How tall is Kaladin?
Kaladin I think is 6' 4"? But I'm not 100% sure how the equivalent-- Like he is 6' 4" to Rosharans, which may actually put him several inches taller to the 6' 4", like the feet on Roshar are not exactly the same as feet here.
Is the cosmere, the thread connecting several of your series, something that came from the beginning, or something that kind of grew?
What a great question! So the cosmere, which is the thread connects a lot of my books together. All of my epic fantasies are connected in this world called the cosmere. Was that from the beginning, or was it something that grew?
So I had, I often point to the fact that I had those years not getting published as a big advantage, because while I was working on those books, I didn't write the first ones as a connected shared universe. It was after I had done a number of them, that I'm like, "Hey, there's something here! There's a thread that I can weave together." But by the time I got published, I knew all of that right?
And so, like when I wrote Mistborn, which was my, the first book I wrote knowing it would get published. Elantris was my first published, it was number 6 in those years. I sat down specifically with Mistborn and built the cosmere, using some of these unpublished books as the history of what had happened. So from the get-go of reading it, it was all interconnected. Elantris got retrofitted a little bit, to fit in with this. From Mistborn is where it all kind of starts working together and things like that.
I was inspired to do this by authors I had read who did this really well, that I liked. Stephen King did it. Michael Moorcock did it. It really kind of blew my mind when Asimov connected the Robots and the Foundation books. Of course, you know, comics have been doing it forever. But when I saw authors doing it is what made me really excited. I would count those as inspiration.
If you would spontaneously, prematurely die, is there any author you would consider ideal for finishing your work?
I usually pick Brian McClellan. Just because he's my student and I wanna be mean to him. I've warned him, I haven't asked him if he'd do it, I just warn him. I tell people that he will do it. And he's like, "Oh. *grumble*" We're good friends. But Brian would actually be a really good match. Properly outlined, Brian is one of the better writers out there.
I love that caveat.
Brian is-- Brian can go off. He knows this but-- yeah.
If a person had the power of Mistborn and other powers like Surges, could he use duralumin to power the Surges?
This is possible.
Previously you were asked if Hoid could have been using the lerasium to alloy with other metals to change his spiritweb, and you answered it was technically possible. Does that mean you’re finally admitting that Hoid did not digest the bead?
I am not admitting that. It was possible for him to do that, but he did not.
In Secret History, outside of Fadrex City, Kelsier was in the Cognitive and Hoid was in the Physical. Kelsier touched Hoid and got hurt. How did that happen and was it intentional?
RAFO.
We know that Hoid was offered a Shard and turned it down. Was he offered a specific Shard?
He was. There is one of the Shards that he would've-- yeah.
Would he have been the 17th person or did someone take his place?
No. Someone took his place.
Is there anywhere on Scadrial that has a a region that they pronounce it "Kelsier" (ˈkɛlsiəɹ)?
That they would say "Kelsier?" Sure, I bet there are some that would say "Kelsier."
What would happen if a Bloodmaker somehow burned stored <renewal>?
RAFO.
Would it be possible to Awaken a microbe, like a bacterium?
Probably not. I could imagine that happening. Awaken is the wrong term for it. I would say "No, because Awaken is the wrong term for it." But Investiture could potentially create something weird out of that.
I noticed during Oathbringer, is there a symbolism between the color red? Because I noticed that red is mentioned many times. Is it tied directly to the Thrill?
When I am using red specifically for spren and eye color, I'm doing it intentionally. It means something. I'm not gonna tell you what it means yet.
Azure's cloth was red, and Adolin picked up a red glass sphere.
Some of that is going to be coincidence. But the color of the thing that is going to Scadrial is not coincidence.
What happens if there was a Feruchemist who was an Elantrian? Could they store Elantrian abilities into a nicrosil metalmind?
I'm RAFOing most of the stuff, but that one's a RAFO just because I am leaving nicrosil Feruchemy far away until I get there... I'm basically RAFOing everything about Investiture and Connection metalminds and things like that...
