Questioner
Is the kandra that is on Roshar, Navani?
Brandon Sanderson
No.
Questioner
Is Navani an Envisager?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO.
Found 14294 entries in 0.279 seconds.
Is the kandra that is on Roshar, Navani?
No.
Is Navani an Envisager?
RAFO.
Were Cultivation and Honor romantically involved?
Yes.
And I was trying to figure out how jazz could possibly develop on Scadrial in Alloy of Law.
How what?
How jazz could develop on Scadrial.
Jazz? Okay.
*audio obscured* Would it be appropriate to compare the Steel Ministry to the Catholic Church? Not so much in doctrine but...
Sure, that would be appropriate. I mean when I'm writing Alloy of Law era they are only hitting big band stuff.
That's what I figured.
Their music would lag behind ours.
'Cause big band stuff started around the 1920's.
They're not even quite there yet. In the second or the third... anyway one of the Alloy books Wax hears someone and they've added to a band brass and he's like "that's not right" he's expecting violin concertos or a pianoforte and he's hearing brass.
Is there a reason why shadows go toward the light in Shadesmar, or is it just worldbuilding flavor?
There is a reason, but its not super important. It's like a cultural thing, things have reasons but they aren't always super relevant to the story.
How broadly can a time-bubbler control the attributes of the bubble? Like could he make it ten times smaller to make it ten times more powerful?
It is more controllable than I have generally shown in the books.
And does the size correspond inversely to the strength?
No.
From Shadows of Self, you just sort of name Hoid. Is he just not caring anymore, or is it just space in the book?
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.
The Unmade were "made" or are Unmade because they have never been made? It would be 2 different words in Spanish. Thank you.
That is a good question. I assumed they had never been made but it's possible it is the other.
If you could bring one of your characters off the page and into the real world, which would it be and why?
Sazed. I think he could teach me a thing or two.
As of Shadows of Self, how many Shards are there on Scadrial?
*nervous laugh* There are two [...] Harmony counts as two Shards. I do mean it that way, and I am giving you clarification so you don't all freak out.
Are you ever scared someone's going to ask you a question you don't want to answer?
Scared, no. But the thing that worries me is I flub some of the questions 'cause I'm just not paying attention. I get into the groove of signing and they hit me with something. And I usually flub one or two a night, where I'm just not paying attention. Or I think they ask something, and I'm thinking they asked something they didn't. Those are the ones I don't like. I don't fear them, but I'm like, "Argh." They only happen once a night. But it happens consistently.
Do you play those [Blizzard games]?
Yeah. They tried to get me to write for them. Back before Overwatch became Overwatch, when it was their next MMO game, Titan, they brought me in and were trying to convince me. And they were good books, but I just could not spare the time.
Are there power modifiers for Soulstamps like there are for AonDor?
Yes.
Yes... Does Shai know them-- Or any of them?
Um... Hehehehehe...
Not "has she used them", I'm not going to go there, but does she know any of them?
She knows more than she thinks she does.
Brandon threw us a bone on what the big world-hopping hint in Elantris could be: Raoden has misinterpreted one of the Aons.
Is Vaeria still a planet name in the cosmere or was that scratched?
RAFO.
In The Stormlight Archive, do we ever find out how the Assassin in White, how he gets the sword?
Yes, that should be next book.
And does it intertwine any more with Warbreaker?
Oh... that you're gonna have to wait a little while for. You're talking about Nightblood. I thought you were talking about the Honorblade. Next book will explain how he got the Honorblade. How he ends up with Nightblood, really how Nightblood got onto the planet, is gonna take a little while. I will work it in. But it's gonna take a while.
Does that sword have a character arc, because it feels--
The sword is important and relevant to multiple series.
It's getting better.
He has learned some things in the intervening years. He learns real slowly.
