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http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/5853-san-francisco-wor-signing/?p=106161

Anaroth85

Q:  During the Final Empire Era, had anyone on Scadrial, particularly Sazed, Tindwyl, or Elend, read The Way of Kings?
A:  The Way of Kings as a novel is known off-world, but not on any of the planets you mentioned. At least not currently.
 
Q:  Will you ever write any chapters from the POV of a spren?
A:  Likely that he eventually will, but probably as an Interlude. More talk about main characters in SA and structure of SA:

 

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6587-san-francisco-signing-audio/ (Added to the Database)
EnaMai provided most of these but I did some edits for more exact phrasing.

Q:  Who are the 5 main characters from the first half of the SA?
A:  Kaladin, Shallan, Szeth, Eshonai, Dalinar in that order
 
Q:  When are we going to get Hoid's book?
A:  Hoid has 6 books, they are the 3 books of Dragonsteel, which are prequels and the last Mistborn trilogy of the nine book arc will have him as a main character.
 
Q:  What powers does [Hoid] have, what magics is he using?
A:  If you watch in these books, he has used on screen so far three of the different magics.
Q:  Have we seen those three, do we know what those three are?
A:  You know at least two of them.  More obvious clues are in [Words of Radiance].  Watch where he and Kaladin have some interactions.  Watch carefully, you will see something in what he mentions.  You've seen him and Shallan, that scene in one of her flashbacks, in that scene he uses one if you watch.

Q:  I was interested in the implications?? of Gaz coming back.
A:  Gaz was always planned to come back, which is why there's kind of a mystery to him in the first book, like where did he go?  It's something Robert Jordan did that I liked.

Q:  Do you know how you're going to write how Hoid goes between worlds?
A:  Yes I do.  There is a big clue in [WoR]. There is a very big clue in the very first book I published.  
 
Q:  Do you hear the Parshendi song as you write it?
A:  To an extent, yes, but I'm not as musically inclined as some, and so if we ever do it, I'd probably have somebody else come up with something more...  It's more of a cadence though.

Q:  Are you going to expand on the Cosmere in its own book?
A:  Yes, the thing that started it all, Dragonsteel, is going to be about the Costmere a lot more, and the third Mistborn trilogy will be also. I want to make sure that it never comes to the forefront until I am warning people, "Now, you need to know this stuff."

Q:  Will you ever have characters use the different systems of magic openly in front of each other?
A:  I'll warn you this, the third Mistborn trilogy is a space opera, which will involve travel between planets.

Q:  What was Kaladin's original decision that you changed?
A:  Kaladin won the Plate and Blade in chapter one and kept it.
 
Q:  How did you decide that you were going to tackle racism, classism, gender, all those things in WoK?
A:  One of the things I like about Fantasy is the ability to tackle things like this in a way that removes the baggage from our current society which is why you see me doing things like the gender relations centered around whether the hand is sleeved or not. I want to do something that is one step removed so that it is pertinent…The Parshendi-Human thing is going to be a big deal for the series so I wanted to introduce it early on in the books.
 
Q:  Would aluminum give an atium shadow?  Like if someone threw an aluminum spear?
A:  The aluminum would not give an atium shadow.  Good question.

Q:  When you were planning Zahel being Vasher, how long did you do that?
A:  Vasher was in the 2002 version of WoK by name.  I only changed him to the new name after I finished this entire draft.  Because I was like, oh he'd probably go under a pseudonym.  So he's been in Roshar 12 years our time.

Q:  The Ars Arcanum-is there an in-Cosmere author of that?  
A:  Yes, it is in Cosmere
Q:  Because it seems like it'd be written by someone like Hoid
A:  It's not him. I don't know if I've released who it is; but its probably not who people are thinking but it is in-world.
 
Q:   So what was the Moment?
A:   It was actually right near the climax. It was the phrase 'These words are accepted.'... Oh I thought you were talking about the Moment of Inspiration.  Oh the moment you're asking about is the moment where Kaladin, in the original writing, he took the Blade and plate instead of turning it down.

Q:  Why didn't Shallan summon her Shardblade on the ship when they were attacked?
A:  The Shardblade has a lot of....I mean if you look at it she thought about it.  She has this psychological thing where she ignores the past, and it's so painful to her, the things that happened.
Q:  Why did you gloss over (can't make this out)?
A:  Because Jasnah, that was not going to happen in this book.  In the initial plot it didn't happen, and Shallan was unable to, in the initial scenes I wrote, come into her own and so I had to make major revisions to the plot for ths outline, the biggest thing I did was that.

Q:  What's your favorite original Shardholder? (Props to bartbug for this question)
A: I don't know...The tricky thing is that I'm going to have to write them as their personalities because right now they are just concepts. I'm very fond of Bavadin but I can't say.
 
Q   Is Bavadin the only shard on Taldain?
A:  He is the only shard on the planet. (is he the sun?) - RAFO

Q:  Would a Hemalurgic spike take surges?
A:  Hemalurgy can interact with every one of the magics.  I designed it specifically in writing Mistborn for future use.  Because some of the magics are so limited by their planet I wanted one that transcended all of them and Hemalurgy is very important to the entire Cosmere  Its invention is a thing of great power and great danger to the entire Cosmere.
 
Q:  Have people not from/on Scadrial used Hemalurgy?
A:  Yes.
 
Q:  What was the pouch on the Radiant in Dalinar's vision in WoR?
A:  RAFO. I'm not saying its important, but you have to get a RAFO.
 
Q:  Were there spren bonds before Aharietiam?
A:  I'm not going to answer that one either but we will delve much more into this.  The spren were around back then but they're not nearly what they are now they've changed over the course of the book obviously.  I think the Cosmere theorists have figured it out.  They are much more prevalent following Honor and what happened to him, but there were some spren on the planet before even that happened.

Q:  If there is one Shard on the planet, then are there more Shards in that Solar System?/Are there other shards in the Taldain solar system?
A:  Now that's a clever question. There is only one for that solar system. There are other places with only one. It's not uncommon. We've gone to places with more than one because that is where the conflict is Cosmere centric.

Q:  What was Jasnah's "last thoughts?"
A:  Her "last thoughts" were of escaping.
 
Q:  Is Jasnah's book going to be one of the backstories?
A:  It is. She's on the back five.  
Q:  So that bit at the end with Szeth..
A:  That's setting up for book 3, which is going to be crazy.
 
Q:  There's another book with a black sword...
A:  It's the same sword, yes.  In fact I wrote the original WoK involving the character who has that sword, then I wrote Warbreaker about him then I wrote [WoR].

Q:  Do all the humans have innate Investiture?
A:  I believe that they all do. I don't think that you've seen anyone without innate Investiture yet.  [Drabs] do not have innate Investiture. And on Scadrial they have the pieces of Ruin and Preservation in them.  And they do have it on Roshar.
Q:  Which Shard is that?
A:  You'll have to RAFO

Q:  In WoK you do this one thing from the PoV of Gaz, where you turn him from random bad guy to interesting character.  You said that if we read carefully we could figure out what happened to him but I never could?
A:  So he had his debts.  He was owing people debts and they came due and he deserted.

Q:  What's the deal with safehands?
A:  You'll find out eventually. There is something it originated in. Inspired by bottoms of feet being offensive in KoreA:

Q:  Why do they ride horses instead of fast insects of some sort?
A:  That is an excellent question that I am not going to answer.

Q:  At the very end of WoR, Dalinar touches a Shardblade and it screams at him.  Should that particular Blade have been safe?
A:  No, it should not have.  It's a clue that something has happened.  There are other clues that something is wrong with what the story you've been told is.

Q:  Because Option 2 is that it's unsafe to touch an honorblade, but there's no evidence of that.
A:  There is no evidence of that.  There's much stronger evidence that something else is going on.

Q:  Did Hoid switch out the blades?
A:  Hoid did not switch out the blades, but good question.

Q:  Does the Silence Divine take place in the Cosmere?
A:  It does, it takes place on a planet called Threnody. There is no shard on that planet however. The magic is more something you interact with, not something you perform b/c there isn't a shard there.

Q:  If Kelsier's Cognitive Shadow or a Seon went to the forests of calamity, would they be shades?
A:  Yes, that is the same thing. The people on that planet; their Investiture; the lack of shard means that their cognitive shadows react differently. The ghost of Leras is the same thing too.
 
Q:  If Nightblood were on Roshar would he be a Shardblade?
A:  Yes, they are exactly the same thing. He is a Shardblade that is twisted and is a lot more powerful than normal.

Edited by RShara
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Portland (would like audio for this if anyone has it)

 

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6534-oregon-signing-march-2014/?p=107507

 

Kogiopsis (General Q&A) (Added to the Database)

 

Q:  By the end of the Stormlight Archive will you look into the minds of everyone who will develop powers?
A:  No.  The next three are, in order: Szeth, Eshonai, and Dalinar.

Q:  Do the Windrunners have any Surges that Szeth doesn't have?
A:  RAFO because it's explained in WoR.

Q:  There's a rumor about a second Elantris book.
A:  Yes, that's coming someday, but Stormlight is the priority.  Current schedule:  Firefight is done, Rithmatist 2 is next, Stormlight 3 after that (working title might still be Stones Unhallowed if he can get it out before Rothfuss finishes Doors of Stone)
 
Q:  How many series in the Cosmere?
A:  36 novels, don't tell some people because they'll get scared.  (Mistborn is 9, Stormlight is 10, Dragonsteel is the prequel and those are the core; everything else will be a trilogy or one-off and some might be novellas.)

Edited by WeiryWriter
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Seattle October 14, 2013:

 

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/4258-questions-for-seattle-signing-1014/page-6#entry68628
Transcription by Shardlet (Added to the Database)

Q:  Is Szeth's sword noticeably smaller than other Shardblades?
A:  Yes

Q:  Is Hoid in Shadows for Silence?
A:  He is not.  I intentionally didn't put him in...I wanted to indicate that he goes where there is an important reason for him to be there rather than just being a cameo in every story.

A:  (From a question from Wetlander's during discussion of Karaokeang's surgebinding chart) I'm pretty sure the Herald faces all match up to their respective orders
Q:  (speaking of the travel surge which Brandon referred to as transportation when looking at Karaokeang's chart) It's properly transportation rather than travel?
A:  Yes, that's the general thing.  This is the one that involves Shadesmar.

