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So, what we see at the end, with the Unmade, and it seems like Jezrien, getting trapped in gems. Is that basically possible, because, they have been, particularly in the case of the Heralds, infused with so much Investiture that they're basically being trapped in the gems instead of Stormlight?
They're not human anymore, yeah.
I've struggled with mental illness my whole life. Reading about your characters like Shallan, Kaladin, and Dalinar, that all have some degree of mental illness, start their path to recovery after forming a Nahel bond is very interesting to me. Is it a requirement for a Knight Radiant to be broken in some way prior to the bond? Where did you get this idea? Or was it just how it turned out?
There's a bunch of different answers to this, a variety of directions I can go. Part of it is, this is how it turned out. As I was developing the characters, I knew very early on, after the 2002 version didn't quite work, I knew what I wanted to do with Kaladin. And Shallan's character has always been a central feature of who she was, even before I came up with her modern version of the character. So there was a theme building there on its own. And when I notice a theme, I ask myself, "Is there a reason I'm looking at doing this? Why is it a theme?" And I realized this is something that was very interesting to me. I have several loved ones who have mental health issues that they deal with. It was something I didn't see done a lot in heroic or epic fantasy, and it felt very natural as a place to go. That the Knight Radiant bond is about making this bond with this spren and striving to become a better person.
It is not required in-world. A lot of people, even in-world, think that it is, because it was so common. My kind of external answer to that, even though they don't know this in-world, is that people who have struggled with these kinds of problems are more open to walking the path that one needs to walk to become a Knight Radiant. The two go hand-in-hand, the kind of self-awareness, and the ability to see yourself, to be reflective, just goes hand-in-hand with working on some of these issues. And at the same time, I felt it just worked really well with the themes of the story, the themes that Dalinar has of redemption. And also, I think that the extreme circumstances that a lot of characters put through stories like the ones I write do lead people to have some difficulties, right? Even PTSD, and things like that. There's just a lot that goes hand-in-hand together with this.
So the answer is, yes, it happened to be that way. But once I noticed it happened to be that way, I asked myself, "Is this a theme I'm doing on purpose, even if I haven't noticed it?" And the answer to that was, "Yes, it is."
Chapter Six
This chapter is where, in my opinion, the book starts to get good. These kinds of chapters are part of what I write for–good, solid character interaction with some intellectual problem-solving going on. I really like the way that the crew works through their challenges here. The items presented really do sound quite daunting as they're listed; yet, by the end, I hope that the reader feels as the crew does–that this plan could actually work, if they pull it off right.
I had to rewrite this scene several times, bringing the focus away from simply stealing the atium. By the last draft, I had something I was very pleased with. It outlines things simply enough, yet doesn't make everything sound TOO easy. At least, that is my hope.
Who are the main 'focus' characters for book 4? Venli and Eshonai have flashbacks but what about everyone else?
I would say Venli, though the truth is that though she's got a lot of viewpoints, it's really more of an ensemble than the other books. I don't want to say too much, as its spoilers. Expect a decent amount of Venli, but an equal amount of several other characters.
In your last Reddit update, you gave a good rundown of your future projects until Stormlight Five. Time permitting, could you talk about other side projects, like the non-Cosmere short works collection, Apocalypse Guard, Alcatraz, and The Rithmatist?
Alcatraz Six is done, being illustrated as we speak. We have the deal in hand from Tor to publish it. Alcatraz Six is a go. Should happen next year, I would suspect. And that is the actual ending to the Alcatraz series. Co-authored with Janci, who is amazing.
Apocalypse Guard has been kicked back to me from Dan, I think I mentioned before. I need to do a draft on it. Dan improved it wonderfully, but what he didn't fix is the ending, which is still broken, because endings aren't Dan's thing in the first place, they're kind of my thing. Which is part of why I pulled the book, is that the ending was not working. So, I need to fix the ending. Fortunately, I came up with a pretty good plan for doing it. So it's going to go on my list sometime during these next couple years, when I need a break between things I will do an Apocalypse Guard revision. It will probably only take me, I would guess, two to three weeks of work to fix it. So that's a strong plausibility that I will be fixing that book in the coming months.
