YouTube Spoiler Stream 7

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Name YouTube Spoiler Stream 7
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Date Dec. 19, 2025
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#1 Copy

Pagerunner and Legionrip

In a nonspoiler Q&A at WorldCon, you talked about a character who was going to die in Wind and Truth in your outline. But that when you got to writing the book, you realized the character wouldn't make that choice and would go a different direction, and so survived.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. This is a big one. This is the biggest change, I think, I made. I actually saw that email: "What is the biggest change?" It's twofold.

One is boring. I changed Dalinar's flashbacks to being in Book Three, and Szeth's flashbacks to being in Book Five. That's the biggest change, I would say, along with Adolin's increased part and role in the story since Book One. That sent a cascading effect through the outlines. But I was very well-outlined, by the time we got here, that Adolin was gonna do his whole thing that happened in here. The existence of the Unoathed was not in the original outlines; it's a completely new thing. But, I rebuilt those outlines in the years intervening, so you will find them in the outlines, and what not.

The big change that I made when I was working on this book specifically is: Szeth was going to die. So, why did it not work? Well, Szeth was going to be consumed, at the end, by Nightblood. He was going to let himself be consumed in a way that was kind of like a suicide, in order to spit in the face of what's going on and refuse what was happening to him. And as I worked on the outline and I worked on who he was, I'm like, "Szeth, of all the characters, can't be the person who doesn't take the next step." The whole theme of take the next step, I'm like, "I cannot have..." Even though it wasn't a full suicide, I couldn't have heroic suicide at the end of Stormlight Five, even if it was only a sideways one. And I realized during outlining... And this, actually, a beta reader pushed me on this. Not that in any version did they read that Szeth died, but he fully renounced in an early version the Skybreakers. And one of the beta readers (I'll not out them, because I don't want people going to the beta readers and be like "you changed what I would have liked!) pointed out that isn't it stronger if Szeth works to rehabilitate the Skybreakers, rather than just renouncing them completely? And I'm like, "Yeah, that's what Szeth would do." It wasn't something that I had been thinking about, because I had been thinking about Szeth dying until I got to the outline for this book, and then I'm like, "It's not right." So there's not a scene written ever where he did that by the time I was working on the outlines for this book. But you've gotta remember, these outlines stretch back fifteen years, at this point, and I have a much better understanding of mental health and the characters and things like this, and as soon as I got to that in my initial outlining, I'm like, "Wow. This was a terrible idea." And you will see that in your early outlines, because you've grown so much as a writer, and your characters have grown so much, where you're like, "What was I thinking by having Szeth essentially give himself up, give up and get consumed by Nightblood at the end of this book?" Just not a very good idea. It never really was going to happen; I don't think I would have ever done that. But there you are.

Adam Horne

As you've written so many stories, has there been a character that has really surprised you about their change or their growth from the beginning of a book, compared to an end of a book?

Brandon Sanderson

It's hard to say, because surprise is such a weird term. Lot of authors use that, in regards to what happens. What's really going on is, as you're writing, you are making connections, you are getting to know the characters better, you are getting to understand the themes better. Almost no one ends up exactly where you imagined them. But I tend to be more on target than most writers, I would say.

Way of Kings is a cheat, because I knew; I'd written Way of Kings before, and I knew what I'd written wrong. But if you look at the entire growth of the Stormlight Archive, it's obviously Adolin. Everyone else basically ended up where I had imagined they would at the end, in some shape or another. But then we did just change Szeth.

Roberto Serrano 2003

What was the difference between the epilogue you wrote in Wind and Truth over a decade ago that went unused due to timing issues, with the epilogue in the published version?

Brandon Sanderson

Epilogue in the published version is very similar, except Wit was on Roshar. And I realized... And this is another thing that happens to you when you're working on books. Like, you don't always see the conundrums until you're in the thick of it. That conundrum was there; Roshar getting stuck in time dilation, and Wit ending at the end on Roshar, just kind of morose, the same sort of morose feeling that you get from it. He's like, "It's gone wrong. I've messed up again." It's essentialy where Wit is; he's like, "I have screwed this up again. I tried really this time, and I messed up." And he was on Roshar. I had to get him off Roshar in order to get around time dilation timing issues. And that, I actually started making that revision in Oathbringer. I was aware of this conundrum by Oathbringer. I don't think it made it into Oathbringer. My original thought was to have seeding him leaving, getting some cultures offworld of himself to try this out. And I don't think it ended up happening. I was gonna send some with Rock, but I didn't ever write the Rock novella in time. But by Oathbringer, I was aware of this, and working on, "All right, he's gonna have to get off." I mean, Odium would vaporize him the moment he found him anyway, so it ended up working out really well.

The other big revision is: a lot of my editors and many of the beta readers were really worried about how downer of an ending Wind and Truth was. Particularly the editors; this wasn't the beta readers as much, this was the editors. And this is, you know, Tor and Gollancz. And I'm like, "It's a downer of an ending, I know; I can maybe give Wit a little of an upbeat turn." And so the epilogue changed just a tad as I had him do something I wasn't planning for anyone to do until the back five, is realize: Dalinar made a decision that nobody was expecting, but that is, maybe, the best decision he could have, if you think it through. At first, it seems like a pretty terrible one. But having Wit acknowledge, "Okay, this is good. This'll work." And so, that's the other big tweak to the epilogue. Otherwise, it's the same epilogue. It's very similar, it's just location change and then a little tweak of it being more upbeat.

