So we know both Cultivation and Honor have Shardpools on Roshar and we also know that Odium is around somewhere on Roshar, does this mean he also has a Shardpool somewhere on Roshar?
Shardpools, as they are called, are a natural effect of a Shard spending a lot of time on a world.
1) In their place of torture, are the Heralds able to communicate with each other or with other people/spren outside of that place? E.g. how is Ishar able to maintain his threat of severing the Nahel bond if he is being tortured for hundreds of years? 2)When the Heralds return to Roshar, do they appear like Schwarzenegger in Terminator (nude) or do they appear with the clothing they wore when they signed up for the Oathpact? 3)Are the Honorblades involved in the torture of the Heralds? Again, thank you for taking the time to interact with us fans and readers.
I have to RAFO questions along the lines of what you're asking. These are things that are relevant to books 6-10, which probably won't even be written for a decade. Talking about them too much now would be counter-productive, I feel. Sorry. :(
Did the Lord Ruler just have everyone call him The Lord Ruler, or did he actually tell people his name was Alendi?
He actively impersonated someone he was not.
Will Kaladin learn to play the flute?
RAFO. :)
Would Kelsier approve Miles Hundredlives objectives?
Objectives? Perhaps. Depends on where Kelsier is in his career.
Is the keyhole to the oathgate a spren? Shallan says it is the same material as a shard blade.
RAFO. (Sorry.)
We know it has been stated that adonalsium could have been shattered into 16 different intents. We also know there is a force out there opposing adanalsium. Did it shatter into those 16 intents because it believed that was the best way to defend against this said force?
RAFO.
What happened to Tearim?
I will be answering this in one of the Flashbacks, I believe.
At any point did Tanavast relinquish the power of Honor to someone else?
RAFO.
Can an Honorblade activate an Pathgate?
They could. Whether they still can is debatable.
Did cultivation forsee honor’s shattering/death?
I'm RAFOing Cultivation questions, as I don't want to spoil things that will eventually happen with her in the books.
In Words of Radiance we find that Pattern is very literal-minded (at least until Shallan corrupted him), and mathematically-inclined. Even his real name is just a mathematical construct. And his head is a fractal. When I think of Pattern, I think "logic" and "truth", not "art" and "lies".
If all Cryptics are like this, then I wonder why they (and not artistic spren like Wyndle) are the ones attracted to the artistic Lightweavers. Is this just a matter of "opposites attract"? Are spren naturally drawn to people with personal qualities they themselves do not have? I am reminded of the Divine Attributes, and it seems like Shallan has the "Creative" side while Pattern has the "Honest" side. Is that a coincidence?
These things are not coincidences.
I have some very interesting rationals why certain spren are involved with certain orders. I never wanted it to be so straightforward as, "Oh, you control pressure? Here's a spren dedicated to that power." I feel there is more intricacy, and honesty, to a system that isn't so "on the nose" as we say in writing.
So you said how stuff is stuffed into the soul changes what a bond can give. Is that like the difference between a Spren bonding a Person and and maybe Hemalurgy forcing a bond or is it more like the difference with how Parshendi form bonds with Spren?
I guess a better way to say that is would the bond be different if a human created the bond with a Spren not a Spren Bonding with a human?
These things are all important parts of the system, and I'm curious to see where fans go in exploring the possibilities and theories related to it.
...
RAFO
Could anyone pick up an Honorblade and start using stormlight? Or does that person have to be "broken" or have any other prerequisite?
They are usable by anyone.
Some of the most engaging and fun discussions we've had over at the 17th Shard were the decoding, or decrypting, or deciphering of those puzzles you sometimes hide in The Stormlight Archive epigraphs - the Alethi women script, the Thaylen writing, the excerpts from the Diagram, etc.
I'm not going to ask what malatium does in feruchemy, but it'd be neat to know if Sazed had a chance to experiment with the little bar of it Kelsier found. Did he get around to trying it offscreen during the first trilogy?
Yes, but he didn't get far.
How important are bonds like the Nahel Bond and a seon bond in the Cosmere?
I'd say very important.
Is this kind of bond relatively common or is what seons, spren, and Nightblood do little more rare among Splinters. I'm specifically talking about the act of making bonds not a giving of magic powers really, that appearing to be function of Roshar. Also regarding your post about Stormlight 3 I am personally okay with 2000 pages if need be so make the chapters as long as you want.:)
The bonding is basically the same mechanic, regardless of the world, just with different flavoring. Roshar isn't the only place where the bond gives powers; it's a matter of what's stuffed into the soul, and how.
I've been rereading alloy of law and I was wondering about a few things related to speed bubbles.
Speed bubbles can't move once they're put up, but what happens if you put one up while you're in a moving train or something? Does it move with the train? What if the train stops/turns while the bubble is up? (This might have happened and I'm forgetting in which case just ignore me...)
Can an allomancer leave their bubble while it is still up (meaning it stays up with them outside of it)?
What happens to things and or people partially inside of the bubble? Like, if I swing a pole through the time bubble, do I feel extra resistance or acceleration on it? If I stick my hand through it does it get all messed up like in that episode of TNG(S6E25)?
