Recent entries

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11703 Copy

    Questioner

    Would Dalinar make it so they couldn't retreat to make it more a challenge or would he just--

    Brandon Sanderson

    He will follow good tactics when it's time for good tactics. He won't lose a battle because he wants a better challenge. In an individual sense he will seek the best challenge for himself on the battlefield.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11704 Copy

    Questioner

    I don't think Marsh would get along too well with Hoid, but are they ever going to hang out?

    Brandon Sanderson

    *pause* Are they ever going to hang out?

    Questioner

    Are they ever going to meet?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Are they ever going to meet. It is likely that if they both survive for many more books that they would, but I can't promise it.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11705 Copy

    Questioner

    Who's Tarah?

    Brandon Sanderson

    *long pause* Why do you want to know?  ...Tell me why you want to know.

    Questioner

    Because she's important to Kaladin and Kaladin's important to me?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Okay, that's a decent answer. She-- um. Ehhhh. She was someone Kaladin cared for deeply in a romantic way.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11706 Copy

    Questioner

    Since a computer monitor, the monitor itself isn't metal, could Ruin read something on that and change that. Could you essentially have a conversation with Ruin by typing something on your monitor and having him change it and respond to that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah. I think that could work.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11707 Copy

    Questioner

    Are we ever going to get a list of Wayne's Twinborn names?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Heh, what do you mean? The--

    Questioner

    He claims to have all the Twinborns memorized?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, okay.

    Questioner

    Are we going to have a list of that anywhere sometime?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah I think I let the RPG go wild with naming them, and-- I haven't named them all, I'll be honest with you. I name the ones that I need when I need them.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11709 Copy

    Nethseäar

    If you were to Hemalurgically give a fallen Elantrian Feruchemic gold, would they be able to store Health?

    Brandon Sanderson

    A fallen Elantrian store Health-- And you gave them a Hemalurgic spike-- That’s a good question, I would think-- *long pause* You know I think they would not be able to, that’s an excellent question.

    Nethseäar

    Would it suddenly store up the moment they were restored?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, it would not suddenly recover everything. Unless you wanted to channel-- You could do some goofy things but it would kinda ruin their connection to the Dor. But I don’t think it would suddenly-- Y’know. You might be able to do something where you steal it away from them, that could possibly happen. If they were spiked while they were full Elantrian you could probably get more out of them than your average person.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11713 Copy

    Questioner

    Did a lot of the life on land from Roshar come from the sea? Because they all have shells. Or is that just the highstorm?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That’s just the highstorms. Good question actually.  I mean I would say that evolutionary, certain traits that vanished on Earth did not vanish on Roshar because of the highstorms. But also things evolved independently similar attributes because of the storms. So it's a yes and a no.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11717 Copy

    Questioner

    Are we going to find out if the earring gives him [Wax] any other Hemalurgic powers?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I mean, I might eventually dig into it a bit. The thing is, it's so weak that--

    Questioner

    It's probably not--

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah... I assume that people are thinking this is a gun on the mantle, so I will have to deal with it.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11718 Copy

    Questioner

    My theory currently on Spiritwebs is that they are-- when they exist on the Spiritual Realm a person exists as nodes connected between concepts, Physical makeup, and whatnot, that’s what makes up your Spiritual DNA.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Mmhmm.

    Questioner

    Is there a different set of nodes for each person or do they all kind of share?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You're kind of imagining it the wrong way, each person is a node.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11721 Copy

    Questioner

    My question is, I think it was probably in the chapter annotations for the original Mistborn trilogy. You brought up that all of the events thus far were in the north pole of Scadrial--

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yep, they were.

    Questioner

    So where there events going on at the same time in the south pole?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, there were.

    Questioner

    And will we be seeing those in the next trilogy?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You will find out about them eventually. By the time we hit the 1980's level technology the world will be a little more explored.

    Questioner

    So that will be like-- You are still planning on the three--

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm now planning on four because this [Era 2] has turned into a sequence.

