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Remember the Lord Ruler's final words. They're important. The lack of atium will impact the second book greatly, as well the fact that Kelsier is dead. Overthrowing the Lord Ruler was tough, but it was still the easy part of this trilogy. Things get hard from here on out. . . .
This chapter is supposed to be something of a small redemption for Iadon. First off, we have his proclamation, which gives validity to his structure of rule. I think everything in the Arelish government makes a lot more sense now that we understand why Iadon did what he did.
The second bit of redemption comes at the burial site, where Sarene watches the barrow being built. Her thoughts don't excuse what Iadon did, but I hope they give something of an explanation. I like this scene because of the way it feels–there is a reverence about it which gives the proper atmosphere for a funeral.
Elend Decides to Attack
Elend makes a decision here—an important one. The waiting is over, and the siege has ended. He's under the same stress as Janarle, but he's not going to run. He's going to fight.
It's probably the wrong decision. But I've often heard that being a military leader isn't always about making the right decision. It's about being able to make a decision when a decision is needed.
How do you decide which Shards go with which planet?
I have an outline, and it’s kind of according to the outline...
Is it possible that you put a timestamp for Wandersail on your website?
Wandersail is only like 5% done. Had to spend the time I thought I'd be working on that doing other things.
I just started NaNoWriMo this year. Have you ever written something for NaNoWriMo?
I had an idea for a story that I wanted to write for NaNoWriMo, but I don't know if I'll have time. It's basically a superhero story, but where only villains get super powers, and the heroes are normal.
Honestly, given how depleted the sunlight reaching the ground is, and given how it talks about the Lord Ruler modifying the peoples of the planet in order to survive, it would make sense for everyone to be really pale, as that increases vitamin D production.
I usually see Sazed as black myself, but I very specifically didn't talk a lot about races in Mistborn for a couple of reasons. (Though Vin is often mentioned being pale.)
The most relevant of these reasons is that if Terris were all black, then the secret about the Lord Ruler would just kind of be a silly one for nobody to have noticed. So I've noted in the screenplay treatment that either everyone has to be the same skin tone, or all societies need to have varied skin tones.
In my mind, it's the latter. Scadrial is a completely fabricated world, and done recently (in the last ten thousand years) on a cosmological scale. People were made and placed there, and there hasn't really been time for evolution to play a big role in things like adapting to certain environments.
The LR did change people to survive, and what you mention is indeed a good way to do it--but not the only way. Regardless, you may head-canon Sazed as looking however you want.
After Stormlight, Wit was far and away my favorite characters. One of my friends came to me and heard I really liked Wit, and he's like, "Oh yeah. His name is Hoid, he's a worldhopper, he's in a ton of cosmere books. So I went and read a bunch of the other cosmere related books. Why's he so different? Like, in Mistborn, he shows up as a beggar/informant for half a page?
So there's a couple reasons for this. One is, there are certain books where he is a character and other books where I'm just writing him as a cameo. Most of the books I'm just doing a cameo for him. Stormlight's where you see the most of him until he gets his own book.
The other reason was, at the beginning, I wasn't sure how much people would be interested in behind-the-scenes stuff, and so I was very sparing with it in the early books. You won't see a lot of him until Warbreaker, and even then he's only in a chapter. Even in Wax and Wayne books, you only see glimpses of him. There will be other books he'll be a bigger part in, but if you like Wit, Stormlight's your jam.
What was the hardest part of finishing The Wheel of Time?
The hardest part, I would say, was the battle logistics.
So A Memory of Light took a while?
Yeah, A Memory of Light is all battle logistics, it was really hard. And the second half was really tough to get that all right. And just to work with the assistants and things like that.
So, the original Steelheart, David's father, vs David, once he gets his new steelheart powers, which one do you think would be better?
More powerful you mean?
Yeah, and, like more, skill-wise and...
Oh definitely original Steelheart but, you know, give David some time.
You've made it clear that on Sel, all magic requires both location and shape to be dependent. But we also know Elantrians are consistently being renewed by the [Dor]. Is that because Elantrians' bodies have been changed a certain way or is that due to the large Aon Rao in Elantris?
It is a little bit of -- it is more about the way they have been changed than about the Aon.
Is that Spiritweb-based or is that body change kinda similar to the Dakhor monks?
