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    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #10001 Copy

    Questioner

    Why in the world would the Lord Ruler spike himself?

    Questioner

    No.

    Brandon Sanderson

    ...Because he needed to give himself the powers that he didn't have. He could have done it like-- gained the knowledge but the power was gone so fast he actually needed to-- Well no no no, the spikes, the spikes, the spikes. So, it doesn't matter if he was spiked because he was hiding the metals inside himself so people couldn't Push or Pull on them. That's the real reason he was doing that. Does that make sense?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Metal that's inside of him--

    Questioner

    Ruin influenced him, what did the spiking do?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, the metals that were stuck through him were so people couldn’t Push or Pull on them. If they were outside his body people would know he was a Feruchemist. Which is the very thing he was-- so he would stick the metals inside of himself to hide them.

    Questioner

    And he did that as Hemalurgic spikes?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'd have to go back and look because-- Lord Ruler is he spiked or has he just got--

    Isaac Stewart

    I thought he was... spiked but I can't remem--

    Brandon Sanderson

    You're asking something that I wrote 12 years ago.

    Isaac Stewart

    Peter, was the Lord Ruler spiked?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Lord Ruler was spiked, right?  Or is it just--

    Peter Ahlstrom

    I don't think so.

    Brandon Sanderson

    --piereced with metalminds, right? They're not actual spikes, just metalminds.

    And I want to ask the Sharders on there [the recorder] about that Lord Ruler question, because I didn’t think he was spiked but--

    Isaac Stewart

    I think I recall him having the bands with spikes in them?

    Footnote: Brandon has previously stated that the Lord Ruler did in fact have Hemalurgic spikes.
    #rashek #update footnote
    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #10003 Copy

    Questioner

    Will Hoid be appearing as a major character in other books besides Stormlight and Dragonsteel?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Will Hoid be appearing as a major character in books other than Stormlight or Dragonsteel. Yes, he will have a major role to play in the end sequence of the Cosmere, where he will be a major viewpoint character.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #10005 Copy

    Questioner

    If you die, how do we find everything out?

    Brandon Sanderson

    If I die... *laughter* This is totally legit, considering my history. So, that's why we have Peter and that's why we have Karen, my continuity editor. She goes through and enters everything into our personal wiki. I talk a lot of things through with Peter and Isaac and if I've gotten far enough into a series that we feel it's right to have someone finish it we will have someone finish it. If I haven't, or if I die tomorrow, we aren't going to have them finish 8 books, we'll just release my notes. And that will be their instructions.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #10006 Copy

    Questioner

    I guess this is a continuation of the movie stuff.  I heard that you said a lot of the stuff has been optioned.  Is anything looking better more recently?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Is anything looking better. The Emperor's Soul film is actually looking really sharp. That's owned by DMG who were producers on the second and third Iron Man films. And they sent a representative on the cruise with me last week *laughter* Yes, because they wanted to brainstorm with me--it was a working cruise, I was doing a writing workshop--and so we brainstormed a lot and we have a treatment that is looking very nice. A treatment is the thing you give to a screenwriter to write the screenplay. I'm very pleased with the experience with them.

    And Shawn Levy's company is really good, so our chances are much better there than they have been on anything else.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #10007 Copy

    Questioner

    In [The Hero of Ages], what would have happened if Vin had--

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, no spoilers. Oh if Vin had met Hoid? Oh that's not too much of a spoiler. Ohohoho, you're going to find out. *laughter* When? I can't tell you. Spoiler. Someday I will let you know. I may or may not have written stuff that involves that and been waiting a long time to release it. We'll see when the time is right.

    Footnote: Brandon is likely referring to Mistborn: Secret History here.
    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #10008 Copy

    Questioner

    I've heard rumors of a Steelheart movie and/or tv series. Do you have any updates on that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Updates, I don't know if there are a lot of updates on Steelheart other than what I've posted. Shawn Levy's company bought the rights, they're a very good company. They made Real Steel, if you ever saw that, Hugh Jackman movie. And they made the Night at the Museum films. And they have bought the rights, and commissioned a screenplay. I haven't seen the screenplay yet. I mean they only started that in July, so it usually takes six months to get a screenplay written. So I'll let you know once I've read it, assuming they tell me I can tell you.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #10009 Copy

    Questioner

    Alcatraz.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Alcatraz. Oh yes, Alcatraz. *crowd woos* So we got the rights back from Scholastic, who was not treating my baby with the, y'know, reverence that Alcatraz deserves, which isn't very much let's be honest *laughter* And we re-published those, they're going to start January, Tor's putting them out. Isaac has done a brand new full-color map for it. And is that going to go on the cover?

