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Chaos

So Sleepless have held Surges. Have they been Radiants before?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO.

LewsTherinTelescope

Skepping. Dalinar refers to this by name, as a technique the Windrunners are practicing. Is this something advanced deadblade wielders can still do, or only something Radiants and Honorblade wielders can do?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, it can be practiced--but it's not nearly as hard as it would have been in the WoKP version, so it isn't a major plot point any longer. 

FuIIofDETERMINATION

Can a spren turn into a wearable hat(conceptually, Syl’s dress being part of her body), or would the 4th ideal need to be sworn first?

Brandon Sanderson

This is possible with the magic at Kaldin's current ideal, but not at the current skill/understanding level of most current Radiants.

LegoGunnar13

And as a transgender woman, thank you so much. To see that little detail of the Reshi king transitioning using Stormlight made me so happy.

Brandon Sanderson

I wanted to make sure I got the Reshi king another cameo at some point because it feels to me there would be a disproportionately large number of trans people among the Knights Radiant, considering the journey of self-discovery they go on in their lives.

ShadowBlaze

Is it possible to have a stormblessed Mistborn?

Brandon Sanderson

...What do you mean by stormblessed? Do you mean Radiant?

ShadowBlaze

Yeah.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah. It is possible.

Questioner

Is Sja-anat going to join the Knights Radiant?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO.

Truthwatcher_17.5

Does the Fourth Ideal of Knights Radiant for Windrunners go something like "I will forgive myself for those I've failed to protect"?

Brandon Sanderson

I will put you on the record for having guessed that, but you won't find the answer until a Windrunner is capable of figuring it out. 

Staufar

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

Brandon Sanderson

Excellent question, that is a stretch of an assumption.

Questioner

Could there be a cure for diabetes in the cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, there very much could be a cure for diabetes in the cosmere. Right now, if you become a Knight Radiant, that would be a solution. That's not a solution for everyone; that's a very narrow solution. But there would be other solutions.

Questioner

So, there are ten orders of the Knights Radiant, ten spren, ten Surges. And there are a lot of parallels with the Fused. Do they-- Are there ten Voidspren, that match up to ten--

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO, but there wouldn't be ten. 

Crowd

There'd be nine.

Ketamine

Speaking of sending Stalins to jail, will Dalinar ever face any consequences for his act of genocide in Rift?

Brandon Sanderson

Unfortunately, no. (Other than his strained relationship with Adolin and his own personal guilt.)

Problem here is that by our standards (and now, Dalinar's own) this was a terrible act of destruction. But by the standards of his society, this was just business as usual. A city in open rebellion against the crown? That's basically an invitation.

It's a tricky scene because the awful truth is that in our world, these sorts of things were extremely common in warfare--even up to and including the modern era. It wasn't until very recently that this sort of action was seen as a the war crime that it is.

To be more accurate, I probably should have had this sort of thing happen dozens of times in Dalinar's past. But I felt that wouldn't have made the point any stronger, and felt that one time was bad enough. That said, however, it's not the sort of thing that most rulers through history would have to bear any consequences for.

Stonewalker16

Has Vasher/Zahel done anything like this? Is that why he is as we see him in the Stormlight Archive?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO for now, but the responses below this do have valid points [Manywar and Nightblood].

flying_shadow

Would something like the 1474 trial of Peter von Hagenbach be possible on Roshar? And if yes, would this be something Skybreakers would get behind? It always seemed to be that they'd be interested in the idea of 'make law, not war' (I got that quote from Ben Ferencz).

Brandon Sanderson

This sort of thing would have been possible (and indeed inevitable in a situation like that) during the days of the Radiants. Not so much in recent history. Old Skybreakers would have been behind it entirely, new ones have some...different ways of looking at things.

Jerich

Are Skybreakers like the MPs of the Knight's Radiant?

Brandon Sanderson

Um, yes you could say that. That's a good way to put them. I will say more about the Skybreakers in the future, but yeah.

Stormlightning

How the heck is Nale's spren still with him? Is his spren as wacky as he is? Or is it dead, and he still carries it around?

