Questioner
I do have one question that I have no idea if you'll answer. Aronack?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes. Wow, you're going way back.
Questioner
Well it gets worse, I noticed the name both in Dragonsteel [Prime] and in some chapters from Liar of Partinel--
Brandon Sanderson
Yes.
Questioner
Was that a cannibalization? Or is that two separate appearances?
Brandon Sanderson
So Liar of Partinel was a re-envisioning of... Dragonsteel and so there were certain things I was changing but that's not one of them. That's the same person.
Questioner
So was that story arc just-- Okay it's just the same thing?
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah.
Questioner
How has the process of portraying women changed from Elantris to the more recent books?
Brandon Sanderson
Portraying women? A couple of things. I would say the primary one is just getting better at characterization all around. And the other one has been kind of this-- *sighs* struggle to figure out how to make every female character's conflict be about her role-- Not just her relationships, that one's not as big a deal because-- I mean if you look at the male characters, they all have relationship issues too, right? But it's more like fighting against-- Like if every woman is fighting against society's expectations of her that becomes a cliche very quickly and there are plenty of people, of both genders who are fighting against society's expectations but people of both genders are like "This is my society, I'm part of this" it's not fighting against it it's "finding my place". It's very difficult though when you are writing characters in states of conflict. So, I don't know.
Questioner
I read Shadows of Self and Elantris back-to-back, and that was really interesting to see the differences between the first published and most recent published.
Brandon Sanderson
Right, yeah. Those books will have some very big differences.
Ted
What happened in the Cognitive Realm during the Catacendre?
Brandon Sanderson
Um… *sighs* So, um... Have you read Secret History?
Ted
Yes.
Brandon Sanderson
You are in the Cognitive Realm for the Catacendre in Secret History, that's some things that happened. Saying what happened there is like saying "what happened on Earth in 19--"
Ted
Well I was thinking more like what you couldn't see on-screen, if you would comment on that.
Brandon Sanderson
"What you see is what you get for that one." Is what I'm going to say of it.
Brandon Sanderson
*reading a personalization request* Specifically what Khriss knows about the red haze around Scadrial and if she was trying to clue Wax in on the situation.
I can't tell you what Khriss knows about the red haze. Definitely not. She knows too much and I-- ...I can say "She knows too much".
Questioner
So Nightblood is basically a Shardblade from a different god-Shard--
Brandon Sanderson
Yes.
Questioner
--is that how it works?
Brandon Sanderson
Mmhmm.
Questioner
Are there going to be-- Are there Allomantic Shardblades?
Brandon Sanderson
Not yet... And the Nightblood experiment has been an interesting experiment.
Questioner
I wanted to know what your stance on gods were, if you were trying-- If you had a meta-message about God.
Brandon Sanderson
If I what?
Questioner
If you had a meta-message about God.
Brandon Sanderson
I do not really. What I'm fascinated by ends up in the books and I'm fascinated by religion. But even in something like The Stormlight Archive, I don't want there necessarily even be a definitive answer? There are god... lowercase "g" gods. Whether there is a capital "G" God is still, in my opinion, left to the interpretation of various people. I'm not necessarily trying to say anything specific, I'm trying to say what the different characters say. Does that make sense? Jasnah doesn't speak my belief, but neither does Dalinar. But they speak their belief, and I try to respect their belief the best I can. So it's more like trying to be true to the different characters.
Questioner
Are you considering doing and more digital versions with the annotations kind of baked in, similar to Warbreaker?
Brandon Sanderson
I'd have to write more annotations for it to really be relevant and the time do that has just vanished on me. So maybe we'll get the original Mistborn trilogy done that way. But I'm less certain I will ever get any more annotations written.
Questioner
How effective would pewter Allomancy and iron Feruchemy be in a Twinborn?
Brandon Sanderson
That would do some really cool stuff. Some really cool stuff.
Questioner
The next tattoo I'm going to get will be the Oaths from the Windrunners, because they are a huge part of my life. And I was just wondering if you'd be able to give me one of them? There's two more, right?