    Isaac Stewart

    ...Yeah that's on the back--

    Brandon Sanderson

    So the cover you'll be able to take off and spread out, and there's a map on the back of it. The jacket cover. Isn't that cool? We want to test this out and see if we should do it for Stormlight, so you have like a map you can spread out. So it's got a brand new full-color cover art, it's got interior art done by someone who did fan-art for the series and we just loved her fan-art so we hired her. So doing fan-art gets you places. And we have brand new covers for the first four and the fifth book, the last book, that Alcatraz will write, is coming out in June. *crowd woos* And the cover is awesome. We finally have good covers for the Alcatraz books. *laughter* They've been so bad for so long.  

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #10010 Copy

    Questioner

    Do you already know how The Stormlight Archive is going to end?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Do I know how The Stormlight Archive is going to end. Yes I do! *crowd cheers* I'm an outliner, so I have lots of plans. I have not yet written the last scene. I wrote the last scene of Book 5 just so I had it in hand, 'cause there's two five book arcs. But I've known for many years and what's going to happen is hidden in the books already. So! *crowd woos* When it happens you'll be able to go "OH!!" When it happens in twenty years-- *laughter*

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #10011 Copy

    Questioner

    Something personal for you, with all of your success, you talk about having a group over near Dubai. What do you do to keep your head to fit in this room?

    Brandon Sanderson

    What do I do to keep my head to fit in this room. How do I keep my ego in check? Yeah. Changing diapers helps. *laughter* Last one is potty-training though so that won't last much longer. What else? Well having my children be like-- I say I write books and they go "Daddy writes books. I write books too" and then go and write one "You should use this one". They're very-- So children and family are very useful for that.

    On the other thing that helps, number 1 you assume my ego wasn't enormous to start with, which it kind of was, if you talk to my friends. But really the nice thing is being a writer is not like being a movie star or a musician. What people love-- And granted they are very appreciative of me. But what they love are the characters in the books, they bond with the books. And that gives me this kind of layer where we are both like, the reader and me, are both participants in this, where we can put our arms around the other's shoulders and go "Look at that". Because the reader imagines in their head, I kind of get it 90% there and the reader does the rest. And so you guys are like part of it, right? And this just creates a nice relationship and keeps me grounded I think. But then again maybe I was never grounded so--

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #10012 Copy

    Questioner

    The Mistborn video game.

    Brandon Sanderson

    News on the Mistborn video game. They are currently planning on 2017 I think? *crowd groans* Eah, I dunno. I love the company, don't get me wrong. They are great people. I'm going to consider it vaporware until I see more coming out of them. They've just had so many problems getting started that-- Everything they show me is promising but I've not yet played anything playable. So let's just hope they do a good job and hope they are able to keep it moving forward but I can't promise you anything anytime soon.

    Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide ()
    #10015 Copy

    Chaos

    Would the Three Metallic Arts operate in other worlds, or are they direct results of Ruin and Preservation and thus only operate in Scadrial?

    Brandon Sanderson

    To use Feruchemy or Allomancy in almost every case, one must have the right spiritual and genetic codes, imprinted upon people during the creation of Scadrial by Ati and Leras. To use Hemalurgy, one must first have someone with these right spiritual and genetic codes, then take the power from them. Other people on other worlds are not going to simply discover the Three Metallic Arts by accident.

    Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide ()
    #10016 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    Folks,

    This essay I just posted:

    http://www.brandonsanderson.com/article/55/EUOLogy-My-History-as-a-Writer

    Started as a blog post for this thread, talking about the old books I wrote to give context to my previous post. It outgrew the length of a proper forum post, so I put it on the site instead. But this might help you understand some of my history as a writer, not to mention explain the origin of all these old books Ookla that references all the time.

    Lightning Eater

    I remembered a thread from ages ago in which Brandon posted a list of the books he'd written, I looked it up when I realised it wasn't in the article, and I figured you guys might be interested too, so here it is.

    1) White Sand Prime (My first Fantasy Novel)

    2) Star's End (Short, alien-relations sf novel.)

    3) Lord Mastrell (Sequel to White Sand Prime)

    4) Knight Life (Fantasy comedy.)

    5) The Sixth Incarnation of Pandora (Far future sf involving immortal warriors)

    6) Elantris (You have to buy this one!)

