In The Way of Kings, when Shallan zones out and draws a picture of a dead noble at a dinner table, was she drawing her own father after she killed him with her Shardblade?
Ooh, good question! You will want to read Words of Radiance, where her flashbacks may indeed involve this scene that she drew.
Finally, and most importantly, if all your protagonists had an epic all out brawl, who would win?
Some of them are immortal, but that would kind of be cheating. If you let people who are immortal participate, it's going to very much favor someone like Hoid, who is really, really, really hard to kill. Of course, he would not be very good at offing anyone either, because of certain things in his past. It would be really futile when it got down to the last two. But if we take that out.
You'd have to set ground rules. Do they get access to their magic? Where is it taking place? If we take away all magic and we just say people are beating up on each other, who's going to win? It's probably Kelsier because he'll fight dirty. Vasher fights really dirty, too. If Kelsier and Vasher gang up on the rest, and then it depends who's still not in pieces at the end. It'd be Kelsier or Vasher probably.
And, if the convention of printing books disappeared tomorrow and every one began reading ebooks only do you think the way you write books would change (i.e. being able to disregard wordcounts or even being able to consider serialising a book)?
I think that would offer some very interesting opportunities. I think I would be unwise not to try to take advantage of them, if such a thing did happen. In fact, it's possible to try right now. I've got thoughts in my head about how I would do this. Because the form of the story is a very important thing to me, if you can't tell from the way I was talking about everything before. The form of the book, looking at the book and saying, what am I doing with this actual thing? What is the shape of it? Elantris had a specific shape, with the chapter triads that were happening at the same time as one another. These things are interesting to me, and I want to do things like this with e-books also. But there are other things we would lose. Just like if you go and you can compare, a great example of this is the US cover of Words of Radiance, which was hand painted in oil by Michael Whelan. It has a certain feel to it.
In fact, you can see the oil. You can see the brush strokes if you look very closely at the painting. You look at the gorgeous digital painting that Stephan Martiniere did for the US edition of Elantris. But if you look at these different covers, one is digital only, and has this interesting use of digital light, and the other has texture and feel. Those are two different forms for creating art, and they both have awesome things to them. I think if we lost the book as a form, we might lose some of that idea—the book as a texture, and what it feels like to hold it goes away. I'd be sad to lose that. But I can't tell right now if that would be the sadness of someone watching an antiquated technology that no longer really matters in life go away, or if it would be losing something that will very much negatively impact society. We will just have to see. Time will tell.
Did you get the idea for the Parshendi from *inaudible* in Heart of Darkness?
I did not.
Have you read it?
But I have.
*inaudible*
Yeah, it totally is. So maybe-- maybe it's in the back of my head.
Let's see... *reading written question aloud* "Can you tell me anything new about the force that opposed Adonalsium?"
*writes* "I would count groups of people as a force."
Okay? So, I'm not saying that that's what it is, but when people ask that question and leave a lot of wiggle room... because I would count groups of people as a force that opposed him. So, I have not confirmed it's a group or anything like that. The question has a lot of wiggle room.
Who would win in a fight? Vin or Kaladin?
It depends on if you convince Vin the need to *inaudible*. Kaladin's a soldier. He wins on the battlefield. He does not win if you sneak up on him at night.
Do you have a favorite character?
I don't. That said, Dalinar's *inaudible* been with me the longest, so...
Dalinar?
Yeah, so I've got a special fondness for Dalinar.
When did Lift meet Hoid? *inaudible*
Lift met Hoid in between the visit to the Nightwatcher and her first <interlude>.
What's the penalty for killing a highprince, like Adolin did to Sadeas?
Official law is kind of confusing, because before the unification of Alethkar back into a kingdom, killing a highprince was like killing the monarch of another country. So if you did it on the field of battle it's fine. If you assassinate them it's considered a bad-- a mark of dishonor. But, what's gonna happen? I mean, your own people are gonna probably be like, "Okay, you killed the other highprince. You shouldn't have done that." But, you know... the enemy... *laughing* But now that there's a kingdom, those sort of laws are different. So it's going to cause a legal conundrum. Does that make sense?
Is Khriss a reliable narrator?
Yes, Khriss is reliable. She doesn't know everything, so there are some things that she doesn't quite get right. But she usually will acknowledge, "I'm not sure about this." Okay?
Okay, cool.
You can trust Khriss as much as you can trust most experts in their field.
I started reading Elantris. The question is... Okay, I remember they were saying, the Elantrians, "Oh my gosh, we're hurt!" You know the hurt doesn't go away. But when they said <the Hoed who wander>, like when people get burned, like an Elantrian, does their soul sort of hang around the air as a spirit of sheer pain, I remember that. Was that just a theory, or...?
