Recent entries

    Stormlight Three Update #6 ()
    #13358 Copy

    Argent

    Is death in the Cosmere a two-stage process? It seems to me like (under normal circumstances) the body dies first, sending the mind fully in the Cognitive Realm; the soul, presumably, remains in the Spiritual for the entire process. I am a little unclear on what happens after that though - what is it that passes into the Beyond, just the mind? Does the soul / spiritual aspect / Spiritweb just kind of... break down in the Spiritual Realm, turn into free iInvestiture?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. It's a two stage process, and most of what you said is correct. The odd thing is, though, that the Spiritweb doesn't completely break down (just like your body doesn't immediately break down.) Even after a long time, there's a record of that Spiritweb in the Spiritual Realm.

    Oversleep

    Wait wait wait. If there is a "corpse" of Spiritweb (so to speak) and actual, physical corpse is also there... Could it be still viable for Hemalurgy? Could it be still viable for Hemalurgy if you really know what you're doing and have some useful powers (manipulating Connection comes to mind)?

    Could you patch the remnants of the Spiritweb and staple it to the body and end up with some zombie-zombie Lifeless? You'd still need to give it a mind but I figure Awakening is just doing that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO.

    Stormlight Three Update #6 ()
    #13359 Copy

    The_Immortal_Shogun

    Is there some reason why the characters in the cover don't seem to reflect the Hawaiian esque description you seem to have in your head. For Kaladin for example

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah. Basically, I was too intimidated by being able to work with Michael Whelan to be picky.

    It goes a little further than that. The original cover was closer in skin tone and features to what I'd imagined. (Remember, I view the Alethi as kind of Asian Hawaiian hybrids.) However, the pose and overall look of the figure wasn't great.

    I chose not to say anything, because I love Mr. Whelan's work, and was simply thrilled to be working with him. Plus, I liked the cover quite a bit, even if something was slightly off with the figure. Well, Mr. Whelan obviously saw what I had, and over the next few months we got a string of revisions from him.

    By the time he'd settled on the current one (which was the best of the ones he'd sent) I didn't want to bother him with redesigning Kaladin yet again.

    We're still trying to get this right. In working with Dan Dos Santos to do the clothing portraits in the second book, I kept having trouble describing to him what to use. I think he got much closer to the look of the Alethi, but I don't feel we're there yet.

    Third cover is shaping up nicely, and we're being careful to nudge Mr. Whelan toward a more Alethi look.

    Stormlight Three Update #6 ()
    #13360 Copy

    Argent

    I've been listening to this year's Writing Excuses, and in one of the more recent episodes you had a romance author (whose name I can't recall right now), and the topic of how popular the romance genre is, and how good some of its authors are came up. I don't think I've ever read a romance novel, but I wondered whether you can recommend one that might appeal to your readers? I am curious to see what makes those books so popular, but I don't want to just pick something from the bookstore's shelf...

    Brandon Sanderson

    I might start with something in-between, like Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince. It's shelved in fantasy, but has some strong romance roots. (The author has even written a romance novel or two.)

    Mary's own Shades of Milk and Honey is a romance novel that is shelved in fantasy as well.

    As for straight up romance, let me think about it. Most of what I enjoy is hybrid.

    Stormlight Three Update #6 ()
    #13362 Copy

    montywoodpeg

    Would you or [Peter] consider joining the reddit Cosmere Discord for a kind of AMA or even just a visit to chat? I can certainly understand if you wanted to maintain control over dialogue than what live text (or audio) chat could provide, but I can't help thinking it would make for a great form of interaction with an audience of dedicated fans. There's non-cosmere sections available to just discuss books in general, for what it's worth.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm not opposed to this sort of thing.

    Stormlight Three Update #6 ()
    #13363 Copy

    StickerBrush

    Maybe not the best place to ask, but one of your remarks reminded me:

    will input beta reader comments and writing group comments

    So, do you have one master document where you input their comments? How do you organize and consolidate all of their input? I'm a part of a writer's group and I now have like 5-6 copies of each chapter I've submitted and I have no idea how to get started in organizing it.

    My best idea so far is to have one master doc (which is a clone of the original) and mark it up with each user's feedback.

