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Firefight Miami signing ()
#351 Copy

Questioner

The Mistborn RPG. How involved are you still in that? Are they still making-- I got the two supplements they made.

Brandon Sanderson

The first one, I was very involved in. The second two, I let my assistants take over. Because I just have too much to do. So, I'm only involved as much as I like-- the original core, and then I've given the okay to go forward. But I made them put, particularly for the second two, the disclaimer at the front that says "This isn't canon, guys. It's canon for your version of the universe, that you're roleplaying." And I think that's just fine, because your roleplaying stories are only canon for your group anyways. I mean, I will have to have the freedom to come up with things I need to come up with, and I told them that. I said, like, Alloy, I was not planning to do this era, so I don't have the detailed notes I can give you on the other ones about all the houses and things.

Questioner

Are they looking to do Elantris and Stormlight?

Brandon Sanderson

No, right now they just want to do Mistborn. I think Stormlight would be the next they would do, but I think they want to cover Mistborn.

Questioner

There's stuff in their forums where people I've seen are throwing stuff out, like "Here's what I would do for Shardplate." I didn't know if there was anything official that they were--

Brandon Sanderson

Nothing official. No, we are doing a Shattered Plains board game. War game board game things. Someone came to us with a really cool proposal. It's a little ways off, 'cause we just signed on it in September. They had a great proposal, it's gonna be so much fun. One of these German style, with all the pieces and things.

Shadows of Self Chicago signing ()
#352 Copy

Questioner

From Shadows of Self, you just sort of name Hoid. Is he just not caring anymore, or is it just space in the book?

Brandon Sanderson

In Alloy [of Law], he wasn't really interested. He showed up only for a wedding. By this [Shadows of Self], he's noticed something else is happening on-world, so he's come back to investigate, but he's not really relevant. You will see him taking a larger role as he becomes more interested in what's happening on-planet. His level of involvement is kind of directly tied to how interested he is in what's going on.

JordanCon 2016 ()
#353 Copy

Questioner

Did the Lord Ruler create the lerasium that he gave to the ten foreign kings? Or where they put there by Leras--

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, good question… No one's asked me that before, I don't believe. Did the Lord Ruler create the lerasium that he gave-- No, he found the lerasium. It was existent before his Ascension.

Questioner

Can I ask if it was placed there intentionally by Leras or did it sort of grow similar to how atium--

Brandon Sanderson

The Lord Ruler-- It was not placed for him, he had to-- he had to get it.

FanX 2018 ()
#354 Copy

Questioner 1

I was just wondering about the timeline in Alloy of Law. How long does is it take Wax to get back to the city after Lessie died?

Brandon Sanderson

That's... I would have to look exactly at the timeline. I believe it is months and not years, but I am not 100% sure. It might be, like eight months ?

Questioner 2

I thought it was six months.

Brandon Sanderson

Six months? That's the sort of thing that I have to look at a timeline for. I'm not gonna remember that, but yeah, something like that.

Questioner

So if I came back tomorrow, could you answer that?

Brandon Sanderson

I probably could not. If you send me an email I probably could. But this sort of thing I have to go, dig into the timeline, say "Hey Peter, where's our timeline on this. Hey Karen, what's the month... get out the master timeline," and stuff like that.

Usually I do a lot of the books, writing them without really worrying too much about the timeline, and then I give them to Karen, and Karen's job is to make all the timeline fit. And she'll come back to me and say, "We need more time here, for these people to get here," and things like that. And so I adjust the books to match the timeline. And so, a master timeline is not something I take into a large account when I am writing. It's more important in Stormlight books 'cause of the storms. You can't just off-the-cuff if there's a storm or not a storm. But in a lot of other books doesn't matter as much.

Questioner

I was just a little confused when Marasi said that Wax had come back at the same time as the thing, it didn't make sense at the end.

Brandon Sanderson

We'll see. You can always fire us an email, and we'll go to the master timeline and see what Karen says.

