2018, March 1-4 Seattle Comic-Con

[Isilel]

Another question I have:

How do Listener lifespans compare to human ones? Are they significantly longer/shorter?

And corollary to this:

Where are the Listener children? We saw none in Narak during  Eshonai's PoVs in WoR, but knowing that there were over 100K Listeners at the start of the war, surely there should have been  thousands?

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine]

@Khyrindor, your original list of questions is spoiled below with suggestions in red:

Spoiler

On 1/18/2018 at 10:20 AM, Khyrindor said:

On narrowing down Shards (my obsession):

1. Would it be feasible to put the 16 Shards into groups of four?                                                                                                                     
                                                                                        -[if yes] Can you give us any hints about what these groupings are?
                                                                                        -[If no] Are they more random, then, and we're just looking for Patterns where none exist?

                                                                                        -[if no] Would it be feasible to put them into groupings of two?

2. The Intents/names of Shards have often appeared on-page without referencing the actual Shards themselves (for example, Ambition being a theme in Elantris long before we knew of Shards; Endow and Devotion being common words). Is this ever intentional?                                                                                                                                                                                    -[If yes] Have you done this (intentionally) with Shards we haven't yet seen?                                                                                                                                                                                -[RAFO-bait-but-maybe-I'll-get-lucky-or-at-least-a-grin] In Oathbringer, when Hoid says "he and wisdom are often at cross-purposes", is he referring to the Shard that just wants to hide and survive? 

                                  -[follow up to above, to press the issue, if you want] In the same scene Hoid also mentions Kindness and Cynicism, are these possible synonyms for the names of other shards we don't know about yet?

3. As of writing the essays in Arcanum Unbounded, does Khriss know the Intents of all 16 Shards?

Autonomy/Trell Questions:

1. As of Sixth of the Dusk, has Autonomy abandoned First of the Sun?                                                                                                                                                                                              -Why doesn't Khriss recognize Autonomy's influence on First of the Sun in her Essays? (Awesome question!)

2. [assuming Trell is Autonomy, maybe I'll trick him] Is Trell an "avatar" of Autonomy (like the one she mentions in the Letter in Oathbringer) or is he an agent working with the Set?

3. Was Autonomy directly involved in killing Aona and Skai (as in present, working with Odium)?                                                                                                                                                    -[If yes] Could Odium have done it on his own?

Assorted Questions:

1. What does Endowment think of Nightblood?   (Awesome question)                                                                                                                                                                                                                   -[RAFO bait] Did she directly interfere with or influence his creation?

2. [has been RAFO'd but might be good to ask again] Is Edgli a dragon?

3. Were Ash and Taln ever romantically involved?                                                                                                                                                                                                                              -[If yes] Before they became Heralds?

4. You've mentioned that the Dor is like a "plasma storm" and is very dangerous to travelers. Yet, we've seen many Elantrians on other worlds (Galladon, Riino, the Ire). Do Elantrians have an inherent immunity to the Dor as practicioners?

                                  -[if not] Were the Ire who were living on the margins of Scadrial's sub-astral trying to take up the power of Preservation to fix the Dor?

5. Was the infamous Worldhopping Kandra seen on-page in Oathbringer?

6. Can Shards have multiple Shardpools? For example, can Harmony have one in the basin and one on SoScad?                                                                                                                        -[If yes] Is this specific to Harmony as he holds two Shards, or could any Shard maintain multiple Shardpools?

Expanding List (hand out questions?)

1. How old is Silverlight, at the time of writing the Essays?

2. Do Cognitive cultural expectations affect a peoples' physical DNA? For example, Rosharans think of the Alethi as tall, dark-haired, lightly tanned. Does this make them more likely to grow to look that way?

*I will add/subtract questions. I'm okay with a few RAFOs. I'll also hand some questions to other attendees, and I have two other people with me. Additions are welcome*

I have a couple more questions that i think would be pretty awesome to know the answers to:

1. If an Elsecaller were to take a fabrial to Shadesmar, would it work like it does in the Physical Realm?
   What would it look like? Would the captured spren be fully encapsulated in the Gem, or would only the portion that manifests in the Physical Realm be trapped, with the rest of the spren's body jutting out of the gem?
2. Would a spanreed in the Physical Realm be able to communicate with its conjoined spanreed in the Cognitive Realm?
3. What color blood do Siah Aimians have?
4. If a Dysian Aimian was a Knight Radiant, if one of their hordelings breathed in Stromlight could this stormlight be distributed to a different hordeling? Say the Sleepless was a Windrunner, and hordeling A breathed in Stormlight, could hordeling B use this stormlight to scuttle out a patch of adhesion on the ground?
5. What would happen if an Elsecaller tried to transition to the Physical Realm while holding a glass bead from Shadesmar?

