Recent entries

Questioner

Is the Shaod actually random, or is it more of a chosen thing?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO.

Questioner

With the King's Wit, when Hoid left, was there ever a new Wit?

Brandon Sanderson

No. Hoid has been erratic enough that they knew he would be back. If he had been gone long enough they probably would have gotten around to getting a new Wit, but they just never did.

Questioner

One question I've been thinking about a lot, and that is the black bladed sword. Is there just one sword, or is there one for each world, that [works with?] different...like Shard powers, or is it just one sword that can work with all?

Brandon Sanderson

[Nightblood] is something special. A long time ago, some people from the Warbreaker world came to Roshar, saw Shardblades, thought, "We can do this," went home and tried to make one. And that is Nightblood. And it went horribly horribly wrong. And so they didn't make any more, except now, Azure's sword is somewhat related. But that is the origin of Nightblood. Trying to make a Shardblade out of a different magic system.

Questioner

Question about Elantris real quick. In your [Arcanum] Unbound[ed], they show up. Is this post or pre Elantris. Because they're so well organized in that one.

Brandon Sanderson

So, that is post Elantris. But, the Ire weathered the [Reod].

Questioner

Oh they come back. And they remember everything.

Brandon Sanderson

They were not on Sel when the [Reod] happened.

Questioner

Is Warbreaker 2, is that near-future?

Brandon Sanderson

Distant future.

Questioner

So in Oathbringer we start seeing cases of Shadesmar and worldhoppers. As the series progresses, are you going to kind of like gear it into more of like, world meeting world, like almost leading up to like Dragonsteel type events?

Brandon Sanderson

Right, that is kind of the goal. 

Questioner

Like long story goal.

Brandon Sanderson

It's not really... People imagine it being Avengers-ish. It's not really that. It's more like the way these worlds interact is the story that I want to tell. So they will slowly come mashing together.

Questioner

You know how the Cosmere all ends, right? Does anyone else know?

Brandon Sanderson

No one else knows right now. But I am slowly filling out that outline in my notes so that they'll have it in case something unfortunate happens to me.

Questioner

When will you do the next Stormlight book?

Brandon Sanderson

So I divide my time between half Stormlight and half other things. So, I'm about a year into my 18 month break. I'll start Stormlight 4 on January 1st.

coltonx9

If the Nightwatcher was asked to bond a person with a spren, would you just kidnap a spren and force a bond, would she create a spren...?

Brandon Sanderson

The Nightwatcher is unlikely to force a spren to bond.

coltonx9

Can the Nightwatcher turn you into a different species, or like a spren or a seon?

Brandon Sanderson

It is possible for the Nightwatcher to change your species, yes.

Questioner

Are you going to do a Mistborn: Secret History part 2 to talk about what Kelsier's doing during...

Brandon Sanderson

Likely, but not 100% promise. It's kinda my time frame. A lot of the stuff that's happening right now is foreshadowing for Era 3 where Kelsier will have a much bigger role. Era 3, the 1980's one. So we'll see when I'm writing those if I need a Secret History to catch us up.

Questioner

Is Kelsier going to be a part of Era 2—the rest of it?

Brandon Sanderson

You will see a little bit, but he is not a main a part of those stories.

Brandon Sanderson

All right. So...things do get confusing whenever I'm trying to circumlocute spoilers. I could have smacked myself for forgetting to mention "no spoilers" before the Q&A. I keep forgetting that there are many readers who are not as sensitive to these things as I am. (Though one woman did gasp in the row behind that guy asking the question--as his original one mentioned Sadeas's death, I believe.)

I will say that there are multiple people I'd consider well on the path to being Radiants by the end of Book Three, and several of these would--shall we say--dispute KR traditions from the past, specifically on this subject matter. (What makes someone eligible to become a KR.) So this discussion is relevant for multiple reasons.

I wasn't trying to drop any bombs about Adolin, however, as I remain very solidly in RAFO territory about his future.

Enasor

Thank you for taking the time to clarify this one Mr Sanderson.

This WoB created a massive shock-wave all across the fandom and many readers were taking you had officially confirmed Adolin was "well on his way towards Knighthood" which I was personally convinced was very deeply into the RAFO territory, as it should be.

