Recent entries

    FanX Spring 2019 ()
    #4653 Copy

    Questioner

    Can you make a Hemalurgic spike and get two people at the same time?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, it's going to Invest from the first one and then potentially spike it into the second one, what it is stealing from the first, generally is what's going to happen.

    FanX Spring 2019 ()
    #4654 Copy

    Questioner

    Are you planning on doing more from Threnody?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. I've got a Threnody book. Silence won't be in it. But there's a Threnody book.

    Questioner

    Like a full size?

    Brandon Sanderson

    A full size novel, on Threnody. 'Cause there's a group I need to get a book out about because they're relevant later on, that you need to know who they are.

    FanX Spring 2019 ()
    #4657 Copy

    Stormlightning

    Are Hoid and the Set aware of each other?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, but I wouldn't say the Set as a general rule, but members of the Set.

    Stormlightning

    How do they feel about each other?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Some various shades of loathing.

    Stormlightning

    On both sides?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    General Reddit 2019 ()
    #4658 Copy

    Extesian

    Can you confirm whether Navani will be the prologue viewpoint? Or you want to keep that quiet/ haven't decided yet?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, she is the prologue viewpoint.

    AridholGM

    Wouldn't it be dope to have the book 5 viewpoint from Gavilar himself, and it finally revealing what exactly he was up to.. :)

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is what I have planned.

    FanX Spring 2019 ()
    #4659 Copy

    Undercoverwillshaper

    So you had had a Word of Brandon that had said that Tien was on his way to becoming a Lightweaver. My question is, did he ever actually become a Lightweaver; did he speak an Oath, and if so, did he bond with a Cryptic?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's an excellent question. If you look closely through the first book, you will see Tien having some slight Lightweaving effects. In the back of my head, he was where Kaladin was during most of the first book, where it wasn't really official but there was a spren hanging around. He was very close to-- by the time he left, already done that. I would say he never actually managed to get that bond working... Otherwise, perhaps, things would have played out differently than they did.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4662 Copy

    Questioner

    How do you approach creating scenes? Do you create how you want the scene to play out, and then make the magic system? Or do you make the magic system work first?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Usually, I do magic system first. The way scenes, I construct, is usually I have big goals in my story. For instance, in Mistborn, Vin is going to learn to train all the powers of a Mistborn. By the end, I want her to be fairly competent. So then I have that goal, and I write down, "What are scenes that can move me toward that goal?" In that outline, it would be: she trains with Ham in one scene, she trains with Marsh in another scene, she trains with Breeze in another scene. What else can I make those scenes do to move character and stuff, to try to pack more into those scenes. But I'll construct those scenes as goals towards the ending.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4663 Copy

    Questioner

    It kind of felt like you let Adolin off the hook for murder.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would say no, I didn't. There will be more implications there, but what you've gotta understand is, Adolin does not view what he did as murder. His dad is uncertain if it is. And his dad is the ultimate judge of legality. There will be far-reaching implications of this, but kind of the way a society like that works, if you didn't get caught and you are the son of the king, then you get a little-- you know what I mean?

    Questioner

    Is it yet to be resolved?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yet to have the full extent of its implications, how about that? I would say that you are perfectly right if you were to say he did something morally wrong. There are many who would agree with you; there are many who would disagree with you. And that disagreement is part of what the story is about.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4664 Copy

    Questioner

    Do the Dustbringers have a propensity toward evilness?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would not call them evil, but certain members of the Knights Radiant would say they're on the edge, and did not get along with them. Let's just say Skybreakers have not gotten along with Dustbringers, even though they are very near each other in a lot of ways.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4668 Copy

    Hoiditthroughthegrapevine

    So were the Dawncities, the ones based on cymatic patterns, created using a supercharged combinations of the Surges of Cohesion and Illumination? Using Cohesion to make the ground liquid and using Illumination to create the frequency.

    Brandon Sanderson

    You are theorizing in the right direction.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4669 Copy

    Khyrindor

    The lighthouse guy was Ire? In Oathbringer?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Khyrindor

    And he was the same Elantrian that they put in the Shardpool at the end of--

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, he is the same person.

    Khyrindor

    And was he Ire before--

    Brandon Sanderson

    He was not before then.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4670 Copy

    Khyrindor

    If the Ire had managed to get Preservation, what would Ruin's reaction have been to that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    *chuckles* What would Ruin have thought about that? I don't think Ruin would have been a fan.

