Is Kelsier a Villain?

Kelsier is my favorite Cosmere character, but is he a good guy or a bad guy? In this video I take a deep dive into why he does what he does and try to figure out just what the Surviver really is.

Books

[ryder]

"Wasing the liking the not but having the liking he was "

[Joenah]

Kel said eat the rich and then stubbornly refused to die after being killed, which I absolutely love. He’s a hero in my eyes.
The difference between Kel and Rashek is: Rashek oppressed and enslaved an entire group of people, Kel hated the nobility and upper class because of that. That’s not the same in any way.

[Fimbulvinter]

With the Lord Ruler comparison, let's not forget that like Kelsier, the Lord Ruler also used every means at his disposal, distasteful or not, in the interests of survival at any cost. Ensuring that he survived, that the people could survive the damage he caused, ensuring the planet itself could survive through to round 2 with Ruin. Kelsier might have been the Survivor, but he learned the tenents of Survivorism from the Lord Ruler's example.

[Dank_Engine]

I feel like a major theme in Sanderson’s books is that anyone can do good. Kelsier has some bad personality traits, but you can’t deny he uses them to do good.

In a way, I think he became his best self. Especially when he saved Elend because of Vin

[aboyaser]

I love how in the first 5 seconds you gave a warning about which books you'll talk about
I'll save your video and come back after reading era 2 & secret history

[Cursedzeba]

I started with stormlight and so I was introduced to Kelsier without even knowing it. And finding out he is the leader of the ghostbloods after reading his journey in mistborn was shocking. It made me question things a lot, are the ghostbloods right to tell Shalan to kill a Herald? Are they just using Roshar without a care for the people? Has he become more harsh and cruel after sooo many years?

It is one of the most amazing bits of story Sanderson has written. He has taken a man seen as a hero and made us question what he wants more and more even as he has done so much good

[Yanduwei]

I think by the end of The stormlight archive and our time with the Cosmere, we might see Kelsier become Sanderson 's Paul Atreides. The Cosmere's leader with clay feet. And I think that is such a fascinating arc for him

[isupermann]

Alternatively, is he a hero? Yes. Is he a villain? Yes.

[dinocollins]

Kelsier is my favorite character of the cosmere too! I always felt like I related to him, so... when Brando Sando revealed Kelsier could also be a villain that was bad news haha

[jacobhurst]

I think that Kelsier is good in his eyes but is about to be evil to a lot of other peoples eyes. I believe that Kelsier is so angry that the shard gods have allowed people to suffer and he is going to become obsessed with taking over all of the shards and basically trying to become adonalsium himself. He is going to try to do this because he wants people not to suffer so he believes if he can become adonalsium then he can make people not suffer. However, I also think that if anyone gets in his way he will not be afraid to kill them off immediately. So he will become a bad guy in someways but to some people and in his own mind he will be a good guy.

[reelsimon]

I know you can't really relate the two, but I put him up there with Lightsong the brave for favorite cosmere characters

[docmychedelic]

I think it’s all POV. If you’re on Scadriel and you know about Odium, then there is no quarter really considered for Roshar. I think we could see him teaming up with a SA character in the back half or in Ghostbloods.

[ksnnsk]

Kelsier is a hero when it suites him to be one... I think for him, its the destination not the journey that matters.

[CobaltContrast]

That last comparison was well worth it.

[animeproblem]

Kelsier in the early part of book 1 was definitely morally evil by the part he saves elend realizing that he was to focused on those who did wrong he never saw the nobles who were trying to do good he becomes morally grey and as he is now he's maintained morally grey he works for the good of his planet and his people yet he does evil acts that hurt others because he doesn't care about the good of those he doesn't know

[klcs]

I think people who defend him till the end have never known someone like him. as far as the he did save El yeah but he needed Vin to do what he could not. so i question the goodness of his heart there also.

[KiryuZer]

Please don't Kill me for saying it Kelsier fans, but I think he IS a villain or pretty close to being one. It's like they said in the Badman movies: You either die a Hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain.
so Kelsier didn't even start as a Hero he was more of an Anti-Hero it was foremost his interactions with Vin that changed him. Let's not forget while his goals seemed "good" he wanted to Achieve them by Killing a lot of people, and he killed a lot of nobles. And while those were put on display as evil it's never that easy. Like Marsh said" Did you think about their families" when Kelsier said it's okay to kill Skaa if they work for nobels. Things are pretty grey in Mistborn, to begin with so I wouldn't describe Kelsier in the first book as either Hero or villain.... he was the Protagonist together with Vin.
but after Mistborn 1 he fell more and more into his bad habits he lost his moral compass and became seemingly more ruthless even had sort of a breakdown with his last two friends/family Marsh and Sazead seemingly plotting to "kill harmony if needed" not that Sazed fairs that much better since he seems to be in a permanent state of inability to do anything...but he did become the leader of a cashmere white Organization that doesn't do that much good thing apparently. And he does this with his old marking" for the greater good". I think he DOES care for his world but he is losing it slowly but surely, we did see a lot of glimpses of highly invested people breaking over time. Like most Shards or the Herolds, this will probably be his future too if he doesn't get it together again.
I think Kelsier will play a big role in the last parts of the Cosmere book maybe he will turn the problems on Scadriel around to make it a Fortress that will survive the big troubles when Automy or Odium start to make their moves.

[Celestial_Reach]

Kelsier is my hero in the books, and id point something out. he could have tried to get revenge in many many ways. But he chose to find a way that would hopefully make the world a better place. I agree. He is broken AF. But he brought something amazing to sooo many. hope. i think Saze said it best when Vin brought up that kel wasnt a prophet, he was jsut a normal man, and Saze said most usually are. He was a broken man, working in a broken world, and just trying to make it better in the only way he know how. Also, I appreciate your even take on the lord ruler, i agree with you, he was also doing the best he could. in a broken world

[MorgottofLeyendell]

After reading Secret History, I don't think Kelsier even truly understands himself. He just does what he thinks is right, whether he's correct or not, and 'right' to him can also include stuff he wants. He's a broken man trying to achieve his goals, he's not a particularly altruistic guy, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't have good qualities. He's a paradox of selfishness and love, and he himself doesn't really know where it will end.

[Deathranger]

Pump the brakes. Kelsier is very different from TLR. One 3 main points, Kelsier plans never 1) Mutilated and oppressed his own people to keep a unique position/set of powers, 2) He didn't genetically alter one race of power in an attempt to make them a slave class, and 3) This is a big one, he didn't create a system where oppression and assault (both regular and sexual) was totally ok. And he had the power to do each of those things, at least on a smaller scale. 1) He could have killed Vin to be the only Skaa mistborn. 2) Instead of killing nobles he could have captured and enslaved them. 3) He could have used future oppression of nobles as a selling point and instead focused on freeing the Skaa. The worst part is that TLR did all of these things totally separate from any good he was trying to do. I don't think Kel would do any of those things, but if he did it would absolutely come from trying to do something good, not from a personal separate desire.