The Great Mistborn Read-along of 2019/2020 *Bands of Mourning*

Hmm has Brandon ever mentioned anything about this?

 

Spoiler

Yeah it was Kelsier that was worshiped as sovereign, who somehow came back to the Physical Realm and spiked one eye for purposes unknown. Brandon hasn't revealed much more than what's in Bands of Mourning, though maybe the last Wax and Wayne book will shed more light on it. Otherwise we might have to wait for Secret History 2.

 

Lots and lots of notes for this last section of the book!

Ch. 24 - Epilogue:

• Marasi thinks to herself that the Lord Ruler, like the use of hemalurgic spikes, was terrible, but also did a lot of vital good for humanity. She specifically mentions him going to save Allik’s people. However, even though we know that’s not what actually happened, her point is still valid. He did hold off Ruin for a long time and wanted to save the world from it… He just also ended up doing terrible things in the process.
• Awww, Steris rates Marasi as an 83 on the usefulness scale. Above Wayne, obviously, since Marasi is useful while not also creating more trouble in the process.
• Marasi never spent that much time with Steris when they were growing up, so even she fell into the trap of assuming Steris is just boring and dull.
• The acid falling from the ceiling seems intentionally place to kill any kandra who get that far. Good thing MeLaan has good reflexes… (and that it’s frozen solid) That’s scary…
• Seems like everyone’s an Allomancer suddenly. Both Edwarn and Telsin. (I realize it runs in families, but it’s also not supposed to be that common) So it makes sense with the reveal that they’ve been experimenting with Hemalurgy on themselves. It's not just a weird statistical anomaly.
• Telsin shooting the guard back in the warehouse makes a different kind of sense now. She was so quick to shoot because she was worried that he would say something that gave her away.
• Taking out MeLaan’s spikes.
• And poor Steris. She just admitted to Marasi that she loved Wax and now he may be dead…
• Sounds like Marasi was moving so fast that she broke the sound barrier without realizing it.
• The incredibly power of the Bands lets the wielder Push themself off of trace metals in the ground!
• The hint of Steris writing on the back cover of her notebook earlier was clever. We now see why, since she hollowed it out to hold a medallion.
• Man, that’s a powerful moment.
• “The Sequence” is an interesting title for Telsin. I’m curious to learn more about the Set. Edwarn thinks that, if Telsin is left behind, he could become the Sequence, so it’s a title that isn’t unique to her… Is his ‘Suit’ title similar in that way?
• Throughout this whole book, Edwarn has done an impressive job at removing any sympathy we could feel for him. Not only did he (and the Set) do terrible things to a lot of people, including torturing Allik and his friends… but he refuses to even see them as human and continues to call them ‘Savages’, while simultaneously marveling at their technological prowess. If nothing else, the dehumanizing way he treats Allik and his people is enough for me to want Edwarn gone.
• Stored Feruchemical reserves can run out very quickly, even if they’re vast, like the reserves in the Bands of Mourning were supposed to be. Since, unlike Allomancy, Feruchemical attributes don’t have to be used at a certain rate. You can draw on a bunch of it all at once and deplete the reserves exponentially more quickly than you might expect. Which it sounds like is what Marasi did. She used a TON of the stored speed in order to get to and save Wax, so that the reserve is noticeably running out by the time Wax is using the Bands.
• Couldn’t Wax have just Pushed Edwarn out of the room using the metal in his mouth? With the Bands, it shouldn’t be hard to Push on and it would either have pushed him out of the ship or severely wounded him.
• Yayyy!! MeLaan’s back!!
• Wax tugs the airship down from the sky and uses tugging hand gestures to help him. We know that, like with Wheel of Time magic, hand gestures are not necessary, but a lot of Allomancers find them helpful.
• The Malwish people have hot chocolate! You’re welcome, Eldendel Basin.
• The Bands of Mourning are more ambiguous in terms of ownership… but I’d say the Malwish people definitely have more of a right to the airship than Wax does. As Steris says, how can they get home otherwise? It’s not their ship, since theirs was captured by the Set, but their friends were all tortured and killed and they’re stranded in foreign lands… and yet, Wax tries to claim as his ‘right’ the only means they have of getting back home. Good job stepping in, Steris!
  
  The Bands, though… I can see why Jordis is pissed. But that one’s way more ambiguous in terms of ownership. Steris is awesome and quick thinking in a crisis! I think she’ll definitely have to revise her self-evaluation of 7/100 usefulness, especially when diplomacy is involved.
• It's interesting that metalborn are so rare in the south. I mean, it makes sense, given that it’s genetic and the Lord Ruler and his friends were all in the Basin. I suppose the fact that the people in the south have any Allomancers at all is probably just ‘cause of people with noble blood traveling there from the Basin. I wonder if they have more Feruchemists than Allomancers, though. It’s genetic, but it’s based on Terris bloodlines, and it would certainly make sense for more Terris to have found their way down south, since they were numerous well before the Lord Ruler existed. The Malwish really revere Allomancers because of how rare they are. I wonder what their percentage of Feruchemists is like, though, and how they’re regarded.
  
  …Basically I want to learn everything about the southern areas now. I’d honestly just read an encyclopedia about it if it existed.
• Smart move, Wax, not telling the Malwish that Suit is your uncle… that could be bad…
• Wayne knew that Telsin would heal and didn’t intend to kill her. That also kinda makes sense how he was able to hold and shoot a gun: he knew he wasn’t shooting lethally.
• Wax eventually forces Wayne to stop mocking Steris… I mean, GOOD, but also… it shouldn’t take Wax forcing him to do it. Steris doesn’t deserve Wayne’s bullying even if she weren’t engaged to Wax.
• I love that Marasi and Reddi have a good professional working relationship now.
• We’re used to seeing copperminds being used by Sazed and mostly in the form of books or stories he’s memorized. When Wax uses the coppermind in the epilogue, though, he actually feels like he’s inside of it. He even feels cold.

I want the continuation of the story so bad!

 

@Kassina Tendar me too!!! I need more about them stat. I want a continuation where Marasi goes south.

 

Yeah, it was so cruel of Brandon to introduce a new culture to us like that, and then not giving us ALL THE INFORMATION about them

A bit like Shara in Wheel of Time

 

Right?! Yeah, I felt the same way about Shara.