Brandon Sanderson
There are more Oaths.
Questioner
Or if you could tell me which books they're going to come out in, so I can plan on--
Brandon Sanderson
So that's a huge spoiler, and they're recording me right now. So I can, maybe, if you promise you're not going to share this on the internet... So I can give you Oath #3. That'll be it for a while
Questioner
Okay, that's fine. I appreciate it...
Brandon Sanderson
That's the wording as I have it in my head right now. I might not use the exact words, but that's okay because the Oaths are concepts and each person who speaks them will speak them slightly differently. Like you will see in future books people speaking Oaths you have seen before, they'll be slightly reworded to match their personality. But that's the concept. You might be able to see that it's a very important thing.
Questioner
Can spren be put back together, through Bondsmiths rejoined, as Shards can be joined and combined?
Brandon Sanderson
That, um… so what do you mean by spren put back together?
Questioner
Could a Bondsmith combine spren in the way that Shards can be combined?
Brandon Sanderson
Ok, so the answer is they can be combined. Whether the Bondsmith is a method or not I won't say, but spren can be combined.
Questioner
The Mistborn Era Three is going to be set in like present day. Are there going to be like Coinshots doing ear piercings and like carpenter work and y'know...
Brandon Sanderson
You'll just have to see.
Questioner
Which character, do you feel, would be the most "at-home" in this world that we live in here?
Brandon Sanderson
Most at-home? *long pause* Hoid?
Questioner
Do you have master-copies of all of these carved in metal so Ruin and Preservation can't...
Brandon Sanderson
*laughs* Well they're gone, Harmony is around. I don't mind if he reads'em.
Questioner
For Dalinar, is forgetting his wife the curse, or…
Brandon Sanderson
That's a Read And Find Out.
Questioner
So is it just a coincidence that both Vin and Kelsier are Mistborn with siblings who are Seekers?
Brandon Sanderson
Um… Mostly a coincidence.
Questioner
When someone is born as a Misting, is the type of Misting they are dependent on random chance or genetics or their personality? Is that something...
Brandon Sanderson
Genetics.
Questioner
When will we find out what the Nightwatcher looks like?
Brandon Sanderson
Um… well, Dalinar, in the past, met the Nightwatcher. Dalinar's third book is getting flashback sequences to his past experiences. You can postulate that one of those important past experiences might be a visit to the Nightwatcher.
Questioner
So the surprise with Lessie at the end of the last book [Shadows of Self], at what point did you know-- Like did you know that in... writing Alloy of Law?
Brandon Sanderson
I knew that at the end of Alloy of Law. So what I do is I write a book, and then I go and build a series out of it. So I wrote Alloy of Law. I then built a series out of it, then I went and wrote the prologue to Alloy of Law. And then I released Alloy of Law. I did a revision too to make sure it was all in there. And so, actual writing of Alloy of Law? No. By the time I'd done the revisions on Alloy of Law? Yes. And then I built the three book outline that would be the trilogy you are now in the middle of.
And Mistborn had some similiar things where I wrote the first book, then outlined second two, and revised the first one, then wrote the second two. It works really well for me doing that with a trilogy, because you get some spontaneity for the first book, and you know how the characters are and you can build a larger framework for them.
Questioner
As the Cosmere gets a lot bigger, what is your biggest worry going forward writing the books?
Brandon Sanderson
Going forward, my biggest worry is making sure that I do things like get The Stormlight Archive done as a solid, complete whole, rather than letting it become... like, too distracted about the Cosmere. Like, I'm not worried about that for Mistborn, but I'm worried about that for Stormlight. Stormlight needs to be a self-contained whole, it needs to be a self-contained epic, and I have to be really careful not to-- in the later books in particular-- let it turn into the Avengers, something like that. So that's my biggest worry right now, is that I will let too much of that seep in. I'm being very careful about it.
Questioner
I'm the guy who asked about the game.
Brandon Sanderson
Oh right, so have you guys released stuff?
