I am going to shamelessly take advantage of the fact that you are still answering questions here (and wow ! thanks for that). It's about the sprens. Isn't it inconvenient in some social situations if sprens can give away people's emotions? For example, if someone is working hard to hide their anger and angersprens appear... Can people have any kind of control over them appearing ?
Yes, it can be inconvenient. And you'll see more about this in future books.
Will we ever see radiant or mistborn space pirates? And could an artificial intelligence see a spren or attract one?
RAFO. (But good questions.)
Will we see in Nightblood why the returned base breath cannot be given away in the same way the other breath are given?? I'm referring to the fact that when a returned gives his breath the person who receive it don't reach any heightening but use it to heal instead of reaching the fifth heightening and healing anyway.
RAFO.
Could someone with enough Breaths use part of them to heal himself without the help of a Returned?? Could the God King have healed himself without Lightsong with enough knowledge?
The nature of the Warbreaker magic is tied to the shard of Endowment, which is about giving. There are, therefore, things you cannot do for yourself.
For healing can Big Breaths heal only one person at a time or can you heal a bunch of people at once?(as long as they are not yourself)?
Legends say you can heal many.
Is there any chance we will see radiant knights using shardplate as diving suit to explore the deep of the Panthalassic ocean floor in Stormligh series?
This is possible. Whether you'll see it or not is a RAFO.
Are the glyphs on The Way of Kings front sheet the Alethi glyphs for the Radiant orders and the Surges? If so, can you tell us the name (i.e. the pronunciation) of the Windrunners glyph? Or, if you don't have this one, maybe another one?
Yes. I'll see if we can get all of the pronunciations into the appendix of the third book.
Does a Spinner Ferring have to be actively doing something to 'lose' fortune, while storing? Slightly worried that they'd end up giving themselves cancer or something if they were sat storing fortune, without doing something like playing cards to 'drain' the luck away from..
RAFO.
Doesn't all 'extra' investiture require a cracked soul? How are Nalthians born with extra breath, if so?
No. The Scadrians have extra investiture too, on a lesser scale.
Are there any Cosmere-unique natural hair colours we haven't seen appear in books yet?
Yes.
Is Odium's method of smothering shards inspired at all by the way Adonalsium was originally shattered? Or of his own devising?
It is not obvious to other Shards. But there are relationships.
Do all the shards have a 'secondary' imperative of some degree, to create?
You could say this.
Is yolen still out there somewhere(for example during the events of Final empire) ? If yes, does it have still intelligent life living on it?
Yes and yes.
Scadrial will get to space age sometime in future, what about other worlds. Will we see space tech based on other magic systems, shiny space battles etc.? Did we see space age tech of a world in another main (roshar, sel, scadrial) world(conveniently excluding Sixth of Dusk world)?
The cosmere is heading this way eventually.
How old would you say somebody has to be in order to attract a spren (with bonding intentions)? I can't imagine infants performing anything remarkable enough, but what about, say, 5-6 year olds? I could easily imagine them being selfless and protecting in their own little way - does this mean we can have children who can barely speak well Lashing their breakfast to the ceiling?
Someone like Lift is near the lower threshold, though it does depend on the spren in question.
So, it's mentioned throughout the Mistborn books that Allomancers can 'see' their metal reserves to determine how much they have left. What allows them to do this? I really have no theories, except the boring one: 'It's an innate property of Allomancy and its interaction with Preservation.'
It's just an innate part of the magic. Not really because of Preservation. A Surgebinder will know when their stormlight is running out. It's more similar to how you might know your strength is running out when you're holding something heavy, though obviously more delineated.
Could Honor have made an Honorblade granting all the Surges at once, rather than just two? If so, why didn't he do that?
RAFO.
Are the Parshendi gods that they abandoned the Unmade?
RAFO.
I think that in the Spiritual realm a person's spiritweb sort of manifests as a collection of "nodes" which are the Forms of their body/mind/subconscious, and these nodes are connected by "lines" which are interactions between the pure Forms. These lines are what actually make up the person's character, how the body is "supposed" to be (barring accidents/disease, basically what magical healing attempts to restore the body to), as well as what interactions with investiture the person can use (what magic systems they have access to)
Am I completely off base here or should I keep thinking about this?
This is a good line to be thinking along.
Except for in the prelude, does Kalak appear somewhere in the books? (A bit RAFO, but is he the shorter Alethi-looking man who accompanied Nale in WoK/WoR prologue?)
RAFO.
Has Vasher met Hoid, and are they BFFs?
Not BFFs by a long shot.