Q:  Are there going to be other characters other than Hoid that will be crossing over between books?
A:  Yes, in fact there are characters in the Way of Kings.  I told people that there is a Terriswoman in Warbreaker somewhere, I believe that would be somewhat hard to spot.  That one, I don't think you will be able to pick out until you see her later on and then go back and say 'wait a minute'.

Great magic unleashed here. (Written on someone's Roshar map with an arrow pointing to the Shattered Plains)

Q:  So there are two other planets in the Roshar system, are they the Tranquiline Halls and Damnation that you mentioned in TWoK?
A:  There has been in the past knowledge of other planets in the system and that has indeed influenced the mythology of the world.

Q:  As far as I can tell, in SA, we have seen three different lights:  the Stormlight, the Amberlight in the flashbacks, and the dark light in the stone.  Do those correspond to the three Shards?
A:  No, the amberlight is more a function of...it's no different than the Stormlight.
Q:  So, you see that in a storm?  Like when gems gather that in the storm?
A:  That amberlight is more related to...so, no...you are not seeing something other than Stormlight.  That is like saying that Stormlight in a topaz is a different color than Stormlight in a sapphire.  It's not different colors; you're just seeing it filtered through something. The dark light of the, um, the gemstone that Szeth was given is indeed something different and distinct.
Q:  Voidlight?
A:  Yes, it is related to a different shard.  How about that?

Q:  If you have a series of Inquisitors, like a family of Inquisitors having children for generations over...
A:  Would the Hemalurgy influence the sDNA of the children?  Is that what you are asking? That is a hypothesis that has merit in the way the magic system works.  It is not a supposition to be discarded out of hand.

Q:  Do you have in your mind all 150 different metallic effects?
A:  Yes, but I haven't named them yet.  I approached that and thought, "This is just mindnumbing".  So, yes; one of the things I'd like to be doing and you may see more of this...each combination has a slightly different effect than what you'd anticipate.

Q:  Do you plan on having, like, a final book for the cosmere?  Like, the Shards are gone; Hoid is the king of the universe?
A:  There will be an ending to the cosmere sequence that will involve a lot of these things going on.

Q:  Will AoL be a trilogy of its own or is it just going to be the one book you read from tonight?
A:   Well, the 1st one was AoL, the one I read from tonight is the sequel, so there's at least two.  I signed a contract with, well, I haven't signed anything yet.  I offered Tor two more beyond AoL; so, SoS and one more.  So, I have promised Tor three of them.
Q:  So, there could be more?
A:  I have not plotted this one.  It does not have the same sort of interconnected arc as the others.  It could go further.  I think I would cautiously most likely do three or four and stop and if I wanted more short books like that, I'd pick different characters in a different location.

Q:  Is Hoid any of the Shards of Adonalsium?
A:  Good question.  He does not hold a shard.
Q:  Anything close to...Is he a worldsinger?
A:  He has a relationship with the worldsingers.

hoser
Q:  Are you willing to tell me anything about the history of the Vanrial community at this time?
A:  What specifically did you want to know?
Q:  Well, is their eye color lighter than the typical Alethi peasant?
A:  I think I'll just stay away from this for now.
Q:  Can you tell me something about the Larkin and their abilities?
A:  You will see something about them in the second book.  Their abilities are tied to Stormlight.
Q:  Is [the Division surge] a reframing of, at one point in time you were talking about weak/strong forces?
A:  Um, weak/strong forces, yes, that's the one that sent me there partially.  Like, I'm not actually... the idea of the fundamental forces is a cool thing to me so it's not like I'm actually trying to use the weak and strong forces, the idea of there being fundamental forces.  I wanted to go off on it in a fancy way.  Like this one right here I told them was surface tension.  But it's not really surface tension.  It's more like um, the people with this could take a piece of cloth and snap it out and it would become hard as if the cloth became steel.  I'm trying to explain this scientifically, but it doesn't work scientifically.  Imagine as if they could restructure the atoms so that they became a latticework like a crystal rather than being soft like...cloth.  I'm calling it surface tension, but it's not really surface tension.
Q:  Tensile strength?
A:  It's kind of like tensile strength.  I have to go through Peter and say "Alright Peter, come up with what we should really call this." He does the hard science a lot better than I do.  I do the armchair theories and then he goes, "Ok, now this is the math if someone were to actually fall off of this and 0.7 gravity and the weight of the bridge...".  (looking back at the chart) So what can I give you that I didn't give her? Um, one of the orders is called Bondsmiths.

Wetlander
Q:  Did the splintering happen before the Recreance?
A:  I will reveal this as we go.  However, be aware that in the past, when a Shard was killed, the person holding it, it is a slow burn to actually kill someone; because power cannot be destroyed.  So, what it means to be killed means something a little different in these cases.

Hoser
Q:  Did Tanavast survive Honor's splintering?
A:  Tanavast is dead.  Good question.  However, that is as of the start of the WoK (not including the prelude).
Q:  So he could have survived the splintering...
A:  He could have survived the splintering.
Q:  ...as a mortal?
A:  Well, he could have survived for a time, but then he could not have then...right.
Q:  ...passed away in his sleep.
A:  Right. (Indicating that Tanavast would not have passed away from old age)

Wetlander
Q:  Was Odium able to splinter Honor because the Heralds abandoned the Oathpact?
A:  Good question. Um, their abandonment of the Oathpact is related...but mostly tangentially.  If I was pinned down on that, I would say no.
Q:  Is there any of the Oathpact still functioning because of Taln's continued participation.
A:  Yes, indeed.
Q:  Is the Palanaeum named for Palah?
A:  Yes.  In fact, it was named based on...it was Greek in our world...the Athenaeum?  It was based off of that.
Q:  Did we see Palah?
A:  I believe every one of the Heralds is mentioned or shown somewhere in the first book.
Q:  Someone was wondering whether the old woman who was wandering around the Palanaeum was her.
A:  That is a very good guess.  I won't say specifically, because some of them are intended to be more obvious and some of them are intended to be red herrings.  So, that was a very good guess.
Q:  Please explain what you will about Shards and Splintering and Slivers.
A:  An event happened long ago which destroyed something called Adonalsium into 16 pieces.  And 16 people took up that power.
Q:  People?
A:  I call all intelligent species people.   If someone takes up the power and lets go of it, it has the effect much like a balloon that's been stretched and then the air is let out.  I call that a Sliver; based off of TLR calling himself the Sliver of Infinity.  TLR is someone who held the power and then released it.  And so, current Slivers are TLR, Kelsier, and there may be others around who at one point held the power and let go of it.  A Splinter is a term used by certain people in the cosmere for power of Adonalsium which has no person caring for it, no...no person holding it, which has attained self-awareness.
Q:  So is that like the mists and the Well?  Are they...
A:  They are not, because they have not attained self-awareness.  But, the Seons are self-aware.  So, any piece. For instance there were some spren on Roshar before Honor and Cultivation got there.  Those were already splinters of Adonalsium where he had left power which attained sentience on its own.  So, it can be intentional is what I am saying, does that make sense?  You have seen other Splinters.
Q:  Are the highstorms related to the splintering of Honor?
A:  The highstorms are more related to the mist from Mistborn which terminology we have not discussed yet.  You have seen Splinters quite a bit on various planets.

 

 

 

Seattle (would like audio for this if anyone has it)

http://www.17thShard.com/forum/topic/6583-adolin-Shardblades-skybreakers-wob-seattle-new-info-wor-spoilers-elantris-spoliers/
Jerich
Q:  Is the Hoed from Elantris similar to the state of a Shardblade?
A:  [Paraphrased] Similar, but probably not exactly in the way you are thinking.  It is kind of like two diseases caused by different bacteria:  Both are caused by bacteria, but they are not exactly the same.

Q:  Is it possible then to reawaken a Shardblade if that blade is wielded by someone who speaks the oaths of a Knights Radiant?
A:  (Thinking)...Yes, but it would be extremely difficult.  The spren in a Shardblade are not trapped in a state of mid-transformation like the Elantrians.  They are stuck in an agony cycle after having a significant portion of their consciousnesses ripped out of them.  The Nahel bond is what allows Spren to think on [the] material plane and that has been torn away.  It would be like having a data jack installed and then having someone come up to your head and rip it out of your head.

Q:  So you would basically have to replace the part that was lost to wake them up?
A:  Exactly.

Q:  Are the Skybreakers kind of like the MPs of the Knights Radiant?
A:  Hmm... (Thinking) ... Yes.  That is actually a really good analogy.

Q:  Are there Radiant orders that would take someone like Adolin even after what he does at the end of Words of Radiant?
A:  I am not going to say whether or not Adolin will become a Knights Radiant, but yes, there are several orders that would be very happy with what he did.

Q:  Like the Skybreakers or Dustbringers?
A:  The Skybreakers would probably not want him because he broke a law, but there are other orders that would think he completely did the right thing and be very happy with him.
 
Trickonometry
Q:  Like the Dustbringers?
A:  (Didn't say anything but looked up at him, smiled and half nodded)
Q:  What would happen to the function of a magic item if it were to be taken from one world to another?
A:  An invested object theoretically would work, but they may not work exactly the way they are supposed to.
Q:  Would you be able to tell me anything about how Vasher lost Nightblood to Nin?
A:  (Brandon gives a knowing smile) "Wait, who?"
Q:  Okay... What can you tell me about how Zahel lost Nightblood?
A:  Oh ZAHEL! Well... I can't say much about that right now, but you'll get all of these questions answered in the book "Nightblood" in the future.
Q:  We've now seen that the Syl-Blade can change shape to meet Kaladin's needs. Is there a limit to the size that Syl can become?
A:  As for the size, she can get up to about the size of a human.
Q:  Okay, and is Syl limited to only weaponry, or can she take on the shape of other objects?
A:  I'm gonna have to RAFO that. Though, to be fair, you have been seeing Syl change forms since the beginning of the books into many non-combat forms, so...

AhoyMatey
Q:  Are larkin and lanceryn one and the same?
A:  There's a little bit more than just [being] one and the same, but in some ways they are.

Q:  Do all greatshells have spren?
A:  In order to survive with the science that I built, the greatshells almost all require some sort of spren to keep them from collapsing. (I suspect greatshells in the water may not require them.)

Q:  Did Adonalsium deliberately shatter itself?
A:  Hmmm, good question! RAFO!

Q:  Why didn't Kaladin's brand heal if Lopen can regrow an arm?
A:  It comes down to how one views oneself. It is the answer that you think it is. So really what that's saying is Kaladin sees himself as branded.

