#kelsier and mare

[heronpoxed]

Say what you wanna say about Kelsier but that man knew how to love and he loved with a raw fucking passion.

For years he was led to believe that Mare had mercilessly betrayed him before she died and yet he still insanely loved and missed her — something that he stated as a simple fact and not as a guilty confession.

Kelsier and Mare had 0 page-time together, but they still managed to snatch my fucking heart and push my expectations through the roof precisely because of how Kelsier talked about her! Is there anyone who does it like him? Hell nah!

#im gonna be sick #men take notes (fictional or otherwise) #im sorry but objectively speaking there’s no love story better than theirs #such a simple gesture literally put them at the fucking top and overshadowed all the other ships on earth #mare honey u deserved so much better #mistborn #the final empire #the well of ascension #the hero of ages #kelsier #mare #kelsier x mare #kelsier and mare #brandon sanderson #vin #vin venture #elend venture #vin x elend #vin and elend #kelsier mistborn #vin mistborn #elend mistborn #mare mistborn #cosmere

[kaladinstorms]

brandon sanderson: this young woman is one of the protagonists in my book. she's recently been pushed into a new situation where she's very inexperienced but she has magic powers. her mother is dead and she lacks a father figure. a lot of people remark on her hair. brandon sanderson: during the story she meets an older man who also has magic powers but he has much more experience and confidence. his wife died years ago in an event he blames himself for but it explains his character and motivations in the book. brandon sanderson: they work together using their magic powers to try to save their people from evil.

#vin #shallan davar #vivenna #kelsier #dalinar kholin #vasher #mistborn #the stormlight archive #warbreaker #cosmere #brandon sanderson #no but the dead wife thing is SO specific and SO common in his books #mare/evi/shashara only existed for their husbands' character development

[cosmererambles]

Can we talk about Mare for a sec?

Can we talk about how devoted she was to Kelsier? That despite her getting irritated with him for killing seven nobleman, for their little fights and bickering, she loved him so damn much she was willing to die for him? She gave him an atium geode. She lied. She didn’t betray him, and it must have ripped her apart to see her husband look at her with such hurt and betrayal in his eyes, but she did it anyways. She was beaten to death in front of him. 

God her love makes me tear up.

Oh, by the way, she follows the same faith that Sazed uses to marry Elend and Vin. I’m assuming Sazed married Kelsier and Mare, as well, with the same ceremony.

#Kelsier #Mare #Mistborn #Cosmere

[cikebabbler]

I wish Sazed wrote about Kelsier and Mare meeting Vin and Elend after everything. I need to know that Mare embraced Vin like she's the daughter she never had. I need to know that Kell smiled at El and told him he did well. I need to know that Kell hugged Vin and let her know that he's so proud of her.

#mistborn #final empire #elend venture #kelsier #vin venture #mare

[orestes-hungry-and-pylades-sober]

Hot take: Marsh didn’t love Mare.

Okay okay hear me out. I take that back. Yes, he absolutely loved her, but not romantically.

Marsh isn’t the sort of person to have friends. He has people close to him, people he trusts, but they’re not his friends. He’s used to being alone, and likes it that way, actually. It’s not because he doesn’t care about people; it’s because he cares too much. The skaa rebellion is his heart and soul, the thing he has devoted his entire life to. He loves the skaa. He feels every bit of their pain as his own, because it IS his own. That level of devotion to a cause doesn’t leave much room for close personal bonds.

And then Mare comes along. She meets him and joins the revolution, because I love the headcanon that he’s the one who brought her into all this. And slowly she teaches him how he’s been wrong about friendship; how having a few close people you care deeply about, and how caring about something so huge as the skaa rebellion, aren’t mutually exclusive. She teaches him how having friends as a leader makes him stronger, not weaker.

He figures out she’s a tineye long before she realizes he’s a seeker, but in the end, their powers turn out to compliment each other very well. He can sense allomancy, and she can detect the faintest of noises and slightest movements. As a lookout pair for the rebellion and for the crew, they’re unstoppable.

