shdwfeather
One of the things I really like about your books is the creative and immersive backdrop that the stories take place in. I know you spend a lot of time (and words!) on the background material for these worlds. Will you ever publish your world-building notes?
Brandon Sanderson
I'd like to someday. The reason I haven't yet is because many of them contain cosmere-related notes that give huge spoilers for other books. I could just expunge those, but I feel it better to let things grow a little more and then do some worldbooks. The Mistborn RPG coming out this year is half worldbook, though, and has a lot of setting information from my notes.
alanthiana
Allomancy can be such an internal form of magic... how would you see it being dealt with visually, if Mistborn were ever to have a TV/movie version?
Brandon Sanderson
Pushes and Pulls are going to be done (if this version of the film gets made) by having metals glow blue when an Allomancer is using their powers. There will be visual or auditory cues for the other powers as well.
alanthiana
Allomancy is such a unique form of magic, in the fantasy realm of books. What was your inspiration in forming it?
Brandon Sanderson
A mix of many things inspired Allomancy. The 'feel' of a magic that was really just a new branch of physics, as I spoke about in another post. Alchemy, which is fascinating to me from the standpoint of its place on the border, is another. Real scientists believed in Alchemy, but had to sort out that it was not scientific. It was a time of great thought, and a time when science and 'magic' were mixed in what now seems like strange ways.
Dune was an inspiration (having a limited resource, though I didn't limit it nearly as much, to give an economic side to the magic.) Vector physics was a big influence, as was the fact that I wanted to write a heist story. I therefore designed powers that worked for thieves. The 'burning' of metals was chosen because it resonated with science--the basic way we gain energy is by ingesting things and breaking them down for chemical energy. I wanted something that felt like it had one foot in science, but was also very magical.
Qurtys_Lyn
With all these complex magic systems in your books, do you have all the rules for them written down somewhere? Also, as the worlds are all in the same universe, are the magic systems related in any way to each other, or completely independent from each other?
Brandon Sanderson
I have them all written down. Currently, I use a wiki--find it here--to keep track of all of it.
The magic systems in cosmere books all conform to a few underlying rules. This came from my interest in physics, and its search for a 'unifying' theory. (Fascinating reading, if you haven't studied this.)
In my books, there is a unifying theory of magic, so to speak.
kmolleja
I've noticed some similarities between the father-son pairs of Dalinar/Adolin and Mormon/Moroni, was that intentional or did it creep in subconsciously? The M/M relationship is an incredibly powerful one for me and I'm glad to see it pop-up in unexpected places.
Brandon Sanderson
That's not intentional, but it could certainly be unconscious influence.
cfornia25
I've heard Brandon talk about these characters and he said that originally there was no Adolin. Dalinar was the only character speaking to both the belief and doubt of what he was experiencing. Brandon's Writing Group gave feedback that having one character flip-flop like that wasn't working, so Brandon developed Adolin to help express those doubts. What a great way to solve a problem, and the result is a wonderful relationship that immitates many powerful Father/Son stories.
Brandon Sanderson
You're ALMOST right. Adolin wasn't a viewpoint character initially, but he was in the book during the draft you're talking about. (The one where I had to fix things.) But if I go back to Dalinar, the character, back in his origin (before I wrote the way of kings the first time, back in 2002) he did not have a son. It was his relationship with his brother and nephew (needing to take over the kingdom for a beloved brother who died, and rule it for a nephew--then have concerns about giving up power, and how much he should take) that was the origin of Dalinar.
WinespringBrother
Do soothing and rioting work on a telepathic or physiological level (or both)?
Brandon Sanderson
Primarily telepathic, though the body does respond physiologically. After the Soother is gone, the emotion remains for a time, so long as it was a natural emotion. Strong soothing/riotings against a person's nature can wear off quickly, and the body react (sometimes) with a strong opposite emotion in response. A very good Soother/Rioter can inspire emotions that begin telepathic only, but then have a response in the body, so the emotion gets more cemented.
Keoni9
Unless you are using it to describe a method of divination, X-mancy probably does not mean what you think it means. -mancy, from the Greek manteia ("divination") cannot be used to denote the magical manipulation or evocation of something. The root you are looking for is -urgy, from Greek ergon ("work").
Glory2Hypnotoad
But fantasy books get a little leeway here because it's generally understood that English is being used as a proxy for an in-world language, so Greek etymology doesn't necessarily apply.
And Brandon Sanderson's admitted that he knows what mancy means, and calling his magic system in Mistborn allomancy was simply a useful tradeoff.
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, I talk about this in the annotations, I believe.
