The Lost Metal announcement blurb mentions "offworlders" and factors "from the larger Cosmere"; are there any particular books or series that you would recommend be read or reread before reading The Lost Metal?
If I said what they would be it might be giving too many spoilers.
Does Hoid like milkshakes?
Does Hoid like milkshakes? Hoid likes a milkshake, yeah.
Have we seen anyone (other than Hoid) use a magic system not featured in a published story?
Depends on whether you count... You have seen some effects and some Aether involved things in the books before, so the answer is yes—tentative yes.
At one point a seon is described as speaking with an odd rhythm.
1. Would someone on Roshar recognize that rhythm, and
2. Could a seon reproduce the tones Navani discovers in Rhythm of War?
Well, they are speaking with an odd rhythm. This is... You are close but not quite there.
When Gavilar died, it took the Stormfather around five years before Dalinar started to get visions. Outside of those two, have there been any other that the Stormfather started to give visions to? If so, care to give a number?
Don't care to give a number, but there are others that were at least investigated.
If a Mistborn or Misting is Returned, do they retain their Allomantic powers?
RAFO!
Theoretically then, can Kelsier come back to Physical Realm as a Returned?
RAFO. Double RAFO!
What did the singers do in between desolations? Did they have their own kingdoms? Did anyone try to create a combined nation of humans and singers?
RAFO! Book five might have a few answers for you.
Name the sixth light: storm, life, void, war, tower and…
Maybe there is one, maybe there's not. Who knows, who knows? It's a mystery.
Would an Enlightened spren cause a Listener to adopt a different form than a normal spren? For example, if lifespren lead to Mateform, would an Enlightened lifespren lead to the same Mateform? What about other creatures that are linked to spren and have gemhearts?
That is RAFO. But it would be different. I suppose I can just answer it would be different because the way you phrased that question, I believe I can answer that way. But in what ways would be RAFO.
Is "airsickness" to the Horneaters a memory of dullform?
It is not, but good question. That's cool.
We know Roshar lacks plate tectonics, being basically crem on crem. Yet peakspren have features showing heat, indicating vulcanism is present. Are the Horneater Peaks fed by a magma pocket, or is it Lifelight feeding them?
Wait for the Horneater novella and maybe I'll get it in there!
Mechanically speaking, how does steelsight work? The scientific definition of "metal" gets a little murky in the middle of the periodic table-
It does.
-and we see that powerful enough Allomancers can see more than just metals.
Yep.
Are Connection and perception significantly involved here?
To an extent, but the science of it also is. I feel like the stronger steelsight is getting, the more it is detecting things like electromagnetic bonds and even, you know, the strong and weak force and some of these sorts of things that is just in everything, right? And I do think that in strongest applications, Allomancy is going to be moving beyond metals and moving toward things like fundamental forces. So there you go.
Do you have a term for anyone within the cosmere that can use Investiture? And can you tell us what it is?
I have started dabbling with these sorts of things and I've started just calling them Invested, right? Like this person is Invested, and things like this. And I think that term is going to work, but I'm gonna see how it feels going forward.
You told us more than a year ago that you wanted to save the mystery of the Order Dalinar's Plate was from until after ROW. What is it?
Well, the main reason I wanted to do that is I did not want to talk too much about armors. I did not want to talk about where armor came from. And I'm going to say Isaac is working very hard on the concept arts of all of these and canonizing all of them and we know which armor Dalinar's is, but I am not going to tell you right now, because I don't want to tie his hands, because what he's doing is he's finding the consistent types of ways they would look and categorizing all the armors into certain ones as we had done in the past for Shardblades, and we're doing some cool things. It's been really fun lately.
So, one of the things that was teased at the Dragonsteel Minicon is that we are going to be doing some minis soon, with Brotherwise, who are fantastic. And one of the things we wanted to have done before we could do minis was just have really solid concept art guidelines for characters and worldbuilding elements and things like that. Often, with the books, we'll just give artists a lot of leeway and freedom, and we still like doing that. But at the same time we do need to have more strong sort of "here is what Brandon sees these things looking like." Which is not how I've normally done things, right? Like, I like fan art. I don't like to be too strict and be like "oh, the fan art's wrong for this reason," or things like that. I like artists to be able to do their thing.
