Questioner
When did Vasher find out about Shadesmar and travel to Roshar?
Brandon Sanderson
I will try to cover this in the sequel to Warbreaker when I write it. So for right now, you get a RAFO card.
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When did Vasher find out about Shadesmar and travel to Roshar?
I will try to cover this in the sequel to Warbreaker when I write it. So for right now, you get a RAFO card.
You know how in, uh... the God King was engaged to Siri?
Mhm.
And she went to his room few times?
Mhm.
Will there be something like that in the second book? Or will you be avoiding that?
There will be a romance in the next book between different characters. Slightly different. The outline right now it's-- the romance is a married couple who, for political purposes act like they hate each other.
Okay.
*laughs* That's awesome.
But yes.
But what I mean is there will be any-- like-- there won't be anything, like, prostrating or whatever...
Probably not... Um, I mean...
Because if you avoid it I'll love to read the book. *laughs* I had a hard time recommending Warbreaker to others because of that. I mean, it's not a big criticism or anything, it's just more uncomfortable.
I understand that completely. It was a book about a wedding night. And I felt there were certain things that were appropriate for that book that may not have been appropriate for others.
[Warbreaker] ends on, you could totally write a second one. Is that in the works?
It is, but it's kind of a distant plan. It's kind of just more for fun. I wrote this-- I had already written Way of Kings, and I wrote this as a prequel to Way of Kings on a different world, and then it got published before Way of Kings got published. But the characters from this were already continuity in Way of Kings, so I just kept using them, because I figured it works out. Really, Warbreaker, I see it as Vasher's (and Nightblood, the sequel), the prequel, to where he came from, who was Kaladin's swordmaster in the first version of Way of Kings back when Kaladin was training to be a Shardbearer in the first book. Vasher was a major part of that, and Warbreaker was a flashback to where he'd come from.
Vasher is Zahel, right?
Yes, Vasher is Zahel from The Stormlight Archive. Who is still kind of the swordmaster, but he's no longer Kaladin's, it didn't work out that way. But he ends up as Renarin's instead.
So, why does Warkeeper get putting further back on the back burner, it's, like, my favorite.
So, the main reason for that is, I consider it a side project. I considered the first one a side project. And I have to be careful. The big thing is having both a YA career and an adult career. Which, both sell about the same, Reckoners and Stormlight, which are kinda my two big things, about equivalent, which means I have to make sure I'm balanced, an adult book and a YA book. And if I stop to do Warbreaker, I have to... it's much more likely to happen once I have the Wax & Wayne books done. 'Cause when that sequence is done, I'm like, "All right. I fulfilled that promise." Anyway, it's weird how I view which things I promise. Warbreaker, I've never promised people anytime soon. But starting something like Wax & Wayne, I'm like, "I am gonna do these for a while, I have to be regular with those." I don't know. I wanna write it. It will happen someday.
Are you thinking about anything else in the Elantris world? Or Warbreaker?
Yes, Elantris will be sooner than Warbreaker. Warbreaker will be a ways off. You may want to find Emperor's Soul; it's in the Elantris world.
Timeline-wise will Warbreaker 2 come before Stormlight Archive or is it after?
Before the end of the Stormlight?
So Warbreaker 2 would it take place before the start of...
Oh, before. Yeah, Warbreaker 2 chronologically is pre-Stormlight. Before Stormlight 1, yeah.
Pre-Stormlight. Okay.
I'm excited for that.
In fact, chronologically I think it's the exact book before Stormlight 1. I don't think there's anything in between there.
Will the book say why Nightblood's on [Roshar]...
It will at least hint at it. I mean the book is called Nightblood. If it doesn't I'll write a bridge novella to kind of do that.
Bridge the gap?
Bridge the gap. Because the story-- I'm not sure if I can work in everything. Because the story isn't about Nightblood leaving. It's about-- yeah.
Yeah, it's not about that. It's just kind of like a... how did that transition happen.
I mean, yeah. Vasher's cosmere-aware, and so the more you talk to him the more some of this stuff will come out.