General Twitter 2016 ()
#358 Copy

TheQuentisentialYou

Why does Marasi's memory of the voice of "Death" or Marsh, change? From Alloy of Law to Bands of Mourning chapter 15?

Brandon Sanderson (Part 1/Part 2/Part 3)

This is a thing that drives Peter crazy. My research tells me that people change memories based on expectations and environment.

On occasion, you'll see me having characters miss-quote themselves, or remember events clearly wrong. I do this for realism.

(Though on occasion, it's just a mistake or lapse on my part. Those we fix. The rest drive my editors crazy.)

Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide ()
#359 Copy

Dalenthas

Does the Well of Ascension still exist in the new world? Or is it no longer necessary? I assumed that Preservation collected there like Ruin collects in the Pits of Hathsin, so if Atium keeps forming then the well should keep filling...

Brandon Sanderson

The Well (and the small wells in the Pits) is no more. For now at least.

West Jordan signing ()
#360 Copy

Questioner

By the way, allomancers fighting on a train? Very cool.

Brandon Sanderson

Oh thank you. I almost didn’t put that scene in, because it’s kind of a cliché, but then I’m like “I’ve gotta have a train fight.” And I’ll say this, Alloy of Law is intended to be slightly more of a pulp novel than Mistborn, and though even though it’s sort of a detective pulp novel, it’s got fun characters and a fun world, because that’s the way I do it. If I let myself do these sort of things, they are done for the pure fun of it, where they may not have fit in another book.

Shadows of Self release party ()
#361 Copy

Questioner

So I know the last Alloy of Law was a standalone book, not part of the next trilogy. Is this book [Shadows of Self] the start of the next trilogy?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah. This is not the start of the actual, official next-- Like-- So, I'm calling these books all Era 2, I moved the next books to Era 3, but this is the start of a trilogy about Wax and Wayne.

Questioner

Is that why they're kind of shorter?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah. Well they're kind of shorter because I wanted something to balance Stormlight that was-- So like Stormlight you have to keep track of all these characters and they have this continuing storyline that is so deep that it's-- you kind of have to re-read each in the series each time. I did not want you to have track that in another series, any of my other series. That's why both Steelheart and Mistborn now you will see the self-contained stories, where certain things-- it's a trilogy, but it's keep track of one, or two, characters, not keep track of an entire thing. And then there's an arc and done, an arc and done, an arc and done. That is intentional. So, you might see Stormlight stories more that length when I go back to... Scadrial for longer stories.

Questioner

So there's still going to be another trilogy that's more modern and then a sci-fi one?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes there's still going to be a modern trilogy and a sci-fi trilogy.

Miscellaneous 2020 ()
#363 Copy

Geck O Kerr

In Mistborn, where are people getting their metals from? Mining is *never* mentioned. Skaa/workers work in fields and factories etc but mining (atium excluded) is never mentioned. Wouldn't noble houses (particularly in era 2) want to own mines?

Brandon Sanderson

Indeed! But most of the best mines were not in the central dominance, so they didn't play as often into the story. You should expect mining all across the land, but do remember that the amount of metal used by allomancers (who are still relatively rare) doesn't really impact how much needs to be mined. Compared to what's needed for industry and the like, the amount used by allomancers just doesn't figure in. And so what is produced in the Final Empire would be similar to what would be in any other nation of their tech level.

General Reddit 2022 ()
#365 Copy

somethingnuclear

So I don’t know if this is ever addressed but what happened to Wax’s uncle Edwarn’s wife?

I mean she was with Edwarn and Telsin in the faked carriage accident. The carriage ride was supposedly them trying to go see a particular vista but they couldn’t hike because of Edwarn’s wife’s inability to hike, at which point the carriage had an accident and everyone was reported as dead. As we later find out, this was faked and we see Edwarn and Tesin survived.

They never mention what happened to Edwarn’s wife, however. Did she actually die in the carriage accident? If so, was that planned and Edwarn basically murdered his wife? If not, Will we see her show up as part of the Set?