Perhaps in order to also settle some additional debates, would you say Adolin would challenge what has traditionally made someone eligible to become a KR or is this within RAFO territory too? Readers can never seem to agree on how perfect Adolin actually is. We seem to find rationals for both.

Brandon Sanderson

I hate to use terms like "perfect" or the like. It's even difficult to (when not speaking in world) use some of the terminology the KR have used in the past--as we have to reconcile several things.

How do you decide what is a mental illness and what is simply a person's unique brain chemistry? Usually this comes down to two factors--the person's own feelings on it and the advice of medical professionals. Even language like "Well-adjusted," as I used before, is dangerous territory because it's so subjective. One need look only to the deaf community to find examples of people who challenge an outsider's perspective of what is a disease and what isn't.

So I generally prefer to talk about this through the character's viewpoint, the lens of historical commentary (which is in world, and may not therefore be accurate--but at least offers a perspective,) and the context of the book.

And in that context, I like Adolin being a RAFO. I believe that using the text, there are multiple directions one could go in discussing him.

Questioner

In Oathbringer we have an example of a different form of magic on Roshar, like when Hoid uses Breaths to perform...

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, Hoid has used both Breaths and Allomancy on screen in the Stormlight books.

Questioner

Is this made possible through the Connection of Shadesmar and the Cognitive Realm?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, you can bring almost all the magic to any other planet, no problem. The only one that there's a problem with is AonDor but that has specifically to do with the way the AonDor works.

Questioner

So hypothetically, could you see someone from Roshar become a Mistborn?

Brandon Sanderson

That would require Hemalurgy. Could happen. A lot of times, where you were born, with a lot of these magics, is having a big influence on your spiritual make up. But it would require Hemalurgy, or there are ways to get around it. You could become mechanically a Mistborn. That's probably not a phrase we want to canonize. You could use, for instance, some of the tools in Era 2.

Questioner

With Way of Kings...with Azure, where did she appear at the end of Warbreaker? Because I know it's Vivenna, but did the name appear, because when I first read it, it sounded familiar.

Brandon Sanderson

No... She is commonly associated with that color, but it's not like she was known by that name.

Questioner

Are the Aimians, am I saying that right?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah.

Questioner

Are they native to Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO. They are enigmatic, even on Roshar.

Questioner

Are there any other Investiture-sucking creatures?

Brandon Sanderson

There are creatures that feed on Investiture other than the larkin, yes.

Questioner

Are they on the other worlds?

Brandon Sanderson

There are some on other planets, not every planet has one.

Questioner

Could you tell us the name of one of the Shards we have not yet seen?

Brandon Sanderson

I cannot. I'm sorry. I get asked that enough that they'd all be done. If I gave you one, I get asked at the next con, and all of them would be gone. Plus, I sometimes tweak them before I canonize them. The actual word I'm going to use. The intent usually stays the same but I tweak which word I'm going to use.

Questioner

I meant the actual name. Like, how Honor was Tanavast.

Brandon Sanderson

No...I won't do that either. But I will give you a RAFO card!

coltonx9

*Written down* Cracks in the Spiritweb can be filled with investiture, granting powers. Are the Drab on Nalthis considered damaged enough for this process?

Brandon Sanderson

They are something else entirely. So that, in world, they would say no, something else has happened.

Questioner

Would a Windrunner's Investiture be able to be used in space?

Brandon Sanderson

Would a Windrunner's Investiture be able to be used in space? In fact, yes. Windrunners would be particularly handy in space because they can control pressure as well as move around and things. So if you were going to pick an order of Knight Radiant, and you wanted to go be an astronaut, Windrunner would be the best choice.

Questioner

Will Shallan and Wit have a good mentor relationship.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, they will. It will continue as you have seen it in the books so far.

Questioner

How would a Cryptic deal with computers?

Brandon Sanderson

Cryptics would love computers. Loooovvvveee computers. They would have a blast. They might be offended that the computer isn't talking back to them, because they would think the computer's a pattern and should just be talking to them. But otherwise they would find them really cool.

I'm sad, there was a really good sequence in Oathbringer that had to get cut out for timing reasons where Pattern talked about how famous he was, that hopefully I will be able to release as a deleted scene or something.

Questioner

What would happen if Lopen and Wayne ever met.

