Questioner
Who is the most powerful non-Shard entity in the cosmere?
Brandon Sanderson
It's probably Hoid.
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Who is the most powerful non-Shard entity in the cosmere?
It's probably Hoid.
Hey, all. Brandon here. With the release of this book, there have been some minor updates to continuity that I think some of you will find relevant.The big one has to do with Hoid's visit to Terris in The Well of Ascension. For those unfamiliar with the backstory, this little behind-the-scenes action has been a source of some consistent problems. The outline, and original draft, of Well had Vin and Elend traveling up to Terris, then into the mountains, to find the Well itself.
This was a huge momentum killer in the story. Having your cityscape-focused book suddenly turn into a traveling quest fantasy for a few chapters felt very out of place, and required too much strange time-jumping to make it work. In revisions, I set about finding a way to repair this, and to overlap the Well of Ascension discovery with Vin's return to Luthadel.
The end result worked much better, but I was forced to cut Hoid's cameo. (In the form of footsteps in the snow and frost leading to the Well, hinting that someone had been there just before her.) I knew where Hoid was, and added in the cameo of him with the Terris people—with the plan still being that he visited the Well sometime during the days after Vin's return to the city.
Well, in working on Secret History, I found that this had a problem with it. Hoid had to already know where the Well is, because after the destruction of the Pits, he'd need to use the Well to return to Scadrial after leaving in the middle of book one to attend to certain other events.
If you've read the story, you know this is how I proceeded. Official continuity is that Hoid went up to Terris after visiting the Well, as he had things to do there. He did not go looking for the Well. This doesn't change continuity for any of the books, though it does render one of the annotations for Well obsolete.
Otherwise, I'm quite pleased about this novella. I wasn't certain how it would go, writing something using threads I'd left dangling ten years ago. (You should thank the beta readers, who are all Sharders I believe, for their continuity help. They made me aware of several things I needed to make much more clear from the original draft, so that canon would be more crisp.)
I know there has been a lot of discussion regarding which times when someone appears to hear Kelsier's voice were actually Kelsier. The story offers the official canon for this as well.
It's nice to finally be able to give the answers to some longtime fan questions, such as what spooked Vin during her inspection of Hoid and what was up with Preservation and the Mist Spirit. It's entirely possible that, despite our efforts, we slipped up and made some continuity error here or there. If so, I'm terribly sorry! This one has been particularly challenging to do.
And... Fortune and Autonomy are Shards? Yes, no?
RAFO.
Is Hoid's hair color naturally white?
Yes, now.
Now? Does he have a counterpart who has black hair somewhere?
RAFO.
Alright, was Awakening used on Nalthis before Vo Returned?
Ummmm… RAFO!
Are you planning on any of the Stormlight exclusive characters becoming world-hoppers?
RAFO.
When's Hoid's birthday?
I have not said when Hoid's birthday is. Because it's on Yolen, I don't even know if the days will line up, when we finally get there, to our world.
When will we see a Hoid book?
You will see a Hoid book-- You will not see a Hoid book until I finish the first five books of Stormlight and the next Mistborn trilogy at the earliest. More likely it's after Stormlight is done.
Does a Shard's power being manifested either physically or not (through metals vs through light) have anything to do with its individual abilities/powers?
RAFO. :)
They say Ati was good, but Ruin turned him evil. Are they any evil people who picked up a Shard that turned them good?
RAFO. Good question!
In the [Purelake vision that Dalinar had in WoR] there was a pouch that the Shardbearer grabbed when the spren went into the ground. I was wondering what is this pouch? Is it a fabrial? Was it important? It was just sitting there, sitting there!
You need to get at least one RAFO. I'm not saying that's an important thing--
Hey!?
...it might be, but you need to get at least one RAFO from me, so that's the one I'm gonna RAFO.
I can't take credit for this, because it is a friend's question, but he has this little theory that your more quiet and reserved characters end up being super important or just interesting characters somehow and he has this theory that Dabbid from Kings is like a worldhopper that just went there and like "I'm just going to stay quiet and watch what's going on."
