Recent entries

Khyrindor (paraphrased)

Did Nalan's eyes change when he killed Ym? (And attempted to kill Lift)

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

*thinks for a moment* No, I don't think so.

Khyrindor (paraphrased)

Can someone accidentally Worldhop?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

*thinks for a moment* Yes.

Khyrindor (paraphrased)

Was Allomancer Jak in the newspapers in The Alloy of Law just Hoid in disguise?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

 No. I actually just published a short story with him in it.

(He also said that he came up with the idea for him in an RPG writing group, or something along those lines.)

Khyrindor (paraphrased)

In Dalinar's vision, why did Nohadon make a distinction between Soulcasting and Surgebinding?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Because they are distinct in his mind.

Khyrindor (paraphrased)

Were the Starfarers in Sixth of the Dusk from a world we've seen?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes. Good question.

Khyrindor (paraphrased)

Are there Surges that could be considered as God Surges, like the God metals on Scadrial?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes.

Khyrindor (paraphrased)

Progression and Adhesion, perhaps?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

No, but they could be considered as such.

Khyrindor (paraphrased)

Do the Honorblades reflect the natural pairing of Surges, or did Honor decide which Surge pair to put in each Blade?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

The pairs are natural to Roshar in the same way as the metals on Scadrial.

Khyrindor (paraphrased)

Shards can talk to dead people. Are the Tranquiline Halls where everyone in the cosmere goes when they die? Or does each world have its own heaven.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

There is an afterlife that is not heaven that the Shards don't know about, or can't look into. Each world has its own heaven depending on its religions. The real afterlife is different across the cosmere, and the Tranquiline Halls are different.

Jeremy (paraphrased)

We know that Mistborn needed to Snap, and Surgebinders needed have the cracks in their souls filled. But what about the people in Warbreaker or Elantris? Is cracking and snapping only required on certain worlds?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

This is universal to the cosmere; however, in certain magic systems / on certain worlds, this is easier than others.

Jeremy (paraphrased)

Syl gives Kaladin the choice to have any number of weapons or a shield. Pattern can be equally a sword or a small knife. Are spren limited to being items of war or could they be put to other uses? Could the surge binders less geared toward battle use their spren to make ladders, rope, etc?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

No, this is not restricted to articles of war.

Jeremy (paraphrased)

There are hints in Words of Radiance that the Thrill is tied to an individual entity that Taravangian has studied, possibly one of the Unmade. Does this have anything to do with the hints of why the Knights Radiant turned away? Were the Unmade some of those who did whatever-it-was that tore them apart?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

[This is the one where he stopped me partway through asking, probably due to the wording]. Does it have anything to do with it? Yes. Is it the root cause or the primary reason? I'm not going to reveal that right now.

Jeremy (paraphrased)

When Honor speaks of his inability to see the future, he likens it to a shattering window. Is this related to the fact that in the not-too-distant future, he himself will be splintered? Or is it more a matter of Intent; e.g., Cultivation (and Preservation?) is geared toward future development, whereas Honor is geared toward current behavior.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

This is not related to his impending Splintering, it is a matter of differing Intents.

Jeremy (paraphrased)

Does Wit specifically treat people differently when he knows they're going to have a spren bond? (E.g. Renarin, Dalinar)

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes, Wit treats people differently, but it is not because of present or nascent spren bonds. He has an opinion of what each person needs to hear. He isn't always correct in this opinion, but he tries to give people what he thinks they need. In Dalinar's case, he simply has too much respect for the man to be glib. In Renarin's case, he believes that the boy has had more than enough breaking down, and is much more in need of building up.

Jeremy (paraphrased)

Is the order of the Ideals fixed? E.g. does Kaladin have to say the Windrunner Ideals in a specific order, or are they situation-specific?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes, the sequence is fixed. The oaths for each order are essentially a progression of understanding of the kind of person that each Order of Knights Radiant is trying to produce. The specific wording of each Ideal is not fixed, but the overall idea of each Ideal, and the order in which they are spoken, is.

Jeremy (paraphrased)

What's going on with the Mistborn movie, and how can I get involved?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

One of the conditions I set for the movie is that there has to be an open casting call. The film branch of Little Orbit has purchased the rights. If they complete the game within 18 months, they can renew their rights and keep working on producing the movie; otherwise, the rights will go up for sale to someone else.