Questioner
No. I have an app, that's a level builder, that is technically published but it's *audio obscured* the guy who's doing the art *audio obscured*
Brandon Sanderson
Like I do wish you the best of luck. My friends at ChAIR, Epic Games, they were just BYU guys who got together to release their own game but I need to do it with people who have done things before.
Questioner
Oh yeah. After we get a couple--
Brandon Sanderson
After you get a couple games, if you come to me. Because I have some really cool ideas for how a great Rithmatist game would work. Like I think what you would want to have is pieces of chalklings that people could piece together, and then they have to draw their chalkling and they’d piece together their circle and then enter into a duel with someone else on their own iPad and you have to trace your circle. You trace it. And whoever get's done first get's a bonus to their strength or whatever, but whoever's most accurate also gets one. Stuff like that would be a lot of fun to be able to do.
Questioner
My question is about Shai, is she going to meet Hoid in person? Like I read your State of the Sanderson, is it going to be another short story or is it going to be in the Elantris books possibly?
Brandon Sanderson
If I-- When I write future Elantris books you're likely to see her in those.
Questioner
Or before maybe in shorter stuff like this *audio obscured*
Brandon Sanderson
We'll have to see, like shorter stuff I can never say when the shorter stuff is going to happen because it's where-- I funnel the random inspirations I get now into the shorter stuff. And the big books I have planned, I just don't have room for more big books, so when I get an idea I'm like "We'll do a novella on that instead".
Questioner
This is just from our discussion earlier. So Taravangian… He asks for two things. The capacity to stop what is coming and the capacity to save humankind. And then he gets this weird thing to happen. Is the intelligence and empathy thing because both of those things can't come true at the same time?
Brandon Sanderson
That's an excellent question. RAFO!
Moderator
Let me ask a parallel to that. Are those-- Does the Nightwatcher perceive those as the same boon or two parallel boons?
Brandon Sanderson
RAFO!
Questioner
*audio obscured*
Brandon Sanderson
Honestly? I just, these days, say "It kind of looks something like this" and he [Isaac Stewart] reads the book and finds any references I've made and comes up with something. I can trust him to the point that I don't have to worry too much about it. On some I'll give him a shape. On Roshar I gave him the shape, and said "It's like this" and then I split things up. Because that one shape was very important to me. But like Mistborn I'm like "It looks kind of like this. Go for it."
Isaac Stewart
*audio obscured*
Brandon Sanderson
Oh yeah I sent an MS Paint thing.
Questioner
So what would happen if [Lift] ate Nightblood? *laughter*
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah, eating Nightblood would not be a smart idea for anyone. *laughter* Nightblood would eat you. In Soviet Russia, sword eats you? I don't know…
Questioner
If Lift ate something that had like, gold leaf on it, 'cause some foods like-- She would be turning that gold leaf into Investiture or Stormlight, right?
Brandon Sanderson
If it is giving-- So the gold leaf would probably pass through her system.
Questioner
So she wouldn't be...
Brandon Sanderson
Mmhmm, yes, that things that she eats that she can metabolize, she can turn into Stormlight.
Questioner
The three travelers in Way of Kings, we know who they are. Did they know about the cosmere in the books that they appeared in?
Brandon Sanderson
Uhhh…
Questioner
Cosmere or Seventeenth Shard.
Brandon Sanderson
I'm just checking each of them. No, no, and no.
Questioner
So something happened in their lives afterward?
Brandon Sanderson
Yep… That's an excellent question.
Questioner
So was Vasher, or the lady that created-- that was part of the process creating Nightblood a worldhopper, then?
Brandon Sanderson
Vasher had been to Roshar before he created Nightblood, yes.
Questioner
Has Hoid had a direct interaction with the Nightwatcher at this point. You said he'd be calling her very nasty names?
Brandon Sanderson
*nervous laughter* Hoid is… let's go ahead and RAFO that one.
Questioner
You called Nightblood a miscrea-- a misformed Shardblade.
