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The Final Empire
- The Reveal that Vin's abusive brother Reen never betrayed her despite his torture by the Steel Inquisition. As the author notes in the annotations, Reen was not a good person but he did genuinely love Vin.
- A passing comment by Vin reveals that Reen did all the killing, when necessary. Taken with everything else, it can be deduced he didn't want to expose Vin to that.
- Kelsier's letter to Vin after his death: Farewell. I'll tell Mare about you. She always wanted a daughter.
- Vin walks into the palace to confront the Lord Ruler. How does she get past the guards? She could kill them easily, and Kelsier told her on multiple occasions that skaa who serve the Lord Ruler know what they're doing is wrong. Instead, she uses this to talk them down. One of them, Goradel, leads Elend into the palace later and is a solid background character for the rest of the series.Vin: I know you. You endured the mills, the mines, and the forges. You knew that someday they would kill you, and leave your families to starve. So, you went to the Lord Ruler—guilty but determined—and joined his guards. The light behind me comes from a massive skaa rebellion. The entire city is rising up against the Lord Ruler. I don't blame you men for your choices, but a time of change is coming. Those rebels could use your training and your knowledge. Go to them—they gather in the Square of the Survivor.
Goradel: The... Square of the Survivor?
Vin: The place where the Survivor of Hathsin was killed earlier today.
Guards: [hesitate]
Vin: You don't have to live with the guilt anymore. - Elend coming to rescue Vin at the end. Sure, this was before he Took a Level in Badass and as a result she wound up saving him, but it was the thought that counted—especially since Vin spent most of the book thinking that people were inherently untrustworthy. He may not have saved Vin, but together with the Inquisitor's revelation about Reen he just may have saved her faith in humanity. The ensuing scene is extremely heartwarming.Vin: You came back!
The Well of Ascension
- Vin realizing how much of a jerk she had been to her Kandra, trying to get to know him as a person and managing to make him reevaluate his own world view when she empathizes so deeply with him. In a bit of Fridge Brilliance this also leads to Vin being saved by said Kandra later in the book, despite the huge cost to TenSoon and the fact that he should not have been loyal to her at all. It's an example of Vin's empathy and compassion coming to the fore, things that she often fails to recognise in herself.
- Sazed asking Tindwyl to stay in Luthdael.
- Elend joins the Church of the Survivor to get enough votes to stay king. The vote fails, and he is ousted. He still participates in the Church exactly as he promised, despite multiple people (including his close friend who is a Survivorist preacher) pointing out that he doesn't really need to. Elend doesn't care; he said he'd participate, so he does.
The Hero of Ages
- Spook's flashback to the time Clubs adopted him, when his father was just shy of killing him. For as much of a curmudgeon as Clubs was, he showed up to save Spook when he needed him most without hesitation.
- Elend asking Vin to dance in The Hero of Ages. Doubles as a Funny Moment when he pulls out a book, and then back into this category when it's the same book he was reading when they first met.
- As the city is burning down around him, Spook despairs that he's failed, and figures it makes sense. He was never really part of the crew. Kelsier chose everyone else deliberately, but Spook was just Clubs' nephew. But then a voice convinces him to fight on (and Mistborn: Secret History confirms that it really was Kelsier speaking to him).Kelsier: I named you, Spook. You were my friend. Isn't that enough?
- Yomen, Vin, and Marsh are all watching Elend prepare his Koloss army for the assault on Fadrex. It will be a horrifying slaughter. Vin tells Yomen (and Ruin) that Elend won't attack. She has no proof; as far as Elend knows, both his wife and a lot of resources he needs are in the city. But attacking the city is wrong, so Vin knows he won't do it. She's right.
- Moments later, when Ruin turns the Koloss on Elend, Yomen has his men allow Elend's army into the city to help defend against the Koloss.
- Crosses a bit with Tear Jerker, but Vin's final lines, right before she annihilates both herself and Ruin.Vin: You just made one huge final mistake. You shouldn't have killed Elend. You see, he was the only reason I had left to live.
- After spending most of The Hero of Ages questioning if his research of religions was completely pointless, Sazed used all of them to repair the world, fully understanding the value of his life's work.
- Vin and Elend did sacrifice themselves to save the world, but they are now Together in Death and the survivors have now a better world to rebuild.
- Sazed/Harmony left a note for Spook, saying that he tried to fix Vin and Elend, but hasn't quite yet figured out how to put souls back, even if he can repair bodies. But he assures Spook that they're okay and happy together in the afterlife.
- Spook becoming a full Mistborn thanks to Harmony, and the fact that it's said to be a belated parting gift from Kelsier, along with healing all the damage he did to himself by flaring tin too much, whom Spook had assumed to have completely dismissed him.
- Heck, Sazed/Harmony's entire "last message" to Spook. Not only on the personal level, but that Sazed created books containing all the knowledge he'd held as a Keeper, so that the secrets of pre-Lord Ruler humanity still will not be lost.