#5 Copy

Questioner

What exactly does the Fifth Oath do for Radiant abilities?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO.

Though, one of the things you should expect is the amount of Stormlight needed, as the bond attunes, becomes less and less to perform certain acts. And that allows you to accomplish things, by itself, that are pretty cool.

A little teaser: I think Kaladin could reach the moons. They're pretty close orbit, but he could reach the moons by now just with Stormlight he can carry pretty easily. 

We don't have Stormlight anymore, that is correct. If he had Stormlight, he could. Unfortunately, there is no Stormlight. 

#7 Copy

Questioner

What is Seven Layer Free Fall Burrito World?

Brandon Sanderson

On the podcast I once discussed with Dan this idea I had for a world where everybody was always in free fall. That there were continents falling though an endless hole. And it was, like, five continents above each other, stacked above; and you could step out of the windshield and essentially be blown upward to others. You could skydive alongside them; you could dive without any sort of magical sort of the things. They were falling at similar to the terminal velocity of a human being, and so if you knew how to manipulate that, you could essentially wingsuit upward or dive downward.

And Dan named it Seven Layer Free Fall Burrito World. Because you fall through the different layers of the burrito. I don't know why he didn't say, you know, dip. It feels like chip dip. Dip world. But he called it Free Fall Seven Layer Burrito World, so.

#8 Copy

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.

#9 Copy

Questioner

Are Moash's crystal spikes a form of Hemalurgy?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes they are!

In fact, (and I've told you guys this before), there's a point in Way of Kings Prime where they are walking through some tunnels to escape from the city (and that city was a partial inspiration for Urithiru; it's what became Urithiru), and they look down a corridor, and behind that corridor is an Unmade spiked to the wall with crystal Hemalurgic spikes. But we don't go over there. It was a seed for book two, that didn't happen.

Crystal Hemalurgic spikes were in the cosmere from Way of Kings Prime.

#14 Copy

javiergzzmtz

Can anti-Breaths be created? If so, what would happen to a drab who receives an anti-Breath? Would they return to a "normal" state?

Brandon Sanderson

Anti-Breaths could be created. Anti-Breaths touching real Investiture would have explosive ramifications.

I don't think you would get what you want out of that.

#15 Copy

ReaderWarrior

Brandon: What is the difference between ANTI-Investiture and NEGATIVE Investiture?

Brandon Sanderson

Let's let the Arcanists-

What we're calling Negative Investiture is almost all exclusively a warping of the death of Ambition. Anti-Investiture is a very, very similar thing, but it is man-made. And they have similar functions. But the Negative Investiture is mostly self-aware in a very weird way. In a non-

The Anti-Investiture built by Navani is functionally the same, but not self-aware, not necessarily from Ambition. And that's the distinction in my mind right now. But we'll let the Arcanists drill down on me- there's Argent flipping out. He might have a different definition for it and he maybe can-

The team of Arcanists might convince me that I should use a different definition . 

#18 Copy

Legionrip

In Sunlit Man there is an incredible amount of Investiture at the core of Canticle. We know that Odium, Ambition, and Mercy clashed near Threnody but that Ambition did not die there. Could Canticle be a grave or tomb for the corpse of Ambition and its Investiture?

Brandon Sanderson

It could be, but it's not.

Legionrip

It would connect the Threnodites being in both systems. The rings could be intended to keep the Investiture from spilling out into the rest of the system and making it incredibly dangerous to traverse like Sel.

Brandon Sanderson

This is a great question and a great theory; but I know where Ambition's corpse is, and it's not there.

#20 Copy

Questioner

Could Humans and dragons have mixed-species offspring?

Brandon Sanderson

Dragons in the cosmere, the Yolen dragons, only reproduce in human form. They can reproduce with other dragons in human form. Like, they don't consider themselves... When they're in human forms, they're not masquerading as humans. They are like amphibians, except they can transfer back and forth. That is one of their forms. And they are anatomically human and can have children with humans. The children who are born are dragons.

#21 Copy

VeryNiceName16

In Emberdark, we’re told that the only way to go to a planet without a perpendicularity is to use an FTL ship. And in Sunlit, Sigzil says that methods to get to planets without perpendicularities are very recent. Why can’t you just use Transportation to go from the Cognitive to the Physical?

Brandon Sanderson

You'll find out more about that when we get there. When we get to the back five [Stormlight 6-10] and we talk about it.

There's a couple things going on there. Obviously, Hoid does it, so it is possible to do. In these cases, most people, they're mostly talking about large scale- like if a person wants to go there, they can. And we will get to why Transportation isn't an option. That doesn't mean an individual couldn't figure out how to get onto-

So, just understand that it is possible. They're both kind of wrong; but if you're talking in general terms, there are very, very rare exceptions without FTL. And one of those exceptions is to just bring a whole metric strawberry-ton of Investiture with you, and that will puncture into the Physical Realm if you do it right. It's harder to go from Cognitive to Physical; if you have that in Physical, it happens automatically. Much harder to do. But it happens very naturally in Physical. So if you can get a bunch of Investiture together in the Physical Realm, it will make a hole that you can get through. So, there's ways.

