Should they have died? (Spoilers)

[Kurkistan he/him]

Have you forgiven Mistborn, then?

[Ete'ni]

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Edited June 23, 2014 by Ete'ni

[Kurkistan he/him]

Brandon explains himself a bit here, if you'd care to read.

[Ete'ni]

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Edited June 23, 2014 by Ete'ni

[Shardlet he/him]

Personally, I don't mind it as long as it makes sense and strongly contributes to the rightness of the story.  I sometimes find it annoying when everybody lives.  For example (maybe not the best example since it was written for a younger audience), I am currently rereading the hobbit.  The only four beings of any name that die in the book are the trolls and the Great Goblin.  It stretches credulity when you have 14 main characters and none of them come away with any lasting harm.

 

The end of Mistborn was sad to be sure.  But, I agree with Brandon, it was right.

Edited September 11, 2013 by Shardlet

[Ete'ni]

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Edited June 23, 2014 by Ete'ni

[Shardlet he/him]

Ewww, that sounds unpleasant and abrupt.

[Ete'ni]

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Edited June 10, 2014 by Ete'ni

[WeiryWriter he/him]

Personally, I don't mind it as long as it makes sense and strongly contributes to the rightness of the stiry.  I sometimes find it annoying when everybody lives.  For example (maybe not the best example since it was written for a younger audience), I am currently rereading the hobbit.  The only four beings of any name that die in the book are the trolls and the Great Goblin.  It stretches credulity when you have 14 main characters and none of them come away with any lasting harm.

 

The end of Mistborn was sad to be sure.  But, I agree with Brandon, it was right.

 

Well, not all 14 main characters survive the book. At least three that I can remember die in the War of the Five Races...

[Shardlet he/him]

Ah, well, the war was presently being fought when I went to sleep last night.  The eagles had just arrived.  Mea culpa.

[happyman he/him]

Yeah, the Hobbit does kill main characters.  (It's been out how many years, folks?)  Kids books have that happen all the time, especially the older ones.  Mortality is something we have to live (or not) with.

[Morsk he/him]

Something about their deaths really bothers some people, enough that Brandon increased mention of the afterlife as a consolation.

It might be the romance aspect, and that they were married.

[firstRainbowRose she/her]

Original Comment by Aetae in the "How did you first hear about Brandon?" topic:

 

I guess it was somehow connected to WoT. So my husband bought The Gathering storms and Mistborn series. Well, I wasn't so eager to read WoT from the middle, so i picked Mistborn. Got really angry with the ending and didn't touch for a year. this spring I remembered and read Elantris, then causiously The Allow of law. Then re-read Misborn, then The way of kings... Or was The Rythmatist before? I can't remember.

[Ete'ni]

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Edited June 10, 2014 by Ete'ni

[ThePrinceofMagnets]

The way they died felt -right- to me.

I never felt like they died for any meta reasons, and I'm happy with the closure the story gave.

Also the imagery of Vin in her mistcloak and Elend in his white suit laying in the field was just perfect.

[GreyPilgrim he/him]

I like when main characters die, personally, particularly in fantasy fiction. I get annoyed when characters survive dozens of situations that should kill them. It is nice when the deaths are fitting, but honestly I prefer when deaths are unfair. In the real world, good people die every day, and it should be the same in fiction. (There is also the savage part of me that laughs when characters die ) I felt the death toll in Mistborn was fitting. The amount of Kelsier's crew that died was appropriate, and Vin and Elend's deaths were essential to the plot, and unavoidable. There is nothing wrong with that.

Maybe my point of view is different because I don't really attach to characters ever. I like some characters more than others, but I rarely actually feel anything for them as people. I like character development and growth because it is interesting to look into a human mind and human behavior and analyze them. When I feel pain, it is usually only a feeling of how terrible it would be to have to endure something, not out of feeling bad for a character having to endure it.

[Satsuoni he/him]

I like when main characters die, personally, particularly in fantasy fiction. I get annoyed when characters survive dozens of situations that should kill them. It is nice when the deaths are fitting, but honestly I prefer when deaths are unfair. In the real world, good people die every day, and it should be the same in fiction. (There is also the savage part of me that laughs when characters die ) I felt the death toll in Mistborn was fitting. The amount of Kelsier's crew that died was appropriate, and Vin and Elend's deaths were essential to the plot, and unavoidable. There is nothing wrong with that.

I, for one, don't like when characters die in the end. It can be done right, but in many cases it feels forced - a character that has just survived several wars, killed gods, etc, etc is killed on the last page by falling rock? That is just wrong.

 

That is why GRRM's song is such a light read despite several character's deaths - they fall like flies, but their deaths are fitting (and many are rather funny), they don't survive impossible odds (usually), the attachment is flimsy, etc.

