I wonder whether Jasnah has been to the Cognitive Realm of planets other than Roshar?
She has not, she is not horribly cosmere-aware as of the end of Oathbringer, she is starting to get an inkling. Give her some time and you might be impressed with how quickly she can come up to speed.
Did the Dadradah religion originate on Nalthis?
It's influenced by Nalthian ideas, but I wouldn't say it originated there. But there is a connection there.
Didn't Hoid take the Moon Sceptre from Sel, which acts as a Rosetta Stone for Investiture conversion? Why then is he unable to convert Stormlight into Breaths?
The Moon Scepter is a small piece of a much larger puzzle.
Is Dalinar based off of Genghis Khan to any extent, and if so did you blend him with other historical figures?
One inspiration for the Alethi is the Yuan Dynasty, which has Mongolian roots. Because of that, I've included little hints here and there connecting the peoples. I'd imagine Dalinar more as a Subutai than a Genghis, but the episode where he recruits a guy who shot him with an arrow is based off of a piece of folklore that surrounds Genghis, so it's not off base to note the connections there.
Are we going to go to the Horneater Peaks in Stormlight 4?
RAFO.
Have you ever heard of the Alcubierre Drive?
Yes, I know about the Alcubierre drive.
So, if we took two speed bubbles--mechanized, because Allomancers aren't powerful enough to pull it off--could we create a functioning Alcubierre drive?
You are theorizing in the right direction.
According to General Relativity, there should be spatial distortion in speed bubbles. So, why does no one notice it?
There is spatial distortion in speed bubbles, that's why bullets are refracted when they enter a bubble. However, I played with it a bit, and ignore the redshift that should happen. The barrier of the bubble absorbs it, otherwise everyone would just be irradiated.
Breath and Stormlight are both forms of Investiture. AFAIK you can power any of the magic systems from any form of Investiture. Zahel is on Roshar, I believe, primarily due to how easy Investiture (Stormlight) is to come across.
AFAIK the form of Investiture doesn't change anything about the abilities. For example, Szeth was sucked out of Stormlight when he drew Nightblood; and Azure used Stormlight to Awaken in Shadesmar.
/u/mistborn is that right?
A lot of this depends on the Investiture and the magic in question. Azure was legit using Breaths, for example--ones she'd brought with her. But Szeth was able to feed Stormlight to Nightblood, much as Vasher uses Stormlight to keep himself alive.
To Awaken with Stormlight, the easiest thing to do would be to first change Stormlight into Breaths--something that Azure doesn't know how to do. (Admittedly, Hoid doesn't either, so it's not like it's a simple thing to achieve.) You could also theoretically use some magical (or mechanical) means to power your Awakening with a different form of Investiture.
This is very interesting. Is it possible then in the Cosmere for the 'intent' (spin or however described) of Investiture to be changed? And I mean within reasonable limits (not the powers of six shards or any of that). Can a Shard effectively grow in power in a place (e.g. toward an avatar) through another Shard's Investiture being changed (not just corrupted)? Or is it just making one type ('intent' - you should canonize a word for this :D) of Investiture mimic the properties of another?
Most of the ways of accomplishing what you're talking about would involve either 1) fooling/overwriting your spiritual makeup somehow. (This is what Hemalurgy does, for example.) 2) Refining the power somehow into a more pure form.
But there are a lot of variables. The way magic from Nalthis works, for example, the system is just looking for any available Investiture to power itself--and so basically anything will do, regardless of the source. This includes consuming your own soul, in some cases...
You'll see terminology coming along eventually that facilitates talking about all of this. I'm not yet decided on some of it.
How many Breaths does [Azure] have by her final appearance in OB?
That's a RAFO, I'm afraid.
When did Vasher find out about Shadesmar and travel to Roshar?
I will try to cover this in the sequel to Warbreaker when I write it. So for right now, you get a RAFO card.
Does BioChromatic Breath cure color-blindness?
So... having enough Breath will interact very strangely with color-blindness. It won't heal it, necessarily, but it will have an interesting effect.
Ah. I was hoping--
Are you color-blind?
I am. So the entire time I read the book I was hoping it could cure color-blindness.
