The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chapters from book one instead. You can also go to this book’s introduction or go to the main annotations page to access all annotations for all books. For those who have read some of MISTBORN 2, any spoilers for the ending of this book will be hidden, so as long as you’ve read up to this chapter, you should be all right.

Chapter Thirty Two

Regarding the line to the effect of: “There are a hundred different courts with a hundred different smaller Lord Rulers” in the Final Empire.

One of the problems created by my writing style is that it’s hard to give a real feeling of scope to a kingdom or landscape. When you read something by Robert Jordan, for instance, you get to see a whole world full of peoples and places, since the characters travel all about. I prefer to set my stories in one or two locations, usually a large city, since this lets me focus on the political wrangling, and it also lets me give a strong sense of place to that area.

It was impossible in these books–particularly the first book–to give a sense of how large and varied the Final Empire was. I threw in Spook’s street slang and Sazed’s cultural references to try to hint at the different ethnicity, but these were only that–hints.

I don’t regret the way that I write. However, I am aware of the issues involved in the choices I make. I think that’s what you have to do in a book–you make trade offs, choosing to focus on some things and not others.

Cett Suddenly reveals himself at the Assembly Meeting

Elend does need to learn a few things still. To be truthful, I think he’s too honest to be a king. There are times when, as a king, I think you need to lie in order to comfort your people. You don’t tell the dying man that he has no hope for survival. You don’t let a man like Cett bully you into admitting that your Allomancer has been manipulating the audience.

But, well, Elend is Elend. He does things the way that he feels he must, even if it gets him into trouble. Actually, in that way, he and Cett are very similar. They do what they feel they must.

Cursing in the Mistborn Series

I’ve taken a little bit of criticism from certain readers for the swearing I put into these books. I know that most of you consider things like ‘damn’ and ‘hell’ to be very weak curses, if even swear words at all. However, to some people, they can be offensive. Since I didn’t use them in Elantris, some readers were surprised to find them in this series.

A writer must choose how to convey his ideas, and it’s hard to make a choice that will please everyone. In the Final Empire, using curses like these–rather than just making up ones for their world–was nesisary. I feel that a few (if relatively weak) ‘our world’ curses were needed for this setting, as made up ones just didn’t work. The tone they set wasn’t right.

Smaller notes

Two other small notes. First off, I drew the reactions of the skaa–wanting to go back to having a tyrant in charge–from some essays I’d read about the fall of the Soviet Union and some other modern countries which had received freedom, then wished for the days when things were easier. I think it’s a sentiment that makes sense, even if it frightens me a little bit.

Also, only Vin would assume that someone HAS to be Mistborn, just because they happen to be crippled.