Q:  Does Shardplate use a spren?
A:  That's a RAFO.

Q:  Can Glys, Renarin's spren, be a box?
A:  The box is not his spren.

Q:  Is a Desolation caused when a Herald breaks under torture?
A:  This person is asking the right kinds of questions.

Q:  Who's Nazh? The person who retrieved Shallan's notebook...
A:  You have seen him before.

Q:  Why does Urithiru not have hallowed stones?
A:  That'll be answered eventually. It's cultural, not magical.

Q:  Why does Lift feel that Darkness isn't a real person?
A:  Because Lift is an interesting person who has her own perspective on the world.

Q:  Is there anything that I should have asked that I didn't?
A:  Probably not... Do you know if anyone has figured out the hidden things in the map of Roshar?

Q:  I picked up the Easter Eggs for Mraize being a Worldhopper. It was actually the sand that did it, having been fortunate enough to read White Sand.
A:  Now there's something odd about that sand. What color is the sand in WoR?

Q:  Are the Parshendi at the village the only Parshendi there are? Besides the parshmen?
A: The Parshendi as a people were all at Narak. Barring any scouts and things like that. That doesn't mean that there might not be any other Parshmen out there that have bonded spren, but they would not have been part of this nation – any more than if you found another human that they may not necessarily be American.

http://www.17thShard.com/forum/topic/6593-seattle-signing/
Ness
Q:  Has Rock always been a third son?
A:  No (85% sure)

Q:  Are the pools on the Horneater peaks Shardpools?
A:  RAFO.

Q:  Any hints on the chapter 84 code?
A:  There is a key in the book. [solved]

http://www.17thShard.com/forum/topic/6579-seattle-signing-report/
JamHeretic
Q:  Would the powers of a magical object change if it went to a different world?
A:  It is plausible that they will, but most likely is that they don't work right. Most of them will not.

Q:  Why are Ryshadium cooler than regular horses? I suspect a spren bond.
A:  There is Investiture involved.

Q:  Can you tell me who the Herald is for the Truthwatchers.
A:  RAFO, sorry, good question.

Q:  How about one of the surges?
A:  I am RAFO'ing the Truthwatchers entirely.

Q:  Can you go into healing a bit more?
A:  Regrowth in the books - Healing is an aspect, Regrowth is ??,

Q:  Will you write any more books in the Alcatraz series?
A:  Yes. I bought them back and sold them to Tor. I'm looking at doing it soon, this year or the next. I finished Firefight; the next book on my list is the Rithmatist and after that Tor has requested is Stormlight.

Q:  What Radiant order would you be?
A:  I want to fly, so Windrunner.

Q:  Interludes having characters on the other side of the world - when can we see Lift again?
A:  She is seeded for future use, indeed. Some of these interludes are for characters that I'll need in the future. Lift is there because she's going to do much Awesomeness in the future.

Q:  Is Vasher the swordmaster-ardent?
A:  (coy) I have no idea why you would ask that.  Zahel the swordmaster-ardent was in the 2002 WoK by a different name and it blew my assistant's mind when he looked back in the original draft. It was ALL PLANNED.

Q:  When do we get to officially get to know what's going on in the Cosmere?
A:  All of my epic fantasy books are connected with continuing characters. That's a way off, and that's because I don't want people to feel like they have to have read all my previous books to enjoy the series. It should be about the characters. Eventually I will write one that's a mashup, but we're not there yet. I'll be very upfront about it when I do it. For now it's just easter eggs.

Q:  How do you pick names?
A:  It really varies based on the book. I'm often picking a linguistic paradigm. Alethi - there are two separate paradigms because I like linguistics to be messy. Usually based on symmetry being holy, so they'd pick names one letter off from symmetrical to avoid hubris.  Also suffix - like Kaladin is Kalak (Herald) + din which is a suffix, all of them mean things, like the old Hebrew names have "born of" or "comes through". Stick that on and drop the last letter. Dalinar, Elhokar, all of those have suffixes - nar, kar.  

Q:  What would happen if Alcatraz tried to wield Nightblood?
A:  They would get in a long conversation about random things and the book would just be those two having a discussion, and then the entire world would break probably.

Q:  Navani's fabrial bracelet:
A:  The stones don't have to be all heliodors. "They will change." (???)
The number of prongs is not significant; the artist made the decision.

arbron
Q:  How long has Zahel been slumming it on Roshar?
A:  For quite a long time, on this planet he can get something quite easily that is much harder to get where he came from.

http://www.17thShard.com/forum/topic/6584-seattle-signing-orders-and-surges-confirmed-d/
Order #5 is the Truthwatchers, Order #8 is the Willshapers, Order #10 is the Bondsmiths. Turns out I had Cohesion and Tension backwards on the chart I showed him, so I corrected the surges at his instruction in the diagram below
I also asked about healing something like eyesight and whether that would require Regrowth or if it was just the result of holding Stormlight and he said it would all depend on how the person envisioned himself.
Cohesion involved being able to alter things at a molecular level, and his example was that you could push your hand on a table, and when you removed your hand there would still be a handprint.
He pointed this out because he said he was sure Willshapers had access to Cohesion which is how he knew I had them backwards.

 

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Houston (would like audio for this if anyone has it)
 
http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6743-brandons-answers-in-houston-311-signing/?p=110173

Awesomeness Summoned (Added to the Database)

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:  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.

Q:  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 Jezrien'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 surgebinding 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:  Feruchemists that can store Investiture, 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, Khriss 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?
A:  The Nightwatcher is not Cultivation but is related. You're on the right track.

Q:  Demoux 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 the Alloy 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 is, 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.
%5Bsolved%5D

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 voidspren? Like, can a human bond a voidspren?
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.

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Omaha [Would like more audio for this if anyone has it.]

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6777-questions-for-omaha-signing-3-13-2014/page-3

Q:  The hair color: is there a link between the hair color in Warbreaker and the hair color in—like with the Alethi always have black, and I can't remember the other country that always have their gold hair coloring?
A:  Yes. You are noticing something very interesting which was done deliberately.

Q:  If you write Nightblood, the Warbreaker sequel, chronologically, will it come before or after Stormlight?
A:  Before.  More close to Warbreaker than to Stormlight.

Q:  So do you know what the end of the series is going to [can't make out the rest].
A:  I do.  I've actually written the epilogue to book five.  Peter, my assistant, like sent an exlamation point after he saw that apopear on the wiki.  Actually the ending of the entire series, of the ten books, is somewhere in the two books.  Just like in Mistborn it was in the first page.  It's not in the first page but it's in those books.

Q:  There are some scientists talking about spren, and they seemed to be describing the positioning...[can't make out the rest].
A:  It does, but it's really behind the scenes.  This is just helping you understand the nature of spren, kind of their relationship to subatomic particles and quantum thery and things like this.  There are relationships there.  It's even one or two steps further than what you see in actual quantum physics.  In this book you get a discussion of the theory on spren that should relate right back to that.  Watch for stuff that Jasnah says about spren.  It's worldbuilding stuff that's not part of the main story.  It's fun for scientists.

Q:  Is Wit a Herald?
A:  Wit is not a Herald.  Wit predates the Heralds.

Sir Jerric
Q:  Has Hoid ever visited the planet Braize?
A:  [sing-song, delighted] RAFO. Such a big RAFO! The biggest RAFO!
Q:  Could a Seon, or a Skaze, could they turn into a, some sort of Shardblade on their own planet?
A:  That is theoretically possible. It's—I mean they work under the same fundamentals, but they would need to have something to pull them more into the physical realm.
Q:  Do we see the highspren at all in Words of Radiance? And if so, do they look like a comet?
A:  That's a good question. That's a gooood, good question. I will say this, the comet, hmm, the comet spren. The comet spren is very important to an order of Knights Radiant.

Macen
Q:  What group, if any, was Shallan's mother a part of?
B.  RAFO. But you are right, she was indeed involved.
Q:  Was Shallan's father influenced at all by Odium?
B.  Yes.
Q:  Is it possible to bind with more than one spren? (then I added in) of different types?
B.  I'm not going to say it's impossible.


Q:  I have read White Sands and Aether of Night.  Why aren't they published?
A:  White Sands isn't published because I feel that Kenton doesn't have the depth of character that I like to have nowadays.  He's more of an oldschool character of mine where he just isn't--personality wise doesn't have quite enough.  Beyond that, I feel that White Sands is narrative.  It meanders a little too much.  I felt that if I cut 50k words and fix them, we would have a good book.
Aether is not published because I feel that I wrote two different books and didn't blend them together very well.  There's kind of the farcical Shakespearean switch-places-silliness and it's fun but it's like mistaken identity almost, sort of stuff, and the romance.  Mixed with these dark things are coming out of the shardpools and destroying the world.  And these two stories never meshed together well enough for me to want to publish it.  White Sand one more revision, we're trying to go to graphic novel.  I'm not sure what I could do with Aether of Night.



Q:  Will there be more romantic subplots?  I really enjoyed the scene between Shallan and [can't make this out].
A:  There will be more romantic subplots.  There will definitely be.  If you watch, there will be a lot more.  I'm a big fan of romance.

Q:  Are there any other continents on Roshar?
A:  I haven't said if there's anything else out there, but I have said that it's a pangaea.  Meaning if there's anything else out there, they are small.  They are not of a similar scope in size.  Now on Scadrial, there's other stuff going on.  And I've told people that for years and years and years.  So you may find some other stuff going on there.  So the southern continent was populated on Scadrial, during the Final Empire era even.  It was just impossible to reach because of the heat.  The poles were the only habitable places on the planet.  So anything in between just cooked.  Final Empire was on the North Pole.

Q:  We know that 10 is an odd number in the cosmere.  And I noticed that the Lord Ruler specifically released 10 Allomantic metals.  Is there a reason behind that?
A:  No, that was a coincidence right there.  10 is an odd cosmere number for Roshar, and there are reasons why it is
Q:  But it wasn't just Roshar, it was also Nalthis and Warbreaker.
A:  Nope, that one is a coincidence.  Sometimes they just pop up that way.  Part of the original reason that Roshar was 10 was I was going for a 10 day like Robert Jordan did, which I thought was cool.  But then I ended up writing the Wheel of Time so I have to do something different now.  So it turned into the two five-day weeks.  Two five-days becoming a 50 day month.