That's just a theory. Good question. Yeah, no.
Okay, thank God. That was really horrible.
Nope, nope, no. They will use... In Secret History you see what happens. That happens on all of the worlds. Even <with an Elantrian>.
I personally love Wayne, the character. <Explain to me> what that inspiration was.
I wanted-- I started with a character who changed personalities when *inaudible*. And I kind of built out from that.
*interruption*
Was there a personal... Was there a person who like-- that might have reminded you.
No. *inaudible* It was just that I wanted to write somebody who was a little more goofy. A little more interesting. A colorful character who would be a *inaudible*. Who could just be a representation that this is a little of a lighter world than we were in before.
What is axial interconnection?
You'll find out <a little bit> eventually. So here's a RAFO. Axi is the Cosmere term for *inaudible* <atoms>. They didn't have a guy named <atom>. They have a different word for it. But that doesn't necessarily mean that they're referencing a real-world science when they talk about them.
So the reasons the fans...*inaudible* ...because I've found-- there's some authors I've read who allowed that to happen, and it seemed like it could compromise the integrity of the book. However, once in a while someone will ask a question, I'm like, "...yeah," right? Like someone asked about-- if Shallan might have some latent bi tendencies, right? And she'd been admiring women throughout the books. I'm like, "Yes, she probably does." Like that's something that was there that I hadn't vocalized, so that happens. And once in a while they ask me questions I'm just stumped on because I hadn't even considered it. In those cases I'll either say that or I'll just say, "RAFO, I need to think about it."
*inaudible*
Yes, yes. Well, you come up with the fundamentals of a magic... *brief interruption* ...then some questions can be easily answered. If you know, okay-- how-- Like with Elantris the fact that they could do it in any medium. They could chisel it. They could do all of these things to get the-- if they want to get it drawn in the air, says that, you know,... *inaudible*. And so if you have the fundamentals and they are consistent, you can extrapolate. And the fans should be able to extrapolate too.
I was wondering if it would be possible to make a fabrial that works on, like, Connectivity or some of the more abstract things like that?
Yeah, this is possible. Fabrials can do a lot more than they've been used for so far.
I know the Cosmere has been around for a while. *inaudible* I guess it's a hard thing. Like, how soft...
No, it's all still evolving. It will continue. Like, you can't get so locked into an outline--even though I have them--that you don't change it when something better comes up. A big example of this is Adolin, right? Adolin was not *inaudible* character. And yet in the first book I needed *inaudible* I needed a viewpoint of somebody who was not imagining things, right? Somebody who was kind of more normal guy-ish. And he has a huge thing in the book. So now the outline of all ten books has changed because *inaudible*. And so, you've got to be willing to do that, I feel, as a writer.
How did you come up with Kaladin?
With Kaladin? Um, it was the idea of healer who finds out that they're really good at killing people. Yeah, he's really good at killing people. And that comflict of, "Am I a healer or am I a hurter?" Like, "Can I hurt to hurt to heal?" *inaudible*
I love *inaudible* this series. How did you come up with Elend?
So, I wanted an idealist *inaudible* revolutionary stuck in a world that wasn't ready for one yet, and that was my pitch to myself, right? Like if you took, you know, someone like... one of the great *inaudible* like Hamilton or somebody and just stuck them in a world that just was not ready for their ideas. How would that go?
That sounds like the *inaudible*. Don't you have that in mind, like...
Yeah, but he-- he that was-- yeah, yeah. His plan was-- be an idealist. The second book is where he realizes he can't make the same path he wants to, and third book is kind of reconciliation of how he can create this step that will eventually lead to Democracy and things like this, which you eventually then get to see in later books.
Are we gonna hear what happened after the Heralds gave up their oath and *inaudible*
You will-- you will see more of that.
Is there uh-- is there gonna be more side characters like Taln? Where they kind of like *inaudible*
Um, Taln and Ash--two of the Heralds--are main characters in the second five books, so that's where you're going to see *inaudible*.
What are your favorite books?
Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly--it got me into reading. Les Misérables--my favorite classic. And then book four of The Wheel of Time. *inaudible*
Really? Book four?
Yep, book four. Rand going to the pillar in Rhuidean? It's my favorite. Have you read those?
No.
No, okay. It was one of the experiences I loved growing up. And I still love it, despite the fact that I *inaudible*.
Yeah, that's got to be pretty awesome you got to finish it.
Oh man, it was awesome. I didn't know them. They just called-- his wife called me on the phone and asked if I could do it. Just out of the blue. No application or anything. "I like your books. Will you to finish this."
Is there anything about Eshonai *inaudible*?