Brandon Sanderson
A Shardblade created with a different magic system.
Questioner
Is that an intentional creation or mimicry? Or--
Brandon Sanderson
Yes, that is intentional.
Moderator
Intentional on the part of the person who made Nightblood…
Brandon Sanderson
Mmhmm.
Questioner
Did you get a little bit of inspiration for Dalinar's character from Captain Moroni?
Brandon Sanderson
Maybe unconsciously? Not specifically, but a little bit perhaps.
Questioner
So I've got to say, I love [Shadows Beneath] and I was wondering if you were doing any more projects like that.
Brandon Sanderson
Um, [Shadows Beneath], are we doing any more projects like that. Getting all four of us together to do something is tough. We have talked about doing one where we each write a story in someone else's world and I think that would be the most likely that you would see, like I write a John Cleaver story, and Dan writes a Stormlight story, and Mary writes a Schlock Mercenary story, something like that, but we don't have any immediate plans to do another [Shadows Beneath] where we brainstorm something on air like we did.
Questioner
Would that story be canon?
Brandon Sanderson
Would the story be canon? No, the story would not be canon. Most likely not. I mean, it's possible.
Questioner
Would it require a human-type person to have possession of one of the Shards? Would it interact the same way like if a dog were to somehow take it?
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah, a dog would probably not be able to do it. It's not outsi-- Yeah, a dog wouldn't be able to do it.
Questioner
So there probably wouldn't be some huge dog tearing up the furniture?
Brandon Sanderson
Probably not. No, good question, but nah.
Questioner
So what about other creatures that are intelligent but not human?
Brandon Sanderson
That's possible.
Questioner
Will iron mined-- created and mined on Roshar work to power Allomancy on Scadrial? This is a clarification from earlier session.
Brandon Sanderson
Um, hehe… Okay, so what do you want to have happen, talk to me. Explain to me--
Questioner
…Iron is iron, does it have the same effect if it will be iron that was created on Roshar--
Brandon Sanderosn
Oh, I see what you're saying.
Questioner
--power Allomancy on Scadrial--
Brandon Sanderson
The metals are themselves-- and I've said this before, I think, but-- the metals themselves-- where you get it is not relevant.
Moderator
So if say Wit is drinking flakes on Roshar, then those flakes could be Roshar-derived.
Brandon Sanderson
Yes.
Questioner
What would happen if a Leecher touched Nightblood?
Brandon Sanderson
*nervous laughter* If a Leecher touched Nightblood the Leecher would be dead. That would not end well.
Questioner
For the Leecher.
Brandon Sanderson
For the Leecher.
Questioner
My question's about Secret History, specifically it's kind of a two-parter. The first part's easier to answer. Is it relevant that the glowing substance that Hoid puts on his oar is very similarly described as the same stuff that the Ire drink, the glowing--
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah, that is relevant.
Questioner
And does it have to do with Connection.
Brandon Sanderson
Ah… *sighs* Yes, but not the way you're thinking. That's a "I'm wiggling out of..." Yes, it has to do with Connection, but so does a dog. Cause a dog is Connected to things. *laughs in the audience* You said "does it have to do with"! The answer is yes.
Brandon Sanderson
*following a question concerning information from Dragonsteel Prime* I'm not 100% on anything in that-- those books are canon
Questioner
Someone who has Breath Investiture, can they give Breath to somebody who doesn't, so like somebody from Scadrial, or--
Brandon Sanderson
Yes.
Questioner
Would the Scadrian be able to use it?
Brandon Sanderson
Yes. You have seen people from off-planet who have Breath before.
Moderator
Or, indeed, perfect pitch?
Brandon Sanderson
Uhuh. *laughter* And are making use of it in a variety of ways.