Peter Ahlstrom

Yeah, she is dead. We may have clarified this a little in the Alloy of Law leatherbound, but I can’t remember for sure. The subject definitely came up.

/r/Fantasy_Bookclub Alloy of Law Q&A ()
#366 Copy

zas678

How long before [The Way of Kings] is Alloy of Law? I heard somewhere that it's a hundred years, but I don't think that's right.

Brandon Sanderson

I intended them to be happening roughly close to one another, with [The Way of Kings] slightly before.

Steelheart release party ()
#367 Copy

Questioner

In the sample chapter for the sequel to Alloy of Law, that you read, you said that since Sazed is in charge of Hemalurgy, Hemalurgy's not wrong anymore.

Brandon Sanderson

That is what the book that Wax reads says.

Questioner

Except for the murder!

Brandon Sanderson

Except for the murder part.

General Reddit 2017 ()
#368 Copy

Brandon Sanderson

The book [Oathbringer] did great, and I'm doing just fine. US and UK publishers are both very happy. I achieved financial independence through my writing years ago at this point, and I have plenty of money. I have enough in investments that my passive income would be enough to live for the rest of my life at my current standard of living--I write purely for artistic satisfaction. (Which has kind of been the way it's always been, but it IS far less stressful now.)

We're generally really coy about talking numbers in the book industry, perhaps because we don't want to brag. There are a ton of authors out there who sell less than 1k books on a new release, and so flaunting my numbers...well, I don't know. It makes me uncomfortable.

That said, remember that books and records don't sell as much as people assume they do. Taylor Swift, one of the most popular singers of our time, sold...what, 1.5 million albums the first week of her last release? Granted, album sales aren't what they used to be (it's all about streaming now), but film numbers tend to make us inflate book and album numbers in our heads. 2k book sales is enough to get on the bestseller list, many weeks of the year.

(As an aside, when Elantris sold 400 copies its first week, and I was devastated until my agent told me that was actually really good for a new author hardcover.)

That said, we did WAY more than 400 copies, and Oathbringer is the bestselling book I've ever had out of the gate. It's probably more like double or 2.25 the opening of Words. (When I said 3X I was forgetting that my Words of Radiance figures didn't include audio, while my Oathbringer numbers did.)

Oathbringer will likely crest a million copies across all formats--but it will take a number of years. I'm not sure if TWOK has hit a million yet, for example. (Though if it hasn't, it's in that neighborhood.) Very few books get to 10mil without some kind of film or television franchise to propel them. I'd guess that the only single sf/f book sitting at over 10mil copies without a major adaptation is Foundation.

Anyway, Oathbringer's success won't stop the publishers from griping just a little that the books are too long. (Bookstores complain that they don't fit on shelves very well, and take up too much space, things like that.) But the book will still sell more copies than any other new release the publisher has this year, and if they do gripe, it's mostly just habit at this point. They're actually quite pleased. They just can't help imagining a world where they could split Oathbringer into three smaller books, and make the bookstores happy while making more money.

(And note, you shouldn't be annoyed at them for this. The publisher's job is to point out financial realities, as authors tend to be very bad at such things. They didn't try to force me to cut or split the book. They just always ask, very nicely, "Is there a way the book could be shorter?" and I reply, "Sorry. But this is how it has to be." And then they go about making it work.)

Be warned, though, we might have to go from hardcover straight to trade paperback (skipping the mass market paperback) because of printing realities.

alexanderwales

One thing I've long been curious about: how much does putting out a new book in a series increase sales of the first in the series? I would assume that Oathbringer caused a bump in sales for The Way of Kings, but I'm not sure to what extent, or if that assumption actually holds true.

Brandon Sanderson

The assumption holds true. Bookscan for last week proves it. This is only print books recorded by retail chains, so it's only a small glimpse, but it's most of the print numbers. (As it does include Amazon and B&N.) I'll put numbers from six months ago in () after, so you can see the growth.