So Eshonai is one of these people who's *inaudible*. She's *inaudible*, right? It's that question of what is that-- the driving force in her life. *inaudible* ..."trying to take care of my people." *inaudible* for Eshonai, but yeah. There's something in her, and that is also part of what's drawing a certain spren, as you'll see, in the books.
I wondered if I could follow up to that Machiavelli question. Would Elsecallers be a-- one of those other, uh-- one of those...
So, yeah. Elsecallers are fairly compatible. Like, Elsecallers feel like the journey is... the journey is the entire species, right? And that the journey is the destination. *inaudible*
*Written:* How much compounding would a nicrosil Twinborn would need to do to get a metalmind that is as Invested as Nightblood?
*Reading question:* How much compounding would... *mumbling*
Wow, so much.
*Writes:* Wow so much.
*Written:* A thousand breaths doesn't seem to be that much--the God King has tens of thousands. Would a piece of stone, wood, cloth, or plain metal that has a thousand breaths be as Invested as Nightblood, or is there something more?
No, it needs more. Needs more.
*Writes:* Needs more.
More?
Yeah.
Does that-- is it taking stuff from people it kills?
That's a RAFO, good question.
You said that Ryshadium experience sentience through a spren. But I just didn't understand how that's possible. Most of them are through tension, gravitation, *inaudible*... nothing Cognitive.
Yes, yes, yes. So all-- so non-sapient creatures that get Invested in don't gain powers until they gain *inaudible*.
How does that fit into the larger picture?
Yeah, how does that fit? It's mostly-- you can start seeing that-- things that forces are adapting to the Roshar ecology. Does that make sense? Because a lot of Rosharan-- other creatures-- have bonds with spren. Very common. And so--
I know. I noticed the chasmfiend *inaudible*, whatever you want to call it. I don't know how that works.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You'll see the next book kind of explores it a little bit. But yes... but yeah. I'm just going to leave it at that.
What do you call it when a Faceless Immortal says two things that can't both be true?
Uhh... I dunno. What?
A kandra-diction.
*grinning* Oh yeah? Well, how do you know, when a Radiant shows up at your holiday party, that he'll be well-dressed?
Umm... no idea.
Because he's in-vest-ed.
Ambition, the Shard *inaudible*. Is that the one you previously referred to as not on a planet?
Ambition would fulfill that requirement, but that's not the one I was referring to.
*holding out list of Allomantic metal symbols* Is ettmetal's symbol one of these four? *Points at the unused ones*
Uh, no, it is not. Ettmetal has it's own symbol.
Have we seen it?
I don't believe you have. Isaac... *inaudible*
*making connections internally* Oh, that's interesting, since we have seen harmonium's symbol.
You've seen his symbol? You've seen the symbol?
Yeah, we have. *momentary staredown*
*inaudible* it might have been the...
It looks lerasium but both sides. *waves hands around in the air like an idiot to pantomime the axis of reflection*
*looks crestfallen* Oh... Okay... okay, yep, he put it in. *inaudible* Okay, ettmetal's... Fine, fine, fine.
Am I allowed to tell people? I can keep it a secret if you want.
No, you can tell people. I mean, it's obvious *inaudible* The fact that ettmetal's so volatile. It's intended to be a *inaudible*.
Who has the best and worst handwriting in the cosmere?
Hoid's is just terrible, but it can also be really beautiful when he wants to. But Brandon said he didn't have a real answer for this one.
When a spren changes into a weapon, are they locked into one specific design for that type of weapon? Like, if Syl chose to be a longsword, could she only become that specific longsword?
No, they can become whatever they want/need.
Will we ever get some sort of dictionary/guide to Aons or Forging? One that tells us how they're made, with what all the various parts of a seal mean and how we could theoretically design them?
We might, but it would be a ton of work for him to put together. He compared it to when people ask if we'll ever get the full text of The Way of Kings--the in-universe book--and he said that we might, but all he has is an outline.
Does TenSoon look like an Irish Wolfhound (which is how I've seen a lot of people draw him) or more like an actual wolf?
He looks more like a large, wolf-like dog, such as a husky or something. (Though more wolf-like than a husky; he was just using that as an example.)
If the technology for 3D printing--CNC milling and the like--existed on Sel, would a Forger be able to use it to create stamps, or would they have to do it by hand?
They would be able to, but since they have to still create the stamps themselves, they'd have to be the ones to model/draw the stamps.
One quick one: Stormlight breathing. Do you actually need to physically inhale or can you cognitively inhale? Like I can think about inhaling without actually inhaling?
You—this is possible, and—
Okay, like if you're trapped and you can't breathe, but you can think about breathing.
Yeah, yeah. That would be fine.