Brandon Sanderson

Nale's spren is alive. The highspren... I would say "wacky" is probably a decent term for them. I would blame some of how Nale is acting more on the highspren. Obviously, it's partially being a Herald and all the things he's gone through, but they're all on board for this. So read that as you will.

Well, "all." The ones that are making Radiants of the Order are on board for it. You'll get to see Szeth interact with his just a little bit. There's not a ton of Szeth in this book, but you've got a few chapters. At least one, for sure. And he gets to interact with his spren, and you'll get a better picture of the highspren from that moment.

arichards117

When someone is "killed" by a Shardblade, their soul is understood to be severed. What do Vorin practitioners believe happens to the soul if it is severed? Does this mean that the soul cannot go to the Tranquiline Halls? If this is the case, why are Shardbearers/Blades so revered rather than feared or hated?

Brandon Sanderson

Vorin belief doesn't take being killed by a Shardblade as destroying the soul, likely because of Knight Radiant traditions.

Questioner

On the Roshar system diagram, each planet had the sigil of a certain Radiant. I was wondering why you did that

Brandon Sanderson

We're using Roshar itself as a frame of reference, and that is how people on Roshar have named the planets. And they can't see them all, I don't believe, but the naming convention sticks.

Questioner

And thats why you added the sigils?

Brandon Sanderson

Mmhmm. I don't think they've discovered them all on-planet, but since other people off-planet know about them... and in the old days, they knew about them all.

Questioner

So, I was curious if the Alethi were always-- like, if there was a time where there wasn't a segregation between lighteyes and darkeyes.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, that did exist.

Questioner

...How did the separation occur?

Brandon Sanderson

There are some clues in [Oathbringer] and in the last book. It has to do with Knights Radiant and Surgebinding and things like that. It's a part RAFO. It's pretty guessable. There's nothing--

Questioner

How many magic systems have you written?

Brandon Sanderson

Uh... You know, this is a hard one, because do you count each Order of the Knights Radiant, or each Surge as their own magic system, or...

Questioner

I have never read those books, so I don't know.

Brandon Sanderson

So... probably a dozen. Maybe two.

Questioner

Why so many? When so many people just stick with one?

Brandon Sanderson

Uh, because it's fun.

Overlord Jebus

Has Eshonai left for the Beyond?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. I'll canonize this. I'm sorry. 

Overlord Jebus

*sounds of horror and shock* Noooo, nooooo, RAFO it!

Brandon Sanderson

You wanted-- That was a RAFO-bait but, so I never intended that-- If you want to leave this one out there-- But I never intended Timbre to be Eshonai's soul. When people said that in the beta, I'm like, "Oh, I guess you could see that, but I mean that's not how spren work, right?"

Overlord Jebus

I was going to say, so you're saying Timbre is not Eshonai's soul.

Brandon Sanderson

No. I never even thought they would make that connection. Because we saw Timbre in the previous book... I mean, I don't want to kill people's fan theories. But that one kind of blindsided me in the beta. I'm like, "Well I guess we'll go ahead and let people think that but no." No.

You can leave that one off if you want to tease people and things. Some people really want to believe that.

Overlord Jebus

I made a bet that Eshonai was not only still be alive after Words of Radiance, but would also become Radiant. And then the bet was if not I had to eat a shoe.

Brandon Sanderson

Oh no!

Overlord Jebus

So I've been trying to get out of it for like--

Brandon Sanderson

Well you could eat a gummy shoe or something like that...

But no, I didn't intend this. No. There are-- Yeah.

guacamole21

I wonder what order u/mistborn is [on the Knights Radiant quiz].

Brandon Sanderson

I got Elsecaller on this test, with Bondsmith close behind. Which are the two where I'd have placed myself, so I think they did a good job on it.

Hoiditthroughthegrapevine

Are the Dysian Aimians agents of Cultivation? If not, are they in league with another group (excluding the Knights Radiant) that we have seen?

Brandon Sanderson (written)

Kind of yes to both – kind of

Questioner

Are these old Radiants?

