Truthwatcher_17.5
Darksiders have almost as advanced technology as second Era Scadrians.
Brandon Sanderson
Yes.
Questioner
But then we see Darksiders in The Secret-- in Mistborn: The Secret History. So are they gonna be the first spacefarers, are they gonna get there before Scadrians?
Brandon Sanderson
So, where it is right now is that certain things have happened to Taldain that have isolated it and cut it off.
Questioner
Yeah, a little bit in Arcanum Unbounded talked about that.
Brandon Sanderson
And some-- they're under-- going through some difficult times, let's say... So, I will RAFO whether or not they're going to make it first to make it to space, but let's just say they were well on target to making it first before certain events happened.
Truthwatcher_17.5
Are you ever gonna make an official quiz that sorts people into Knights-- Knights Radiant?
Brandon Sanderson
You know, I'm less likely to do a quiz and more likely to do a list of-- kind of attributes and traits and requirements. I feel that some people are more likely to be able to sort themselves than a quiz sorting them. Granted, it does depend on the spren also, so there are two parties in this. And so, you don't have absolute influence over which order you might end up in. But it is possible to be viable as a candidate for multiple orders and it also is going to depend on the spren.
Truthwatcher_17.5
Will Dalinar become the next holder of Honor.
Brandon Sanderson
Hahahaha, yeah-- RAFO.
Truthwatcher_17.5
Will Adolin ever become a Knight Radiant?
Brandon Sanderson
That's a RAFO!
Truthwatcher_17.5
Is Trell a Shard of Adonalsium?
Brandon Sanderson
I will RAFO that one too, I'm afraid.
Truthwatcher_17.5
Are we ever gonna see a Twinborn who has Feruchemical iron and Allomantic pewter, and he's pretty much-- sort of like how Ham was training Vin about how to use her body, and we just gonna see this amazing martial artist on a massive scale?
Brandon Sanderson
It is totally possible. I'm not gonna promise any given combination, 'cause the-- I've changed several times the powersets of characters while I'm planning, so.
Truthwatcher_17.5
Are we ever gonna see more names for specific types of Twinborns?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, I intend to do more of those as the Eras progress. There are so many to name that I don't know that I'll ever release a chart of all of them, and partially I don't want to canonize names because I might decide something sounds cooler for when I actually use that person's powers in a book.
Questioner
I read Skyward, like, two weeks ago, I finished it in two nights. It was honestly one of my favorite books I've ever read, and I can't wait to see where it goes.
Brandon Sanderson
Thank you! Book two is done.
Questioner
I'm excited to see what-- I need to read, uh, about the "Defense of Elysium"?
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah, yeah, Defending Elysium, it's free on my website. It'll tie-in in ways that you'll find interesting. One of my very first short stories.
Questioner
I'm super, super excited to see it. I loved the whole idea of when they're peering into the stars, it's like they're looking back with hatred. It's awesome.
Questioner
Are birds native to Roshar?
Brandon Sanderson
Birds are not native to Roshar.
Questioner
...Did they come over with the initial humans?
Brandon Sanderson
They did. The humans brought them over, along with a lot of other beasts. Like, horses aren't native to Roshar either. You can tell pretty easily the non-native things. Like, Roshar doesn't have any grapes. So the word wine got genericized in the same the way that the word chicken did. You'll see bunches of that. Like the way the weather works. Roshar does not have weather patterns like Ashyn did. They're used to seasons. Suddenly, the words for the seasons, all these weird things that you may have been wondering through the first couple of books, you're like, "Oh I see why they just call hard alcohol a wine," or, "I see why they call everything a chicken." It's kind of related to this.
Questioner
Trell, who is he? Or if you're not going to reveal that, when will you...
Brandon Sanderson
It's going to take a little while to dig into that. It's going to need Mistborn Era 3, is all the Trell stuff.
Questioner
But I want more Wayne! Wayne is amazing!
Brandon Sanderson
I know! We've got one more book of Wayne. Wax and Wayne 4, we still got a book of Wayne. And then in Era 3, you'll be able to read the comic books in-world based on Wayne. So that'll be a part of it as well. You'll get a little touch of Wayne in there as well.
Questioner
Is there a combination of two Surges that you wouldn't normally see, that'd be fun to write about.
Brandon Sanderson
Oh yeah. It was actually a tough decision to let myself-- make myself put them in the groupings that I did. Because my brain naturally wants to say, "What about this, what about this?"