    Khyrindor

    Would he have been able to deal with it?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Deal with it? I can see potentials where he both could and couldn't deal with it. I do not-- I don't think the Ire were one hundred percent prepared for what they were trying to do. How about that?

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4671 Copy

    Khyrindor

    So, I was hoping to get a confirmation on Mraize's age?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'd probably-- Well, what did I say before?

    Khyrindor

    Not sure, I was just asking the question.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Okay good, I didn't think that I had confirmed this. I'm going to RAFO it.

    Khyrindor

    Like, is he older than a normal person?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I will RAFO it, yeah. Let's say though, that, though he has been off-world, he himself is a Rosharan.

    Khyrindor

    A Roshar native?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4673 Copy

    Shallan's Ward

    Could Soulcasting be used for cosmetic surgery?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes... *sigh* Boy... *hesitantly* Yes, but give it a very shaky yes. Indicate that Brandon is wincing a little bit about that one.

    Hoiditthroughthegrapevine

    Could you give a brass nose like Tycho Brahe?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That, definitely, you could do.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4675 Copy

    Questioner

    Is Shallan's truth, "I am hap-- It's okay that I can be happy?"

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm going to dig into that, but this is a big part of it. Let me RAFO that because I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to express it as it goes along, but that sentiment is a huge part of what's going on with Shallan.

    Questioner

    I was expecting her to manifest Shardplate in the middle of her wedding because she had spoken such a core truth of her identity.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Let's just say that I'm being very careful about how I show off the first manifestations of Shardplate for narrative reasons.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4676 Copy

    coltonx9

    What would Elhokar's fifth truth be?

    Brandon Sanderson

    ...Oh, Elhokar's last truth? He would have had to have been on a long journey before he could even get to that. It would probably be-- I'm going to RAFO that now, because I think it would tell you too much about the way I'm thinking for the way the truths work. I could probably tell you that now, but I will choose not to. Let's just say it would involve kind of a journey that starts kind of-- negative is the wrong term. Being more aware of himself and then coming to a deeper awareness of himself that is perhaps not-- that leaves him in a good place.

    coltonx9

    Could you tell me what his first truth would have been?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It would have been to admit the thing that he knows, which is that he's a bad king.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4677 Copy

    coltonx9

    If you were to [Forge] a car to say, that car had parked in a different space in parking lot what would happen, would it just disappear, if there were no other spots?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Okay, so you [Forge] the whole parking lot--

    coltonx9

    No, just SoulForge a car, in the parking lot to say it parked somewhere else.

    Brandon Sanderson

    That sort of temporal thing is probably not going to be something you can make work very easily with [Forgery]. You could rewrite this car so it had parked in that spot yesterday, but it's not going to change where it is, most cases. I think you might be able to contrive something that would work out, but that's normally not going to work... You can cause paradoxes with this sort of magic, that I have worked my best to make just not work.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4679 Copy

    The Young Pyromancer

    If you built a computer and you programmed it to view the world in a certain way, would that affect the world, like, Cognitive aspect?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Not unless the computer starts to become self-aware.

    Questioner

    What if it was an Awakened computer?

    Brandon Sanderson

    If the computer were becoming self-aware, then it would act like any other sapient entity.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4682 Copy

    The Young Pyromancer

    Is Hoid's inability to hurt others due to an enhanced version of the effect that makes Szeth and Wayne hear voices?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO.

    The Young Pyromancer

    Is that likely or unlikely?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm just going to RAFO that entirely because it plays into things from Dragonsteel.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4683 Copy

    The Young Pyromancer

    Theoretically, if the Dor-- ifSel became a Shard, would-- The biggest limiter on Shards is the Vessel's mind, would that be more limiting or less limiting?

    Brandon Sanderson

    ...If the Dor were itself to become a Shard combining Devotion and Dominion, and were to pick up a Vessel? Because they're still Shards, they just don't have a Vessel.

    The Young Pyromancer

    So the land couldn't be Vessel?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The land itself? Of Arelon or of--

    The Young Pyromancer

    Of Sel.

