Recent entries

    YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 ()
    #1401 Copy

    Questioner

    Were the kandra based on the monster from John Carpenter's The Thing?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would be willing to bet that there was an unconscious influence there. I am a fan of John Carpenter films and of The Thing. I didn't consciously say, "Oh, I'm going to design something like The Thing." Mostly, I wanted a shapeshifter that had an interesting limitation and rule to it that had not been--that I hadn't seen in fiction before and the mistwraiths actually kind of grew out of that, but the kandra were just, "What can I do with this idea?" But there are some kandra related plots that are reminiscent of The Thing.

    YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 ()
    #1402 Copy

    Charlie Anderson

    Would Gavilar be proud of Dalinar if he could see him now?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Proud of some things, not of others. Gavilar would want more ambition from Dalinar than Dalinar has shown. He would think that Dalinar has been too inhibited in certain things he's chosen to do. Yet, at the same time, there are certain things that Gavilar would very much approve of, even things that Dalinar himself is proud of. It would be complicated.

    YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 ()
    #1403 Copy

    Gatlin A Jordan

    The possibility of turning the plot of Mistborn: Birthright into a graphic novel.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Mistborn: Birthright graphic novel. We have discussed this, we have talked about it. This was, if you're unfamiliar with it, a video game that was in development for many years with a video game person, Matt Scott, that I really like. And it just never quite panned out. I had provided the initial story and outline. There is definitely something there, the thing is--to remember--I designed it for a video game and sometimes those things interpret or change well, adapt well, sometimes they don't. I'd have to think about it. I haven't given up hope on some day doing it, but we shall see.

    YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 ()
    #1405 Copy

    Jay Mike McCue

    In regards to Chiri-Chiri, when she's fully grown, will her size be comparable to Ruth the white dragon, as large as Lessa's Ramoth, or a size in between?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, they can get to full--I would say as large or larger than the larger Anne McCaffrey dragons. Whether Chiri-Chiri will grow to that size, it depends. There is variety in adult sizes of the larkin.

    YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 ()
    #1406 Copy

    Questioner

    The violet eye color in The Way of Kings. We got to know that Dunny had violet eyes and Sigzil said the color wasn't native to Alethkar. Navani also has violet eyes, Jasnah too, and Tanalan from The Rift. So, is Navani or her family line not Alethi? And is there more to this specific eye color than we know so far?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There's a little bit more there that I will talk about eventually. You should not look at Navani and be like, "Oh, they're not native" in that I designed the Alethi as a race of conquerors who also--like I said before, one of the inspirations for the Alethi were the Mongols and particularly how the Mongols ruled after they had their empire. They were perfectly willing to incorporate anybody. The Romans did this too, "If you want to be part of our empire, great. If you're not gonna rebel, great. We will, to an extent, respect your religions and your ways and if you're willing to integrate then we're not gonna treat you terribly."

    The Alethi have this history of being one of the, in that way, most multi-ethnic cultures on Roshar. Now, the sad thing is, the reason some of those ethnicities are there is due to brutal conquest and treatment of the world. But regardless, the Alethi have--most of them have no kind of pureblood sort of perspective, they don't care. They don't care what you look like, they care about whether you act like as part of their culture, whether you're integrated.

    Emily Sanderson

    As long as you have light colored eyes.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, well, they'll still accept you as Alethi.

    Emily Sanderson

    That's true. You just don't get to be the ruling class.

    Brandon Sanderson

    You just don't get to be highborn. So, this is just a hint much like you will see the Alethi have a very varied skin tone, they have lots of varied hair colors. You know, you're going to see mostly the kind of traditional Alethi black, but you know, there are multiple main characters in the series [where] that is not their hair color despite being considered one hundred percent Alethi. They would not look at Adolin and say he's half-not-Alethi, he's all Alethi even though one of his parents was raised in a different culture, he's one hundred percent an Alethi. And that's just how they look at things. So that's how you'd read into that, though there is a little bit to the eye color that maybe I'll get into some day.

    YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 ()
    #1407 Copy

    Jonathan McGuire

    If Wayne and The Lopen were to meet, would they hit it off?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They would get along fantastically, absolutely fantastically. Lopen would find Wayne imitating his accent to be the funniest thing that he has ever heard... and Wayne would introduce him to all kinds of interesting modern conveniences like flushing toilets and whatnot and Lopen would find that all just delightful. So, yes they would certainly hit it off.

    YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 ()
    #1408 Copy

    Winter Wolf

    In Warbreaker, how did Denth feel about Vivenna?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO. I'll RAFO that. We'll get to that... I don't want to... it's more I'm worried that I would spoil things if I answered that question the right way. Complicated. How about that? He had complex feelings toward Vivenna... not easily encapsulated in a simple answer.

    Footnote: The full question was, "In Warbreaker, how did Denth feel about Vivenna? He was clearly manipulating and using her, but was all of his friendliness an act or was he telling the truth about liking her?"
    YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 ()
    #1409 Copy

    Naomi's Book Nook

    Is Soulcast meat vegetarian or vegan?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So this is a good question, you would have to decide this, right? I can't decide this for you. We were talking the other day, this is actually a bigger question. If a plant is sapient, like from a fantasy world, and you're eating that, is that meal vegetarian? If you cut down an ent and eat an ent, is that a vegetarian meal? I'm sure we're not the first ones have to asked this, but at Magic [The Gathering] when we were playing last week, we were like, "Wait!"

    Adam Horne

    My vote is yes you're vegetarian, but you're also a monster.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes! Yes, you're also a monster, right? There needs to be some new phrase... vegan could probably be adapted to it, but there's got to be something that's like, "This did not come from any sapient being." I would... if I were vegetarian, I would have no problem eating sSoulcast meat if I would have no philosophical problem with eating lab grown meat. So it is cruelty free, but it is based on an animal product.

    Miscellaneous 2021 ()
    #1410 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    I really like that one [the mystery of Roanoke]. I actually, for a while... You guys are gonna hate me for this, but I, for a while, was gonna have the second Rithmatist novel deal with that. And then I threw that out the window; one of the reasons why the second Rithmatist novel's taken forever is I threw that whole concept. But it was gonna be Lost Colony-focused, for a little while.

    General Reddit 2021 ()
    #1412 Copy

    Xais56

    Brandon has said that everyone ought to be able to burn Atium, like they can all burn Lerasium, and the fact that they can't was an oversight on his part that he would've done different in hindsight.

    Maybe now he's had an in-universe reason to re-write the laws of allomancy it's back to his intended concept; Mistborn burn all 16 base metals, mistings burn one base metal, non-allomancers can only burn godmetal.

    Peter Ahlstrom

    My explanation for this is that Preservation somehow caused all naturally occurring atium to form as an alloy of atium and electrum. The atium Mistings were actually electrum Mistings.

    Xais56

    It's a very tidy solution, but it creates the maddening question of what does pure atium do?

    Peter Ahlstrom

    That answer has already been revealed canonically. RAFO.

    JordanCon 2021 ()
    #1413 Copy

    Questioner

     What are you most excited about for the Wheel of Time TV series?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Episode 6 is my favorite, Episode 7 is really good. Episodes 1 and 2 are both really good too. There are no bad episodes in Season 1. I haven't read Season 2, all of them, so I can't say. I've read the first two. But Season 1, I'll go beyond that. All of Season 1, every episode is above average in good television that I have seen. So no whammies, and the writing is really solid. Among the fanbase there are going to be discussions about the changes made. Like I said, there are on a level around the Tolkien movies. 

    Questioner

    And there are some significant changes in Lord of the Rings.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would call them about equivalent to that. More changes than Game of Thrones, more like the Lord of the Rings films, less than something like I, Robot or one of those completely off the rails ones. I've been viewing it as a different turning of the Wheel. [...] Because none of the changes are such that I wouldn't see them fitting in another turning, so to speak.

    Questioner

    I'm so excited. You haven't actually seen it, right?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, the only parts I've seen were the ones that were being filmed while I was in Prague. Moiraine is sooo good. Rosamund is really good as Moiraine. That's a casting choice on the level of Ian McKellen as Gandalf. She's so good in the role. I really only got to see her and Lan, and Lan was good. I got to see just a liiitle bit of the other ones, I didn't get enough to judge.

    YouTube Live Fan Mail Opening 1 ()
    #1414 Copy

    Questioner

    After the first Everstorm, what form did the parshmen gain?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You want me to name that form? I'm not gonna name that on stream; I've got it written down somewhere, but let's not canonize that yet, so that's a RAFO. It's a good question. It goes on that list of things that I should canonize, like what Dalinar's name means, and some of these other things that are on the list of "would be really nice if the wikis could actually have a word for this." We'll put that on Karen's list to make sure she grabs out of my notes and canonize.

