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    State of the Sanderson 2021 ()
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    Brandon Sanderson

    PART THREE: UPDATES OF PRIMARY PROJECTS

    The Stormlight Archive

    I didn’t do much work on Stormlight this year, as my focus was on other series.  But I did want to mention that we plan to get Dawnshard in audio out very soon.  Hopefully within the next few months. Max, with Mainframe, has created the audio for it–via the always excellent Kate Reading and Michael Kramer.

    Obviously, the big motion on this series will happen with Stormlight Five starting in January, with a target for a Christmas 2023 release.  (It could end up coming out in the spring of 2024, depending on how difficult a write it is.)  Also, I will very likely do a Rock novella as part of the Words of Radiance leatherbound kickstarter in the summer of 2023.

    So check back for updates as I work through the book, which will include Szeth’s flashback sequence!

    Skyward/Cytoverse

    As I’ve talked about already, Cytonic and two of the novellas are out.  While I’m writing this, I’m around two-thirds of the way through the final novel–which, with the Jorgen novella out this month, will mark the end of this first sequence.

    Turns out, Janci and I had a lot of fun working together on the novellas.  Our plan was to do another set of them between books three and four, but the timing was tight on these first ones–and that was a tad stressful.  So we’re now working on doing some follow-ups to the first four-book series.  We’ve brought on Darci Cole, an excellent writer and one of the beta readers on the Skyward series, as a co-writer as well.

    Together, we’re deciding where to take the Cytoverse and what the right things will be to bring to you after Defiant is done.  There will be more, but Book Four also involves some major changes and interesting turns.  So I won’t say more now, other than that if you love the series, I can promise you more is coming.

    Mistborn

    Wax and Wayne Four, The Lost Metal, is done and the beta readers have already finished going through it!  One of my jobs will be to get a 3.0 draft of it done in the coming months, opposite working on Stormlight Five.

    As many of you may know, I do two writing sessions a day—the first one from around 1:00 until 5:00, and the second from around 10:00 to 2:00 a.m.  In 2022, I’m going to try doing something new–writing prose on Stormlight in the afternoon session, then doing revisions on Mistborn in the evening session.  I’m curious whether this works for me, and if so, whether it’s better or worse for my pace and my enjoyment of the process.

    I’ll bring you some updates as I proceed!

    State of the Sanderson 2021 ()
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    Brandon Sanderson

    PART TWO: MAINFRAME

    As I mentioned above, Janci and I have co-written three novellas in the Skyward series.  Those join The Original and Lux as stories created as part of my Mainframe project.  (Mainframe being an audiobook company I created with my good friend–and all around excellent guy–Max Epstein.)

    Max is the driving force behind Mainframe.  (He was also one of the first people in Hollywood to see the value in my work as it relates to films.)  We’ve got a couple more projects coming in 2022 that I’m excited about, so I’m going to let him tell you about them here!

    Thanks, Brandon! As mentioned above, throughout, and below, by the end of this year we will have successfully released four projects. And of course we have more on the way, two of which are currently scheduled for release in 2022. Both are with our partners at Recorded Books, who have been excellent.

    The first is the audio exclusive Stephen Leeds: Death and Faxes.  This is a new Leeds story within the Legion universe[, with a co-writer]. While we could have released this in 2021, our primary decision to push this to 2022 was because of the four months of back-to-back Cytoverse releases, which will culminate with Evershore in a few short weeks. We’re very excited about Leeds and can confirm that we have the wonderful Oliver Wyman back in the booth as narrator. More information to come as we get closer to our June 2022 release date.

    Death and Faxes will be followed up later in 2022 by Dark One: Forgotten, an audio series that ties in with the larger Dark One universe that Brandon has created.  Dan Wells co-wrote this with Brandon (along with a larger Dark One novel that we’ll be releasing after Forgotten, though likely not until 2023). We’re all very excited about how the pages for Forgotten have turned out, and we can’t wait for you to hear them. We’re currently planning on six episodes with a full cast, sound design, and music. Very exciting stuff in the year ahead with more to follow shortly.

    State of the Sanderson 2021 ()
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    Brandon Sanderson

    PART ONE: MY YEAR

    Like always, I keep tabs on everything I did through the year via a spreadsheet.  Usually this lists all of my trips and tours also–but there were barely any of those this year!  So, we’ll just talk about the books I worked on.

    January 1st-March 31st: Cytonic and Sunreach

    I spent the bulk of the first part of my year in the Cytoverse, working hard on two stories that are both now out!  Cytonic, book three in the Skyward series, came out last month.  (Thanks to all who attended the convention and who supported the book its first few weeks!  We outsold the previous book in the same timeframe, which is one of the most important metrics for book sales.)