You will have an interesting time. I think you would be pleased with how it affects it.
Will we ever see a color-blind person in the books?
I want to do one. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get it in there... but you will be pleased with how it happens.
Was Lopen ever actually a slave or did he just see a slave wagon walking by and was like, "Hey, can I join you guys?"
I'll get to his story eventually. But he did not spend a long time in a bad situation like some of the others did.
*inaudible* One of the people just would walk up and it's like, "Hey, can I join you guys?"
It didn't happen quite like that but it is a little bit goofy.
So...what is the safehand about-- Like how did that develop into a thing, having one hand being scandalous?
So it relates back to philosophical treaties written in world, long ago, where a woman was saying 'these are feminine arts, these are masculine arts'; that sort of thing. It was partially a way to control access to Shardblades, when Shardblades and Shardplate first entered the-- common people being able to have them because the Knights Radiant had abandoned them. At the same time there was a struggle for power over language, and this happened long ago. Really the reason is "humans are weird".
Is the bird that talked to Allomancer Jak a kandra?
Haha, RAFO. Allomancer Jak thinks that it probably must be.
Are you gonna say if it's an Aviar?
I'm going to say Allomancer Jak has a strange blend of trustworthiness and not. He doesn't think that he's lying when he says things.
Do larkins have a regular digestive system?
I'll RAFO that.
Can Hoid eat?
He can, yes.
And is there anything that he can't eat?
There are things he does not like. He would be-- Eating something that's still alive would be very difficult for Hoid. But he-- There aren't foods that would be forbidden to him by his particular ailment.
How hard would it be for a Sleepless to imitate the larkin powers in one of their hordelings?
Oh, they would take generations and generations of purposeful attempts at mutating that out.
Could they theoretically do it?
They could theoretically do it.
Would the Ghostbloods try to recruit [a Sleepless]?
Um, the Ghostbloods would not trust a Sleepless.
They wouldn't? So they wouldn't even try to get one?
They would not. They would expect a Sleepless to take over their organization or try to. And try to stay far away from the Sleepless.
What about the Seventeenth Shard?
There are members of the Seventeenth Shard who would be interested in recruiting one of the Sleepless. Generally they represent a wildcard faction that a lot of other people are wary of.
I guess Khriss and them just know about them?
Yes. The Sleepless are cosmere-aware.
Are they worldhoppers?
There are Sleepless on many planets. They have mostly settled on Roshar for various reasons.
The Expanses, in the map: We already know that Densities is Sel, Vapors is Scadrial, Vibrance is... Nalthis, and Broken Sky is Taldain, right?
I have not confirmed that Broken Sky is Taldain.
That's the only one you don't want to confirm?
I have not confirmed that... Don't want to.
How did Hoid get the name Cephandrius?
Cephandrius? Cephandrius is one of his very earliest aliases. Not his real name, but very soon after he stopped using his real name.
Okay. Is there any relation to his real name? With that?
I will give you a RAFO card.
So about the Girl Who Looked Up, when her hair turns white, I'm just wondering, was that a Shallan-caused thing, or was that external?
External.
It was nothing to do with her?
Everything in that had something to do with her.
But she didn't cause it? Subconsciously or otherwise?
Well, she was involved, but the original source of that-- Yes, she is involved in that--
But she didn't know something that caused it, even way back in her memory?
No, no. You're going the wrong direction for that.
At the end of Oathbringer, or near the end, Kaladin is talking to Syl about not getting Shallan or whatever, and he says that she really just reminded him of someone, who is it that she reminded him of?
She reminded him of Tien, his brother, because his brother was a burgeoning Lightweaver, and Lightweavers, you'll notice, when they're around someone, that person starts to act a little bit more like a little bit of their best self. There's a bit of, also, counteraction to feelings of darkness and despair, it's just a natural Lightweaver sort of thing. And so, part of what Kaladin was drawing from Shallan was that feeling. I think it could've totally become love. And he's now cutting that off, he's saying it couldn't at all have become-- it could have. But that was part of what was drawing him in.
So I was wondering, can Siri and Vivienna, does their hair change to unnatural colours, like pink and green--
It can. Yes.
What would elicit that?
