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CheddarCheeseCurds

Will there ever be a cosmere cookbook, with official recipes for foods from each world, or the best Earth approximation?

Brandon Sanderson

We get this occasionally. I always say it's a possibility but it's not very high up on our list right now.

Karen Ahlstrom

Deana Whitney has actually been working on this and has a series of articles on tor.com. It's not recent, that I've heard about, but she asked me what kind of food they have on Scadrial and I gave her a list, because types of food is a thing that I have a list of, and I can just copy and paste, and there you go, Deana.

Brandon Sanderson

I'm going to have to make those weirder and weirder, to make it more and more difficult.

The Sunny One

I've been rereading the earlier Cosmere titles recently, and I was wondering: are we ever likely to see full world maps for these locations?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, probably during next age, or next era. Once we get to modern era, and their mapping technology is to a modern equivalent, you'll start seeing full world maps. I'd love to do globes; I don't know how much interest there is in a Roshar globe, but I've wanted to do that for years.

yulerule

Can you Forge liquids, like-- Does that go into Bloodsealing, can you change their blood type?

Brandon Sanderson

OK, can you use Forgery to, say, change someone's blood type? Yes. Can you Forge liquids? A little harder to stamp liquids, so this kind of comes down to, can you--

yulerule

Like, if you have a glass of water and you put salt in the water can you Forge it or make it and make it--

Brandon Sanderson

This is possible, but it requires a few little workarounds. Obviously you can do it because you Forge somebody, and they're mostly liquid.

yulerule

But you're putting in on a hard surface.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, in the same way that you would with thr liquid you would probably--

yulerule

Touch some ice?

Brandon Sanderson

No, you would probably take the cup, and make it part of the whole, and if you can-- Remember in the cosmere, it depends on how you view a thing. Is it a whole? Do you view this as a cup of water, or do you view it as a cup and the water? Do you view a person as a vessel and the blood inside them, or together as a person? And that perception really affects your magic. So it's possible, for instance, to Forge a cup of water, Forging just the cup is easier than Forging just the water.

XMikethetrikeX

A question regaurding Feruchemical iron:

So, while Sazed was guarding one of the gates to Luthadel, he tapped weight to compensate, he had to tap pewter as well. Also, when he was climbing a tree, his strength to weght ratio rised, making it easier for him to climb it. Wax doesn't have to do this- when fighting Miles on the train, he's fine without any sort of muscular enhancement, and when he is climbing in the sets base, he notes that he does not make himself lighter because it would simply decrease his weight and strength equally (in contrast to Sazed climbing the tree).

So, is this difference for the same reason people can push/ pull on atium, being the you hadn't fully developed your idea for the cosmere yet? Or is it some other reason?

Brandon Sanderson

Hmm. I think the mistake is more on me writing the Wax scene than in the original. (For him climbing, specifically.) I'll put Peter on this and see if it's a continuity error we want to fix.

i_am_a_watermelon1

I've heard somewhere that you already have a backstory for Hoid written, but you're waiting to release it as it would reveal too much about the Cosmere universe... is this true?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, this is true.

i_am_a_watermelon1

Do you ever plan on bringing different realms together?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes I do.

OrangeJedi

If you had a giant pool of milk or mercury, or some other liquid, on a cosmere planet, how would that manifest in the Cognitive Realm?

Brandon Sanderson

I will RAFO that. I've actually thought about it. You'll have to see. Those two things are slightly different, the two things you just mentioned.

AndyGranny

The Five Scholars traveled from Nalthis to Roshar. And Intent is very important across all of the Cosmere. But also, Sel is actually closer than it is to Roshar. And from everything we know right now, when it comes to Intent, the Intent of using the Aons mirrors sort of Awakening. So did they travel to Sel as well, and has that influenced the way Nalthians learned to Awaken?

Brandon Sanderson

That is a RAFO for right now. Let's just say that the things that happened on Sel that prevented travel were not in place several thousand years ago.

What I sidestepped is whether the Scholars had been to Sel, I heavily implied people from Nalthis had been to Sel. Don't take that as canon, that it's specifically the Scholars. That part is a RAFO.

