Date: 2014-03-21
Type: Verbatim
Location: Collegeville, PA
Reporter: EHyde
All right, the transcript is finished to the best of my ability. Most of the juicy questions were already in NutiketAiel’s report, but if people want the exact wording, and there’s some other good stuff too, especially some fun less cosmere-related stuff.
This is not the general Q&A but the questions asked at the signing table. Some questions were omitted because they were reported by the people who asked the questions, in which case their paraphrases were replaced with the verbatim transcript.
Did it seem really awkward working with someone else’s characters, with Robert Jordan?
You know, I thought that it would, but the fact that I’ve been reading them since I was a kid, they felt really natural to me, like writing my own characters. I’m quite pleased—I was quite surprised. Perrin and Rand and everyone, they’re like my high school buddies. It was refreshingly familiar to me.
In Mistborn, Allomancy tends to get a little addictive, is that something that’s going to happen with Stormlight—holding it just because it feels good?
You are noticing a similarity. That is intentional.
How were you inspired by Dragonsbane ?
I was inspired by just how imaginative it was. I had never read a fantasy book before and I loved the idea of another world that was so similar and yet so different from our own.
When you read that one book, was that where your inspiration started, or were you always—
I was always telling stories, but I didn’t find fantasy, and myself in fantasy, until I read that book.
How often do your characters take you completely by surprise when you’re doing the actual writing, and take you away from your outline?
They don’t surprise me very often, I’m usually aware of it long before it would actually become an issue and I’ve rebuilt the outline by then.
So you’re not ever in the process of writing and they—
They don’t do that. I cast people in my role, like not real people but I try a character out, and if they fit the role I keep going with them and if they don’t then I throw that chapter away and I cast someone else. I rarely have someone go complete crazy off what I was expecting, if they do, it means they were probably the wrong character for that role.
If Taravangian made the Diagram, and telling the future is of the Voidbringers, is that a bad sign?
It depends on if you’re speaking culturally or actually magically.
Magically, I guess.
Because he would claim to you that he did it all with strength of mind and no magical influence other than enhanced mind. That’s what he would tell you. And so in that case it would not be—culturally they’d look very weirdly at it, but spiritually he would say it’s not of the Voidbringers.
Right. He would say that.
Uh-huh.
We were talking that it’s kind of a shame that Dalinar doesn’t have his own “real” spren. I think it’s an upgrade, is there a way I should think of this? Is it a cool thing or a bad thing?
It’s a cool thing, it’s also a very dangerous thing.
Well [the Stormfather] controls the highstorms … follow-up question: if he dies, does that affect the spren?
Dying, as long as the oaths are not broken, does not affect the spren in a very terrible way. There are effects.
So, Anne McCaffrey … what about Terry Brooks?
Terry Brooks also, but Terry Brooks was a little bit later—only six months later, but I discovered him after I was already neck-deep in the genre. I’ve since had dinner with him and stuff and he is delightful. […] Landover is my favorite of his.
So regarding Hoid, are we ever going to learn his real name at any point in time? I guess in Dragonsteel ? I know he says about how he’s borrowing stuff and about how he steals stuff.
Yes. You eventually know his real name, but it depends on what you define as real.
So also, regarding the magic systems and stuff, I hear you have another book that’s unpublished and that you can send it to people.
Yes, just drop an email, say that you want a copy of White Sand . It’s okay. It’s not great.
Will the flute come back?
A lot of people are curious about the flute. I have been non-committal, so far.
The flute that Wit gave to Kaladin, which he had to abandon in Sadeas’s camp after the Battle of the Tower.
Can you tell me the order of the three planets in the solar system?
No.
Because I know Braize is the third one, I’ve heard that, is that true?
I’m staying closed-lipped about a lot of this.
Can you tell me which is the most massive moon [of Roshar]? Not the biggest, but the most massive.
I think the biggest is the most massive. All three moons are much closer than our moon is.
And so is that Nomon?
Yes.
How big is Nomon on the night sky, like compared to our moon?
Larger than our moon, but not dominating of the sky. […] I do believe Nomon is bigger, but I had to have Peter run those calculations, so he may come back and say no Brandon, that’s not possible, but I do believe it’s bigger than our moon in the sky. You’re supposed to be able to see moderately well by Nomon.
So I had some things I figured out, I just wanted to know if they’re true or not. So I have that the orbits of the moons would precess so that the farthest point is always pointing towards the sun.
