Recent entries

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    natetcu

    The technology and cost of having an entire society that is constantly on the move because the day side of a planet is too hot to be exposed to, would be beyond immense. For someone to endure that cost there would have to be some huge upside for colonizing the planet. Does this planet have some awesome natural resources? Will we find out what they are?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You will find out why the people are there in the book. You are correct in assuming this. It does have a really awesome natural resource, it is the sun. You've already seen it, it is highly Invested, if you could channel that power it would be a very very useful power source. There aren't many people who could do what has happened here, and I will just say I chose the group of Cosmere people that I put on this planet very intentionally.

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    dalici0us

    Is there similarities between what happened to Aux and what made Nightblood what it is? The way Aux was talking about needing large sources of Investiture to work properly reminded me of Nightblood's hunger.

    Brandon Sanderson

    This connection is not as deep of one as you seem, though there is a small one. As it seems to seem to you, it's not as deep as that but there is some connection there.

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    SilverG347

    Could one assume by what Nomad said that Radiant oaths can circumvent the consequences of holding a Dawnshard? Also, if so, since Hoid has Design as his spren, what does it mean for him?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, potentially, and RAFO. Reference earlier discussions in this stream, however.

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    simon_thekillerewok

    In your first livestream, you told us to watch for your take on the Monte Cristo revenge narrative. Is that Secret Project 4?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is not.

    simon_thekillerewok

    If you can't say, could you at least tell us whether or not it is going to be in the Cosmere and whether or not it is in one of the projects we already know about.

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    donmicherone

    Hey Brandon, do you hate Threnodites? They seem to be getting the short end of the Cosmere stick now that we've seen them in two extremely volatile worlds. What did they ever do to you (or any shard)? I feel so bad for them.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I don't hate them, but, you know, sometimes we hurt the ones we love.

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    Voidblessed27

    Can Hoid “Skip” like Sigzil?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO. He hasn't been able to in the past. You have not seen him able to do so in the books that you have read. If we take the current Cosmere timeline as being where basically Stormlight is, with maybe the Wax and Wayne books. That's where we are in the real timeline of the Cosmere, without the glimpses of the future that some of these books are providing. Hoid has no idea how to do this. 

    Matt Hatch

    I like how you're timelining your RAFOs. Like this is a RAFO but with information.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah. Like I consider where the Cosmere is right now in its main timeline to be right around the 10 to 15 year period that Stormlight and Wax and Wayne are happening. And that's where we are in the Cosmere right now. But this is taking place way in the future. Actually, all three Secret Projects are fairly future era Cosmere. Basically I'm just kind of building out- what's going on with some of these things is, I want the Cosmere to be pushing towards a Star Wars/Star Trek-esque large universe of planets where lots of interesting stories are happening. And that's the future of the Cosmere. And so as I'm reaching to build more stories, I'm reaching to stories on those planets.

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    dalici0us

    Sigzil sound and feel like a totally different person from what we've seen of him in Stormlight now that he has lived a (presumably) very long life and seen a lot of the Cosmere. How do you balance consistency with what was shown of him in prior books with centuries of off-screen character development to avoid making it feel like he is just a brand new character with some name recognition?

    Brandon Sanderson

    This is a balancing act. That's actually a really excellent question. And it depends on how long the person has been gone. Like, I did a time jump between books 3 and 4 of Stormlight. And so, wanted some thing to have happened and some character development to have occurred to characters, but that to be very slight and them to be mostly still who they were before. But you can't skip a year and have people be exactly the same. I felt like with this one the length of time between was really relevant in the things that had happened to him. And so what I have doing with him is this balancing act of him frequently thinking about the person he used to be and seeing that person pop through. And that's the difference between just new character and what I'm doing with Nomad is, you will see the old him more and more as the story progresses, popping out in certain cases and places. He is the same person deep down, but he's been through a lot. I don't know if there's a science to this. It's just an art of saying, "Can I write someone like this, that has been through the things he's been and the time that it's taken and what would be the realistic way to do that?"

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    VeryNiceName16

    Sigzil mentions that perhaps billions of people die every day in the Cosmere. This would require about 6000 modern earths. Was this a mistake, or has the scale dramatically increased from the 50-100 stars you mentioned?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Nah, it's Sigzil exaggerating. He's Hoid's apprentice, he has dramatic license and hyperbole as a tool that he can use at will. He has no idea how many people actually die, he's not gonna run the- well, he could run the math, he's that type of person, but he has not run that math.

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    Staufar

    Nomad and Auxiliary refer to each other as knight and squire, even though Auxiliary is also referred to as a spren. Auxiliary also calls himself dead, even though “dead” spren usually cannot talk. However, we know that cognitive shadows are also referred to as spren by various people on Roshar. Based on this language, can we infer that, at some point before Nomad left Roshar, surgebinders learned how to Nahel bond with the cognitive shadows of deceased Knights Radiant instead of true spren?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Excellent question, that is a stretch of an assumption.

