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In The Way of Kings, there's a Death Rattle that reads, "He must pick it up, the fallen title! The tower, the crown, and the spear!" Have the events alluded to in this Death Rattle occurred, on or off screen, by the end of Rhythm of War?
No. *evil laughter*
Could the tower, the crown, and the spear possibly be referring to Renarin?
RAFO, RAFO, RAFO!
Can Hoid “Skip” like Sigzil?
RAFO. He hasn't been able to in the past. You have not seen him able to do so in the books that you have read. If we take the current Cosmere timeline as being where basically Stormlight is, with maybe the Wax and Wayne books. That's where we are in the real timeline of the Cosmere, without the glimpses of the future that some of these books are providing. Hoid has no idea how to do this.
I like how you're timelining your RAFOs. Like this is a RAFO but with information.
Yeah. Like I consider where the Cosmere is right now in its main timeline to be right around the 10 to 15 year period that Stormlight and Wax and Wayne are happening. And that's where we are in the Cosmere right now. But this is taking place way in the future. Actually, all three Secret Projects are fairly future era Cosmere. Basically I'm just kind of building out- what's going on with some of these things is, I want the Cosmere to be pushing towards a Star Wars/Star Trek-esque large universe of planets where lots of interesting stories are happening. And that's the future of the Cosmere. And so as I'm reaching to build more stories, I'm reaching to stories on those planets.
Did Kelsier help in the search for [Hoid] that Galladon and Demoux were doing in the Purelakes?
Good question--
He's the only one that can call him something similar, like "Drifter" so -
Yeah, I'm going to RAFO that-- Not quite where-- I'll just RAFO it. I'll just RAFO it. Kelsier is not on Roshar, but obviously that's not what you're asking, which is what I thought you were.
He has an aura that fits in with--
Mmhmm!
We got a RAFO ticket so--
Did you actually get a card? Those are so cool. I've only gotten one, and I've been working for this man for five years.
You have to ask more questions
I basically have to hit him at a signing and then I'm not supposed to be taking them from the fans.
Right. The thing is, he can have the answers he wants.
I get some. You RAFO'd me once.
I RAFO'd you once.
I actually think that's how I got the card. 'Cause I did it and you were like "No."
Is Wit still capable of producing children, given his situation?
He...*thinks for a long time* What do I wanna say? I will say RAFO. I'll say RAFO. This is one of the RAFOs where I absolutely know the answer, and I'm not going to give it to you yet.
A certain person went to a certain spren and got a boon and a curse, and later on, very recently, their fortunes have risen very high very fast. Is the boon and curse still in effect?
RAFO, but you will get answers in the fifth book about that. Excellent question, but this is a RAFO with a "yes it's coming", not a nebulous RAFO.
What would happen if a Feruchemist fills, for example, a tin metalmind then mixes it to make a pewter metalmind? Does the stored attribute change? Is the Investiture gone when you melt the metal? What if he just makes it into a tin metalmind again?
If you make it impure, you'll keep the investiture, but won't be able to get it out. If you make it back into the same thing, you'll be fine, and can access it normally. If you try to fill it, after changing the composition to make another viable metal, it will act a little like a computer hard drive with corrupted sectors. Some of it will work for the new investiture, but you won't be able to fill it nearly as full. (Depending on how full it was before you melted down.)
This holds for basic uses of the metallurgic arts. Once you start playing with some of the more advanced parts of the magic, you can achieve different results, which are currently RAFO.
Similarly, if you were to soulcast a metal would it have similar effects of corrupting the investiture and making it inaccessible? Like if you turned a steel metalmind into pewter.
I've stayed away from soulcasting and forging in these types of discussions, as I feel my answers will dig too deeply and prompt more questions that, eventually, will lead to lots of RAFO type questions. I don't really want to go there--but I will say this. Changing invested objects with other magics is hard, and often requires such a force of investiture yourself, that it becomes very power-inefficient. Just like we can technically turn lead into gold right now--by spending way more money than the gold is worth.
So you could, for example, use electrolysis to dissolve a metalmind in water, then reverse the reaction later to get the investiture?
OR, better question, if you store investiture in one allotrope of iron, can your retrieve it off you change to a different allotrope?
