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Brandon's answers in Houston 3/11 signing


PadraicSeebrr

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Hello all, last night a few friends and I had the good fortune to go to our first book signing with Brandon Sanderson in Houston. Between the three of us we managed to ask 9 questions about Stormlight (though we didn't get as many answers), and I asked one about the end of AMoL that was inconsequential to the story except for the character it involves, so be forewarned. Brandons responses will be paraphrased for the most part.

 

1. Friend A: Are the Parshendi of Odium?

Brandon: Not originally. (Exact wording)

 

 

2. Friend A: Are the Parshendi of Cultivation?

Brandon: Not originally. (Exact wording)

 

 

3. Friend A: Are the Heralds from Roshar originally?

Brandon: R.A.F.O.

 

 

4. Friend B: Is the Nightwatcher the same spren-thing to Cultivation as the Stormfather is to Honor? (Potentially messed up the wording, as Brandon initially thought that he was asking if the Stormfather was Honor and Nightwatcher was Cultivation)

Brandon: You're on the right track.

 

 

5. Friend B: Why did Kaladin's forehead scars never heal?

Brandon: Stormlight healing has a lot to do with how one sees oneself. (paraphrased)

 

Edited and added the fifth question my friend asked. That explains how Lopen's arm could heal from Stormlight but Kaladin's slave scars haven't ever healed.

Edited by PadraicSeebrr
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6. Are the Parshendi of Honor?

Brandon: No.

7. Is Cultivation's Shardpool on the Horneater peaks?/Is Honor's Shardpool the Origin?

Brandon: I don't want to say where the shardpools are yet, (something like) good guesses R.A.F.O. (Paraphrased, but I can't help but feel that he wanted to say more)

 

 

 

 

8. Is Odium influencing Kaladin in a similar way as Ruin was influencing Vin?

Brandon: No.

9. Why didn't Dalinar get Surgebinding from bonding Talen's Honorblade?

Brandon: You assume Dalinar held Talen's Blade. (Exact wording on this one)

 

 

The last question is about the end of AMoL, I'll try to keep it devoid of accidental spoilers.

 

10. At the very end of AMoL, when a certain character walks off with his pipe, how does he manage to light it?

Brandon: I don't know as Robert Jordan never told us, but what I think is that it was because he touched the Pattern.

 

So I think there are some tidbits in there worth checking out, as the Parshendi seem to have ties to both Cultivation and Odium but not Honor. Also Talen's Honorblade seems to be missing, perhaps it was switched with another while it was hidden in the cave? Maybe even before? I feel like there was pretty much confirmation that the Nightwatcher is to Cultivation what the Stormfather is to Honor. Odium influencing Kaladin to hate was a fledgeling theory of mine, but he shot it straight down. Come to think of it though, that might have been a dodge as I didn't ask if it was Moelach or the other Unmade spren that is in the Shattered Plains causing it. Thoughts?
 
Edited above because it looked terrible, then split it because it wouldn't fit or something, memory exhausted.
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Well I was there as well and didn't get any good answers. I did get a nice RAFO sticker though. I used up most of my time chatting about epic fantasy in general so I only got one question in.

 

How many hidden Herald's in Words of Radiance?

 

Answer: (Paraphrased) RAFO, actually not a RAFO but I am not going to answer because I have never counted and don't want to give you the wrong number.

 

So Peter, Brandon would have answered if he knew so maybe just maybe pretty please you could answer!

 

Also, the person in front of me at the signing told Brandon that Lift was here favorite character.

 

Response: (Paraphrased) I really enjoyed putting Lift in the interludes and she is going to be a big part of later books. You will be happy.

 

I personally think this means she might be a protagonist in the 2nd 5.

 

I have a pretty decent recording of the reading, which was 2 chapters from the world of the disease magic system. I could send to 17th shard if this one hasn't been obtained before.

