What's the deal with Hoid and instant noodles?
...He likes his ramen, right? Like any sane person, he likes his instant noodles. Nothing more than that.
...Has he ever had instant noodles?
Yeah, he's had instant noodles before. They have them on Taldain, yeah.
Does the kandra worldhopper appear in Way of Kings, on screen?
I don't know.
What metal is Nightblood's sheath made out of?
Nightblood's sheath is aluminum.
If Soulcast blood is human blood, does that mean Soulcast meat is people meat?
No.
But that doesn't necessarily mean that, like-- when it has a blood type, and things like that-- I don't know enough about blood. I didn't mean to imply it's human blood. I'm just saying, it has all the attributes of blood, and it could be ascribed to something specific. That's where my mind was going. If they were asking, "Is this human blood?" No, that's not necessarily-- some of it is. Soulcast meat is definitely not. Soulcast blood, probably is most of the time. But it is-- there are, like, certain derivations of it that happen. It's more complicated, in other words, than what I-- than a simple answer can give. So, is Soulcast blood human blood? You could use it for blood transfusions, most if it, unless, in certain instances, you couldn't. Like, it's more-- Those sorts of questions, I have to circumlocute them so much.
Let's just put it this way. You can eat-- The meat is not human meat, but the blood can be used for blood transfusions. Is that enough? Yeah, we'll go with that.
*written* Could a Shard refuse to "fuel" a magic user? E.g. Could Preservation have refused to "fuel" Ham's pewter? (Please, for the question, assume Preservation is whole and undamaged.)
*written* No, but he could have interfered.
*spoken* So, the answer is "no, he couldn't." Like, if you just had the Allomancy going, like--
They can't shut you off?
They can't shut you off, but they can interfere with you using it. They could do other things. But, like, the magic, it would be like saying, "I refuse to let gravity work on this person."
But couldn't a Shard-- Technically, they can control forces--
No, they can't, but they can interfere with it, does that make sense? ...Gravity is not gone, but this person is being interfered with and their relationship to these sorts of things.
Kind of like if I throw your pen in the air, gravity's not gone, but I've interfered with something.
Yes, exactly. And you can, like, twist the gravity, so it's pointing... But the laws of natures, burning is, like, a law of nature, and things like that. And they can circumvent, and they can twist, and they can bend, but the laws of nature are still the laws of nature.
They can't just cut it off?
Yeah.
Did Jasnah's body die, and she made a new one?
No, she actually transferred her body to the other side... I actually even wrote the scene where it happened, but I didn't end put it any books... That's what Elsecallers do, is they teleport. That's one of their things.
With your awesome art people, have you thought about doing kids' books, like 2nd, 3rd, 4th grade level?
I've considered it, but I haven't practiced that very much, and it is a different skill. I'm not confident in being able to do that myself. But it's on my radar, since I have kids that age.
So, is it possible for a spren to get more Investiture? And if it does, will it kinda level up into a higher form of spren?
Yeah, it's possible. That is totally possible.
I'm just curious to know if you're gonna see a change in how they treat the spren in [Oathbringer]?
...Yes. There's a slight shift happening.
Nightblood. If the person using him, the Investiture they put into him to use him. Does that make Nightblood more powerful, does he gain that Investiture? Or is it all expended back into the--
That is actually a RAFO. People in-world are trying to figure that out, so it is a good question.
The oath spren, how are they still alive? If all the other spren died when they broke their oaths? RAFO?
Yes, it's a RAFO. But you do have some pretty good answers in [Oathbringer]. So by the time you finish this you should have a pretty-- you should-- yeah.
So, if a Type 4 BioChromatic entity like Nightblood was created with a different Command, would it still draw in or feed off of somebody's Breath when they drew it?
It is possible to create one that wouldn't. But it is a dangerous thing to do.
When Shallan reached out to the Midnight Mother, would it have mattered if she used the right hand?
It would not have mattered. Good question!
So, I was curious if the Alethi were always-- like, if there was a time where there wasn't a segregation between lighteyes and darkeyes.
Yes, that did exist.
...How did the separation occur?
There are some clues in [Oathbringer] and in the last book. It has to do with Knights Radiant and Surgebinding and things like that. It's a part RAFO. It's pretty guessable. There's nothing--
Can Soulforged bones be Awakened?
Can Soulforged bones be Awakened? So, Soulcast bones be awakened? Once the Soulcasting is done, it is no longer Invested, and it would act as the normal item. A Forged item will act as Invested, and will resist any manipulation. Differences between the magics.
Can a kandra have a human kid, if they're in a--
...So, their DNA would-- I've answered this both ways, I think, on the internet, as I go back on forth on whether I want DNA testing to be able to catch a kandra or not. I've erred on the side of, their DNA isn't human, and so they would not be compatible, but I've gone the other direction some of the time when people have asked this question. So, I guess the answer is, I have not fully decided for myself yet.