I see no reason why these wouldn't work.
So would forging with the blood of a radiant(kaladin, dalinar,etc) work on a shard blade from a fallen radiant to say change who they had bonded, or how the bond was broken (to say death instead of giving up on the oath)?
RAFO.
Hoid, he already has his Cryptic by Era 2, if I'm correct on the timeline. So have we seen him using his new fancy Lightweaving in action? Has he spoken his fifth Truth?
I will RAFO that for now. I'll RAFO both of those. Those are two separate things, but I will RAFO them. You have seen Hoid Lightweaving, but whether you have seen him use his fancy new Lightweaving... we'll leave that off for now. Let's just say that he knows that certain uses of Investiture are easier to detect than others, and if you don't want to be seen, there are certain things you don't do.
I was wondering if the Tranquiline halls, if that's in the spiritual, the physical, or the Cognitive?
So... that's a big fat RAFO, because that's actually a false dilemma, there are other options than those three. One of which just being that it is a mythological piece from their theology and not an actual location.
So it's not an actual place?
That's a fourth option for the three, does that makes sense? So its a bigger RAFO even than that, it's a RAFO in that I'm not going to confirm that its one of those three. Good question.
We now know that Glys and Tumi were Enlightened, and that has—to some extent—affected Renarin's Oaths and Surges. Could this Enlightenment have only happened one way? In the sense that is every Enlightened mistspren going to be displaying the same changes, or is there room for exploration here?
Good question and RAFO. I'm glad you're asking that, but I am going to RAFO it.
*written* Has Vasher (or any of the alias he goes by) ever fathered a biological child? (before or after he returned)
*written* RAFO
*spoken* That's also a RAFO, sorry.
Why did the Sharans have a prophecy about the Dragon slayer?
...Partially, that's a RAFO. RAFO, meaning, "I am no longer the voice of canon for The Wheel of Time." And I've been very careful about this. While I was working on the books, while I was writing them-- When I was first handed The Wheel of Time, Harriet said, in essence, to me: "You are the author on these now. You just have to convince me. You can do whatever you feel is necessary to tell the story the right way." And for that time, I stepped into the shoes of being in charge of all of that. Though, like I have Karen here, there's always Maria and Alan even back then, that are like, "Certain things contradict. You just can't do that." But for a while, I was the voice of canon. I have stepped out of those shoes. It's not an appropriate place for me to stand any longer. That was a mantle that I bore for a short time ,and then I gave the One Ring back to Frodo. Because that was something I had to carry, because no one else could, for a short time, but it wasn't mine. It wasn't my duty. I've left those shoes behind. So I do not give canon answers. I let that to Maria and Harriet on things like this.
Now, I can talk about, like, story and narrative reasons why I did certain things that I did. For instance, I, as a reader, waited for years and years to find out what's happening in Shara, and I wanted to do something big and cool with it when the books came along. When Harriet said, "You can do whatever you want. Here are the notes, you can do whatever you want." If you've looked at the notes, Robert Jordan's notes were really interesting in that he would often say, "I'm gonna do this, or maybe this, or I'm not sure, I could do none of the above." So there was a lot of creative freedom in there. One of the things I wanted to do was do Shara. And this is the thing that I did, that at the end, Harriet said, "You didn't convince me on this one." There were actually two things I didn't convince Harriet on. I got away with a lot. A lot of things I did, I convinced her on. Like Aviendha going through the pillars. That was something that I had to do some-- like, when I first suggested to them, they're like, "Woah." But when I wrote it, they're like "Wow, this really works." But Perrin going back and cleansing the Ways with the Ogier, and the scenes in Shara, are the two things they didn't feel I pulled off in the original draft.
But my goal was, I really wanted to bring Shara into all of this. I wanted to narratively connect it. I wanted it to be a part of, and show how some place that had been so isolated form Randland for all this time could have their own legends and mythologies spawned. I wanted to have a different perspective. I wanted you to go there and say "Wow, it's really different. But there are some core ideas that are really cool that have grown up." And if I would have had three more books, Shara probably would have worked. But we didn't have three books, and it was the right call to cut Shara, because it was a real big deviation in the final book. And maybe even if I'd been able to work it in earlier, it would have worked. But it didn't work where it was.