Well, I would have to go back to look at my notes, honestly. I would expect you could get green by eating something that made you sick, right? They're gonna associate these colors partially with associations that people are putting on them, the same way that spren are acting like the associations that people give them, but I would have to look at the culture, because in their culture, they may not associate green with disgusting the same way we do, right, if that makes sense. So that's why I'd have to look at the notes. These things are partially based on their own interpretation.
I have a question about the Sibling, actually. So, do you-- Can you say something about who or what the Sibling is?
Who or what the Sibling is? I can tell you, the Sibling will be a matter of discussion in a future novel of The Stormlight Archive. That's a RAFO. You will find out a lot more as the narrative progresses. The Sibling is very relevant, but I don't want to say too much right now.
There is a lot of rumors that there's something going on...
..Saying too much about the Sibling is gonna give big spoilers, so I'm just gonna stay quiet on it, alright?
I'm gay, and I thought it was really cool that you had a gay bridgeman. Do you have any other LGBT stuff, your characters--
Yeah. Mistborn series has Ranette, who's LGBTQ--
Is she?
Yes. It's, you know, you'll... So that's in the Wax and Wayne books, I don't know if you've read those.
Yes, yes, I remember her, okay.
So yes, we've got her, we've got him, there are others that will show up here and there. Drehy is kind of special in that he's a very good friend of mine that I put into Bridge Four, so he's one of the ones that I kind of say "is it okay if I do it like this? Is it okay if I do it like this?" I kinda let him voice his character and things like that sometimes.
You've stated before that Denth's ability to change is hair color is independent of him being Returned? So meaning he has the Royal Locks. Are Siri and Vivenna descended from him, or just a separate line of the same family tree?
I will RAFO that. But he does have the Royal Locks, so you can at least assume that they're related, at the very least.
Does Marsh know much about what Kelsier's doing during Arcanum Unbounded?
Yes.
Okay. Anything else on that, or just a yes until further--
Yes. He knows. He's aware.
I'll read into it. It's probably on 17th Shard or something.
That's just me, that's not in there anywhere. He's aware, but he's - yeah, yeah. He wasn't aware of all the stuff like he is by now, though, that's what I'll say.
So, when the group was in Shadesmar, Adolin's sword seemed to kind of take on a life of its own and attack him. Is it possible for a dead spren to come back?
They would say no, in-world. I will say RAFO.
What was your motivation behind-- for killing Elhokar and simultaneously ripping my heart out?
So, it was-- I never feel like I'm killing characters, I'm letting characters take risks and I'm letting other characters have agency to do the things they're doing in the books. That whole plot cycle was more-- less me killing someone off and more me letting Moash go down the dark path that he have been demanding that he go down.
Okay, but you realize half the fandom-- or the whole fandom practically wants him dead now.
Yes, yes. Well, they should! He made a very, very bad decision, and he deserves everything that the fandom is throwing at him.
You've talked about how Hoid really appreciates his new Lightweaving abilities, but what about the Soulcasting side of things?
So, you'll have to see.
Is he excited about that, or does he already have all of that?
No, he doesn't have all of that. He knows more than a lot of people do, and knows to be more-- frightened of Soulcasting than others are. Frightened is perhaps the wrong term. Wary.
Allik Neverfar has those medallions that let him to talk to people in their language, but he has an accent because it knows his parents aren't from that area. So I'm wondering, if he and his parents are both using those in a foreign land, does he no longer have an accent and his parents would?
I would say that they would both still have an accent.
So it's not connected--
It's connecting to the soul of his parents and it's kinda picking that out. There are ways around that. If you are really good with the way Connection works and things like that. Obviously you've seen Hoid speaking without an accent all over the place. The medallions are kind of a crude, early version of doing that sort of thing, not really in control of the magic more, and so I wanted to build in some little indications that things are not quite as fluid as they will someday get.
So it's more of a hack and not a rewrite of the Connection.
Yeah, exactly.
It's not a direct link from them to the Investiture.
Yeah. If you find someone who's using the magic themselves, you'll see that they-- like Dalinar didn't have, the people who spoke with Dalinar didn't have accents when he was using the same sort of Connection magic to give them linguistics and things like that.
