Those spren bodies that were brought into the Physical Realm by Ishar. Could an Awakener make it Lifeless?
This is within the realm of possibility.
What about Forgery?
Forgery would be a little harder. Because you'd need to know what went wrong to make it go well. I'd say Forgery could accomplish this.
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.
The perpendicularity on Threnody, is it a location or a circumstance?
Ooooh, good question! More like the second... I was ready to RAFO that, but you asked it the right way.
Can you tell us anything about the Darkside of White Sand?
Yes. We are hoping to do a story set there once the omnibus is out. It might graphic novel, it might be print. There is some very cool stuff about the way that the other sun works, and the magic involves tattoos. It's very nifty. We will get to it eventually. So, there you go.
If you do a graphic novel, will you release the prose like you did for the first one?
There might not be a prose if we do a graphic novel. I haven't written-- One of my goals is actually, now the graphic novel's done, is to do a straight up revision of the prose and actually make it match the graphic novel and match current Cosmere continuity, and then actually release a print edition of it. I think it's more likely that we do a prose edition of the second book than a graphic novel, but I'm not sure which one it would be.
They [the order lines] all meet in the middle. What does the middle mean, is there somebody that can have all the powers?
RAFO!
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.
If Kelsier died and came back as a Returned, what would, off the top of your head, be his Returned name?
Hmmm, Lifeseeker? That's just off the top of my head.
So the next Wax and Wayne, is that after the fifth Stormlight?
All the Wax and Wayne ones chronologically take place in the ten year gap between Stormlight 5 and 6.
Do you have a timeline of the Cosmere right now?
I do, but I'm not a hundred percent satisfied with it. So I'm not canonizing it yet, there're still tweaks I'm planning to make.
Have you based any of your characters off kids, like your kids or anybody else's?
I have not based any off of kids yet. I've based ones off of friends, but the kids... Most of the series I started when they were too young. I think eventually they will get some books.
In Warbreaker, the royals, their hair color changes. When I was reading Mistborn, I noticed there was different times that Shan Elariel's hair was described as black vs auburn or different things like that, was that...?
That's a typo. There are times where if you watch that'll be a clue, that one is not.
Are you gonna do more [White Sand Graphic Novels]
We're gonna do a full omnibus, and then we're talking about what to do with Darkside, 'cause there's a story there that I want to tell. I might involve Isaac in it; he's my art director who art directed this entire thing. There should be another story in the world. We're not sure if it'll be graphic or if it'll be print.
I have a copy of Darkside, I just didn't bring it.
No, not Dark One. Darkside of White Sand, the other half of the planet. Dark One is a different thing. Khriss is from Darkside in this world, and she's really relevant to the Cosmere as a whole. She shows in up several of the other books. She shows up in Bands of Mourning, Khriss from this, and she's also in Secret History, and she shows up here and there. She's really relevant to the Cosmere, particularly some future stuff. And so we want to tell more of her story also.
In Rhythm of War, when they're talking about like the sand from another planet, is that from here?
That is this, yes. So, white sand will charge, basically, off of any active Investiture, kinetic Investiture, and so you can use it to tell if something is using one of the magics nearby. And so it's become... you can just take it offworld and then use it kind of like a Geiger counter. So it's made its way all over the place. It shows up actually in Oathbringer as well.
I was wondering, are there dinosaurs on Ashyn? Or were there? Because there's chickens...
Right, right. There are reptiles. The Rosharan system is younger than some, but not as young as Scadrial. So I'll RAFO whether there were dinosaurs. On Roshar itself, there are no oil deposits caused by mass extinction events in the past.
Mistcloaks. Do they have sleeves?
They usually do not, but there are ones that do. Every mistcloak is built by the Mistborn, or commissioned, there's no standardized what a mistcloak even looked like, they're all kind of like individually built.
Does *inaudible* know the *inaudible* of silver?
There is lore around silver. I would say no he doesn't, but people who were involved in the lore that eventually came to him did know.
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.
I'm curious as to when we're going to see the Ire next.
RAFO, you get a RAFO.
Which series have you enjoyed writing the most?
Probably Wax and Wayne. It is just pure joy. I save up Wayne quotes for years, and then find places for them in the books.
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.
I asked for one of your precious secrets, and she already knew that it was gonna be "Hoid loves bacon."
Yep, but he can't eat it. Soul work by a Dawnshard has done some weird things to Hoid.
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.
Does Wit ever get his memories back?
I will RAFO that. It will be dealt with, though; in the next book, he will notice.
What the heck happened, did Taravangian do to Wit?
You'll find out more in the next book. He stole a few of his Breaths, and they had memories attached to them.
