to kill Ati and leave both Preservation and Ruin unheld. Was Kelsier so limited because he no longer a regular living being, but a cognitive shadow, or because he was not grounded in the Physical realm before taking up the shard? Like, if Kelsier had taken up preservation AFTER getting grounded in the physical realm again, could he have fully held it? The Heralds are also incarnate cognitive shadows who were once living humans, but until Oathbringer, every time they died, they reincarnated. When incarnate, could the heralds have taken up a shard fully, or would they have been limited like Kelsier was?

My question really all comes down to what would happen if a being like Kelsier, circa era 2, was stabbed by Vyre's knife? Would the same thing happen that happened to Jezrien? I think the heralds are preserved by Honor's investiture and they seem to have the perk of automatic incarnation after death, and Kelsier, preserved by Preservation had to get himself a body somehow to return to the Physical Realm, but like, would that knife kill him for good, or would it have no effect since he, you know, doesn't reincarnate anyway, but is just preserved as a cognitive shadow? I couldn't find any WOB directly relating to this.

I'm making this thread so I can stop derailing the Era 3 thread. Here's a link if you want to catch up (or post about what you want to see in Era 3). Era 3 Thread Ok, to the subject at hand. Is Kelsier a good guy or a bad guy? I come out on the good guy side. According to WoBs, Kelsier is a psychopath, but if that is true, then he is a badly written character, in my opinion. I can't think of any specific instance of him doing something that would make me think he lacked empathy or remorse. Nothing in the books ever gave me the feeling that he was anything other than a revolutionary that was trying to make the world a better place.

I just wanted to ask why Scadrian metal glows in the cognitive realm to Kelsier to a degree that he perceives metal and souls to be the same thing. When I first read this I presumed that scadrian metal was manifest investiture just like stormlight, which explained allomancy, if not feruchemy and hemalurgy. This apparently is not the case, since metal is not the source of allomancy, but rather the key to tapping into preservation's power when using allomancy. But then why does scadrian metal glow? I don't think we've gotten any suggestions that metal glows in the cognitive realm of other planets. Is Scadrian metal special, or are Scadrians special because they perceive metal as glowing, or is this an attribute of the Scadrian Cognitive realm anyone would perceive? Does Scadrian metal only glow in the cognitive realm if it's actually in the physical realm, but if taken into the cognitive realm physically, resemble normal metal? Whatever the case, this does seem to be the same mechanism by which Ruin is prevented from reading and/or changing anything inscribed in metal. What bearing does Kelsier's encounter with Nazh in Secret History, with his non-glowing metal knife, have on this discussion?

So thinking about it how and when did the people of Scadrial learn about Kelsier ascending? The other ascenders make sense but Kelsier only held the power during the events of Secret History and only for a few days at most. Was this fact actually revealed in Sazed's books he left at the end of Era 1 meaning anyone whose read them knows it by the time of Era 2?

On this week's Worldsingers' episode Trever and Peter discuss Kelsier and some of his many defining characteristics. Part one of our Sanderson Character Study series. Trever and Peter are two big nerds who love Marvel, DC, Board Games, cosplay, Avatar, the Cosmere and everything nerdy. They also both think that mental health is one of the most important aspects of life on this planet, and see Brandon Sanderson's similar love of people and their mental health in all of his characters.

I don't know if people have already talked about this, but I'm gonna talk anyway. I was re-reading Secret History, when I read something strange. I was at the part when Kelsier is spying on the Ire, and he describes one of the leaders as the following: "Wizened, dried up, the woman had puckered lips, a bald scalp, and strange silvery-dark skin. She glowed faintly..." I don't know about you, but that sounds like an Elantrian. I don't know if Secret History is before or after the restoration of Elantris, but still. Later, Kelsier has a vision, "As she said the word, this time Kelsier got a sense of it's meaning in the language of the green plants. It meant "Age," and he had a sudden impression of a strange symbol made from four dots and some lines that curved, like ripples in a river." That sounds like an Aon to me, but what do you guys think?