 

Finally, I listened in to someone else's conversation as I was there alone and I am pretty sure they mentioned 17th shard a couple of times. I almost butted into the conversation but ultimately didn't. So if the guy talking to the couple where the girl was wearing a bridge 4 t-shirt is here, I was sitting nearby.

Edited by dionysus
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Oh, cool. You can upload the recording to either SoundCloud (if it's just audio) or YouTube (if it also has video).

 

Now, assuming that wording of the first two answers is exact, this would actually imply that the Parshendi are Invested by both Odium and Cultivation right now. Odium is pretty obvious, his Investiture is probably leftover from the first time he took over them (and continued doing so throughout Desolations?).

 

Cultivation on the other hand, is a mild surprise to me. Perhaps the Parshendi were originally a species permanently stuck in dullform, and because of Cultivation's Investiture in them were able to bond with spren and change into more specialized and advanced forms? Then Odium got mad jelly about this and decided to take over the Parshendi by shoving voidspren down their throats? 

 

Also, there is definitely something going on with Cultivation today. She is not functioning normally, like Endowment for example. Either she has dumped a ton of her power into the Nightwatcher, or she is the Nightwatcher but is kind of broken by Honor's death, or some other scenario that prevents her from being the Shard she originally was.

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I was at the Houston signing last night and recorded the entire book signing Q&A's. Some of these have already been posted above but here is all the WoB from the event. I left out most of the ones we already knew and some are paraphrased since they were hard to hear the exact wording but there was some good info last night. Enjoy!

Q: Where was pattern before shallan drew him?

A: He was around. The bonding process had started when shallan was young but then she pushed him away and he withdrew mostly to the cognitive realm until the bonding was started again and she pulled him fully into the physical when she drew him.

Q: What is the realmatic composition of investiture?

A: Investure is intended to be the building blocks of the cosmere so I would say for the most part it transcends the different realms. Probably more of the spiritual if anything but more accurately it transcends them.

Q: Were the heralds born on Roshar?

A: RAFO

Q: If Hoid were to hold an unsheathed nightblood, would he feel sick?

A: (Loud laughing) RAFO

Q: Who was your favorite character to kill off

A: Padan Fain. Said something about being happy the little weasel got what he deserved.

Q: Are the ghostbloods accounted for in the Diagram?

A: The ghostbloods are in the Diagram

Q: Why is Vasher on Roshar? Is he trying to get back nightblood?

A: kind of a RAFO. I won't go into all his reasons right now but there is one thing that was difficult to get on Nalthis that is much easier to get on Roshar. Going to Roshar solved that problem for him. (Obviously he's talking about using stormlight in place of breaths).

Q: Can't make out the exact question but something about why he put nightblood in the Stormlight Archive

A: Nightblood and Vasher were in the original version of the way of kings before I wrote Warbreaker. Warbreaker in a way was actually introducing those two characters I'd already created.

Q: Can you write an unknown ideal?

A: They are still rough so this might not be the exact wording but:

'I will stand when others fall'

Q: How much more powerful is ?nightblood? than a a regular ?shardblade?

A: I haven't actually quantified that in my own mind so can't give an accurate comparison at this point. I will say that when he is fully consuming investiture he can do some really freaky things.

Q: If a non windrunner picked up jezrian's honorblade would they gain windrunner powers as well?

A: Yes

Q: If a windrunner picked up that blade, would their abilities be enhanced?

A: There would be some compounding but strength is not as much an issue with surgebing as is the strength of the spren bond and how much stormlight you are using.

Q: Why were all the shardblades swords when they can take on any weapon form they want? Would they all revert to swords when they die?

A: When they die they'd revert to the basic form which was a sword since they were patterned after honorblades

Q: Feruchamist that can store investature. Would they be able to then use that to power allomancy with say stormlight?

A: RAFO

Q: Lift is my favorite character even though she was only in that one chapter

A: you will see much more of Lift in the future. Lift is seeded there because she will be very important later on.

Q: Have we seen Cultivation's magic?

A: Yes

Q: Is Hoid the most knowledgeable about what's going on in the cosmere?