It is a mix of both.
Is Hoid going to be Jasnah's Wit?
RAFO
You've mentioned before that Hoid ends up where he needs to be.
Yes, and usually without knowing why.
Is chromium involved in that?
Yes. Well, he's not necessarily using chromium, but the underlying mechanic, yes.
And, the body count grows. (Ha ha. One of them IS a count.)
I don't kill for shock value. I don't think that's a good reason to do much of anything. I kill characters because of consequences in the plotting. Eondel, unfortunately, was doomed the moment he decided to exact revenge on Telrii. He didn't have enough men to both get in and out of the king's chambers.
I think this is a legitimate reaction for Eondel, however, based on how his character. He was honest, straightforward, and he respected Roial a great deal. He knew that Raoden would never condone an attack like this, but he also thought that it would be best for the country if he killed Telrii. So, he went and preformed his "assassination." This is supposed to be a little ironic, considering the events and decisions of the last chapter.
So, with the story that Shallan told with the girl in the red scarf? Is that relevant at all? Or is it just unimportant?
Yes. That's very relevant.
What cosmere location has the best tacos or equivalent? And is Hoid a regular visitor to that location?
It depends on how you feel about Soulcast meat. For people who are vegan, Soulcast meat involves using gemstones to make meat. Also, I would say that Soulcast meat has a certain flavor that is not bad, but it is acquired. And so, for some people, chouta is going to be, probably, the best street food in the cosmere.
But otherwise, like most things, if you want to default to "What has the most Earth-like of X," it is going to be Scadrial. Scadrial is the one that I intentionally kind of keep closer to Earth-style cultures and things. For various reasons; like, for instance, the fact that I want to do a computer programmer as a protagonist in an upcoming sequence, there are things like that that I've built Scadrial to feel more Earth-like.
The scene with Vin standing in the darkness and looking in at the people having fun inside was one of the first and fundamental scenes I got for her character. Those who have read other annotations and essays by me know that I build my books by important focal scenes. This image of Vin keeping herself aloof from the fun and good humor, yet desiring to be part of it so badly, seemed to me to be the perfect character for Kelsier's apprentice.
Of course, this scene was actually only half of the image I conjured in my mind. The other half comes, of course, the scene later in the book where Vin has become fully a part of the crew, enjoying their friendship, and looks out of the kitchen at the dark hallway beyond, where she once stood. Nice little brackets of a character arc, and the main focus in my mind of Vin's growth in this book.
Does Nightblood annihilate Investiture?
Investiture cannot be created or destroyed. It can only change forms. But, anything more than that is a RAFO.
How long did it take to write Mistborn from reconception to the end of the first draft? Was that all on off time or did you start when school was still going?
Shelving Climb the Sky for now?
MISTBORN: Began preliminary work in December 2003. Began writing beginning of February. Finished mid-June.
CLIMB THE SKY: I'm probably going to have to shelve it for a year or so. I might slip it in between MISTBORN 2 and MISTBORN 3, but Tage keeps telling me that I just need to write a sequel.
I agree, and so I'm going for MISTBORN 2. I actually wrote ten pages or so prose for the first chapter, though writing will be slower until I get all of my preliminary work done.
Would you ever consider writing a cyberpunk Era 4 for Mistborn? Or are you gonna be doing just the four Eras?
I would consider, and I've talked about before liking that idea. Once I did the Wax and Wayne novels, it became a natural thing to ask if there is a step between the 1980s and the science fiction era. And a cyberpunk-type era would make a lot of sense. The caveat to that is I have a lot on my plate in finishing the Cosmere already, and so I can't make any promises. But it does seem like it would be a natural fit to do.
Original Mistborn series was each between 200,000 and 250,000 words. For a frame of reference, Way of Kings books tend to be between 400,000 and 450,000. And the Wax and Wayne books tend to be between 100,000 and 110,000. So, having another 100,000 to 110,000 word, faster-paced shorter series (shorter in total word count) would make a lot of sense. Because Era 3, the 1980s era, is going to go back to the 250,000 to 250,000 word sized books.
I just wanted to add in my two cents and say it was absolutely brilliant... and I think I'm starting to be able to breath again (crying that much hurts)...I also really loved that there's an "cameo" for Kelsier at the end... that made me really happy to see.
