Recent entries

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
    #101 Copy

    Questioner

    Who is Hoid telling Tress's story to?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, who do you think Hoid is telling Tress's story to?

    Questioner

    I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I think fandom’s figured this out, and I'm not going to answer this one. I'm going to give you a RAFO card. Ask around. I left the clues very deliberately, and this is the sort of thing I don't like to answer, because the clues are there. It is a world you have seen before in the cosmere. Both of those books that he told are being told specifically to an audience in the cosmere.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    So, kind of along the lines of Bondsmiths: Would one be capable of reuniting a Shard that had been [Splintered], like maybe Honor?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So once again, there's some order of magnitudes difficulty to this, but that is the Surge that would be involved in that. So the answer is yes. But be aware it's not an easy prospect.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    In Aether of Night, two different aethers sort of combine and powers one of them up. Is this something that could happen in canon? And if so, could any two aethers be combined in some sort of way?

    Brandon Sanderson

    In canon, there are ways this could happen, but I'm gonna RAFO everything else to leave it for maybe eventual exploration. But that is possible, yeah.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    If an aviar's Connection or Identity were to be manipulated in any way, would it change the abilities that it could grant?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Questioner

    If you were to cook them and eat them, would it give somebody who could turn those calories into Investiture any additional abilities?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Unlikely.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    If a kandra ate the bones of a child, could they eat other bones and grow up as that person?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They could, but they wouldn't actually be the person. So, you could imagine a kandra doing that. It would probably not be psychologically good for anyone involved. But that's totally within the realm of what a kandra might do. In fact, there's probably kandra who have done that.

    Questioner

    Is one of them Shallan?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
    #108 Copy

    Questioner

    When Kaladin is younger in the first book, he talks about wanting to go see two cities: the City of Storms and the City of Shadows. Those have never been mentioned after that. Do they exist?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Rall Elorim is the City of Shadows. Those who know your really deep cuts: Book 4 was going to take place there, and it just did not work in the outline. But the original outline... that line was there because someday he was going to go see that.

    The City of Storms. I'll leave it to fandom to work out what's going on with that one.

    Rall Elorim, we did take the story that I was… because most of Rhythm of War stayed the same. It was just gonna be there instead. You will find some references to it in the RPG. We repurposed my worldbuilding there, and we are going to let you have some fun there in the RPG.

    Footnote: There is no "City of Storms" referenced in the The Stormlight Archive. The other city young Kal is curious about in The Way of Kings is Kurth, the City of Lightning.
    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    If we were to get a POV from a new character in Stormlight that we haven't seen a POV from, who would it be that would change our perspective on the series or what's going on the most?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I was gonna say Taln, but you have actually had a brief viewpoint from Taln. You have had... There's a lot of people that know a lot. Let's say that if you had a viewpoint from, say, Tanavast, it would probably change your perspective on things quite a bit. That would probably be a good one.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    My question is relating to the color of gemstones. In your Ars Arcanum, you always need one color per gemstone for all the different magics. But different gemstones can be different colors, and they give off different wavelengths.

    Brandon Sanderson

    They do, and in fact rubies and sapphires are basically the same thing. On Roshar, the color is very relevant to certain applications of small permutations of the magic. And so, because of that, they will define, for instance, a blue topaz and a brown topaz as different gemstones, when we would not on Earth. So color is really - it's not going to influence some things, but it does influence others, kind of some minor applications. The answer is, the chemical property is less important than the color as it applies to that magic.

    Questioner

    My question actually was the wavelength of the color. Because Navani did so much magic, and the wavelength and the sound affects things.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yep, wavelength is important. It's going to be a bit of a... I want to say a spectrum, but wavelength…there's gonna be a range that would be workable, if that makes sense.