Jeremy (paraphrased)

What are the pre-requisites for someone becoming Returned? Does it depend on how much Breath they have?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

It does not depend on the quantity of breath, but I'm not revealing the specific pre-requisites, since I need to save something for Nightblood.

Jeremy (paraphrased)

How much can you explain about Dalinar's armor and how he was able to "mentally unlatch his gauntlet"?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

This is definitely something a regular person couldn't do with regular armor. You can see in his visions hints of how the armor used to work. This is similar to Shardblades, and more will be revealed later.

Jeremy (paraphrased)

What is the home planet of the Ones Above (from Sixth of the Dusk)?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

They are from a planet you have seen before.

PhantomMonstrosity (paraphrased)

Let's say some Mistborn jerk tosses Nightblood into the mists. What happens?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

I suspect the mists would pull away from Nightblood, though he'd try to feed on them.

PhantomMonstrosity (paraphrased)

If the Lord Ruler joined the Knights Radiant, what order would he fit in best?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Lord Ruler might make an okay Skybreaker, but not a great one.

PhantomMonstrosity (paraphrased)

Can a pewter Feruchemist go all fiddler crab? Store a bunch of strength from one arm, tap it into the other?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

So far, any Freuchemist we've seen has been required to enhance their entire body or make their entire body weaker.

PhantomMonstrosity (paraphrased)

Let's say we had a platypus Feruchemist, who can sense electric fields. Could he make a tinmind for that sense?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Platypus tinmind should work.

PhantomMonstrosity (paraphrased)

Do synthetic gemstones work in fabrials too?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Synthetic gemstones should work.  It's a combination of color and chemical structure that's important. Just like metals from off Scadrial would work for an Allomancer, synthetic gemstones should work.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Rosharans already have an ansible. (reported by Kurkistan)

Spanreeds are, basically, evidence that FTL is possible in the Cosmere. It's not the only example too. (reported by Blightsong)

Tarontos (paraphrased)

If a person were tapping Connection would their language for Awakening change?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

If the Connection is strong enough then yes, otherwise no.

Kurkistan

What exactly- When an object enters a time bubble, how exactly does it determine- how does it know how fast and which direction it's really going?

Brandon Sanderson

It gets deflected a little bit when it enters, but then it adapts to the momentum that it would have going in.

Kurkistan

Like Spiritual bonds to something or other?

Brandon Sanderson

Riiight *sounds hesitant* it's- so... I can't explain that because it has relevance in the future. But in that moment when it passes [into the bubble], something is happening with conservation of momentum. The trick we have to do with it in order to keep from irradiating people.

Kurkistan

What exactly was Harmony's original plan for Lessie if she'd gone along with it?

Brandon Sanderson

Well the original plan was to turn Wax into what he kind of ended up being.

Kurkistan

And Lessie would still be alive, then?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, and kind of as his minder, slash, ya know...

Kurkistan

How exactly, Realmatically, is it tracked- like [for example] Aon Aon with these swirls and lines means "Arelon"?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm not gonna' explain that yet; I can explain how the shape is, but the whole relationship between the Aons and the magic and the landscape-

*Draws out/describes AonAon like in the book*

Questioner (paraphrased)

My friend wants to know how fast steel Compounders could possibly go, can they run up walls or over water like the Flash?

Blightsong (paraphrased)

*jokingly* Can they run through time?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Steelrunners can resist a lot things due to the power, like they can withstand the Gs they are out through, but they can't ignore wind resistance and friction. They will burn up if they start running too quickly.

Blightsong (paraphrased)

Is Adolin's inability to form meaningful relationships important to his overall character arch?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yes, it is.

Blightsong

Why is going into the Spiritual realm like Kelsier did damaging, as Leras seemed to suggest?

Brandon Sanderson

The thing is, Leras didn't know that Kelsier had a broken brain, that is how Kelsier wasn't damaged by doing what he did. You can break your brain by doing that though, worse than how broken Kelsier is.

Questioner #1 (in Mistborn cosplay) (paraphrased)

Do Ryshadium exist because of a spren bond, like greatshells?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Yea, they evolved symbiotically with spren, unlike other horses. They can still mate with other horses, but they are genetically distinct.

