Shardcast - December 2023 Spoiler Stream Words of Brandon

Brandon Sanderson

Arcanum Unbounded leatherbound, we don’t have specific plans for when that one fits in the schedule, yet. I think we’re probably going to do one. The big question is: when do we do Steelheart or Skyward leatherbounds? Do we do them? Where does Arcanum Unbounded fit in there? The only ones that are really sure are Bands, and then we’re gonna do Lost Metal after that, even though it’s not ten year anniversary We just want people to be able to complete their sets. And then, of course, the Stormlight books, we will continue to do at about the rate… Those take a lot more work. Those’ll be three to four years apart, like we’ve been doing.

Maxinator

Save the ketek!

Brandon Sanderson

The ketek is diegetically saved. It’s perfectly fine in-world. I’m not gonna put what feels like a bad title on a book just to get the ketek to work. I spent years, and none of them feel right to me. None of the titles feel right. I just gotta go with what feels like the right title for me [for Wind and Truth].

Flash Venture

You mentioned that there was a scene or climax that you’ve been wanting to write since an RPG campaign in 1999, which you’ve planned for Stormlight Five.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Flash Venture

I think you said it was one of the best endings you’ve ever written. Now that you’re almost finished with Stormlight Five, how are you feeling about that scene in the book?

Brandon Sanderson

I feel really good about it. It’s there, it’s written. Is it the best ending I’ve ever written? That’s really you guys’ choice, not mine. One of the things is: there will definitely be some surprising things. There will also be (for this crowd specifically) some expected things. I feel like my job is to give proper foreshadowing so that some things can be seen. And I will tell you, I’ve seen people make the right theories about a lot of the things in this book. There’s a few things that I’m gonna kind of blindside you with, but they are the sorts of things where you sometimes have twists in stories that aren’t really the sort you can fully anticipate. But I think I’ve done a spectacular job with what I’m doing for his ending. But, again, that’s for you to decide, not for me. So, we’ll see. I do think I have one of my best action scenes, as I’ve said before, that I’m very fond of. But you’ll also have to give me space from the book. It’s hard for me to look at, when I’m in the middle of a book, and have that space that you need in order to really evaluate a work. So maybe this is a question for me in five years.

Spun Lines

We’ve seen Shallan’s drawings appear to make people into “better versions of themselves.” But we also see her draw Yalb surviving the shipwreck, and later find out he did. Is she actually seeing the future in which she just happens to inspire people to be better? If so, this would make Wit’s warning to her in Oathbringer more concerning.

Brandon Sanderson

As will all sort of future sight/foretelling in the cosmere, it is not necessarily telling the future so much as seeing possibilities. And Shallan has… we’ll get into this in Book Five. Shallan’s a little extra good at this, for Spiritual mumbo jumbo. (It’s not necessarily just Spiritual mumbo jumbo, 17th Shard.) In this case, we have a very distinct reason why this is happening with Shallan that you might be able to put together. It’s pretty obvious. But you should be able to see these things with Shallan very early in the books. As early as Words of Radiance, I was sticking in little nods to this. She is able to grab glimpses of the Spiritual Realm in ways that even other Lightweavers can’t do. Lightweaving always has a bit of this, right? And this comes back to what’s going on with the Realmatic Theory and Plato’s Theory of the Forms as kind of a foundational text that helped me develop this in my mind. You’re seeing more perfect versions of who you could be. When she’s doing a sketch, she’s sometimes sketching not who you are, but who you could be.

ArgentSun

Tell us a little bit about Valor. What’s her Vessel like? Any fun anecdotes? Hoid once bought Tanavast a drink; are there fun stories with Valor’s Vessel? Just anything?

Brandon Sanderson

Let’s put this one off for just a little longer. Let’s RAFO Valor. How about this, I’ll give you one thing: Valor is name-dropped in Stormlight Five.

Questioner

Will we see Xisis again?

Brandon Sanderson

Almost assuredly, you will see Xisis again. All of those really ancient Yolish dragons are around, you’re gonna be seeing them here and there. The story of the cosmere’s not really about them, but they stay involved. Xisis will be seen again.

Dimmadile

If a person used Hemalurgy with an Invested spike on another planet, could Harmony feel/control them?

Brandon Sanderson

This is theoretically possible, but it depends on if there’s a Shard in attendance on that planet and what kind of interference there would be. So, yeah, possible.

Gatechap

If he was gonna break it [the title ketek], then Stones Unhallowed was a cooler working title [for Stormlight Five].

Brandon Sanderson

Problem is, it no longer works for this book. As Szeth is no longer walking on stones. It's the only book where he isn't.

Cheese Von Booty

Are you going to make any more books with Tress?

Brandon Sanderson

My intent is for Tress of the Emerald Sea to remain as a standalone book. And I have no intentions to go back to Tress or her story. I’m sorry. I just do think that it is good to have standalone stories now and then. That doesn’t mean that some people might not appear (most likely being Ulam or Xisis, the people who were already cosmere-aware). But do not plan on a Tress sequel. I know a lot of people are sad about that, but, you know, I am of the opinion that not everything needs a sequel.

