Rayse (Odium) was very methodical with the order in which he went after other Shards. Hypothetically if he'd visited the Rosharan system all those years ago but managed to avoid being trapped and was able to continue his mission right away, which of the known Shards would've been next up on Rayse's hit list?
He expected Ruin to implode. So he might have gone for Autonomy, double crossing them.
Back before the Final Ascension, if you had a full Feruchemist and a Mistborn, both with access and knowledge of all 16 metals, could they make medallions without the use of Hemalurgy?
If they knew what to do maybe. Much easier with Hemalurgy - but it would be possible.
Are the aethers native to multiple worlds?
Currently, no - but they have spread + they claim to be not from any world.
Is there more than 1 dragon amongst the Shards? If so, how many are there?
Only 1 dragon right now as a Shard.
Lightweavers, you're saying that they're gonna be able to do lasers and things in space era. Could a Lightweaver conceivably make a kugelblitz? It's when compressing enough light into one space that it makes a black hole.
I'm gonna say that that's beyond the power level of your average Lightweaver. But who knows? Good question. I've never heard that term before, that's kind of cool. That'd take a lot of Light.
Isn't Hoid a Lightweaver now?
Hoid is a Lightweaver now, yes. But Hoid does like playing with fire. He should not be a Lightweaver. Hoid is too close to various things that happened with Dawnshards, he is playing with fire.
My friends and I have been endlessly debating whether Wit knew what happened to him at the end of Rhythm, when he said "that went exactly as I planned," if he knew he was gonna get duped? Or if he got hornswoggled?
He legitimately got hornswoggled. One of the opening chapters of the next book is going to be him realizing that. There's a little teaser for you.
Are the Intents of all the Shards related to the individuals who were involved in the Shattering?
"Related to"? Slightly, but not as much as you probably would think.
We know Lightweaving is a Yolish magic, and we also know that Stoneshaping is somewhat like a gimped microkinesis. Are there other Surges that are also versions of Yolish magic?
Yes.
We know that any person can burn lerasium. Are there other God Metals that any person can burn?
Yes.
So Renarin is not a normal Truthwatcher, whether you want to call him Corrupted or Enlightened. Is he the first Truthwatcher of this kind to have existed?
What an excellent question. Yes he is.
I was just wondering if there's anything you can tell me about the Dustbringers?
Let's say that the Dustbringers have the most variety among Knights Radiant. Them and the Willshapers would be the ones that, personality-wise and things like that, you're gonna find the most diversity. Dustbringers are famous for not agreeing with one another about almost anything.
What are dragons like?
In the Cosmere? They are sneaky and long-lived.
Will they have wings?
They do have wings, depending on what form they're in. They are natural shapeshifters.
Are they Cognitive Shadows or are they people?
They are people.
At one point, I remember it being said that Roshar, Scadrial, and Sel are the three most important worlds in the cosmere, but I can't remember if that was ever canonized, much less if it's still the case.
I would say that they are the most important, yes. Depends on how you'd count Yolen, where it all started. But I would say those narratives, those book series, are the pillars of how I envisioned the Cosmere. But there's lots of worlds that are important, and there are plenty of them that we haven't gone to, yet. I often talk about the aethers, which are really relevant to the future of the cosmere, but I have not managed to get them in, a book about them, yet. It will happen.
Could Navani open a perpendicularity when she got far enough in her oaths?
This is theoretically possible.
Are Soulburner and Starburner the same project? And can you give us an update on either one of those, if they aren't?
They are the same project, yes. It's still going and going very well. I am not allowed to say what it actually is, because it's not up to me. You can infer what you want from that, and try to read between the lines, but I am not contractually allowed to say what it is right now.
Can you tell me something new about godmetals, something that isn't known or isn't widely known?
I can tell you this: the existence of godmetals is one reason why metal is so weird in the cosmere.
It is established in The Way of Kings that standard Shardplate forms to fit the wearer perfectly. Would this work if you put it on a dog or horse?
Within reasonable limits, how about that? Depends on the size of the dog or the horse. There are dogs that you could fit Shardplate with, there are probably horses that you could too.
But they would be axehounds, right?
Well, yeah. If you brought a dog to Roshar.