What would be really interesting, you could do really cool things as a Stoneward with manipulating matter and changing it and stuff, and then burning things into it with-- whichever power that is-- [Division]... I should know. Well, I should know. But I always go look at the list. The Dustbringer power. But I think you could do really interesting sculpture type stuff with that. With the burning, you could add color to the things, to an extent. Like grayscale? But it's not really something that's built into the magic.
Questioner
If an Inquisitor went to Roshar, would they be a lighteyes or darkeyes?
Brandon Sanderson
If an Inquisitor went to Roshar, they would probably be like someone who has heterochromia, one eye of each, meaning people don't know what to do with them and they are very awkward with trying to figure out how to treat them. The society breaks down a little bit when you run into anything that ruins their perfect system. Which is not so perfect, obviously.
Questioner
When's Hoid's birthday?
Brandon Sanderson
I have not said when Hoid's birthday is. Because it's on Yolen, I don't even know if the days will line up, when we finally get there, to our world.
Questioner
Why didn't Hoid take the second bead of lerasium?
Brandon Sanderson
Hoid knew that if he did so, bad things would happen.
Questioner
Lots of people have transversed the worlds. Will the Sleepless ever do that?
Brandon Sanderson
The Sleepless have in the past.
Truthwatcher_17.5
Besides Hoid, are we ever going to see people with powers from multiple worlds? Like, a Pewterarm Stoneward?
Brandon Sanderson
This is inevitable, but I don't think you should be expecting it soon. But it is absolutely an inevitability that this will become part of the story.
Questioner
Is the lake where the Aviar get their powers from Survival's perpendicularity?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO. Sorry.
Questioner
Sadeas' murder. Do you consider that arc pretty much wrapped?
Brandon Sanderson
That is not wrapped, but there are lots of--
Questioner
Okay. Because I was writing-- I want more of that.
Brandon Sanderson
There is a-- Let's just say that there is a convergence of moral philosophies happening in the Kholin household and that it is not done by far.
Questioner
So in one of your State of the Sanderson posts you said that the "Wax and Wayne" series was going to come out in late 2019, but then you decided to write another trilogy that lasted two years, so--
Brandon Sanderson
So Wax & Wayne 4. Abandoning Apocalypse Guard has put me a little on the rocks for when I'm going to do that. Right now I'm planning Wax & Wayne 4 to be a book I use as a break from doing revisions on Stormlight 4. Stormlight 4 I have to start in January if I'm going to meet my stated goal of having them come out every three years, which I realize is a long time between books, but remember that they're four times longer than a normal book! *laughter*. You're laughing, but Oathbringer was 450,000 words, Skyward is 110,000. So Oathbringer is longer than four Skywards. I do have Skyward 2 done, and am going through the editing process right now. *applause* So Wax & Wayne 4 is very much on my radar-- I wrote the first one taking a break from Towers of Midnight, so the chances are good I'll need a break from Stormlight 4 and write it there. I don't know if it'll be out next year or the following summer. Stormlight 4 we're shooting for the fall of 2020, and I should be able to get it right around that time if I start in January, so that's the plan.
Questioner
Which of your characters are most like you and which would you most aspire to be like?
Brandon Sanderson
You know, this is a really interesting question. All of my characters are part me and part-not me, so you can point at every character and say, "Oh, that's Brandon!" Alcatraz, my mother says is most like me. *laughter* I don't know what that's saying, but those are really goofy middle-grade books about a character who can't take anything seriously. I aspire to be a little more like Sazed I think, is where I'd put that. But every character is a bit like me, and every character is something different than me that I want to explore.
Questioner
What's your favorite Alcatraz book?
Brandon Sanderson
What's my favorite Alcatraz book? They're all my favorites! *laughter* Because they're all like my children. But I would say that the one I get the most amused by is probably book two.
Questioner
So, you've mentioned-- you have an idea of how the Cosmere's going to go. The ending of the Cosmere, considering you have seven more Stormlight books to write and years to go, does the ending of the Cosmere hang over your head?