But as we move into doing merchandise, like these and minis and stuff like that, I acknowledge that I can't take that tactic anymore. And so one of the things we're doing is we're making sure we have canon versions of, "Here's what characters look like, here is what the armors look like, here is what these Orders look like, here is what listeners and singers look like," and things like that, so that we can be more aligned on all these things. It's been very fun; Isaac's been putting a ton of work into this and doing a really good job with it. But let's pass on that question until Isaac is able to reveal some of these things to people.
Is Jasnah Kholin autistic?
Jasnah, I have not deliberately put on the spectrum in my approach to her, but at the same time... there are some traits she might share. But, you know, it's one of these things when we're dealing with, we're dealing with personalities and ways that people see the world. For instance, let's talk about this: my son Dallin, my middle son, he is not autistic—at least he was not diagnosed autistic, when we took him—severe ADHD, and some other things, however we have put him in a school that specializes in helping people with autism and has been wonderful for him, because some of this the things that he does and the ways that he thinks are helped by the same sorts of systems. So, the fact that I would not personally diagnose Jasnah with autism does not necessarily go as far as you might think.
Was David Bowie Cytonic?
David Bowie? Absolutely! I would say that he was. The legends of him that Spensa thinks are inflated are indeed not.
The Truthwatchers and Bondsmiths are depicted separate from the other Orders in that neat little chart. Why is that? I get that the Bondsmiths are special, but why are the Truthwatchers beneath them, in the middle? And is there a reasoning behind how the other Orders are placed, beyond just what surge they share?
So, yes and originally I had a lot more with this chart that was going to be meaningful for the magic system and things like that. And it turns out this was way too complicated to work into the book. You can maybe see some of it in Way of Kings Prime. I can't remember how much of it's in there, but at the end of the day, when I was building it, I'm like, "I am... this is one of those times where I'm doing a little too much, getting too much into the weeds," so to speak. But you can, you will be able to... See, it's tricky because you're gonna be seeing a lot of Renarin version of Truthwatchers and less of other version of Truthwatchers. But let's say that Truthwatchers have some sort of abilities relating to Cognitive and Spiritual Realm set in a similar way to Bondsmiths, and because of that they were often kind of opposed but aligned, and the chart is a human construction trying to explain things—much as the same way that the Allomantic chart is—and because of that, they're responding to things that have happened, that are partially cultural partially, part of the magic and they built the charts, if that makes sense.
In Cytonic, why is the AI that travels with Jason a sphere and not a drone like M-bot?
Many, many, many, years earlier and different technology and different things that they're doing.
We know Herdazians and Horneaters are singer-human hybrids. My question is: Are all humans, besides the Shin, also hybrids with more diluted blood that gives them epicanthic folds?
No. The... oh, of each other you mean, or...? I thought you were meaning with... I would say that's not the way to look at it. I would say that yes, most people on Roshar probably share some common ancestors in some way, but you can say the same thing of most people from most regions on Earth and things like that. I don't think that's the right way to look at it. They just happen to be a large number of different human ethnicities that share some common features.
Rysn, our favorite Dawnshard holder is...
Is she your favorite Dawnshard holder?
...is a Caesarian shift +10 of a pesky traveller named Hoid. Meanwhile, Hoid is a Caesarian shift +16 of Rysn. Is this a RAFO or a happy little accident?
This is a happy accident. Happy accident, not planned. That's one of those ones where I'd like to be like, "See how smart I am, I've played a wordplay on you that—" no, I was not.
Dragons are often depicted as much more intelligent and/or powerful than humans. Are dragons in the Cosmere better equipped to handle the power or psychological influence of becoming the Vessel for a Shard of Adonalsium?
I would say that... RAFO. That's not where I thought you were going to go with that, so I was planning to answer a different question. The one that you asked I will say RAFO to.
Do you want to tell the chat what question you thought they were going to ask?
They are better suited toward long lifespans, which makes them... But I would not say that a dragon in the Cosmere is born more wise than a human.
You've hinted before that Hoid is in reality much more self-interested than he is perceived to be and walks a path you yourself said you probably wouldn't condone.