The question is: Is Dabbid from The Way of Kings, who you may not quite remember, he is the bridgeman who is very quiet and displays some very strong signs of PTSD, and things like this, even though he was healed. Is it-- Yeah, what's going on with him. And that is definitely a RAFO. But it's not a RAFO-- Like sometimes Read And Find Out means "I'm going to reveal it eventually", sometimes it means "I don't want to crush any fans' theories" and I won't tell you which one it is until the end of the series...
Did Adonalsium have a gemheart?
RAFO, good question.
Is there only one perpendicularity on a planet per Shard Invested there, or can say Scadrial have more than two (natural) at a time? (Old School Scadrial when there were two separate shards)
RAFO
Are the Skybreakers going to go after Adolin for what he did?
You're going to have to read and find out.
We have seen some Hoid-related groups on the diferent worlds of the Cosmere...
Worldbringers on Scadrial, Worldsingers on Roshar, Enefel on Sel (this one is a wild guess)
Is there a Hoid-related group on Nalthis? Maybe the Five Scholars are part of it? (That would explain the Shardblade/Nightblood thing you've been talking lately)
Hoid did not found the Five Scholars.
Is Odium gonna make Gavinor his champion?
I'm gonna say complete RAFO on anything about who the champion is.
Can "modern" (as in Adolin's) Shardplate be summoned similar to how "dead" Shardblades (as in Oathbringer) can be?
RAFO.
If you used Hemalurgy to steal Allomancy, Harmony gets some kind of insight into the person that was spiked? He can talk to them? And with enough spikes hear their thoughts?
Mmhmm. Yes. With enough spikes, take them over.
So if you use a spike to say, steal Breath, would Endowment?
I'll RAFO that for now. Good question though, I haven't been asked that yet.
If you stole Breath, would Harmony still keep the same effect?
That's why I'm going to give a RAFO.
Are there a set number of palaces for the Returned in Hallendren? Are any ever vacant or are there a set number of Returned?
RAFO
How much Sazed is aware to Hoid and Hoid's action and what does he think about him?
He is aware. More is RAFO. :)
I'm gonna take a stab at Kaladin's fourth oath. Is it, "I will not feel bad about slaughtering my enemies?"
*RAFO card*
...You know I'm not going to answer that. But I tell you what, it's been recorded by the fan sites, everything I say, so if you're right you're on record. But I'm not going to tell you.
How long have you made up your mind to write Jasnah having relationship with Hoid? Was it settled at the very start?
I only started thinking Wit/Jasnah around the time I finished Oathbringer!
Location of Shardpools: are they determined by the Shard, by the planet, or something else?
RAFO. *laughter* RAFO. We end on a RAFO.
Can you give us the intent of the hide and survive Shard, or as an alternative give us the name of another Shardholder?
No. I gave you something good, you got a good one.
And then the final question. At the beginning of Words of Radiance, the assassin Liss, is she Chana?
*Evil laugh* I will RAFO that. Sorry!
In Bands of Mourning, Hoid says he technically owns the place of the mansion. Is he referring to the mansion or Scadrial? Or something else?
He's referring to the mansion itself.
Are Shards all paired? Does Endowment have a counterpart?
RAFO. Also, yes and no. Not all Shards have perfect counterparts like Ruin and Preservation.
Why were Ruin and Preservation linked together?
Because they're such perfect opposites. Basically it's just an opposites attract thing.
Is Nightblood any more Invested now than when she was created?
RAFO. (Good question.)
When Dalinar became Unity, how much investiture of Cultivation did he have?
So, RAFO, RAFO, RAFO. *laughter* He called himself Unity, I'm not going to say what that necessarily means.
The short story you wrote for Dangerous Women [Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell], the one that's in the cosmere, is Hoid actually in that story?
Hoid does not appear in the Dangerous Women story. I made that choice consciously because I don't want Hoid showing up to be something that always has to be checked off a list. This is a story, it's not a sequence of silly cameos, it's actually a story going on behind the scenes. There was no reason for him to be there, so I didn't put him in.
Could you give any insights as to what the Dawnshards are?
Um......(long pause)...
Am I gonna get a RAFO?
Nyeaaa it's it's..nyeaa I dunno, do you think? You know what the Dawnshards are right? We haven't talked about that? Ok, I thought we had. Um. We'll RAFO it for now. But good question.