Brandon Sanderson

Secondary Projects

White Sand

The graphic novel incorporating the first third of the book was a huge success, so we're going full-steam on the second part. And, of course, Khriss (one of the main characters) is the in-world author of many essays in Arcanum Unbounded. So Taldain is still peeking up here and there, reminding everyone it's part of the cosmere.

I don't have control over when the second part of the graphic novel comes out. That all depends on the artist's schedule—but I have assurances from the publisher that it won't take too terribly long. We'll post when we know for sure about release dates.

Status: Second volume actively being worked on.

Questioner

How many different worlds of the cosmere has Nightblood been to in total? By which I mean, been present in the Physical Realm of that world.

Brandon Sanderson

More than two.

ArsenoPyrite

Is the act of taking up a shard parallel to the act of Awakening? In broad strokes awakening gives a piece of a soul for power along with a purpose or compulsion. So, say, when someone takes up Ruin, are they operating on the same principle, taking a fragment of Adolnasium's 'soul' along with the command "ruin things"?

Brandon Sanderson

You could make this parallel, and argue it to many of the cosmere-aware scholars in the books, and they'd find themselves nodding.

Questioner

When Sazed moved the planet in the third Mistborn, I know it has it’s own solar system but did it affect the cosmere in any way?

Brandon Sanderson

Not in huge amounts. Technically yes, because you change gravity, but they are lightyears away, so they wouldn’t even notice. I mean, it changed Shadesmar a little bit too, so there were upheavals, but it was not drastic. If what you are looking for is the cause of the earthquake on Sel, then no. The earthquake was years before.

Khyrindor

Was Felt cosmere-aware during Era 1?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Khyrindor

Was he directly involved in the interplanetary trade through the Pits?

Brandon Sanderson

He was involved. Whether directly is the right term or not I will not say.

Khyrindor

And is he part of the Seventeenth Shard?

Brandon Sanderson

He has been a member of various different groups and had various different motivations over the years. I would not put him, right now, as a member of the Seventeenth Shard.

Khyrindor

As in, like, Stormlight Archive--

Brandon Sanderson

As of Stormlight Archive Era: Not a member of the Seventeenth Shard. Obviously--well, I won't go any further on that.

Tritlo

Another question, do you think you'll eventually publish a "The World of Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere"?

Brandon Sanderson

Probably. Though first, we'd probably do [The Way of Kings] and Mistborn worldbooks.

Questioner

Are Hemalurgic spikes fabrials? Is a body that has been spiked a fabrial? Are koloss and kandra also something similar?

Brandon Sanderson

No, actually.

Fabrial means specifically a bit of Investiture that has been trapped by a gemstone and then modified to do something else. Hemalurgy is its own thing--though there is a slight similarity. In most Hemalurgy, Investiture keyed to the Identity of someone (a bit of a soul) is ripped off, and then magically grafted onto someone else's soul. Not the same, though I can see the confusion.

Koloss and kandra are similar, though in this case, the soul is mostly just being distorted by using an Invested spike. In the cosmere, the body will attempt to match the soul, and so a twisted soul (Spiritual aspect of a person) can have profound effects on both mind and body.

ArtemosHyre

There was a really neat recent post that showed how they use a rotated Copper symbol like we use the "cent" symbol ¢. Are there any other examples in your mind?

Isaac Stewart

I'm glad someone noticed that we took copper and rotated it to mean "clip." Since Scadrial is the closest planet to being like Earth in the Cosmere so far, it's fun to do little things like that. I could see us doing something similar with one of the other symbols to use it to mean a boxing, maybe the symbol for Gold.

Questioner

So Threnody, does it have anything to do with Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson

Uh, I mean--

Questioner

Beside y’know that there in the same--

Brandon Sanderson

No, it doesn't. I mean, it's connected to the larger cosmere… You will find more. There are important people from Threnody that are involved in things. You've seen other people from Threnody in the books but I don't think like it's connected to Roshar in any special way

Oversleep

Will we see Scadrial in cyberpunk era?

