Recent entries

Questioner

Have we seen the lady in the mask-- who's like related to the Ghostbloods--

Brandon Sanderson

Iyatil?

Questioner

Have we seen her in another book, by any chance?

Brandon Sanderson

No, you have not.

Questioner

So who do you think Shallan's favorite real world artist would be?

Brandon Sanderson

She is a classicist so-- I don't know-- Probably someone really, really classic like da Vinci or, you know, or even Michelangelo.

Questioner

Where they do interesting light studies...

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, where they're looking right at the musculature and things like that. That would be my guess.

Questioner 1

I'm building Plate. I would like it to be Radiant. What's the finish? Is it different from standard Plate or is it--

Brandon Sanderson

If you-- like, they often paint theirs. But say it's going to be straight unpainted it's like dull slate grey steel--

Questioner 2

And it doesn't vary order to order?

Brandon Sanderson

No. Well, I mean, if it's actual Radiant Plate it does-- But what you've got is-- Yeah, it glows and it has things, too.

Questioner

The world that White Sand takes part in, there were things that are kind of irked me about the book. It's that on Dayside most of the characters were light-skinned and on Darkside most of the characters were dark-skinned and evolutionarily that's backwards. Is there a reason for that?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes there is. Intentional.

Questioner

And are we gonna read and find out?

Brandon Sanderson

We'll see if I get around to it, but yes.

Questioner

If Nightblood uses Breath, and Szeth has Nightblood, how would it use-- would it feed off of Stormlight?

Brandon Sanderson

It can feed off of Stormlight, but Szeth can't draw in Stormlight right now.

[...]

So Szeth better not draw that sword, for a while at least.

Questioner

I'm asking why they have chickens.

Brandon Sanderson

...They were carried with them.

Questioner

So is Earth...

Brandon Sanderson

Earth is not. There are several Earth analogues. I go with a default, we're gonna make it easy on myself. Those planets have, kinda, Earth analogue for plants and animals. And then you can assume that they have Earth creatures until I start doing ecology really quite weirdly.

Questioner

When Wax dies, he sees a red cloud haze. What is that?

Brandon Sanderson

That is the effects of another Shard trying to do something.

Questioner

Who is that?

Brandon Sanderson

Mmm, that part's a RAFO.

Questioner

*inaudible*

Brandon Sanderson

Very old. Pre-Shattering old.

Questioner

Can you tell us what planet Hoid originally comes from?

Brandon Sanderson

He comes from Yolen, he really is. There's no trickery there.

FirstSelector

Was Khriss involved in founding the (a) University at Silverlight?

Brandon Sanderson

Yup.

FirstSelector

Can Nightblood be dismissed like a Rosharan blade?

Brandon Sanderson

He thinks you could.

FirstSelector

Does red in cosmere signify one Shard co-opting or corrupting another Shard's magic?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

FirstSelector

Was the Nightwatcher the spren that powered the Urithiru fabrial?

Brandon Sanderson

Nope!

Weltall

You mentioned in the annotations that just started releasing on Way of Kings that Syl originally came from another Cosmere book that wasn't working out. Was that Climb the Sky?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah-- how do you know about that one?

Weltall

Ah, someone on the 17th Shard found it on the old Time Wasters forum--

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, did they? Yeah, I wrote like three pages of that, right? Yeah, that's where it started. I'd almost even forgotten about that... no, that's totally where it came from. I actually sent three pitches to my writing group, of Cosmere books I wanted to do, and I didn't end up writing any of them.

Weltall

So, in Bands of Mourning there was an advertisement in the broadsheet from "K and N" asking about talking metal. Does that have anything to do with a certain knife that Nazh lent Kelsier?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm gonna RAFO that, mostly cause I'm gonna make you ask Isaac and Ben, cause they came to me with pitches for things to put in those and they wrote a lot of the broadsheet stuff themselves.

Weltall

Okay. But, does Nazh want that knife back?

Brandon Sanderson

The knife? Yes, he would like that knife back.

Weltall

MaiPon and JinDo are based on Korea and China you've said, I thought that Dominion and Devotion have some resonance with Confucianism-

Brandon Sanderson

They do, the yin and the yang and things like that, absolutely.

Weltall

So that was intentional?

Brandon Sanderson

That was very intentional. Yeah, I've always been fascinated with, like, the blue and the red, right? The things that are opposite but to some cultures and not to others. Like, that was really, that was the Ruin and Preservation thing, right?

Weltall

Is there anything you'd be willing to tell us about the third empire Khriss mentioned in Arcanum Unbounded?

Brandon Sanderson

Umm, yeah, I have not decided on some canon answers for that yet, I've debated back and forth on what I'm going to do with it so I just won't tell you yet.