TWOK: 1500 copies (700)

WOR: 800 copies (450)

TWOK: Trade Paperback: 650 Copies (156)

TWOK Hardcover: 454 (123)

Mistborn 1: 450 Copies (350)

Mistborn Trilogy Boxed Set: 450 Copies (350)

Words of Radiance Trade paperback: 380 copies (Not out yet)

Words of Radiance hardcover: 270 copies. (130)

Steelheart: 325 copies (274) Arcanum hardcover: 280 Copies (180)

Bands of Mourning, Shadows of Self, Warbreaker, Alloy of Law: All right around 230-260 (Maybe 10% different.)

Elantris, Firefight, Calamity, Mistborn 2, Mistborn 3: 160-200 (Same.)

Lowly Rithmatist at the bottom with 113. (85)

Note that some things, like the hardcovers jumping up in sales, are because bookstores ordered them special for my signings.

Innoculi

What about digital copies?

Brandon Sanderson

They tend to run 2X the print, but I don't get an email with them every week like I do print--so I don't track them as closely.

17th Shard Forum Q&A ()
#370 Copy

PricklyBear

What's up at the south end of the world (during the 'closer to the sun' phase)? Life there? Cultures? Allomancers? Assuming that there is some life down there, can we assume that we'll have some interesting 'culture clashes' in future books?

Brandon Sanderson

They will be known by the modern trilogy, so it's safe to assume that a discovery will happen soon. Either during the Alloy of Law era or soon after.

JordanCon 2018 ()
#372 Copy

Questioner

In reading about Adonalsium and Odium, I get the sense that it's more related to lerasium and atium than it is to, like, Preservation or Ruin. Because, sometimes it seems like we're identifying... Odium and Adonalsium as beings instead of, like, the body of--

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, it is a little confusing by design. The question is, like, telling the difference between the Vessel who is holding the power, the intent of that power, and the physical manifestations of that power as Investiture or as whatever, these things are confusing. And I did this on purpose. I like that blurring between them. One of the things I did when I was designing the magic for the cosmere, was-- you guys know this very easily from looking at the books, I love the ideas of quantum theory, string theory, all this stuff. And even, just looking at quantum mechanics as we understand them right now. And the further you get into the details, the more the rules that you built, everything you understand upon, become blurry. And we live in this world where certain scientific principles, like-- I was sitting at a writing group, talking to my friend who's a mathematician, and I'm like, "I really like math 'cause it is objective. One plus one equals two." And he's like, "Well, the further you get in math, the less that actually is true, and the more 'One plus one equals two' is a philosophical statement, not an actual objective truth." And we talked about the nature of, the further you dig into things--

So, I tried to build the cosmere magic-- For instance, how the Bands of Mourning work. We are getting away from Step 1, which is, "Metals push or pull." We can get that. Into Step 2, where we are building complex machines out of the interactions between the magic. And we will then get to Step 3, where it's like, we can explain the principles, but you need to be a computer engineer to understand exactly how the computer is working. And I wanted to be able to build to get to that point. With the philosophy of, "What is the power, what is the individual, what is the intent," and things like that, we're kind of going that direction, in a philosophical direction. What does it mean? What are the answers?

Humans like things to be divided and put in boxes, but in nature, these boxes are usually arbitrary, of our distinction. So, I like that aspect of our interaction with the real world. So, the answer to your question is, this is not a question for me, this is a question for philosophers. Where does the intent stop, and the being begin? And what does it mean to have a body? Is the body of the original person that has taken up the Shard, the Vessel, when that drops out when they die, is that their real body? Or is that just the power pushing out something that it absorbed and recreating it, and dropping a copy of it? What is that? What's going on there? What's it mean? How much can a Vessel influence their intent? This is all a question for philosophers, that I'm going to explore in the books, but it's not the sort of thing that you're like--

Does one plus one equal two? The answer is, one plus one equals two according to this proof that we believe explains the universe, but is a little fuzzier than you think it is.

