Recent entries

    General Reddit 2020 ()
    #2251 Copy

    Yoitsthew

    Would a lerasium/atium alloy create a Feruchemist, rather than an atium misting?? What with the way that it’s an alloy of god metals, and the way that lerasium can be used to acquire other magics? As far as I know there is no lerasium left currently, so this one is also just for my curiosity!!

    Brandon Sanderson

    You can use the god metals from Scadrial to make a Feruchemist, but I have to RAFO the actual means.

    General Reddit 2020 ()
    #2252 Copy

    Yoitsthew

     Theoretically, would it be possible to form a new shard from splinters of multiple other Shards? Could I have posses enough investiture from Honor, Cultivation, and/or Odium and effectively become Unity, without holding the entirety of those shards?? I’m really just curious haha.

    Brandon Sanderson

    What you want here is theoretically possible, but more difficult than it sounds.

    Rhythm of War Preview Q&As ()
    #2253 Copy

    ZuperzubS

    Hi Brandon, just to double check my understanding of things, Odium is still mostly bound on Braize right? Just that he can influence things on Roshar because of proximity?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I treat Braize, Ashyn, and Roshar as if they were almost one entity for a lot of Identity/Connection related issues. It's more than proximity, though proximity leads to it. We on Earth, I feel, would consider the moon and even Mars to be "ours" so to speak, part of our family of planets. Odium's binding, and that of the Heralds/Fused encompasses Roshar and Ashyn. There are some subtle distinctions, but for the most part, being bound on Braize is the same as being bound on Roshar.

    mraize7

    So Shadesmar is only from Roshar or from the three planets??

    Brandon Sanderson

    You can reach all three through Shadesmar, with a much shorter trip than to other systems. But the map we provide so far is only Roshar.

    Phantine

    Have you come up with a name for their star? It'd be easier to refer to all three by calling it the [???]ar/[sol]ar system instead of the Rosharan/[Earth]an system like we do now.

    Brandon Sanderson

    By people in world, it's being referred to as the Rosharan system. This is kind of confusing to us, because we focus on the suns to orient what makes a system. But in the cosmere, they travel directly to planets, and so the biggest trading planet becomes the source of naming conventions in most places. I agree it's a little confusing for us, but I believe it's the way it would naturally arise for them.

    Uth-gnar

    On the topic of the Rosharan solar system, do we get to learn about the significance of the 10 gas giants? We’re they there before the shards ever made their home there? Is that the ‘origin’ of the significance, in the context of the cosmere's natural laws?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO, I'm afraid.

    General Reddit 2020 ()
    #2254 Copy

    Vanahian

    Brandon has said that the Ashynite disease-based magic was related with the Old Magic. Did he mean it in a direct way? Like this magic from Ashyn was a branch or a variety of the Old Magic system?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I do have to RAFO this, for the most part. Suffice it to say that the disease magic is related to a symbiotic bond between spren-like Investiture and microorganisms.

    General Reddit 2020 ()
    #2255 Copy

    lupicorn

    Hi Brandon,

    I was wondering about how color-based magic like Soulcasters would work before the terms that define the colors existed. I know the Spiritual Realm is supposed to be associated with color and sound (maybe due to the mathematical basis of wavelengths?), but it doesn't seem like the exact wavelengths of the gemstones used in Soulcasters matter as much as whether they're understood as being specific colors. Does the existence of a color category precede the existence of a distinct magical effect or would the effect exist regardless? Like, before the language of the first inhabitants of the Rosharan system had words to differentiate between green and yellow would heliodors and emeralds have produced the same effect? Or smokestone and amethyst before the existence of the blue category?

    I have a feeling the answer is going to be similar to why the Bands of Mourning couldn't be used before they were known to be the Bands of Mourning but I thought I'd ask.

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, the color theory things in a lot of the cosmere are deeply integrated with the ideas of perception. I've mentioned before that some gemstones, for example, are nearly identical chemically, but are different colors--and so work differently in the magic. This is about perceptions.

    Linguistics certainly has a hand in shaping our perceptions of things. And so yes, the direction you're theorizing here has merit, but I'm going to have to RAFO details for now.

    Rhythm of War Annotations ()
    #2256 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    Chapter Twelve

    This is the last we'll see of Rock in the book, I'm afraid. I really hope to be able to do the Rock novella sometime in the next few years to trace his course, but one of the things I forced myself to do in this series is keep the focus on the main storylines and characters.

    Epic fantasy tends to involve ballooning casts, and this tends to derail books as the author lets their focus move away from the primary storyline toward side characters. I put some rigid requirements on myself when I started Stormlight that require me to move side stories out of the main narrative. It's odd to be talking about trying to keep books this length "lean" but I believe one of the strengths of the series is that it has (so far) kept its eye on the proverbial goal. This is more important than ever, with book five being the end of the first sequence.

    That said, what we're witnessing here is kind of the end of Bridge Four as a cohesive entity, at least as it existed in the series up until now. I was sad, for all the fun of this chapter, to be moving into this sequence of the stories. There was a temptation, of course, to just let Bridge Four continue to be Bridge Four--but it wouldn't feel right. Lives change and evolve. My tight-knit friend group from college can never be the same again, not now that we all have families and jobs. Bridge Four couldn't remain the same either.

    One of my problems with some forms of media like extended network television shows is the format's inability to let the status of the characters evolve, change, and grow. For a series like this, we need progression, and we need to let Bridge Four become something else. If we're sad about the changes, the early books will always be there to experience again.

