Shadows of Self - What an awesome story, and what a gut-punch of an ending! Was that planned when you wrote Alloy of Law?
Once I finished Alloy, I wrote the scene with Bloody Tan and Wax, intending it for Book 2. That was when I built this plot.
We eventually moved the scene to the start of book one, and I revised with the new perspective on Lessie.
So it was there by the time Alloy came out, but was not part of the first draft. Advice from [Dan Wells] caused it.
You have my sincere apologies
When does the Wax and Wayne series take place compared to The Stormlight Archive?
Just after.
Thank you! So after Stormlight 10, then comes The Alloy of Law? I have noticed a change in Hoid in these books since.
Alloy is somewhere after Stormlight 5.
Do Returned have a bond with their divine Breath that would give them powers on Roshar? Or are they different to seons?
They are Highly Invested beings, but the Investiture is not sapient.
Would Steris make a good/great Lightweaver, considering her near superhuman self-awareness?
Problem is she might be too honest with herself.
I sent out the October Brandon Sanderson newsletter yesterday. If you're subscribed, check your spam filter.
The story in the newsletter, I am guessing Inception and Men In Black
Good guess. It was actually Inception and Tron.
Can you tell us how Sazed knows about radio?
Certain natural phenomenon became visible to him when he ascended, and he could logic the rest.
He also has some vague prediction abilities.
What if an Epic in the [Reckoners] universe feared losing a loved one? Or feared becoming evil?
Both would be intriguing starts to a weakness. You could get rid of their powers, for example, [by] threatening a loved one.
I think they'd lock said love one away in total isolation then murder anyone else who knew about them b/c of corrupt power.
Yup. Fun times!
Your book, Shadows of Self, just released today. What do you think will shock fans the most?
I have a feeling that the ending will be the most shocking part, followed closely by how magnificently Wayne butchers our language.
No spoilers now! Why did you decide to focus on Waxillium Ladrian in this book?
Brandon Sanderson
Wax is the heart of these books, though it has been tough to get past his rough exterior. I wanted to really dig into who he is.
I gotta know if I'm going to see Rlain interludes or (please!) a book of his perspective.
You will get a scene from his viewpoint soon.
Does Vasher go to Roshar before or after the events of Warbreaker?
After
Now I love [The Stormlight Archive] as much as the next person, but I see a hole that just gets under my skin no matter what!
?
SKYEELS! They would have been discovered first and called Eels. It's always bugged me, unless you can offer a reason that is
The hound question is what you should be asking. Roshar has regular water eels, so skyeel isn't nearly as odd as axehound.
Ahhh but that's my point exactly. shouldn't it be eels and water eels? Not skyeels and eels. Watereels discovered second.
The answers are there in the books. They will be made clear soon, but I suspect many have guessed already.
Is it possible to be a full Feruchemist and a Misting or vice versa, like a lopsided Twinborn?
Possible, yes. Highly unlikely, but possible.
In the "Dark One" novel you're planning, will that character be the dark one for the entire cosmere or just that world?
That world.
I wonder if creationspren pop up when people are getting busy...
There's a different spren for that.
Only one chapter left to write in Dalinar's flashbacks. This one will answer many questions you might have had about his past.
Were there any surprises for you as you wrote about his past? I know you like to discovery-write your characters
After writing Dalinar in book one, I had settled most of this. But yes, there were still some surprises.
Since Jasnah has been "out and about," should we be watching for cameos in your other books?
Problem is, no books are currently happening right at the same time as Stormlight. And Jasnah hasn't gone far afield.
Are there any chances we are going to revisit Vin and Reen's story? They are such fascinating characters! '-'
Not much of a chance, I'm afraid. I don't love prequels. But anything is possible.
Finished Firefight the other day! Epic, as always. Have you seen the real-life Spyril? :D https://t.co/T0HZiHIzKu
That is where I got the idea. :)
Is there a connection between Sak's talent and Allomantic electrum? If so, what is it?
Yes. Reading a person's spiritual connections and possibilities. Similar powers, as is atium.
Was much of the Shattered Plains inspired by the beach?
A lot of the life on Roshar is inspired by tide pools.
What is a half beard. A short beard or are nobles in Luthadel walking around with one side of their face smooth.?