Adam Horne

Have you guys mapped out light-year distances for the system?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. Isaac has, but I don't know if we're gonna release that.

This is a more nuanced question than I've answered before on this. But Transportation, most forms of teleportation in the cosmere, work at speed of light. Transportation works at speed of light. So Elsecalling, Elsegates, work at speed of light. Spanreeds work at speed of light. Most of your uses are speed of light. There are a few ways around speed of light but...

#22 Copy

MasterTuesday

If someone has a Hemalurgic spike granting an Allomantic power while burning Lerasium, would that spike block Lerasium from imbuing that specific power?

Brandon Sanderson

No this isn't how how I'd imagine it'd work. If someone has a Hemalurgic spike granting a power while burning Lerasium, it would still attach that power to their soul. And removing the spike would only remove the part that the Hemalurgy had given.

#25 Copy

Questioner

Was Chana being at Shallan's wedding always part of the plan? Was that why you skipped over it in Oathbringer?

Brandon Sanderson

That isn't why I skipped over it in Oathbringer, though it was always part of the plan. I skipped over it in Oathbringer because I worried I was doing too many scenes that felt similar, and I wanted to save that scene for later when it would have more impact.  

It felt like too big. It's so hard; this is, like, a vibes thing. When I'm writing it, and I'm like, "I feel like this scene, to have the emotional weight I want it to, won't fit here in the pacing. So let's save it and put in a different place."

#26 Copy

NanoFreak

Does the gravity of the planet you're standing on affect how powerful Windrunner Lashings are?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. Mostly your perception of what gravity is affects them. But the amount of Investiture required to get to a certain speed does not change, only the increments that your brain naturally makes them in.

#28 Copy

Questioner

Who are the planets in the cosmere named after?

Brandon Sanderson

Cosmere planets mostly are named after a lot of different things. A lot of them are named by people who were mapping the cosmere and were able to get some sort of knowledge of them. Like, Roshar is named that because that's what it's called by the people who live there. Scadrial got its name, partially, in a slightly different way. But, again, it's involved, the first contact and what do we call this. A lot of places call their planet, in their language, just "the planet". Like, Earth just means "ground." And so you can imagine that a lot of these words are similar things like that from a dominant culture on the planet.

#31 Copy

VeryNiceName16

A while ago you told us that all Investiture in the Cosmere was assigned to a Shard at the Shattering, and that Investiture purified of Shardic alignment was impossible. Since then, we’ve seen Dawnshards, aethers, the Old Magic gods on Roshar (Wind/Stone/Night), and purified Dor. Are these things all still aligned to Shards? Have you changed how this works?

Brandon Sanderson

I've tweaked it a little bit. I still imagine it's all still aligned to a Shard, but it's more in its history. And I've begun letting it be wiped a little bit more, and things like that. I do think that, for instance, the old gods were Shardic-aligned, when happened. They kind of predate the Shattering, but kind of not. When you read Wind and Truth you can kinda figure that out.

I'm letting it be wiped of Intent and for all intents and purposes acting like it is completely wiped. But that's not really 100% possible. All Investiture came from Adonalsium. (Asterisk: the Aethers claim they didn't.) And therefore, all Investiture still came from Adonalsium, even if you... If you file off the serial numbers of something, it's still the thing. You just don't recognize it. That's where I am right now on this. It's a good question. I could change on this. This is one of those ones where I could change on as things go along. Because, again, the Aethers claim they are not derived from Adonalsium.

#35 Copy

Questioner

The Lord Ruler has very strong Allomancy. Does he achieve this by Compounding Feruchemical Nicrosil?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm gonna RAFO this like you're see me do with a lot of Nicrosil questions. The Lord Ruler's Allomancy was not just due to a bead of Lerasium, how about that?

#37 Copy

AAKS_

If Hoid were a bloodmaker, could he store health or would that count as hurting himself?

Brandon Sanderson

I think he could psychological his way around it. It would probably fail the first few times. Whether he could psychologically convince himself that it was largely for preservation purposes, I think he probably could.

#40 Copy

Questioner

Can you expand on why silver is effective at nullifying Shades and Spores? And does it work because silver is used on Earth as an antibacterial and antifungal?

Brandon Sanderson

I love that connection, but I would be lying if I told you that's where I came up with it. I don't want to sound more clever than I am.

Silver is like that because I wanted a... There's a place in White Sand novel where we see that people are able to interfere with flows of sand mastery holding people up by mixing in... Like, you stick their arms in there, the Investiture whacks things out. It's like, it needs a straight connection down to the ground, and when something gets muddled in that, you can knock a sand master down. I wanted something that could do that for basically all magic systems, something that wasn't just inert, that was destructive. Silver is what I came up with, and the main reason I picked silver is I had not used it as an Allomantic metal. It's just what it is. Was not an Allomantic metal, and I wanted a metal that did that. There we are.

#44 Copy

Questioner

Did Odium hijack Braize's original purpose?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes; I'm not a hundred percent sure of what you're saying. But Odium does intend to use Braize for its original purpose-- or he knows of its original purpose, how about that? Did he hijack it? I don't know if that's the right thing. Will he use it for that? I don't know.

