If you attempted to use Hemalurgy on a gold Compounder, would they survive?
I'll RAFO that. There are certain things...follow the lead of the books as they explain this more and more. It's an excellent question that you should be asking, but I'm not going to answer right now.
In one of the prologues to the first book, the assassination of Gavilar, mentions--I don't have the character's name--mentions his bodyguard or the head of his bodyguard being one of the greatest swordsmen in the realm, right? And then we get into Words of Radiance, which has such emphasis on duels. I kept waiting for this guy to come in again. I don't know if Szeth killed him in the assassination?
A conscious decision on my part. I'm going to RAFO it, but not for any good reason. Just a little reason, I might make reference to it, I might not.
Was the black sphere that Gavilar gave to Eshonai, did it contain the same thing that he gave to Szeth?
Yes! A question I can answer about the black sphere.
So same contents?
Yes.
Kelsier went and touched Hoid, and then he [Kelsier] got hurt. Can you tell us anything about that?
Could I tell you? Yes. Will I tell you? RAAFFOO card!
I was wondering if you had a favorite religion that you created on Scadrial?
The cheeky answer is Trell's, but that's not actually true. I don't think I do. I'd have to go look at them all and say, "This is my favorite." So I'll give you the non-cheeky answer, which is that I don't think I do. If I had a list in front of me and thought about it, I could probably pick a favorite.
Can a Returned be made from Stormlight?
How would you count the Heralds?
I haven't read much, so I don't really know what you're talking about.
In the Stormlight books, there is a set of people who are constantly reborn, into full sized grown bodies that are being created for them. Would you count that as being Returned?
Or do you count Returned...What's your definition, right? You can create something that is Returned-like. But your definition of what is Returned and what is not, is going to be involved in that.
Can every Cognitive Shadow be affected by silver?
RAFO! Good question!
Is Kaladin going to get a romance?
RAFO! Kaladin isn't the best with romance. I will take the implicit question, "Will he have a successful romance?" and that's your RAFO.
I was wondering what your thought process was when you were deciding to make the powers less powerful as the Mistborn Eras...
I was looking for ways to tell different stories and not repeat myself. So I like it when there's change in the magic, either our understanding of it, or the way it's working. To force me as a writer to approach it from different directions.
But won't it die out?
It won't die out. Well, it could if...There's a maximum amount of dissolution it can have, based on the progenitors of Era 2. And we're getting close to that. It's once they start intermingling with Southern Scadrial or off-planet that you have to worry about that. But you won't have to worry about that for Era 3. Maybe by Era 4 you might have to worry about it.
Has [Tarah's] dad been onscreen in the books?
RAFO.
Do we know his name?
RAFO.
Aluminum eventually is going to become more cheap to produce. Is everybody just going to have resistance to...
That is definitely something that's going to affect the future. But do also remember that as the powers become more accessible to people who weren't born with them, you have both more resistance to them and more widespread use of them, which is going to change how things act out.
Would a kandra react to electrical shock differently than a human would?
Yes, but not that much differently. It's going to depend on the kandra and if they have enough control over their bodies. A kandra that's expecting it, for instance. But a kandra that's not expecting it I think would respond like a human would.
Could it be an effective revealing method?
I'm going to RAFO that the same way I've been RAFOing the question of whether they actually go down on the DNA level. So the whole point behind the kandra was that a blood test under Era 1 technology would not identify one. I'm going to have to decide in Era 3, I'm going to have to canonize whether, you get that under a microscope, if you can tell. And what about Era 4 you just do genetic testing, can you tell. And I don't know how I'm going to need that to go yet. And I don't know how realistic it is also. And I don't know if I want to deal with the ramifications, like with human/kandra hybrids.
Right now, the way I have it, they fundamentally build their DNA in such a way, they could even have children. But I don't know if I'm going to keep that or not.
In Mistborn, as the Eras are going on, the powers get diluted because of people passing down the bloodlines. Once we reach the Third and Fourth Era, the powers are going to be--won't they be a lot weaker, and not very useful?
They will become weaker, but there's a maximum level of dilution... There's a maximum level that you can reach pretty quickly, if you're only counting the northern continent. Because of the limited number of progenitors.
So, Era 3 we're not going to have a problem. And they're also trying to figure out ways around this.