Could a Feruchemist, by tapping a duralumin metalmind on Sel in Arelon, be able to become an Elantrian? Or would it have to first fill an aluminum metalmind...
RAFO. RAFO.
Vyre's knife that killed Jezrien, did it have to be a sapphire to kill Jezrien because of the Ten Essences? Or could any other gemstone work?
...I will RAFO that one right now.
Would it be possible for someone to store Stormlight in a nicrosil metalmind?
I will RAFO that for now, but you're thinking the way I want you to be thinking.
I heard you talk about the Vorin languages have a vowel shift. I'm a linguist so...
I'm kind of bad at vowel shifts, but it does have a vowel shift. You'll see Kalak being called Kelek, and some of these things like this. And I try to stay consistent with it, but I've also not been as rigorous with it as I maybe should be. Peter always points out little errors I've made. So it's a vowel shift that has some inconsistencies, how about that. But of course, real-world vowels shifts have it.
You need to publish something only about the conlang.
Only about the linguistics? Yeah, having an assistant who has a degree in linguistics is really handy. Peter's been of very big use, particularly on Stormlight, because I didn't have him before those books. I just kind of had to muddle through it. And now I've got him. I'll call him up and say, "Pronounce this; pronounce this." There are lots of names in Stormlight that I can't pronounce that he can... The Arabic /q/ ...he can do, and I can't. Which we use a lot in some of the names over in Azir, and stuff like that.
What do you think of Moash?
...I am very curious what the fan reactions have been. I anticipated it. Moash exists to represent a different direction that a character with some of the same motivations as Kaladin could go.
Did you actually go through a horseback riding orientation for that scene in Words of Radiance, because that is literally how it works.
I have done it before in my life, and I was drawing on that. I did have to go get some horse experts, because I got some things wrong. That's kind of a little bit how my first experience riding horses went. I have a cousin who... rode show horses when she was younger.
Have we ever seen the spren that are in a relationship with Ryshadium on the page at any point?
I think you have, but I can't 100% say. I'm sorry. I think you have, but that one comes with a big asterisk...
Why didn't we get to see Dalinar meet Gallant in Oathbringer in the flashbacks? I was so disappointed...
I planned that for a different flashback... I intentionally didn't put that one in, because it didn't fit the rest of the narrative that I was telling. But I will do that eventually.
Is it after he arrives at the Shattered Plains?
I will RAFO that for now, because I'd have to go look exactly at the timeline where I'm slipping it in.
But it's around that time?
Yeah, it's more recent than most of the things that you're reading about... Let's say, the person that Dalinar has been through most of his life would not end up with him... I will get into it. I realize that that was a hole that is not in the story, and it's an intentional one. But I eventually worked in the flashbacks with Kaladin in the last book, I found a little extra place for them. I'll try to find some of those for Dalinar.
Is chasmfiend meat edible? If so, is it easily-- are people harvesting it once a chasmfiend is dead?
It is edible, and yes, perhaps it has not been exploited as much as it should have been, if that makes sense. But yes, it could be eaten.
Is Lhan from the [Way of Kings Prime] reading the same one from Book 2?
Yes, that is the same Brother Lhan. I knew he wasn't going to get to have a big part in the books once I moved Taln so far off. So I gave him a nice cameo with his own interlude so that at least he would be in the books. Because in that version, he basically wandered around, following Taln, complaining for the entire book.
What about... Doomslug? What's up with Doomslug?
Doomslug will be answered pretty soon... Doomslug is relevant.
Adolin has this connection with Maya. Does that have anything to do with why spren are not pursuing him as a Radiant?
RAFO.
What is the inspiration for the Parshendi?
There are a lot of different inspirations. One is wanting to build out of the setting a species that interacted with the setting and had a symbiotic relationship with the setting. The other was the idea of a people whose caste system, you could change castes and physically change into other castes of the system. So something like the hives you see, where you can switch from worker to various different tasks. I liked the cultural aspects of what that did.
What's your Smedry talent?
