In Yumi, the outer edge of Kilahito and the Nightmares are being described as being completely nonreflective, and they drip with a black liquid that smokes. The same description has been given to the Midnight Essence and to Nightblood. Are these linked, and indicative of some kind of warped Investiture?
They are significantly linked. (There you are; we’ll use “significantly” in that regard.)
The audience of the book knows of the UTol system “for other reasons.” When will we, the readers, know about it?
Someday. Maybe. RAFO.
Will UTol be significant to the future of the cosmere?
Potentially. Depends on what I end up writing.
In Tress of the Emerald Sea, Hoid mentions that his most persistent nightmare is one where he unknowingly becomes repetitive and stale. Was this intentional foreshadowing for Yumi and the Nightmare Painter?
It was not. It’s more about one of my worries as an artist, is this idea of, “Am I just doing the same stuff over and over again?” You always will do this. When I look at Elantris and Warbreaker, I’m like, “I wanted to deal with the same themes from different directions. But does that mean I’m just repeating myself?” Any time you find a trend in your writing, it worries you. Overly such, I think. I think we worry about this too much, like we worry about unconscious influence, but it’s one of these things that bothers artists.
I didn’t know I was gonna write Yumi when I was working on Tress.
In Yumi, Hoid says he doesn’t know why the star was visible from Komashi through the Shroud. Do you know? And can you tell us?
I do know. It has to do, a little bit, with the same reason why the mist is transparent to some people and not others.
Is the Dawnshard mural significantly related to how Nightmare painting worked on Komashi?
Significantly related? I’m glad that you started putting words like that in, expert cosmerenauts, because it gives me less wiggle room. (I guess I’m not happy about that.)
Less than significantly related.
At any point, did you contemplate the possibility that Yumi would actually die at the end of the book? Or did you know from the beginning that she would survive?
I contemplated it. This was a tough one for me, because the more artistic ending and more appropriate to the source material that was an inspiration to me is the ending where she dies. And Yumi’s been a Cognitive Shadow all along.
But why did I make the change? There’s a couple reasons that I decided to go that way. It’s not like I made a change; don’t take it like that. It’s not like I had an outline for one, and I went the other way. The outline always went this way, but there were times when I was building that outline. And there’s a couple reasons.
Number one: this is a gift for my wife. And as a gift for my wife, I want the ending that she will love.
Number two is: we do have this sense in our society that sadness is artistic. And I’ve rejected that notion, that artistry must be sad. You can see it very clearly in what we give awards to. Sad endings can be very artistic; but you know what has a really fantastic happy ending? Lord of the Rings. Granted, there’s some bittersweetness to it, but you know what? Frodo has been through hell. That’s the bittersweet part; he can never really be part of society again. But they all make it. Lord of the Rings wouldn’t be better if the fire just killed Sam and Frodo at the end. You know what? It’s better that they make it. And I’m okay with sometimes being like, “This is the ending that I want.”
And the last reason, one of the best comps for Yumi is obviously Your Name. I mentioned that in the epilogue. I made some very deliberate choices to make Yumi read differently from Your Name. The story I wanted to tell is: what if you had to watch someone else doing your job poorly; and you, kind of as a ghost, had to learn to coach them along. I also wanted these two to be bound together, so that the romance worked as a romance between them. Your Name is really awesome for its ending; it has one of these kind of more uncertain endings. I won’t say it’s happy; I won’t say it’s sad. More uncertain. It’s really appropriate for Your Name, because the two characters didn’t really know each other, ever. They knew each other’s lives and friends and families, but they didn’t actually have a chance to really get to know one another, and the ending to Your Name is a perfect nod to that. It’s a chef’s kiss sort of ending for that specific story, where two people didn’t actually know each other, but knew so much about each other. And I love that aspect of Your Name. I needed a different ending for this, because it is a very different style. It’s two people who actually got to know each other.
How were the people of Komashi able to negotiate the spirits to remain as hion if they didn’t have any yoki-hijo? Was it just a myth that only the yoki-hijo were able to negotiate with them to begin with?
It wasn’t a complete myth. They were more interested in people with this Investiture and this Connection to them. The yoki-hijo were far, far more effective. But they weren’t the only ones who could theoretically negotiate with them. Plus, after what everybody had been through, some things have changed.
Is Iron Seven Waystation a space station? A perpendicularity? Both? Or neither?
Iron Seven is gonna be an actual space station. It’s not a perpendicularity. It’s a place where you could logically get onto an FTL ship and get to a place with a perpendicularity. Expensive, but when has expense ever bothered Hoid?