Brandon Sanderson

I think they would get along fantastically.

Questioner

Why does Lift need Stormlight?

Brandon Sanderson

Lift went to see the Nightwatcher, and got a Blessing and a Curse in that she can metabolize food to turn into Stormlight, but she can't use regular Stormlight. And there is something else, as well.

Questioner

So they have the same surges or different surges for Cultivation?

Brandon Sanderson

She uses the same surges, but they are powered differently.

Questioner

*Inaudible question*

Brandon Sanderson

*Repeating* Why do the Shin look different to the Rosharan significant <face>?

Because the Shin have spent a long time being very xenophobic. They haven't intermixed very much. When the original event happened, that I'm not going to say because of spoilers, different people settled in different places, and the Shin in particular just have been very xenophobic.

Dearius

I was just wondering if the metal used to make a fabrial matters like if it's *inaudible* or something?

Brandon Sanderson

*Repeating* Does the metal used to make a fabrial matter?

A little bit. Not as much as things like this do on Scadrial, but there is some influence there. We'll get into those rules eventually.

Questioner

Adolin and his sword that wants to kind of wake up a little bit. Most of the Knights Radiant have some sort of break in their mind, mental <a little> problem. Where Adolin appears to be the person in Stormlight that's most comfortable with himself. Is that going to cause a problem, or is maybe the fact that he, at least in his mind, murdered Sadeas, going to help bring that to fruition or give us a way towards something like that?

Brandon Sanderson

Let's, first off, say I'm not going to repeat this one because it's super spoilery. So let's try to talk around the spoilers.

In the Stormlight Archive, there is a tradition among the Knights Radiant that certain traumas and/or psychological handicaps are effective in drawing the attention of a spren. I haven't actually said if that is true or if that's [just] a tradition of theirs. But there is a tradition among the Knights Radiant. that they have noticed something consistent.

Does it mean that you have to in order to be a Knight Radiant? Well, there is somebody that I would call extremely psychologically well-adjusted, that by the end of the third book is well on the way to Knighthood.

There is something going on there, they are noticing something true. But it might not be as exclusionary as they think it is.

kurvyyn

Sja-anat tries to convince Shallan she is not her enemy and tells her, "Ask my son." Is the son that she's referring to, is that Pattern?

Brandon Sanderson

No. Sja-anat is referring to--I'll try not to give too many spoilers on this--if you look through the books for a spren that does not seem to belong to Honor or Cultivation, but is bonding a Radiant, that is where you want to look for Sja-anat's influence.

kurvyyn

Is it Glys?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO!

Brandon Sanderson

In Hero of Ages, I have a room that is both looking at the sunset, and looking north, in different scenes. In one scene, someone walks in, they can see the sunset, and in another scene, they see the army, that's to the north, through the window? And they were like, "Ahhhh!"

So I said, "Oh! Let's make it a corner room, and put two windows." So there's a solution, but it was not...

Questioner

But it wasn't intended that way.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah.

Questioner

Is it possible for people to be Mistborn in another world other than the one that...

Brandon Sanderson

It is not possible for them to be born Mistborn, but a Mistborn can travel to one of those worlds. And you could theoretically create one out of Hemalurgy on another world. You would need to bring people, right? But you could actually do it. Nothing would prevent you, other than the horrific, gruesome nature of it.

Questioner

How many of the Stormlight Archive, how many are you planning?

Brandon Sanderson

There are two sets of five. The first five will come to a climax, and the second five are going to take place ten years later. Some of the cast will be the same. It's the same series but some of the cast will change. For instance, Lift is being seeded as a main character for that series. She'll be grown up, so she won't be quite-- She'll still be Lift, but she may not be quite as teenagery. She's a very special individual.

Renarin will be one of the main character in that series. Jasnah will be. And Taln and Ash, who are both Heralds that we barely see on screen in the current ones, they'll be main characters.

Questioner

I've read the Mistborn. What's the best way to get the full effect? My brother, I'm introduced him to the Cosmere. We both got into it through, when you finished Robert Jordan's series.

Brandon Sanderson

Full effect of the Cosmere. Do you guys have a non-spoilerific, "Things to watch for"?

coltonx9

There probably is.

