Questioner
Szeth, can he or will he use both a spren Shardblade and Nightblood at the same time?
Brandon Sanderson
He will be using Nightblood, the rest is a RAFO
Szeth, can he or will he use both a spren Shardblade and Nightblood at the same time?
He will be using Nightblood, the rest is a RAFO
First, I have a message from my older brother
Okay
He says, "just tell him that Szeth is the man, and he expects a bloody revenge story, where he whoops off all the heads of all the Shin guys who still have honorblades
Tell him that Szeth is anticipating that too.
Why does Stormlight make things cold?
It’s not the Stormlight, it’s condensation because something is going directly from a gas into a solid. The coldness is caused by that, it’s not necessarily that the Stormlight is making things cold, but that the Shardblade is condensing.
The Heralds, back before Honor died, were they directly powered by Honor?
Yes. You’ll find out more about that, but the Shardblades [pretty sure he means Honorblades here] were pieces of Honor’s soul that he gave them and direct access to his essence.
Like Vin and Elend?
Yeah, a little like that. That’s why Honorblades don’t work like Shardblades do, like Radiants do.
The second part of the question is, what would happen if they were directly powered by Honor and they were holding Nightblood?
RAFO
Hoid. Does he have more unkeyed metalminds?
Hoid has access to lots of different things, so, yes he does.
How do you keep your characters’ voices distinctive? Because Jordan is terrible, all the women sound exactly the same, but you don’t.
It’s weird. Character is the one I have the hardest time talking about. I’m naturally an outliner and planner for everything but my characters. What I do is, I cast my characters. I put a person in this role and I write a scene from their viewpoint and, if it is distinctive and it works, I go with it. If not, I set it aside and I try some other personality until I get something that feels distinctive, and then I use that chapter as a model. Anytime I’m going to go back to that character, I go back to that chapter like, this is who they are. Later on, I’ll have touchstone chapters where they change and I’ll use that one instead.
Who shaves Marsh's head? Is he able to see his hair well enough to do so? Does he have a barber?
Is it a matter of Spiritual Identity? Marsh sees himself as Ironeyes, like Kaladin sees himself as branded. Seems like similar things.
I do not think it's like that for Marsh in this case, for various reasons.
It sounds like [Brandon] identified a new shard, Ingenuity, in an interview in Bulgaria. Can you verify this?
That is news to me! Maybe [Isaac] can ask him.
I asked [Brandon]. He said readers can interpret his words how they want.
If polestones glow in colors appropriate to their gem, what color does smokestone glow?
Grey.
Why does Vorinism use imperial instead of metric base ten?
They don't really use imperial. The words don't mean quite the same thing. A foot or mile won't correspond to the exact same measurement.
But still, why don't they use a metric system? They're all about number 10.
Who said they don't? The foot has ten inches.
Been discussing something Mistborn - can we have Wayne's and Marasi's time compression/stretch factors?
i.e. What would 60 seconds of "real time" turn into for either one of them?
We'll have to RAFO that.
Are there requirements to join the Seventeenth Shard, and would they accept, for lack of a better term, a non-enhanced member?
Yes and yes... Baon is not Invested...
What would they not like? 'Cause, like, we know they don't like Hoid, and what he's doing-- *laughter*
They do like what Khriss is doing, alright? This is an acceptable thing to them.
...What about when people start integrating themselves with a culture, is that gonna make problems?
They would prefer that people didn't do that.
So not Vasher?
Not Va-- Vasher is very far from being Seventeenth Shard. *laughter* So very far.
Would you say they are a community of scholars?
They are a community-- They are not all scholars, so I would not say that. I would say they are interested parties who do not want any planets to get destroyed.
So they're the Apocalypse Guard? *laughter*
No, they aren't really able to prevent these sorts of things. They're more like the-- Oh what do they call them in DC? The Watchers? ...But those guys are super powerful and stuff, so it's not like that. But you can imagine it's something like that. "We're watching, we're studying' we're investigating, and we're trying to prevent-- ...They're like Starfleet, right? They've got some Starfleet stuff right? "We're gonna go research and study these people, but we shouldn't be involved." It's less about Prime Directive, and more about "What if something we do causes-- exacerbates the conflict between the Shards." The Shards split up for a reason, is what they think, right? Shards split up for a reason, they should continue to be split up, we should not dabble in bringing them together.
Have we seen the resonances of either Wax or Wayne?