Arcanum Unbounded Hoboken signing ()
#373 Copy

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

He said ettmetal is chemically reactive, not nuclear.

The longer answer makes it sound like Harmonium isn't a Lerasium/Atium alloy, but a whole new metal. He described it as "super-cesium," and that its volatility was based on electrons, not on protons or neutrons.

"It is not unstable, it is reactive. So it's like a "super-cesium". It reacts so violently..."

Kraków signing ()
#375 Copy

Oversleep

What if a Connector tried to store his Connection to his time of birth? Because I understand that’s how spiritual age works.

Brandon Sanderson

Right, Connection to his time of birth. I’m not sure exactly how he would manage that.

I don’t think that would work, I’m not sure how you would manage it. There are other ways to make, you’re along the right path, but that’s not exactly what, the terminology it's just not working right there.

Oversleep

By the way Shadows of Self was my favourite Mistborn book. That ending was just emotional trainwreck for me. It was awesome.

Brandon Sanderson

It's weird because I think that the weakest Mistborn novel is actually Alloy of Law but I think Shadows of Self and Bands of Mourning are among the strongest.

General Reddit 2018 ()
#376 Copy

selwyntarth

Why does Ruin's voice constantly tell Vin not to trust Kel or Elend? Especially when she trusted their advice? Weren't the 'good guys' enablers of his plan?

Oudeis16

It's also generally useful. Her having solid, stable relationships makes her harder to control. Even when he expects all of them to work towards his goals, if he needs to break them up, or get them to keep secrets from each other, it'll be easier if their alliance is tenuous.

Remember, Vin did a lot of trusting in that final book. She delayed the attack on Fadrex City by convincing Elend, just with a look, to play along with her as she tried to fool Ruin into thinking she had the atium.

Brandon Sanderson

This is on target.

The Hero of Ages Annotations ()
#378 Copy

Brandon Sanderson

Chapter Eighty-One - Part Two

Charging Them Is Madness

Vin probably should have figured out what Elend was doing, being kind of a god now and all. (Or at least she has a fraction of a god inside of her.) However, remember a few things.

She doesn't know that many of Elend's troops have been turned into Allomancers. She's also been very distracted lately. On top of that, the man she loves is charging two hundred thousand koloss. Even if she'd connected that he'd be burning atium, her opinion would still have been that he couldn't fight that many and survive.

In the end, she was right. So her concern was warranted.

Dragonsteel 2023 ()
#381 Copy

Questioner

If Mraize took an atium spike and put it through Hoid's chest and then into himself, would he gain different abilities because of Hoid's altered spiritweb?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, he probably would. That's really terrifying to think about.

Alloy of Law release party ()
#382 Copy

Questioner

Does Iron store mass or weight?

Brandon Sanderson

Excellent question. The thing is it really does involve mass, but I’m breaking some physics rules, basically. I have to break a number of physics rules in order to make Magic work in the first place. Those whole laws of Thermodynamics, I’m like “You are my bane!” (laughter) But I try to work within the framework, and I have reasonings built up for myself, and some of them have to be kind of arbitrary. But the thing is, it does store mass if you look at how it interacts, but when a Feruchemist punches someone, you’re not having a mass transference of a 1000 pounds transferring the mass into someone else.

So there are a few little tweaks. You can go talk to Peter, because Peter has the actual math. Oh Peter’s back there. Peter is dressed up as Allomancer Jak from the broadsheet. In fact we’re giving some out broadsheets, aren’t we Peter. So when you come through the line, we’re giving out Broadsheets. Please don’t take fifty—I think we might have enough for everybody. The broadsheets are the newspaper from the Alloy of Law time. It’s an inworld newspaper. It’s actually reproduced in the book in four different pages, and we put it together in one big broadsheet.

So anyway, you can talk with him, he’s got more of the math of it. I explained the concept to Peter and he’s better with the actual math, so he said “We’ll figure it out.”