Does/is Jasnah gay?
Jasnah prefers to keep her sexuality a subject of non-discussion. That is how Jasnah would answer. She would rather not discuss her sexuality.
Are we going to see any of the truths that Wit-- that Hoid speaks in [Stormlight 4]?
*slides RAFO card across table*
I was wondering about how Alcatraz book 6 is coming along?
Its coming along really well. It's almost done. I've written my half, Bastille hasn't finished her half yet. Otherwise known as Janci -- A friend of mine that I'm co-writing it with so that I can blend the voice and make it sound a little more distinctive. It was sounding too much like Alcatraz, so I wrote a big chunk of it, and then I asked her to write a big chunk of it, and she is smoothing the voice together. I think she is near the last chapter of it, of the chunk she had been writing... It's going to be really cool. The ending that I have, it's really zany and it's really crazy, but it is great.
Would a Coppercloud at all affect how spren act?
Yes.
If Wayne and Lift were to meet, what would their reactions be?
They would get along spectacularly together and would end up trying to one up each other back and forth and back and forth.
Can you make a Hemalurgic spike and get two people at the same time?
So, it's going to Invest from the first one and then potentially spike it into the second one, what it is stealing from the first, generally is what's going to happen.
Are you planning on doing more from Threnody?
Yes. I've got a Threnody book. Silence won't be in it. But there's a Threnody book.
Like a full size?
A full size novel, on Threnody. 'Cause there's a group I need to get a book out about because they're relevant later on, that you need to know who they are.
What's your greatest ambition?
Become Stan Lee.
Where is Hoid on the religious scale about the Beyond?
That's a RAFO.
Are Hoid and the Set aware of each other?
Yes, but I wouldn't say the Set as a general rule, but members of the Set.
How do they feel about each other?
Some various shades of loathing.
On both sides?
Yes.
So you had had a Word of Brandon that had said that Tien was on his way to becoming a Lightweaver. My question is, did he ever actually become a Lightweaver; did he speak an Oath, and if so, did he bond with a Cryptic?
That's an excellent question. If you look closely through the first book, you will see Tien having some slight Lightweaving effects. In the back of my head, he was where Kaladin was during most of the first book, where it wasn't really official but there was a spren hanging around. He was very close to-- by the time he left, already done that. I would say he never actually managed to get that bond working... Otherwise, perhaps, things would have played out differently than they did.
Can you confirm whether Navani will be the prologue viewpoint? Or you want to keep that quiet/ haven't decided yet?
Yes, she is the prologue viewpoint.
Wouldn't it be dope to have the book 5 viewpoint from Gavilar himself, and it finally revealing what exactly he was up to.. :)
That is what I have planned.
Lirin was of the opinion that tragedy was the means by which the Almighty proved the virtue of men. How else was one to explain the events of the past year?
He ducked his head and stepped to the side respectfully, pulling his cloak tight as <Abijan?> strolled past. He remembered setting her arm in a splint some ten years before, soon after her arrival in the town, though she’d been called <Adi?> back then. Brightlord Wistiow had paid good money for her, and after she’d broken her arm, he’d wanted his investment protected.
Now, instead of a simple smock, the parshwoman wore a fine silken havah. White, which was an odd color. Lirin didn’t think he’d ever seen a human woman wear a dress that shade. But the Fused taught that in the past, the parshmen—or singers, as they now began to be called—had preferred solid and often muted colors to not distract from the patterns of their skin. <Abijan>, like many of the town’s new parshman Brightlords, listened intently to what the Fused said about the past. They treated the ways of the ancient parshmen like scripture, but couldn’t cover up that they were more Alethi than they were like those old singers. <Abijan> wore her safehand in a sleeve, and when she spoke to her companions, two townspeople who currently had her favor, she didn’t have even a hint of an accent.
Her skin patterns were swirling shapes, like mixing paint, red on white. Lirin had to admit the pattern was indeed striking against the white robe. He kept his eyes down, however, and remained by the side of the pathway, waiting until the parshwoman disappeared in the morning fog. Such extreme deference wasn’t required, but it was best to be careful when you were known as a potential troublemaker.