Yes, well, Wax is really good at sculpting bullets and things away from him.
The bubble.
Yeah and things like this. This is playing with the fact that he is-- Let's just say that the abilities make this happen, and I’ll let you theorize on why, but it's just an enhancement to what he can do.
I might be wrong, but I thought you said it was because he was becoming a steel savant.
A savant, yeah, definitely, but this is what this is coming from.
But being a savant has to do with being really good with one power--
Yes.
--and resonances--
Being a savant has to do with using Investiture a lot, and it's starting to permeate your soul. Like we've ta--
So he's more a savant with both of--
He's used them a lot, and they are changing his soul, and so the powers are morphing and changing. Just in slight, little ways. You're not gonna see a whole bunch. But you can imagine these two separate powers are kind of becoming one to him.
Yeah I can see that. And Wayne?
So Wayne's is not as obvious. I'll go ahead and RAFO that right now.
So there's a line in Secret History that references, like, a mythical string that shows the way home in the maze of Ishathon. Is that an intentional reference to--
Yes, yes, so here's one thing I do in the cosmere, because my senior course was in folklore, I had a really good folklore teacher-- So you should all thank Dr. Thursby for this. One of the things I learned in folklore-- I don't know if you guys have studied this, but it's really interesting-- Societies come up with the same myths. Right? They do! You'll find-- The biggest one is the Cinderella myth. There's a version of Cinderella in almost every culture, and it's shocking how they hit the same beats. And so my folkloristic inclinations lead me to say that certain stories that I know are common, whether it's the string that leads you out, or breadcrumbs-- different people use different things-- But these stories exist. Mythical mazes, you will find stories about. And so that's not meant to be anything more than for the folklorists to say "Ah! I recognize this, Roshar has some of the same myths, and the same versions, that we have."
The ball of Preservation energy that Kelsier used, is that Stamping, Hemalurgy, or a third kind of the same thing?
That is a different thing. You haven't really seen that before.
Because it seems to have similar effects--
Yeah, you haven't seen that before. It was designed to do what it did.
Is it just Connection?
Connection juice. *laughter*
We'll get into this, this is involving Silverlight stuff, so let's RAFO it for now.
If you Stamp yourself, to have another, overwritten spiritweb, and you get Spiked-- *laughter* What would happen?
We actually worked this out. *laughter*
Well, you'd die, or very close to it, but would it revert when the Stamp reverts?
So what’s probably going to happen here is that you’re going to rip off the Investiture you’ve put on your soul, and your own soul will have less damage. Now, the spike is only gonna get the-- the spike, you're like "What will it do?" It will do what you've been overwritten with, but again remember, becoming an Allomancer takes so much energy, and things like-- But it is theoretically possible in the cosmere to rewrite yourself "You're an allomancer", someone spikes you to get this. The Investiture doesn't care that it was fake on you, you have managed to get that Investiture to work. Uhh, this is really tough. And really, like, you need Connection, and you need, like, the right kind of Investiture, but then it rips off and yes you have made a spike that makes you an Allomancer, even though the person was a Forger. So yes, okay? But this is the kind of stuff that is like the thought experiments for physicists in the cosmere as opposed to, y'know--
What if you Soulstamped a city?
Soulstaped a city... So if you're a really good Forger-- It is possible to do things like that, but it requires a lot of work and time. Just one thing to keep in mind with Soulstamps, and anything that does this, rewriting your spiritweb, right, like, requires Invesiture. A lot of Investiture. And so, for instance, what Shai can do is really cool, but what an Elantrian can do is gonna look a lot more dramatic, right? Shooting a column of fire, you would say "Which takes more power, making the wall have flowers on it or shooting a column of fire?" Making the wall have flowers takes way more Investiture. It's a lot easier to pull off some dramatic effects with others, but the actual changing of the soul and overwr-- ...So just keep in mind the extent-- This is why you don't see Shai Forge it so the whole building disappears. Right? And stuff like this. Which is not outside of reason for a couple of Elantrians with the right program to put into place. But I mean effectively-- They could blow it up, essentially, that's what they would do
Make a new hole, rather than making one that has existed.
Yeah. Exactly. Do keep in mind, people like to ask, you've probably seen people ask, "Could I rewrite myself to be a Knight Radiant?" Right? WELL... There are certain things that you just-- you can't fake without enough energy that it becomes impractical. Usually what I use as an example to that is: Yes, we can turn hydrogen into gold, if we wanted to. Right? We can do that! It might take more energy than the earth creates in an entire year, but we can do that.
