So, filter that the Shard's power-- Investiture, I guess? Is it that-- So on Roshar, does it count as three Shards stacked on top of each other, next to each other, that's forming different magic systems.
It definitely is influencing it. But, not-- perhaps not as much as you might think. I mean, it is, though.
Tien's interest in rocks. Is that just because he likes rocks, or is there something to it?
Not really. There'll be some metaphorical relationships that I'm underpinning it with, but really the answer is, no, he just really likes rocks.
So, is Adonalsium limited to the cosmere galaxy? I don't think he created the universe?
That is a RAFO. But the cosmere is a dwarf galaxy... They don't know about that.
Will they?
Maybe.
So, I was actually wondering whether Tanavast constructed the confrontation with Rayse in such a way that *inaudible*
That nailed his foot to the floor?
He's stuck on Braize - at least for now.
Ah, yes. That was, in effect, that was an intentional -
It was deliberate? Okay.
It was deliberate. Yup.
*Inaudible, possibly 'Rayse'* started to win?
Um, well...
I'll keep it secret until it shows up on Facebook.
Yeah, it... so, Odium came at him, and he gave - not as good as he got - but he made it cost.
Did he sacrifice himself, or is Odium better at that sort of thing?
I wouldn't say that he sacrificed himself, I'd say he went out swinging.
Is Odium just better at that sort of thing?
I would say, yes.
Can you tell me *inaudible*?
Yeah, I'm gonna RAFO that. We've got multiple books before I'm gonna canonize this.
Can you give us some of the magic systems that you've rejected?
Magic systems I've rejected. Rejects for me are kind of a weird thing in that they stick in the back of my brain, and when I reject something, it's more along the lines of "this isn't ready yet." And I'm constantly thinking, do I want to do this, do I not want to do this. I've wanted to do one with sound waves forever, visualizing sound waves and things, and I have not been able to write it in a way that either felt different enough from other magic systems that approached this, or that just worked on the page. It's very hard to take something auditory and make it-- put it into a book for some reason. Some things work, I mean, Pat [Rothfuss] has made an entire career of having music to his language... so it can work, but I've never been able to get a really solidly sound-wave-focused magic to work, but I think of and discard tons of these things everyday. Sometimes, I discard them, because I'm like, "No, that's too Brandon." It's like, it's too much, a challenge. "Can I make peanuts into a magic system?" That's one I haven't done.
By the way, I wanted to do a story about a leekromancer, who had power over legumes. Yeah? Uh-huh. See. That's just too Brandon. You can read that, and say, "He wrote this entire story just to make the leekromancer pun!"
Fabrials. With the spren, when they're trapped in the gemstones, can each individual spren type only do one Surge, or is the way that they're bound in the gemstone, like, gem type and color, does that have an effect on how it works?
Mmhmm. It does.
Biochromatic Breath. The reason that it avoids Snapping, is that because it's so heavily in the Physical Realm, or is there something more to that?
Something more.
Is the entity now calling itself Trell, was-- is Trell the real Trell that was worshiped by the Trelagists?
RAFO.
Is the metal that Bleeder was associated with and had, is the Shard associated with that metal the same entity that's calling itself Trell?
Yes.
How do states of matter affect how things look in the Cognitive and Spiritual Realms?
So, generally, how people perceive something is very important to the reflection in the Cognitive Realm, and so the physical state of matter is going to be involved in that, but generally, it flows the other direction from the Spiritual Realm.
Do the forms of Investiture that we've seen, Stormlight, metals, Shardpools, do the fact that those happen in general the same types of states of matter, all physical, solid, is kinda going to be like metal for Investiture?
Yeah, that is generally the way it will be.
Can Lopen's children inherit Alethkar, because he was king for just a brief minute?
They'd have a claim. I don't think the Alethi would pay attention to it... But he was legitimately king for a brief moment.
Do lemons exist on Scadrial?
Probably, yeah.
How did you design the mistcloak cloaks?
Because it looks cool, obviously!
It is highly impractical!
Not if you're Mistborn! The only trouble we really had is stepping on the tassels.
And getting tangled up in them.
Well, a lot of the tassels, a lot of the ones for mistcloaks we've made, use thicker material in them, and they lie straighter, and they don't tangle nearly as much. As long as you don't make them too long, 'cause if you do, you step on them, particularly on stairs... We've got some costume persons that work-- you'll find, if you use a thicker, stronger material-- yeah.
Are we gonna see more of Alcatraz?
Probably not until after Stormlight Five.
I want to ask you a question about Pattern. Could you speak to anything about where your idea for...