I asked whether aluminum blocking Investiture is simply an on/off situation, or whether different amounts/different alloys would inhibit it in different degree.
It was theoretically possible.
Is Niccolò Machiavelli's political theory--the ends justify the means--incompatible with the Knights Radiant's First Oath?
No. Although many of the Orders of Knights Radiant would find Machiavelli's theory, that the ends justify the means, incompatible with additional oaths and/or values of that Order, there are some Orders who could accept a Machiavellian. (Brandon said that the Skybreakers are where a Machiavellian could find a home.)
questioner's paraphrase, delete after transcription review: Based on the bit during the open Q&A about Odium splintering Dominion and Devotion and shoving their power into the Cognitive, and that blocking off the Spiritual, which makes Sel's magic so location (or Identity of location) based - if a Shardbearer traveled to Sel, could they still summon their Shardblade?
Transcription:
So from what you said about Odium sticking Devotion and Dominion in the Cognitive, if they *inaudible* Shardblade, well Shardbearer, and travelled to Sel would they *inaudible*?
Uh... what-- I'm going to RAFO that. I've never asked me that before. I guess I haven't really explained that whole thing before to people.
If Hoid were a Magic card, what colors would he be?
Uh, he would be five-color. But most most likely if he's gonna drop a color it's white.
OK. Now, the Weeping that happens each year on Roshar. Does that occur each time when the 3 moons are in a particular alignment?
No. It's more related to the planet's orbital position than the moons' position.
I always sort of got the impression that there were maybe... *waves hand* a dozen or so worldhoppers around *inaudible*. Now this [Arcanum Unbounded] completely blows that idea away.
Yep.
Approximately how many worldhoppers are there in the Silverlight community when Khriss is writing these essays?
The Silverlight community is a full-fledged city.
Alright... Well, that could be anything.
Well, it's not a village; it's a city. I'm gonna let you have a RAFO on the rest until I write the story set there. Let's say we're talking about much larger than people might have originally assumed. But not everyone in Silverlight is a worldhopper. You've got people who are-- that have been born there, and raised their whole lives there, and died there.
I actually had like a really-- theory I was developing the past couple of weeks about Regrowth, and healing, and the Cognitive Realm. Let's take a look at this...
*Written/Paraphrased:* In the cosmere, you have matter, mind, and soul. Obviously, the physical world is most well understood (same as ours) and the spiritual is most mysterious. When anybody dies (going off from info in Secret History) their soul, which was tied to their body, the Connection is broken and the soul/Cognitive Shadow appears in the Cognitive Realm then goes on to the Spiritual. If healing is applied at any moment while the soul/Cognitive Shadow is in the Cognitive Realm, the Connection can be reestablished and that is why Regrowth can heal recently dead. Type of wound Shardblade versus not may determine how fast the Shadow is sucked into the Spiritual Realm. Also amount of Investiture a soul contains. Souls = Investiture, or at least all of them contain some?
So that's a RAFO. We'll dig into that a little later.
Oh, *inaudible*. Am I close?
Yeah, you're on the right track.
I just read Edgedancer. I was just wondering... Did Ishar deceive Nalan on purpose or was he just wrong-- he had wrong information?
All the Heralds are insane.
Okay.
It manifests in different ways. Do not trust anything any Herald says. Ever.
Okay.
Nale trusts Ishar too much.
Okay, but so did he do it on purpose, or...?
Um... So "on purpose" is a difficult thing when you're referring to someone with the psychology that Ishar has.
Did he know what it was-- that it was a lie?
*sighs* Alright, I'll RAFO that until I get to him, but the answer is kind of a yes and a no. Okay? So there is part of him that knows and there is part of him that doesn't want to believe it. And yet the things he's been doing lately in Roshar are done because he knows what's coming.
Also, what did Lift get? If she didn't stop aging, what did she get? Read and find out?
Read and find out. It involves the way that she's getting Stormlight.
Where did you get the name for David's crystal grower?
I named it to annoy Peter Ahlstrom since he didn't like the names for Dawnslight and Harmsway.
Will the Everstorm only affect Parshendi or will it also affect those with Parshendi blood, like Horneaters?
RAFO.
What is Stick's telos?
To be the best stick it can.
Is gestation period for humans the same on Roshar as Earth?
Basically, yes.
How long has Khriss been cosmere-aware?
RAFO.
Does Wit know what became of Helaran?
Depends on where Wit was, so maybe.
Has Dalinar been on the Bondsmith path for a long time? How about Gavilar?
Yes to both.
Brandon said that Gavilar had been on the Bondsmith path for longer than Dalinar has been.
Why don't Mistborn use aluminum vials?
Because they are too rare and expensive, though aluminum utilization is increasing in the AOL era.