Brandon Sanderson
Does the ending of the Cosmere hang over my head 'cause I've got a ways to go-- Yeah, it's starting to loom a bit! You know, when I was in my twenties and thirties doing this, "Ah! I can write every story, I've got plenty of time!", but now that I'm in my forties I'm-- let's make sure we focus and keep going on this. So one of my goals has been to try to learn to write novellas so that the random ideas that pop in my head became novellas and not novels, because the way I work, I can't stay on one thing between books I find that it burns me out really fast if I don't have something new to work on, but if that new thing to work on can be a novella like one of the Legion books, or like Perfect State, or Snapshot or something like that and then I can jump back on the kind of mainline book I can reset myself quickly. And that why you see me practice that and things like that.
My goal is kind of closing things off faster than I open them. This is why Legion got finished this year, why Alcatraz will probably get finished next year. Those of you waiting for a Rithmatist sequel *sighs* eventually. I need to get those other two closed off first. For those of you waiting for Reckoners, I consider Reckoners to be done. If I eventually fix and release Apocalypse Guard, that might answer some of the questions you have about the end of that series. Elantris and Warbreaker are both part of the Cosmere arc, what I'll probably do is I'll write Stormlight 4 and 5 and the last Wax & Wayne book over the next few years-- five years, next five years probably. *laughter* And then I'll probably stop and do Mistborn Era 3, which is the 1980s Mistborn, and maybe some Elantris sequels. And then I'll come back and do Stormlight 6-10 which take place about 10 years in-world after Stormlight 5. Same characters, at least the ones that survive. *eruption of laughter* That might be all of them! No spoilers there. But Stormlight is ten books. The way Stormlight will go is Book 4 is Eshonai, Book 5 is Szeth, 6 is Lift, 7 is Renarin, 8 is Ash, 9 is Taln and 10 is Jasnah. That doesn't mean that the person survives, it means that it's a flashback sequence. *nervous laughter* Just keep that in mind. So if your sequel wasn't on that list then don't hold your breath.
Questioner
You said thirteen failures, right, with The Way of Kings being the thirteenth?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes. My thirteenth.
Questioner
Are there any other [unpublished books] that you had-- that turned into published books?
Brandon Sanderson
Any others that ended up being published? Yes. White Sand, which was my first book, I rewrote as book number seven or eight and I eventually turned it into a graphic novel. Big chunks of book nine turned into Warbreaker, and books eleven and twelve - one was called The Final Empire and one was called Mistborn. Remember how I told you about two ideas mashing together and what made the story finally work? The best parts of those books turned into a new book, the magic system of one merging with the lore of the other is how it worked out. So, um, I did not publish any of those books as they were written except for Elantris. The Way of Kings I started from scratch when I rewrote it, and Mistborn I started from scratch when I rewrote it. But certainly ideas that were part of that ended up in those books.
Truthwatcher_17.5
Does Hoid have any Hemalurgic spikes?
Brandon Sanderson
I will RAFO that one.
Truthwatcher_17.5
We know that Hoid took a bead of lerasium, but it never specifically says that he consumed it.
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, he did.
Questioner
Alright, so he is a Mistborn?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, I'll go ahead and canonize that.
Questioner
I was intrigued ever since I saw your State of the Sanderson about Death Without Pizza.
Brandon Sanderson
It's good. I'm one chapter, or no I guess it's like three chapters. I'm one day's work away from finishing my revision, to then kick it back to Peter [Orullian]. I'm really, really excited how it's turning out. He knows his metal culture really well, and one of the tricks has been integrating that without making it feel jokey and things like that. I'm very pleased with how it's going.
Questioner
What kind of metal influences were you going for?
Brandon Sanderson
...Peter really likes the lyrical metal like that, like Dreamtheater. I don't know my subgenres very well, but Apocalyptica gets a mention, that's one I knew, Dragonforce gets a mention, I knew them. But I guess Dragonforce is the same subgenre. My job is worldbuilding and plot, and his job is character voice and making sure all of that works. I'm fascinated by it all.
Questioner
So is he more in the editing process, or is he an official co-writer?
Brandon Sanderson
He's a co-writer! I came up with the plot and the worldbuilding, I sent it to him, he wrote the whole first draft. Now I'm doing the next draft and then I'm kicking it back to him to do another pass and make sure the voice still matches, and then we'll take it out to publishers.
Questioner
What's the character's name?
Brandon Sanderson
The main character's name is Jack Solomon.
Questioner
I was wondering about the pictures in the cover of this [Oathbringer]. Are they specific characters in the book, or just art?