Brandon Sanderson

Those are Heralds. That's Ash, who you'll see that the very end of this [Oathbringer]. That's Jezrien who's also near the end. You haven't met her [Vedel] yet. Ishar, you have heard about. And it's identified in this book who he is. But those are artist interpretations of them, in-world. They're like the Sistine Chapel versions of the Heralds. They might not look exactly like that, but that is an in-world interpretation of them by an artist.

Questioner

Do the Radiants have only one gender per [Order], or you can have...?

Brandon Sanderson

You can have different genders.

Argent

Most of the Shardblades and Plate abandoned by Radiants during the Recreance are somewhere, missing. Are they mostly, kind of in the same place?

Brandon Sanderson

It's a good question. RAFO.

Questioner

As far as the Oaths go, for Orders of the Knights Radiant that have Oaths that are, like, set, like Windrunners and Bondsmiths, do they have to be spoken in a specific order, or is it just as the--

Brandon Sanderson

They have to be spoken in a specific order. But the Oath can vary depending on the individual's own interpretation and feeling about it.

SomeAnonymous

How was spren society impacted by Nale (legally) murdering wannabe proto-Radiants in the years before the Everstorm? Were they aware of what he was doing?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, most spren thought that anyone who was trying to bond a human was--let's just say most of them responded as the other inkspren did to Ivory during his desires or Syl during her desires, and so if your foolish spren cousin goes to try to bond humans, they get what is coming to them is how most of them would probably regard it. It's not gonna be too bad for the spren, they're not going to be "killed" by what Nale was doing to the people. It's much worse for the people in that instance. But still, not a fun experience for a spren.

Zykai (paraphrased)

Squires and people wielding Honorblades use more Stormlight than a regular Radiant. Who uses more?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

The further you progress, the more efficient you become at consuming Stormlight. They're never as efficient as the Voidbringers, since humans leak too much.

Argent

I've been trying to figure out how the Fused and the Regals get their Voidlight. Heavenly Ones seem to be able to levitate indefinitely unless they heal, which presumably expends their Light. But then the Pursuer needs to go get spheres. And then there's the Song of Prayer, which I don't understand at all.

Brandon Sanderson

All of the Fused have an active and an inactive way to use their Voidlight. For some of them, one is way more dramatic than the other. So you should be watching for the different brands of Fused to each have that. If they don't use it actively, they get a passive effect. And if they do use it actively, it runs out. So watch for that with them.

They each only have one power, as opposed to Knights Radiant, but they have the staying power of consistency depending on what they are.

The Song of Prayer. Let's just say that Odium likes his Fused being reliant upon him. Does that make sense?

Argent

I think it does. My assumption has been that anyone can just sing the song and ask for Investiture.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, this is true, because most of the time he's not going to be paying direct attention, and it's just going to... yeah.

Argent

Hey Peter,   I've been meaning to ask you about this since Alice's article on the Heralds went up. In it, she lists each Herald's role (e.g. Jezrien is the King, Battar is the Counselor, Kalak is the Maker, etc.), and I noticed that those same roles were listed (but not used) in the Radiant Quiz as the archetypes for each Order. Some of these show up in the books, but a few don't, and the source for those appears to be an old old email from you. I wanted to know how canonical these are, and whether I can include them in the Coppermind (and if I can, it would be nice to know what they are - roles, titles, archetypes?)

Peter Ahstrom

These, along with Jester, are the names of the Photoshop layers for the faces on the chapter arches. Since the words themselves don’t really appear in the books, I couldn’t say that they’re canon. In our internal wiki we call them Face/Title. I don’t have an opinion on putting them in the Coppermind.

the_archduke (paraphrased)

Could a Knight Radiant pass their Nahel bond the way seons can be passed in Elantris?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Theoretically possible and in fact has happened in previous eras.

EHyde

I was wondering about the in-world text, the Way of Kings. It's older than those 4500 years, right?

Brandon Sanderson

It was written by Nohadon.