I get a lot of questions with this that I'm like "is it possible?" and I'm like "Guys, is it possible?" ...You should probably be like, "Is it possible, with reasonable amounts of energy provided by one Invested person".
If you Soulstamp somebody to give them a Connection to Arelon, and they became an Elantrian, could they become and Elantrian, and if the Soulstamp is removed, would they remain?
Okay, so you're asking a better one than people have asked. So you say "You get Soulstamped, you move to Arelon, your soul thinks that it is this, you do have spiritweb of Connection" I will go ahead and RAFO this with the caveat of why it might not work, is because, you might think you’re something, right? That doesn't necessarily mean-- Like, this is not completely invisible and things like this. And so, whether the power is going to follow those lines of Connection or not I will leave up to discussion, but it is a possibility worth theorizing upon.
So a Soulstamp doesn't necessarily change the core of your spiritweb.
It does, but it's overwriting it. It's like Hemalurgy. What you are is still there underneath when it's ripped away, right?
So Allomantic Savants. So I was curious-- That system-- When that happens, is it purely physiological, or is there something else happening in terms of--
Uhh, it's physiological in a cosmere sense, but that can involve your Cognitive and Spiritual aspects.
I guess the question there is, are there other similar processes to savantism with other--
Yeah, yeah you've seen it. So, Soulcasters.
Where their skin turns--
Where they're slowly being-- their spirit is slowly being merged and infused with Investiture that is having Physical ramifications. It's the same thing.
Sak, Dusk's non-native Aviar. That ability is very, very similar to Allomantic electrum.
It is!
And his other Aviar is very, very similar to Allomantic copper.
It is.
Is there a connection between those two, deeper? Or is it--
will RAFO that. Let's just say it is an intentional reference, but I'm not going to say whether it's a direct connection to Scadrial magic systems or more that fundamental rules of magics can reproduce one another. We have seen multiple instances of Lightweaving, so-- It's one of those two... That at least narrows it down for you.
Was Cultivation close enough to when Odium got Honor, to know how to fight back?
Heheheheh. I would say yes.
And Cultivation, is she--
She is still there.
Alive and kicking. Okay, you've said that before--
She is alive and kicking.
And she can probably know how to not turn her back to the--
Well, I mean... She has learned from the experiences of others.
Did Ambition fight back?
Yes.
What role will the chasmfiends play?
So there's a bunch of different roles for the chasmfiends that are all minor but-- For instance, I don't think anyone's made this connection, thunderclasts have chasmfiend-- it's part of the in-world inspiration for thunderclasts. And really chasmfiends exist in part to show off the symbiotic relationship between certain spren and certain creatures on Roshar. So when people who read the first book who know a little about physics can be like "Uhh, Mr. Sanderson" and I'm like "Well, look at these things that are flowing around this thing when it dies." It's an introduction of gemhearts and things like this. And the ability of certain creatures on Roshar to hold Investiture permanently, as Szeth says, rather than it seeping away like it does to humans.
Hey, all. Brandon here. With the release of this book, there have been some minor updates to continuity that I think some of you will find relevant.The big one has to do with Hoid's visit to Terris in The Well of Ascension. For those unfamiliar with the backstory, this little behind-the-scenes action has been a source of some consistent problems. The outline, and original draft, of Well had Vin and Elend traveling up to Terris, then into the mountains, to find the Well itself.
This was a huge momentum killer in the story. Having your cityscape-focused book suddenly turn into a traveling quest fantasy for a few chapters felt very out of place, and required too much strange time-jumping to make it work. In revisions, I set about finding a way to repair this, and to overlap the Well of Ascension discovery with Vin's return to Luthadel.
The end result worked much better, but I was forced to cut Hoid's cameo. (In the form of footsteps in the snow and frost leading to the Well, hinting that someone had been there just before her.) I knew where Hoid was, and added in the cameo of him with the Terris people—with the plan still being that he visited the Well sometime during the days after Vin's return to the city.
Well, in working on Secret History, I found that this had a problem with it. Hoid had to already know where the Well is, because after the destruction of the Pits, he'd need to use the Well to return to Scadrial after leaving in the middle of book one to attend to certain other events.