    Questioner

    This has turned into a trilogy.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah... So you will find this stuff out eventually. And you have already seen people from Southern Scadrial before... At least one..

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11722 Copy

    Questioner

    Nightblood. He just showed up at the end of The Stormlight Archive--

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Questioner

    --the last one. So, is there a place that's a connection between all of the universes?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, there is.

    Questioner

    And it's been reached in The Stormlight Archive?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Okay, so I'm guessing you don't know about all of this but there are characters from Elantris that are in Mistborn--

    Questioner

    Yes. Like Hoid.

    Brandon Sanderson

    --and all of this stuff. I would say one of the things is that Roshar is a little bit easier to get to than some of the others, but it's not that it has been breached there so much as it's a little bit easier to get to.

    Questioner

    Yes, I'm assuming it has something to do with the Cognitive Realm but then objects going through the Cognitive Realm is kind of tripping me.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Hehe… *long pause* There are places in the Cognitive Realm that are somewhat nexus-like, like you're talking about. Yes there are places like that. ...So Roshar might actually be the easiest place to get to in the cosmere, like from planet to planet. Sel is probably the hardest, right now. For a long time Taldain was very hard, but not anymore.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11724 Copy

    Questioner

    [Spren] are used to Invest a lot of things, fabrials, they turn into Shardblades. Are we ever going to see something similar with the seons, from Sel?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, they are basically the same thing. They're a little more formalized, a little more structured but they are basically the exact same thing so yes. Some of the things you see spren doing seons are capable of, some things that seons do spren will be capable of.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11725 Copy

    Questioner

    [Kaladin] gets his arm and various things cut with shardblades a couple times… and he regrows his soul more-or-less. Is that a function of his being a free Radiant or is that from being able to absorb Stormlight?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is by being a Radiant. Which allows him to absorb Stormlight so--

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11726 Copy

    Questioner

    Is there anything I should look at as a hint for something we haven’t figured out yet?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, that's a good question too. There are moments through the entire original trilogy that people haven't figured out yet. But they've picked out most of what they are, they just don't know why. Like they know something weird is happening, they don't know-- They haven't guessed why the weirdness is happening. The weirdness is figure-out-able, but it would be hard. But it's not outside of reason for you to figure out why these certain moments-- these moments people have not yet figured out.

    Questioner

    Because Odium had influence on Scadrial.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. Not a ton, but yes.

    Questioner

    ...Kelsier had an irrational hatred for Nobles.

    Brandon Sanderson

    He did, he did indeed.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11727 Copy

    Questioner

    How does Odium kill Shards?

    Brandon Sanderson

    OOOh that's a big ol’ RAFO. It's a RAFO I've promised to answer in the books eventually.

    Questioner

    We've got a theory… He kills a Shard by destroying the idea of the Shard into a population with hate. So on Sel he replaced the idea of Dominion with hatred of other people…

    Brandon Sanderson

    That’s a very good theory... I will say-- Yeah.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11728 Copy

    Questioner

    In Adolin's fight in Words of Radiance, when his shardplate was being destroyed. Had he fought Sadeas right there, would he have been able to win? Or would he have--

    Brandon Sanderson

    Adolin thinks that he would have been able to.

    Questioner

    Adolin thinks he could, but would he be able to?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I don't know. Adolin's pretty good, but Adolin's not as good as he thinks he is.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11729 Copy

    Questioner

    So the lighteyes that get Soulcast into stone, can they be Awakened?

    Brandon Sanderson

    *pause* So… Yes, but their soul is gone. When they get Soulcast into stone it is only the corpse, so yes they could.

    Questioner

    Would it be a lifeless or a-- Would it be like Awakening something inorganic or would them once being alive help?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The fact that they were once alive will help. There's a Spiritual Connection that still exists on the Spiritual Realm and that is going to help. But you're not going to get the person back. The fact that it is the exact form of a person is going to be really helpful. It would be a lot easier to Awaken that than it would be to Awaken other stone.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11730 Copy

    Questioner

    Is Hoid aware that he's fictional?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No.