Language shifts. I believe this one has shifted far enough inside the target demographic (fantasy readers) that it would not confuse. In fact, I decided it would be MORE clear to use the 'wrong' term than the right one.
I subscribe to a school of writing philosophy which believes that clarity trumps most other concerns, so I chose to do it this way. (Though this was a specific choice for the Mistborn world, where I was attempting to create resonance as an Earth analogue, so used more familiar sounding names for people and terms. Compare to Elantris, where I instead preferred in-world names and terms which might be harder to say/pronounce but added worldbuilding flavor.)
Brandon Sanderson
Behind the scenes: On at least five separate occasions, someone pointed out to me that I'd "forgotten" Gaz, assuming the lack of mentioning what happened to him was a mistake. It was not a mistake.
AndrewHB
Is the rapier a weapon that somebody who doesn't have a Shardblade would use on Roshar?
Brandon Sanderson
Why do you ask that?
AndrewHB
You know why. Because of the last scene in Words of Radiance. The weapon was an unusual weapon that, well, she needed. *inaudible* odd form *inaudible* If it's common then you can understand why someone would have a Shardblade of that type.
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, so... you are on to something.
AndrewHB
So that's a read and find out?
Brandon Sanderson
Yep, read and find out. You know how to read and find out. I'm not going to answer it, but *inaudible*.
AnalogDigit
[Mistborn] would be AWESOME cinematically, except I don't know how the internal use of the metals and their powers could be conveyed on screen.
Brandon Sanderson
The producers have some good ideas for giving visuals on those. Iron/Steel, for example, would make all sources of metal glow faintly blue on the screen while the allomancer is burning.
staircasewit
I suppose my question is about how you name your characters. I've been reading WoT and notice some similarities, for example Cenn, and Sarene, and Shalon (different spelling, but they probably sound the same). Is it purely by accident that you have characters with similar names, or is it a homage to a recent master of the fantasy genre? Or is it just that with RJ's 2000+ names, it's impossible to escape some overlap? :) So I guess I'm curious about how you name your characters in general (and even places. Urithiru is an awesome name.)
Brandon Sanderson
I ended up with a lot of unconscious similarities in KINGS as I was working on it for such an extended period of time. Cenn wasn't actually intentional. (At least, I don't think so; sometimes, it's hard to remember back to which names pop out intentionally and which do not.) The eyebrows of the Thaylens were, however, an intentional homage, as is the name of the mountains by where Szeth's people live.
There is going to be some overlap. Sarene is a great example of this; I'm pretty sure that one is just coincidence, though I'd lay odds on Cenn being an unconscious influence.
Some of the names in the book were constructed quite intentionally to fit linguistic paradigms of the setting. Urithiru, for example, is a palindrome--which are holy in the Alethi and Veden tongues. Some names, like Shallan, are intentionally one letter off of a holy word--as to not sound too arrogant. (Shallash would be the holy word; nobility will often change one letter to create a child's name to evoke the holy term, but not be blasphemous.)
With many, I just go for the right feel. I've worked these names over for years and years at this point. Dalinar's name has been set in place for a good ten years or so, but Kaladin used to be named Merin and Szeth used to be named Jek. (The first changed because I didn't like it; the second changed because the linguistics of the Shin people changed and I needed a name that better fit.)
mmm_burrito
You snake. I just finished Hero of Ages, and come to find out I'll never know the last 2 metals. Grr.
Brandon Sanderson
Cadmium and Bendalloy are what you're looking for. They create bubbles of warped time around the Allomancer. I will be doing more books in the world, though not with the same characters, and you'll see the other metals.
Questioner
What were your inspiration when you wrote the [Mistborn] series, or for particular characters--
Brandon Sanderson
Well, Mistborn-- I passed, honestly, through a fog bank at 70 mph driving from my mom's house, and I'm like, "This looks cool, I've got to use this." That's the first thought I can think of. Feruchemy goes back to being in high school and being an insomniac, being really tired and wishing I could store up my sleep, so I'd be sleepy when I wanted to be sleepy. Kelsier's inspiration was a guy who had been only out for himself, who realized the greater import of doing something.
Questioner
Are all hordelings cremlings and vise versa?
Brandon Sanderson
Cremling is a synonym in Roshar for both, insect and small crustation, right? And so you would see one and you would see that's a little crayfish. Cremling is not an exact term if that makes sense. It's like bug. The word "bug" people can use to mean a lot of different things.[...] So, yes, they look like cremlings, because they've been bred to look like cremlings, so they will not be noticed on Roshar, but there are hordelings that do not look like cremlings. But they would still be called a cremling by the people on Roshar. The occasional people (?) used the word insect, 'cause that word does exist on Roshar. Usually make refers to like little flying bugs that you only find in the very far west of Roshar near the mountains, but yeah.