Non-Cosmere collection. I have lots of stories for it; we actually commissioned all the art for it, but that's when we thought that Snapshot was going to get greenlit. It got really close to being greenlit as a movie, but then the option on that lapsed, as they didn't end up doing the greenlight last year. So now, we don't have a movie tie-in to push us to do that, which we still probably should do at some point, is get that collection out. With the couple of short stories I've written that would go in there that we're not gonna necessarily publish somewhere else. Though I did tell you guys, I am sending them out under a false name to see if I can get any magazines to pick them up. It's going to happen eventually; I don't know when. There's some new, cool talks that are happening around Snapshot, which is the most movie-friendly of the things for the non-Cosmere collection. We will see.
I know, for instance, in Spain, they want to take Defending Elysium, which is tied to the Skyward books, and do a Spanish translation of that, in conjunction with a Skyward book, so that might be happening. But I'm not sure how that's going to end up working.
This schedule for me does not include any little side novellas that I decide to write, or side short stories. It leaves some wiggle room, but not a lot, for me to do something like that. So we'll have to see. If some Secret Project pops up on the progress bars, you will know that I have felt too constrained by the schedule I have set for myself and have started writing something else. That hasn't happened in a little while, but it totally could happen. I think the last one of those was the Wizards of the Coast story, where I just had to write that.
From what I understand, Ruin and Preservation create the world together, and they created humanity as copies of the original humankind. So how did they give Allomancy to Scadrial?
Yes. So the magic systems are kind of built into the setting and the world. And there are certain natural pathways that exist, in the same way there are certain natural pathways for them to create life. Which is my explanation for why life is so similar on all the different planets, is that they're following natural pathways, and these magics are kind of the same way. For instance, Lightweaving predates the Shattering of Adonalsium. A lot of these other things are suggestive of magics that existed before that were built around Adonalsium. They weren't 100% created by the Shards, but they also do have the Shards' influence on them.
Why exactly do some spike removals kill (dual eye, or central spike) but most don't?
For the same reason that a bullet through one part of the body will kill you, but getting shot somewhere else won't. The physical form of a person who has undergone a Hemalurgic transformation is no longer what we think of it. The direct connection to Preservation starts keeping them alive. (Imagine stapling someone's soul to another person's soul, their life essence, then stapling that to the power of creation itself, giving you a conduit directly to power, letting you leech it and steal it.) That power keeps you alive, despite the wounds. Some of the time, the other staples are enough to keep you alive, even if one is pulled out. Others are too important.
If someone from, say, Roshar, traveled to the world of Warbreaker, do they have Breath?
No, they do not. And if someone from the Warbreaker world leaves, they will still have their Breath... They would not register as being a Drab to people who are looking. They would register as Option C. Particularly someone from Roshar, who is from a primary Shardworld, is slightly Invested.
In Warbreaker, Hoid's about to tell a story and he starts pulling out sand, some black sand. Is this from the planet that White Sand is from?
Good question, and that's a RAFO.
For the people you have coming back in the Stormlight Archive--how do you pick who makes the cut?
It just depends on where I feel like going, the interludes are complete freedom for me.
I just have been noticing this, and it's not exclusive to any author, it's just this kind of theme that simply tires me. Main characters, they die, and then they come back to life. or they just don't die. And it makes it so much less exciting for me. So, I wanted to ask you what you think about that?
So, here's the thing. Because fiction isn't real, death is meaningless in fiction. The only real things in fiction are the emotions we make you feel, and different stories try to do that in different ways with different themes. For instance, I don't think Lord of the Rings is ruined by the fact that Gandalf has a resurrection, because of the emotions you feel, and then the other emotions you feel, and things like this-- and there's something universal about it. And so, I don't think I'm as big on it as that, because deaths-- maybe it's because I'm a writer, everything feels arbitrary in books, except the emotion that I put upon it, if that makes sense? And I always find that what the characters are going through is the more interesting than an abrupt end, but I guess that's just kinda me.