Warbreaker Two. Would you do it in the same way you did Warbreaker One, an open process?
Yes. When I do Warbreaker Two, I will write it the same way, and I will post chapters as I do, and use fan feedback to figure out... use the fans for a writing group like I did for that book.
Will there be a second part of Warbringer [Warbreaker]?
Some day. I can’t promise when, it will be a side project, but it will happen.
First, just please tell me anything about Nightblood--the book or the Type IV Awakened object. Or Warbreaker--the book or the Type II...
All right. My current plot for the book Nightblood. It's really minor, but it involves Darro entering the cosmere officially. He is a character from Aether of Night... He's a side character in that that I've always wanted to work into this main continuity, the real continuity, so he's coming.
I want to know when we're gonna hear of Denth and his further adventures?
Further adventures. Denth? You probably mean Vasher. Oh, that's... you will get more. It's not in the immediate future, because I feel like spending four years to get the second Stormlight book out was too long. I will write more Warbreaker in the coming years. More is coming. There's very important stories to be told, but I have to... It's not in line until at least I finish Stormlight Three. Which will be my next adult book that I'm gonna write. I'm writing Rithmatist 2 next, during the summer, and then I'm doing Stormlight next. It will be a couple years. But when I do write the sequel, which is called Nightblood, I will post the chapters online as I write them, just like I did with the first book.
Is there gonna be a sequel to Warbreaker?
Someday, yes. I can't promise when because it's kind of a side project thing, but I've got it outlined, which is step number one.
Nightblood (Warbreaker sequel)
This is still on the back burner, but it is coming. Probably after the Elantris sequels. I'll squeeze it in someplace. I'm very excited about it, but now (while I'm juggling multiple teen series) is not the time.
Other Notes
Yes, there are Returned in Idris. There are Returned everywhere in this world that there are people. (The name of this world is Nalthis, by the way. Mistborn takes place on a world called Scadrial, and Elantris on a world known as Sel. See the fun things you learn by reading annotations?)
I'd like someday to do a sequel to Warbreaker, in part because I want to show off all of the different ways people in Nalthis deal with the Returned. They're treated in very strange ways some places. For instance, just across the mountains there's a kingdom where when someone dies in a way that might be heroic, the corpse is immediately purchased by a nobleman hoping to hit the jackpot and get a Returned. You see, since Returned can heal people, keeping one around to act as an emergency insurance plan to restore your health is a great idea.
I was talking with a couple of others in another chat room about Vivenna and Siri's personal journeys in the book, especially at the end when Vivenna decides that she isn't going to write to her father in Idris. There was much debate over whether Vivenna was being childish and running away from responsibility, or if she realized that she was so drastically different from who she was before that she knew she was going to disappoint her father and family. As the author, what is your take on this scene regarding Vivenna's growth as a person?
I would say yes to both. Vivenna ends the book having experienced a great deal of personal growth. However, unlike some of the other characters, she is only a few rungs up the ladder. She's got a long way to go. That's why as I was plotting the book, before I even started, I decided I'd probably want to do this as a two-book cycle. Overlapping and forcing upon Vivenna the level of personal growth that it would take to get her character to completely reach an end point just couldn't happen in the book. Particularly with me doing what I did with Lightsong and the personal arc he has, and with Siri. So Vivenna certainly had a lot of growth, but I planned a separate book where I could really delve into and dig into her psychoses and her psychology.
Vasher still has a long way to go too. His personal growth is more like a zigzag pattern—a line graph with lots of peaks and valleys. He's been around and still hasn't really found himself, though he's thought he's found himself a number of times. Anyway, those two characters led me to think that there was a lot more to explore there. I didn't want to ram them through the paces it would take in this one book. I thought it would ruin the book. So I let them grow at the rate they needed to grow at, or decline at the rate they needed to decline at, and saved a second book in the series to deal more with who they are and who they become.
How far back was the <second> Warbreaker book? Chronologically does it come before or after Stormlight Archive?