Yet at times we see him share touching personal moments with multiple characters. Such as during Shallans childhood, or helping Kaladin through several rough patches.
Are these also to serve his own interests or goals, or are these genuine moments he's shared with them?
Hoid is legitimately empathetic to the individual. This is how he is. He is very empathetic to people's problems. But in the grand scale, he is more self-interested than I think people are seeing and fandom him being. These things aren't mutually exclusive. He can be very empathetic to the problems Shallan is going through while at the same time understanding that if Roshar were destroyed but Odium were contained, then it meets his goals better than if other things were to happen. And in a moment of decision, like if he were said, "Alright, you can sacrifice Roshar—Odium is contained forever," he would probably say yes. Meaning all these people that he's empathizing with would be dead. (And that's what I'm saying right there when I say sacrifice Roshar.) Not that that is what would happen necessarily. I'm not saying that, but y'know, given that kind of impossible false dichotomy, that's one of the places where his mind and heart is. Depending on your axis and things like this, he has, like many of us, a complex morality. But those are legitimate moments of empathy on his part where he is trying to make their lives better. But it doesn't mean that every motivation he has is purely altruistic or purely aligned with what the people on Roshar would want.
The terms kinetic and static Investiture were introduced in Rhythm of War, but not defined or explained.
Yes.
What are kinetic and static Investiture?
Good question. So I've been talking about this for a while, so some of the arcanists out there know. Kinetic is a thing I'm defining that the Investiture is being actively expressed and used, and so it has certain effects. For instance, you're gonna see sand get charged by kinetic Investiture but not necessarily by static Investiture. Static Investiture being Investiture that is stuck in a sphere. If you just walk by with that sphere, particularly if it's in a bag or something, the white sand's not going to see anything. But if you are actively using it to do something, if you have created or are maintaining something, if you are flying or you are using one of the Surges, then we call that kinetic. And kinetic Investiture is going to show up much more easily to someone who can replicate the abilities of a Seeker, who can hear pulses. These are the things the spren notice when someone is using their powers. This is white sand. There are just many things in the cosmere that respond to Investiture being used in some way, and when it is not being used it is harder to hear, locate, or reference.
Did the Five Scholars know what Dawnshards were?
RAFO
The Hemalurgy table mentions that atium “must be refined” in order to steal any power. Could this refined atium be burned by any Allomancer?
RAFO
Why does mateform have breasts? It's not the form they use to raise kids, so is this some kind of human influence on the lifespren?
I'll RAFO that for now. It is something I have actually thought about and I might get into, I might not.
...
There are plenty of mammals who do not have breasts as a... Enlarged breasts is a secondary sexual characteristic, how about that? In humans it is generally considered by biologists to be a form of displaying readiness and desire to mate. So, not necessarily there for the babies, if that makes sense. And I think it is a similar thing with mateform.
Another question refers to the long silvery chain found by Kaladin in the shops at Celebrant. Apparently it’s worth thousand broams. Is there anything significant to that in book 5.
No, it's not from a Rosharan magic system.
Physiologically speaking, does a gemheart have a purpose? Beyond the Investiture/spren-related functions. Do creatures with a gemheart also have a regular, meat-heart?
They do have a regular meat-heart.
The gemheart--the function is Roshar-related. It is Investiture and spren-related. That's why things have a gemheart. Resonating with the tunes of Roshar, that sort of stuff. So that is the physiological function of it. That's why they exist. So the answer is, "no, they don't have a physiological function beyond that," but that's like saying, "no, the meat-heart does not have a function beyond pumping blood through the body." I mean, that's why it's there.
With so many worldhoppers, how is it that knowledge of the Cosmere is so uncommon? Are worldhoppers sworn to secrecy about this?
Not most of them.
But not uncommon maybe?
No, I mean the Seventeenth Shard's not supposed to intervene, so there are some that are not supposed to. The majority of them, no. But at the same time, yes, the Horneaters know about them because that's where the perpendicularity is. How many people travel to the Horneater Peaks?
And yes, in most large cities on Roshar you will find a handful of worldhoppers. But what are you going to say? "Yeah, I'm from another planet!" and they're like, "What's a planet?" Yes, Jasnah and people, scholars would be able to be like, "Wow, this in mind-blowing!" Other people are like, "Oh, is that over the mountains? I've never been over there."
