When Honor speaks of his inability to see the future, he likens it to a shattering window. Is this related to the fact that in the not-too-distant future, he himself will be splintered? Or is it more a matter of Intent; e.g., Cultivation (and Preservation?) is geared toward future development, whereas Honor is geared toward current behavior.
This is not related to his impending Splintering, it is a matter of differing Intents.
What are the pre-requisites for someone becoming Returned? Does it depend on how much Breath they have?
It does not depend on the quantity of breath, but I'm not revealing the specific pre-requisites, since I need to save something for Nightblood.
Does Wit specifically treat people differently when he knows they're going to have a spren bond? (E.g. Renarin, Dalinar)
Yes, Wit treats people differently, but it is not because of present or nascent spren bonds. He has an opinion of what each person needs to hear. He isn't always correct in this opinion, but he tries to give people what he thinks they need. In Dalinar's case, he simply has too much respect for the man to be glib. In Renarin's case, he believes that the boy has had more than enough breaking down, and is much more in need of building up.
There are hints in Words of Radiance that the Thrill is tied to an individual entity that Taravangian has studied, possibly one of the Unmade. Does this have anything to do with the hints of why the Knights Radiant turned away? Were the Unmade some of those who did whatever-it-was that tore them apart?
[This is the one where he stopped me partway through asking, probably due to the wording]. Does it have anything to do with it? Yes. Is it the root cause or the primary reason? I'm not going to reveal that right now.
Is the order of the Ideals fixed? E.g. does Kaladin have to say the Windrunner Ideals in a specific order, or are they situation-specific?
Yes, the sequence is fixed. The oaths for each order are essentially a progression of understanding of the kind of person that each Order of Knights Radiant is trying to produce. The specific wording of each Ideal is not fixed, but the overall idea of each Ideal, and the order in which they are spoken, is.
What's going on with the Mistborn movie, and how can I get involved?
One of the conditions I set for the movie is that there has to be an open casting call. The film branch of Little Orbit has purchased the rights. If they complete the game within 18 months, they can renew their rights and keep working on producing the movie; otherwise, the rights will go up for sale to someone else.
How much can you explain about Dalinar's armor and how he was able to "mentally unlatch his gauntlet"?
This is definitely something a regular person couldn't do with regular armor. You can see in his visions hints of how the armor used to work. This is similar to Shardblades, and more will be revealed later.
What is the home planet of the Ones Above (from Sixth of the Dusk)?
They are from a planet you have seen before.
Let's say some Mistborn jerk tosses Nightblood into the mists. What happens?
I suspect the mists would pull away from Nightblood, though he'd try to feed on them.
If the Lord Ruler joined the Knights Radiant, what order would he fit in best?
Lord Ruler might make an okay Skybreaker, but not a great one.
Can a pewter Feruchemist go all fiddler crab? Store a bunch of strength from one arm, tap it into the other?
So far, any Freuchemist we've seen has been required to enhance their entire body or make their entire body weaker.
Let's say we had a platypus Feruchemist, who can sense electric fields. Could he make a tinmind for that sense?
Platypus tinmind should work.
Do synthetic gemstones work in fabrials too?
Synthetic gemstones should work. It's a combination of color and chemical structure that's important. Just like metals from off Scadrial would work for an Allomancer, synthetic gemstones should work.
You're in Houston, questions of Oil & Gas and energy sources will be naturally be bandied about.
Naturally.
Is the gasoline on Scadrial a fossil fuel or biodiesel?
Oh. Hmm. Well It's fossil fue... No. What they're using now is mostly biodiesel, I think. It's not something we really talked out.
Ok, we had a whole thread on 17th Shard and even discussed how scientifically fossil fuels could have been put into place during the Catacendre.
Well, fossil fuels are possible, and I don't want to seem like I'm clearly giving credence to those that believe in a Young Earth, but Scadrial is a relatively young planet. Relatively.
Young Earth doesn't bother me, though I know I'm not the majority.
Where on Scadrial is it being produced? No mention of refineries in Elendel or the Roughs.