#46 Copy

Seth

I notice a lot of similarities between the Charred and the Inquisitors. Loss of personality, corruption of Investiture, bloodlust, violent tendencies, etc. The Scadrian scientists were responsible for teaching the Cinder King how to create them, and they mentioned how you have to add a "special form of Investiture" to the sunhearts in order to result in a Charred warrior. My question is: is that "special Investiture" Hemalurgy or Connected to Ruin?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. Good job.

Adam Horne

This is why you don't make your questions yes or no.

Brandon Sanderson

Well no, I don't know if I would have said more. I think that is an excellent question. Sometimes you don't want to ask yes or no questions. Sometimes you do, because you want to know if you're theorizing the right direction. This is the way to ask a yes or no question. I don't know that I would have given any more, and so asking it yes or no lets me say yes rather than RAFO. And I think I would have RAFO'd it if they would have asked it more open-ended. 

#49 Copy

Questioner

Now that there are no mistborn in the Mistborn series and there's no stormlight in the Stormlight series, should we expect the city of Elantris to be destroyed next?

Brandon Sanderson

That's a good question. You can get a RAFO. You shouldn't expect... I didn't imagine this was the theme.

Are there still mistborn? The truth is, there are some Mistborn, because I think Marsh still counts. He's a hemalurgic mistborn. Marsh still counts. Other than that, I guess if you don't count hemalurgically made Mistborn, there aren't any. It's still possible, as someone has said; it's very, very difficult, and there aren't any right now, but it's possible.

Oh, you're right, Wax is a mistborn, you're right. So there you go. Wax is a mistborn, Hoid is a mistborn. They both had lerasium beads. As long as Hoid is there and Wax is still around, you still have mistborn. And Wax kind of knows, but he doesn't tell anybody.

*sarcastically* Oh, yes, I forgot about the Ghostblood Kelsier, who's totally a mistborn. Totally hasn't lost all his powers.

#50 Copy

Questioner

Potential Cosmere video games?

Brandon Sanderson

While I would love to tell a new story, I think for marketability and for people wanting to play the game, I think if we make a Mistborn game, my goal would be to make the story of Book One, expanded as a game. I imagine it as a single-player, story-driven RPG that. I don't know what you guys think of that, but that's what I think. The only other real option is between Books One and Two, I feel. But I think that not being able to play as Kelsier as an alternate character, not being able to play as Vin learning how to use allomancy. I think it is a better idea to just do... And there are some really good games that have done this. Like, there are several of the Lord of the Rings games. The ones they made up a new story were actually pretty awesome, the Shadow of Mordor. But the Lord of the Rings game, I remember the one for Two Towers being just really good, playing through the game, and I just think that's the right move. Particularly, a lot of people who are gamers may have heard of Mistborn and not played.

Some of you are saying you'd rather a brand new story and time period. Yeah, I get it. That's what my first try was, was Mistborn: Birthright, when I first tried a video game fifteen years ago. And it was gonna be during the Final Empire era, and kind of the origin of mistborn and mistcloaks and things like that. The more I think about it, that would be a really great game to make after we have made a game of Book One, if that makes sense.

#52 Copy

Questioner

What was the scene that was twenty years in the making?

Brandon Sanderson

There were a lot of them in that book, and I'm trying to remember which tweet I was talking about when it was twenty years in the making, and I can't remember what I was writing when I did that. The things that I knew were the final confrontation, though I did, as you guys all know, age up Gavinor so that it wasn't just a baby there. The only real choices for me were Gavinor and a random child that Dalinar didn't know. Which actually, in some ways, would be more appropriate, and things like that. But Taravangian likes to hit people where it will hurt. For those who wanted it to be Adolin, it could have been Adolin; that's an option. I never seriously considered... Well, I did consider it, but it was never in any part of the outlines. It could have been Adolin; I worried about what that would do for the things I'm planning for the second half, now that I have it. But that's a valid choice, for those who would have thought it could be Adolin. I think you had a good thought; it would fit the prophecies, and it would match.

I haven't ever just looked it up; I need to look it up, because I have timestamps on all the chapters I finish, so I can find out which chapter it was. But I don't remember. I think it might have been the wedding. My best bet is the wedding, and being able to finally canonize what people had guessed long ago.

#54 Copy

Questioner

Do dead Shardblades look different from living ones?

Brandon Sanderson

You can figure it out pretty easily. Dead Shardblades were mostly frozen in a showy form; certainly, that's part of it. Do they look different? Not to the casual observer, how about that? But there are distinctions you can figure out.

#55 Copy

Questioner

With Scadrians expanding into the cosmere, will we see interactions between hemalurgy and aviar?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. Yeah, you could see interactions between hemalurgy and the aviar. It would be terrible. It would be terrible, but you could definitely see interactions. Is it specifically tied to human souls? No.

#56 Copy

Questioner

How did the Fused get the Lifelight from Lift?

Brandon Sanderson

Not sure what you're 100% referencing on there. Like, how did they get it out of her? Because you can just use the same things that would get Stormlight, everything else out would work.

#59 Copy

Questioner

Rall Elorim was initially planned as the setting for Book Four. Which plotlines were set in Rall Elorim?