Brandon Sanderson
They are the Heralds. I went to some artists and said, "Do me your rendition of something that would be on the Sistine Chapel in-world for the Heralds," so that's four of the ten. So that is what we ended up with.
MiToRo94
When Dalinar first goes to meet the Nightwatcher and he sees Cultivation as well, presumably.
Brandon Sanderson
He does.
MiToRo94
They are surrounded by a green mist. So is that mist comparable to Preservation's mist on Scadrial? Would that be like "Cultivationlight?"
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, that is in the same sort of vein.
Questioner
Reen and Ruin, how much of the personalty that we saw in the books was Ruin, her actual memories, and how much of it was actually Reen?
Brandon Sanderson
Most of what you saw was this kind of weird amalgamation, because it's getting filtered through her memories and things like this. You can see mostly Ruin at that point, but there is some actual Reen in there mixed in. Maybe twenty-eighty. Eh, twenty five-seventy five.
KalynaAnne
Lift has lots of pancakes and you only describe six of them. I was wondering if you could tell me of any of the other three?
Brandon Sanderson
Okay, sure... One is a terrible, awful, seafood one that Rosharans would eat and I would hate, and people that I know would love. Not sure what the other two would be. Probably a very spicy one, a savory spicy one. Probably a vegetable greenish one, something that over here would look like it has spinach in it.
KalynaAnne
Is that different form the one-- she mentions one that has chopped vegetables in it?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, that would be different. It would be a pure green one as opposed to one more like--
KalynaAnne
Like a fritter?
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah. Yeah.
Questioner
Do you anticipate ever coming back to White Sand?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, I do anticipate it, but no promises. If I do come back to it, it will not be the novel White Sand, it would be a sequel to the graphic novels.
mikkomikk
Seeing that Vin and Kelsier was able to absorb Preservation's power due to Connection, is it theoretically possible for a duralumin Compounder to compound Connection so much to the point where they could draw in the mists and 'absorb' some of Harmony's power?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO
simon_thekillerewok
Is Vaeria still a planet name in the cosmere or was that scratched?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO.
simon_thekillerewok
Did you ever decide on a name for the capital of Fjorden?
Brandon Sanderson
Not yet. Since it's likely to be the name of the second book, I don't want to pull the trigger until I have the right title.
simon_thekillerewok
Did you end up re-purposing what was written for The King's Necromancer for Death (Without Pizza)?
Brandon Sanderson
I rebuilt the magic system using some ideas from that, but threw away all actual text. It had been too long, and the new version had too many interesting updates.
simon_thekillerewok
The Song of Changes - just recently saw this WOB. Love the name personally, but what are your current thoughts? How likely do you think this is going to be Stormlight 4?
Brandon Sanderson
I think it's unlikely, but we'll see.
simon_thekillerewok
I just finished my copy of Skyward (I got it at launch, but I've been finishing up your other books) - did the story of The Eyes (Fermi's Paradox space opera novella) end up being rolled into Skyward?
Brandon Sanderson
Yup, it did. I actually still imagine The Eyes mostly being in continuity, with tweaks.
simon_thekillerewok
Is this to say we should expect a tweaked The Eyes novella to come out in the Skyward universe sometime in the future? Or were you just saying that The Eyes was basically the first draft of Skyward?
Brandon Sanderson
I imagine the characters from The Eyes are still around. (You'll see the alien race from the story in the second Skyward book.) It requires a few tweaks because of how humans are regarded, but otherwise, the story could have happened--so maybe I'll eventually finish it and release it.
simon_thekillerewok
Without a commitment, how many books long are you guessing the Death (Without Pizza) series will be?
Brandon Sanderson
3+ if it turns out well. Depends. Once the first book is done and looks good, that's when I look at the series and make some calls on how it feels like it will go.
chaoticdust75
I have a couple questions about when Tacenda sang and played her song for the demons while Davriel Slept.
From the description it seemed like she was evoking her own story of loss and in so doing the demons saw visions. Miss Highwater was flying while Crunchgnar seemed to be seeing the fires of his home go out.
What was the magical song doing to the characters?
Brandon Sanderson
Part of Tacenda's power is to use music to enhance people's experiences, memories, and emotions. This song was exploring that power--and looking specifically at things they had lost.
chaoticdust75
Why did Miss Highwater see herself flying? Did she used to be able to or envy angels?
