Recent entries

Questioner

Who would win an argument - Shallan or Lightsong?

Brandon Sanderson

*laughs* Lightsong. More practice. Maybe eventually Shallan could hold her own, but at this point he would.

Questioner

With the different headings [epigraphs] of each chapter of the Stormlight Archive books, obviously they don't all make sense as you go along, but five years from now, if I read the five books and I am reading at the start of The Way of Kings, all the words, all the last words of people [the death rattles], is it going to be this huge foreshadowing moment--

Brandon Sanderson

It will make a lot more sense.

Questioner

What theologies and philosophies did you draw on to create Vorinism?

Brandon Sanderson

Vorinism is a hodge podge of a lot of different things. Part of is the Jewish Kabbalah--

Questioner

The mysticism of Jewish--

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, the Jewish mysticism. Part of it is Jewish mysticism, part of is [Islam], but there are a lot of things that are just drawing from philosophies rather than theologies. I'm trying to remember what specifically we were doing... But the main concept was the idea of a church that had been subsumed by a monarchy to the point that the [the church] would be very servile. And that concept led me to a lot of the Vorinism discussions.

Questioner

[The Stormlight Archive] Books 6-10, do you know the Order of the flashbacks?

Brandon Sanderson

I've not decided the order. I know whose they are but I haven't decide the order. 

Questioner

Lift?

Brandon Sanderson

Lift is one.

Questioner

[...] Taln?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, Taln is one of them. The person who calls himself Taln.

Questioner

The line about "three of sixteen [ruled] and now the Broken One reigns" - did Odium follow three other Shards to Roshar or is he the third Shard?

Brandon Sanderson

Odium is the third Shard on Roshar.

Questioner

In book one [of The Stormlight Archive] Dalinar catches a chasmfiend claw, in book two he catches a Shardblade. Is he gonna keep catching things?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, he's pretty good at catching things. I don't know, RAFO?

Questioner (paraphrased)

Can you give me a hint about Odium?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Odium is not native to Roshar

Questioner (paraphrased)

How do you pronounce the Mistborn Planet? [Scadrial]

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Sca (as in Scab) dri (as in drink) al (sounds like ul).

Audience Member (paraphrased)

Okay. I always said Sca (as in Skate) dri (as in drink) al (as in Albert)

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

That’s perfectly fine. This can launch me into my little thing on pronunciation. As readers, you get the say, you’re the director. I wrote the script. The director can always change things. If you want a character to look differently in your head, that’s okay. If you want to pronounce things however you want, that’s okay too. Because a book does not exist until it has a reader. It really doesn’t live. It exists, but it doesn’t live until you read it and give it life. So however you feel like doing it, go ahead. And remember, I’ve said this numerous times before, I don’t pronounce all the names right. I’m American, so I pronounce things with an American accent. The best example I give is Kelsier, because I do say Kel (as in bell) si (as in see) er (as in air), but they say Kel (as in bell) si (as in see) er (as in hey) in-world (it sounds very French). I say E (as in the letter e) lan (as in lawn) tris (as in hiss), they say E (as in the letter e) Lan (as in lane) tris (as in hiss) in-world. So there are linguistic fundamentals of these because I do have some linguistic background, but I don’t always say them right. I like saying Sa (like suh) rene (like Reen), instead of Sa (like suh) rene (like meany), which is how they say it. Which Suh-reany sounds kind of dumb in English. And in their language, it’s a beautiful woman’s name, but here you wouldn’t call someone Suh-reany, you’d call them Suh-rean.

Questioner

The Knights each have two Surges, they spill over each. I am wondering, is the crossover [shared] Surge for each Knight [Order] the same? Like gravity for Windrunners and--

Brandon Sanderson

Windrunners are always the same thing.

Questioner

No no no, the way the [Gravitation] Surge is for Skybreakers and--

Brandon Sanderson

The way they act? Yes. To an extent, yes. Each of the combinations make a little bit of a tweak to how things act but when you see Skybreakers affect gravity it'll be more or less the same as the Windrunners.

Questioner

Are you gonna make any of your primary characters into worldhoppers?

Brandon Sanderson

Some of them already are. [...] Yes, there are primary characters who are worldhoppers, you just haven't actually [seen them], I know what you're asking, we just haven't had books about them yet.

