Date: 2014-03-11
Type: Verbatim
Location: Houston, TX
Reporter: Awesomeness Summoned
I was at the Houston signing last night and recorded the entire book signing Q&A’s. Some of these have already been posted above but here is all the WoB from the event. I left out most of the ones we already knew and some are paraphrased since they were hard to hear the exact wording but there was some good info last night. Enjoy!
Where was Pattern before Shallan drew him?
He was around. The bonding process had started when Shallan was young but then she pushed him away and he withdrew mostly to the Cognitive Realm until the bonding was started again and she pulled him fully into the Physical when she drew him.
What is the Realmatic composition of Investiture?
Investure is intended to be the building blocks of the cosmere so I would say for the most part it transcends the different realms. Probably more of the Spiritual if anything but more accurately it transcends them.
Were the heralds born on Roshar?
RAFO
If Hoid were to hold an unsheathed Nightblood, would he feel sick?
(Loud laughing) RAFO
Are the Ghostbloods accounted for in the Diagram?
The Ghostbloods are in the Diagram.
Why is Vasher on Roshar? Is he trying to get back Nightblood?
Kind of a RAFO. I won’t go into all his reasons right now but there is one thing that was difficult to get on Nalthis that is much easier to get on Roshar. Going to Roshar solved that problem for him.
Why did you put Nightblood in The Stormlight Archive?
Nightblood and Vasher were in the original version of the Way of Kings before I wrote Warbreaker. Warbreaker in a way was actually introducing those two characters I’d already created.
Can you write an unknown ideal [in my book]?
They are still rough so this might not be the exact wording but: “I will stand when others fall.”
How much more powerful is Nightblood than a a regular Shardblade?
I haven’t actually quantified that in my own mind so can’t give an accurate comparison at this point. I will say that when he is fully consuming Investiture he can do some really freaky things.
In the past Brandon has described Nightblood as being “magnitudes more invested than a shardblade”.
If a non Windrunner picked up Jezrien’s honorblade would they gain Windrunner powers as well?
Yes.
If a Windrunner picked up that blade, would their abilities be enhanced?
There would be some compounding but strength is not as much an issue with surgebinding as is the strength of the spren bond and how much Stormlight you are using.
Why were all the shardblades swords when they can take on any weapon form they want? Would they all revert to swords when they die?
When they die they’d revert to the basic form which was a sword since they were patterned after honorblades.
Feruchemists that can store Investiture, would they be able to then use that to power Allomancy with say stormlight?
RAFO
Lift is my favorite character even though she was only in that one chapter.
You will see much more of Lift in the future. Lift is seeded there because she will be very important later on.
Brandon has said that Lift will be one of the focus/flashback characters for the “back five”.
Have we seen Cultivation’s magic?
Yes.
Is Hoid the most knowledgeable about what’s going on in the cosmere?
No, Khriss is the most aware by a long shot. Nazh knows a lot as well. Hoid might know more than Nazh but he is pretty in the know as well so it’s close.
Are the Parshendi of Odium?
Not originally.
Are the Parshendi of Cultivation?
Not originally.
Is the Nightwatcher a spren of Cultivation in a similar way that the Stormfather is to Honor?
The Nightwatcher is not Cultivation but is related. You’re on the right track.
Demoux is the only world hopper we’ve seen that inherently ages. Is there something about world hopping that makes someone not age?
There are ways around that. It is not intrinsic to the process. You would need to do something special.
Are there one or two shard pools on Scadrial?
RAFO.
Will there still be Hemalurgy in the Alloy of Law series?
Yes.
Can a Hemalurgy chart be made?
Yes. We will make one eventually.
The ending of Mistborn was hidden in the first chapter epigraphs. Is there something similar to that in The Way of Kings ?
There is, but they are hidden in different places. The last chapter of The Stormlight Archive is somewhere in these two books.
Is it possible to steal Stormlight?
It’s theoretically possible.
Is there a region based magic like Elantris on any of the other worlds?
The Aon magic is unique to that planet because it is intrinsic to the shard that created it, but you could theoretically hack the magic system so that AonDor would work on another planet.
In the chapter 84 code, does the sequence 111 denote a special character such as a space between words
I do not believe there is a 111 to separate words unless it was added by Peter when I wasn’t looking.
Is this a question from the 17th Shard?
Yes.
I will say this, the key is in another epigraph.
The code in question was decoded by Darmad of the 17th Shard
RAFO’d any questions about where the shardpools are.
Are the Parshendi of Honor?
No.
Can anyone other than a Parshendi bond a voidspren? Like, can a human bond a voidspren?
That is theoretically possible but humans are not good at bonding spren in the same way.
How about the other way around? Can a Parshendi bond a KR spren?
Historically, the Parshendi were not made Knights Radiant, or the parshmen weren’t.
Can they become squires maybe?
Historically they did not, but it’s not impossible.
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