If you've read the story, you know this is how I proceeded. Official continuity is that Hoid went up to Terris after visiting the Well, as he had things to do there. He did not go looking for the Well. This doesn't change continuity for any of the books, though it does render one of the annotations for Well obsolete.
Otherwise, I'm quite pleased about this novella. I wasn't certain how it would go, writing something using threads I'd left dangling ten years ago. (You should thank the beta readers, who are all Sharders I believe, for their continuity help. They made me aware of several things I needed to make much more clear from the original draft, so that canon would be more crisp.)
I know there has been a lot of discussion regarding which times when someone appears to hear Kelsier's voice were actually Kelsier. The story offers the official canon for this as well.
It's nice to finally be able to give the answers to some longtime fan questions, such as what spooked Vin during her inspection of Hoid and what was up with Preservation and the Mist Spirit. It's entirely possible that, despite our efforts, we slipped up and made some continuity error here or there. If so, I'm terribly sorry! This one has been particularly challenging to do.
Which is a nice segue to Shards Investing into Shardworlds, that I've been meaning to ask. So is it kind of a passive-- The more a Shard stays on a world--
Yes.
--the Investiture kind of seeps--
It does. Once you've got a Perpendicularity, you are starting-- That's trouble for going other places. But you've gotta remember, going other places means multiple things to someone actually holding a Shard. They can exist in the Spiritual Realm, where all things are one. And they can even kind of comprehend it...
Can a Shard choose to just instantly invest in a place?
Yeah, they just need to start making some stuff.
Some of the few Shards Rayse Splintered included Ambition, I believe, Dominion, and Devotion.
Yes.
And those were all way back, in the history. So, we know that the Shards' personalities overrides the Vessel's personality over time?
Strongly influence, and depending on the individual, override.
Okay. So did Rayse choose those Shards because--
He went after Ambition first, but didn't find Ambition until after going after Devotion and Dominion. But Ambition was number one on his hit list.
Was it because of the Shard or because of the Vessel? Like did he hate the person?
In this case it was the Shard, primarily, that drove him--
Oh, he was maybe afraid the Shard would grow too powerful and take over--
He was afraid that this Shard that would rival him. And so he's like "This one is number one on the hit list. We're taking down Ambition." But then he got trapped in the Rosharan system.
Silverlight is... old?
No, Khriss is old. *laughter*
I know Khriss is old--
Let's RAFO Silveright until I set something there. Here's the thing. It's weird.
I read that you had said if you had written Khriss' essay on Nalthis, it would have been more or less that she was talking about the magic, and then mention that there were scholars on this planet that were spitting distance from, like…
Yeah, yeah.
So, Vasher, and maybe some of the other ones have been off world--
Shashara has been, yeah.
...Are they known to the people at Silverlight? Like--
Yeah, yeah.
Like does Khriss know Vasher?
Know Vasher is a different question than know of Vasher. But they are widely regarded as early cosmere scholars... They are pioneers of this sort of stuff. So yes.
Speed bubbles--
Yes. Ehhhh... these are the hardest ones.
We've seen them work and move with trains, we've seen them not work with carriages: is there a size requirement, or is it how they view themselves?
That's a good question. So I build in this thing, right? I'm like "Oooh, speed bubbles! Speed bubbles are cool!" but the Delorean problem, right? You're like "I'm going to go back in time: to the middle of SPACE", because the planet is in the same position, right? This is stuff that science fiction writers have been having fun with since the silver age of science fiction. So I'm like "Alright, I need to deal with the Delorean problem". And so I'm like "Alright, we're going to have to say that frame of reference is a big part of it: so perception and frame of reference is a big part of it; and also size of the thing that you're on". So it would be possible to use kind of cosmere cognitive training to get that speed bubble moving with you-- And someone asked me a question about this on tour, I believe, so it would be in one of the reports-- Not this exact same thing, but "Could they learn to move their speed bubble with them?" And yes you can.
So it is how the allomancer views it, not how the thing views itself?
That's a part of it. Partially how it view itself, *garbled* It's really also mass. Big thing-- The speed bubbles required all kinds of physics-gymnastics. I'm sorry physicists, but once you start playing with time the stuff you gotta do. It's just crazy stuff you gotta do.
We actually sat down and worked out what the metric would have to do to have a speed bubble-- Yeah, it was gnarly.