Could the entire city of Newcago in the Reckoners world act as a giant steel metalmind?
Sure! Yes. That'd be awesome.
When Nightblood created, was Endowment involved in any way more than normal?
Good question, you qualified that the right way! I would say yes, but maybe not to the extent you're thinking.
Normal being using Endowment's Investiture to Awaken. There's something special.
I would say, there is something special.
If a gold Ferring got electrocuted, would he get paralyzed and/or heal and react normally?
So he gets electrocuted. You're asking does Cosmere healing prevent you from being stunned by a taser?
Huh, what a good question. I'm going to say, and I could contradict this, so this is Word of Brandon canon until I contradict it, you could still stun them with electrical stimulation of muscles, because it's not doing any harm and it's just how muscles normally work. So I think that's a good workaround.
Was Urithiru created by Honor?
RAFO.
You said that Hoid knows all sixteen of the original Vessels. Was he ever involved in their little, "We're going to Shatter Adonalsium," thing?
Involved? Under loose definitions, yes.
Do you age while in the Cognitive Realm? Because unless Nalthians have a super long lifespan, or she is Returned, roughly 222 years...
322 years.
322 years, seems a long time for Vivenna to have been alive.
You do age in the Cognitive Realm...Asterisk*.
Queen Aesudan, when we see her in Kholinar, seems to have some knowledge of Gavilar's doings and his plans. And given Gavilar's propensity for trying to marry his children to members of secret societies, as seen with Jasnah and Amaram, was Queen Aesudan a member or affiliate of the Sons of Honor?
RAFO!
Are we just going to see Szeth kill a lot of people in the next book?
Szeth has some better influences than he's had in a long while. He did have some good influences early on. But it's been a long time since he has had as good influences as he now has. I wouldn't count Nightblood as one of those. But at the same time, he's had worse influences than Nightblood.
Are we going to see Compounding of aluminum?
You'll get a RAFO.
Connection on Scadrial. If you tried to use it in a neutral zone?
A neutral zone between nations? I will RAFO that, it is something I have considered.
Would Hoid, Amaram, and Rashek be flute buddies or would they try to kill each other?
*Sigh, long pause* I'm going to err on, "Kill each other."
I was wondering, Investiture, could you use something *inaudible* could you use Allomancy by using *inaudible* <Breath>?
Yes. Most of these are possible, but for a lot of the magic, it's hard to figure out how to do it. There is more to it than just having Breath and using Allomancy. Some of these are easier than others. For instance, Vasher is able to live off of Stormlight very easily.
Yeah, I made that assumption because he's been living there. But I also noticed that Azure is still using color.
Yes, Azure is still using color.
Have you published any books that were in the Cosmere that you pulled out?
Yeah, The Rithmatist is the most obvious example. The Rithmatist started in the cosmere, and the magic is still very cosmere. And if I were going to have had one in the cosmere, it would have been Rithmatist, because of the way the magic works. I eventually decided I just did not want to canonize that Earth is in any way, shape, or form related to the cosmere and I pulled it out, and I'm glad I did that, but the magic still has a lot of cosmere remnants to it. Steelheart was never in the cosmere.
So if a steel Compounder became an Edgedancer...
Oh, here we go. [Audience laughs]
If a steel Compounder became an Edgedancer, how fast could they go?
[Dramatic sigh] They could go quite fast. They are not going to ever reach superhero levels of bending reality for speed. So, I will say quick, but not that quick. We aren't outracing an atom bomb, as the Flash periodically does.
Disregarding personal preferences, what Order of the Knights Radiant do you think you would best fit as?
Oh, man. I've been asked this one, and it's really hard. What order of Knight Radiant would I best fit as. It's difficult, right? Because, number one, there are a lot of orders, and you can kind of see yourself going in different ways. And number two, there's kind of like the, what is it realistically?
Like, when I sort myself into a Harry Potter house (which is much easier, cause there's not as many), I always have to kind of grudgingly put myself in Slytherin. Because, though a lot of my fellow writers are Ravenclaws, I'm not about the study; I'm about the accomplishment, right? Like, I write books in part because I'm like, "I want to accomplish this thing," and it's ambition, but it's also just "I want to do this thing." So for that reason I don't know that I can put myself in any kind of the scholarly focused order of the Knight Radiant, realistically, because I don't think that I would really actually fit there, even though that would be the natural place to start putting writers.
