A Bygone Era - The Final Empire (Warning Spoilers)

[Nosuchthing]

Note that the events of the following three posts are not widely remembered- if remembered at all, they are shrouded in myth and legend. See the final post for details.

The Final Empire

Vin is a street urchin, who is taken into a group of thieves led by Kelsier. They are intent on overthrowing the Lord Ruler. The band of thieves are promised the cache of the Lord Ruler's atium as reward for their contributions. The group is hounded by Steel Inquisitors, intent on stopping their plans from succeeding.

Kelsier is a Mistborn, utilizing the powers of Allomancy to fight against The Lord Ruler. He trains Vin, who he discovers is a Mistborn like himself. He has discovered the Eleventh Metal, which he claims is going to be used to defeat the Lord Ruler, and spreads this knowledge to the skaa. This encourages their revolt, and their deifying of him. Kelsier sacrifices himself fighting The Lord Ruler, but a kandra named OreSeur steals his bones and impersonates him, giving him the illusion of immortality in the minds of the Skaa.

After his sacrifice, he leaves Vin the Eleventh Metal, which he never discovered how to use. Vin confronts the Lord Ruler, burning the metal as she does so. She sees an alternate past, and finds out that he is not Alendi, the prophesied savior of mankind, but Rashek, a Terris packman and a Feruchemist. Using this knowledge, Vin separates him from his metalminds, causing him to age rapidly and die.

[Nosuchthing]

The Well of Ascension

Almost a year has passed since the revolution that deposed the Lord Ruler. Elend Venture has transformed the ancient empire's capital city into a democratic kingdom which he presides over. Standing atop the walls of Luthadel alongside Hammond, Elend observes the approaching army of Straff Venture – his father, come to claim Luthadel as his own. Realising he is outnumbered his elected council, who's members include every social class from skaa to nobleman, are expected to capitulate the city to the invading force. Having made a full recovery since her duel with the Lord Ruler, Vin sails across the tops of Luthadel towards her rendezvous with OreSeur – a kandra Contracted to her since Kelsier's death. She is assaulted by Allomancers whom she dispatches with effort and a little help from a being she nicknamed the Watcher. OreSeur is injured in the attack and Vin's prejudice for kandra is shown in her scorn for OreSeur's abilities and ideology.

[Nosuchthing]

The Hero of Ages

Vin released the power in the Well of Ascension in order to achieve what she believed was protecting the world, at the expense of losing Elend Venture, her husband. It is revealed that Vin was tricked into releasing the power at the Well, rather than using it, and unleashed Ruin who had been imprisoned there. Before Vin killed the Lord Ruler he warned her she was dooming the world and Vin now realises the Terris prophecies were falsified. An apparition helped her locate a bead of Lerasium - the condensed form of Preservation - in the Well's chamber, turning Elend into a Mistborn when he ate it and subsequently, with the ability to burn pewter, saved his life.

As the world begins to succumb to Ruin's influence earthquakes shake the land in ever greater frequencies, the ash falls from the sky constantly and Inquisitors and koloss, no longer controlled by the Lord Ruler, rampage across the world. The mists are appearing in daylight now and even worse, killing those foolish enough to venture out into it. Elend holds a tenuous grip as Emperor as he and Vin search for the storage caches and Atium stash the Lord Ruler hid in the event Ruin was freed.

Sazed continues to struggle with his faith, trying and failing to find a religion that makes sense, while he, along with Breeze, try to help Elend take over the rebel city of Urteau. Sent as a spy, Spook attempts to uproot the Urteau rebellion and incidently gains strange abilities. He is referred to as the "Survivor of the Flames" for his near miraculous actions followed by his involvement in the rebellion in Urteau.

TenSoon returns to the kandra homeland in the hopes to convince his kind to work with the humans to fight Ruin. Instead he is called a liar, imprisoned for his numerous crimes and stripped of his bones to be placed in a pit as punishment. Later in the book, TenSoon is called for sentence where they give him a set of dog bones he had kept, imagining this would be degrading to TenSoon. Instead, TenSoon uses the agility of the bones and his experience with them to dodge his captors and escape from the homeworld.

Vin and Elend attempt to conquer Fadrex City and its rebel king, Yomen. Along the way they discover patterns to the mist killings and the secrets of Hemalurgy. Fearing to discuss their plans openly in case Ruin could overhear, Vin is captured by Yomen when she attempts a solo mission to get into the storage cache and find the Atium stash. Yomen uses her as ransom while Elend's koloss army succumbs to the will of Ruin. Turning against him, Elend and his human army are granted sanctity inside the walls of Fadrex City. Meanwhile, Vin escapes and heads towards Luthadel where she confronts the last of the Inquisitors.

In the ensuing battle, Vin's earring is torn out of her ear, finally allowing her to absorb the power of the mists. In a devastating show of power, Vin levels most of the city and kills the Inquisitors, but is vaporized herself to take up the Shard Preservation and attempted to right the world but failed in almost the same way as Rashek.

With the knowledge of the Atium stashes location, Elend sets out for the kandra homeworld. On his journey he is left wondering why so many people had gotten sick longer than others when they had been exposed to the mists. Upon arriving at the kandra homeworld he discovers the Atium in the Trustwarren and comes to the realisation that those sick for longer had become Atium Mistings. Using this powerful force they meet the approaching koloss army on the fields outside the homeworld. Fighting until their Atium is used up, Elend confronts a Ruin controlled Marsh.

Watching the fight between Elend and Marsh fueling the former with mist-power, Vin witnesses her husband die and with nothing left to lose, she hurls herself at the form of Ruin, destroying them both and leaving Sazed to pick up the two Shards. As the new shard of Harmony he sets out to work on righting the world through trial and error. As Scadrial is now safe, Sazed, as Harmony, leaves Spook a note, explaining how Elend and Vin are happy together and he makes Spook a Mistborn.

[Two McMillion]

The Remembrances

In present day Scadrial the events of the Final Empire and the days after are mostly not remembered. However, some parts of it have become part of popular mythology.
Harmony is known mostly as god (or something like it) in several major religions, most importantly Pathism. Harmony is held to have written the Words of Founding, an important document to modern Scadrial culture. 
Vin is remembered as The Ascendant Warrior, and viewed as a role-model for self-actualized women. She is remembered as a woman who killed a powerful emperor and forged her own destiny. The religion of Surviviorism views her as a deity.
Kelsier has become The Survivor, and is seen a symbol of fighting against oppression. He is seen as a deity in the religion of Surviviorism, which holds there is a moral duty to fight oppression as Kelsier did.
Marsh has evolved into the figure of Ironeyes, and is seen as a spirit or embodiment of death by most religions, and as a deity in Sliverism.
The Lord Ruler is remembered as the Sliver of Infinity and seen as a deity in the religion of Sliverism.
Elend is the namesake of the city of Elendel, and popularly known as The Last Emperor. A memorial to him and Vin stands in the middle of Elendel.
Spook became the Lord Mistborn, whose influence is still felt to this day.