Hoid. Does he show up in Sixth of the Dusk?
Hoid is not in Sixth of the Dusk. I kind of made the little rule to myself that I should not just try to shoehorn him in to everything. On a thing like Sixth of the Dusk, there's no reason for him to be there. In fact, it would be really hard for him to get there. Threnody even harder. So, he's not in Shadows for Silence either.
Does Trell hold a Shard that we have seen in other books?
You're assuming Trell holds a Shard. And I'm not answering that one, but you can have a RAFO. Nice try.
Elend and Kelsier's relationship, what would it be like? I was thinking it would be, like, playful annoyed exasperation?
Kelsier would have really come around on Elend, is my instinct. Partially because Elend came around on Kelsier. If you read the later books, he really understands a little more. He's much more of a realist than he used to be. Which Kelsier would appreciate. I would imagine that Elend would be a little frustrated with Kelsier. But Kelsier would just start treating him like a minion, rather than someone to... And that's a sign of affection. If he orders you around, that's a sign of affection.
Will Kelsier reunite with the crew in the Beyond?
Well, I don't talk about the Beyond. I would like to think that he would. But I don't talk about what happens there, even Sazed doesn't know what happens there. So, if you want to imagine it, then yes, but he would have to get there first.
Is Teft going to become a squire?
Well, the next book will involve all of Bridge Four trying very hard. But, I can't promise that anyone specifically... but, Teft has had a viewpoint in the first book. Teft did get his viewpoint in the second book. He will have one in the third book, also.
You mentioned that you're not doing another Emperor's Soul book. I wanted to know, what would or did happen if [Shai] ever tracks down the Imperial Fool?
So, you might see her again in books. She did eventually track him down. So, I might include her in books. I won't write a sequel story to Emperor's Soul, but you have not seen the last of Shai. You will see cameos. And it's entirely possibly I will sneak one into a book somewhere, or something like a scene. She did eventually track him down.
Is there a particular period of history you feel influences your writing a lot?
Yeah, early 1900s.
Specifically America, or global?
Global. But, you now, America obviously is gonna have a big influence. It really starts for me, Renaissance through industrial revolution, to the beginnings of the modern era. Because, the idea of science being something wonderful that you can study, that is a big part... like, Newton believed alchemy was real, and tried to apply science to it, and couldn't make it work. That sort of thing is really cool to me. That era, moving into the modern era, where science is, like, a wonderful thing that people are discovering, is really cool to me. I'd say that's my biggest influence. I remember reading an essay by somebody who studied ditch-digging in 1910. And had been, the science of ditch-digging, and applied it to ditch-diggers and taught them to ditch-dig better, and how science can help a person dig ditches. Like, everyone's life was improved by science. That's a really cool era to me.
Will we see the Moon Scepter again?
Yes, I intend for you to see it again. But I've already said what it does, I believe. It's a Rosetta Stone for the different symbols on [the world of] Elantris that mean different things.
So, it's more specific to Sel?
It's specific to Sel, it's specific to understanding the magics on Sel. It helps figure out how the different magic systems do the different things they do on Sel. So, it does have Aons along one side of it. You probably will see it again, but it will probably be in cameo. Hoid got the information he needed off of it, from that.
So, there's a line in Elantris that has always fascinated me. Raoden is reading really old books, and he says that some of these books mention words such as "frequency" and "pulse length." I'm a physics major, this reminds me a lot of quantum physics.
Yes, it does!
So, my question is, how much is quantum physics a part of the magic in the cosmere?
Here's the thing. I don't know quantum physics well enough. That's a rabbit hole; I am an armchair scientist, I do not have a degree in physics. And so, while I really like it, I build it in... When I'm doing this, what I usually do is I build in cosmere versions, so I can't be held accountable to getting some little thing wrong. So, yes, quantum physics is important. But, in some ways, some of the things in the cosmere are more like the pop science version of quantum physics, what everyone thinks quantum physics is but really isn't, are actually some of the things in the cosmere. The fun, awesome version of quantum physics. I try to make some of it as accurate as I can, not having a physics degree. But I have to be aware that... I am not writing science fiction, I'm writing fantasy, so there will be things that you're like, "That's not quite right," but it works in the cosmere.
Anywhere I should keep my eye out for more stuff like that.
In Words of Radiance... when was the interlude, is it in the first book? The spren, they took their measurements. That's part of it. We're gonna have, just, little things like that around that are relevant, but I'm not gonna dig into it deeply until [Mistborn] Era 4, probably.
Kelsier talks about a myth that seems similar to ours, about the grand maze of Ishathon, which seems to parallel to the labyrnth myth.
