Questioner
Did the game developers for the Witcher franchise get back to you?
Brandon Sanderson
They never did. I didn't expect them to, though. I was not calling them out. I was specifically just saying that if somebody asked me, I would. It's not like I was...I was trying to bury that. It went way bigger than I wanted to. But I think they already knew. I have made it clear to them I'd enjoy working with them.
Questioner
Does Stormlight drain faster in a vacuum?
Brandon Sanderson
No. Good question, I haven't been asked that before.
Questioner
In the prologue to Way of Kings, when Szeth kills Gavilar, Gavilar says, "Tell Thaidakar he's too late." What's Thaidakar too late for?
Brandon Sanderson
*Evil laugh* RAFO. You'll find out. It's coming, not too far away.
Questioner
Is the gold blade that Odium has, his equivalent of an Honorblade?
Brandon Sanderson
Not quite.
Questioner
In Mistborn Era 1, they don't...aluminum in real life can only really be refined through the use of electricity.
Brandon Sanderson
You can actually get it before that. For instance, Napoleon had a set of aluminum dinnerware that he gave to the really fancy guests. If you weren't fancy enough, you got the gold. So they could get it in elemental form without electrolysis or whatever the process is. You could get it, but you couldn't make it. It was extremely rare till the modern era.
They have started to figure out that process in Mistborn, and it soon is going to become really common.
Questioner
Once aluminum is dirt cheap like it is--
Brandon Sanderson
That changes the world a whole bunch!
Questioner
Do you play those [Blizzard games]?
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah. They tried to get me to write for them. Back before Overwatch became Overwatch, when it was their next MMO game, Titan, they brought me in and were trying to convince me. And they were good books, but I just could not spare the time.
Questioner
How did Nightblood get from Warbreaker to Oathbringer.
Brandon Sanderson
He was carried.
Questioner
How?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO! He was carried by someone.
Questioner
What book will you have to read to find out?
Brandon Sanderson
You will find out eventually. Nightblood, the sequel to Warbreaker will include some, Stormlight books will also include some.
Brandon Sanderson
Me making a book about someone is not a promise they'll live until that book. So the fact that Jasnah gets book ten does not mean necessarily mean Jasnah survives until book ten.
Questioner
Did Spook ever leave Scadrial?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO.
Questioner
Khriss and Jasnah... are they ever gonna meet, because I feel like they'd be the ultimate power couple.
Brandon Sanderson
They would get along smashingly, is what I feel. I won't say if they're ever going to meet or not, but I do feel that they would get along.
Questioner 1
Can people not from Roshar bond with spren and get the Shardplate and whatnot?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO. Well, okay. You don't need me to RAFO on that. You have seen someone not from Roshar bond a spren. You have seen that much happen.
Questioner 2
We know for sure that Hoid is a Lightweaver.
Questioner 1
Do we know that?
Brandon Sanderson
Hoid has bonded a spren.
Questioner
Is the Sibling a Singer?
Brandon Sanderson
The Sibling is not, good question.
Questioner
Does aluminum negate magic systems in all the--
Brandon Sanderson
Not exactly, but it has very weird-- it has interesting effects, how about that, in all places.
Questioner
Is Bavadin a dragon? Was she originally a dragon?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO.
Questioner
So Lift gets her awesomeness from food. Is that a Lift thing or is that an Edgedancer thing?
Brandon Sanderson
That is a Lift thing. She is a very specific thing, and what she is will come out more, as the series progresses. It's not just a little one-off, there is actually something more behind it, but it is not an Edgedancer thing.
Questioner
I was starting to think that maybe there was something that Cultivation's people had their own kind of Heralds, that had their own alternative energy so--
Brandon Sanderson
It's going to probably take until Lift's book to start to dig into it too much, but it isn't that far off, 3 books.
Questioner
*laughs* Only 3 books?
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah, she is 6th.