    Thanks for any advice.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I don't actually have people mark up the text any more, but I used to do it as you say. These days, I instead put up a google sheet with a tab for each chapter, and then I have beta readers put feedback on the appropriate tab. Peter then collates these comments and inserts them into a draft of the book for me to read in context and made decisions about.

    StickerBrush

    Time to find me a Peter.

    Thanks for the advice!

    Peter Ahlstrom

    It's possible to use Word's Merge Documents feature even on 5–6 copies of a chapter (just do two at a time). But this can create a lot of artifacts. I did that during the Towers of Midnight editing and it's a real pain dealing with all of the repeat punctuation that appears, like ,”,”,”,”,”

    Stormlight Three Update #6 ()
    #13364 Copy

    inthearena

    To answer the inevitable question, the beta readers are chosen by Peter--my assistant and editorial director--from among those who have been very active on the fan websites, or who know us personally.

    Don't you think this invite survivor bias? If the only ones who beta you books are people who love your books (granted there are a lot of them ;-) doesn't that result in a particularly district set of people who are reading for specific things?

    Just curious.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Betas are supposed to be a test audience, not a critical audience. Meaning, I just want to judge how my fanbase will respond to the book.

    For alphas (my editorial team) I look for the strong criticism. For Betas, I want people who are partial to the work, as they represent the average fan. I do try to fill them with some people who are more casual fans, as opposed to only the hardcore.

    SouthernNorthEast

    For alphas (my editorial team) I look for the strong criticism. For Betas, I want people who are partial to the work, as they represent the average fan. I do try to fill them with some people who are more casual fans, as opposed to only the hardcore.

    Do you get a lot of information that you use from these Beta readers? Or - do you take a lot of that and actual use it in edits and revisions down the road?

    Brandon Sanderson

    We do get a lot of information, but it's more...how to describe it. It's more general AND more specific.

    On one hand, what we get from the betas is a general feel for the book, and how it will be received. We also get specific little continuity goofs that we've missed.

    Editorial tends to be able to talk about story structure, characterization, that sort of thing on the macro scale. Betas tend to give more of a view of the book emotionally--is this book matching expectations, are parts of it boring, that sort of thing.

    Stormlight Three Update #6 ()
    #13365 Copy

    DSC01

    I'm probably too late to this party to get a question in, but just in case... The resonances for Edgedancers and Bloodmaker/Slider pairings--are they basically the same thing? It's maybe mostly linguistic for Edgedancers and more like Invested method acting for the Wayne types, but if I'm reading things correctly, it seems that they're very closely related.

    After all, Progression and Bloodmaking are quite similar. Abrasion and speed bubbles have a more tenuous link, but they do call bendalloy boys "Sliders," after all (no disrespect to bendalloy girls, but I couldn't pass up the alliteration).

    Brandon Sanderson

    The connections are more because the magics are all inter-related, and based on fundamental rules, and less because I was trying for any specific connection.

    Stormlight Three Update #6 ()
    #13367 Copy

    Oversleep

    I have a philosophy question that could actually be answered in cosmere:

    Ship of Theseus in cosmere. If I went and replaced every part of the ship, would it still - Cognitively - be the same thing?

    What if I replaced everything and made a second ship out of the parts from the first one? What could somebody watching all of that from Shadesmar tell me?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You're right, part of the design of the cosmere (which has some deep roots in classical philosophy) was an attempt to answer the Ship of Theseus question.

    In the cosmere, part of the Cognitive--and even spiritual--aspect of a thing (particularly if it isn't sentient) is delineated by the way that thinking beings define it. Per the old joke about the axe, if you replace your axe head and think of the new axe as "Your Axe," then the cognitive and spiritual aspects of that thing will grow to reflect that.

    If you replaced every part of your ship, and gave the sailors time to sail it, thinking of it as the same ship--it would become the same ship.

    Stormlight Three Update #6 ()
    #13369 Copy

    tomerad

    When we all finish reading book 10 in maybe 30 years from now, how much hidden secrets will we be able to discover from re reading books 1 and 2?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There will certainly be a lot of these--but at the same time, the way I plan and execute foreshadowing, I feel that most of them should have been figured out before Book Ten. I don't want to be obtuse just to be obtuse.

