Found 619 entries in 0.155 seconds.
Questioner
I was wondering if a Hemalurgic spike would take surges, or if it could take a spren bond? Would it interact at all for that?
Brandon Sanderson
Hemalurgy can interact with every one of the magics. I designed it specifically in writing Mistborn for future use. Because some of the magics are so limited by their planet I wanted one that transcended all of them and Hemalurgy is very important to the entire cosmere. Its invention is a thing of great power and great danger to the entire cosmere.
Questioner
Are you going to write any chapter from the point of view of a spren?
Brandon Sanderson
Will I ever write any chapters from the viewpoint of a spren.
It's likely that I eventually will but it will probably be an interlude. The Stormlight Archive is about ten characters at its essence, and none of them are a spren. You've met all of them I believe and each of them will have a book with a flashback sequence in it, which is another thing I'm doing to make sure each book has an identity.
Epic fantasy I also feel part of the problem is when later books stop having an identity because the story kind of blurs together for the writer. My goal is if I have a good solid flashback sequence for each of these characters to give an arc it'll help me keep each book distinct, which I feel is very important.
If you ask me later I'll tell you who some of those are. In three of the first five I've been very upfront with who they are. I don't talk about the back five very often because I don't want the focus to be on those yet.
Questioner
Spren bonds: there was some intimation somewhere that I read that there might not have been spren bonds before [Aharietiam, the day the Desolations ended]?
Brandon Sanderson
I'm not going to answer that one either but we will delve much more into this. The spren were around back then but they were not nearly what they are now: they've changed over the course of the book obviously. I think the cosmere theorists have figured it out. They are much more prevalent following Honor and what happened to him, but there were some spren on the planet before even that happened.
Questioner
(paraphrased)
Where did you get the basis for the spren?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
The spren are partially based out of Shinto mythology, the idea that everything has a soul and a spirit to it. And partially mixing that with my desire to have some sort of a unique representation of emotion in these books.
Questioner
(paraphrased)
It seems like a movie adaptation would have just constant spren everywhere?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
That's why I made it so that not every use of the emotion causes them-so it wouldn't get too crazy even when I'm writing them. And what's happening is the spren exist on the Cognitive plane, on Shadesmar, so they have to be attracted, they have to be nearby enough to flock to you, so it depends on how common the spren is.
Questioner
(paraphrased)
Can someone bond more than one Honorblade?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
Honorblade? You can't bond an Honorblade, though it can be given to you. Shardblades, however, come from a spren bond and it is possible to bond more than one.
Questioner
(paraphrased)
To the spren, is becoming mindless the same as death?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
They consider it as such.
Questioner
At one point, you said something about how the way that the humans on Roshar perceive spren, or how that's important in their <rough position> in the Physical Realm. So, going to the interlude where we have the two ardents, they do two tests. But it seems like there's a third test that they kinda, maybe should have done. And I want to know how that would have played out.
So, the two tests that they did were; he's measuring for real and telling her, and she's writing down what the actual measurements are, and it sticks. The second one is, write down something that's possible, and she knows this isn't right, so she writes it down and nothing happens. What would have happened in the case where she thinks she's writing down the right thing, but he's actually lying to her?
Brandon Sanderson
If she thinks she's writing down the right thing and he's lying to her, the first would happen. It would stick.
Pinpoint
(paraphrased)
Belief has had a lot to do with the cosmere. (for example in Warbreaker. The appearances of the Returned had a lot to do with belief) Will belief have a big part to play in The Stormlight Archive?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
It already has. The two scholars measuring the spren.
Pinpoint
Can Shardblades kill spren?
Brandon Sanderson
Theoretically, yes.
WeiryWriter
Are the "magic fish" of the Purelake the result of symbiotic bonds with spren?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes they are. Many creatures on Roshar have such interactions with spren.
FeatherWriter (Paraphrased)
I asked for some new info about Renarin, and this is what Brandon wrote to me!
Brandon Sanderson
To Alyx, Renarin sees a spren that nobody else does.
Wetlander
Please explain what you will about Shards and Splintering and Slivers.