...We did run the math on these things, and stuff like that. And Peter, y'know, he rais-- "Redshift" and stuff like this we talked about. And all kinds of fun stuff about speed bubbles that I then had to--
Khriss asked about that?
Yeah. So this is-- This one and manipulating weight... Those are the math ones. So these are the ones where-- They create the fun things to talk about, but they are where this is fantasy and not science fiction. Like a lot of these questions I could answer and you'd be like "Alright, if there were this alternate power source, we could buy this" but in this case we're like exception-list-of-asterisks to make it work. But they're too fun to not do, right? And I knew I was doing gravity on Stormlight, so I'm like "I gotta do weight separately".
In Secret History, Kelsier goes out onto the ocean and he finds plants in the Cognitive Realm.
Yes, mmhmm.
Do they have a Physical aspect, or are they just Cognitive--
Yeah, they're Cognitive only. They don't follow a standard ecology that we would understand, but-- Well, it'll make sense, hopefully, when eventually the science of that is understood in the cosmere. But there are--and I've said this before--on Roshar Shadesmar there are spren cities, and things like this. And there's a spren ecology, and stuff so…
Is the third Bondsmith in any way related to the Sleepless?
I am RAFOing third Bondsmith. You will find out a lot more about these in coming books. That one's seeded for the story to answer, and it's not next book, right? This is stuff for… yeah.
When you were talking about spren being bound to the Cognitive Realm of their planet. Are seons similarly bound? Especially with-- Because the--
Yes.
Could you also pull them off, with the knowing how?
Yeah, but you’d have to get through the Cognitive Realm, on Sel. But yeah-- Yes, that is possible.
So the Sleepless kind of have me wondering about what sentience is in the cosmere. Like how would a Sleepless manifest on the Cognitive Realm--
That's a good question, you'll-- that I'll RAFO. But they are a single consciousness, but they would argue that all your cells are independent of you. So they are cells that can move around. They're really fun... they started in a non-cosmere book when I was 22. Obviously a bit inspired by Fire Upon the Deep, one of my favorite science fiction books. And I read that book and I'm like, "Group consciousnesses are cool!" what if you had a species that was made up of-- Not like one of these Ender's Game y'know, one, but each swarm was an individual and they could breed and evolve their own things to do different stuff. So each of these little bits, these hordelings is what I call them-- I might change because we've got cremling now. But each of these little bits is bred for a specific purpose, "Feed the swarm" and stuff like that. So they've got all kinds of cool stuff going on.
Are they slivers?
Oh slivers. Not quite like slivers. Slivers are a little more that whole Ender's Game thing, right? And this is actually an individual that's not a hivemind. This is an individual, single consciousness, and they've got a step between cell and body. We kind of do too, like mitochondria are kind of "What are these? Are these things we ingested somehow and got working for us?" It's all very cool.
So is it like Malazan Book of the Fallen, like the D'ivers?
Ehhh, there's little--
Okay, a little?
Yeah.
Why did Hoid in Secret History have to ride on another person to get to the Well, when that person could float on--
Sooo, what he's floating on is a Cognitive Shadow. It's a spirit, it's not an actual person. He is floating on someone who is--
Do we know them?
You did not know them, don't worry about them. But see, he's using that as a boat because it's easy to sink through the mist. And if you notice, he has to coat his oar with Investiture in order to move him. So yeah, he's floating on a person's soul... It was so much easier with the Pits, but that's because there were boats and things.
Is there a Shadesmar for each planet?
Yes. Anything that people think about, right? And, you really have to be inhabited to get a good Shadesmar… But, y'know, you can find the gas giants in Shadesmar, but they don't manifest as an entire plane. Um, that's gonna change! But we're years away from that. Shadesmar is cool and weird but--
Ohh, there's only one Shadesmar with different areas--
Yeah, really what we call it-- Shadesmar is a term that has started to stick in the cosmere for the Cognitive Realm. But there are manifestations of most planets. Or all planets.
But they do all exist-- All of those Shadesmars are part of the same cloth, so to speak.
Yes, you could walk from one to the other, barring some weird distortions that you might have to-- We're not going to dig-- I'm not gonna tell you about.
But spren can't because they're bound.
They're bound Physically to the Realm, the Invesiture.
Unless you help them off.
Unless-- There are certain ways you could do it, and things like that. But spren are bound, you aren't going to--
Are there specific reasons why opposite Shards seem to end up in the same system?
Yeah.
So why do opposite Shards...
