Questioner
For spoiler reasons... is the Thrill at all attached to Odium?
Brandon Sanderson
Book three will give more explanation to this. But attached, you could say, that is related.
For spoiler reasons... is the Thrill at all attached to Odium?
Book three will give more explanation to this. But attached, you could say, that is related.
Is, like, fabrials that can imitate, I mean, very specific forms of Surgebinding... Are there fabrials that can imitate the Surge-- <stages> of Voidbinding?
Yes. That is theoretically possible.
Could a Forger, like, reforge a Shardplate to look differently?
So here's the thing... Um, yes, *but*... Anything that is Invested is-- resists all of the forms of Investiture. And the level of Investiture in it determines how hard it is. Forging is one of these things that-- It's very hard to reforge things that are Invested. Not impossible though. So yes, *but*... Do you see what I'm saying? There's that-- there's a pretty significant "but" on that one.
So is it possible to Awaken a Shardblade? That's the question-- that's my question for you.
Um... With the magic system of Awakening, you mean?
Yeah.
So, all forms of Investiture strongly resist other forms of Investiture.
Makes sense.
*brief interruption* Nightblood is essentially an Awakened... Trying to do that.
'Cause he shows up in Words of Radiance, right?
Yes. So, it-- let's just say it'd be very, very hard. Because it's like saying, "Can-- I want to turn on a lightbulb that's been turned on." Yes, you can... maybe... I don't know what that even means. It's already Invested. It's already Awakened.
I was wondering, like, are we gonna... From the Secret History...
Uh-huh.
The people he met with... Are they the ones from Bands of Mourning, and Are we gonna see them anymore?
Which people? Nazh and Khriss?
Yes.
Uh, Nazh-- Khriss is in Bands of Mourning. Nazh is referenced in many of the books. He's been in-- uh-- he's been in a lot of them... Just briefly, or annotating maps or things like that.
Okay. So are we gonna see them more kind of like Hoid in the future?
Yeah, they're-- they are Hoid-esque. Khriss is the one who's been writing all the Ars Arcanum from the beginning, so...
It seemed like in Alloy of Law you made us like Marasi better than Steris, and then kind of switched it. Was your intention the whole time for them to end up with Steris, or...?
Yes, yes.
Okay, it was.
In fact, I like Steris a lot in the first book. But you are seeing things through the eyes of other characters. And Steris takes a little bit of time to warm up to. Like, many people like her. And once you get to know here--which, I always knew her--then there's a level of <thoughtfulness> there.
Marsh is still alive hundreds of years after.
Uh-huh.
He's got, like, Lord Ruler level healing powers. Why does he still have a crushed eye socket?
So all healing in the cosmere has to do--or almost all has to do--with your perception of yourself.
So in the Rithmatist... The constable had acid wash over him and it destroyed the thing that possessed him. The professor who got acid dumped on him did not have the thing expelled. Why the difference?
You will find out in the next book.
Ah, got another read and find out.
Yeah.
How many magic systems have you written?
Uh... You know, this is a hard one, because do you count each Order of the Knights Radiant, or each Surge as their own magic system, or...
I have never read those books, so I don't know.
So... probably a dozen. Maybe two.
Why so many? When so many people just stick with one?
Uh, because it's fun.
If an Epic gives her powers to someone, is that person then vulnerable to their weakness?
Much much less so, but still vulnerable. Um... But it is-- it is... yeah, it is weakened.
Who owns all your copyright for all your symbols and logos and everything else?
I own the copyright on most-- almost-- on all of those.
On everything?
Yep, yep. And that is something we did intentionally after noticing that... sometimes, like the Wheel of Time--they weren't good at keeping track who owned those, and it was really problematic when they wanted to do t-shirts and things. And so I just bought the rights when I did them.
That's awesome. Cause I've, uh, looked at licensing and royalties and other things like that with some companies, and it's...
Yeah. I don't think you want to do something like that. Now cover art you don't want to buy outright. The artist needs to be able to use that for other things. But the symbols you can... most artists will sell you those outright.
What are the chances that one of Megan's alternate realities could secretly be the cosmere, but we'll never see it?
Heh... Um, I would like to keep these two separate. But if you believe in infinite variety then I suppose...
If I believe it hard enough! Okay, alright. But they're-- But they're meant to be separate.
They are meant to be separate. I will do other things with that-- within-- kind of that idea of multiple dimensions and things like that.
In the Reckoners? In that world?
Yeah.
Is there a point in trying to figure out who has the Blade everyone is wondering about?
Not really, no. At this point there just aren't enough clues to do more than guess.
Can Kaladin wear Shardplate at the end of Words of Radiance?
it would affect him like it affects Szeth, so not a good idea.
Is Jasnah's return similar to Kelsier's?
No. Good question.
Can Nightwatcher RAFO people?
*laughs* Nightwatcher can do whatever she wants!