Has Hoid seriously offended someone on EVERY planet he's been to? Kelsier, Shai, the Alethi nobility, who knows how many shards from Yolen, AND Vasher are all out for his blood..? :o
That's only a small fraction of the total list.
To what extent are Cognitive shadows the same as the individuals they are shadows of? Do you count them as the same person or are they just a "copy" so to speak? Or is this a discussion for philosophers (which you've said is the case with the cosmere's "far afterlife")?
I've considered answering this a few times, and have decided I just have to RAFO it. This is a discussion for philosophers, as you've said. It may become a plot point in future books.
Do Shards need to be based on the same planet to create the interactions that made Feruchemy possible?
If the Parshendi are not originally from Odium and are referred to as the Ancient Ones by spren, then would that make the original Parshendi, bonded to the Splinters that existed before Honor and Cultivation arrived, the Dawnsingers?
RAFO.
Assuming that the events of the first Mistborn book took place on Nalthis instead, and especially considering the circumstances of Kelsier's passing and the events afterwards, would he have Returned?
That's a very interesting question. Endowment can be somewhat...erratic. I don't know, honestly. I'd have to think about it.
Were the Plains originally shattered by a Dawnsinger? Are Dawnshard magical musical instruments? Are the Parshendi of Odium? Are the gods that the Parshendi abandoned Odium? Are the people above in Sixth of the Dusk Scadrians?
That's a whole pile of RAFOs. But I can answer one; the gods that the Parshendi abandoned are of Odium.
We've seen five "sub-types" (for lack of a better term) of the overarching Selish magic system. Are you planning on adding any more/are there other sub-types we have yet to see?
Yes.
Is it is even possible for a full Feruchemist Mistborn to be naturally born, or will the genes for the two interfere with one another too much?
It is possible, but highly unlikely.
How much Sazed is aware to Hoid and Hoid's action and what does he think about him?
He is aware. More is RAFO. :)
How Hoid has ended up being a Feruchemist? Is it by a method we familiar with (like Hemalurgy) or he has another way to manipulate his sDNA?
RAFO.
Why is Hoid’s color aura from his Breaths not noticed by anyone on Roshar? Are the characters just not used to noticing that sort of thing, or does he not have one?
There are a mixture of reasons. Not the least is Hoid's control over Investiture.
Would someone with Breath be able to notice his aura on Roshar? E.g. Vasher?
Various methods of detecting Investiture would still work, depending on how good a job Hoid is doing of suppressing his.
You have once said, with regard to a question about Shards being the most powerful thing in the cosmere, that some would say that other "subtle forces" are being manifest. Are these subtle forces related to Adonalsium's opposition?
There is belief in a God who is not one of the Shards.
Is Adonalsium and the "power of creation" synonymous?
In some people's usage.
Did the Lord Ruler's children have something to do with the Lord Ruler's plot to once "give up" in the Final Empire?
Yes.
Is the silver on Threnody imbued with investiture? The presence of a silver knife in Stormlight leads me to believe Threnodoic Silver is actively different than average silver and Threnody's silver could be used off-world in a way - say - Sel's silver couldn't.
I'm RAFOing most questions about Threnody for multiple reasons. It's a RAFO you shouldn't read too much into, however.
Is the Earth-like biome in Shinovar a product solely of environmental factors (e.g. shelter from the highstorms), or is there a magical component as well?
On Roshar, the environment and magic are so intertwined, environmental factors ARE magical components.
Interesting, hadn't really thought of it this way, but much of the environment and its events depend on magic - highstorms, plant and animal life, crem and water deposits, and those are just off the top of my head. Was it this way before the Shards showed up, or is this a change they caused (intentionally or not)?
This will eventually be revealed.
I've been listening to the Graphic Audio The Hero of Ages and just got to the point where Vin meets with Slowswift. While the meeting itself revealed nothing knew, the events after it made me wonder about something. When Vin leaves Slowswift, she burns her bronze to check whether the informant is an Allomancer, and then heads off to meet with Hoid - where, of course, something makes her turn away. Was she still burning bronze at that time? Was Hoid maybe manipulating Investiture in a way unfamiliar to Vin, so her bronze alerted her of something, but because it was such a foreign experience to her, she didn't recognize it for what it was?
I have to RAFO this one. It's been hard not to spill the beans here, as it's such a small thing, but it has important ramifications. You will have an answer eventually, I promise.
If Investiture can neither be created nor destroyed, and Feruchemy is all fueled by the Feruchemist himself, then how do metalminds end up being invested without Feruchemists seeming to suffer any long-term loss of Investiture? If they're not "creating" the energy that's going into the metalminds, then where's it coming from?