Are the Ghostbloods good, in your mind, or bad?
They are neither, in my mind.
Does their leader, Thaidakar, affect what they do a lot?
Yes, but the Roshar branch is a little bit removed from him.
What is the Scar?
That is a RAFO. It is something that is visible from multiple planets, and it is a RAFO.
If a listener were to Awaken something, would they imitate the listener or a human?
They would imitate the listener.
And would that change based off of their form?
It could slightly change based off their form. More likely it's just gonna about their culture and the way the person sees the world, but the way that the listener sees the world is changed based on their form, so yeah, it'll have an effect.
Will Warbreaker have any more effect on the Stormlight Archive series?
I mean, Vasher and Vivenna are around, and Nightblood is around, so I would say yes, would be the answer.
I read a lot of the Star Wars books, and they have a timeline in the front of each book. I know that you mentioned that you don't want to force people to have to read them in a certain order. Is that something that you've ever thought of?
It is. I've actually thought of starting to stick in the back of the book, a guide to the cosmere and stuff. It's just, finding the space for it in the books and all of that is tricky. I think we will eventually do it. But it's just one of the many things that I have to find time to do.
I've heard that you're kind of close with the Magic: The Gathering people?
I mean, I did write a story for them, I do know some people over there.
Have they ever asked you about doing a set, like how they're doing D&D and stuff?
Different thing, but they asked me to write the story for the new Urza set that's coming out. (The Brothers' War, I think they just announced it last month.) And I couldn't do it, I just didn't have the time. But a Secret Lair is totally possible. That's something that we could probably do.
It's just tricky because mechanically unique cards are divisive among the community, and so the question is: "Do we want a Secret Lair that just takes other cards and reskins them? Do we want to wait until there are cards that are being made that would match the characters, and then reskin those? Do we want to see how people receive the Lord of the Rings set, and if they really like it, then maybe they would do something Stormlight?" Something like that. I really kind of want to see how all of this plays out with the Secret Lairs and stuff, which I really like, but I know they're divisive in the community.
Anyway, this is on everybody's radar, right? They're making fantasy properties into card sets. There's only a couple names that come up. It's Tolkien, then probably George, and Harry Potter, and then me, so they have talked to me. But a full set, there haven't even been talks about that. It's all just been like, "Hey maybe would you be interested?" That sort of thing. So don't hold your breath, but we'll see how the Lord of the Rings set goes.
How old was Shallan when she killed her first spren?
I would have to look at the exact outline of that. Karen keeps all of the continuity timeline stuff, and I just kind of offload that part of my brain to her, so she's the one that would know. You can ask Karen some time when she's around.
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.
In Skyward, Jorgen's original callsign, he asks to be "Jorgen." Is that also his real name?
Jorgen? Yes.
So he asked for his real name to be his callsign?
Yes, cause he is not quite as imaginative as he should be. It's supposed to kind of be a joke. Jorgen has trouble with stuff like that.
I've been curious cause I couldn't find anything about a real name.
Yep, it is actually his real name.
In the fourth book of The Way of Kings, when Kaladin ascends to the fourth thought [ideal]. The only thing I don't like is that he projects the Shard [Shardplate], you know, to protect the kid and stuff. How - I don't know, that bugs me.
You are allowed to be bugged. And I give readers line-item vetoes. If you want to pretend that doesn't exist, you'll just have to imagine some of the scenes in future books differently.
Well I mean, hopefully there will be an explanation for that or something, I don't know. As of right now, it bugs me, but everything else was awesome.
I'll try to explain it, we'll see if it works for you.
Did Kelsier ever consider remarrying, for any reason at all?
He has not. He never did in the... Let's say "no." No thoughts of remarrying.
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?
A while back, you mentioned that if certain circumstances hadn't happened on Taldain, that Taldainians... the people on Taldain probably would've been the first to space. Which interests me greatly, because they don't really have a magic system that is very conducive to faster than light travel.
I didn't say--did I say FTL?
You didn't, that's true, but that doesn't change my question. So my question is, is there a method, other than Allomantic ways and Surgebinding ways, for faster than light, that could be achieved on any minor Shardworld, as long as they have access to Investiture?
Yes, there is, but it depends on if you could get in Shadesmar. You could travel FTL in the Physical Realm through Shadesmar. Basically, just take a spaceship in Shadesmar and travel between Shardpools and you've achieved FTL. Because travel through Shadesmar, you could walk between planets in Shadesmar. So anyone who can get in and out of Shadesmar reliably can FTL. Ways in and out of Shadesmar are very rare, which is extremely limiting, but it is possible.
