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Questioner

So, I wanted to ask. It wasn't translated to Hebrew yet, but one of your stories has a loosely based magic system based on Shabbos.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. Very loose! It started stricter, it got very loose.

Questioner

Very loose!

Brandon Sanderson

*explaining to audience* Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell.

Questioner

I was wondering, on the same planet, are there more magic systems or is this magic system going to be expanded upon and built, to keep it in the religious theme?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. There is more and it is... all the magics that I'll do there, they are takes on sort of religious concepts. We'll do more. Threnody is really messed up, I'm just gonna warn you. *audience laughs* You haven't even seen how messed up it is.

Commenter

*in humor* Half of the place is called HELL, how worse can it get?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, it's worse outside of Hell. Hell is nice. *audience laughs*

So, yeah, that's my theme...

Questioner

Will it keep the Jewish motif?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, it will keep some more Jewish motifs, and things like that, because I find them fascinating, so, you will find a things like that, yeah.

Questioner

In Shadows for Silence, there was one line, like in the middle of the book that *inaudible* chasms and surfing the wind. Is that like intentionally harking back to The Stormlight Archive?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm going to say, most likely not but I'd actually have to look at it again and see if I was being cute. I don't think I was because--

Questioner

Like riding the wind. I was like "woah".

Brandon Sanderson

Because if we're in Silence's mind, she's not cosmere-aware. She wouldn't know any of that stuff. If it was someone else, then maybe yeah, I was being cute. But I'd actually have to go look at it, I don't think I was being cute.

darniil

Shadows for Silence, cosmere-wise timeline where does that fall with the rest of the books?

Brandon Sanderson

Shadows for Silence, cosmere timeline, where does it fall with the rest of the books. It is middle cosmere, a little on the late side but not-- I mean, it is pre-Stormlight Archive, so yeah.

Questioner

The short story you wrote for Dangerous Women [Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell], the one that's in the cosmere, is Hoid actually in that story?

Brandon Sanderson

Hoid does not appear in the Dangerous Women story. I made that choice consciously because I don't want Hoid showing up to be something that always has to be checked off a list. This is a story, it's not a sequence of silly cameos, it's actually a story going on behind the scenes. There was no reason for him to be there, so I didn't put him in.

Questioner

In Shadows for Silence one of the characters refers to “Justice has died here.”  Is that the actual Shard of Justice?

Brandon Sanderson

That’s a great theory! (Big grin, raised eyebrows.)

Phyrkrakr

I just finished Arcanum Unbounded and I have to ask: Who's the "dangerous" guy in the corner of the waystop in Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell? That's not Hoid, is it?

Brandon Sanderson

This is not Hoid. I toyed with a cameo for him in the story, but decided that forcing him to be at every little point in all the smaller stories was just having him be there for the sake of having him be there. It's better for the cosmere if I don't force him into every story, but let him be involved in the ones where he has a legitimate reason.

Beyond that, getting on and off of Threnody is not particularly easy.

katfan97

Um, what about us (Wit fans)? Will we see any more of him in this book? RAFO?

Brandon Sanderson

:) Well, he hasn't skipped a book in the cosmere yet...!

havoc_mayhem

Was he in Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell, or does that only count as a story, not a book?

Brandon Sanderson

I was meaning full novels. There are a number of the novellas where he doesn't appear.

Lance Alvein (paraphrased)

Is Shadows of Silence a cosmere story?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

It is cosmere, but takes place on an unimportant side planet that doesn't have anything interesting going on there. Hoid is not in the story.

Questioner

Is Hoid in Shadows for Silence?

Brandon Sanderson

He is not. I intentionally didn't put him in... I wanted to indicate that he goes where there is an important reason for him to be there rather than just being a cameo in every story.

Brandon Sanderson

This [Perfect State] is a story, a novella that I wrote, oh, maybe three years ago now. It was between two books, at some point, and I didn't have anything to do, but I knew a revision was coming back soon, so I didn't want to start another big project. And so, I sat down and wrote this. And I just finally had time to do a revision on it, so we're going to be releasing it, this spring sometime.

I think what we're doing is we're putting this and the story that's in Dangerous Women [Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell], if you haven't read that, we're putting together in a little two-pack collection that I'm gonna be taking to conventions and things like that. So, that's how you would read this.

Questioner

Is there a Hoid cameo in Shadows for Silence?

Brandon Sanderson

There is not. I intentionally didn't put one in, because I didn't-- couldn't come-- there was no reason for him to be there, and I didn't want to be doing it just to do it, if that makes sense, like, the Cosmere isn't just a bunch of cameos, it is a story within itself.

Questioner

Hoid. Does he show up in Sixth of the Dusk?

Brandon Sanderson

Hoid is not in Sixth of the Dusk. I kind of made the little rule to myself that I should not just try to shoehorn him in to everything. On a thing like Sixth of the Dusk, there's no reason for him to be there. In fact, it would be really hard for him to get there. Even harder. So, he's not in Shadows for Silence either.