Brandon Sanderson
I'm afraid I'll RAFO this for now. But you are asking the right sorts of questions.
chaoticdust75
What did Davriel see?
Brandon Sanderson
Another RAFO. He was very disturbed by it, though.
chaoticdust75
I'm also just curious about the soul of the Nameless Angel. Do you have an in universe explanation for why Tacenda could see it yet no one else could? Or is it just a powerful moment that had something to do with the Bog being afraid of faith?
Brandon Sanderson
You're theorizing along the right lines, but I wanted to leave this one ambiguous. Suffice it to say that odd things were happening.
Argent
What is the official spelling of Koloss Head-Munching Day? Hyphenated like that? Koloss Head Munching Day?
Brandon Sanderson
You'd have to ask Peter, actually. I do it both ways. The koloss are big fans of randomized punctuation.
Jay13x
Are Vex and Cabralin meant to be the names of planes?
Brandon Sanderson
I didn't get specific permission to name any planes--so while I intend them to be planes, for actual MTG canon I believe they have to be taken as regions inside of planes (that haven't been named yet.) You'll be safer assuming that unless Wizards decides otherwise. I don't think we should go around adding them to lists of planes on MTG wikis, for example.
Jay13x
Are the entities meant to be the Worldsouls of dead planes?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes. That is exactly what they are.
DataLoreHD
I'm confused of the book title. Isn't "Children of the Bog" more accurate?
Brandon Sanderson
It depends. Some of the characters were children of the angel, some were children of the bog (which also has no name), and some might be considered children of something else which has no name. Notably, Davriel doesn't speak of his actual name in the story, but only the various aliases he has made up.
DataLoreHD
If Angels were made from mana, how could Tacenda feel the Nameless One's soul at the end?
Brandon Sanderson
That is the big question, isn't it? That should not have happened. Something odd was going on.
DammyJerry
Why Cultivation thought that helping Dalinar would be very, very dangerous? Also, there's a theory that she wants him for a new vessel for Honor's Shard. Is this...valid assumption?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO on both, I'm afraid.
Kenobi_01
Crossover Time: Which Planeswalker would fit in best/worst/most interestingly into a Cosmere story, and ditto for one of your characters, in an MTG set? (Outside of Hoid: we both know the Mending would be nothing compared to the carnage he would cause in the Multiverse). I suspect Sazed would have an... interesting time with Gideon. Especially on Theros and Amonkhet.
Brandon Sanderson
I like your Sazed/Gideon idea. Tamiyo trying to figure out the science of Roshar's moons might be fun, also. (Hint, it's weird.)
Argent
There is a mention of a shorthand for the women's script, for faster taking of notes - is that just the script with the top/bottom half cut off (which would lead in no loss of information, since the letters are symmetric), or is more like a code or a compression algorithm (like how someone might write "u" instead of "you")?
Brandon Sanderson
I imagined the shorthand of the women's script being a combination of the two--squiggles instead of full lines, mixed with some actual shortened words or replacement words.
tharmsthegreat
You did tell us to keep an eye open for future sets. Well then, in your head, what are the colors of each main character (Tacenda, Highwater, Crunch, Willia)
Brandon Sanderson
Tacenda is GRW. The demons would be mono black, though Miss Highwater has some red and blue to her, while Crunchgnar has some red and green to him. Willia is White Green Black.
yahasgaruna
Is [Tacenda] still GRW at the end of novella, after picking up the entity?
Brandon Sanderson
I imagine that entity actually being green. A darker side of green, but still green. It evoked a feeling of destiny, and of putting it back together (which would be natural) and a kind of survival of the fittest attitude. You didn't get to see much of it, but this is my intention for it.
Think of the Entities as enormous mana reservoirs--the collected mana of a plane--that can be tapped to power spells, but with dangerous results. Davriel's Entity is pure black mana, while the entity of the bog is pure green. (Though in its shattered form, a lot of its instincts were about self-preservation, which comes across black in the story.)
8giraffe8
How is Davriel pronounced? I know how much you love your long a's like with Adonalsium and Adolin, but then there's Scadrial with a short a. Which one is Davriel?
Brandon Sanderson
Short a. Dav, like have.
simon_thekillerewok
Is there a planet called Lor? (aka what planet will Aether of Night take place on).
Brandon Sanderson
I do plan a planet called Lor. But Aether of Night is very in flux right now, so I won't canonize where it takes place.