Questioner
Are there currently any Shards, besides Harmony, that are not held by their original Vessel?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes.
NotarySojac
If you shine a red light on a white wall, could you use the color from that to Awaken?
Brandon Sanderson
Ooh, good question! I would say you would end up leeching the color out of the lightbulb that you were shining through.
Questioner
Is a chull able to receive some form of Investiture? ...I'm thinking of Scadrial... Would it have the presence of mind to be able to use the abilities?
Brandon Sanderson
Not as it is right now. But you can see in the way that Ryshadium are working that we have animals that are reaching beyond-animal intelligence. Aviar are the same way. And it is possible to assume that you could get to the point where you could use such powers. But none of them are there yet. But the Aviar kind of use their powers, so I guess some of them are. So, yes, I will say that's possible.
Questioner
Were humans the first sentient race in the cosmere?
Brandon Sanderson
Tied. So technically, it depends on what you count, if you count tied for first as first.
Questioner
What happens if you become an atium savant?
Brandon Sanderson
I've RAFO'd that in the past, so I'll RAFO it now
Questioner
Do any of your characters have afros?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, there are characters with afros.
Questioner
Did you have trouble killing Vin?
Brandon Sanderson
No, because by then, I was well prepared for it. I was worried about what the response would be, but it wasn't hard for me to do, because that was the story. Sometimes, when I'm doing this, I've outlined for a long time, I've planned it for a long time, it's almost more like I'm writing history, if that makes any sense.
Questioner
When am I gonna get my Warbreaker to Stormlight Archive crossover book?
Brandon Sanderson
Nightblood will bring you a lot closer, but I can't promise when I'm gonna write that.
Sunbird
How do you pronounce the name of Elhokar's wife?
Brandon Sanderson
Aesudan (ˈe͡isudan).
Questioner
So Skyward, do you consider it science fiction or science fantasy?
Brandon Sanderson
I consider it-- Is Skyward science fiction or science fantasy?
I generally separate the plot archetypes in my head from the genre trappings, and a lot of times people have plot archetypes that are science fiction. I do a lot of science fiction plot archetypes with fantasy settings. That's what Elantris is, right? The plot archetype is about information and researching information and coming to a scientific understanding of something that happened in the past so you can use it to fix the future; science fiction plot archetype fantasy setting for Elantris.
Skyward's backwards, right? It's the fantasy plot archetype. It is the the coming of age struggle against society through use of a fantastical boon to prove yourself, right? Very kind of classic fantasy thing but the trappings are science fiction. So I don't know that I look at these things the same way. Like, Stormlight, the Bridge Four sequence is an underdog sports story with fantasy trappings. That's the plot archetype...
As a writer, where I would shelve it? I would shelve it in science fiction because the trappings are usually-- And because of that. I would shelve Star Wars as science fiction, even though Star Wars is very much mystical, fantastical plot archetypes going on. Shelve it with where the genre trappings are, that's just for our sanity right? So we can know what box to put things in. Just for ease of discussing it and things like that. Nothing ever matches either genre trapping or plot archetype. It's just there for us to be able to have the framework to talk about it.
Questioner
How does the destructor blast for a Poco not destroy its own shield?
Brandon Sanderson
In Skyward, I have the shields work directionally, the same way a lot of science fiction does. Like you could fly out of a hangar bay that has a shield on it, but you can't fly back into it unless they change the frequency and stuff like that. That's how those are working for me. They will let things not come in but will let things go out... It's Sci-Fi technology that's kind of an old stand-by for how shields work and I just kind of rely on that one.
Shallan's Ward
Will casinos ever get big on Scadrial, because of chromium Feruchemy?
Brandon Sanderson
Let's just say that Era 3 is going to have lots of fun with a world that has magic like that accessible to people.
Questioner
So there's a certain very long chapter in A Memory of Light. There's also a certain very long chapter in Oathbringer. I'm assuming you used similar techniques; both are very effective. Did you come up with that when writing Memory of Light or were you inspired by someone else for doing that?
