Is there gonna be a cyberpunk Mistborn trilogy?
I have toyed with it. It's gonna depend if I'm ahead enough on things. If I am ahead enough on things, I will do an era between the 1980s and the future era. Those are cornerstones that I can't get rid of. I could or could not do a cyberpunk, a near-future science fiction. It's gonna depend on how things are looking once I'm around working on the back five Stormlight books.
Did Shallan manifest her Shardplate in the final battle of Book Three?
RAFO. Shallan has to be big RAFO. You'll understand why when you read this book [Rhythm of War]. Shallan is an untrustworthy narrator.
One of the things I'm most excited about with this book [Rhythm of War] has been what you described as being a foundational scene that you got to write that you've been thinking of forever. In the Cosmere and in your writing, has there been anything that you've done on that level? You have huge reveals and awesome scenes all over the place, but has there been one that's been cooking for so long and then you finally got to put it on the page? Or is this the first time you got to do that?
No, the first one of these was Kaladin taking the Shardblade at the end of Words of Radiance. That was the first really big one that I had been planning for a long time. Even stretches back to some things in Way of Kings Prime that I never got to write, because I never wrote the second book of that series. So that is one of those moments that just have been planned forever.
Most of these are Stormlight or Dragonsteel. Because Mistborn did not have as long of a cooking phase. So while there's cool moments in it, it's not like I spent ten years planning them. I spent, like, two years planning them. And so the ones for... there's one in Words of Radiance, there's one in this book, and there's one at the end of Book Five. (And there's one in Book Ten, also, but there's a bunch of them in Stormlight, the back five.) In the first five, we've got one in this book. (You'll know when you get to it. I think you'll know when you get to it.) And there's one in the next book that I first thought of and tried playing with an outline of... boy, it was, like, '98 or '99, before I even started Prime. After Five, we'll have a lot to talk about about that moment. But you'll find one in this book.
I actually am working on a project right now with someone that I am under NDA for (but a fairly large developer) where I am just providing lore for them and learning about how you write a game. They actually have writers on staff who are actually writing the game, and I am providing the lore. And I just get to sit in the meetings and listen and find out how people write games.
So, Rysn's Dawnshard was totally used with Surgebinding to make the Dawncities right? E.g. the giant windbreaks in Kholinar that everyone wonders "How did they make those?" that would seem outside the power-level of Radiant soulcasting.
Let's just say this is a linguistic connection I expected people to make.
Also, creation of the Dawncities (and Urithiru) is beyond the scope of what a Radiant, or even a group of them working together, could create via Soulcasting. (Though note, it's not beyond the scope of what Surgebinding itself could do.)
I'd like to solve the puzzle.
"Unite Them with Passion to Destroy Evil and make Positive Change."
Did I do the thing?
RAFO. :)
Does that mean Rysn is now immortal?
Is a Dawnshard a Shard along the same lines as Odium/Honor or is it a combination of 4 of that type of shard? Or are Dawnshards entirely separate?
RAFO on most! But the Dawnshards predate the Shattering, so they're something other than traditional Shards. Similar, but distinct in some ways.
Why didn't the Sleepless have a guard watching the Dawnshard?
They did--but only a couple of hordelings to give warning. They never thought, in a million years, the intruders would absorb the Dawnshard. It wasn't seen as possible for a variety of reasons that, some day, might be clear.
Up until the moment realizing what had happened, they assumed they were in complete control, as the humans were locked into a place with no other exit and there were swarms blocking the way back out through the water.
I was wondering if you could clarify how The Sleepless communicate between all the members of their horde and each other? They are described as buzzing, so are they relaying messages from hordeling to hordeling across huge distances or do they have so kind of more specialized telepathy?
It's mostly telepathic; hordeling buzzings are more like emotional punctuation, like body language in humans.
While reading Dawnshard I remembered something...Dalinar's odd dreams about warm golden light that is very similar to what Rysn experienced.
Is there any connections? Maybe Dalinar is connected to another Dawnshard?
I will RAFO this, but it's a worthy line of conjecture.