    Stormlight Three Update #6 ()
    #13370 Copy

    flying_shadow

    How would an albino with red eyes be regarded on Roshar? Do they even exist there?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They would be deeply mistrusted. (Unfortunately.)

    Mathota

    Just because Rosharans are racist, or is it a cultural carryover from fear of the Voidbringers?

    Peter Ahlstrom

    Probably both.

    Stormlight Three Update #6 ()
    #13374 Copy

    Talbertross

    Do you have the "end state" of the Cosmere in your mind? Do you know where, thirty years or so from now, where the main characters will be once all major Cosmere series are finished? Or do you plan on having them end at all?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, I have a plan--but remember, we'll be dealing with a lot of new characters by then. The goal is not to take everyone you're reading about now, and have them appear in the final books. Some will persist, but my end game is more focused on events.

    Stormlight Three Update #7 ()
    #13375 Copy

    Peter Ahlstrom

    Well, on Friday Brandon was explaining what's in book 4 and 5, and after he got well into it I said, "So we're in book 5 now, right?" and he said, "No..."

    _Kelsier_

    Since each book is getting longer than the others and having heard what he wants in book 4, do you think he will have to split book 4? I don't want to look past the mark, but it seems like he's on track to have to publish Stones Unhallowed parts 1 and 2.

    Peter Ahlstrom

    In this case, he could probably move some plot elements from book 4 to book 5. The issues that make Oathbringer unsplittable probably won't apply then.

    Stormlight Three Update #7 ()
    #13376 Copy

    jmcgit

    You don't have to worry about him becoming unproductive, but I do worry a little about Stormlight taking more out of him and needing more and more "hamburger and fries" to recharge. I also am suddenly worried about the series growing beyond 10 books, especially with Peter Ahlstrom suggesting that story could be moved from 4 to 5, but story can't be moved from 5 to 6 without delaying the planned time jump.

    GRRM started with ASOIAF planned as a trilogy, and even if he were fully healthy and productive, it's hard to see how he would wrap this up in the currently planned seven. Wheel of Time was pitched as a trilogy, and the publisher knew better, and Jordan was signed to six books, we wound up with 14. Stormlight Archive originated as a 10 book series, and now I'm slightly worried as to whether this is going to grow like many fantasy series do.

    I don't think it would be by much, Sanderson appears to have a much more detailed plan than some of these other authors, but even growth from 10 books to 12 books would make a huge difference considering the interesting concepts I'd like to read that are bottlenecked behind the end of Stormlight.

    Peter Ahlstrom

    I think that if he ends up with too much content, more novellas like Edgedancer are much more likely than expanding the number of books.

    Also, Brandon has already moved plot elements forward in the name of awesome. Moash's plot for book 2 was originally planned to be in book 3.

    General Reddit 2016 ()
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    Peter Ahlstrom

    Mistborn: The Final Empire contains cannibalized aspects of: Mistborn Prime, The Final Empire Prime, Mythwalker, and Aether of Night.

    The Way of Kings contains cannibalized aspects of: The Way of Kings Prime, Dragonsteel, Mythwalker, and Aether of Night.

    Warbreaker also contains cannibalized aspects of Mythwalker.

    yahasgaruna

    Can you talk about what aspects of Aether got cannibalized? I don't recognize anything from it in either Mistborn or Stormlight.

    Peter Ahlstrom

    The two obvious ones are Ruin and Midnight Essence.

    General Reddit 2016 ()
    #13378 Copy

    Enasor

    Merrin was a terrible name... It makes me think of member of Robin Hood, men in tights. I am super glad Brandon decided to change his name: Kaladin works much better, IMHO.

    Peter Ahlstrom

    It was Merin, but it did rhyme with Perrin and Verin. He was actually still using Merin when he was halfway through the first draft of the published WoK. I was totally used to it and thought it was a fine name, but Kaladin is better.

    Enasor

    Thanks for the added precision. Merin still make me think of Robin's Hood Merry Men... It somehow does not reconcile quite well with the mental imagery I currently have of Kaladin. I guess it feels rather different when you've known him as Merin for a long time, but knowing him as Kaladin to then find out he initially was a Merin is somehow weird.