    Questioner

    So he's not like *unintelligible*

    Brandon Sanderson

    He's not. And any quotes along those lines are-- that you might think he is saying for that reason are actually in-world-- for in-world reasons you don't understand yet.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11731 Copy

    Questioner

    [Lift, her abilities] how might that apply to elements? Fire, air, rain.

    Brandon Sanderson

    She just changes friction, so however it would interact with it in our world it will interact that way.

    Questioner

    So fire would... I don't know how that works.

    Isaac Stewart

    She could keep someone from lighting a match, possibly.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11733 Copy

    Questioner

    Abstract concepts, have representations in Shadesmar. Fear, whatever. So, now we are going into complete nerd-land. I'm a programmer. the things that I program, the programs that I make, to me they are discrete things that kind of come alive. So the question is-- The first part of the question would those have a representation in Shadesmar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So here's the thing. A lot of people have to collectively start doing this for it to come alive. And it's not just any abstract concept, it is an abstract concept related to the Shards that are there and Investiture actually actively coming to life bearing that sort of personality and attribute. So that's-- you see things relating to human emotions, you can see things related to nature, because of Cultivation, you see a lot of things relating to how people interact with one another, from Honor. So the answer to that is that seems-- That's not really what spren are doing, but programmingspren you could see something coming from

    Questioner

    Programmingspren, but not a spren for a specific program.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Unlikely, yeah to have a spren for a specific program. There are some really weird spren, that are different. So it's not impossible, but it's not likely either.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11738 Copy

    Questioner

    Mistborn travels to Roshar, what does he or she use to get Invested?

    Brandon Sanderson

    *pause* So. *pause* I think I've talked about this before on the 17th Shard, but I'm not 100% sure and so I don't want to anything right now, not knowing what I've said. But you can look it up. You can ask Peter. Hey Peter, have I talked about someone using-- Have I ever in an interview before talked about using metals... A Mistborn travels to Roshar and uses the metals there?

    Peter Ahlstrom

    I think that you have said that they could do it.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I said it.  Okay, so the thing about the metals you have to understand is the metals are a key, the metals are not magical themselves, except for specific ones. If I've already said that I can tell you, go to Roshar and you could use the metals that are there to power your Allomancy because the difference is in your soul and you're actually drawing directly from Preservation. Remember that on the Spiritual Realm, this is the big tidbit--they're listening. On the Spiritual Realm time, distance, and space are irrelevant. It's a place where time and space are compounded in one. So anything that exists on the Spiritual Realm, space doesn't matter for it.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11741 Copy

    Questioner

    I cannot picture what the symbol for the Ghostbloods looks like.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Isaac?

    Isaac Stewart

    I've got it on Dropbox.

    Brandon Sanderson

    ...Partially this is because I hadn't decided how I wanted it to look, so I didn't let Isaac put a picture of it until we got it. So I'll put it in the third book. That's partial-- And I imagined what I wanted it to look like and I said "Draw this" and Isaac came back with like five and I'm like "Oh… No, it's not any of those".

    Isaac Stewart

    We had done a bunch of different concepts, but that's the one we ended going with.

    Questioner

    Oh yeah!

    Brandon Sanderson

    And I was imagining something more like this or this originally.

    Questioner

    Yeah, that's kind of what I originally-- Yeah, that's awesome.

    Isaac Stewart

    But this one winds up being a little more distinct, I think, from the others.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11742 Copy

    Questioner

    Why have we not seen strong emotions like love or hatespren?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So. *pause* That's a good question, it actually is something I've considered a lot. Spren, it's hard to explain, but I'm going to try and vocalize it. It's partially that s-- that emotions that are like that are so individual to each person that you can't as easily create an identity for the Rosharans in their collective unconscious, if that makes sense? That they're just so-- and they're so ubiquitous that it didn't end up working the right way. That doesn't mean that they don't exist, but it's just not the same sort of ubiquity of some of the other ones. And I treat spren like races. Of animals. It's like saying "Well why didn't an animal grow that looks like a cat but has floppy ears?" or something like that. Well it just didn't happen, right? The organic nature of it-- There's no reason it couldn't have happened, and maybe you say "That's a fox, Brandon" but there's certain creatures that could have grown in our world that didn't and it's kind of a mixture between those two things. I kind of had to decide I didn't want a spren for everything for those reasons. And I wanted some spren to be really, really rare. And so you might see like a lovespren, but it doesn't pop out for puppy love, does that make sense? Or you might feel it, but there are none of those in the Cognitive Realm nearby, so they just don't show up.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11743 Copy