RAFO! *laughter*
You said that moving people like that [Cognitive Shadows] or spren off-world, from Roshar is difficult.
Yes.
What about physically, say the Ones Above visit them, and they fly away?
So one of the things you'll have to be asking questions and theorizing on is what happens if you try to carry a spren around the planet. What happens to their Cognitive sense, right? So you're on Roshar, right? So on the Physical Realm what would happen-- Because on Shadesmar, you have a flattened version. So there are questions for you to be theorizing implicit in that. And one of them is, what happens, you cross a threshold circling the globe, your spren, what happens to them? Because-- Okay? This relates to the question you’re asking.
Wait wait, you have a three dimensional plane coexisting with a two dimensional plane?
Well, two dimensional is the wrong term, but basically...
Can you specify the mathematically projection used to create this? *laughter*
We'll try to give it to you eventually, but this is the sort of stuff that I do that Peter's like "Oh man..." *laughter* "Alright give me the math Peter." "Ahhh what do you mean? I'm not a mathematician." "Eh, y'know. You're close." It is very convenient to have a physicist and a mathematician in my writing group.
Have we seen cameos of Heralds on other Shardworlds?
The Heralds are tied to the system by the magic that permeates them. They could not leave.
I thought I saw someone but I guess not.
It’s part of the magic. Some would call them Cognitive Shadows, right? Whether they are or not. "Cognitive Shadow" is a very ambiguous term in the cosmere. It means, basically your soul-- It's the same thing with petrification, right? Investiture replaced your soul, and permeated your soul, and your soul continues to exist, but... you are usually Invested with something, that's tied, and you're basically like pure Investiture then. You're tied to the thing you're Connected to. Most of the things that you're gonna see with that, travelling is going to be very difficult, unless you know how to do it. You have seen people do it.
Who?
Vasher
Vasher... You have seen people do it. But anyone who's got-- yeah.
Thank's for that Reddit comment earlier today about "Yeah, if you read Dragonsteel it's super obvious!"
I mean if someone is asking a question about Cephandrius, the name Cephandrius. I assume that they know about Dragonsteel, because how else would they hear the name Cephandrius?
Secret History.
OOHHHHHH! I did! That's right. Because I was answering other questions about Yolen, yeah...
Is Ati Ruin's original Shardholder?
Ohh, good question. I will go ahead and RAFO that.
I have a big theory that someday we are gonna see something more about him.
You will see something more about him for sure! Because Dragonsteel includes-- But that's not what you meant, and I know what you meant.
So, in Secret History, when Kelsier is in the pool and looks at Ruin. Are you intentionally making a Lovecraftian reference with the looking into the abyss and the abyss looks back?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sometimes I have to specifically phrase things. I write it and I'm like "Oh yeah, that's Nietzshe!" And I'm like "Ohhh, I should probably not quote Nietzsche" ...So I have do have to reword these things sometimes.
So I've got sort of a Shard-related question. So, the entity that Harmony is, all the other Shards that we've had named so far, are any of them combinations, or are they all--
Okay, good question. The only one I would count as a combination is the Dor, right? But it isn't even a full Shard. So everything else, single holder only when we talk about it okay? That's an excellent question. Or they've been Splintered completely.
Would it be possible to create a potential Vessel that has a Connection to all 16 Shards? Through a combination of birth planet, genetics, Hemalurgy--
You-- So, terminology. The Vessel holds a Shard. Lots of people have Connections to the Shards without holding them. So, I'm just gonna RAFO that. You guys got years and years left, before we're even gonna discuss things about-- But if I tell you now, like, what are you gonna ask?
So we know some people can survive going through perpendicularities.
Yes.
But we also know, like, when Rock talked about the lake that people swam in, that Hoid came out of, he said that some people who swam in it died. So, who can and can't survive a perpendicularity?
So, you should not take much of what Rock says. When he says they swim in it and they die, they have gone through the perpendicularity. They just don't come back. What would you think if someone swims and doesn't come back? They have drowned. Right?
So pretty much anyone can?
It is not traumatic to go through most perpendicularities.
So it depends on where, who and when?
Uh huh.
I do have a follow-up on the map? All of the constellations-- Or most of the constellations seem fairly straightforward. The one containing Roshar has a Shardbearer or Herald…
Yep, mmhmm. There are a couple--
Yet Sel gets a lamp?
Sel gets a lamp, yes.
