Marsh
MajorA tall, lanky man with blond hair and a hard, square face that remains impassive with a stern, neutral expression. His cold eyes like ice convey constant disapproval beneath a statuesque, broad-shouldered frame that makes him seem to loom over others. He wears modest clothing consisting of a simple shirt, trousers, and a loose skaa jacket often stained with dark ash while his face stays relatively clean.
Marsh begins as a dedicated skaa rebel and Kelsier's brother, infiltrating the Steel Ministry as a Seeker to aid the uprising against the Final Empire. Captured and transformed into a Steel Inquisitor by the Lord Ruler in The Well of Ascension, he becomes a monstrous hemalurgic servant torn between his past loyalties and compelled obedience. By The Hero of Ages, fully under Ruin's control and spiked into an even more grotesque form, Marsh serves as the god's instrument until a redemptive act severs the influence, allowing him to aid Sazed in preserving humanity's future.
Physical Description
A tall, lanky man with blond hair and a hard, square face that remains impassive with a stern, neutral expression. His cold eyes like ice convey constant disapproval beneath a statuesque, broad-shouldered frame that makes him seem to loom over others. He wears modest clothing consisting of a simple shirt, trousers, and a loose skaa jacket often stained with dark ash while his face stays relatively clean. A tall bald man with fair skin and a sturdy frame stands in a black robe accented by metal bracers on his forearms. His eye sockets are entirely filled with thick iron spikes driven point-first through them, the flat heads gleaming like round steel disks on his face while the pointed ends protrude from the rear of his skull with no blood seeping from the wounds. This creates an unnatural, unnerving, and dangerous profile that is hard to read yet often seems sorrowful or intimidating as he moves with deliberate purpose. An unnaturally tall bald man with a head wrinkled by intricate tattoos mostly black with one stark red stands with a lean muscular build showing a stark rib cage and taut muscles. Large steel spikes pierce his eyes with one pounded deeper to crush the socket and protrude from the back of his skull while over twenty spikes total bristle from his chest and between his ribs. His face often twists into an inhuman sneer as he wears dark gray robes or stands bare-chested with rain or ash upon his fair skin, the complete monstrous form of a hemalurgic Inquisitor evoking both power and horror.
Gallery
Evolution
The Hero of Ages
An unnaturally tall bald man with a head wrinkled by intricate tattoos mostly black with one stark red stands with a lean muscular build showing a stark rib cage and taut muscles. Large steel spikes pierce his eyes with one pounded deeper to crush the socket and protrude from the back of his skull while over twenty spikes total bristle from his chest and between his ribs. His face often twists into an inhuman sneer as he wears dark gray robes or stands bare-chested with rain or ash upon his fair skin, the complete monstrous form of a hemalurgic Inquisitor evoking both power and horror.
- Possessed by Ruin, leads Inquisitors in attacks on key figures like Elend.
- Undergoes further spiking, becoming a more monstrous hemalurgist with tattoos and additional piercings.
- Confronts and nearly kills Vin multiple times under Ruin's command.
- At the climax, removes his control spike to allow Sazed to take up Preservation, redeeming himself.
Relationships
Mentors Vin in Allomantic detection in book 1; becomes a deadly foe as an Inquisitor hunting her in books 2 and 3.
Emerges in book 3 as Ruin fully possesses and controls the spiked Marsh, using him to advance its destructive agenda until the final redemption.
Key Events
Book Appearances
The Hero of Ages
First appears Ch 1