EHyde

Especially since Jasnah mentioned how all the texts have been corrupted or changed since then, especially the ones dealing with the Radiants, I was wondering if we will find out how the Way of Kings survived intact for so long, or if it actually did, or if it's...

Brandon Sanderson

They do say that...well let's just say that some books exist in translation over the centuries with the primary text having been lost, or things like this.

EHyde

But you're not going to say if the translation is guaranteed to be accurate.

Brandon Sanderson

I am not going to say that.

CephandriusTW

What would happen if a Radiant spren went to the Physical Realm through a perpendicularity instead of the natural transition they usually do?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO. It would normally just not work, but RAFO? ... You have some stuff in Rhythm of War that's like *various sounds of disgust*, but yeah.

Questioner

Are there any Knights Radiant who broke their oaths in the Recreance that are still around in present day Stormlight time?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. Oh, that broke their oaths. You anticipated me. RAFO.

Questioner

But there are still ones around who haven't?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, Nale. That's my loophole there. That's who I was thinking of. But you said that did break their oaths, so you anticipated me on that one.

Questioner

It seems like we need a ton of Radiants since, like, yesterday. Are these ones gonna get really buff? Or is Lift gonna recruit? Are there lots of shoemakers and Lifts that haven't been found that are gonna come out of the woodwork?

Brandon Sanderson

There are some that haven't been found. That's part of the point of the interludes, is to show "This is happening other places."

Nouf

Was the reason Radiants could safely break oaths before the Recreance, without resulting in deadeyes, because the Bondsmith broke the bond for them?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO! Good question!

patmanzero

Maya told the honorspren not to take their sacrifice. If the Recreance was a deliberate act between Radiants and spren, would spren like Maya consider new bonds?

Brandon Sanderson

That is also a RAFO. I'm sorry.

Questioner

Which one of the ten abilities on Roshar <inaudible> it depends on spren?

Brandon Sanderson

Which of the Orders?

Questioner

Of the abilities on Roshar.

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, the abilities of the Knights Radiant?

So, this depends on which spren indeed. Each spren can give two of the abilities, and they're slightly different for each Order.

Questioner

If you could have one, which one would it be?

Brandon Sanderson

Probably Windrunners, cause I would want to fly.

Translator

I would prefer Regrowth it's very much for growing plants.

Brandon Sanderson

That would be very convenient.

Me, My Skirt, and I

Radiants stay Invested after death in the Cognitive Realm. Does this mean that the Nahel Bond lasts until they go Beyond or does the bond end when the body dies?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO. We'll add one to the RAFOlympics. Good question, I like the way you're theorizing.

Ray745

During the final fight between Szeth and Kaladin, Szeth seems far too surprised when Kaladin follows him out past the stormwall.

Kaladin exploded out of the stormwall, surrounded by windspren that spiraled away in a pattern of light. He shouted, driving his spear toward Szeth, who parried hastily, his eyes wide. "Impossible!"

And before that you make a point of mentioning all the windspren streaming around Kaladin as he's flying. A popular theory about Shardplate is that it's made up out of "cousin" spren. Obviously that is a RAFO question, but I wanted to ask if Szeth was surprised for any reason other than Kaladin just following him out of the storm? My theory is Szeth saw the beginnings of a vague suit of Shardplate forming around Kaladin. I know you won't answer that directly, but I was hoping to see your face when I asked it haha. Do you have any comment on that theory?

Brandon Sanderson

Szeth was surprised for more reasons than just Kaladin following him out. He is realizing that the Radiants are returning, and that his exile was unearned.

Badger (paraphrased)

Has Renarin been a Radiant since before we first met him in The Way of Kings?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

RAFO, saving it for the Renarin pov parts to explore.

Jurble

One I think might border even further on RAFO - in RoW, Dalinar accepts Kaladin's Fourth Ideal. I'm wondering, is it possible for Dalinar to... power-level a Radiant up to the Fifth Ideal by just accepting all their Oaths without regards to, you know, underlying fitness? Danger and safety issues aside. The Stormfather's comments on Ishar's powers being beyond the scope of what Honor allowed makes me assume he can.