    This being said, it is super interesting to find out so many names were changed from the early version of WoK to the published book. It wasn't just Kaladin.

    Peter Ahlstrom

    Yeah, Sadeas used to be a guy called Meridas. One of Meridas's things was wanting to marry Jasnah (and Jasnah did not return the interest). But Sadeas didn't have that interest. So Meridas became Amaram's first name instead.

    Enasor

    Oh sweet. I didn't know about this one. I also heard Dalinar originally had no sons, then he had three and now he has two: none the original names were retained (except Renarin, I think). Quite a lot of changes. It is very fascinating how characters can move from one identity to another and through this morphing, earn another name.

    Peter Ahlstrom

    Dalinar's second wife in Prime was one of the craziest things.

    Enasor

    Oh I would have loved to read that. Has she become the inspiration for another character?

    Peter Ahlstrom

    No. At least not yet, and the way the series is going I doubt someone like her will fit.

    Enasor

    Ah then may I ask what she was like?

    Peter Ahlstrom

    I would leave that up to Brandon to reveal.

    Phantine

    Any plans to do another Altered Perceptions sometime?

    Peter Ahlstrom

    Brandon is in no hurry to be involved in something like that anytime soon, but we wouldn't rule it out. More of Way of Kings Prime will be revealed eventually, but at this time some elements of it are still spoilers for future books in the Stormlight Archive.

    General Reddit 2016 ()
    #13379 Copy

    Phantine

    Actually [Peter] what kind of gem is in oathbringer's hilt, anyway?

    Peter Ahlstrom

    I don't know the answer to that offhand.

    WeiryWriter

    This says it was set with a heliodor (which would be a cool bit of foreshadowing if true, like how Lift's lucky sphere is a diamond and Kaladin gets sapphire spheres when he sells the knobweed sap).

    Peter Ahlstrom

    Oh yeah, that's right. That is indeed true.

    General Reddit 2016 ()
    #13380 Copy

    Phantine

    I actually asked Peter Ahlstrom (who tends to handle math and magic system interactions with physics for Team Sanderson) about this a little while ago

    A couple of friends and I are discussing if the iron feruchemy causing changes in speed is a retcon (since there's a mention in AoL that "increasing his weight manyfold would not affect his motion"), or if the effect is just more complicated (like only causing an instant change in speed if Wax changes weight while actively pushing on something).

    Are you willing to weigh in on that, or is it just something we shouldn't be thinking too hard about?

    Thanks :)

    And his response was

    I just don't know the answer to this question. :)

    So I personally think the explanation is either 'Brandon thought it would be cooler for shifting your weight to change your velocity, and forgot he had mentioned it a couple times' or 'this is Wax's twinborn perk'. I'm leaning towards the latter, since the person who writes the magic system summaries at the end of the book specifically interrogated Wax about the effects, and mentioned she specifically was interested in his very unusual power combination.

    As for the density thing, there is an explicit mention that you appear to get stronger when tapping, but only to the extent that you can still stand up and walk around - you still have more difficulty moving around overall. So (to pull out random numbers), if you're at 200% normal mass, you have 180% normal strength, and at 50% mass you have 60% normal strength. That means Wax habitually going around at 75% weight so he's 'light on his feet' makes sense - even if he's weaker overall, he's proportionally stronger.

    The way I personally think about things for bullets or whatever, anything 'inside' the body (where 'inside' is defined in the same way that pushing/pulling metal 'inside' the body uses it) interacts with your body as if it were normal. So tapping iron doesn't cause your ultra-massive blood to be impossible for your heart to pump, but it also doesn't prevent a bullet from passing through your flesh. That seems to be consistent with how it's portrayed in the books.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Just a note: in the quote of mine above, I was trying (I believe) to find a way for Wax to indicate that weight doesn't influence the rate at which he falls. IE, acceleration in regards to gravity. It's tough, and I made the call (perhaps incorrectly) not to use modern physics terminology in the W&W books. It has been very hard then to explain:

    1). Wax changing his weight doesn't change the pull of gravity on him, or the rate at which he falls. 2) He DOES follow the laws of conservation of momentum.

    My talking around these things has let me to tie a few paragraphs in knots.

