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Ruin Escapes
So, yes. The crew has been manipulated. Everyone's been manipulated for a good thousand years. By this thing wanting to be released.
You'll find out more in the next chapter, but realize here that most everything about the traditions from the old days–the prophesies, all of that–has been manipulated.
When a Steelrunner taps speed, does it work by breaking the laws of motion, letting their speed be higher than it should be when considering their kinetic energy during movement or the force they impart upon impact with something (and inversely while storing)?
A lot of [Feruchemy] breaks the laws of thermodynamics, and this is indeed an example.
Why refrigerate food when you can just stamp spoiled food so that it was stored properly before?
You'll have to ask Brandon how that'd interact with gastric acid breaking down the stamp. Or how porous/loose material interacts with stamps in the first place.
Come to think of it... There's a WoB saying the Nightwatcher could change your species, but have a hard time making a spren bond to you. So... could the Nightwatcher turn you Scadrian and make you eligible for Allomantic powers? Or does the Nightwatcher's boons operate on soulstamp principles?
Hell, let's say you bought a vial of the wrong metal on your field trip to Sel. Could you pay a Forger to stamp the vial into being a vial of the right metal (it's believable that you would check before such an important trip) and then drink the metal contained in the vial to fuel your Allomancy?
All right, all right. Let's see... /u/Aurora_Fatalis, changing metals around with other forms of Investiture is generally going to work, according to how I view the magic right now. The power is there, you just need to align the matter the right way. So forging new metals: not too difficult. This is because Allomancy isn't actually using Investiture in the metals, but using it as a key to get power from somewhere else.
Forging a sword to be a Shardblade, however, would be very, very difficult for multiple reasons. The most obvious one is that the Investiture required would be enormous. A Shardblade is a highly-Invested object, with its own self-aware soul.
If you could overcome the initial resistance invested objects have to being influenced by other magics (something that Forgery is particularly good at doing anyway) you'd theoretically be able to change Shardblade/spren's personality like you could a person's.
Fooling the magic via Connection and Identity is not so hard, under the right circumstances, so making a Forger into an Elantrian (or an Allomancer) for a short time is plausible. Making yourself into a Radiant, however, would be more difficult--because the limitations placed on that magic have to do with persuading a sapient being you are worth the bond.
How about regular food? If I stamp a pineapple pizza into a pepperoni pizza and eat it, what nutrients do I end up with?
The way I have it working now, I believe (though I'd have to do some double-checking, as it's been a while since I've been working on Sel) soulstamps are more fragile than things like Aons, and it would be very hard to eat something with one without breaking it. But assuming you could, you'd get nutrients from what it had become--but those would change back once the stamp broke or ran out.
It is possible to go so far down this rabbit hole, however, that the chemistry of Forging (like the physics of Allomancy) it just can't make sense any more. So be aware.
With things like Stamping metals for Allomancy, you have said that it'd be possible for short time, but then burning it would break the Seal and metal would revert back.
I guess it would be similar with food, right?
Yes, that's the big problem with Forging. Getting the stamp to stay in place once you start to change the object that has been stamped.
Love your work, it must be so amazing to work alongside Brandon Sanderson and the rest of the team :)
As someone who wants nothing more from life than to be a full-time illustrator, I'd love to know what you think one should focus on to get into this type of work. Basically, what would your advice be to a young illustrator?
Hm. To keep it short, I think you want to get a solid foundation in classical technique... the really boring stuff like perspective, anatomy, composition, life-drawing and portraiture. I know it might not seem like it relates to the sort of work you want to do, like you're being forced to conform to these rigid schools of thought that aren't relevant, and your teachers might mock your ambitions (if you have bad teachers), but please believe me... if you can master that cranky old-guy stuff, the possibilities are endless.
You're probably going to need to master digital tools, but most of the software we use to paint and draw in the computer is based on real-world toosl and techniques, so the more you know about the real stuff the easier you'll find it to manipulate and master the virtual. That being said, it's hard to survive as a commercial artist in the modern industry if you're not willing to work on a tablet.
It's a really competitive world out there. I worked for over ten years before I was able to make drawing-for-money into my sole source of income, and even then it was another five before I started to feel like maybe I wasn't going to grow old in the same world I grew up in. Lots of people make it happen faster. Even more people never make it happen at all. It's a great career, but you gotta be strong and well-suited and maybe just a little lucky.