The cosmere takes physics from our universe, and adds additional layers to it. Where we have energy and matter (simplified), the cosmere has additional building blocks that make reality. Investiture is one of these. It IS possible to change matter, to energy, to investiture, and back.
Some of the characters (I think it was Sarene) in Elantris mention that the constellations in their part of the world look like Aons. This seemed kind of odd to me. How significant is this, and does it play a role in how accessing the AonDor works (or do they just love astronomy)?
The characters in Elantris claiming that constellations look like Aons is mostly akin to us thinking that constellations look like animals--if you're looking for patterns, you'll find them.
Shai mocks the Rose Empire's belief that a new sun rises every day for a set number of days. Is the reason Sel is difficult to travel to related to the religious notion that Sel has many MANY suns in their Shadesmaar equivalent?
Good guess! But no. (Sorry.)
In The Hero of Ages, there is a scene where Spook wonders why Clubs spent all that money and traveled all that distance just to save him (Spook) from likely death at the hands - or foot, as it is - of his father. Why did Clubs do it?
Clubs had his reasons, not all of which were altruistic.
Are there non-Invested (or at least not heavily Invested) objects that cannot be cut by Shardblades, or that offer more resistance than what we see in The Stormlight Archive?
You're unlikely to find anything without high Investiture that can resist a Shardblade. By definition, to stop one, you're going to need something with a powerful spiritual component to it.
Would [Ralkalest] (the unforgeable metal) be at all resistant to a Shardblade given its proven resistance to other forms of investiture?
That's a RAFO, but is a question you should be asking.
This is involving gemstones and their properties on Roshar. Given that Sapphire and Ruby are actually the same crystal - corundum - differing only in their impurities - how would you explain the differences in their properties, with respect both to their essences and their function in fabrials? For example, I am assuming that two identical fabrials, one made with a sapphire and one made with a ruby, would not function the same. To take it a step further, any corundum that is not ruby red is simply called a sapphire of whichever color it happens to be (blue sapphire, green sapphire, colorless sapphire, etc.). How does this play into things; would a blue sapphire have different properties than a green one or a colorless one?
This was a big part of the magic for me in working on Roshar, as I wanted the gems to work differently from Scadrials metals in order to avoid repetition. The fact that many gems are basically the same thing was one of the launching points actually. Let me say that you are on the right track.
On Roshar, color of the gem is more important than actual crystalline structure.
If someone used Hemalurgy to give Lift from Words of Radiance the ability to use Bendalloy Feruchemy, could she convert the nutrition she gets out of Feruchemy into stormlight?
Theoretically possible, I suppose.
We've seen the drawing of a gigantic greatshell towering over a city in Way of Kings. Jasnah's book called it a voidbringer. How big was that compared to the Reshi islands greatshells? Do they look similar (proportions, etc.)? Are the Reshi islands greatshells really-really old? So old that someone pretentious enough to speak in all-caps could call them 'ancient ones'?
That picture is very, very inaccurate--by design. However, the Reshi Island greatshells were one of the models this illustrator in world used to create his fanciful drawing. They are, indeed, very long lived.
In mistborn you can't access someone else's feruchemical stores. However, what if feruchemist A stores something, and then hemalurgy is used to take A's ability and put into person B. Can person B use A's stores?
Also, what happens when someone burns metal with a hemalurgic charge? Or stores/retrieves something in a spike using feruchemy?
All RAFOs here, I'm afraid.
Did the Lord Ruler have children? Either as Rashek or as the Sliver of Infinity?
Yes.
On Roshar, certain people seem to be able to always see spren (Rock comes to mind). Are there people who can never see them? Similarly, can people from other worlds see them?
Those with Listener blood are more likely to be able to interact with spren who aren't currently trying to manifest.
If they appear on the physical realm, then they're visible to all who can see.
How did Hoid get to Scadrial? He didn't seem to know the location of Preservation's Shardpool until book 2, and I feel like him crawling out of the Pits of Hathsin would have created a bit of a stir... Unless he slipped out during the confusion caused by Kelsier...
In answer to your question, that IS a RAFO, but it's one I am planning to answer before too long.
Any hints on Duralumin's effect on Gold and Electrum?
Nope. :)
Is the reason why Allomancy creates allomantic pulses visible to Seekers because it is an external magic drawing upon Preservation's power? In other words, is the reason why Feruchemy is much, much harder to detect by burning bronze because it is an internal magic?
Yes.
If a Misting burned the correct alloy of Lerasium and their metal, would that be akin to them becoming a Savant?
No.