...I usually say "being long-winded." But the truth is, when I wrote the books, I kind of did all the stuff that I do as the first powers. So I'm habitually late, bad at dancing, good at breaking things... But if you actually go "What's the core one," probably being long-winded. I can say things that could be said in one word, in seventeen instead.
I have a quick question about the uniforms in Skyward. Is there a specific color for Skyward flight?
Not for Skyward flight. They are all using the same jumpsuits, and things like this. By the second book, they probably will have... once they kind get ahead of it a little bit, they can start doing things like painting the ships. But in this book, really, you're basically wearing a jumpsuit--
It's blue, it's unceremonial.
Mmhmm.
I did have a question about Doomslug and M-Bot, where they came from?
Those are questions that will be answered, I promise.
Are they connected?
That's what we call a RAFO, Read And Find Out. You will find out; I'm not gonna tell you know. You'll find out some of those answers in the next book.
What would Hoid's callsign be?
He'd probably go with Dust. He likes that. It depends on the mood he's in. Sometimes he might pick something a little ruder, just to make someone have to say it.
How do you approach creating scenes? Do you create how you want the scene to play out, and then make the magic system? Or do you make the magic system work first?
Usually, I do magic system first. The way scenes, I construct, is usually I have big goals in my story. For instance, in Mistborn, Vin is going to learn to train all the powers of a Mistborn. By the end, I want her to be fairly competent. So then I have that goal, and I write down, "What are scenes that can move me toward that goal?" In that outline, it would be: she trains with Ham in one scene, she trains with Marsh in another scene, she trains with Breeze in another scene. What else can I make those scenes do to move character and stuff, to try to pack more into those scenes. But I'll construct those scenes as goals towards the ending.
It kind of felt like you let Adolin off the hook for murder.
I would say no, I didn't. There will be more implications there, but what you've gotta understand is, Adolin does not view what he did as murder. His dad is uncertain if it is. And his dad is the ultimate judge of legality. There will be far-reaching implications of this, but kind of the way a society like that works, if you didn't get caught and you are the son of the king, then you get a little-- you know what I mean?
Is it yet to be resolved?
Yet to have the full extent of its implications, how about that? I would say that you are perfectly right if you were to say he did something morally wrong. There are many who would agree with you; there are many who would disagree with you. And that disagreement is part of what the story is about.
Someday... once I'm sure everything that it would spoil has been released, I will release [Way of Kings Prime] so you can read it. You can probably see that, if you read Stormlight, a chunk of the book belonging to Taln moved to Szeth, instead, who was a character in the first book but had a slightly different plot. Eventually, we will get to the whole story, though.
What was your inspiration for Wayne?
Wayne had a lot of inspirations... Obviously, there's some Mat Cauthon going on for me when I do Wayne, particularly the way that Mat would see the world differently from the that way he would act. The original inspiration for Wayne was a character who changed personalities based on which hat he wore. He was actually the lead in a Mistborn story I was writing, and he didn't work well without someone to play off of... Some characters work way better when they are surrounded by more normal people. Not gonna say anything about things like the Minion movie (which my children loved), but it's very hard to tell a story about everyone being crazy instead of having a framework of someone to keep it going in the right direction. So that was a big inspiration for Wayne.
The other big inspiration for Wayne was something I noticed about human nature, where I wanted to tell a story about a character who had some really deep-- Wayne should bother you. Like the way he treats Steris. And the way he treats Ranette. And the way he treats some of the people in his life should really bother you. And one of my goals with Wayne was to tell a story that mimics what I see in real life, where there are people I know and I love who also have this way about them that you realize they aren't quite-- grown-up's the wrong term... Like, all of us are the heroes in our own group of friends. We're all the hero of our story. We each have different things we're working on. And some of them are classic good storytelling things, like "I'm gonna learn to be more bold." Which is totally me. Totally something I need to work on. But some of them are "I treat people who aren't in my inner circle really poorly, especially if they're trying to get into my inner circle. And then when you're in my inner circle, I have a dysfunctional relationship with you a lot of time." And I thought I could only really do that with a character that you loved while you were really annoyed by them, because otherwise I feel like the character wouldn't work. Maybe I could do it a different way, but I really wanted to dig into that in these new Mistborn books, and Wayne was my vehicle for doing this.