Brandon Sanderson

I have plans for Scadrial cyberpunk but the problem is I don't know if I'll have a long enough lifespan to write all these books. So I'm trying to avoid adding any more books to the Cosmere outline until I get a little further along I'm gonna have to write; consider that Oathbringer turned out to be a quarter longer than Words of Radiance. I really need to be sure I'm keeping going and trying to keep from expanding too big. Definitely the 1980s one, some cyberpunk themes will bleed into it cause that's when cyberpunk started.

But maybe I'll see the new Blade Runner and I'll have to write one, so...

Questioner

So, I don't know which one it's in, but when Nazh was analyzing Bridge Four--

Brandon Sanderson

Nazh was analyzing Bridge Four, yes.

Questioner

Why?

Brandon Sanderson

Why was Nazh analyzing Bridge Four? Well, you will find clues to that in the pieces of art in The Stormlight Archive, that he was trying to obtain...they are very interested...certain elements of the Cosmere are very interested in the progress of the Nahel bond as the Knights Radiant are making them.

Juan Jesus (aka Guinruneh)

When you wrote The Way of Kings... do you know who was going to be Thaidakar?

Brandon Sanderson

When I started it, I had two options for myself, depending on what I decided to do with Secret History and things like that. I wasn't 100% sure that the thing that happened in Secret History, that I would be able to write, so I had a backup plan in case that didn't happen in the Cosmere. So, there is a world where Thaidakar is TenSoon imitating somebody else. If I didn't do all the stuff that happened in Secret History. But since I did have a chance to do that, and I did decide to go with that, then I went with plan A, which was the original plan.

dalici0us

Sigzil sound and feel like a totally different person from what we've seen of him in Stormlight now that he has lived a (presumably) very long life and seen a lot of the Cosmere. How do you balance consistency with what was shown of him in prior books with centuries of off-screen character development to avoid making it feel like he is just a brand new character with some name recognition?

Brandon Sanderson

This is a balancing act. That's actually a really excellent question. And it depends on how long the person has been gone. Like, I did a time jump between books 3 and 4 of Stormlight. And so, wanted some thing to have happened and some character development to have occurred to characters, but that to be very slight and them to be mostly still who they were before. But you can't skip a year and have people be exactly the same. I felt like with this one the length of time between was really relevant in the things that had happened to him. And so what I have doing with him is this balancing act of him frequently thinking about the person he used to be and seeing that person pop through. And that's the difference between just new character and what I'm doing with Nomad is, you will see the old him more and more as the story progresses, popping out in certain cases and places. He is the same person deep down, but he's been through a lot. I don't know if there's a science to this. It's just an art of saying, "Can I write someone like this, that has been through the things he's been and the time that it's taken and what would be the realistic way to do that?"

Questioner

So Allomantic Savants. So I was curious-- That system-- When that happens, is it purely physiological, or is there something else happening in terms of--

Brandon Sanderson

Uhh, it's physiological in a cosmere sense, but that can involve your Cognitive and Spiritual aspects.

Questioner

I guess the question there is, are there other similar processes to savantism with other--

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, yeah you've seen it. So, Soulcasters.

Argent

Where their skin turns--

Brandon Sanderson

Where they're slowly being-- their spirit is slowly being merged and infused with Investiture that is having Physical ramifications. It's the same thing.

Pontus Hallén

Regarding the Ire: did they set out into the Cosmere pre- or post-Reod?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO! :)

tenth

Possibility of a Stormlight Encyclopedia?

Just wondering when/if you think one of these will be made?I'm already just so...mentally torn apart trying to keep all the tiny details and nuances in my head, not just about cosmere stuff, but specific functions of spren, heralds and their secrets, voidbringers, parshendi culture, and all the other secrets, hints, tiny details, etc. So, maybe after the first 5 are finished or at least by the publication of the 10th we could get an encyclopedia of terms, maps, etc? Or maybe even just a Sanderson Encylopedia? Thoughts?

Ben McSweeney

Hopefully I'm not speaking out of school, but this is a topic close to my heart, and occasionally someone asks about it at conventions or online.