    In case you haven’t seen yet, I also co-wrote a series of novellas in the Skyward series with my good friend Janci Patterson.  The first two of those are out, with the third one (starring Jorgen!) coming right after Christmas.  I hope you’ll check them out.  They are a lot of fun, and add some important backstory to what other characters are doing during the events of Cytonic.

    April 1st – September 20th: The Lost Metal, ReDawn, Evershore

    Most of this extended stretch was spent working on the final book of the Wax and Wayne series of Mistborn books.  (It should be out for Christmas 2022.)  This was a longer write than the other Wax and Wayne books, as I increased the book-length by 50% (and gave the story a little more outlining time) to make certain to wrap up things in style.

    While working on that, I also managed to get work done on the other two of the three novellas I wrote with Janci.  Basically, anytime I needed a break from Wax and Wayne there was something else to work on, so I had a nice rhythm here.  I dove right into the 2.0 of Wax and Wayne once the 1.0 was done, and the beta reads finished up in November!

    September 21st-October 31st: Various Revisions and Consulting

    After getting that second Wax and Wayne draft done, there were just a lot of little things demanding my attention that I’d been putting off.  Some Wheel of Time scripts, some work on the various film projects for my other series, and loose ends of various other things I needed to do.

    All this kept me busy until near the end of October, and so I decided to spin my heels a little until I could do NaNoWriMo officially, starting November 1st.  Which takes us to…

    November 1st – End of December: Defiant

    One of my goals this year was to tie up both Wax and Wayne and the Skyward series (at least the Spensa arc of it, see below.)  Assuming I can finish up this month strongly, I should be able to do that–as far as rough drafts are concerned.  I’ll still need to do some revisions on Defiant next year, but all of the actual writing should be finished–making both of these series a wrap.

    That leaves me free to tackle Stormlight Five all next year!

    State of the Sanderson 2021 ()
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    Brandon Sanderson

    INTRODUCTION

    Is it me, or does it feel like this year just kind of vanished into vapors?  I can’t believe we’re already back to December and I’m working on another State of the Sanderson.  After 2020 (which felt like it lasted an eternity), perhaps I should be grateful.  At the same time, it feels really soon to be gearing up for the daunting task of writing another Stormlight book–and book five (the final volume of the first sequence) at that.

    Regardless, I continue to be deeply grateful to all of you who continue to follow me on this journey.  It’s been a strange year for me, for more than one reason.  Eventually perhaps I’ll be able to explain more of why that is.  But for now, it’s time for the State of the Sanderson: my yearly wrap-up post where I tell you in-depth about everything I’m working on.

    Warning: these things are usually pretty long.  They stay up all year, available prominently on my website.  For reference, last year’s State of the Sanderson can be found.

    Enough of an introduction, then.  Let’s get into it!

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    deadmatt666

    With the mainstream success of animated series like Arcane, would ever reconsider anyone of your Cosmere IPs to be animated instead of live action?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would consider it. The more popular animation becomes for the general public, the more likely I am to consider it. Now, if I am able to get some live-action adaptations, then the chances that I do animated go way up. But it's unfortunate; I wish it weren't the case, but you can go look at the numbers of Into the Spiderverse versus these other Spiderman films and see who went to them. I think Into the Spiderverse is amazing; it's probably my favorite Spiderman film. I think it is incredible. But the unfortunate and annoying truth is that many fewer people will go to it because it's animated.

    You might legitimately say, "Well, don't you just want something to be awesome? Let's focus on making something awesome." And that's a pretty good argument. But I feel like I'm not in the realm right now where I want to just have one thing be cool and then leave pop-culture consciousness. If I'm going to get the whole Cosmere made, I need to hit big. Otherwise, we're going to get a couple of seasons and then be done. Because even good things on a lot of the premium cable streaming services right now get a couple of seasons, and then they're done and that is it. If I want to see everything get made, which I would like to see, I'm going to have to hit bigger than leading with animation can get me right now. That could change, that could absolutely change, but that's where my mindset is. 

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    KandraAllomancer

    Rosharans seem to love names containing words like "Shard" and "Dawn". Is "Dawnshard" a Roshar-specific word (like Shadesmar), and are Dawnshards named differently in other parts of the Cosmere?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's more along the other way, that part of the reason they love the words [Dawn] and [Shard] is relating to these issues—relating to the existence of Dawnshards and Shards of Adonalsium and things like that.

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    Molesttron

    We know that the conflicting nature of Preservation and Ruins' Intents within Harmony makes it difficult for Sazed to act in any meaningful way. Does the conflict between the two also protect Sazed, at least somewhat, from being molded to the Shardic Intent?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO.

