Recent entries

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5953 Copy

    Questioner

    I was wondering what your thought process was when you were deciding to make the powers less powerful as the Mistborn Eras...

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Questioner

    But won't it die out?

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5955 Copy

    Questioner

    Aluminum eventually is going to become more cheap to produce. Is everybody just going to have resistance to...

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5956 Copy

    ShadowBlaze

    Would a kandra react to electrical shock differently than a human would?

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    ShadowBlaze

    Could it be an effective revealing method?

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5957 Copy

    Questioner

    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?

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5959 Copy

    OrangeJedi

    When Nightblood created, was Endowment involved in any way more than normal?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Good question, you qualified that the right way! I would say yes, but maybe not to the extent you're thinking.

    OrangeJedi

    Normal being using Endowment's Investiture to Awaken. There's something special.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would say, there is something special.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5960 Copy

    ShadowBlaze

    If a gold Ferring got electrocuted, would he get paralyzed and/or heal and react normally?

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5965 Copy

    Questioner

    Are we just going to see Szeth kill a lot of people in the next book?

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    FanX 2018 ()
    #5969 Copy

    Questioner

    I was wondering, Investiture, could you use something *inaudible* could you use Allomancy by using *inaudible* <Breath>? 

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Questioner

    Yeah, I made that assumption because he's been living there. But I also noticed that Azure is still using color.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, Azure is still using color.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5970 Copy

    Questioner

    Have you published any books that were in the Cosmere that you pulled out?

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5971 Copy

    Steeldancer

    So if a steel Compounder became an Edgedancer... 

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, here we go. [Audience laughs]

    Steeldancer

    If a steel Compounder became an Edgedancer, how fast could they go?

    Brandon Sanderson

    [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. 

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5972 Copy

    Questioner

    Disregarding personal preferences, what Order of the Knights Radiant do you think you would best fit as?

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5973 Copy

    Questioner

    Do you still plan to write Wax and Wayne four?

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5975 Copy

    Questioner

    Shallan's Lightweaving. How does she make those physical? Is it light becoming matter?

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5976 Copy

    Questioner

    In the cosmere, as space becomes more developed...*inaudible* outer space.

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Questioner

    That wasn't my question! My question was, in the Cognitive Realm, with the gap between planets...

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5978 Copy

    Questioner

    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?

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Questioner

    So it would grow the leg back to how it normally was?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It would take a little work, but it would. But your perception is going to influence it.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5982 Copy

    Questioner

    What's your favorite book?

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5983 Copy

    Podman36

    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?

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Podman36

    So it's not Rule of Cool.

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5984 Copy

    Questioner

    Do you think you'll ever be asked to finish Patrick Rothfuss's series?

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5987 Copy

    Podman36

    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...?

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Podman36

    Could they be trained into it?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Training wouldn't work. 

    Podman36

    Not like training, but through generations.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Through generations, that would be theoretically possible.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5988 Copy

    Questioner

    Where did the idea for Girl Who Stood Up come from?

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5990 Copy

    Questioner

    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?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would say that is not an intentional correlation.

    Questioner

    That is just a coincidence?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5991 Copy

    Questioner

    Would it be possible for an inanimate object that was Invested to the point of sentience Ascend to Shardhood?

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Questioner

    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?

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5992 Copy

    Mason Wheeler

    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?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Mason Wheeler

    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?

    Brandon Sanderson

    He would argue that he kept his word.

    Mason Wheeler

    Okay, so loophole.

    Brandon Sanderson

    He wouldn't even call it a loophole.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5996 Copy

    Questioner

    Let's say a Bloodsealer got his hands on a Dakhor monk's bones. Could it still access the Dor? Or you know, whatever they use. Could they even be reanimated - and if so, could they still be useful?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's a really good question. So the bones are a conduit, much like Allomantic metal is. Allomantic metals are pretty easy to affect Investitures. I would say getting ahold of a Dakhor monk's bones, likely, would work. Likely, they're not going to resist too much. But, I'm going to say harder to access the magic than you'd think, but easier than with regular bones.

    So I'm going to give you a yes.

    Legion Release Party ()
    #5997 Copy

    Jozomby

    At the time of the Recreance, were there any Bondsmiths?

    Brandon Sanderson

    This is a plot point. You are supposed to be asking that question.

    Jozomby

    I was mostly trying to find out if the Sibling was bonded, and if the break in the bond is what caused the Sibling to go into slumber.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Let's just say this is a RAFO with the promise that I intend to answer the question relatively quickly.