Brandon Sanderson

The invasion of Urithiru was going to be an invasion of Rall Elorim, and Kaladin there behind the scenes working, and Navani and Raboniel was all happening there. I just didn't feel right with how much I had to do with the worldbuilding in that one. And that one's, like, my big, I'm-doing-a-whole-bunch-of-science worldbuilding, that I also didn't want to throw an entire new setting at you, as well, so I kept it at Urithiru.

#62 Copy

Questioner

You said four years ago that only one Vessel is a dragon.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, I think I was just wrong. There are two dragon Vessels; there are not more. I don't know what I was doing. There's two dragon Vessels. That's just a Brandon brain fart. Medelantorius is still Valor's Vessel.

#63 Copy

Questioner

When do we get a book about the pancake-shaped people that only speak in flatulence?

Brandon Sanderson

Wrong book series, my friend. No, you will not get about the pancake-shaped people that only speak in flatulence. We'll leave it to you whether Hoid was joking or not, how about that.

#64 Copy

Questioner

Did spiritweb entanglement cause Nikaro to be heavily Invested and would leave a Cognitive Shadow upon death?

Brandon Sanderson

Nikaro probably is Invested enough to leave a Cognitive Shadow, but I'm not 100% sure. I'd have to really look it. He's got some residual effects of a bunch of the stuff he went through; there might be enough clinging to him.

#65 Copy

Questioner

Would Dalinar and Kelsier get along?

Brandon Sanderson

No, I don't think they would. Young Dalinar? Yes. Adult Dalinar? Probably not. Kelsier's a hard person to get along with, unless you buy in to him being in charge. Dalinar is not gonna do that. If you think Kelsier does a good job being in charge, he's gonna get along with you. And he can get along with a lot of people; he's a sweet talker, right?

Yeah, the noble side of things, he definitely would not like.

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AonEne

Between I Hate Dragons and its extended version, and the cosmere princess reading at FanX, you seem to want to reuse the idea of magical knacks. Will they make a return in the cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson

The cosmere princess reading at FanX was I Hate Dragons, same world. Will they make a return in the cosmere? If I can find a way to make them not silly. Like, they can be a little funny, but they just... they can't be too far, and that story was too far.

#67 Copy

Sudo

Can a pregnant dragon change forms? Does this involve some Spiritual Realm shenanigans for the fetus?

Brandon Sanderson

That is one of the first questions I thought of. They try not to, but they can; and the child will change form, as well. Right now, I have that, when they're in dragon form, they do not have sexual organs. They still have some anatomy that would care for an infant. This is a thing I could change; you could read later on, and I just put a lock on, that a pregnant dragon is just locked into their human form until they give birth. That's how I have it right now; but, in dragon form, they don't have sexual organs. But we still haven't had a lot of dragon protagonists, and so these things tweak as I write more characters.

#68 Copy

Questioner

Why didn't Nightblood cause an explosion or chip the Honorblades while Szeth was fighting the Honorbearers?

Brandon Sanderson

Let's see if I can talk around, or if I just have to RAFO this. Part of this is awareness on Ishar's part of what happened. Part of this has to do with the same mechanics of why some of the first attempts Raoden made with AonDor were a little more explosive, reactive, than anticipated. And there's some other things happening behind the scenes.

#69 Copy

Questioner

You've stated before that you had a backup plan in case you decided to not have Taravangian take up Odium. In this world, Rayse was pretty against picking up another Shard. What might have been different about the finale of Book Five in this alternate future?

Brandon Sanderson

This is a very hypothetical question. If he hadn't taken it up, I would have left Rayse in charge, and Rayse would have tried to splinter Honor and Cultivation, and we would have continued on the whole splintering route, rather than him taking it up. Again, this is one of those ones that, once I got to the actual book, I knew was just not very likely. Because the main choice had always been Taravangian; I'd given myself this backup, and I just really liked Taravangian as... He makes a better villain for the entirety of the Stormlight Archive and for the entirety of the Cosmere than Rayse.

And this is partially just because I haven't written Dragonsteel yet. If I had started with Dragonsteel... Remember, when I was working on these outlines, I was intending Liar of Partinel to come out before Stormlight. This was before Wheel of Time hit me. And you would have read a trilogy about Hoid, and you would know all of the Shards of Adonalsium's Vessels. And Rayse, then, being a major villain... it works so much better. I didn't get that done, and I'm not likely to do that for a while. I needed to do Stormlight Archive. And so because of that, when I sat down to write Book One, I'm like, "No, Taravangian is the better villain." And he had been since Way of Kings Prime; I can't remember what I called him in Way of Kings Prime. 

Just one of those ones that, when you're writing, it just became more and more likely it was gonna be him as I wrote the books. And then, yes, when I finally got to Rhythm of War, I knew it was the right answer.

What happened to the Liar of Partinel sample chapters? We should find a way to get those back up. There's no reason to not. It's not very canon anymore; Liar of Partinel did not turn out very good. Here's the problem with Liar of Partinel: it just isn't a good book. Way of Kings Prime was a good book that didn't do everything I wanted it to, and I was sure I could get it better. Liar of Partinel doesn't work. It does introduce the Aethers; it was gonna be nice to have the Aethers in the Cosmere that much earlier. But there's an alternate timeline where, instead of working on Rithmatist and then Wheel of Time, I fix Liar of Partinel and the thing that follows Warbreaker is the Shattering of Adonalsium. So, that's interesting.