    Questioner

    So Threnody, does it have anything to do with Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Uh, I mean--

    Questioner

    Beside y’know that there in the same--

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, it doesn't. I mean, it's connected to the larger cosmere… You will find more. There are important people from Threnody that are involved in things. You've seen other people from Threnody in the books but I don't think like it's connected to Roshar in any special way

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11744 Copy

    Questioner

    In Shadows for Silence, there was one line, like in the middle of the book that *inaudible* chasms and surfing the wind. Is that like intentionally harking back to The Stormlight Archive?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm going to say, most likely not but I'd actually have to look at it again and see if I was being cute. I don't think I was because--

    Questioner

    Like riding the wind. I was like "woah".

    Brandon Sanderson

    Because if we're in Silence's mind, she's not cosmere-aware. She wouldn't know any of that stuff. If it was someone else, then maybe yeah, I was being cute. But I'd actually have to go look at it, I don't think I was being cute.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11745 Copy

    Questioner

    How did you get into map drawing?

    Isaac Stewart

    You know I mapped out things like The Legend of Zelda when I was eight years old. I was fascinated by my dad's paperbacks of The Lord of the Rings and the maps that were in those. It's just, I was doing maps like that for a while but when he asked me to do a map he didn't know that. It's worked out well so far.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11746 Copy

    zas678

    What would have happened if Kelsier and the crew had discovered Zane instead of Vin?

    Brandon Sanderson

    What if Kelsier discovered Zane instead of Vin? Ohohoho, no one's ever even asked me that. I haven't considered it. That would have been a bad combination. I could totally imagine that happening, though. Need to get Zane a little bit younger than he was in the series, but yeah bad combination.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11747 Copy

    zas678's sister

    In Alloy of Law there's the news-sheet, right? And advertisements for like the soothers--

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    zas678's sister

    Is this something that actually works-- could help with mental illnesses or is it more like snake oil. Because it seems like-- that advertisement seems a little more like snake oil.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It seems like snake oil, the problem is it will cover symptoms. It will not get at the core root--

    zas678's sister

    It won't solve the problem.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It will not solve the problem. And so it reads like that but it would actually do something.

    zas678's sister

    It would help you maybe get out of the funk.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, depending on the skill of the soother obviously, but yeah.

    zas678's sister

    And could you-- Are there people who fake soothe?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh yeah. All the time.

    zas678's sister

    I figured there would be.

    Brandon Sanderson

    But I mean it's not too hard for someone with means to check, because they just need someone to come in and-- it'd be a seeker and oh yeah they're actually doing it.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11748 Copy

    zas678

    Can you detect Feruchemy with bronze Allomancy?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is actually possible but it's very difficult. There's a tweak that you need to do to make it work and I haven't talked about that yet. They do not know how to do it… on Scadrial. But you can theoretically detect all kinds of active Investiture. Investiture that's being used. Kinetic Investiture would be the way to call it.

    Shadows of Self release party ()
    #11749 Copy

    Questioner

    Hemalurgy spikes lose power after they are taken out of a body, right?  So why did Vin’s spike still give her power after being so long out of her ear?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They decay, but it's not a really fast decay. And it also kind of works like a half-life thing. Does that make sense?  So you get an initial just "that's bad" but that had happened to hers long ago when she had taken it out for the first time, right? And then over time, like if that had sat out for hundreds of years you're going to end up with something like Wax's earring that's like-- it gives a bit, but it barely gives anything. But as long as you're kind of keeping it in and out you're going to be a lot better off.