Recent entries

Questioner

If you could have any actor play Kaladin, who would it be?

Brandon Sanderson

The thing is, I don't usually cast my movies, right? No, they are who they are in my brain. So this is one of the reasons why having somebody who knows the Cosmere make the films... My favorite films are, when the person gets chosen, you're like, "Really? Heath Ledger?" And then you watch it, and you're like, "Ooh, he really, really, pulled off the Joker. In his own way." And so, I don't have anyone that I would choose. It's really hard with Stormlight. Stormlight's the hard one, because... And I'm hoping they'll do this right, because they are a Chinese company. The Alethi are not Caucasian. They are, in my head, a blend of something Middle Eastern and Asian. My model for Kaladin (I chose a headshot, just so I can have it in my head, just to get the general feel), is part Hawaiian, part Japanese, part Arab. And so... we'll see what they can come up with. I'm interested. But I don't have a specific actor chosen.

Questioner

Your favorite character, and your least favorite character?

Brandon Sanderson

See, this is a hard one to answer. Robert Jordan would pull a complete cop-out when people would ask him this. He ways say, "My favorite is whoever I'm writing at the moment." This is because, as the author, you have to get into a wide variety of characters' heads and write them. But, since you didn't say in my works, I can just tell you my favorite character of all time is probably Jean Valjean. I'm a big fan of morality as it is portrayed in those books. What I love about Les Miserables in particular is this idea that different people can be moral in different ways. It's kind of the anti-Game-of-Thrones, which is about how you can sympathize with people who are basically immoral. That's kind of part of the series. And this is about how people who are basically moral can still not get along. Which is a cool idea, and I love that. My least favorite character? Who is the protagonist of The Dead? From James Joyce? I don't know. That'd probably be my least favorite. Yeah, I copped out, too.

Isaac Stewart

[The Cosmere symbol] does have a lot of... I don't think there's any spoilers of there. First off, we just drew a lot of things to find something that looked cool. The star in the center has sixteen points, representative of the Shards. And then, it's just kind of like, they're spreading throughout the universe. At least, in my mind, it's a representation of the Shattering, and then beings spread throughout the cosmere. That's kind of what that is.

Questioner

What is the Aon for communication.

Brandon Sanderson

I don't know it, but there is one.

Isaac Stewart

The thing I do is, if somebody asks me those, I go and look at the Aons that we already have, and see if there's one that is close.

Brandon Sanderson

If it's not named yet, and then we give it to you. So we can do that.

Questioner

If you met [Kelsier] as he was trying to save the world, and you're like "Hey, I'm your creator."

Brandon Sanderson

I would say, "I will try to treat you right. Try not to kill too many people."

Questioner

What's the effects of being an atium savant?

Brandon Sanderson

Hehehe. No one has found out.

Questioner

Is Demoux still an atium misting?

Brandon Sanderson

So... Demoux is equally Invested as he once was.

Questioner

When a Misting snaps, is the metal that they're going to be able to burn predetermined? Or is it determined when they snap?

Brandon Sanderson

It is part of their Spiritual DNA.

Questioner

I'm a figure skater, so Edgedancing really intrigues me, and I was just wondering if you would be basing that at all off of figure skating?

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, yeah. I go watch figure skating when I'm writing Edgedancers. It's the closest thing we've got. So you can say that your art has inspired art from me. I can't think of anything in real life that is closer.

Emerald101

I was wondering if there is a unit of Investiture, like maybe something Khriss uses.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, but I haven't canonized it yet. Good question. I will eventually canonize it, because I think that people will want it, but I probably won't do so 'til [Mistborn] Era 3, because I want the scientific way of talking about the cosmere to mirror how developed the cultures are, but some of the scholars are beyond where everyone else is. It can be measured. There is a unit.

Emerald101

Like, maybe grams of solid Investiture?

Brandon Sanderson

It will probably be an in-world unit of measurement. Right now, to talk about it online if you want, the unit is probably gonna be based around Breath, because a Breath is a distinct amount. Whereas in most of the settings, there's not a distinct amount. Like, how much Allomancy, things like that. How much can a gem hold. It really depends on how the gem is cut, and how long the gem has been out. So... the Breath is a really easy one, so it's become the unit. But there will probably be a fantasy term for it. I might just call it Breath. That's why I'm not canonized yet. But if you guys wanna talk about it in Breath terms, that's probably the easiest.