Have we seen a Knight of all of the Orders yet?
You have not seen a Knight of all of the orders yet I don't believe.
Even one that doesn't have a spren yet?
I think you have met everybody.
What kind of spren do Dustbringers have?
RAFO. But you asked a very wise question.
In the middle of Words of Radiance, there's a scene where Kaladin's hanging out in the barracks, and Rock kicks out an ardent sketching them. Is that the guy drawing all the pictures?
That is Nazh. You've found him. You have discovered Nazh!
Is Edgli the name of Endowment?
RAFO.
Will the next book explain how that sword [Nightblood] got there, and why that guy [Zahel/Vasher] isn't with that sword?
The next book will give you some hints.
In order to use magic from one world on another world, do they need a bit of [the first world's] Shard with you?
It helps a lot. But there are other ways to do it. What's going on in the Cosmere is people have 3 sets of DNA. They have Physical DNA, Spiritual DNA, and Cognitive DNA. Their Spiritual DNA is what encodes the magic system into them, their Investiture. So if you can find a way to rewrite your Spiritual DNA, you can do all kinds of funky things. That's what Hemalurgy does. It rips off a piece of someone else's soul, staples it to yours. So if you went with a Hemalurgic spike to the right place, ripped off a piece of someone's soul and stapled it to yourself, you could create short circuits that will let you do all kinds of goofy stuff.
Do you have to be a willing subject to be Soulforged?
You do not. Working with the soul is really hard though. You have to be a supreme expert in what you're doing, because soul is Investiture.
Would it be possible to Soulforge Nightblood and change the command that was given to him when he was Invested?
That is possible. That would actually not be a very difficult Soulforge. The problem is, he's Invested. So reInvesting him, which is what Soulforgery is, is really hard. So you'd have to figure out how you could use Forgery on something that is already Invested. But Forgery can get through some of those hoops a lot easier than some other magic systems can.
Are there any other characters from Elantris or other things?
There are indeed others around. I don't know how obvious they are in this book, but there are a couple.
*inaudible*
Eshonai indeed gets a flashback sequence. Now, Parshendi were not allowed to be surgebinders in previous eras. I'll just mention that.
Are spren visible on Roshar because Cultivation is present?
Cultivation has a lot to do with the spren but the spren-- would-- it's hard to separate them, but some spren did exist before Cultivation arrived.
Was there any specific reason why you chose to not have men not be able to read in [Roshar]?
Yes, it relates back to the origin of where the safehand comes from and things like this.
How did Hoid and whoever he's sending the letters to deliver the letters?
RAFO.
Are there lifeforms that are native to the Spiritual Realm like the spren are native to the Cognitive Realm?
Yes, but they're not what you're thinking.
Are there factions in the Spiritual Realm? Like there are different stories about the Tranquiline Halls and the Iridescent Tones.
Yes... there are actual factions but they're not what you're thinking of.
Are the Unmade actually spren as Taravangian thinks they are?
As far as anyone knows. I'm not going to answer other than that.
Given that Investiture is Investiture, would there be potential Investiture of like, kandra to Parshendi using Hemalurgic spikes?
Hemalurgic spikes can be used on any planet.
Would it be potential for Parshendi to develop a form using the spikes?
Wow, that would be a really weird hack of the magic system that would be theoretically possible. But that's a really weird one. I had never even considered that one. Parshendi adopting other Investiture could happen, the spikes is not one I've considered.
If after speaking the Third Ideal, Kaladin were to betray his oaths, would Syl turn into a Shardblade?
Yes.
Is there any significance to Adolin's mother's chain being missing?
Only to him.
Dalinar, the Blackthorn, are we going to figure out why he's called that?
You will eventually see flashbacks from Dalinar in a later book, which will add some information to that.
How do safepouches work?
Imagine an envelope that you can button closed.
What's with the black stone that the king gives Szeth?
It holds a secret that will be revealed in future books. I'd tell ya but they're recording me right here, so I can't tell you otherwise it gets out on the internet!
Szeth in the prologue of book one says he can't heal from a Shardblade wound, but Kaladin can. What is the distinction there?
You should be looking to see if you can find other distinctions between what Szeth says and what happens to Kaladin, because there's three or four big inconsistencies.
*inaudible*
You can usually- in some cases- use the magic of one world to power the magic of another world.
How many orders have we seen so far? I know there're the four identified at the end.
You've seen Jasnah's, so that's the fifth one. You've seen Lift which gets you to six. You've seen Ym.
Do we have another worldhopper potentially, with the epilogue?
There is some interesting things happening there. Good question!
In Shallan, in the beginning and middle of the book it's 10 heartbeats, and in the end of the book it's none...?
The 10 heartbeats is required to revive a dead Shardblade.
But he wasn't dead the whole time.
He wasn't. But perception-- all magic systems in the Cosmere are based on perception-what you think you can do. For instance, Kaladin can't get healed because he sees himself as having a wounded forehead with the scars and that can't vanish because his perception is in the way.