(On a sidenote, that forces him to acknowledge Kelsier’s friends, and how his brother draws strength from other people, not from being alone. Kelsier is strong because he has his crew- Marsh is strong because he has himself.)

But Marsh and Mare become friends, and she’s the first person he’s ever grown that close to, that he’s ever cared about so strongly on that individual, personal level. He loves her, yes, as his best friend and close companion, but he doesn’t love her romantically.

But then there’s Kelsier. There’s always been Kelsier. He sees Mare, and he’s in love with her, completely and romantically.

If we want to go on a personal note here: a while ago, two of my best friends started dating each other. I was happy for them both, because it was really sweet and they did like each other. I wouldn’t exactly say I was jealous, per se. The thing is, I had a different friend start dating someone shortly before these two did, and she started spending so much more time with her new boyfriend, doing everything with him, and it didn’t feel as though she had much time for any of her old friends who weren’t with her romantically. I was so scared that my two very good friends who had started dating would do the exact same thing, that I would turn into an awkward third wheel, that I would be the one excluded from the group now that they were dating.

I fully admit that’s a personal failing on my part. I guess you would say that I was jealous, and a complete hypocrite, because I believe if you’re with someone romantically, you also need to be friends with them and love doing stuff with them, you know? In the end, it all turned out more or less fine for everyone involved. There was one awkward breakup, but they’re still on fairly good terms.

Basically what I’m trying to say here is that the exact same thing can be applied to Marsh, Mare, and Kelsier. Projecting onto fictional characters I don’t know what you mean. Mare is his best friend, and when she and Kelsier start courting, Marsh is so afraid that he’ll lose her and that when she’s with Kelsier, her lover, her husband, she won’t have time for her best friend anymore.

And honestly, knowing Marsh, he’d get bitter about it. In his belief that Mare would leave him for Kelsier, he’d push her away, push both of them away. And it would be hard and messy and they’d all get hurt, and in the end, I think this would be a much better explanation for why Kelsier and Marsh are so opposed. And we can even take it a step farther and say the reason Vin is told “oh yeah Marsh was also in love with Mare” is just because that’s the easier explanation. Marsh doesn’t care what they say anymore. If they want to think that he loved her romantically, sure, let them. They’d never understand how deep it went anyway.

I think a lot of this also comes from my belief that Mare deserved better. She deserved so much more than just being fridge motivation for not one but two men whose character arcs are dragged down simply by merit of her being there. Don’t take that the wrong way- of all the characters in the cosmere, Kelsier and Marsh are my two favorites - but there’s so much MORE that could have been done with Mare. She deserves more both as a character and within the story itself, and there could be a lot more than “Kell and Marsh hate each other cause they were both in love with her”. Like I also adore Mare as a character, or at least, the fandom’s take on her, and she would never put up with the brothers’ bullshit.

Oh god I feel like I just finished an essay and now I have to write the conclusion paragraph. I hate conclusions.

Mare loved Marsh. Marsh loved Mare. They were close friends, but it wasn’t romantic, and when Kelsier entered the equation, everyone got jealous and everyone got hurt. Platonic connections and relationships are every bit as deep and meaningful as romantic ones. Basically what I’m trying to say here is that Marsh and Mare were absolutely platonic soulmates, no romance involved, and Marsh inadvertently ruined it because of Kelsier.

Marsh deserves more as a character, but even more than that, MARE deserves better.

On that note, I’m off to write a fic about this that will never get past a first draft. See y’all later

#I’ve said it and I’ll stand by it #please talk to me about this more #I have Thoughts about this #and will absolutely elaborate more if you want #this is my very small contribution for everyone desperate for more marsh content #marsh mistborn #marsh #kelsier #mare #mare mistborn #mistborn #the final empire #brandon sanderson

[nsewell]

somebody just rec'd one of my mistborn fics on the dash and called it the saddest straightest thing that's ever been written. okay

#the marsh kelsier mare dynamic one i see why you'd say that

[fmlkell]

MISTBORN SPOILERS

one of the sweetest kelsier lines. i will not forget him : (

#mistborn #mistborn spoilers #new reader #mistborn book #brandon sanderson #kelsier is so fucking dead god damn it all #kelsier & mare my mom and dad

[taurnachardhin]

Taylor Swift songs that get me in my feelings about cosmere characters

Mistborn Era 1

"Wonderland" (Mare) | didn't they tell us don't rush into things? / didn't you flash your green eyes at me? / haven't you heard what becomes of curious minds?