The Polish publisher is working hard on RoW right now. (I had to give them the genders of certain named-but-unseen characters today to properly translate.)
Now that Rysn has secrets to keep, where do her alliances lie? She seems slightly skeptical of the Radiants, so would she be more patriotic to Thaylen City and potentially share her information with Queen Fen? Or maybe even Vstim?
Her loyalty is most likely to her babsk and others who have proven, in person, to her their merit.
I assume a lot of people believe Taravangian's story that he killed everyone 'except Gavilar' is a polite fiction to prevent Dalinar from being honor-bound to kill him?
Yeah, I'd suspect that you are right.
I am a bit sad Lift didn’t tag along to Shadesmar.
I was actually going to send her on that mission, and wrote this chapter with that intent. Then I re-read what I'd written, and decided, "There's no way on Roshar Dalinar and Navani would send her on a delicate diplomatic mission." So I forced myself to revise the outline so Lift stayed in the tower.
There are some things that just stretch plausibility too much.
Speaking of sending Stalins to jail, will Dalinar ever face any consequences for his act of genocide in Rift?
Unfortunately, no. (Other than his strained relationship with Adolin and his own personal guilt.)
Problem here is that by our standards (and now, Dalinar's own) this was a terrible act of destruction. But by the standards of his society, this was just business as usual. A city in open rebellion against the crown? That's basically an invitation.
It's a tricky scene because the awful truth is that in our world, these sorts of things were extremely common in warfare--even up to and including the modern era. It wasn't until very recently that this sort of action was seen as a the war crime that it is.
To be more accurate, I probably should have had this sort of thing happen dozens of times in Dalinar's past. But I felt that wouldn't have made the point any stronger, and felt that one time was bad enough. That said, however, it's not the sort of thing that most rulers through history would have to bear any consequences for.
Has Vasher/Zahel done anything like this? Is that why he is as we see him in the Stormlight Archive?
RAFO for now, but the responses below this do have valid points [Manywar and Nightblood].
Would something like the 1474 trial of Peter von Hagenbach be possible on Roshar? And if yes, would this be something Skybreakers would get behind? It always seemed to be that they'd be interested in the idea of 'make law, not war' (I got that quote from Ben Ferencz).
This sort of thing would have been possible (and indeed inevitable in a situation like that) during the days of the Radiants. Not so much in recent history. Old Skybreakers would have been behind it entirely, new ones have some...different ways of looking at things.
Can we still expect a Rysn interlude in each book?
So, there's an interlude in this book for Rysn, but it's not from her viewpoint... (But you can expect one in book five.)
One question I've seen arisen about Taravangian I'm hoping for clarification on: Is he basically retreating from public eye whenever he's not having a "good" (smarter) day?
Navani notes in the chapter that he's dispensed with the doddering old man act, but we the readers know he's just as likely to have a not-smart-but-emotional day where he's not allowed to enact policy, and that could be on the day meetings with the monarchs occur. How is he managing his condition with being so much more in the public eye now?
There is more help with this in his perspectives, so I'll leave this at a RAFO for now.
You once told us that one of the Dawnshards was different from the others. As of the events of this novella, is that still true?
Yes.
So once Huio swears the ideal and the bargain is made, why not use the Oathgate? Did I miss something here?
The group isn't certain yet if they want to expend the military (particularly naval) might to secure the location just yet. It's not something you make on a whim; and now that the Sleepless have agreed not to attack them, Windrunners can fly back in a matter of hours, so they don't have to decide right now.
There's going to be more dawnshard stuff in the rest of the SA right? Like I couldn't bear it if you introduce this cool as hell concept of the literal words of creation, and then I have to wait like 10 years for more dawnshard goodness to show up.
So for the sake of my sanity can you just confirm that it's not gonna be another decade before we hear/see more about them?
There will be more, but not much more in the first five.
I'm particularly loving Cord and hope we see more of her in the future.
You will, but I warn you, her appearances in RoW are brief because I hadn't finished Dawnshard yet, and wanted the room to grow her as it felt natural in the novella, so I barely have her appear in the novel.
