Found 313 entries in 0.385 seconds.
Dominic Field
If Kaladin's Shardplate is made of windspren, would the other Orders also have Shardplate made of lesser spren?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes!
Dominic Field
Would Lightweavers have Plate made up of creationspren, for instance?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, they would. You should be able to guess, for the major Orders that we've spent a lot of time with, what their Shardplate is made out of. There have been hints from book one what those are. Theoretically, you should be able to kind of put that together. You're not gonna be able to put it together for some of the Orders, 'cause we just haven't gotten into it as much; we haven't spent enough time with them. But you should be able to start putting this all together in relationship to the Shardplate. At least there's three or four of them that I think I've made very obvious.
Pagerunner
In [Oathbringer], when they first enter Shadesmar, they see a bunch of spren that are a few inches tall, green or orange. Are those Cognitive manifestations of one or more Dysian Aimians that were in Kholinar?
Brandon Sanderson
No, but good question.
Blightsong
Were the ideals of the Knights Radiant consciously chosen, or did they happen naturally?
Brandon Sanderson
*apprehension*. This is one of those vague ones in that yes and no. They are a natural outgrowth of the spren, but the spren are a natural outgrowth of human's perception of natural forces, but the spren are sentient, so I would say it's a little more by instinct than not. For example two Knights Radiant in the same Order might speak the words differently, but the concept is the same. You will see this happen in a future book, where a Windrunner will speak the oaths. It's a slightly different take on the same concept. Some are moreso, like Shallan's oaths are very individualized truths, so.
Blightsong
You've said that, AI in the cosmere, creating one is kind of like having a child realmatically. Would that extend to most sapient creations?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes.
Blightsong
So could a created spren from a Returned inherit Royal Locks? Within a reasonable possibility?
Brandon Sanderson
*ahhing in a very curious manner* You could make this happen, but I don't think it would happen naturally.
Questioner
So, the Shardplate, are those also spren or <specific> spren?
Brandon Sanderson
It's a RAFO!
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...
Questioner
Are Cognitive elements like spren and seons only present on physical planes on worlds where Shards have been [Splintered]?
Brandon Sanderson
No. But it does require <Cognitive *inaudible*>. Alternately the Shard would have to give up pieces of their power for that. But it doesn't have to be that they were [Splintered] by someone. Seons existed on, sorry, spren existed on Roshar before the Shattering of Adonalsium. Not as many.
FeatherWriter
Can you tell me what the Truthwatcher spren are called, like do they have a name? I know it's not in Oathbringer.
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah, I'm not gonna canonize that yet. There're things I am still thinking about.
Questioner
Does Glys hide intentionally or is he just invisible to other spren that are not his kind of spren?
Brandon Sanderson
A little of both.
ParshendiOfRhuidean
Is there a connection between the roles of a certain order of Knight Radiant and the singer form associated with their Platespren, such as artistic Lightweavers and artform both having creation spren?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, there is a connection, a deliberate connection on my part there. It's hard to keep all of these things one-to-one because there are way more forms than there are orders of Knights Radiant and things like that, so don't read too far into it, but I do make those connections deliberately where I can.
Questioner
So, in Edgedancer, there's a spot where they're going through all the weird things going on in the city, and they're talking about some spren that only shows up if she dumps water out. Is that significant, or is that a crazy person? ...The spren that shows up every morning if she leaves water out?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, that is true.
Questioner
Okay, she's is not crazy?
Brandon Sanderson
She's not-- Okay.
Questioner
Are the spren intelligent?
Brandon Sanderson
Sapient spren, no. But she may have the cause and effect mixed up. She may not have the cause and effect correct. She might have correlation and causation mixed up.
ASIC_SP
Was it intentional to introduce Musicspren as the first spren in TWoK?
Brandon Sanderson
It was intentional in that I knew I needed some spren very early in the book, to establish the world--and that was the scene I was working with to do that. It isn't supposed to be hugely meaningful that those spren are first, though they are more relevant to later parts of the story than some of the earlier ones.