"hoax" (Kelsier) | my best laid plan / your sleight of hand / my barren land / I am ash from your fire / stood on the cliffside screaming, 'give me a reason' / your faithless love's the only hoax I believe in

"Dear Reader" (Marsh) | dear reader, bend when you can / snap when you have to / dear reader, you don't have to answer / just 'cause they asked you / dear reader, the greatest of luxuries is your secrets / dear reader, when you aim at the devil, make sure you don't miss

"Dancing With Our Hands Tied" (Vin) | I, I loved you in spite of / deep fears that the world would divide us / so, baby, can we dance / oh, through an avalanche? / and say, say that we got it / I'm a mess, but I'm the mess that you wanted

"epiphany" (Sazed) | only twenty minutes to sleep / but you dream of some epiphany / just one single glimpse of relief / to make some sense of what you've seen

Warbreaker

"Would've, Could've, Should've" (Vivenna) | oh, all I used to do was pray / would've, could've, should've / if you'd never looked my way / I would have stayed on my knees / and I damn sure never would've danced with the devil

Stormlight

"tolerate it" (Navani) | I made you my temple, my mural, my sky / now I'm begging for footnotes in the story of your life / drawing hearts in the byline / always taking up too much space or time

"this is me trying" (Kaladin) | I've been having a hard time adjusting / I had the shiniest wheels, now they're rusting / I didn't know if you'd care if I came back / I have a lot of regrets about that

"The Archer" (Shallan) | I cut off my nose just to spite my face / then I hate my reflection for years and years / I wake in the night, I pace like a ghost / the room is on fire, invisible smoke

"I Did Something Bad" (Jasnah) | if a man talks shit / then I owe him nothing / I don't regret it one bit / 'cause he had it coming

Mistborn Era 2

"peace" (Steris/Wax) | all these people think love's for show / but I would die for you in secret / the devil's in the details, but you got a friend in me / would it be enough if I could never give you peace?

"cowboy like me" (Wayne) | with your boots beneath my bed / forever is the sweetest con / I've had some tricks up my sleeve / takes one to know one / you're a cowboy like me

"Hits Different" (MeLaan) | I find the artifacts, cried over a hat / cursed the space that I needed / I trace the evidence, make it make some sense / why the wound is still bleedin'

#i need everyone to know that i did not make this 13 songs long on purpose; that's just taylor's magic at work in the world #13 : the tayrealm :: 16 : the cosmere #(also not on purpose is that the mare/kelsier/marsh trio are all like. reactions to mare and kelsier's arrest pre-series.) #(just a charming coincidence and by charming i of course mean deeply sad!!) #cosmere #taylor swift #cosmere junk box #ts junk box #tlm spoilers #(because i'm yelling/crying/throwing things about 'hits different') #(can't believe she knew. outrageous. why did she have to put an effing hat in the bridge. gift of prophecy.)