Some kind of nebulous sort of writerly things going on there.
I like Mistborn: Secret History. Is there going to be a Mistborn: Secret History 2?
I hope to be able to write one. But this comes back to the "Let's make sure I'm getting the things that I have promised sequels to moving at a reasonable rate before I do side projects like that." So, I'd like to do one, but I'm not promising one.
What do you feel about people who take your books and are really inspired by them and taking them as their life motto? For the example, the Stormlight Archive mantra "Life before death..."
I am honored. Absolutely. The things that I am putting in the books are things I'm passionate about, things I'm thinking about, things that I think are relevant. I am completely honored. And I guess it would depend on whose motto you take. But absolutely honored, I think it's awesome.
I had a question about what it means to swear the Ideal of Law. Several fans have told me it means to define the law, in the Nixon, "when the president does it, that means it is not illegal," sort of way. I interpret it as becoming the embodiment of the law such that they can't willingly violate any law without breaking their oaths.
Do either of these interpretations hit the mark? Nale seems to follow the law more so than most and that doesn't just seem like a personal preference.
I would say that both of these interpretations could work for a given Skybreaker, which is why there is disagreement among the order itself. Perception is a big part of the oaths.
I wouldn't want to squish this discussion by offering too much on one side or the other, as this is exactly where I want the conversation to be going right now.
Was there any inspiration here [The Library of Alexandria] for the Palanaeum? I assume if I ask about the burning of the library I'll get "rafo", but what about the size?
It was an inspiration.
If someone was tapping gold, would spiking a separate ability out of them kill them? Or would it work at all?
It is possible to spike someone without killing them. But they'd never be the same. It would be worse than being a drab.
Lift and Hoid disagree on bacon.
Is this because food on Roshar is usually either Spicy (male) or Sweet (female), so salty bacon would just taste wrong to Lift?
She just doesn't like the taste, please don't think too much into it.
For Skyward: What would your callsign be?
Mr. Prolific. Probably too long to be a callsign, but it was my nickname in my first writing group.
What does M-Bot have against Doomslug and Rig?
M-Bot treats Rig kind of like you might treat a doctor. Even though he's good for you, you may not enjoy having someone poke around at you.
With Doomslug, it isn't that he has a lot against Doomslug. Doomslug just isn't a good conversationalist. She does a lot of repeating back at you what you say. So getting trapped only with Doomslug would be--
Can the second book have Doomslug with a bow?
In a bow? I will try to get Doomslug a bow.
Is Doomslug the cytonic hyperdrive?
That is a RAFO.
Is Emperor's Soul going to show up in the Elantris sequel?
You will find references to Emperor's Soul in Elantris sequels, yeah. I don't promise a sequel to Emperor's Soul itself, though.
Could a skilled Awakener Awaken a gemheart?
Yes, but you got to remember, some of these things like metal and gemstones and things do not Awaken well, how about that... Technically yes, it may not do the thing that you want it to do.
But it'll do a thing?
It'll do a thing.
Is Fleet going to make a come back?
Fleet is probably going to remain in lore.
The Reshi Island greatshells, are they born in the ocean?
Yes... In the ocean may be an extreme term for it.
...Can the Storm Striders move when a highstorm is not passing?
No... Can is a strong term. They do not, how's that?
Would you be able to cure addiction with Forgery?
You could temporarily mask the symptoms of it, but I wouldn't call it being cured. You would also-- If you did something like the Emperor where you're constantly getting it renewed, the big danger is, since you haven't solved the problem at its core, falling back into it. But it's theoretically possible you could cover up the symptoms and have someone pull out of it that way.
Would a Mistborn see the atium shadow of someone wearing Shardplate?
Yes, they would be able to. Good question, but they would indeed be able to.
Is there anything about the Stonewards that you can share that's not a RAFO? I know they're coming later.
They are coming later, so not really. They were more of the Knights Radiant front line troops, as opposed to the Windrunners who were scouts. But you probably already knew that.