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    Nollitoad

    Is there a specific quality that Hoid looks for in his apprentices and why are there so few of them? Given that Hoid has lived for thousands of years, the Cosmere could be swarming with them if he wanted.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. He has a different term for apprentice than just someone that who's learned at his feet. He looks for ineffable things that are difficult to put a finger on. Potential. He looks for potential.

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    College_advice12

    Who is more invested, Susebron or Nomad?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Nomad- uhhhh. Oh oh, that's a hard one. Nomad was, but is no longer. So Susebron. I was gonna say Nomad, but he doesn't have the Dawnshard anymore. So not anymore, Susebron would be more invested than he would be at this point. But Nomad can feed upon Investiture, so he could overtake that threshold in the right circumstances. But not currently. Currently he can't even get himself Connected to the planet to speak the language, so.

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    Windrunner17

    Sigzil worries about leading the Night Brigade to people who love him. But quite a lot of technological progress has been made since last we saw Sigzil and presumably a long time has passed since Stormlight. Are these people also long lived like Sigzil or are you intending for the Cosmere to quickly develop FTL spaceships and other advanced tech in the decades following Stormlight?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO.

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    Matt Hatch

    You mentioned there were others that Hoid has trained. Are any of those that wouldn't be considered apprentices more adept that his apprentices?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Depends on in what way. For instance, he's done a little bit of training of Kaladin. He's tried. Kaladin hasn't really listened. But he's tried with Kaladin. Kaladin is highly competent in a lot of areas. Not in Hoid-centric stuff. But he is highly competent. There are certainly a lot of people more competent than Sigzil is in the Hoid-type stuff. Sigzil, you know, butts heads with his former master. But he's got at least one apprentice who's pretty good at it. 

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    College_advice12

    Is the cavern world Nomad mentions a work you have a plan for or just a random reference? If there is a plan for it have we heard about it before?

    Brandon Sanderson

    If I mention a world, there is at least a small, minor plan for it. You have not heard of this one before. This one is not high on my list of worlds to tell stories about, but it is there as a possibility someday. I would not expect this one, but who knows, right! I did not plan to tell the story of Secret Project 3. Secret Projects 1 and 4 have been brewing, the planets have been brewing for a long time. And Secret Project 3, it was just like, "I need a planet for this!" and just devised it for the story. And then, "I need another planet for this!" and just devised it for the story. So sometimes you just come up with things, but other ones were brewing for a long time.

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    Questioner

    What do Hoid's apprentices learn or do?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They are apprentices in Hoid's weird little thing that he does, in teaching people about other world, other planets, training them in storytelling. You can see in the Stormlight Archive Sigzil trying to be Hoid's apprentice, and doing a mediocre job of it, shall we say. I think that's in Oathbringer, that we get to see Sigzil give it his best shot. Basically he has this thing that he does, jumping around planets and doing stuff and these apprentices- they're like his Doctor Who companions, a little bit, you could imagine. But he does train them, so it's not really Doctor Who companions, because he does actually teach them to become like him, theoretically. 

    Matt Hatch

    Has he ever trained someone that he wouldn't consider his apprentice? 

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah. Yeah. There's lots of people that he has done a little bit of training to that I would not consider apprentices. 

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    skamal26

    How long have you planned for Sigzil to have a bigger story than in the first few Stormlight books?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Since the first few Stormlight books. Since I made the decision that I couldn't tell the stories I wanted to tell with Hoid because of who he was becoming and I wanted several apprentices of Hoid that I could use to tell those stories. Sigzil has been on this path for quite a while, I would say since the first Stormlight book. Since I decided to make him Hoid's apprentice, when I was working on Stormlight 1, I knew that I was going to have stories for him in the future. Whether I could write full length books about them, I was uncertain. Which is why when I had the opportunity to sit down and do a Secret Project that was just for me, I picked that one, because I've wanted to tell the stories of Hoid's apprentices for quite a while, and this was a chance to do so.

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    College_advice12

    The sun of this system seems to be highly invested, ordinarily this seems to only happen when a Shard is present yet this world appears to be a backwater. Is there something to this or is this system for some reason more invested than other worlds?

    Brandon Sanderson

    This system is more invested than other worlds. Part of why he's there. Part of why he would end up here.

    ElynnaAmell

    Is there a Shard on this planet or in this system?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There is not an active Shard suffusing this planet in the same way that Odium, Cultivation, and Honor suffuse Roshar.

