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Interview #1182: Harold Washington Library Center-AU Tour, Entry #2

Question

So we know that you can’t just have someone–if someone were to do something similar to Hoid, he can’t just pop and go ‘oh look, I can now do Allomancy or now do Surgebinding’. What about Breath? Could somebody give Breath–could they still get the benefits–

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, good question. Yes you can, actually. Breath, once it is given to you, it is being keyed to you–your Identity. So that transfer makes it yours to use however you want.

Question

So you could Awaken?

Brandon Sanderson

You could Awaken. If you were to somehow make it there, you would be able to Awaken. It’s the easiest of magics to get the magic from, and then to manipulate. Because it has keyed into it Identity.

Question

[garbled]

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, you can take Breath onto another world. In fact, you’ve seen characters do this.

Question

[garbled]

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, it would work the same way. The only magic that is location-dependent– the ones who aren’t interested in this, just hum to yourself, okay? You don’t need to know any of this stuff to enjoy the books, okay? I’ve [written] them so that each series can be read independently, and enjoyed. There is behind the scenes stuff, and if you want to dig, it goes pretty deep. So on Sel, we have AonDor. AonDor is based on the fact that the Dor, which is an amalgamation of Dominion and Devotion, has been pressed together and stuffed into the Cognitive Realm by Odium who didn’t want it to gain sentience, as Investiture will do if it is left alone. It will either seek someone to be its Vessel or it will gain sentience. He pressed it in there; he pressed it together, which creates the violent reaction, because those two Intents are opposed. And that is the foundation of the magic. Because it’s stuck in the Cognitive Realm rather than the Spiritual Realm (the Spiritual Realm is location-independent; Cognitive Realm is location-dependent), it makes the magic on Sel only work in close proximity to what is keyed through there to the location they’re keyed to. This has to do with Identity and Connection–mostly Connection. So that means you can’t do AonDor on another planet, but you can do other magics works anywhere, because they’re drawing the magics specifically through either the place, or they’re end-neutral, like Breath is, and don’t need any extra power.

Tags

breath ,

aondor ,

devotion ,

dominion ,

Dor ,

odium ,

cognitive realm ,

identity ,

connection

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