Their term for goatee.
Does Kai's name (Perfect State) rhyme with the letter A or I?
I can't remember. It might appear in a video of Brandon's reading from his recent tour.
He says it like "hey" but I realized that might be like an informal "K". Like a Jason might be J.
Nah, it's not a K. So that means that's how you pronounce it. Brandon is usually more likely to say ai as A than I (as I would).
Same with Shai?
Yes.
Would you be able to tell us the location of the Velding (Elantris) for the wiki page?
From the context, it's like a mixture of the Kremlin and the Vatican (or Saint Basil's Cathedral). So, too small for the map.
The Unmade were "made" or are Unmade because they have never been made? It would be 2 different words in Spanish. Thank you.
That is a good question. I assumed they had never been made but it's possible it is the other.
Could a Surgebinder shut down Shardplate by cracking a piece and then consuming the Stormlight from the internal gems?
Yes, though getting the Stormlight out of those gems while they're already powering something is not easy.
We need to see a cosmere world with a more musical magic system!
I've thought of a few, but have trouble finding something that feels distinctive from other song-based magic systems.
But, I get the feeling you forgot about copperclouds making Smokers and mistborn immune to emotional allomancy. Didn't you?
They don't. Only the Smoker himself is made immune.
I am not suggesting otherwise. However, I remember Sanderson saying Zane used emotional Allomancy on Vin, and Vin using duralumin and brass successfully on Yomen's Smoker (and Tineye) at the ball. Among other instances I forget.
Duralumin beats copper. I'm not sure about the other instance.
Are [Jaddeth] & [Domi] the Shards Dominion & Devotion?
Domi is more Devotion and Jaddeth is more Dominion. But there is some mixing. The shard holders were Aona and Skai.
Were the Alethi made by some creator-figure and given the Thrill deliberately?
Roshar was inhabited before Honor and Cultivation arrived. The Thrill did not exist then.
So it's a response to the power of one of or both of them?
I didn't say that... :)
How come the base 8 abilities come in pairs by base metal & alloy, but the higher ability pairs are not related?
Which book are you on? Things change after the first book. They don't understand things as well as they think.
I've read all 4 several times. Ex: electrum is a gold alloy yet it is opposite of atium & malatium opposite gold...>
Alloys of atium can't be thought of as establishing any pattern.
@PeterAhlstrom there are alloyS (plural) of atium?! Any chance that atium or its alloys show up again in any of the upcoming novels?
RAFO :)
And were I minded to, could I kill Kaladin with a Hemalurgic spike and steal his Windrunning? (I don't want to kill Kaladin)
You can steal most things with Hemalugy, but Surgebindings are tricky because of the spren. Requires some non-standard workings.
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
Finally, Brandon RAFO'd me on my question about "the wicked thing of eminence" that Alice theorized about. I asked "Was the wicked thing of eminence an action of spren, of men, or both?" I didn't go into this with him in a line, but my theory is about the spren.
Nashan'Elin
(paraphrased)
Could Honor and Autonomy be considered opposites, like, Autonomy freeing from Honor's oaths?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
Yes, you could definitely think of it that way. Those two are more likely to be opposed than some others.
PallonianFire
(paraphrased)
Is Threnody named in memorial of someone/something?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
*big smile* Yes it is.
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
The reading:
- He read this reading again (I was hoping for something new but only like??? 5 people in the audience had read Words of Radiance and the other excerpt he had prepared had WoR spoilers in it). It's young Dalinar at the feast.
- The only thing of note is in our reading he originally called Sadeas's wife "Ialai Sadeas", then he stopped, cleared his throat and corrected to "Ialai Torol" which would be an interesting naming convention, or his name really is Sadeas Torol and we've all be wrong this whole time.
Badger
(paraphrased)
What did you do while writing Wheel of Time?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
Alternated between writing Wheel of Time books and Cosmere books.
Badger
(paraphrased)
What's the status of the video game (Birthright)?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
- It. Didn't work out.
- There was another author at the time trying to get something done with (if I recall correctly) the same company, and he didn't want to compete with them.
- They still have the game rights.