Is Taln still part of the Oathpact?
The Oathpact has been broken. There's a ghost of it in existence, fragments, but the death of Jezrien has broken the Oathpact. More than death, super death.
Is that in the books? Should I know that?
Yeah, he's at the end of Oathbringer, his soul gets sucked by the knife they give to Moash.
I didn't know it ended the Oathpact though.
Yes, that did break the Oathpact. If one of the Fused were to die, they would be reborn immediately. The Oathpact is a goner. They would have to form a new Oathpact, or something like that.
Before it was broken, was Taln still involved with it?
Yes.
Nicki Savage novella (Wax & Wayne era) is currently being written by Isaac Stewart. Called Boatload of Mummies
Isaac is also about halfway through his Nicki story.
One last question, why do gems crack when Stormlight is drawn out of them quickly?
When the Stormlight is coming out--you'll notice that there's the slightest physical presence of lots of spren, seons. A lot of this Investiture does have a physical side to it you can feel and that much Stormlight coming through... like when it's leaking out, it is generally going through micro cracks in the structure--where the crystal lattice didn't line up or flaws in the structure--and it coming out quickly like that, it's like hitting it with a hammer from inside along those fault lines. Much less likely to happen based on how good your gemstone is.
Nightblood's intent is to destroy evil. Since it consumes Investiture, does it view Investiture as evil?
No, it does not. Nightblood has trouble deciding what is evil. It is getting better, more and more, but it wouldn't view Investiture itself as evil.
There’s a scene in ReDawn that has overtones of Kimmalyn being gay - is Kimmalyn canonically queer?
Yes. Might be bi, we are exploring it as we go.
Because Zahel was especially Invested when he died, he became that other soul. Does that mean that Elend wasn't actually...?
Zahel is a special case. What happened with him is, on his planet, he was specifically chosen by the Shard to be Returned. That happens, you don't have to be specifically Invested for that. The god gives them that. Now, to become a Cognitive Shadow, which is what certain people in the cosmere are, you need a powerful amount, an enormous amount.
So not the bead?
Not just being a Mistborn, not just... he wasn't even close to being where he needed to be, if you want to end up as a Cognitive Shadow. You need to do some special hoops. We're talking, drawing forth the power of a Shard, or being endowed with the power of a Shard, or a certain number of Breaths would do it. There is a threshold that you could get, you're gonna end up as a Cognitive Shadow.
Theoretically, with enough Stormlight, could a Bondsmith bond a Shard to something?
With enough Investiture? Yeah, that's viable. Yeah. Good question.
Is Hoid's hair naturally white? And does that mean anything?
It is now. I don't know what you call "naturally."
Was he born with white hair?
He was not born with white hair.
In Bands of Mourning, in the party scene. Hoid was outside; talked with Wax. Khriss is inside; talked with Wax. Were there any other worldhoppers present? And if so, how many?
At least one was present. Probably two. At least one, probably two.
Jasnah was in Shadesmar for kind of a long time, right?
Yes.
Did she go somewhere and get other Investiture?
She did not manage to get off world. Good question. She's becoming cosmere aware, but really it's through Hoid. Before, she didn't really have very much awareness of that.
How did she survive, like getting stuff to eat and stuff?
You can get it if you know what you're doing in Shadesmar.
She's pretty resourceful, right?
She's pretty resourceful. Most of the time, you're gonna have to trade for it. There's actually caravans that go through Shadesmar. They almost always stop at Roshar to resupply through the Horneater Peaks. So if you know what you're doing, you could trade for food. They have food in a lot of the waystops and the cities and things like that because humans are coming through, and it's a thing they can trade them.
A lot of those canned goods, those coming from Scadrial?
If it's canned, it's coming from Scadrial at this point. Taldain probably has the same technology at that point, but Taldain is closed. So the cans are coming from Scadrial.
You've written about a lot of cultures that have some parallels to the real world. Do you have any culture or magic system you've kicked around that's inspired by the Indian subcontinent?
I do, actually. Thank you for this question. You should be very interested to read The Lost Metal. There's a worldhopper on The Lost Metal from a planet with a culture inspired by the Indian subcontinent.