    As for the Kaladn/Adolin/Shallan interactions, I actively look for moments like these to put into the novels. It's important to let the characters live, and one of the reasons I enjoy epic fantasy is that it (with the space afforded me) allows for more time like this.

    General Reddit 2020 ()
    #2257 Copy

    Doc_John (paraphrased)

    Hey! If you had the correct Intent in mind, could you Command a Lifeless to follow a Knight's Radiant Ideal? Like could you command it to "Protect those who cannot protect themselves"

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Yes, this would be possible, though it would depend on the Lifeless and circumstances on how good a job they do at it. The command is a little abstract, and could end up not working as well as you want it to.

    General Reddit 2020 ()
    #2259 Copy

    Haylo_Alex

    You've said before that Soulcasting can't create atium or lerasium which makes sense since they're made of Investiture from other Shards. But could a Soulcaster, perhaps in the proximity of Dalinar's perpendicularity, provide enough Stormlight to Soulcast something into Honor's Godmetal (tanavastium)? What about Cultivation's metal, or an alloy of both, like Shardblade metal?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, creating a God Metal is not something that's done easily in the Cosmere. HOWEVER, it is possible. You'd need a ton of Investiture, and being near Dalinar's perpendicularity is unlikely to be enough. I'd say Soulcasting, or something akin to it, has the means to do this if it could obtain the proper power charge.

    General Reddit 2020 ()
    #2260 Copy

    Nameles36

    Does Lift need to poop?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Lift's system is more efficient than that of a normal persons in this particular area. Less poop, almost none. (I imagine it being like that one guy who didn't eat for a year, surviving off of body fat.)

    Nameles36

    Why does Lift get hungry after converting food to Stormlight? If you don't need to breathe while holding Stormlight because it sustains your body, why would you need to eat?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Her body is a little confused at times. That's part of it. Also, she just has a psychological response to eating, like many of us do.

    Rhythm of War Preview Q&As ()
    #2261 Copy

    celestialwolf157

    By the way, Kaladin's comment on Taln and Shalash's mental health makes me wonder: Are the Ten Fools based on the Heralds after they broke the Oathpact? Having 9 immortal, mentally ill people on Roshar for millenia seems like it'd have spawned some stories that could have eventually become stories of the Ten Fools. Taln wouldn't be included in this, but with Vorinism and the number 10, I imagine they'd have created something to oppose his virtues.

    Also, I can't remember if this is confirmed or not, but on the topic of the Heralds' mental health, is it at all supernatural? Taln seemed to recover somewhat when Dalinar summoned the perpendicularity at the end of Oathbringer. So, is it just severe PTSD, or something supernatural is involved?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I've tried to make it clear in talking about the books that I separate what has happened to the Heralds and normal mental health. What they're suffering from is in large part supernatural--and has to do with the way souls (or Cognitive Shadows) work in the cosmere. So you are correct. This doesn't mean that some normal treatments wouldn't help them, but their core problem has a huge supernatural component.

    And yes, there IS a relationship between the ten fools and the Heralds, though people on Roshar wouldn't be able to point it out.

    mastapsi

    Is the Heralds' madness related to and/or the same thing as the Fused's madness? The Stormfather mentions that each time one of the Fused is reborn, their mind is further damaged. Is it the same with the Herald? To many rebirths, possibly compounded by the fact that they not only often died each Desolation, but were tortured until the next one?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, these two things are related. (There are some hints in Rhythm of War at how Hoid has avoided a similar fate.)

    Note that the torture--and the many rebirths--are a big part of this. But their age is also a factor.

    3DLightweaver

    Does this mean that a certain Cognitive Shadow from the Mistborn series is fated to go insane?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Depends on a lot of factors. But the longer a Cognitive Shadow exists, the more likely these problems are.

    dce42

    Would this affect the Returned as well? What about those with a lot (like 8,000) breaths since they are not cognitive shadows.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Returned are Cognitive Shadows. In the Cosmere, there is no way to bring someone back to life, other than normal medical resuscitation, without using a Cognitive Shadow.

    Stromeng

    What about Dalinar? I thought he has had textbook PTSD, but the screams he continued to hear turned out to be magic.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Dalinar has a whole host of issues, not easily defined by a single definition. Assume, though, that his mental state is a normal response to, in part, supernatural occurrences.

    The different for the Heralds is that they have conditions which could only truly exist in the cosmere, even if some of the manifestations and symptoms are similar to what could happen on Earth.

    Stonewalker16

    So is that implying that Hoid is a Cognitive Shadow, or is that just an effect of being really really old? Also does Vasher know about/how to avoid these effects? Probably an RAFO, but...

    Brandon Sanderson

    Come back to that question in about a month or so.

    General Reddit 2020 ()
    #2263 Copy

    rektosaurusd

    Also, is there anyone in the Cosmere I could make for X?!

    Brandon Sanderson

    Hmm. Xisis. He'll show up eventually.

    CephandriusTW

    I have just seen this and I'm curious. Is there any information about Xisis that you could give us before entering RAFO territory?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Not human, from Yolen, currently hanging out on a planet quite near to where you can find a lot of the aethers.

    General Reddit 2020 ()
    #2264 Copy

    asmodeus

    The humans on Roshar have a lot of holdover terms from... before, like chicken, soil, wine, etc.

    Is "mink" another of those holdover terms, where they are calling something a mink that we may call something else?

    Is it, mayhaps, actually a lion?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, minks actually are one of the mammals who managed to get a foothold on Roshar, so they know what minks are. (They are mentioned other places in the text.) Good question, though!