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.
Zas678
(paraphrased)
A question related to that. There's an idea going around that all the spren that can Nahel Bond, all Knight Radiant spren are called honorspren, and then Nohadon talks specifically about honorspren. Is that the case? You know, is it just the Windrunner spren, or is it all the spren?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
I'm going to deal with this in the next book. So I'll just go ahead and let it be a literal RAFO. It is coming.
*interruption, leading Brandon to lose his train of though*
So what we are dealing with here is that all spren are indeed all pieces of the one who has gone, so those spren are all- except the Windrunner spren, the spren like Syl, have certain umm.
Zas678
(paraphrased)
Nohadon mentioned that "All the spren aren't as discerning as honorspren."
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
So there has been dissension among them about who gets to call themselves honorspren, if that makes sense, and there is some disagreement among scholars about which ones are really, you know "This is what defines an honorspren".
But the spren you are running into are all *inaudible* of either Honor or Cultivation, or some mixture between them. And you can usually tell the ones that are more Honor, and the ones that are more Cultivation. That should be able to be *inaudible*.
Questioner
[Spren] are used to Invest a lot of things, fabrials, they turn into Shardblades. Are we ever going to see something similar with the seons, from Sel?
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah, they are basically the same thing. They're a little more formalized, a little more structured but they are basically the exact same thing so yes. Some of the things you see spren doing seons are capable of, some things that seons do spren will be capable of.
Questioner
Rosharans are good with math, because you did the whole... They're aware of the normal distribution and all that. So, do like, complex numbers, imaginary numbers, do they live in the Cognitive Realm? And would prime [numbers] be the brighteyes of the Cognitive Realm?
Brandon Sanderson
We will get into this. I would say--I've actually thought about this--that right now, there are spren that kind of represent abstract mathematics but not individual concepts within abstract mathematics. Like when you draw a spren that represents creativity, it's not necessarily divided into, "Painting," even though some of them may edge in that direction. So you could perhaps find a spren where you go, "Oh!"
Questioner
I just want to see pi and phi arguing.
Ben McSweeney
*in response to a discussion about RAFOs* There was the one about what painspren look like.
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah, what do painspren look like on the Cognitive Realm.
Ben McSweeney
That's a RAFO.
Brandon Sanderson
That's a RAFO because it is actually relevant to future stories.
Ben McSweeney
It'll be important.
Brandon Sanderson
Not that it's a big deal, but I got to hold some stuff back.
Rhapsody
(paraphrased)
If I took a fabrial to Shadesmar, would it work and what would happen to the spren trapped in it?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
RAFO.
Questioner
Fathers of spren are mentioned twice. When spren talk about their fathers, are they usually talking about the person who raised them?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes.
Questioner
Or the person who gave them life? Like, their offspring?
Brandon Sanderson
Those are usually the same person, right? Depending. But not always. But usually... it would vary if they aren't the same person. But I would say, normally it's the same individual. "Person" may be the wrong term. But I think they would say they're people, so "person."
Questioner
Does each specific order have their own spren that they would bond?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes. Each order has a spren that is distinctive. All Windrunners come from honorspren.
I name my computers and smartphones after spren. But I am out of names. Is there a name you wouldn't mind revealing?
Well, do you need good spren? Or is the occasional evil spren acceptable?
Your call! And evil spren would be fantastic for my new phone.
Ulim. (Also, the Unmade count as spren. You could look those up.)
I didn't think spren could be good or evil??
Most spren are neither. Sapient spren (capable of making choices) can be either one.
Paladin Brewer
(paraphrased)
Why do some spren not receive the Nahel bond?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
RAFO
Argent
Do deadeyes disappear in Shadesmar when they are summoned as blades to the Physical Realm?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, mostly.
Questioner
I'm a physical chemist and I'm reading your book [The Way of Kings] right now and at some point you have someone studying flamespren and what they saw, that's one of the fundamental tenets of quantum mechanics--
Brandon Sanderson
Yes.