If you say that, then books can't have resurrection as a theme, or rebirth, which is, like, one of the most interesting themes in existence. But everyone has different tastes, there's no wrong. Not liking it is not wrong. I mean, plot armor also has this thing where we tend to not kill characters arbitrarily, we tend to do it at dramatic moments, and things like this, because the story is better that way, right? And there are some people, like George Martin, who just try to throw this out the window, to tell a different story by doing that. But, of course, resurrection is a huge theme in those books.
Riddle me this: Why did the Horneater couple stop after four kids?
*Playing along*
Alright, go for it.
They didn't want to get heir-sick.
*Laughs/groans*
A Rioter, a Soother, and a Coinshot all go to buy a car.
The Soother goes up to the salesman and is like "hey can I buy a car" and the salesman goes "No, every time I sell to you people I always end up wanting to please you too much: I don't want to sell you the car, get out of here."
The Rioter walks up. He's like "hey, can I buy a car?" and the salesman goes "No, every time I try to sell to you folks I always end up wanting to try and *garbled* too much, get out of here."
The Coinshot walks up and the salesman goes "No you gotta *garbled* too, get out here." The Coinshot's like "what!? I can't mess with your emotions." The salesman goes "well yeah, but you guys are way too pushy."
Wow.
Which one did you make yourself laugh the most?
Hmmm... I think Wayne. The Mistborn books. He's the one who makes me laugh the most.
So, in Warbreaker, Awakened items have to emulate humans. Why is that?
It's a matter of perception on the people using the magic. And there are ramifications on the fact that the Shards themselves were all once humanoid.
<Could you tell me something about the Shard that is hiding>?
That is a pretty big spoiler. I can give you a RAFO card. Yes, the Shard that wants to hide, let's just say, they are quite intelligent in their decision to not get caught.
Will the Everstorm only affect Parshendi or will it also affect those with Parshendi blood, like Horneaters?
RAFO.
What would a kandra without a body look like?
A kandra without a body is kind of a blob. It's a pile of muscles. It looks pretty gross.
Do any other Shards utilize avatars the way Autonomy does?
Uh... they have in the past, I can't say for sure if they are doing so now or not.
Was busy yesterday writing a picture book.
Don't leave us with less info! What is it about?
RAFO for now. I want to show it around to some people first and see what they think. I'll tell you all what it's about if:
A) It doesn't turn out to be good enough to publish professionally.
or
B) We get a deal for it.
It is not cosmere, however. I wrote it in part to practice the format, as some day I'd like to do some of Hoid's stories (like the Girl who Looked Up) as picture books.
On the nature of shardblades, to an extent, can a live blade be split without harming it's source, so to speak?
Can a live blade split? What do you mean, split?
Make itself into two weapons.
Oh, can a blade be forged into two weapons. A shardblade.
Does it absolutely need a connection, or can it become two?
So, shardblades becoming two shardblades would require slicing in half a soul, which would not be very fun for the spren. Okay?
So it's possible. *laughter*
So it's technically possible to take hydrogen and to turn it into plutonium with our current technology. It would cost more money than, like, the budget of NASA to do it for, y'know, one atom. So there are things that are possible, but-- Yes it is possible. This is not something that would be easy or very useful to do.
Can you use Feruchemy and Hemalurgy together like you can use Allomancy and Feruchemy to Compound?
*asks for clarification* There are some tricks you can play. I wouldn't call them Compounding, but there are tricks.
I'm confused of the book title. Isn't "Children of the Bog" more accurate?
It depends. Some of the characters were children of the angel, some were children of the bog (which also has no name), and some might be considered children of something else which has no name. Notably, Davriel doesn't speak of his actual name in the story, but only the various aliases he has made up.
