Recent entries

    Orem Signing ()
    #4103 Copy

    JoyBlu

    Okay, A larkin and an aviar. Could you tell us how they're related - are they a bit similar? Other than that they both fly.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would not call them terribly similar. A larkin is a specific type of creature that feeds off of Investiture. And there are some other things like that in the Cosmere. But aviar don't do that. Aviar have a symbiosis with an Invested entity. Aviar are more like, they're kind of weird because they fulfill both the role of a spren, but also the person that's bonding the spren. They're an intermediary.

    JoyBlu

    Okay. And larkins don't have feathers, right?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Larkins do not have feathers. They look like little... They look like wasps.

    JoyBlu

    Like wasps? That little?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, not that size, but that's the look of them. They're in the picture in the front of Way of Kings, the magic map. If we have Way of Kings here... We can grab it for you. If you go to my website for the art for Way of Kings, look up "Way of Kings art archive" on my website. It's not the cover, it's on the magic, the double eye symbol of the Knights Radiant in the inside cover flap. There's a pair of larkin there.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4108 Copy

    JoyBlu

    At the end of Oathbringer, Hoid is there, and he uses the Breath to talk to the doll, and he gives the doll to K-whoever - he gives it to someone named Cob and Kheni. So, is Kheni a Parshman?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'll RAFO that.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4109 Copy

    Questioner

    Do you have an update on when the Hemalurgy table's gonna be available on the website?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I do not. That's really Isaac, you bug him and poke him. Whenever he decides to release it. He's kinda just in charge of that. Karen's around, I don't know if she knows.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4110 Copy

    JoyBlu

    On the back of The Way of Kings, it says "I long for the days before the Last Desolation." Who's I?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is one of the Sleepless. You have not...

    JoyBlu

    And it ends in "One of them will destroy us." Okay. And I have it we don't know who the Sleepless is yet?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You know who the Sleepless... You don't know which one. It is not the one that you have met officially. I mean, you've met a couple of Sleepless, but it is not the one that Lift hung out with. He's a little odd, even for a Sleepless.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4111 Copy

    Questioner

    [Did you pull] from the story of Osiris for cosmere stuff?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I did use some Osiris myths for cosmere.

    Questioner

    So, how much mythology did you pull from?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Quite a bit. I have a deep interest in all kinds of mythologies. And I had a really good professor of folklore in college. I ended up really liking her, so I took a ton of classes from her. So, my senior course was mythology in folklore. So, yes, you'll find all kinds things from all over the place in the books.

    Questioner

    Even, I guess, just within different worlds, even within the different cultures.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Watch the stories Hoid tells. You'll be able to be like, "Oh, that's inspired by a coyote myth, right there." You'll pick them out here and there.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4112 Copy

    Questioner

    Of all the women that you've written, do you have one that was really fun to write?

    Brandon Sanderson

    In Wheel of Time, my favorite probably was writing Nynaeve at the ending. I had a lot of fun with her in the end. In my own, I would probably say Spensa was the most fun to write.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4113 Copy

    Questioner

    I think Navani is a bad person.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Why do you think that?

    Questioner

    Because Wit didn't like her at the beginning, and her daughter warned against her. And any romance with the main character can really <rush out>. I wanna know, is she a bad guy?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, that's definitely RAFO territory.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4115 Copy

    OrangeJedi

    Could a non-native be able to be Returned?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, that is possible.

    JoyBlu

    So someone who was born without a Breath and came to Nalthis could possibly be Returned?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Possibly could be Returned. Yes. That's not very likely.

    JoyBlu

    So they could get a Divine Breath, even though never...

    Brandon Sanderson

    They could be given a Divine Breath, yes.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4116 Copy

    JoyBlu

    In order to have a Breath, do you have to be native to Nalthis?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Not to be given Breaths, but people who are not native to Nalthis are not born with that Investiture.

    JoyBlu

    So, you have to be born on that planet?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There are exceptions. Most of the time.

    JoyBlu

    If both your parents were Nalthians, and they moved off planet, and they had a child that was born on a different planet—

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is possible for that child to have a Breath, but it would not continue too long. But yes, that child would probably have a Breath, depending...