Brandon Sanderson
An event happened long ago which destroyed something called Adonalsium into 16 pieces. And 16 people took up that power.
Questioner
People?
Brandon Sanderson
I call all intelligent species people. If someone takes up the power and lets go of it, it has the effect much like a balloon that's been stretched and then the air is let out. I call that a Sliver; based off of the Lord Ruler calling himself the "Sliver of Infinity". The Lord Ruler is someone who held the power and then released it. And so, current Slivers are the Lord Ruler, Kelsier, and there may be others around who at one point held the power and let go of it. A Splinter is a term used by certain people in the cosmere for power of Adonalsium which has no person caring for it, no... no person holding it, which has attained self-awareness.
Wetlander
So is that like the mists and the Well? Are they...
Brandon Sanderson
They are not, because they have not attained self-awareness. But, the Seons are self-aware. So, any piece, for instance there were some spren on Roshar before Honor and Cultivation got there. Those were already Splinters of Adonalsium where he had left power which attained sentience on its own. So, it can be intentional is what I am saying, does that make sense? You have seen other Splinters.
Wetlander
Are the highstorms related to the Splintering of Honor?
Brandon Sanderson
The highstorms are more related to the mist from Mistborn which terminology we have not discussed yet. You have seen Splinters quite a bit on various planets.
Argent
(paraphrased)
Are honorspren Splinters, or do they hold Splinters?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
Honorspren would be termed Splinters.
Argent
(paraphrased)
Is Cultivation's Shardholder still alive.
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
Good question, what do you think?
Argent
(paraphrased)
I want to say, but that's based on my knowledge before I read Lift's interlude from Words of Radiance. Now I am leaning towards no. Based on that interlude, it looks like spren have essence from both Honor and Cultivation. It's almost like they exist in a spectrum, on one end of which is Honor, and on the other - Cultivation; so there are spren that are, for the lack of better example, 90% Honor and 10% Cultivation, and there are spren that are 15% Honor and 85% Cultivation.
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
That's a very astute observation!
Argent
(paraphrased)
And since we know that Honor is Splintered, then it might be the case that Cultivation is also Splintered, and their Splinters form the spren.
Argent
(paraphrased)
Is the bond between a seon and its master similar to the Nahel bond between a Surgebinder and his spren?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
Yes.
Questioner
(paraphrased)
Why can Shallan draw the Cryptics without seeing them, and can she do the same for other invisible spren?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
Shallan and the Cryptics have a "special connection" that allows her to draw them.
Chris King
Would Rock be able to see the Cryptics?
Brandon Sanderson
Would Rock be able to see a Cryptic? That is a good question, you will have to see.
Chris King
Why can Rock see Syl?
Brandon Sanderson
Ooh, good question, why do you think Rock can see Syl?
Chris King
My personal theory here is because his people have such a strong belief and reverence in them it allows him to see them for that reason because his strong belief creates some sort of cognitive or spiritual pressure which allows them...
Brandon Sanderson
He would agree with that philosophy. I would say, usually when something like that happens there is also something physiological going on.
Chris King
Is that kind of similar to the reason why there are no spren in Shinovar is because the people there so disbelieve them that it creates a negative pressure that keeps them from physical manifestation?
Brandon Sanderson
Good question.
WeiryWriter
Is “Cryptics” the canon name for the spren Shallan draws? Should we use that instead of symbolhead/truthspren?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, you may call the symbolheads “Cryptics” which is what they call themselves.
ericpeters
Are spren alive? Can splinters be alive?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO!
Questioner
One of the big things in The Way of Kings was a frustration between me and my wife of trying to explain spren. Is that going to be addressed? A lot of the mysteries will be unfolded, or is this gonna be continually progressive throughout the books?
Brandon Sanderson
The spren are gonna be a continually progressive thing that if you... They are deeply related to the shared sort of physics to the worlds that I am doing. But you will find out more about them, quite a bit more. But there are also things you will not find out for a while. Yes, the spren are one of the most fun parts about the series for me. And the thing you have to realize is that, to them, spren are normal. So, going in and having them explaining exactly what spren are would feel unnatural, because they've lived their lives in a certain way where, when you have a powerful emotion, these little things appear around you. And that's just how it is. Very convenient for being able to say, "I know how you feel."