    Questioner

    So it would also affect how fabrials are going to-

    Brandon Sanderson

    It’s going to affect fabrials, it’s going to affect some applications of Soulcasting, and some things like this.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    If you encase a gemstone in aluminum, will that prevent, or only greatly reduce, the speed of Stormlight leakage?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, the Stormlight will still leak out of the gemstone. Assume that you’re like, creating a perfect shell for it. The Stormlight is still eventually just gonna make its way into the Spiritual Realm. The aluminum can't act as a Stormlight containment, necessarily, unless the Stormlight is persistent enough that it's not just evaporating into the Spiritual Realm. So, for instance, you could use some sort of device like this to encase a sapient spren who is already locked into the Physical Realm. But Stormlight’s just eventually gonna evaporate due to Stormlight evaporation, which is changing realms. The aluminum's not going to stop that.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    My favorite scene, and actually one of the scenes that I think was most powerful in anything I've read, was the scene between Kaladin and Shallan, when they're in the chasms in the Shattered Plains. And what I wanted to know is, what was the inspiration, either in your life or a family member's life, behind that beautiful scene?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There's a whole bunch of inspirations. And some of them are personal to individuals, so I won't go too far. But there are moments where people have shared with me things in their life that felt very personal to them that meant a lot to me, and usually it unfortunately also coincides with moments of great trauma. And so those are moments that are both cathartic and traumatic all at once. And I was drawing upon a lot of those, particularly putting two people who have both been through things together. Because I'm usually a sounding board. I'm usually the safe person you can go to to talk about these things that you know won't overreact. But sometimes I underreact, which can be just as bad. And there are certain things that people can share that will not cause underreaction that I have observed in others, that is something that I actually haven't experienced. And like everything that I tried to do in my writing, part of it is about exploring what it is to be someone else. And that's what I was exploring there.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    Has Weatherlove, the god of storms, or any other Returned of the Court of Gods visited Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The answer is no. Except asterisk, there is one. Very obvious one.

    Questioner

    But not currently serving at the time of Warbreaker?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Not currently serving. No one that is serving in the Court of Gods has made their way to Roshar.

    We’ll say “as of the timeline on Stormlight Archive.” I can't promise for the future era, because there’s a bunch I haven’t written there yet.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    In Lost Metal, when they're testing the trellium. And they notice that the spectral response is flat-lined, with some really weird effects in the red. And they also note that Harmonium had the same spectral output. Is that because when you have an impulse in the time domain, that's a flat line in the frequency domain? And if so, is there also a phase shift between them to know which Shard you're looking at?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, that should all - yeah, I believe you're correct in all of that.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    On Canticle, the rings around the planet are blue and gold and they're non-equatorial, which are both noted in the text. Is there something about the rings (the color or non-equatorialness) that points to either who made it or the purpose of it?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, but it's a pretty tenuous and vague one. But there's a yes in there.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    I love larkins, and I want to understand more about how they work. And so I was wondering, can they consume all types of Investiture? And what do they do with the Investiture that they consume?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, they can consume all kinds of Investiture. And they use this for growth. Basically, they store it away, and they are waiting for a time where they will go pupate, and they will come out bigger. And then bigger, and then bigger, and then bigger. Their growth is not linear, and this is one of the ways that we're justifying - that I'm justifying for myself - how we're getting to some of the size of the various greatshells that exist on Roshar. So you'll find that getting to that state either requires long periods of time (which some of them just take a long, long, long, like, centuries), and some of the species, they use Investiture. Chasmfiends use Investiture in order to get to the size that they get to. And larkins do the same.

    Before you ask, chasmfiends cannot eat Investiture the way larkins do. They get it a different way.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
    #121 Copy

    Questioner

    You’ve mentioned in Scadrial, the future, there’s gonna be Sleepless. Have we seen any Sleepless so far? And if so, is Sir Squeekins, the rat that Wayne traded to Hoid, a Sleepless?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm going to RAFO that for you. (It's mostly a for-fun RAFO, don't read too much into that one.) But you have seen Sleepless around, yes.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
    #122 Copy

    Questioner

    I have a question about chasmfiends. Are they the kind of animal that mates for life and has really strong social structures? Or are they very territorial, and they hate each other?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO, but with a promise there's a little bit in Wind and Truth for you. Ask me later - Wind and Truth’s not gonna answer everything, but there's some in there that'll lead you to theorizing in the right way.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
    #123 Copy