I can give you narrative reasons. I can't give you the canon in-world reason. You can ask Maria or Harriet about that, and see if they'll answer.
As a follow-up: I've been curious for a while (since discovering The Truth about Taimandred, really) about how often RAFO means "This is a mystery I'm unwilling to divulge before the book is out" versus "I haven't decided yet" versus "I've decided, but I might change my mind", in rough proportions?
Also, any other categories of RAFO that you feel does not at all fit into the above?
Hm. I'd say that category number one is the largest. Category three is also very common. There aren't a lot of category twos, but it does happen. I think that for RJ, those weightings were different, as he was more of a discovery writer than I am. (As I consider...the #3 you mention might be bigger than #1.)
One very big one for me is that I often don't want to roll out things I have decided because that will lead people to ask questions about things I am still making up my mind on. Or it will lead them to figure out things that I'd still rather use as a major plot point in a future book.
Do you ever worry that you might run across a fan extrapolation on a theory that sounds really good, so you might be tempted to either borrow it, or maybe force yourself to go in a different direction?
I could see it causing the same problems that giving prescriptive advice to a discovery writer halfway through the book might.
It isn't something I worry about terribly, for the reason you point out. That said, GRRM (who is more of a discovery writer) has talked about how he doesn't worry about it too much either.
I think in both cases, it's about trusting your instincts as a writer--but also, being flexible. Sometimes, I DO let myself be influenced by things my readers say. This is part of the alpha and beta reading process, as often times, you'll be seeding things by instinct into a story that you don't fully solidify until someone comments on it.
So I don't worry about this; I just try to tell the best story I can.
You previously said that there's a Shard that has decided to go into hiding, looking to survive.
Yes.
It's sort of practicing the art of not being seen.
Yes.
Is that Shard the same Shard as Autonomy, or is it a different Shard?
I like the way you worded that; no, it's not the same Shard as Autonomy.
The other Shard, have we seen it on screen?
RAFO.
Have we seen it "practicing the art of not being seen" on screen?
RAFO.
Will there be a metal called harmonium in the mistborn world?
RAFO. But good question.
Just an fyi but you have confirmed the existence of harmonium before. (And this is probably a RAFO, but is there a reason you didn't follow the convention of the other "god metals" and call it something like sazedium? "Harmonium" just seems out of place.)
Sazed didn't like the sound of Sazedium.
Can either one of you, pretty please, tell us if Alethi was inspired by the Elian Script?
It was not. The inspiration for the shapes was an EKG readout.
He might be speaking of the Thaylen script, which looks more like the Elian script than Alethi does.
Right. I was thinking Alethi glyphpairs, which seem to share some ideas with Thaylen letters.
The glyphpairs are more Chinese influenced. But Isaac will have to answer on Thaylen.
Late to this conversation (forgot password!) Similarities to any Earth scripts is coincidental.
I was thinking more conceptually, less visually. Just trying to crack the writing system :)
Thaylen and Alethi are related kinda in the same way Korean hanja and Chinese chars are related.
Do you mean hangul? Since hanja and Chinese characters are pretty much the same thing.
I defer to Peter on this one. :) And add a small RAFO, which looks a lot like 'rafo.'
We see the concept of savantism in First Era of Mistborn books. What does that look like on other systems of Investiture, more specifically Roshar?
So on Roshar, I'm going to RAFO this one for now. It's a little harder to make happen on Roshar for various reasons, but I'll give you a card. I'll just RAFO it.
Is there's a real life analog to what the singers sound like when they're speaking to the Rhythms?
Let me get back to you on that. This is actually, that's a RAFO, but it's a RAFO with an explanation. I have tried to find one that I like. I have not yet found one that I like. I'm sure it exists, or I have faith that it exists, but I haven't gotten one I like. We will definitely have to have one when we make the television show or movie, which I am fully confident that someday we will. So if I were to say yes to that now, and talk about some of the ones I think are kind of closer, then we may have to change that entirely when we make the television show.
Can Nightblood be considered a Splinter and does it function like a spren realmatically, are there distinct differences is what I'm asking.