    General Reddit 2016 ()
    #13381 Copy

    awendles

    I'm personally really turned off by the theme. If I'm playing a Mistborn game, I want to play as a misting and pull of some sort of heist using characters with variable powers or something. I think the last time this game was mentioned in this sub somebody said that they wanted to see an area control game based off of the plateau runs in The Stormlight Archives, and I would absolutely be all over that.

    Peter Ahlstrom

    There are companies that are proposing plateau run games to Brandon. It could be years before anything comes of that though. I do think of this as a no-brainer concept—of course someone should be able to make a fun game out of that!

    General Reddit 2016 ()
    #13382 Copy

    Argent

    The Rithmatist takes place on an alternative version of Earth. One where the United States are the United Isles, for example.

    Ben McSweeney

    Also that Earth is (I think) half the size of our own? Or possibly less? Brandon says it has a denser core to make up the difference.

    Argent

    Really? This is the first time I hear this, but it's pretty cool news. You know the man, find out specifics for us :P

    Ben McSweeney

    Brandon and I discussed it when we put together the map of the United Isles... there was some hand-wavery in terms of total numbers, but the scale on the map legend is more-or-less accurate. As you can see, that puts the Isles themselves at about 1500 miles (give or take a few hundred, I'm eyeballing it) from the cliffs of the western California Archipelago to the eastern shores of New Guernsey.

    In comparison, the continental United States is about 3000 miles across from shore to shore. So, loosely speaking, it's a half-sized planet with a core of something denser than iron to make the mass mostly the same. Perhaps gold?

    Aside from the map, which I'm not surprised if it was overlooked, we also get some clues in the travel times and distances described during Joel and Fitch's trip.

    Argent

    All of those clues would require me to pay attention and think about things, though - which is something I find difficult to do when my hand is racing to turn the pages :)

    On the topic of distances and masses though, I was looking into possible easy solutions, but it actually looks like there is some serious sciencing that needs to happen for the numbers to work out. But eyeballing, if you shrink the radius of the planet in half, this drops the volume (including the core volume) by a factor of 8, which - assuming the same density, which is not a safe assumption because lower mass makes lower density more likely - means that the core has to be about 8 times more massive to maintain the same gravity. Which is a problem, because such element doesn't exist naturally, and is even less likely to fuse in a small planet. So. Heavy sciencing and/or handwavium :)

    Ben McSweeney

    Maybe a denser metal and a larger core? Our iron core is only about 10% of the planet's diameter, but I have no idea how a larger core would affect the physics of the planet.

    Handwavium. Unobtanium. Impossibillium. :)

    General Reddit 2016 ()
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    yahasgaruna

    I have to say though, I don't get annoyed by the fact that you want to write the side projects, but I do get perplexed by how big the State of the Sanderson is getting. You keep adding more things that I want to read, and it gets no closer to getting written! I've been waiting for a sequel to Warbreaker for 7 years now, and a sequel for the Rithmatist for over 3 years, and I've been getting excited about Silence Divine and Dark One for years just reading the chapters or descriptions you've read out at signings. Now you're adding a novel set on Threnody, and one on Silverlight?

    DEAR GOD MAN DO YOU WANT ME TO DIE OF ANTICIPATION?!

    Brandon Sanderson

    Original Cosmere sequence (from around 2003 or so.)

    Core books:

    Dragonsteel (7 books)

    Mistborn (9 books)

    Stormlight (10 books)

    Elantris (3 books.)

    Secondary stories

    Unnamed Vasher prequel (1 book)

    White Sand (3 books)

    Unnamed Threnody novel. (1 book.)

    Aether of Night. (1 book.)

    Silence Divine (1 book.)

    This version was after I decided I'd trim back Aether of Night, but felt confident that Dragonsteel would be coming out soon. (I tried a rebuilt version of it in 2007.)

    By 2011, some things had changed. First, I'd rewritten Stormlight, and had sucked Bridge Four off of Yolen, following Dalinar (who had been moved to Roshar for the first draft of TWOK.) Warbreaker had been given a sequel. Dragonsteel, having lost the entire bridge four sequence, refocused to be more about Hoid and shrunk from seven books to between 3 and five, depending on what I decided needed to go there. Silverlight had grown from just a place I referenced to a place I wanted to do a complete story for. And, of course, Mistborn got another era. (Dark One also moved to the cosmere somewhere in here.)