Questioner

Could Lift be given a Hemalurgic spike that stores nutrition?

Brandon Sanderson

So... I'm not sure what a Hemalurgic spike that does nutrition... like, something that gives them the Feruchemical power of storing nutrition? Storing calories? That is not outside the realm of possibility. There are not systems in place for it right now, but that is not outside the realm of possibility.

Questioner

How much time does the Cosmere take?

Brandon Sanderson

Roughly 10,000 years is where the timeline so far.

Questioner

Is that number significant at all? Or is it just...

Brandon Sanderson

No, roughly. It's just a time. It's rough. It's not even 10,000 years. It's round figures. We're going roughly 10,000.

Questioner

Is the Nahel bond Hemalurgically transferable?

Brandon Sanderson

I don't know what I've said on this in the past, but I'm gonna RAFO it right now, and give you a card. Because there's some things involved in this that I don't know that I want to dig into right now. Nahel bond would be used cosmerelogically to refer to any bond where the mingle of sapient spren mixes with a sapient Physical Realm being. Connection between a Cognitive or Spiritual Realm being and a Physical Realm being. And there's all sorts of things involved in doing that that I don't want to necessarily get into right now.

Questioner

Can you Soulcast an Invested object?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, but it's much harder. But humans are Invested, and you can soulcast humans.

Questioner

So, suppose you had a goldmind that was filled. And you tried to Soulcast into iron. What would happen to the Investiture inside it?

Brandon Sanderson

So, the Investiture would remain in there, but it's keyed to the wrong thing, so you wouldn't be able to get it. It'd be much harder to Soulcast that, by the way. The more Invested, the harder it is. But Soulcasters are used to it, because everything has Investiture, and most of what they're Soulcasting. They deal with this, so it's something they're kind of expert at. So, this is not outside reason, that it could happen. You could give it to your average Soulcaster on Roshar, and they could make it happen. You just wouldn't be able to get the Investiture out of it anymore.

Questioner

Are you ever gonna make a book that's based on Earth, but in the cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson

No. The Rithmatist started that way, and I pulled it out of the cosmere, because I didn't want Earth in the cosmere. So, that happening tells me pretty surely I'll never do it.

Questioner

Out of curiosity, what Shard would have been on Rithmatist?

Brandon Sanderson

I will RAFO that for now, because it didn't get far enough that I had even really settled. Like, it was when I was designing magic, and doing the worldbuilding. When I started asking questions like this is when I kicked it out. I didn't even write any chapters of it before I kicked it out.

Questioner

I asked if there was there a pure form of Investiture that is not tied to any Shard, and you said that my question had some false premises. Can you elaborate on what I had wrong there?

Brandon Sanderson

The false premise, the main one, is that other Investiture is not pure. Investiture, by its definition, comes from a certain place. That's like saying, "Is there water that doesn't have hydrogen in it? Is there pure water without hydrogen? Can you take the hydrogen out, and make purer water?" That's the problem there. This idea that Investiture is impure because it's tied to a Shard is a false premise. That is pure Investiture.

Questioner

Is there Investiture that is not related to any Shard, then?

Brandon Sanderson

There can't be, because the Shards were what the original... it's like saying, "I've got four pieces of a cookie. Are there any pieces that didn't come from the original cookie." You just said, "There's four pieces of this cookie." What you really wanna be saying is, "Is there non-Adonalsium-origin power like Investiture in the cosmere?" Is that what you're getting at? Or are you getting at, "Is there one of the Shards that is not held by a sapient entity?" Like, you could be asking so many questions from these things that I don't know how to answer what you're looking for. So, think about those, and ask me some of those questions next time.

Questioner

Is there a simple explanation of why bullets and objects that go through the time bubble wall are refracted at such random...?

Brandon Sanderson

There's two reasons. One is the outside-of-the-books reason, one is the inside-of-the-books reason. Outside the books, it made time bubbles too powerful. Limitations, that whole idea about limitations. In-world, what's happening is, there is a transfer of power that's happening right there. Which is what keeps light from irradiating people when it passes through a bubble. So, there's a transfer of energy, there's actually a thermodynamic process happening when you pass out of the speed bubble. And energy is being lost. And that has to do with cosmere physics.