Is the magnitude effect that causes bullets to go off course when entering a speed bubble proportional to the slowing/speeding of time in the bubble? For example, could I put up a very slight speed bubble (gaining me an extra second every few minutes) and get the same deflection as the ones used by Wane in the books?
If you change your weight with feruchemy, is momentum conserved? For example, if I am moving while I decrease my weight, do I start going faster?
You'd be surprised by how many of these questions I answer in the next two Mistborn books. I think I might have addressed every one except number four. (In that case, the deflection is indeed proportional.) This is a RAFO, but more a "I took all this time to explain it in the text, so let's let you read it there." :)
So, will Hoid and Frost continue their letter correspondence in Stormlight 3?
RAFO
Where would you place Hoid on this scale: http://i.imgur.com/z9fwRP2.jpg
If you have time, where would you place the other characters of your books on this?
Though I do like the D&D system conceptually--I think it leads to interesting discussions--one of the problems is that by putting a character into it, I would be making a value judgement upon their actions. Here's what I can say: If you asked Hoid himself, he'd probably say he was Neutral Good. The Sixteenth shard would argue that he's Chaotic Neutral. Frost would rationally argue him to be Chaotic Good, but there are those who even claim his motives far too selfish to be anywhere near "good," and probably deem him something akin to Neutral Evil.
Sixteenth Shard? Is this just a typo or a really stealthy dispensation of information?
Sorry. Just a typo.
I was re-reading the prologues of WoK and WoR... and it seems like there's something wonky going on with the timelines.
Szeth claims Gavilar left the feast hours before he started doing his work.
Jasnah leaves the feast and finds Gavilar and Tearim. Gavilar mentions he's going to head back into the feast. Jasnah then has an adventure. She sees Ivory(?), speaks with Liss and two strange men, and then, what seems like a very short time later in her PoV hears the results of Szeth starting his job.
There's no way it took her hours to walk down two flights of stairs, briefly "drown", and have two short conversations!
Am I completely off base, or is there something going on here with Jasnah's perception of time?
It's less that, and more me (as the author) glossing over time passing with quick phrases like "after walking a short time" and the like.
A recent analysis on 17th Shard noted that the geography of Hallandren suggests it is an area with frequent and powerful earthquakes. Is this correct? Does Hallandren have substantial tectonic activity?
It does.
Mr.T has his emotional intelligence inversely attached to his logical intelligence. in the physical realm, this means that on his emotional days, he is functionally a blithering idiot. The physical realm is more logic oriented, so that makes sense.
However, would this inverted intelligence express itself DIFFERENTLY perhaps in the cognitive or spiritual realm? In the world of forms, emotion, and identity, could weepy/drooly Mr.T express some unique insight inside of Shadesmaar?
This is a theory with merit.
If a novel can be named 'oathbringer', does that mean Dalinar named his sword after a book? Because that's pretty nerdy.
Many Shardblades have names that extend well beyond the original owner.
When Sazed picked up the Shards of Preservation and Ruin, did he actively choose to be known as Harmony (instead of, for example, Balance, or Equilibrium, or Stability), or is there some Cosmeric law that says Preservation + Ruin = Harmony?
He chose the name, but in part because it FELT right to him.
Is this similar to how a Shard's "personality" overwrites the Shardholder's over time?
Similar, yes.
Is Hoid's home base a place that can only be accessed through Shadesmar?
Hoid has a home base on Shadesmar, yes.
Eshonai mentions that the Stormfather (rather, the Rider of Storms to her) was one of the spren who betrayed the listeners for the humans.
Was the Rider of Storms around before Honor and Cultivation arrived on Roshar?
Is the Stormfather composed partly of Cultivation's Investiture?
RAFO. :)
You've previously mentioned that someone bonded to a Seon would get some benefits if they went to Roshar , basically that it would be treated sort of like a Nahel bond. This implies to me that something about Roshar likes to give powers from bonds. (Hi there, Honor...)
Should this be taken to mean that spren-bond based Surgebinding won't work off-world, as it's a benefit Roshar gives from having a bond? Or would it be more specific, and mean that some of the passive benefits Radiants get (visions, Windrunner squire strengths) would be lost, but Surgebinding retained?
Mainly I'm interested in whether or not we can reach maximum Jasnah levels and have the possibility of her appearing in non-SA books. I don't think she'd be much into worldhopping if she couldn't get back with the Travel Surge...
Surgebinding will work off-world.
Do both 'The Path' and Kelsier's religion have actual gods? I remember Sazed talking about Kelsier and Vin in whatever afterlife exists, but are Kel and Vin also proper gods or just dead hero mistborn?
This is discussed in the next books.
Basically, you can look at it like Hinduism and Buddhism. Hinduism has gods, and many Buddhists don't deny those gods exist, but they follow a different path. Obviously, the doctrines and practices are not the same as those two religions, but the relationship is somewhat similar.
It does get complicated in that Harmony doesn't particularly want to be worshiped, but people want to worship him anyway, and find ways to sidestep into religion. Survivorists worship the Survivor, but don't QUITE treat him like God.