It's not this thing that is going to spread as much until—I think until there's mass communication and there is mass literacy and understanding. To place yourself in the context, you can say, "I'm from the stars," and they'll be like, "Yeah, so are we! We came from the Tranquilline Halls! You see all these Iriali over there? They came from another land as well." To them it's mystical. They don't put together this in the same way that I think that... I think that if you went back in time to medieval era and you said, "I'm from beyond the stars!" they'd be like, "Okay. That's as weird as being from over there on the spice route. I've never been to the next village, I can't conceptualize being from the stars". They'll either just think you're weird or that won't be as mindblowing as it would be to people once they have education and mass communication.
Which is why I think things during Era Two of Mistborn—that at that point things are spreading, people are understanding. It's starting to be a thing, and to them it is kind of mind-blowing. But to your average person in Bavland, they'd be like, "Okay. Sounds good. Where's my food?"
Who would believe you?
Yeah. Who would believe you, who who understands what you're saying would believe you, and who else would have the context to understand? I just don't think that it's as big a thing as you think and also I think that in the era before mass communication, the numbers of people that are worldhoppers, even if they are in the hundreds or even thousands, is so small compared to the size of a planet like Roshar in populations that it just is not going to spread in the way that you think it will.
Can we see your cameo in Wheel of Time?
I did not ask for a cameo in the Wheel of Time. I might be willing to do it in future seasons, but this plays down to that—I know some of you say that I am too much this way, but it felt like that was taking that step over the line into taking too much of Robert Jordan's role. I love the Wheel of Time. I am very proud of my time in the Wheel of Time. I feel an ownership to the Wheel of Time, but having an ownership does not make me the owner. The Wheel of Time is Robert Jordan's, and if it were all about "Where's Brandon's cameo?" I just feel like that would in some way detract from it being Robert Jordan's, the culmination of 30 years of Robert Jordan's work to bring this to people, and I don't want to do that. I told them that I would be interested in cameos maybe in later seasons, but I did not want to do one in season one. I don't want too much attention on me for season one. The attention should be on Robert Jordan.
Primary question: Peter recently said something about atium in Era 1 actually being an atium-electrum alloy, which is called nalatium. Is this accurate?
This is accurate, yes.
You could, by the way, just continue to call it atium. That's what they think atium is in-world. It's very slightly tainted.
Secondary questions: If the above is yes, did Kelsier get malatium by separating the atium and gold from the silver in nalatium? If so, do atium and gold have similar melting points?
That's more of a RAFO in that I'm not sure I want to canonize any of that right now.
Would you do a Black Library book for Warhammer 40k, fantasy, or Age of Sigmar?
So here's the thing, I think Warhammer's worldbuilding is pretty awesome, but I have not been steeped enough in its lore to feel in any way, shape, or form capable of writing in that world. My experience with it is the occasional game and only one campaign of Warhammer fantasy RPG. And the fact that my friends are all huge Warhammer geeks. Dan and Allen. Dan Wells you guys know, and Leyten from Bridge Four both are very big into Warhammer, and so I do think Black Library—I'm very impressed with Black Library, but I don't feel capable of doing justice. Right now I would say no just for those reasons. Magic [the Gathering] is this weird thing where it is my nerd obsession of choice. It's the thing I pay attention to and can track, and it is very hard for me to have very many of those. I just had my fanfic that I needed to write, and I bullied Wizards into letting me do so.
If you take a gemstone from Roshar to Taldain, would it be charged with Autonomy's Light on Dayside?
It could capture it; I'm not sure if it would happen automatically. You could definitely get some Dor. I don't know that it's gonna naturally pick up Autonomous Light; it might though. That one's iffy for me, I'll have to think about it.
I'm gonna say yes to that one, but it's not going to infuse very deeply. You're gonna get something in it, but it's going to vanish soon after, to the point that gemstones—they would have noticed on Taldain if gemstones just naturally picked this up. So, you're going to get just a little, little bit of a charge, but it's going to be almost imperceptible to someone without the right instruments.