Questioner
So you got that from quantum mechanics?
Brandon Sanderson
I did get that from quantum mechanics.
Questioner
How did you come across that and decide to incorporate that into your epic fantasy?
Brandon Sanderson
Well The Way of Kings' magic systems are based on the fundamental forces. That was the original idea and the extrapolation from them. I'm fascinated by quantum mechanics and I have worked them into the way that-- Remember in my worlds, my books, the magics are a new branch of physics, in these worlds. And so they interact with our normal physics, it's not like they are ignoring them, so they obey the laws of thermodynamics, even when they appear to be breaking them, and they interact with quantum and all the stuff. It's just very natural that they are going to, to me if that makes sense? It would be weird if they didn't interact with them.
Cuaiir
Request that Brandon write a clue to the nature of the cosmere, specifically Realmatic theory.
Brandon Sanderson
Entities exist on all three realms that are only vaguely shadowed on the other realms.
You have seen entities who exist primarily on the Cognitive Realm + are shadowed on the Physical.
dvoraen
Excluding Midnight Essence from Re-Shephir, have we seen at least two examples of the Unmade creating spren that people dismiss as normal, uncorrupted spren? (One type in The Way of Kings, one in Oathbringer, specifically.)
Brandon Sanderson
Humans are not terribly good at determining whether a spren has been touched by Re-Shephir. (That's a yes.)
Blightsong
Did you mean Sja-Anat or can that Unmade also affect Spren in a similar, if not the same, manner?
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah, that was just me typing too fast.
WeiryWriter
I'm still upset that mistpren is not the Truthwatcher spren. Logically, they're like the only ones that didn't fit.
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah, okay. I can see why you would be annoyed by that.
Questioner
Could a Threnody Shade survive on another world?
Brandon Sanderson
Theoretically, yes. But they are highly Invested, and leaving a world where you're highly Invested behind when you have that Investiture is difficult, as Kelsier discovered, and as most spren discover.
Questioner
Why do spren appear on Roshar and nowhere else?
Brandon Sanderson
They do, but they're in different shapes. Seons are the same thing that spren are, for instance. So there are places where you will see them, it just is going to depend on how the worldbuilding is built and how the magic is channeled and things like that.
Questioner
So far all the spren that have bonded to humans appear to be emotion-based as opposed to nature-based. Is that true for all the Knights Radiant?
Brandon Sanderson
Well it depends. For instance: how would you define Wyndle?
Questioner
I struggled with that one.
Brandon Sanderson
Uh hm. So I would say that you are on the right track, that there is a definite inclination that direction.
Questioner
Towards Honor?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes. There is.
Questioner
Is there other surges then, that are more Cultivation-exclusive or other Knights Radiant that are...?
Brandon Sanderson
We'll RAFO that, but the original Knights Radiant are more focused on Honor and his spren.
Questioner
So, you spend a lot of time comparing lifespren and rotspren. They're complementary colors, *inaudible*. The rotspren can appear around animals, as well, whereas lifespren only appear around plants. Is that a misnomer? Is there something that we're missing?
Brandon Sanderson
No, there's nothing you're missing. It just takes a large number of organisms in the same place. So, in a herd of animals, you could find lifespren. They don't come to people as often. But, the thing you have to remember about spren is: spren are attracted by something. And they have to be nearby, and they have to make their way there. So, sometimes, you will have an emotion, and no spren will appear. Because there's not one nearby enough. Or they just didn't feel like this. I worked this in because I didn't want the spren popping up too much. They're a big symbol of Roshar, they're a way, in very early chapters, for you to realize this is a different place and a different world. But if every other sentence were, "And a spren appeared," it would go crazy way too fast.
angwilwileth
Would you ever consider writing "The Spotters Guide to Spren"?
Whenever Stormlight Archive is finished, a comprehensive guide to the little guys would be awesome.
Brandon Sanderson
This is a good idea. We'd probably mix it with a general Roshar worldboook, though I can imagine doing it on its own.
