Vin
A distrustful half-skaa street thief whose subtle Luck turns out to be full Mistborn power. Recruited by Kelsier, she infiltrates noble society as Lady Valette Renoux, and in the climax the mists themselves fuel her Allomancy as she rips the Feruchemical bracelets from the Lord Ruler's wrists and kills him with a wooden spear.
Kelsier
The famed Survivor of Hathsin, a charismatic Mistborn crewleader who plans to topple the empire by sparking a house war, stealing the atium reserve, and killing its god. He trains Vin, wrecks the crystal beds at the Pits, and deliberately lets the Lord Ruler strike him down in public, making his own martyrdom the spark of the skaa uprising.
The Lord Ruler
The immortal tyrant who has held the world for a thousand years and is worshipped as the Hero of Ages. He is really Rashek, the Terris packman who murdered the true hero Alendi at the Well of Ascension; an impossible combination of Mistborn and Feruchemist, he survives on stored youth until Vin tears his metalminds away.
Sazed
A calm Terrisman steward who is secretly both a Feruchemist and a Keeper, one of the order preserving the faiths the empire tried to erase. He tutors Vin in etiquette and religion, helps translate the logbook that reveals the Lord Ruler's origin, and risks everything to break her out of the Ministry's cells.
Elend Venture
The awkward, book-loving heir to Luthadel's most powerful house, who defies both court convention and his father. His growing bond with Vin unsettles everything she believed about nobles, and after the empire's fall he is named the new ruler of Luthadel.
Marsh
Kelsier's hard, embittered brother, a former Seeker who once led the skaa rebellion. He infiltrates the Steel Ministry as a spy, is presumed dead after an apparent Inquisitor attack, and reappears at the climax forcibly remade into an Inquisitor, yet still on Vin's side when it matters.
Dockson
Kelsier's best friend and right hand, a non-Allomancer with a gift for logistics who keeps the crew's sprawling operation running throughout the job.
Breeze
A foppish, manipulative Soother who helps recruit and steady the rebel army in the caves. He is the first to say aloud that the crew may be following a man who intends to die.
Hammond
A pewter-burning Thug fond of debating philosophy mid-fight. He spars with Vin during her training and drills the hidden skaa army in the Arguois caverns.
Clubs
A grumpy carpenter and powerful Smoker whose shop conceals the crew's safe house. He signs on after some hesitation and brings his nephew Spook into the crew.
Spook
Clubs's young Tineye nephew, who speaks a nearly indecipherable Eastern street dialect. He helps sharpen Vin's senses and is among the skaa rounded up for the mass execution that Kelsier turns into his final stand.
Yeden
The dour leader of the underground skaa rebellion who hires Kelsier's crew in the first place. Frustrated with the plan's pace, he marches the unready army out of the caverns too soon and dies along with thousands of rebels in a single afternoon.
OreSeur
A kandra bound by sacred Contract who wears the bones of the real Lord Renoux to sponsor Vin's cover in society. After Kelsier's death he appears wearing the Survivor's bones so the skaa believe their hero cannot die, and his Contract passes to Vin.
Shan Elariel
Elend's noble Mistborn betrothed, who moves to assassinate him at Keep Venture. Vin beats her in the book's first atium-against-atium duel by making her own actions unreadable to Shan's foresight, killing her with arrows.