You have said AonDor comes from something analogous to a Nahel bond. What is an Elantrian specifically bonded to? The Cognitive aspect of Arelon? The Dor overall? Etc.
It's not exactly that, but that's the right way to be thinking.
How accurate would it be to say that Allomancy is granted by a Nahel bond to Preservation?
Different kind of bond. Different mechanics.
Are the Terris people native to Scadrial, or were they an immigrant population from another Invested world?
Good question. They are native.
The Sleepless let Rysn carry a Dawnshard around and continue to live her life as relatively normal. Could we assume that someone like Hoid would be able to interact with her without noticing she holds a Dawnshard?
Depends. You could not necessarily assume that.
Does Khriss have anyone working for her besides Nazh?
Yes.
Let's just hope I can write Nightblood someday. I need to be up to date on things. Because that's a six month write right there, easily. I have been spoiled by doing three month books for a while on [Mistborn] Era 2 and on the Skyward books. I alternate those and eighteen month books like Stormlight. [Mistborn] Era 3 are all going to be six month writes probably because I'm going to shoot from 200,000-250,000 on those. And that's what Nightblood would be when and if I can get around to it.
What is Hoid's favorite food?
Bacon! I always answer this—or instant noodles.
What did The Lord Ruler do all day? He was totally bored right? What would he have done to get his hands on some Cadmium?
He was bored, but he was also—he was not mentally all completely... sane? I guess? That's a wrong way to say it. He was having trouble simply continuing to exist because of pressures and forces upon him in a cosmere sort of way. Much as the same sort of thing is happening to the Heralds and has happened to the Fused. He was not, let's say, in a stable sort of immortality like Hoid has found. Or I should say, his is unlike what Hoid has found.
Was the being that became Ba-Ado-Mishram Connected to all the spren on Roshar before becoming an Unmade?
RAFO.
If you could have a Lego set from your books, what would it be?
I know what I would pick.
What would you pick?
A chasmfiend, for sure. A really detailed Lego Technic chasmfiend would be awesome.
Yeah, okay, you might have persuaded me. Mine went to the person who did all the cool Lego on Facebook. I just like the whole dioramas that they made, like, "here's this scene," and I thought those were very cool. Chasmfiend's a good choice. I would be curious to see how they would do Lego Shardplate though. How do you fit a little minifig in a Shardplate? I guess they have the, y'know...
Paint?
No, it can't just be paint! It's got to be more like how they did the Hulkbuster Armor or something like that.
When Venli attempts to swear her Ideal and it gets denied, she hears "a femalen voice, so very far away—but thrumming with the pure rhythm of Roshar". Is the fact that it says "the pure rhythm of Roshar" instead of "a pure rhythm of Roshar" significant?
Ah, no.
Was that rhythm set to the tone/tones of the Shard or Shards, and if so, which?
RAFO. I want you to be theorizing on that one LewsTherin.
Is Brandon publishing his book on writing in English or is it a Spanish only kind of thing?
So right now—Oh, I didn't know this was out. What's happened here is (since rumors are apparently flying, or maybe it's been talked about), the Spanish publisher came to me and said, "Hey, it's hard for a lot of the Spanish fans to watch your lectures because they're in English," and was wondering can we transcribe these, translate them to Spanish, and actually turn them into prose rather than just monologue, and see if we can turn them into a writing book. And I gave my blessing to this project. We'll see how it goes and see if my lectures turned into prose form actually work. I'm going to want to probably have them do it into English and then translate it into Spanish so I can see how the prose of the lectures works, but that is what's happening. I am not sitting down and writing a writing manual, not yet. I don't know if I ever will. It is a cool idea that the Spanish publisher came up with. I like that they came up with this idea and I hope that it turns out to be something really cool.
Do you have a plan for Whimsy's planet already, like with a developed magic system and maybe a story to go along with it? Or is it kind of a wild card?
I have plans, but that doesn't prevent wild cards. Let's just say I have plans, that doesn't prevent me from changing it as things develop. The only two planets that I'm unlikely to change are Yolen and the Aether planet at this point. Those most likely need to remain canonized for reasons that they are being worked into the narratives. Everything else can be flexible.
And you assume that there's one planet for Whimsy, and that it is a planet, don't make assumptions.
