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Chapter Thirty-Seven Part Two

Sazed’s doings here are our first real glimpse of Feruchemy in action. It’s a fun magic system–you’ll see a lot more of it in book two.
There were two important events for Vin in this last scene. First, she decides to stay and try to save Sazed. As I note below, this is a character climax for her. She’s not only grown to trust, but grown–somewhat–to sacrifice. Most of Reen’s harm to her soul has been reversed by the care and love of a group of idealistic thieves.
The second thing Vin does of importance in this section is fight without her Allomancy. I think it’s a nice moment for her, and lets her show some true bravery. One problem with making heroes as powerful as mine is that it’s sometimes hard to find a challenge for them. Also, it’s hard to present them as the underdog. In this scene, Vin gets to fight as just a regular person, and show that she’s still better than most people, even without Allomancy.

The return of Captain Goradel, the one who leads Elend to where Vin is being held captive, is a metaphoric nod to the fairy tale genre, where fantasy (partially) has its roots. Sometimes, if the lion doesn’t eat the mouse but lets it go, the mouse comes back to save him. Help the old woman in the first part of the story, and she’ll come back and bless you by the ending. And, convince the soldier to join the rebellion instead of just slaughtering him, and he’ll return with your boyfriend and a bunch of soldiers to rescue you at the last moment.

Finally, Vin gets to have her moment with Elend. I like the mixture of genuine emotion, humor, and power in this scene. There is some real pay-off here, in the narrative way that I like to do it. Instead of having some silly scene where Elend feels betrayed that Vin lied to him and is really a Mistborn, we get a scene where Elend gets to see her in her majesty, and is awed.