    General Reddit 2020 ()
    #2265 Copy

    Erik02847

    I’m on my 3rd or fourth reread of the Stormlight Archive this year, and I noticed the runaway comment that certain animals are farmed in order to produce meat via using their gemhearts for Soulcasting. We know as of Oathbringer that Soulcaster’s have a tendency to become what they Soulcast when they become savants. This lead me to question, how does that work for meat Soulcasters? Do they just become more meaty than a regular human? If so what does that even look like? Just some random questions that I haven’t seen discussed anywhere else.

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO for now, more for the fact that I'm low on time. But I'll talk about this some day.

    YouTube Livestream 16 ()
    #2266 Copy

    Lauren

    If you found yourself as an apprentice in the Cosmere, who would you like as a mentor figure and why?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh boy, who would I like as a mentor figure and why. I would probably pick someone boring in Silverlight, because I do not necessarily want to be involved in the great workings of the Cosmere because there is a lot of danger involved in that. I would stay far away from Hoid. Khriss would not be bad but she gets into a lot of dangerous situations, and I'm not sure that I would recommend letting her get you into those situations. How about that.

    So yeah. There you go. Vasher - definitely right out. Don't be near Vasher if you value not getting your soul sucked into a dangerous black sword.

    But, you know, I'm not sure if I could come up with a name. If I have to name - somebody that is going to be named... Maybe Vstim. You know, he was a good mentor and yeah, he travelled a lot, but he was really careful. Granted, he did have his apprentice jump off a greatshell's head, but that was more her fault than his. I think he would take really good care of an apprentice. And he knows his way around, so he's a pretty good mentor.

    YouTube Livestream 16 ()
    #2267 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    You can read Aether of Night. I gave that to 17th Shard to give away to people. You can read the e-book of that.

    White Sand and Aether of Night are readable books. They both have big problems. Aether of Night has the problem that it feels like two different books. There's like, a romantic comedy happening at the same time as a dire war and invasion by dark forces, and the two books don't really work well together. It's like a Shakespearean mistaken identity romantic comedy going on opposite that.

    White Sand just has the problem that it's about thirty percent too long, overwritten for what the plot actually is. We fixed that when making it a graphic novel, but some people like the prose version instead, so you can get that and read it. White Sand is canon to the Cosmere with the tweaks made to the graphic novel. I don't ever intend to rewrite White Sand, though I do intend to someday have other things happening on that world. So that one is canon. Aether of Night is not, even though there's a Shardpool and a Shard in it. The events that are happening in that book are not canon. Aethers are - you've seen them pop up here and there. But the actual events of the story aren't.

    YouTube Livestream 16 ()
    #2268 Copy

    Hannah

    If video games existed in the cosmere, which current cosmere character that we know would be the best gamer?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Best gamer? Um...

    Adam Horne

    I want to see if your statement is the same as mine.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Whew, best gamer? Who wants to sit down and game?

    Adam Horne

    That's going outside of mine, my character probably would not want to, but I think they'd be very good at it.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Very good at gaming, very good at gaming... Lift.

    Adam Horne

    Oh, Lift would probably enjoy it. Mine is Sazed because he can store his speed and stuff.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, Sazed would be technically, you're right, would be way, way better. I don't know if Wayne could slow time and put in inputs and then they would come out, I don't know how that would work.

    Adam Horne

    Is the tv outside of his bubble?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, the tv would have to be outside of his bubble. How would that work?

    Adam Horne

    What happens to a wireless signal when it hits the bubble?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Wireless signal is going to have a red shift. Physicist, what happens if a red shift happens? As I understand it, that actually wouldn't change it appreciably, but we'd let a physicist say on that. Regardless, yeah, Sazed would definitely have a big leg up. That's a very good answer.

    YouTube Livestream 16 ()
    #2269 Copy

    Questioner

    Do you ever feel limited by the commitment you've made with the massive writing of the Cosmere, or is there enough variety within the Cosmere to keep you happy and feel like you have some flexibility to do what you want to do with your writing ideas and preferences, especially as they change.

    Brandon Sanderson

    The answer is no. Fortunately, I designed the Cosmere as the thing I wanted to do, and I had essentially been writing the Cosmere for like, eight books before I sold. So I knew pretty well that I would have enough flexibility and things like this.

    I am very excited by large-scale continuity connections between stories - watching eras come and pass in epic story-lines and things like that. I've never felt constrained by it. If anything, once in a while I feel constrained by contracts coming at the wrong time when I'm super excited by something else - like when a deadline is coming due and I'm like "I need to get off of this and write this other thing".And that's just a matter of - it's a function of the popularity that we enjoy that I've talked about before. I think that if I were - I'm not going to go back to this, but when I were a little less popular, the publishers would sit on books for like, two and a half years after I turned them in, to find the right place to publish them, or the right time. The bottom-line of the entire company was not appreciably affected by my book releasing.

    Nowadays, the bottom-lines of companies are appreciably affected by my books releasing, so they don't sit on them. You don't turn in a Stormlight book and have it come out two and a half years later. Fans would probably have a heart attack if they knew we were doing that. But what it meant was that this buffer that I had vanished unexpectedly out from underneath us and so suddenly everything I'm writing is at the last moment that it could get - the last possible moment for it to be turned in, to be published, is generally when it's getting turned in. And this is just because people are really excited to get the books out. What that means is that things will happen where it's like, in an ideal world I don't think I would have gone straight from Rhythm of War into Dawnshard. It turned out to be okay because I was writing different characters, but I really like space between books in the same series as a way to refresh myself, and ideally I would have written the next Skyward book and maybe the next Wax and Wayne book and then done Dawnshard and then written the next Skyward book, and then come back to Stormlight.