Questioner

Is the fundamental force of gravity [gravitational constant] the same [throughout the Cosmere]?

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, is the constant the same? Yes, the constant would be the same. The big difference is, what I am tweaking to the fundamental forces is, I imagine on Roshar that there are more fundamental forces. Which is totally breaking the laws of physics, right? But [in] magic there are more than four. I've broken them up into, at least, what their scientists have decided. So. But yes.

Questioner (paraphrased)

What is a Mistcloak made of in real life? Like what is the closest material you’ve seen one be made of? Because I’m having the hardest time figuring out what material to use.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

The Mistcloak is mainly made of cool stuff in my head that moves in ways that’s very hard to make. *laughter* But I would say the key component to the mistcloak is how it falls. And a lot of people have tried to use the stuff that has the wires at the sides of it, and I don’t actually think that works right. I would say that the key to the Mistcloak is getting it to fall kind of straight , but the tassles not being too stiff. So I would look for a medium weight material. So, I don’t even know what, but felt isn’t right. I’ve seen some people do felt, and it doesn’t look right. Felt’s too heavy.

I’ve seen good Mistcloaks, but I don’t know fabrics enough to say for sure. I’d have to have it before me and say “Yes” to this, or “No” to this.

Audience Member (paraphrased)

Congratulations. Now he’s going to make up a new magic system. *laughter*

Questioner (paraphrased)

One thing I really liked on your books is that you’ve reinvented a lot of fantasy tropes in a lot of good ways. But you also are inspired by some literary works, you’ve mentioned Les Miserables, which is a fantastic novel. So I was just wondering if what advice would you have for people in terms of speculative fiction and literary works?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Well, advice for drawing. We did a writing excuses podcast on this, so you can go look up those, “How to be influenced consciously.” But boy. Read good stuff, and start to think about why it’s good. It’s going to help you. I don’t know if I can specifically tell you anything other than that, but read it, decide what ‘s working for you, and try to use that, try to feel. But remember to feel what they did, not what they did. Meaning, here’s a good example. You read Tolkein. You say “Wow”. What Tolkein did wasn’t creating Elves and Dwarves. What Tolkein did was create an interesting mythology that was well interconnected. And a lot of people will say well, I want to learn from Tolkein, so I will use what he did, and they don’t dig that level deeper. They say “Well, I’m going to use the elves and dwarves.” They don’t say “What is it that he did the level down that really made this work?” And that’s what you should be emulating. So when you read the classics, say “What’s making it work?” Try to dig the level deeper if that makes sense.

Questioner (paraphrased)

We all love you as an author; are there any authors that you’ve been able to read that you would recommend?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

I read a lot of Terry Pratchett. First of all because I think he’s a genius, but secondly because he’s a very different type of writer than I am. If he were writing books that were very similar to mine, I couldn’t read him as frequently, because I would worry about influence. It’s okay to read, and I love to read, and it’s okay to be influenced, but if I were to read as much of someone else as I did of Pratchett,my style would shift to theirs. It’s not going to happen with Pratchett, because he’s so distinctly different. So that’s a good reason for me to read Pratchett. Other than that, I do really like a lot of what people are doing. This year I spent half of my year reading Wheel of Time, and the other half reading the Hugo award nominees, because I wanted to vote in the Hugo awards, so I read a lot of those books. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms was very good, and it was one of those.

I do like Pat Rothfuss quite a bit, I mean he is really really good, in ways I wished I could be. I mean he is just great. There are things that I think I do better, but there are areas that he does way better than I do.

I mean we do have different talent areas. I mean Rothfuss is able to write in a way that is just beautiful, it feels like prose, it feels like poetry. It feels like every line is poetry, but it doesn’t distract you. A lot of people will try to do that, and I’ll be like “You’re trying too hard,” or “You don’t have a good story.” But for him, I read it, and it’s beautiful, and it doesn’t burden the story. And I know of very few people who are able to do what he does in that way. He also, and this is one thing that makes him a genius, he’s able to write a main character that I really don’t like, and yet I love reading about him. The character is very deeply flawed, and yet it’s fascinating, and that is something that I haven’t seen someone do in that same way—I mean George Martin can kind of do it, but for him it’s more like I loathe them as individuals and I just watch the train wreck, but with Rothfuss, it’s “You are not a really great guy, and you don’t think you’re a great guy, and you’re kind of a jerk, but you’re also really interesting to read, and I like you while I dislike you at the same time.” And that’s a really interesting talent he has.

