The following is commentary, written by Brandon, about one of the chapters of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES. If you haven’t read this book, know that the following will contain major spoilers. We suggest reading the sample chaptersfrom 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 of Brandon’s books. For those who have read some of MISTBORN 3, 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.

Vin Arrives in Her Black Gown

This is kind of a girly moment in the text. I put these in sometimes. Too many female readers have complained to me that I don’t linger enough on what people wear, and I figure that Vin—trained by Kelsier—would know the power of a surprising entrance. Hence the drama of her appearing in that unexpected dress.

Elend Discusses the Party-Crashing Plan with Cett and Ham

If I were Elend, I’m not sure if I’d have made Cett third in command like that. Cett does very well when he’s forced to listen to someone else, and he’s a good tactician, but he’s a terrible leader.

Anyway, I’m glad I was able to work Ham’s penchant for logic puzzles back into the book. There hasn’t been much room for Ham lately, and he hasn’t had a chance to really shine since book one. We didn’t get to see much of him during the Siege of Luthadel, nor do we get all that much from him throughout this book. He’s always there, in the background, but never does anything very significant. He’s just Ham—good natured, pleasant, and rather unmotivated. He’s also the only family man on the crew, unless you count Cett with his two children.