There are certain things from being a student of folklore, I know about certain myths that show up multiple times in different cultures, and I know how frequently myths show up in different cultures. So, I will frequently add in cosmere versions of these myths, knowing that different cultures on our world have spawned them independently, feeling it's likely they would spawn on-world in the cosmere. So, when you see a Cinderella myth, if I ever use it, which is the single most common myth throughout all cultures. I'm not saying "Oh, someone's been to Earth and found Cinderella." I'm saying, "People have developed this myth independently." But, yes, that is coming from my folklore background.
Is it a Scadrial-specific myth, or is it a kind of a cosmere cosmere...
This one, in specific, I believe is Scadrial-specific.
First of all, on the [Arcanum Unbounded] endpapers, what's the position of... Where is it from? What's the reference point?
My friend asked (and I was there with him asking my own question) Brandon and Isaac at the Provo release where the perspective on the end papers is from – Brandon confirmed that it was from Silverlight, after checking with Isaac. There was some wonkiness in the response though – Isaac said something like as it was “imagined” from Silverlight, and I tried to get clarification for what that meant (is that because Silverlight is mobile?), but stayed pretty vague (got the impression he was maybe saying there was some sort of artistic license taken?). I consider it confirmed that it is from the perspective of Silverlight, but that that there is more going on there.
Reference point in this, I believe, is Silverlight. But it's not how they would exactly see them all. But it is done by someone from Silverlight. Right, Isaac? This is done by someone from Silverlight? And that's gonna be kind of our reference point, but they are imagining a place... right?
They're imagining a place where the constellations would look like this. There iss an actual place where it looks that way. *talking over one another*
Is that because Silverlight is mobile? Or is that because...
No.
You say "imagine." I just wondered what "imagine" means.
I'm saying, I'm not sure-- *to Isaac* Did you set that from Silverlight?
No, no. It is set from a point in the cosmere itself.
So that they can say they can see all of them in one--
So, that is an actual night sky somewhere in the cosmere.
Okay, okay. Yeah. I now know what he's talking about.
*inaudible* [1:11]
I've been meaning to ask you this 'cause you did the artwork for it. How can you have more than one planet habitable in the same solar system? Don't planets have - I mean I know it's *inaudible* [1:28]
*inaudible* [2:12]
Well there's always a belt in the solar system where *inaudible*
And more than one planet can stay there? 'cause I thought that planets - I don't know the right word but it's like -
No that's fine. There's actually - if there's a planet that's within its habitable zone - it's a zone, so if there are two planets in there, then they both get habitable.
And they come - 'cause I thought that - that one of the definitions of a planet is that they move everything out of the way, like one of the reasons that they *inaudible* planets is that they move *inaudible* out of the way. Like, it doesn't have strong enough attraction to either pull things in or move *inaudible*
Given Sanderson's Laws about limitations...
Yes.
What would you say are any spiritual, cognitive, and or physical limitations to a Returned's healing ability?
That they can do it once.
That they can do it once, and that's it?
Yeah, right? The Returned get one heal and then they die. That's a pretty big limitation. Like you have to choose really well. However, what they can heal is bounded by cosmere limitations on healing, but it is a supercharged version.
Okay. Could you define more cosmere limitations on healing?
Cosmere limitations on healing can be affected by your own perception.
Okay. Cognitive stuff.
Cognitive stuff. And so there's a part of that, and... But that's really-- cognitive interferes. And if your spirit is gone? Right? Cosmere healing, you know, if your spirit is passed on you just get a dead body even though you've healed it.
So potentially Vasher, having a much greater cosmere knowledge than others could potentially have a much greater usage of that healing than regular--
Well the healing-- What I mean by that is yourself. You impose limits. So the person being healed can impose some limits on the healing working. It doesn't happen as often as I'm making it sound. But, you know-- why Kaladin's scars have not healed, right? So Kaladin being hit by a Returned would still not heal his scars. He's got a major hangup about those scars.
The universities of Silverlight, where is that headquartered?
In the city of Silverlight.
Does that happen to be in Shadesmar like the IRE are?
A lot of people think that it is what they call (the fans) The Restaurant At The End Of The Cosmere. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I haven't talked about where it is yet.
Will we see more of that in novels?
Yes, Silverlight will be referenced. I have a story brewing set in Silverlight.
Is Calamity a Shard?
Calamity is not, good question. I decided I would not put that in the cosmere, because there's certain rules in the cosmere it's breaking.
Can I ask for any more role-playing games?
There are no specific plans.