Noodles in Yumi: more like ramen? Or more like pho?
More like ramen.
Why did you make Design hot?
This is what she wanted in order to explore the cosmere. She spent a lot of time making people’s brains break, and she wanted to get a different perspective on how human beings interact with her.
How does Hoid’s prediction work?
RAFO.
Does Hoid still feel embarrassment?
Yeah, he definitely still feels embarrassment now and then.
Can Yumi travel offworld?
That’s a good question. And the answer is actually yes; which might be counterintuitive. But Yumi could travel offworld. That might give you a little piece in the puzzle of things to travel offworld.
If Hoid ranked all his worst moments in a list, about where would him being a coatrack be?
Coatrack was pretty bad. But he would definitely rank losing his five senses (the important ones) as worse. That’s worse to him. At least as a coatrack, he wasn’t embarrassing himself. As it goes, middle of the pack of bad things, middle top (top being not quite as bad of bad things). He definitely wouldn’t do it again; he wouldn’t enjoy it again.
Could hion lines be weaponized? If yes, in what ways?
There are many ways you could weaponize hion lines. I think there are too many ways for me to say all of them, but the mere fact that you can pull heat out or put heat in using interactions with hion lines means you’ve got all sorts of possibilities for that. I think anytime you’ve got raw power that you can use in such a way, you can do all kinds of stuff with that.
You can weaponize them. I guess the question they’re asking, can you weaponize the lines themselves? Obviously, you can make the hion lines trigger artillery, right? Or things like that. Probably not what they’re asking. They’re probably asking, “Can you use them themselves as weapons?” Right now, the hion lines are too slow to grow to use in kind of a traditional action-oriented magic system. Hion whip is not something that I’m imagining you would use.
How did the Yoki-hijo become so Invested? Are they selected like Elantrians? Is it genetic? Or otherwise just random?
It’s not random, but it’s not genetic.
Is the Shroud made of Identity? Or of souls minus Identity? The passage in Yumi seems to imply both?
We’re looking more at souls. Souls minus Identity is the path you should be going down. I mean, there is still some Identity in them, is the thing, but yeah.
Are Odium and Cultivation aware of Thaidakar?
Cultivation, yes. Odium… at one point. Depends on… Is Taravangian aware? That part’s a RAFO.
Will we see Jason Write and the Phone Company again?
That is within the realm of possibility. I would call it more likely than not.
Will you speak on the Sazed/Sigzil connections?
Nope.
Is it possible that the Champion of Odium is not a native to the planet or Roshar?
That is definitely possible.
I’d love to ask if Mare at the Pits was a kandra.
I did not intend Mare to be a kandra.
Does Axies have a Torment?
The Curse of Kind is slightly different, but analogous to a Torment from a Dawnshard. He did not hold a Dawnshard. But something similar is happening.
Whose idea was it for Moash to wear a black Bridge Four uniform? Did Rayse come up with it as a way of taunting the Windrunners? Or was Moash just feeling really dramatic that day?
That’s Moash drama.
Isaac will have to confirm this, because I might get the story wrong. Concept art, I believe he put a Bridge Four patch that was twisted and upside down and made corrupted on his uniform, and I’m like, “That’s going a little far, even for Moash.” He can order a black uniform, but… So, I think we took that off.
Why was Honor mad before his demise?
RAFO.
Is it possible for the Shards to be united back into Adonalsium?
RAFO.
It seems that the Cognitive Realm on each world manifests as the primary way Investiture is viewed in the Physical Realm on that planet: beads of Stormlight on Roshar, and mists on Scadrial. Would a planet like Sel, that seems to have several different ways of interacting with Investiture (assuming you could look into the Cognitive Realm and survive) look any different based on the person looking in or the location that they entered the Cognitive Realm?
Good question. Location would be a factor, the person looking in would not. Of course, it’s all kind of moot for Sel, but you could see changes in the Cognitive Realm based on location, based on different magic systems or different interpretations of the same magic system.
In Tress, Hoid says, “I’ve said those words. The words that proclaim, in bald-faced arrogance, ‘I don’t trust you to make your own decisions.’ I said them with sixteen other people, in fact.” Hoid seems to be implying here that only seventeen total people were directly involved in the Shattering of Adonalsium: himself and the sixteen original Vessels. Is this accurate? If so, does that mean three of the original Vessels held the other Dawnshards that Hoid didn’t have?
That’s an excellent question that I have to RAFO.
In Bands of Mourning, it’s mentioned that the Malwish airship has a third type of bathroom in it, something not mentioned again in The Lost Metal. Are these gender neutral bathrooms? Are they for a third gender? Or are they for something else entirely?