It's an excellent question. And we have not yet talked about that. I was like...answer that, answer that!
I was trying to think of questions that could get me very close to being RAFO'd, but not quite RAFO'd.
Yeah, that was a good one, you were close to not getting RAFO'd, on that. Coz I do want to talk about it at some point.
Is Iyatil a Misting?
...That's a RAFO.
Is she a Ferring?
That's a RAFO.
Is she a Mistborn?
Iyatil is a RAFO!
I'm going to make the assumption that Rlain will have the same basic powers as Renarin.
This is a RAFO for now, though you can assume basic similarities between their powers--but Rlain's deeper connection to the rhythms might tweak his powers somewhat.
Meteorites are mentioned as "souls of dead gods". Do they have any relation to the Splinters of Devotion and Dominion and their physical aspects (like lerasium)?
"Literally no."
Is there a connection to the splinters at all?
RAFO.
When Odium said "we killed you" to Dalinar, was he referring to Adonalsium? Was he referring to Honor?
RAFO.
Did Sel's early magic users have Aona's help in building Elantris?
That's a RAFO.
Can Hoid change how he looks?
He hasĀ various methods of changing how he looks.
Which Cosmere character would do the WORST in the Piloting Academy?
Hoid. It's always Hoid.
A Coinshot able to store weight can, as you showed us with Wax Push in a ridiculously powerful manner, as the weight/mass is the largest factor which controls the Push strength.
I'm wondering if the same can be done with soothing(or rioting). If you where to increase your identity, that may/should increase your emotional imprint(or whatever you might call it), would your soothings/riotings become vastly more powerful in a similar way as weight makes steelpushing more powerful?
And if it does, is this how the Lord Ruler improved his Soothing in such a spectacular fashion?
Well, the Lord Ruler--don't forget--could compound any Allomancy he wanted. That creates some crazy effects. As for what you discuss in your first question, I don't want to touch too much on Identity yet as I am saving it for later books. Talking too much here might undermine my ability to reveal interesting and cool things in books when the time is right. I like your theory, and it has merit, but I'm not going to give you a yes or a no as it delves too much into what Identity, as an attribute, can do.
In Warbreaker, how does Denth remember who his sister is if he was Returned?
That is an excellent question and it will be answered. It is a conscious decision of mine, doing that. It is something you are supposed to be wondering. In the future books I want to delve into that sort of thing a lot more. So, Read And Find Out, but it was a "That wasn't a mistake" Read And Find Out.
I know that Perfect State is not part of the Cosmere, but if the Wode were to construct a 'Perfect State' for someone like Hoid, would that look like the cosmere?
So a universe with him as the most important character... yes.
Why do Radiants have two Surges compared to the Fused's one? Is this because they have two Shards instead of just one? If this is true, would a Radiant spren corrupted have three?
Good questions, RAFO! But that's a "smart questions" RAFO.
So, there's a whole lot of things that happen in a very short period of time when Dalinar brings the worlds together. "We killed you" from Odium. Who is "we" and who is "you"?
RAFO.
Will Hoid return as the King's Wit in the next / future [Stormlight Archive] book?
Yes.
Could aluminum act as a sort of shield from other forms of Investiture? As in, could an aluminum Misting lashed to something burn aluminum and dispel the Stormlight?
RAFO.
When Marsh and Sazed go to the Conventical of Seran, Marsh kind of tells Sazed, "You go do whatever you want, I gotta go do something, I'll be back." What was Marsh's purpose there? Why was he there?
I intend to do some Marsh stuff, from his viewpoint, eventually. I don't know if I'll ever get to it. There is actually something there. There is something that I intended to leave a place for me to play later on with. So the answer is a RAFO, but a legitimate RAFO. Not a "I'm trying to lead you on," or a "I don't feel like answering this right now."
I'm assuming there's going be be ten opposite orders to the Knights Radiant? Yes? No?
RAFO! That's big ol' RAFO!
What should I be looking out for to see Hoid in this one [The Bands of Mourning]?
He's pretty obvious in this one.
Oh he's obvious in this one? I remember the last one he barely popped in.
Yeah the last two he's been barely in. This one he actually is-- He's up to something in this one.