Questioner
(paraphrased)
In the Mistborn series, I read on one of your posts online that you had a rough outline of how the series would have gone if a major death in the first book hadn't happened? I was just curious how that would have progressed if he was still alive?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
He would have taken over, because that character doesn't not take over. And it would have been a very different series, it would have been more heist focused, and not so much epic fantasy focused.
Questioner
(paraphrased)
Would he have finished everything up a heck of a lot faster than Vin and Elend did?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
Worse, but yes. Things would have gone very differently, how about that? The reason I decided it couldn't go that way was because I think the series just wouldn't have worked.
Freelancer
(paraphrased)
In the opening of The Emperor's Soul, I see a scene familiar to Warbreaker; the first character we meet is in jail. Was this "connection" intentional?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
Yes and no. Originally there was a prologue which featured Hoid speaking with the main character and setting some of the plot in motion, but it was cut before final revision. Also, it's convenient to begin with a character who is already in trouble.
Freelancer
(paraphrased)
Near the ending of The Emperor's Soul, I loved how the old man ends up repeating an act for which he had earlier chastised his young charge. A little O Henry touch?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
It's good that you caught that. I didn't want it to be "beat you over the head" obvious, or too subtle.
Freelancer
(paraphrased)
Robert Jordan has said that in The Wheel of Time, even material objects have a thread in the Pattern. In The Emperor's Soul, you have a world where objects have souls. Was Jordan your source for this?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
Both stories draw from the same Asian belief system.