Firefight Seattle UBooks signing ()
#383 Copy

Questioner

One thing when I was reading The Alloy of Law, in Mistborn, all the [Feruchemists] were the Mistborn version of [Feruchemy], and then it changed to the Misting version of [Feruchemy]. Is there...

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, there's a reason for that, and I'll delve into it a bunch more later, but basically, there's two things going on. Number one, the bloodlines have thinned, and that's the reason they're talking about [here]. Also, full-blooded Feruchemists mixing, like the populations mixed, is really dangerous, and Sazed knew this. So, I'll just leave it at that.

Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide ()
#384 Copy

GreedyAlgorithm

Brandon, I'd like to see a timeline of when you fleshed out the parts of the cosmology we know about. I'd imagine Allomancy came before you fit it into the bigger picture, right? What was your method, come up with a cool image of hammering spikes through a living being, figure out how to integrate that into a larger picture, and then think about the implications of your new cosmology? Or what?

Brandon Sanderson

Boy, this is a hard one to ask because it's been such a LONG process. There were bits of all of this popping around in my head almost twenty years ago, so it's going to be hard to define where what fit into place when.

Allomancy and Feruchemy were originally planned separately. I linked them together into this book when I realized that the 'focus' items that could store attributes could be metal, and therefore work wonderfully with the Mistborn book I was planning.

Hemalurgy came from the image of Inquisitors first, then developed as a need to integrate it in with the other two in a way that evoked the power of "Ruin" rather than the power of Preservation. I figured that Ruin would steal, and it was a great way to add a third magic without having to overload people with a whole new set of powers. The process of writing this series, since I did all three books together, was an interesting one, and I made a lot of connections as I went. Some of the latest things on the timeline were figuring out how to fit atium and the Preservation nuggets into the already built framework. But I don't know if I can give you an exact list. Partially because there would just be too many spoilers in it.

Crafty Games Mistborn Dice Livestream with Isaac Stewart ()
#387 Copy

Gamerati

Have you ever considered making [the Steel Alphabet] into a TrueType font so people could just type in symbology?

Isaac Stewart

So... we have one. We just haven't released it yet. And it's actually the Alloy era that we have in the font, because we needed it for the broadsheets that we do in those books. So we actually have that as a TrueType font that we use internally, but we haven't gone through all the things that we need to do to make it work nicely.

Firefight Atlanta signing ()
#390 Copy

Questioner

Would you rather be a misting or a Twinborn, and then which power would you choose?

Brandon Sanderson

What powers would I have? ...I would probably pick Twinborn because "Hey extra power" right? I would probably have Wax's powers from Alloy of Law, those are the ones I find the most interesting. Which is why I started with them there. I think I will be able to do cool things with them. Others are cool as well but-- With all this metal around, jumping on it would be so much fun.

The Well of Ascension Annotations ()
#391 Copy

Brandon Sanderson

If you paid any sort of attention during the last book, you were probably expecting a new metal or two to show up in this book. I dropped a lot of hints that there were other metals.

It was a little bit of a stretch to let there be metals that, despite the thousand-year history of Allomancy, weren't known. However, I rely on the fact that the Lord Ruler had informational control over the society. There are A LOT of things that he knew that aren't known to a lot of people.

Duralumin is a real alloy from our world, commonly made from aluminum. Actually, a lot of things we call aluminum–particularly industrial aluminum–is actually duralumin. Aluminum, pre-electrolysis, was really tough to get. It's said that Napoleon had a set of aluminum plates that were more valuable than his gold or platinum ones.

Mistborn: The Final Empire Annotations ()
#392 Copy

Brandon Sanderson

Chapter Fourteen - Part Two

I don't spend an awful lot of time here talking about the back-story with Mare and Kelsier. I'll get to more of it later. However, you know just about all you're going to know about their failed plan. Kelsier thought there was atium in this room. They tried to sneak in. They got caught.

In a way, Kelsier is indeed reliving his last days with Mare by trying to break into the room again. He's a Mistborn now, and he wants to accomplish now what he was defeated in earlier.