I wanted different spren to look drastically different. And, as I was building-- Like, I wanted a lot of the spren of a lot of the Orders of Knights Radiant to kind of have an internal, natural conflict. Like, that's one of the division lines between a spren that's not sapient, and spren that is. For instance, Windrunner, honorspren, right? Honor is about rigidity in a lot of ways, and Syl is the embodiment of a lot of the opposite of that. And Pattern, who is so interested in lies, is a mathematical fractal-- a mathematical equation. This sort of thing, like naming the inkspren Ivory is just-- I want that internal, natural contrast to be part of them. And Pattern, I really wanted a spren that wasn't just another ball of light. 'Cause Syl is basically a ball of light. And a lot of the others are basically balls of light. And I'm like, I need something that's different, I want something that looks different, that feels different. That's where I went.
I just have been noticing this, and it's not exclusive to any author, it's just this kind of theme that simply tires me. Main characters, they die, and then they come back to life. or they just don't die. And it makes it so much less exciting for me. So, I wanted to ask you what you think about that?
So, here's the thing. Because fiction isn't real, death is meaningless in fiction. The only real things in fiction are the emotions we make you feel, and different stories try to do that in different ways with different themes. For instance, I don't think Lord of the Rings is ruined by the fact that Gandalf has a resurrection, because of the emotions you feel, and then the other emotions you feel, and things like this-- and there's something universal about it. And so, I don't think I'm as big on it as that, because deaths-- maybe it's because I'm a writer, everything feels arbitrary in books, except the emotion that I put upon it, if that makes sense? And I always find that what the characters are going through is the more interesting than an abrupt end, but I guess that's just kinda me.
If you say that, then books can't have resurrection as a theme, or rebirth, which is, like, one of the most interesting themes in existence. But everyone has different tastes, there's no wrong. Not liking it is not wrong. I mean, plot armor also has this thing where we tend to not kill characters arbitrarily, we tend to do it at dramatic moments, and things like this, because the story is better that way, right? And there are some people, like George Martin, who just try to throw this out the window, to tell a different story by doing that. But, of course, resurrection is a huge theme in those books.
Why pancakes?
My kids love pancakes, I thought Lift would really like pancakes. And pancakes are pretty universal, like, most cultures come up with a pancake-type thing. Now they aren't always the sweet pancakes, fluffy ones that we imagine. But, like, almost every culture, pancakes are a thing. Some weird batter with stuff in it you pour onto a hot skillet.
How exactly do you make kandra blessings using Hemalurgy?
I'll RAFO that for now. Even they don't quite know, right? They were provided by the Lord Ruler for them, and they didn't create them themselves. So, we'll RAFO that.
Yes or no: will the Stick ever come back?
The Stick? The Stick is omnipresent in all books, but I think the Stick has had so much screentime already that it would be distracting from other characters.
Could a Threnody Shade survive on another world?
Theoretically, yes. But they are highly Invested, and leaving a world where you're highly Invested behind when you have that Investiture is difficult, as Kelsier discovered, and as most spren discover.
Hoid seems to know things that are not explained. He'll show up places, when the Herald showed up, or when Jasnah comes back. Is that something that's just not been explained yet? Or is that something that's a part of some magic system that we've heard about? Or is that something different?
Yeah, so, he has access to things that other people do not. It is explainable, but it has not been explained yet. He can be places he needs to be, but if you watch, he doesn't always know why he needs to be there. He's really good at covering that part up. But he does-- he knows he needs to be somewhere, and so he gets there.
I was wondering if you were planning on doing another collaboration with your fellow podcasters, like you did with--
Shadows Beneath? Yes, there will be something more like that eventually.
In Herdazian, is there no personal pronoun, and that's why Lopen always refers to himself as "The Lopen"?
No, that is his personal thing. In Rock's language, most nouns are gendered, masculine, which is why you always see him flipping-- screwing that up. But Lopen, just his thing. Just his thing.
Glyphpairs, or glyphs, for the specific Surges. Are they supposed to be slightly different? Or are they perfectly symmetrical?
It depends on who paints them and how. Most of them are supposed to be symmetrical.
Because I got the Progression tattoo, and my tattoo artist noticed that it was slightly different on both sides, where there was a curve instead of having a square. And he said, is it not supposed to be perfectly squared off? Because then it would be--
Some people draw them that way, depends on what they're writing, and things like that. So, I would ask Isaac. Write an email to [email protected] and ask him about it, because he designs all those. I just give him general directions, he's the one that can actually write them.
Cultivation *inaudible* Nightwatcher?
No, but good question, they are separate and you'll find out in [Oathbringer], kind of, in what ways.
If Nightblood was to be used by a Scadrian, would that person have to be an Investiture ferring?