    Questioner

    What would happen if a Herald fell into a black hole?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Investiture is going to respond to a black hole, maybe not in exactly the same way as light and matter, but in a similar way. It's going to crush them, pull them in, hold them. Their soul will probably still be… there’ll be some cognitive remnant in the Cognitive Realm, depending on how the black hole is manifesting there, which we haven't gotten into yet. So, what would happen? Let's quote Halle Berry from X-Men: “What happens to a toad when it gets struck by lightning? Same as everything else.” Basically, the same thing that happens to everything else. The question is, would their immortality remain? Yes, asterisk.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    Could someone burning bronze detect a non-Metalborn’s Investiture? Like how much Breath someone has, or that someone is a Surgebinder?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, but you need that Investiture to be kinetic. This is the term that I use for “it's actually being used.” Really hard for somebody who can sense Investiture to just tell it's sitting in an object. And I did this quite intentionally, because there are too many plot points where something is Invested and you don't know. It's just too overstepping of a power. So when you use Investiture, it creates these pulses; and these pulses are what's being sent. Basically, in the same way that, you know, we can only see light with the photons are bouncing around against our retinas and things. Those who can sense Investiture need to have something hitting them to be able to tell where it is. And usually that means it has to be in active use. You'll see in Stormlight, in Oathbringer you see spren who can do the same thing; but it only works for certain magics at certain points. And that should lead you to some understanding of how this works.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    We know that Taln has amazing willpower. So it’s kind of a two-parter. What Herald had the weakest willpower that allowed the Desolations to become so short? And what is the difference between that Herald and Taln that allowed them to have…?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm gonna RAFO this because I am gonna delve into some of these things in upcoming books, so you get a RAFO card also. But the idea is: let's focus more on how awesome Taln is and less on how… right? I would say all of the Heralds really tried. And the whole way the system was set up was designed to break them. Not by intent, but I think focusing on who broke the most is maybe the wrong way to look at it, rather than holding up and saying: “Wow, why did this guy not?” And he's got a book coming up in the back half where we'll find out a lot about him.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    I've been a big fan of your books for years now, and I'm also a big fan of MTG, and I was wondering can we ever expect a Universes Beyond: Cosmere?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Some of you know the answer to this already because I have talked about it. I would be open to the idea. In fact, when they were first exploring Universes Beyond, before we kind of knew where they were going, they came to me and said, “Hey, would you be ever interested in doing one of these?” And I wrote back and said, “Yes, absolutely, gimme, gimme, gimme.” (Maybe just a little more professional, I don’t know). And then I didn't hear back from them, which is not uncommon: Wizards [of the Coast] is a very big company and there's a lot of moving parts.

    I thinkThis is only “Brandon fan theory” time. I think they did this to a bunch of people, including some very large IPs, and I think all of them said “yes,” too. When you're going, you're like: “Hey Brandon, would you like to? Hey Marvel, would you like to? Hey Lord of the Rings, would you like to?” My “yes,” maybe, is a “yes” that goes pretty far down on the list. I am eager for them to work through all the other properties that would make decent Magic sets and eventually come to me

    I would, I've decided, hold out for a full set. Not just a few cards. I would want to do a full-blown set. And I've told them, if they ever get around to this, I will fly out to Seattle and be involved. Because I do like it so much. So the answer is: I do think it's probably something that will happen, assuming MTG doesn't fall apart. You know, the wheels don't come off by trying to do so many sets in one year. I think it is something that will eventually happen, but I'm in a place where I can wait to do it until they're willing to give me the full set, or something like that. 

    We did specifically write into the Brotherwise agreement, when we were doing things with them. Because we partnered with them large-scale to do all kinds of things. We found a partner in them we really liked, and we're like, “We're just going to make stuff with them because it works so well.” We did put a carve-out saying, “We're going to do everything with you unless Magic: The Gathering comes and specifically asks Brandon to do a Magic set. Brandon's reserving the rights to do that.” 