Are there currently any Shards, besides Harmony, that are not held by their original Vessel?
Yes.
Why does Awakening need to drain color, and what determines the amount of color that's drained?
I'm going to RAFO Awakening because I'm going to write another book and I-- Mostly it's a RAFO because I don't want to canonize things until I've got the book in hand.
Chapter One - Part Two
Ramblemen
Ramblemen are more than simple traveling jugglers or storytellers. They're merchants who specialize in bringing news (for a price) and stories as well as goods and services.
Readers latched onto this word, and I've had a lot of people say, "I love that term! Why don't we get to see a rambleman in the book?"
Because some things in books are just there to hint at the greater world. Sometimes a keen, cool word like that can evoke so much more when used in passing than it would if developed into a side plot or attached to a character.
Is there conspiracyspren? We have kind of a family joke about that one.
So, conspiracyspren... Let's just say this. I have purposefully not made spren of certain things that I think would undermine the very purpose of the spren. If that makes sense?
My question was going to be: What emotion would you never write a spren for?
Well there are ones that-- I would go with that. Things that undermine the very nature.-- But I wouldn't say never to anything. In the cosmere, particularly on Roshar, if people start to personify something, there's a chance it would become a spren, and that could be anything. The current vogue question to ask me is "will there be memespren..." And my response is always, "If people personify something, then there's a chance that a spren will develop out of it."
Kaladin kind of went back on his Oaths in the second book, right?
Yes. He started down that path.
How could Shallan or Lightweavers go back on the truths they make? And did Shallan do any of that in Oathbringer?
No, the Cryptics-- remember, how the spren is viewing this is very important. The Cryptics have an interesting relationship with truth. Harder to break your Oaths in that direction with a Cryptic. Harder to move forward, also, if you're not facing some of these things and interacting with them in the right way. But, while I can conceive a world that it could happen, it'd be really hard to for a Lightweaver to do some of the stuff. Particularly the ones close to Honor, you're gonna end up with more trouble along those lines, let's say.
So then, what happened with the Lightweavers during the Recreance? Did they break their Oaths?
They did break their Oaths. I mean, breaking your Oaths as in "walking away from the first Oath" will still do it, regardless of what Order you are. You can actively say, "I am breaking my Oaths and walking away." Anyone has that option. But you also are holding the life of a spren in your hand.
This fight scene is, in my opinion, a lot more fun that the previous one. It's what I want–quick, dramatic, and shows off character by the way that the various people approach the fight.
I probably should have cut this scene, honestly. The book is a little too long. It's 250,000 words, where both Elantris and Mistborn 1 are around 200,000. I worried about this, particularly since the original Well of Ascension was only around 235,000, but we added 15,000 through editing to make the pacing work.
Regardless, when this beast got in, the people at Tor (the typesetters and the like) immediately raised a warning flag. However, some of the things they said surprised us. They said that the hardback for Mistborn 2, by their counts, was going to be over 700 pages long! Well, I knew that the book was a bit longer, but Mistborn 1 was under 500, so they were claiming it was around 40% bigger–and unpublishable.
My editor went to bat, claiming that 1) It was only really about 20% bigger and 2) That didn't matter, because the book was the right length–it worked well, and was paced well, and that he didn't want to cut it. We caused a big mess of various people arguing, and then finally the people down in production called up and said they'd done a re-assessment, and that the book would be around 560 pages or so. Very doable.
I don't know where those extra 140 pages went. If you find them, let me know. . .
I've only mentioned Gragdets a couple of places. Hrathen never thinks much about them, since he doesn't consider them part of the traditional Derethi structure. In truth, they aren't–but they do have authority over a Gyorn in their own small sphere. I don't think that the reader needs to understand the entire social structure of the religion, however. Hrathen understands what is happening, and knows that he should probably let himself be under Dilaf's authority. That should be enough for most readers.