Q:  The Cognitive Realm, is Shadesmar a Roshar specific term?
A:  Shadesmar is a Roshar specific term.  But when I translate from what other people are saying in these books, I just translate it to Shadesmar.  For instance, when Wit is talking about it, he's going to call it Shadesmar, he's just going to use the Roshar term.  But no, Shadesmar is what--it's called there.
Q:  With the whole ground/water inversion thing, is that a cosmere wide thing?
A:  That, you will need to RAFO.  But I will say that there are places in Shadesmar that are different, and some that are the same.

Q:  [Not sure on this] Is there something important about the stone, and the girl that's missing that has to do kind of with the stone, and how Tien gives him rocks?
A:  Some of that you're reading too much into, but something is real.  I'm not going to tell you what is what.  But there's definitely something about that.

Q:  When Hoid was talking to Dalinar, he seemed to expect that Dalinar had heard of Adonalsium.  Why would he think that?
A:  He thought that Dalinar was part of some of the secret societies on Roshar.  And he had thought his way into thinking Dalinar was part of them and that was how Dalinar was knowing certain things.  Which he really wasn't he was getting them from the storms and things like this.  But he thought that Gavilar had confided things in Dalinar.  That Dalinar would know more about this.  So he was kind of testing to see.  And he was wrong.

Q:  I was thinking of how Shardplate in Dalinar's first vision looks different than Shardplate is now. Syl can only transform into a Shardblade after he says the third round of Oaths.  Is Shardplate the next set or will it be a totally different [Can't make this out.]
A:  You are totally going to get a RAFO. You are asking good questions.

Q:  If someone is using an Honorblade, would they be able to bond a spren?
A:  It is indeed possible.  It does not block it.  Good question.  You do not have to bond Honorblades.  Honorblades work with whoever holds them.

[syl was mainly created to be a figure of light to contrast with Kaladin's darkness.]

Q:  Why does Hoid show up in all of your books?
A:  Because they're all connected and he's searching for something.

Q:  Soulcasters, [can't make this out] do they visit Shardsmar, do we see more about them?  Because they're [can't make this out] something about them with the stony face.
A:  Yes, the actual soulcasters.  Use of the soulcasters is affecting them on one of the Realms other than Physical.
Q:  Can you tell me something about Tension and Cohesion?
A:  I haven't actually written these magic systems yet, so they may change.  But they are--Tension is the ability to take something flexible and make it rigid. Which sounds simple, but there are so many cool things you can do with that.
Q:  Is Shallan's mother, the one that she kills, is that her birth mother?
A:  It is.  Good question.

Q:  What Heightening is Hoid?
A:  [Coy] I don't know what you're talking about!  Heightening?  He's just the King's Wit!
Q:  With perfect pitch?
A:  He does have perfect pitch!  [Even more coy]You're obviously misconstruing that!

Q:  Are Heralds Surgebinders without Honorblades?
A:  That's a RAFO.  That's a big fat RAFO!  [This was answered at another signing.]

Q:  [Can't make this out]
A:  Sigzil claims Hoid is his master
Q:  [Can't make this out]
A:  Sigzil is not a world hopper, but he spent some time with Hoid during one of Hoid's visits.

Q:  A couple of days ago, you mentioned some person called Khriss.  Has he actually appeared or been referenced in any of...
A:  She! has appeared and....
Q:  I guessed as much because one of the pictures says "Dear woman!" toward the end of the book.
A:  She has appeared in--if you ask around about Khriss, she has appeared in unpublished books.
Q:  Is Khriss the author of some of the Ars Arcanums?
A:  [Teasing]Oh I dunno.  That's very interesting
Q:  Does Khriss owe Nazh a new coat?
A:  [Long pause]I'll stay closed mouthed on Khriss.

Kythis
Q:  [Didn't hear]
A:  Hemalurgy-when you spike, you place the spike in a place that determines which charge the spike gets.
Q:  Through the heart seems to pick up universally.
A:  It depends on where in the heart.  It's like acupuncture.  This is designed from acupuncture and you get very specific on which nerves you're hitting and things like that
Q:  So the spike will never pick up more than one power.
A:  Not the way they know how to do it.
Q:  Can they hold more than one Honorblade at a time?
A:  That is theoretically possible.
Q:  The names Zahel and Nahel bonds are very similar.  Is it coincidental?
A:  It's part of the linguistics.  They're based off of similar suffixes.  They're the same suffixe I believe.
Q:  Is there a specific # of Ideals that they have to do before they can get the Shardblade?
A:  It depends on the Order.
Q:  How did Pattern actually become a Shardblade even though he hadn't been fully pulled into the Physical Realm?
A:  He was pulled into the Physical Realm before, when Shallan was younger.  And she almost broke her bond.
Q:  He didn't go mad though.
A:  She didn't completely break the bond.  She didn't reject him completely.  But it was dangerous for a while.
Q:  Is there anything Hoid was scared of? And if so, is it still around, and...
A:  There are many things that Hoid is scared of. He is really scared of Odium, but there are others.
Q:  I'd kind of like to get you to talk more about Southern Scadrial but...
A:  That, we're just going to wait on.
Q:  I have a theory that it requires Hemalurgy to get started.
A:  Hmmm!  Good plot, good theory!

 

Edited by RShara
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Phoenix/Scottsdale (would like audio for this if anyone has it)

 

the_archduke

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6605-words-of-brandon-compiled/page-5?p=112550#entry112550

Q:  Is the woman around Wit's age named Reya?
A:  RAFO

Q:  Is the Moon Scepter an object of Investiture?
A:  The Moon Scepter is an item that is important to Hoid, but I won't say why yet.

Q:  Was Szeth's resurrection done with Rosharan Investiture or that from Nalthis?
A:  RAFO

Q:  What is the effect of the Nahel Bond on human lifespan.
A:  RAFO

Q:  Does Hoid have all the abilities of the planets he's visited?
A:  Not yet.

Q:  Is chouta (sp?) based on food from Korea?
A:  (Long explanation about industrializing societies developing portable food) and no, it is Mexican/Italian, think deep fried meatballs in a soapapila (sp?)

Q:  Who are your biggest literary influences?
A:  Robert Jordan (big crowd laugh) and Victor Hugo.

Q:  Were Shardblades influenced by lightsabers?
A:  Yes (long aside about how everyone in the last 40 years was so influenced), but not sure how direct of an influence.

Q:  (Something about how he got his ideas for knights)
A:  A knight has a sword, armor and a horse.  (my interpretation of the answer is that Ryshadium were closely related to the ancient Knights Radiant)

Q:  Will Kaladin ever get Wit's flute back to woo a certain red haired young lady?
A:  Wit is very mad about Kaladin losing the flute.  If he recovers it, he wouldn't let Kaladin have it again.

Q:  (overheard at a distance) Is there time travel in the Cosmere?
A:  We haven't seen time travel into the past, but we have seen it into the future in Alloy of Law.

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Lexington (would like audio for this if anyone has it)

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6984-lexington-ky-signing/

tganchero
Q:  (Brandon mentioned changing Kaladin's plot so that he chose the "hard" path) What was the hard path?
A:  Kaladin initially accepted the shardblade and plate in the first book, and the rest of the book was about him fighting with them. Really boring.
 
Q:  Are highstorms a meteorological or magical phenomenon?
A:  Both.
 
Q:  Did the mistress from the interlude in book 1 destroy the Shalash statue on the night of Gavilar's death?
A:  Yes, and also all the other ones that we've seen, including the one in Shallan's vision in Words of Radiance.
 
Q:  Is the mistress Shalash?
A:  RAFO.
 
Q:  How many oaths can a Radiant swear?
A:  There is an upper-limit/threshold to the number of oaths a Radiant may make. By the end of WoR, Shallan is a step higher than Kaladin.
 
Not completely sure on this one: He said that at one point Shallan may have said all the oaths for her order (or may have been capable of saying all of the oaths by the end of the book) but has since regressed due to "memory loss/repression."  
 
Regarding Dalinar: He said that Dalinar has had a bond with the Stormfather "for a while." He also only said one oath at the top of the Urithiru tower, not two. Dalinar conveyed a single idea in that particular oath.
 
Brandon also clarified that the oaths, with the exception of the first ideal, are not restricted to specific words. Rather, a specific idea must be conveyed for the oath to be accepted.

gpmushu
Q:  Do darkeyes feel the Thrill?
A:  Yes, they do.  

Q:  Do highstorms get weaker as they move west because of normal meteorological reasons the same way a hurricane gets weaker over land or is it because they slowly drain investiture as they infuse spheres over the whole continent?
A:  Both.  He said that anything like that will be affected by both normal science as well as the magic, but then he added that the highstorms are a natural occurring phenomenon that were on the planet before stuff started going down. I didn't get this confirmed, but I think he meant the stormlight part of the storm was added later, I'm assuming by a Shard.

Q:  Has the Thrill existed longer than the Death Rattles or have they both been occurring for about the same period of time?
A:  The Thrill and the Death Rattles started around the same time, but the locations for the two fluctuate and have been since they appeared.
(This is just a way of confirming that the Unmade have been active for about the same amount of time.  Both started around the time Gavilar started to explore the Shattered Plains according to Taravangian.)

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Dayton

 

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6815-anyone-going-to-the-dayton-signing-19th/
Luke and darkanimereal1
Q:  So, the Purelake in Shadesmar is mountainous. Does this in any way have to do with the fact that the Purelake is so shallow?
A:  No. I haven't yet discussed the nature of the relationship between Shadesmar and the Physical world.

Q:  So, when Dalinar has his vision in what he assumes in the Purelake, he sees an obsidian fortress. Is that fortress in any way related to the fact that the Purelake in Shadesmar is mountainous?
A:  No.

Q:  Please don't tell me you're going to do a love triangle between Adolin, Kaladin, and Shallan.
A:  [Phrased very carefully] I'm not a fan of the traditional love triangle. However, I am fond of conflict in relationships.

Q:  The weepings--Shallan and Kaladin react very differently to them.
A:  They do.
Q:  It just seems to me that the Weepings feel very close to Cultivation.
A:  The primary thing you're noticing -- and I'm not going to say there's not any magical influence -- but the primary thing you're noticing is that Kaladin has season defective disorder and Shallan likes the rain. That's the primary thing you're noticing. I like the rain--my wife hates it. My wife gets depressed when it rains and I love when it rains.

