Recent entries

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #3207 Copy

    coltonx9

    What would Elhokar's fifth truth be?

    Brandon Sanderson

    ...Oh, Elhokar's last truth? He would have had to have been on a long journey before he could even get to that. It would probably be-- I'm going to RAFO that now, because I think it would tell you too much about the way I'm thinking for the way the truths work. I could probably tell you that now, but I will choose not to. Let's just say it would involve kind of a journey that starts kind of-- negative is the wrong term. Being more aware of himself and then coming to a deeper awareness of himself that is perhaps not-- that leaves him in a good place.

    coltonx9

    Could you tell me what his first truth would have been?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It would have been to admit the thing that he knows, which is that he's a bad king.

    Skyward release party ()
    #3209 Copy

    Questioner

    Of all of your characters, were some of them based off of people that are part of your life?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Definitely.

    Questioner

    And are there any of your characters that you wish were real?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh yeah, I'd have fun chatting with some of them. I would like to chat with Sazed, that would be a lot of fun. A lot of the side characters are based off of friends; not a lot of main characters. The most main character that's based on a friend is Skar, who is based off of my friend Skar.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #3210 Copy

    coltonx9

    If you were to [Forge] a car to say, that car had parked in a different space in parking lot what would happen, would it just disappear, if there were no other spots?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Okay, so you [Forge] the whole parking lot--

    coltonx9

    No, just SoulForge a car, in the parking lot to say it parked somewhere else.

    Brandon Sanderson

    That sort of temporal thing is probably not going to be something you can make work very easily with [Forgery]. You could rewrite this car so it had parked in that spot yesterday, but it's not going to change where it is, most cases. I think you might be able to contrive something that would work out, but that's normally not going to work... You can cause paradoxes with this sort of magic, that I have worked my best to make just not work.

    Skyward release party ()
    #3211 Copy

    Questioner

    What do Shardblade Cryptics look like? They can't really have crossed out eyes. Would their pattern-

    Brandon Sanderson

    You mean like a deadeye?

    Questioner

    Yeah.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It will be noticeable, but it won't be the same as the eyes. Let's just say their algorithm is messed up.

    Skyward release party ()
    #3215 Copy

    the.fulgid

    During his conversation with Shallan, Wit said that, "Failure is the mark of a life well lived," and I'm glad that you shared that because this question has been on my mind a lot, and he says, "And in turn the the only way to live without failure is to be of no use to anyone." Is there anything Hoid has failed at that we haven't seen on screen that you would be willing to share?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There are certain people he thought he was going to be able to help who ended up not surviving.

    Skyward release party ()
    #3219 Copy

    Questioner

    At the last signing event, I was asking about a Shard[blade] and paint, if it disappears, comes back, what happens? You said the paint never disappeared with it. But you seemed intrigued by other possibilities, and then I thought of some too. One of them would be a foundry, showing people how to make weapons, you put your Shard in the sand, make a sword in there, dismiss it, fill it with your molten metal, stuff like that sounded like...interesting ideas.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I like that, I like that a lot.

    Skyward release party ()
    #3222 Copy

    Questioner

    Can a coppermind be Awakened?

    Brandon Sanderson

    This is possible.

    Questioner

    With the memories already in it?

    Brandon Sanderson

    This is going to be harder because those memories are going to be keyed to someone else, who, by nature, would not be the individual that it was made into. You would have to key those memories to who the metalmind was becoming. There would be an extra step in there; It wouldn't just naturally be that way. We're talking wild, wild, these are possible, but far out, stuff. Possible, but there is an extra step in there.

    Skyward San Francisco signing ()
    #3224 Copy

    xnkvbo

    If an Awakener with Perfect Invocation turns something white, can they or another Awakener then use the white thing back to gray, back to white.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I actually thought about this. My answer ended up being a no.

    xnkvbo

    Can you give a little explanation why?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I will delve into it more as I delve into the nature of color and why it's relevant to multiple magics in the cosmere. So it's a RAFO.

    Skyward San Francisco signing ()
    #3226 Copy

    Chaos

    You have said the fandom puts too much emphasis on the Lord Ruler's children. Is that because the Lord Ruler suppressed his ability to pass on his abilities to them?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No.

    Chaos

    Brandon, that makes no sense. What? Now I'm even more upset. It's actually my fault, 'cause I keep telling people that the Lord Ruler's kids should be important, so you can blame me.

    Brandon Sanderson

    People can be important and not be cosmere-relevant.

    Chaos

    Yeah, but they'd be like super-powerful Mistborn!

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, who died nine hundred years ago!

    Chaos

    But he spent so much time getting Feruchemy away from Allomancy!

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, that's true.

    Skyward San Francisco signing ()
    #3227 Copy

    Questioner

    I've heard this theory passed around, and I just want to see if you'll confirm it or not. Are you actually a bunch of tiny writers in a coat, or--

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, no, no, I'm a bunch of robots programmed to create books. The "tiny writers" one is completely false.