Questioner
In Bands of Mourning you got more into the Connection element and gave us some hints there. During a previous seminar a question came up on how that relates to your Physical, Cognitive, and Spiritual Realm. I guess, we've talked about if people were to go different places it seems from the hints you've given in your books that there's a Physical aspect to Connection as far as where people are when they use the Connection as well as there's some ideal with… in the Secret History that we've got, when Kelsier was, when he wasn't Connected enough to Preservation. So can you give us anything more--
Brandon Sanderson
I just gave you a ton in Secret History! So much! I gave you a lot in Secret History to philosophize upon, this is very relevant to a lot of the things that happen in the cosmere.
Questioner
I guess, specifically, does someone have to have both-- with Connection, are there more than one elements that people would have to have to have Connection to provide avenue to power from a different area.
Brandon Sanderson
Oh, um… there are multiple things that could help with it, yes. There are certain things that you can Connect through to make one strong Connection would be enough for a variety of magics, yeah.
Brandon Sanderson
*after reading a personalization request* What do you mean by specifically what Paalm was doing, which thing?
Questioner
Her ultimate goal, we think, was to Shatter Harmony.
Brandon Sanderson
You think her ultimate goal was to Shatter Harmony?
Questioner
*audio obscured*
Brandon Sanderson
Her ultimate goal was to free people from Harmony, so I wouldn't say her ultimate goal was to Shatter Harmony. So what you're asking me is "Is Taravangian trying to combine Harmony?
Questioner
We thought that Paalm was trying to divide people from Harmony in order to Shatter Him. *audio obscured* Taravangian was doing the opposite, trying to gather his people so that he could pick up-- so Honor could come back.
Brandon Sanderson
Not really. Good question, once I figured it out.
Questioner
In the beginning of Way of Kings, the first one, you start and Gavilar has a sphere that he passes off to Szeth and says "Give this to my brother, keep this safe away from them". It says it's dark but has its own inner light, but it hasn't been brought up again.
Brandon Sanderson
No.
Questioner
Is it going to be brought up again?
Brandon Sanderson
It will be brought up again.
Questioner
How-- Is it important? Or is it more mi--
Brandon Sanderson
It's important… ish.
Questioner
Ish? Does it have anything to do with Odium?
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah.
Questioner
In The Emperor's Soul… you indicate sort of the opposite of the kandra in regards to… Soulstamps can be made with bone and are considered the lesser, with crystal is the highest. With kandras, if their true bodies are crystal, they are considered weak. Bones are considered strong.
Brandon Sanderson
Ehhh… I'm gonna stop you right there, just because that's gonna depend on the kandra, and their age, and how they feel about it. There are plenty of kandra, I think MeLaan would argue against that and be like "No! Non-bone true bodies are way better! Look, I can take my hands off and stab people with the swords underneath. This is super better!" Whereas TenSoon would be like, "That's not…" It's a little bit like when I was in Korea, and people are like "Things made out of concrete just feel worse! It's bad for the kibun to always be surrounded by concrete. Wood is better for you." I… think there are people who would disagree with that, I think there are people who would totally agree with that.
Questioner
My question. If you were to combine a Soulstamp of a crystal, with a kandra true body of a crystal, would they have additional powers that could compete with regards to Mistborn. If it compounds?
Brandon Sanderson
Alright, so if you took the crystal that they're making Soulstamps out of and you gave it to a kandra, and they used it for bones, generally the kandra are not drawing any sort of extra Investiture or power from the bones, they're making-- they're using. That's-- Though TenSoon would argue that I'm wrong. *general laughter*
Questioner
So we've seen three different cultures of people on Scadrial. Is Harmony involved… well, we can probably assume there's probably more cultures, but there are…
Brandon Sanderson
There are more, yes.
Questioner
Is Harmony involved in all of them, or is he-- Does he pretty much keep his attention on the main one.
Brandon Sanderson
Harmony considers himself the god of all of them.
Questioner
Will we ever see an entire map of how the different planets are spaced out in the Physical--
Brandon Sanderson
Oh, yeah, the Cosmere collection will have a star chart of the cosmere.
