Recent entries

    Prague Signing ()
    #3451 Copy

    Questioner

    Are you planning some more books along the lines of the Legion.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Of what?

    Questioner

    The Legion books.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh Legion books. I'm not planning any more Legion books right now but it's not impossible.

    Prague Signing ()
    #3452 Copy

    Questioner

    Is Hoid real, or is he just a fantasy form.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Is Hoid real? Hoid is real in the books.

    Questioner

    In the books, yes. So the characters are not hallucinating him.

    Brandon Sanderson

    They're not hallucinating him. We're not pulling a Fight Club or anything on you.

    Prague Signing ()
    #3453 Copy

    Questioner

    I was interested if, the Wax character, if he was inspired a little by Sams Vimes by Terry Pratchett.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, absolutely. Vimes had a deep effect on me as a writer so any time I'm writing a copper you'll end up with some Vimes but I'd say Wax has a little extra Vimes, so does Dalinar, Dalinar's got a bit of Vimes in him to.

    Prague Signing ()
    #3454 Copy

    Oversleep

    Why do Fused accelerate slower than the Surgebinders?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Fused accelerate [slower than] Surgebinder's because they're expending less energy.

    Oversleep

    It doesn't have to do with the Braize gravity?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, it does not have to do with Braize's gravity, that's a good question. That's actually a really clever way to ask.

    Oversleep

    Yeah, cause I thought the planet was smaller so.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Clever, very clever but no, it is not to do with that. You'll find other explanations but they can expend less energy, they can afford to spend less energy. They can only afford to expend a little bit of energy so that's the way to say it.

    Prague Signing ()
    #3455 Copy

    Oversleep

    Okay now I have one about Shard avatars, like Autonomy's. Is it possible for one to form without the Shard's Vessel directly making it, so independent...

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, it is. They would be aware of it, however. They couldn't not be aware of it, but it could arise without their direct and conscious decision to do so.

    Oversleep

    And the one on First of the Sun, is it by Autonomy's direct...

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, that is directly created.

    Prague Signing ()
    #3456 Copy

    Questioner

    Before the Shattering, were people already able to worldhop from Yolen to the other planets like Roshar, and so on?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It was possible, it did not happen nearly on the extent that it happens now. It's possible. I would say that, I don't know if there, yeah very very very few instances.

    Prague Signing ()
    #3457 Copy

    Questioner

    Lightweaving on Roshar, is it more of a Physical thing or Cognitive Realm thing?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Lightweaving? I would say it's a hybrid between the two.

    Questioner

    So there's a Physical effect, but also a Cognitive component to that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, and then even a little bit of a Spiritual component. Lightweaving tends to involve, I'd say it's mostly Physical. Mostly you're not changing what someone's mind is, but you're actually changing light. Mostly Physical, but Lightweaving in particular has a lot like- you'll see weird things happening with Lightweaving on occasion, that are kind of a little bit of Cognitive and Spiritual influence that's happening. So keep your eyes on that. Yeah, I would say, if you're asking is light actually being changed yes, it is.

    Prague Signing ()
    #3459 Copy

    Questioner

    So after Nightblood was used pretty obviously in Thaylen City does Zahel [or Vasher] know?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Where Nightblood is? Zahel is pretty sure where Nightblood is; Vivenna does not know. She's on the look out let's say.

    Questioner

    I guess it's hard to get back from Shadesmar.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is. She had some plans and that didn't work out.

    Prague Signing ()
    #3460 Copy

    Questioner

    I have a question for the world of Steelheart. How do the electric sockets work if everything is steel?

    Brandon Sanderson

    How do the electric sockets work? They needed to be rebuilt for the electric sockets to work, but you can also get down far enough where the builders, the machines, have rebuilt everything and so that wouldn't all have been turned to steel. Some of that has been dug out and reworked and rebuilt. There are some pretty crazy things that happened. 

    Prague Signing ()
    #3461 Copy

    Questioner

    Another friend, she wanted to know about if you ever heard about Warhammer-esque game based on your books, like the Shadow Titan for example at Quality Games?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I have indeed. I have considered and thought about it. Whether it will happen or not we're not sure, but I think that a Shattered Plains war game is likely at some point.

    Prague Signing ()
    #3462 Copy

    Questioner

    So I wanted to know if the asteroid belts around some planets are because of Splintering of a Shard there?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Okay, one more time. If the what?