A companion book will almost certainly happen at some point, because there's a wealth of unpublished content that's collecting as the series is produced, and a companion book seems like the best way to make use of that additional material beyond it's actual purpose (serving as constructive steps on the way to the published work).

It will almost certainly not happen before the mid-point break. May not happen until the end, but based on the first two books I feel confident that we'll have plenty of material to make a good companion by the halfway mark... it will depend on the market demand when we reach that point, and various factors that can't be predicted until we're near that time will determine it's shape and content.

I would like to see it happen concurrently with Book V (last book of the current arc), to capitalize on market presence at the time of publication, but we'll see what happens in a few years. In the meantime, the archive continues to grow.

Questioner

If you had an AI like M-Bot with subroutines that simulate emotions, if it was written well enough, could it attract a spren?

Brandon Sanderson

I will RAFO that for now, I have been asked it a bunch. Let's just say, AI in the cosmere are going to be an interesting thing to explore. We will explore that.

Questioner

How do you decide what perspective you put it in? First person, third person?

Brandon Sanderson

A lot of it depends on the number of viewpoints I'm gonna have for a book. It's a pretty easy thing, but if I'm gonna have one viewpoint, I'll put it almost always in first. Not always, but almost always, because I can use the tools. Genre influences it also. First person's more prevalent in YA than it is in adult. And kind of, like, what tone do I want for it? Like, the first person book I'll do in the Cosmere, I probably won't do one until I do Hoid's book. Because he's the storyteller telling you the story. And the other ones, I want to be trustworthy, like the narration of which, even if a specific viewpoint is untrustworthy, the narration is trustworthy.

Questioner

I was wondering if Sleepless-- the Dysian Aimians-- if they could hold a Shard?

Brandon Sanderson

Could the Sleepless hold a Shard? Could they be a Vessel? Is what you're asking?

*hems and haws* There is nothing innate about the Shards that prevents any one with a-- I have to phrase this very carefully...

Non-humans can be Vessels. Non-humans have been vessels. Certain sapient creatures in the cosmere, could not be. But that's an asterisk, not the rule.

mathota123

With Cosmere movies looking more and more like a reality, are there any other types of media you would like to see your works in? Personally I feel Mistborn would translate very well into an anime.

Brandon Sanderson

I'd investigate that if it were an actual possibility, but the chances of it happening are basically zero. Anime companies are not regularly buying western books for adaptation--aside from the few by Miazaki's company (which I'm not going to try to spell because I can never remember how the vowels go.) I would of course say yes to them, were the chance to arise. But an anime based on my books is not something I've ever seen the faintest, tiniest nibble on from any Japanese company.

(Generally, western fantasy novels do not sell well in Japan; they seem to prefer science fiction in prose form, at least from America.)

Oversleep

How about western animation? For example, Avatar: The Last Airbender or Legend Of Korra? I feel Stormlight would do very well animated, since all the visual problems go away. And Legend Of Korra feels very much like Second Era Mistborn.

Brandon Sanderson

The problem is that these, though great, are still pitched as children's programming. I know there are all kinds of arguments with that, but the reality is that the marketing people control things like this, and the chances are really, really slim.

Christian Hoffer

Could you tease any potential crossover characters that are going to appear in these books? Obviously, Hoid (a character who has appeared in all of Sanderson's Cosmere novels to date) is at the center of Secret Project One.

Brandon Sanderson

So, Secret Project Four features a character from one of my books who has never had their own book, who is not Hoid, that readers will recognize. This has been a character who has had viewpoints, but no book.

It's not a main character, but it is somebody who's had some viewpoints and is very related to a main character. So, that's Secret Project Four. And Secret Project One has at least one more character who has been mentioned in a book before, but who has never appeared on screen, right? Stuff like that.

Questioner

Is there a way for any of the Shards to circumvent the Cognitive Realm and resurrect somebody?

Brandon Sanderson

...So, resurrection in the cosmere is-- depends on if-- where your mind is, and the status of your body, and whether your mind and soul have kind of combined and passed on. If you get to them before that happens, then you can re-attach the soul to the body. And you see that happening in Warbreaker quite often.