Lirin pulled his cloak tight again and continued on his way through the dense fog. Though the sun was well above the horizon, he saw it only as a vaguely circular white blotch. They’d been seeing spring weather lately in Hearthstone, and that meant morning fog. A welcome shroud for his chosen activities this day.
As he neared the perimeter of the town, he passed an increasing number of improvised shanties, blankets and tarps stretching between rooftops, making a kind of shelter for the crowded refugees. Entire streets were closed off this way. The sound of plates clinking and people talking rose through the fog surrounding him. These shanties would never last a storm, of course, but they could quickly be torn down and stowed. There just wasn’t enough housing otherwise. Hearthstone, as one of the towns of modest size this close to the Herdazian border, was clogged with refugees these days. In Herdaz, men could claim to fight for freedom, but how free were the corpses they left to bleed into the storm waters?
In some ways, little had changed, despite the coming of the Everstorm and the awakening of the parshmen. The skin of some involved in the battles changed, but the same old conflicts raged. Those who had a little taste of power wanted more, and sought it with the sword. The normal people bled, and men like Lirin had to try to put them back together. At least it seemed to almost be over. Word was that the resistance in Herdaz had finally collapsed, and the singers were securing dominance in the country. That meant more refugees for a time, but maybe after that, everything could settle back down and men could stop killing one another.
Unfortunately, as he emerged from a line of shanties, he found a sorry lot waiting for him. It was hard to get a count in the fog, but there had to be a good hundred people here. And with Hearthstone already nearing bursting, where were they going to fit so many?
So the rest of the chapter outline goes—and the rest of it’s in a real big mess—Lirin is there, he’s kind of looking through the refugees for sickness. Really, he’s keeping an eye out for that Herdazian general that had an interlude in the third book. He’s gonna be relevant here, they’re gonna try and hide him. But then they’re looking through the refugees, and one of them is Kaladin!
If I recall rightly (it's in my notes somewhere) the height is 15' per level. Only a variance of 3', but it adds up. I feel like 17S did this same math a while back but it's probably buried by now. Could be worth digging up to compare notes though.
We do have numbers, I went to some pains to try and get the drawing to represent them correctly. Your estimates are a little high I think, and you might be discounting the amount of internal space given to non-residential function (giant elevator atrium, for instance), but I think you're in the right zone.
So I was looking at the letter sent by Hoid to Frost and vice versa and I was wondering how he sent them? Like is there some sort of Cosmere Postal Service in the Cognitive Realm?
He's not using it, but there is active trade between several of the planets (and a version of a postal service.)
Do you have an update on when the Hemalurgy table's gonna be available on the website?
I do not. That's really Isaac, you bug him and poke him. Whenever he decides to release it. He's kinda just in charge of that. Karen's around, I don't know if she knows.
At the end of Oathbringer, Hoid is there, and he uses the Breath to talk to the doll, and he gives the doll to K-whoever - he gives it to someone named Cob and Kheni. So, is Kheni a Parshman?
I'll RAFO that.
If Kelsier and Moash/Vyre meet, what will happen? What god will they kill together?
*evil laugh* RAFO. *crowd laughter*
Okay, A larkin and an aviar. Could you tell us how they're related - are they a bit similar? Other than that they both fly.
I would not call them terribly similar. A larkin is a specific type of creature that feeds off of Investiture. And there are some other things like that in the Cosmere. But aviar don't do that. Aviar have a symbiosis with an Invested entity. Aviar are more like, they're kind of weird because they fulfill both the role of a spren, but also the person that's bonding the spren. They're an intermediary.
Okay. And larkins don't have feathers, right?
Larkins do not have feathers. They look like little... They look like wasps.
Like wasps? That little?
No, not that size, but that's the look of them. They're in the picture in the front of Way of Kings, the magic map. If we have Way of Kings here... We can grab it for you. If you go to my website for the art for Way of Kings, look up "Way of Kings art archive" on my website. It's not the cover, it's on the magic, the double eye symbol of the Knights Radiant in the inside cover flap. There's a pair of larkin there.
Does a "Truthless" equate to a "liar"?
You could make that, but it's not the exact same thing. You're gonna have to wait till Szeth's book to really get what that means.