Before.
Before. So in between Warbreaker and The Stormlight Archive?
Yes. More close to Warbreaker than to Stormlight.
Regarding Ashraven... Would it be correct to say that memories are part of the mind/CR aspect? Assuming so, was Shai forging a new CR aspect to in-effect reconnect Ashraven's Soul (SR) with his body (PR)? I was thinking this could explain how she got his mannerisms correct -- i.e. that those are timeless SR aspects, so she didn't really get those right but instead, the SR connection was re-established?
Regarding Ashrovan: The problem here is that I don't want to get too deep into these sorts of things, for reasons that I want aspects of the magic to remain subject to discussion for a while yet. Suffice it to say that when we talk about Returned and lifeless in Warbreaker sequels, you'll have more ammunition for understanding what happened in Emperor's Soul.
Ashraven, Ashrovan...it's Ashravan damnit. He didn't step up to become emperor just so you could get his name wrong. Gaotona is ashamed of you all DX
In the original language, the a/o is very similar. I always get them mixed up in the English, like when I try to write aㅂsound from Korean in English.
Either that, or I just couldn't decide which one I wanted when writing the book, giving Peter a headache as he had to go back and standardize them all. :)
In Vahr's case, did collecting Breath from other rebel-minded people strengthen his determination and resolve?
It would have had an influence on him, but you would need the numbers of Breaths that he had for any effect to manifest. It's basically a non-issue in the current book, but it could be an issue in some of the things that will happen in the next book.
Do you ever plan to use bio‐chroma again? It'd be a shame to see such an interesting and original idea left with a single book.
It is unlikely that I will use this magic system in a different book because it is distinctly tied to that particular Shard. The sequel likelihood is good. There is more to tell in this world, so there is a decent chance I will return and do a second WARBREAKER book (I've been calling it NIGHTBLOOD when I've mentioned it before). That isn't to say that there will never be magic systems that will repeat across series—in fact there's a decent chance that will happen—but I'm not going to say any more on that right now.
So first and foremost, is there going to be a second Warbreaker?
Yes, but I can't promise when. I want to do a book that deals more with the Lifeless and Nightblood, following Vasher and Vivenna a little further. But the WoT made me shelf this project for now. We'll see. It should happen eventually.
Regarding Vasher... what was his name before he Returned?
That is a RAFO, but just a minor one... Vasher's past is a factor in Nightblood the book, and so I'm staying away from all answers about that.
When you write the Warbreaker sequel, will it be more focused on Vivenna, Vasher, and Nightblood, and will we learn why they got separated and how Nale found Nightblood?
That's the plan. It will definitely be Vivenna and Vasher. There will probably be mentions of Siri and Susebron but brief. They won't have--most likely--viewpoints. If they do it'll be like one little something, but I don't even plan that. And then yes, it will at least leave the implication of why what happened happened, if that makes sense. I may not get to the actual events but you will see, you know yeah.
Let's just hope I can write Nightblood someday. I need to be up to date on things. Because that's a six month write right there, easily. I have been spoiled by doing three month books for a while on [Mistborn] Era 2 and on the Skyward books. I alternate those and eighteen month books like Stormlight. [Mistborn] Era 3 are all going to be six month writes probably because I'm going to shoot from 200,000-250,000 on those. And that's what Nightblood would be when and if I can get around to it.
Updates on Secondary Projects
Elantris and Warbreaker
No change on either one from last year. The plan has always been to look back at Sel and Nalthis once the Wax and Wayne books are done. That's still my intention.
Status: Keep waiting. (Sorry.)
Tertiary Book Projects
Warbreaker
While some characters from Nalthis have made appearances in other books, I still don't have a specific timeframe for when I'll go back and write the second Warbreaker book. (Titled Nightblood for the time being.)
I know a lot of people really want this book, and I intend to do it, but I have to find time for the Elantris sequels first. So you're unlikely to see it until Elantris is finished. (Sorry.)