Hoid gets his tooth knocked out while in Kholinar. He prompts somebody else to help him with that. Is that because he has issues hurting not only other people but himself?
Yep.
And then he considers healing that at a later point in time. Which magic system does he consider using to heal that?
A magic system that predates-- predates any of the others.
If an individual has a mental sickness, such as multiple personalities, can that affect a Shard's intent if picked up by him or her?
Yes, that is possible.
Is it possible that Autonomy is one such, and has multiple personalities?
RAFO.
If a Radiant uses an Honorblade or binds a second spren, could they get new abilities/resonances by having access to Surges that aren't usually combined?
Yes, they could. Indeed.
Did Adonalsium deliberately shatter itself?
Hmmm, good question! RAFO!
Alcatraz.
Alcatraz. Oh yes, Alcatraz. *crowd woos* So we got the rights back from Scholastic, who was not treating my baby with the, y'know, reverence that Alcatraz deserves, which isn't very much let's be honest *laughter* And we re-published those, they're going to start January, Tor's putting them out. Isaac has done a brand new full-color map for it. And is that going to go on the cover?
...Yeah that's on the back--
So the cover you'll be able to take off and spread out, and there's a map on the back of it. The jacket cover. Isn't that cool? We want to test this out and see if we should do it for Stormlight, so you have like a map you can spread out. So it's got a brand new full-color cover art, it's got interior art done by someone who did fan-art for the series and we just loved her fan-art so we hired her. So doing fan-art gets you places. And we have brand new covers for the first four and the fifth book, the last book, that Alcatraz will write, is coming out in June. *crowd woos* And the cover is awesome. We finally have good covers for the Alcatraz books. *laughter* They've been so bad for so long.
I do have one question that I have no idea if you'll answer. Aronack?
Yes. Wow, you're going way back.
Well it gets worse, I noticed the name both in Dragonsteel [Prime] and in some chapters from Liar of Partinel--
Yes.
Was that a cannibalization? Or is that two separate appearances?
So Liar of Partinel was a re-envisioning of... Dragonsteel and so there were certain things I was changing but that's not one of them. That's the same person.
So was that story arc just-- Okay it's just the same thing?
Yeah.
How do you feel about Moash as a character? In terms of how the fandom receives him?
I am not surprised by how the fandom receives him. I wish it weren't a Wheel of Time meme that became our meme, but that's how memes go, right? ...I will say, brace yourself.
Can you give any history on Denth? I don't know what he did as one of the Five Scholars. What was his roll during the Manywar?
Boy, you know, I'd rather leave the history of the Five and the Manywar for the sequel. Denth was there, and at first he tried to stop it, work as a peacemaker, and eventually took Vasher's side. Until the death of his sister.
Our entire family reads your books, and we have differences in how we pronounce things, so I was wondering if you could read this list of words for me?
Alright, let's warn you that I do not pronounce the names correctly. Upfront, I will just warn you that I pronounce you like an American, not like a local. So Jasnah, Kelsier, Sazed, Sadeas, Camon, OreSeur, koloss. Kelsier, for instance would be kel-SEE-ay in world, but that's not how I say it, cause I'm American.
The creatures on the inside cover of Way of Kings - we've had various discussion about what they actually are, and some people are calling them Crabwasps and other Dragonwasps. Can you tell me anything else about them, and can you pick one of the two for us to use?
The decision for that image was made near the last minute to have Isaac make the image. It is an important symbol, and will be mentioned in detail in later books. While neither name is correct, they both could work until the official name is revealed (Brandon wouldn't pick one over the other).
First off, I want to say thank you for the great illustrations.
I was wondering, what is your favorite scene that you have, or wish, to draw?
Thank you for the compliment! We do 'em 'cause we love 'em, and we love when you love 'em too. :)
All my favorite scenes are so spoileriffic. The Second Ideal, the chasmfiend appearances, the final battles of WoR, "Stretch forth thy hand!"