    But that just wasn't possible because of the timelines that I've set out. Dawnshard really needs to be out before Rhythm of War comes out, and because of that tight deadline then I'm on another tight deadline, which now means that writing the next Skyward book has to happen next because my YA publisher has been waiting very patiently without a book for quite a while, and while I probably would want to go to Wax and Wayne 4 next because I've been away from that even longer, Wax and Wayne 4 is for the same publisher that's now publishing Rhythm of War and they've got plenty to do and are plenty busy, and I need to get something to the other publisher.

    These sorts of things are the annoyances of the reality of being a professional writer, but I never feel constrained by the Cosmere. I've never felt constrained by "Oh I promised ten Mistborn books or whatever" (30 seconds of figuring out how many Mistborn books. 13?)

    So do I feel constrained by that? No I feel excited by that. That's never been an issue. Do I feel constrained by the fact that I really need to get Skyward 3 and 4 and Wax and Wayne done in time to get back to Stormlight 5 to have Stormlight 5 come out on a reasonable timescale - that, I do feel constrained by.

    YouTube Livestream 16 ()
    #2270 Copy

    Questioner

    Nadia wants to know if we've kicked around the idea for publishing an illustrated version of the Stormlight Archive, or some sort of guide with illustrations.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Right. We've kicked around the idea of a world guide, which is pretty common in epic fantasy. George has some, Wheel of Time had the Big White Book as it was called, the guide to the Wheel of Time, and then following that, an encyclopedia. I could imagine doing world guides like that with lots of artwork and things like that for various Cosmere worlds.

    I would not want to do it for Stormlight until book 5 is done, because then you've got kind of an - book 5 will wrap up the first major arc, and it would just be a good time for something like that as a companion to the first five books, but we haven't talked about it really seriously ever, just because we have so many projects on our plate that this one - just not one we've gotten around to.

    And plus, you know, they tend to take a ton of work, or, conversely, a ton of randomness. I know the people who worked on the Big White Book for Wheel of Time, and they're very proud of it and they did some very good work. But a lot of the fans were disappointed for the artwork quality for some of the pieces in the Big White Book, and that's always been kind of a warning cry to me, that if you're expecting artwork like we have in the end-pages for the Stormlight Archive all the way through it - that's a lot of work, and involves a lot of Isaac's time, and so we would have to find a time when he is excited to do it, or that we can, you know, talk Ben McSweeney into doing that himself, or something like that.

    So yeah, it's on the table, but I wouldn't expect it soon.

    General Reddit 2020 ()
    #2271 Copy

    Favna

    Is it some inside joke that Ben Olsen didn't want to be bridge 4? I'm very curious what led up to it. If you can share that's be awesome.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. He's a long time member of my writing group, and a good friend. If you watch the stream I did with Dan Wells a few weeks ago, Ben crashes the party and we tell stories about how he insists that none of us put him in our books--something that we kind of follow, and kind of don't.

    General Reddit 2020 ()
    #2272 Copy

    Jurble

    Dear Mr. Sanderson,

    Given the motivation per the books that the Knights believed they were giving up their Surgebinding powers to prevent the destruction of Roshar à la Ashyn, in practical terms how did e.g. Windrunners break their bonds?

    Since they believed they were doing the right (honorable) thing wouldn't simply deciding "I'm breaking my oaths for the good of Roshar" not damage the bond (especially if Fifth Ideal Windrunners have [attitude] similar to Nale's comment regarding his bond)? Or can one break the bond by force of will or decision as opposed to betraying oaths in a practical sense?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There is an explanation to give here, but it would have spoilers for Rhythm of War and Book Five, so I'll RAFO for now. Ask me in about three years and four months.

    General Reddit 2020 ()
    #2273 Copy

    LewsTherinTelescope

     In Rithmatist, is the 4th of July still their American Independence Day, with the alternate history?

    Related question, is there a mechanical reason for inception being the 4th, or is it just cultural?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Cultural. And yes, July fourth is still an important day though they might call it something else, with the monarchy being in exile in the colonies.

    LewsTherinTelescope

    Thanks! Are you willing to say why it's important in their world, or is that something where I'll have to RAFO?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Let's RAFO for now, as that world is in limbo for right now, and I'm not sure one hundred percent where I'll go.

    General Reddit 2020 ()
    #2274 Copy

    Ben McSweeney

    In the final design (as seen in the 10th anniversary WoK) the front row of bridgemen run with the front lip of the bridge, fully exposing them to arrow fire as described in the text.

    Fun fact: Parshendi and humans both use a specific type of shalebark leaf to fletch arrows, similar to wooden fletching. Various types of chicken scales are, of course, very rare and much too expensive for fletching. This does lead to accuracy issues.

    Rhythm of War Preview Q&As ()
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    Wantsometrufflesmate

    Nale’s nuts sounds like something a world hopper would say...... I mean there aren’t any nut producing plants on Roshar so how would. (Someone’s) nuts be a saying?

    Brandon Sanderson

    In these cases, you should assume one of two things.

    1. It's a linguistic holdover. I like using a lot of these in Stormlight. Human languages still have a lot of terms in them that reference the world they used to live on. (See Hoid's discussion of the word "hound" in one of the books.)