So, one more time.
[uses diagram to explain the question]
So, we have figured all this out. It’s in the wiki–so me just saying–it’s not in the wiki that you can find. I would need to go compare this. All the calculations on things like this–this is stuff where I sat down with Peter, who knows much more astronomy than me and said “here’s what I want” and he’s like “well it has to be this” and I put that in.
Do you know, do the moons orbit the opposite direction to Roshar’s rotation?
I believe they do but I’m not 100% sure.
There’s no eclipses as far as I can tell, so the plane of the orbit must be strongly inclined, ‘cause there’d be an eclipse every day if there were eclipses-
We had to fudge that because as you said, if there were any it’d be all the time.
I was wondering, on Roshar, what sort of plants and animals do they use for fabrics, since they don’t have a lot of wooly animals and the plants are different?
Most of them are plant-based. I think I’ve mentioned one of the plants.
They have silk though, right?
Yes. It’s called sea-silk, they grow it in the water. It comes from the coasts.
So they don’t have anything like our silk, then?
If you looked at it, you would call it silk, but it is being produced in a very different way.
Our silk comes from insect cocoons, and they have a lot of that there, but they don’t use it for fiber at all?
Insect cocoons on Roshar are either, they melt in water from the highstorm cycle, or they have stone in them, so they don’t work really well for textiles. There are certain rockbuds you can shred the inside of the shell to get a textile, there’s sea silk that grows out in the ocean, and there are other plants of a similar nature.
I was also wondering about the Steel Alphabet in the Mistborn books, each letter aesthetically looks like it’s built from a cuff, a spike, and a bead, and was that intentional to reflect the magic systems?
Yes. Do remember that that writing system was developed by the Final Empire. They actually took the ancient Terris symbols and made them more to their aesthetic over time.
Is Vasher trying to find Nightblood?
Vasher misses Nightblood and feels responsible for him.
How many worldhoppers have we seen?
Oh, I haven’t kept track, you’ve seen quite a few. There’s one from Mistborn, did you catch him? I don’t think people have really picked out the Terriswoman yet, who makes her way into them, but they’re mostly not supposed to be noticeable yet, until you get to know them as characters and you look back and be like “oh that was that person.”
Is it the Terriswoman I think it is?
I don’t know which Terriswoman you think it is.
Tindwyl?
No.
Speaking of the Terriswoman, is she the nurse in Warbreaker ?
< Pauses; gleefully says > RAAAAAAFO!
The last Q&A was transcribed by Kurkistan.
Do you have any say in your covers?
I have a lot more than I used to. Originally, not much, though Tor, to their credit, even the first cover asked me—gave me a choice of three illustrators, and said “which of these three would you like the most? And then I picked Stephan Martiniere, and I got the cover from him, that I really liked. Nowadays I can say “give me this artist” and they do.
Have you thought any more about metal allergies with your Allomancy?
It definitely wouldn’t be pleasant.
Ok, I have this steel allergy, I got it last year, and I work in a steel plant.
It would not be pleasant, but I would have the instinct that fewer people on Scadrial would have that allergy, because of the Investiture during their creation. But, it could totally happen.
I really like the leatherbound—are these [the Stormlight Archive] ever going to come out in a leatherbound edition?
I would assume that someday we will make that happen, but it is not in the near future. You’ll probably see a Mistborn leatherbound first. To kind of gauge the market.
You said you’ve played Magic since it came out, what kind do you play the most?
I play draft the most right now, particularly cube draft, but any sort of draft I can be a part of I love. […] And you know, any time I can play I enjoy it, but if there’s a set that I can draft some sort of screwy combo deck like spider spawning or swarm or something, then that’s the sort of set I love. Or some sort of screwy five color deck.
I play a lot of commander.
Every time I play commander I get stomped. I haven’t quite figured out how to make a commander deck that doesn’t get stomped. But of course I think that the format’s all about everyone getting stomped so, it makes sense.
When is the next Alcatraz book coming out?
I am working on it right now, I hope to have it out by next year. I’m not sure when, but hopefully next year. […] I did buy [the rights] back and I sold them to Tor, who’s releasing a new edition, so you won’t have to order them in from the UK anymore. […] We will have a Tor edition starting in 2015, hopefully with the last book.
You said that you had your lectures online, are they on your website?
Yes. We link them on my blog, but they’re at brandonsanderson.com/writing-advice . You can also look on YouTube, they’re all on there.