    General Reddit 2021 ()
    #1415 Copy

    LewsTherinTelescope

    I was wondering if you could answer a couple questions about the White Sand omnibus, as I've gotten the impression you're mostly the one running that?

    1. Khriss prologue: Is this Khriss's introduction from the prose, or is it a different scene?
    2. Slatrification: Brandon's mentioned wanting to retcon out slatrification, and Volume 3 does not contain the main (I think only?) time it was actually used in the prose. However, in Volume 1, it is mentioned a few times by a couple characters. Are you changing this in the omnibus, or is this being left as-is?
    3. Khriss's notes: Are these just things from the prose that didn't really make it through into the graphic novel prior, or will we be getting some new nuggets of information as well?

    Isaac Stewart

    1. Khriss's introduction is adapted from the prose but has been changed to better fit her character and the needs of the rest of the store.
    2. Slatrification was never meant to even be in Volume 1, but somehow it slipped in. Slatrification has been entirely edited out of the omnibus.
    3. Khriss's notes are meant to help flesh out the world in ways a graphic novel normally can't. Some of it is world building that has been taken and adapted from the prose. There's new stuff there, though. I hope readers will enjoy it!
    Miscellaneous 2021 ()
    #1417 Copy

    Lotus

    The one thing I’m a little confused about is how the [UrDail] managed to evolve either separately on different trees or get from tree to tree with the miasma.

    Rasarr

    The assumption I can come up with is that the trees float and would occasionally bump into each other, letting flora and fauna spread.

    Janci Patterson

    Yes, this.

    Miscellaneous 2021 ()
    #1418 Copy

    asmodeus

    I'm curious to hear more about the ending

    it's a very busy, and a very impactful ending, and it is going to have a different emotional response from the characters than from the readers

    we don't feel any parental love towards Jeshua Weight, and she is mostly presented as being not very likeable

    but Jorgen, and even the rest of the humans on Detritus, are going to be taking this very differently 

    Janci Patterson

    On the ending, it went like this:

    Brandon: you know what we should do? Trap the politicians in a ship and blow it up.

    Me: ...my politician characters are Jorgen's parents. ...are we blowing up Jorgen's parents?

    Brandon: yeah! Do that! Blow up his parents!

    Me: ... ... ... okay.

    In my head: right before I jump in his POV. That'll be something.

    Miscellaneous 2021 ()
    #1419 Copy

    Janci Patterson

    On the elves--I wanted to give them a setting inspired by Valenwood, which has cities built on trees that move around. Brandon suggested I plant them in acclivity stone and set them in the atmosphere.

    Footnote: Valenwood is a region in the Elder Scrolls series known for its giant, migratory trees.
    Sources: Discord
    Miscellaneous 2021 ()
    #1420 Copy

    Rasarr

    Oh, Janci, if I can bother you with a question. Is a "season" on ReDawn the planetary year?

    Janci Patterson

    I'd need the context. I'd assume a season is a season, but I don't remember how it was used.

    jemand2001

    Alanik mentions seasons as a measure of age.

    Rasarr

    Alanik says Quilan is a few seasons older than her, I wonder if it means a few years or less than one.

    Janci Patterson

    Oh, yeah! Probably a planetary year then.

    Words of Radiance Portland signing ()
    #1421 Copy

    TheKingOfCarrotFlowers (paraphrased)

    I asked Brandon whether the Heralds were once mortal

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    He RAFO'd me, which I expected, but he explained that the reason he had to RAFO it was because he doesn't want to build anticipation or expectations about the heralds yet, since they won't really be heavily featured until the 2nd set of 5 books.

    YouTube Livestream 36 ()
    #1423 Copy

    BryanL

    Does FM have any death metal in her playlist? Would Spensa like it?

    Janci Patterson

    I made FM's playlist. It's on my website. I did it in Spotify. Obviously, you can imagine her music as whatever it is, and whatever you're imagining is correct, but those are the songs that I listened to when I wrote those descriptions.

    YouTube Livestream 36 ()
    #1424 Copy

    Elijah Stormblessed

    What news do you have on that one [Bastille]? Does it have a release date or timeframe?