In a way I felt that The Emperor's Soul was a bit post-singularity - in the sense that humans were capable of downloading new identities and histories. I know you've planned on doing FTL cosmere work, but have you any interest in doing post-singularity cosmere work? I'd be fascinated to see 'multiple-consciousness beings' using breath or soul stamps. Seeing human development push the boundaries of the shards would be quite intense, and I'm tickled pink at the notion of humans bamboozling the rules of [Shardic] Investiture - how far can Spiritual or Cognitive Identity stretch?
tl;dr - do you have any plans to bring post-singularity stories to the cosmere
I have plans for some of this, but the main-line cosmere stories I'm planning seem to adapt better to grand space opera than true post-singularity stories. That said, I've certainly got some short story ideas that will play with this. (And you'll see more hints like this even in the mainline books that I think you'll like.)
When was the last time Hoid got a hug, before Words of Radiance?
Ooh argh *Brandon hacks and splutters* a HUG? I don't know? People don't commonly hug him, no. They commonly slap him, or curse at him, so it had probably been a long time since he'd gotten a hug.
I love your work and have been wanting to get Stormlight related tattoos. Is there any way one can commission you into doing an original Shardbearer drawing for tattooing purposes? I love the ones in WoR, and want to get something very similar on my left leg!
Thank you so much!
I'm not sure if I can accept a commission to do something based on the stuff I do officially... maybe if /u/mistborn is down with it?
Most folks just take one of the existing illustrations and have that reproduced. Doing something unique would be a different matter.
I'm more than okay with this, Ben.
Why does Lift feel that Darkness isn’t a real person?
Because Lift is an interesting person who has her own perspective on the world.
Can you detect Feruchemy with bronze Allomancy?
It is actually possible but it's very difficult. There's a tweak that you need to do to make it work and I haven't talked about that yet. They do not know how to do it… on Scadrial. But you can theoretically detect all kinds of active Investiture. Investiture that's being used. Kinetic Investiture would be the way to call it.
In Arcanum Unbounded, it said that a Hemalurgic spike could work in any world. So if I were to take a Hemalurgic spike and spike someone like Kaladin, would he die and then I have a Windrunner's power?
Yes, but there's a big asterisk on that. Because, with the spren being a third party in this sort of arrangement, weird things would happen.
*referring to a personalization request* That is a R A F O, but you do earn a card for your RAFO... Now let me just say--
I'm not asking about Nightblood, I'm asking about the Shardblades.
Yeah-- Oh, OH. You're asking-- okay. You're not asking what other Shardblades made, but if somebody brought a Shardblade to another pl--
Like if Kaladin went to Nalthis.
Okay, his Shardblade would manifest exactly-- it would do exactly the same thing.
It seems to be more apparent that different abilities are granted depending on the design of one's Spiritweb. Is the design of a Spiritweb, and the abilities it grants, limited to a specific Shardworld or are the designs universal across the cosmere? For example could someone from Roshar go to Scadrial and have Hemalurgy done on them and have it work?
Yeah, yeah, some of the magics are more regionally-locked than others. Hemalurgy will work on any planet. But, for instance, you'll notice that Elantrians have trouble even going to the next nation over. There's a specific reason for that. Most of the magics transcend location.
My question, in regards to Dragonsteel, is: Is there a possibility that somebody with the ability of microkinesis can see the spiritweb and alter it according to their will?
This is, this is totally possible. But you have to remember this is pre-Shattering of Adonalsium. Dragonsteel is the story of the Shattering of Adonalsium... the whole book is before, the whole series... So there are lots of things going on there that are-- like you will-- yeah. But it’s not canon yet.
In Memory of Light, how Lan didn't die.
Mhm.
And you were surprised that fewer people were discussing how you could interpret Rand's actions as bending the Pattern to make it that he did not die.
Mhm.
And I'm trying to-- You mentioned that there were certain real world homages that you were trying to make because of this...
Mhm.
I couldn't remember what those were.
Well, Lazarus.
Well, okay. But like something like with K-- like King Arthur or something like that.
There's-- yes, there are... *interrupted*
But I don't remember what that was.
There are... the Fisher King.
Fisher King?
Yeah, Google the Fisher King if you want to read about that. There's a lot of him... I mean, there's also Hindu and Muslim symbolism that I cribbed from, so to speak. The thing about Lan is I... if you press me, I would probably say he didn't die. But the parallelism of Rand in book 3 trying to raise from the dead and not being able to, and Rand in the last book with him there--
This man *inaudible*.