The sooner you start, the longer you'll have to travel as far as you can go. :)
When a Dakhor monk leaves his homeland do his bones still give him his abilities? Is it only the creation that's location-dependent or is it also the ability that's location-dependent?
The further you get away, the weaker the power the bones will give you will get. It's way better than Elantris at bringing the power with you. That's where it is in the notes right now, I have not written the second book, I could totally change that.
We've noticed some very unique parallels in some of your stories with historical events. Are you pulling some inspiration?
Always. Some of those are coincidental, but a lot of them are... I mean, Oathbringer has the famous story from Genghis Khan getting hit by an arrow and recruiting the archer.
We saw some interesting parallels during Mistborn between some of the Dark Ages stuff.
French Revolution was definitely part of that. There's a whole bunch. So you'll see me pulling from all over the place. I mean, I've used Agincourt as a battle. I flipped it upside down so people wouldn't tell. Stuff like that.
Why is it that - even though we don't see this often - you've chosen to have some of your characters swear and some of them not?
You know, a couple of reasons. One reason is, I honestly don't think swearing is that bad. Using the Lord's name in vain is a different thing, which you will see me not doing. I think, as a writer, words, part of me is "It's a little silly that we associate two words that mean the exact same thing." Another reason is, I feel like there are certain places I have to let my characters go further than I would. Because otherwise, every character is gonna act like I would. I tried writing Mistborn books with made-up swear words, like I use in Stormlight. It just didn't fit the world. This is a really dark world where terrible things are happening, I'm like, "I can let them use a few Biblical swear words." And it felt right to me when I did it. My fourteen-year-old sister, when she read them, she went through and crossed them all out and wrote her own curse worlds in. Mostly "poopyhead," and things like that. But, you know, it's kind of a balance, I think, every writer has to make a call on themselves. Where you kind of stand on that line. Certainly there are certain words I haven't used, even still.
I think, maybe, we're a little too focused on some things, like language, and a little less focused on... Like, I'm far more worried about the violence in the books. And I've been actively trying to decide how much I pull my punches on that, versus not. Because I think that in our society, there's too much of a tendency toward glorifying violence. But that's the cool stuff, right? I love a Jackie Chan film. So where's the line between a Jackie Chan film, which is kind of showing off what the human being can do, and a glorifying in the killing of others. And that line is one that worries me, and that I'm far more concerned on, then whether or not I let Wayne use a little bit of colorful language. But that's my personal... everyone can make their own decision.
Is there chocolate on Roshar?
No chocolate on Roshar. Chocolate on Scadrial. I believe I've even mentioned it on Scadrial, before. If I haven't... in fact, I'm almost 100% certain I mentioned it in the last Scadrial book. But there is no chocolate... there's the possibility that some worldhopper managed to bring a piece of chocolate, but Roshar, the first five books are even a few years behind the Wax and Wayne books in the chronology, and chocolate's kind of coming to be known even in those books.
So, no chocolate on Roshar. I'm sorry. If you're a chocoholic, you definitely want to choose Scadrial. It is also the closest to instant noodles, so that's where Hoid wants to be.
So at the end of Calamity...
Mhm.
You did sort of leave me hanging in the dark on a few <favors>. And you said that when you finish a book you sort of go on a little bit.
Okay, so, what do you want to know?
What happened to Jonathan Phaedrus. I've got three theories.
So, okay, tell me your theories. *brief interruption*
My theory is... One, he could self destruct. Two, he could become a dark hero. Three, Megan could develop her talents enough and bring Tia back from the *inaudible* she was in. Or some combination of the other three.
Prof is not heading toward evil.
Obviously.
His trajectory is turned away from that. He is very seriously disturbed by what happens. And in the next book...
Oh, there is another book?
If I write another book it will be about Mizzy. Her viewpoint. I haven't promised I will, but-- I mean, in the next book-- I have an outline for the next book, and in that Prof has kind of become a recluse, and things like this. It would be possible to find a Tia from another dimension and bring her through. Prof won't accept that as Tia.
See that's what I was thinking.
That's the problem.
But I can see him becoming sort of a dark <brooding> hero type...
Yeah, so, we'll see. I may not keep to these things when I actually write the book. Right now I have him retiring to-- not retiring, just kind of going off for a while, if that makes sense?
