I've read a little bit of Oathbringer and I've been wondering-- is Oroden going to play a bigger role in future installments [of Stormlight]?
Possibly.
Is it kind of a RAFO?
It is kind of a RAFO.
I read the earlier version of The Way of Kings. When did Kaladin get depressed?
That was when I realized he was the main character and the least-- the least a character, right? And so, it was when I sat down and asked myself, what went wrong with it? And the main thing of the things I came up was that Kaladin wasn't real. And so I started looking at what would make him real. And depression doesn't make more real, but it's an outgrowth of him making the other decision, what happened with his brother, he had PTSD, and all of this stuff. It grew out of that.
The Lopen's cousins? Is there any significance to them, or are they just--
No, they're just, like, his cousins and his distant cousins. He just is somebody who knows everyone and is related to half the Herdazians around. There's no secret, they just really are.
When they show up, ever time, I'm like, there's gotta be something with these guys.
They're a tight-knit group, those Herdazians.
So, Shardblades, they're dead spren, but Syl came back. Is there any way for Shardblades, the spren who are Shardblades, to come back?
Mmm... You'll have to read and find out.
Shardshield or Shardhammer affect the world around them? Can they Captain America someone in half?
That is possible.
What did Lopen do to get on a bridge crew?
Lopen? Someone just thought he was annoying. Lopen, he's like the only person in Bridge Four who's, like, not a criminal. It's just like, "Oh, that stupid Herdazian, send him to a bridge crew, get him away." He's legitimately, like-- all of them have deep, dark, tragic pasts, but not The Lopen.
Is he one of your friends?
No...
Can you awaken a Shardblade?
Can you Awaken a Shardblade? A Shardblade would already be defined as Awakened, by the magic systems.
And what about the Plate?
Plate would already be defined as probably too heavily Invested to Awaken because it already is.
Are you ever planning to sell someone the rights to a Steelheart video game, 'cause let me tell you, that would be so unbelievably--
I would totally do that.
I can't think of any developers that could do it though, at least not right now.
Everything's going to... "you have to be AAA or you have to be mobile game".
You've said that we should really be asking questions about the Dor. Do you mind just volunteering a nugget or--
No, no, it came out in Arcanum Unbounded, all the stuff I was talking about.
Is the person Kalak speaks to in the prelude of The Way of Kings the real Jezrien?
Yes.
I noticed in my reread that Kaladin had ten escape attempts in five months, and those are Vorin holy numbers. Is there any particular significance to that or is that an accident?
Is there any particular significance to that? No.
*reading* So did Renarin have an antagonist organization like--
In [The Way of Kings] Prime.
Right, 'cause Renarin created the Diagram in Prime... Taravangian was in Prime but under a different name, but yes, Taravangian was there but he was a different-- he was similar. So we'll write that: "Taravangian".
Is Glys a normal Truthwatcher spren?
You'd have to read the book, it's a RAFO.
Can you tell me what the Truthwatcher spren are called, like do they have a name? I know it's not in Oathbringer.
Yeah, I'm not gonna canonize that yet. There're things I am still thinking about.
How do Windrunners rotate as they are moving through the air, since a force on their center of mass can't be rotation.
Yeah but wind resistance can. Same with [how] skydivers work.
Okay, so they kind of instinctively do it, or learn.
Yeah. You learn but-- you put your fingers out you go spinning around the right way. Kaladin gets better at this and you'll see some direct references to that in [Oathbringer] where he's talking about some of these ideas.
I have it cutting right now, but I don't know if I can have it actually completely cut because we slide it through the rock and things like that, right? So it's gotta be that, like, atomizing a little bit into Investiture or something like that. Because I use it in a way that they just-- but there's not really friction on it, so mathematically I'd probably have to say that something is vanishing... I don't want it to but I probably have to.
Yeah, I was just sitting there, thinking about Dalinar getting that trench. That would be difficult.
RAFO. RAFO for you, sir.
The spren on the other side of the Oathgate in Shadesmar... One is an inkspren-- I am guessing, no? Because there are two spren that grant the Transportation Surge so that would make the other a Willshaper spren?
RAFO.
Was Bloody Tan performing like Lessie?
RAFO.
Was Nightblood black before being awakened by Shashara?
No.
*written* Was Shashara known to wear red scarves?
*written* Nope.
*spoken* Good question. Good question
What did you get Matt?
Shashara was not known to wear red scarves.
A friend of mine wanted me to ask: Was the cataclysm that rocked Ashyn and forced its inhabitants into the flying cities Investiture-based, and if it was was it Shardic in nature?
The same cataclysm that the-- did you finish [Oathbringer]?
Yes.
The same cataclysm that they were fleeing, that they caused, is the one that forced people into the skies...
Could you create an artificial perpendicularity on demand?
This is theoretically possible.
Can you describe what Shadesmar looks like on either Nalthis or Sel.
Yeah. On Sel? Looks like a big old storm that will destroy you. More than a storm, it's like a big pressurized-- it's like plasma, almost. It is really dangerous. Really dangerous. That 'cause the Dor is hanging out there.
So, when Cenn dies, and he says "The Black Piper in the night, he holds us in the palm, playing a tune no man can hear." Is that a reference to Hoid?
No. Good question!
Did you ever consider writing under a pseudonym?
I did. I considered-- When I started, I'm like, "Brandon Sanderson's a boring name, I should do a cooler name." And my editor and my agent prevailed upon me that, no, it was not a boring name, it was just fine. That was the big decision point.
So, you post enough on Reddit. But you get by with not always getting noticed, and you can actually post stuff kind of like normally, like a person. How long do you think that will last until, you like-- like, if you get a movie or a TV deal...