[crow-rai]

i'm only on chapter 5 of the first one,, so i don't actually know anything yet. BUT Kelsier is so cool RAAAAA. i love him sm<3

#kelsier #mistborn #chapter 5 #THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD SO FAR I LOVE IT SM #KELSIER MY BELOVED #he's literally so cool aha #Vin #kelsier mistborn #art #kelsier art #mistborn art #dont mind the hp quote used with vin and keslier. i think im funny #this book reminds me of red queen. esp cuz his wife's name was mare dbshhs #but i love the connevtion its literally so amazing

[lovers-eternal]

spoilers!!!!

now about halfway thru mistborn, my thoughts so far:

i LOVE vin, she’s everything i want out of a complex female character. she has just enough of the “annoying” teenage attitude to feel realistic. she’s stubborn and headstrong.

also love the father/daughter dynamic between vin and kelsier, at first i was worried it was going to turn into some weird like teacher/student romance but we’re safe from that, phew

so idk if there’s any romance going on in this book, but im hoping to see elend & vin have a enemies/lovers moment. love a forbidden romance trope. kelsier definitely has his hands full with vin. ik some people hate the “omg ive seen him twice and im in love with him” but lets be so real that’s how teens are LOL

i do get kelsier’s mistrust in the nobility, but i think there’s possibly rebels who feel the same way as him. the nobles seem to be just as policed and watched, maybe even more so, by the lord ruler. yes they’re privileged and treat skaa awful but how many of them act out of fear?? also cmon an ally like that would be a game changer

wtf is going on with these Keepers? why would the lord ruler use them. why store this knowledge if to hide it from everyone?

why is the continent covered constantly under ash? was it done on purpose by the lord ruler? does the volcano have some connection towards this eleventh metal - hence why it’s kept active by some magic? does it tie in with his immortality?

i have a feeling there’s going to be some betrayal i get blindsided by, kelsier has faced it before & vin lives in constant fear of it. but… who will it be? ham seems likely now given his doubts about their army.

also marsh and mare??? maybe mare didn’t betray him and it was marsh trying to save mare from her fate. still angry with his brother’s recklessness, the fact that he got her over himself. was mare actively having an affair with marsh? or marsh just never won mare’s favor?

vin’s father. would he recognize her if he saw her? do they bare an resemblance? don’t know. but i have a feeling he will play a part in this. will he be sympathetic to his daughters cause or will he be disgusted?

there’s more i probably should add but this is what is off of the top of my head. this book is so hard to put down.

#mistborn #brandon sanderson #spoilers #no spoilers for me please #mistborn trilogy

[whimsicallywiddershins]

I know everyone is laughing at Hoid wearing a Hawaiian shirt to defeat Riina, but I feel like the actual shirt implications are lost on a lot of people. (Spoilers for a lot of Stormlight and Mistborn!)

Those are the Marewill flowers. The Ghostblood symbol. Hoid has a shirt of those flowers purely to mock Kelsier. Mare's flowers. I have a feeling Kel has no idea, but once he finds out there may be a small war on a planet that has no idea what is happening.

#spoilers #mistborn spoilers #cosmere spoilers #stormlight spoilers #ghostbloods #tress of the emerald sea #hoid #riina #kelsier #hoid cosmere #cosmere #brandon sanderson

[kaladinstorms]

Her sobs as she’d died. His sobs as they broke him. Crumpled him. Ripped him apart. His screams as he remade himself.

guess who finally read secret history and once again has kelsier/mare brainrot

#that's right it's me #kelsier #mare #mistborn #secret history

[cosmererambles]

How come no one has ever drawn Kelsier snapping in the pits?

Mare reaching out to him one last time as she’s beaten to death, Kelsier snapping and murdering every. single. one of them.

#Kelsier #Mare #Mistborn #Cosmere #I want some raw horrific art #his life was hell let's paint it

[cosmerelists]

Would Cosmere Characters Borrow Their SO's Giant, Comfy Sweatshirt?

A very important question. (SO = Significant Other, so, a romantic partner)

1. Siri: Yes

Susebron is a giant man, and so would have the most giant and fluffiest of all sweatshirts. Siri would absolutely be snuggled in that 150% of the time.

2. Susebron: Not at first

This is because he is too giant to wear Siri's sweatshirts. However, once Siri starts requesting sweatshirts that might double as a tent in an emergency, Susebron is at last able to wear hers (for a day. Before they are burned.)

3. Shallan: Yes

Adolin's large comfy sweatshirt smells like Adolin and she likes that.