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    Raddatatta

    These all have Hoid very front and center, is this marking a turn in the Cosmere to generally focus more on Hoid's story? And will we ever get a more detailed look at what he was up to during the earlier parts of the Cosmere?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would say yes, this does mark a bit of a turning point, where I'm like, alright, it's time for him to start being more of a character. I would say starting Stormlight Archive was the first of those turning points. Before that he was cameos. Stormlight Archive was, Hoid's now a character. He's not a main character, but he is a character, among the tertiary level character things. This is another turning point where I'm like alright, now we're gonna start actively involving the things around Hoid. None of these stories are about him, but he's telling two of them, and his apprentice is the main character of a third. And he shows up as characters in all three of the stories. It is a turning point. The next turning point will be when I write a story about him, which will happen.

    General Reddit 2022 ()
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    Adarain

    It has been stated repeatedly that the cognitive realm is geometrically flat. Like, flat earth flat. However, it is mathematically impossible to turn a sphere (such as the surface of a planet) into a flat plane without cuts or overlaps [by the Borsuk-Ulam theorem]. So my question is simply… how does the cosmere resolve these issues? Are there places on every planet where if you walk across a line in the physical realm, you’d now be in a completely different spot in the cognitive realm? Or perhaps places where two points of the physical realm collide in the cognitive realm?

    Peter Ahlstrom

    Good question. And I don’t have an answer. I’ve always like Dymaxion maps, and those have big gaps. I would be fine with Shadesmar being non-Euclidean.

    Adarain

    Thanks for the answer! If I may ask for clarification, when you say non-Euclidean do you mean going back on the whole "Shadesmar is flat" thing (since Euclidean just means flat), or do you mean it having a structure like e.g. the mentioned Dymaxion map (or perhaps even wilder things like planets being entirely disconnected)?

    Peter Ahlstrom

    I mean something like when you get to where the edge of a segment on a Dymaxion map would be, you step across seamlessly into the next section even though there should be a huge gap.

    Accomplished_Debt932

    I had always envisioned the cognitive realm as a Möbius strip. Flat, one sided, infinite, and ultimately a (sort of) loop. Is that accurate?

    Peter Ahlstrom 

    I don’t know if it’s a loop at all.

    General Reddit 2022 ()
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    Gilthu

    Do you ever get sneaky information from behind the scenes? If so do you ever look through Reddit or the web to see if anyone has posted that theory yet?

    Peter Ahlstrom

    I love this question. Yes, all the time. And yes.

    For example, there is a scene where a Herald appears, and I haven’t found anyone who has posted that they think that person might be a Herald.

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    Brandon Sanderson

    Let's talk about the Torment for a second. Hoid would not call what has happened to him a Torment. Hoid, by holding a Dawnshard, was made permanently unable to cause physical harm to other beings. Eating meat makes him nauseous (if he is somehow able to eat it, and a lot of the times he just can't). That is because of the nature of the Dawnshard that he held actively warping and changing his spirit. He would not name it this. Nomad has named what has happened to him, a Torment. This is not a term that you can universally apply as a magical aspect of something. This is Sigzil saying "this terrible thing happened to me". And indeed what is happening to Sigzil is on a level beyond what happened to Hoid. So therefore perhaps other arcanists would say, "Yes, these are an aspect of holding a Dawnshard and Torment is the right way", but that word is loaded. That word has meaning, and someone is naming it this. You are not gonna run into a large set of people- there are only four Dawnshards- and you're not gonna run into a large set of people that have held one, so there may be no consensus even in-world to what these are called, and if they are Torment or blessings or what they are. Holding a Dawnshard will warp your soul. It's so much Investiture, it is so powerful, that you cannot hold one even briefly without it having a permanent effect upon you. 

    General Reddit 2022 ()
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    amurgiceblade44

    I believe that it was mentioned long ago that your one of the people Brandon goes to check if his science is right. If so what is your favorite and least favorite of Brandon's crazy science in his books(cosmere and not) and how does the craziness of the SPs feel for you.

    Peter Ahlstrom

    Secret Project 1 does not work astronomically at all, but it’s a fun idea. I’m more fine with the crazy world on Secret Project 4. I love that Brandon has these wacky ideas for worldbuilding, even if there’s just no way to make it work. For things that are somewhat plausible I do the best to make it work. For those that are just impossible, I don’t spend too much time worrying about them.

    Yolen is totally impossible but it’s such a cool concept. I haven’t previously decided what my favorite and least favorite crazy science concepts are. But I do love the concepts of burning metals and breathing in Stormlight. Navani’s discoveries in Rhythm of War were very fascinating to me.

    LewsTherinTelescope

    Do you mean the fain life, or does Yolen also have weird astronomy (like basically every Cosmere world at this point xD)? Or something else that's a RAFO?

    Peter Ahlstrom

    It has weird astronomy.