What do the glyphs in the Kholin glyph pair mean?
Oh boy, it’s in my notes, I should know that, but I’d need to look it up.
What would the Willshapers think about Adolin killing Sadeas?
The Willshapers would probably be ok with that.
Since the evil on Threnody isn’t a Shard, can you tell us anything about its actual nature? Is it an actual being, and is it related to Adonalsium?
Everything is related to Adonalsium in the Cosmere, most of the magic you’re seeing is a just a natural outgrowth of Cosmere related magic and cognitive shadows. The Evil is similarly related.
Were the Ryshadium artificially enhanced or created, or were they natural?
Oh, RAFO! Good question!
Any new news on the Mistborn game?
I have no news, unfortunately. I’m still hoping that it comes out late 2015, but I don’t know. […] It’s based on a story I wrote for them specifically for the game.
Alright, glowing Shardplate and retractable helmets. Is that a similar origin of the Shardblades—
There’s a similarity, but they are also very different.
Yeah, I noticed they do seem like advanced fabrials, because Adolin just keeps going on and on about how they’re all interchangeable and how they all feel comfortable after a while, and it doesn’t have the same kind of thing with the Shardblades.
No, it doesn’t. Though a Shardblade, used for a long time, will change shape slightly.
Is it the power of the bond between humans and spren, the Nahel bond, or from the swords—the existing Shardblades—that causes the eyes to turn light?
Uh … yes.
Does each specific order have their own spren that they would bond?
Yes. Each order has a spren that is distinctive. All Windrunners come from wind— from honorspren.
So I was reading the Wheel of Time and in the first one they get the saidin and saidar , the pools—they seem very similar to Shardpools.
Yes, and that is something that he kind of dropped, the Eye of the World is just like pure saidin , and I would be surprised if that weren’t an unconscious influence on me, I didn’t think of it when I was coming up with these but that’s definitely way back in my brain when I was creating these.
So Nohadon’s still alive, right?
… RAFO! Why would you say that Nohadon’s still alive?
I know he’s still alive.
Why would you say he’s still alive?
It’s the perfect trick, that you’re gonna bring back Nohadon. Um. It’s my feeling about things.
Um …
When do we get to see a Radiant and a Mistborn go at it?
It’s gonna be a while. It is gonna be a while. Unless—yeah.
Is Shai on Roshar?
Hehehe, good question!
Has she already popped up?
She has not already popped up.
So she’s not a Radiant. Or is she?
You have not seen her on screen yet, other than in her story.
When are we gonna see a published copy of [ White Sand ]?
We’re working on a graphic novel of it right now.
Who’s gonna do the art?
We have four or five people who have sent us pitches, and we are looking through them to decide who we want to use.
Can you put me in one of your novels? I’m a three-fingered Irishman who speaks four languages.
Okay, write me an email that says “I’m a three-fingered Irishman who speaks four languages,” we’ll see what we can do. […] Who did you think Hoid was, in White Sand ?
Hoid is not a real person, he did not start life as [can’t make out].
No, who did you think he was in White Sand ?
I don’t know yet, I’m not that far.
You talk about music a lot in your books, but you never talk about the notation, or how advanced they’ve come with the chords and scales and stuff, do you have that all planned out or is that just—
I have an idea in my head, but it’s not something I spend a lot of time worldbuilding. […] I play trumpet, not piano, so my music theory is all squished through brass, which leaves me with kind of a weird perspective on it. My wife did music theory, and played piano, and all this stuff, and me it’s like, you know, “it comes out the front of the horn!”
Music theory is generally easiest for pianists because they play more than one note at a time (as many as 11-12), and can play several voices in counterpoint with each other. Trumpet players often can’t even read bass clef; pianists read both clefs and more commonly have the ability to play in any key.
How do you come up with all your detail for your books, all the different sequences.
Just lots of practice. Practice a lot, and it starts coming to you.
I was wondering if you had, off the top of your head, any one-armed Herdazian jokes.
(laughs) Only the obvious one. How do you get a one-armed Herdazian out of a tree? You wave.
Are you ever going to go further in the Elantris series?
Someday I will. It’s a ways off, but I will someday.
I was writing about the stances, and I was wondering if you could match them with (unfolds drawing).
I would have you email this to us, because Ben McSweeney made the final call as he drew these, which one was which. While I had notes on each of them, he matched the stances to them, so it would be really easy for me to get them wrong.