    2. We're doing our best to translate into English a phrase that doesn't really work in our language.

    Basically, whichever is easier for your suspension of disbelief. With this, I'd say it's likely they said "Nale's Rockbuds" but it's just awkward in English, so when the book was changed from Alethi to English, the translator (me) picked something that conveyed the same meaning.

    General Reddit 2020 ()
    #2276 Copy

    Michael Whelan

    Just to clarify some misconceptions I've seen in Stormlight Archive discussions. That's not Dalinar on the cover of THE WAY OF KINGS.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Huh. I've been told (granted, second hand) that he intended it to be Dalinar and Eshonai--but then again, he wasn't as familiar with the series when he did that cover as he is now. He's mentioned before he wished he'd made the cloak blue.

    TaakosWizardForge

    Is it possible Whelan could make those adjustments and a reprint can go out?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I think it's unlikely. Book covers aren't generally meant to be illustrations of the events of the book, and more a "poster" to give the right feel to those looking to pick it up. That's doubly true for a first book in a series. So I don't feel it needs tweaks, though it is a little confusing here and there.

    MammothMan34

    For me, it's only a bit confusing in hindsight, since the subsequent three books have obviously portrayed named characters.

    Selfishly, despite my love of the Way of Kings cover, I hope the not Dalinar-ness maintains so that he might be more pronounced on a future cover. He's my favorite and I am greedy for more.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I think a Dalinar cover will be appropriate for the next book, so there's a very good chance that's the way we go.

    General Reddit 2020 ()
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    AndrenNoraem

    /u/mistborn I know it's in cremposting, but [a cookbook] is an exciting idea and I'd love to hear whether it's something you'd consider.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It would take a lot of work to come up with a full cookbook. But it's something people have joked about before, so I don't know. Maybe if the films/TV shows get big enough, we could do something like this?

    Rhythm of War Annotations ()
    #2278 Copy

    Brandon Sanderson

    Chapter Six

    So, this little sequence with Kaladin, the lurgs, and tricking Leshwi was one I was VERY close to cutting from the book. Thing is, this battle between them has been going on pretty long at this point, and my gut says I've done a little too much of "Kaladin chases and fights someone through the air" in these chapters.

    I looked long and hard, therefore, at trimming this sequence for pacing reasons. In the end, I left it, and I don't know 100% if it was the right choice or not. I like how it gives a different kind of interaction for Kaladin on the battlefield here, and how it hearkens back to the flashback from book one with Tien.

    I opted, instead, to trim more extensively through the whole combat--taking out words and sentences, rather than this entire scene. But it was a tough call. And even in the very last revision, I went back and forth on it. If I'd been forced to trim something here to make a film come in at the right time, this part would have gone--but one of the luxuries of writing epic fantasy in novel form is that I can be a little more self-indulgent. (So long as I don't let myself go too far.)

    General Reddit 2020 ()
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    Headpat_Thot

    The Reshi King from Rysn's interlude is probably trans. This statement is based on a few points

    1: Everybody but Rysn (who's whole thing is that she's extremely green and unaware of the world) uses He/Him pronouns to refer to the reshi king.

    2: When Rysn first meets the king, She genders him as a man, until she notices that he has breasts. This suggests that he has taken measures to present more masculine.

    3: When Rysn refuses to call the king "king" his son loses his temper and tries to send her away. Up until then, he had been firm, but that was the point where he outright tells her to leave.

    There is one line in the text where The king's son says "gender is irrelevant" in response to a question Rysn has about the king's gender.

    I will say that this was written before the Author stopped using Gender and Sex interchangeably according to the WoB database.

    Beyond that, I doubt the language they were speaking (thaylen) would have a robust understanding of sex and gender.

    Credar

    /u/mistborn was this your intention with the scene if you can confirm it? Or was it more the Egyptian style Hatshepsut-like others are mentioning?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I love Hatshepsut as an interesting quirk of history, and have long thought about ways to incorporate something similar. I did have that partially in mind when I was writing this, but more in the way that the culture was trying to understand him, rather than his own view of himself.

    The king sees himself as male, and wishes to be treated that way--not just in title. In fact, in the coming months, you will see this character again briefly in some scenes I've already written, if you keep an eye out.

    Jacky_Ragnarovna

    ooh are we going back to the Reshi Isles? Will we get a beach episode?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Ha. RAFO. :)

    General Reddit 2020 ()
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    Ben McSweeney

    There are days when my job is just... really much more fun than ought to be allowed. Isaac came up with all the ideas, but he let me go off on my own for Horneater White and the One-Armed Herdazian. I drew up the head for Chazmfiend and contributed "Sweet Scalespray" flavour, but I think RAFO Soda was all Isaac and Adam. It might be my favorite, too. That or the HW frontside, I had a good time painting that.

    I posted a slightly nicer resolution on the Horneater White coaster last week when it was first revealed, but this is the first time folks are seeing the finished set. I did the "stained" versions for a giggle by using the same texture layers I had archived from Shallan's sealogged sketches. If y'all wants 'em, y'all can has 'em... but I feel we could also just print them clean and then have the fun of staining them honestly. Though I'd love it if the textured ones were like, 1/100 variant cards given away randomly at events or through the store, that'd be fun too.

    I almost never get to indulge my weakness for alliterative copy. You know you want to TASTE the Four-Scream Fury of CHAZMFIEND!! Chase it with a fistful of Cremling Crisps, their satisfying salty crunch swears to satiate your sense of FLAVOUR!!!