I was curious how people interpreted the meaning of lerasium's ability in hemalurgy. My interpretation (almost certainly wrong) was that it basically stapled the entirety of one soul on to a new body. (Kelsier's new body maybe?)

Ok, so I was reading Secret History and I realized that Vin had on a hemalurgic spike (her earring), and was technically “broken” throughout the book, so why did she not see Kelsier like Spook did? Is this just a rare plot-hole, or is there actually a reason?

***Spoilers for the Mistborn series, Words of Radiance, Wax and Wayne series, and Mistborn: Secret History.*** So my friend and I (who host a nerd podcast and talk about Branderson's work about once a month) have talked for a while about this theory: Kelsier is the missing shard. He is the shard Survival/ Immortatlity/ Endlessness or whatever Sanderson is going to call that aspect of god. When Adonalsium was shattered, Survival tore memories of him from the other shards AND FROM HIMSELF, then he hid himself on another invested planet to hide his powers should they manifest. He chose to hide with Preservation and Ruin because he knew they would be in conflict, and that would help hide him. Kelsier's survival is too continual. Life on the streets. Fighting the inquisitor. Literal DEATH at The Lord Ruler's hands (pun pun pun). The Well of Ascension. His final appearance at the end of The Bands of Mourning. PLUS: "There's always another secret." I mean COME ON. Sanderson loves to use the narration trope of "The Unreliable Narrator" (see Writing Excuses episode 13.45) or just look at EVERY TIME HE USED A CHARACTERS THOUGHTS OR WORDS TO CONVINCE YOU OF AN UNTRUTH. MY favorite example is Shallan Davar thinking [paraphrase] "They must have dragged Jasnah's body up onto the deck." I think most of us bought that as truth and were shocked when Jasnah appeared at the end of the book. Anyway, what do you think? is Survival/ immortality a shard? is that shard kelsier? is that Brandon's deepest secret? HIT ME WITH YOU FACTS AND THEORIES.

I started doing some fanart recently, so I thought I share also here Some Vin and Shallan I plan doing a more detailed fanart series some time, maybe even this year, but otherwise that was a pleasant warmup. Also some Overly Dramatic Kelsier (tumblr request) I also recorded painting those pieces, so I attach the youtube videos on a post below If you like my art, you might want to check Facebook / Tumblr / Instagram / Deviantart / Youtube, whichever suits you the most

At the end of Bands of Mourning, we get a glimpse of Kelsier telling some people to "Survive". We know that he now has a spike through one of his eyes, and we know that him and Spook were trying to "...find me a new string." So did the spike bring Kelsier out of the Cognitive Realm, or did they have to find a victim for Kelsier to have a new body?

Hi, so far I’m waiting for Hero of Ages to come in the mail. Read Final empire and Wells, for now I’m on Warbreaker im looking for answers and connections to this ‘cosmere’ universe. It’s mind blowing that they are all slightly connected and I’m intrigued to see the theories and postulations y’all have out there. I’m highly interested in discussing the mistborn trilogy, or what we can until I finish it.

Hi, I tried looking for this theory somewhere but I only saw one half joking mention of it, which I therefore upvoted. Theory: There is a shard of Hope. It had something to do with Kelsier snapping into a mistborn, which is not fully explained by preservation commanding him to survive. I take it Kelsier should have already snapped but hadn't and was made to snap by some external force. We've seen preservation make someone a mistborn, Elend, via feeding him lerasium. We've also seen Kelsier command Spook to survive and Spook not becoming mistborn at that time. It seems like you need both ruin to make the cracks and preservation to rush in with power to make a misting/mistborn in the typical case, else feed lerasium. Kelsier never gives up. And when he distills his message down to one word to get through to Spook, the word is Hope. Also obviously "I am that thing you cannot kill." Hope. Also a good candidate for a shard that is just trying to survive but whose intent isn't strictly speaking survival per se. Hope... Just the kind of thing that you can't kill even if you think you did. OK apologies for the abbreviated defense of theory. Got a bum arm atm. Also apologies if I missed this particular permutation of Kelsier is/will be/take up a shard.