A: No, Crys (Chris? sp?) is the most aware by a long shot. Nazh knows a lot as well. Hoid might know more than Nazh but he is pretty in the know as well so it's close.

Q: Are the Parshendi of Odium?

A: Not originally.

Q: Are the Parshendi of Cultivation?

A: Not originally.

Q: Is the Nightwatcher a spren of Cultivation in a similar way that the Stormfather is to Honor?

Brandon: The night watcher is not Cultivation but is related. You're on the right track.

Q: Demeaux is the only world hopper we've seen that inherently ages. Is there something about world hopping that makes someone not age?

A: There are ways around that. It is not intrinsic to the process. You would need to do something special.

Q: Are there one or two shard pools on Scadrial?

A: RAFO

Q: Will there still be hemalurgy in allow of law series

A: Yes

Q: Can a hemalurgy chart be made?

A: Yes. We will make one eventually.

Q: The ending of mistborn was hidden in the first chapter epigraphs. Is there something similar to that in The Way of Kings

A: There are but they are hidden in different places. The last chapter of the stormlight archive is somewhere in these two books.

Q: Is it possible to steal stormlight

A: It's theoretically possible

Q: Is there a region based magic like Elantris on any of the other worlds?

A: The Aon magic is unique to that planet because it is intrinsic to the shard that created it but you could theoretically hack the magic system so that Aondor would work on another planet.

Q: In the chapter 84 code, does the sequence 111 denote a special character such as a space between words

A: I do not believe there is a 111 to separate words unless it was added by Peter when I wasn't looking.

-- Is this a question from the 17th Shard? Yes --

I will say this, the key is in another epigraph.

He RAFO'd anything about where the shard pools are

Q: Are the Parshendi of Honor?

A: No

Q: Can anyone other than a parshendi bond a voidespren, like can a human bond a voidespren?

A: That is theoretically possible but humans are not good at bonding spren in the same way.

Q: How about the other way around? Can a parshendi bond a KR spren?

A: Historically, the parshendi were not made knights radiant, or the parshmen weren't.

Q: Can they become squires maybe?

A: Historically they did not, but it's not impossible.

Edited by Awesomeness Summoned
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SO MUCH TO THINK ABOUT 

 

Q: Where was pattern before shallan drew him?
A: He was around. The bonding process had started when shallan was young but then she pushed him away and he withdrew mostly to the cognitive realm until the bonding was started again and she pulled him fully into the physical when she drew him.

Good to know. This is probably what's happening when you, for example, measure the size of a flamespren.

 

Q: What is the realmatic composition of investiture?
A: Investure is intended to be the building blocks of the cosmere so I would say for the most part it transcends the different realms. Probably more of the spiritual if anything but more accurately it transcends them.

Also good to know! It makes sense, but having a WoB on it is always nice.

 

Q: If Hoid were to hold an unsheathed nightblood, would he feel sick?
A: (Loud laughing) RAFO

Yea, because we were going to beat Brandon in his own game...

 

Q: Can't make out the exact question but something about why he put nightblood in the Stormlight Archive
A: Nightblood and Vasher were in the original version of the way of kings before I wrote Warbreaker. Warbreaker in a way was actually introducing those two characters I'd already created.

That's interesting. We are definitely seeing more of those two, and it makes me happy.

 

Q: If a non windrunner picked up jezrian's honorblade would they gain windrunner powers as well?
A: Yes
Q: If a windrunner picked up that blade, would their abilities be enhanced?
A: There would be some compounding but strength is not as much an issue with surgebing as is the strength of the spren bond and how much stormlight you are using.

This makes sense, but it came as a surprise to me - the compounding part, that is. This seems to imply that a full Knight Radiant is actually more powerful than a Herald, as long the Radiant sticks to his or her Ideals. Kaladin is only halfway through the journey, but his Light efficiency is much higher than Szeth's. I wonder if the Heralds are more like the Forsaken from The Wheel of Time - not that much more powerful than your above-the-average magic user, but really scary because of all the knowledge and experience they have.