Glad you liked the book, Rainbow!
You may want to note that the moment Preservation dropped out and let the last of his consciousness die, someone was waiting in the Cognitive Realm to seize the power and hold on for a short period until Vin could take it up more fully. You'll find him using it to whisper in moments of great stress in the book, to one person in specific in two places. (I'll bet someone on here has already found them.)
He never could just let things well enough alone....
If you built a computer and you programmed it to view the world in a certain way, would that affect the world, like, Cognitive aspect?
Not unless the computer starts to become self-aware.
What if it was an Awakened computer?
If the computer were becoming self-aware, then it would act like any other sapient entity.
Megan's weakness was fire, she overcame it. David's weakens was water, I feel he overcame it when shooting at the window. So my conspiracy theory is that he didn't have to take power from Calamity because he overcame his weakness or he was never experiencing the negative aspects of being an Epic *audio obscured*
You are getting warmer... You're theorizing is wise and you'll just have to see where it goes. But yeah you are definitely getting warmer.
I asked about the Evil on Threnody.
Yes.
Is it a Splinter?
That's a big RAFO.
What kind of changes do Slivers go through after letting go of a Shard's power?
It leaves them, imagine it like a balloon that has been deflated.
Okay, so would Rashek still have had powers?
He would have had some residual effects. But it also works the soul in weird ways, like a balloon that has been deflated.
Hoid and Vasher, can they recognize each other?
It depends on what Hoid looks like at the moment. He is very good at making himself unrecognizable.
In The Way of Kings, we see a lot of worldhoppers on Roshar. Have you already seeded worldhoppers FROM Roshar in your other works?
Yes. You've met several.
And at the planet they crashed on [Detritus] have Earth gravity?
Yes, it is basically Earth gravity. Within reasonable comparisons. Same with air density.
Do you have a set plotting strategy, or do you kind of adapt it to the way you formulate your idea?
My plotting, I have a set one, but it's a really flexible one. It's based off of my goals for a given subplot and what I think needs to happen to achieve those goals. So my outline is a list of goals and bullet points, which makes it a very flexible outline.
Are there any fain or formerly fain holders of a Shard of Adonalsium?
What an excellent question! It's a card, it's a RAFO card.
I just read Edgedancer. I was just wondering... Did Ishar deceive Nalan on purpose or was he just wrong-- he had wrong information?
All the Heralds are insane.
Okay.
It manifests in different ways. Do not trust anything any Herald says. Ever.
Okay.
Nale trusts Ishar too much.
Okay, but so did he do it on purpose, or...?
Um... So "on purpose" is a difficult thing when you're referring to someone with the psychology that Ishar has.
Did he know what it was-- that it was a lie?
*sighs* Alright, I'll RAFO that until I get to him, but the answer is kind of a yes and a no. Okay? So there is part of him that knows and there is part of him that doesn't want to believe it. And yet the things he's been doing lately in Roshar are done because he knows what's coming.
In this chapter, we really get to see the effects Raoden's leadership. We see how he makes use of what he is given–the bright cloth, the nails, the sheets of metal. On one side, we saw Sarene twisting his demands. Now we get to see Raoden twisting those items back into usefulness. He changes the bright clothing into an advantage, using it to brighten his people against the sludge. He finds uses for all of Sarene's "useless" payments. The more bleak a situation is, the more Raoden shines.
Atium Convoys
The First Generation mention the Ministry convoys that carried the hidden atium to Luthadel from the Pits, or carried atium to the pits and other locations, where the Ministry had purchased beads of it back from the nobility. If you'll recall book one, Vin and Camon right at the beginning were planning to rob a convoy just like this. Instead, Camon decides to double-cross his associate and take a payoff.
However, assuming they'd ever managed to pull that off, they'd have broken the system and discovered the atium. And, in doing so, would have exposed the Lord Ruler's ruse to Ruin, probably leading to the end of the world.
Good thing they didn't pull it off, eh?
Is chasmfiend meat edible? If so, is it easily-- are people harvesting it once a chasmfiend is dead?
It is edible, and yes, perhaps it has not been exploited as much as it should have been, if that makes sense. But yes, it could be eaten.
Of all your books, which cover is your favorite?
The cover of the original Way of Kings. Because of the meaning Michael Whelan's pictures and paintings have in my life. The fact that I got a Whelan cover, it so iconic for me and for Way of Kings.