Shicaca

Is there anything to, I was looking at the map of Roshar, and it kind of looked like a spiral galaxy to me, like it was flipping in a certain direction--

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, that is intentional. You are onto something that no one has figured out yet.

Audience

Tell us, tell us!

Shicaca

I was thinking if it's connected to manipulating gravity... *inaudible*

Brandon Sanderson

You are onto something and it's not exactly what you think you are onto but you're getting close to something that they've all wanted to know for a while.

Questioner (paraphrased)

In regards to the Infinity Blade book, how did you pick that up out of all the licensed products?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Oh, why Infinity Blade. You know, It’s because they worked so darn hard to get me. They just kept going through every channel they could to get a hold of me. They called up my publicist, they called up Tor, they were trying everybody who possibly had a contact with me, and finally got through Isaac. It was they worked so hard, and also, they offered me a really good deal, meaning the idea that I could do this. And it was less about me looking for a licensed product or something like that, and more of me wanting to test how the digital market worked for something like this, and also, I want to have more to do with video games. And Epic, you know that gives you Unreal Edge, and Gears of War, they are a pretty big deal of a company. And if I ever wanted to do my own video game, straight out of an IP, which I have one I want to do, having contacts there would be really helpful. And so they came to me, they pitched this, they gave me a lot of creative freedom, they gave me a really good deal, monetarily, to make it worth my time, and I got to test the waters digitally and see how it is selling a story in game, and I also got to make some contacts in video games and gain a little more street cred.

I want to build a Skyrim killer one day, is what I really want to do. I have a story, a world that I have built with magic and things that I want to do, that may be a Skyrim killer someday, an Elder Scroll type game. I really like those games. I have problems with some of the things they do, but I really like those games. So I really want to do that someday. That means I have to find some game studio who’s willing to give me 30 million dollars to play with, so I’ve got to have a lot of good street cred in video games before they let me do that. Yeah “30 million, that’s nothing!” That’s one of the big reasons that I’m doing it also. I mean I’m going to pitch this to the guys after a follow up Infinity Blade eventually, and we’ll see what they say.

Questioner (paraphrased)

Why did Infinity Blade try so hard to get you specifically?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Because they are from Salt Lake, and they really liked my books, and they kind of based Inifinity Blade sort of off of my books. Not based, but they were inspired a little bit by my books, and so they really wanted to work with me. So that’s why. They liked the books. And you know, they make really good games. I was really impressed. I am a gamer, I hadn’t played their games. And that’s another reason—I played the games and they were fun. So that’s why they tried so hard. They just liked the books. It is interesting that there is a lot of talk in video games of “Are video games going to grow up storywise?” Like they’ve really come to their own as an entertainment medium in the last ten years, and yet story tends to be a weak point still in a lot of these. Even the games that have great story lines are great story lines for a video game. There’s been a lot of editorials written and a lot of articles written saying “Guys, we need to start hiring top talent to write our stories rather than farming it out to Dave who does our Particle Effects, and moonlights as a writer.” There’s lots of discussion about this. So I think these guys are interested in doing something like this. Do you have something Isaac?

Isaac Stewart (paraphrased)

I just wanted to add why they tried so hard to get you. If you want a little anecdote, I was at a Barnes and Nobles on my lunch break, and I look up and there’s this guy that I went to college with. So I said “What are you doing lately?” “Well I own my own video game studio.” He said “What have you been doing?” “Oh, I made some maps for some guys books. It’s right here. ” He decided to buy it and read it, and he became a huge fan. He really loved it.

Questioner

Is Hoid the one that comes out of the lake that Rock is talking about? *photo pause* Or you can't tell me?

Brandon Sanderson

I am going to give you a RAFO card.

Questioner

What Order of Knights Radiant would you want to be in?