I often wonder, maybe Lightweaver, but the problem is I don't lie to myself, I don't think, right? But I am really good at fooling myself when I want to. Like, when I don't want to deal with something, I'm very good at, like, "I'm putting this on the shelf and I'll deal with it later," which is a very Lightweaver thing. Maybe Lightweaver, but... So, we'll go with that one today, but I think I've answered that question four different ways.
Do you still plan to write Wax and Wayne four?
So I've got time, probably, to work on one more project this year, cause Skyward 2 is almost done. I'm still not 100% sure what it'll be. It's probably gonna be Skyward 3 cause it'll be super nice to just have that locked up and done. If that's the case, then Wax and Wayne 4 will probably be written in between parts of Stormlight 4, as I'm writing it, as I need breaks. If I can manage the way I take my breaks, that might be helpful for us getting the book out. One of the things I've learned to do is to take my breaks as novellas, which is why you see a lot more novellas from me than standalone novels across the last five to ten years. And that's because I realized as I was doing breaks as novels that, number one it took a lot longer, particularly in revision, and number two it ended up promising sequels, because I am incapable of finishing a novel without promising sequels, apparently. But I am capable of finishing shorter works without promising sequels. If I can get that, I really do want to get Wax and Wayne 4 done in a reasonable amount of time, but we'll see.
What's Hoid's favorite flavor of pie?
He likes to be surprised!
Shallan's Lightweaving. How does she make those physical? Is it light becoming matter?
So I'm not going to answer this one either, so you get another RAFO card. But I'll tell you which way to think. Here, energy and matter are basically the same thing. Investiture, energy, and matter are the same thing in the cosmere.
In our world, when we touch, we are touching energy, right? We are not actually touching. The atoms are repelling each other or whatever. I'm not a physicist. I'm sorry, physicists!
Contact is a weird, weird thing. Keep in mind, Investiture is another state of matter and energy in the cosmere. It's not really that hard to extrapolate along.
In the cosmere, as space becomes more developed...*inaudible* outer space.
It's an interesting question that I've had to ponder. Would the space race happen more slowly because there's an alternative, or would it happen more quickly because you know other planets are inhabited. I'm not going to answer what I came up with, because it's a plot point in the books. So I'll give you a RAFO card, but that's the question to ask yourself.
That wasn't my question! My question was, in the Cognitive Realm, with the gap between planets...
Oh! Will the gap between planets get larger as more people travel in between it. So, barring things like space stations, there's going to be so few minds in between, that I don't expect space to become larger because of that.
I don't expect it to be a factor, except--barring--there will be possibilities of certain regions popping up.
Does Hoid fit a Lightweaver?
Yes, I think he does most fit it. He's OG Lightweaver. He was Lightweaving before it was cool.
It was not cool?
He got in trouble for it a lot of times, early on. I'm mostly making a joke about that.
He was Lightweaving back before Adonalsium was Shattered.
I have a weird kind of amputation where they reattached my foot back onto my leg so it's sort of like a knee joint. Would Stormlight healing be able to heal that?
A lot of it is going to depend on your perspective on it. But I would say yes, in most cases it would be able to.
So it would grow the leg back to how it normally was?
It would take a little work, but it would. But your perception is going to influence it.
On Threnody is there more than one metal that affects Shades?
Technically a RAFO.
Nananav, from Oathbringer. Worldhopper?
RAFO.
Do you think you'll ever store Stormlight in a metalmind?
RAFO!
What's your favorite book?
This is also kind of a hard one for writers, right? Or maybe not just for writers, maybe just for... my type of person, I'm sure a lot of you are like this, where it's like, my favorite book changes and varies, and so I kind of have some go-to answers, because they stayed my favorite book for a while. The book that got me into science-fiction/fantasy was Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly and I often mention that. My favorite Wheel of Time book was book four, I often mention that. My favorite Terry Pratchett book is probably Going Postal, my favorite classic is Les Miserable, so that often comes up. What have I read recently that I really liked? It's now been over a year, but I really liked Jane Yolen's work, and she recently released a short story collection that I really liked. I recently finished Roshani Chokshi book, The Star-Touched Queen, which I really liked. Robert Jackson Bennett is good... I like a lot of different things I read.