Nightblood is kind of his own strange thing. He's an attempt to use one magic to replicate something in another. He's closest to a spren, but kind of like a...robot spren, for lack of better words to use.
When you say that Nightblood is "an attempt to use one magic to replicate something in another," do you mean life in general, or are you referring to a specific effect in a specific magic system?
There are those involved who knew that Shardblades existed before they tried the Nightblood experiment.
So does this mean Vasher had knowledge of Shardblades before creating Nightblood?
It means what I wrote, and nothing more at this point. :)
Dude. That's the most tantalizing RAFO I've seen in awhile. Have other Shards made Shardblades besides Honor?
:) RAFO
Is that why Vasher uses the word 'Investiture' instead of some personal term for it?
I could be wrong, but I think Vasher was the first one in any book I allowed to use cosmere-aware terms for speaking of things like the magics. (Investiture is one of these.)
Previously, you told me that Hoid loves bacon. Is there any other thing that you can tell me about Hoid that we won't be able to RAFO?
Oh man, I'm running out of stuff to tell you about Hoid that I can't RAFO because I get asked this enough that I forget what I've told people and what I haven't. I'm particularly fond of his monologue for the fourth book. So, be looking forward to that. It's a little different than the others.
*inaudible, but referring to the RAFO cards*
Oh, yeah. You want a RAFO card? You gotta ask me a hard question. Come up with a question.
So what's next for Szeth-son-son-Vallano?
Uh, okay, yeah, take [inaudible due to laughter, presumably Brandon was indicating that he could take a card].
I was wondering how Talenel'Elin is able to speak perfect Alethi without much of an accent at all. I believe Dalinar thought that it was a Northern Alethi accent. He is able to speak perfect Alethi after coming back from Damnation being seemingly isolated for 4500 years. Knowing what we know about language development in the real world over time, wouldn't the Alethi language change as well as to be almost incomprehensible?
If he is not isolated, I supposed that would venture into RAFO territory.
The language has indeed changed drastically.
So...RAFO.
In The Way of Kings, Hoid says that he has a grudge against Rayse and Bavadin; is that like one grudge against both of them, or is that two separate grudges?
Uh, they are a similar grudge.
But from different incidents?
I'll RAFO that too. Partially because I don't know exactly how I'm going to write it yet. That's more a RAFO of, "I'm writing that in 15 years so we'll wait until I do."
Is Kaladin ever going to get like a wife or a girlfriend?
Here's your RAFO card. There's your RAFO card.
Did Adonalsium ever create any avatars?
I'm not gonna RAFO this; I'm gonna give you answer. But there's the thing on this answer: some of these things are canon in stuff I've done so far that I may not canonize going forward. The answer is yes: in original outlines going back to Dragonsteel, the answer is yes, that you would have seen that. Will I do that when I write the actual series? I cannot guarantee. So it's a tentative yes, but it's not canon yet.
Are any of them still around?
I'll RAFO that for you.
Dragons are often depicted as much more intelligent and/or powerful than humans. Are dragons in the Cosmere better equipped to handle the power or psychological influence of becoming the Vessel for a Shard of Adonalsium?
I would say that... RAFO. That's not where I thought you were going to go with that, so I was planning to answer a different question. The one that you asked I will say RAFO to.
Do you want to tell the chat what question you thought they were going to ask?
They are better suited toward long lifespans, which makes them... But I would not say that a dragon in the Cosmere is born more wise than a human.
In Mistborn: Secret History... The Ire--are they Elantrians?
They are.
They are.
Mhm.
And how-- what is their history with Ruin and the other [Vessels]?
So, these are some very old people, who are cosmere-aware.
Are they... that wasn't mine... Do they predate the Elantrian story?
I haven't answered that, and people have asked it. So I'll RAFO that.
Oh, great.
But let's just say they're very old, and the Shardpool in Elantris, if you go back and read about the lore surrounding it in the book Elantris, you will see that they were aware of what was happening with it before the fall of Elantris.
Did they-- were they affected by the cataclysm?
That is a RAFO!
You've said that Darro, from Aether of Night, will be appearing in the Nightblood novel. Will he be appearing as a worldhopper (presumably from the Aether planet) or as a transplanted character, similar to how you've said Dalinar was in Dragonsteel before being moved to Stormlight?