Brandon Sanderson

Maybe go on the 17thShard, which is the forum, and say, do you guys have a non-spoiler "Things to watch for" to see the Cosmere connections in action.

Watch for Hoid, obviously. Watch for... people use the wrong words. Like if you ever see anyone in a Stormlight book who accidentally uses soil or coin or things that are just not Stormlight stuff. That is usually a translation error because they're using magical means to translate into the language and they are saying a word and the magic is translating it.

Like, if you just learned the language, you wouldn't make that mistake. That's a pretty big hint that the person is non-native. Watch for the myths and legends that people tell about various places and peoples. It's all just behind the scenes stuff right now. There's nothing that you're going to miss, you're going to be like "Oh no, I don't understand!" The things that are overt connections are meant to be woven into the stories well enough that you wouldn't have to have the intros, ahd the ones that are not are just Easter eggs for now.

Except for things like Arcanum Unbounded, which is presuming you are Cosmere aware.

 

Valhalla

Ruin and Odium, they both talked about their passion, and it was italicized both times. Would any other Shards talk about passion in that same italicized way?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes they would.

Valhalla

Would any of them not talk about it that way?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. Excellent, good questions.

Questioner

If I remember correctly, [Calamity] was sent to destroy the world?

Brandon Sanderson

Kind of, yes. He was sent to make it destroy itself. Apocalypse Guard ties into that, with further explanations, if I can ever get the thing to work.

Questioner

So it's part of the same...?

Brandon Sanderson

Continuity, yes. She is from the same dimension Megan sees into, the main character is.

Questioner

Using Hemalurgy, could you steal the boon from the Old Magic?

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, from the Nightwatcher? This is theoretically possible.

Questioner

Would that take the [curse] with it as well?

Brandon Sanderson

*Hesitantly* Yes. Though it's also theoretically possible to split them apart, that would be a lot harder. Getting the boon, if you knew what you were doing, would not be that difficult.

Now, what Cultivation would do to you when she found out that had happened is another thing entirely. Because those are willful grants of Investiture.

Questioner

Similar to Endowment's with the Returned?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, things like that. When you get a Shard involved and the Shard has..  power to... Same thing like...it's on a much grander scale what's happening with the spren bond, right?

Questioner

When Hemalurgy does spread, most Shards will not be happy about this, right?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, that is correct.

Questioner

With the gemstones, we know that the hue seems to matter more than the rarity. Is that somehow tying in to the colors for Warbreaker, and how that stuff works?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, that is tying in. Color will be a recurring theme, much as metal will be a recurring theme, as you see different magic systems work. In this case, the color has an affect on the spren and getting a spren trapped in it.

Questioner

So just the color itself?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah the color is the important part. When I was researching Stormlight, I determined that color had to be the point. Because a lot of the gemstones I'm using are molecularly identical.

Questioner

So that was the best way to differentiate?

Brandon Sanderson

So this was the best way to differentiate. But I had already had this as part of the cosmere, that color and the way people perceive color and things like, that were part of it. But getting ten different gemstones that were molecularly different proved to be very difficult and not worth it. If you look, so many of them are just basically the same gemstone with a few impurities. Their crystalline structure is the same.

kurvyyn

If Dalinar actually brought Honor back together to summon the perpendicularity, and Odium said he Ascended. Dalinar did he actually hold the Shard Honor and is he now considered a Sliver?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO! They are really waiting on this one. Let's just say, he is not Honor currently. But of course, you knew that.

Questioner

Are half-shards made with Radiant spren?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO! Good question!

Questioner

Out of the named Shards, which of them, like of the [Vessels?], if one of them were hunting you down, which one would scare you the most? You [don't] have to say the name of the character, just the name of the Shard.

Brandon Sanderson

So we're talking about considering the Vessels as well?

Questioner

Yes.

Brandon Sanderson

I.. *hesitantly* would probably go with Odium, looking at his track record. He has the track record to back it up.

Questioner

My question is not really a question, it's more of a theory. How Odium keeps the Fused around is more if he has them tied to his essence, so it's like he's essentially fishing them out of the Spiritual Realm and since their minds are left behind in the Cognitive Realm and their minds are *inaudible* damaged, because their spirits are separated and it just pulls them back.