Questioner
Does creating unsealed metalmind involve Feruchemical duralumin?
Brandon Sanderson
(hesitating)...Yes. I will write it all out for you eventually. I want to get at least one more book done, then you find out exactly why and how.
Questioner
Because I was pretty confused about the Investiture and Spiritweb...
Brandon Sanderson
Here is the reason I'm kind of hesitant of this, [why not you just RAFO this one right now], but it is not a RAFO, because it is like it's a secret. I want to write it out exactly how it happens, because I have it in my notes in bullet points and it's complicated, right? Cause I want some of the things in the magic system as be as complicated as for instance explaining how a computer works right now. You can do it, but you know...I want the magic to start getting that technical if that makes sense. When you say "involve", right, that's a big word. Why just don't you let me, after lost metal...if I haven't released it, you have permission to come to me and say: "Brandon, you said you would release this, you haven't yet [...]" and I will give to you the bullet point flowchart of how you build the unkeyed metalminds.
Paleo
The people in the Central Dominance speak a sort of French accent. Is that still the case in the Wax&Wayne era?
Brandon Sanderson
It has mostly changed. I mean there are still some French regions, but there are some Germanic regions also and things. It is no longer just the same positioning, it's more kind of, well, like your family heritage and things like that.
Paleo
The placement of Taldain, the solar system, was it done by someone?
Brandon Sanderson
So...Taldain, yes.
Paleo
Has it to do with the travel in the Cognitive Realm?
Brandon Sanderson
Not 100%. That's a side effect
Questioner
Do you think that if Ashe had seen Ien in Elantris while he was there...Do you think he would have recognized him?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes.
Questioner
Will there be a major part in the story for the Sleepless?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, but much later on.
Questioner
What means later on?
Brandon Sanderson
Well, they have a major role in the science fiction Mistborn trilogy, but that's pretty far off. So they will be very important very much later on.
Questioner
In Warbreaker: the magic system is really visual, and when heightened people are around, the colors get really saturated and I was wondering about blind people or color blind people. How can they perceive the effects of Investiture?
Brandon Sanderson
Their minds would interpret it in a way that works for them. Their brain would come up with some way to interpret the sensory they're getting. And so the color blind...The colors are still going to saturate, but saturate in a way that they can tell. Not being color blind it is really hard for me to describe. But I read about it, and at least that's the rule I have for myself in the head. For an actual blind person this is going to be a magic system that's harder to use. Just having a disability, unfortunately. But it also gives perfect pitch, and I think that partially their auditory senses would compensate to a degree, but it's going to be a harder magic system to use. I'm sure they could find a way to work around it.
Questioner
(...) like Hoid saying he got his life as words on a page.
Brandon Sanderson
It can be taken both ways, but it is actually literal. I'm not sure how much I can say about this, but... Let's say that it's referencing where he got his nickname/pseudonym.
Questioner
I thought he maybe stole a character from a book and (hid himself? indistinctive...)
Brandon Sanderson
It is something like that. People think it's like a big wink breaking the 4th wall, but at the time I was just looking back at his past and wanted something I could say that is esoteric and referenced his past.
Questioner
There's a scene where you can see from the perspective of Nan Balat, Shallan's brother, where he's maiming an insect. It's described as soothing his aches. Is that in any way related to how Kaladin feels depressed and down during the Weeping even in his early childhood?
Brandon Sanderson
What's happening to Nan Balat is magically enhanced. What's happening to Kaladin is mostly just chemical depression. Be he is really too young to be diagnosed with depression during some of these events, but he's got the seeds in there. So Kaladin is not magically depressed. Kaladin is just legitimatly a person with depression. Nan Balat... What's up with him is... ah... being exaggerated by certain forces moving in on Roshar. (last bit is a bit indistinctive)
Questioner
Will we see any more of David and Megan in the future?
Brandon Sanderson
It is likely that you will. If I write another book directly following, it will be about Mizzy. So she would be the main viewpoint character, and you would see the others in relation but it would be her story.
Questioner
Would Kelsier approve of what Taravangian is doing?
Brandon Sanderson
No. He would not. He would understand it, but he would disapprove.
Questioner
Do you have any plans on showing what's happened to Kelsier after Secret History?
Brandon Sanderson
I do have plans. I cannot guarantee it, it's a side project, but I do have plans.
Questioner
You said that there were some things in the Cosmere that happened accidentally. What was one of them?
