The Ultimate List of Questions for Brandon

[Wreith]

1. Can Parshendi release their current spren bond without taking another?

2. Do Parshendi born to the free Listeners have a bond when they are born? If 'no' are they dullform or something we haven't seen?

3. Can a shard de-invest a planet or once they have committed power is that power unrecoverable?     (I'm essentially wondering if Odium has to destroy Roshar in order to free himself with all of his power intact but would expect a RAFO for that)

4. Can Knights Radiant hear/interpret the Listener rhythms? Can other Roshar races?

5. Were the Listener songs really compiled by the Last Legion themselves or were they provided by someone else?

[Dunkum]

1 hour ago, joyfriedman1909 said:

All things considered I have a slight issue with utilizing HoA as a benchmark, as I'm not by any stretch of the imagination beyond any doubt where it has a place, it's either around 300 years previously WoK (Which I have been utilizing as my standard) or somewhere close to 300-1300. The issue for me is the balanced course of events for AoL being marginally after WoK rather than generally an indistinguishable time from Warbreaker, yet AoL is likewise 300 years after HoA (specified in book) which would move the whole arrangement of Mistborn up a considerable amount, and furthermore influence it to happen after Warbreaker in spite of the fact that Brandon has expressed that the books were sequential. no doubt I'm not by any means beyond any doubt where the Mistborn arrangement goes, in spite of the fact that I believe it's in all probability set around 300 years pre-WoK.

There are WOBs to the effect that Stormlight Archive and Mistborn era 2 (alloy of law et al) tak place within a few years of each other.  so yes, HoA is about 300 years before WoK

[Oversleep]

@joyfriedman1909 if you're confused by the timeline, please see the chronology I put together out of WoBs avalaible to us:

I hope it proves helpful

[Ethan_sedai]

Why is Scadrial basically a copy of Yolen, which shows a lot more Preservation than Ruin, If Ruin had a say in the making of Scadrial? 

[Shqueeves]

38 minutes ago, ethan_sedai said:

Why is Scadrial basically a copy of Yolen, which shows a lot more Preservation than Ruin, If Ruin had a say in the making of Scadrial? 

Copy of Yolen because that's where the original vessels are from, more Preservation than Ruin because Leras wanted to create sentient life. 

[The One Who Connects]

On 10/12/2017 at 2:41 PM, Wreith said:

3. Can a shard de-invest a planet or once they have committed power is that power unrecoverable?

The term would be "Divest," and I am fairly certain that I've read a WoB to the effect that they'd have to divest their power or rip themselves away from it.

There is this one from November of 2016, but the word is used in the question, rather than the answer, so the canonocity is.. incomplete. We obviously thought the concept of divesting existed for the purposes of the question, so there's that.

Quote

QUESTION

If a Shard were to divest itself from a planet, would the perpendicularity there disappear?

BRANDON SANDERSON

Normally the shardpool would cease to exist, but there are circumstances that could prevent the shardpool from disappearing.

The earliest usage of "Divest" in regards to Shards is from Oudeis back in 2015.

Quote

If someone falls off a cliff, catches themselves but can't pull themselves back up, and you just stand there and watch until the person's arms give out and they fall, can you later say you didn't affect the outcome because you didn't do anything? Harmony could control everything like a giant puzzle. He could also turn his back, divest himself of Scadrial and flee. He can stay, manipulating some things, letting others run their course. How much does he do? What does he leave be? If he knows a man is destined to accidentally be the cause of millions, does he kill that man? What of his daughter? Where is the line? What's right, what's wrong?

Without a WoB this is only speculation, but something made us think it was possible, and I can't find what it was. (Which is annoying me)

[Wreith]

4 hours ago, The One Who Connects said:

The term would be "Divest," and I am fairly certain that I've read a WoB to the effect that they'd have to divest their power or rip themselves away from it.

There is this one from November of 2016, but the word is used in the question, rather than the answer, so the canonocity is.. incomplete. We obviously thought the concept of divesting existed for the purposes of the question, so there's that.

The earliest usage of "Divest" in regards to Shards is from Oudeis back in 2015.