And (probably entering RAFO territory) if he is a worldhopper, will he have a functional Amberite in the Nightblood novel?
It's a RAFO, as mostly I just haven't decided on a lot of things about this novel yet.
If it helps, my instinct is just to make him a local, as the Aether planet (though canon because of things in Stormlight) isn't one I've completely finished worldbuilding yet.
I wonder what a spike would look like in the Cognitive Realm? I can't imagine how you'd spike a spren in the Physical Realm. Hmm. u/mistborn would probably tell us RAFO.
RAFO. :)
For Feruchemy, can you only inherit that? Or is there another way to get it?
Yeah, you could obviously get it through a Hemalurgic spike.
Yeah, but that’s kind of a different thing.
It is hereditary, but it came from somewhere. Which is a RAFO, but it’s not a big RAFO. There’s not something you missed in the books, or anything like that. It originally came from Preservation long ago. And there are other ways to get it, but you have not missed any major plot points regarding that. Good question.
Okay, here’s my theory: I don’t think electrum stores the nebulous “determination.” I think that is a mislabeling. Rather, I think it stores the other thing that means “the will to do something”: Intent. Confirm, deny, or RAFO?
We’ll RAFO that. I really want to get into that in future books, rather than digging into it right now.
Is Jason an ancestor of Jorgen? In fact, I imagine their appearances similiar.
I will RAFO that one. Good question to be asking. The relationship there is not something that I am planning to dig into in the Skyward main series, but I might eventually, so that's why I'm RAFOing it. So don't expect it in book four I'm afraid. You're not going to get much more Jason stuff in book four. It's more of a thing to tease out for those who are very interested in book three. Book four is moving back to the focus on the... yeah. I'll just leave it there.
Has the Cognitive Realm of Scadrial changed at all since Sazed redid everything?
I'll RAFO that, I'll RAFO that.
Is each Shard associated with a certain color in the Cosmere?
We'll go ahead, I'll RAFO that. There are some of these questions that the answers are starting to seep out anyway. So, we'll go ahead and RAFO that.
I asked Ben McSweeney via Reddit if Taravangian's chapter icons were intentionally [rotationally] symmetrical, and he said yes, but did not say if this was foreshadowing his Ascension. Is it?
Hehehe. Eeehhh... RAFO.
Why is that a RAFO? I have to talk to Ben. I'm not going to canonize things for Ben that he might have been saying that I don't have the full context on.
That's just design. Just the design of the icons.
The designs... not all of them are symmetrical though. Pointing that out. Some of them are but not all of them are.
In Rithmatist, is the 4th of July still their American Independence Day, with the alternate history?
Related question, is there a mechanical reason for inception being the 4th, or is it just cultural?
Cultural. And yes, July fourth is still an important day though they might call it something else, with the monarchy being in exile in the colonies.
Thanks! Are you willing to say why it's important in their world, or is that something where I'll have to RAFO?
Let's RAFO for now, as that world is in limbo for right now, and I'm not sure one hundred percent where I'll go.
Would it be correct to view pre-Shattered Adonalsium as either a perfect God or perfect power of creation?
That would be one way of viewing things. Depends on your perspective.
So basically, RAFO??
Not TOTALLY a RAFO. More a “That works. But some would not agree.”
My friends and I had this debate when we were playing the Mistborn Adventure Game. So when a kandra imitates a human, do they replicate the organs perfectly?
Usually, yes. But there are kandra that do not, by intention, do that.
Does that include the reproductive organs?
Yes.
So theoretically if a kandra were to copulate with a human while pretending to be a human, would it create another human?
It would. And I think I've been consistent on that. So, I have to do things like this because I didn't want a blood test to be able to determine who was a kandra and who wasn't, because that's your go-to way to find a shapeshifter. So I think I had to imitate entirely. But boy, would it imitate the genetic code... *sounds of thought and frustration*
That's the question we have.
You know, I don't know that they would...so they were human...I'm going to go ahead and back pedal and RAFO on that. I haven't decided 100% yet...I know you can't tell with a bloodtest, but if you look at the DNA, would you be able to tell it's a kandra? And I'm kinda thinking you probably would be able to.