    Brandon Sanderson

    The land of Sel would not count as a Vessel. You would say in terminology right now that Dominion and Devotion do not have Vessels in the same way that other Shards do.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4685 Copy

    Questioner

    Does bronze detect Investiture or only Allomancy?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Investiture. It can be used for other things. But like most detection methods, it doesn't look for wells of power, it looks for power that's being used, generally. You get enough power together, and bronze will be able to find it no matter what.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4686 Copy

    Questioner

    If someone from, say, Roshar, traveled to the world of Warbreaker, do they have Breath?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, they do not. And if someone from the Warbreaker world leaves, they will still have their Breath... They would not register as being a Drab to people who are looking. They would register as Option C. Particularly someone from Roshar, who is from a primary Shardworld, is slightly Invested.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4688 Copy

    Questioner

    Steris and Marasi. Did you plan the love interest to be [Steris] from the very beginning?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I did... Very beginning is a weird thing as an author to explain. Because the very beginning of that story, Wax didn't exist, it was only Wayne. Then I built Wax in, then I started building Wax's back history. Then I started building Marasi. Then I started building -- right? By the time that the outline for the four books was done, but even before that, when I was only writing the first one, I knew what I was doing, there.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4689 Copy

    Questioner

    In Elantris, there's the three ways that AonDor's manifested. Through the Aons, through the Dakhor, through the ChayShan. With Emperor's Soul, there's two major ones that we see with the Forging and Bloodsealing. And also that parallels with, there's one -- kind of like, in Mistborn where there's one that's positive, one that's neutral, one that's negative. Where does the third one fit in on the Emperor's Soul side?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Emperor's Soul, there are way more. It's not a split of the three.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4691 Copy

    Questioner

    Would it be possible to Awaken a microbe, like a bacterium?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Probably not. I could imagine that happening. Awaken is the wrong term for it. I would say "No, because Awaken is the wrong term for it." But Investiture could potentially create something weird out of that.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4692 Copy

    Questioner

    I noticed during Oathbringer, is there a symbolism between the color red? Because I noticed that red is mentioned many times. Is it tied directly to the Thrill?

    Brandon Sanderson

    When I am using red specifically for spren and eye color, I'm doing it intentionally. It means something. I'm not gonna tell you what it means yet.

    Questioner

    Azure's cloth was red, and Adolin picked up a red glass sphere.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Some of that is going to be coincidence. But the color of the thing that is going to Scadrial is not coincidence.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4693 Copy

    Questioner

    You've made it clear that on Sel, all magic requires both location and shape to be dependent. But we also know Elantrians are consistently being renewed by the [Dor]. Is that because Elantrians' bodies have been changed a certain way or is that due to the large Aon Rao in Elantris?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is a little bit of -- it is more about the way they have been changed than about the Aon.

    Questioner

    Is that Spiritweb-based or is that body change kinda similar to the Dakhor monks?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is a mix of both.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4694 Copy

    Questioner

    What happens if there was a Feruchemist who was an Elantrian? Could they store Elantrian abilities into a nicrosil metalmind?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm RAFOing most of the stuff, but that one's a RAFO just because I am leaving nicrosil Feruchemy far away until I get there... I'm basically RAFOing everything about Investiture and Connection metalminds and things like that...

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4698 Copy

    Questioner

    So the scene at the end of Oathbringer, when Odium is confronting Taravangian and he uses futuresight to expand upon the Diagram, we have this blacked out section with Renarin's name linked to it.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Questioner

    Is that because Renarin's abilities interfere with Odium's futuresight similar to how electrum interferes with atium?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Any time that someone else is seeing the future in the cosmere, it's going to have ripples against your ability. Like they are-- you can't-- It's the same sort of thing that if-- someone who has access to atium is going to mess up anyone else's futuresight in any way, because once you use that it's going to cause you to act differently, which then-- And remember futuresight is not very good in the cosmere anyway. But yeah, it's just gonna mess things up.

    Skyward Seattle signing ()
    #4700 Copy

    Questioner

    In the past, you've said that kandra have size limitations. They can't just lop off a chunk and make a squirrel or anything like that. If a kandra was in full human form, somehow consumed and absorbed an aviar, kept it fully attached to their shoulder, it wouldn't be able to fly off but it was still attached to them, they're one contiguous body, could they get the abilities of that aviar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, good question. They would have to-- They're just replicating the body, they're not replicating the soul.