Questioner

What happens if you overlap time bubbles?

Brandon Sanderson

Usually, it is additive. I believe. That's a PAFO. That's really a Peter And Find Out. I've nailed this all down with him, but I know we went back and forth on this. I think it's additive. Or, if it's different types, they just cancel each other. I'm pretty sure they're additive. It's possible he vetoed that for certain reasons. My recollection is that he didn't, but for some reason brain is saying "Wait a minute!" So I don't know why my brain is saying that. All I'm saying on that one is, if you read later on that I contradict that, it's because of something my brain is telling me I don't remember.

Questioner

In the Scadrial essay, it says specifically that the Shardholders were humans. Does that imply that there can be nonhuman Shardholders?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes

Questioner

Are any of the Shards we have seen nonhuman?

Brandon Sanderson

The Shards you have seen? I will RAFO that.

Questioner

And that doesn't just count the way that Shards twist people.

Brandon Sanderson

No, no, no. There were three races on Yolen.

Questioner

And all the Shards we've seen, you're not gonna answer?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm not gonna answer, but there are three races on Yolen. There's humans, there's Sho Del, and there's dragons.

Questioner

So, kandra and koloss are considered different races?

Brandon Sanderson

They are considered different races, but they did not exist when Adonalsium was Splintered.

Questioner

How would Harmony theoretically be able to... is Harmony able to fight, considering his dual nature?

Brandon Sanderson

He's gonna have a hard time with something like that.

Questioner

Are the Shardholders gonna get into a fight at some point? Are you allowed to answer that?

Brandon Sanderson

That is Read And Find out.

Questioner

Is there more about Marsh in the next book?

Brandon Sanderson

Marsh will... you will find out more about Marsh, but that's probably some of the stuff that will be in either Secret History 2 if I write it, or the next Era. Marsh is only a little bit involved in this Era. You'll see more of him later.

Questioner

On Roshar, we're very aware of... there's humans and non-human species. Is that a unique phenomenon to Roshar? Or do we see that on other worlds?

Brandon Sanderson

You do see that on other worlds. Dragonsteel has one, so Yolen has one. Of course, Scadrial has them, but they started as human, so it doesn't quite count. Everyone on Scadrial started as human, but now there's been some divergent things. Meddling. Other planets do have things like that, but most of the cosmere is human. Based... coming from the origins on Yolen. But there is at least one planet where there's no humans. And I'm not talking about Braize.

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, the Szeth card. It's just a fun little Easter egg. It's for a game I designed that maybe will get made some day. But it's not something that's in development, it's just, "Here's the game I made. Let's put some stats on it."

Questioner

Do you think that a Skyrim game of Stormlight Archive...?

Brandon Sanderson

Boy, I would love to make one. So, here's what I've been told. I don't know this industry well enough to say whether or not. I've been like, "Let's make Skyrim." They're like, "Skyrim was only profitable after it was out for four years, and its the most profitable game in that genre ever made." So, they're very worried about spending that much on a game. So, if we had a movie come out, yes. Until then, what you're more likely to see is something that feels open-world but isn't truly open-world. Like, something with an open-world hub that you go on missions through, is kinda like the closest we'll probably get if we do get a game made. That said, someone came and offered on an MMO for it recently, so I'm going to hear their pitch.

Questioner

In the Mistborn books, there's no one who can do chromium Feruchemy. If there was someone who had both the Feruchemy and the Allomancy related to chromium, they could create infinite luck. So doesn't that mean they could just do whatever they wanted?

Brandon Sanderson

Well, we will deal with how exactly Fortune works in the cosmere at a later date. There's a reason I haven't shown somebody with it yet, because I'm saving that for later on. Let's just say that even the Terris people don't quite understand it, even during Era 2.

Questioner

In Bands of Mourning, we learned that the Sovereign, who they confused as being the Lord Ruler, came after the Catacendre. [He] was their god, was their king and god. And then Kelsier looking for a string. Is the spike somehow connecting Kelsier's soul to Spook's body.