Without a WoB this is only speculation, but something made us think it was possible, and I can't find what it was. (Which is annoying me)

cool, good words. I suppose I should have refined my question a bit though. I'm more wondering if a Shard can COMPLETELY divest a planet. Like, If Preservation had tried to leave Scadrial with all his power intact, he'd have had to kill everyone to recover the parts of himself in humans. Or is he forced to leave that power behind if he chooses to leave. 

The point is, we know Odium can't leave the Roshar system, partially because he's become so invested and he doesn't want to lose that power. I want to know what lengths he has to go to to recover his investment.

 

I thought of another question too.

6. Do Parshendi have epicanthic folds?

Edited October 17, 2017 by Wreith

[The One Who Connects]

2 minutes ago, Wreith said:

I'm more wondering if a Shard can COMPLETELY divest a planet. Like, If Preservation had tried to leave Scadrial with all his power intact, he'd have had to kill everyone to recover the parts of himself in humans. Or is he forced to leave that power behind if he chooses to leave. 

The point is, we know Odium can't leave the Roshar system, partially because he's become so invested and he doesn't want to lose that power. I want to know what lengths he has to go to to recover his investment.

Preservation almost certainly would, but that's because he and Ruin actually created the planet and everyone on it. Odium didn't do that on Roshar, so he shouldn't have to go as far. He might out of spite, but I do not believe he would absolutely have to.

It's still probably worth clarifying with Brandon either way.

[Ethan_sedai]

23 hours ago, Shqueeves said:

Copy of Yolen because that's where the original vessels are from, more Preservation than Ruin because Leras wanted to create sentient life. 

what I meant was, why is the chemistry system (not counting god metals) the same, why is the atmosphere the same, why is the size and gravity the same, aside from people, which have more Preservation than Ruin, the planet itself has equal amounts of each, and they had equal power while this was happening. What I'm asking is why would Ruin sit back and say "Okay, you get to control everything about how this planet is made, and you get to use some of my power to make it with, too." instead of letting Leras Preserve everything.

[Shqueeves]

24 minutes ago, ethan_sedai said:

what I meant was, why is the chemistry system (not counting god metals) the same, why is the atmosphere the same, why is the size and gravity the same, aside from people, which have more Preservation than Ruin, the planet itself has equal amounts of each, and they had equal power while this was happening. What I'm asking is why would Ruin sit back and say "Okay, you get to control everything about how this planet is made, and you get to use some of my power to make it with, too." instead of letting Leras Preserve everything.

Because at the time they weren't super influenced by their shards. Kind of like (Mistborn E1 spoilers) 

Spoiler

Vin at the end of HoA

 

[Silverblade5]

If a Herald was hit with Nightblood, would that permanently kill them?

[Stark]

With a big enough spike, could you spike the investiture out of a given region of Sel?  Seeing as the Investiture their is geo-locked?

[Dunkum]

5 hours ago, Stark said:

With a big enough spike, could you spike the investiture out of a given region of Sel?  Seeing as the Investiture their is geo-locked?

seems unlikely, since hemalurgy requires blood to work, and, in general, planets don't bleed.

[Stark]

14 hours ago, Dunkum said:

in general, planets don't bleed.

From a cognitive or spiritual perspective, would you consider lava to be the blood of the planet?  Especially on a planet like Sel, where the land itself seems to contain the Investiture?  If the scarring of the land during the Reod was enough to block Elantris' magic from working, would a Volcano not be considered an open wound on the planet's surface?

 

I get what you are saying, Hemalurgy requires blood.  It's in the name, hema.  But a giant planetary sized spike on the one planet that is covered in geo-locked Investiture that may be on the road to gaining its own Sapience independent of a host after two shards were shattered?  Stranger things could happen than the Cosmere's own Ego the living planet, right?  And if a planet became a sentient entity, would the magma not be its blood, flowing beneath the surface?

[Brightlord M. Alhstrom]

2 hours ago, Stark said:

Especially on a planet like Sel, where the land itself seems to contain the Investiture?

But a giant planetary sized spike on the one planet that is covered in geo-locked Investiture that may be on the road to gaining its own Sapience independent of a host after two shards were shattered?