    7) Dragonsteel (My most standard epic fantasy)

    8) White Sand (Complete rewrite of the first attempt)

    9) Mythwalker (Unfinished at about 600 pages. Another more standard epic fantasy.)

    10) Aether of Night (Stand-Alone fantasy. A little like Elantris.)

    11) Mistborn Prime (Eventually stole this world.)

    12) Final Empire Prime (Cannibalized for book 14 as well.)

    13) The Way of Kings(Fantasy War epic. Coming in 2008 or 2009)

    14) Mistborn: The Final Empire (Coming June 2006)

    15) Mistborn: The Well of Ascension (Early 2007)

    16) Alcatraz Initiated (YA Fantasy. Being shopped to publishers)

    17) Mistborn: Hero of Ages(Unfinished. Coming late 2007)

    18) Dark One (Unfinished. YA fantasy)

    19) Untitled Aether Project (Two sample chapters only.)

    Brandon Sanderson

    Thanks for posting that. Note that I can never quite remember which was first, Aether or Mistborn Prime. I always feel that Aether should be first, since it wasn't as bad as the two primes, but thinking back I think that the essay is more accurate and I wrote it between them.

    This would be the new list:

    1) White Sand Prime (My first Fantasy Novel)

    2) Star's End (Short, alien-relations sf novel.)

    3) Lord Mastrell (Sequel to White Sand Prime)

    4) Knight Life (Fantasy comedy.)

    5) The Sixth Incarnation of Pandora (Far future sf involving immortal warriors)

    6) Elantris (First Published)

    7) Dragonsteel (My most standard epic, other than the not-very-good Final Empireprime.)

    8 ) White Sand (Complete rewrite of the first attempt, turned out much better.)

    9) Mythwalker (Unfinished at about 600 pages. Another more standard epic fantasy.)

    10) Aether of Night (Stand-Alone fantasy. A little like Elantris.)

    11) Mistborn Prime (Shorter fantasy, didn't turn out so well.)

    12) Final Empire Prime (Shorter fantasy, didn't turn out so well.)

    13) The Way of Kings Prime (Fantasy War epic.)

    14) Mistborn: The Final Empire (Came out 2006)

    15) Mistborn: The Well of Ascension (Came out 2007)

    16) Alcatraz Verus the Evil Librarians (Came out 2007)

    17) Mistborn: Hero of Ages(Came out 2008)

    18) Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones (Came out 2008)

    19) Warbreaker (Comes out June 2009)

    20) Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia(November 2009ish)

    21) A Memory of Light(November 2009ish. Working on it now. Might be split into two.)

    22) The Way of Kings Book One (2010ish. Not started yet.)

    23) Alcatraz Four (2010. Not started yet)

    Peter Ahlstrom

    Will elements of your untitled Aether project be worked into the Dragonsteel series?

    The Silence Divine(Working title. Stand alone Epic Fantasy. Unwritten.), Steelheart (YA Science Fiction. Unwritten), I Hate Dragons (Middle Grade fantasy. Maybe an Alcatraz follow up. Unwritten.), Zek Harbringer, Destroyer of Worlds (Middle Grade Sf. Maybe an Alcatraz follow up. Unwritten.)

    These titles are news to me. You described two potential YA or middle-grade books to me and Karen when you came out to Book Expo, plus Dark One, but now I can't remember the plots except they were cool (and that one of them involved superheroes). Are they among this list? Also, is that really Harbringer or is it supposed to be Harbinger?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Bah! That's what I get for typing so quickly. Yes, Harbinger. It should be "Zeek" too. Short for Ezekiel.

    Steelheart would be the superhero one, though that's a working title, since I'm not sure if it's trademarked or not. Haven't had much time for thinking about any of these books lately.

    Peter Ahlstrom

    Brandon, here you said Alcatraz 4 is called Alcatraz vs. The Dark Talent; is that still the working title? Also, you mentioned Dragonsteel: The Lightweaver of Rens, but now you say The Liar of Partinel is a standalone. Change of plans? (I know you can't get back to Dragonsteel for a while.)

    Brandon Sanderson

    The Alcatraz titles are in flux because I need to know if Scholastic wants the fifth one or not. (They only bought four.) Dark Talent will be one of them for certain.

