Calamity And Steelheart Plot Analysis

The two stories by Brandon Sanderson, Calamity, and Steelheart, both deal with power and its control over people and their lives. Even though they are written by the same author, they still handle and use this in different ways to help support the deeper meanings and show a life lesson that can be used every single day for a person of any age.
Calamity, the last book in the series but also the best at helping the theme and claim, has a lot of hidden meaning behind the pages. One example of this is how Calamity can gift his individual powers to people, and when they use them he has the ability to take their mind. Whenever an Epic uses their new gift it let’s shards of Calamity in, the full and total abuse of one's ability makes them go completely …show more content…
David, the main character, lives in Newcago, a city of pure steel, and never ending night. The whole reason for this was because of a small group of Epics lead by Steelheart. Steelheart is feared in Newcago because of his powers, he has a prime invincibility which protects him from any harm, super strength, and rage that turns things around him into raw steel. He took control of Newcago after being damaged by a bullet, of which had nothing special about it. He didn’t have the Calamity darkness before the incident, because he had been going around protecting humans, but the moment he became enraged he lost control, letting Calamity slip in. At the beginning of the story, David being completely obsessed about the Reckoners, follows his most likely lead on the Reckoners next target. The Epic they are going after uses his powers to get money, and women, because everyone is afraid of him after he murdered a group of people for being in his way in a club. Another Epic that really helped Steelheart named Nightfury is the one that caused all of Newcago to be shrouded in Darkness, but also created all of Newcago’s power. Nightfury had never killed anyone, only spied and informed Steelheart of anything suspicious. This was because Nightfury had control over his powers and used them not for bad but for a strict Steelheart rule that made people like Nightfury, and use his powers to …show more content…
The Epic’s weakness is what they have to avoid at all costs, whether it be by destroying and/or killing the thing that is causing their weakness. Steelheart for example, didn’t even know his own weakness until David killed him with it. Steelheart could only be hurt by someone that wasn’t afraid of him, and David’s father was the only one that had ever dealt any physical harm to Steelheart, so he killed him and destroyed everything around him. This was also the case with Calamity, he could only be hurt by those who split away from the darkness and took complete control over their powers. When Megan and Obliteration attempt to end Calamity, it isn’t Calamity’s first idea to kill David, but instead run and try to kill of Obliteration because of his power. Calamity fought with ever power he still had left and tried to kill Megan after Obliteration had teleported away, even though David had been shooting and attacking Calamity the whole time.
Overall, Calamity and Steelheart deal with power and how people can and will abuse it in different ways, but while also showing some similarities. The series is one to cherish and remember because of what you can really learn about in the