 

The Investiture isn't contained in the land. It is contained in the CR.

[Bromo_Sapien]

Are the gemstones *themselves* being infused with Investiture or is there something in them that is holding the Investiture?

 

I have a half-formed theory that each gemstone has a spren (possibly dead) trapped inside it. We haven't seen non-sentient items hold a charge like gemstones supposedly can and it would explain why gemstones are what allow Shardblades to be summoned and dismissed. It would also explain why the Listeners need gemstones to transform. 

[Fezzik]

3 hours ago, Bromo_Sapien said:

We haven't seen non-sentient items hold a charge like gemstones supposedly can

Harmonium/ettmetal

[Brightlord M. Alhstrom]

5 hours ago, Bromo_Sapien said:

We haven't seen non-sentient items hold a charge like gemstones supposedly can and it would explain why gemstones are what allow Shardblades to be summoned and dismissed.

Well, breath is also investiture, and it can go into anything. I also suspect that storing stormlight in a gemstone isn't all that different from using Feruchemy to use a piece of metal as a metalmind, or using a spike for hemalurgical purposes.

I agree that it is possible to contain spren within a gemstone, but it isn't a prerequisite for Stormlight I don't think, and so I don't think that all gemstones have a spren. However, your theory does hold some merit, and I wouldn't be overly surprised if all gemstones hold a spren.

[Vulcronos]

Have some questions I was thinking off as I get ready to attend the Houston signing.  Hoping to see if they are worth asking and get them added to the list since its unlikely I can ask them all myself.

1. What is the current status of Alcatraz Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians: The Worldspire?

2. Who would win in a plasma cannonless, winner eats all, consuming fight between Sergeant Schlock and TenSoon?

3. Are the Sho Del canonically the third sentient species on Yolen along with Dragons and Humans?

4. Can shardblades kill Shades on Threnody?

5. Does Silver affect other Cognitive Shadows like it affects Threnody's Shades such as Spren, Returned, or Heralds or is Silver just a weakness peculiar to Ambition?

6. Do Threnody's shades inflict the same type of damage as Shardblades, only slower?

7. If seven, since Silver can heal shade damage, can it heal shardblade damage?

8. Will we ever see the Stormlight Archives Annotated with Spoiler tags like you had for Warbreaker or any other way of confirming who the Heralds are and other trivia we are only guessing about currently?

9. Are bonded spren forced to materialize as shardblades touching their bonded Radiant?  Otherwise I can image them as the perfect assassination weapon, materializing above an enemy and killing them as they drop via gravity or just materializing inside of them.

10. Were the Shards shattered in a numerical sequence, either logically or one after the other, so that the shard's are associated with a number, like Odium and his nine shadows and Honor and the repeated use of ten?

11. Have we seen the physical metal manifestation of Adonalsium's metal anywhere in the published cosmere?

12. Are any of the Spren that we have seen on Roshar been from Adonalsium directly instead of via the three shards currently in the system?

13. Does holding stormlight allow Kaladin to fly through space without needed to breathe like Superman?

14. Could Kaladin fly through space or does changing the direction of gravity only work when there is a planet to provide it so he is restricted to the atmosphere?

15. Do you personally think Adolin was morally right or wrong to kill Sadaes?

16. Like Ruin, can Odium change written words such as the Diagram?

17. What determines a Shard’s weakness, like metal for Ruin and Preservation?

18. In Secret History, is the cord that runs to the Ire fortress connected to a Shard Pool on Sel and pumping investiture into the fortress?

19. Will you ever tell us how God metals for other Shards would work in the Metallic Arts?

20. Are returned able to control their looks because they are primarily Cognitive Shadows manifesting in the physical realm and they can change that manifestation by altering their self image?

21. Was Roshar originally green and relatively normal originally, and if so did it change to the harsh world we see today when Honor arrived or Odium?

22. Do Humans change to be more like the Ideals they say over time like a Shardholder becomes more like their Shard's Intent?

