Could you make a spike from a Lifeless?
"Oooo interesting!" He said their soul is so drained there wouldn't be much left, so you could only get the barest hint.
But you COULD technically get a charge?
Yes, but it would be very weak.
What happens when non-Nalthians come to Nalthis.
They cannot use their own soul to Awaken but could do so with obtained Breath.
So anyone could start Awakening once they received Breaths?
You would probably have to jump through some hoops to Awaken (talks about systems needing rigged up to work on different planets), but anyone can benefit from a Breath. Essentially said "it's not that easy!"
Is Roshar a spherical planet?
Yes.
How do Bondsmiths use the Dawnshards?
RAFO.
Do the Aimians predate humanity like the Parshendi do?
You're assuming that the Parshendi predate humanity.
Basic stuff about the 2 types of Aimians, both of which have extended control of their own biology, both of which more or less refugees. He also said that they have cosmere significance.
I was wondering if any of the characters from interludes will end up with their own books.
Yes, they will. Lift, specifically, is one of the characters in the back five. I think she might be the only one who has had a view point so far. That’s, um, no … There are others. So, yes, interlude characters will end up with their own books later on. Right now they’re side characters.
I basically asked how long he thinks it will take him to write future Stormlight books, since [The Way of Kings] took 6 months to write and [Words of Radiance] took 18 months to write.
My anticipation is that Stormlight should take about 12 months to write. It went in six months the first time because I had written the book already once. And so being able to start over from scratch, I had done it all once, so it was really like, even though I really wrote every word new, it was like doing a second draft. Words of Radiance took so long because I had to lurch out of the Wheel of Time mindset. I hadn’t written this book before, I had written the other one, and I was so steeped in the Wheel of Time doing two books that it took a lot more to pull me out. And I would start on it and would end up getting distracted by some other project like one of the novellas or I'd start on it and then I'd go back and do a revision on Steelheart and then I'd start on it. Eventually I managed to start on it and stay in it, but it took that extra six months of spinning my heels before I really dug into the book. And so, I would say that I'm hoping 12 months. I might be able to do them faster, maybe nine months. I don't know. They are big complicated books to write, and you can't really do these on the speed that you can do other things. It doesn't scale. If I can write a novella that's 20k words and I can write that oftentimes in a week, that doesn't mean that when I'm working on Words of Radiance I can do twenty thousand words a week, because it's just a lot harder to get everything connected. The longer you go, the longer it winds up taking per word.
Brandon assumes that eventually they'll make a collective art book of all of the Stormlight art.
In the picture of Adolin, the double underlined sigh was "his addition."
Each of the ten books will be named after in-world books. Because of this, "Stormlight Archive" is a play on words.
Are we going to be seeing more Wit in the Stormlight Archive?
Depends on if you mean the character or actual wittiness. I'm never sure if I'm actually witty or not—you'll have to judge. But the character never knows when to leave well enough alone and will be muddling things for quite a long time.
So one of the things I really like about this is that in the Ars Arcanum and the blurb on the back of the dust jacket, they're not just Brandon Sanderson explaining the magic system, or Brandon Sanderson summarizing the book for casual perusing, they're written in world by characters in the world, and I was wondering if you could tell us or give us a hint as to who wrote the dust jacket.
I can tell you it's not the same person as who’s writing the Ars Arcanum, and neither of those are Hoid. How about that? That gives you something. I had to fight to get in world text on the back cover. I personally really don't like summary blurbs. Those summary blurbs are either bland or they spoil too much, and they really get on my nerves. They're marketing copy, not author copy. And so I fought and I fought and I fought. I won with Elantris, getting the prologue on the back of the hard cover, but then they didn't do that for the paperback. But for the hardcovers of these I won, so I'm glad you appreciate that—I intend to keep doing that. But yes, they're being written in world by a group of people on Roshar.
So, the Purelake in Shadesmar is mountainous. Does this in any way have to do with the fact that the Purelake is so shallow?
No. I haven't yet discussed the nature of the relationship between Shadesmar and the Physical world.
So, when Dalinar has his vision in what he assumes in the Purelake, he sees an obsidian fortress. Is that fortress in any way related to the fact that the Purelake in Shadesmar is mountainous?
No.
Please don't tell me you're going to do a love triangle between Adolin, Kaladin, and Shallan.
*carefully* I'm not a fan of the traditional love triangle. However, I am fond of conflict in relationships.
The Weepings--Shallan and Kaladin react very differently to them.
They do.
It just seems to me that the Weepings feel very close to Cultivation.
The primary thing you’re noticing -- and I'm not going to say there's not any magical influence -- but the primary thing you're noticing is that Kaladin has seasonal affective disorder and Shallan likes the rain. That's the primary thing you're noticing. I like the rain--my wife hates it. My wife gets depressed when it rains and I love when it rains.
Did Taravangian go to see the Nightwatcher before or after Gavilar's assassination?
Um, oh man. I'm going to have to look at my timeline. I believe it's before, but I can't guarantee I'm right, because these things are all happening around the same time.
Because he says that Gavilar confided in him the night of.
Ooooh, you're right. Nope, it's after. It is after. You can send that question to Peter so we can confirm it. There might be something I'm forgetting about Taravangian.
What caused a Desolation to end? Was it just the defeat of Odium's forces? Because the Desolations start when the Heralds break under torture.
Because the Heralds can no longer be in existence. There is a certain period of time that they can be there, and after that, if they're there, they will start a new one. So the Heralds do need to leave for a Desolation to end
Oh. So they've got a time limit.
They do. Otherwise the Desolation will start again. What they discovered is not all of them have to. As long as one remains, the Desolation will not start again.
So, by the nine leaving, did that actually break the Oathpact for them? Did it change the cycle of Desolations?
They have not completely broken the Oathpact, despite what they may think.
How much Stormlight equals one Breath? Do you have an actual ratio?
I have a ratio. It's not on me.
Okay, that's a Peter question again.
Yeah, well, I may not answer it even then.
Are the Heralds actually aware that Taln is back?
Are the Heralds aware that Taln is back? Uh, you're implying that this person actually is Taln. *smiles* Which is not guaranteed. It's not guaranteed. However, the return of the Voidbringers does indeed indicate to them, in their mind, that he would have returned.
So they assume because the Voidbringers are returning--
Because the Voidbringers are returning, would be a clue to them that Taln has returned.
An invested object resists any attempt to put additional investment into it. Just like you can't pull metal that's inside a person's body. When the Shardplate cracks, the streams of Stormlight that you're seeing are actually the plate doing what it's supposed to: healing itself. So, theoretically, you could maybe pull a tiny fraction of that Stormlight out, but you can't just stick your hand up to the outside of the plate and retrieve it. However, if you have the plate open with the gem exposed and you were to touch the gem, then you could pull the Stormlight from it."
You mentioned that human can’t bond Honorblades, but Nalan tells Szeth that his bond with his Honorblade has been broken. Can you clear this up?
Humans CAN bond Honorblades. There's a crucial difference between Honorblades and Shardblades. When you drop an Honorblade, it does not disappear, even if it has been bonded. A Shardblade will disappear when dropped.
How many parties were there to the original Oathpact?
The Heralds and Honor. They thought that by walking away from their oaths, that it would break the Oathpact. They're going to find out that it's not quite as broken as they had previously thought (meaning the Heralds).
Which map holds the Easter Egg?
The main map of Roshar.
From which book?
Either book, it's the main one that will go in each copy. It's VERY hard and it won't change a whole lot.
Does it have anything to do with the compass?
Not the compass.