What question about the cosmere does Khriss most want answered?
She would want to know what happens in the Beyond. Followed secondly by, how can you get Stormlight off of Roshar?
Aimians and honorspren have a lot in common. They can change their appearance, they are blue, they don't seem to die. Are those Aimians descendants of humans and honorspren?
No, good question though! The reasons they can change shape are similarly related. Excellent question.
If there's a Forger like Shai who plausibly had an opportunity to ingest lerasium and become Mistborn, but she passed it up, could she create a stamp that makes her temporarily a Mistborn?
She would have to have access to enough Investiture to make that happen. The stamp saying, "Hey, I'm a Mistborn!" doesn't actually give her the Investiture to do that. She could rewrite her past so that she took that bead. She would not actually be able to use the power, until she got an infusion of Investiture, which could be done with a stamp in the right manner, but most of the time you're gonna have to have some external source. Basically you're gonna have to take a hit of Investiture, a large amount of it, and then use the stamp, and then it will feed on that to change you into basically any of the other magics.
Stormlight?
If you could get a hit of Stormlight, that'd work. The problem is, Stormlight's not easy to get off of Roshar, and it still is technically keyed. You could get it a lot more easily-- Stormlight would work fairly well, but what you really want is some pure, unkeyed Dor. That stuff, you could do all kinds of things with. But, you know, it's kinda dangerous. But that's the stuff you're gonna want, or something like unto it.
Are the Ghostbloods on Roshar the same organization as the Set on Scadrial? And if not, is the--
*immediately hands him RAFO card*
I will tell you this. The Lord of Scars is Kelsier. Not hiding something there. I'm not being tricksy like I was with the Sovereign. You can trust that. More about that will be forthcoming in a book that might be released about one year from now!
We have this WoB that says you can split ettmetal into atium and lerasium, but not through normal means. In Rhythm of War, we see Navani changing the forms of Light by removing the Connection to other Shards and introducing new ones. Is that the same way that you would turn ettmetal into atium and lerasium, or similar means?
That sort of science would possibly lead to the proper method. It is a good way to be going, but it's not exactly... Let's say there are multiple ways to do this. Some are less dangerous than others. The way you're theorizing could lead to a less dangerous way.
If you were to do that to a live, living Shardblade, which you said could be called Honor's God Metal, what would that do to the spren?
If what happened to... Oh, remove the Connection for a Blade like that?
And like, gave it Ruin's connections?
You would have a really hard time doing that, because it's an actual individual. It'd be the same as cutting off a person, which is possible, but you're talking about stuff like what a Shardblade does to a soul. So you'd have a hard time, and it would have not-happy effects on a living individual that that happened to.
Is Khriss going to make her appearance on Roshar?
So far, she's had Nazh do that, but she is in Shadesmar, or has been in Shadesmar at various points. So it's entirely possible. She lets Nazh do the hard jobs.
So, the Diagram was basically created to help Taravangian figure out if he was having a bad day or a good day, kind of?
That's not one of the reasons they were founded, but that is certainly one of their duties.
And we found out it was because Odium helped Taravangian figure out the Diagram. Now that Todium exists, will he still have to use the Diagram and go forth with the Diagram? And how will that shape what this contest of champions is gonna be?
I won't tell you how it's gonna shape, but he now has access to what Odium could do, which is limited ability to see the future, and a little bit better than a lot of the Shards are at that. He could see what the Diagram was an inferior version of making, in a lot of ways. In other words, the physical print thing, the Diagram, is no longer necessary to him.
Now that it's Todium, will he have problems with having his good days and bad days?
RAFO.
On Threnody, is it possible for non-intelligent creatures to become shades?
It is possible, it doesn't happen natively.
Shards can't break oaths, and new Vessels have to follow previous Shards' deals. Ruin and Preservation made a deal. Does Harmony have to follow that deal?
The Ruin and Preservation deal is considered fulfilled. There's a lot of things going on in here. The way that oaths work, perception is still important. And Shards can break deals, it gives others a way to get at them. Odium could break his deal, but if he did, that's very dangerous to those who would seek to have advantage against him. I think fulfilled is the wrong term, the deal between Ruin and Preservation is broken, and no longer in force because it was broken. This does leave Ruin with more advantage in this situation, but they're the same individual, so I'm sure that's just fine! No problems at all! Everybody's doing just great.
