Questioner
If Death came for your soul, and he said you could keep it if you beat him in a game of your choice, what would you pick?
Brandon Sanderson
You know, probably just a coin flip. Because I'm gonna bet he's better than me at anything that doesn't base on random chance. So, I would choose something like that, just completely random chance.
Questioner
Who would win in a fight? Lift, or Wayne?
Brandon Sanderson
I have trouble imagining why they would fight, but it's gonna depend on situation and who gets the upper hand.
Questioner
How do koloss breed? It doesn't make any sense to us?
Brandon Sanderson
So... A child born to a koloss and a koloss, or a koloss and anybody else, is what we call a koloss blooded. They don't become a full koloss until they undergo the ritual and are spiked.
Questioner
Okay. But also they didn't have the gender parts.
Brandon Sanderson
They do have gender parts.
Questioner
Is Wayne the author that's writing the Allomancer Jak stuff.
Brandon Sanderson
No, he's not. Good question, though! Good question!
Questioner
You have all these magic systems within the cosmere, <Allomancy and Feruchemy> and all that, and now they're starting to come together into one body. Do you ever worry that you're gonna treat that character where, like, they're drawing from so many systems that they're almost, like, the ultimate *inaudible*, like, they're drawing from five different magic systems and just don't *inaudible* anymore?
Brandon Sanderson
You know, having done The Wheel of Time, where Rand was basically a deity, I'm not quite as worried about that as I was. I don't know if that'll ever even get to that point. And it turned out that that was just fine. The thing about it is, stories always happen in the intersection of what characters can't do. And there's always something you can't do. Unless you become, like, all-powerful, all-omnipotent. So, I'm not that worried about it. I have to keep an eye on it, but I'm not that worried about it.
Questioner
I'm wondering, I've read White Sand, if we're gonna see Khrissalla's *inaudible*?
Brandon Sanderson
Uh, yes. Probably yes.
Questioner
How many of your epiphanies happened at the gym?
Brandon Sanderson
Quite a number, actually. At the gym or in the shower, you put things together, for whatever reason.
Questioner
What is your beverage of choice?
Brandon Sanderson
Uh, ice water. Yep, really is. I really just like me a good-- lots of ice. Like, a big cup filled to the top with ice, and then you fill up water in it. Best stuff.
Questioner
I was wondering, how many pieces of different Shards does Hoid have to collect before he is considered Ascended?
Brandon Sanderson
You know that's even a little bit false, uh-- not begging the question. Whichever logic fallacy is assuming that he could. Or, you are assuming that he could. Who knows if it's even possible, or anything like that.
Questioner
The quote that Dalinar says at the end [of Oathbringer]. "I am Unity." Is that something that happened specifically because Honor is dead, and, for all these different reasons, that was able to happen? Also Odium said that he had Ascended. He wasn't supposed to Ascend, but he did...
Brandon Sanderson
I am totally RAFOing all that stuff; I knew people were gonna ask about it. You're just gonna have to wait and find out.
Questioner
Unity is capital. Is there a reason for that.
Brandon Sanderson
*hands over a RAFO card*
Questioner
How do you write books this long? Like, mental dedication to do that?
Brandon Sanderson
You know, it's all about breaking it down into something smaller, building it up as an outline. I couldn't do something this big without an outline. It's about step-by-step, right. Start with scene, go to chapter, go to sequence, go to book. It does take practice. Oh, yes, milestones are really, really helpful.
Questioner
How did all the characters learn about the different magic systems?
Brandon Sanderson
So, it really depends on the character, and the situation, and things like that.
Questioner
How did the first person discover, like--
Brandon Sanderson
Oh, Mistborn powers? Ruin and Preservation, in that case, were actively cultivating the society, particularly Preservation. Some of it comes through that. Some of it comes through, if you have the Investiture, part of you kinda knows about it. But it takes experience, so you have to know the right things, and stuff. I'll get into it more eventually.
Questioner
Out of the Cosmere, you have your whole plan, I'm assuming you have in your brain or written down... When do you finalize, like, whenever you're writing. Is it all finalized then?
Brandon Sanderson
...The books become the canon. Even the wiki is not canon. Until I write it into the books, it's not canon. For instance, you can go find Oaths of various orders of Knights Radiant in there, but I don't canonize those until I write the books, because I usually tweak some of the words. By the way, sometimes people ask me "Can you write an Oath of a Knights Radiant that we haven't seen yet?" in a book, and I always say no. Number one, like, if at the release party I got asked that, like, 8 times; we'd be out of Oaths by now. That's the same reason why I won't tell you the names of Shards that I haven't canonized, or their intents, or things like that. Until I get to it in the books, it's not canon. Because I need that flexibility going forward as I'm putting the whole thing together, to get all the puzzle pieces to fit.
Brandon Sanderson
...[Skyward] is teen, 'cause it's in my Reckoners line, and it's a story I've been playing with for some four years now, and I built an outline, and it's kind of like a cross between How to Train your Dragon and Top Gun, with starfighters. A girl finds an old broken-down starship with a really screwy AI that she thinks she can get up and running. In the meantime, she gets into starfighter school and is learning to be a pilot, and there's all kinds of mysteries and things about the nature of really what's happening with the planet why they're being attacked, and things like that. It's a whole lot of fun.
Brandon Sanderson
In fact, in the origin of The Stormlight Archive, the first Surgebinding things I did, every order of the Knights Radiant was going to be able to Soulcast. Be able to change things from one to another. It was just, you would be locked into the element that was associated with your order of Knight Radiant, you could turn that into anything else you wanted to. That was one of my original pitches. I eventually moved away from that, a lot of the Orders were just feeling too similar in what they did, but that core concept is still there in Stormlight, and Soulcasting as a concept is there because the series is about change.
Paladin Brewer
Out of all the Shards, why does Odium go for Devotion and Dominion?
Brandon Sanderson
He targets people with two kinds of ideas. Number one, he can argue they're breaking the rules they set out. And two, people he thinks are a good match for him, or a challenge, or a danger.
Questioner
I was wondering if any of the magic systems that existed before the Shattering, did they get weaker because of it?
Brandon Sanderson
Weaker is the wrong term. They were affected.
Questioner
Is the Dawnchant native to Roshar?
Brandon Sanderson
...Yeah. Dawnchant is what they were speaking when humans came over. It is their language. It is the Dawnsingers' language. So yeah, that is native to Roshar.
Questioner
Is there gonna be any more Arcanum Unbounded-- like collections of short stories?
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah. I'll release short stories and every, you know, decade or so I'll collect them all into a collection.
Questioner
So I have a question about Savants. Could you only get there by flaring, or if you burn it for a long period of time or like duralumin--
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah, you can get there other ways.
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.