Brandon Sanderson
Shard pools is a good example. So when I started writing Elantris I knew I would have these concentrations of power. But I didn't know how I'm going to use them exactly. Like what's the connection... This was way at the beginning. By the time I had Mistborn, I knew all this. I knew I had a well of power there. What does it do? Shardpools are a good example of writing into the story and figuring out how the magic works bei actually playing with it.
Questioner
And how does Copper compounding work? Memories can't really get (indistinct...)
Brandon Sanderson
Let's just say that some sorts of compounding are more effective than others.
Questioner
How did you come up with the idea of evil librarians?
Brandon Sanderson
Because I thought it was so funny. I picked the thing I thought was the most ridicilous. They are super crazy. That's the goal. Just do something very different.
Questioner
(paraphrased)
About the character he enjoys writing the most
Brandon Sanderson
(paraphrased)
Probably Wayne
Questioner
We've been wondering how to exactly pronounce Sazed.
Brandon Sanderson
Inworld people say both. Kelsier says Say-zed, Sazed says something like Sayzed. (Sorry, I have no idea how to transcribe it ^^ Kelsier's intonation is more on the second syllable, whereas Sazed himself says it more in a slur?)
Questioner
Glys, Renarin's Spren, is he a Cultivation Spren?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO.
Questioner
Could you say that he is equally bonded to a different entitiy/to a different Shard like Sylphrena is bonded to Honor?
Brandon Sanderson
You're asking... Is his like the windspren?
Questioner
I mean allegion to his aspect.
Brandon Sanderson
Are you still talking about Glys?
Questioner
Yes. Sylphrena is like 100% of Honor. Is Glys like 100% anything?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO.
Questioner
When Adolin snapped, I noticed your wording. Those... The term snapping...
Brandon Sanderson
No. Good question. He did not gain Allomantic abilities.
Questioner
Well - Spren bonding abilities...?
Brandon Sanderson
Well no. That was not used magically.
Questioner
I think I am one of the few people who really like Elhokar. He's a king who actually asks a lowly Darkeyes two times how to be a good ruler. What's your opinion on him?
Brandon Sanderson
I think Elhokar is maligned by a lot of people. He was put in a hard situation, inheriting from a really great king and having a really domineering uncle. He is a little arrogant, a little full of himself, but thats natural for his position. And I am very fond of Elhokar.
Questioner
The visions Dalinar gets in WoK always struck me as odd - you don't just look at the past, you are able to act within this experience. Now we know that Gavilar was also on the way to being a Bondsmith - was he acting in a different way? Were the visions only basically the same but different in the end depending on the personal reactions? Is this something like a test?
Brandon Sanderson
He did see the same visions. They were the same thing. But... I will say that his reaction to them were very different from Dalinar's reactions to them. Anyway it was difficult for the Stormfather without a bond to determine/to tell the difference between very easily. When Spren are bonded, they gain a lot more ability to understand the world around then, so you'll find out soon more stuff about this in the third book.
Questioner
The second question is about dragons! One race, on Yolen, are dragons with the ability to shift. I'm positively sure that we haven't seen any dragons in dragon form around yet. How about in human form, and would it be possible to actually recognize a human dragon?
Brandon Sanderson
So, the question is, I haven't written the book yet, but one of the books I've talked about that is the origin of all of this is called Dragonsteel, and there are dragons in it! 'Cause, like I said, 'Why not? Why wouldn't you?' And she's asking about Dragonsteel. Have we seen dragons hidden among the characters in the books that we have seen. You have very likely seen -
Questioner
A letter.
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, you have seen a letter from a dragon. And you... there are some that are off-world, and so you might have seen them. I won't tell you for sure, but you would not recognize them.
Questioner
Odium has, as I understand it, something like the meaning of God's divine wrath. How is wrath on its own able to cause such terrible destruction? I mean, he primarily attacked di-Shardic worlds like Sel and Roshar, so could he just have sowed discord between Shards there to an extent of them actually fighting against each other and then just *inaudible*.
Brandon Sanderson
That is a good theory, that he got them to fight against each other. I won't tell you whether it happened or not, but it is a very valid theory. It's fully within his capacity; that's the sort of thing that he does.
Questioner
At the end of “Alloy of Law” Marsh tells Marasi he is giving the diary to Wax because “.. he does my brother's work”. At this time it was a reminder of Kelsier, but with Secret History and the third book out why does Marsh think we need someone to do his brother's work? Isn't Kelsier doing that himself?