So, in the scene where Kelsier has all the metal around him, and he's Pushing and Pulling on [parts of the metal that are] not center of mass, is that something more along the lines of savantism, or is it just Rule of Cool?
No no, that I was pushing toward... I wouldn't call Kelsier a savant, but I would say that there were certainly steps toward that, and it's something I actually wanted people who were really skilled with the magic to be able to do.
So it's not Rule of Cool.
I would not call that one Rule of Cool, I would say that I want that to actually be part of the magic, that I wanted there to be some level, particularly in Pushing and Pulling, of skill that lets you deviate from the normal. And I've tried to show in other places that people who are really skilled can do some different things like that, particularly with Pushing and Pulling, both on emotions and on metals. So no, not Rule of Cool there, I do occasionally do Rule of Cool stuff, but I wouldn't call that one.
Do you think you'll ever be asked to finish Patrick Rothfuss's series?
So, um... so no. And I would probably say no. My writing style is too different from his. I don't know if I can do the lyrical style that he does. If I were to try it I'd probably figure it out but it would take multiple years of practice and then it would delay the book even more. I am sure Pat will be able to release his book and we don't have to worry about that. Now, whether certain other authors will release theirs, I don't know, but I'm-- If I were a betting man I would put good money on Pat having his book out in the next decade.
Trell's been Investing in Scadrial, he's interacting there. Is he doing anything or will he do anything to influence a new magic system there... How much would a Shard have to do to get to that point?
RAFO.
So we know that there are Siah Aimian/human hybrids like the Natanans. Do Dysian Aimian hybrids exist and if not, could they?
*Makes face* I don't think the biology is compatible.
You said before that if a human ate an Aviar worm, it would not do anything, right? Someone's tried that? What would happen if a baby...?
Still wouldn't work. The gut flora is too different. And they're not part of the symbiotic life cycle there. That system has evolved to the symbiosis that it has, and humans are too new to trying to make that work.
Humans are not new on the planet, but they are not part of that system.
Could they be trained into it?
Training wouldn't work.
Not like training, but through generations.
Through generations, that would be theoretically possible.
Where did the idea for Girl Who Stood Up come from?
Girl Who Looked Up grew out of my love of folklore and fairytale. And the various incarnations of Pandora myths all around the world, in different societies, presented differently, would be my guess at the inspiration there.
At the beginning of Stormlight, when Gavilar gives Szeth a dark sphere, is that from Shadesmar?
RAFO.
I notice that the two most complicated Investiture systems that we know of, those being Hemalurgy and Forging, are both the Investitures of Shards whose names have a generally negative connotation. Is there any correlation?
I would say that is not an intentional correlation.
That is just a coincidence?
Yes.
Would it be possible for an inanimate object that was Invested to the point of sentience Ascend to Shardhood?
To become a Vessel of Adonalsium, or become a Shard through...? This is a tricky question because the power left alone will become sapient. And at that point, the distinction between being a Shard and a Vessel is fine but still extant. And I would say the power could not become a Vessel in the same way because it's defined as something different. But it is possible for the power to be left alone and to gain sapience on its own.
The example we were thinking of was Sel. It was stated in Arcanum that the landscape itself was Invested to the point of... Could the planet of Sel be the Vessel of Devotion?
At this point, it's playing semantics, and I would say no. But there are people in-cosmere that would argue that the semantic distinction is irrelevant and that it is the same.
One of the Letters in Oathbringer suggests that the Shards had a pact to all go their separate ways. And some of them held to it and some of them didn't?
Yes.
Out of all of them, how is it possible that one of the ones that didn't is the one whose nature is to obsessively keep your word at all costs?
He would argue that he kept his word.
Okay, so loophole.
He wouldn't even call it a loophole.
What would happen if someone carried Nightblood unsheathed into a perpendicularity?
RAFO.
Nightblood is the most ridiculously over-Invested thing in the cosmere, second only to the Shards?
Yes.
Was this true from the moment of its creation, or did it grow in power over time.
Grew in power over time. Kind of answers a question that people have been wondering. But, yes.