Brandon Sanderson

I would probably place myself in the Bondsmiths, would be my guess. But Bondsmiths are very hard to get into. There's a limited number of people who can be Bondsmiths, so yeah.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

I sold Legion, which is a novella I wrote, to Lionsgate, for a television pilot. We will see if they will actually do it or not. That’s a modern day thriller I wrote. It’s a novella. I’ll release it next summer or something. It’s short, but it was meant for a pitch for a television show. So that’s coming out, and we’ll hope that they actually film that. We did sign deals on that, and since there’s Lionsgate, which is a big studio, behind that, there’s a production house attached to it, and it will go much faster.

Other than that, there’s the Wheel of Time, which keeps slowly moving forward. It is moving forward, but really slowly. And Alcatraz is basically dead in the water right now. The option lapsed in June, and no one else has snatched it up, so it’s now been six months, and that one’s pretty much dead in the water. Which is sad. We got really close on that one.

Questioner (paraphrased)

Will you still write the fifth book?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes, I will write the fifth book. Just the movie is dead in the water.

Questioner

Kaladin is a lot younger than his knowledge and training levels are... *inaudible*

Brandon Sanderson

It just depends, he's led-- you have to keep two things in mind, he's led a very hard life, which aged him experience-wise differently, and also Roshar years are longer than ours, so when they say in this book [that] he's 19, he's not actually 19, he's more like-- I can't remember the exact equation, but he's actually 23, or something like that. So do keep that in mind.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

The video game is coming along very nicely. In fact, earlier just this week I built the whole plot sequence for that. It’s going to have some really good twists and turns and theoretically, if it works well, I will be writing all the dialogue and all the story.

Audience Member (paraphrased)

Which is more on your plate

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Which is more on my plate. But that can be fun, because the main character is a really sarcastic kind of a little bit of a jerk. And so I can actually write his dialogue on napkins while I’m sitting, waiting and be like “Alright, here’s a good line,” and things like that. That’s because most of it is gameplay. I have to just come up with lots of good wisecracks and then of course, I have to write the cutscenes. But those really aren’t that much in a game like this. It’s maybe a week’s worth of work to get all of that written.

Zas (paraphrased)

How long before is the game going to be? I remember you saying it was going to be before Final Empire, but I was wondering how long before?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

We are shooting for second century after The Lord Ruler's Ascension.

Outis

Are there feathered birds on Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, they are called chickens by everybody and you've seen some of them. [...] If you watch, in Words of Radiance, there are things people are calling a chicken, which are not what you know of as a chicken.

Questioner

Elhokar with the Herdazians--is that meant to be like Alfred the Great?

Brandon Sanderson

No, that is completely coincidental. I didn't even think of that.

Rybal

Can the Heralds Surgebind without their [Honor]Blades, and if not are they under the same restrictions the Radiants are?

Brandon Sanderson

[...] I will say that the Heralds without their Blades are incapable of the powers you are familiar with. It doesn't mean there aren't other things they can do, but they are incapable of the powers you are familiar with throughout the book.

Questioner (paraphrased)

I've heard rumors of a Mistborn movie. Is that true?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

The Mistborn movie, is not even up to handshakes now. We do have a Vin chosen, but it’s not official yet, so I can’t say who it is.

Questioner (paraphrased)

I've heard rumors. Will you confirm or deny this?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

What rumor?

Questioner (paraphrased)

Lindsey Lohan?

*Wild laughter*

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yeah, I can deny that one. *Continued Laughter* It's not Paris Hilton's dog either.

Yeah, basically it’s where it’s been at for a while, which is we’re at a good version of the screenplay, we’re trying now to get people to look at it in Hollywood.

Zas (paraphrased)

Could you make a Kandra an Allomancer?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

With the right sequence of sorts of things, you could impart those powers to them theoretically. It’s not likely to happen, but you could do it. You could build a spike that would let them Push or Pull. But you’d give the powers separately, probably.

Zas (paraphrased)

Got another one [on behalf of Chaos]. Why do Kandra need two spikes to have a blessing and to become sentient?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

It is just the nature of how Hemalurgy works. More spikes are capable of changing form and body more, and I didn’t feel that one spike was viable for the alterations that are made to their nature.

Questioner

Are you going to write any chapter from the point of view of a spren?