Maybe he'll go back to teaching science.
And not accepting the Tia from the Firefight dimension as actually Tia.
I can guess two possible options for the kandra.
1. God Sazed endowed the gift of presence on the now mistwraiths.
2. Some of the kandra survived in the cave with the Terrisman and people of the city, along with the small mistwraiths, these are re-born with the spikes they pulled out during the resolution.
I can imagine too that some kandra on assignment may have hidden in the shelters with the rest of humanity.
The kandra.
Yes, they live. The people were smart enough, eventually, to replace their spikes. (And there were a couple who were on assignment who made it to storage caches.)
However, there will likely never be any more of them, since Hemalurgy is required to make them. They are now some of the few people who can communicate directly with Sazed, who—like Ruin—can whisper to people most easily when they are connected to him via spikes. With some speculation, you can probably guess what kind of roles the kandra will end up playing in future books.
On a broader level, is Hemalurgy officially dead, then? Or is it still extant in some Ruin-free (but still messy) form? (If it's gone, is there any imbalance since Preservation's magic power is kept and Ruin's isn't?)
Is Hemalurgy dead? No, not at all. It, like the other two powers, was not created by Ruin or Preservation, but by the natural state of the world and its interaction with the gods who created it. It still requires the same method of creation, but very few people are aware of how it works.
What does this mean for future projects? Well, let me go down the list of sequels in order of current urgency.
Vin Looks over Elend at Night, then Zane Arrives
So Vin makes her decision here. Yes, she's been manipulated. But, as Breeze is fond of saying, we all manipulate each other all of the time. Zane didn't get her to do anything that she didn't already lean toward doing.
That said, Zane IS a master at manipulating people. I wanted him to be brilliant at playing with people's emotions. He's been Soothing and Rioting Vin for most of this book, but only very subtly. You rarely get to see that explicitly, since when it's happening, we're in her head and her emotions just feel like emotions to her. But watch the narrative and you'll see little spikes of emotion caused by Zane.
Even without emotional Allomancy, however, I hope that you can see why Vin made the decision that she did. It's important for me, and this book, that she does what she does next. She had to try the violent way. She had to give in, I think. It was always there, hovering so close to her, that if she'd rejected it without ever trying, I think it would have felt like a worthless rejection.
Now, however, the danger with tasting Zane's way is that she'll give in completely.
Did something happen to Demoux between Mistborn and Stormlight to turn him into a jerk, or am I misinterpreting his actions?
He is not a jerk, but he is not...
As pure as he is in Mistborn?
Yeah. He's a little more idealistic than pure, how about that?
Are we going to hear that story?
Yes. [...] I'm toying with some stuff in Secret History 2, it'll get into some of this.
Is there going to be more Secret History?
They have to go into the cracks between other books, but not...I am planning to do more right now, I'm not opposed to having more like that happen.
And is [a Cognitive Shadow] a copy of the Cognitive or Spiritual Aspect?
So this is a matter of some debate in the Cosmere. Philosophical questions. By definition, you have to be ripped out of the body and persist. That's part of the definition.
Did Lightday exist before humans arrived at Roshar exactly as it is now, a day without rain in the middle of every other Weeping?
Hm. I'll RAFO this, as I might flashback to this time in the second half of The Stormlight Archive.
How often do you go by your various subreddits?
Depends on what I'm doing in the day, and things like that. I have not been by lately, so I have not responded to a lot of Reddit comments lately. I apologize for that. I try to, at least, glance at the front page and see what things are big. I would like this to be a daily thing, and sometimes it is, but it's not always. Again, it depends on what stuff I'm doing.
It is still the best way to get a response from me, but my answer rate is probably under a third these days, I would say. Plus, there are some people who ask a lot of questions on Reddit, and it makes me less want to do it, I'll be honest, when I see the same person has asked a question every day for a month, because I don't feel that's a good use of my time. I think a good use of my time is to give everybody a little bit where I can, and a bad use of my time is to engage deeply. Just because I don't have a lot of time; not that I dislike any of you guys. And some of you ask really good questions, and I find myself answering anyways, because hey, this is a smart question that this person asked.