Brandon Sanderson
Nope, that was something I had wanted to do.
So the question is, there's a very long chapter in A Memory of Light that was done very deliberately. I've used this before and in other books. Oathbringer does one, not nearly to the extent, but there's a certain point in A Memory of Light—and this was me, this was just kind of my love of trying to make the form of a novel match what I'm trying to get across with the novel.
In A Memory of Light, there was a point where the characters could not set down their swords and take a break, and I wanted to make sure that part was not divided up, to encourage as many readers as possible to have to push through it, even if it was kind of late at night *crowd laughs*, to get to the chapter break, so that they would feel some of the same feeling that the characters were feeling. And that's just my writerly way to get that across. In Oathbringer, it was more like, "This is where the breaks fit most naturally." I wasn't trying to do the same thing, but it's a similar sort of thing, where I want the momentum to not have a break until a certain point in the story. I don't anticipate ever doing-- The one in A Memory of Light was like 90,000 words, which, if you're unaware, an average novel is 80,000 words. So there is a novel-length chapter in A Memory of Light. And so, yeah-- *playfully* eh.
Questioner
As Professor Sanderson, do you get situations where past students have success but you don't really care for it and how do you handle it?
Brandon Sanderson
That has not happened to me. The students who have gotten published, particularly lately-- To get into my class at BYU, you have to submit an application and chapters and there's a three-day window and we get a hundred applications and we take fifteen. These days, about a third of those students that get in tend to be what we call, "continuing education," meaning they are people who have gone to BYU and take only that class. Oftentimes, they move to Provo to take that class. So there's some pretty stiff competition and the writers who are in the class these days are really good.
But even in the older days, the people who got published, you can usually tell, and even if you can't, I mean, there's not a lot of writing out there that I can't read and say, "Wow! I understand how someone appreciates this," right? Part of, I think, being a writer and an artist is learning to appreciate things, even if you don't necessarily care for them, to be able to recognize, "This is good and someone is going to love this. This has craft, even it's not something that I particularly enjoy." But none of my students have even been there. All the ones that have gotten published, I'm like, "Wow, this is a great book." So, maybe someday I'll have to deal with that, but I haven't really had to deal with it so far.
Questioner
Will the flying ships in Navani's sketchbook be showing up soon?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO.
Questioner
Did Dalinar reincarnate Honor at the end of Oathbringer?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO
Questioner
Are there any Sleepless spies on other planets?
Brandon Sanderson
Sleepless are not confined to Roshar.
Questioner
In Secret History, you talked about Kelsier being attuned to Ruin, more to Ruin than to [Preservation]. How come Vin isn't that way.
Brandon Sanderson
I have to say this very carefully. She is, for reasons I'm not going to explain at the moment, and she isn't, at the same time.
Questioner
Does every Shard, of divinity so to speak, have a metal associated to it?
Brandon Sanderson
They all have at least one.
Questioner
What do kandra look like in the Cognitive Realm?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO. But it will be answered eventually.
Questioner
How does Nightblood determine who is evil and who is not?
Brandon Sanderson
He is not very good at that, which is the joke. He needs someone else.
Questioner
In Oathbringer, Taravangian tells Dalinar that there is metal falling from the sky, anything more on that?
Brandon Sanderson
The rainfall on Roshar is full of elements; and metal is not maybe not 100% accurate. But crem, that solidifies, comes down with the rain water.
Questioner
He says that's what they were using to make half-shards.
Brandon Sanderson
Oh, you're talking about that! I'll RAFO that for now.
Questioner
The magic system from Elantris has a lot of drawing things, and the system from Warbreaker has a lot of colors. Would you be able to combine that, if you did a rune with colors?
Brandon Sanderson
This is possible, yes. It's an interesting combination, it would work in interesting ways.