 

Q: Have we seen Cultivation's magic?
A: Yes

Has to be the Old Magic.

 

Q: Is Hoid the most knowledgeable about what's going on in the cosmere?
A: No, Crys (Chris? sp?) is the most aware by a long shot. Nazh knows a lot as well. Hoid might know more than Nazh but he is pretty in the know as well so it's close.

This feels important. Also, if Crys is correct spelling of that person's name, that's such a draconic name! He is now my top candidate for being the recipient of Hoid's letter from The Way of Kings.

 

Q: Are the Parshendi of Odium?
A: Not originally.

Q: Are the Parshendi of Cultivation?
A: Not originally.

I read this as "the Parshendi are currently Invested by both Cultivation and Odium." I mentioned this somewhere, but I'll say it again - my theory is that the Parshendi were the natural result of Rosharan evolution, a primitive spicies of humanoids, very similar to what we now call slaveform (or perhaps dullform). The Honor and Cultivation showed up on the scene, and Honor created his own species of humans, copying and maybe modifying the ones from Yolen - very much like all the other Shards; Cultivation, on the other hand, staying true to her Shard's nature, nurtured and cultivated the proto-Parshendi (parshmen, really), and gave them the ability to bond with spren and change forms - much like the rest of the Rosharan fauna seems to do. Odium then hijacked those from her by sending voidspren for the Parshendi to bond with - and voala, Voidbringers! Invested by both Cultivation and Odium now, but neither one originally.

 

Q: Is the Nightwatcher a spren of Cultivation in a similar way that the Stormfather is to Honor?
Brandon: The night watcher is not Cultivation but is related. You're on the right track.

Current working theory: the Nightwatcher is either a spren or humanoid (my previous comment leads me to believe that it's possible for the Nightwatcher to have been a parsh-person) who acts as a proxy for Cultuvation, holding most of her power, being a long-term Sliver.

 

Q: The ending of mistborn was hidden in the first chapter epigraphs. Is there something similar to that in The Way of Kings
A: There are but they are hidden in different places. The last chapter of the stormlight archive is somewhere in these two books.

DAJHSDHSALKDJADHADHADJADHJAHSDHADHAJDHAD

WHAT!?

All those ominous epigraphs are now going through my head. 'cause there's a lot of them. All I can think of right now is "Three of the sixteen rules, but now the Broken One reigns." And it doesn't sound good.

 

Q: Can anyone other than a parshendi bond a voidespren, like can a human bond a voidespren?
A: That is theoretically possible but humans are not good at bonding spren in the same way.

Something about Voidbringers being able to hold Stormlight perfectly, like (better than?) gemstones, and humans being leaky vessels? I wonder why humans are bad at holding Stormlight in...

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Quote

Q: If a non windrunner picked up jezrian's honorblade would they gain windrunner powers as well?

A: Yes

Q: If a windrunner picked up that blade, would their abilities be enhanced?

A: There would be some compounding but strength is not as much an issue with surgebing as is the strength of the spren bond and how much stormlight you are using.

 

This makes sense, but it came as a surprise to me - the compounding part, that is. This seems to imply that a full Knight Radiant is actually more powerful than a Herald, as long the Radiant sticks to his or her Ideals. Kaladin is only halfway through the journey, but his Light efficiency is much higher than Szeth's. I wonder if the Heralds are more like the Forsaken from The Wheel of Time - not that much more powerful than your above-the-average magic user, but really scary because of all the knowledge and experience they have.

I'm not sure it indicates a full radiant is more powerful a herald. People that pickup the honorblade aren't actually bonded to the blade so it's my assumption that they don't get the full effect of the blade. He said the strength of the spren bond is one of the most important factors for radiant strength so that would imply that someone who doesn't have the bond to the honorblade wouldn't be getting it's full strength either. I have a feeling a herald holding an honorblade is a whole different animal than someone else holding the blade.

 

Now, a KR from one order wielding the honorblade of another order? That might outstrip a herald.