    Janci Patterson

    It doesn't have a release date. It's Fall next year. I am doing a pass on it right now, this week. I actually just reread The Dark Talent yesterday. I wrote this book two years [ago], but I of course read all the books was very up on the continuity back then. And then I go to this revision, and people are like, "Where is Shasta?" And I'm like, "I don't know; where is Shasta? Better go back and read it."

    YouTube Livestream 36 ()
    #1425 Copy

    Janci Patterson

    If there were ever future Skyward novellas, could I name a taynix "Hoid"? They made the very good point that, technically, since we have old Earth, those would be in their literature. So, technically, one could...

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is reasonable. What I don't like to do is to confuse people on whether the cytoverse is in the cosmere, which it's not. But this would totally... I mean, in the Alcatraz books, someone at some point says that Alcatraz's mom killed Asmodean, which is a Wheel of Time joke, there's a mystery of who killed Asmodean. There's stuff like that. So yes, you may name a slug "Hoid."

    Janci Patterson

    I've seen the Boomslug sticker. Fun fact: we actually change the color of the Boomslug because it looked better on the sticker. They were black-and-red, and now they're red-and-black. Because Isaac actually sent me, "Here it is black-and-red; here it is red-and-black." And I was like, "It's cool. We can change it in the books." He was right; it looked better.

    YouTube Livestream 36 ()
    #1426 Copy

    Mateo Fileti

    Do you have any plans of writing coauthored stories for the Cosmere?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Basically, my coauthorship slate is full, right now. I've found about where I can handle it, and it's about three people. Right now, it's Steven Bohls, Janci, and the Dan Wells projects we're working on. That's about all I can handle, where I can get back to people at a reasonable time, and things like that.

    That said, I have left one asterisk on there. Well, I guess I'm gonna put two asterisks. Two different, separate asterisks. Number one is that if this is successful and people like it, then probably. There's a reason I'm trying this out, that the first one I did was not connected to any of my worlds, at all. (That was The Original, with Mary Robinette.) And then eased into picking up a series that I was planning just not to be able to get back to. The finally easing into one I'm actively working on. And I kind of eased into that, just to see what people are enjoying. And they seem to be enjoying the active, working-on one the most, of all of those. Which is a plus for doing Cosmere-related things. But, again, it's kinda gonna be: do people like this?

    The other askerisk is: I have told Isaac Stewart he is welcome to write, in the Cosmere, anything he would like to, and I will coauthor it with him. I will work on it to make sure. Because Isaac was there from almost the beginning. Peter was the person who was working with me before the Cosmere was released, but I met Isaac in 2004, and Isaac started working with me on Mistborn art right then in 2004. I've told Isaac he can do whatever he wants; he's got a blank slate to be involved in the Cosmere in any way he would like.

    Janci Patterson

    There's one he's had kicking around for a long time that I really hope he writes sometime.

    Brandon Sanderson

    We're trying to find time for him to be able to do that.

    I would say that there's a good chance you get some Cosmere stuff in the future, but it's not near-future. Near-future, I want to make sure that I'm supporting the things that I'm doing. It would be very easy, I think, to go all James Patterson, where suddenly I'm not writing anymore, I'm only doing this. And I don't think I would enjoy that. Not a dig against Patterson, but I don't want to go that direction.

    YouTube Livestream 36 ()
    #1427 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    One of the things we're doing with these novellas is: I don't have time in the mainline books to devote to developing these characters. The mainline books are about Spensa (and, to a lesser extent, some few of the characters, like Jorgen). But I don't really have time to dig in; they're hundred-thousand-word YA action-adventure books. One of the goals with this [Evershore] is to be like: basically, Janci, FM is yours now. Let's make her a real character, rather than just the little bits that I can give in the novel. And it was really fulfilling for me to just basically turn over one of my children and be like, "Raise this child, FM." And then have you come back and be like, "What about this? What about this? What about this?" She'll still be in the books I'm working on and things, but I consider her now Janci's character that is playing a role in the stuff I'm writing, because she's now so vivid and alive. And that has been really satisfying for me as an author.

    Janci Patterson

    I thought it was really fun, too. Jorgen wasn't on my original list of characters, because I was given this list of, basically, people I could do anything with. And he's not one of those. But I thought it was really fun.

    Brandon Sanderson

    We were much more kind of collaborating on Jorgen.