Yes. Um, you can make the argument that, and you know, we'll never know if he did or didn't. I think it is... I made it intentionally ambiguous. Brandon the reader, you press me, I'll say, "Eh, he probably didn't." But there is parallelism there, and it is intentional.
Do the Heralds know about Aons? I am asking specifically about Shalash. Shao, Ale, Ashe. Transformation, Beauty, Illumination.
Let's say that some of them do and some of them don't. The question is "do the Heralds know about Aons?" How cosmere-aware are the Heralds? It depends on the Herald.
The Cosmere—How?:
"I don't know if it's something I can answer, simply because I don't know how." He went on to relate his feelings when reading Asimov's Foundation, and how cool it would have been if Asimov had known from the beginning that he was going to be tying all these things in, and the subtle hints he could have left in the earlier stories.
In your books, we see a lot of really interesting and diverse world elements that make these places and cultures really come to life. What are some of the world elements you've had the most fun creating, and what do you like best about them?
I'd say that the spren on Roshar have been my favorite so far--they are so different, but also so RIGHT. They have a mythological fae-feel to them, but also fit into the cosmere arcanum just perfectly. I also like writing them.
When Khriss visits Scadrial, does Harmony know it?
*written* Some times He does. (more often than not, these days...) But it is possible to hide.
*spoken* Khriss doesn't have a lot of reasons to hide. She doesn't mind the attention, usually.
Does Syl hate Dalinar's Shardblade specifically, or is it Shardblades in general? Or only specific ones?
Uhh... yeah, okay. There's no way for me to answer that in full without RAFOing, so I'll just RAFO. There are lots of answers in [Words of Radiance].
If you went to Shadesmar on Scadrial would there be spren there?
"Spren" is a term for things on Roshar. So yes, there are a few, but they're from Roshar originally.
Other than Hoid, which character have you had the most fun writing?
Wayne.
If another Shard came to Scadrial, would that be enough to create a metal like atium, or...?
If another Shard just came to visit, probably not.
If they brought a spren or--
If they came and completely Invested the world, then things might start happening. But there's some special circumstances, remember. Ruin and Preservation created that planet. Specifically. And so there's some goofy things that happened because of that. For instance Roshar was not made by Honor, Cultivation, or Odium. That's one of the big differences about what's going on there.
Are we ever gonna see a Twinborn who has Feruchemical iron and Allomantic pewter, and he's pretty much-- sort of like how Ham was training Vin about how to use her body, and we just gonna see this amazing martial artist on a massive scale?
It is totally possible. I'm not gonna promise any given combination, 'cause the-- I've changed several times the powersets of characters while I'm planning, so.
I know the whole, like, "all those characters are your children" type of thing, but is there a favorite one of yours, from your writing and/or how the character is played out.
Um, I-- You know-- Robert Jordan always said, "It's whoever I'm writing at the moment", which I've stolen wholesale and said that a lot of times. If I'm pressed, I'll usually pick Dalinar, just 'cause he was one of the first, but that doesn't do it justice, because you really do need to-- when whoever you're writing needs to be your favorite at the time.
Are the Heralds originally from Roshar?
RAFO.
Why did OreSeur signup for Kelsier’s plan. Was he forced to because of his contract? Or did he actually want to do it?
All kandra want to be back in the Homeland. That said, OreSeur, he as a kandra, likes challenges, and was a real method kandra, a lot of them are, but he truly was. And you can see that in him. So for him, the contract and the role he plays...
Are more important than what he actually wants.
Yeah. Even though he had spent all this time doing this stuff. So he was part of it, but for him, his role was being this person. If I may.
That's interesting.
What would be your callsign in the Skyward [universe]?
Oh, my callsign? It would probably be--it's too long. "Mr. Prolific" is what they called me in college. Something like that.
The gems on Roshar, are they the same as the gems you and me know, or are they a byproduct of Investiture?
For the most part they are the same as the gems we know, which will ask the question, "Since most of them are chemically identical, other than color, what differentiates them?" and in the cosmere, color is very important, so I'll just leave you at that, but most of them are going to be gems like we have. If you took a ruby from our world to Roshar, it could be Invested by the highstorm.
And spren?
We will RAFO that for now.