Since when did your start to plan this specific development for Rysn? Was it something that existed from her inception?
Rysn wasn't in my very first outlines; I decided upon this path for her when working on Words of Radiance, as I realized I really wanted one Interlude character that I returned to, and showed a longer story across several years for.
and the reason he (even still) cannot physically harm people
This point still confuses me. He quite handily puts Kelsier on his rear in The Well.
So he can harm someone if he's provoked? Or is it because he knows that regardless of what he does to Kelsier it won't actually harm him?
And a lot of "harm" is in the mind. Even without a corporeal body, it would still register as pain, thus harm?
And wouldn't it still be considered physical harm, if Hoid was there physically? Applying physical harm?
If you re-read that scene, Hoid himself is shocked he's able to do what he does there. Let's just say he himself doesn't quite understand the issue as much as he once assumed.
Can we assume he cannot harm a LIVING being, but Kelsier is at that point not a living being?
This is the conclusion Hoid came to, so it's a pretty solid assumption.
Chapter Nineteen
So, this brings us to the end of Part One, and you can fully see the reversed shape of the story here. Explosive beginning, contemplative ending. I went back and forth on whether I should end with Kaladin or Navani, as his decision to become a surgeon was the larger of the narrative arcs--but Navani's section better matched the thematic end of the part.
I fully expect some readers to be a little indignant about the fact that Taravangian is walking around free, while Szeth is imprisoned. I agree--it's unfair, but I also believe it to be (unfortunately) accurate. Taravangian is, despite his unassuming mannerisms, one of the most powerful people in the world. While it would have been great to toss Stalin into jail for his crimes, it wasn't really an option--and during the war, the allies needed him.
That isn't to say Taravangian is untouchable. Only that I felt what you read her to be one of the more likely outcomes to his outing. His argument that he didn't do anything worse than Dalinar did is a pretty solid one; if there hadn't also been suspicion he was working with the enemy, it's likely there would have been no relevant consequences to his assassination orders.
You'll be getting his perspective on all of this soon, as he has an interlude after each part of this book. (Like Szeth got in the first book, or Eshonai got in the second.)
I couldn't help but think about the logo for the Cosmere when I read the description of the mural [in Dawnshard]. Is the Cosmere logo related to it?
More that the Cosmere logo was built using some same fundamental principles. But yes, they are related.
Is the fact that Hoid has been a Dawnshard related in some way with the "bearer of the first gem" title?
Yes indeed.
Would hemalurgy on roshar require spikes to be made of gemstones?
RAFO.
Has Kelsier ever physically been on Sel?
RAFO!
Do Scadrians have a piece of Harmony?
Yup.
Are you willing to tell me anything about the history of the Vanrial community at this time?
What specifically did you want to know?
Well, is their eye color lighter than the typical Alethi peasant?
(after a long pause) I think I'll just stay away from this for now.
To clear up some confusion, this [The Lopen chapter icon] is a picture of Rua, not The Lopen. You cannot capture the magnificence of The Lopen with drawings.
How much have you thought about the evolution of the biology on Roshar? It seems like the creatures we saw in Dawnshard attacking the crew (Sleepless aside, they're a whole other can of cremlings) are basically amphibious chasmfiends? Or some descendent of larkin? Or even an offshoot of hordelings?
I imagine there's a lot of aquatic Rosharan megafauna, as many prey species on the planet have literal sources of energy inside of them that (with the right biological adaptations) can be turned into calories. Mix the low gravity, high oxygen, environment--and the possibility for bonding spren for other adaptations--and there's some real fun to be had.
Rosharan Sleepless, as a species who can self-evolve over internal generations, have managed to interbreed with some species of cremlings to come up with specialized hordelings to do some remarkable things.
Is Chiri-Chiri's kind descended from Yolen dragons?
RAFO! :)
When the Sleepless refer to 'Surgebinding' with the Dawnshards do they mean it specifically in the Rosharan sense, or just because that is the word Roshar has for magic.