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Joker

Which Shard that we haven't seen yet are you most excited to write, and for us to read, and why?

Brandon Sanderson

Valor, probably. Valor's history with Hoid is fun. Writing an almost all-powerful Shard of Adonalsium who is also Hoid's ex-girlfriend is a lot of fun. Little spoiler for Dragonsteel, but there you are. Hoid's not good at relationships. He's really, really not good at relationships.

Don't spread that one to people who haven't read, yet; you will get something. There's a good reason that Valor does not want Hoid to find her, let's just say. And he doesn't know where she is.

Questioner

Can we have a Romantasy book, Hoid and his wife?

Brandon Sanderson

Romantasies don't deal well with tragedy, in my experience. I don't know if that would work terribly well.

Questioner

He said writing about Hoid's ex-girlfriend "is" a lot of fun, not "would be."

Brandon Sanderson

It is a lot of fun because Jasnah is also an ex, and I've already written about her. She was only an ex briefly by the end of Stormlight Five, but, yeah. Writing about Hoid being annoyed is a lot of fun. You shouldn't expect a Hoid and Valor story anytime soon.

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Questioner

If Book Fourteen Rand fighting Taln...

Brandon Sanderson

Usually, these are easy. I think Rand probably still wins. I think that, in general, the weaves of the Wheel of Time are more powerful than the Cosmere magics as a whole. I think they are; it's just a step up in power level, and Rand is several steps beyond that by Book Fourteen. I think Rand has the edge on Taln. But, I mean, Taln is the only non-deific thing that could give him a run for his money. And Taln's got going for him that if you kill Taln, Taln can come back. So there is that, as well. Taln might have inevitability because of that. And Taln can move at a speed that Rand might not be able to track. But Rand can teleport, and that's a really big deal. I'm gonna give this one to Rand by a narrow margin.

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Questioner

Can you tell us something fun about the [larkins]?

Brandon Sanderson

You probably already know that Isaac inspired them with concept art, that they were a thing that I kind of wanted something like this, and I'd been devising something, but it didn't have wings. And when I saw Isaac's cool drawing, I'm like, "Okay, this is what they are. This is what we're gonna do with them." So, thank Isaac.

Questioner

Were fire lizards from Pern an inspiration for larkins?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, fire lizards from Pern were an inspiration.

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Questioner

If a spren found a mistwraith, could they inhabit it to get a Physical form?

Brandon Sanderson

Ehh, this could possibly work. This is a weird one. It could possibly work. Possibly. I don't think it'd be natural, but I like the cut of your jib, let's just say that.

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Questioner

If you hemalurgic spike a Sleepless, would each of their parts get the power, or just the one spiked?

Brandon Sanderson

They are an individual, all together, so all of them would get the parts. Be kind of hard to get the spiking to work right, but it would transfer to the whole thing. Just like it transfers to you when not all of your cells are not actually touching the spike.

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Questioner

Can an Unoathed revive a deadeye to the point they can have Surges available to them again?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, this is theoretically possible, but it is not the same bond. In other words, the Unoathed will not get those Surges. And most of the deadeyes are of a sort that would not want to grant them. That gives too much power over each other to the people; and it's not a matter of trust, it's a matter of morality to them. And this is a disagreement: what happens in the Radiant bond feels too close, for some of the spren, to slavery. It's not, in my opinion; and it's not, in the other spren's opinion. But it is in their opinion, and they get to make that decision.

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Questioner

Can the Dor be taken up by a Vessel?

Brandon Sanderson

This is possible. It'd be very hard.

Questioner

And if so, is it more probable than the Dor being separated into its two parts?

Brandon Sanderson

Being separated into two parts, I would say, is a little more likely.

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Questioner

Will the final Era of Mistborn focus on Hoid and his apprentices?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, you are wise, you are seeing something that I am setting up. You will definitely have some more interaction of Hoid's apprentices in the final Mistborn series.

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Questioner

Was the creation of the Evil an intentional result of the splintering of Ambition?

Brandon Sanderson

No. Odium didn't really know what he was doing, but he knew he didn't want to have the same thing happen that happened on Sel. And what happened was worse. So, this is why Odium had to recuperate and could not really attack Honor and Cultivation and kind of had to sideways work with them a little bit, because of what happened there.

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TheElfDruid1

Endowment replied to Hoid's letter telling him to leave Valor alone. Is there some form of prior relationship between the two (Endowment and Valor) before becoming Shards?

Brandon Sanderson

Endowment and Valor, don't read romantic relationship into this, but do have relationship. And they've had more dealings since. You could call those two, they've got a good friendship going, how about that. (Because shippers want everything to be romantic, you can do your thing, but it's not a romantic relationship.)

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Questioner

Are there Scadrian spren equivalents? Have we seen them, if there are?

Brandon Sanderson

No, this Investiture's being used in a different way. Closest you're gonna get... there really aren't. There aren't any. I don't want every world to have them. I want the worlds to be able to have their own... You see them on a lot of worlds, but I don't want every world to have them.