    YouTube Livestream 24 ()
    #1429 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    The initial premise of Dragonsteel, which you guys will eventually be able to read, is: the King has a bet on whether people from a rural village can be trained to be as smart as people from the noble court. And this is part of the bet. And that’s kind of the initial place that this starts and goes.

    Hoid shows up pretty overtly; he’s got viewpoints in this book. He is not hidden at all; you will see him when he comes on screen, and you will know him. I think he goes by “Cephandrius” in this one.

    You will be able to read that, eventually. Like I said, it’s not bad. It’ll be easier for you to compare when you get to the Bridge Four sequence, which was originally in Dragonsteel, and compare it to the new Bridge Four sequence from Way of Kings and see how the new Bridge Four sequence is so much more strong.

    It is no longer Cosmere canon. Nothing in it really spoils too much. It spoils some of the magic system that’ll eventually be part of Dragonsteel, and some of those things. But when I go back to this planet, it’ll be Hoid’s viewpoint. Jerick has basically been written out of the Cosmere; I don’t know that I will ever do a book about him. It’s possible, but there’s so much overlap between his story and Kaladin’s story, now, that I don’t know if I could do it and make it interesting and distinctive. One young and somewhat brooding man raised to be a scholar from a no-name village is probably enough for the Cosmere. Even though there are distinctive different parts, since Kaladin’s father was educated.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #1431 Copy

    Very Nice Name 16

    Do you ever plan to update the Knights Radiant quiz, when we've seen all the Orders in the books?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, I could imagine us doing that once you've seen all the Orders. But we used a lot of information from me and my wiki and my knowledge of those Orders to make those, but the Orders could tweak as I write them, so it's totally possible that we will change things.

    That would take quite a while, because it's basically saying, by Book Ten we maybe will have changed some of these.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #1432 Copy

    Use the Falchion

    Wondering about a Mainframe release schedule.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Right now, we are focused on the Skyward novellas, which are going to come out with the ebooks. We're doing ebook and audiobook together on this one, just because it's an ongoing series, and I felt locking those behind audiobook is not as appropriate as it was with something like Lux, where it was being created specifically (like, I wasn't planning to write the book) for the audio.

    The things that we're mainly working on how is: Dark One, the novelization with Dan Wells. Once we get the Skyward ones done, then our attention turns to that. Dan actually just sent in a first draft of something he's been working on related to that that I told him I would read before October, once Wax and Wayne revision is done. I'm excited by that.

    But first, I want to keep eyes on these Skyward releases, because they're really gonna determine what we're able to do in the future in this realm, because the publisher is putting a lot into them, and is worried (like I said earlier) about the release schedule that I have asked them to use.

    Those are the main things, and I think that and then Legion: Death and Faxes is the last of our first group of Mainframe projects. And that one, we have a draft of, also.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #1434 Copy

    The Sunny One

    I've been rereading the earlier Cosmere titles recently, and I was wondering: are we ever likely to see full world maps for these locations?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, probably during next age, or next era. Once we get to modern era, and their mapping technology is to a modern equivalent, you'll start seeing full world maps. I'd love to do globes; I don't know how much interest there is in a Roshar globe, but I've wanted to do that for years.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #1435 Copy

    Comrade Herald

    If Shallan had married into Veden royalty, would she have taken on the family surname?

    Brandon Sanderson

    If she had moved into royalty? I don't think the Vedens take last names. I think that is in the wiki. I don't think that you change your name when you're Veden and you're marrying, regardless. It might be different for the royal family. But my gut says "no." This is not stuff that's in the books, so I'm out on a limb here. If I've just said something that is contradicted by the books, I'm sorry; I don't have Karen looking over my shoulder. But I don't believe Vedens take each other's last names.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #1436 Copy

    Kryzinmoon23

    What was your inspiration for Dabbid? Is Dabbid based off someone in your life?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Dabbid came from a couple of sources. One is just reading some first-hand accounts of people who have lived life such as him. This is the sort of thing that I look for and love to read, is first-hand accounts of life experience that can help me understand the world and other people better.