I.e. if this occurred on Scadrial would they still call it 'Surgebinding' or something else?
Surgebinding is kind of a catch-all for cosmere magic here, as you're assuming. Literally binding (using) surges (a word for what we would call types of magic.)
So, Rosharans would look at an Allomancer or Feruchemist and say, "Yep, that there is a Surgebinder," correct?
Many Rosharans. Many would also just think of them as some kind of voidbringer or other mythological figure, from local lore.
Wait, have mistborn been to roshar or am I reading this wrong?
What I mean is that someone like from, say, Bavland might have different stories they tell about creatures in the night than someone from Rira. So while they might call someone who uses strange abilities a surgebinder, they are probably more likely to talk about the local equivalent of something like a fae creature from local British lore.
With savants, the more they use the magic (the more Kaza Soulcasts, the more Spook burns tin), the more pronounced the effect. Is there something similar going on with the Dawnshards? Would Rysn change more and more as time goes by? Savants do, Vessels do...
Yes, she would change more as time goes by.
Do the Sleepless name themselves? Seems like they would since they spawn from "lost" swarms. Would they think of themselves as the original swarm at first? Would this would bring in all the scifi clone identity problems where the clone doesn't own its identity?
RAFO for now. I'll get into their society some other time.
When the Sleepless communicate, are their words being transmitted to each other instantaneously or is the transfer of information limited in speed to the speed of light? Like if one Sleepless was on Ashyn and they communicated with one on Roshar, would they be able to converse normally or would there be a time lag while the information was being sent from one planet to another?
I have to RAFO this for now, as there are certain relativity related things I don't want to get into quite yet in the cosmere.
Wait, Hoid can't eat meat, despite the fact that he loves bacon? That poor, poor man.
Makes me wonder if this extends to Soulcast meat, though.
Yeah, that's usually part of the joke when I mention his love for it.
There's a cognitive aspect to it, though--but whenever he's around food, you'll often note him acting a little oddly.
So does that mean he was extra mean to the Alethi because he had to show up to all their feasts as Wit?
No, taking on the Wit persona was his choice.
Is that inability to eat meat and harm people related to the Intent of the Dawnshard he took up? Is he like a Sliver in a way?
RAFO, I'm afraid. But these are the right questions to be asking.
Would Sleepless be the 3rd race native to Yolen? Man, Dragon, and Sleepless?
The Sho Del are the third race from Yolen.
I've heard you mention the Sho Del a few times, though only that they were the third race on Yolen. Is there anything else you could reveal about the Sho Del that's not too spoilery?
The big thing happening on Yolen (and major plot points of both Dragonsteel and The Liar of Partinel, neither of which I decided to publish) is two competing ecologies on one planet. An entire invasive ecology (called "fain") and the regular one, familiar to us. The Sho Del fill the niche in the fain ecosystem that humans fill in ours.
I also have the theory that Huio will swear Dustbringer oaths (taking spanreeds apart to see how they work and a badass Shardhammer). And I want to get my first RAFO so:
Can a KR swear 2 order oaths after obtaining a Shardblade?
RAFO!
What are your current thoughts on Silence Divine? The setting and magic are some of my favorite to visualize so I'm always crossing my fingers you'll want to do something with it. It just hits all the right checkboxes for "cool" and with Dawnshard's release, well I was hoping it might be on the radar...
It's on my radar, yes, as are the two other Cosmere novellas I want to write. (A sequel to Emperor's Soul and one to Sixth of the Dusk that I've actually started.)
Problem is, it's hard to find slots for these things. We'll see. Not forgotten, certainly.
I don't know why, (an old WOB?) but I thought we would only be dealing with Sixth in the background from now on, so a sequel is awesome to hear.
The Sixth sequel is him exploring Shadesmar. I have a scene done, but it involves some pretty big spoilers for space age cosmere, as within a few years of the story that happened, there is a lot more going on in relation to other worlds. So I'm not sure if it's wise to continue it at this point.