People miss when Arnold [Schwarzenegger] posts on Reddit. People just aren't used to reading usernames. And I know, if they're miss Arnold, they're always gonna miss me.
Did you have an inspiration for the Talents, in Alcatraz?
Stupid things that myself or my family do.
You actually mentioned at a signing I went to last year that the Rithmatist magic was going to be, like a cosmere thing, but you pulled it out. What about it wasn't working?
It wasn't the magic, it was the setting. I decided I didn't want Earth in the cosmere, even a alternate version of it. The magic still kind of works very cosmere-y.
Are there a finite number of types of spren, or can new ones be created?
New ones can be created.
If someone created another Awakened sword, just like Nightblood, with the same process, and then brought it to fight Nightblood the same way, would they destroy each other?
RAFO!
In Rithmatist, they talk about it's random to be chosen as a Rithmatist, but Melody says that everyone in her family has been chosen. Is it random? Or...
It is not random.
Where did you get your inspiration for Kaladin's and Tien's relationship?
It grew naturally out of Kaladin's, kind of-- who he is and what's wrong with him.
From a writer's perspective, in Words of Radiance: explosive things, lots of things happening at the end of that book. As a writer when you're writing that, which of those did you think would hit a fan the hardest? Like, biggest gut punch, or like, shocking moment.
I dunno... Probably when Kaladin finally says the Ideal.
Me and my wife reading it, it was-- Adolin just shocked my wife.
Oh, yeah, that's the one. Yeah, you're right. That's the most shocking one...
Multiple Investiture? Possible? Have we already seen it?
Yes. And yes. Well, you've seen it, but you wouldn't be able to know.
With that, is the planet they're on that matters?
For most of the magics, no.
Okay. Since there *inaudible*.
Among other things, yes.
How many times has Vasher been to Roshar as of Oathbringer?
Uh... RAFO, but at least twice?
Taldain. Are you ever gonna write any more novels set on there?
I would say 50-50 chance.
I know you can have Shardblades be basically whatever you want. Can they ever be, like, a regular proportioned sword?
Yes.
So people can just use them as normal?
Yep.
I know Dragonsteel is going to have, like, [Hoid] as a main character in the series, or at least a more prominent character. Is there any other book series that are planned that are gonna have him as a more prominent figure?
Yes.
And are those gonna come before or after?
After.
...Is there anything in [Hoid]'s past that he regrets that he did? An action that he made that he, like, regrets.
Yes.
We have a Nicroburst Twinborn, who burns his old stored metal. What happens?
RAFO.
So, if we switch to Scadrial, and I had lined the inside of my hat with aluminum, I'm protecting myself from emotional Allomancy. What if I was able to use emotional Allomancy? Would that block me?
So, it's going to interfere a little bit. But the issue with that is, a lot of Allomancy is coming from center and going to head. So, you're probably still gonna be okay with the helmet... So, I'm gonna say, you don't want a lot of aluminum around you, but you could probably still make it work.
So, I noticed in the books that they like to paint their Shardplate, most of them do, with one notable exception. The Shardplate isn't dismissed, so I imagine, when it's broken, they have to repaint it after they've regrown it?
Yeah.
So, if I painted a Shardblade and then dismissed it, would I have used paint in the shape of a Shard to sell?
Uh-- it would come back without the paint.
So, the paint would go away with it, but not come back?
I've never been asked this before, let me think about it. I think the paint would get left behind.
So I would have used paint in the shape of a Shard?
Yeah, you would, yeah.
So, you could mold a Shard?
You could mold a Shard, yeah, you could totally do that. Yeah... I haven't been asked that before but that's my answer right now, because-- yeah.
If the books contradict then the books contradict.
Yeah but I don't think they will. So yeah, you can-- I mean, it could come up.
Is Honor still alive?
Honor? Honor's dead.
What about Tanavast?
So, um, you can assume that there is no funny business going on there.
What's with Kaladin being special with his oaths that he explodes with power every time he says it?
That is a function of Windrunners being very close to Bondsmiths, which has certain effects.
Would other Windrunners also do that, as well?
Yep.
As far as the Oaths go, for Orders of the Knights Radiant that have Oaths that are, like, set, like Windrunners and Bondsmiths, do they have to be spoken in a specific order, or is it just as the--
They have to be spoken in a specific order. But the Oath can vary depending on the individual's own interpretation and feeling about it.
So, spren can just manifest themselves to different people. Can they choose whether or not to manifest themselves to other spren? Does it depend on the kind of spren?
So, depends on the kind of spren. You'll get some hints of that in the third book. Or you probably have already, if you read the preview chapters.
I read the preview chapters, but, like, the way Syl acted, is that, like, something that she's able to hide from them?
She was not able to hide from that spren.
How soon until we found out why Vasher and the sword got split up?
Oh why they got split up. Not this book [Oathbringer]. But soon-ish.
Is there any undiscovered planets in the cosmere?
Yes.
Are you planning on doing more graphic novels, outside of the White Sand series?
Well, there's a couple of things here. Like, we don't want to do another one 'til White Sand is done. They come to us and said, "We wanna do more!" because White Sand sold so well. We're like "No, you finish what you have, then we'll look at doing it." So, we're exploring other options, but we won't start any until what we've started is finished. I really wanna do the story I had for Mistborn, the video game, as a graphic novel with Ben McSweeney.
Any plans for a Mistborn, or just Cosmere, collectible card game?
Um, yes. Asterisk. It's a hard thing to get going. It would probably be more like a deck building game than a CCG, just 'cause we would sell a box set of something you could draft or something like that, rather than trying to go the whole CCG route.