Brandon Sanderson

No, good question. It is connecting his soul with his body, his current body, but it is not Spook's body. That's a great theory.

Questioner

In all the Cosmere books, on all their worlds, the only thing <brazenly> different about the ecosystems than Earth are the things affected by magic. So, in one of the books, you mentioned, like, a dolphin. Why is everything the same?

Brandon Sanderson

So, there's an in-world answer and an out-of-world answer. The out-of-world answer is that every book has something we call a learning curve, so that is what makes it harder to get into the book. And learning curves, usually, if they're written well, have great payoffs, but also act like a brick wall when getting into your book. And so certain books, I have designed to have shallower learning curves, so you can focus on learning all these new characters, and the situations, and the political situation, but not have to learn entirely new terminology for the setting.

In-world, most of these worlds were created by people or... who came from an original world. For instance, there was a planet that the gods from Scadrial (the planet of Mistborn), they came from this world, and they created what they had seen there. So the animal life there, they just created in their own world, because that was what they had a pattern for.

So in-world, there's a reason, they're all connected. But you'll notice that some of the ones with the steeper learning curve are the ones that have the weirder world, and Way of Kings has the steepest.

Questioner

On Roshar, the only area that isn't affected by the Highstorms, Shinovar, is basically like Earth, where everything else has changed.

Brandon Sanderson

That gives us a little bit of a frame of reference to contrast things with. There's some in-world things about that you'll learn eventually, but it gets us some ways for you to be like, "Oh. The grass looks like this because it is so different from the grass that this girl is pointing out. It's grass like ours." It's very helpful for establishing a conversation topic.

Questioner

Hoid worldhops between places. How did he do it on Scadrial? With Ati's body?

Brandon Sanderson

So, there were two perpendicularities on Scadrial.

Questioner

I know he uses the pools, but how did he do it with Pits of Hathsin? There was no pool? The body was there...

Brandon Sanderson

So, it doesn't have to be going through the pool. What happens with a perpendicularity is, where there is a massive collection of Investiture, it pulls a conduit through. So, if you know what you're doing and where you are, you can get through that.

Questioner

So you don't have to use the pools, just where there's a huge concentration...

Brandon Sanderson

A huge concentration of Investiture will warp the realms.

Questioner

So can anyone worldhop that way, then? If they know what to do?

Brandon Sanderson

If they know what to do, in a perpendicularity, anyone should be able to get through there. But as proven with Raoden, if you don't know what it's supposed to do, nothing happens. He gets dumped int he pool, he thinks he's gonna die... nothing. So, it's more than just being there.

Questioner

That's how he went from the Physical to the Cognitive, so I was wondering how did he do that at the Pits of Hathsin, when there shouldn't be a pool there

Brandon Sanderson

Well, that is the equivalent.

Questioner

Do Everstorms bring a different type of Investiture?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, though do note, the Everstorm, this is the first one. Previous Desolations did not have an Everstorm. What they had was a different way of that Investiture being distributed.

Questioner

If you'd expand on it a little bit, where or what book have we seen some Hemalurgy in?

Brandon Sanderson

No, you're not gonna find it. It's like an after-the-fact, you'll be like "Oh. Hemalurgy was..."

Questioner

Is there ever gonna be a book dedicated to the Seventeenth Shard?

Brandon Sanderson

I don't have a book right now for the Seventeenth Shard. More that they'll be involved in other things. It's possible you will see a short story, but I don't have a book planned specifically about them.

Questioner

Do the Shards know each others' weaknesses? Like the metal blindness or anything?

Brandon Sanderson

They are not aware of every specific, but they know generalities.

Questioner

So they know that they do have weaknesses.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah.

Questioner

So would Odium have taken advantage of Honor's weakness to Splinter him?

Brandon Sanderson

You could say that, yeah.

Questioner

On the Roshar system diagram, each planet had the sigil of a certain Radiant. I was wondering why you did that

Brandon Sanderson

We're using Roshar itself as a frame of reference, and that is how people on Roshar have named the planets. And they can't see them all, I don't believe, but the naming convention sticks.

Questioner

And thats why you added the sigils?

Brandon Sanderson

Mmhmm. I don't think they've discovered them all on-planet, but since other people off-planet know about them... and in the old days, they knew about them all.