 

 

Edited January 27, 2018 by hoiditthroughthegrapevine
Added a question

[Khyrindor]

@hoiditthroughthegrapevine I added/reworded a few. I particularly like the shadesmar mechanic questions, though I may have to hand them out on cards to other attendees if I don't get all of mine asked. No idea how many I'll be able to get in at a con so we'll have to see. Thanks for the input!

 

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine]

Awesome @Khyrindor!

Thanks for getting more questions out for Brandon, can't wait to see the answers!!!

Edited January 27, 2018 by hoiditthroughthegrapevine

[Khyrindor]

1 minute ago, hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

Awesome @Khyrindor!

Thanks for getting more questions out for Brandon, can't wait to see the answers!!!

I'm really excited about asking some him the assorted ones, as I feel like those might actually be answered for the most part. My obsessive Shard stuff will mostly be RAFO bait, so I'll maybe do one of each, and get my dad to do one of each, and then we each get some assorted ones in until he tells us to move on. My friend may make some of his own questions, but if he doesn't he'll take from mine. So obviously any questions I add to my list aren't guaranteed to be asked, but it's always better to have more questions than not enough.

 

On another note, does anyone have any questions for Patrick Rothfuss? Is he a RAFOer too? I'm going to get at least two books signed by him as well so to fill in that time well (and not yell at him for stalling on the third) I'll need a question.

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine]

@Khyrindor, have one more question based on some speculation on the Cosmere theory thread:

Are the Iriali refugees from Yolen? If so, is their worship of the one really worshiping the pre-shattered Adonalsium?

I think this is an awesome question, the first part is probably less RAFO bait than the follow up, but I am really interested to hear what he might have to say about this.

I've only read an excerpt of Rothfuss' work so don't have any suggestions on that front, sorry.

Edited January 29, 2018 by hoiditthroughthegrapevine

[Khyrindor]

2 hours ago, hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

@Khyrindor, have one more question based on some speculation on the Cosmere theory thread:

Are the Iriali refugees from Yolen? If so, is their worship of the one really worshiping the pre-shattered Adonalsium?

I think this is an awesome question, the first part is probably less RAFO bait than the follow up, but I am really interested to hear what he might have to say about this.

I've only read an excerpt of Rothfuss' work so don't have any suggestions on that front, sorry.

I think as most humans originated from Yolen, that would be a way for Brandon to slide out of the question. But I might be able to ask if Yolen was one of the seven worlds. I do seem to remember a similar question, maybe I can find it on arcanum.

[The One Who Connects]

9 hours ago, hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

Are the Iriali refugees from Yolen? If so, is their worship of the one really worshiping the pre-shattered Adonalsium?

Regarding Yolen, see my response to Khyrindor below. As for worshiping Adonalsium.. you have a "maybe" from Peter (who lies), and a "kind of" from Brandon.

Quote

Botanica

“Because,” Ym said, “you and I are One.”
“One what?”
“One being,” Ym said. He set aside that shoe and got out another. “Long ago, there was only One. One knew everything, but had experienced nothing. And so, One became many―us, people. The One, who is both male and female, did so to experience all things.”^[16]

Is the "One" actually the Adonalsium? Did Ym describe the creation of the cosmere? Many people are assuming that (including me). Are we on the right track?

Peter

1. Maybe!

---

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]
Is the Iri religion based on knowledge of the [Shattering], anything like that?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]
Kind of, yes.

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]
But they don't know it?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]
They don't know it, yeah. I would say yes, there are echoes of it. There are more recent events that they don't even quite remember that are more influential.

---

6 hours ago, Khyrindor said:

I think as most humans originated from Yolen, that would be a way for Brandon to slide out of the question. But I might be able to ask if Yolen was one of the seven worlds. I do seem to remember a similar question, maybe I can find it on arcanum.

Have the sum of presently available knowledge: Peter, the Iriali Long Trail Tag, and Languages.

Quote

Botanica

“If you wish to say it that way,” Ym said. “But it is not completely true. I accept no god. You should accept no god. We are Iriali, and part of the Long Trail, of which this is the Fourth Land.”^[16]
“Accept no priests either,” Ym said. “Those are from other lands, come to preach to us. Iriali need no preaching, only experience. As each experience is different, it brings completeness. Eventually, all will be gathered back in―when the Seventh Land is attained―and we will once again become One.”^[16]

Wait! The Iriali, are they nomadic people who travel between various Shardworlds? Is the "Long Trail" their travel path? So the "Fourth Land" refers to Roshar? (Roshar is exactly the fourth Shardworld we get to know. But I saw you note on the forum that we shouldn't use the publication order? Then it's hard to speculate.)