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    Striker_EZ

    What would the dynamic between Elhokar and Design have been like if Elhokar hadn’t been killed? I feel like Design is perfect for Hoid, but I’m not sure how it would go over with Elhokar.

    Brandon Sanderson

    She would've really liked Elhokar. I think they would have gotten along very well, and she would've been very good for him, and he would've been very good for her. Let's say that Design and Hoid are a different kind of pair, and they exacerbate certain features in the other that may not be the best for either of them. Not in any catastrophic way, but I imagine that she and Elhokar would've become both better people through their bond.

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    asmodeus

    We now know that Glys and Tumi were Enlightened, and that has⁠—to some extent⁠—affected Renarin's Oaths and Surges. Could this Enlightenment have only happened one way? In the sense that is every Enlightened mistspren going to be displaying the same changes, or is there room for exploration here?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Good question and RAFO. I'm glad you're asking that, but I am going to RAFO it.

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    MadnessLemon

    What does Leshwi think of Moash in Rhythm of War? She seemed to encourage his actions and essentially brought him into Odium's forces in Oathbringer, and according to Venli she respects him, but it's hard to imagine she'd be cool with a lot of his behavior throughout Rhythm of War. Particularly his tormenting of Kaladin.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, but she doesn't know about any of that.

    MadnessLemon

    Have her thoughts on him changed as he's become closer to Odium and embraced the identity of Vyre, or does she regret picking him out altogether?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Not—no. Leshwi occupies an interesting space. Being closer to Odium is not a bad thing in her mind, right? She is reluctantly placed between things... she reluctantly has been put in a position she did not want to be in. She would not necessarily have approved of some of Moash's actions, but fighting as well as he did is something she legitimately respects. And the way he's been acting among the singers, nothing about that is a big warning flag to her.

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    bitchasstwink

    Can more than two pure tones reach harmony? And, extending on that, does Harmony the Shard have a pure tone for itself, or is it a mix of Preservation and Ruin?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO! Excellent question, sorry to dodge that one.

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    Mattlink123

    From what I understand, Preservation and Ruin worked together to create Scadrial because neither had the ability to create on their own. If that was the case, why did they feel the need to create a world from scratch in the first place? Was it not possible for Preservation and Ruin to Invest themselves on different pre-existing planets and not bother each other?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They didn't want to. They wanted to create. That is an impluse that some have, and in that case it is something those two both shared is this desire to create something. And so they did!

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    hajas96

    Ishar, when fighting Dalinar, showed similar powers to Hemalurgy (stealing the Nahel Bond). Could an unchained Bondsmith steal other stuff from a person? Strength, Breaths, ability to use Allomancy, etc.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Among those are things that they could steal.

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    kvancleeff21

    What was the fabrial used by Nale to completely revive Szeth at the end of Words of Radiance? That seems like an immensely powerful fabrial, and I don’t think it has been mentioned since.

    Brandon Sanderson

    During the last days of the heights of the Knights Radiant, they were figuring out how to replicate most Radiant abilities with fabrials. This is where... the Oathgates as a guide for that sort of thing. So you're just seeing a fabrial that can replicate what an Edgedancer does, or a Truthwatcher. There were fabrials created that could do this for all ten Surges. Okay, nine of the ten Surges. Bondsmithing is its own weird thing, as usual. So yes, it's a very valuable fabrial to have, and that is why you haven't seen much more of it because it is in the hands of the Skybreakers, and we aren't spending a lot of time with the Skybreakers. But yeah, it is a thing they have. And there are fabrials that can replicate the other eight as well. You've seen several of them in the books already.

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    Niter

    Is Jason an ancestor of Jorgen? In fact, I imagine their appearances similiar.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I will RAFO that one. Good question to be asking. The relationship there is not something that I am planning to dig into in the Skyward main series, but I might eventually, so that's why I'm RAFOing it. So don't expect it in book four I'm afraid. You're not going to get much more Jason stuff in book four. It's more of a thing to tease out for those who are very interested in book three. Book four is moving back to the focus on the... yeah. I'll just leave it there.

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    aaabbb

    Is it possible to create a Soulstamp that would allow contained Investiture to think it was in its parent system? For example, if a seon like Shallan's in Rhythm of War was contained by a Soulstamped box.

    Brandon Sanderson

    This is going to be hard. I'm going to give you a no with the little asterisk of I mean, maybe you could figure something out, but that's going to be pretty hard. You're just trying to figure out a way to stamp a being that is of pure Investiture. Which, good for you to be trying to figure that out, but no, that's not the way to do it.