Q:  Did Taravangian go to see the Nightwatcher before or after Gavilar's assassination?
A:  Um, oh man. I'm going to have to look at my timeline. I believe it's before, but I can't guarantee I'm right, because these things are all happening around the same time.
Q:  Because he says that Gavilar confided in him the night of.
A:  Ooooh, you're right. Nope, it's after. It is after. You can send that question to Peter so we can confirm it. There might be something I'm forgetting about Taravangian.

[Peter said by PM: "As far as I can tell from what the book says, he went to the Nightwatcher after the assassination."]

Q:  What caused a Desolation to end? Was it just the defeat of Odium's forces? Because the Desolations start when the Heralds break under torture.
A:  Because the Heralds can no longer be in existence. There is a certain period of time that they can be there, and after that, if they're there, they will start a new one. So the Heralds do need to leave for a Desolation to end.
Q:  Oh. So they've got a time limit.
A:  They do. Otherwise the Desolation will start again. What they discovered is not all of them have to. As long as one remains, the Desolation will not start again.
Q:  So, by the nine leaving, did that actually break the Oathpact for them? Did it change the cycle of Desolations?
A:  They have not completely broken the Oathpact, despite what they may think.

Q:  How much stormlight equals one breath? Do you have an actual ratio?
A:  I have a ratio. It's not on me.
Q:  Okay, that's a Peter question again.
A:  Yeah, well, I may not answer it even then.

Q:  Are the Heralds actually aware that Taln is back?
A:  Are the Heralds aware that Taln is back? Uh, you're implying that this person actually is Taln. [The smile on Brandon's face at this moment was the best, most excruciatingly awful smile ever. And we thought Peter was a tease.] Which is not guaranteed. It's not guaranteed. However, the return of the Voidbringers does indeed indicate to them, in their mind, that he would have returned.

Q:  So they assume because the Voidbringers are returning--
A:  Because the Voidbringers are returning, would be a clue to them that Taln has returned.
Q:  You mentioned that human can’t bond Honorblades, but Nalan tells Szeth that his bond with his Honorblade has been broken. Can you clear this up?
A:  Humans CAN bond Honorblades. There's a crucial difference between Honorblades and Shardblades. When you drop an Honorblade, it does not disappear, even if it has been bonded. A Shardblade will disappear when dropped.
Q:  Which map holds the Easter Egg?
A:  The main map of Roshar.
Q:  From which book?
A:  Either book, it's the main one that will go in each copy. It's VERY hard and it won't change a whole lot.
Q:  Does it have anything to do with the compass?
A:  Not the compass.
Q:  How many parties were there to the original Oathpact?
A:  The Heralds and Honor. They thought that by walking away from their oaths, that it would break the Oathpact. They're going to find out that it's not quite as broken as they had previously thought (meaning the Heralds).

Edited by Moogle
Confirmed WoB with Mr. Ahlstrom.
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DC

Rybal
Q:  Can the Heralds Surgebind without their Blades and if not are they under the same restrictions that others are.
A:  The Heralds without their Blades are incapable of the powers you're familiar with.  It doesn't mean there aren't other things they can do.

 

Q:  How did you come up with the geography on Roshar?
A:  The geography on Roshar was developed as a natural outgrowth of the highstorm, which was the first concept for Roshar, which was inspired by the storm of Jupiter, which was me wanting to tell a story about a world with a continual magical storm. And then I built the ecology and all of these things up from that.  Roshar had to grow up--I had to find a mechanism by which stone was deposited by rain, because I felt that the constant weathering over that long of a time would leave no continents.  So the crem was my kind of scientific-with-one-foot-in-magic hack on keeping the continent.  So the contienent does drift.  They don't have plate tectonics.  The continent actually moves as it gets weathered on the east and gets pushed that direction over millennia of time.

Shicaca
Q:  I was looking at the map of Roshar and it kinda looked like a spiral galaxy to me, like it was flipping a certain way.
A:  That was intentional.  You are on to something that no one's figured out yet.  
Q:  I was thinking it could be connected to people being able to manipulate gravity.
A:  It's not exactly what you think you're on to, but you're getting close to something that they've all wanted to know for a while.

Outis
Q:  Are there any birds on Roshar?
A:  Yes, they're called chickens by everybody, and you've seen some of them.  If you watch in WoR, there are things that people are calling a chicken which is not what you know of as a chicken.

Q:  Kaladin is a lot younger than his knowledge and training levels are?  (Can't make out the rest)
A:  You've got to keep two things in mind.  He's led a very hard life which has aged him experience-wise prematurely, and also Roshar years are longer than ours, so when in this book they say he's 19, he's not actually 19, he's more like, I can't remember the exact equation, he's like 23 or something like that.

Q:  What Order of Knights Radiant would you want to be in?
A:  Ohhhh I would probably place myself in the Bondsmiths would be my guess.  But the bondsmiths are very hard to get into, there's a limited number of people who can be Bondsmiths.

Q:  Do you have an advisor for the science?
A:  I usually run things by my editor who's very big into science, but mostly we go find an expert and have him read.  The thing about it is, I have to hand wave a lot of things.  Like the laws of thermodynamics, I can't, you know..  There are quantum physics in here.  I'm trying to handwave as little as possible but we are breaking fundamental laws of physics, but even in terms of things like the laws of conservation.  Energy is being conserved, but there's a supernatural source.

Q:  Is Hoid the one that comes out of the lake that Rock is talking about?
A:  RAFO.

Q:  What was the tweak you wanted to put in the end?
A:  At the end of the day, I kind of wish that I had had Kaladin decide not to kill Szeth.  But him killing Szeth is what the outline calls for and it's going to send the book in some interesting ways but I kinda wish I hand't done that.  Forcing him to live with what he'd done instead.  Taking his blade and forcing him to live with what he'd done, I'd kind of wish that's what I'd done.

Q:  Is the fundamental force of gravity the same as it is on Earth.  Is the constant the same?
A:  Yes, the constant would be the same.  The big difference is when I'm tweaking the fundamental forces is, I imagine on Roshar that there are more fundamental forces.  There are more than four.  I've broken them up according to what their scientists have decided.

Q:  Are you going to make any of your primary characters into worldhoppers?
A:  Some of them already are.  There are primary characters who are worldhoppers.  We just haven't had books about them yet.
In this series' main characters, I will RAFO whether any will become worldhoppers.

Q:  Is the crossover surge for each Knight the same?
A:  To an extent, yes.  Each of the combinations make a little bit of a tweak to how things act.  But when you see the Skybreakers affecting gravity it will look much the same as what you saw on the Windrunners.

Q:  In book one, Dalinar catches a chasmfiend claw.  In book two, he catches a Shardblade.  Is he going to keep catching stuff in each book?
A:  Dalinar is pretty good at catching stuff.  Umm...RAFO?

Q:  The line about three of sixteen reigned and now the Broken One rules.  Did Odium follow three other shards to Roshar, or is he the third Shard?
A:  Odium is the third Shard on Roshar.  

Q:  Do you know the order of 6-10?
A:  I know whose they are but I haven't decided the order.  Lift is one, Taln is one.  The person who calls himself Taln.

[discussion on Vorinisn and what philosophies it drew upon]

Q:  With the different headings on each chapter on the Stormlight Archive books, 5 years from now if I read the 5 books and I'm reading all of the last words of the people, is it going to be this huge foreshadowing?
A:  It will make a lot more sense.

Q:  Who would win in an argument, Shallan or Lightsong?
A:  [laughs]Lightsong. More practice.  Maybe Shallan would eventually be able to hold her own but at this point he would win.

Q:  When can I expect Dragonsteel?
A:  A loong time.  It's waaay off.

Q:  How much Stormlight is equal to one Breath?
A:  This is one of the times I have to go to Peter and say, They're asking, we have to canonize this.

Q:  Will Allomancy affect Shardblades?
A:  It cannot affect Shardblades.  Well, cannot is a strong term.  Things with innate Investiture are much more difficult to affect by any of the magics at all.  Which is why it's very hard for Szeth to bind people or lash people whering Shardplate to the ceiling.  In the same way Allomancy wouldn't be able to push on it without some help.  Duralumin with a strong Push would probably do it.
Q:  I was just wondering if it was actually metal.
A:  It is metalish--it's metal enough for Allomancy to work on it.

Q:  If an Elantrian bonded to a Seon and traveled to Roshar, would that act as a Nahel bond?
A:  It would act very very similarly, yes. But it would be like… it wouldn't necesarily do the exact same things.  It would be treated the exact same way, but wouldn't grant the same powers.

Q:  Is Shardplate crem?
A:  No it is not, good question.

Q:  What other magic systems in the Cosmere have that same kind of, "If you use it a lot it gets better?"
A:  It is a little bit more like wedging open cracks in the soul by letting the Investiture come in, and it can open the cracks more.
Q:  Are there other magic systems like that?
A:  Yes.
Q:  Will we see those any time soon?
A:  Maybe...RAFO.

Q:  Is it very difficult to worldhop from Sel because most of the world in its Cognitive realm version is ocean?
A:  No that is not the reason, good question.

Q:  What alloy did Hoid drink?
A:  Let's just say he was trying to make certain people act the way they wanted to.

Q:  Are there any locations on Roshar with red stone?
A:  Yes.
Q:  Where did the redstone on Feverstone come from?
A:  Roshar.

Q:  Is Eshonai going to be a Radiant?
A:  In the past, parshmen/Parshendi were not allowed to become Knights Radiant.  However, what I said might imply that that could change.  But no promises.

Q:  Can spren be resurrected?  Because ideas can never really die.
A:  This is theoretically possible but very difficult without the people who originally betrayed their oaths.

Q:  Does Nightblood act as an Honorblade?
A:  RAFO.

Q:  Would you consider yourself a Worldsinger?
A:  Potentially, yes.

Q:  In Shallan, in the beginning and middle of the book it's 10 heartbeats, and in the end of the book it's none...?
A:  The 10 heartbeats is required to revive a dead shardblade
Q:  But he wasn't dead the whole time.
A:  He wasn't.  But perception--all magic systems in the Cosmere are based on perception-what you think you can do.  For instance, Kaladin can't get healed because he sees himself as having a wounded forehead with the scars and that can't vanish because his perception is in the way.