Pagerunner
The mistspren, who crewed the Honorspren ship. Are they Radiant spren?
Brandon Sanderson
No they are not.
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.
Tortellini
(paraphrased)
Could it be that spren and seons are basically very similar things?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
He smiled, thought about how to answer that for a second and then said... "Yes, it could be."
ninch
The oath spren, how are they still alive? If all the other spren died when they broke their oaths? RAFO?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, it's a RAFO. But you do have some pretty good answers in [Oathbringer]. So by the time you finish this you should have a pretty-- you should-- yeah.
Questioner
Are the [singers] living computers, and are spren variables in a computer system?
Brandon Sanderson
Excellent question. The answer is: I would say no, I wouldn't consider this. But I have considered this idea, and there is a place in the cosmere where people are using spren-- not spren but something similar on another planet, for a little bit of computation. Which I want to be able to write that story some day, but-- It's a very fun thing that I dug down a rabbit hole in one time. You might see this somewhere in the cosmere, but it's not actually Roshar. I wouldn't call them that.
Questioner
Is it cold enough on Roshar for snow?
Brandon Sanderson
Only in the mountains.
Questioner
Do you get a highsnowstorm?
Brandon Sanderson
In the mountains, yes, it's very weird. And it's only in the tops of the mountains. There is. But you will see this when and if we visit the Horneater Peaks, which are covered in snow, except for the hot springs.
Questioner
Are there snowspren?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes.
Argent
The many faces of Cusicesh, are they of real people?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO.
Brandon Sanderson
At first, I was thinking of only a small number of important spren. So Syl started as simply "the East Wind".
Questioner
Is there a significant connection between Stormlight and spren?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes.
Questioner
What is the extent of that, I guess? Is that a Read And Find Out?
Brandon Sanderson
That's a RAFO.
Brandon Sanderson
Syl Leaves
I hated sending Syl away from Kaladin here, but it had to happen—in part because of how much it hurt to send her away. She's basically the only light left in these scenes with Kaladin in Bridge Four.
Syl wasn't in the original draft of Kings. I developed her over the years between 2003 and 2009; there was a time when the four winds from mythology would be active and alive on Roshar, and she was one of those. Eventually, the spren developed as a concept. They grew out of the greater worldbuilding and magic system rules for the cosmere. (The connected universe of my epic books.)
At that point, she became a sentient spren—one of many that would be in the books. Still, she was very special. I do worry about the Tinkerbell vibe that she gives off to some people. I tried hard to distance her from that. No wings, the constant shape changing, that sort of thing.
Her innocence and childlike nature is an important foil and balance to the darkness in Kaladin's life. Then she leaves, and all innocence is gone from him.
Questioner
Can all spren imprint on someone—like Syl has with Kaladin—or is this ability special to certain types of spren? (I just got a mental picture of a flamespren taking notice of the pyromaniac noble girl from the castle market exercise in your JordanCon talk. Not sure that would end well.)
Brandon Sanderson
It is special to certain types of spren. There you go, a non-RAFO.
Questioner
So how big are spren, like when Kaladin sees a spren, how...
Brandon Sanderson
It depends on the spren. lifespren are real tiny, little dots. windspren *presumably gestures*, like that. Some spren are as large as buildings. There is no strict size increment, but you can guess the size if I don't say otherwise. It really depends.
Furamirionind
Is it possible to splinter a spren?
Brandon
Yes. That is theoretically possible.
AllomancerSam
Are there a finite number of types of spren, or can new ones be created?
Brandon Sanderson
New ones can be created.
Phantine
Would it be possible for a Herald to make a spren bond?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO
Pagerunner
Lightspren, the ones who like to travel, are they the Willshaper spren? I thought it was pretty obvious.
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah.
CarolaDavar
Can spren be affected by emotional Allomancy?
Brandon Sanderson
That's a RAFO.
Questioner
(paraphrased)
What does Nightblood look like in the Cognitive Realm?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
RAFO. Let's just say this has been a topic of much interest to myself and some others.