Brandon Sanderson

Will I ever write any chapters from the viewpoint of a spren.

It's likely that I eventually will but it will probably be an interlude. The Stormlight Archive is about ten characters at its essence, and none of them are a spren. You've met all of them I believe and each of them will have a book with a flashback sequence in it, which is another thing I'm doing to make sure each book has an identity.

Epic fantasy I also feel part of the problem is when later books stop having an identity because the story kind of blurs together for the writer. My goal is if I have a good solid flashback sequence for each of these characters to give an arc it'll help me keep each book distinct, which I feel is very important.

If you ask me later I'll tell you who some of those are. In three of the first five I've been very upfront with who they are. I don't talk about the back five very often because I don't want the focus to be on those yet.

Questioner

[Complements artwork in The Way of Kings, asks how working with illustrators has changed the way Brandon sees the world]

Brandon Sanderson

One of my initial visions for The Way of Kings was one of these cross-genre books. I wanted to bring illustrations and-- you know there's this sense for whatever reason in contemporary fiction that illustrations are for kids, not for adults. That's not the way it always was. If you go back to the 1800's every book was illustrated, to an extent. And you'd get these beautiful bookplates and things like this that would be in the novels. I wanted to go back to something like that. Though I did want to be aware of the idea that you as a reader are participating, and I wanted to be careful not to define too much what people look like, particularly characters, because I wanted that to be through you.

So I wanted to be doing artwork in the books, but I didn't want to do artwork that was too specific to the characters—other than the cover art. This meant I wanted to do in-world stories, which is how Shallan started to develop as a character. She was based off of Pliny the Elder, as a character and my research about him and some of the people like him; and a little bit about Darwin and his travels and things like this. So I wanted-- I started to build her. She replaced a character in the original Way of Kings, what I call Way of Kings Prime, that I wasn't pleased with.

So I really want to do a lot of artwork for the books, and it's been a lot of fun. One of the first things I did when I went to pitch Way of Kings to Tor was I commissioned artwork of all the characters. Because it was going to be such a visual book, I wanted to have in hand for me reference material on characters, races, things like this. I wanted to have this like world book that you sometimes get in a book afterward, I wanted that in the before. So that I had it all in hand. Because there's a lot of screwy stuff going on in this world.

It really helped me to envision, to visualize how this book was supposed to go. Beyond that it's just awesome. Who here has read Watchmen? Have you guys read Watchmen? If you haven't read Watchmen it's amazing, particularly if you're a comic book geek like me. When I first read Watchmen-- what Watchmen does, it adds all sorts of ephemera. Like one of the characters is creating action figures of all the other characters and trying to market and sell them, and they include his pitch for the action figures and things like that. And it was part of what brought that book to life for me: not just the excellent writing, but it was the idea that this is not just a comic book, this is a comic book plus a world. And I wanted to write books that were not just a book, they were a book plus a world.

It's been a blast. I am in a position where I can hire the artists myself, which allows me to have a lot of control, and so the artwork inside the book is all stuff that I've commissioned. I've gone to the artists and I've talked to them myself, and I've picked my favorite artists and we do this awesome work just as part of it.

Hopefully it's something that people enjoy, it's something that I intend to keep doing and it's been a blast.

Questioner

If Nightblood was on Roshar—for whatever reason—would it be a Shardblade essentially, like would it func--

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. They are exactly the same thing. [...] Nightblood is indeed a Shardblade, basically the exact same thing. Though he is a Shardblade that is twisted and he is a lot more powerful than your standard.

Questioner

If Kelsier's [Cognitive Shadow] or a seon went to the Forests of Hell, would they be shades there?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, that is the same thing. Now, you can see that there-- the people on that planet; their Investiture; the lack of Shard means that their Cognitive Shadows react differently.

[...]

In fact, the Cognitive Shadow is also the same thing as the ghost you saw in Mistborn, that was the spirit of Leras is the same thing too.

Questioner

Is the Nightwatcher Cultivation or do you not want to say that yet?

Brandon Sanderson

I haven't answered-- I've actually given some very strong hints on that, but I think I haven't answered that. The 17th Sharder can answer me: Have I answered that?

Sharder

No, but it's been very very strongly hinted at.