Questioner (paraphrased)

In Elantris it talks about how the wood and stone in the city is rotten and crumbling. Why does this happen?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

This is because when objects become Invested for long periods of time their Spiritweb changes to accommodate the Investiture. When the Investiture was pulled up off the stuff in Elantris, its Spiritweb was severely damaged so it showed that in the Physical Realm. This happened with the Lord Ruler when the Bands of Mourning were ripped out of him.

Blightsong (paraphrased)

Can a Parshendi with the right mind set transform with an Unmade?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

RAFO.

Blightsong (paraphrased)

Is it normal for people to become Connected to an area after being there for a bit, like with Kel and wherever he was when he found the Ire, or is something special going on?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

It is normal for a Cognitive Shadow to get stuck to places, because they exist through investiture it is normal for them to get tied to an area. Kelsier was still in Scadrial when he found the Ire. This happened with Odium and the two shards on Roshar, Preservation to Ruin, and the Heralds.

Questioner #1

So we know how some people can enter Shadesmar, or the cognitive realm, how do other places, like- we haven't seen anything for the Mistborn series. Do we know how they can enter.

Brandon Sanderson

Read Secret History.

Questioner #1

I did read that, but it didn't really say much besides that one special case.

Brandon Sanderson

Right, Hoid talks about Perpendicularities on Scadrial, if you go look at that there are certain places he talks about that. Let's just say that large concentrations of Investiture will cause a puncture through the spiritual realm straight to the physical realm, that if you know how to use it, you may transition. That's not the only way but is the primary way.

Questioner #1

And of course you can Soulcast [Elsecall?] to get there.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner #2

Now that's a very interesting analogy you just made, you said "punctured" almost as though it were a spike.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, yes, that was intentional.

Questioner

What is the purpose of the gigantic four armed spren that looks at the origin of the Surgestorms?

Brandon Sanderson

Good question, haha, RAFO.

Kurkistan

Do Surgebinders have Gemhearts?

Blightsong

*laughs* I was about to ask that.

Brandon Sanderson

No, good question.

Blightsong

Have larger landgoing greatshells existed above a chasmfiend?

Brandon Sanderson

Larger than a chasmfiend... the ones that wander around out in the islands of Reshi could go on land. So yea, it is possible that there are larger ones. They do better in the water, because of how big they are, but the high oxygen, low gravity, and symbiotic bonds with the spren allow some mega fauna that is just really large and just could exist on earth, so yea.

Questioner #1

Are we ever going to learn what threat Taravangian is referring to?

Brandon Sanderson

Uhhh, yes.

Questioner #2

It will be big, I assume so.

Questioner #1 (in Mistborn cosplay)

I was wondering if we were ever going to see dragons in the Cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, Dragonsteel, which is one of the first books that I wrote in the Cosmere has dragons. It's also just one of the weaker books, so I can't publish it as is, but yea. Being a big fan of dragons, I did write them into the Cosmere. They are the one kind of generic- kind of the standard fantasy race in there.

Questioner #2

Are they ever going to infiltrate the other worlds kind of?

Brandon Sanderson

Well Hoid writes a letter to one, he calls him you old reptile. And that's in Words of Radiance. So that's a letter to one of the dragons. So they are referenced.

Questioner #3

I thought that was a general insult.

Brandon Sanderson

Nope, he's actually writing to Frost, an old reptile.

Blightsong

How does corrupted investiture work, like Nightblood?

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, Nightblood. Again, this is a definition of what somebody feels is a corruption. For instance, there are spren that people would feel are corrupted. But that's corruption where the mixing of different Shards has changed things, and I think a lot of times when people say corruption, what they're meaning is the mixing of Shards' powers.

Blightsong

So is there a mixing of Shards' powers happening with Nightblood?

Brandon Sanderson

*smirks* RAFO. That's the natural question, I'm glad you asked it.

Blightsong

Ok, uhhh, so something similar is happening with Gavilar's sphere, right?

Brandon Sanderson

*contemplative silence* RAFO.

Blightsong

Can you shed some [light] on why Ruin's last words were "Vax"?

Brandon Sanderson

No, I can't, I mean I can but I'm not going to.