4. Adolin: Yes

Other Alethi men are all, "You can't wear your wife's clothes. It is unmanly" but Adolin says, "My mom raised me toward a softer sort of masculinity and now I am more comfortable than you. Suck it."

5. Dalinar: No

Sweatshirts are not part of a regulation uniform per the Codes, and he cares deeply for the codes.

6. Amaram: No

Sweatshirts are not part of a regulation uniform per the Codes, and he cares deeply about seeming like he cares deeply for the codes.

7. Sadeas: Yes

Wearing his wife's sweatshirt is so daring it's fashionable plus it annoys Dalinar plus it is just so much more comfortable than that stupid Shardplate.

8. Vivenna: No

It is a sin to be comfy.

9. Azure: No

She must always be Ready for Action.

10. Sarene: In private yes

I think Sarene might not to wear Raoden's sweatshirt in public, as she likes to control how she appears to others, but in private? I think yes, she'd want to be comfy in Raoden's sweatshirt.

11. Raoden: Yes

I think he'd be tickled to wear Sarene's sweatshirt any time, any place.

12. Breeze: No

Allrianne's sweatshirts are too pink, too fluffy.

13. Allrianne: No

Breeze's sweatshirts are neither pink enough nor fluffy enough.

14. Steris: Yes

Only, of course, once they have been together long enough that stealing and wearing your partner's sweatshirt is socially acceptable and produces the right rumors about their level of intimacy (privately, though, she'd been wearing Wax's sweatshirts for a while).

15. Kelsier: Yes

Kelsier would definitely wear Mare's old sweatshirt, and he would smile doing it, but inside, I think his heart would be lowkey breaking.

#cosmere #cosmerelists #Sire #Susebron #Shallan #Adolin #Dalinar #Amaram #I included him even though I don't think he's ever dating anyone just for the joke #Sadeas #Vivenna #Azure #Sarene #Raoden #Breeze #Allrianne #Steris #Kelsier

[boreal-wood]

Alright wise guy, what are your thoughts on the theme(s) of the first Mistborn book. This is literally an excuse for you to ramble about it, have fun.

VOID I LOVE YOU SM

So spoilers for Mistborn: The Final Empire! If you haven't read it, please beware because under the cut, Here There Be Spoilers (and also beware, Very Long post under the cut!)

The big running theme in The Final Empire is trust. Who can one really trust? Is it worth it to put your life in the hands of other people? What says they won't betray you as soon as it becomes favorable to do so?

Honestly this really is what Vin's character arc in the first book is about. At the beginning of the book, she's trapped in a low-level street gang where everyone is always out to get everyone else. Heck, the second time the audience ever sees her use her powers is when she is helping her boss betray a business partner.

Vin's brother has beaten into her the idea that she can trust nobody, not even him. Everyone is always out to hurt her or take advantage of her, and if she does not prove her immediate worth to her group, then at best she will be kicked out.

This, of course, is not helped by the fact that she is part of the literal slave class! Which is a whole nother essay tbh.

Then Kelsier takes her in and everything changes. There's a scene early on in the book, after vin formally joins the crew, where Kelsier and his men are all laughing and enjoying themselves while plotting their Big Plan™. And Vin, who does not trust any of them, is on the outside, quite literally. She's outside the room, watching them plan, wishing she could be included but not allowing herself to, because at this point in the book she still thinks they could betray her at any time.

I think now is a really good time to mention that being a Mistborn is built on secrecy and paranoia. Mistborn are literally the nobility's assassins. They hide their identities under hoods that blend into the mist so as not to be seen. So their powers cannot be used against them or their Noble Houses. In broad daylight they have to pretend to be normal people, or at best, regular Mistings. They can't trust anyone with the truth that they are Mistborn.

(Heck, even a quarter of their powerset- Copper and Bronze- create mistrust. With Bronze, after all, one can hear the allomantic pulses of burning another metal. Copper, on the other hand, blocks that; the use cases for these two metals lies in paranoia that someone else can use their Allomantic powers against you.)