    Joyblu

    If both of his parents had Breaths.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Mmmhmm.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4118 Copy

    Questioner

    How rare was it for somebody to get the warrior lenses from Alcatraz?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Those are not that rare. I would say they're one of the most common lenses. But you do have to go through some training and prove yourself, and things like that. So, as lenses, they're not that rare. But you're not gonna see them every day on people.

    Questioner

    So what are the most rare lenses?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, the lenses of Rashid would be the most rare, obviously. But a lot of the ones that Grandpa Smedry points out as being very rare... there are lots of very rare lenses that there are only one or two copies of around. And we don't deal with many of those, but there are a couple of them we mention.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4119 Copy

    JoyBlu

    Question about marriage. Is there, on Roshar, something to show that a woman is married? Like here we have our ring finger, do they have something?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, they don't have the same sort of cultural thing that we have on that.

    JoyBlu

    What about, what's the planet name with Siri, Vivenna, Warbreaker, is there anything in that one?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Depending on the culture, there are several.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4120 Copy

    Questioner

    Are there any Knights Radiant who broke their oaths in the Recreance that are still around in present day Stormlight time?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. Oh, that broke their oaths. You anticipated me. RAFO.

    Questioner

    But there are still ones around who haven't?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, Nale. That's my loophole there. That's who I was thinking of. But you said that did break their oaths, so you anticipated me on that one.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4121 Copy

    Questioner

    In Shadows of Silence, there's another guy named Red in that one, so that's our third guy named Red. Because we have Shallan's groupie, and then we have the guy in Mistborn that's named Red. So , there's three different ones named Red. Is that a coincidence? Or is that intentional?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4122 Copy

    Questioner

    I'm going to read you a real quote from Words of Radiance. It's Wit speaking, and he's talking to Kaladin. And he goes, "So you do have some spark of wit in you. It came from Kaladin's mother." So, I think that means that Kaladin is a descendant of Wit.

    Questioner 2

    And I think it means just literally that he has wit.

    Questioner

    So, which one do you think is right? Me, or him?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4124 Copy

    Questioner

    So, I noticed that you use a lot of principles of leadership and freedom in your books. Where do those come from?

    Brandon Sanderson

    A lot of the different things I've read. A lot of my own research, my own feelings on it. Talking to my friends who are in the military who know a lot about these sorts of things. What you get in the books is partially my own personal philosophy, but partially how I feel the character would feel about. You usually get a mix. It's not exactly what I think, but it's what I think the character would think, and I created the character.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4125 Copy

    Questioner

    When Mizzy becomes an Epic, what's her Epic power?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So I very carefully didn't mention that because I wanted the freedom for when I actually wrote the books. Right now I have it in my head involving detonations, but I don't want to actually canonize that because if I write the book I want to have the freedom to take it where I want to.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4126 Copy

    Questioner

    I was wondering, what would happen if you Steelpushed or Ironpulled on liquid metal?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It would work a lot like ferrofluid works. You'd be able to push or pull on it. It would just respond in a fluid way.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4129 Copy

    Questioner

    What's the most personal thing you've ever written?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Probably the third Legion story. Which is an odd answer, not as many people have read that, but that's the one I would give. If you ever get to that one, and you get to the third one, you may understand why.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4130 Copy

    Questioner

    Fathers of spren are mentioned twice. When spren talk about their fathers, are they usually talking about the person who raised them?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Questioner

    Or the person who gave them life? Like, their offspring?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Those are usually the same person, right? Depending. But not always. But usually... it would vary if they aren't the same person. But I would say, normally it's the same individual. "Person" may be the wrong term. But I think they would say they're people, so "person."

    Orem Signing ()
    #4131 Copy

    Questioner

    With Kaladin, or those with suicidal ideations because of mental illness, do you have plans to explore that again with different mental illnesses and why they would have suicidal ideations?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, yes. I mean, Kaladin... it's just straight-up depression, which is in some ways the most simple, but also very complicated to deal with. I will delve into others. It is something that I'm very interested in, mostly because I'm fascinated by the way that different people see the world. And the more people I know, the more I realize there is no normal. There's just all different shades of how the way we all see the world. And some of those ways are... dangerous to us. Through no fault of our own. It is very interesting to me to explore.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4135 Copy