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Sweet. Good to nail down the nature of Investiture (though I hadn't expected it to be "transcendent"): I had this horrified thought in the back of my mind that it was partially Cognitive or something and all that I thought I knew was wrong. ;)

 

I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything else from the Hoid/Nightblood question. :)

Edited by Kurkistan
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Wait, is Khriss male or female? Nazh's friend, to whom the his notes are addressed, seems to be female based on his commentary on the p958 picture of the shattered plains. If Nazh has about the same knowledge as Hoid, is it possible that his "friend" has more knowledge than him?

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Wait, is Khriss male or female? Nazh's friend, to whom the his notes are addressed, seems to be female based on his commentary on the p958 picture of the shattered plains. If Nazh has about the same knowledge as Hoid, is it possible that his "friend" has more knowledge than him?

 

I believe Brandon referred to Khriss as a "he" - could be wrong. Also, thank you Peter for the spelling <3. I wasn't expecting to get such juicy info. I basically chose that questions at random from my thread. I'm impressed that there was so little overlap between the Sharders.

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Q: The ending of mistborn was hidden in the first chapter epigraphs. Is there something similar to that in The Way of Kings

A: There are but they are hidden in different places. The last chapter of the stormlight archive is somewhere in these two books.

The last chapter of the SA is going to entirely in number code, and the key will be the coded Diagram epigraph.

 

 

 

Q: Is it possible to steal stormlight

A: It's theoretically possible

 

We've seen stormlight get stolen in the Lift Interlude.

 

 

Also, Khriss and Nazh look to me like they come from the same phonetics.

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DAJHSDHSALKDJADHADHADJADHJAHSDHADHAJDHAD

WHAT!?

All those ominous epigraphs are now going through my head. 'cause there's a lot of them. All I can think of right now is "Three of the sixteen rules, but now the Broken One reigns." And it doesn't sound good.

My first impression was this one:

“Ten people, with Shardblades alight, standing before a wall of black and white and red.”

And this one:

“Victory! We stand atop the mount! We scatter them before us! Their homes become our dens, their lands are now our farms! And they shall burn, as we once did, in a place that is hollow and forlorn.”

As for stealing storrmlight, I wonder if Zahel might not have stolen Kaladins when he went to charge Adolin on the practice field.

Edited by deddinty
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Q: The ending of mistborn was hidden in the first chapter epigraphs. Is there something similar to that in The Way of Kings

A: There are but they are hidden in different places. The last chapter of the stormlight archive is somewhere in these two books.

Well "journey before destination" obviously means the ending of the series is terrible, and that we'll enjoy rereads more than the ending. Right?

*runs and hides*

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And I think the ending of SA is in one of the chapters, not necessarily the epigraphs.

Yes the way he answered the question indicated that the ending wasn't necessarily in an epigraph like it was in mistborn (could be but not definite), just that knowledge of how the archive would end was alluded to somewhere in the two finished books.

Edit: And I agree, major cudos to @truthless on the question about Hoid's knowledge. Made us aware of a high level world hopper we've never even heard of.

Edited by Awesomeness Summoned
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As for stealing storrmlight, I wonder if Zahel might not have stolen Kaladins when he went to charge Adolin on the practice field.

I don't think so, Kaladin asked Syl why he lost his Stormlight and she gave a reason as though she knew.

 

"What happened?" Kaladin asked. "The Stormlight drained from me. I felt it go."

"Who were you protecting?" Syl asked.

"I... I was practicing how to fight, like when I practiced with Skar and Rock down in the chasms."

"Is that really what you were doing?" Syl asked.

 

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Khriss could be the dragon, as some of you said. I really wonder who Nazh is. And I think the ending of SA is in one of the chapters, not necessarily the epigraphs.

 

That Hoid question was really good. I hope somebody gets a chance to ask mine sometime.

 

Well, considering he's spied on Bridge 4 without being noticed, I'm guessing that Nazh is not a dragon.

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