Crafty Games is good, but they're slow.
They are real slow, I think they're waiting- they're doing the board game.
If Marasi could burn duralumin, would that make time go faster or her bubble get bigger?
This is on tape so I have to make sure I do this right.
It is less about the size of the bubble and more about speeds. You can expand the size and change the size of the bubble, so it's possible that you could use duralumin for either one if you knew what you were doing, but the speed is the more relevant part. So, I just wanted to say that correctly.
Who is Trell, is it Kelsier?
*Hands RAFO card*
If an Allomancer drew Nightblood, would it eat the metals first?
Only if they were burning it.
At the time, otherwise it would go straight through and eat them?
Yeah it would just eat them. Yeah. If they were burning the metals, it would burn through the metal, and he would take the power instead of you gaining whatever ability you were trying to get from it.
Who he be able to use the metal power or would he just eat it as...?
He would just take it as raw Investiture.
Have you heard any updates on the Steelheart Screenplay?
Uhh, last I heard from the Steelheart was two weeks ago...a week ago? They are shopping for a revision. They are- This is their next set of revisions.
So they finished their first and are on to the second?
Mhm.
Was Elantris built before or after the prologue of Way of Kings?
*Pauses* Go to my notes and find out. I would have to actually specifically look that one up. My instinct says.....oh boy.
Yeah, because they're both really old.
They're really old. They're both really old. I want to say that the prologue is older, but I don't know for sure, because I know things on Roshar are older. But, the prologue happens late in things on Roshar, so it's still old. So I'm gonna go with, I think this but I'd have to actually get the outline and look at the timeline.
Preservation says, "Oh Senna, how I've failed you?" My question is, is he saying as an "Oh deity?" or is he saying this as "Oh my old...?"
Yes, it's more the second.
How did Vasher/Zahel and Nightblood get separated?
Uh, how they got separated is part of the story and so it will come up, that's a RAFO.
We'll eventually find out though?
You will eventually find out, that is a part of the story that is relevant.
Nightblood, being a sentient object, could he give away his Breath?
Ah, Nightblood...could not give away his Breath. It's a good question. It's because that Breath is making him...like something weird has happened to him where the metal is Invested almost to a Hemalurgic or Feruchemical way, right? Like it's no longer just an object with a bunch of Breath. It's become permeating the whole thing. So it's more like the soul of a person, the part of the Breath they can't give away. Like when you give away your Breath, you retain some of your Investiture, you can't give that part away. It's the same thing.
Cuz I imagine it would be kind of like a Lifeless where that Breath is probably stuck so close that it would not be removable by an Awakener at least.?
Yeah, Yep. It's stuck in there, yep. I mean there are ways to get the Investiture out, but it's not the simple "We give it away" thing. Yeah, he can't just give it away.
<inaudible> corrupted or?
Yes, that is part of it, that is part of what that means.
On Sel. It costs about 50 sacrifices to become immune to Aons. Is that number essential? Or if someone with 50 Breath was sacrificed...?
That number is not essential. But you would have to hack the magic system. You need that much Investiture. So, 50 peoples' souls worth. But if you knew how to hack the magic, Breath could substitute there pretty easily.
How does Hoid travel between worlds? There is a story about how he does it in Words of Radiance. It is told as a myth, but if you read closely, you can find him. And, again, [Arcanum Unbounded], there is a very specific scene that shows what's going on.
With Warbreaker and Stormlight Archive, Vasher and Zahel. How does that transition occur?
He went to Roshar because he knew ahead of time, that you could get Stormlight, and how easy it was. So he made his way there because he was tired of sucking people's souls to stay alive.
How did he know?
He, as part of a group of scholars, stumbled upon the nature of worldhopping long ago.
Could he be the same group of scholars as Jasnah?
No, it's a group of scholars on Nalthis who were studying magic, Investiture, and stumbled upon the means by which you transition into the Cognitive Realm. So, he actually had experience with Shardblades before, and that was part of how he built... well, he was part of it, but really...
So, is Nightblood kind of like a Shardblade? Is a Shardblade?
Nightblood is an attempt to make a Shardblade using a different magic. And it turned out poorly.
Speaking of Nightblood, how did that transition from Nalthis?
I have not answered that yet. Eventually, you will find out how they ended up on Roshar.
Demoux. Him, also being in the Interlude. How is that one...
He is part of a group called the Seventeenth Shard. [They] are cosmere-aware and travel around the planets and have a kind of pact of non-intervention. Which they aren't doing a very good job on, because they brought the common cold to Roshar.
How did he actually find out about this?