Status: On Hiatus
Updates on Secondary Projects
Elantris, Warbreaker, Rithmatist
No updates from last year, I'm afraid. There was no intention to make progress on these this year. Once Alcatraz is wrapped up, I'll turn my attention back to The Rithmatist as the last looming series that needs a wrap-up that hasn't gotten one. Elantris and Warbreaker sequels aren't to be expected until Stormlight Five and Wax and Wayne Four are done.
Status: Keep waiting. (Sorry again.)
Zahel/Vasher is in Roshar for Nightblood? Will we know in Stormlight Archive why these two were separated? Or in the sequel of Warbreaker?
The Warbreaker sequel will give clues about this, but the actual event happened between that and [The Way of Kings]. So I'm not sure where I'll slip it in.
Nightblood and Vasher Interact as He Sneaks into the God King's Palace
Note that Nightblood is capable of more change than Vasher assumes. Vasher has a bit of a blind spot when it comes to Nightblood. He makes assumptions he wouldn't make regarding other people or elements of Awakening. It's hard for him to regard the sword without bias. If you want to know more about this, read the sequel. (Er, if I ever write it.) Which is tentatively named Nightblood.
Will Nightblood be focusing more on Siri and the God King or Vivenna or Vasher?
The sequel to Warbreaker, who will it be focusing on. More on the second two that you mentioned. 'Cause I don't want to give spoilers who survives the book.
When am I gonna get my Warbreaker to Stormlight Archive crossover book?
Nightblood will bring you a lot closer, but I can't promise when I'm gonna write that.
With your thinking about the sequel to Warbreaker, Nightblood, are you-- Is what is going on in your head going to help set up for The Stormlight Archive?
And the other books? Yes it is. It is kind of a connecting book for those.
Is the Warbreaker sequel gonna have Susebron and Siri?
It's Vivenna and Vasher. And new characters. You'll get an update in it, if I ever do it, what's going on, but it won't be focused on them.
Also, how did the experiment with Warbreaker turn out, and are you planning to do this with any other things you write?
It's so hard to tell, sales-wise, how it helped or hurt. I don't, honestly, think it hurt—and I think it could only have helped, as more and more WoT readers turned their eyes on me and were able to grab a book to read for free. I do plan to do it again in the future, most likely with the Warbreaker sequel.
A question that's been on my mind for a while. If Returned can't have children, how are Siri and Vivenna descended from one?
Excellent question. One I have to RAFO. When I was writing WRBRKR, I was planning on two books.
I seeded two questions to be answered in the next book. One was the origin of the royal family..
The second was how Vasher was able to survive while hiding his divine Breath. I will answer these questions.
Eventually. (It has to do with restoring Breath and life to the child while still in the womb.).
Is there a Warbreaker sequel in the works? I would love to know how a certain trio of characters found themselves in Roshar.
Warbreaker sequel will happen some day, but is probably not until after book five of Stormlight. (At the earliest.)
Here’s an interesting one. Why do some Breaths flare when people die? Vasher mentions it in the book.
I will answer that in the next book, if I ever get to it.
Do you know when we're going to get Nightblood?
I don't know for sure. Your best bet at Nightblood is after Stormlight 5. I'll take a little bit longer break than normal between 5 and 6 because there are two five-book arcs, and I'm really hoping to squeeze Nightblood in there.
What are the pre-requisites for someone becoming Returned? Does it depend on how much Breath they have?
It does not depend on the quantity of breath, but I'm not revealing the specific pre-requisites, since I need to save something for Nightblood.
Are you doing a Warbreaker sequel?
Yes. But I've determined that I can't do it until I at least have the Wax and Wayne sequence done. So it will probably not happen till after Stormlight 5. So you got a little wait on that. Because I'm going to do Wax and Wayne and then the next Stormlight. There's a chance I'll do it in between 4 and 5 but we'll see once we get there.
So Wax and Wayne aren't finished?
One more book, Wax and Wayne.
I thought they were just going to be a trilogy.
