OdysseyCon 2016

Event details
Name
Name OdysseyCon 2016
Date
Date April 8, 2016
Location
Location Madison, WI
Entries
Entries 49
#tentative complete
Upload sources
#1 Copy

Questioner

Riddle me this: Why did the Horneater couple stop after four kids?

Brandon Sanderson

*Playing along*

Alright, go for it.

Questioner

They didn't want to get heir-sick.

Everyone

*Laughs/groans*

Questioner

A Rioter, a Soother, and a Coinshot all go to buy a car.

The Soother goes up to the salesman and is like "hey can I buy a car" and the salesman goes "No, every time I sell to you people I always end up wanting to please you too much: I don't want to sell you the car, get out of here."

The Rioter walks up. He's like "hey, can I buy a car?" and the salesman goes "No, every time I try to sell to you folks I always end up wanting to try and *garbled* too much, get out of here."

The Coinshot walks up and the salesman goes "No you gotta *garbled* too, get out here." The Coinshot's like "what!? I can't mess with your emotions." The salesman goes "well yeah, but you guys are way too pushy."

Brandon Sanderson

Wow.

#4 Copy

Kurkistan

What exactly- When an object enters a time bubble, how exactly does it determine- how does it know how fast and which direction it's really going?

Brandon Sanderson

It gets deflected a little bit when it enters, but then it adapts to the momentum that it would have going in.

Kurkistan

Like Spiritual bonds to something or other?

Brandon Sanderson

Riiight *sounds hesitant* it's- so... I can't explain that because it has relevance in the future. But in that moment when it passes [into the bubble], something is happening with conservation of momentum. The trick we have to do with it in order to keep from irradiating people.

#5 Copy

Blightsong

Can honorspren, or any other type of Knight Radiant spren, be evil despite their relationship to Tanavast or Cultivation?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, because I don't call the Shards good and evil. There are no good and evil Shards in my opinion, like and so, what's evil and what's not evil- you can totally have spren that are of Honor that you would consider evil. They have free will; they are much more strictly limited in that free will than we are, because of their nature as spren. It's very hard for most spren to ever break an oath or to lie. That's just like- as manifestations of laws of nature makes it very hard for that to happen, but they can be cruel.

#7 Copy

Blightsong

How does corrupted investiture work, like Nightblood?

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, Nightblood. Again, this is a definition of what somebody feels is a corruption. For instance, there are spren that people would feel are corrupted. But that's corruption where the mixing of different Shards has changed things, and I think a lot of times when people say corruption, what they're meaning is the mixing of Shards' powers.

Blightsong

So is there a mixing of Shards' powers happening with Nightblood?

Brandon Sanderson

*smirks* RAFO. That's the natural question, I'm glad you asked it.

Blightsong

Ok, uhhh, so something similar is happening with Gavilar's sphere, right?

Brandon Sanderson

*contemplative silence* RAFO.

#8 Copy

Questioner #1 (in Mistborn cosplay)

I was wondering if we were ever going to see dragons in the Cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, Dragonsteel, which is one of the first books that I wrote in the Cosmere has dragons. It's also just one of the weaker books, so I can't publish it as is, but yea. Being a big fan of dragons, I did write them into the Cosmere. They are the one kind of generic- kind of the standard fantasy race in there.

Questioner #2

Are they ever going to infiltrate the other worlds kind of?

Brandon Sanderson

Well Hoid writes a letter to one, he calls him you old reptile. And that's in Words of Radiance. So that's a letter to one of the dragons. So they are referenced.

Questioner #3

I thought that was a general insult.

Brandon Sanderson

Nope, he's actually writing to Frost, an old reptile.

#10 Copy

Blightsong

Have larger landgoing greatshells existed above a chasmfiend?

Brandon Sanderson

Larger than a chasmfiend... the ones that wander around out in the islands of Reshi could go on land. So yea, it is possible that there are larger ones. They do better in the water, because of how big they are, but the high oxygen, low gravity, and symbiotic bonds with the spren allow some mega fauna that is just really large and just could exist on earth, so yea.

#13 Copy

Questioner #1

So we know how some people can enter Shadesmar, or the cognitive realm, how do other places, like- we haven't seen anything for the Mistborn series. Do we know how they can enter.

Brandon Sanderson

Read Secret History.

Questioner #1

I did read that, but it didn't really say much besides that one special case.