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    msyverw

    So we see a lot in the cosmere about how different magic systems interact and have these resonances. Is it possible for magic systems from different planets, such as Surgebinding and Allomancy or Feruchemy, to have the same kind of resonances?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, yeah, that's totally possible. The purpose of these resonances is to, number one: give me some fun things I can do. But really, number two: it's just like if you're imagining these things, like... I don't know, something on the electromagnetic spectrum, right? When they hit they're gonna interfere and/or they're going to change one another. And I think the magic systems are doing things like that, and I like to play with that idea. So the answer is yes.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    You mentioned earlier about Investiture with spren and concepts. You mentioned there's only a certain amount that there could be. Is it possible for a concept to not be popular enough, where that concept could die, those spren could die? Or would they change?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They would change over time. Which some of them would call death, be aware. When you are essentially an immortal piece of something that's become self-aware, it would be very traumatic. And an individual that's obtained sapience-level intelligence is going to resist that to the point that it would have to be something devastating on a catastrophic level to actually do it to them. They would call that death. Lesser spren wouldn’t call it death; they would just be changing over time. Any more than an atom becoming part of a new compound is gonna think that it died.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    One of my favorite books is Warbreaker, and it’s been eating me for years what’s going on with Vivenna and Vasher. Are we going to get some kind of sequel soon, or is that going to be explained in any upcoming books?

    Brandon Sanderson

    When The Wheel of Time came along, there was a certain path my career, I thought, was taking. And there are certain things I began that got changed. And so, I learned very quickly to stop promising sequels to things when I can't see the future. But I promised to finish the Alcatraz series, the Legion series, The Rithmatist, Warbreaker, and Elantris. I have finished Alcatraz and Legion. And I'm doing Elantris next. Warbreaker and Rithmatist will come. But I feel like Elantris just fits better right now. It is something I am going to do. Assuming I live long enough, which shouldn't be… as long as I'm making it to the end of The Stormlight Archive, by that time you should have it. I can't promise it soon. Because I sat down, I'm like, “All right, what am I doing next?” And the Elantris sequels fit so much better into the framework of what I'm doing, that it felt like I should do those.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    Regarding Sarene’s father and the rift between him and his brother Kiin. You touched on it but never really expanded on it. So I wanted to know if you could fill us in on that. And then also, kind of curious as to who you think is in the right?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, it's one of these complicated things, right? Because Kiin tried to seize the throne. He thought he was in the right; I think he was in the wrong, personally. But it is closer a decision… Like, he had more justification than Sarene’s father thinks he did. Imagine disagreements between brothers that grow to the point that kingdoms are involved, and you will get there. It's a very normal sort of thing that happens to families. Except these people had access to armies.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    Could a sufficiently advanced Skybreaker or Dustbringer use the Division Surge to forcibly split the Nahel bond?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So what you're talking about is something in the cosmere that's called microkinesis. It is a possible manifestation of base cosmere surges, and it is about as dangerous as you imagine. A sufficiently trained and invested Skybreaker or Dustbringer probably could do it. It has been done, but not by them during...

    So yes, fission and fusion are part of the magic systems. They call it “microkinesis,” but yeah. So you can read about that in Dragonsteel Prime. It’s in there. But they are the same Surge.

    Footnote: The mentions of fission, fusion, and microkinesis point towards Brandon misunderstanding what was asked, and misheard the questioner as saying "nuclear" instead of "Nahel."
    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    What adjective would you use for describing something in or of the cosmere? Would you say “cosmerian”?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I used “cosmereological” earlier, kind of in a scientific term. Cosmereological… it's a mouthful, though, so maybe the fandom will come up with better things, and I'll start using that. I believe you guys came up with “worldhopper,” right? I believe that was a fandom term that I just eventually started adopting. So, sometimes you come up with better terms than me. I use “cosmereological” right now.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    Why is Awakening a recent development on Nalthis?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There's a bunch of reasons for this. It's not necessarilyas … Define "recent" by how people are using them, and things like that. There's a whole bunch of reasons for this 

    I think I’m gonna RAFO because I just realized I was gonna stumble over something that I plan to talk about. But anyway, I’m gonna RAFO. With a “hopefully I will get it to you later.”

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    Do the Shards of Adonalsium still have a tangible connection to Adonalsium? The Vessel and the power?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Technically, yes, because the remnants of Adonalsium are the Shards, and that connects all of them. Probably not in the way that this question’s intended to mean, but it is a technical yes. But what's left of Adonalsium is the Shards.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    Can a Scadrial Shard see what's on a computer screen?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It depends on the computer screen, but in general, yes. But it depends on how the computer screen is being...