No, you could be burning any metal, and Nightblood would co-opt it and feed off that.
Title of the next Stormlight book? I have decided I'm not gonna answer that yet. Still working on it.
Is the Warbreaker sequel gonna have Susebron and Siri?
It's Vivenna and Vasher. And new characters. You'll get an update in it, if I ever do it, what's going on, but it won't be focused on them.
What is your favorite magic system that you made?
Allomancy.
How big are the beads from Shadesmar?
...Bean-size, not as big as spheres.
Spheres are the size of your thumbnail, right?
Spheres are a little bigger than that. They're like a big marble. Not quite as big as a shooter.
Would all the different powers, or magic. Would they all work on the other--
Almost all of them will. AonDor, and the ones from Sel, are very hard to get to work elsewhere, because of certain things, but others are much easier. For instance, if you can get Breaths to another world, you can just use them, you don't need to do anything special.
The drawers with the infused gemstones. Is that the Stormlight Archive?
No. That is not the Stormlight Archive.
Is there a Stormlight Archive?
Yes. But... it means the books. The archive of books that are all named after in-world books. The Archive is a pun on archived collection of books.
Syl asks Kaladin if he had <problems> *inaudible*. Is that just a phrase she picked up? Or is it something connected *inaudible*?
Um... there is nothing special you're supposed to read into that other than Syl personality and interactions and stuff.
Which creature is your favorite from any of your series?
Which creature? Chasmfiend.
For Jasnah, it seems like maybe a couple times it's been hinted that maybe she prefers women *inaudible*
Let's just have you Read on And Find Out on that one. There is-- Her book isn't 'til, like-- at the earliest, Book Eight. So, we've got a long ways to go before we're digging into Jasnah some more.
Why are [Cognitive] Shadows so much more prevalent on Threnody?
That's a good question. Which is a RAFO. Sorry.
I know that Dalinar's story is definitely one you were looking forward to, but of the remaining Stormlight Archive books, whose story are you looking the most forward to?
Umm... Taln's.
Are there historical figures that were inspirations for Elhokar?
Dalinar is based very slightly on Subutai, the great Mongol general. Elhokar, no one specific. I thought of him when I was a kid, when I was, like, fourteen, I wanted to do a story about a weak king and his uncle who's a really strong figure, and that interplay, and that's where he came from.
Please write something new and interesting about Nebrask?
It is not the only portal to the chalkling world.
Could an Awakened toupee be commanded to act like real hair?
...Totally! Absolutely, yes!
Would it be convincing?
Would it be convincing? Yeah, I think that it would be. It depends.
It depends on the number of Breaths?
Yeah, it depends on factors, but I totally think that could be very convincing. Yes, yes, yes.
Could it also be given enough Breath to Command "Protect me?"
Yes, it could. That would be really weird. But yes.
What does chull meat taste like? Surf, turf, or both?
I would go both on that. Definitely both. A little bit of each.
How did you come up with Shardpools and travel between the worlds?
...So, what happened is (close as I can remember; it's been a long time now), close as I can remember, I wrote Elantris in, like, 1998 or 1999, and I, at that point, didn't really have the cosmere in place. I knew I wanted to do some sort of grand epic, I knew I wanted to do some sort of thing, but I just wrote that book-- Elantris is mostly a discovery-written book, rather than an outlined book. And I wrote this book, and that's when I started a lot of these ideas. I stepped away from it, and I started writing a book called Dragonsteel, which was Hoid's origin story. And then I kinda got into the dark age where I was trying to be George R.R. Martin for a while. And then when I came out of that, I wrote The Way of Kings [Prime]. And during those days, I was really looking for these tying agents. When I put the first Shardpool in, I had-- I'm just like "Here's a well of power. I don't know what this does." I was discovery-writing the book. By the time I sold Mistborn and Elantris, I sold those two in a deal in 2003, that's when I'm like, "All right, now I'm gonna do this for real." I've had all this trial run-- I'd written thirteen novels at this point, and I'd sold #6 and #14, Mistborn not being written yet... So, I sat down with Elantris, and I built out the cosmere, and I built out these things, like "Why do I have this pool of power? What am I gonna do with the pool of power in the next book? I want this to be a theme." And I started building out the cosmere from there. So, part of it was organic, part of it was by design.
If a kandra were a Parshendi, would he be able to take the forms?
The Forms? The actual-- To an extent, yes. To an extent, yes, but part of that is the spren bond. You're not gonna get everything. You could look like one, but there'll be certain things you won't be able to do, even with the Form. You couldn't take a form of power... You could pass.
Does any of the Sixteen actually like Hoid anymore?
Yes.