Keep in mind that this is all speculation. Below are some relevant WoB's which I will dive into later 1. Questioner [PENDING REVIEW] The Ghostbloods. Are they Kelsier's new crew? Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW] Oh, good question. Do I wanna answer this or not? I'm gonna RAFO this one. Yeah, we're gonna RAFO this one. Billy Todd [PENDING REVIEW] Have there been interactions between Kelsier and the Ghostbloods? Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW] I will RAFO that. 2. ccstat If Kelsier (when Vin knew him) were to join one of the Rosharan secret societies, which one would he choose? Brandon Sanderson He would become part of the Ghostbloods, most likely, and would be in charge of them within a year. source source 3. Questioner [PENDING REVIEW] Yes, or no. With all of the cosmere books that have been put out, do we have enough information to deduce the Ghostbloods' motives? Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW] Ummm... *laugher* I would say yes, but it's not like you are a fool if you haven't gotten it. Robert Jordan once answered a question like this saying, "Well, the answer should be intuitively obvious to the casual observer." Which I never thought was fair. Like, no, it was not. Szeth, some people guessed it. And some people will guess this. A lot of the foreshadowing in my books, it's this weird thing where, when you do proper foreshadowing, and then people have three years between books, they're gonna figure some things out. Which presents a really interesting challenge to me as a writer, because, like, there are big things that get revealed in Oathbringer, that people who have been steeped in the world for the last seven years... they kinda knew this would happen. We get the beta readers, and they're like, "So? Doesn't everyone know that?" But at the same time, the casual reader, beta readers were like "Holy cow! This is a huge revelation!" And books need to work both for the person who has been really steeped in it, and the person who's reading along that maybe doesn't want to go get all the spoilers from all the fan guessing. So it is this weird balancing act that, as a writer, you have to perform, particularly with the longer books in the longer series, where you want to make sure they're engaging to the hardcore fan, but not overwhelming to the person who maybe hasn't reread the books since the last one came out. And I don't know that I have that balance figured out, but it is something I think about a lot... source Kelsier's motivations post Secret History: After his interactions with Khriss and Nazh in Secret History, Kelsier realises just how little he really knows. Kelsier would see this ignorance as a weakness he must overcome, as to rise to the top he must acquire knowledge. Kelsier's conversation with Spook at the end of Secret History illustrate his quest to pursue knowledge of the cosmere. “Now, don’t be like that,” Kelsier said. “Our work is important. Vital. We’re going to unravel the mysteries of the universe. The cosmere, as it is called.” “It’s a big, big place out there, kid,” Kelsier said. “Bigger than I ever knew. Ignorance almost lost us everything. I’m not going to let that happen again.” He tapped at Spook’s ear. “While dead, I had an opportunity. My mind expanded, and I learned some things. My focus wasn’t on these spikes; I think I could have worked it all out, if it had been. I still learned enough to be dangerous, and the two of us are going to figure the rest out.” If there is one thing we know about Kelsier, it is that he compulsively meddles. He would not be content to swear an oath of non-interference like the 17th shard members. We know from a WoB that the 17th shard and ghostbloods do not work together. Furthermore, Iyatil has South Scadrian ancestry and was a former member of the 17th shard. It is plausible that she converted to the ghostbloods after a little