So... that's "[Aon] Ire"...
Yes, it is.
...and that's the symbol for Ire in Secret History.
Yes.
I was wondering if-- Is this just an in-world depiction of an out-world symbol, or does this actually have some kind of metalurgic value?
Isaac?
Yes.
<I may> refer to Sir Isaac.
Alright, thank you very much.
So the question is...
Okay.
So this is the symbol for "[Aon] Ire".
Mhm.
And this is the symbol in Secret History for the part called "Ire". And what I'm wondering is... Is this just an in-world representation of an off-world symbol, or is there some kind of metalurgic... in-world meaning to the symbol outside of it. They're just too close to be coincidence.
There is a... Obviously there's a relation between the two. I would say that, as far as we know, there is no <metalurgic> connection.
So as far as we know there is no metalurgic connection, but that could change in a future book. Potentially. Or not. That's all you got for me?
Um... I'm trying to figure out what I should say <about it>. And I think... The first thing is obviously they aren't on the planet that they ought to be on.
Obviously. I mean, not even in the Realm that they ought to be in.
Right. And so... It's more symbolic of "this is not in the Realm that it ought to be, but it's taking on attributes of the Realm that it's in."
So the Realm that it's in is Shadesmar. But it's more near the Scadrial...
It's the Scadrial edge of Shadesmar.
And so it's taking on attributes of that area that it's not supposed to be in but it is in.
Right.
Okay.
There may or may not be intersignificance *inaudible*.
I will pay attention to that.
Pay attention. We may-- we may do something with that. It may just be a fun little thing.
A fun little thing just there, right. So for now it's at least an interesting in-world representation of an off-world thing, but it might at some day be *inaudible*. Cool!
Would you consider yourself a Worldsinger?
Potentially, yes.
Does Nightblood act as an Honorblade?
RAFO.
Do you have an adviser for the science?
I usually run things by my editor who's very big into science, but mostly we go find an expert and have him read. The thing about it is, I have to hand wave a lot of things. Like the laws of thermodynamics, I can't, you know.. There are quantum physics in here. I'm trying to handwave as little as possible but we are breaking fundamental laws of physics, but even in terms of things like the laws of conservation. Energy is being conserved, but there's a supernatural source.
What Bluefingers Knows
Siri meets with Bluefingers, who surprises her in the bath yet again. In this little exchange, Bluefingers is being very careful, as he doesn't want to let on how much he knows. As well as Siri is learning to deal with court, she has nothing on Bluefingers, who has spent his entire life there—and who was trained by a Pahn Kahl steward before him. He has been planning his coup for a long time and was actually very frustrated when Vahr started his little rebellion—drawing eyes toward the Pahn Kahl. It was partially due to Bluefingers's manipulations and information leaks to the Returned that Vahr was captured in the first place.
Here, he lets Siri think he doesn't know that the God King is mute (he does know, and has known for most of his life) and that he is worried about the replacement of the Pahn Kahl servants. (That would be a setback, but not really the main problem.) What he wants most to do is drive a spike between Siri and the priests, and he's succeeding gloriously. He almost leaped for joy when Siri offered her little "You get the God King and me out of the palace" offer. It makes his job a lot easier if/when he decides to assassinate the God King himself.
Siri Is Confronted by Blushweaver
This is one of those little scenes you put into a book that isn't foreshadowing anything specific. I don't mind if people home in on this confrontation and worry that Blushweaver will take action against Siri, but I don't go there with the book. Blushweaver here is just jealous. She knows enough to recognize that in herself, however, and won't let it push her much farther than her little warning here.
I like what this shows about Blushweaver's character, and I like that it illustrates how she sees Lightsong. Yes, she's in love with him. Quite deeply, in fact. She brought him into her plots and schemes here partially because she trusts him, and partially because she wanted to show off for him—and perhaps finally convince him to accept her as a lover.
Siri Watches the Priests
I took a bit of a risk here, having a little scene where Siri admits that all of the troubles and problems in Hallandren excite her. I hope this doesn't seem out of character; I think I foreshadowed well that she'd react this way. Back in Idris, she was always making trouble, partially (even though she wouldn't admit it) because she found it exciting. I think that's common for those who end up in trouble a lot of the time.
Here, what she feels is that same sense—only a more mature version. She's excited by politics, by being in the middle of things, by having a chance to change the future of the city. I think this is a valuable attribute for one in her position, as long as it isn't taken too far. By having Vivenna constantly frustrated by her situation and Siri thrilled by hers, I wanted to show a contrast and have the reader come to the same conclusion Siri does in this scene: that Vivenna wouldn't have made a very good queen to the God King. She'd have made the expected queen, and would have done what everyone anticipated her doing. But she would have let herself be a martyr the entire time, which would have been a self-centered way of approaching her duty.