Bystanders

The Returned.

Brandon Sanderson

The Returned, yeah. You just gotta get the soul before it passes on. Once it passes on nobody knows where it goes.

clyguy

Now Harmony tells Spook that Kelsier and Vin say hi. So is he able to reach into wherever they are?

Brandon Sanderson

He doesn't say that they say hi, he says--

Bystanders

They're doing well.

Brandon Sanderson

They're doing well.

clyguy

Can he see them or communicate with them at all?

Brandon Sanderson

He has interacted with them at some point.

mmSNAKE

There isn't anything story specific I'd want to ask, I wish to discover by reading. I was wondering if Stormlight Archive books are going to get a special edition limited prints from Subterranean Press, like some of your other work?

Brandon Sanderson

Our plan is to do tenth anniversary books of all of the cosmere novels, though right now I plan to put the four Wax and Wayne books into two volumes. (So, sell them as two-in-one.) Likewise, it's possible that the Stormlight books will be better as two volumes each, sold in a slip case together, so that you don't risk ruining bindings by reading them.

Questioner

When the Heralds abandoned the Oathpact, why did they believe they needed to leave their Honorblades behind as they disbanded? Did they know what would happen to their blades after they left them?

Brandon Sanderson

There's a couple things going on here. If you've read Way of Kings Prime, there is built, originally into the Honorblades, the ability to find other Honorblades by using them. This has not been canonized into the cosmere as it exists yet, but it is still a power that's in the back of my mind, it is most likely something you can access with the Honorblades: let you find the others. This is calling back to the old Fred Saberhagen Swords books, which were part of the inspiration for these. So one reason they would leave them behind, the lesser reason, is: they're supposed to go split up, and they don't want to see each other. They want to leave them behind, because it's like: "The others might be able to find me. We're going our separate ways. We are done."

But the greater reason, the canon reason, that you can cite is that idea of: "I am walking away from being a Herald. This was the gift I was given, and a representation of that gift I was given, that represents me standing up for humankind. And I am no longer willing to do that, so I have to give this thing up." And they all knew it. They didn't have to be told it, because they knew what they were doing meant they didn't deserve those anymore. Not in a magical sense, but in a sort of philosophical and moral sense.

kanuut

Why don't Feruchemists wear small metalminds like rings, toe-rings, earrings (Lot of rings it seems), as backups.

Brandon Sanderson

Most Feruchemists do just what you say. Look at the Lord Ruler and Sazed. Both have tons.

In the new era books, you have two Feruchemstis where it doesn't make sense. Wayne's healing stores are very difficult to build, and take a lot of time. He generally burns through them quickly, though sometimes mentions he's got a little stored away. Being Wayne, though, he tends to use these up and push himself right to the edge of running out.

Wax is somewhat similar. He can use iron, a very common metal, to store and make a metalmind. He's generally storing weight everywhere he goes, a little, as the books point out. He's got many metalminds, but he's not as possessive of them, as filling his metalmind is as much of a power as tapping it.

So...I'm not sure what gave you the impression that they don't have lots of metalminds. Also, keep in mind that in your example of someone getting knocked out, they're going to get searched well enough to find a toe ring. Generally, as Wayne has pointed out in the books, sticking a coin or something in your mouth is the preferred way to hide something.

Brandon Sanderson

Tertiary Projects

Legion

The new Marvel television show is unrelated, but it being out killed our chances of a television show based on these books. I do want to do a third story, but might save it for another short story collection (with all of the non-cosmere works like this, Perfect State, etc.)

I really wanted Legion to be a television show, even before I started writing the first story. So we might rebrand them, calling them simply Leeds, and try another run through Hollywood with the new titles. If so, another novella would certainly help us get attention there. We'll see.

Status: Probably not this year, but still on my radar.

Nanotyrann

Kaladin's new occupation raised a discussion about the use of shardscalpels against tumors in Daniel's Discord, can you clarify what happens with a tumor when it is stabbed with a shard?

