I asked Brandon whether the Heralds were once mortal

[TheKingOfCarrotFlowers]

He RAFO'd me, which I expected, but he explained that the reason he had to RAFO it was because he doesn't want to build anticipation or expectations about the heralds yet, since they won't really be heavily featured until the 2nd set of 5 books.

 

That's a paraphrase obviously, but it's the essence of what he was trying to convey.

[Argent]

That's interesting. Not entirely unexpected, but interesting still. It even makes sense, now that I think about it - we have two big problems in The Stormlight Archive - one, the (Last) Desolation is coming, and two, our protectors, the Heralds, are missing. So it makes sense for the two five-book arcs to (mainly) address one of those each.

[WeiryWriter]

ooh nice.  By the way, what signing was this at?

[Delightful]

That's interesting. Not entirely unexpected, but interesting still. It even makes sense, now that I think about it - we have two big problems in The Stormlight Archive - one, the (Last) Desolation is coming, and two, our protectors, the Heralds, are missing. So it makes sense for the two five-book arcs to (mainly) address one of those each.

Surely those go together? If the first series/arc deals with the Last Desolation, by the second arc why are the Heralds still needed?

[Argent]

I am sorry, I wasn't clear enough. The problem with the Heralds is not so much that they are missing (which is a problem directly tied with the Last Desolation arc), but that it looks like they are going rogue. If this is the case then I could see the second arc being about dealing with them, the various factions of Roshar, and / or whatever else not directly a part of the Last Desolation might show up.