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L-U-C-A-18

In Isles of the Emberdark, we see the Scadrians use a machine to cut Chrysalis's Connections between her hordelings. Would an allomancer burning copper achieve the same result? Similarly, could a hordeling be discovered by burning bronze?

Brandon Sanderson

What a good question. This is in the same power portfolio as copper, but an allomancer burning copper wouldn't naturally just do this. Can they be discovered by someone burning bronze? Again, in the same power portfolio; but no, an allomancer burning bronze would not detect one. What we're getting into in the space age, is we're getting into the ability to reach beyond human limits for achieving things with technological intervention, shall we say. Technological development. Which is something I wanted to see the cosmere do, because it's something that has happened in our world. We use technology to augment our strength far beyond what we could do. Well, this is what you're seeing happening here.

Adam Horne

Are you gonna have an equivalent to something like CRISPR in Era Four?

Brandon Sanderson

Era Four, we are working on something... We'll RAFO that.

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Questioner

Were magic systems as abundant before the Shattering as they are now?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, they were. They took a little bit of a different form, but yes. When you see Dragonsteel, you will see plenty of magic.

Questioner

Did they significantly increase or decrease in number afterwards, or just changed?

Brandon Sanderson

I think they increased in number because the number of planets increased, and the number of habited planets increased, and things like that. So, yes, there's just more planets. And the Shards are out doing their stuff.

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Questioner

For a double tin Twinborn, what would compounding look like? Would they be able to see microscopically? Telescopically? Past the visual light spectrum? Would they be able to see or hear into the Cognitive or Spiritual Realms?

Brandon Sanderson

Seeing or hearing into the Cognitive or Spiritual Realms, probably not, because that's much more of a Seeker ability than it is a Tineye ability. But seeing microscopic and things like that is fully within... Like, they could probably even see the axi, which is their word for atoms. If you've read Dragonsteel Prime, you know that that's a magic system. And Tineyes could do that; compounding, yeah, if you did it right, you could do that.

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Questioner

Is there anything that absolutely cannot be done by Aons, but can be done by other magic systems?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes; Aons aren't good at replicating aether abilites. Aons are not good at replicating anything that requires negative Investiture. Aons are not good at anything that requires a willful choice and persistent bond. But they can mimic those effects.

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Questioner

You said Shards need permission to settle the same worlds. In Era Two, Autonomy Invests Scadrial. Did she get permission?

Brandon Sanderson

Autonomy has permission from before the Ascension of the Lord Ruler (there's a lore drop for you) and is coasting on that. No, she did not get permission from Harmony. You can do it... anyway. I mean, you guys knew this. They know that. Autonomy has had some dealings on Scadrial in the past, they've already known that. That's not a lore bomb for them. But I am confirming it.

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Questioner

Why was Aux chosen by Nale and the other highspren as Szeth's spren, given his inexperience that he had enough doubts about the mainline Skybreakers he was considering joining the dissenters?

Brandon Sanderson

They didn't know. This was just how; he was next in line. They're like, "You've waited your time." His questioning was not something that they were aware of.

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Questioner

If surrounding metal in edible materials don't block Mistborn from burning it, could ettmetal be frozen in paraffin oil to delay its reaction when ingested?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, I think you might be able to do that. You're talking about, delay its reaction, like blowing you up reaction? Yeah, I suppose that might work.

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Questioner

Writing what you wrote about Malwish medallions earlier this year, when can I read it? In the Cosmere RPG?

Brandon Sanderson

Maybe in the Ars Arcanum of Ghostbloods One. For those of you wanting to know, that's, like, our canonical submitted-to-the-Arcanists-for-review explanation of the technology of Malwish medallions and then how we're doing things like flying cars and stuff in Scadrial.

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Questioner

Does flavor of Investiture matter? Do you need Invested Arts' native Investiture to work, or could someone make something like Awakening work with Stormlight? Or do you need Breaths specifically?

Brandon Sanderson

No, you can hack this. Way easier if you can strip some of the natural... Like, if you can get that Stormlight, and you can... Let's see, I have to use the right terminology. Let's see, we have unkeyed Investiture and we have... the other term. It works a lot better if you can just make it... not unkeyed, but... Anyway, if you can strip away the Intent from the Investiture. There's two terms; one strips away Intent, one strips away the Identity. Stripping away both helps, but really, stripping away the Intent is what you're gonna need to power another magic system with it. Stripping away the Identity is what lets you use the Investiture of another person as if it were yours. And Stormlight doesn't really need that stripped away as much.

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Questioner

If a child is born in the far outer Emberdark, would they have Connection to this Realm, like a person on a planet? Or would they be void of Identity?

Brandon Sanderson

They would have a Connection to how they view that outer realm of the Emberdark. So yes, it's the first.

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Questioner

Is there any interesting conspiracy theories prevalent in the cosmere, like flat earthers?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, there's a bunch. I mean, the plague was a bit of a conspiracy theory; there's a bunch going on about where that came from and who caused it and things like that. The plague that was the common cold. There's a bunch about the Sleepless; like, tons about the Sleepless that I think you would find interesting. People think they're Adonalsium; people think they're Aethers. People think that they are aliens that are neither one. People love to talk about the Sleepless. People love to talk about the Grand Apparatus, or whatever I've called it as canon. (I feel like I called it the Grand Apparatus but then I wrote it in a book as something else. Maybe I called it something else on accident, and not the Grand Apparatus.)