Did you ever make a conscious choice to be as open as you are, in your process, with your fans?
It was just really natural to me. I think it was me looking at things that I wished authors were doing, and I’m a product of my generation, with the internet and things like that, so, I wouldn’t say conscious.
Do you think you’re going to write in the Wheel of Time world at all?
It’s unlikely that I’ll ever do any more Wheel of Time books. I don’t think that Robert Jordan would want it to keep going.
What about your Steelheart , how many—?
That is a trilogy. I’ve finished the second book and turned it in, then one more left to do, and then it’ll be done.
Final and kaput? No multiple trilogies?
Hmm … you know, I could see … but I have no plans right now to do any more. I have my next YA book that I’ve already got planned what I’m going to do.
The Rithmatist , how many in that series?
That’s also three.
So what’s your favorite thing from The Way of Kings ? Quotes, coming from the actual book in The Way of Kings .
The book in-world? I would say it’s the story that Nohadon shares about walking and passing the man with his burden.
With the ten books split into five and five, is that going to be chronological?
Yes. They will be chronological.
So, Joshua [Bilmes ha]s looked at two of my manuscripts, how many did he look at of yours before—?
I think he looked at four. […] If you’re continuing to get better and better feedbacks, that’s a really good sign with Joshua. Now, you should also be sending other places. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. But as long as you’re getting increasingly good feedback, then he’s paying attention, and he doesn’t read a lot of new authors’ work anymore, he has his assistants do that, so if he is reading it himself (and if he says he is, he is) then you are in a good position.
I was curious, I know Jasnah wasn’t in it too much … I was curious—she’s such a believable non-religious character, was it more difficult writing her as a religious person? I just thought she was so well done even though she’s not—
You know she’s always been that way in my head, since I conceived of her. I spent a lot of time on atheist forums, learning how to talk the right way to make her real.
You talked about how when you’re reading it’s an active process and you’re almost like the narrator of the story, you’re inventing details that aren’t necessarily in the book. How much of that process do you think gets lost in the audiobook process?
I think you lose a little bit, but you gain a little bit in return, their interpretation, and things like that. It does happen, you lose a little bit, but you get something else in return.
My friends were appalled that I didn’t know my favorite author’s birthday and favorite color.
Koloss head-munching day (December 19) and maroon.
I wanted to ask about how, you mentioned that in the [third] trilogy for Mistborn, all the things are tied together. All the different worlds. In books that you write after you’ve written that, are you going to attempt to tie them in?
I will tie them in. I’ve already seeded hidden things that I can use to tie them in the way I want to. So it should all be there, the things I want to use. When you read, watch for a character named Hoid.
You write such amazing magic systems. Have you considered doing some arrangement with like Pathfinder or GURPS?
I’ve done one with Crafty Games, who did a Mistborn RPG. So that was my first foray into that.
Did you have a fascination with gemstones, and metals, or—?
I have a fascination with everything. So, yes, but it takes a while to figure the right theme to fit a book. But I am fascinated by pretty much everything, and so you see that sort of thing manifesting in these books.
I do have to know—how many cousins?
It depends on what your definition of cousin is. By Lopen’s definition, basically all of the people—there are a lot of cousins. He’s counting like fifth cousins, like, dating his sister or his mom’s sister—that’s a cousin.
How many people that we’ve met know the story of Dalinar’s wife?
Know which story?
The story about the pact, why he doesn’t remember anything.
Oh. Not very many at all know that he doesn’t remember. He’s had to fake it.
Is Lopen still going to have one-arm jokes? That’s my big concern.
He’s always going to have one-arm jokes. He’s probably going to have to come up with some two-arm jokes.
Have you listened to your books?
I have. I do really like Michael Kramer and Kate Reading, so I listen just to see what their interpretation is. I love that Herdazians are Australian.
Are they on for the rest of the series?
Yes. Well, they said that they will as long as they’re free.
How are you going to finish the Cosmere stuff? Like when you get to book 35, how are you gonna resist like book 36, we’re gonna say “Courage is held by a guy named Steve and according to Hoid he’s pretty cool.” Just extend it another … how are you going to finish?
We’ll see. We will see. The thing is there’s a beginning, middle, and end to the shattering of Adonalsium and the involvement there. More stories can be told in the Cosmere, but there’s a beginning, middle, and end to that. When I finish that, that is the sequence that I wanted to tell.
And you have that outlined out?
I do.