Brandon Sanderson

With training, it could be made to cut out a tumor--but that wouldn't be the natural result.

Cosmere surgery stuff is going to be...odd, at least on the magical side. How the person views themselves and the disease could influence things in interesting ways.

Benjamin Shaw

You've mentioned exploring alternative ways to tell the cosmere story due to time constraints. Besides books and films, what other mediums are you considering?

Brandon Sanderson

Graphic novels, obviously, since White Sand is our first foray into graphic novels. We intend to do more graphic novels. We've learned a ton. We appreciate everybody who supported White Sand in its graphic novel form. And we think we're gonna just be way better as we move forward. And so we're excited to try that out and see what you guys think of that.

What else would we do? Video games will not be easier. They will take more time. While I do want to do that, they are not a time-saving method. And indeed, film is not a time-saving method, if I have to write all the screenplays myself. Which, hopefully, I won't have to; but we shall see. So far I've not loved any of the Mistborn screenplays that have come in, which is why I'm doing it myself. We'll see if I can do one that works.

Genabackan

By the time of Sixth of the Dusk, are the Ones Above undisputably the most technologically advanced society in the cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson

No, they aren't. There has been some concurrent development, and a lot of sharing technology--to the point that you could make an argument for several societies being equal, though some better in specific areas.

Timsama

Is finding out what the deal was with Mare, is that an Era 2 thing we're going find out or is that...

Brandon Sanderson

No, unfortunately it is to be left, probably, as a mystery. It is a minor secret that I do not consider a major Cosmere thing, more of a backstory thing. I might eventually get around to it. The chances of it factoring in are very, very slim. I stay closed lipped about it because there is a part of me that thinks I will work it into Secret History 2, sort of like flash-backing material, but I'm not 100% sure I will.

Daniel Greene

You said you'd like to die in every adaptation. Is there a particular death from a story you'd love to have? Like, Syl thrown through you at a distance? Or is there a death that stands out from the Cosmere that really should be Sanderson?

Brandon Sanderson

You know, the only really dramatic one that I think of is Vin and Zane's assault on the keep in book two of Mistborn. There's, like, a semi-lobby-sequence-from-Matrix-esque sequence in Mistborn Two. That's one of the ones where I'm like, "I oughtta be on that wall when they come passin' by." But, no, I haven't really otherwise thought "hmm, who should I be." I want to not be distracting. I don't want to be, like, one of the guys who dies in the bridge crews that's all very dramatic, and things. I want real actors for those. Peter Jackson died in a really fun way in the third Lord of the Rings film, right? He's all done up in makeup so you can barely tell it's him, but he does a very good death, and that's inspiration to me. That's my kind; the behind-the-scenes guy who gets to get shot by a bunch of arrows. I want to be there; that's what I aspire to.

Questioner

Nadia wants to know if we've kicked around the idea for publishing an illustrated version of the Stormlight Archive, or some sort of guide with illustrations.

Brandon Sanderson

Right. We've kicked around the idea of a world guide, which is pretty common in epic fantasy. George has some, Wheel of Time had the Big White Book as it was called, the guide to the Wheel of Time, and then following that, an encyclopedia. I could imagine doing world guides like that with lots of artwork and things like that for various Cosmere worlds.

I would not want to do it for Stormlight until book 5 is done, because then you've got kind of an - book 5 will wrap up the first major arc, and it would just be a good time for something like that as a companion to the first five books, but we haven't talked about it really seriously ever, just because we have so many projects on our plate that this one - just not one we've gotten around to.

And plus, you know, they tend to take a ton of work, or, conversely, a ton of randomness. I know the people who worked on the Big White Book for Wheel of Time, and they're very proud of it and they did some very good work. But a lot of the fans were disappointed for the artwork quality for some of the pieces in the Big White Book, and that's always been kind of a warning cry to me, that if you're expecting artwork like we have in the end-pages for the Stormlight Archive all the way through it - that's a lot of work, and involves a lot of Isaac's time, and so we would have to find a time when he is excited to do it, or that we can, you know, talk Ben McSweeney into doing that himself, or something like that.