    Questioner

    Asteroids belts around some planets.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Are caused by the Splintering of Shards? So the Splintering of Shards has had cosmological effects; you should not assume that most asteroid belts are caused by the Splintering of a Shard.

    Questioner

    Yeah, you know most of the planets, I think all of the planets where the Shards were Splintered have asteroid belts. So is it like the physical manifestation of the Splintering?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You should not assume that all planets that have that are the result of a Splintering of a Shard but the Splintering of a Shard can have such an effect.

    Prague Signing ()
    #3463 Copy

    Questioner

    So, the establishing of the Knights Radiant followed up the Surgebinders. So I had a question about Renarin - Is he closer to the modern day Radiants power-wise, or the pre-Knights Radiant Surgebinders?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Renarin?

    Questioner

    Because he's weird right?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, he is weird. Is he closer to pre-Knights Radiant Surgebinders or to modern Knights Radiant? I'd say closer to modern Knights Radiant, is what I would say... but it's a tough call.

    Footnote: The questioner seems to be distinguishing between the formal establishment of the Knights Radiant by Ishar, and Spren-based, Honorblade-copied Surgebinding before then.
    #renarin #surgebinding
    Prague Signing ()
    #3464 Copy

    Questioner

    How behind on word goal are you right now?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I have like 28 working days left before the end of the year and I would have to write 5,000 words a day of each of those so I'm somewhat behind. I'm about right now somewhere around 15,000 words behind. When I get back from this tour I'll be somewhere around 35,000 words behind so I'll have to try to catch that up. We'll see, we'll see if I do it.

    Prague Signing ()
    #3465 Copy

    Questioner

    *translated* In Feruchemy, if someone's existence is being in--stored in it, is it as a whole?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is little pieces of Investiture filtered through their mind and their soul. *waiting for translator* You could say it's a little piece of them, but it's not the whole them.

    Prague Signing ()
    #3467 Copy

    Snoxcatko

    Roshar--it's obviously, it is or it seems to be in the Southern Hemisphere. Is there something else in the world?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There are no other continents. It's not completely--it is Southern Hemisphere--but I think we inch up above the equator, don't we?

    Isaac Stewart

    Just a bit, just the islands. They kinda curve over the equator.

    Brandon Sanderson

    There are no other continents but there might be other smaller landmasses.

    Prague Signing ()
    #3468 Copy

    Snoxcatko

    At the end of Words of Radiance, when Hoid met Jasnah, he said he wasn't scared of the Shardblade at all. Is that just because he has enough Investiture to heal himself or is there something else going on?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There's multiple reasons but you're theorizing along the right terms.

    Prague Signing ()
    #3470 Copy

    Snoxcatko

    Can people from another world like Scadrial or Sel become a Knight Radiant.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Snoxcatko

    Is there some like special conditions in world?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Nope. You just have to be chosen by the spren. So because the spren are involved then the requirements are a little different for Roshar. But to became an Awakener, you just need to get the Breath so you could pick it up on Nalthis also pretty easily.

    Prague Signing ()
    #3472 Copy

    Questioner

    Is the Stormlight Archive 4 release looking good, is it going to release next year?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's looking pretty good. It depends, I wrote a little bit, worked on it here in Prague. I have to get a couple extra days snuck in, we'll see. You're going to have to watch, it will come down right to the last few days I think so we'll see. It's still possible, it's looking good but I can't promise.

    Prague Signing ()
    #3473 Copy

    Questioner

    My friends would like to know if you can Awaken liquids?

    Brandon Sanderson

    This is almost impossible.

    Questioner

    Almost impossible?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Almost impossible, but not fully impossible, but basically impossible. Particularly if you're talking about just a liquid, not in a container, anything like that. Technically, you can kind of Awaken a dead animal, which will have some liquid in it and stuff. But if you just want to Awaken like--

    Questioner

    A bowl of water?

    Brandon Sanderson

    A bowl of water, almost impossible.

    Prague Signing ()
    #3476 Copy

    Oversleep

    Ire and their fortress on Scadrial. 

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Oversleep

    Is it still there?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, it should be, yes.

    Oversleep

    Sazed is aware of it?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Oversleep

    Okay, do they have on other planets?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They have outposts but you will rarely find something as highly well constructed as that.