I don't want my Reddit thing to be eighty questions from hardcore cosmere theorists who have been asking two a day for a month, and then five questions from a person who legitimately wants to reach out and have a brief but meaningful interaction with me. I much prefer the second, just for time reasons, even though I know the deep cosmere guys, like, you guys are part of why I'm successful. You guys talking about it, you guys caring about the fact that I was connecting the cosmere, I don't want to disparage that at all or make you feel bad for asking questions. Because I love that, I love that you are so into it, I love taking the time when I can to answer questions. I just have a whole lot of things to balance, and it gets rough sometimes.
Who will be the monarch of Idris during Nightblood?
...I will RAFO that. Just not-- not for any real secretive reason. But more because, when I write that book, it's possible, you know, that I will change things and whatnot, so--
It's likely to not change.
Will Steris have her own point of view chapters in The Lost Metal?
Yes she will. I don't have to RAFO that, because I have already written a couple of them. I'm pretty sure she got a couple in Bands of Mourning, she will have more in Lost Metal.
Jasnah and Shallan create objects out of ocean beads in Shadesmar that involves bringing them together like magnetic beads. Is this a form of the Surge of Transformation? Can this be done by other Radiants as well?
Other Radiants can't do this.
In Words of Radiance, the ardent Rushu calls Renarin's symmetry improper. Is that just meant to categorize his untrained hand, or is the symmetry different from normal?
No, it's his untrained hand.
Could you spike the ability to grow a gemheart out of a singer?
Yes, I think you could. Yeah.
Can you write an unknown Ideal [in my book]?
They are still rough so this might not be the exact wording but: "I will stand when others fall."
I'm curious how you came up with the names of the different lenses.
I just went with what felt cool to me. 'Cause for Alcatraz, it's kinda just all about what feels cool to me, right now. There were no specific inspirations. Just cool words.
So, in Steelheart. The symbol of hope, they're thinking it's the Superman symbol.
It is. But I couldn't say that, because it's trademarked. But that is what it is.
You can imagine it as not. Because, I can't ever talk about Superman in that world. You can imagine it's an alternate version of our world where it's not. If it were ever made into a movie, it would not be.
Tindwyl Confronts Elend about Vin
Tindwyl's parting words–that Elend might have to choose between Vin and his work–were tough to write. Not because they're true, but because they're a bit clichéd. In the end, I had to admit that I think Tindwyl would bring up this point, and would see it as her duty to make certain Elend thought about these things. So, I had her say these things anyway.
Was Kelsier directly involved in causing the showdown with Bloody Tan that ended up with Lessie...
No. As I have it written right now, no. Indirectly involved, possibly, but this is not an outcome he wanted, it's not something he influenced, and not something I would even say that he was aware was happening. I haven't written Secret History 2, so that's totally possible that... But I don't have it planned for him to be involved right now.
Going back to The Wheel of Time for a second... One of my favorite things about A Memory of Light is you had so much-- I guess free rein with parts of it... Can you give me an example, or a couple of examples, of something that you got [???] I could be totally wrong about this situation but say like, when [???] was first creating a weave to see a whole battlefield. Was that something you did, or was that actually Robert Jordan's.
Excellent question, I'll go through a few of these things for you, that one was me. One of the things that was awesome, but also a little bit difficult is the wrong term-- Anyway, it was awesome to be able to come into The Wheel of Time as a fan, and have read the books for twenty years and be thinking about "Wow, I wish this would happen", and then say "Wow, I'm gonna make that happen" ...But as I was doing it, I was also realizing it was dangerous, because there was a real danger for putting in fanservice type stuff, not in the traditional meaning of fanservice, but like the fanservice of "Narg showed up in the Last Battle again" or things like this. Like little fan jokes. I found that I had a lot of temptation to put those in, and so I had to ride this really careful line where I was saying "What do I as a fan want, to make the book more fulfilling not just as a joke".
