Questioner 1
Who or what is Hoid? Or Wit?
Brandon Sanderson
Wit? He is a person who has shown up in all the books. What else do you want to know?
Questioner 2
All of the books?
Brandon Sanderson
He has shown up in all of my epic fantasies, yes.
Questioner 1
Every single one of them?
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah, he's been...
Questioner 2
Wit or Hoid?
Brandon Sanderson
Hoid-- is the same, Wit.
Questioner 1
But how do you know it's him?
Brandon Sanderson
Because he says his name in all of them.
Questioner 1
As Hoid?
Brandon Sanderson
As Hoid.
Questioner 1
Really?
Brandon Sanderson
Yep.
Questioner 2
I-- now I need to be more careful.
Questioner 1
How does he know so much information about what's going on, and how is he always in the right place at the right time?
Brandon Sanderson
Those are two excellent questions.
Questioner 1
That you won't tell me.
Brandon Sanderson
That I won't tell you. You get a [RAFO] card. But he has a sp-- surprising ability to be in the right place at the right time very consistently in the cosmere. That's the name of the shared universe of all the books.
Questioner 1
I didn't realize it was a shared universe.
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, it is. There are characters in Way of Kings from Elantris, and... yeah. But it's all Easter eggs. It doesn't-- it isn't something you have to.
Questioner 2
So it's not, like, crossovers.
Brandon Sanderson
There are crossovers, but it's all Easter egg-ish right now. Some day there'll be one where I do full-blown crossover. For now the story is about this. And so the crossover is all just in the background.