    Prague Signing ()
    #3477 Copy

    Oversleep

    So you have said previously that you could categorize metals in Feruchemy like 8 Physical, 4 Cognitive, and 4 Spiritual. But the Hemalurgy chart says they are Hybrid <Feruchemy> metals so...

    Brandon Sanderson

    So they are what?

    Oversleep

    The Hybrid metals.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, remember that all of these categorizations are by in-world philosophers doing their best to come up so you can decide how you want to categorize them, alright.

    Prague Signing ()
    #3479 Copy

    Questioner

    Can you tell me anything about the Elsecallers we don't know yet?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They should be able to get back out of Shadesmar without having to find a perpendicularity, but Jasnah doesn't know how to do it yet. She should be able to do that, she just hasn't figured it out.

    Isaac Stewart r/Stormlight_Archive AMA ()
    #3481 Copy

    eyeswulf

    I wanted to ask about the process of creating in world symbology, specifically the Allomantic/Feruchemical/Hemalurgical symbols in Mistborn and the Radiant Orders in Stormlight.

    Edit 1: I see you've answered some of these already. I know you just recently showed us the Hemalurgy. Symbols, so insight into that would be oh so cool.

    Isaac Stewart

    Hemalurgy stole their symbols from Allomancy. But in the early books, we go back in time with the symbols. First showing Allomantic symbols, then showing in Well of Ascension the symbols as they were used maybe in Terris at some point, and then we see the proto-symbols from before the Lord Ruler, and at that point, they look a lot more organic. Over time they morphed to what we see now. From the symbols in Well of Ascension, the Feruchemical symbols developed separately, but still look related to Allomantic symbols due to their similar roots. The more angular style is due to the influence of the Terris people on their development. In my mind, their visual aesthetic is punctuated with hard angles and triangles.

    Isaac Stewart r/Stormlight_Archive AMA ()
    #3482 Copy

    ArgentSun

    When Nazh tells Kelsier that becoming a Cognitive Shadow is an "important rite" with "requirements and traditions", is he speaking as a Threnodite (in the context of Shades), or as a worldhopper who has seen more of the Cosmere?

    Isaac Stewart

    I suspect I know the answer here but would need to get confirmation.

    Isaac Stewart r/Stormlight_Archive AMA ()
    #3485 Copy

    Windrunner4thIdeal

    How big do you envision the eye spikes on Inquisitors? I always imagine them as massive, sticking a good five centimetres out each side and not having a nail-esque overhang at the front.

    Isaac Stewart

    You can imagine them however you'd like, but I do imagine them sticking out the back of the head and the front. I suspect some Inquisitors have nail overhangs like railroad spikes, but others may not.

    Isaac Stewart r/Stormlight_Archive AMA ()
    #3486 Copy

    Aether-Wind

    What's your favourite Cosmere character, and why?

    Isaac Stewart

    Nazh, because he's basically a grumpy Scotsman with a penchant for finding very-hard-to-find things.

    Aether-Wind

    Well, now I'm looking forward to seeing more of him.

    Do you know when (if ever) he'll end up having more of a screen (page?) presence?

    Isaac Stewart

    Thanks! We will see more of Nazh, if everything goes as planned. I hope you will enjoy!

    Isaac Stewart r/Stormlight_Archive AMA ()
    #3488 Copy

    Swahhillie

    Have you gotten to depict or seen depictions of the summoning of Shardplate? Do you think it looks different per Order of KR or is it universal?

    Isaac Stewart

    This question is way too spoilery. :) I'm going to have to give out my equivalent of a RAFO, which is probably a Now Isaac Can't Say, or a NIX. :)

    Isaac Stewart r/Stormlight_Archive AMA ()
    #3489 Copy

    CentralIncisor

    How do such big dissimilarities in covers compared to things in novels happen? For example in Way of Kings, Dalinar has a red cloak when his colors are blue and Wayne is carrying a shotgun on the cover of the Mistborn book even though a huge part of his character is that he refuses to use guns. I love the artwork btw. Keep up the good work!

    Isaac Stewart

    We try to catch these things, but for The Way of Kings, if the sky is going to be a blue storm, then a blue cloak isn't going to stand out on it, so a red cloak makes way more sense and looks better. Even if the detail is off, it still gets across the epicness of the books. Book covers are supposed to give the feel of the books, not necessarily get every little detail correct. We try. And things like Wayne's gun slips through now and then. But even then, the cover to Alloy is a pretty good representation of what you get in the book.