23. Is it accurate to think of Identity like nodes in a graph and Connection like the edges between them?

24. Is Soulcasting permanent Forgery?

25. Are the Personalities Shallan makes similar to Essence Marks and are they changing your Identity in a spiritual sense?

Thanks for your consideration!

Vulcronos

Edited October 22, 2017 by Vulcronos

[Fezzik]

@Vulcronos, #16 is officially no. That ruin ability is because he helped create the planet.

[The One Who Connects]

On 10/18/2017 at 1:47 AM, Silverblade5 said:

If a Herald was hit with Nightblood, would that permanently kill them?

Dead is dead.

Quote

A: The issue is, resurrection is a major theme of the cosmere. The very first line of the first chapter of the first cosmere book starts with someone dying. The story is about his return to life. And so, I've returned to this theme multiple times--from Sazed's more metaphorical rebirth in Mistborn Three to Syl's more literal one in Words of Radiance.
At the same time, the more this theme continues, the more it undermines the reader's ability to believe someone is really dead. So we need a better "Dead is dead" indication, otherwise every death will turn into Sirius Black, with readers being skeptical for years to come.
 
Q: I figured Nightblood was your answer to dead is dead.
 
A: He's certainly AN answer. But there are way more ways to kill someone in the cosmere--I just need to be more clear on how that works, giving the right indications to readers.

---

On 10/18/2017 at 4:47 PM, Dunkum said:

seems unlikely, since Hemalurgy requires blood to work, and, in general, planets don't bleed.

I'd like the talk to you about the viability of Spiking Spren.

Quote

Q: Can spren be pierced by hemalurgic spikes? Will it give some effect?

Brandon: Yes. A spren can be pierced by invested metal…

Oversleep: Could you steal from a spren?

Brandon: Yes you could steal the investiture of a spren. Any investiture can be used in a spike if you know what you’re doing. It’s actually not that hard to use one on a spren.

Oversleep: Because I thought you said hemalurgy needs moving blood.

Brandon: It needs, uh, yeah…there are places where spren have more physical form, more tangible form.

Q: The Cognitive Realm?

Brandon: Yeah if you go to the Cognitive Realm on Roshar the spren act differently.

Oversleep: So you could spike in the cognitive realm?

Brandon: Yeah I’ll leave a RAFO with you on that. That’s your fifth one. So there are ways to get any investiture into Hemalurgy if you know what you’re doing. But yeah this is not something that would be a common use for hemalurgy. Let’s just say that.

It's not a direct refutation, but the use of the words "any Investiture," combined with the fact that planets have a soul...

Quote

NEPENE ()

Do cosmere planets have a soul, like in final fantasy?

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yes.

---

On 10/22/2017 at 8:01 AM, Bromo_Sapien said:

I have a half-formed theory that each gemstone has a spren (possibly dead) trapped inside it.

Considering synthetic gemstones are viable, I'm gonna say no.

Quote

PhantomMonstrosity

Do synthetic gemstones work in Fabrials too?

Brandon Sanderson

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.

Spren ≠ Color/Chemical Structure.

---

On 10/22/2017 at 5:29 PM, Vulcronos said:

Have some questions I was thinking off as I get ready to attend the Houston signing.  Hoping to see if they are worth asking and get them added to the list since its unlikely I can ask them all myself.

3. Are the Sho Del canonically the third sentient species on Yolen along with Dragons and Humans?

6. Do Threnody's shades inflict the same type of damage as Shardblades, only slower?
7. If yes, since Silver can heal shade damage, can it heal shardblade damage?

8. Will we ever see the Stormlight Archives Annotated with Spoiler tags like you had for Warbreaker or any other way of confirming who the Heralds are and other trivia we are only guessing about currently?
9. Are bonded spren forced to materialize as shardblades touching their bonded Radiant?

10. Were the Shards shattered in a numerical sequence, either logically or one after the other, so that the shard's are associated with a number, like Odium and his nine shadows and Honor and the repeated use of ten?
11. Have we seen the physical metal manifestation of Adonalsium's metal anywhere in the published cosmere?
12. Are any of the Spren that we have seen on Roshar been from Adonalsium directly instead of via the three shards currently in the system?