Shallan has two spren. I assume the Shardblade she is using in Words of Radiance is Pattern. But had she sworn the Third Ideal at that point?
I will get this whole timeline explained for you. It's really intricate, though.
Will you give us a spoiler without context for the next Stormlight book?
Let's see if I can think of one. This is usually pretty hard for me. Let's see... Wit's very annoyed. He often is.
Obviously the Shards are the top dogs in terms of power and stuff, but Hoid seems to be his own level of dangerous. Are there any other characters as sort of rivals to his ambition or power?
Depends on how you want to express it. Some of the dragons from Yolen are as old and are very crafty. You could argue that the aethers, the actual core aethers, are as ancient and potentially powerful. I wouldn't put them by raw power at Shard level, but they would claim that they are. Depends on what you would think there. There are some other individuals of a similar, not as dangerous as Hoid, but on a similar level. Been around for thousands of years, investigated a lot of the magics, and these sorts of things.
Can Wax talk to Harmony with his earring from another planet, or from another system?
This is theoretically possible, yes.
A Spiritweb is composed of a bunch of chunks that are added based on certain circumstances. Could you manufacture Spiritweb patterns out of raw Investiture in such a way that, instead of cutting something from someone and grafting it to someone else, actually manufacture the chunk desired from Investiture and put it on the person?
Yes. They don't know how, but you could. Synthetic meat, synthetic souls, possible.
Does Investiture exist without Connection?
Yes, but it's very hard to make. You see them making it in Rhythm of War. Some shows up in the next Wax and Wayne, too. But it's a process to make it.
You've said before that Tien was on the track to becoming a Lightweaver, before he, you know. What lie was he telling that was attracting a Cryptic?
That's a very good question. Tien was hiding a lot of belief that he was not a good person. That people didn't want to be around him, and things like this. He was hiding a lot of that, and he knew that people saw him as a burst of sunshine, and he didn't ever want them to not see him that way. That was really hard on him, as it is on a lot of people who are like Tien.
But did he like rocks?
He really liked rocks. The fact that he never got to meet Rock is... and throw a bucket of water on him!
Close to the end of Rhythm of War, Dalinar Connects Kaladin to something, which gives him the vision of Tien. Did he Connect him to Tien's dead soul, and if so, does Dalinar know what he did?
There are two prevailing theories on what happened here among cosmerenauts, in-world Arcanists. You would get two different answers. The most common answer is, Dalinar attached himself to the Spiritual Realm, pulled out possibilities, and showed one of those to Kaladin.
If so, where did the horse come from?
Either pure coincidence, or some sort of matching of Fortune to the moment, that ended up leading Kaladin to the place he needed to be, which is the way a lot of Fortune works. Fortune would be like, "You should go here," and you don't even know why. That's what the Arcanist answer would be, it would be the most common answer. Some people would say he reached into the Beyond and connected Tien to Kaladin via Tien's actual soul. I will leave these both as equally valid theories. As I've said many times, I'm not gonna say whether there is an actual afterlife in the cosmere because it is too foundational to too many characters' beliefs, or lack of beliefs, or worldview in-world to have the author contradict them either way.
Nicrosil and chromium, do those have any interaction with people using Feruchemy, or other Investiture in general? Leechers or Nicrobursts.
Could you use those on Feruchemists? You should be able to, yes.
Would that only work while they're tapping it?
If it's active Investiture, probably yes. You'd probably need it to be kinetic Investiture in order for them to do anything about it.
Kaladin's fight with the [Pursuer], his eyes are described glowing a color not quite the same as usual for corrupted Investiture. Is this supposed to be that he's burning a different Light?
No, it’s more he's on the border of some dangerous stuff.
Is Hemalurgy the way that they returned in the Desolations?
Oh, did they know Hemalurgy during the Desolations on Roshar?
Yes, is that how they returned originally?
No, that's a good question. They knew some skill similar, but when they were originally returning, it was something else.
Is Vax a good place to get vaccines?
*laughs* The place where Vax would be is not at a place where vaccines have been developed.