Why?
Ask Isaac about that, he came up with the symbolism. And I like all the symbolism. But I would go to him about the symbolism of that. Ask him to write an essay for my website about it, because he has really cool-- Cause again, cause I said to him, "I want a star map" and I wasn't gonna put constellations on it, right? Just, the one in the back cover that doesn't have constellations, that's what I asked for and he came back and said "I did a constellation map with these things, what do you think?" and I'm like "that’s cool! Can you explain these to me?" so I'm just gonna let Isaac go with that, he chose it, he chose the perspective and the point of view, so it's his map, and he's canon on that.
How old is that picture that's hanging in Silverlight?
The picture in Silverlight is... Okay, so on cosmere-times it's very recent. But, the cosmere scale is very large. Khriss's essays are older than it, but not by much. She had that-- It is in existence when she wrote the essays, but the essays are much older than Sixth of the Dusk. Okay? Sixth of the Dusk had not happened yet, that story, when she was writing these essays. We're going to need some dating periods, we'll eventually get that.
When someone is spiked, and dies, does that affect the time they spend in the Cognitive?
If they are spiked, yes because if you are extra Invested, which spiking technically does, if you have a spike stapling a bit of someone else's soul to yours--
The other way. Someone spikes through you and you die--
Ohhhhh, oh okay, no, that might make you go faster.
Is that why Harmony doesn’t know who's spiking people? Or--
Hmm. Yeah. Okay. I had not considered that. But yeah, sure. *laughter* Suuureee. You added to the canon. I mean, the actual answer was, when you're spiking somebody, you're ripping of the soul, so kind of, there's not enough left to talk. I mean, you're ripping off enough of the soul, so it's a bad thing. It's a very bad thing. So you go "Who killed you?" and it's just somebody who is essentially-- But yes, they would go faster too.
Does Silverlight have a permanent Perpendicularity on it?
Silverlight has weird. So I'm gonna give a RAFO to that.
It's got a physical constellation map. So they've gotta go to the Physical somehow right?
No, no, no. That can be in the Cognitive Realm.
The constellation map can be a picture from the Cognitive?
Well, yeah, I mean, it can be a picture in the Cognitive. That is a picture that exists in Silverlight.
Right, sure, but they need to be somewhere to view those things.
Right, I didn't say that that’s from the perspective Silverlight, but what we say is the picture is hanging there.
So that was a mis-interpretation on our part.
Yeah, the picture is hanging there in Silverlight. Okay?
Is there actually anything on the Physical end of Silverlight?
That is-- That's the RAFO part... That's what I'm not answering. If there's anything Physical. There can't be a Perpen--well, there could be a Perpendicularity, but then you'd have to go someplace in the Physical, and it gets all-- Silverlight is really weird.
I have a specific question about one Perpendicularity, on First of the Sun. You've mentioned that it's dangerous.
Yes.
Is that because there are predators that can sense your thoughts, that can sense your presence in the Cognitive Realm as you're travelling across the Perpendicularity before you cross over--
That's a Read And Find Out.
Is there any way it's possible that somebody could have gotten to the Cognitive Realm on Scadrial without the Well of Ascension?
Yes.
And can we know how?
Well, how many Shardpools would Scadrial have?
Two, so the Pits of Hathsin would be so? That's what I theorized.
Yes. So you've adopted the term "Shardpool". That was never really my term, but I've started using it. What happens with a perpendicularity is large concentrations of Investiture, particularly purely attuned to one of the Shards, will create an access point. You've seen another one in--
Yeah, yeah I know these.
You know which one I'm referencing?
Yes.
That you didn't see a Pool from?
Oh wait--
Okay, he knows, so… We'll move on. *general outcry* Okay, fine. Umm, at the end of Words of Radiance.
There has to be one there because Jasnah has to leave somehow, right?
Yes, but Honor's Perpendicularity moves.
Woah...so...Highstorm?
*makes non-committal noises*
Kind of related to that, I don't know if this is a RAFO kind of question, but you call them perpendicularities, are we going to see this sort of thing created? Could there be, like--
Yeah, perpendicularities can be created. You'd need a lot of Investiture, right? You'd need a ton of Investiture. But, basically what Jasnah does is create a little mini perpendicularity, right? And slips herself into the Cognitive Realm.
So it's just a question of skill, not a question of--
Yeah. It's hard to pull off, but some of the powers are built to do it.