It's been delayed mostly until there's some sort of movie out because basically there's two ways they can do a video game. They can do a big AAA game that will be very very expensive and it could flop, or they could do a smaller indie game. Because there's not a huge established audience from a movie, they want to wait until then before producing a game.
- He wants the gameplay to be a bit like Infamous in design (if I recall correctly).
- Basically what's stopping them right now is it's just really really expensive.
Badger
(paraphrased)
What about The Apocalypse Guard?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
- It's set in the Reckoners era
- Basically the coffee girl intern of the Apocalypse Guard gets sucked into a different dimension or something and they have to go retrieve her.
- You can read more here: http://brandonsanderson.com/the-apocalypse-guard/
Badger
(paraphrased)
What will be in Arcanum Unbound?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
- All of the things.
- All of the short stories and novellas that are part of the Cosmere by the release date will be included in it, as well as the Lift novella.
Badger
(paraphrased)
Can you tell us more about Khriss?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
- She has a cameo in Bands of Mourning
- She's the main character of White Sand, basically said just read White Sand to get more information since it comes out soon.
- Nahz is basically her grumpy secret agent she sends out to go retrieve artifacts for her.
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
The Movie Question
- A film adaptation is different than a graphic novel adaptation. A film brings in new fans who may not be avid readers, a completely different audience. A graphic novel will likely have a similar audience to his books.
- With book to film adaptations he says that there's only a one-in-three chance it will be a good adaptation of one of his books, and it's a risk he's willing to take.
- He quoted someone he couldn't remember saying basically that you can make a bad film, but that doesn't change the fact that the book is good. Someone once asked an author about a film ruining their book and they said "It's still there on the shelf, nothing's happened to the book."
- He sold the rights to people he feels he can trust to make good movies.
- Of all of them, Reckoners has the best chance at getting a movie but he made it clear that's just his hunch/estimate and we shouldn't run to Twitter getting excited about a movie that might not even happen.
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
White Sand Information
- His goal for it was a fantasy desert ecology that wasn't Dune.
- [White Sand] was his best unpublished book he wrote between Elantris and Mistborn.
- He didn't want a graphic novel to be a 1:1 adaptation of one of his existing books because it gives nothing to the old readers. He wanted to make sure it's something that new readers will like as well as his existing fans.
- [White Sand] needed a heavy edit and he worked with a script writer and talked a little bit about the process of that.
Badger
(paraphrased)
How much say did you have in the narrators for your audiobooks?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
He talked about the process behind picking narrators in the sense of he's allowed to request people, but if they can't get them, the publisher will present him with other options he can pick from. Same went for book cover artists (he chose Michael Whelan). He requested Michael Kramer and Kate Reading for his books because he was impressed with how he did the Wheel of Time books. The only one he didn't have say in is the original Warbreaker narrator (surfer dude Lightsong, anyone?).
Badger
(paraphrased)
What's your favorite magic system you've written?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
Compared picking a fave system to picking a fave child, it's easier to pick who is most obedient. He likes writing Allomancy/the metallic arts the most
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
He also commented about how he wanted people to like Steris, and says people probably don't like her in [The Alloy of Law] because they don't see enough of her and don't get to know her.
Badger
(paraphrased)
Does The Lost Metal takes place in Southern Scadrial?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
No, it's in the Basin. However it will have stuff about South Scadrial in it. His exact words were he doesn't want to write anything set in south Scadrial "yet".
Badger
(paraphrased)
How do chasmfiends reproduce?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
Pretty similarly to chulls. He says there's a hint on the chull reproduction page in [Words of Radiance]. The last step of the reproduction cycle, for chasmfiends, involves a spren.
Badger
(paraphrased)
Are there service animals on Roshar/Alethkar and if so what are they, out of the fauna we know?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
Axehounds are very easily trained and domesticated and would make for great service animals. Minks, probably next but not nearly as good as axehounds. He also mentioned that we'll know more about them, and their name, later.
Badger
(paraphrased)
Has Renarin been a Radiant since before we first met him in The Way of Kings?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
RAFO, saving it for the Renarin pov parts to explore.
Badger
(paraphrased)
Who bonded with their spren first, out of the new Radiants?
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
Chronologically, and of the ones we know, Jasnah.