    So, a lot of these have been brewing all along, and I haven't really been adding that many books--I've actually been shrinking the numbers as I feel certain things combine, and work better together than alone.

    I still suspect we'll end up in the 40 book range, but most of the new ideas for the cosmere I have, I try to limit to novellas so that we don't end up with too many promised books.

    yahasgaruna

    Thanks for the answer! I'm going to go ahead and believe there are even more books hidden in your outline you've never talked about because that makes me feel better, especially something like Skyward (since I remember you saying that was YA).

    Brandon Sanderson

    There are, but I'm very aware of how much I've put on that list so far--so I've been trying to combine stories, or make others into novellas.

    General Reddit 2016 ()
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    Shagomir

    This totally doesn't really matter and will probably change in the time it takes you to get to them but are Liar of Partinel and Lightweaver of Rens still planned as a semi-separate sub/prequel-series to Dragonsteel, or would they be included in that 3-5 book estimate?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They're included in the 3-5 book estimate. Dragonsteel's outline is kind of still in pieces, as I chopped out so much but dumped in a whole bunch more, so I'm not 100% sure on what length it will be.

    General Reddit 2016 ()
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    Renegade_Master

    Quick question, years ago 2011 or '12 I was in Draper, Utah for training (army). There was a trainer there named skarstead (spelling maybe different ). He said he was in a writing group with you and you named Skar (Stormlight Archive) after him. Is this true?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That would be Ethan. He's still in my writing group, and Skar is indeed based on him. Ethan is one of my best friends, to this day, and a hell of a person.

    General Reddit 2016 ()
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    BipedSnowman

    This is just a little thing I thought of that is kinda neat. Symmetry on Roshar is seen as holy, but the letter H can be used in place of another consonant without "spoiling" the symmetry.

    Is this because of the spelling of the name Honor? If the H is a stand-in for the R, it makes the name symmetrical.

    Dickferret

    Where is the "h" thing mentioned?

    BipedSnowman

    I am copying this from somewhere else, but apparently WoR chapter 47. (I guess i tagged the post wrong, but it's just barely a spoiler anyway.)

    ""Bajerden? Nohadon? Must people have so many names?" "One is honorific," Shallan said. His original name wasn't considered symmetrical enough. Well, I guess it wasn't really symmetrical at all, so the ardents gave him a new one centuries ago." "But ... the new one isn't symmetrical either." "The 'h' sound can be for any letter," Shallan said absently. "We write it as the symmetrical letter, to make the word balance, but add a diacritical mark to indicate it sounds like an h so the word is easier to say." "That - One can't just pretend that a word is symmetrical when it isn't!" Shallan ignored his sputtering [...]"

    pwnt1337

    Is this similar to the many interpretations of the spelling and pronunciation of YHWH?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Hebrew, among a few other languages, is an inspiration for some languages in the cosmere. (One of them is Alethi.) That said, in this case it's more like how in some Asian countries, they would give honorific names to famous scholars or rulers after they pass away.

    General Reddit 2016 ()
    #13387 Copy

    [joke about Birds=Chickens on Roshar]

    Brandon Sanderson

    See also: Eastern Rosharans using the word "Wine" for a variety of types of alcohol, when only rare imports from Shinovar actually come from a grape, and naming animals things like "hound" when they only vaguely resemble a creature from Shinovar. (Or the term silk, which is harvested from plants that float in the ocean. Or using the word 'cremling' for any kind of small crustacean or insect, which is a linguistic expansion of the word over the centuries, when there used to be two distinct terms for them.)

    Vorin languages, in particular, lend themselves to this kind of simplification of terms.

    General Reddit 2016 ()
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    IneptProfessional

    Since you mention languages on Roshar, are there any languages that are completely unrelated to any other on the planet?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Our basic language families are:

    Vorin: Alethi, Veden, Herdazian, and more distantly Thaylen. Nathan is close to dead, but shares a root, and Karbranthian is basically a dialect. Other minor languages like Bav are in here.