Q:  Do we have another worldhopper potentially, with the epilogue?
A:  There is some interesting things happening there.  Good question!
Q:  How many orders have we seen so far?  I know there're the four identifed at the end.
A:  You've seen Jasnah's, so that's the fifth one.  You've seen Lift which gets you to six.  You've seen Ym.
Q:  (Can't hear the question)
A:  You can usually-in some cases-use the magic of one world to power the magic of another world.
Q:  Szeth in the prologue of book one says he can't heal from a Shardblade wound, but Kaladin can.  What is the distinction there?
A:  You should be looking to see if you can find other distinctions between what Szeth says and what happens to Kaladin, because there's three or four big inconsistencies.
Q:  What's with the black stone that the king gives Szeth?
A:  It holds a secret that will be revealed in future books.  I'd tell ya but they're recording me right here, so I can't tell you otherwise it gets out on the internet!

Q:  How do safepounches work?
A:  Imagine an envelope that you can button closed.

Q:  Dalinar, the Blackthorn, are we going to figure out why he's called that?
A:  You will eventually see flashbacks from Dalinar in a later book, which will add some information to that.

Q:  Is there any significance to Adolin's mother's chain being missing?
A:  Only to him.

Q:  If after speaking the Third Ideal, Kaladin were to betray his oaths, would Syl turn into a Shardblade?
A:  Yes.

Q:  Given that Investiture is Investiture, would there be potential Investiture of like, kandra to Parshendi using Hemalurgic spikes?
A:  Hemalurgic spikes can be used on any planet.
Q:  Would it be potential for Parshendi to develop a form using the spikes?
A:  Wow, that would be a really weird hack of the magic system that would be theoretically possible.  But that's a really weird one.  I had never even considered that one.  Parshendi adopting other Investiture could happen, the spikes is not one I've considered.

Q:  Are the Unmade actually spren as Taravangian thinks they are?
A:  As far as anyone knows.  I'm not going to answer other than that.

Q:  Are there factions in the Spiritual Realm?  Like there are different stories about the Tranquiline Halls and the Iridescent Tomes.
A:  Yes...there are actual factions but they're not what you're thinking of.
Q:  Are there lifeforms that are native to the Spiritual Realm like the spren are native to the Cognitive Realm?
A:  Yes, but they're not what you're thinking.

Q:  How did Hoid and whoever he's sending the letters to deliver the letters?
A:  RAFO.
Q:  Can Nightwatcher RAFO people?
A:  [Laughs]Nightwatcher can do whatever she wants!

Q:  Was there any specific reason why you chose to not have men not be able to read in [Roshar]?
A:  Yes, it relates back to the origin of where the safehand comes from and things like this.

Q:  Are spren visible on Roshar because Cultivation is present?
A:  Cultivation has a lot to do with the spren but the spren...would...it's hard to separate them, but some spren did exist before Cultivation arrived.

Q:  [Can't hear the question.]
A:  Eshonai indeed gets a flashback sequence.  Now, Parshendi were not allowed to be surgebinders in previous eras.  I'll just mention that.

Q:  Are there any other characters from Elantris or other things?
A:  There are indeed others around.  I don't know how obvious they are in this book, but there are a couple.

Q:  [Can't hear the question.]
A:  Kaladin has depression.

Chris_from_Warrenton
Q:  Would it be possible to Soulforge NIghtblood and change the command that was given to him when he was Invested?
A:  That is possible. That would actually not be a very difficult Soulforge.  The problem is, he's Invested.  So reInvesting him, which is what Soulforgery is, is really hard.  So you'd have to figure out how you could use Forgery on something that is already Invested.  But forgery can get through some of those hoops a lot easier than some other magic systems can.
Q:  Do you have to be a willing subject to be Soulforged?
A:  You do not.  Working with the soul is really hard though.  You have to be a supreme expert in what you're doing, because soul is Investiture

Q:  [Paraphrased]In order to use magic from one world on another world, do they need a bit of [the first world's] Shard with you?
A:  It helps a lot.  But there are other ways to do it.  What's going on in the Cosmere is people have 3 sets of DNA.  They have Physical DNA, Spiritual DNA, and Cognitive DNA.  Their Spiritual DNA is what encodes the magic system into them, their Investiture.  So if you can find a way to rewrite your Spiritual DNA, you can do all kinds of funky things.  That's what Hemalurgy does.  It rips off a piece of someone else's soul, staples it to yours.  So if you went with a Hemalurgic spike to the right place, ripped off a piece of someone's soul and stapled it to yourself, you could create short circuits that will let you do all kinds of goofy stuff.

Q:  Will the next book explain how that sword [Nightblood] got there, and why that guy[Zahel/Vasher] isn't with that sword?
A:  The next book will give you some hints.

Q:  Is Edgli the name of Endowment?
A:  RAFO.

Q:  In the middle of WoR, there's a scene where Kaladin's hanging out in the barracks, and Rock kicks out an ardent sketching them.  Is that the guy drawing all the pictures?
A:  That is Nazh.  You've found him.  You have discovered Nazh!

Q:  What kind of spren do Dustbringers have?
A:  RAFO. But you asked a very wise question.

Q:  Have we seen a Knight of all of the Orders yet?
A:  You have not seen a Knight of all of the orders yet I don't believe.
Q:  Even one that doesn't have a spren yet?
A:  I think you have met everybody.

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http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/7051-philadelphia-wor-signing-reports/page-3

macros
Q:  Based on what we know currently about the ten heartbeats, why does Szeth require ten heartbeats to bring forth his Honorblade?
A:  Perception is a very important part of how these things all work, and remember, the Honorblades work differently from everything else. Everything was based upon them. Why don't you read and find out what's going on there, but remember, the characters' perception is very important.

Q:   So then that's why at one point Shallan requires ten heartbeats and now she doesn't.
A:   Right, just like — it's the exact same reason why Kaladin's forehead wounds don't heal, because he views himself as need— as having those, somewhere deep inside of him, and that can't heal until that goes away. And it's the same reason why in Warbreaker, when you bring something to life your intention, rather than really what you say, is what matters. It's all about perception.

Q:   In Mistborn, Allomancy tends to get a little addictive, is that something that's going to happen with Stormlight—holding it just because it feels good?
A:   You are noticing a similarity. That is intentional.

Q:  If Taravangian made the Diagram, and telling the future is of the Voidbringers, is that a bad sign?
A:  It depends on if you're speaking culturally or actually magically.
Q:  Magically, I guess.
A:  Because he would claim to you that he did it all with strength of mind and no magical influence other than enhanced mind. That's what he would tell you. And so in that case it would not be—culturally they'd look very weirdly at it, but spiritually he would say it's not of the Voidbringers.
Q:  Right. He would say that.
A:  Uh-huh.

Q:  We were talking that it's kind of a shame that Dalinar doesn't have his own "real" spren. I think it's an upgrade, is there a way I should think of this? Is it a cool thing or a bad thing?
A:  It's a cool thing, it's also a very dangerous thing.
Q:  Well [the Stormfather] controls the highstorms...follow-up question: if he dies, does that affect the spren?
A:  Dying, as long as the oaths are not broken, does not affect the spren in a very terrible way. There are effects.

Q:  So regarding Hoid, are we ever going to learn his real name at any point in time? I guess in Dragonsteel? I know he says about how he's borrowing stuff and about how he steals stuff.
A:  Yes. You eventually know his real name, but it depends on what you define as real.

Q:  Will the flute come back?
A:  A lot of people are curious about the flute. I have been non-committal, so far.

Leiyan
Q:  Can you tell me the order of the three planets in the solar system?
A:  No.
Q:  Because I know Braize is the third one, I've heard that, is that true?
A:  I'm staying close-lipped about a lot of this.
Q:  Can you tell me which is the most massive moon [of Roshar]? Not the biggest, but the most massive.
A:  I think the biggest is the most massive. All three moons are much closer than our moon is.
Q:  And so is that Nomon?
A:  Yes
Q:  How big is Nomon on the night sky, like compared to our moon?
A:  Larger than our moon, but not dominating of the sky. […] I do believe Nomon is bigger, but I had to have Peter run those calculations, so he may come back and say no Brandon, that's not possible, but I do believe it's bigger than our moon in the sky. You're supposed to be able to see moderately well by Nomon.

EHyde
Q:  I was wondering, on Roshar, what sort of plants and animals do they use for fabrics, since they don't have a lot of wooly animals and the plants are different?
A:  Most of them are plant-based. I think I've mentioned one of the plants.
Q:  They have silk though, right?
A:  Yes. It's called sea-silk, they grow it in the water. It comes from the coasts.
Q:  So they don't have anything like our silk, then?
A:  If you looked at it, you would call it silk, but it is being produced in a very different way.
Q:  Our silk comes from insect cocoons, and they have a lot of that there, but they don't use it for fiber at all?
A:  Insect cocoons on Roshar are either they melt in water from the highstorm cycle, or they have stone in them, so they don't work really well for textiles. There are certain rockbuds you can shred the inside of the shell to get a textile, there's sea silk that grows out in the ocean, and there are other plants of a similar nature.

Rhandric
Q:  Is Vasher trying to find Nightblood?
A:  Vasher misses Nightblood and feels responsible for him.
Q:  How many worldhoppers have we seen?
A:  Oh, I haven't kept track, you've seen quite a few. There's one from Mistborn, did you catch him? I don't think people have really picked out the Terriswoman yet, who makes her way into them, but they're mostly not supposed to be noticeable yet, until you get to know them as characters and you look back and be like, "Oh that was that person."
Q:  Is it the Terriswoman I think it is?
A:  I don't know which Terriswoman you think it is.
Q:  Tindwyl?
A:  No.