Questioner

For [Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell], did that take place in the cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson

It does. It's on a planet called Threnody. There is no Shard on that planet, however. So you can see the magic is very different in that the magic is something you interact with, not something you perform. Because there isn't a Shard there. But yeah, it is in the cosmere.

Questioner (paraphrased)

How does Snapping work now? You said that Sazed changed it.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Uh, RAFO. That is a good question though.

Questioner (paraphrased)

Not even a little hint?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Nah. I don't think so. 

Questioner

What was decision that Kaladin made differently in version 1?

Brandon Sanderson

He kept the Blade and Plate.

Questioner (paraphrased)

I caught that reference. [in reference to tinfoil hats blocking emotional allomancy] 

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

I built aluminum to do all sorts of funky things to all the powers, and I actually hadn’t made the connection of tinfoil hats until after I’d built it in, and I was writing it in Alloy of Law, years after I built it in, saying “Wait a minute! I just put tinfoil hats in the book!” (laughter) So I actually built that without thinking that there would be a joke to that.

Questioner

At the very end of Words of Radiance, Dalinar touches a Shardblade and it screams at him. Shouldn't that particular Blade have been safe?

Brandon Sanderson

No it should not have. It's a clue that something has happened.

[...]

[This is] a question that the subtle reader should be asking. And there are other clues that something is wrong with what the story you've been told is.

Questioner

Because Option 2 is that it's unsafe to touch an honorblade, but there's no evidence of that.

Brandon Sanderson

There is no evidence of that. In fact there's much stronger evidence that something else is going on.

Questioner 2

Did Hoid switch out the blades?

Brandon Sanderson

Hoid did not switch out the blades, but good question.

Questioner (paraphrased)

Also speaking of continutiy...

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Uh oh. 

Questioner (paraphrased)

This is a very very minor spoiler. It's just a statement that was made in Alloy of Law, that Smokers could...

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Oh yeah, that was just a typo

Questioner (paraphrased)

Is that going to change things?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Wait, go ahead and say it.

Questioner (paraphrased)

Can Copperclouds shield others' emotions?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Oh okay. Did we put that in Alloy of Law in the Ars Arcanum? Is that where you read it?

Questioner (paraphrased)

I forget. I don't remember where it is.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

I believe it’s in the Ars Arcanum, which in Alloy of Law was put together by Peter. And that’s mostly a mistake, though the thing is the Role Playing Game came to me and said “Is it feasible that this could happen?” And I said “It’s perhaps feasible, but only a very rare individual could make this work if they knew exactly what they were doing.” And so I said “Yeah, go ahead, but make it a power that someone really has to know what they’re doing to make it work.” And so they put it in, and so Peter assumed that it was canon, that anyone can do it, but that’s not what I intended.

Questioner (paraphrased)

So would it be easier to say that somebody discovered they could do it and now they are training copperclouds to do it?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

I would say that it is viable that someone could figure it out, but it would be a very difficult thing to train, and it is not a common Coppercloud—A common Coppercloud isn’t going to be able to be doing it, and almost no Mistborn will ever be capable of doing it, they just don’t focus on that metal enough to learn it. Of course, there aren’t Mistborn around anymore. So it is a possible power, it is plausible, but it is not the standard. Perhaps I will allow it to become the standard eventually, but it’s not right now. It would be much easier to wear a tinfoil hat. (laughter) Aluminum, aluminum. Which does work.

Questioner

Why do they ride horses, and not like fast insects of some sort?

Brandon Sanderson

That is an excellent question. That I'm not going to answer.

Questioner

In The Way of Kings you do this one thing when you went into the point of view of the character Gaz, just for like two pages that turned him from random bad guy to interesting character. Last I hear you said that if we read carefully we could figure out what happened to him but I never could.

Brandon Sanderson

So he had his debts. He was owing people debts and they came due and he deserted.

Questioner

On all the cosmere worlds, it seem as if-- do all the humans have what you call innate Investiture?

Brandon Sanderson

Let's see...

*thinks*

I believe that they all do. I don't think that you've seen anyone without innate Investiture yet.

Questioner

Because when they don't have Breath anymore, they would get Drabs, and those don't have innate Investiture?