You were talking about the magic of writing, how you had to have your own kind of magic for writing, and I was wondering, did you kind of snap into that?
No, it took a while to kind of figure out, all of this took a while to figure out, none of it came, I had to practice, I had to learn, and this is just kind of my philosophies as I write.
Are the Wax and Wayne stories going to always be in stand-alone, or are they ever going to tie in to the main Mistborn?
They will tie in, in fact I intended the first one to foreshadow stuff for the next trilogy, so you will find things tying in with what’s going on, but I kind of wanted them to just be more independent, so we’ll see. It’ll be a little of both.
Is Lopen going to be one of the [main characters in the second five-book sequence]?
He is not, he’s a side character.
Who helped you go on when you had to do those eighteen drafts?
My wife is a big support to me, but I wasn’t married during the early books, and then it was just my own desire to write, and I did have a writing group that helped me, and they’re good people too.
Any humorous character in the near future? I like the funny ones.
Um, if you haven’t read Legion , Legion ‘s pretty funny.
Is there a difference between the Shardplate of the Radiants and the current Shardplate?
Yes.
Kaladin in the second book seemed to be a different Kaladin than at the end of the first book.
What way?
Angrier, and my question is, why did you write him that way?
He has always been angry. In the first book, he is focused on saving his men and now that his men are safe, all of those emotions—if you go look at him from the first nine chapters of Way of Kings , he’s that way there, it’s when he becomes focused on saving his men he has something to drive him and it kind of subsumes these things, but once they’re safe all these things he hasn’t dealt with came back out.
Birthright.
Ah …
So I’ve been in contact a little bit with [something], I own a RP gamer, and they went radio silence on me.
Um, yeah. I had dinner with Matt Scott like two weeks ago, he said it’s still in development, but he’s like buying a game studio that was working on it, or something? He had farmed it out? I think. So I don’t know.
Are you still writing?
I wrote the story for them to use. The idea was I write the story, they build the game, and come back to me for dialogue. So I have got an overarching story for them but I don’t write the dialogue till we actually have a game to plug things into. That’s still my plan. He’s still really interested in buying the Mistborn movie option, and he says that he’s working on a mobile game, so he’s really awesome … but I have nothing to tell you right now.
The epigraphs for The Way of Kings, that were talking about how the various Shardholders are influenced by their shards over time–how does that impact someone like Harmony, with multiple shards?
The main effect it’s having on Harmony right now is his inability to act sometimes, because his two sides are pushing, and so he is having trouble being proactive. It’d take a long time before it really becomes manifest, but he’s had several hundred years, so it’s starting to have an effect.
Could you use the Feruchemical ability to store identity to heal damage done to you in the Cognitive Realm?
Um…yes, but it’s gonna take a roundabout method to make that happen. But identity can be very useful for all sorts of things like this.
Do you know if Graphic Audio is ever going to tackle the Stormlight Archive?
I would like them to, but it’s really up to Tor Audio, or actually MacMillian Audio. They are the ones, because we sold the audio rights to them, that would decide when they’re going to do subsidiary licenses. Which they only recently decided on Mistborn. So I’m sure Graphic Audio would like to do it, probably after a few books of this are out they’ll start doing it.
Before the Recreance, there were three Bondsmiths. Did they all bond supersprens, or is Dalinar an exception?
They did something similar.
Can the Unmade be bonded?
Wow…plausible. Er, possible, I should say.
If you came up with a Radiant-like ideal, for yourself as a writer, what would it be?
What a great question! (writes the answer in asker’s book).
Does this imply that the unmade are spren?
What Jasnah did, in the first book, with Shallan in the alleyway. And what happened at the end of this book, between Adolin and the other character. Would you put them on the same level? Or would you say that what Adolin did was maybe a little bit darker?
I would say that what Adolin did was less dark, personally. I would say that what Adolin did was something that needed to be done, that no one else was capable of doing.
Will it have any ramifications for him down the line? With how it was handled?
Oh, there are definitely ramifications. How it’s handled, there’s lots of ramifications. And there are certain characters who would think that what he did is totally, totally, totally wrong.
Hoid said [in Warbreaker] that he learned stories from a place where gods have died. Is that Roshar?
RAFO. I will say this. A god has died on Roshar. Only one, that we know. So, “gods” would not be plural.
Is Shallan’s father actually her father?
Heh. People asked if her mother were actually her mother. No one’s asked yet if her father was her father. Yes, it was her father. I will give you that. Her mother and father as presented in the story were actually her mother and father.