We’ll delve into that later. You should assume it is along the lines of a gender neutral bathroom.
Are we gonna see any dragons in action in the cosmere before the Dragonsteel novel?
Maybe. Once again, there are some more Anne McCaffrey style dragons in the cosmere; maybe I’ll get around to doing that. Otherwise, if you want to see dragons in action… then we’re talking about… I mean, well, Cultivation’s been doing a lot!
Will we see the Roshar kandra in Stormlight Five?
I believe you have seen the Roshar kandra be mentioned… no… RAFO.
In the Spiritual Realm, does there exist an ideal of tables that is a separate entity from the spiritwebs of all extant tables? If so, did that ideal always exist, even before the invention of tables? Or was it born out of the people inventing tables?
The answer is no. This is where we diverge from Plato’s Theory of the Forms. Again, Theory of the Forms was a conceptual benchmark for me. I thought the Theory of the Forms was awesome, and it stuck in my head for many years and eventually gave birth to Cognitive, Spiritual, and Physical. (The first book really delving into that being Dragonsteel Prime, and it’s in the opening chapters of Dragonsteel Prime.)
But where it differs is: there is not a Platonic idea of a table in the cosmere. All ideals in the cosmere are filtered through the perception of sapient beings.
In Rhythm of War Chapter 53, when Venli mentions that Leshwi seems to respect Kaladin, Leshwi hums to a rhythm that feels familiar to Venli, but she can’t identify it. What was that rhythm? And why did Venli’s powers fail to identify it?
So, this is at the point where Venli is not quite aware of the old… Both of them, what’s going on with them, is: there are rhythms of Roshar, and there are rhythms of Odium. And what’s going on is: Venli sometimes… Normally, when you become a Regal, you have all the rhythms of Roshar overwritten with the rhythms of Odium, and you can no longer use the pure rhythms of Roshar. And what’s going on here is: Venli used to know all of those rhythms by heart, and they’ve been stolen from her. And Leshwi is humming to one of those, instead. Not intentionally; kind of accidentally, because, again, they’ve been stolen from Leshwi, as well. And this just is an indication (and you’ll see them all around) that sometimes they’ll use the wrong rhythms, or the rhythms they’re not supposed to be able to use.
What does Investiture look like in the Cognitive Realm?
It can depend upon the Investiture and the part of the Cognitive Realm.
Do dragons always go through their early life in human form? Or would being a Sho Del also be possible for a young dragon?
The way I have it right now (which, we’ll give this as a Word of Brandon that could change, because I haven’t written Dragonsteel yet), it’s a human form. I imagined dragons like amphibians, that they have part of their lifecycle… the Yolish dragons, they mate in human form, they bear children in human form, raise children mostly in human form, but their dragon form is equally part of their identity.
Taln has confused me in Stormlight. Why was he able to withstand so long?
There are multiple reasons, but the prime one that you should be assuming is: he was just really, really, really determined. How about this: there’ll be a few hints in Stormlight Five that might give you some help on this.
In the prologues of the first five Stormlight Archive books, we see the same evening from the perspectives of various key players in the event that transpires. Will the second half of the Stormlight Archive share this trend? Or perhaps will we end up seeing five different perspectives on a different event in those prologues?
Yes, you will see a different event, five different perspectives on it. You have guessed correctly.
In Bands of Mourning, after Edwarn has admitted that he is trying to distract Wax from pursuing the Set, he mentions offhandedly that Wax should still look into the man that the Nightstreet gang killed on the train to New Seran, and that Wax would be “impressed.” Who is this man? And why did Edwarn say this?
RAFO.
Szeth’s spren has thus far been very distant Is this typical of highspren?
Yes.
Is it maintaining a particular distance because of Nightblood, and would normally have permitted Szeth to summon it as a blade by now?
No, it’s not really Nightblood. There are other reasons, but… how about this, Book Five and Find Out. You’ll get another reason in Book Five.
Are you going to make any more books with Tress?
My intent is for Tress of the Emerald Sea to remain as a standalone book. And I have no intentions to go back to Tress or her story. I’m sorry. I just do think that it is good to have standalone stories now and then. That doesn’t mean that some people might not appear (most likely being Ulam or Xisis, the people who were already cosmere-aware). But do not plan on a Tress sequel. I know a lot of people are sad about that, but, you know, I am of the opinion that not everything needs a sequel.
Lumar does have some relevance. Access to aether, kind of just raw and unconnected from the main aethers like that, is of value in the cosmere. So Lumar does have interest in the wider cosmere, for that reason. There’s definitely stuff you can do with a bunch of raw aether.