    The Liar of Partinel was part of a two-part story told hundreds of years before the Dragonsteel epic. However, since I've dropped plans to go with Liar anytime soon—A Memory of Light has priority, followed by Way of Kings—I don't know what I'll end up doing with the second book, or if I'll ever even write it. I was planning on not calling either of these "Dragonsteel" in print, actually, and just letting people connect the two series on their own. It wouldn't be hard to do, but I didn't want the first actual book in the main storyline to be launched by Tor as "Book Three" since there would be such a large gap of time.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #10022 Copy

    Questioner

    Will Stormlight Archive ever possibly get an anime?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Will Stormlight Archive ever possibly be an anime. Anything is possible. *laughter* But it is unlikely unless somebody comes to me and really wants to make one. It's not a market I know well enough to pursue. I'll watch good anime when my brother gives it to me, but it's not like I know that market and how to make it happen.

    Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide ()
    #10023 Copy

    Vegasdev

    How many moons circle Scadrial, i.e. when the planet was moved were the moons moved as well?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Scadrial has no moons. I think I let slip the phrase "he's mooning over her" somewhere in the third book, but that is just a translation quirk to English. These people have no concept of a moon. There is a very bright star patch, however, covering much of the sky—much brighter than on Earth.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #10024 Copy

    Questioner

    White Sand?

    Brandon Sanderson

    White Sand. So White Sand, if you're unfamiliar with it, it's one of the books I wrote before I got published and it's kind of good, but not great… We are doing a graphic novel adaptation of it, which is awesome. The person that we gave it to to do the adaptation, the writer, took my words and cut out all of the crap that it didn't need--which is why White Sand is kind of mediocre, it's half good and half just doesn't need to be there--and cut all that out, streamlined it and the art is going very well, but it's a slow process… Isaac or Peter do you guys have any idea?

    Isaac Stewart

    Umm... We've started on Chapter 5. So the book-- it's going to be three volumes.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's going to be three volumes--

    Isaac Stewart

    And each one of those covers, basically, the ground of six six comic books.

    Brandon Sanderson

    ..Just give us a release date, that's all I'm asking for. *laughter*

    Isaac Stewart

    We're somewhere in 5.

    Brandon Sanderson

    So they're working on the fifth part of the first chunk, which will be six parts. So, the first one will probably be soon. If you're going to wait until all three volumes are out, it's probably going to be a year or two.

    Isaac Stewart

    Yes.

    Brandon Sanderson

    A year or two, right. So there you go.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #10025 Copy

    Questioner

    Rithmatist part 2?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Rithmatist part 2. *crowd woos* So, alright let me go down the big list of sequels.  I am working on the Stormlight 3 right now. *crowd woos* It is scheduled to come out like six months after I finish it. *laughter* We are shooting for Christmas next year, it's really going to depend on how much writing I can get done on this tour, but we will see, alright? After that I will be writing a new series, the first one, for Random House to follow-up Steelheart. It has been a very successful series, I want to maintain a good relationship with that publisher, I'll be giving them a new YA property which I'll start talking about next spring.

    Once I'm done with that my goal is to write Rithmatist 2 and the last of the Wax & Wayne books, okay? Which will bring kind of a wrap-up to that series and get the next Rithmatist. Anything that I didn't just mention is coming after probably Stormlight 4 which will be the next thing after that. So if it wasn't on that list, you might get a novella related to it, but I can't promise anything more than that. I have to keep on Stormlight, I do not want to-- It's already going to be like two and a half years again before the next one between books and that's too long I want to keep it down to two years if I can.

    Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide ()
    #10027 Copy

    Darxbane

    Does Sazed get to see Tindwyl again now that he is a deity?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Sazed has yet to learn how to touch the distant other side, where all souls go. He is able to see into the Spiritual and Cognitive Realms, and any spirits or souls who remain there, rather than passing on. Generally, you have to be tied to the Physical Realm in specific ways to not pass on. As for where Tindwyl is, I will have to leave this up to you to imagine for now.

    Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide ()
    #10030 Copy

    Czanos

    Does every metal have a Feruchemical and Hemalurgic property? If not, are there metals which have Feruchemical or Hemalurgic properties which do not have Allomantic ones?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Every metal has a Feruchemical, an Allomantic, and a Hemalurgic property. The godly metals each also do something else. There are several interesting Feruchemical powers yet to be discovered and revealed in the next series. Feruchemy is less widely understood because there were so few practitioners in the modern era, and a lot of the time they were too afraid of capture to really study and use their powers.

    Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide ()
    #10033 Copy

    Czanos

    Preservation can fuel Allomancy, (minus atium.) but can Ruin fuel Hemalurgy? (Or atium?) And could Sazed fuel all three Metallic Arts?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Both gods could, if they wanted, fuel all of the Metallic Arts. Preservation is stronger at fueling Allomancy, Ruin stronger at fueling Allomancy or Feruchemy when it has been given via a spike. Both are balanced when it comes to Feruchemy. But this rarely comes up in the books, as it required expending power in a way that the gods were hesitant to do.

    Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide ()
    #10034 Copy

    GreedyAlgorithm

    Brandon, I'd like to see a timeline of when you fleshed out the parts of the cosmology we know about. I'd imagine Allomancy came before you fit it into the bigger picture, right? What was your method, come up with a cool image of hammering spikes through a living being, figure out how to integrate that into a larger picture, and then think about the implications of your new cosmology? Or what?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Boy, this is a hard one to ask because it's been such a LONG process. There were bits of all of this popping around in my head almost twenty years ago, so it's going to be hard to define where what fit into place when.

    Allomancy and Feruchemy were originally planned separately. I linked them together into this book when I realized that the 'focus' items that could store attributes could be metal, and therefore work wonderfully with the Mistborn book I was planning.

    Hemalurgy came from the image of Inquisitors first, then developed as a need to integrate it in with the other two in a way that evoked the power of "Ruin" rather than the power of Preservation. I figured that Ruin would steal, and it was a great way to add a third magic without having to overload people with a whole new set of powers. The process of writing this series, since I did all three books together, was an interesting one, and I made a lot of connections as I went. Some of the latest things on the timeline were figuring out how to fit atium and the Preservation nuggets into the already built framework. But I don't know if I can give you an exact list. Partially because there would just be too many spoilers in it.

    Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide ()
    #10035 Copy

    FirstRainbowRose

    I just wanted to add in my two cents and say it was absolutely brilliant... and I think I'm starting to be able to breath again (crying that much hurts)...I also really loved that there's an "cameo" for Kelsier at the end... that made me really happy to see.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Glad you liked the book, Rainbow!

    You may want to note that the moment Preservation dropped out and let the last of his consciousness die, someone was waiting in the Cognitive Realm to seize the power and hold on for a short period until Vin could take it up more fully. You'll find him using it to whisper in moments of great stress in the book, to one person in specific in two places. (I'll bet someone on here has already found them.)

    He never could just let things well enough alone....

    Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide ()
    #10036 Copy

    Xandeis

    Is there anyone out there other than me that would pay to see this in theaters??

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, I'd sure pay to see it in theaters! ;)

    To be more serious, I think this series—particularly the first book—is quite cinematic. I'd love to sell movie rights on it, assuming I can find the right people to work with. So if you have any contacts, let me know.

    Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide ()
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    Kaimipono

    Did Zane get spiked intentionally? Did someone else (Straff?) know about hemalurgy?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Zane spiked himself. It was...a very twisted and messy process. Note that Ruin tries to get Spook to do something similar. It's much easier for him to work with someone to get them to spike themselves than it is to arrange the exact circumstances where someone gets spiked.

    Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide ()
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    Kaimipono

    Why exactly do some spike removals kill (dual eye, or central spike) but most don't?

    Brandon Sanderson

    For the same reason that a bullet through one part of the body will kill you, but getting shot somewhere else won't. The physical form of a person who has undergone a Hemalurgic transformation is no longer what we think of it. The direct connection to Preservation starts keeping them alive. (Imagine stapling someone's soul to another person's soul, their life essence, then stapling that to the power of creation itself, giving you a conduit directly to power, letting you leech it and steal it.) That power keeps you alive, despite the wounds. Some of the time, the other staples are enough to keep you alive, even if one is pulled out. Others are too important.

    Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide ()
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    Kaimipono

    Allomancy is fueled by Preservation's body? How exactly does that work? And how does that interact with Atium—it's fueled by both gods' bodies?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The powers of Ruin and Preservation are Shards of Adonalsium, pieces of the power of creation itself. Allomancy, Hemalurgy, Feruchemy are manifestations of this power in mortal form, the ability to touch the powers of creation and use them. These metallic powers are how people's physical forms interpret the use of the Shard, though it's not the only possible way they could be interpreted or used. It's what the genetics and Realmatic interactions of Scadrial allow for, and has to do with the Spiritual, the Cognitive, and the Physical Realms.

    Condensed 'essence' of these godly powers can act as super-fuel for Allomancy, Feruchemy, or really any of the powers. The form of that super fuel is important. In liquid form it's most potent, in gas form it's able to fuel Allomancy as if working as a metal. In physical form it is rigid and does one specific thing. In the case of atium, it allows sight into the future. In the case of concentrated Preservation, it gives one a permanent connection to the mists and the powers of creation. (I.e., it makes them an Allomancer.)