 

In case of mistborn, though - well, the deaths are..ok. Not "right", or "logical" for me, but ok. Still, the emotional "heaviness" (not sure how to describe it.. Darkness?) is much higher (for me) than in Song of Ice and fire over the series -especially staring from book two, I am not sure why, and the deaths fit that feeling well enough.

Edited September 15, 2013 by Satsuoni

[Claincy he/him]

I do get very invested in characters. One of the biggest marks of a good book to me is how invested in the characters I get. I won't say that I "like it" when characters die, but I do vastly prefer stories where some characters die as makes sense in the story than books where everyone always survives everything. Death is a very powerful thing and I like books that use it well. The ending of mistborn felt right to me. I'm finding it hard to see an ending with them living that would have been better.

[king of nowhere]

I also get very invested in characters, and was sad as three quarters of the main cast was wiped out. But those deaths made sense to the story. they were right. and the story is something I care for even more than characters. I wouldn't mind seeing all the main characters survive, if that was the fitting ending. but it rarely is. in every heroic books the protagonists have to face overwhelming odds, they have to take risks and sometimes make sacrifices. And sometimes they can get away with it, but not always.

 

For example, in the wheel of time I cheered when Lan survived his wound; but if every single character had survived, it would have sucked greatly. It would have felt like a huge deus ex machina. the only character whose death I hadn't apppreciated was siuan, and by extension bryne. because she died for nothing. she just got smoked during a sneak attack on the command post, her death meaning nothing. Even if she got a good closing speech jus before, when min tell her she'd die if she stays away from bryne and she replies what she's doing is important and she accept the risk.

 

Plus, back to mistborn, with a confirmed afterlife, dieing is no different than moving to another city. I like to imagine Vin and elend reunited with kelsier and mare as a big happy family, with the rest of the crew coming over dinners. In fact, as a testament to how much I got invested in those characters, I just got teary eyed thinking of that. So, in a way it is an happy ending. The only thing I'm quite sad of is that sazed could not reunite with tyndwyl. with all that power, he should have a way to at least talk with her spirit.

Edited September 15, 2013 by king of nowhere

[Windrunner he/him]

I try to stay hopeful on that last one, considering that, if I recall correctly, Brandon said that Sazed had not yet learned how to reach the place she is now, which doesn't preclude the possibility of him figuring it out.

[Meg]

I'm not really a fan of dying (main) characters -- not even in SoFaI (to my mind there is definitely too much death and blood). And by now I 'fear' the death of some characters I got to love in The Stormlight Archive.

But I've to admit that I do not get teary eyed when characters die that didn't attract me much.

In Mistborn I felt that the story led to this ending, at least to the death of Vin. Elend's died, too, feels fair to me, because I'd have had a feeling of injustice if one of them survived and the other one died. And with that hint that they are together 'somewhere' it's a fitting ending to that story.

[Kadrok she/her]

For me the greater tragedy is that they died without offspring... what a waste of Allomantic potential (which I really wanted preserved)! I was also bugged by the deaths of all the Feruchemists, even though I didn't really know any of them, for much the same reason. I find the gradual degradation of the Metallic Arts in humans annoying (I'd be tempted by the Shard Preservation). By AoL we could have had a population full of Full-Compounders (assuming we overcame the genetic interference Allomancy introduces to Feruchemy), but oh no... everyone had to die. I realise I've already had this rant before on another thread, but if I were Rashek I would have been breeding Feruchemy into the population, not breeding it out! Granted, I also wouldn't have claimed to be a god, and would have been more forthcoming with knowledge about Ruin (I mean, would it have killed Rashek to have said "There's a supernatural entity that can alter copperminds and text that will escape if you give up the power at the well! Only text etched in metal can be trusted! Ask the Kandra about Ruin." instead of "What have you done? You don't know what I do for humanity! I was your god even though you couldn't see it!" or whatever it was he said*)

 

 

 

*I mean, the guy was preparing for the possibility of Ruin escaping, did he not consider that a big metal plate in the Ascension Chamber marked:

 

"Giving up the power is a trap. Ignore the prophecies and writings, the well is the Prison of Ruin, who has the power to alter coppermind memories, and all text not etched in metal. If you are reading this, I am probably dead. Do what is best for the world with the power, only don't give it up... oh, and don't try moving the planet around... I tried that one and was rubbish at it... nearly killed everyone... actually, come to think of it, if you have star charts from before my ascension handy why not try to move it according to that... I was going to do that myself, as well as fix a few other things, but I'm dead so what can you do? Anyway, all the best with being the Protector of Humanity, whoever this is.

-Rashek"

 

would be a good idea?