Moderator
A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Cosmere, if you will…
Brandon Sanderson
Now, you've got to remember that at the point that this comes out-- The collection's been interesting for a couple of reasons. For one reason, the collection's coming out before Sixth of the Dusk happens in the cosmere, right? And so Khriss gives an introduction to each world, so you'll find her introduction to First of the Sun to be a very interesting introduction that doesn't know things that you know because of that. In addition, the star chart is a star chart created by people who are not spacefaring, right? And so it is a star chart more along the lines of-- It may not be one hundred percent to scale and things like that, like they've been able to figure out a lot of things by using the Cognitive Realm, so they'd be like "alright, here's the relationship", but it will be a while before you get what feels like a Star Trek star chart. Your star chart you're gonna get in this is a fantasy star chart, which will give you the relative positions and things like that, but it's not gonna be like you can measure exactly, which we do have! But I'm not gonna give you yet. *audience laughs*
Moderator
Are you referring to Arcanum Unbound?
Brandon Sanderson
Arcanum Unbounded, yeah.
Questioner
At the end of The Rithmatist that weird chalk creature he meets in the chapel, can you tell us something about that?
Brandon Sanderson
That weird chalk creature is deeply involved with the magic system and you will find out a lot more in the next book.
Questioner
Is there going to be a map of a recommended reading order or is it…
Brandon Sanderson
Oh, yeah, that's a great question, is there gonna be a recommended reading order. So I've started building a guide similar to the one that they put in the back of Terry Pratchett's books in the US. I don't find that guide incredibly helpful, so I'd want to create one that is helpful, that is basically like what we put on the front page where we list all the books saying "if this intimidates you, turn to this page", and then I'll have kind of a discussion of what the varied series are, and what the entry points are and what-- just kind of like a "what is the style of this book". Like if I can say, you know, if you're really interested, if you're, um, you know, Warbreaker, if you want a standalone, a little bit more romance, a little bit more kind of humor and things like that-- Warbreaker. If you're like "I would love something superaction-oriented that has lots of explosions", then Steelheart, right? And if you're like "I like swimming in the deep end. I want to jump in feet first and see how deep it goes", then we send you to Stormlight, right? And I want to have these introductions at the end and kind of give a sort of mention of "A lot of these are connected, you don't need to read them in any specific--", stuff like that. And we're gonna try and get that starting in books, in the near future.
Questioner
So three Vin & Elend books, and then four Wax and Wayne, and five of the next ones?
Brandon Sanderson
No, we'll probably go back to three, but they'll be big, thick ones again. So... I haven't actually named the main characters of the next one yet. I'll have to think about that, so I can tell people what it is.
KalynaAnne
We've kind of circled around the issue, but Professor Layton has talked about conics in general. Are we going to see hyperbolic lines and parabolas *audio obscured*
Brandon Sanderson
So, there is discussion of that in my notes, we'll see if I can get to it. It's more-- The cultural stuff for book two is more important to me right now, I'm not sure how far I will advance Rithmatics in the next book or not, but we will do some kind of origin stuff and fundamentals in the next one.
Questioner
In Alloy of Law, Marasi goes to see Wax in his house and he was doing experiments, she describes him as being oddly-- looking oddly younger than he had before. Is that relevant or is that just because he’s excited about--
Brandon Sanderson
Yeah it's more that, and more she had this picture in her head of him and things like that. There's no actual magical thing going on there. It's an excellent question.
Questioner
With Awakening, given that you know the correct command word, could you potentially give anything to the other person, using Awakening?
Brandon Sanderson
Using Awakening, it has to be related to the fundamental aspects of Investiture.
Bystander
Which are…?
Questioner
How would we find what those are?
Brandon Sanderson
…How would you find what those are? Spend a lot of time researching the cosmere, have some conversations with Khriss, and come up with some theories! …There's a bunch of them written in the books and indicated, so yes.
Questioner
In Warbreaker, Hoid's about to tell a story and he starts pulling out sand, some black sand. Is this from the planet that White Sand is from?
Brandon Sanderson
Good question, and that's a RAFO.