    It's like a birthday, every day. :)

    The_Second_Best

    There was one Brandon had a good laugh at on his stream, a Dalinar coaster with "What is the most important drink? The next one."

    Is there any chance of you guys doing a coaster like that?

    Amazing work BTW, really hope we hit the goal!

    Brandon Sanderson

    I love it as a joke, but I don't think we'd do a coaster because it might be a little tone deaf to twist the oaths of a former alcoholic to encourage the next drink. Normally, I'd have no problem with that, but there are some people who use Dalinar's words to keep them going in their own personal struggles with addiction.

    Rhythm of War Preview Q&As ()
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    Kinolee

    It's surprising me to me that we haven't heard from Venli yet. Considering this is her book, I would have expected her to take more of a center stage. But we haven't even seen or heard from her yet, let alone had a flashback. I wonder why /u/mistborn decided to start elsewhere.

    I suppose it's important to establish the time skip early on, but I wonder why that couldn't have been done from the perspective of Odium's forces so that Venli could take the lead.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Basically, this part you're reading is the "end" of the in-between book, and Venli's book hasn't started yet. Her first chapter is what you might consider the "true" beginning of the novel.

    As a note, though, I decided her flashbacks worked better when spread across a shorter reading space--so I don't introduce them until later in the book than the others started.

    Rhythm of War Preview Q&As ()
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    learhpa

    > I could easily have had an entire book with a major thread about toppling her [Ialai's] little empire on the Shattered Plains, but that would have been too backward looking.

    I dunno. I think that could be fun. I'm somewhat imagining a John-Wick-alike character whose job is to take Ialai down and it turning into a surreal action/adventure/spy story.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I absolutely think this could have worked in a different narrative. But in this book, with so much of the focus moving to the greater war and the invasion, I feel that spending a lot of pages on recovering the Shattered Plains (and dealing with a group in the Sons of Honor that have been repeatedly defeated already) would just feel anticlimactic.

    A different style of narrative could have pivoted to political intrigue instead of war epic after the first book or so, and then this sort of plot would have been exciting and dynamic. It's all about scope and the subgenre of your narrative.

    Rhythm of War Preview Q&As ()
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    simon_thekillerewok

    That's interesting that you had this DID direction planned for Shallan since the beginning (pre-Way of Kings I presume). I had just assumed it was something that you developed in between WoR and Oathbringer. I know you've commented on subjects related to this before - but in light of what you're saying about leaning away from the fantastical, I'm curious to know if you think that if Shallan had become, say, an Edgedancer instead (or just never continued in her truths), that she would have developed DID and those aspects regardless? Or would she just have had her trauma manifest in other ways (such as other dissociative disorders like depersonalization/derealization/amnesia)?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would say that she would have gone the same way she has, but the manifestations of her disassociation would have been different. But this is something I could perhaps waver on.

    LewsTherinTelescope

    I've seen quotes from you before that you didn't intend her to actually have DID, is that just about it originally being more fantastical, and now you're trying to make it actually be realistic more?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, that's what is happening here. I originally shied away from it, as I didn't want to open that can of worms--but then, I realized I was opening it anyway, and the only way to be honest was to admit what I was doing and get some people who have DID themselves to advise me.

    I think, in hindsight, I was trying to take too much of an easy path--and the path that didn't require me to do the work like I needed to

    pweepweemuggins

    Aha! So that's what you did. I immediately noted in the first chapters that Shallan's illness seemed to have gotten worse. I thought that it was you alludIng to a downward spiral of the characters in conjunction with the world of Roshar - which made sense because, if you place a mentally ill person in a world with no access to mental healthcare and then make their situation worse, what would happen? Their mental illness would get worse.

    I'm surprised that it was just a change in the way you write her.

    If you had the option to go back and revise all of her chapters that way, would you?

    Because as it is, the real-ness and definition of her other egos reads like a downward spiral.

    Brandon Sanderson

    What you're noticing is not just me changing the way I'm writing her. More, I realized that her downward spiral was going to require me to actively deal with her mental illness in a responsible way, if that makes sense.

    I wouldn't change much about the past books. It was more that I realized that the place she was going in this one required a more delicate touch than I could manage without some expert help.

    YouTube Livestream 16 ()
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    Questioner

    How would Adolin fare against the greats like Lan, Rand, Galad, and how would Kaladin and his spear fare against Mat?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It’s really hard to say this, because what are different characters’ skill levels and things? For instance, I generally count Lan as the strongest and the best. My [Wheel of Time] books that I wrote show that. I think Lan would beat Adolin. You just can’t replace the twenty years of intense practice that Lan has, and the wisdom, no matter how talented of a rookie you are -- even though Adolin is not a rookie. I think Lan could go toe-to-toe with anyone non-immortal in the cosmere, because a lot of the cosmere people have an advantage, right? Taln has spent 4,000 years practicing with weapons. Granted, he spent a bunch of that time being tortured as well, but you know. He has many lifetimes behind him, and has been able to be killed making mistakes and never make those mistakes again. That is a leg up on someone like Lan or like Adolin that is just of a supernatural level. And so, while I think Lan would beat any swordsman in a fair fight from the Cosmere, I would count anyone who has a greatly expanded lifespan as an unfair fight. Like, I don’t think Lan would be able to stand against the better duelists among the Heralds or even against Vasher. Vasher’s got multiple lifetimes of practicing with the sword.