    Questioner

    If so, can a Shard - Ruin - change the words on a screen? Or would that be impossible, because technically they're written on metal?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's gonna be a lot harder to do that than what Ruin was able to do in the past. Basically, humans being involved between point A and point B is the failure point in a lot of cases with what Ruin was doing and changing and whatnot. If a human is typing it? Much easier to get that change. But between, say, RAM and screen or whatever like that; much harder. Not impossible, but way hard. Okay? I'm going to give you kind of a tacit “assume it's not happening.”

    Questioner

    Could an Allomancer, such as a Coinshot, somehow modify/change whatever data and programming in a computer level at a firmware level? Since Intent and Investiture does weird things.

    Brandon Sanderson

    So they can destroy it pretty easily. That does technically mean it changed. So yes, but by destroying it.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    Quick question about the Unmade. Specifically, their names and the number of them. Is there a specific relation between that and the Heralds? Or the number of Desolations?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The number of Desolations and things anywhere you've seen in the text is mythologized. The number of Desolations - and a lot of these numbers from history - I'm treating kind of like the 40 years of wandering in the Bible, where 40 becomes a theme that is used to represent suffering, rather than an actual 40 years. And the number of Desolations is the same way. Any number you've seen in the text is actually wrong. They don't have the records to say how many there were, but they think that now that it has been mythologized

    The number of Unmade is nine. There are only nine of them. And that is a cosmereologically relevant number.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    I was curious if there was a broad reason why Sel magic systems are more location-based, or Scadrial you can move around a lot?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, Sel is the big oddity; there's a few other instances like this, but Sel is highly warped by the way that the power of the two Shards that were destroyed on Sel. What happened with them distorted it a ton and messed everything up. And the system has been self-corrected in order to make certain things function. You shouldn't expect what's on Sel to be the standard, though it is not the only one like that.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    Space age question for you. Generational ships. What would it take for something like that to emerge in the Cognitive Realm? And would it look like its planet of origin?

    Brandon Sanderson

    A generational ship just manifesting on its own? Not terribly likely. There are specific circumstances you could come up with.. And you're asking, "What would it take?"

    For instance, let's say there is a planetwide catastrophe. And everybody's aware it's coming for hundreds of years and focusing on a story told about some sort of ark that might save them. And that they are all believing this is a thing that did exist or could exist. Over time, if there were the right Investiture on the Cognitive Realm, you could see something like that manifest. But I don't know if it would actually work, if it would take them off world or if it would just be echoes of that represented. You'd be much more likely to find some spren-like entity that thinks of themselves of the crew of said ancient ship than the ship itself.

    You'd have to have very specific circumstances, and I don't even know if it necessarily would work.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    In watching the second season of Arcane, I can’t help but think how well that animation would fit Stormlight. Have you ever thought of either Stormlight or a different cosmere story (or non-cosmere) being done in animation?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, I mean, I love animation. I have been watching very closely how animation has been evolving over the last few years, particularly how the audience has been evolving. Let's just say: If someone came to me with the budget that Arcane has...

    I won't say never, but let me say I'm very unlikely to ever crowdfund television or film. Why is this? I've been watching that world too. And too often people promise money and they give an inferior product because… Doing it yourselfThere are certain things I know I can do. There are certain things I don't know that I can do. And I would really like to have the experience of people who are passionate about making the work, right? Walking into Hollywood with a bunch of money, even if we crowdfunded it, and we walked into Hollywood and said, “We've already paid for it, make it!” They're all too happy to take the money!

    But when we see like… I really think that - and maybe I'm too optimistic about this - but I think the difference between something like Dune and something like the Halo TV show is all in the passion of a talented filmmaker making something they would love to make, rather than people… not to say anything, but executives and things like that saying, "Well, this is a product, we must make it this way." And to get the person on the Dune side, you need someone who's organically passionate about making the thing. And so just walking into Hollywood and saying, “Hey, I raised $200 million, let's make it!” I'm really, really worried about that production, right? Even though I think they could probably do it, I don't know that we want to, right? Maybe I'll change, maybe more of this will happen. And Arcane is this fantastic example of something that's really, really well done, but also paid for, as I'm led to understand, more by Riot than by Netflix. Netflix would not shell out the money to make Arcane, and so they were able to do it.