Blightsong

Can honorspren, or any other type of Knight Radiant spren, be evil despite their relationship to Tanavast or Cultivation?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, because I don't call the Shards good and evil. There are no good and evil Shards in my opinion, like and so, what's evil and what's not evil- you can totally have spren that are of Honor that you would consider evil. They have free will; they are much more strictly limited in that free will than we are, because of their nature as spren. It's very hard for most spren to ever break an oath or to lie. That's just like- as manifestations of laws of nature makes it very hard for that to happen, but they can be cruel.

Blightsong

Was Hoid trying to become an Elantrian kind of in a way how Kelsier was able to connect to Preservation to take up the Shard?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, the thing about it is you're getting Hoid before he knew as much as he did in Scadrial era, so what he was trying to do was completely ineffective and it couldn't have worked.

Questioner #1

Doesn't it get weaker the farther away you are, so it wouldn't help at all.

Brandon Sanderson

Mhm.

Questioner #2

Well we have an example of an Elantrian on Roshar, so.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes we have an Elantrian on Roshar, but we don't see him use any powers, and his skin is dark on Roshar rather than glowing, granted that could be a disguise. That is something to be aware of.

Blightsong

Does magic happen on Sel because areas have  a stronger cognitive presence, like, more sentient life in that area.

Brandon Sanderson

Uhhh, no, good question, good question. That is not the answer. I am going to give it in the Cosmere collection if people don't guess it by then. So I'm going to leave off, I could tell you right now but, I can't remember if anyone has guessed it or not.

Questioner

Is it related to tectonics?

Brandon Sanderson

No, it's all kinda going in the wrong direction. I haven't really given you the clues to figure it out, I don't think. Once I say it, it will make a lot of sense.

Blightsong

How much did Super Mind Taravangian know about the Cosmere as a whole, roughly, rough estimate.

Brandon Sanderson

He had a little bit of knowledge. Not as much as... not as much conscious knowledge.

Blightsong

Did he guess about the three realms?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, he knew about the three realms. He didn't have to guess on that, he had read philosophy and things, that knowledge is there on Roshar

Blightsong

Would it be harder for Jasnah to Soulcast a Knight Radiant?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

Would it be harder for her to Soulcast a Mistborn?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, Investiture resists Investiture. It's harder for her to even Soulcast a person than a rock, right?

Questioner

Is a Mistborn Invested?

Brandon Sanderson

The Mistborn, while they're burning the metal. They are not specifically Invested when they are not burning. When the Investiture becomes active, then yes. Before, no.

Blightsong

So Kelsier, he stayed around longer, not because he was Invested, but because he had the potential to use Investiture?

Brandon Sanderson

Over time using the magic will Invest you, on Scadrial. Most of the power is not coming from, on Roshar the power isn't coming from the person either [he cut himself off, so I assume this is how it works on Scadrial even though he didn't finish his thought] so I'm going to have to back up on that one and say, yes, the Mistborn are as Invested as a Knight Radiant, because in both cases the majority, bulk, of the power is coming from somewhere else, but there is the Spiritweb. Investing the wrong term, but you have all these connections in the Spiritual Realm, so yanking you away from them, or rewriting them is harder.

Questioner

Would they be harder with more Stormlight or metals burning?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, yes. That would increase the difficulty ratio. For instance, wearing Shardplate is gonna be a great barrier, right, and things like that so yeah. The problem is like, Invested is the wrong term for that, their Spiritweb is connected in different ways.

Blightsong

Were the ideals of the Knights Radiant consciously chosen, or did they happen naturally?

Brandon Sanderson

*apprehension*. This is one of those vague ones in that yes and no. They are a natural outgrowth of the spren, but the spren are a natural outgrowth of human's perception of natural forces, but the spren are sentient, so I would say it's a little more by instinct than not. For example two Knights Radiant in the same Order might speak the words differently, but the concept is the same. You will see this happen in a future book, where a Windrunner will speak the oaths. It's a slightly different take on the same concept. Some are moreso, like Shallan's oaths are very individualized truths, so.

Blightsong

Is it possible for a Knight Radiant to become a kind of Drab if they use too much Investiture?

Brandon Sanderson

No, you can't really burn yourself out that way, no. I mean, it's possible for drabbery to be mimicked on other planets, but it wouldn't be through that method.