The history of Nightblood, we know that it's created by knowledge of the Shardblades. Would you say that Vasher's first trip to Roshar coincided with a certain individual that tried to take over all of Roshar?
You're talking about Sadees?
The Sunmaker?
...I'd have to look at the timeline, but it was not-- it is not something I have present in my mind. It could have overlapped. So, it might overlap, but there's not a cause-and-effect there.
So, Sunmaker and Vasher are sep--
Are not the same people, good question. Sunmaker is legitimately Dalinar's ancestor.
How do you come up with the David analogies and the metaphors?
Oh, man, this is so much harder than you think it is. For those who haven't read them, the main character is really, really bad at similes. And where it came from is, there's actually a contest every year, where people intentionally try to write bad similes, and submit them. And every year it comes out and makes me laugh. Just-- I love it. And I started writing Reckoners, and-- Normally, you read this things as an author, to watch out for things to not accidentally do. If you read the bad metaphors, you can be like, "Oh, this is why you don't want to do this. You don't want people laughing." You get aware of this sort of thing. It's very good for you as a writer to watch. And, lo and behold, I'm writing a book series, and I wrote a metaphor, and I looked at it, and I'm like "That is really bad." And you do this as an author sometimes, and sometimes they slip in the books, you just write it and they're really bad. And I went to delete it and I'm like, "What if I ran with that?" This is because I tend to discovery-write my characters. So, I outline a lot for my settings, and I outline a lot of my plots, and then I go freewrite who these characters are, and then usually I have to do a lot of rebuilding of my plot after I figure out who's who. And in the Reckoners, I just ran with that, I did the whole sequence, I did the whole first chapter like that, and I'm like, "This is really fun." And then I locked myself into it, and it got so hard. Being bad on purpose is, like, ridiculously difficult. But it was also part of the fun. I would save them up, I'd be walking on the street, I'd think of something, and I'd be like "Ooh, how do I make that bad?" And I'd spend the next fifteen to twenty minutes writing a really bad metaphor. And sticking it in my pocket, because they all have to be bad in different ways. If they're all bad in the same way, then that's not any fun, you get used to it. So they all have to be bad in different ways, too. So, yeah, it was harder than I thought, but it was a blast.
So, most of your magic systems are limited to only a slight portion of the population. Is that a conscious decision? Are there any that are open to anybody?
Certainly, the Warbreaker magic is open to everybody, and that's part of what I was doing, was I wanted to contrast the other ones. And this is just because it makes for good storytelling, honestly. And when I do this, I'm doing it too much, I go the other way. That's why Sixth of the Dusk is open to everyone, that's why different things are done differently in the magics. But, really, when I'm working on the books, I'm like, "Well, we need something dramatic and cool." And I would argue that at least some of them, such as in Stormlight Archive, those are open to anybody if you can convince a spren. And you're sincere, right? And I like going that direction. Certainly, the kind of old standby of "you're born with it" is really easy. It's really, what we call in Sci-Fi/Fantasy "grokkable." You can instantly, kind of, get it. You're like, "All right, this is just like a talent. Some people are born with different talents. Makes sense." It doesn't take a lot of explanation, you don't have to worldbuild a ton up front. Where something like Stormlight, you gotta send a lot of worldbuilding words to explain how it happens, why it happens, things like that. But the trade-off is, it's in many ways more satisfying if you do it the other way. So, I do try to balance those. But sometimes those short-hands are very handy.
Is Forgery?
Forgery is a Selish magic system, so it is birth-based, tied to location.
My fiance and I have been reading through the books, I introduced them to her, she's been reading them in Mandarin. And, so, our question is about what level of enforcement/authority you guys have at Dragonsteel for things like translations, because the atium in the Taiwanese/Mandarin version of the book is translated as "sky gold." Which loses the connection to Ati.
Yeah, it does a little bit.
How does-- has that changed, since you started?
It has changed since we started, definitely. We try to involve-- Those were translated by Lucy, right? We try to stay really in contact with our translators and offer them as much as possible. Who translated that one? ...Oh, no, that's not Lucy, that's-- he contacts us, too, he writes to us. And, we do our best. But sometime we just don't make people aware of things early enough for them to be relevant. Like, they start, they get a book out, and then they're like "Oh, no, this need to be related." We try, and our translators try, and usually are really good at contacting us, but things slip through. I've worked with both of the Chinese translators quite a bit, actually; Peter does most of that. But if there are things that we get wrong, we love to hear about it, we pass along to translators-- the Chinese translator is a big fan of the cosmere. And sought out the project actively to work on it. So... if there are translation issues, just write to us.
Is there a specific mineral deposit around the Purelake? Is there a sacred enclave?
RAFO.