EmporerNorton
I'm on my second read and as interested as I am in the big questions the little ones catch me just as much. Shallan questions how do skyeels stay in the air? They arent spren and dont have obvious wings. So, how do they stay up there? BS has created a trap of describing ecology a lot and now I think Im going to want to know about the natural world as much as the people in it.
Ben McSweeney
You guys have mostly figured it out; lighter than air gas, gliding fin/wings, undulating action combined with expulsion for propulsion/ballast. The "luckspren" that follow them around aren't inconsequential, however.
Though in retrospect, it probably takes more than an hour or two to fill up the sacs once again.
We try to think of semi-reasonable pseudoscientific reasons for as much of the flora and fauna as possible, if only to hold the internal logic together. So there are reasons for how/why Chulls grow big boulders on their backs, reasons for how and why plants interact with storms to spread their seeds or migrate to better ground, reasons for why the axehound's head is shaped as it is, and so forth. There's very little Brandon creates that doesn't come with some logical basis behind it, even if it's never made explicit in the text.
Kurkistan
Could Syl, or any other type of Spren, be seen in a photograph?
Brandon Sanderson
Excellent question, and I like the way you phrase it. Let's give this one a little more time before I get into the specifics of whether spren are manifesting physically or not.
Kurkistan
Are the changing beauty standards of Returned and the "plausibility" of Forgeries determined by the same kind of "cognitive ideals or concepts which have taken on literal personification over time" that some types of Spren represent?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes. These things all work according to the same fundamental framework.
Satsuoni
You have mentioned that certain spren are an embodiment of concepts. How does that work for the concepts like honour, that can mean opposite things to different culture groups?
Brandon Sanderson
Human perception has a lot to do with why spren act like they do...
The_Vikachu
Is Kaladin naturally stronger than Szeth in using Stormlight? Szeth can only hold onto it for a few minutes, but Kaladin has been shown to hold onto it for much longer. Or does it have to do with Kaladin having a spren?
Brandon Sanderson
Ah, so you all noticed that, did you. :) Glad you did. I have like a dozen things I nearly posted here, but all of them spoil a scene in Words of Radiance. So I'll just zip it for now.
theFinisher4Ever
Are all wind spren really just unbonded honor spren?
Brandon Sanderson
No, they are cousins to one another, but not exactly the same thing.
Satsuoni
Are bound spren like Syl individuals? What happens to their consciousness when their symbiont die?
Brandon Sanderson
Words of Radiance has some clues on this one.
Brandon Sanderson
You got it wrong. I'm not busy because I'm writing other books, I'm working on the licensing deals! Cardboard shardplate! Official Bridge Four loincloths! "There's spren in my poop" toilet paper!
Rutthed
Serious question: are there poopspren, and how would they fare in indoor plumbing situations?
Brandon Sanderson
Well, it depends on how you're defining spren. In the books, they don't make a distinction, but there are several varieties. At the basic level, everything has an identity--a soul, you might say, but more than that. This is based on how it is viewed, and how long it has been viewed that way. Feces would have this, but wouldn't have a very strong cognitive identity because of its transitional nature.
Other types of spren, the type that characters see and interact with, are cognitive ideals or concepts which have taken on literal personification over time. These are usually related to forces or emotions, and don't relate to this particular topic.
And that's far more than I ever expected to say on this...
Nepene
And on an unrelated question, they have symbols on their heads. If Shallan managed to draw one of these would it be some glyph? Perhaps some glyph that we would recognize, like the glyphs in the artwork at the front?
Brandon Sanderson
As for the symbols making up the heads of the cryptics, those are not glyphs. But it's possible you would recognize them...
Satsuoni
Are Truthspren originally sentient, or do they gain/regain sentience from a bond, like Syl?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO for Words of Radiance, where a lot of these questions will find answers.
sufficientlyadvanced
It says that it's dangerous to travel to Shadesmar on Sel. Why?