I know I'm a minority in this, but I love normal humans in a magic world. While Sixth has no investiture, the world is still fantastic and has the air of mystery.
Will we see other cosmere settings where the people don't have magic, but the world does, like in Sixth, and shadows?
Yes, you will see more like this. (Many of the settings that involve Aethers can be like this, for example.)
Can you tell us the equivalent Heightening she [Rysn] now has? She seems to be at least Third Heightening equivalent but I'm not sure how much else she has gained from holding a Dawnshard. Do ALL Dawnshards grant these Heightening-like effects?
All Dawnshards would grant the same effects in this regard.
As for specifics, I think I'll leave that as what is mentioned in the text, for now. (Sorry.)
Where's Kaladin's old sergeant Tukks from? Is he still around?
I'm keeping more stories about Tukks in my back pocket, in case I need them, so this is a RAFO.
Is there more to Rushu, or is she actually just a Regular Roshar Human?
Rushu is not a secret worldhopper.
The Sleepless presumably do not want her to swear a Radiant oath because she would be able to use the Dawnshard in conjunction with Surgebinding, and we know that that combination already destroyed one planet in the system so it's pretty understandable.
But there were a bunch of Soulcasters lying around and they didn't seem bothered. So is this one of the differences between Radiant Soulcasting and Soulcasting via the fabrial? That the Dawnshard cannot be used alongside the fabrial?
So, the Sleepless ARE capable of Radiant bonds. (I believe the back jacket of the first book implies as much, if I remember correctly.) However, things they at first thought were great are making them increasingly worried, for reasons that will come up (not related to them specifically) in this book and the next.
Soulcasting via a fabrial is way, way less dangerous than Radiant Soulcasting--which is in turn far less dangerous than unbound Soulcasting (meaning without oaths.)
We've seen that the interpretation of the oaths is largely up to each individual spren (to the point that we've seen an entire Order of Radiants change their allegiance). Would it be possible for there to be a "sociopathic spren" that has interpreted the oaths so radically differently from the rest of their kind that it appears, to an outsider, that they are unbound in the same way the wielder of an honorblade is unbound? Or is there something essential about the nature of spren that prevents this?
I think that spren could go further than we've seen so far, and indeed, many of the older Skybreakers might be horrified by how far their order has gone. However, there are SOME fundamentals that even a spren with a very different interpretation wouldn't be able to abandon.
Are these kinds of threads fun to watch as they run with every little tidbit and try to figure out things that you haven't even fully decided on?
I feel like there's a little bit of "hehehe, look at them try to understand" along with the the compounding second-hand excitement of watching people be excited about something
I'm rarely going "hehehe." Though sometimes they touch on things I haven't decided upon, or things that I hadn't considered. That's not uncommon, honestly.
Could Rysn "use" her Command power and change change the nature of a Shard (e.g. make Odium not evil)
Can the Dawnshards be combined a la Ruin and Preservation?
And on a scale of power who would win: someone welding a Shard of Adolnasium or a Dawnshard? Does it depend of the SoA?
Nikli referred to Adonalsium as "it" and not "him" or "her". Was Adonalsium a being or a general force?
RAFOs all around!
Did she use the command to manipulate the Sleepless? He seems pretty surprised it worked...
Rysn did not use the Dawnshard in this story, and indeed is incapable of it.
Does this mean that Rysn is immortal now? If so that's going to start causing some questions if she stops aging.
Also, would Hoid be able to tell that Rysn bears a Dawnshard? Solely from having born one before? (Maybe he'd be able to sense it with Breaths or some other mystery Investiture.)
I also want to see what would happen if you stabbed a Dawnshard (/Dawnshard bearing person) with Nightblood.
These kinds of questions are why I gave a preemptive RAFO. :)
IRL there is a condition called aphantasia where someone doesn't have the ability to use their visual imagination. How would that affect Lightweaving, and possibly other forms of Investiture?
It's actually something I've read up on, and something I find fascinating. Like face blindness, it asks some very interesting questions. It would affect Lightweaving, but not really handicap it. Just make it different.