Can Leechers leech on other types of Investiture across the cosmere? And how do people power their powers on worlds?
So, Scadrians can use metal from other worlds. The metal is considered a facilitator, a key for reaching the Spiritual Realm, and distance doesn't matter for the Spiritual Realm. All of the Allomantic powers, Leechers in particular, they do have an influence with the other magic systems. Even as simple as a Shardblade would be very difficult, near impossible to push or pull, because of the level of Investiture it has. Copperclouds have some interesting ramifications, as well as Seekers have interesting ramifications, and Leechers would work on other magic systems as well. It is a little tricky how it interfaces sometimes, but it'll generally do what you're expecting it to do.
Would a Shardblade be able to hurt Steelheart?
Yes, I think it would.
If the person feared him, would they still be able to hurt him?
Even if they didn't fear him, if you mashed Steelheart into the cosmere--which it's not, but if you did, the Steelheart magics would all have to work on the cosmere magics, which means that a Shardblade could hurt him. If you had a Shardblade, you could hurt someone even if you didn't know their weakness. That would be a way it would have to work. Now, if you were to mash them all into Steelheart's universe, then maybe not.
In the Arcanum Unbounded, it says that a Rosharan foot is longer than cosmere standard. How does that compare to an Earth foot?
Longer. Kaladin is almost seven feet tall, by our measurements. We've got a height comparison, Shallan is about six feet tall. She thinks she's short. Compared to us, she'd be on the taller end. That's why if you notice people from around the cosmere that show up, they're often mentioned as short. Not Hoid, who's able to use magical means to change how he's perceived, but someone like Felt, and stuff like that.
Are we going to learn the similarities between the two people, the surgeon's first words when they were born... <Demid> and Taravangian? The cord around their neck?
I'll just say, I didn't intend that to be something you look at and say, "Oh, it's the same!" What I mean that to mean is bad medical care. All three of my children would have died in childbirth if we didn't have modern medical care. My first one had the cord around his neck. The doctors have told us they would all be dead. I just think that's very common in a society like this. The things going on with Roshar is, Rosharans are innately tougher because of their Investiture, so they're more likely to survive traumatic experiences. It's not meant to say you should be looking for any other connection in something like that.
Is Odium gonna make Gavinor his champion?
I'm gonna say complete RAFO on anything about who the champion is.
Could a mindblade break a Shardblade? Could a mindblade stop a Shardblade, or would a Shardblade stop a mindblade?
I think that a Shardblade would stop a mindblade. And whether the mindblade could stop the Shardblade or not would depend on the power of the cytonic and how strong their mind is.
What color are Spensa's eyes?
I don't have a specific color in mind.
They're purple on the cover.
So we'll just go with violet.
What shattered the Shattered Plains?
RAFO.
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.
How did Nale bring Szeth back to life?
Szeth's spirit had not moved onto the Beyond. It was basically Rosharan CPR. He repaired the body, and Szeth was not dead dead. His heart had stopped, but when his body came back together, it started beating again.
Are there other objects that we've encountered like Nightblood?
Nothing quite like Nightblood, though Azure's sword is Invested.
Is Sja-anat going to join the Knights Radiant?
RAFO.
Which is your favorite Unmade?
RAFO. We'll see, I don't know if I have a favorite yet.
Is it possible to turn Breaths into... how does Awakening work on Roshar and Shadesmar?
You can still use it normally, as you would expect it, as the magic works. People are trying to figure out how to turn one type of Investiture into another, and it it is harder than it seems. They haven't cracked it yet.
So they always have to bring their own form of Investiture?
A Returned can feed off of other Investiture, just like Nightblood can. One of the reasons to move to Roshar is: it's easier to get Stormlight than it is Breaths.
That makes sense why Zahel, then.
That explains Zahel, right.
On Threnody, is it possible for non-intelligent creatures to become shades?
It is possible, it doesn't happen natively.
If you were in a Rithmatic battle, what would your defense be?
It would probably be a Knight or Shardbearer, even though it's a little harder... I don't know if you were talking about chalklings, or which defense I would use?
Yeah.
I don't know. See, I name them all after my friends, so... I'd probably pick the Eskridge defense. That makes me pick one of my friends over another, but you know.
When you were writing Elantris and you introduced Hoid, did you already have planned for him to be what he is now?
Hoid started appearing in books I was reading when I was fifteen; I would imagine him in other people's books. By then, I already had this character in my head that had been worldhopping between Anne McCaffrey's books, and David Eddings' books, and all those things. So I did know what I was gonna be doing. I didn't know where it would all go. I didn't have the whole cosmere built, but I did have him. He was my first D&D character. I'm being recorded; I don't even know if they know that, that I used Topaz (is what he was called back then) as my first D&D character. He's in my first book that I tried writing when I was fourteen.