CaptainRyan

Prior to the death of Gavilar, had nine (9) Desolations occurred? If not, can you please share how many have happened?

Brandon Sanderson

No... but no.

Questioner

Are there ever gonna be dragons in the cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson

There are dragons.

Questioner

*gasps* Wait. Are we supposed to know and I haven't read it?

Brandon Sanderson

No. But the-- Hoid calls someone a reptile. The "you old reptile..." That is-- yeah, one of them.

Questioner

I'm not very good understanding how the cosmere works. So, any tips on how to get to that? Like, get the little hints that are--

Brandon Sanderson

Just watch out for Hoid and watch out for people who use the wrong words. Like if they use the word "coin" or "dirt" or things like that just aren't on Roshar. That's a pretty big clue that they're not one hundred percent on the up and up.

jdilts

How do spren get to the place where they're supposed to be, where an emotion being expressed? Are there just so many of them that they just happen to have enough density that they're there or they travel really fast? 

Brandon Sanderson

Most of the time what's happening is they are congregating around human population centers anyway. And so it's like birds. Like you walk out there are birds around, right? It's kind of the same thing as spren. So it's more the density thing.

Questioner

Was it relevant that Ruin mentioned Passion to Vin?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

In the chapter about the Wandersail, when Hoid is telling the story, is he using Lightweaving?

Brandon Sanderson

It is not completely natural what you are seeing.

Questioner

Is the smoke in any way related to Rosharan magic systems?

Brandon Sanderson

In any way related, yes? I'm good at wiggling out of these. It's a part RAFO, it's not completely natural. I'll leave it at that. I can't say too much, otherwise I'll give away all my secrets.

Questioner

My favorite character is Nazh... I just want anything about him, even if he's just his favorite food.

Brandon Sanderson

Isaac. Give us a favorite food...

Isaac Stewart

So, he likes, and Brandon will have to confirm this, but he likes a plant-- fried-- it would be considered an eggplant almost.

Brandon Sanderson

Fried eggplant. We're good on that.

Isaac Stewart

It's not-- It looks like an eggplant, it's native to Threnody.

Questioner

Can Honor be revived like with... Preservation?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO.

Questioner

What abilities, if any, does a double aluminum Twinborn have?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO.

Questioner

Can a Mistborn burn any physical form of Investiture?

Brandon Sanderson

No. Well-- possible with work, but naturally, no.

Questioner

In Secret History, Nazh briefly mentioned that there's requirements or conditions to become a Cognitive Shadow. Can you tell us one of those?

Brandon Sanderson

Uh, lots of Investiture. Is one way. As a certain person discovered.

Questioner

If that person were to not have entered Preservation's pool, it still would have given the same result?

Brandon Sanderson

If they had not, they would be gone.

Questioner

I wasn't clear. If they had done a different pool, not Preservation's.

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, if they had been able to Invest themselves heavily, then they could have stuck around, yes. That wasn't Preservation's pool, that was more a function of--dipping themselves, pulling an Achilles inside of a Shardpool when you are dead, turned out to work. It's not the only way, not everyone on... Threnody, for instance, is heavily Invested.

Questioner

Could a kandra imitating a human have a child with the human?

Brandon Sanderson

So, I kinda go back and forth on this. So-- 'Cause I think about it, then I tweak the magic, and I think "no this isn't possible," and then I go back, and I'm like, "but..." So it kinda comes down to a lot of things, such as, would I want a DNA test to be able to determine if a kandra is real or not. And I haven't canonized that yet, so your answer is, Read And Find Out, once I decide. I go back and forth on that one so much.

Questioner

Roshar... Is that the whole world, just kinda flattened out? Or is there something on the other side?

Brandon Sanderson

There's something on the other side, but mostly just empty ocean.

Questioner

Mostly just empty ocean? Something else? RAFO?

Brandon Sanderson

There's your card!

Questioner

Are you ever gonna write a pregnant woman in your books?

Brandon Sanderson

So, I kinda got my fill of it in Wheel of Time. Because Elayne, which is such-- there's just so much pregnancy. So, like-- I've actually thought about this before, and I think, I just read those books so many times I'm like--

Questioner

You're just full of it.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah. But that's not a good reason! But I'm pretty sure that's my reason.

Brightlord Maelstrom

If you were to somehow use a receptacle to gather some part of the Dor, say there was a way of doing that. And you were to do one on both extremes of the planet. Would it be the same thing?

...Say, you have a container than can contain part of this plasma? ...Theoretically? You do that, taking one part of the planet, say Elantris, seal it up. And then you were to take another one, and fill it up in MaiPon and compare them, would it be the same Investiture?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, it would.