This chapter is also another example of the hard edge Kelsier has. He kills his enemies without any pause at all. In my opinion, it was the Pits that did this too him. He's been thought something so horrible that death just isn't as meaningful for him as it once was.

The Hero of Ages Annotations ()
#393 Copy

Brandon Sanderson

MeLaan

It's never fully explained who MeLaan is, so I'll give you the background here. One thing that kandra do is take Contracts serving mankind in exchange for atium. However, there are other jobs that kandra can do back in the Homeland. One of the more prestigious ones includes the training and instruction of a child kandra.

This can take years and years, as kandra grow very slowly. TenSoon was appointed as a "parent" of a single kandra during his lifetime. (Many of the Fifth Generation have been parents dozens of times, but the Thirds are a rebellious group, and it was only after much consideration—and political pressure in the Homeland—that Thirds were given chances.)

MeLaan, then, is kind of TenSoon's adopted daughter. She has something of a hero-worship crush on him, inspired by his gruff style and adventuresome personality. Her idolizing of him borders on a romantic crush, and this makes TenSoon somewhat uncomfortable.

There you go. Now you can astound your friends with Mistborn background trivia.

The Hero of Ages Annotations ()
#394 Copy

Brandon Sanderson

Ruin Helps Destruction Along

Ruin makes an interesting comment here. He says that he couldn't refuse to help the Lord Ruler, since the Lord Ruler was destroying so beautifully. Ruin will help an enemy if there is destruction in it.

That's something to remember when thinking about this book. Some of the things Ruin does, he does to set up his plans. Others are just about destruction. He's convinced that he's won—even before Vin's capture, Ruin knows that there is nothing that can be done to stop him.

In his mind, he's just playing with people, biding his time as most of his power is focused on bringing earthquakes, ash, and lava upon the world. Yes, he wants the atium to complete his power, but he doesn't need it. Or so he thinks.

Leipzig Book Fair ()
#395 Copy

Questioner

At the end of “Alloy of Law” Marsh tells Marasi he is giving the diary to Wax because “.. he does my brother's work”. At this time it was a reminder of Kelsier, but with Secret History and the third book out why does Marsh think we need someone to do his brother's work? Isn't Kelsier doing that himself?

Brandon Sanderson

Well. (laughs) Marsh is of multiple minds on what's happening with Kelsier at this time. When he's referencing his brother's work, he's specifically tells Marasi speaking to the lore of the Survivor. Like he's specifically talking to somebody, and he does believe this. He may not think that Kelsier is doing Kelsier's work anymore. But that depends on... You will see interaction between Marsh and Kelsier in the future.

West Jordan signing 2012 ()
#396 Copy

Questioner

What time period do [cosmere books] all fit in, do they all fit in time--at the same time?

Brandon Sanderson

No, like for instance, Way of Kings and Alloy of Law are pretty close to one another, but Elantris is fairly far before them. So far I’ve written them chronologically basically, except I’ve skipped certain stories, like there’s a series called White Sand which is in the middle there somewhere which will actually be a jump back in time when I end up doing it and some things like that. And Dragonsteel is like way at the beginning which I’ll eventually do, but I’ve done them chronologically so far.

Words of Radiance San Diego signing ()
#397 Copy

Leinton (paraphrased)

Can Breath be used to power Surgebinding?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

They are very similar Investitures, and most of the magics can be powered with the other magics if you are capable of making that happen.

Questioner (paraphrased)

What would happen to the Breath?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

The Breath would be consumed in the same way that Stormlight is. A renewing resource, much like atium is.

West Jordan signing ()
#399 Copy

Questioner

What happens if you create a time bubble in a time bubble?

Brandon Sanderson

Lots of people are theorizing about that. The time bubble would not collapse, I’ll answer that much.

Zas

I think that you said at the Alloy release that it was mul—de...

Brandon Sanderson

Multiplicative?

Zas

Yeah. 

Brandon Sanderson

I may have given an answer to that or not. I’m not going to say anything about that. Time travel and find out.