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    Questioner

    Are there planets in the Cosmere in which there is no Investiture, and could Sig accidentally skip there and get permanently stuck?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There are no planets with no Investiture. You would have to have no matter in order for there to be no Investiture, because matter, energy, and Investiture are the same thing. There are planets where, let's just say, natural sources of Investiture that are easy to reach are not present. So you would have to figure out another way to make this all work, which would be very difficult. It is possible for him to get there, but the way the magic is working is he is being drawn partially to sources of Investiture, so it's highly unlikely he would end up on one of those planets.

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    teawrex6

    Sigzil refers to Skipping, and it’s implied that this is how he is worldhopping. Is this a method that doesn’t require the use of a perpendicularity? 

    Brandon Sanderson

    It does not.

    teawrex6

    Is that how he’s been able stay ahead of the Night Brigade, and would this allow him to visit planets without a perpendicularity?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. And yes. 

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    College_advice12

    Wit claims Nomad has seen more of the [Cosmere] than him, is this assessment accurate? How has Nomad seen so much in comparison considering their ages?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, he hasn't. But, he's been running from the Night Brigade for a long time, so he's been on a lot of, lot of planets. Hoid has actually seen more, but Sigzil at this point is up there. Probably top 5 for number of planets in the Cosmere visited. So, so while he's not...Hoid is...perhaps deliberately underestimating his own breadth of experience, Sigzil's is up there.

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    helpingdogs5

    Can you share a little more about what made you decide to release this book before Stormlight 5?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, there are these things that are like...like the who killed Asmodean, that we talked about. I like having questions that I give answers to. And stories are partially about questions. And one of the things that I wanted to have is that, occasionally in the Cosmere, I want to be giving you questions, that later on books can answer. This is why the aethers show up in Stormlight before I write an Aether book, and things like that. And in this case, the question of "Woah, what happened to Sigzil?" I think is actually a nice teaser for Stormlight 5, rather than a spoiler for Stormlight 5, if that makes any sense. And Sigzil's story's just a very small one in the context of Stormlight. But, I feel like this just adds another fun question for Stormlight, and that's part of why I wanted to get it out before. And it just felt right to me. Just like we're not getting Rock's story yet, even though we know something happened with him in Book 4. There are some times that I want things to be a little bit out of chronological order in order to inspire those questions. And I do kind of like the theories, so.

    Matt Hatch

    Do you have questions that you've embedded that are not answered until the end of the Stormlight Archive?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. Um, yes.

    Matt Hatch

    There are questions there. Okay, so you still believe in that kind of like-

    Brandon Sanderson

    I do still believe in that, but they're more vague. In Stormlight 1, there's a set of things called Death Rattles, which are...the best, for Wheel of Time fans, the best mimic you have for them is probably Min's visions. They are little hints of what's to come. And those are embedded for things that happen all the way through the ten books. And, you know, I've done...done things like that.

    Matt Hatch

    There's going to be some of us going back and reading Way of Kings and going like "Oh, you know, in Book 9-there it is!"

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, right, yeah. You should be able to do that. There are other things that I don't want to highlight people's attention on, but there's another big one in the Stormlight Archive that I've been doing all through the books that people don't realize is foreshadowing for the back five books. But it is! So, that'll be very fun. I can tell you what that is after the stream. It's something that I can do in my work that's very hard for other people to do in their works.

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    AdelRD

    Whatever is happening to Sigzil and his spren, is it related to the fact that the Sleepless forbid Rysn to bond a spren?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. Also a good question.

    Matt Hatch

    I admire all these people. These are great, deep metaphysical questions.

    Adam

    I am amazed every stream at how little I know. Not how much other people know, but how little I know.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Let's just say you are finding out, or Sigzil is finding out first hand part of why that warning was in place. And he didn't get that warning. He should have. Let's say that other people in the Cosmere have been able to do it without it being a problem. And so, you know, if you happen to be an age-old immortal master of multiple arcanum, then you can get away with things that poor people like Sigzil have more trouble with.

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    admodeus9

    If Sigzil got a Torment from being a Dawnshard, would someone like Kelsier, who has held a Shard, also manifest a Torment tied to the Intent of Preservation?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Not necessarily.

    admodeus9

    What about the Heralds, who are perceived as specific ideas?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Not necessarily. Good question, but not necessarily.

    Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream ()
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    Jofwu

    You decided to be up-front that Secret Project Four is "Stormlight-adjacent." If it's not a spoiler to clarify further: would you say it is more or less relevant to Stormlight Archive than Secret History is to Mistborn?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'd say it's less relevant to Stormlight Archive than Secret History is to Mistborn. By a fair margin because things that are happening in Secret History are really relevant to Era 3. What's happening here is not on the same level, but is decently relevant to the future of the Cosmere. If that makes sense. The protagonist of Sunlit Man is a major player in the future of the Cosmere, but not as much in the future of Stormlight.