Brightlord Maelstrom

Quesion about Selish magic systems. So, you've described, in the past, the Dor in the Cognitive Realm as being almost like magma. Is that just in consistency, or also does that also include in its temperature?

Brandon Sanderson

No, it's more temperature than consistency. Plasma-ish is maybe even a better way of putting it.

Questioner

Does [the Ishikk interlude in Way of Kings] indicate that White Sand, Mistborn Era 1, and Elantris all take place in about the same period of time? Or are worldhoppers also timehoppers?

Brandon Sanderson

Some of them are also timehoppers. They're not as close as you would think.

Questioner

Is it a coincidence that, when Michael Kramer was reading... Stormlight Archive and Wax&Wayne, Wayne sounds curiously like Lopen.

Brandon Sanderson

It's a cute coincidence. Lopen would have a very different accent from Wayne.

Questioner

The amount of Heralds that we have seen so far. Two? I had thought Wit was one.

Brandon Sanderson

Wit is not one, but you've seen Ash, you've seen Taln, you've seen Jezrien and Kalak in the prelude, you've seen Nale. Yeah, he was chasing Lift, among other things. You've heard of several others, but the others are going to start getting more and more obscure from there. I don't think there's any others.

Questioner

Could the mantle of Herald be passed to another person. Could they--

Brandon Sanderson

Read And Find Out, I'm afraid.

Questioner

 I envision the Bondsmiths as, like, walking catapult. Is that viable, or is it different?

Brandon Sanderson

You'll have to wait and see. We'll RAFO that.

Questioner

We see, in Secret History, all the people going Beyond after they die. Do all the victims go there? Or just people? Just sentients? Would a Ryshadium go the Beyond, if it died.

Brandon Sanderson

Um-- Yes.

Questioner

What about, like, a rockbud, or a chasmfiend?

Brandon Sanderson

Um, that, you're gonna have to ask the philosophers about. Because, if it happens, it happens really fast, so they have trouble spotting it.

Questioner

Is there a significant connection between Stormlight and spren?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

What is the extent of that, I guess? Is that a Read And Find Out?

Brandon Sanderson

That's a RAFO.

Questioner

Does everyone meet the Nightwatcher when they die?

Brandon Sanderson

No.

Questioner

As you look at the Double Eye, is there a pattern for Honor and Cultivation's disparate influences on each Surge or Order?

Brandon Sanderson

There are philosophers who think that there are, but-- it is more straightforward than those philosophers think it is.

Questioner

Is it fair to say that Honor is focused on the past, and Cultivation is focused on the future? Or nostalgia.

Brandon Sanderson

No. Nope, not fair to say that. But it is an interesting theory. They would disagree with you, but you could make the argument.

Questioner

Is Hoid somebody I should be rooting for?

Brandon Sanderson

Depends on-- Depends... There's a big, uh, "depends" attached to that.

Questioner

Is that something we're gonna see in Stormlight Archive?

Brandon Sanderson

You will see some of it in Stormlight. It's not the main place you're gonna see it.

Questioner

If you had a Shardblade, what would it look like?

Brandon Sanderson

Hm... it would have lots of glyphs on it.

Questioner

So, we know that things can be Soulcast into aluminum. But can aluminum itself be Soulcast into something else?

Brandon Sanderson

It resists all forms of Investiture trying to change it to things.

Questioner

An Elantrian, can they use an unkeyed nicrosilmind to-- as a substitute for the Dor?

Brandon Sanderson

...This is theoretically possible. Again, the Selish magic systems do not play well with the other magics, but that is theoretically possible to make happen.

Questioner

Could you build Aons or something similar to Aons off of the natural landforms on Roshar, like the Dawncities and the other cities that are sort of symmetrical?

Brandon Sanderson

The Elantrian magic system, the Selish magic systems, are the ones that don't work very well-- don't interact very well with other worlds... Other ones are a lot more easy to interact between worlds.

Questioner

If an Elantrian has a child, is that child an Elantrian?

Brandon Sanderson

Not necessarily.

Questioner

...Like, two Elantrians have a child, it's possible that it's just a normal human?

Brandon Sanderson

...It is indeed.

Questioner

[Question written down, unknown]

Brandon Sanderson

They can communicate with each other. So, there's at least one answer-- with the spren-- Yeah, but it's not-- you don't really communicate with spren in the same way.

Questioner

Can they get, like, Odium- or Cultivation- or Honor-oriented spren to kinda animate them?

Brandon Sanderson

No, that's not quite how it works.

Questioner

The intelligence in the eye of the chasmfiend, I was wondering. Or on the santhid rescuing her.

Brandon Sanderson

It's more, like, does a flower communicate with a bee. That's a similar sort of thing we're looking at here.