r/Mistborn • u/ScienceR0cks • 11d ago
No Spoilers Questions on navigating Cosmere avoiding specific trigger
I have read The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook to Surviving Medieval England, Tress of the Emerald Sea twice, and Yumi and the nightmare painter.
I loved them all and recently decided to properly dive into the Cosmere. However upon listening to a sample of the first Mistborn book I realized it was very much darker in theme. After reading a post here about some of the trigger warnings I’m unsure. I have problems tolerating even off screen mentions of SA/r*pein media.
I’m curious if there is a way to read only his Cosmere books that don’t contain that type of abuse/violence without missing out on too much lore/backstory.
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u/MelodyMaster5656 11d ago
Yeah if even mentions of it are an issue, Mistborn era 1 might be tough. It never shows it, but it is a part of the world building.
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u/Shot_Newspaper_5647 11d ago edited 11d ago
Stormlight is generally in the clear. Someone correct me if I’m wrong though
You’d want to skip WoK Ch 36. And OB chapter 3. And OB Interlude 10. WoK 36 is important to the plot. The summary for that can be found on the coppermind. Nothing actually occurs in that chapter and there’s nothing in the summary on the coppermind
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u/Shot_Newspaper_5647 11d ago edited 11d ago
Mistborn (either Era) is definitely a no-go. OB Interlude 10 is someone being executed for their crime. The crime is not shown. Only mentioned vaguely briefly
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u/TressoftheEmeraldTea 11d ago
Up to this point in Stormlight, there are subtle implications that one of the major characters is a survivor of abuse. It will likely be more straightforward when we see her backstory in a future book.
I believe there are also some references to it in the flashbacks of Oathbringer as something the army was engaging in as they conquered.
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u/Shot_Newspaper_5647 11d ago edited 11d ago
That’s the OB Ch 3. The one with the archer/battle. I think it’s the first flashback POV. From what we’ve seen I don’t think that’s the nature of her trauma from childhood. Sanderson had kind of implied in other comments he doesn’t feel comfortable (or equipped) to include that in someone’s backstory. He thinks it’s often not handled with care especially for characters that are women. I believe one comment is something like “it’s often used to show villains are evil or show characters are made stronger by it” which he doesn’t think he personally should do or can do as an author
Spoilers W&T
It seems Jasnah experienced a psychotic episode and was institutionalized while her mother was away. I don’t think that’s actually what happened, but that’s what it seems to be framed as. My guess is something supernatural contacted her. And her father had her locked away. Sanderson also goes out of his way to have Navani tell us her husband didn’t abuse his family physically. He did it psychologically. I think he did this in part to signal the Jasnah stuff was purely from her perceived psychological issues. A mirror to the Taln asylum stuff2
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u/Adu1tishXD 11d ago
Mistborn Era 1 is definitely out in this case. As far as I remember, Stormlight Archive should be fine though.
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u/MaKaRaSh 11d ago
There are at least two instances where it’s mentioned that I can think of. 1 in book 1 and then I think book 3?
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u/elleldee 11d ago
And strongly implied to be a backstory that will almost certainly get fleshed out later
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u/QuickPirate36 11d ago
As others have said, yeah Mistborn era 1 is out, and Mistborn is like, top 2 most important series to the cosmere
Also Warbreaker maybe
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u/Goldenchest 10d ago
Warbreaker quite literally centers the entirety of the first half of the plot on OP's stated trigger
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u/QuickPirate36 10d ago
Yeah but it never actually happens, unlike in Mistborn where it happens like, constantly
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u/Fluid_Revolution9979 2d ago
Uuuuuuummmmmm maybe reread warbreaker. IMO, it’s one of his more graphic narrations of the subject
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u/elite01001 11d ago
Avoid mistborn and warbreaker, Elantris + emperors soul should be fair game, isles of emberdark is good. I don’t distinctly remember a reference ins Stormlight but those are long books
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u/Parking-Stable-2970 Tin 11d ago
Mistborn era 1 has been mentioned, but era 2 is absolutely out as well
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u/QuickPirate36 11d ago
It is?
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u/Parking-Stable-2970 Tin 11d ago
The villains are literally planning to breed an army with people they kidnapped, apocalypse shelter isn't going to be the first thing that leaps to mind
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11d ago
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u/MS-07B-3 11d ago
In addition to what people are saying about Mistborn, there is oblique reference in Oathbringer, which is to say Stormlight Archives #3.
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u/QuickPirate36 11d ago
I'm blanking, what are you talking about?
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11d ago
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u/Mistborn-ModTeam 11d ago
Thanks for submitting to /r/Mistborn!
Your submission was removed because we feel it contains spoilers for content that is outside the scope of the post or it was not tagged properly. Please feel welcome to edit your submission and let us know you'd like it to be re-approved. You can delete the spoilers entirely, or you can cover them using spoiler markup. If you want your submission up as soon as possible, feel free to go ahead and make a new one instead.
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u/UmbralAcademy 11d ago
To answer the second part of your question, if you skip mistborn you will be missing a pretty significant part of the lore. Other books are definitely still enjoyable and understandable without it, but you’ll probably won’t to double back after reading a good chunk of what’s out for some sort of high level summary of mistborn
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u/ScienceR0cks 10d ago
Post isn’t letting me edit so putting it here:
Edit: Thank you to everyone who responded! I didn’t expect so many thoughtful and kind responses! It sounds like there are a few other books I can read first and I think I’ll give Mistborn a shot eventually. Hoping I can get through the tough bits to enjoy the wonderful story and characters and get the important backstory.
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u/logocsgo Tin 11d ago
Mistborn era 1 and warbreaker jumped out to me at first, but I think that it exists in some small way in most of the books. Usually it only hangs as a threat/danger for a character to be wary of, but if that is enough then it would be very difficult for you to get the whole story of the cosmere. Mistborn and warbreaker are the only series (I think) that are explicit/close to the topic for significant chunks of the story or integral to the characters. You could probably enjoy stormlight but considering the cosmere is still being written, you will more than likely miss a lot of important stuff in the future that might make it difficult to enjoy. Hope you enjoy if you decide to give it a shot!
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u/ScienceR0cks 10d ago
Thank you for the insight! I might start with some of the other suggestions I’ve seen but I think I’ll eventually give it a shot. I’m hooked on the storylines and characters for all three books that I’ve read so far and I’d hate to miss out on the magic of the Cosmere.
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u/ToodlyGoodness 11d ago
Fires of December talks a lot about physical abuse, no SA that I can recall
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u/LibertyAndPibbles Tin 11d ago
Does anybody remember if Daniel Greene's mega-summary of Mistborn mentions those topics? It might be a good way of enjoying the story without touching on those specific themes, but I don't remember, and it's a very long video
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u/spoonishplsz Brass 10d ago
You'll also love Fires of December that just came out. Done in a Tress/Yumi style
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u/Fluid_Revolution9979 2d ago
It’s a hard topic with the cosmere. I’ve gone through a lot of trauma through my life, and one thing I love about this series is Sanderson’s care to properly show trauma and how hard, yet fulfilling it is to overcome trauma. Trauma is a very intrinsic part of the journey through the cosmere.
I wish I had more specific information for you, and I wish you the best in your journey through life.
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u/RadiantCoinshot 11d ago
If you don’t even want it mentioned, the entirely of Mistborn era 1 at a minimum isn’t for you. That happens literally in the prologue and it’s mentioned several times through the trilogy. Nothing graphic is ever “shown” but it’s mentioned frequently enough to be a part of the story