Peter

2. Yes, they travel between various Shardworlds, and this is the 4th planet they have been on.

---

Argent
The Iriali Long Trail, is it related to the Cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson
Yes.

Argent
And the Fourth Land, the Seventh Land, those...

Brandon Sanderson
These are definitely-- They are in the Cosmere. This is where you give me a lot of wiggling, because yes, it is related to the Cosmere.

---

Questioner
The Long Trail of the Iriali, was one of the first three lands Braize?

Brandon Sanderson
Hehehe. No. Excellent question.

---

JoyBlu [PENDING REVIEW]
Evi, in Oathbringer, she uses strange idioms and you mentioned you wanna be on the lookout for people who use strange idioms... Is Evi native to Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]
Yes... Her people are related to the Iri, who are not native to Roshar. But she is not Iriali herself. And all the Iriali, they are native to Roshar, people who are born now, even if their people aren't. So Evi-- You can say, right, like, no humans are native to Roshar. But, yes, she was born on Roshar.

JoyBlu [PENDING REVIEW]
...Would she might have some of the same blood in her that Vivenna and Siri would have?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]
Viviena and Siri... Oh, from... Ah, I'll RAFO that.

---

Brandon Sanderson
Our basic language families are:

Vorin: Alethi, Veden, Herdazian, and more distantly Thaylen. Nathan is close to dead, but shares a root, and Karbranthian is basically a dialect. Other minor languages like Bav are in here.
Makabaki: Azish is king here, and most the languages around split off this. There are around thirty of these.
Dawnate: A varied language family with distant roots in the dawnchant. Shin, parshendi, Horneater. They share grammar, but they diverged long enough ago that the vocabulary is very different.
Iri: Iriali, Reshi, Purelake dialects, Riran, and some surrounding languages.
Aimian: These two are lumped together, but are very different.

The language one is only semi-related, but there are so few WoBs with "Iri" in them.. and nothing containing the word "Yolen" was relevant to your question.

Edited January 30, 2018 by The One Who Connects
excess white lines...

[Khyrindor]

17 hours ago, The One Who Connects said:

Regarding Yolen, see my response to Khyrindor below. As for worshiping Adonalsium.. you have a "maybe" from Peter (who lies), and a "kind of" from Brandon.

---

Have the sum of presently available knowledge: Peter, the Iriali Long Trail Tag, and Languages.

The language one is only semi-related, but there are so few WoBs with "Iri" in them.. and nothing containing the word "Yolen" was relevant to your question.

Thanks for pulling the quotes. So ask if Yolen is the first land? I suppose that would at least confirm it. And if it's a no, then that would give us an interesting takeaway.

[Overlord Jebus]

Sup party people, I will be about on the Sunday. This is the first time where I'll be going to a con to see Brandon, how does it work? Will he be sat at a booth all day signing books except when he's doing talks? 

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine]

@Khyrindor, I have one more possible question that I think would be interesting to know.

So the philosopher Martin Heidegger in his most famous book, Being and Time, is primarily concerned with establishing the primacy of Being by examining (in highly repetitive fashion) the idea that true being is Dasein being (which translates roughly to "being-there" or "there-being"). His point is that being had been since the greeks represented as a passive state, a mere object that was "a being". But true being, or Dasein being is being that is aware that it is being, or to put it slightly differently Dasein being is the state of self-awareness of ones being.

So the question I would love to know the answer for is this:

Were the Dysian Aimians named after the concept of Dasein from Heidegger's Being and Time?

Possible follow up questions:
If so, would it be correct to view them as Beings who are primarily made of Being that is in a perpetually active state of Being?
Or to put this slightly differently, would it be correct to say they are the will to be and that is the true nature of their being? Being's who exist to be?

[Khyrindor]

8 hours ago, Overlord Jebus said:

Sup party people, I will be about on the Sunday. This is the first time where I'll be going to a con to see Brandon, how does it work? Will he be sat at a booth all day signing books except when he's doing talks? 

Looking forward to meeting you on the Sunday! This is my first con as well, so I am unable to answer. The autographs for most of the actors at ECCC seem to cost money, but I haven't seen anything like that for the authors. I'm hoping there's a way to record, and would also like to know what kinds of protocol there are that might be different. 