    Makabaki: Azish is king here, and most the languages around split off this. There are around thirty of these.

    Dawnate: A varied language family with distant roots in the dawnchant. Shin, parshendi, Horneater. They share grammar, but they diverged long enough ago that the vocabulary is very different.

    Iri: Iriali, Reshi, Purelake dialects, Riran, and some surrounding languages.

    Aimian: These two are lumped together, but are very different. Probably what you were looking for.

    That isn't counting spren languages, of course. I might have missed something. Typing on my phone without my wiki handy.

    General Reddit 2016 ()
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    Ray745

    Graves tells Kaladin and Moash that with Elhokar out of the way, Dalinar would become king and be much better for Alethkar. Obviously Graves isn't totally truthful with them, he is working for the Diagram and wants Dalinar to be king in hopes he becomes the Blackthorn, the warlord, and provides no real competition to Taravangian in becoming king of everything. However, in the scene when Kaladin faces down Graves and Moash, Graves makes a comment on how it was too late, and he just had to keep Kaladin away from Dalinar, presumably so Szeth could assassinate him. Then the last we see of Graves, he is talking to Moash and says

    I thought for sure my interpretation was correct, that if we removed Elhokar, Dalinar would become our ally is what is to come.

    How would Dalinar become their ally if Graves was purposely keeping Kaladin away from Dalinar so Szeth could kill him? Is Graves lying to Moash there? That part I never fully understood. It seems as though Graves understands Dalinar is going to be assassinated, yet from what he says to Moash at the end he seems to expect Dalinar would not have been killed.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Graves is supposed to (though people missed this, so perhaps I didn't do it well enough) indicate that the Diagram is not simply one group, following Taravangian. They follow the diagram itself, not him, and some think his interpretations are wrong.

    Graves was ordered to remove the Alethi leadership entirely--though Taravangian was sending Szeth after Dalinar (the more dangerous one) and Graves was to remove Elhokar. Graves, however, interpreted the diagram differently. He thinks that Dalinar cannot be killed by Szeth, or anyone, and is hoping to remove Elhokar, have Dalinar step up, and help them. He has passages of the Diagram that indicate, to him, this is the natural outcome of removing Elhokar.

    The actual passages, and what it is they're trying to accomplish in specific, has yet to be revealed in full.

    General Reddit 2016 ()
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    Ray745

    Is Lift the only one who is able to see the afterimage around Szeth when he moves? And would she have seen that afterimage around him before he was brought back to life by Nalan?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Lift is seeing that Szeth's soul isn't quite attached to his body any longer. She is not the only one that can see it, but her special physiology is certainly helping her see it.

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    Ray745

    During the final fight between Szeth and Kaladin, Szeth seems far too surprised when Kaladin follows him out past the stormwall.

    Kaladin exploded out of the stormwall, surrounded by windspren that spiraled away in a pattern of light. He shouted, driving his spear toward Szeth, who parried hastily, his eyes wide. "Impossible!"

    And before that you make a point of mentioning all the windspren streaming around Kaladin as he's flying. A popular theory about Shardplate is that it's made up out of "cousin" spren. Obviously that is a RAFO question, but I wanted to ask if Szeth was surprised for any reason other than Kaladin just following him out of the storm? My theory is Szeth saw the beginnings of a vague suit of Shardplate forming around Kaladin. I know you won't answer that directly, but I was hoping to see your face when I asked it haha. Do you have any comment on that theory?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Szeth was surprised for more reasons than just Kaladin following him out. He is realizing that the Radiants are returning, and that his exile was unearned.

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    bcGrimm

    Did you write Wayne as a sociopath? Or just troubled?

    Brandon Sanderson

    As usual, I prefer not to interfere with theories that people are making, to confirm or deny them. I WILL say this, however.

    The scenes where he interacts with Ranette and Allriandre are supposed to be uncomfortable, though I don't anticipate the average reader being able to pick out why. Anyone with any sort of experience with similar situations, however, will identify that something is deeply wrong with the way Wayne sees the world. His inability to understand boundaries, and his almost pathological need to PROVE that he's not a bad person any more, lead to him far, far overstepping. (His treatment of Steris is another example.)