Steeldancer
When a Feruchemist stores their charge in a metal, where is that going? Is that going into molecules, is that going into the Spiritual essence of the metal, is that sort of a Cognitive - what is that?
Brandon Sanderson
It is charging it in...in cosmere terms, more on the Spiritual level, but there are connections to the Physical as well. It's not 100% on the Spiritual.
Steeldancer
It's not changing the molecular structure?
Brandon Sanderson
It is not going to change the molecular structure. If you brought that metal to Earth, somehow, and tested it, you wouldn't be able to tell any difference. Because we just don't have that element.
Steeldancer
You can't test for Investiture on Earth
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah. In the cosmere, you can.
Steeldancer
When Sazed gives Vin a little bit of pewter that doesn't really have a charge in it, and she isn't able to use that power. What would happen if he gave her a full metalmind and she tried to burn it for Allomantic power.
Brandon Sanderson
I think I cover that in the book somewhere, don't I?
Steeldancer
I looked around for it and couldn't find it.
Brandon Sanderson
I know for sure I've answered it to fan questions before. So go ask. If I haven't, you can come back and ask me, but I'm pretty sure we have answers on that.
Questioner
After Stormlight, Wit was far and away my favorite characters. One of my friends came to me and heard I really liked Wit, and he's like, "Oh yeah. His name is Hoid, he's a worldhopper, he's in a ton of cosmere books. So I went and read a bunch of the other cosmere related books. Why's he so different? Like, in Mistborn, he shows up as a beggar/informant for half a page?
Brandon Sanderson
So there's a couple reasons for this. One is, there are certain books where he is a character and other books where I'm just writing him as a cameo. Most of the books I'm just doing a cameo for him. Stormlight's where you see the most of him until he gets his own book.
The other reason was, at the beginning, I wasn't sure how much people would be interested in behind-the-scenes stuff, and so I was very sparing with it in the early books. You won't see a lot of him until Warbreaker, and even then he's only in a chapter. Even in Wax and Wayne books, you only see glimpses of him. There will be other books he'll be a bigger part in, but if you like Wit, Stormlight's your jam.
Questioner
What is the opposite of Stormlight called?
Brandon Sanderson
Some would argue voidlight is the opposite.
Questioner
<What's going on> with Hoid's soul He's spiritually blind. Shardblades can't hurt him. Is it because his soul is not with him currently?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO.
Questioner
I read something that said you wish there'd been more between Mat and Padan Fain, in the end.
Brandon Sanderson
I wish I had done more. I feel like that's one of the things that I, a little bit, dropped the ball on. It was a little too brief. That's one of those things that, if I had a little more time and got more reader response in beta reads, I might have picked up on.
Questioner
Are Mat and Perrin bound to the Wheel?
Brandon Sanderson
I would say yes, but I'm not the ultimate authority on that, so it's possible what Robert Jordan would say would be different. I would say yes because we have Odin myths and things like that that are obviously Mat myths.
Questioner
Do you have to sometimes reread a novel or a series when you're making a sequel to that series?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, I do. In fact, I'm gearing up to reread all the Stormlight books so I can write the next one.
Questioner
David's similes or metaphors. Was Megan correcting them as to be metaphors intentional from the start? Or is that something that afterwards, lots of people had been complaining?
Brandon Sanderson
I was aware they would complain. But their complaining did prompt me to make sure I mentioned it.
Questioner
For the interior art [for leatherbounds], do you find the artists, do your publishers find the artists?
Brandon Sanderson
It depends. A lot of these are covers. And in those cases, I picked my favorites. Otherwise, Isaac commissions where we have holes. The Miranda piece here. He and Peter are the ones, these are kind of their babies, putting together the leatherbounds. So I give them leeway to kind of do what they want. He commissions the endpages, and things like that.
Questioner
I want Megan to have a novella.
Brandon Sanderson
It's possible. Most likely, Mizzy will get a story, if I do another Reckoners. She would be the next most likely. But I can see doing a Megan story.