So yeah, it's on the table, but I wouldn't expect it soon.

wiresegal

In post-medallion-tech Scadrial, (i.e. Era 3) is there any cultural awareness of transgender people? Since for some, their biological state would be affected by Feruchemical gold healing, and that would probably be a documented effect.

Brandon Sanderson

The different cultures and subcultures are going to look at this differently, but I'd say yes, there is awareness. And the more they experiment with the metallic arts being available outside of genetic lines, the more this will be understood for reasons you point out.

L0neGamer

*posting a thread in the "WhoWouldWin" subreddit titled "Randland vs Scadrial"*

Round 1: Zen Rand (after revelation, before last battle) vs Mist Vin (Feeding on infinite metal sources) - Both at their top tiers, they should, by my estimation, be matched because of the rays of power vs seeing the future.

Round 2: The armies of Randland vs The armies of Scadrial - Aes Sedai, Asha'man, dragons/cannons, vs koloss, mistings, mistborns.

Bonus round: The Lord Ruler and his armies have to take on the Dark One, and his armies. How well do they fare?

Other rounds would be cool if you come up with more.

EDIT: Since people seem to think that RandLand would stomp, how would Vin and crew, with/without the Lord Ruler, fare if they had full knowledge of Rand's abilities and 6 months to prepare?

Brandon Sanderson

I think that while Vin in the state you mention might be able to give a good fight to Rand, overall, Randland winds. Channelers are more powerful and versatile than most metalborn. Randland has far better generals; everyone on Scadrial is basically still winging it. I hand this one to Randland, unless Kelsier can pull off some improbable assassinations before the whole thing begins.

potentscrotem

Would the time reversing properties of balefire remove the ability [of atium] to see the future?

Brandon Sanderson

Boy, this one is a tough call. Mixing cosmologies is tough. If we're IN Randland, then atium would work by reading the pattern--but in the cosmere, it looks into the Spiritual Realm--where all times, locations, and possibilities conflate. Either way, I'd say Balefire could counteract atium--but it would be tricky to use correctly, as you'd basically have to balefire some object that the atium burner was factoring into their plans very soon, tripping them up and catching them unable to adjust to the new futures quickly enough.

Argent

Not too long ago you told us atium works in the Cognitive - to quote you in reference to how stronger atium burns, "However, there's a certain breaking point where you kind of crack the whole system, peer straight into the cognitive realm, and kind of have a "It's full of stars" moment."

Are the two replies still compatible?

Brandon Sanderson

I meant Spiritual there. Sorry. I deal with the cognitive so much in the books, and Spiritual so infrequently, I often have a silver/tin moment when my fingers just type the thing I'm used to typing.

Steve Desamos

Would you consider working with a professional linguist to translate a Cosmere novel into that planet's native equivalent?

Brandon Sanderson

Seems like a lot of work for a very few number of people. I can imagine getting, like, a short story. Like one of Hoid's stories, maybe, translated into local. But creating the full conlang is not a thing that most of us do unless there's, like, a strict need for a film. (Dothraki didn't exist as a full conlang until the television show and they started needing to be able to speak it in full sentences.) I imagine that most of my conlangs won't get fully developed until that.

Maybe... I know people love their Klingon Christmas Carol. It is a thing. It's a possibility; it's a thing I could consider. But I think a short story is way more likely.

LewsTherinTelescope

The fainlife from the Liar sample chapters is one of my favorite elements of the Cosmere so far. Has it spread significantly anywhere besides Yolen so far? I really want to see more of it.

Brandon Sanderson

It has spread off of Yolen in signficant ways. 

Argent

How do visions in the cosmere work? And I'm thinking Realmatically.

Brandon Sanderson

So almost always [it's] glimpsing into the Spiritual Realm. But you are often seeing it through the Cognitive, and so like a vision that...

So like the vision that Dalinar sees. What's going on is-- being pulled, and kind of stretched a little bit through the Realms, into the Spiritual Realm.  Where a Cognitive construct is adding a framework to seeds that are set in place.

Argent

So that you can kind of comprehend the Spiritual?