If you can tell us, what's the tentative title for Book 2? And estimated release date? I know you've plenty left to tackle with WoT 14 so we'll take anything you say with that in mind.
Good. The tentative title was originally Highprince of War. I’m not decided on that yet, because it might be Shallan’s book, not Dalinar’s book. It depends on whose flashbacks I decide to tell, and which ones will complement the events of the next book. Though I have an expansive outline for the series, I really have to sit down and get a more detailed outline for the second book before I decide which title I want. If it’s Dalinar’s book, it will be Highprince of War. If it’s Shallan’s book it will not be. Tentative release date? I’m going to start on A Memory of Light January first, and it will be published probably about three months after I finish it. (Knowing how Tor’s publishing my books these days.) It will just depend on how long that takes to write. Then I will start on The Stormlight Archive 2 after that. I don’t anticipate that book being as hard to write as A Memory of Light, which is going to take a lot of time and a lot of work. Best case is that I finish A Memory of Light in August of next year, it gets published in November, and I write the sequel to The Way of Kings starting immediately after that and finish it in the middle of the next year so it can be published November 2012. That’s the best-case scenario. But it’s what I hope to be able to do; we’ll see.
How many Shards have Invested their power on Roshar?
Technically, all of them did.
You have quite the world you have created. I look at the map and see a lot of different locations. How many of the named locations are actually going to be used? ... Anyway, I am always curious as to how much of one's world that has been built actually gets used.
You'll have to read and see what happens. I will say this: When I build a map, I don't consider it to be a to-do list. In fact, it makes a world feel unrealistic to me when every single place on the map ends up getting visited. So it's not a to-do list, but many of those locations are very important.
Are Shardblades Splinters? If not, are they related to Shards in some other way?
RAFO. More to come.
Does time flow the same speed in all of your Shardworlds?
Yes, the cosmere, time flows unless it's being manipulated by an external force. It moves at the same speed.
About the Returned, they don’t quite fit the other Splinters, their Breath rather, because it’s the divine Breath that’s a Splinter, right?
Ehhhhhhh…. Ehhhhhhh....
Okay, that was vague.
Not a 100% correlation there.
So in that case it’s not entirely fair to say that the Returned are like vessels for--
No… Well, more vessels than the people that are in [T’Telir…]
So, Endowment is in control of what’s happening, right?
The giving of Breaths.
Yes. So what you’ve got to remember-- and this is something that people keep mistaking is-- something like a spren is still part of the god, right? And it’s not that different from the fact that the rock has a part of the body in it, and that everything is kind of made—Like in Mistborn world in particular, everything is made out of their essence. And so, the Breath are similar, but it’s less that-- they’re not autonomous in most cases and it’s more like-- it’s like a hybrid of what’s happening in Mistborn where everybody’s got a bit of Preservation in them. Everyone’s got a bit of Endowment in them.
Innate Investiture.
Innate Investiture that they are born with.
I was looking to divine Breath, more specifically.
Oh divine Breath! … Divine Breath is its own special thing, and it’s more like what happened with the Honorblades, in that the god is pouring a bit of its Investiture, infusing the magic.
Dragonsteel, is that by Brandon or L.? Yep, I am soooo confused.
I just did a post on my website explaining this
The Movie Question
- A film adaptation is different than a graphic novel adaptation. A film brings in new fans who may not be avid readers, a completely different audience. A graphic novel will likely have a similar audience to his books.
- With book to film adaptations he says that there's only a one-in-three chance it will be a good adaptation of one of his books, and it's a risk he's willing to take.
- He quoted someone he couldn't remember saying basically that you can make a bad film, but that doesn't change the fact that the book is good. Someone once asked an author about a film ruining their book and they said "It's still there on the shelf, nothing's happened to the book."
- He sold the rights to people he feels he can trust to make good movies.
- Of all of them, Reckoners has the best chance at getting a movie but he made it clear that's just his hunch/estimate and we shouldn't run to Twitter getting excited about a movie that might not even happen.
Any chance we'll be seeing further correspondence between the writers of the letters? In further books, perhaps?
You will see more letters.
Any new Dustbringers in Stormlight Four?
Yes, there will be.