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    waves_under_stars

    What would happen if a kandra ate the body of Ati or Leras? What would happen if they were turned into Lifeless?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The bodies would be a little bit warped by what's happened to them. The Lifeless thing is more likely to produce an odd effect than the kandra. The kandra is likely not going to have any weird effect, or maybe some small weird effect. So I would say weird effects are plausible, maybe even likely.

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    -stormlightning-

    Could you explain why Rlain, despite the fact that he's never held a form of Odium, could hear and feel the difference between Voidlight and anti-Voidlight while Navani couldn't?

    Navani though, who wasn't a Surgebinder, could hear the difference between Stormlight and anti-Stormlight. I can't think of a reason for this other than different species, but I think that would be a concerning explanation.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Okay, well we will RAFO it.

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    Argent

    Navani's lecture on fabrial science mentions that a tin cage can cause a painrial to numb pain⁠—presumably a pewter one can enhance it. The same epigraph also tells us that more advanced cages, with iron and steel, can change the fabrial's polarity. What does polarity mean in this context? What effects would iron and steel have on that pain-numbing fabrial?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO! We'll get into it Evgeni. Well, I'll say I intend to get into it, whether I actually will have the chance. I was pushing it in that book with the amount of fabrial and scientific sort of stuff, and I want to be careful not to always be pushing that line. Because while some people love it, it gets very fiddly.

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    NeedsToShutUp

    What would happen if Hoid tried to burn the shard that came off Ishar's Honorblade?

    Brandon Sanderson

    If you were able to get a hold of that piece and burn it, it would act like burning... You would be burning a very pure form of a God Metal, and those have some very interesting effects. RAFO.

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    howtofall

    We know that the effects of various magic systems are changed by their interactions with metals (Scadrial’s three obviously, as well as fabrials on Roshar). So my question is: when a piece of metal is Awakened, does the type of metal change the nature of the Awakened object in any meaningful way?

    For example, If Nightblood had been made of iron or tin rather than steel...

    Brandon Sanderson

    It would most likely change what is happening with Nightblood to use different materials, and that includes different types of metal.

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    TopicCharming2157

    Living Shardblades are the physical manifestation of spren. If Moash had used Raboniel's anti-Stormlight charged dagger to stab a spren while in Shardblade form, would it kill the spren? (Like Kaladin forming a Syl shield to guard a stab)

    Brandon Sanderson

    Physical form of a spren is going to be more resilient to this.

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    LewsTherinTelescope

    The fainlife from the Liar sample chapters is one of my favorite elements of the Cosmere so far. Has it spread significantly anywhere besides Yolen so far? I really want to see more of it.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It has spread off of Yolen in signficant ways. 

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    -stormlightning-

    What happens if you mix Stormlight with a different Light's inverse (like anti-Voidlight)? Would they repel each other because one is a natural Light and one is an anti-Light, or would would just behave like two different Lights? Theoretically, would there be a emulsifier for Light and anti-Light combos?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Right, we'll RAFO for now. It's a good question, but it's not the sort of mechanics I want to be canonizing in a livestream.

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    Kael_the_Adventurer

    The Lost Metal announcement blurb mentions "offworlders" and factors "from the larger Cosmere"; are there any particular books or series that you would recommend be read or reread before reading The Lost Metal?

    Brandon Sanderson

    If I said what they would be it might be giving too many spoilers.

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    EagleTiger32

    Have we seen anyone (other than Hoid) use a magic system not featured in a published story?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Depends on whether you count... You have seen some effects and some Aether involved things in the books before, so the answer is yes—tentative yes.

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    EagleTiger32

    At one point a seon is described as speaking with an odd rhythm.

    1. Would someone on Roshar recognize that rhythm, and

    2. Could a seon reproduce the tones Navani discovers in Rhythm of War?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, they are speaking with an odd rhythm. This is... You are close but not quite there.

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    Mr_Magatar

    When Gavilar died, it took the Stormfather around five years before Dalinar started to get visions. Outside of those two, have there been any other that the Stormfather started to give visions to? If so, care to give a number?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Don't care to give a number, but there are others that were at least investigated.

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    LightPhoenix

    Would an Enlightened spren cause a Listener to adopt a different form than a normal spren? For example, if lifespren lead to Mateform, would an Enlightened lifespren lead to the same Mateform? What about other creatures that are linked to spren and have gemhearts?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is RAFO. But it would be different. I suppose I can just answer it would be different because the way you phrased that question, I believe I can answer that way. But in what ways would be RAFO.