When's the next book coming out?
Next book is Cytonic. Book after that is Wax and Wayne 4, book after that is Stormlight 5.
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.
Is Thaidakar a Cognitive Shadow?
Yes he is. Have you finished Rhythm of War?
I have, yeah.
So you know who Thaidakar is, right?
No. Does it say in the book?
No, but it calls him... It's Kelsier. They call him the Lord of Scars, someone else confirmed it, it's Kelsier.
The "Lord of Scars" thing is what had us thinking, but we weren't sure if it was true.
It is Kelsier. He's been doing some stuff.
Is there a metal that's the opposite to aluminum, that can store pure Investiture rather than blocking it? And is that metal dragonsteel?
Innately store it? RAFO! Not Feruchemically? Good question.
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.
My RAFO question will probably be, will an Allomancer or a Mistborn take that chip of Honorblade that fell off and burn it?
*hands RAFO card*
Is Adonalsium's God Metal aluminum?
RAFO.
Are there any plans to revisit Threnody or some of the other worlds that were mentioned in Arcanum Unbounded?
Yes. I have a novel on Threnody I want to write, and I have a short story and a novel I want to write on First of the Sun. We'll see if I can get to any of those.
Is there gonna be a sequel to Warbreaker?
Someday, yes. I can't promise when because it's kind of a side project thing, but I've got it outlined, which is step number one.
Could a coppermind be able to memorize physical memory?
Ooh, never been asked that before. I am going to RAFO that, but in an "I need to think about it more" sort of way, cause I have actually never been asked that. My gut instinct says no, but maybe. I'm gonna have to really ponder on physical memory and the cosmere, and how that all works. Good question. Not often I get stumped by one like that.
We want to know if Adolin is the hottest character.
If Adolin's the hottest character in the entire...?
In the cosmere.
I don't know, Blushweaver's pretty hot. Adolin's pretty hot.
I thought you might go with a Returned.
But the Returned are supernaturally hot, and Adolin is only naturally hot.
With a Returned it's almost unfair.
It is unfair. If you're gonna go without any magical enhancements, Adolin's gonna be up there. He's got personality hotness and physical hotness, so yeah.
Why the number four, for Bridge Four? Is there a reason for...?
Nope, it just is what appealed to me. There is no greater significance, other than I wanted to do it, and it just felt right.
We always wondered if it was because it's like bad luck in Asia.
It is bad luck, but I didn't pick it for that reason specifically.
This is hypothetical, it probably wouldn't actually happen. If a Knight Radiant goes to Nalthis, dies, gets Returned...
It could happen.
Would they retain their spren bond?
Probably not, would be my guess. I've never had that question before, but I'm gonna say no.
Have you ever thought about making the Steelheart series a graphic novel?
You know, we thought about it for a while. And then what we eventually decided is that we wanted to focus our graphic novel efforts on things that hadn't been published yet. There is actually a mini graphic novel of Mitosis, the short story, but that's the only one. That was when we were experimenting with it. It's not impossible that someday we will.
Before the Shattering, the original 16 Vessels, how Cosmere-aware were they and were any of them worldhoppers?
In the current continuity, they were not worldhoppers. Well... the dragons were the most Cosmere-aware. They might have been off-world. Might have.
In The Stormlight Archive, will there ever be a point where we'll get to know what all of the different Orders are and all their abilities?
Yes.
Is that gonna be the fifth book? Or is that gonna be at the very end?
It'll be at the very end. Basically, to preserve some of the excitement and discovery, you'll notice me just kind of cutting away before some of those powers get used, and things. Just so when the books about those people happen, I am more able to explore it on the page and have more fun with it.
Is it gonna be like, after the fifth book, is gonna end those main characters and you're gonna show the next generation?
It's not next generation. It's the same characters throughout them all, but the back five will have different flashback sequences. So, the back five will have flashbacks from Lift, Renarin, Jasnah, Taln, and Ash. Characters from the first five are still gonna be the main characters. But, like you didn't get, in this one, any Jasnah flashbacks; Jasnah's flashbacks are in the back five, and they'll be kind of - yeah. So... does that make sense?
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.
I imagine living Shardblades represent the people they're bonded with. If the person changed over time, would the design of the Shardblade change? For example, with holiness being symmetrical, and somebody was holy, that's gonna be symmetrical. If they became unholy, would their Blade become unsymmetrical?
It's gonna depend on their perceptions of themselves and their spren's perceptions of them. But yes, it can change over time.