If a person used Hemalurgy with an Invested spike on another planet, could Harmony feel/control them?
This is theoretically possible, but it depends on if there’s a Shard in attendance on that planet and what kind of interference there would be. So, yeah, possible.
Should the fact that the Aons in the Hoid/Riina painting are missing the chasm line be taken as canonical? If so, is this because of whatever method they are using to perform AonDor outside Sel? Or because of post-Elantris changes to Sel?
We let Howard pick what he wanted to illustrate, and then send illustrations in. And originally, he just did a whole bunch of weird, arcane symbols. And I’m like, “No, you need to actually use Aons in this art.” But we let him just kind of pick the Aons. You should not consider that art to necessarily be… Imagine that art to be somebody on Silverlight painting a picture of a story they heard. That art can be in-universe. (In fact, I believe that I would consider it in-universe.) But somebody painted it, and they just used whatever pictures of Aons they had sitting around, like Howard did. In other words, don’t be looking at those Aons as actual representations of how you would program in AonDor, how about that. And don’t read too much into that.
By the time of Tress, stories from things happening around the cosmere, and stories that Hoid tells, have become of interest to some people, and because of that it’s plausible that there could even end up being some sort of book written where it’s like, “Hey, he told me this story. I’m writing it down for the rest of you guys to read.” I’m not saying that’s what Tress actually is; obviously, we have the audience for Tress. I’m just saying, you can imagine world of people doing Hoid fanart.
Does Hoid have fans?
Yes, by that point in history Hoid does. He has far more detractors, but…
Is there an in-universe Hoid fan club?
Depends on what you call people who are fully aware of who he is and what he is. I would say yes. I mean, the royals in our world have fans. There’s fans of the royals, there’s fans of equivalent, just people who are known throughout. And he is a figure in a lot of peoples’ mythology and religion. Would you call the Horneaters Hoid fans? Because they have legends stretching back thousands of years to him as a trickster god, to the point that Rock is fully able to recognize him (not when he’s in his Wit persona, at least not at first).
Okay, here’s my theory: I don’t think electrum stores the nebulous “determination.” I think that is a mislabeling. Rather, I think it stores the other thing that means “the will to do something”: Intent. Confirm, deny, or RAFO?
We’ll RAFO that. I really want to get into that in future books, rather than digging into it right now.
Did Wayne get his chouta from Design?
No, chouta has spread more organically than that.
Hoid’s fixing of Charlie’s cryptic event, “curse” to “versed,” makes Aons seem more syllabic rather than logographic. Is that just a casualty of Hoid’s fairytale narrative? Will we see a more in-depth look at the concept of Aonic curses and curse-breaking?
Good question. It is really hard, number one, to convey that in the original text, that pun would have been a different pun. It would have worked differently. And, in fact, you can have a logographic pun. And I imagine that it probably was. I imagine that what’s going on with Wit is, like, adding a stroke, which then changes the entire meaning of what’s going on. Though, do remember that the way Aons work, they kind of work like a programming language, so you could kind of add in actual, like, “this next text is a verse.” Imagine putting it in quotation marks, and things like that. We are extrapolating on that with meaning, rather than sounds. I think it works, but probably different than the actual text of Tress manifest to us, but that’s the best way the translator (myself being the person that translated it into English) was able to indicate it.
For those who don’t know, I use Tolkien’s explanation for all of these things. I think it was brilliant. He said, “All the texts were written in a foreign language that you couldn’t read. And they have been translated into English, and some accommodations have been made in order to make things like puns still puns, even though they wouldn’t have rhymed in the original.
Did Renarin figure out on his own that Adolin had killed Sadeas?
Yeah, but partial RAFO.
When we hit 15/16 in October with Yumi and Virtuosity, I started a bet with my brother that we’d know all sixteen Shards before the end of the year, banking on The Sunlit Man giving us the last one. But that didn’t happen. Any chance I can convince you to tell us sixteen and help me win?
No, I’m gonna keep that for now. I’m gonna keep that last one for just a little bit longer, so RAFO.
You implied that there’s a dragon in the cosmere that we haven’t spotted yet. Is it Slowswift? Seems appropriate for the Tolkien homage to secretly be a dragon.
RAFO. That’s a very good guess.
Will we see Xisis again?
Almost assuredly, you will see Xisis again. All of those really ancient Yolish dragons are around, you’re gonna be seeing them here and there. The story of the cosmere’s not really about them, but they stay involved. Xisis will be seen again.