I will give you [a RAFO card], because I will answer about the Seventeenth Shard eventually.
So all these questions are actually going to be answered?
The Seventeenth Shard will have a big role to play in future books.
Is Hoid part of the...?
Hoid is not part of the Seventeenth Shard. They're trying to chase him down.
In Stormlight, Dalinar mentioned that <if he can die, he's no longer a god>, so to speak. And throughout the cosmere, gods died *inaudible*. Is there an omniscient, omnipotent, actual God in the cosmere?
Is there an omniscient, omnipotent God in the cosmere? Some people believe that there is. You guys laugh about this, but I don't mean it to be a laughing thing. There are certain questions I will not answer in the cosmere, specifically because it would too much undermine some of the characters' beliefs. And I want to treat characters respectfully. So whether there is life after you pass into the Beyond, and whether there is a God of gods, an omnipotent, as we would define "monotheistic God," are questions that I don't answer, and I let the characters deal with. Because if I answer that, then the character discussions about this are meaningless. Not really, but they kind of are. So there are a couple things I won't answer about the cosmere, because the characters don't have these answers.
<Do you know the answer>?
I know the answer, yes.
Do you have any idea what the ratings on the movies are gonna be? Like, is it gonna be R, or...
I will push for PG-13 with the bit of power I have. I mean, they know, like... I don't have power over that. But that's part of the discussion, when I say, "We can't do Game of Thrones with this. It is not appropriate for my books and audience to have content like that in the books." So, like I said, they know. I can't guarantee
When Threnodite shades ruin silver, do they ruin it physically, like turning it into silver nitrate or silver phosphate? Or is it more of a, this is actually being transmitted into something not silver any longer?
That's a Read And Find Out.
At the beginning of Way of Kings, when Kaladin thinks he's being irritated by a windspren, he's like, "Oh, windspren are all like this." Are there other types of spren that have similar personality quirks, that elemental spren...?
Yes, there are, like flamespren. A lot of the elemental ones have quirks, you'll see more quirk to them than the emotional ones. And the difference between them will come up a little more obvious as the series progresses. You're more likely, for instance, to find quirk to a riverspren or a flamespren than you are to a fearspren.
When Harmony Ascends, he admits he doesn't have a good view of the Spiritual Realm. Does he develop a better one over time? And are there other Shards that already have a very good view of that?
Yes. But it is still something that is hard to grok, so to speak. In canon-- in science fiction-- hard to understand. But he has a much better understanding, and the other Shards, some of them have a very good understanding. The thing is, the difference between the Spiritual Realm and the Beyond is not something that is immediately obvious.
So, the Spiritual Realm is not the Beyond?
No, Spiritual Realm is not the Beyond. There are three Realms of existence. The Beyond, some would say... There are philosophers would would say, the Spiritual Realm and the Beyond are one, that the soul gets sucked into and joins the Investiture. That's the idea of the One. But, most people would say the Beyond is not...
Why did Hoid give the memory coin to Wax? What was his intention?
He thought that certain information was being kept, and certain lies were being perpetuated. And Hoid was a fan of that information being out.
I'm still suspicious.
Oh, you should be suspicious of Hoid's motive. He and Kelsier do not get along. Let's just say... Kelsier did not want that information to get out.
Was anyone pre-Lord-Ruler on Scadrial cosmere-aware?
Yes. Including Leras and Ati. Yes, there were others.
Can emotional Allomancy or Feruchemy affect animals, or not-humans? Is it only if they're spiked?
So, emotional Allomancy requries a certain level of <Investiturance>. So, the closer to being sapient something is, the more that emotional Allomancy could have an effect on it.
Alcatraz, the Dark Talent. How far ahead did you decide that specific ending? I know you always knew it was gonna end up at the altar, but at what point did you decide Attica's fate?
That was right at the beginning. I was using some mythology, and things like this, and that was the big part. So, if you go back and look, I knew Alcatraz, when I wrote the first book, before I outlined the rest of them, something terrible happened. Something actually terrible happened, which is why he refuses to accept... 'cause he failed in some major way. It had to be a real and kind of awful thing in order to justify the way he is. Because otherwise, you're just like, "You're an idiot." And this turns him into something that had really traumatic, and so you could understand it. And I was worried about that being in a kids book, but I'm like, "It says what it has to be." I knew it was infiltrate the <library>, altar, Attica. But I didn't know all the details, just like I usually don't for the Alcatraz books. Those are supposed to be improv.
Can spren be affected by emotional Allomancy?
That's a RAFO.
How do you pronounce the names of the three main characters in elantris.