Brandon Sanderson
It has to do with the Dor and the lack of an entity controlling much of the power Odium left in his wake on Sel.
Phantine
Woah, that's interesting. I had no idea Odium left little bits of his power on Sel... I guess it kinda makes sense for evil monks to be powered by pure hate, though.
Brandon Sanderson
Odium did not leave his power behind, one should note. He left several other powers which are now, to a large extent, mindless...
Windrunner
If you wouldn't mind answering, does Roshar have a similar problem, with Honor being Splintered?
Brandon Sanderson
No, Roshar does not have the same problem. There are some differences going on. One reason being that the spren are far more extensive on Roshar, and provide something of a "release valve." The seons and the skaze on Sel are not numerous enough to fulfill a similar function. Though, of course, that's only one part of the puzzle. Raw power is dangerous.
It's one reason everyone should be thankful Kelsier was around on Scadrial.
Viper
(paraphrased)
You said that the Pits are a leak from the Spiritual into the Physical—
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
A necessary leak.
Viper
(paraphrased)
Ok. Are the spren a similar leak but from the Cognitive?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
The next book [Words of Radiance] is going to explore the spren a lot further.
Viper
(paraphrased)
This will probably be RAFO'd, but: is Szeth bound to a spren?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
No. He's not. Haha, I didn't RAFO that.
Questioner
You like how you have those smaller, one-chapter type things? The burglars, I want to know more about them. Are those guys like, are those chapters going to show up more in the rest of the books?
Brandon Sanderson
Not all of them. They are all important in one way or another, but it's not always the characters who are the important part. Or not necessarily the viewpoint characters who are important. So for instance, in that particular instance, with the burglars, it's the woman who is the important one in that group.
Questioner
And the guy who goes measuring... cataloging different types of spren, he's going to be important later on.
Brandon Sanderson
Axies will most likely show up at other points in the series.
Lance Alvein
(paraphrased)
Since there are spren of everything on Roshar, is it possible that there is such a thing as a "squeespren"?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
They do exist, however, they would be called by a different name on Roshar.
Are there non-human races on Roshar, or non-humanoid races that are sentient?
The Parshendi are not human, but you probably already knew that. The two races of Aimians are not human either. There are many races of sentient spren. From there, it depends if you call something like Ryshadium sentient or not.
What are the smoke-y spren that appear around a dead chasmfiend?
They are in a symbiotic relationship with the chasmfiend, and are part of what allow the creatures to grow to the size they do with an exoskeleton. (Along with a high-oxygen, lower-gravity world.)
Could a Shardblade sever a Nahel Bond? Could it slice a spren?
RAFO.
Can Knights Radiant of one Order see the spren of someone from another Order?
RAFO.
Do Stephen's aspects exist in the way bonded spren exist (independent Spiritual and Cognitive aspect but tied to a human.)?
Legion does not exist in the cosmere, so Realmatic Theory is not at play in the story.
ReaderAt2046
Did Razon's camera use the same Spiritual gravitational anchors as time bubbles?
Brandon Sanderson
See above.
Are spren Cognitive aspects?
:) You guys are figuring this all out pretty well. I want to hold off on talking much about the nature of the spren because the characters in-world are discovering this as the books progress.
is one of the symbolhead-spren (or maybe all of them) responsible for Shallan's ability to Soulcast (in the way that Syl is responsible for Kaladin's Lashings)?
There is indeed a similar relationship there.
Are the intelligent spren like Syl the "seons of Roshar"?
What a clever question. Gold star for you.
Tell us something new about Cognitive Realm, please :)
You will get plenty in the next Stormlight book. But more than one type of spren live there.
What's up with those fish in the Purelake?
Haven't you always wanted magic fish?
In your books, we see a lot of really interesting and diverse world elements that make these places and cultures really come to life. What are some of the world elements you've had the most fun creating, and what do you like best about them?
I'd say that the spren on Roshar have been my favorite so far--they are so different, but also so RIGHT. They have a mythological fae-feel to them, but also fit into the cosmere arcanum just perfectly. I also like writing them.