If you've got a plan can we get any little detail about any of it?
Yeah; making assumptions.
Are Glys and Tumi's names at all based on the names they were before they were Enlightened? For example, was Glys' name Glistening-through-water or something like that?
There is a relationship, yes.
Could you create a proto-human using Awakening, steak, and Hemalurgy?
Uh, yes. That would work. I mean, you could go for the full triumvirate and have Soulcasting in there too. You don't need need a steak you need... Go with Soulcasting. Soulcasting—get some Awakening, staple on a soul. This is actually—of the weird things that the fans come up with, this is one of the most reasonable that could be pulled off. You could do that with minimal knowledge of all three magics, I should say.
Is it a better proto human if the steak is well done or medium rare?
I think the more rare the better, but I think Soulcasting is the way to go.
Can you please explain what RAFO means?
RAFO, yes! For those you don't know, I inherited from Robert Jordan a phrase that he used with fans when they asked a question that he didn't want to answer. It means read and find out. He would not answer for a multitude of reasons. Sometimes it's too much a spoiler. Sometimes he... Well, I'll just answer for myself, since I am not Robert Jordan. Sometimes I don't want to answer because it's too much a spoiler. That's probably the number one reason, is I am planning perhaps—not a promise but perhaps—to address this in the books. Sometimes I don't answer because I don't want to canonize this yet. Sometimes I don't answer because I like the fandom theorizing along a direction because it acts as a nice red herring for what I'm actually planning to do. I will do all of these things, and sometimes it will just be I don't feel like answering that right now.
When I picked up the Wheel of Time and I went to Harriet and Robert Jordans' house for the first time in December of 2007, she handed me some things. One was of course the big pile of the ending of the Wheel of Time. This is what Robert Jordan had written plus all of his notes for the last book—which was about 200 pages worth of material. Then she also gave me a couple of things. One was one of his pens, which I signed most books on when I was on tour for those books was the pen that she had given me, obviously with ink cartridges that we refilled frequently, but one of his pens—his favorite kind of pen. Then she also handed me a little charm bracelet that said RAFO that a fan had given to Robert Jordan, and she said, "This is yours now," kind of bequeathing the RAFO to me.
Which is kind of funny, that it was bequeathed to me as a physical object, almost. Basically, the ability to be in control of how much information was displayed and basically this was her saying, "The fandom—it's your job now kid to deal with this." I still have the RAFO charm bracelet, my bequeathed RAFO. I started using it judiciously when fans would ask questions and it just started to become a thing that I did with my own fandom as well because it's a very useful tool.
So there you are. I'll have to put that in a shrine and bequeath it to someone else before I pass away and be like, "THE RAFO IS YOURS NOW!"
In Skyward, Spensa said her mother had purple eyes, and Alanik said she had never seen or heard of a human with eyes that color. Is it possible that Spensa has some UrDail blood in her?
RAFO
In Mistborn 5, Shadows of Self, Wax chases Bleeder into the mist after the party where she was speaking in his mind to taunt him. As Wax jumps into the mist to follow, he has an internal monologue thinking about Vin. He says he can see her vaguely within the mist.
"Slight of frame, short hair splayed out as she moved, mistcloak fluttering behind her. It was a fancy, wasn't it?"
Has the mist become a self aware Splinter of Harmony similar to how the Stormfather operated with Honor? Also, since the mist "tuned" Vin to be able to take the Shard of Preservation, does the mist remember Vin in some form? And is it still connected to her similar to how a Returned is connected to their former self?
You're making some excellent theories here; I'm not sure if I want to stamp any of them out. I like where you're going on this. I will say that this is related to where, if you read in Words of Radiance, you will see odd things sometimes happen with Investiture. There is a scene (that I don't think a lot of people pick up on) where Syl is responding to Connection threads being built and is looking different than she should look and things like this. We're looking more at the Spiritual Realm and Spirit Webs and Connections and things like that. Not to stamp out any of your theories, but also to kind of direct you—often times when I'm writing pure Investiture or beings of Investiture, they respond to echoes in the Spiritual Realm. And like I said, you'll see this in Syl sometimes.
I'll leave it there. Continue theorizing but go that direction.