Anyways! So we've explored some of the different aspects of mistrust in Mistborn, so what's the counterargument?

In a word: Kelsier.

Kelsier shakes up everything that Vin believes about how relationships work. He introduces his crew as something different- despite being a thieving crew, they operate under a principle of trust and camaraderie. "My crews rely on trust," Kelsier says at one point. In direct contrast to the dirty, paranoid crews Vin worked with before, Kelsier's crew is welcoming, understanding, and trusting of her.

But Kelsier's trust isn't just talk, either. When we learn that the crew believes Mare betrayed them in their last heist, Vin asks Kelsier how he could love Mare even though she betrayed him. Kelsier answers that given the choice between loving Mare and being betrayed or never knowing her, he would choose loving her. "I'd rather trust my men than worry about what will happen if they turn on me."

In the same passage as above, Kelsier poses a question to Vin: where has she been happier? with the old crews that we built on lies and suspicious, or with Kelsier's crew, who trusted each other and let their guards down? It's a rhetorical question, and the meaning is clear: Vin and Kelsier both are happier for risking themselves in order to be loved.

I don't think I've nearly done this topic justice. There are a million more points I could pull out and point to, but I want to end with my favorite quote from The Final Empire. It's from Vin, in Chapter 32. She says:

“Once I may have thought you a fool, but… well, that’s kind of what trust is, isn’t it? A willful self-delusion? You have to shut out that voice that whispers about betrayal, and just hope that your friends aren’t going to hurt you... Distrust is really the same thing, only on the other side. I can see how a person, given the choice of two assumptions, would choose to trust.”

#I have SO MUCH MORE I COULD SAY ABOUT THIS #but this post was too long already #THANK YOU SO MUCH VOID FOR ASKING #i didn't even get to the part about how allomancy itself is also an act of trust #since yknow. you have to have some level of trust to be able to push yourself through the air #and how Vin's first time steelpushing herself in their air is a literal AND metaphorical leap of faith #I have so many thoughts on this book #mistborn #mistborn the final empire #mistborn era 1 #kelsier #vin mistborn #vin #cosmere #brandon sanderson #i love literary analysis #taking the tools they taught on boring books and putting it into the things im passionate about #literary analysis #taiga says things

[orestes-hungry-and-pylades-sober]

Currently incredibly frustrated by the fact that there’s an incredible lack of information about what happened after Sazed left Terris and when he began helping the skaa rebellion.

Like just to summarize what I can find on coppermind and skimming through the books again:

-Knew Mare (most likely before he knew anyone else/anyone else knew him)

-Mare introduced him to Kelsier

-Began helping the rebellion

-Only terrisman to actually support the rebellion

-Served as a messenger and gathered information

-Introduced to Vin by Kelsier

And that’s literally it. Like there’s so much that could be there but I feel like we know nothing, and I feel like the “Kelsier’s crew” and “skaa rebellion” get used very interchangeably when referring to the groups before Kell and Mare are sent off to Hathsin.

Him working with the skaa rebellion would imply that he had more of a relationship with Marsh than Kelsier, right, since Marsh was the leader of the rebellion and we know Kell was more focused on his own thieveries and stuff than helping the rebellion?

How did Mare meet him? Did they meet before or after she joined the rebellion and started helping Kell's crew?

Honestly when it comes to Mare, Sazed, Kelsier, and Marsh, there's just so much blank space and so much we don't know about when it comes to ANYTHING before the start of Final Empire, so if y'all have any WOBs I've missed or stuff I skimmed over in the book or literally just any theories to fill this gap, I'd be forever in your debt because I'm trying to work out stuff for a fic of my own right now and I've got nothing.

#not writer's block necessarily #just a general lack of ideas beyond canon #brandon please tell us more #I want secret history two because that'll probably give us answers #but I'd also love sh2 to be a marsh novel #mare #mare mistborn #marsh #kelsier #sazed #mistborn #the final empire #the well of ascension #the hero of ages #brandon sanderson