    Wayne is trying. This is all what makes him work for me as a real character, not as just a goofy sidekick, but you shouldn't just laugh it off and say, "Oh, that Wayne." He is deeply troubled, and isolation in the roughs--with someone who just kind of let him do his thing--did not help.

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    faragorn

    I have a question about the Everstorm.

    It appears the Parshendi kept singing long past the point necessary to summon the storm. It could be they didn't know when to stop, but there are other possibilities. Could the storm have been stopped or weakened if the Alethi armi had hit them earlier? Does the time they were stopped affect the number of Odium-spren in the storm?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO, I'm afraid.

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    har

    Is Cephandrius the real name of the character who goes by different names on different planets?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, but it's one of his earliest aliases.

    faragorn

    I'm positive this is RAFO bait but would one of Hoid's aliases possibly be Cephandrius?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Hoid is Cephandrius. It's less an alias and more a long term identity. If you read Dragonsteel, it is super obvious.

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    harsh20483

    Leras mentioned something like Cephandrius had the choice/chance to take up a Shard but declined. So was the Shattering an event that was predicted to happen so that people like Leras, Ati, Rayse, etc to be present at that time to pick up the Shards after the Shattering.

    Brandon Sanderson

    There's more to it than that, but some of what you say is close.

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    Botanica

    Hey Brandon, may I ask if the red-haired woman on the Dayside map is a kind of depiction of one of Bavadin's personas?

    Brandon Sanderson

    She is not. Isaac designed that border without any explicit instructions from me, so while he might have an idea of who it is, it isn't someone specifically relevant to large-scale cosmere workings.

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    esh99

    I know there isn't a short story from Nalthis in the collection, but I still would have liked a Solar Map and Brief overview of the system in the Arcanum Unbounded. Maybe it could have just included the Warbreaker prologue and a link to the free download? The fact that even White Sand (an unpublished book/unfinished graphic novel) had one but Nalthis doesn't is a shame...

    Brandon Sanderson

    Truth is, part of me felt I'd find time for a Nalthis story at some point, but it never worked out. Edgedancer's length and involvement in the main Stormlight story sucked away the time for doing a Nalthis story. Maybe it would have just been better to stick one in, with no story, but it felt weird to me. Hindsight, looking at the book, I probably would do it if I had the chance over again.

    fixer1987

    Could the map and Khriss essay for Nalthis perhaps be released on your website/Tor's website sometime after Oathbringer's release or during the revision process for it.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I was thinking maybe we release it around the time of the paperback of the collection, if I can find time to get it done. But the Oathbringer release would be another good idea--maybe I'll do that instead.

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    emailanimal

    [Brandon] must have had enough of chuckles every time someone referred to Bavadin as a "he" over the past few years.....

    Brandon Sanderson

    Bavadin has several male personas, and has often appeared as male for one purpose or another, so it's not that much of an issue. She has more female personas, but some of the male ones are quite popular.

    This won't be relevant for a long while, but as a service to the community, let me say this: try not to get too hung up on gender, race, or even human appearance where Bavadin is concerned. There are some peoples who worship entire pantheons where every member is actually her.

    Argent

    There are some peoples who worship entire pantheons where every member is actually her.

    I think that's hilarious.

    I've been meaning to ask a similar question for a few days now, I am glad someone else did and you replied. Bavadin is now instantly super interesting to me!

    Brandon Sanderson

    Bavadin is awesome. One regret of finally moving on from White Sand (and doing the graphic novel, instead of doing an entire trilogy myself) is because I won't get to show her off as a character for a while. It should still happen, mind you, but I have enough on my plate right now that I just can't do it all.

    Argent

    Eh, it's alright. The more we wait to see her, the more practice writing you will have when you do write her, and the more awesome she will be to us :) Are we going to see her in White Sand first though, or elsewhere?

    I've also been talking with a couple of friends about Ambition, who happens to be a Shard I love unconditionally just because of his?her? mandate. So I should ask - how tight-lipped do you intend to be with information about it? Can we prod for a little bit of trivia, or is it too early for that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm going to be pretty tight-lipped for now. Let's at least let White Sand finish first--you will find her in there, though her touch on the story (directly) is light. She prefers to allow her personas to become the focus of attention.