Kurkistan
Q:  Speaking of [the Terriswoman wordlhopper who the previous Sharder had been asking about], is she the nurse in Warbreaker?
A:  [Gleeful]RAAAAAAFO!
Q:  Are the laws of physics in the Cosmere Spiritually based?
A:  They...The laws of physics in the Cosmere are ours except where they have been changed by Spiritual influence. So I guess you could say "Yes."
Q: What would happen if you shot a Thug with an aluminum bullet or stabbed him with an aluminum knife?
A:  Ah, that's a good question. And, um.. the wound would not be able to heal around the aluminum, but once the aluminum came out, and was gone from the system, they would be okay.
Q:  Wait, is that a Bloodmaker, not a Thug?
A:  Oh, you're talking about Thu- Oh, okay. Yeah, ummm... It would work similarly, but it really wouldn't really have a huge effect on them.
Q:  Ah, okay. 'Cause Peter was implying that there was some weird aluminum interaction with Thugs.
A:  What was he thinking of... There is some weird interaction but-
Q:  In the wedding scene [in Alloy of Law] Wax thinks that they would have aluminum bullets to deal with Thugs and I was like, "Oh that's a typo," and Peter was like, "Oh no it's not..."
A:  No no... That would just be- it's like I said: healing it until the bullet is gone. It's just the same as the Bloodmaker.
Q:  If I get a Slider, a Pulser, and a Nicroburst in a rocket with a lot of metal, do I have FTL?
A:  [Laughs]You're getting closer but you haven't figured it out yet.
Q: Are flamespren, are they all doing their own thing, or is there some Ideal of "Fire" sitting in the Spiritual Realm that they're all based on?
A:  Each spren is based on the Ideal of Fire.
Q: And is that sitting in the Spiritual Realm?
A:  Yes, we're using sort of a Platonic Ideal, and that concept is in force, so <sounds hesitant> "yes", but [spren] are manifestations of it.
Q: So these Ideals in the Spiritual Realm: Divine Breath, does that heal by accessing some Ideal of Human Health: so a guy who had never had a tongue and doesn't know how to speak all the sudden has a tongue and can speak?
A:  You are... [LONG pause] You are, um, on the right track.  Because the Breath is... eh. How can I explain this? You are, yeah... So... So each Breath is a shade of diety, right?  And each Breath incorporates into it this sort of idea of being endowed by the diety Endowment, correct?  And so each Breath you hold brings you one step closer to becoming like that, and so what you're saying is... is yes, kind of true, yes.
Q:  But it's like within the Breath, not sitting off by itself-
A:  Yes, yes, yes exactly.

Sweetness
Q:  What do the glyphs in the Kholin glyph pair mean?
A:  Oh boy, it's in my notes, I should know that, but I'd need to look it up.
Q:  What would the Willshapers think about Adolin killing Sadeas?
A:  The Willshapers would probably be ok with that.
Q:  Since the evil on Threnody isn't a Shard, can you tell us anything about its actual nature? Is it an actual being, and is it related to Adonalsium?
A:  Everything is related to Adonalsium in the Cosmere, most of the magic you're seeing is a just a natural outgrowth of Cosmere related magic and cognitive shadows. The Evil is similarly related.
Q:  Were the Ryshadium artificially enhanced or created, or were they natural?
A:  Oh, RAFO! Good question!

RIT
Q:  Glowing Shardplate and retractable helmets. Is that a similar origin of the Shardblades-
A:  There's a similarity, but they are also very different.
Q:  Yeah, I noticed they do seem like advanced fabrials, because Adolin just keeps going on and on about how they're all interchangeable and how they all feel comfortable after a while, and it doesn't have the same kind of thing with the Shardblades.
A:  No, it doesn't. Though a Shardblade, used for a long time, will change shape slightly.

Q:  Is it the power of the bond between humans and spren, the Nahel bond, or from the swords-the existing Shardblades-that causes the eyes to turn light?
A:  Yes.
Q:  Does each specific order have their own spren that they would bond?
A:  Yes. Each order has a spren that is distinctive. All Windrunners come from wind- from honorspren.

Q:  So Nohadon's still alive, right?
A:  RAFO! Why would you say that Nohadon's still alive?
Q:  I know he's still alive.
A:  Why would you say he's still alive?
Q:  It's the perfect trick, that you're gonna bring back Nohadon. It's my feeling about things.
A:  Um...
Q:  When do we get to see a Radiant and a Mistborn go at it?
A:  It's gonna be a while. It is gonna be a while. Unless- yeah.
Q:  Is Shai on Roshar?
A:  Hehehe, good question!
Q:  Has she already popped up?
A:  She has not already popped up.
Q:  So she's not a Radiant. Or is she?
A:  You have not seen her on screen yet, other than in her story.

Q:  I was wondering if you had, off the top of your head, any one-armed Herdazian jokes.
A:  [Laughs]Only the obvious one. How do you get a one-armed Herdazian out of a tree? You wave.

Q:  I was writing about the stances, and I was wondering if you could match them with (unfolds drawing).
A:  I would have you email this to us, because Ben McSweeney made the final call as he drew these, which one was which. While I had notes on each of them, he matched the stances to them, so it would be really easy for me to get them wrong.

Q:  So what's your favorite thing from The Way of Kings? s, coming from the actual book in The Way of Kings.
A:  The book in-world? I would say it's the story that Nohadon shares about walking and passing the man with his burden.

Q:  With the ten books split into five and five, is that going to be chronological?
A:  Yes. They will be chronological.

Q:  I was curious, I know Jasnah wasn't in it too much … I was curious-she's such a believable non-religious character, was it more difficult writing her as a religious person? I just thought she was so well done even though she's not-
A:  You know she's always been that way in my head, since I conceived of her. I spent a lot of time on atheist forums, learning how to talk the right way to make her real.

Q:  I do have to know--how many cousins?
A:  It depends on what your definition of cousin is. By Lopen's definition, basically all of the people - there are a lot of cousins. He's counting like fifth cousins, like, dating his sister or his mom's sister - that's a cousin.

Q:  How many people that we've met know the story of Dalinar's wife?
A:  Know which story?
Q:  The story about the pact, why he doesn't remember anything.
A:  Not very many at all know that he doesn't remember. He's had to fake it.

Q:  Is Lopen still going to have one-arm jokes? That's my big concern.
A:  He will always have one-arm jokes! He's probably going to have to come up with some two-arm jokes.

Q:  How are you going to finish the Cosmere stuff? Like when you get to book 35, how are you gonna resist like book 36, we're gonna say "Courage is held by a dude named Steve and according to Hoid he's pretty cool." Just extend it another … how are you going to finish?
A:  We'll see. We will see. The thing is there's a beginning, middle, and end to the shattering of Adonalsium and the involvement there. More stories can be told in the Cosmere, but there's a beginning, middle, and end to that. When I finish that, that is the sequence that I wanted to tell.
Q:  And you have that outlined out?
A:  I do.

Q:  Is Lopen going to be one of the [main characters in the second five-book sequence]?
A:  He is not, he's a side character.

Q:  Is there a difference between the Shardplate of the Radiants and the current Shardplate?
A:  Yes.

Q:  Kaladin in the second book seemed to be a different Kaladin than at the end of the first book.
A:  What way?
Q:  Angrier, and my question is, why did you write him that way?
A:  He has always been angry. In the first book, he is focused on saving his men and now that his men are safe, all of those emotions--if you go look at him from the first nine chapters of Way of Kings, he's that way there, it's when he becomes focused on saving his men he has something to drive him and it kind of subsumes these things, but once they're safe all these things he hasn't dealt with came back out.

Q:  The epigraphs for The Way of Kings, that were talking about how the various Shardholders are influenced by their shards over time--how does that impact someone like Harmony, with multiple shards?
A:  The main effect it's having on Harmony right now is his inability to act sometimes, because his two sides are pushing, and so he is having trouble being proactive. It'd take a long time before it really becomes manifest, but he's had several hundred years, so it's starting to have an effect.

Q:  Could you use the Feruchemical ability to store identity to heal damage done to you in the Cognitive Realm?
A:  Um...yes, but it's gonna take a roundabout method to make that happen. But identity can be very useful for all sorts of things like this.

Q:  Do you know if Graphic Audio is ever going to tackle the Stormlight Archive?
A:  I would like them to, but it's really up to Tor Audio, or actually MacMillian Audio. They are the ones, because we sold the audio rights to them, that would decide when they're going to do subsidiary licenses. Which they only recently decided on Mistborn. So I'm sure Graphic Audio would like to do it, probably after a few books of this are out they'll start doing it.

Q:  Before the Recreance, there were three Bondsmiths. Did they all bond supersprens, or is Dalinar an exception?
A:  They did something similar.
Q:  Can the Unmade be bonded?
A:  Wow...plausible. Er, possible, I should say.
Q:  If you came up with a Radiant-like ideal, for yourself as a writer, what would it be?
A:  What a great question! (writes the answer in asker's book).

Q:  What Jasnah did, in the first book, with Shallan in the alleyway. And what happened at the end of this book, between Adolin and the other character. Would you put them on the same level? Or would you say that what Adolin did was maybe a little bit darker?
A:  I would say that what Adolin did was less dark, personally. I would say that what Adolin did was something that needed to be done, that no one else was capable of doing.
Q:  Will it have any ramifications for him down the line? With how it was handled?
A:  Oh, there are definitely ramifications. How it's handled, there's lots of ramifications. And there are certain characters who would think that what he did is totally, totally, totally wrong.

Q:  Hoid said [in Warbreaker] that he learned stories from a place where gods have died. Is that Roshar?
A:  RAFO. I will say this. A god has died on Roshar. Only one, that we know. So, "gods" would not be plural.
Q:  Is Shallan's father actually her father?
A:  Heh. People asked if her mother were actually her mother. No one's asked yet if her father was her father.  Yes, it was her father. I will give you that. Her mother and father as presented in the story were actually her mother and father.

Q:  Szeth a lot of the time throughout Words of Radiance is referring to the fact that he's hearing his victims scream in his head. Is that actually his conscience screaming at him or has he possibly already bonded to a spren in some way, that is displeased with-
A:  That is not the spren. Good question. It is not...the spren is not a spren that is a...for one of the orders.
Q:  But it is related to--
A:  I didn't say that. I just said it is not a--it is not a blade. It is not one of those.

Q:  If you had to pick one favorite character from the Stormlight Archive, right now, who would it be?
A:  It's hard to say. Dalinar was my first character, so he'll always have a special place in my heart.

Q:  What came first, Pattern or Chalklings?
A:  Pattern was before Chalklings, good question. For some part of its existence, the Rithmatist was in the Cosmere, until I decided I just don't want Earth in the Cosmere at all, even a bizarre sort of version of Earth.

Q:  Which of your characters do you think would win in a fight?
A:  Uh … at what stage in their career?
Q:  Not the Slivers.
A:  Okay, so they don't count, the Shards of Adonalsium don't count … does Kelsier have atium?
Q:  Yes.
A:  Then … a Mistborn burning atium is really hard to beat in any other way.
Q:  So you think that Kelsier would beat Vin?
A:  Oh, Kelsier would beat Vin if he had atium and she didn't. If they both did? Vin has more raw talent, Kelsier has more experience. So if you can pick Vin after she has more experience she will give him a fair fight, otherwise, not.