I'm 100% convinced Nightblood did kill the thunderclast, because Nightblood consumes all investiture, that's something I asked you back at Barnes and Noble a couple years ago, during Christmas and you said your soul is investiture. So my thought is, that thunderclast isn't coming back any time soon.

Brandon Sanderson

You are correct on that one.

Questioner

When I saw that, my thought was, "Yep, It's dead." Other people were like, "I don't know, will it come back?" Nope.

Brandon Sanderson

I'll tell you this. They have not run into something like this before, and there will be ramifications of what happened there.

Questioner

That is fun to know.

Brandon Sanderson

If you are used to death having no consequence, and suddenly your friend vanishes forever...

Questioner

Yeah I, know I already thought of that. They're going to fight over Nightblood.

Brandon Sanderson

Mmm.

Valhalla

So, you talked about a weapon made by the enemies of Adonalsium, and you said it doesn't exist in it's original form. Do any remnants of it still exist in the Physical Realm?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Valhalla

Have we seen any of those remnants on-screen?

Brandon Sanderson

*pause* RAFO.

In current continuity (and people would know this), Hoid's immortality comes from this. People who have read Dragonsteel know that.

Questioner

Would a Mistborn be able to push and pull on a Shardblade?

Brandon Sanderson

That's an excellent question. The answer is, it would be very hard. In Mistborn, anything that's pushing on certain metals, particularly infused metals, gets progressively harder the more Investiture they've got in them. And Shardblades tend to be very highly Invested; they'd be very difficult to push on. If you got the right Allomancer, they could push on it. But I would say, in most cases, no.

WeiryWriter (paraphrased)

If there are fabrials that can attract substances, are there ones that repel?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yeah, there are.

WeiryWriter (paraphrased)

So in the Way of Kings Ars Arcanum we get a really good explanation of the different kinds of fabrials. Then in Words of Radiance we get a new kind of fabrial, one that attracts certain substances, but they weren't discussed in the Words of Radiance Ars Arcanum. And they are not in Oathbringer's either.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yeah, so this is actually something Isaac has been bugging me about. There is no reason they were not included other than me being lazy.

WeiryWriter (paraphrased)

So in Mistborn: Secret History, the leader of the Ire is named Alonoe. This is also the name of the lake in Arelon. Is she named after the lake? Is the lake named after her? Or--

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

*smiling* RAFO!

Dissentinel (paraphrased)

Would it be possibly to have a bunch of iron Ferrings store a bunch of weight into some iron, turn that iron into steel, and then use that steel to make guns as a cheaper alternative to aluminum?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yeah but the guns wouldn't be immune--

Ravi (paraphrased)

But they would be resistant, that little bit of extra time could be enough to make a difference.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yeah.

Dissentinel (paraphrased)

And the guns would be harder to see with iron/steelsight, correct?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes, they would be. Do keep in mind however that we get a very skewed perception of the world and how important stuff like this is because the main characters of the books are Allomancers. This just isn't something that is important to the average person on the street. But this does relate to some things later on in the series.

Questioner

*inaudible*

Brandon Sanderson

You know, I read comic books, but I never really considered writing them. I don't feel I know that format well. I've done a couple graphic novels, but those I always give to a script writer for comic books who's practiced it, let them do it. I haven't really considered ever since I broke-in, because I'd feel like the basketball player playing baseball, you know. You might be okay at it, but might as well let the people who are really good at it, since they're really good at doing it.

Wubdor

Can't wait to get my hands on that new Roshar map! Any chance there's going to be more, not yet released world maps? (i.e. Elendel, Threnody, Nalthis, First of the Sun) I wanna frame them all! Also, having Cognitive Realm versions of them would be sick!

Isaac Stewart

Glad you like the maps! We've talked about creating a poster of Elendel, so I suspect you'll see that at some point. As for the others, we'll continue to map them as Brandon explores them, so I think there's a good chance of eventually seeing a lot of the places you mentioned.

Aurélien Thieriot

Oh, by the way, are we talking about a new series or a standalone [for Skyward]? :)

Peter Ahlstrom

A trilogy like The Reckoners was.

Eric Peters

Which universe is [Skyward]?

Peter Ahlstrom

It IS connected to something else Brandon has written. You'll figure it out when you read it.