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Brandon Sanderson

Rock did leave Roshar. He's off Roshar by the beginning of Wind and Truth. You know that because we've already foreshadowed them being met... Who meets them? MeLaan meets them at the end of the Mistborn Era 2. Yeah, so you know that the Horneaters have left. MeLaan was there. We've seen them. So MeLaan meets Rock, yes. I thought you guys had figured that out by now. 

No, was it MeLaan? Or MeLaan met Sho Del? No, she met Rock. Didn't she? Yeah. I'm pretty sure I put that in. Maybe I just - She sees redheads, yeah. So you guys did know that. MeLaan met the redheads - MeLaan met the Horneaters.  

I mean, I remember reading that everybody had guessed it. So don't spread that too much to people who don't want to have spoilers. That's definitely part of the Rock novella.

So there you are, no more Horneaters. They've all... well not all. There's definitely some left behind. But a Horneater exodus off of Roshar has happened by now. 

Yeah, and MeLaan was there meeting with Rock. They needed a little help. They were kinda lost. It's easy to get lost in Shadesmar.

Brandon Sanderson

MeLaan? No, no MeLaan in the Horneater novella.

Well are they off by- they might not be fully off of Roshar by-

So I think what's gonna happen for time dilation is gonna-

Anyway, there's gonna be weird things where they gotten caught by some of the time dilation. We'll figure it out in the timeline.

Yeah, that was the Horneaters.

Questioner

So I just finished The Bands of Mourning, which was my favorite out of that series.  Did you know when you were writing Alloy of Law how you were going to link this to the original, with the kandra, the bands of the Lord Ruler...

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah the kandra were seeded, MeLaan you can go and look back in the original three.  Like I’m going to use her in the next series, for sure.  Now what I usually do is when I’m starting a series, and I did this for this one, is I will write the first book in the series.  So I did this with Steelheart, I did this with the original Mistborn, I did this with Alloy of Law.  I write the first book, I sit down, and say “Okay, what worked about that, what can I expand upon” and then I outline the series with those characters and then go back and revise the first one to match and then I release the first one.  Does that make sense? So not everything do I know writing the first one but by the time I’m through the revisions I usually do.

Questioner

So MeLaan... Will she get her body remade by Ranette? With like guns and, like, pull of her leg and...?

Brandon Sanderson

You'll have to see what she comes up with. She's already got some cool stuff.

Questioner

Are you planning to write any trans characters?

Brandon Sanderson

Am I planning to write any trans characters? I am, but it's a very... like, I need to have some people who can read who are themselves trans, and can talk me through it. I kind of dabbled in it with, like, MeLaan, but that's not a true trans character. So, I'm kinda trying to dabble my toes in it. But I really will need some good readers who can tell me, because it's one of those things that'd be so easy to get wrong.

Questioner

Where'd you come up with Wayne's kleptomania where he steals things and replaces things he finds of value. I think that's the funniest part of his character, that he determines that "oh, this is worth more than this" and "that is a good trade".

Brandon Sanderson

I have no idea where that came from, I can take no responsibility for that man. He just kinda popped out fully formed. I started writing a short story about him, which was where I started, I was gonna do a little Mistborn novella in the wild west era with Wayne as the main character. He was a riot but he couldn't be a main character, he couldn't be the main character. He needed somebody to play off of, and so the Wayne and MeLaan story got shelved--eventually I'll show people, I only got about a thousand words into it--and instead we got Alloy of Law.

learhpa

Was Wayne in fact the best lay MeLaan had ever had?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. She wasn't lying. Let's just say MeLaan spent a lot of her youth very sheltered.

Adam Horne

Is it not as big of a compliment as Wayne thinks it is?

Brandon Sanderson

I mean, you know. She is immortal. But maybe he imagined it as bigger compliment. But it's not a not-big compliment. How about that.

Brandon Sanderson

MeLaan

It's never fully explained who MeLaan is, so I'll give you the background here. One thing that kandra do is take Contracts serving mankind in exchange for atium. However, there are other jobs that kandra can do back in the Homeland. One of the more prestigious ones includes the training and instruction of a child kandra.

This can take years and years, as kandra grow very slowly. TenSoon was appointed as a "parent" of a single kandra during his lifetime. (Many of the Fifth Generation have been parents dozens of times, but the Thirds are a rebellious group, and it was only after much consideration—and political pressure in the Homeland—that Thirds were given chances.)

MeLaan, then, is kind of TenSoon's adopted daughter. She has something of a hero-worship crush on him, inspired by his gruff style and adventuresome personality. Her idolizing of him borders on a romantic crush, and this makes TenSoon somewhat uncomfortable.

There you go. Now you can astound your friends with Mistborn background trivia.

Brandon Sanderson

Wax gets his earring

That was MeLaan, by the way, who converted Wax and gave him his earring. (MeLaan, if you don't remember, is TenSoon's adopted daughter/little sister. Though the "little" part is subject to debate, as she's easily five centuries old by this point.)

Newan (paraphrased)

Is the kandra worldhopper MeLaan?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Good question. *hands Newan a RAFO card* In upcoming Mistborn books, you are going to get to know a lot more of the kandra, so you will have a lot more options.