[Overlord Jebus]

6 hours ago, Khyrindor said:

Looking forward to meeting you on the Sunday! This is my first con as well, so I am unable to answer. The autographs for most of the actors at ECCC seem to cost money, but I haven't seen anything like that for the authors. I'm hoping there's a way to record, and would also like to know what kinds of protocol there are that might be different. 

Excellent! Looking forward to meeting more Sharders!

As for questions, here's what my current list looks like (Oathbringer spoilers):

Spoiler

Is Dragonsteel adonalsiumium?

Does Investiture seek/spawn intelligence because it used to be Adonalsium or did Adonalsium come to exist because Investiture seeks/spawns intelligence and Adonalsium is the spawn of all Investiture?

Is iyatil a misting? Trying to word this in a way that also reveals if she has a spike or not

What did the Stormforms lightning do to Adolins Shardplate at the end of WoR? After it got hit full on the first time, it reacted and started blocking the light to stop Adolin from getting blinded. Is Adolin awakening his Plate AND his Blade?

The smoky shadowy spren that was with Odium at the battle, was this Yelig-nar before taking a host?

What does the Everstorm look like in the Cognitive Realm? Why didn’t Kal/Shal/Adol see one when they were there even though they were there for several weeks?

 

[Khyrindor]

19 minutes ago, Overlord Jebus said:

Excellent! Looking forward to meeting more Sharders!

As for questions, here's what my current list looks like (Oathbringer spoilers):

  Hide contents

Is Dragonsteel adonalsiumium?

Does Investiture seek/spawn intelligence because it used to be Adonalsium or did Adonalsium come to exist because Investiture seeks/spawns intelligence and Adonalsium is the spawn of all Investiture?

Is iyatil a misting? Trying to word this in a way that also reveals if she has a spike or not

What did the Stormforms lightning do to Adolins Shardplate at the end of WoR? After it got hit full on the first time, it reacted and started blocking the light to stop Adolin from getting blinded. Is Adolin awakening his Plate AND his Blade?

The smoky shadowy spren that was with Odium at the battle, was this Yelig-nar before taking a host?

What does the Everstorm look like in the Cognitive Realm? Why didn’t Kal/Shal/Adol see one when they were there even though they were there for several weeks?

 

6

Good questions. First two are probably RAFO bait, but you tend to get him to answer the good ones.

As for Iyatil, perhaps starting off with "Has Iyatil used the Metallic Arts?" But if you asked the Misting question and he hemmed and hawed that would confirm that she's had a spike.

[Overlord Jebus]

On 2/3/2018 at 0:37 AM, Khyrindor said:

Good questions. First two are probably RAFO bait, but you tend to get him to answer the good ones.

As for Iyatil, perhaps starting off with "Has Iyatil used the Metallic Arts?" But if you asked the Misting question and he hemmed and hawed that would confirm that she's had a spike.

The first one I'm sure will get RAFO'd, the second I'm not sure. From what I've seen, Brandon likes talking about the nature of Investiture in meaningful ways, as you've seen when in the previous questions I've asked

I'm thinking my Iyatil WoB will probably just be RAFO'd. If it's not, I'm just simply going to follow it up with "Naturally or using hemalurgy?"

 

[RShara]

How's it going so far?  Got a good recorder going?

[Oversleep]

2 hours ago, RShara said:

How's it going so far?  Got a good recorder going?

Isn't it in March?

[RShara]

1 hour ago, Oversleep said:

Isn't it in March?

Wow I completely misread everything.  Oh well.  I just have no brain power right now.

[Overlord Jebus]

In case you missed it, Arcturus will be at ECCC demoing the Escape the Shattered Planes VR experience! 

[Khyrindor]

47 minutes ago, Overlord Jebus said:

In case you missed it, Arcturus will be at ECCC demoing the Escape the Shattered Planes VR experience! 

Looking forward to it. The ECCC site has also updated Brandon's schedule, and it says he will be there all days, but only lists his signings on the Thursday and Friday (IIRC). This is somewhat worrysome to me, does anyone know how accurate that is or what to expect? Still wondering about Con protocol, as it will be my first one.

[Overlord Jebus]

2 hours ago, Khyrindor said:

Looking forward to it. The ECCC site has also updated Brandon's schedule, and it says he will be there all days, but only lists his signings on the Thursday and Friday (IIRC). This is somewhat worrysome to me, does anyone know how accurate that is or what to expect? Still wondering about Con protocol, as it will be my first one.

The table will definitely be there for the whole weekend but I am unsure as to Brandon's availability during that time. 

What days are you there? 

[Khyrindor]

1 hour ago, Overlord Jebus said:

The table will definitely be there for the whole weekend but I am unsure as to Brandon's availability during that time. 

What days are you there? 