Brandon Sanderson

Right, Hoid talks about Perpendicularities on Scadrial, if you go look at that there are certain places he talks about that. Let's just say that large concentrations of Investiture will cause a puncture through the spiritual realm straight to the physical realm, that if you know how to use it, you may transition. That's not the only way but is the primary way.

Questioner #1

And of course you can Soulcast [Elsecall?] to get there.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner #2

Now that's a very interesting analogy you just made, you said "punctured" almost as though it were a spike.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, yes, that was intentional.

#14 Copy

Questioner

So there are some forms of Investiture that some people can access regardless: like BioChromatic Breath, but there are some that are not like Allomancy—and there are a few exceptions of course—but are there other ways besides [hemalurgic] spikes that you can access investiture from different worlds?

Like if an Elantrian went to-

Brandon Sanderson

If you can blank your Identity and create the right Connection you can have it happen.

Questioner

If an Elantrian showed up on Roshar, they wouldn't bond with a spren?

Brandon Sanderson

They can bond with a spren, the spren is up to the spren's choice. The spren can bond with whoever they choose to bond with.

#15 Copy

Blightsong

Was Sadeas ever affected directly by Odium or an Unmade, not counting the Thrill?

Brandon Sanderson

NOT counting the Thrill, ok uhhhhm. There are affects of other unmade around, and Odium's effect - direct effect? I'm going to say, no, maybe some indirect effects.

Blightsong

What about Roshone?

Brandon Sanderson

Uhhhm, no. The Thrill is the main thing that is getting the Alethi so, I mean, there are others around, but it's not as obvious with that as with other things.

#17 Copy

Blightsong

Are sandlings from White Sand an early concept for crustaceans on Roshar, with greatshells being a parallel to deep sandlings?

Brandon Sanderson

No, um, the idea for white sandWhite Sand came first, and it was more that I was exploring divergent ecology, but I've been doing that in Dragonsteel and in White Sand and in here with Roshar. I would say that the fact that white sand hadn't been published meant that I could do something's that were similar without worrying about repeating myself, but it's not like I used them specifically as models.

Blightsong

*jokingly* So are we going to get to see little dragons running around in Dragonsteel?

Brandon Sanderson

Uh, well, in Dragonsteel the dragons are sapient, so when I write Dragonsteel I will put dragons in there, but the dragons are intelligent and uh, can take human form, but there are actual little dragons.

Blightsong

Wait, they can take human form?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, yes, yup.

#30 Copy

Brandon Sanderson

Are you just getting these questions off of the 17th Shard?

Blightsong

No, these are mine.

Brandon Sanderson

These are actually yours? OK, i'll keep going then. If these are actually yours you can have as many as you want, yeah. Some people just go to the list of all the questions to ask Brandon and then they come and like "i'm just going to ask all of these" and i'm like "no, you can have three or four", but if they're your own questions you can have as many as you want.

#33 Copy

Blightsong

Is anything magical going on with the screams Szeth hears?

Brandon Sanderson

Uhhh, Szeth's screams. Uhhm, I'm trying to decide how to answer this. It is not, see here's the thing. What we would call magical may not be considered magical in the Cosmere, but it depends on your definition of magic. Would Szeth if he were on our planet and have done those things would he hear those screams, probably not, but would someone else in the Cosmere who had gone through what he had gone through hear those screams, yes.

Blightsong

So it has to do with the spiritual realm?

Brandon Sanderson

Yea, mhmm, yea.

#34 Copy

Blightsong

Does Baon's name sound Selish for a reason?

Brandon Sanderson

No, that just a coincidence. His name was Bowen in the original, but I'm like ehhh, hes like an archer and gun man, I don't want to call him Bowen, that's a little like calling him 'Bowman'; and so I shortened that. That was before I had written Elantris, so its complete coincidence.

#36 Copy

Blightsong

Were the ideals of the Knights Radiant consciously chosen, or did they happen naturally?

Brandon Sanderson

*apprehension*. This is one of those vague ones in that yes and no. They are a natural outgrowth of the spren, but the spren are a natural outgrowth of human's perception of natural forces, but the spren are sentient, so I would say it's a little more by instinct than not. For example two Knights Radiant in the same Order might speak the words differently, but the concept is the same. You will see this happen in a future book, where a Windrunner will speak the oaths. It's a slightly different take on the same concept. Some are moreso, like Shallan's oaths are very individualized truths, so.