Where on Scadrial... Well it's... I'm going to have to RAFO that for now. It starts to touch on questions of the future as they will need more fuels for travel and they'll need to look for different sources.
How much of the big cosmere stuff will be in Stormlight 3-5?
Not much. Just hints. The big cosmere stuff will come in Mistborn Era 3 and things more like Mistborn: Secret History for a long while. Some people just don't care about it.
If a person stores a lot of Investiture, could they resist a Shardblade?
This is theoretically possible.
Did Rashek use the Well or a bead of lerasium to become a Mistborn?
He didn't know at first, I told him there were interviews with him saying both, and he eventually answered with "I'm canonizing it as he used the Well".
Do Gasper Ferrings and Surgebinders holding their breath use similar mechanisms to hold their breath?
It's not the same, but it is similar.
I read recently you sold the rights to the Mistborn movies, was that a purchase or an option?
It was an option, no purchase has been made yet.
Is a Shard's influence of power based on Physical distance, Cognitive distance, something else, or does it vary from Shard to Shard?
It varies, but is definitely more Physical.
So for Kaladin's depression and Stormlight's healing abilities, does Kaladin remain depressed because of his view of himself, or is it a limitation of Stormlight's abilities to heal, or something else?
Disorders like depression are a part of a person's personality, and thus aren't diseases and cannot be cured. He talked a lot about this, and he talked about how a hyper kid annoys people but that doesn't mean there's something wrong.
Were the Edgedancers sort of like social workers?
He laughed at this question, and said that was sort of accurate, but they were more like good Samaritans than social workers.
Of all the published shardworlds, which one is your favorite to write and which would you want to live on.
One he wants to live on would definitely be Scadrial, because they have running water and electricity. Favorite to write is Roshar. He would not want to live on any of them though because they don't have internet or delivery pizza. (He later stated that delivery pizza would likely be a thing Scadrial would get, but that it would not be delivered via Coinshots because they were too expensive)
What connection is there between Lifeless and Shard-severed limbs?
They are similar, but different. With Lifeless it's due to the soul being drained away, shrinking to nearly nothing. With Shard-severed limbs, that portion of the soul is sheared clean away.
Where's Marsh?
Investigating the Southern Continent of Scadrial.
How do Shallan's Memory blinks work? When she takes a Memory, is it of what she sees in the instant before her eyes close, or is it while they're closed?
It is what she sees right as they're closing.
Any news on Alcatraz 5?
He said he wrote the book last summer, and is waiting for the greenlight from Tor to hand it off, basically. They want to publish books 1-4 first, followed by this one. But the only thing needed is a schedule and edits! Still sounds like an early/mid 2016 thing to me.
Were there cadmium/bendalloy and possibly chromium/nicrosil mistings in the Final Empire? If yes, were the mists Snapping those too?
Um, yes, there were, but since the mists were trying to create a pattern to be a sign, and people didn't know all the metals, they (the mists) had to use substitutions. They were acting the way we've seen other cognitive shadows, who are deceased, act.
Are the Elantrian pool and Horneater lake connected?
They are the same thing.
Can any Oathgate go to any of the 11 locations?
As far as [the people who discovered Urithiru] are aware, the gates can only go to Urithiru.
How and when is the type of Misting you become determined? Can you tell what type of Misting you are before you Snap?
It's determined at birth. The cosmere by combining 3 aspects of self. Your physical self, mental self, and spiritual self. The spiritual self is tied to the Investiture of the world that you come from. When an Allomancer snaps, a piece of their soul is broken and some of that power leaks into them, giving them their abilities.
So Alethi hair "breeds true" based on the individual's ancestry, why then does Renarin have more black than Adolin?
As with us regular people, different shades of skin can be had within the same family with the same parents, its just a matter of how their DNA falls out. No different here. Nothing special with Adolin and Renarin's hair.
Can you write in one of my books about something we don't know about the Shards, or at least one of the Shards?
*written* Odium has killed at least one more Shard than the ones we know about.