Sunday

[+Hoiditthroughthegrapevine]

17 hours ago, Khyrindor said:

Looking forward to it. The ECCC site has also updated Brandon's schedule, and it says he will be there all days, but only lists his signings on the Thursday and Friday (IIRC). This is somewhat worrysome to me, does anyone know how accurate that is or what to expect? Still wondering about Con protocol, as it will be my first one.

This is the link to the Event page on Brandon's website, it looks like he's only going to be signing on Thursday and Friday:

https://brandonsanderson.com/upcoming-events/#13204

The schedule from his site is spoilered below:

Spoiler

Thursday, March 1st

Writing Magical Stories That Make Sense
Time: 4:00–5:00 p.m.
Location: WSCC 603
Magic can be one of the most memorable and fun components of a fantasy story, but it can also be destructive. In order for magic to “work,” what are the import…

Signing
Time: 5:15–7:15 p.m.
Location: Writers Block – Autographing Table 4
This is a free autographing session to meet Brandon Sanderson. Books will be available for purchase at the University Book Store located in the Writers Block on Level 6 of WSCC.

Friday, March 2nd

Brandon Sanderson Talks ‘Stormlight Archive’ Novels
Time: 2:45–3:00 p.m.
Location: ECCC Live Stage – Booth 1850
The author discusses his fan-favorite fantasy series and more.

Brandon Sanderson Spotlight
Time: 4:00–5:00 p.m.
Location: WSCC 611
New York Times Best Seller, Brandon Sanderson, makes his way to ECCC for the first time! Join him for a trip through the Cosmere as he discusses his previous publications and gives a sneak peek into what he’s been working on.

Signing
Time: 5:15–7:15 p.m.
Location: Writers Block – Autographing Table 1
This is a free autographing session to meet Brandon Sanderson. Books will be available for purchase at the University Book Store located in the Writers Block on Level 6 of WSCC.

Brandon’s booth will be in Artist Alley at table KK3. There will be swag and Dragonsteel published books (leatherbounds, con exclusive doubles, etc). All other titles will be sold at the UBookstore Booth.

I've got a friend that loves Brandon's work and lives in the Seattle area, I'll talk to him and see if he can make it to one of those signing times, if so I might be able to get him to ask a couple of your questions, I'll let you know if it works out.

Edited February 23, 2018 by hoiditthroughthegrapevine

[Khyrindor]

10 hours ago, hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

This is the link to the Event page on Brandon's website, it looks like he's only going to be signing on Thursday and Friday:

https://brandonsanderson.com/upcoming-events/#13204

The schedule from his site is spoilered below:

  Hide contents

Thursday, March 1st

Writing Magical Stories That Make Sense
Time: 4:00–5:00 p.m.
Location: WSCC 603
Magic can be one of the most memorable and fun components of a fantasy story, but it can also be destructive. In order for magic to “work,” what are the import…

Signing
Time: 5:15–7:15 p.m.
Location: Writers Block – Autographing Table 4
This is a free autographing session to meet Brandon Sanderson. Books will be available for purchase at the University Book Store located in the Writers Block on Level 6 of WSCC.

Friday, March 2nd

Brandon Sanderson Talks ‘Stormlight Archive’ Novels
Time: 2:45–3:00 p.m.
Location: ECCC Live Stage – Booth 1850
The author discusses his fan-favorite fantasy series and more.

Brandon Sanderson Spotlight
Time: 4:00–5:00 p.m.
Location: WSCC 611
New York Times Best Seller, Brandon Sanderson, makes his way to ECCC for the first time! Join him for a trip through the Cosmere as he discusses his previous publications and gives a sneak peek into what he’s been working on.

Signing
Time: 5:15–7:15 p.m.
Location: Writers Block – Autographing Table 1
This is a free autographing session to meet Brandon Sanderson. Books will be available for purchase at the University Book Store located in the Writers Block on Level 6 of WSCC.

Brandon’s booth will be in Artist Alley at table KK3. There will be swag and Dragonsteel published books (leatherbounds, con exclusive doubles, etc). All other titles will be sold at the UBookstore Booth.

I've got a friend that loves Brandon's work and lives in the Seattle area, I'll talk to him and see if he can make it to one of those signing times, if so I might be able to get him to ask a couple of your questions, I'll let you know if it works out.

Appreciated.

This is unfortunate...It still lists him as being there for all 4 days, maybe he will be at his booth?

[Overlord Jebus]

On 2/23/2018 at 5:44 PM, Khyrindor said:

This is unfortunate...It still lists him as being there for all 4 days, maybe he will be at his booth?

That's what I'm hoping, we'll have to wait and see though