So then, following that they wouldn't be able to reproduce.
Yeah, they wouldn't be able to reproduce in that case. I'm gonna go--jury's out. And I have to really make a call on this. I'm going to say, "Yes," right now, that they are doing this down to the cellular level, a copy, but I may have to backpedal on that when I get to future Mistborn books, when I really look at it, what it would take, to do that. It's an unofficial yes, with a RAFO attached to it.
If a Leecher who also could burn duralumin touched a normal person and then burned both metals at the same time, how bad is that gonna be for you?
Let me ask you this. What do you think's gonna happen?
There is a very short-term, like, "where is my soul" effect? It may or may not be permanent?
I'm gonna RAFO this one for now, because I'm planning to do some of this in the future. But I'll RAFO it for now. I think you're theorizing in the right direction. Duralumin lets some weird things happen, as you will see in the books.
The Patji lake, theoretically, could an Aviar fly into the lake on its own and enter the Cognitive Realm? Like, have a bird catcher on the other side waiting for the bird to fly in and catch it?
Theoretically... I'm going to RAFO that, but it's not a big RAFO. It's more along the lines of, I'm going to get into the mechanics of how things go through Shardpools in future books. Um, what you just described is not outside of reason.
And could also, one of the grubs or one of the parasites or the rotten fruit, whatever, could that have fallen through the lake?
That is plausible. The question is, once it gets to be a non-sentient thing, how does going through the--- to the Realms work, and that's where it starts to get-- that's where you get your asterisk. Like, just a piece of fruit falling. I'm going to asterisk that one.
What is the Scar?
That is a RAFO. It is something that is visible from multiple planets, and it is a RAFO.
I've been wondering if the heralds are Surgebinders without Honorblades?
That's a RAFO. That's a big fat RAFO.
If the highstorms existed prior to the Shards' arrival, what's the relationship between the highstorms and the Stormfather?
Oh good question. I was wondering if someone was going to ask that… So, I'll tr-- Let me see… *sighs*
You know, I'm actually going to RAFO this one. *laughter* And let me tell you why, because I mean, I want to give you some reasons to be interested in the things that Dalinar will be talking about with the Stormfather. So this is a RAFO with an explicit promise that book 3-- These are things that are covered now that we have bonded the Stormfather to a person who can now ask some of these questions. I could totally just tell you now, but where's the fun in that? Read book three.
Can people not from Roshar bond with spren and get the Shardplate and whatnot?
RAFO. Well, okay. You don't need me to RAFO on that. You have seen someone not from Roshar bond a spren. You have seen that much happen.
We know for sure that Hoid is a Lightweaver.
Do we know that?
Hoid has bonded a spren.
The oath spren, how are they still alive? If all the other spren died when they broke their oaths? RAFO?
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.
What's Raoden been up to lately?
RAFO. Definitely RAFO that one.
I've got a question about fabrial epigraphs. So you've got the pewter and tin, about the augmenters and diminshers, and the tin one says you can use steel and iron to change the polarity. Then the iron one says they haven't figured out how to do...
Yes, they haven't been able to figure it out.
Is that because they haven't found the right kind of steel? I mean, but they have it for *motions at augmenter/diminisher epigraphs on phone*.
So, what are you...
So what does the steel and iron, how does that... Cause I would just think, if they're going to switch polarity, you'd just use both tin and pewter, and that switches the polarity. What does the steel and iron actually do?
I'll RAFO that for now. But yes, basically... I'll RAFO it for now.
This will probably be RAFO'd, but: is Szeth bound to a spren?
No. He's not. Haha, I didn't RAFO that.
Given that Kelsier seems be keeping an eye out for everything from the beyond, how does Kelsier feel about how every turned out? Has his opinion on Elend changed? How did he react upon learning Lord Ruler's true nature? I'm guessing this may be a RAFO situation, but I might as well ask.
Yes, let's RAFO for the most part. (Let's just say that he is overall pleased.)
Is there anything you can tell me about Maya that wouldn't be a [RAFO].
Oh wow, not a lot, let me think. You will see her again in Book 4. That's not a RAFO!
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