I wrote the first book as exploration. So I view the books two through four as a trilogy, with the first book kind of being like, "Do I want to do something more with this?" So there will be four.
Why do you decide to do more series like Apocalypse Guard or the Secret Project [Skyward] when you still have so many more unfinished sequels?
That's a good question. No, it is totally legit. *laughter* So, I did finish Legion. I did that. So, those who are looking for that, that will come out next year. Why do I do it this way? Well, most of the time, it's because I try a book, and it doesn't work. Rithmatist fans probably know, I tried to write Rithmatist 2, I built an outline, I started writing it, and the book didn't work. I wasn't-- the outline was wrong on that one. I got, like, three chapters in, and I'm like, "Nope. This book is broken." And it was mostly due to my lack of research into the proper things to do the book the right way. And because Rithmatist and Alcatraz, which you'll get Alcatraz 6 eventually, those are the two that are looming most; those are side projects. Those are things that I do for fun. They have to slot in between my main projects, if that makes any sense. Like, I have to do them when there's time from other projects. So, for instance, I couldn't go to Random House and say, "I'm gonna do Rithmatist 2 sequel," because Rithmatist is not their series. It belongs to Tor. So, if I wanna do more with Random House, I have to do something that works for them. And that's kind of the long and short of it.
I mean, I will get around to things like Warbreaker and Elantris sequels. *cheers* But the thing about those is, those are sequels to the worlds, not necessarily sequels to the characters. I won't promise you that the same characters will appear in them. Some of them will. But it's the idea that those are standalone books that I plan to do more in the world, and the time isn't right in the cosmere to do those. For something like Rithmatist, that's more pressing, because I'm like "that promises a sequel with the same characters". But I have to find out how to write it first. And, for various reasons, a Rithmatist sequel is really tricky to pull off. So, that's kinda the answer to it. Sometimes, I also just need a break to do whatever my mind wants to do. It's not a very satisfying answer, but it is the way my brain works. But you can know that if it's, like, one of the main line things that I've got contracts for, that I won't be doing that to you on. So, Stormlight will be pretty regular, Mistborn will be pretty regular. But some of the side projects, it's just when it's right it's right.
I've mentioned sequels to Elantris and Warbreaker, though I'm not sure if I should count those or not, as I don't view them as a series in the same way. They were both written as stand-alone novels, and when I return, I intend them to be more return to the worlds as opposed to returns to specific characters.
I don't know if can accept that. I want more Raoden and Sarene. Despite the so-called "flaws" with Elantris, it's my favorite book/world.
I understand, and there's a chance I might revise my original outline. But I intended from the start to do these as more "Anne McCaffrey" style sequels--where the main characters from one book become side characters in the next. We'll see.
The fact that you have acknowledged and responded to this means I have nowhere else to go except to accept what your intended direction is. Doesn't mean I can't remind you that Lessa appears in the following books...
Yes, and I do intend main characters from Elantris to appear as side characters in sequels, maybe even with viewpoints and subplots. But I intend to pull a Dragonquest, where the main focus shifts to someone else. (In this case, Kiin's children.)
Who will be the monarch of Idris during Nightblood?
...I will RAFO that. Just not-- not for any real secretive reason. But more because, when I write that book, it's possible, you know, that I will change things and whatnot, so--
It's likely to not change.
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.
Warbreaker. Will we see more?
Yes you will. It is the project that is the most distant right now - the major project that is the most distant. Getting back to that, I feel like I have to do more Stormlight before I can get back to a different epic fantasy.
When might we expect a sequel to Warbreaker?
When might you expect a sequel to Warbreaker. Okay, let me go down the list. I have finished three books, alright? The finished books are: Bands of Mourning, which is the sequel to the one you-- many of you bought today; I have finished Calamity, the last book of The Reckoners; and I've finished, a while ago, the fifth book of the Alcatraz series, for the middle-grade series. Which I finished a while ago, but we had to wait for the contracts to run out before I could release it, it's a big complicated thing. So those are in the queue, and they are coming.