persuasion from the god figure of her ancestors. So the 17th shard does not fit Kelsier, leaving the ghostbloods as the only known worldhopper organisation with a similar agenda. We know that Kelsier always feels the need to operate a crew. This is a constant between pre-Final Empire and post-Final Empire Kelsier, as shown when he treats Preservation/Fuzz as a crew member after determining his goal was to stop ruin and also at the end of Secret History when he recruits Spook. It is highly probable, then, that Kelsier post-Secret History has founded a new crew which is the ghostbloods. So what exactly are the ghostbloods up to? First of all, a minor piece of evidence linking the ghostbloods to Kelsier is the name of the organisation. Ghost= cognitive shadow, Blood= hemallurgy Now, as shown above, Kelsier appears to be on a quest to gather cosmere knowledge. In Mraize's basement we see artifacts from many worlds, including a knife from Threnody (possibly the knife which Nazh gave to Kelsier in Secret History), a vial of white sand, a dye flower from Nalthis (tears of Edgli), possibly Royal Idrian locks and in a later scene we see Mraize with an aviar. This shows that the ghostbloods are collecting investiture related artifacts from numerous shardworlds. The collection of these artifacts would tie into Kelsier's pursuit of cosmeric knowledge. Here's where things get a little crazy. I believe that Sja Anat has known Shallan since she was a child and is responsible for her forming a nahel bond so early in life before everything fell apart. 4. Questioner [PENDING REVIEW] Was Shallan's family, during her childhood, being influenced by an Unmade? Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW] Um, yes. Questioner [PENDING REVIEW] Was it <the corrupt...>? Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW] I'll RAFO that, but yes, there is some external influence there. source 5. Questioner [PENDING REVIEW] Why don't you have to say the words if you're just bonding a Cryptic? Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW] Every Order's First Oath is the same. Then the Second Oaths for the Cryptics go into truths, but everybody says the First Oath the same regardless of Order. Which should raise the question of... Questioner [PENDING REVIEW] Did [Shallan] say it when she was a teeny-weeny, like in the cradle? Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW] That should raise a question. She wasn't teeny-weeny, but it should raise a question there. source This would tie in with the ghostbloods interest in Sja Anat, as she may be able to grant them nahel bonds in a similar fashion. This would add to their investiture collection. I see the situation as being similar to Hoid collecting investiture from different sources, though the end goals likely differ drastically. 6. Questioner How would - just really generally - the Ghostbloods react if they found or met Hoid? Brandon Sanderson (laughs) They... Some people among them know of him. Questioner So they know he's around. Brandon Sanderson Some of them do, not everybody. But they are aware of his existence. At least in lore, they don't always... Not all of them have connected the King's Wit to this person's lore, does that make sense? So what would they know? They'd probably want to get him and interrogate him. They would want to know what he knows, but he is really slippery and it's hard to get out of him what he knows. source Conclusion: There is a realistic possibility that Kelsier has at least had involvement with the ghostbloods. This could potentially set up conflict between Hoid and Kelsier as they would have similar pursuits and really don't get along very well. We know that Secret History was in the works from as early as 2006 so Brandon clearly felt like he had not finished telling Kelsier's story. Maybe Shallan will finally meet the mysterious Thaidakar with heavily scarred arms.