    So, who knows? I'm talking myself in circles, but… they know their way around animation, because of all the trailers and things they've done. I’m just - I'm nervous about it, and I've started making really good contacts in Hollywood. So, the answer is I am considering animation, I'm considering everything, but it's that partner. Finding the people who are super passionate and super skilled about this specifically, rather than just, “Hey, this is a thing that sells a lot of copies, so let's make it.”

    On which series would I choose. My philosophy so far has been: Stormlight is the thing I make once everyone outside this room is hungry for it. And so I would start with something non-Stormlight to prove myself to the world. When I do Stormlight, I want people to be as excited as they were for when the Harry Potter adaptations happened, or for when The Avengers happened after you had seen several good MCU films, like I want that level of excitement. Rather than, “This is the introduction.”

    And I know some of you have - probably a lot of you - started with The Stormlight Archive. I generally don't start people there, right? The Stormlight Archive is so hard to pitch. You've probably heard this joke before, but the pitch for The Stormlight Archive is: “This is the book Brandon thinks is his best series.” So once you trust me, then The Stormlight Archive has the best pitch ever! It's the book Brandon says you should read after you trust him. You get to trust me by reading Mistborn or Tress of the Emerald Sea or some of these things, right?

    Mistborn 1 hit the USA TODAY bestseller list last week. Now, Mistborn 1… This is its, as far as I know, first appearance on a bestseller list. This is very odd. Mistborn: The Final Empire - it’s eighteen years old, right? And I was a nobody when I released it, so it didn't hit the bestseller list. And normally, you only get to hit the bestseller list your first few weeks. But some books start becoming perpetual, and they start appearing. And so, we were blindsided by this. We're like, “Really?” We're spot number 140, so, you know. But we popped onto that list, which is really interesting, it's really interesting to have a book almost 20 years old pop onto one of those lists. It doesn't happen very often. So anyway, we're really excited by that and maybe it indicates some movement that eventually I'm going to be able to find a Peter Jackson who grew up reading my books and has made a couple of great films and is like, “What I want to do is this.” And that's how you end up with Dune, right? That's how you end up with a really fantastic adaptation.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    We all know, heaven forbid, if you don't finish what you have planned… you probably have backup plans.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I do have backup plans.

    Questioner

    What I'm worried about is: who is going to keep narrating The Stormlight Archive for the audiobooks? Because I'm sure that the last half is a lot later. I just love Michael Kramer.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I love Michael Kramer. I think they're on board, but I did see this thread on Reddit. I don't know if you were referencing that. They were running the math. You guys do like to number crunch. We will see. I think and I hope we'll have Michael and Kate for many, many, many, many years. They're a pair of very healthy individuals.

    I think that that is a bridge we will cross if we ever have to get to it. It is something, perhaps, to be thinking of - maybe we should have some understudies doing some books, and you can see, as a fandom, who you really like and things like that. Because there is some, like... Michael and Kate are my favorite readers because of the Wheel of Time. I got the audiobooks back in the 90s from the library back when that's basically the only place you can get. So when Mistborn was audio, they said, “Who do you want?” I'm like, “Michael and Kate.” And they said, “Well, we're just gonna get Michael.” They did. But when Stormlight happened, I'm like... It's extra work to get two voice actors, and so it took until I had done, like, Wheel of Time stuff, and they were happy with me, and I got away with all this stuff on Stormlight that I could get both of them. But there are some audience members who prefer a different narrator for every series, and I can totally understand this, as well. That's why we try, sometimes, to do a variety. 

    You're welcome to give us feedback on the narrators you like, the ones you would prefer us to keep using, and things like that. You don't have to mention Michael and Kate; they are fantastic. But let us know. That sort of feedback is actually really helpful. Peter watches this very closely, and he's very deeply involved in picking the narrators, so it's kind of his department. They usually bring to me options, or… I do listen to audiobooks, so I'll often ask for various people.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    In The Way of Kings, the first Dawnchant translation by Navani reads: “To be human is to want that which we cannot have.” Ironically, what I want and cannot have is more information about that language. If a fully constructed version of the Dawnchant were to appear in the future, what linguistic features would you incorporate to reflect specific cultural aspects of the Dawnsingers? And do you have an idea of how it would sound? If so, could you give us a quick demonstration?