Now I am writing, right now, Stormlight 3. Yes working on that. It's actually-- Anytime I mention Stormlight people are contractually obligated to shout in my crowds. So I'm finishing that and my goal is to have it done by May or June. If it is done by May or June the publisher has said they will publish it Christmastime, so November/December next year. If I miss May or June then it gets pushed back to the Spring sometime. So just watch the progress bars on my website and you'll see-- you'll be able to gauge. It's slowed down a lot because of revisions and touring but they should pick back up as soon as I get home.
After that I'm going to write a book called The Apocalypse Guard, which is my follow-up to Steelheart. Not the same world but the same style, fast-paced, frantic action sort of things. In the US those are published as teen books, here they're published as adult books, I don't even know what they are but I want to have a follow-up for my teen publisher. Something that's similar. So we're going to do that, then I'm going to do Rithmatist 2, and then I will do finally the fourth Wax and Wayne book which will wrap up Era 2 of Mistborn. Then I will do Stormlight 4.
If the book, such as Warbreaker sequel, is not in that list it means it is coming post-Stormlight 4. So we've got a little ways to wait, but I will get around to doing them, I promise.
I asked Brandon about Susebron's tongue, and he said that it would not have been possible for him to regrow it anytime he wanted to. Brandon will be exploring the limits of the self-image modification of Returned in the sequel.
A lot of things changed for certain characters between Warbreaker and Stormlight. Will we get any of that story in future Stormlight books, or do we have to wait until Nightblood?
You probably are gonna have to wait until Nightblood. There is a chance I'll do some Vasher stuff in Stormlight to catch you up. It's gonna depend on how long it takes to get to Nightblood, and various things like that. I have plans to find a place for some of this if I can't get to Nightblood in time. But most of it, I'm hoping, will be able to be in the Warbreaker sequel.
Again in Way of Kings and Words of Radiance, there are characters from different books. Some of these books have sequels, like the people from Elantris. So when are the sequels coming out? Are they going to come out before the big book? Or…
It's going to be a while before we do them. The sequels, I want to do them. Part of the thing that is holding me back with Elantris and Warbreaker is that I like having them as standalones right now, because so much of the rest of my work is so involved, I want to have these introductory books. Eventually I probably will do them, but it is going to take me a little while. I want to number one get further in The Stormlight Archive, I feel that we've had too much delay. Book One and Book Two there was a four year delay. Which is-- That's like George R.R. Martin level delay, and granted I did two Wheel of Time books in-between. I should be cut some slack there but that's too long, I want to be consistently doing them every 18 months to two years. Then I can stop and say, "Okay do I have time to write an Elantris sequel or a Warbreaker sequel?"
Lightsong Sees the Lifeless and Takes Command of Them
They keep them in the dark. This is a bad idea. They don't realize it, but the Lifeless are far more aware than everyone assumes. Clod in this book is a foreshadowing of that, and there won't be much more about it in the rest of the novel. It's one of the focus points for the sequel, if I ever write it. (Which will actually have a Lifeless as a viewpoint character, if I can find a way to swing it.)
Peter actually said on the 17th Shard that we should ask you about this, we'll see if I get RAFO'd or not.
Would you share with me how Vasher lost his sword to Nale?
How Vasher...?
Well uh "Zahel".
Oh, oh. *having far too much fun with this*
So how Zahel lost his "sword"...
We're talking about the same thing here. So Nightblood. How did that get in-- how did that transfer over?
I'm not sure why Peter's telling you to ask that, because--
Well he said something about that maybe you could share a little bit about, I don't know...
There will be a lot of information in the book Nightblood about how some of these things came to transpire.
Yesteel from Warbreaker. At the time of Oathbringer, is he still at large?
RAFO, I'm afraid... I will let you know the fates of all Five Scholars, probably, in Nightblood, the book, when I write it. The ones you don't know already. It's a RAFO-- Well, if I write Nightblood... Of the cosmere books, it's probably the... most in jeopardy, other than maybe the Threnody novel.