Szeth a lot of the time throughout Words of Radiance is referring to the fact that he’s hearing his victims scream in his head. Is that actually his conscience screaming at him or has he possibly already bonded to a spren in some way, that is displeased with-
That is not the spren. Good question. It is not…the spren is not a spren that is a…for one of the orders.
But it is related to–
I didn’t say that. I just said it is not a–it is not a blade. It is not one of those.
If you had to pick one favorite character from the Stormlight Archive, right now, who would it be?
It’s hard to say. Dalinar was my first character, so he’ll always have a special place in my heart.
What came first, Pattern or Chalklings?
Pattern was before Chalklings, good question. For some part of its existence, the Rithmatist was in the Cosmere, until I decided I just don’t want Earth in the Cosmere at all, even a bizarre sort of version of Earth.
Which of your characters do you think would win in a fight?
Uh … at what stage in their career?
Not the Slivers.
Okay, so they don’t count, the Shards of Adonalsium don’t count … does Kelsier have atium?
Yes.
Then … a Mistborn burning atium is really hard to beat in any other way.
So you think that Kelsier would beat Vin?
Oh, Kelsier would beat Vin if he had atium and she didn’t. If they both did? Vin has more raw talent, Kelsier has more experience. So if you can pick Vin after she has more experience she will give him a fair fight, otherwise, not.
The letter in the epigraphs in Way of Kings, the recipient–is he or she–are they in Words of Radiance?
They are not in Words of Radiance in person.
Will they be in the next book?
That’s a RAFO. But they have not appeared in person in the series yet.
If someone–Vasher says that Nightblood would kill him, is that just because he has this big deific Breath? Would it kill an ordinary person, like a drab?
It would suck the Breath from anybody, and if they were unable to feed it he would feed on their soul.
So they would die.
Yes. Anybody wielding Nightblood, he will suck their soul. For too long, he will eventually, if you draw him, he will suck your soul.
When does a person become a Surgebinder? Because Kaladin talks about when he was a child, about it being a familiar feeling, and Shallan obviously was younger. Or is it when they speak the Words?
The bond starts forming before the words are spoken, but if the words are never spoken that bond will eventually evaporate and get broken. But the bond will start forming before. Just like an emotion attracts a spren, acting in the way that the spren you would eventually bond will start drawing them toward you and that will start to create that bond.
I know that there’s three sorts of forms that magic presents itself in, the liquid and the solid and air. What would Breath be?
Breath is definitely like Mist, it is in the form of the air.
And is Stormlight the same?
Stormlight is the same. Good questions!
Would Vasher be able to use Stormlight in the same way that he can get Breath?
That would not be immediately easy, but Stormlight could feed Nightblood.
Which is why Szeth can wield Nightblood?
Eh, you’ll have to see if … but yes. That could theoretically happen. You can use most of the magics on most of the planets to fuel the other magics, if you know how to do it, it is not easy.
Are we going to get a book with Lift?
You are going to get a book with Lift as a main character. It is going to happen I promise. And I’ll probably do some more shorts with Lift because she is so much fun.
The Seventeenth Shard–is their purpose limited solely to tracking down Hoid? Or is it something grander than that?
No, they have other stuff. It is something grander than that.
He’s just one of many priorities?
Yes. They are very worried about what he’s going to be doing.
But there’s others they’re worried about as well?
Yes. […] So they have a task, they have goals, and they are worried that he is going to be at cross purposes to them, so they are trying to hunt him down.
What’s his name, the one who sends the letter with pictures … Nazir?
Oh, Nazh? Nazh… (he gives a longer name. Sounds like Nazreloft, obviously spelling uncertain)
He’s not in the list of …
He appears in one place in that book.
Rock sounds Hawaiian, Hawaiian royalty. Is that a pun on Dwayne Johnson?
[Laughs] No, it’s not. That’s a coincidence.
In other worlds, are we seeing any magics already? Like, Allomancy might be in Roshar?
You’ve seen people using Allomancy in Roshar before.
You said that on Roshar the only reason they have aluminum is that they can Soulcast it, right? I think you said something like that … maybe? I was wondering how that would work, if an Allomancer were to–
Aluminum has some weird properties on all of the magic systems, not just allomancy. It does not have the same effect, but aluminum has some bizarre effects.
Is the surge “cohesion,” that we haven’t really seen much, strong axial, is that related to the fabrials for the half-shards?