    Skyward San Francisco signing ()
    #3228 Copy

    Questioner

    Do you know the value of a heliodor and a smokestone and all that, the relative values?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Peter does. I wrote it out once and now I have him just fact-check it for me when I write the books. So I will often say, "Worth about this much, give me the right money and change". So I made the original guide that they follow, but nowadays I don't have to use that; I can just bracket and say, "Something worth about this much".

    Skyward San Francisco signing ()
    #3229 Copy

    Questioner

    In Shadesmar, the solid and liquid phases are inverted. So, in the Spiritual Realm, is it something to do with solid and gas phases, or is it not the same at all?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is not quite where you're going, but I like the way you're thinking.

    Questioner

    So then what's the reason that they can't travel to the Spiritual Realm?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The Spiritual Realm is not a place.

    Skyward San Francisco signing ()
    #3232 Copy

    Questioner

    How do you think Kelsier really feels when it's revealed that the skaa really are different from the other ruling--

    Brandon Sanderson

    So-- *pause* I would call it still a matter of debate whether they are or aren't. Whether they were is a different matter of debate, right? But I would say that a lot of the things that were claimed about skaa were not accurate. Some of the things claimed about them were, and that is part of what makes it subject to debate. And Kelsier is very good at not accepting answers he doesn't like.

    Skyward San Francisco signing ()
    #3237 Copy

    Questioner

    How do you decide whether or not a story is part of the cosmere?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There's a couple dividing lines. If it mentions Earth, I'm not gonna put it in the cosmere, because I don't want any sort of relationship there. At that point, the dividing line becomes, does the magic fit the cosmere, and is the story one that fits the cosmere, right? I made the decision very early on, I wasn't gonna try and force everything in. So if it's a natural outgrowth of the stories I'm telling in the cosmere, then I will go that way. I'm usually more finicky about pulling them out than putting them in. There are very few stories I've put into the cosmere, and I've pulled a ton of them out.

    Skyward San Francisco signing ()
    #3241 Copy

    Questioner

    If you had to make any of your books into a musical?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Ooh. Well, since we already have a canonical version of The Hero of Ages as a musical in the Mistborn world, in one of the broadsheets, we would have to go with that, we would have to do the version in-world.

    Questioner

    I think Warbreaker would translate the best.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, that's probably true. If you want a real answer, that's probably true. It's probably the best.

    Skyward San Francisco signing ()
    #3243 Copy

    Questioner

    With a cadmium or bendalloy savant, would they be able to impact the amount of time that they can compress or expand?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

    Questioner

    So they could fit-- Theoretically they could make-- fit more time into the same amount of metal.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, that's what you're asking. Yeee-- *pauses* So, yes, technically, because... Yes, but mostly what that's going to do is going to influence your strength and how much you can multiply--

    Questioner

    The size of the bubble?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The size of the bubble and the amount of time, like when you flare, you are pressing more time into it and a savant is gonna get really good at that. They're gonna get good at changing the bubble and the shape of the bubble, they're gonna get good at some of the other things involving the bubble. It does technically, as you become a savant, does mean you're able to squeeze a little bit more out of your metal, because that's just how it works, but that's not the main effect.

    Skyward San Francisco signing ()
    #3245 Copy

    Questioner

    Is Yaalani a character in any other stories?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Right now, no. Good question.

    Questioner

    Does not seem like a Eelakin name. And there are people in Stormlight who seem to have aviar.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah. People in Stormlight do have aviar. That has happened. But let's just say, during Stormlight era, getting things on or off of First of the Sun is really hard.

    Skyward San Francisco signing ()
    #3246 Copy

    Questioner

    Are spren able to visit other planets than Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, spren are, because of the nature of their Investiture, connected too strongly to the planet to normally get off. That doesn't mean it couldn't happen, but I will just say, normally no.

    Questioner

    So the Cognitive Realm, or whatever that sort of like-- is that different on other planets?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. It looks different on each planet, partially based on perception.

    Skyward San Francisco signing ()
    #3249 Copy

    Questioner

    As I read about the Parshendi, can't help but think of indigenous peoples. How do you deal with that and respecting the whole experience of colonization?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I think one of the things I have to do is embrace it. Like, if I just ignore it, it's worse, and so that's why I've tried to dig into and kind of acknowledge the issues. I mean, it is a minefield, right? I'm wandering into a minefield by writing a story that is basically based off of--

    Questioner

    American colonization?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. But at the same time, ignoring it wouldn't work. And the thing about it is, most cultures in our world, this is a question they had to deal with. Whose land is it? I mean, we're still fighting this war--we, I say, we aren't--but war is still being fought in the Middle East over whose land is it, and it's both of theirs, right, depending on how far you go back. And things like that, and so I think ignoring it is the wrong thing to do. But I also think there's a danger in trying to present an answer that is too easy, and so that's the line I have to walk. Embrace it, talk about it, not present an answer that is too easy, present multiple sides on it. It's kind of like the same way like the people in Roshar are both incredibly racist and incredibly sexist, right? Writing people who are racist and sexist without the narrative itself bolstering those sorts of those things is really hard. But, you know, we sign up to do hard things, and if I fall on my face, the best thing I can do is just acknowledge that I've fallen on my face, as I have done in the past.