Are seasons on Roshar truly unpredictable, or have the storm wardens just not figured out how to predict them yet?
Well, if you consider the planet to be a closed system, then nothing about the natural processes are TRULY unpredictable.
Can Forgery rewrite someone's gender (after all, it's just swapping out an X for a Y ...)?
Forgery could do this, but it is a tad bigger a change than you imply. Think of it this way: It's much easier for the magic to pretend that a table was cleaned up and polished than it is for the magic to pretend the wood used to make the table instead was used to make a chair.
Is the Seventeenth Shard a fairly recent organization (in relation to the published books), or have they been around for a while?
RAFO
When communicating over spanreed, do you have to compensate for the curvature of the planet? For example, would communicating with someone on the other side of the planet result in upside down writing?
Spanreeds auto-compensate when you activate them. Meaning, once you tap them on, they will follow the same pattern in relation to the writing board as the other one.
Can Hemelurgic Spikes be used to steal Listener forms?
Replicate them, perhaps. Stealing them would be like stealing the fact that someone is Asian--not really what Hemalurgy does.
Are Lirin and Hesina Kaladin's biological parents?
Yes.
In regards to the time period each series takes place in. What time period is it during Mistborn whilst the other series are going on?(More specifically. Is it Wax during Stormlight? Or still Vin?)
Stormlight is closer to Wax than Vin, but takes place between the two.
If Taln held on to Jezrien’s Honorblade, would he get the sapphire eyes effect that Szeth does? Or are Returned/Heralds/those like them resistant to that sort of thing?
RAFO.
Are the Essences strictly just a Roshar thing, or are they also connected to the manifestations of Investiture on other Shardworlds? For example, is the Essence of Foil in any way connected to the Metallic Arts of Scadrial?
The idea that things exist on three realms is not unique to Roshar.
That those things are self-aware is a Rosharan thing, though other places in the cosmere have similar beliefs.
What's the population of the shardworld's we've seen so far (even in very general terms, like one's much bigger than the others or something)?
Scadrial is certainly the least populated of the major shard worlds. Then Nalthis, I'd guess, followed by Roshar, and finally Sel--which likely has the largest population. I would have to look closely to see which is bigger between those last two.
Does a population of about 100 million during The Final Empire (with 1-2 million in Luthadel), and around 15 million during Alloy of Law (with about 5 million in Elendel) seem right?
Have to RAFO this for now, for reasons I can't explain without giving spoilers.
How about as far as Elend/Wax knows, at the beginning of their respective series?
Then those numbers, if they're off, are at least close.
Interesting that Sel has such a large population, given that the actual numbers of soldiers shown seem to be quite small.
Let's just say that Opelon has an inflated opinion of its own size in relation to the rest of the world.
I am going to shamelessly take advantage of the fact that you are still answering questions here (and wow ! thanks for that). It's about the sprens. Isn't it inconvenient in some social situations if sprens can give away people's emotions? For example, if someone is working hard to hide their anger and angersprens appear... Can people have any kind of control over them appearing ?
Yes, it can be inconvenient. And you'll see more about this in future books.
Will we ever see radiant or mistborn space pirates? And could an artificial intelligence see a spren or attract one?
RAFO. (But good questions.)
Will we see in Nightblood why the returned base breath cannot be given away in the same way the other breath are given?? I'm referring to the fact that when a returned gives his breath the person who receive it don't reach any heightening but use it to heal instead of reaching the fifth heightening and healing anyway.
RAFO.
Could someone with enough Breaths use part of them to heal himself without the help of a Returned?? Could the God King have healed himself without Lightsong with enough knowledge?
The nature of the Warbreaker magic is tied to the shard of Endowment, which is about giving. There are, therefore, things you cannot do for yourself.
For healing can Big Breaths heal only one person at a time or can you heal a bunch of people at once?(as long as they are not yourself)?
Legends say you can heal many.
Is there any chance we will see radiant knights using shardplate as diving suit to explore the deep of the Panthalassic ocean floor in Stormlight series?
This is possible. Whether you'll see it or not is a RAFO.
Are the glyphs on The Way of Kings front sheet the Alethi glyphs for the Radiant orders and the Surges? If so, can you tell us the name (i.e. the pronunciation) of the Windrunners glyph? Or, if you don't have this one, maybe another one?
Yes. I'll see if we can get all of the pronunciations into the appendix of the third book.
Does a Spinner Ferring have to be actively doing something to 'lose' fortune, while storing? Slightly worried that they'd end up giving themselves cancer or something if they were sat storing fortune, without doing something like playing cards to 'drain' the luck away from..
RAFO.
Doesn't all 'extra' investiture require a cracked soul? How are Nalthians born with extra breath, if so?
No. The Scadrians have extra investiture too, on a lesser scale.
Are there any Cosmere-unique natural hair colours we haven't seen appear in books yet?
Yes.
Is Odium's method of smothering shards inspired at all by the way Adonalsium was originally shattered? Or of his own devising?
It is not obvious to other Shards. But there are relationships.
Do all the shards have a 'secondary' imperative of some degree, to create?
You could say this.