RAY-O-DEN, SA-REE-NEE, hRAY-THEN. Barely vocalize that "h."
If a Shard dies, what happens to the perpendicularity? Does it lose lose power, or fade <away>?
It depends on how the Shard died. A lot of them... if the power is still there, just without a consciousness, the perpendicularity will stay as it was. But there are ways that a perpendicularity could vanish.
*written* How will the everstorm affect Vasher?
*written* "Vasher will probably just hide, but it signals something bad for him...
That'll probably make sense to you in a long time.
One of the swears that they have is "Rust and Ruin." My thought is, maybe that could mean two different beings.
It could... It doesn't. Good question.
If you have a metalmind, you have, like, weight stored in it, and you want to transfer it to a different metalmind, can you just transfer it directly? Or does it pass into you, and then you lose some of the power, and then it goes...
You don't have to draw it completely out. You are gonna lose a little in the transfer. But it's not as much as you probably think. You can kind of do a little hack thing where it goes through.
Have we seen Hemalurgy on any planet besides Scadrial?
I believe that you have, yes. I don't think you guys will find it, it's not something that is meant to be obvious.
Will time travel ever be part of the cosmere?
Time travel is already part of the cosmere. Wayne... You mean, will people be able to travel backward in time? Nobody in the cosmere has yet figured out how to go backward at time. So, I will leave it at that.
Were Vasher and Nightblood separated before going to Roshar, or after?
After.
Can you tell my anything about Elend's mother?
He shares much more with her than he does with his dad.
Did she have much of an influence on him, growing up?
Yes.
Can spren be affected by emotional Allomancy?
RAFO.
What is something that you would have put in the Nalthian essay if you had one in there?
I probably would have talked about how close some of these scholars are on Nalthis to understanding all of this. They're probably the closest to understanding the nature of the cosmere of anyone outside of the people who are actually worldhoppers. I probably also would have given some hints where the pool is.
So, say you have a gold/gold Twinborn and they worldhop to Roshar and they study the magic and do the whole Khriss and Nazh thing for a while so they know a lot about the magic, but they've also left themselves a lot of options with what they can do. So then they manage to pull up a gold shadow of them having actually become a Surgebinder and then kind of meld themselves with that shadow a bunch, could they change their Cognitive Identity enough so that they could, like, tap a lot of gold and grow the spren and actually be a Surgebinder?
Unfortunately, no. It's a good question, but no. That won't work for a couple of reasons. One of which is, simply creating Investiture is not something that can happen, right?
They are a gold Twinborn, so they can tap a lot of gold...
They can tap a whole bunch, that's true, they can do that, but simply having it is not gonna create a spren because the spren is from a different god, right, a different Shard.
So if they had Regrowth cast on them, would that do it?
*hems and haws for a second*
A really, really big Regrowth, like in the middle of a Highstorm.
Hmmm, this, you are getting to the realm of plausibility at that point. I still don't think gold is the way to do it. I think you just get all that Investiture. It would become sapient by you sticking a whole bunch of Investiture in, and then you can bond to that. But it's not like people gain what you would have done. Does that make sense? That's just what's going to happen, is you're gonna, you can create a, potentially create a spren that way, but you are more likely to end up with something like Nightblood. But you could potentially create a spren, but I mean you're just gonna end up...
So there are other, more optimal ways to do that?
Yes, go bond a spren. (evil grin of course)
But you can't easily bond multiple, and if you did this you could maybe get multiple.
Nyeaaahhh... The spren still has to choose. If you want to be a Surgebinder, the choice is being made. You can't fake your way into it. Decision and Honor are too much a part of Surgebinding for you to be able to fake your way into that. Other magics you might be able to do that. Other magics that don't require, like... Surgebinding works because a piece of Honor or Cultivation or a mix has chosen you specifically. There is will from the actual Investiture involved in it in Roshar. So it's not something you can cheat your way into, right. But cheating your way into Breath might be easier.
*inaudible* [I asked if it would be possible to recall Breaths from an object that you had not placed there if the Awakener who did place them there had no Identity at the time.]
So, this is a very detailed, specific question, if you didn't hear it. It's dealing with the idea of Investiture and Identity, and things like this. If you can unkey the magic with Identity, for almost any case, it's going to make it much easier for other people to use. That's gonna be a blanket statement through the cosmere. If you can blank your Identity, it's at least gonna be able to be used by someone else with a blank Identity. Sometimes it's keyed, so the blank will not work with somebody who is themselves keyed. But if you can blank and they can blank, you can almost always guarantee the magic will be able to be used.