Brandon Sanderson

They don't have innate Investiture. And on Scadrial they have the pieces of Ruin and Preservation in them. And they do have it on Roshar.

Questioner

Which Shard is that?

Brandon Sanderson

You'll have to read and find out. *gives card*

So yes, I don't think you've seen any worlds where they don't.

Questioner

If there is only one Shard on [Taldain], are there other Shards in the solar system?

Brandon Sanderson

Ahhh. Now that's a clever question. The answer is "no". One for that solar system. And there's also, um-- we'll stop there.

Questioner 2

There's also what?

Brandon Sanderson

There are other places with only one. It's not uncommon for there to be only one. I've gone to the planets with multiples intentionally because the conflict there is very long. And the ones on the planets without multiples: like for instance in Warbreaker the conflict is not about cosmere-centric things. And you'll see that very commonly on the planets you go to. There's the same sort of things on Elantris. And so when you see me going-- even though there are two there, they're dead. And so, when you see me--

Questioner

The reason I ask is that there have been intimations that in Stormlight Archive a Shard may be on the moon just from things that people have--

[...]

There have been *inaudible* that that may be the case, so I had to ask.

Brandon Sanderson

You guys are awesome, thank you so much.

Questioner

Spren bonds: there was some intimation somewhere that I read that there might not have been spren bonds before [Aharietiam, the day the Desolations ended]?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm not going to answer that one either but we will delve much more into this. The spren were around back then but they were not nearly what they are now: they've changed over the course of the book obviously. I think the cosmere theorists have figured it out. They are much more prevalent following Honor and what happened to him, but there were some spren on the planet before even that happened.

Questioner

In the [Purelake vision that Dalinar had in WoR] there was a pouch that the Shardbearer grabbed when the spren went into the ground. I was wondering what is this pouch? Is it a fabrial? Was it important? It was just sitting there, sitting there!

Brandon Sanderson

You need to get at least one RAFO. I'm not saying that's an important thing--

Questioner

Hey!?

Brandon Sanderson

...it might be, but you need to get at least one RAFO from me, so that's the one I'm gonna RAFO.

Questioner

As of [Words of Radiance's writing] have people not from Scadrial [used Hemalurgy]?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

I was wondering if a Hemalurgic spike would take surges, or if it could take a spren bond? Would it interact at all for that?

Brandon Sanderson

Hemalurgy can interact with every one of the magics. I designed it specifically in writing Mistborn for future use. Because some of the magics are so limited by their planet I wanted one that transcended all of them and Hemalurgy is very important to the entire cosmere. Its invention is a thing of great power and great danger to the entire cosmere.

Questioner

Is [Bavadin] the only Shard on White Sand? If so is he the sun or is he the darkside?

Brandon Sanderson

He is the only shard on the planet.

Questioner

But is he the sun?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm not gonna answer.

Questioner

What is your favorite original Shardholder?

Brandon Sanderson

My favorite original Shardholder?

I don't knoooowwww...

Questioner

Are they all that bad of people?

Brandon Sanderson

No no, they're not bad-- they're not all bad people. Many of them are-- you know the trick is I'm gonna have to really write them, as their personalities. Because right now they're really just concepts, and I haven't written very many of them. And so... I'm very fond of Bavadin, but I can't say.

faragorn

I dont recall hearing about this anthology until recently. Did Brandon need a break from writing S3 and so [Arcanum Unbounded] was put in the schedule?

Peter Ahlstrom

This was put on the schedule when it was determined that Stormlight 3 wouldn't come out until next year. Brandon has been wanting to do something like this for a while, so we went for it.

The book is not just reprinting stuff you've already read. Aside from the new Lift novella (at 40,000 words it's actually a mini-novel), each story has a new full-page illustration and a postscript by Brandon. Each world section of the book has a planetary system map and an essay about the system written by Khriss, who writes the Ars Arcanum section at the end of the books.

Questioner

The Ars Arcanum, is there an in-cosmere author of that?

Brandon Sanderson

Those are in-cosmere, yes.

Questioner

It sort of seems like they would be written by someone like Hoid or someone.

Brandon Sanderson

It is not. I don't know if I've released who it is. It's probably not who peole are thinking, but it is in-world.