One of the things that as a writer I've always wanted to see was gateways used for more than they were used in the books leading up to that point, you know, teleportation, instant travel has a lot of ramifications. One of the things I kind of put on myself was that I didn't want to create a lot of new weaves, because I knew if I did, I'd really risk taking it to far away from Robert Jordan's vision. So I said "Let's stick mostly to the weaves he's used, and see if I can use them in more innovative ways". This whole idea of taking the magic and digging deeper into it rather than going wider with it. And so a lot of the stuff with gateways is me. A lot of--
So for instance, I also went in and said to Harriet coming in, "Every book that Robert Jordan's done, almost all of them, has added a new character who's become a main character who used to be a side character. If we don't do that for these last books it's gonna feel weird to people. So I would like to take one of the Asha'man and bring them to prominence, and make them a viewpoint character and do what Robert Jordan's done" and so that's where Androl came from. And they're like "Well there's nothing in Robert Jordan's notes other than this little bit about his profession, take him and play with him, and do whatever you want." And that was almost a little pressure valve for me, to put the more "Brandon-y" sort of things, goofy magic system stuff with that, and that pressure valve allowed me to not really-- knowing my writing style, I was able to make the rest of it be a little more Robert Jordan-esque, if that makes sense.
You see that pressure valve there, you see it with Perrin in the Wolf Dream, in the world of dreams, because-- I've said before, Robert Jordan didn't leave very much on Perrin. Perrin is a big, empty-- big blank slate for these books. We knew where he ended up at the end and that was it. So Perrin was the other sort of "Do whatever you want, Brandon" sort of thing. He left a lot more on the other characters. So if you're reading a Perrin scene or if you're seeing them play with gateways, you're seeing me kinda let Brandon leak out a bit more. And this was done intentionally, I'd say part was a pressure valve, but also when I was given this, Harriet sat me down and said "You are the author now. I didn't hire a ghostwriter on purpose. I didn't want somebody who was just going to be Robert Jordan, because that would make a bad book", in her opinion. "What Jim-- Robert Jordan can't finish this, so you need to do it and yes, we want to stay true to his vision, but you are the writer now." And she was very clear on that, and I've always remembered that and how much that meant to me, being-- You know, she was the ultimate authority, but I had creative control to do whatever I felt the books needed, and the she-- her job was to rein be back if she though I went too far, and make sure the voice was consistent and things like that. So I got to do a lot with these books that I don't think a ghostwriter would have been able to do.
Do you find Time to work on your personal projects and as an Artist how to you reconcile the two ?
I'm afraid I've largely set aside my personal work, I find little bits of time for it here and there but when I have to balance it against time with my family or time spent working for pay, it gets the short end. It doesn't hurt, I suppose, that I'm happy as a hired gun. Mostly what I like is working, I like to create and produce, and what I'm producing (or for whom) isn't always that important, so long as it's fun. :)
There's one of the Knights that has sworn not exactly what people think.
You recently changed up the text of Elantris and Words of Radiance. Do you feel like you need to change something about the Mistborn trilogy? I think it's perfect
I've expressed that my one regret with Mistborn is the climax of Book One, where I think I bring in drawing upon the mists too early in the series without enough foreshadowing. That said, I'm not planning to revise it, even if we do a 10th anniversary edition like with Elantris. The problems with Elantris created continuity issues; the problem with Mistborn is more of an artistic choice, making it similar to the problem in WoR. The difference here is that I'm still working on Stormlight, so it is considered to be an open book in my head--while Mistborn is done, and it's time to leave it alone.
Also, you mentioned Snapshot to be set in one of the Core Realities in State of Sanderson 2016 but now that I look at it there is no mention of it? Was it taken out for some reason?
Snapshot can't be in the Reckoners universe right now, as the film rights are with different companies.
Updates on Minor Projects
The Reckoners
The Apocalypse Guard was in this universe, and we'll see what happens there, but for now I'm leaving this series alone. There might be a Mizzy book that I end up doing, but no promises.
Status: Trilogy complete. Series done, for now.
What is your favorite character archetype or personality type that you haven't used in one of your books?
I haven't done a real cool traditional revenge narrative, in the kind of Count of Monte Cristo way. Basically, this is the mistaken identity story (if you guys have read the Miles Vorkosigan books), except done more intentionally. Like, in the Vorkosigan early books and what not, it's a person who gets in over their head and has to lie about who they are and what their experience is in order to stay ahead of the lies that they've already told, so that people won't discover that they aren't indeed the person that they say. A Bug's Life is a great example of this. And that one is usually played for comedy, though in Vorkosian books, it's not; done very well. There's a different archetype of this, which is kind of the... Knight's Tale is this thing, and so is Count of Monte Cristo, where an intentional deception of those around you in order to achieve a near-impossible goal. I would say that my favorite story of that archetype is Gattaca, which I just love. I think it's a fantastic movie. And I've never done that, that specific style of story. And I fully intend to someday. I mean, Gattaca being one of my favorite movies would be a clue; I tend to take the things that I love. But I haven't found the exact right place for it yet, let's say.