    All three of my children would not be alive if we did not have modern medicine. All three of them had complications of birth that were not trivial to deal with, even for modern... nothing really bad, but all three of them would have died either during birth or shortly thereafter. So it is something that I think about. And for one of them, the cord was wrapped around his neck. And they only noticed this because, when Emily would push, the baby had a big heart rate change that they're like, "Woah woah woah; stop. Something is really wrong." And without modern medicine, that's Joel, my eldest, would not be alive. And I think about these sorts of things quite a bit. So it's kind of a mix of those two things.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #1437 Copy

    Questioner

    In your most recent Stormlight book, there was a character that came out as ace. Could you talk though that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    This is not a spoiler. I feel like this is there in the text, even though I wasn't 100% sure where I was going or how to pull it off. I think I was laying the groundwork for this character, and I was not completely sold, let's be perfectly honest. The members of the ace community who are fans were suggesting that this was how I was writing the character, and I did not want to canonize it until I had the right scene from this character's eyes to make it work. When I really sat down to do this, I tried the character several ways, and this is the way that felt right to me. I've often said that, until I write from a character's viewpoint, that I don't really know. And I had done viewpoints from this character before; at least one, maybe a couple. But I hadn't talked about their sexuality at all. And I explore the world through the eyes of my characters. And this was an exploration that really worked and kind of helped me understand the world and people in the way that I really like characters to do for me. That's part of why I did it. And I was holding off on talking about this character's sexuality until the right moment, and then I tried multiple different things, and this is the one that just really sang to me. People encouraged me to try it, and I'm glad that they did, because once I did, they were right, and it worked real well. So, thank you to members of the ace community who are fans of the books. I feel like the character locked into place better for me once I understood enough to try writing this way.

    Footnote: The character in question was Jasnah, who was revealed to be asexual during Rhythm of War
    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #1438 Copy

    SapphireBombay

    Is Jasnah left-handed? If so, did that play a role in her perceptions of how women are treated on Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Left-handed women become very ambidextrous, kind of are forced to use their non-dominant hand, on Roshar. I will have to give it some thought whether Jasnah was originally left-handed. It seems like it would totally fit her.

    And I don't think I've mentioned any lefties; I actually get emails, now and then, from people being like, "Hey, can we know who's a lefty in the Cosmere?" I think that it is something on my radar, to canonize some lefties, but I'm not going to do that now.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #1439 Copy

    Brent Worthington

    At one point, I remember it being said that Roshar, Scadrial, and Sel are the three most important worlds in the cosmere, but I can't remember if that was ever canonized, much less if it's still the case.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would say that they are the most important, yes. Depends on how you'd count Yolen, where it all started. But I would say those narratives, those book series, are the pillars of how I envisioned the Cosmere. But there's lots of worlds that are important, and there are plenty of them that we haven't gone to, yet. I often talk about the aethers, which are really relevant to the future of the cosmere, but I have not managed to get them in, a book about them, yet. It will happen.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #1440 Copy

    next191

    One of the few criticisms of Rhythm of War is that more and more Stormlight Cosmere lore is getting pretty complicated, and it's harder and harder to follow along without understanding the whole Cosmere. Will this trend continue? Will we need a degree in cosmere-ism to read Stormlight Ten?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I try to write these scenes such that, if you want to let your eyes glaze over and read kind of to the end of them, generally people summarize "this is what we need to do." This sort of stuff, honestly, goes back to Elantris. This sort of stuff is going to show up in a lot of the Cosmere books. It is a fundamental tenet of how I'm creating the Cosmere. Rhythm of War was definitely the pendulum further along toward that aspect, with Navani being a main character, than a lot of them will be. But if we do write Khriss stories, you're gonna get a lot in the Khriss stories. All I will say is: don't interpret it as increasing in complexity the more the books are written. Interpret it as: as we get to characters that that is relevant to, their sections are going to involve more of that than others.

    I see it increasing in all, a little bit, as we move along, but it really depends on who the characters are, what they're talking about, and things like this. My hope is that no, you do not need to. My hope is that you can (if it really is not your thing) skim those scenes, get an explanation at the end, and still know "okay, we need to do this thing." What I don't want it to be is just technobabble, also, that does not fit into the structure and worldbuilding. It is a fine line to walk, and I would accept... I think that criticism is valid of Rhythm of War, but it's one of those sort of things, like the first book having a steep learning curve, that is an aspect of the story that I'm trying to tell.

    I hope not. I hope you will not need one. This is something I am aware of, and we will see. If it gets to be way too much, I think fans will let me know, and beta readers will then pick up on that and start warning me "maybe this is too much, Brandon." We'll see.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #1441 Copy

    Questioner

    Are there any other actors that you currently have in your mind-canon?