Lumar does have some relevance. Access to aether, kind of just raw and unconnected from the main aethers like that, is of value in the cosmere. So Lumar does have interest in the wider cosmere, for that reason. There’s definitely stuff you can do with a bunch of raw aether.

The Tack

Szeth’s spren has thus far been very distant Is this typical of highspren?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

The Tack

Is it maintaining a particular distance because of Nightblood, and would normally have permitted Szeth to summon it as a blade by now?

Brandon Sanderson

No, it’s not really Nightblood. There are other reasons, but… how about this, Book Five and Find Out. You’ll get another reason in Book Five.

Windrunner17

In Bands of Mourning, after Edwarn has admitted that he is trying to distract Wax from pursuing the Set, he mentions offhandedly that Wax should still look into the man that the Nightstreet gang killed on the train to New Seran, and that Wax would be “impressed.” Who is this man? And why did Edwarn say this?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO.

Citadel K

In the prologues of the first five Stormlight Archive books, we see the same evening from the perspectives of various key players in the event that transpires. Will the second half of the Stormlight Archive share this trend? Or perhaps will we end up seeing five different perspectives on a different event in those prologues?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, you will see a different event, five different perspectives on it. You have guessed correctly.

Noah

Taln has confused me in Stormlight. Why was he able to withstand so long?

Brandon Sanderson

There are multiple reasons, but the prime one that you should be assuming is: he was just really, really, really determined. How about this: there’ll be a few hints in Stormlight Five that might give you some help on this.

Parshendi of Rhuidean

Do dragons always go through their early life in human form? Or would being a Sho Del also be possible for a young dragon?

Brandon Sanderson

The way I have it right now (which, we’ll give this as a Word of Brandon that could change, because I haven’t written Dragonsteel yet), it’s a human form. I imagined dragons like amphibians, that they have part of their lifecycle… the Yolish dragons, they mate in human form, they bear children in human form, raise children mostly in human form, but their dragon form is equally part of their identity.

MoriWillow

In the Spiritual Realm, does there exist an ideal of tables that is a separate entity from the spiritwebs of all extant tables? If so, did that ideal always exist, even before the invention of tables? Or was it born out of the people inventing tables?

Brandon Sanderson

The answer is no. This is where we diverge from Plato’s Theory of the Forms. Again, Theory of the Forms was a conceptual benchmark for me. I thought the Theory of the Forms was awesome, and it stuck in my head for many years and eventually gave birth to Cognitive, Spiritual, and Physical. (The first book really delving into that being Dragonsteel Prime, and it’s in the opening chapters of Dragonsteel Prime.)

But where it differs is: there is not a Platonic idea of a table in the cosmere. All ideals in the cosmere are filtered through the perception of sapient beings.

The Dragon Knight

Are we gonna see any dragons in action in the cosmere before the Dragonsteel novel?

Brandon Sanderson

Maybe. Once again, there are some more Anne McCaffrey style dragons in the cosmere; maybe I’ll get around to doing that. Otherwise, if you want to see dragons in action… then we’re talking about… I mean, well, Cultivation’s been doing a lot!

PanHeadBolt

In Bands of Mourning, it’s mentioned that the Malwish airship has a third type of bathroom in it, something not mentioned again in The Lost Metal. Are these gender neutral bathrooms? Are they for a third gender? Or are they for something else entirely?

Brandon Sanderson

We’ll delve into that later. You should assume it is along the lines of a gender neutral bathroom.

Madness Lemon

Whose idea was it for Moash to wear a black Bridge Four uniform? Did Rayse come up with it as a way of taunting the Windrunners? Or was Moash just feeling really dramatic that day?

Brandon Sanderson

That’s Moash drama.

Isaac will have to confirm this, because I might get the story wrong. Concept art, I believe he put a Bridge Four patch that was twisted and upside down and made corrupted on his uniform, and I’m like, “That’s going a little far, even for Moash.” He can order a black uniform, but… So, I think we took that off.

Questioner

Does Axies have a Torment?

Brandon Sanderson

The Curse of Kind is slightly different, but analogous to a Torment from a Dawnshard. He did not hold a Dawnshard. But something similar is happening.

Ryan Graham

I’d love to ask if Mare at the Pits was a kandra.

Brandon Sanderson

I did not intend Mare to be a kandra.

LeFlshe

At Dragonsteel this year, you confirmed that Nightblood is not a Dawnshard. However, its abilities seem to be far greater than that of Vivenna’s blade, presumably made with the same method. This disparity may be due to the person who originally Awakened the swords and leads one to believe that Nightblood, despite not being the Dawnshard, had a Dawnshard involved in its creation. Therefore, is Shashara, the person who Awakened Nightblood, a Dawnshard?

Brandon Sanderson

Excellent questions. You’ve got one faulty premise: Vivenna’s sword was intentionally designed differently to not get another Nightblood. So let’s keep that in mind. That said, I don’t know that they could make another Nightblood if they wanted to. But she definitely did not want to, and there’s a different process that they use nowadays for safer swords.

Questioner 2

Is Vivenna’s sword better or worse than Nightblood?

Brandon Sanderson

Depends on what you want from the sword. Vivenna’s sword does not automatically suck the soul and Investiture out of anything it touches, disintegrating that which it touches, which is both a plus and a minus.