#37 Copy

Blightsong

Would it be harder for Jasnah to Soulcast a Knight Radiant?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

Would it be harder for her to Soulcast a Mistborn?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, Investiture resists Investiture. It's harder for her to even Soulcast a person than a rock, right?

Questioner

Is a Mistborn Invested?

Brandon Sanderson

The Mistborn, while they're burning the metal. They are not specifically Invested when they are not burning. When the Investiture becomes active, then yes. Before, no.

Blightsong

So Kelsier, he stayed around longer, not because he was Invested, but because he had the potential to use Investiture?

Brandon Sanderson

Over time using the magic will Invest you, on Scadrial. Most of the power is not coming from, on Roshar the power isn't coming from the person either [he cut himself off, so I assume this is how it works on Scadrial even though he didn't finish his thought] so I'm going to have to back up on that one and say, yes, the Mistborn are as Invested as a Knight Radiant, because in both cases the majority, bulk, of the power is coming from somewhere else, but there is the Spiritweb. Investing the wrong term, but you have all these connections in the Spiritual Realm, so yanking you away from them, or rewriting them is harder.

Questioner

Would they be harder with more Stormlight or metals burning?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, yes. That would increase the difficulty ratio. For instance, wearing Shardplate is gonna be a great barrier, right, and things like that so yeah. The problem is like, Invested is the wrong term for that, their Spiritweb is connected in different ways.

#38 Copy

Blightsong

How much did Super Mind Taravangian know about the Cosmere as a whole, roughly, rough estimate.

Brandon Sanderson

He had a little bit of knowledge. Not as much as... not as much conscious knowledge.

Blightsong

Did he guess about the three realms?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, he knew about the three realms. He didn't have to guess on that, he had read philosophy and things, that knowledge is there on Roshar

#39 Copy

Blightsong

Does magic happen on Sel because areas have  a stronger cognitive presence, like, more sentient life in that area.

Brandon Sanderson

Uhhh, no, good question, good question. That is not the answer. I am going to give it in the Cosmere collection if people don't guess it by then. So I'm going to leave off, I could tell you right now but, I can't remember if anyone has guessed it or not.

Questioner

Is it related to tectonics?

Brandon Sanderson

No, it's all kinda going in the wrong direction. I haven't really given you the clues to figure it out, I don't think. Once I say it, it will make a lot of sense.

#40 Copy

Blightsong

Was Hoid trying to become an Elantrian kind of in a way how Kelsier was able to connect to Preservation to take up the Shard?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, the thing about it is you're getting Hoid before he knew as much as he did in Scadrial era, so what he was trying to do was completely ineffective and it couldn't have worked.

Questioner #1

Doesn't it get weaker the farther away you are, so it wouldn't help at all.

Brandon Sanderson

Mhm.

Questioner #2

Well we have an example of an Elantrian on Roshar, so.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes we have an Elantrian on Roshar, but we don't see him use any powers, and his skin is dark on Roshar rather than glowing, granted that could be a disguise. That is something to be aware of.

#41 Copy

Blightsong (paraphrased)

Is it normal for people to become Connected to an area after being there for a bit, like with Kel and wherever he was when he found the Ire, or is something special going on?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

It is normal for a Cognitive Shadow to get stuck to places, because they exist through investiture it is normal for them to get tied to an area. Kelsier was still in Scadrial when he found the Ire. This happened with Odium and the two shards on Roshar, Preservation to Ruin, and the Heralds.

#43 Copy

Questioner (paraphrased)

In Elantris it talks about how the wood and stone in the city is rotten and crumbling. Why does this happen?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

This is because when objects become Invested for long periods of time their Spiritweb changes to accommodate the Investiture. When the Investiture was pulled up off the stuff in Elantris, its Spiritweb was severely damaged so it showed that in the Physical Realm. This happened with the Lord Ruler when the Bands of Mourning were ripped out of him.

#47 Copy

Questioner (paraphrased)

My friend wants to know how fast steel Compounders could possibly go, can they run up walls or over water like the Flash?

Blightsong (paraphrased)

*jokingly* Can they run through time?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Steelrunners can resist a lot things due to the power, like they can withstand the Gs they are out through, but they can't ignore wind resistance and friction. They will burn up if they start running too quickly.

Event details
Name
Name OdysseyCon 2016
Date
Date April 8, 2016
Location
Location Madison, WI
Entries
Entries 49
#tentative complete
Upload sources