    Isaac Stewart r/Stormlight_Archive AMA ()
    #3490 Copy

    Oudeis16

    Broadsheets of Bands of Mourning: How canon should we take the arcana in the Ghastly Gondola?

    Isaac Stewart

    As far as taking it as canon, it's about as canonical as the Allomancer Jak pieces. They're in-world fiction, so the characters are the narrators and are going to write things in a way that is entertaining but not necessarily how the magic actually works in certain instances.

    Isaac Stewart r/Stormlight_Archive AMA ()
    #3492 Copy

    AutonomousJoy

    Will there be a map of all the countries around the Inner Sea in the Warbreaker Leatherbound? It would be cool to see the distribution of the Tears of Edgli on the map!

    Isaac Stewart

    There won't be a map of this in the Warbreaker leatherbound, but if there's ever a sequel, that's the likely place we'll put this.

    Isaac Stewart r/Stormlight_Archive AMA ()
    #3493 Copy

    DoritoJH

    I wanted to know, of all the different worlds that Brandon has created, what is your personal favorite to depict (in maps, symbology, or art) and why?

    Isaac Stewart

    There's a soft place in my heart for Threnody, though we haven't seen much of yet. It also has my favorite of the symbols of the Cosmere so far. I love that the rules of the Forests of Hell are imbedded in the symbology of it. Great question!

    Isaac Stewart r/Stormlight_Archive AMA ()
    #3494 Copy

    Joe_does_Calculus

    Is there (or will there ever be) a key or something for the written color language/alphabet in Warbreaker? I have just started the book but it seems like it could lead to some cool fanart stuff with how it's described.

    Isaac Stewart

    We tried a few things to develop the color language/alphabet (Artisan script) for Warbreaker, but partway through, we realized that none of us here are of the correct Heightening to be able to read the script were we even able to develop it. (One has to be able to distinguish between colors in a way that we ordinary humans can't physically do.) However, if you look closely at the upcoming Warbreaker leatherbound you might find hints at how un-Heightened people in T'Telir and Idris might read and write.

    Isaac Stewart r/Stormlight_Archive AMA ()
    #3495 Copy

    thaistro

    When you drew the soul stamp symbol, did you draw what looked cool, then adapt a map to it (if one exists), or draw a map first, then make the stamp?

    Isaac Stewart

    It's been long enough ago that I can't remember which came first on that one. There is a map, however, and I have used it in creating soul stamps. (We probably won't see the map until Brandon returns to Sel, however.)

    Isaac Stewart r/Stormlight_Archive AMA ()
    #3496 Copy

    Aurora_Fatalis

    Can you shed some insight on the more esoteric design decisions, such as the map of Roshar being based on a fractal, in particular a slice of the Julia set of some seemingly-random 4-dimensional function? How do things like this come to pass? Are designs like this mandates from Brandon? Do you ask mathematicians for something obscure to hide in the map? Is fractal theory the hobby of someone on the team?

    Isaac Stewart

    This is what Brandon has said concerning Roshar and the Julia Set. He handed the picture to me and said, "Can you turn this into a giant continent?" and I said, "Yes." The process of defining the coastlines, mountains, and islands was quite fun after that.

    Araedox

    How did the Roshar map being a Julia Set affect the process of creating it?

    Isaac Stewart

    It really was no different than other maps I've made. I usually am seeing maps everywhere I go: guacamole remnants on lids, stains on restroom floors (ew!!), and random stains in the road or the way a brick wall crumbles. I like these fractal-like images and save pictures for future maps. So I just took the Julia Set and looked at it and said, "okay, now it's a real continent, where are the rivers, how does the coastline go, where are the islands, etc."

    Isaac Stewart r/Stormlight_Archive AMA ()
    #3499 Copy

    WeiryWriter

    Brandon mentions in the postscript for "Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell" in Arcanum Unbounded that we still don't know Nazh's name. Peter has since confirmed that "Nazrilof" is his surname and that Brandon was referring to his given name. Since Nazh is from Threnody my theory is that Nazh has some super embarrassing/convoluted Puritan given name, which is why he goes by a pseudonym derived from his surname. Would you mind revealing his full name, or at the very least tell me if I'm on the right track?

    Isaac Stewart

    Your ideas are sound.