We are doing a repackage of the Mistborn books, it's going to be hard to ever do that with Stormlight just because that first cover is so iconic and such a favorite of mine. It is interesting that both Elantris and Warbreaker's covers have become iconic as well in that there has never been conversation about changing those. But for whatever reason Mistborn, we change all the time. I doubt this is last the repackage we'll do; every few years we get new covers for Mistborn. Something about Mistborn lends itself well to us doing that. Maybe it's because we did once already by moving from hardcover to paperback, we changed the art style between the those two, maybe we are just used to it.
Is the Syl and Lift Interlude full ones or only part of their interludes?
I believe the Syl interlude was the full one. That is not the end of the Lift chapter.
You have a couple of fantastic running jokes, such as the High Imperial.
Yes.
How do you think of those things and when do you decide to commit to a great joke like that?
When do I decide to commit to a running joke. See Spook doesn't consider that a joke, he thinks it's awesome. So with this, I love-- I'm kind of going to expand this to not just jokes-- Which, definitely-- It's the sort of insider things. I love, in series that i have read a lot of books on, when there is something you will only get if you have been invested in the series. I love this stuff. It is part of the seed of the Cosmere, this idea that if people are reading my books they will start to see and make these connections. It's important to me that it never becomes the forefront, at least until I'm very clear to people that this is-- now you have to have the background of all of the books. That hasn't happened. There will be series that I do that with but I want you to be able to read Stormlight and not feel like you have to know a thousand pages of the wiki behind-the-scenes stuff before you can appreciate it. But I do like these inside references and things like that, and so it comes very natural to me. Some of it's planned out, some of it is something that I think of as I'm working on the story. Some of it's seeded, some of it just works. So you do it as it works. I wouldn't say that I-- With like High Imperial. High Imperial I knew about the time when I decided Spook was going to be a larger character in the series. But if you know Mistborn, my original-- I wrote the first book, did a quick outline of the second two, and then wrote the second two and Spook was the big discovery written surprise. He wasn't intended to be the main character that he became in the later books. And so once he-- I was writing the third book, I'm like "Oh, I know what's going to happen here. I know where this is going." And High Imperial grew out of that.
So, the Shardplate, are those also spren or <specific> spren?
It's a RAFO!
I have a couple questions about when Tacenda sang and played her song for the demons while Davriel Slept.
From the description it seemed like she was evoking her own story of loss and in so doing the demons saw visions. Miss Highwater was flying while Crunchgnar seemed to be seeing the fires of his home go out.
What was the magical song doing to the characters?
Part of Tacenda's power is to use music to enhance people's experiences, memories, and emotions. This song was exploring that power--and looking specifically at things they had lost.
Why did Miss Highwater see herself flying? Did she used to be able to or envy angels?
I'm afraid I'll RAFO this for now. But you are asking the right sorts of questions.
What did Davriel see?
Another RAFO. He was very disturbed by it, though.
I'm also just curious about the soul of the Nameless Angel. Do you have an in universe explanation for why Tacenda could see it yet no one else could? Or is it just a powerful moment that had something to do with the Bog being afraid of faith?
You're theorizing along the right lines, but I wanted to leave this one ambiguous. Suffice it to say that odd things were happening.
Is the Sibling a Singer?
The Sibling is not, good question.
You've said that the the laws of physics in the cosmere are ours except where they're messed with by the Spiritual... But are the laws of physics actually in the Physical Realm all the time, or are they in the Spiritual Realm doing their stuff on a Spiritual level that's trickling down to the Physical as a matter of course?
The three are more closely aligned than-- *Breaks off to focus on the books he's signing, the speaking was distracting him*
So you were saying that physics-- laws of physics-- that the Realms are a lot more closely bound and the laws of physics are not just tied to one of them?
Yeah.
Chapter Two - Part One
Siri Rides South, Stunned
Already, you should be able to see another tone shift in the book. We've gone from lazy highland romping to frustration and terror. My goal with this book was to keep that up—to always have things moving and the characters being pulled out of their comfortable lives into situations that force them to stretch.
One fun thing you can research yourself by looking at the first draft chapters of Warbreaker I posted. In them, I toyed with having Mab the cook be sent with Siri to be a lady's maid.