    So when a person is burning metals, they aren't using Preservation's body as a fuel so to speak—though they are tapping into the powers of creation just slightly. When Vin burns the mists, however, she'd doing just that—using the essence of Preservation, the Shard of Adonalsium itself—to fuel Allomancy. Doing this, however, rips 'troughs' through her body. It's like forcing far too much pressure through a very small, fragile hose. That much power eventually vaporizes the corporeal host, which is acting as the block and forcing the power into a single type of conduit (Allomancy) and frees it to be more expansive.

    Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide ()
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    Kaimipono

    What was Vin supposed to do at the end of Well of Ascension? How exactly did not-using the power, end up releasing Ruin? I still don't get how that all worked. Can you explain it?

    Brandon Sanderson

    What was she supposed to do? Well, this is difficult to answer, since the prophecies have been changed and shifted so much. Originally, the prophesies intended for a person to go take the power every thousand years and become a protector of mankind for a period of time. Someone to keep an eye on Ruin in Preservation's absence and watch over the world as he would have done. Imagine an avatar who arrives every thousand years and lives for their lifetime blessing the people with the power of Preservation, renewing Ruin's prison, and generally being a force for protection. (Note that Ruin wouldn't have gotten out if the prison wasn't renewed, he'd simply have been able to touch the world a little bit more.) Obviously, it changed a LOT during the years that Ruin was playing with things.

    What should she have done? Well, Ruin's release was inevitable. Even if she hadn't let him go, the world would have 'wound down' eventually. The ashfalls would have grown worse over the centuries, and the next buildup of the Well might not have come in time for them to do anything. Or, perhaps, mankind would have found a way to adapt. But Ruin was going to get himself out eventually, so the choice Vin made was all right. There weren't really any good choices at this point. She could have decided to take the power and become a 'good' Lord Ruler, trying to keep the world from falling apart. Of course, she would have had to make herself immortal with Hemalurgy to make that work right. And since she was already tainted, chances are good she wouldn't have ended up any better than the Lord Ruler himself.

    Words of Radiance Seattle signing ()
    #10043 Copy

    Questioner

    With covering the safehand for women, how does that affect how left-handed women are treated or perceived?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Left-handed you are trained- Well it's not a big deal for darkeyes because they wear gloves. Lighteyed women are trained to use the right hand, even if they're left-handed; which does cause some problems, but that's how they are trained.

    Words of Radiance Seattle signing ()
    #10044 Copy

    Questioner

    Dalinar. A lot of people have theorized that his armor has glowed because he's channeling stormlight. I don't believe that's accurate. Is that right?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm not going to answer much about the armor. The armor, you will have to find out about.

    Questioner

    Alright, because my theory is that he's actually fulfilling the actual role of the Radiants—that's protecting people—therefore that's why his armor is glowing.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Interesting. Now which armor are you speaking about specifically?

    Questioner

    The Shardplate.

    Brandon Sanderson

    The Shardplate but which one?

    Questioner

    Dalinar's armor.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Dalinar's Shardplate. In which scene?

    Questioner

    In The Way of Kings. Several times.

    Brandon Sanderson

    *Disingenuously* I know nothing about what you're talking about.

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    Questioner

    I'm reading into that the timing of The Alloy of Law is roughtly about when we would expect the Pits of Hathsin to start regenerating--

    Brandon Sanderson

    *Disingenuously* Oh imagine that...

    Questioner

    Okay yeah, does that mean that atium is still important, or is there a new element for Sazed that you might be able to expect.

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO.

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    Questioner

    I was just re-reading The Way of Kings when Kaladin meets Hoid, and Hoid mentions the stone that he's named after? Are we gonna find out more about that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, though the 17th Shard probably can answer that for you right there *points, presumably*.

    In the very first book that I wrote with him that I finished, his nickname in that book was "Topaz".

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    Questioner

    Is energy [i.e. Investiture] interchangeable between worlds?

    Brandon Sanderson

    To an extent.

    Questioner

    So like Breath could be used instead of stormlight?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It might require some hacking to achieve. Some cases it will not. For instance there's a certain sword that feeds on Investiture. And he'll feed on whatever Investiture he can get, and if he doesn't have any he'll just suck your soul out and feed on that.

    Questioner

    On the other hand if someone were to require Breaths and there were nobody giving out Breaths in that area, then...?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Right. Then theoretically that's the same sort of system, but I have no idea who you could be talking about.