Questioner

Is there some sort of dead Shardic power on Roshar that is manipulating everyone to be evil and, sort of testy, and stuff like that?

Brandon Sanderson

Do you mean the Thrill?

Questioner

Yes, but not just the thrill. The way that they treat everything like a game.

Brandon Sanderson

That is specific to Alethkar, in that region. That is mostly the fault of the Thrill. Like, if you go to Azir, they don't act the same way.

Questioner

So that's just a cultural thing?

Brandon Sanderson

It's a cultural thing enhanced magically by a certain ancient spren.

Questioner

Is there some sort of a force that is manipulating everyone in the cosmere to seek after glory and power?

Brandon Sanderson

There are people and forces who are trying.

Questioner

It seems like we need a ton of Radiants since, like, yesterday. Are these ones gonna get really buff? Or is Lift gonna recruit? Are there lots of shoemakers and Lifts that haven't been found that are gonna come out of the woodwork?

Brandon Sanderson

There are some that haven't been found. That's part of the point of the interludes, is to show "This is happening other places."

Questioner

Was Ash destroying the statues to gain some sort of power, or was it more mental on her part?

Brandon Sanderson

Nothing gained, nothing cancelled. It's all her.

Questioner

Are the reds [in the cosmere star chart] anything to do with the red stuff in Bands of Mourning, the one where he goes and talks to Harmony?

Brandon Sanderson

It's more, if you look in the sky, in certain places, you will see red stars in the sky.

Questioner

Is there significance in the star chart there where Nalthis and Scadrial are connected? They're the only ones that are.

Brandon Sanderson

I'm gonna say, not huge significance. We didn't put that in as an Easter egg, it was more like, "This looked right."

Questioner

Are you having any cameos in the movies?

Brandon Sanderson

If they let me, I will do a cameo in each movie.

Questioner

Speaking part, or not?

Brandon Sanderson

Probably not, but who knows. What I've suggested to them is that they kill me in an imaginative way in each book as recompense for killing off characters.

Questioner

Are we going to see Vivenna again?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. At the very least, you will see her in Nightblood, the sequel to Warbreaker.

Brandon Sanderson

What is Lift's favorite food? Answer: yours. It tastes better to her if she's taking it from somebody.

Questioner

I'm trying to figure out the chronology of the cosmere. The first thing that happened is with Elantris?

Brandon Sanderson

So far they are chronological order except for White Sand. And then the Alloy books are getting out of chronological order, we're jumping back and forth. But the first introduction of each book is chronological order, with the exception of flashbacks and things like that. But the actual main line of each book, chronological except for White Sand and the Alloy books.

Questioner

Did Odium go directly to Roshar from... after he destroyed Devotion?

Brandon Sanderson

No. There were other places.

Questioner

With Vasher on Roshar, is he collecting more Breaths, or just burning through slowly what he has collected?

Brandon Sanderson

He can use Stormlight instead. That's why he came to Roshar.

Questioner

Did he come voluntarily?

Brandon Sanderson

He came voluntarily because he was tired of sucking souls. Roshar is where he decided to "retire."

Questioner

How many Breaths <does he have now>?

Brandon Sanderson

He has the same number that he left with. Which, there are clues to what level of Heightening he at least has, in the books.

Questioner

I noticed Nalthis didn't get a star chart. Will you be posting a star chart?

Brandon Sanderson

We'll be doing one eventually, I'm sure. We should get that done and posted on the website. Hopefully, someday, I can find a place to work it in. When I publish Nightblood, maybe we'll put it into that.

Questioner

How do you pronounce the names of the main characters in Elantris?

Brandon Sanderson

RAY-O-DEN, SA-REE-NEE, and hRAY-THEN. I say "serene," but in-world, they say SA-REE-NEE. That sounds a little weird in English, but it doesn't sound weird to them. It's a very common name.

Questioner

Is Hoid gonna ever end up being <the new Adonalsium>?

Brandon Sanderson

I will not answer that.

Questioner

Is there a centralized set of rules for all of the magic systems?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, but they are things more like the laws of thermodynamics. Not vague, but general, very general. But, yes, there are some rules.