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Questioner

Who do you think the protagonists of the second half of the Stormlight Archive are?

Brandon Sanderson

The protagonists of the second half of the Stormlight Archive are our five flashback characters. You've got Lift, Jasnah, Renarin, Ash, and Taln. And then, you will remain with Kaladin, Shallan, and Adolin. And I'd say you're gonna get most everything from them. Kaladin, Shallan, and Adolin should remain about the same level of import that they have. Of the five that I mentioned there, it's likely Lift and Taln will be kind of a little more. (Well, Jasnah, also.) Ash and Renarin will probably be more of a main character in the way that Navani and Szeth were main characters, in that there's not as much time dedicated to them. But we'll have to see when I write the books.

Publication order is: Lift is first, then Renarin. And then I'm planning Ash. And then I'm planning Taln. And then I'm planning Jasnah. Jasnah's last flashback viewpoint character for the Stormlight Archive. That's the plan right now.

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Questioner

How is there sweetener in Mistborn Era One? There doesn't seem to be anywhere in the Final Empire sugarcane might grow, but dessert sweets are mentioned in Era One.

Brandon Sanderson

They do have a lot of honey. They do have a lot of sugar beets. They've got some sugar-like things. Scadrial is an Earth analogue, but you'll find them mentioning some plants that just don't exist on earth, and I think they're making sugar from some of the berries that are mentioned, and things like that.

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Questioner

How do you feel about your decision to make Venli the main Willshaper instead of Eshonai, now that you've finished the first arc?

Brandon Sanderson

It's fraught. I wish I would have found a way to make the flashbacks better, and I think I just needed to take a different tactic on them entirely once I had written out things. I'm very pleased with how both Eshonai and Venli's characters turned out. My goal with Venli was to write an unlikeable protagonist who slowly became more likeable, but not fully likeable. So many of the other characters, you're seeing in their moments of heroism. And I wanted you to see Venli in her moments of non-heroism, to just add a contrast. This is a series with Kaladin in it; I needed somebody that wasn't Kaladin. And I'm really pleased with how that turned out. I really like Venli as a character; she did exactly what I wanted her to. The flashbacks didn't work the way I wanted them to. I needed more mystery to them; and that's the only thing that's fraught with that. Otherwise, I really feel great about Rhythm of War, giving it years. We'll have to see how I feel about Wind and Truth, giving it years. I was worried about the science scenes, and coming out of them, I'm glad I did them, even though they're a little different. And part of this is... Well, we won't get into it. I don't want to talk about Book Six stuff.

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Questioner

Would Szeth be a good ringbearer?

Brandon Sanderson

No. Why would Szeth not be a good ringbearer? You could get certain promises out of Szeth, maybe. But one of the things is, Szeth is really easy to manipulate. That's just the problem with Szeth, is he's just so easy to manipulate. He wants to do good so much, and it's easy to manipulate that both for what you want and against him.

Lift? Lift would be terrible. You don't want anyone carrying the ring who's going around stealing people's stuff. And Lift is also, maybe, too powerful.

Who's our best ringbearer? Taln. Taln would be a fantastic ringbearer. And he's really powerful, but Taln would be a fantastic ringbearer. Adolin gets close, but the problem with Adolin is, he's got a little bit of ends-justify-the-means; that's what's got the division between him and his father. I think Adolin's is justifiable. But Boromir's arguments are justifiable; Boromir has good arguments. You don't want someone who wants those arguments. Which is why asking about Szeth is a good thought, because Szeth doesn't have those ambitions. But he's so easy to manipulate.

It's interesting; who would make a really good ringbearer? Who's not Invested who would be good? Tress, maybe? She didn't have ambitions until her boyfriend vanished at sea. I don't know; it's a good question.

Oh, Tien. There you go, you guys found the ringbearer. It's Tien. Yay, we found our ringbearer.

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Questioner

If Wayne, Lift, and the Lopen pulled pranks on each other, which would take it too far first?

Brandon Sanderson

Lopen has, actually, too much self-awareness to take it too far. If you watch, Lopen (particularly after Dawnshard) has figured out that he goes too far. And that, like, a Lopen big growth moment, and it's really important to him.

Lift's a teenager, and that's dangerous.

Wayne isn't yet (even in the last book) self-aware. He's gotten a little bit there. I think Wayne takes it too far. I think Wayne is the one.

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Questioner

What would happen if Nightblood were placed in a sheath of silver, instead of aluminum?

Brandon Sanderson

Very bad for Nightblood, and it would burn away the silver. He would outlast a sheath of silver, but he would not be happy. He would be very unhappy. Depends on how much Investiture he's currently holding.

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Joker

Was there a romantic relationship between Ati and Leras? If so, would you call the destruction attempt of Scadrial a messy divorce? And was Autonomy a third member of this? Was Leras cheating?

Brandon Sanderson

Joker, you continue to have very good questions. Very good questions to be asking. I'm gonna give you a RAFO on that one. But there's some things going on in there.

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Glamdring804

So I took a calculus class from Professor Lake in real life, does that make me implicitly canon in the cosmere? 

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. Glamdring, apparently you're canon in two legendariums. So yes. 

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