While reading Dawnshard I remembered something...Dalinar's odd dreams about warm golden light that is very similar to what Rysn experienced.
Is there any connections? Maybe Dalinar is connected to another Dawnshard?
I will RAFO this, but it's a worthy line of conjecture.
The Battle Begins
You'll notice something about these next chapters. Instead of focusing on the trained warriors during the siege of Luthadel, I spend my time inside the heads of Breeze and Sazed–the two least experienced with war and killing in the entire crew.
This is intentional. I want to give the sense that Luthadel is a place unprepared for war. Even its soldiers aren't really fighters. There hasn't been much war in the Final Empire, and those veterans who do exist are in Cett or Straff's employ. I would rather show the battle against the koloss, then, through the eyes of men who will be horrified and confused at what to do, as I think that will be the norm for this conflict.
It heightens the tension, and the tragedy, of this all when you get to see Breeze and Sazed trying to cope with the horrors of a battlefield. Plus, the opposite has been done quite well a lot–whether it be in a David Gemmel book or in Lord of the Rings. You've seen brave warriors defend a city. Now watch a politician and a scholar try to do it.
Does Hoid play the piano? :)
Yes, Hoid can play the piano.
Would someone with a strong moral compass such as Kaladin and Dalinar consider Wit's alignment moral?
Dalinar is more likely to understand than Kaladin, because Dalinar's been in positions. Kaladin is less likely to, but it depends on what aspects of what Hoid's doing you're taking about.
Did the Lord Ruler's children have something to do with the Lord Ruler's plot to once "give up" in the Final Empire?
Yes.
Why can lerasium be burned by anyone in the cosmere, while atium is restricted to a small portion of the population of one planet?
RAFO.
If given the opportunity, which Shard would Kelsier want to punch next?
He would find it really fun to punch Honor. Really fun.
Will we be finding out what Dalinar's wife's name was, or has her name been similarly wiped from the flashbacks like Dalinar's mind?
I feel I should RAFO questions about the flashbacks, except to say that I wouldn't jump into them without understanding what readers want to see--and either fulfilling that, or subverting it in the name of the story. (The latter happening very rarely.)
I just notice that in the newer Mistborns that some of the older Mistborns, on the metals, aren't there a couple metals that are missing?
Yes. There are. They didn't quite understand the-- all things, just like we don't understand all science, and as the series progresses you will see that table become even more intricate as it becomes more and more scientific.
So this series is a step modernized? I've only read the original.
This one is a step modernized, still all the magic and stuff, but it's kind of mixing gunslinging and Allomancy. There's going to be another series that's going to be 1980's level technology where you'll really see things start to modernize, and then there's a science fiction series. Eventually.
In Steelheart David mentions that Epics age slower, to which degree is their aging slowed?
It's not the same across the board.
Is there ambient Investiture in all of the planets, or just the Shardworlds?
*pauses* It's mostly Shardworlds. But that definition gets a little uncertain in the case of some various planets, like Threnody. There are other Threnody-esque sorts of things.
A question about two of the characters from Warbreaker, whether they're still alive or not?
That's a RAFO.
Her name, Lift, is it literally like 'lift', the sound, or is it translated from Rosharan, like the word lift?
It is translated from Rosharan.
Is it a nickname?
So, I'll RAFO that. But that is actually, it's whatever in Rosharan...not in Rosh...in Reshi, whatever in Reshi...and Reshi is the Iriali language family, so...
Is the Well's pulsing a 'pure tone of Scadrial'?
Yup!
The advanced civilization mentioned in Sixth of the Dusk. When will we see them again? And will they be interacting with Scadrial and the Stormlight Archive series?
It's gonna be a while before you see them make-- before you find out who they are and have them interact, because that's way in the future of the other books. But you will find out.
Can Inquisitors see aluminum?
RAFO.
When Pattern is not floating as a 3D fractal ball, he has a tendency to travel just beneath the surface of things. Is this a deliberate parallel to blood?
Not deliberate, but perhaps unconscious.