Brandon Sanderson
Well. (laughs) Marsh is of multiple minds on what's happening with Kelsier at this time. When he's referencing his brother's work, he's specifically tells Marasi speaking to the lore of the Survivor. Like he's specifically talking to somebody, and he does believe this. He may not think that Kelsier is doing Kelsier's work anymore. But that depends on... You will see interaction between Marsh and Kelsier in the future.
Questioner
Did the Shattering of Adonalsium have a chance of a breakdown of the magic system on the planet of its creation?
Brandon Sanderson
There was an effect. Breakdown might not be the exact right phrase, but it could fit, but there was definitely an effect.
Questioner
Would there be a new effect if an Allomancer burned the metal of Paalm's spike?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO. Excellent question
Questioner
Is Endowment agreeable with the Nalthesian using her gift to feed the Returned?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes.
Questioner
What with the deaths of Denth, Shashara and Arsteel - I can't see them giving their Divine Breath away. Isn't this the reason why they Return?
Brandon Sanderson
That's a RAFO, obviously.
Questioner
Would it actually be enough to get to Silverlight University for an application or do you need to...
Brandon Sanderson
Oh no lots of people live there. It would not just be enough to get there. There are actually people in the city. It's a fully functional city.
Questioner
Another “physics” question: We have the Surges of Cohesion and Tension. And I'm really not sure what the difference is in that.
Brandon Sanderson
You'll see when I do this. It's a RAFO. And I play with them anyway a little differently in each order anyway. So what they do... I'll let you figure it out.
Questioner
It's just like when you enhance the tension of a water surface... (..)
Brandon Sanderson
Surface tension is what you're talking about. I'm gonna RAFO. But you're theorizing in correct directions.
Questioner
The Division Surge: does it actually split atoms or does it split the bonds of molecules?
Brandon Sanderson
It splits the bonds of molecules, it does not split atoms.
Questioner
That would be completely overpowered.
Brandon Sanderson
I have done an atom splitting magic originally in Dragonsteel. And wooow it was overpowered. So really, this is fiddling... You'll see what it does when I use it, but we'll not be splitting atoms. We're not creating nuclear reactio... or fission, so.
Questioner
I'm looking for a Nightblood drawing for a tattoo but i can't find any official artwork.
Brandon Sanderson
We don't have any official artwork. Ben McSweeny may have made some sketches of his own, so if you contact him on reddit he is 'Inkthinker'. He does a lot of the sketchbook pages. If you look in this for the one who did Shallan's sketchbook he might have one that he's done on his own, tell him he can send it to you if he has one, I think he might have one but we don't have an official yet.
Questioner
How would - just really generally - the Ghostbloods react if they found or met Hoid?
Brandon Sanderson
(laughs) They... Some people among them know of him.
Questioner
So they know he's around.
Brandon Sanderson
Some of them do, not everybody. But they are aware of his existence. At least in lore, they don't always... Not all of them have connected the King's Wit to this person's lore, does that make sense? So what would they know? They'd probably want to get him and interrogate him. They would want to know what he knows, but he is really slippery and it's hard to get out of him what he knows.
Questioner
I was wondering if the Chasmfiends have... like their own Gemhearts...
Brandon Sanderson
Yes.
Questioner
It's probably not a coincidence that emeralds that can hold most of the Stormlight. So are Chasmfiends, do they take energy from Stormlight?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, yes, yes, yes. That's part.
Questioner
So there is a huge energy source there, they can supply it with eating so...
Brandon Sanderson
It is actually most beneficial during their metamorphisis, as you'll notice that the chrysalises are not as big as they get, and so yeah. They depend on the Stormlight and they depend on the Spren that they are bonded to keep them from crushing themselves. So Chasmfiends couldn't exist off world for multiple reasons.
Questioner
I'm guessing that for Chasmfiends the absorption of Stormlight is different because there is a whole shell thing that is thick.
Brandon Sanderson
Yup, yup.
Questioner
I was wondering: Stormlight doesn't cross walls, because people put their spheres outside. But it crosses the glass of the spheres. Is that material dependent or...
Brandon Sanderson
It's thickness dependent. In the third book there's actually a little place where it's mentioned. Some people put it right inside a little, kind of thin rock portion and the Stormlight can still reach it. So I did that quite intentionally.
Questioner
Will there be possibly any books which play on Yolen?
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah, the Dragonsteel books will be on Yolen. And it's possible that Yolen will be involved later on
Questioner
I know that in Dragonsteel there's a lot about Hoid.
Brandon Sanderson
Yes.
Questioner
Do you have any guess when you will revision(?) Dragonsteel?
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah... My plan is right now to finish Stormlight, then do Dragonsteel, then do the last Mistborns. So it's kind of far away.