    Bluebar

    How does [Bloodsealing] actually work with [the skeletals]? Does it trap something inside the bones like a Command?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, it works very similar to making Lifeless. Slight variations, but you are basically animating the bones by using Investiture that doesn't actually belong to them and tricking them into thinking that it does for a little bit of time and making it think it's alive again. And the fact that it's bones is really important for that, for Bloodsealing. But it's working in a similar way. The distinction is that with Lifeless you are actually using part of their own soul, right? And with Bloodsealing you're not.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4137 Copy

    Bluebar

    Is there any requirement for how [a Bloodseal] is made, like location, like where the seal comes from?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, there is some tradition tied to it, and that tradition is steeped in fact, but not all the traditions are necessary, if that makes sense. So they have more baggage to it than it actually needs, but some of the baggage has... Like the type of bone you're using, where you get the bone, and the location, and stuff is relevant, but some of the other things they put on it are not and also, it's not one hundred percent necessary.

    Bluebar

    So they think it might be necessary, but it's actually not?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, yes.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4141 Copy

    Questioner

    With aluminum resisting Shardblades, could you plate Shardplate with aluminum and have extra resistance, or would that be too thin to really even do anything?

    Brandon Sanderson

    This would probably not be very effective. Maybe in modern times, you could, but honestly you'd be better off just building aluminum armor for someone else. It's not gonna add too much to the Shardplate and to what the Shardplate's already doing and it might just interfere too much with what you're trying to do anyway. It would be worth experimenting with, but I don't think it's gonna end up doing too much.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4142 Copy

    Questioner

    I was gonna ask what your favorite scene form [Oathbringer] was?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's probably where everything comes together right at the end, right in the moment before the moment with Dalinar in the breach.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4143 Copy

    Questioner

    In Way of Kings, there was an interlude, you've got the three guys that are looking for Hoid. They're in that crazy town with the water. Who are the guys? And are we going to see them again?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, one is Captain Demoux, from Mistborn. One is Baon, from White Sand. And one is Galladon, from Elantris.

    Questioner

    Are we gonna see them again?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, you will see them again. And if you watch really closely, you can pick out Galladon by, he speaks in Dula. So if you watch for the quote in Dula. But the other two, you wouldn't be able to pick out.

    They are chasing a false lead, which is just very amusing to Hoid that they think he's over there.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4144 Copy

    Kyrroti

    Why does Hoid seem to like the Kholins so much?

    Brandon Sanderson

    He thinks highly of several members of the family. And he also likes to stick near people who are able to cause change in the world in which they are involved. He is very, very interested in a specific member of the Kholin family.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4146 Copy

    treegrass

    How long does it take to summon an Honorblade? Is it ten heartbeats or instant?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, Honorblades, as far as anyone knows is ten sec- ten heartbeats. If you were to ask Szeth how long it would take, he would say ten heartbeats.

    treegrass

    But they're not?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I am not saying that. I am saying if you ask Szeth, if you ask the current bearer of Jezrien's Blade, they would all say it takes ten heartbeats.

    Questioner 2

    What about for the Heralds?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO there.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4148 Copy

    Questioner

    When Kaladin and Shallan and the others are in Shadesmar, it talks about broams of Stormlight. How do they measure that? Because you could have partially depleted spheres.

    Brandon Sanderson

    A broam's worth of Stormlight is just a full sphere. Newly infused. Behind the scenes, there are actual units of measurement for Investiture that a broam would correlate with, but you would need to be measuring that using instruments that measure Investiture that they don't quite have on Roshar yet. They could make them, but they don't quite have them yet. They're close.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4149 Copy

    Questioner

    What are all ten Stances?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm going to RAFO that, but you can email me, and we'll just pull them out of the wiki for me. We'll get the other two. The question is, which of the other two haven't I said? They're related to the Ten Essences. So, I have to go look and see which two we haven't put in the books. But if you say "Hey, what are the other two here?" we can canonize that for you.

    Orem Signing ()
    #4150 Copy

    Questioner

    How many shots would it take for Wax using his gun to break a section of Shardplate?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Depends on the gun... Okay, so Vindication. He could probably... depends on the bullet, cause he's got several styles. But let's just say two or three. There's an argument he could do it with one, with the right shot, the right bullet, in the right moment.