    Brandon Sanderson

    This is a challenge I'm going to leave for an eventual TV or film adaptation and be like: “You guys figure it out.” Original Dawnchant would incorporate some of the way that the singers speak. The thing about it is… I’ve always imagined that the Rhythms that they’re adding add context in a way that the text doesn't have to give. So I don't imagine it tonal in the way that Chinese, the various Chinese dialects are, right? I more imagine it as more like sign language, where you can add emotion through the way that you're doing the signs, and things like that, than a tonal language. Because you can pair what you're saying with any of the Rhythms, rather than having them being innate. And so I didn't want the text itself to change, does that make sense? Because you add it on? So, someone experiencing it is much like speaking to them in any language, but I think it would probably have, like, extra pauses and very long vowels, and things like this, to give extra time for those Rhythms to really manifest themselves.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
    #146 Copy

    Questioner

    I have a quick question about musicals in the cosmere.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Okay. A Hero for All Ages, yes.

    Questioner

    So Hawkeye had a spoof musical for The Avengers. Have you and Dan, or any of your friends, ever paid any mind to joke musicals within the cosmere?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, I referenced A Hero for All Ages. Do you have any idea what that is?

    Questioner

    No, I do not.

    Brandon Sanderson

    In the broadsheets for Era 2, there is an advertisement for a musical based on Era 1 called A Hero for All Ages. It was probably Ben McSweeney’s joke, so you can go ask him to confirm. And if so, you can ask him how much of that he's thought of.

    He drew those broadsheets, and we just left spaces on each broadsheet for him to do his wacky Ben Stuff, because he's really clever and creative. He knows the Mistborn world really well.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    Rhythm of War, Lasting Integrity. We’re introduced to a character referred to as “Sixteen.” I believe you have confirmed this character is a Scadrian worldhopper.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Questioner

    Can you confirm or deny if this character has been seen in any other book?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I’m going to RAFO Sixteen.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    If someone with Allomantic powers was turned into a sunheart, like from Sunlit Man, could their spiritweb then be accessed through a hemalurgic spike and still get those powers back out? And use it like a transfer process?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, that's totally possible.

    Here's the thing: that process of distillation that's going on there is gonna mess with the spiritweb in ways that you probably… You couldn't take the layman, give them the spike, and have them get it to work, but it wouldn't… On the scale of how hard the questions you guys ask: this is more like a three in difficulty than a ten.

    You just need magical WinZip.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    In one of your previous Q&As, you had said that Awakening could theoretically be done via sign language…

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Questioner

    …and so the question is: Why wasn't Susebron able to Awaken things prior to getting his tongue?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So the thing about this is… With a lot of the cosmere magic systems, knowing what you're doing and how to move the magic along takes a certain amount of knowledge, practice, and volition.

    Now, if you had a society on Nalthis where enough people were using sign language a lot of the time, it would develop naturally, and they wouldn't need training in order to do it. But an individual in a system where that is not the norm... A little bit of training could have gotten him there, but nobody had that to train him, and they really didn't want him to.

    He could have figured it out… if he hadn't been an abused man held in isolation his entire life. It's really not on him.

    Dragonsteel Nexus 2024 ()
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    Questioner

    My question is about Investiture and measurement. I liked in Sunlit Man that they used BEUs as a standardized measure. Is this a cosmere-wide measure? Why do they suddenly start using BEUs as a measurement?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Like the real world, it's a little messier than people would like it.

    What's that famous xkcd comic where someone's like, "Wow, there's 16 different measurement methods or archetypes. We should come up with one that unifies them all." And then there's another panel at the end, it's like, "Well, now there's 17 different..."

    BEUs are used by some of the universities at Silverlight and are the most common standard for measurement, but not the only one, and there are dissenting opinions that don't like certain things about BEUs as a measurement. But I would say if you use BEU in most space age scholarly circles, they know what it is and have the constants handy to get between the measurements that they like to use and BEUs.