Is this new book in the cosmere, or is it just a shoot-off?
Which one, Skyward? Skyward is not cosmere.
Is looking into the Spiritual Realm the only way to look into the future?
Any looking into the future involves looking at Spiritwebs, probability, and stuff like that. So, yes.
So, the Shardfork. A very versatile, Shard-whatever. Would it be possible to do, like, a Shardrock, or something, that would go in a catapult?
Yeah, it has more variety than people would think, but it isn't limitless, what they can become. But that would totally be possible.
And what would a Shardrock do if it hits you?
Uh, bean them on the head and be really strong. If you can get into the spirit, if you can start getting past the skin and stuff, you can do some serious damage.
Dalinar's visions are the memories of Honor, correct?
Yes. Yes, they are things specifically created by Honor...
Does that mean that the Recreance happened before Honor's death... since Dalinar sees it?
Yes. But Honor's death, like Preservation's death, is a protracted event.
So, Hoid says he couldn't use the Pits anymore, but couldn't he have used the Trust, with a lot of atium all together? Would that have not formed a Perpendicularity?
No. There's a reason for that.
Would he also be able to have powers from Warbreaker without using Breaths?
Yes that is-- It is possible to power the magics with one another. Breaths are one of the-- it's-- yeah, let's just say that.
So, if Nightblood is on Roshar, is he using Stormlight instead of Breaths?
Right now, if you are Invested with Stormlight, he will feed off of that instead of Breaths.
How many Breaths would it take to infuse a gemstone?
Gemstones would be not that hard to infuse with Breaths. Like, you can get one glowing pretty well with one Breath... Depends on the size of the gemstone, obviously.
Where did you get the idea for the gemhearts.
So, I wanted-- in the books, I wanted there to be an economic component to the magic, like, something that was based on the money in the world. And I knew I wanted to use the gemstones, but I also knew they would be used up really quickly by the magic, with Soulcasting. So, I built something into the creatures of the world, so that we could renew the gemstones, so they wouldn't all just be gone after a few hundred years.
I'm curious to know if there are any books-- any stories or scripture in the Book of Mormon that have particularly inspired your writing, that you like.
Yeah, King Benjamin's speech is the thing that I can point to most specifically as influencing me on my views of leadership, specifically in The Stormlight Archive.
What kind of spren is Hoid's favorite?
He is quite fond of Patterns.
[Can you write] something interesting about the Seventeeth Shard? ...Or how about this, a character that's in the Seventeenth Shard that we don't know about?
*spoken* ...I can do that--
*written* So... Iyatil was once in the 17th Shard...
Who is Rock, of your friends?
Rock is one of the ones that isn't. The core of Bridge Four isn't, yeah, Rock, and Teft, and Moash, and Lopen. Those aren't-- It's all the ones that aren't the main characters, except for Skar, I just named after my friends.
Are we going to see a clash between Nightblood and a Shardblade anytime soon?
Yes.
Would you be able to write the... Second Ideal of the Truthwatchers?
...It's a RAFO. There's a lot of stuff about the Truthwatchers in [Oathbringer], that's gonna make it complicated to do that, okay? ...Yeah, it's really complicated, and those are things I'm not gonna probably canonize for another couple of books, for reasons that will be very clear by the end of this book.
Hoid. Did he have a family, and if he did, does he miss them?
That's a RAFO, because Dragonsteel, the book I'm eventually gonna write, is his backstory.
We were wondering about Nightblood, if he's sort of out-of-place on Roshar? 'Cause he's sort of the opposite of change, right?
He is supposed to be really out of place. He is a messed-up, messed-up... sword thing.
So, a Radiant's blade. When it takes other forms, does it take on any different properties? So, like, if Kaladin beat someone with the butt of his Sylspear, would it still do something in regards to the soul?
Would he still hit the soul? That is theoretically possible to make happen. It requires a lot of work. That is theoretically possible.
So, the first [question] is whether or not a Shard can be healed after it has been [Splintered]?
That is actually a RAFO. That's been asked before.
How much do you plot books? How much do you plan out what happens before you start writing?
I am a plotter. I am very naturally-- I do a lot of extensive plotting. So, I would say I have, like, 90% of it before I start most books, thought I knock out like, 10% or 20% while I'm writing and change it if something better comes along.
Do you go chapter by chapter, or do you kinda just--
It's more like an outline of, like, "Here's my goal. And here are ways to achieve it." I do a whole lecture on it in the BYU lectures, if you're interested, that are on YouTube.