13. Does holding stormlight allow Kaladin to fly through space without needed to breathe like Superman?
14. Could Kaladin fly through space or does changing the direction of gravity only work when there is a planet to provide it so he is restricted to the atmosphere?

16. Like Ruin, can Odium change written words such as the Diagram?

20. Are returned able to control their looks because they are primarily Cognitive Shadows manifesting in the physical realm and they can change that manifestation by altering their self image?
21. Was Roshar originally green and relatively normal originally, and if so did it change to the harsh world we see today when Honor arrived or Odium?

23. Is it accurate to think of Identity like nodes in a graph and Connection like the edges between them?

24. Is Soulcasting permanent Forgery?

3. RAFO.

Quote

Q: You've once said that there were three sentient species on Yolen: Human, Dragon and Shodel. We've seen a lot of 'people' on the different planets that were either descended from or intentionally based on humans. Frost is known to be a dragon. Are any of the non-human species we've seen descended from or based on either Dragons or Shodel?
 
A: RAFO!

---

INTERVIEW: Mar 21st, 2014

WOR Signing Table Q&A (Verbatim)

NUTIKETAIEL

Were the original sixteen Shardholders after the shattering all human?

BRANDON SANDERSON

Uh … RAFO. There are three races on Yolen. Three sentient races.

6. "A touch from a shade withers flesh, and ultimately will turn a person to dust, and eventually into a shade themselves unless treated by applying silver powder to affected body parts." Shardblade wounds don't wither flesh, nor do they turn the wounded limb into dust, nor do they turn the victim into a Shade. So I'm gonna say no.
7. Not having read the story, I cannot say for sure, but the wiki text(italics above) implies that it stops the wound. Stopping the spread is not the same as healing it.

8. Annotations exist for Way of Kings(even if they are only for a few chapters)
9. Unless there is a physical rule in the magic, I believe the "in the hand" thing to be largely cultural perception. A weapon is more useful when it can be wielded, and it despawns if it hits the ground, so why spawn it anywhere other than in your hand? Also, this:

Quote

I'm searching for a WoB, because this has come up before. 

The same way as mental command can be given to keep a blade from puffing away when thrown, a highly experienced Shardbearer could summon their blade elsewhere but its extremely short range. We're talking within a foot or two. So no real combat use. 

10. The Shattering was all at once.

Quote

Wetlander

Was Adonalsium shattered all at once? Or did each Shard form at a separate time?

Brandon Sanderson

All at once.

Also, not all of them have numbers associated with them.

Quote

The Only Joe

Do all shards have a number they're associated with?

Brandon Sanderson

Some do, (Most? Some?) don't. (I didn't get exact wording on this one.

11. Speculation abounds on what Dragonsteel actually is, but I imagine this one will be a RAFO. Probably worth revising to ask if Adonalsium actually had a physical God Metal and/or if it was ever used, and then follow up with your question about us seeing it "on-screen."
12. Most of the Spren are of Adonalsium. Nahel Spren specifically might be solely of the Shards, or they could have been co-opted(the way Honor co-opted Highstorms).

13. Gold Healing allowed Miles to heal brain damage from lack of oxygen, so I'd imagine Stormlight should work too. And considering number 14(below)..
14. They've calculated how long it would take for a Windrunner to fly to Roshar's moons, so... Also, the planet's gravity goes way beyond the atmosphere, so I'm not sure what you were on about.

Quote

QUESTION

For a Windrunner, if he had enough heating fabrials and enough Stormlight, how high up could he get?

BRANDON SANDERSON

You could exit orbit. Windrunners, remember they're gravitation and pressure. So if he knew what he was doing, we have actually factored how long it would take to get to the various moons.

16. "This is not really a thing that Odium does. Um, yea."

20. Don't forget that Vivienna can change a lot of stuff too, and she's no Cognitive Shadow. And given the next WoB, I'd say self-image.

Quote

Vasher Explains Some Things, but Leaves Some Things Hidden

Can Vivenna change her appearance more? She can indeed. She could actually stoke that fragment of a divine Breath inside of her and start glowing like a Returned. She can’t change her physical features to look like someone else, but she can change her age, her height (within reason), and her body shape (to an extent). It takes practice.