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    NeedsToShutUp

    We know Roshar lacks plate tectonics, being basically crem on crem. Yet peakspren have features showing heat, indicating vulcanism is present. Are the Horneater Peaks fed by a magma pocket, or is it Lifelight feeding them?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Wait for the Horneater novella and maybe I'll get it in there!

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    Argent

    Mechanically speaking, how does steelsight work? The scientific definition of "metal" gets a little murky in the middle of the periodic table-

    Brandon Sanderson

    It does.

    Argent

    -and we see that powerful enough Allomancers can see more than just metals.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yep.

    Argent

    Are Connection and perception significantly involved here?

    Brandon Sanderson

    To an extent, but the science of it also is. I feel like the stronger steelsight is getting, the more it is detecting things like electromagnetic bonds and even, you know, the strong and weak force and some of these sorts of things that is just in everything, right? And I do think that in strongest applications, Allomancy is going to be moving beyond metals and moving toward things like fundamental forces. So there you go.

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    halohunter51

    Do you have a term for anyone within the cosmere that can use Investiture? And can you tell us what it is?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I have started dabbling with these sorts of things and I've started just calling them Invested, right? Like this person is Invested, and things like this. And I think that term is going to work, but I'm gonna see how it feels going forward.

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    Cheyenne Sedai

    You told us more than a year ago that you wanted to save the mystery of the Order Dalinar's Plate was from until after ROW. What is it?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, the main reason I wanted to do that is I did not want to talk too much about armors. I did not want to talk about where armor came from. And I'm going to say Isaac is working very hard on the concept arts of all of these and canonizing all of them and we know which armor Dalinar's is, but I am not going to tell you right now, because I don't want to tie his hands, because what he's doing is he's finding the consistent types of ways they would look and categorizing all the armors into certain ones as we had done in the past for Shardblades, and we're doing some cool things. It's been really fun lately.

    So, one of the things that was teased at the Dragonsteel Minicon is that we are going to be doing some minis soon, with Brotherwise, who are fantastic. And one of the things we wanted to have done before we could do minis was just have really solid concept art guidelines for characters and worldbuilding elements and things like that. Often, with the books, we'll just give artists a lot of leeway and freedom, and we still like doing that. But at the same time we do need to have more strong sort of "here is what Brandon sees these things looking like." Which is not how I've normally done things, right? Like, I like fan art. I don't like to be too strict and be like "oh, the fan art's wrong for this reason," or things like that. I like artists to be able to do their thing.

    But as we move into doing merchandise, like these and minis and stuff like that, I acknowledge that I can't take that tactic anymore. And so one of the things we're doing is we're making sure we have canon versions of, "Here's what characters look like, here is what the armors look like, here is what these Orders look like, here is what listeners and singers look like," and things like that, so that we can be more aligned on all these things. It's been very fun; Isaac's been putting a ton of work into this and doing a really good job with it. But let's pass on that question until Isaac is able to reveal some of these things to people.

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    Baldur

    Is Jasnah Kholin autistic?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Jasnah, I have not deliberately put on the spectrum in my approach to her, but at the same time... there are some traits she might share. But, you know, it's one of these things when we're dealing with, we're dealing with personalities and ways that people see the world. For instance, let's talk about this: my son Dallin, my middle son, he is not autistic—at least he was not diagnosed autistic, when we took him—severe ADHD, and some other things, however we have put him in a school that specializes in helping people with autism and has been wonderful for him, because some of this the things that he does and the ways that he thinks are helped by the same sorts of systems. So, the fact that I would not personally diagnose Jasnah with autism does not necessarily go as far as you might think.

     

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    TGJackass

    The Truthwatchers and Bondsmiths are depicted separate from the other Orders in that neat little chart. Why is that? I get that the Bondsmiths are special, but why are the Truthwatchers beneath them, in the middle? And is there a reasoning behind how the other Orders are placed, beyond just what surge they share?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, yes and originally I had a lot more with this chart that was going to be meaningful for the magic system and things like that. And it turns out this was way too complicated to work into the book. You can maybe see some of it in Way of Kings Prime. I can't remember how much of it's in there, but at the end of the day, when I was building it, I'm like, "I am... this is one of those times where I'm doing a little too much, getting too much into the weeds," so to speak. But you can, you will be able to... See, it's tricky because you're gonna be seeing a lot of Renarin version of Truthwatchers and less of other version of Truthwatchers. But let's say that Truthwatchers have some sort of abilities relating to Cognitive and Spiritual Realm set in a similar way to Bondsmiths, and because of that they were often kind of opposed but aligned, and the chart is a human construction trying to explain things—much as the same way that the Allomantic chart is—and because of that, they're responding to things that have happened, that are partially cultural partially, part of the magic and they built the charts, if that makes sense.