Aha! Um, I’m gonna RAFO. It’s not me not knowing the answer, it’s me not knowing if I should say or not. I will RAFO that, because I don’t want to get into that too much right now.
For the Honorblades, if somebody that was already a Radiant used an Honorblade, would they get that Surge also?
It is possible to get multiples, yes. Good question.
For the Honorblades, if somebody that was already a Radiant used an Honorblade, would they get that Surge also?
It is possible to get multiples, yes. Good question.
Does Szeth have a puppy, and what would it be like if he did? Because I feel like he could really use one.
Szeth could totally use a puppy. He totally could. He does not have an axehound pup, but he totally should get one. But he does now have something very puppy-like.
The Long Trail of the Iriali, was one of the first three lands Braize?
Hehehe. No. Excellent question.
The Aimians seem disliked throughout the world. Is that based on something that has happened in the past?
Um, yes, but they’re also really creepy.
Are they open to manipulation like other sentient non-human humanoids of Roshar? The Parshendi? Or, similar?
Um, RAFO.
What’s your working title for the third book?
It has two. The original working title was Stones Unhallowed. However, Rothfuss is using Doors of Stone, and I kind of feel like I might want to do something different, so my interim title is Skybreaker, but it has to be an in-world book. The in-world book for book 3 is kind of a different one, so I can do a lot with it, but Stones Unhallowed is easier.
If somebody with some kind of magical ability, for example Allomancy, etc., were to travel off-world, would they still have that ability?
It depends on the ability. Some are easier to use off-world than others. You have seen Allomancy used off-world already.
Are we going to get ten different perspectives for Gavilar’s death?
You will get five.
Did the shattering of Honor happen in the Cognitive Realm, and Ruin in the Physical? The reason I’m wondering is, are spren the expression of the shattering in the Cognitive Realm while Ruin’s physical being is an expression of the shattering in the Physical?
This is an interesting theory that I don’t want to completely shoot down, but it is not heading in absolutely correct directions. The shattering of a Shard is an event that transcends all three realms.
I was also wondering if there’s any chance of seeing a Nightblood point of view.
There is a chance of seeing a Nightblood point of view. It is something I have sincerely contemplated…and even maybe posted about online.
Were there Desolations before there were humans on Roshar?
No.
And, how were the Radiants able to summon their Shardblades at the Recreance if they’d already decided to break their oaths?
Their Shardblades are part of what brought them to–part of the Oathpact–but breaking the Oathpact did not affect their ability to bond or unbond Shardblades.
What information do Stormwardens use to predict Highstorms?
Um, many things, some of which is necessary to the process and some of which is not. But previous highstorm arrival is a very big part of it, and highstorms from previous years, most recent highstorms, and if they can get when the highstorm left the other side, that’s a calculation that will help them, and things like this.
Was Nohadon a Bondsmith?
RAFO! Good question.
Have the Bondsmiths ever had a Shardblade? Have any other Bondsmiths had Shardblades?
RAFO! Good question. Good question.
I’m guessing it’s a RAFO, but why do Honorblades work the way they do?
Honorblades were crafted before Shardblades existed–
So they were crafted.
They were crafted before Shardblades existed, and all Shardblades that exist came about as certain individuals trying to find out how to copy Honorblades.
So would it be fair to say that Honorblades are analagous to fabrials in some sense? Trap spren in a crystal yada yada Stormlight power?
There is an analogy there, that I think would pass the SAT’s rigor for analogies.
Is Nightwatcher Cultivation, or an analogue of the Stormfather to …?
These are excellent questions you should be asking.
Were the original sixteen Shardholders after the shattering all human?
Uh … RAFO. There are three races on Yolen. Three sentient races.
I’m curious about the sun, it’s described as white, and our sun is typically described as yellow. Is it a different type of star?
The yellowing of our sun is not actually caused…so our sun being yellow is not based on the star’s actual color.
So is it bigger than our sun? Smaller? If there’s anything you want to throw out there I’ll take it.
Okay…I’m having to reach into my memory. This is not canon. Younger and larger, I believe it is both. Younger and larger.
Do the moons relate to the highstorms at all?
The moons…at all? Sure! You’ll love this. The star’s age, at Roshar–Earth astronomers would say that is a star which could not have planets with life on them orbiting it.
There are three planets in the system, are they all in the habitable zone? At least two of them must be … Q2(I think this was NutiketAiel?). When you say three, is it actually three in the solar system, or is it three-?