Brandon Sanderson

You can comprehend-- and also there's a little bit of a life to it. Meaning it can respond to you and things like this, to an extent. So imagine, it kind of works like an AI. Imagine there's some-- You've got that power in the Spiritual Realm and you're adding a framework to it, that it is shining through, and that is giving you the vision. Complicated, I know. Spiritual Realm is supposed to be weird, and we aren't supposed to quite comprehend it, but that's why we've got the Cognitive framework there.

Brandon Sanderson

Projects in Development

Silence Divine

This story (which is the one about a world where catching a disease grants you magical talents) is another perennial State of the Sanderson participant.

I did some work on a short story in this world a while back, and liked it, but didn't have time to finish. (This is the thing I did readings from during the Words of Radiance tour, I believe.) It's set in the cosmere, and I have plans to someday write this—but I'm not sure when I'll do it. Could be a long way off still.

Status: On Hiatus

Questioner

Is the fundamental force of gravity [gravitational constant] the same [throughout the Cosmere]?

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, is the constant the same? Yes, the constant would be the same. The big difference is, what I am tweaking to the fundamental forces is, I imagine on Roshar that there are more fundamental forces. Which is totally breaking the laws of physics, right? But [in] magic there are more than four. I've broken them up into, at least, what their scientists have decided. So. But yes.

Questioner

How connected is Stormlight to the Warbreaker books?

Brandon Sanderson

Pretty connected. Yeah, a lot of them...so, when I wrote Warbreaker, I actually had already written the first book Way of Kings, in Stormlight, and I was writing Warbreaker as kind of a prequel to it, but then they came out in reverse order. But they are very...they are the most connected of the Cosmere books right now.

Questioner

So, Shai and forgers. She forges the emperor’s soul, then she got to track by practicing on [Gaotona], and it kind of held for a minute since he was close to the emperor, and that means it was right. So it was basically trial and error.

Brandon Sanderson

It was.

Questioner

So even if she have a lot more time and a lot less information, she could’ve guessed?

Brandon Sanderson

Potentially, there’s a certain distance trial and error will take you; in a reasonable amount of time, there’s a certain distance that can take you.

Questioner

And in an unreasonable amount of time?

Brandon Sanderson

Unreasonable, yes. You can just trial and error your way through a lot of things.

Questioner

And by seeing it held on him for 24 hours of time, that means she got really close.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

And when she was forging herself, she was basically forging lies.

Brandon Sanderson

She was forging lies, but she knew how to make them really plausible for herself. Plausibility is a really big part of it. Can you convince the soul to not just of yourself...

Questioner

The decisions that she could have made?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah. That they were realistic, that they were there, that she could have made these, that everything lines up in the past. It’s a little like programming.

Questioner

So that’s why she could add a little bit to the emperor’s soul because that’s also plausible?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

Could she have changed him more if she knew more about him?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. She created a fake soul and put it in him, there are possibilities beyond what she did.

Questioner

So she could’ve gotten a bit wrong if her trial and error made it plausible instead of what happened?

Brandon Sanderson

Now, at least in her perspective, what she did was create a fake soul and put it in him. What I haven’t answered is did she just take the soul that was lingering on the body and fill in the gaps? Or did she legitimately craft a new soul? That I’ll leave to the cosmere philosophers to talk about.

Questioner

If you were transported in the cosmere in any contemporary period of the books (with the exception of Sixth of the Dusk) with the goal of reuniting Adonalsium, how long would it take you? Days? Weeks? Years?

Brandon Sanderson

Centuries. If it’s even possible, which I won’t even confirm anyways.

Questioner

With all of your knowledge?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, probably. Even if it were possible, if you’re going to go into Stormlight era, there are planets you’re going to have to get to with no perpendicularities. How are you gonna do that? Depends. It’s possible, but…

Questioner

So, Hoid was not afraid of a Shardblade? Would he be afraid of Nightblood?

Brandon Sanderson

Every rational person *laughter* who has ever existed in the cosmere is afraid of Nightblood, or should be. Hoid isn't always rational, but yes, he is afraid of him.