If I draw my favorite scenes and they're seen by people who haven't read the books, it'd be like seeing all the best parts of the movie in the trailer.
Could the mantle of Herald be passed to another person. Could they--
Read And Find Out, I'm afraid.
Something I've been curious about: will Liar of Partinel be released as a Sanderson Curiosity eventually? I noticed that in the stream a while back where you listed your unpublished books, you didn't list it among them.
Also, you gave four approximate sort of "quality tiers", of
Which tier would Liar be in?
Liar would be #2, I'd think. Problem is, it's close enough to continuity (having been written after I'd outlined the cosmere) that I wouldn't want to actually release it until after I've done the actual Hoid backstory book. I've changed some dramatic things about how I want to present the story, so it would be bad to release this one.
We've reached a point where Dragonsteel, however, wouldn't be a spoiler. So I'm tempted to release that one in the next kickstarter. I've been kicking around the idea of an actual revision of White Sand, to make it publishable, and release that as an actual canon novel. It's the only one that could happen to.
Does this mean there is no chance of a canon version of Aether of Night ever being published? I really enjoyed it and think a fully polished version would be fantastic.
It is unlikely, but not impossible. Aether could be made canon with only slight changes--but it doesn't fit into the larger cosmere story any longer, so I don't know of how much interest it would be.
To clarify, you're referring to the actual Aether of Night novel, not the future rewritten Aether books that you've mentioned before, right? Or are those not likely anymore either?
Since Aether of Night could be canon with slight changes, I assume the Aethers in the book will be mostly canon as they are, at least in your current outline?
If you were to revise Aether to be canon, would you be replacing Ruin and Preservation with two other Shards, or would you be more likely to just remove Ruin convincing the Twins to imprison Preservation?
Future Aether books are very likely. And the aethers themselves are going to be very like the ones in the book.
If I did try to make it canon, I'd probably remove the whole Shard plot from the book and instead either use another Shard, or not add a new one, since the Aethers (as I have them now in the notes) function without a Shard's involvement, and even predate the shattering. (Note, that's not yet canon.)
Would Steris make a good/great Lightweaver, considering her near superhuman self-awareness?
Problem is she might be too honest with herself.
Burning cadmium, is that maybe like a way to- maybe in the sci-fi novels where you can basically do your interstellar travel without, like you know dying going long distances. Is that kind of like the plan?
In [Bands of Morning] I will start talking about the rules for using these magics while you’re in motion.
Besides Hoid, are we ever going to see people with powers from multiple worlds? Like, a Pewterarm Stoneward?
This is inevitable, but I don't think you should be expecting it soon. But it is absolutely an inevitability that this will become part of the story.
Atium is the best metal to use for Hemalurgy. Does *burning* atium help you figure out where to put the spikes?
Anything that gets you a glimpse of the Spiritual Realm could help with placing spikes.
Would flaring iron and steel also help?
No, not without additional help.
If a kandra were to somehow take the form of a dragon, would they notice any differences in anatomy, or is it spot-on impersonation?
I'm going to RAFO that, to leave Dragonsteel for Dragonsteel when we get there.
Are Skybreakers like the MPs of the Knight's Radiant?
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.
When will second book of Legion be out on Audible?
Probably, I think November 1st is the scheduled release date and I think Audible--I can't promise this--but I think we are going to do the same thing we did with the first one, which is it will be free on Audible for like the first two months because they are short enough that charging a full credit for them is kind of, you know, they are one-third of a book, right? But you can't really split a credit into one-third credits. So if you do want to go buy Legion off of Audible, the Audible version is very nice and I think they sell it for five bucks or something, don't use a credit just go spend five bucks on it. And the second one--we did that one free for the first few months, and I think we may do the second one free for the first few months also.
Are they planning to go that for Infinity Blade, like for an Audible release?
I don't think there are plans right now, but the fact that you are interested makes me think maybe we should ask if they are interested.