I'm not sure if any part (or all) of this theory has been posted before, so sorry if it has. It seems almost certain that, based on Bands of Mourning, Kelsier has a new Physical form. (BoM Epilogue) In Oathbringer, the Fused gain Physical form by bonding with Singers during the Everstorm. I think it likely that something similar is going on with Kell and his Physical form, except instead of the Everstorm, Hemalurgy is used. (Ibid.) My friend and I recently noticed this WoB: I realize that a RAFO could just mean that Brandon doesn't want to say either way just yet, but there is the potential (as far as I am aware) that Spook could still be around. (Mistborn: Secret History Epilogue) It seems that Kelsier enlisted Spook in his quest to get a new Physical form. If so, it could be that the "new string", at least at times, could be Spook. My friend and I are still working out some parts of this theory, so if anyone wants to add something that refines, supports, or even contradicts this theory, please do.

So we know as of BoM that Kelsier is still surviving, and is the sovereign, someone who is insanely powerful, and after reading the Mistborn adventure game rulebook on hemalurgy, I think I know how he got a physical body. Mistborn adventure game says this about copper hemalurgy: My theory is that Kelsier got spook to Find his old body (or a random guy), bring it into the cognitive realm, and spike kelsier's cognitive shadow, and kelsier's corpse, together, 'stealing' the memories and experiences from Kelsier's CS and transferring them to the vessel, and with some healing from unsealed metalminds (which we know he knows about) He has a physical body. Mistborn Adventure game is soft cannon, look at the second last post on this subreddit. I personally believe that they managed to somehow restore and recover kelsier's corpse, as it bears the scars of hathsin as seen in the epilogue of Bands of Mourning. Additionally, Kelsier has no qualms about the use of hemalurgy (He has a steel spike in his right eye for harmony's sake!) So what do you guys think? Really interested to hear your imput. Relevant WoB:

could Kelsier, as a cognitive shadow, inhabit a Parsh to form something like a fused?

So, we have the Noble Houses of many of the main characters in the series. Vin was a Tekiel, Breeze was a Ladrian, Elend, well... But what of Kell and Marsh? We know they were born to a high nobleman and his resourceful mistress, and that after being discovered, they'd probably ditch their father's name... But still, do we know what their names would be? Or is that being kept as a juicy secret for the end of Era 2?

I'm new here to the forums so sorry if this is something that has been brought up before but I haven't heard anyone talk about. So this insmy thought on how the spren choose people and how the nahel bond connects humans to spren. So my theory started recently in my millionth reread of WoR when Kaladin says tonSyk that he is no knight, that he is broken. Syl replies to them that all of the knights radiants are broken, much like Kaladin and shallan and even Yv from the interlides was in his youth. The next part that grew my theory was when Szeth is sitting in top on Urithiru and mentions how the town's people leave out spheres for him to use and mentions he burns through them to fast since he has" to I'm perfect a body". The last part that goes into this invloves Mistbirn Secret History and Keliser and crazy people. He can only interact with crazy people and syas that they have cracks in their spirit. So my theory is after I've already made this way to long a post is this, the Soren watch people who are " broken" or have "cracks" in their spirits, they watch them.closley because these are the people they can not only see more clearly in the coginitve real but also because it is easier for them to bond with them the same was as it's easier for Keliser to talk to crazy people. I think that this also has to do with why they can burn storm light more effectively since the nahel bond fills in the cracks in the spirit web in the cognitive real bringing making them partially begin to bind spiritually with a Soren that is made of and lives if investiture. Sorry for rambiling that out and not really getting my points across it's late here in the east coast, it's much clearer in my head. Still I would love to hear what you think, looking forward to being part of the forums.

So I'm going through Mistborn again, and I've just finished Era 1 and before the delights of Wax and Wayne, I thought I'd listen to The Secret History. I've just passed the bit where Kelsier talks to and then fights with Hoid and during the fight, it's stated that So obviously we know that Hoid has a spren now (as of the end of Oathbringer) however it appears in this fight, which is far earlier in the overall timeline than OB he can take in stormlight/surgebind. This also seems likely as he spends the first half of this fight in a fairly equal position to Kel and then suddenly he is pounding him into the dirt (or magic preservation goop I suppose). So in the hour or so since I listened to this passage I have come up with 2 theories 1) Hoid can slide backwards and forwards in time. This isn't a particularly good theory as I believe that Brandon wouldn't include time travel in his work as its a bit too Sci-fi for this point. However, if any author could do it properly it would be Brandon 2) Hoid has been around during the time of a previous desolation and bonded a spren. Now, this I could see Brandon doing, it's been stated in a previous WOB that I can't be asked to find that it is possible to bond multiple spren if they find you worthy. Therefore I believe that this is what happened and that old Hoid could one day show up with a couple Spren friends (Spriends if you will) Also, I did have an idea that Spanky (His corpse raft) is actually his spren. It can interact with the Cognitive realm with no problem because it's a cognitive being.# Anyway, that's my theory what do you think. Has this ever been addressed in a WOB? If so could someone link it I'd love to know