There are three planets with sentient beings on them.
There are more than three planets in the solar system?
There are. With non-sentient beings. There are three planets of importance. So I didn’t give you very much, you already knew … here’s something. You may have heard a reading from one of those planets today.
Doesn’t Shadows of Silence happen in there too?
Threnody? No. Threnody is not one of the three.
in the Rosharan system
On the back of the Szeth card, it’s a gamepiece?
Yeah, they just printed all of those random words there! Random collections of letters. It’s really surprising that they would print all this on the back of the card and have it happen to turn out to spell out things like “Investiture,” I can’t believe that! I have no idea why that might’ve happened.
Were all the original sixteen Shardholders from Yolen?
Yes.
You have a tendency to create books with theocracies that are legitimately ruled by the gods, and this seems to be missing. Is that a direction that the Knights Radiant might be heading, or is something else going to happen?
I’m gonna RAFO that one. There was a theocracy on Roshar at one point. There was also a mage-ocracy. A lot of things have existed on Roshar.
How many magic systems are there on Roshar?
It depends on your definition. Is Windrunning its own magic system, or is it a division of a larger magic system? Are the ten different Surges each their own magic system, or are they all the same one?
If you assume the surges are all one.
Well then you would have Surgebinding, and the Old Magic, those are two at least, and there are things that are not explained in those at all, and how do you count creating fabrials? Is that a science and not a magic? Is that its own magic system?
It’s a science, because anyone can do it.
So Awakening is not a magic, then? Awakening’s a science? Because anyone can Awaken if they get the breath.
That’s something that stood out to me, because in all your other magic systems that we’ve seen so far there has to be some sort of snapping to occur, and that’s unique, because- […] Is there an active magic system on Threnody?
Threnody has a non Shard-based…it depends on what you call a magic system. Do spirits coming back from the dead count as magic? It’s science to them, but, it’s goofy science.
I was wondering about the in-world text, the Way of Kings. It’s older than those 4500 years, right?
It was written by Nohadon (sneaky look).
Especially since Jasnah mentioned how all the texts have been corrupted or changed since then, especially the ones dealing with the Radiants, I was wondering if we would find out how the Way of Kings survived intact for so long, or if it actually did, or if it’s–
They do say that–well let’s just say that some books exist in translation over the centuries with the primary text having been lost, or things like this.
But you’re not going to say if the translation is guaranteed to be accurate.
I am not going to say that.
Lift’s spren refers to the Nightwatcher as Mother, right?
They definitely call somebody Mother. The implication in the text is that it’s the Nightwatcher.
So I’m just gonna run with that right now. Is Surgebinding in general a melding of Honor and Odium ala Feruchemy being in some senses being not directly of Ruin or Preservation?
Honor and Cultivation is what you mean? Um, there are spren of all three shards. And those spren can work within the bounds of the magic that has already been set up on Roshar.
What shard are Cryptics associated with?
RAFO
If you could write something we don’t already know about the Moon Sceptre?
I run into problems with some of these things, because there’s not much to say, but what there is to say can be very spoilery. (writes “RAFO! But it is not Mraize’s stick”)
When a Radiant is in the Cognitive Realm, does their mind exist individually, like separately from their body?
No.
So you physically travel to the Cognitive Realm?
You can kind of step in between both but you do not separate from your body.
So when Shallan is only partly in–she’s in both at the same time?
Yeah. She’s transitioning. It’s not astral projection. But no that’s a legit question.
So Shallan, and Lightweavers, are capable of physically stepping into Shadesmar?
RAFO. But the implication is yes.
For Feruchemy, can you only inherit that? Or is there another way to get it?
You could obviously get it through a Hemalurgic spike.
Yeah, but that’s kind of a different thing.
It is hereditary, but it came from somewhere. […] Which is a RAFO, but it’s not a big RAFO. There’s not something you missed in the books, or anything like that. It originally came from Preservation long ago. And there are other ways to get it, but you have not missed any major plot points regarding that. Good question.
different thing=using a hemalurgical spike to gain feruchemistry
I had a couple other questions about the Recreance that you’re probably not going to answer. I was wondering if the Radiants were deliberately trying to put Shardblades in the hands of non-Radiants, since they left them all outside a military base.
RAFO. Since I’ve answered so many questions, the RAFOs are going to start flying freely. I’m like, “Now, what is there left to write books about?
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