Is there a limit to what the spren can become, like we've seen them become a blade or a spear or a shield, can they become, like-- I've heard hints of a bow and arrow. Can they become a sword and a shield or just one main thing?
Um, it is more expansive than people guess it is, but it is limited.
How do you come up with names that sound awesome?
It's harder than it sounds, no pun intended... If you wanna know how to name things, find the podcast where we answer that on Writing Excuses, we go into in depth, that'll help you out. But basically I'm looking for, like, lists of baby names from languages that I don't speak, and trying to play with those names until I find something that sounds good.
So, how much time-- personal reading time to do you spend on different types of things: research versus classic versus other fantasy type--
I would say, boy-- most of my reading is fantasy. My reading for other things is eclectic; it's like, when I find something I'm interested in. I would say, of that, it's like, half just reading whatever I feel like reading and then taking notes, and half reading for research. But, I do a lot of audio books, and I do a lot of podcasts, I can do them while I'm signing books, and things. So, some of my reading recently has been like, Hardcore History, which is a podcast. Stuff like that.
So, how many hours do you actually spend. Obviously, when you write, and you're signing, I understand that.
Always, when I'm signing, I try to listen to, like, a book, or something like that. And then, I try to get in, like, an hour every night. I don't always get it, but that's what I try to do.
Does anybody every ask you to, like, write them? Like, people ask someone to draw them, but does anybody ask you to write them?
Yeah, an artist asked me to write something for them. Yeah, I've actually had some artists say, "What if I painted a picture, and then you wrote a story for it." Which I think would be a really cool idea, we just have to wait for the right time to do that.
So Lift, she used a Shardfork. If you could use a regular item, and it be a Shard item, what would choose?
Shardpen, obviously!
So now that Lopen has his arm, are there any good two-armed Herdazian jokes?
He's working on them. In a scene, you will see him working on two-armed Herdazian jokes.
Favorite Herald?
Taln.
Which is your favorite of the ten fools, and why?
Uh-- I don't know. I honestly don't know.
Can you give me a name of one of them, then?
That I haven't named yet? Those are in the notes, I have to look those things up. I don't know. We're gonna do a ten fools painting for the next one, maybe. We were gonna do it for this one. I'm not sure who my favorite is. I'd have to sit and think about it, perhaps more time than we have right now. It's going to depend on Isaac's sketches of them and things like that. Maybe, uh, Jezrien's fool. Probably Jezrien's fool.
What's the name of that one?
I can't remember. Like I said, I have 'em in a list. I have to go look at the notes and look them up every time. I don't use them, like, I just write--
Not like the Heralds, that you're using all the time. They're just the ten fools.
Right, I just use, even when I'm writing, I'm like "Jezrien's Fool," and then I go look up the name of it.
What do you think about book piracy?
...So, I have a love-hate relationship. I like that things like torrents for books exist for people who have lost their books or who want to try one out, I think there are very legitimate reasons for it to be out there. But there's a sense of entitlement that just rubs me wrong sometimes. Like, the other day, we found a whole bunch of Ebay listings for selling the ebook, for people who had just downloaded the torrent and were just selling it on Ebay. That kind of stuff just gets under my skin.
The casting for these films. Is that just gonna be, like, professional people, or will it be open to the public?
I have asked them to hold open casting calls. So, I don't know if they'll do it, but I have asked them. We're not even that close yet, though, right? It takes forever. We're not close enough for you to start being eager about that. It's still a few years if-- even if it happens.
At the end of Oathbringer, *inaudible* Are they getting Shardplate anytime soon?
That is a Read And Find Out, unfortunately... There are hints that-- if you look, there are certain people that it's implied already do have it. But I'm not gonna delve into that for another book or two.
You know the sparring guards, for the Shardblade training, the guards they put on the Shardblades. Are they made of aluminum?
So, they are not. Peter will not let me make them made out of aluminum. He's my continuity editor, he keeps me honest. I tried to get them to be aluminum, but there are reasons why they can't be. So we had to make them their own weird little thing, unfortunately. But you could make a sheath out of aluminum for a Shardblade that would work.
He keeps me honest, so it's good, but I did try to fit them in that way.
Are we prone to getting any stories or novellas about Wit himself in the future?
Yes, you will. The one I have planned is pretty far off, but it will happen.
Who is the greatest warrior in the cosmere? I think it's Kaladin?
Well, define "warrior" versus "soldier" versus--
Who could win at an all-out fight? Even with powers taken away, I think he could still take on a lot of the other warriors.
A question. Are they on a battlefield? 'Cause Kelsier just murders him in his sleep.
Battlefield.
The actual soldier, battlefield, is probably Kaladin. Problem is, you could put Dalinar in his prime. And they're both pretty good. But, Kaladin is a true soldier.