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO, as you expected. But without Honor around, some of the things he could do are kind of up for grabs.

Questioner (Paraphrased)

Is it possible to imitate Radiant abilities using fabrials?

Brandon Sanderson

*audio picks up mid-answer* ...which ended up and followed that the failing of the Vorin church and things like that and so it's possible to recreate the other powers as well.

Questioner

You have like tons of spren, right? And the the ones like rotspren, and you have your characters and some point will be able to harness those spren and be completely evil with them?

Brandon Sanderson

And be completely evil with them? *pause* There are-- There is an order of Knights Radiant that has to do with the breaking down of matter into smaller pieces.

mooglefrooglian

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...

Brandon Sanderson

Surgebinding will work off-world.

Pagerunner

In the Rhythm of War Ars Arcanum, Khriss says she sent her best agent among the Stonewards. Was that Nazh?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Pagerunner

Has he become a Radiant?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO. But yes, she did send her best agent, and her best agent is Nazh. And he is not happy about it.

Alyssum

Will we be seeing Szeth training the Radiants in the future?

Brandon Sanderson

So... Szeth will be sharing some tips, but I don't know that you'll see him training. He starts the next book in jail, so... yeah...

asmodeus

The nightmares seem a lot like Midnight Essence, and there's a lot of focus on art and transformation in both those magics. Is it relevant that the colors of the hion are reminiscent of the colors of Lightweavers and Elsecallers (the orders with Transformation)?

Brandon Sanderson

That was not done intentionally. The fact that they act like Midnight Essence was done intentionally. You will see me playing with similar things just like Lightweaving works on different planets with things like this. For instance, Midnight Essence... you're going to see pop up now and then. But I did not specifically choose the colors of the hion because they are similar to the Lightweaving orders of Knights Radiant.

Questioner

On Chapter 36 of The Sunlit Man, the Cinder King is talking with Nomad, talks about power, talks about how someone gets power, and quotes "Do men from your world" (not man, men, from your world) "really become gods?" Is this related to the Surgebinding power that Knights Radiant can develop? Or is this because some people may have Ascended since the events that <happened> on Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson

This is a brilliant question; and I'm gonna have to RAFO it, because it might be spoilerific.

fangorn

So, if a bonded human were to decide for whatever reason that he/she wanted to retire from being a Radiant, is it possible to do that or is the Nahel bond a lifetime gig?

For example, say Kaladin felt he could no longer uphold the requirements of being bonded to Syl, or eventually he just got old or worn out.

Brandon Sanderson

Retiring from the bond is possible under mechanics I haven't talked about yet in the series.

Dalinarium

Radiants are bound to Roshar because of spren, but does it apply to Dalinar's ability to open the perpendicularity? If we assume that's not a Bondsmith ability, but somehow a Shard power can Dalinar open Honor's perpendicularity on another planet?

donethemath

I don't think Dalinar's ability will have any impact on him being more likely to leave. Opening the perpendicularity creates a path from the Physical Realm to the Cognitive and Spiritual Realm, but it doesn't change the person's location. Going through the perpendicularity doesn't get someone further away from Roshar.

Brandon Sanderson

This is correct.

Dalinarium

If Dalinar ascended as Honor (assuming reuniting Honor is ppssible), would this new Shard tied to Roshar like certain Shard from Mistborn, or he will be able to leave Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson

It really depends on the circumstances. Most likely he could leave.

Questioner

What would happen if a Parshendi were to attract a spren and bring it into the Highstorm? Like, an Honorspren of some sort?

Brandon Sanderson

Sapient spren have a choice of whether they get bonded or not, unless you entrap them some way. But simply attracting them...simply going into the Highstorm with one wouldn't work, what you said is 'attracted a spren', so, to answer that actually... The thing is, honorspren, all the spren of Honor and Cultivation, not honorspren capital, Honorspren or whatever... The spren that create the orders of the Knights Radiant have not, in the past, been attracted to Parshendi because of certain events in the past.

Questioner

*inaudible*

Brandon Sanderson

You'll have to Read and Find Out.