Shardcast - Dragonsteel 2023 WoBs Part 1

Forger (paraphrased)

Is Nightblood a Dawnshard?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

He is not.

Lightweaver2 (paraphrased)

Does Rysn have a Torment?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

She hasn’t had the Dawnshard long enough for it to change her spiritweb enough.

Lightweaver2 (paraphrased)

Will she?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

She may not call it that, but the Dawnshard will change her spiritweb in drastic ways.

#1 Taln Fan

Who in the Cosmere could beat Taln in a fight back when he was in his prime?

Brandon Sanderson

Depends what level of abilities he has access to. If you're saying access to full abilities, I don't know of anybody who could beat him in an actual one-on-one.

Questioner

Is Hoid able to use soulstamps?

Brandon Sanderson

Hoid is working on how to figure out how to use soulstamps. As you have seen so far, he has not figured out how to make that work. But he only just barely managed to get access to Selish magic systems. He's working on it.

Questioner

Is there a specific reason as to why Hoid cannot Skip, but Nomad can?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, there is a specific reason for that. I'll get into it someday. Let's just say the Skipping started because of a certain event, that probably I won't write a book to talk about, but you will get an answer to that someday I hope. So it's a RAFO, but a RAFO with a little bit of a promise.

Questioner

What would happen if a Mistborn ingested anti-lerasium or anti-atium, assuming they don't explode?

Brandon Sanderson

If you are not highly Invested yourself, and you get the anti[-Investiture], it's not gonna be a fun time. You won't explode, but it will kill you, almost assuredly. Not a fun time, but not an explosively not-a-fun-time, just a regular old not-a-fun-time. Maybe a little bit like pouring molten metal down your throat.

Questioner (paraphrased)

Could you Awaken a chasmfiend as a Lifeless with just one Breath, or would it require more?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

It probably would require more.

Questioner (paraphrased)

And would a Lifeless chasmfiend still function normally, because they use spren in order to support their weight?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yeah, it wouldn't be able to make the Nahel bond work, so it would collapse.

SirWatermelon (paraphrased)

Are spores and fabrials affected by God Metals?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes, the severity depends on which God Metal.

The Rosharan Ecologist (paraphrased)

We've seen on Roshar creatures like chasmfiends evolve to have symbiotic relationships with spren. Are similar things possible between animals and Aethers?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

This could happen, yes. The Luhel bond is able to do these sorts of things.

Questioner

So the Threnodites are described as having a smokey shadow something to their soul; we don't really know what that is. Is it more similar to the black smoke that comes from Awakened objects in Yumi and Nightblood? Or is it more like Midnight Essence in Tress?

Brandon Sanderson

It is more like Breath than it is like either one of those. More like Breath, but something's a little wrong with it

Questioner

What would happen if an Awakener drew color from an emerald and then a Soulcaster tried to Soulcast with it?

Brandon Sanderson

That's an excellent question. The color of the gemstone is working as a sort of key to help the Soulcaster and to facilitate this. There are Soulcasters that could do it if it's been drained, but for most of them it's just not gonna work. They're gonna view that too much like a diamond or even quartz and it's just gonna fiddle with the process to the point that it won't work. There are some people who could do it anyway.

Questioner

What would happen if a person from Scadrial were to try to burn a manifested metal from Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson

So you're meaning they're in Shadesmar, they manifest it, and they try to burn it, right?

Questioner

Say a Spren of a Radiant manifests as a bead of metal instead of a Shardblade?

Brandon Sanderson

You're not going to be able to burn that if it's something that's coming from a spren, because that's not going to be treated as a metal in your body. Like, those are God Metals, and that one is actually alive and awake and it's just not gonna work. There are ways, though, that you could make that work. So it's totally possible, but you're gonna need something that's not an alive spren that's manifest like that. You're gonna need some way to get access to some tanavastium or something like that that's not, like, some living being.

Questioner

Do dragons in the cosmere have their own magic system? And if so, what can you tell us about it?

Brandon Sanderson

You'll get some answers to this very soon because you'll be able to read Dragonsteel Prime. (And some of you have read that. We'll be doing this as a Curiosity, like we did Way of Kings Prime). Dragons act in the cosmere as kind of this... the Primary magic system that they use is something akin to soothing and rioting, but they have followers who pray to them and ask for them to help them with their emotions during difficult times, and the dragons are able to do that across any distance. That's kind of the main thing that they're doing, other than that they can transform between a dragon and a person in shape. There's a little bit more to it, but I'll give you those nuggets.

Questioner

Is Lift entirely human?

Brandon Sanderson

That's a wonderful question. I would say yes; but the modifications that were made to her make her kind of a unique version of a human. If Hoid is still human, Lift is still human, if that makes sense.

And you shouldn't be reading too much into that Hoid; it's just that he's had so many things happen to him over the years, and so many changes to his spiritweb, and things like that. I would say yes, he is still human, and Lift is as well, but there have been modifications made.

Questioner

Can dragons only be born through biological means? Or can someone become dragons through another means?

Brandon Sanderson

The way dragons exist in the cosmere is that they are a race. Dragons have this thing where they actually... in the cosmere, dragons breed in their human form (they have both forms) and give birth in their human form. And the dragon form is separate. They raise families and have children as humans, and they consider both an equal form, to them.

Questioner

Is Vasher a dragon?

Brandon Sanderson

Vasher is not. Keep searchin'!

Questioner

Are there any other dragons on Roshar other than Cultivation?

Brandon Sanderson

There have been. There might be some. How about this: you shouldn't be looking for dragons among the characters of the Stormlight Archive.