And yes, the scraggly miscreant is how Vasher sees himself. Not noble and Returned, which is part of how he suppresses his divine Breath.

Quote

Nepene ()

In Warbreaker Lightsong mentions that the Returned's forms are dependent on contemporary beauty standards. In The Emperor's Soul Shai implies that if others did not find the Emperor's Soul plausible it would not take as well. Is my reading of their statements correct, is their magic dependent on how others view you as well as how you view yourself?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. This is a factor.

21. Roshar naturally evolved that way after Adonalsium grew the planet.

Quote

Question

You mentioned the ecology on Roshar, and you mentioned that mostly the non-sentient spren predate the [Shattering?]. So my question is about the evolution of life on Roshar, and how essential the highstorms are to life on Roshar, how the plants evolved...so can we assume that life that is dependent on the highstorms predates the Shattering of Adonalsium?

Brandon Sanderson

I’ll tell you this. The highstorms predate, and there was a lot of natural evolution on Roshar resulting in a lot of what we have there.

23. Bear in mind that your Identity is comprised of connections(lower c) between "nodes." On a Spiritual Level, everything is comprised of connections(which is a disconcerting rabbit-hole to be wandering down.) Things are quite literally the sum of their parts, which are the sum of their parts, etc.. A person would be an SR node, but that node is comprised of connections between nodes for organs and skin, which are comprised of nodes for cells, molecules, atoms, subatomic particles, etc... on downwards. All of which is contained within a plane of existence that may as well be both extra-dimensional and non-dimensional at the same time. Attempting to visualize the SR is literal devilry.

24. I imagine Brandon's exact words are going to be "That's an.. interesting way to put it," followed by either "No." or "I suppose you could look at it that way."

20 hours ago, john203 said:

@Vulcronos, #16 is officially no. That ruin ability is because he helped create the planet.

Source this. I'd like a more definitive no than "it's not his style," and since the WoB I provided above contains the words "um, yea," I'm curious why you think the answer is officially no.

Quote

Blightsong

Can Odium change written word on Roshar like Ruin could on Scadrial?

Brandon Sanderson

*apprehensive* This is not really a thing that Odium does. Um, yea.

[Dunkum]

11 minutes ago, The One Who Connects said:

I'd like the talk to you about the viability of Spiking Spren.

admittedly more complicated than I had understood it be, but even there, it sounds like the spren would probably need to be in a more physical form, so it isn't as simple as runnign a windspren through with a hemalurgic spike.

[The One Who Connects]

2 minutes ago, Dunkum said:

admittedly more complicated than I had understood it be, but even there, it sounds like the Spren would probably need to be in a more physical form, so it isn't as simple as running a Windspren through with a Hemalurgic spike.

How fortunate that planets are already in a physical form. (wow that's condescending.. didn't particularly mean it to sound rude)

[Dunkum]

17 minutes ago, The One Who Connects said:

How fortunate that planets are already in a physical form. (wow that's condescending.. didn't particularly mean it to sound rude)

no worries on that.  I can see where you're coming from and my original position is definitely less solid than I assumed, but i'm still doubtful.

[Fezzik]

@The One Who Connects, You were right, I was wrong. I was misremembering this:

ZAS678

Can Odium influence people the same way that Ruin can?

BRANDON SANDERSON (PARAPHRASED)

[misunderstands question as a question about kandra/koloss/parshendi] Well, you see, the kandra and the koloss have a "hole" in them that allows Ruin to come in and take over. The Parshendi naturally are protected from this, but when they expose themselves to the storms, and the spren come in, many of these spren have that kind of "hole" in them, and that’s what allows Odium to take control of them.

ZAS678

No, I'm talking about how Ruin was able to push people, place things in their minds, stuff like that. Can Odium do the same thing?

BRANDON SANDERSON (PARAPHRASED)

Well, Odium wasn't around when those people were created [Here it sounded like the mankind that's on that planet, not the specific generation], so it's a little different for him than Ruin. So if he influences people in that way, it's through the Unmade.