    Brandon Sanderson

    People have really converted me to Lance Reddick for Sazed. That was not in my head, but the fans have been persistent, and now it's hard to imagine anyone else.

    I really don't have a lot of other people, though. I have never been one who does a lot of fan-casting, even for my own books or for other things, because I believe in the power of... like, there are casting directors. Really good casting directors are amazing. I would not have imagine anyone who ended up doing the new Star Trek movies, but that cast was just so good and so perfect. I like seeing that; people are experts in this. Like, the Lord of the Rings films. People are really good; it's their entire job to figure out how to match actors to roles. And actors, turns out, are really good at being different types of people.

    Other than The Rock as Rock, which obviously is too perfect.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #1442 Copy

    Questioner

    Any update on the White Sand omnibus?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I don't know if we have an update. The publisher came through with their plan, and I know that Isaac is making the final, last tweaks he can before it goes to press. So, we are very close, and it is coming. I think you guys are really gonna like it. Isaac has slaved over this to try to bring it more in-line with cosmere continuity and the way that we wanted the visuals to work. And White Sand was a learning experience; the White Sand omnibus is much more of a canon experience. It's almost like, the original White Sands, you supported us in an alpha version of it.

    I have no specific update, but I know it's really close.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #1443 Copy

    Mistradiant

    Any teasing for The Lost Metal?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Did we record me reading the prologue of that? It's on the YouTube channel. There will be another reading of this happening at the Cytonic release, in some form or another, another reading from Wax and Wayne. The trick is finding ones that aren't spoilery to read.

    Wax and Wayne Four will be of particular interest to people who enjoy the variety of magics and cultures in the cosmere, not just Scadrial.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #1444 Copy

    dIvorrap

    What does Dalinar's name mean? Like how Kaladin means "born unto eternity."

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's gonna have to be something that I would need top open on my laptop and double-check, because I need to make sure it fits with continuity; I'm opening up the wiki that Karen has stamped. People ask me this a lot, and I keep forgetting to canonize it for people. We will get you an answer on that one.

    Karen Ahlstrom

    We know that "nar" means "like unto," but not much more.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, so I have not canonized that yet, for her. Well, I will do that (because I know what it means), and we'll get it in the wiki and make sure it's not replacing another word that is already canonized as another sound, and then we'll get that out to people.

    YouTube Livestream 35 ()
    #1445 Copy

    Ironeyes52

    What noble houses were Kel and Marsh born into? What's their surname?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I can't canonize that, yet. I've got it somewhere. Let's RAFO that, for now. That's the sort of thing that I need to run past continuity, make sure that I haven't contradicted it in later books. We should release that, though. It does make sense that people would want to know.

    FanX 2021 ()
    #1446 Copy

    Questioner

    I imagine living Shardblades represent the people they're bonded with. If the person changed over time, would the design of the Shardblade change? For example, with holiness being symmetrical, and somebody was holy, that's gonna be symmetrical. If they became unholy, would their Blade become unsymmetrical?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's gonna depend on their perceptions of themselves and their spren's perceptions of them. But yes, it can change over time.

    FanX 2021 ()
    #1448 Copy

    Questioner

    In The Stormlight Archive, will there ever be a point where we'll get to know what all of the different Orders are and all their abilities?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Questioner

    Is that gonna be the fifth book? Or is that gonna be at the very end?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It'll be at the very end. Basically, to preserve some of the excitement and discovery, you'll notice me just kind of cutting away before some of those powers get used, and things. Just so when the books about those people happen, I am more able to explore it on the page and have more fun with it.

    Questioner

    Is it gonna be like, after the fifth book, is gonna end those main characters and you're gonna show the next generation?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's not next generation. It's the same characters throughout them all, but the back five will have different flashback sequences. So, the back five will have flashbacks from Lift, Renarin, Jasnah, Taln, and Ash. Characters from the first five are still gonna be the main characters. But, like you didn't get, in this one, any Jasnah flashbacks; Jasnah's flashbacks are in the back five, and they'll be kind of - yeah. So... does that make sense?

    General Reddit 2021 ()
    #1450 Copy

    Ben McSweeney

    The bottom glyph is the sigil for Ardent Benabe (Beneba?).

    The rest of the translation is close enough, I think. I also took this (as well as the cutaway for Urithiru) to be an opportunity to semi-subtly include the numbering glyphs 1-10... as such, we can also see that the total length is ~30 [feet].