    How would Kaladin do against Mat? It depends, Mat’s luck is a very big wildcard, and how is the luck on Mat’s side and how is karma working in Mat’s favor or against him in that given moment? That’s part of what makes Mat fun. So Kaladin is a soldier, again, not a duelist. Kaladin is really good with a spear, but his training is in war, his training is to be a battlefield captain. What even is Mat? Mat has been trained by fate itself with weapons, which is just really hard to play. Let’s call that a tie, edge probably to Kaladin.

    Lan beats Adolin or basically any duelist but you put him up against the Heralds and he has a much harder time.

    YouTube Livestream 16 ()
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    Chad

    Would Adolin or Dalinar have a heron-marked blade if they were in Randland?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Adolin would, Dalinar would not. Dalinar is not a duelist, Dalinar is a destroyer. Dalinar is someone you let loose on a battlefield and couldn’t -- he does not care if he has a heron-marked blade, if he’s considered a swordmaster. He will use any weapon he can get his hands on, and is proficient in a lot of them. What he is most proficient at is striking terror into your heart and laying waste (this is young Dalinar) to everything in his path. Dalinar is a general and a warlord, not a swordsman. 

    Footnote: “Randland” refers to the Wheel of Time universe in this context, where swordmasters are given marked with a heron.
    General Reddit 2020 ()
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    Chiberty

    What happens if you try to summon a Shardblade, but there is a wall where it would appear? What about liquids in the way, or person, and what if Shardplate is in the way?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Generally, the Blade isn't going to appear inside of something solid--and will appear (shoving aside) in liquid. It can be hit or miss on people, but generally doesn't work--and Shardplate would stop it from materializing.

    General Reddit 2020 ()
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    HA2HA2

    Ooh, I think that's a really good point, Marsh probably should have flared steel or iron or something? /u/mistborn ?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, you're right. Good catch, /u/Thevulgarcommander! I believe we caught this already, however, and tweaked future printings.

    Stormtide_Leviathan

    So does this mean that tin doesn’t enhance Allomantic senses when burned? You’ve said before that windwhispers can store Allomantic senses, so I’m surprised at the difference there

    Brandon Sanderson

    I just think the passage is confusing, and was better of being tweaked. The new version, if you find it, makes it clearer--I believe he flares both tin and steel/iron.

    General Reddit 2020 ()
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    Jurble

    I'm reading my Stormlight books in anticipation of the newest and I noticed Teleb being an Oldblood - a detail that I hadn't noticed or remembered the first time around. A search on Coppermind shows that you said they were simply a previous dynasty that ruled Alethkar back in 2014.

    I wonder if I'm reading too much into it - but are the Oldbloods perhaps descended directly from the Knights Radiant whereas other Lighteyes are descended from later non-Radiant Shardbearers?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You're not reading too much into it--Oldbloods claim to be able to trace their lineage to Knights Radiant, but don't talk about that aspect of it as much because of the poor reputation of Radiants until just recently.

    General Reddit 2020 ()
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    Doc_John

    Hey, you've mentioned before that for the Lord Ruler to be able to be a Mistborn and a Feruchemist he had to alter his spiritweb in some way because a person can't normally hold all 32 powers. What about a Mistborn Ferring? Would it be possible for someone born with all 16 powers of Allomancy to also be born with a Ferring power? What about a Ferring Misting? Thanks

    Brandon Sanderson

    This is possible now, when it once wasn't, but would be very unlikely.

    Doc_John

    Just as getting a Mistborn nowadays is very unlikely but that hasn't stopped people from trying ;) ;)

    Follow up, having past a certain number of medallions doesn't work currently in world. Is this because of this same issue? Or is it more of a technical hurdle with the medallion?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The core root is the same issue, but it's not insurmountable with technological improvements.

    The Ten Orders of Knights Radiant ()
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    Brandon Sanderson

    Adhesion allows you to bind things together.

    Gravitation allows you to change the direction and strength of an object's gravitational attraction, including that of yourself, which essentially gives you the power of flight.

    Division allows you to manipulate the rate an object decays.

    Abrasion allows you to make objects, including yourself, frictionless.

    Progression and Regrowth allows you to heal organisms and alter their growth.

    Illumination allows you to create illusions.

    Transformation allows you to soulcast objects from one material into another.

    Transportation allows you to travel between the Cognitive and Physical realms.

    Cohesion allows you to alter the shape of solid objects.

    Tension allows you to alter the stiffness of objects.

    Footnote: This information is only shown on the results pages of the Official Knights Radiant Order Quiz.
    General Reddit 2020 ()
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    MoriWillow

    Hello, I hope this message finds you well. I was wondering if you might be able to answer a question. Was going back through the Stormlight books in prep for Rhythm of War, and I realized I didn't actually understand what was happening with the Stormlight when someone used a Basic Lashing. What actually happens to the Stormlight in the creation and maintenance of a Basic Lashing? (Especially when someone is Lashing themselves?)

    Brandon Sanderson

    Whew. It's complicated. Basically, the magic is persuading the Lashed object that it is not actually bound to the gravity of the planet--but to the gravity of a supermassive object in the direction indicated. (But which doesn't actually exist.) Imagine it as a Lightweaving that creates an illusion, but the illusion is of something massive that only is seen by the Spiritual aspect of the Lashed object/individual.

    It works pretty well inside of the cosmere's magical framework, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense if you approach it from the physics of our realm.