Can you tell me how long it was from the Shattering of Adonalsium to the prelude of The Way of Kings when the Heralds abandoned the Oathpact?
Current timeline, which I have NOT canonized, is around 6,000 years... I have not finished with my outline document yet.
'Cause I've looked at the current chronology and it's very, very spotty...
Yes it is... the real trick is... making sure that I fit in, for instance, White Sand and things with the proper amount... because I haven't released that book series yet, I have to make sure while we're doing the graphic novel, that it fits the chronology, which is why I can't quite canonize things yet.
That one takes place before Way of Kings doesn't it?
Yes
'Cause I know one of the worldhoppers from there shows up in Way of Kings...
Yeah, White Sand is one of the very earliest.
I've picked up in bits in pieces that it's possible, for some people at least, to use the Shardpools to worldhop...
Yes.
Can non-Invested people do that, or do you have to have some form of Investiture?
*hesitantly* Every individual is Invested to some extent...
Do you have to have any special Investiture above and beyond the normal spark of life?
I'm gonna go ahead and RAFO that.
Sabriel was his inspiration for unique rule based magic systems.
What is Renarin's eye color?
PAFO - Peter and find out. He gets to canonize it.
Why can only women read in [The] Stormlight Archive?
Immediately after the Recreance an old book was used to argue for the idea that only men should be picking up the blades and plate, fighting was a masculine art. Over a period of 20 or so years this became established and some women used the same argument to take back some power by taking literacy for themselves as a feminine art.
I asked if knowing the positions/orbits of the moons would be enough to predict the [highstorms].
He said not enough. You need the historical records of storms as well because there is a pattern. You need that pattern and the tides, to correctly predict the timing of the storms. He said it was more than a simple beat.
I then turned back and asked, "Are you saying the highstorms are music?"
He replied, "I didn't say they were music. You said that."
How do you come up with names?
He takes a culture then breaks down the linguistics of it and its kind of complicated but he uses the rules from one language, then breaks them and makes his own?
Have we seen the [Seventeenth Sharders] from the Way of Kings interlude before?
You have seen two of them, the third is from an unpublished work that will be coming out soon in graphic novel format.
Who are the 3 travelers in [The Way of Kings]?
We've seen 2 of them already.
The third will be in the graphic novels that are coming soon
The non-cosmere works/series are not related to each other or in the same universe.
Are the non-cosmere books related?
No, Earth is just generally non-cosmere, but they're not related.
If the Lord Ruler captured Shai and gave her 100 days to craft a soulstamp that could turn an iron Hemalurgic spike into a steel Hemalurgic spike, could she do it?
Yes, but she would need a boost of power to do it. Affecting an Invested object is hard.
Can Shai change Hemalurgic spikes?
Yes, but it costs a lot of power and she wouldn't be able to do it alone.
[Brandon] said in the lecture that he took a programming course in college. He was asked if we will ever see a programming language as a magic system?
We already have. Reread Elantris.
He's taken programming classes, and someone wanted to know if he'll apply that knowledge into magic systems.
Yes, see: Elantris.
Is Hoid's sword when he is the King's Wit an Invested object?
No. It is a badge of office as the King's Wit. Hoid isn't even that good with a sword.
Favorite thing Hoid's done?
RAFO, sorta. A lot of his fave things have happened off screen that we're not supposed to know about (yet). Wit is his fave role that we've seen!
[the_archduke] missed the question but someone seemed to be berating Brandon in line about how poorly Glys treats Renarin, like it was abusive or something.
Brandon said that that relationship is different, even for a Nahel bond. And we will see a lot more of Renarin in the next book.
Are Mat's [from The Wheel of Time] memories from the past his own or other people's?
Other people's.
What is the relationship between Nightwatcher and Cultivation?
I expected a hard RAFO, but he said Nightwatcher compared to Cultivation is similar to Stormfather compared to Honor.
How long of an in-book time break between the two 5 book arcs in The Stormlight Archive?
10-15 years