I didn't intend this while planning the book, but after writing Mab—and having so much fun with her character—I wanted to keep hold of her and let her add some color to Siri's sections. However, I cut this idea out pretty quickly. (Though a draft of this chapter exists with Mab accompanying Siri—I think in that draft, Mab is the one Siri is complaining to, rather than the poor guard outside the window.)
Why cut Mab? Well, a couple of reasons. First off, Siri's plotline was much more dramatic and emotional if she was forced to leave behind everything she'd known. Giving her a support character like Mab undermined Siri's plot and growth as a character. Beyond that, Siri's plots didn't need more color. We've got plenty of interesting characters and experiences coming for her, so the addition of another character wasn't needed.
I tried the chapter, but then realized that my original instincts had been right. I was forced to cut Mab out.
The YA book you were talking about earlier, is that Dark One? That your doing for--
I'm not doing Dark One. I pitched it to them and they decided one of my other pitches they liked better. The Apocalypse Guard... So the Apocalypse Guard is-- So people have started to explore the multiverse and found that there are dimensions in which the planet is doomed to some catastrophe. It's going to extinction event. And the Apocalypse Guard is a group of scientists, soldiers, and experts who save the planet that they have discovered that is doomed. So it's about saving planets.
That sounds very non-cosmere.
It's non-cosmere. But you have, if you've been reading non-cosmere books-- there's another non-cosmere book which explores the concept of a multiverse and alternate dimensions. It might be in the same continuity.
Is the Old Magic a Shard?
Is the Old Magic a Shard? That's a Read And Find Out.
The device the Ire were planning on using in Secret History. Were they testing it for something?
They actively wanted it to work there.
Like, say, something involving Sel and the Spiritual Realm?
There are different applications that they had considered, but I wouldn't call what they were doing a test, right then. They wanted to use it for what it was used for, yes.
Do any structures/cities still exist after Sazed's ascension? Or do the survivors need to start from scratch?
Start from scratch! Good thing there are building materials in some of the storage caches....
The last Unmade, the one that's hypothesized to Dai-Gonarthis. It looks suspiciously to me like Cusicesh, because of the feeling of being drained, because it's a large spren-- Is there something to that or is the feeling just because Cusicesh is a large spren?
I'm gonna RAFO.
Is possible that I'm overthinking about it but in Oathbringer, in Puuli's Interlude he spoke about what seems a new kind of faction-to-be in Roshar. Given how Puuli talks about them one can think he is describing the Knight Radiants we know. But he also mentions that, "They will come from the Origin," and that them are, "The sailors lost on an infinite sea." My question then is... Are they direct descendants of the original humans that migrated from Ashyn eons ago? Yeah, I know that in some way all are descendants of those humans but my question, to be clear, is if they are more Odium inclined for example. An Odium-winning-card.
RAFO.
This is the first chapter where we get to see atium work. The metal is one of the most interesting aspects of the magic system, in my opinion. In fact, one of the things that made me want to start writing Mistborn was this idea of an extremely rare metal that gets used up by the world's mages. It felt natural to me, then, that this metal would do something very powerful.
Allomancy is, basically, a physical/combat oriented magic system. So, the spectacular power of atium would have to be something physical, and useful on a one-on-one basis. The ability to see slightly into the future, with the atium shadows, felt like a very interesting image to me, so I went with it.
In Mistborn Prime, the main character lacked atium–and spent most of the book trying to get ahold of it. (He actually stumbled across an atium mine hidden in a small village, which was being oppressed by a tyrant.) It is a small nod to the original book that I developed the plot of this one to be characters trying, essentially, to get ahold of some atium.
Just a lot more of it.
What would happen if Hoid held Nightblood?
Uh, Hoid would not do that. Hoid would stay very far away.
Not even hold it??
He would stay really far away. There are very few things in the Cosmere that Hoid is afraid of, and Nightblood is one of them.
I thought he'd be afraid of the blade end.
So let's just say if very, very, very few things in the Cosmere had a chance of destroying you, you wouldn't even pick one up. You'd try to be in a different room entirely.
*Whispering about Nightblood being able to destroy Hoid*
I didn't say, I said theoretically. I said "had a chance of", I did not confirm. Hoid doesn't know. But there's a chance, and so he is not going to risk that.