    General Reddit 2020 ()
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    LewsTherinTelescope

    How long after Warbreaker does Way of Kings take place? I know you usually don't finalize timeline details until they actually are stated in-book, but are you willing to say how far apart the books are, in the current plans?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I have Warbreaker happening a few generations before, right now.  However, I'm very likely to move Elantris up in time, so it's a little in the air at the moment.

    LewsTherinTelescope

    Thanks! I assume asking why Elantris being moved affects how far apart Warbreaker and Way of Kings are is a behind-the-scenes thing and/or RAFO?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, it does.  The big linchpin is going to be when I need Sel and Scadrial to align when big crossovers start happening.  We'll know in a few years; there are things I intend to write that I could imagine needing to change, after they're finished, that will influence the timeline structure.

    Rhythm of War Preview Q&As ()
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    Nazh8

    What does CP4 stand for? A bunch of people on 17th Shard are wondering about it.

    Brandon Sanderson

    There's nothing really exciting here, I'm afraid. It's a rank, like E6 or the like in the American military. Only the Windrunners use these, as they decided on ranks that one could earn while advancing as a squire. The old stories say that some squires never advanced to full Windrunners, and it felt it would be good to continue to promote these individuals to different ranks within squirehood. It stands for Commission Placement.

    Miscellaneous 2020 ()
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    Argent

    Hey Peter,   I've been meaning to ask you about this since Alice's article on the Heralds went up. In it, she lists each Herald's role (e.g. Jezrien is the King, Battar is the Counselor, Kalak is the Maker, etc.), and I noticed that those same roles were listed (but not used) in the Radiant Quiz as the archetypes for each Order. Some of these show up in the books, but a few don't, and the source for those appears to be an old old email from you. I wanted to know how canonical these are, and whether I can include them in the Coppermind (and if I can, it would be nice to know what they are - roles, titles, archetypes?)

    Peter Ahstrom

    These, along with Jester, are the names of the Photoshop layers for the faces on the chapter arches. Since the words themselves don’t really appear in the books, I couldn’t say that they’re canon. In our internal wiki we call them Face/Title. I don’t have an opinion on putting them in the Coppermind.

    Footnote: The roles, starting with Jezrien's and going clockwise, are: King, Judge, Guard, Healer, Scholar, Artist, Counselor, Maker, Soldier, and Priest.
    General Reddit 2020 ()
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    Pixel-error

    Just like hiding a safe hand it can become sexualised if it is always covered in public.

    Ben McSweeney

    Amusingly enough, not intended to be a sexual taboo, as it was written.

    Fans did that all by themselves.

    raltyinferno

    I mean it was explicitly mentioned that whores in the Warcamps had their safe hands uncovered, or wore gloves with the fingers cut off.

    Ben McSweeney

    Something can be taboo, and signify taboo behavior, without it being explicitly about sex. I made a mention of lacy gloves being equivalent to lingerie at Brandon years ago, somewhere between WoK and WoR, and as I recall he told me, "Safehands are not a sex taboo".

    But I kinda knew it would be like this, so... maybe he's seen my point. I haven't asked about it since then.

    I don't recall as there's any scenes of Adolin's heart racing 'cause he got a glimpse of Shallan's fingertips. Dalinar doesn't wax on about Navani's knuckles. I might have missed it, but I feel fans have taken this much further than any Rosharan culture.

    raltyinferno

    He may not have initially intended for them to have been, but he certainly has pivoted that way, I don't recall the exact wording, but when Adolin walks in on Shallan, and when Shallan is talking to Tin about non-vorin cultures, she compares it to walking around naked, having her breasts out, and being in her underwear at various points.

    Ben McSweeney

    I will say that when we first talked about it, this predated stuff like safehandhub and every picture of a left hand getting an NSFV tag. It's possible that his view has changed over time as he sees what I saw then (because he is pure of heart, and I am... not). Even if it wasn't a sex thing, people will make it a sex thing.

    General Reddit 2020 ()
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    Ben McSweeney

    It's one of the few strict mandates for all interior illustrations, across most of the Cosmere main books (with a very few exceptions).

    We work to make sure they all appear diagetic in nature, representative of some in-world document or imagery. You don't just look at a map, you look at Dalinar's map. That's not just a picture of the tech or the wildlife, you look at Navani's notes, Shallan's drawings. We did something similar with the Era 2 broadsheets, using mockup in-world documents as a means of adding details, secrets and general flavor to the book.

    Iamsodarncool

    What are the exceptions?

    Ben McSweeney

    Arcanum Unbounded had much more traditional chapter illustrations that just depict a scene (or the feel of a scene) from the following story. Chapter icons in Stormlight are not meant to be diagetic (though I think the archway Herald sculptures might be). And we don't follow the rule when it comes to covers (also worth noting that we don't do the covers, that's the publisher's privilege).

    General Reddit 2020 ()
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    Kabsal

    Exciting news - Brandon just confirmed via livestream that the Leatherbound Tenth Anniversary Edition has an official piece by Ben McSweeney showing off the bridges - presumably it'll be similar to the one I linked, but more shiny.

    Brandon Sanderson

    At some point soon I think they’ll share a digital scan, or add it to the Way of Kings gallery on the website in a similar quality as you see the others.

    It is not a Shallan piece, but rather a study by another ardent. It’s a little more mathy than Shallan’s work. I don’t think Shallan ever witnesses a real bridge run. By the time she reaches the Plains, Bridge 4 is part of the Cobalt Guard.

    But yes, for everyone still confused, or confused in the future, by the mechanics of the bridge run, we got you covered. And a little something for the cosplayers as well. :)