Q:  The letter in the epigraphs in Way of Kings, the recipient--is he or she--are they in Words of Radiance?
A:  They are not in Words of Radiance in person.
Q:  Will they be in the next book?
A:  That's a RAFO. But they have not appeared in person in the series yet.

Q:  If someone--Vasher says that Nightblood would kill him, is that just because he has this big deific Breath? Would it kill an ordinary person, like a drab?
A:  It would suck the Breath from anybody, and if they were unable to feed it he would feed on their soul.
Q:  So they would die.
A:  Yes. Anybody wielding Nightblood, he will suck their soul. For too long, he will eventually, if you draw him, he will suck your soul.
Q:  When does a person become a Surgebinder? Because Kaladin talks about when he was a child, about it being a familiar feeling, and Shallan obviously was younger. Or is it when they speak the Words?
A:  The bond starts forming before the words are spoken, but if the words are never spoken that bond will eventually evaporate and get broken. But the bond will start forming before. Just like an emotion attracts a spren, acting in the way that the spren you would eventually bond will start drawing them toward you and that will start to create that bond.
Q:  I know that there's three sorts of forms that magic presents itself in, the liquid and the solid and air. What would Breath be?
A:  Breath is definitely like Mist, it is in the form of the air.
Q:  And is Stormlight the same?
A:  Stormlight is the same. Good questions!
Q:  Would Vasher be able to use Stormlight in the same way that he can get Breath?
A:  That would not be immediately easy, but Stormlight could feed Nightblood.
Q:  Which is why Szeth can wield Nightblood?
A:  Eh, you'll have to see if … but yes. That could theoretically happen. You can use most of the magics on most of the planets to fuel the other magics, if you know how to do it, it is not easy.

Q:  Are we going to get a book with Lift?
A:  You are going to get a book with Lift as a main character. It is going to happen I promise. And I'll probably do some more shorts with Lift because she is so much fun.

Q:  The Seventeenth Shard--is their purpose limited solely to tracking down Hoid? Or is it something grander than that?
A:  No, they have other stuff. It is something grander than that.
Q:  He's just one of many priorities?
A:  Yes. They are very worried about what he's going to be doing.
Q:  But there's others they're worried about as well?
A:  Yes. [...] So they have a task, they have goals, and they are worried that he is going to be at cross purposes to them, so they are trying to hunt him down.

Q:  What's his name, the one who sends the letter with pictures … Nazir?
A:  Oh, Nazh? Nazh… (he gives a longer name. Sounds like Nazreloft, obviously spelling uncertain)
Q:  He's not in the list of …
A:  He appears in one place in that book.
Q:  Rock sounds Hawaiian, Hawaiian royalty. Is that a pun on Dwayne Johnson?
A:  [Laughs] No, it's not. That's a coincidence.

Q:  In other worlds, are we seeing any magics already? Like, Allomancy might be in Roshar?
A:  You've seen people using Allomancy in Roshar before.
Q:  You said that on Roshar the only reason they have aluminum is that they can Soulcast it, right? I think you said something like that … maybe?  I was wondering how that would work, if an Allomancer were to--
A:  Aluminum has some weird properties on all of the magic systems, not just allomancy. It does not have the same effect, but aluminum has some bizarre effects.

Q:  Is the surge "cohesion," that we haven't really seen much, strong axial, is that related to the fabrials for the half-shards?
A:  Aha! Um, I'm gonna RAFO. It's not me not knowing the answer, it's me not knowing if I should say or not. I will RAFO that, because I don't want to get into that too much right now.

Q:  For the Honorblades, if somebody that was already a Radiant used an Honorblade, would they get that Surge also?
A:  It is possible to get multiples, yes. Good question.

Q:  Does Szeth have a puppy, and what would it be like if he did? Because I feel like he could really use one.
A:  Szeth could totally use a puppy. He totally could. He does not have an axehound pup, but he totally should get one. But he does now have something very puppy-like.

Q:  The Long Trail of the Iriali, was one of the first three lands Braize?
A:  Hehehe. No. Excellent question.
Q:  The Aimians seem disliked throughout the world. Is that based on something that has happened in the past?
A:  Um, yes, but they're also really creepy.
Q:  Are they open to manipulation like other sentient non-human humanoids of Roshar? The Parshendi? Or, similar?
A:  Um, RAFO.

Q:  What's your working title for the third book?
A:  It has two. The original working title was Stones Unhallowed. However, Rothfuss is using Doors of Stone, and I kind of feel like I might want to do something different, so my interim title is Skybreaker, but it has to be an in-world book. The in-world book for book 3 is kind of a different one, so I can do a lot with it, but Stones Unhallowed is easier.
Q:  If somebody with some kind of magical ability, for example Allomancy, etc., were to travel off-world, would they still have that ability?
A:  It depends on the ability. Some are easier to use off-world than others. You have seen Allomancy used off-world already.

Q:  Are we going to get ten different perspectives for Gavilar's death?
A:  You will get five.

Q:  Did the shattering of Honor happen in the Cognitive Realm, and Ruin in the Physical? The reason I'm wondering is, are spren the expression of the shattering in the Cognitive Realm while Ruin's physical being is an expression of the shattering in the Physical?
A:  This is an interesting theory that I don't want to completely shoot down, but it is not heading in absolutely correct directions. The shattering of a Shard is an event that transcends all three realms.

EHyde
Q:  I was also wondering if there's any chance of seeing a Nightblood point of view.
A:  There is a chance of seeing a Nightblood point of view. It is something I have sincerely contemplated...and even maybe posted about online.
Q:  Were there Desolations before there were humans on Roshar?
A:  No.
Q:  And, how were the Radiants able to summon their Shardblades at the Recreance if they'd already decided to break their oaths?
A:  Their Shardblades are part of what brought them to--part of the Oathpact--but breaking the Oathpact did not affect their ability to bond or unbond Shardblades.
Q:  What information do Stormwardens use to predict Highstorms?
A:  Um, many things, some of which is necessary to the process and some of which is not. But previous highstorm arrival is a very big part of it, and highstorms from previous years, most recent highstorms, and if they can get when the highstorm left the other side, that's a calculation that will help them, and things like this.
Q:  Was Nohadon a Bondsmith?
A:  RAFO! Good question.

Rhandric
Q:  Have the Bondsmiths ever had a Shardblade? Have any other Bondsmiths had Shardblades.
A:  RAFO! Good question. Good question.

Leiyan
Q:  So I had some things I figured out, I just wanted to know if they're true or not. So I have that the orbits of the moons would precess so that the farthest point is always pointing towards the sun.
A:  So, one more time.
Q:  [uses diagram to explain the question]
A:  So, we have figured all this out. It's in the wiki--so me just saying--it's not in the wiki that you can find. I would need to go compare this. All the calculations on things like this--this is stuff where I sat down with Peter, who knows much more astronomy than me and said "here's what I want" and he's like "well it has to be this" and I put that in.
Q:  Do you know, do the moons orbit the opposite direction to Roshar's rotation?
A:  I believe they do but I'm not 100% sure.
Q:  There's no eclipses as far as I can tell, so the plane of the orbit must be strongly inclined, 'cause there'd be an eclipse every day if there were eclipses-
A:  We had to fudge that because as you said, if there were any it'd be all the time.

Q:  I'm guessing it's a RAFO, but why do Honorblades work the way they do?
A:  Honorblades were crafted before Shardblades existed--
Q:  So they were crafted.
A:  They were crafted before Shardblades existed, and all Shardblades that exist came about as certain individuals trying to find out how to copy Honorblades.
Q:  So would it be fair to say that Honorblades are analagous to fabrials in some sense? Trap spren in a crystal yada yada Stormlight power?
A:  There is an analogy there, that I think would pass the SAT's rigor for analogies.
Q:  Is Nightwatcher Cultivation, or an analogue of the Stormfather to …?
A:  These are excellent questions you should be asking.

NutiketAiel
Q:  Were the original sixteen Shardholders after the shattering all human?
A:  Uh … RAFO. There are three races on Yolen. Three sentient races.

Leiyan
Q:  I'm curious about the sun, it's described as white, and our sun is typically described as yellow. Is it a different type of star?
A:  The yellowing of our sun is not actually caused...so our sun being yellow is not based on the star's actual color.
Q:  So is it bigger than our sun? Smaller? If there's anything you want to throw out there I'll take it.
A:  Okay...I'm having to reach into my memory. This is not canon. Younger and larger, I believe it is both. Younger and larger.
Q:  Do the moons relate to the highstorms at all?
A:  The moons...at all? Sure!  You'll love this. The star's age, at Roshar--Earth astronomers would say that is a star which could not have planets with life on them orbiting it.
Q:  There are three planets in the system, are they all in the habitable zone? At least two of them must be …
Q2(I think this was NutiketAiel?). When you say three, is it actually three in the solar system, or is it three-?
A:  There are three planets with sentient beings on them.
Q:  There are more than three planets in the solar system?
A:  There are. With non-sentient beings. There are three planets of importance.  So I didn't give you very much, you already knew … here's something. You may have heard a reading from one of those planets today.
Q:  Ashyn. I knew that too!
A:  I have not revealed that though!
Q2:  Doesn't Shadows of Silence happen in there too?
A:  Threnody? No. Threnody is not one of the three.
Q:  On the back of the Szeth card, it's a gamepiece?
A:  Yeah, they just printed all of those random words there! Random collections of letters. It's really surprising that they would print all this on the back of the card and have it happen to turn out to spell out things like "Investiture," I can't believe that! I have no idea why that might've happened.

Q:  Are we going to see any more of Lift?
A:  Lift has a book.

NutiketAiel
Q:  Were all the original sixteen Shardholders from Yolen?
A:  Yes.

Q:  You have a tendency to create books with theocracies that are legitimately ruled by the gods, and this seems to be missing. Is that a direction that the Knights Radiant might be heading, or is something else going to happen?
A:  I'm gonna RAFO that one. There was a theocracy on Roshar at one point. There was also a mage-ocracy. A lot of things have existed on Roshar.

Rhandric
Q:  How many magic systems are there on Roshar?
A:  It depends on your definition. Is Windrunning its own magic system, or is it a division of a larger magic system? Are the ten different Surges each their own magic system, or are they all the same one?
Q:  If you assume the surges are all one.
A:  Well then you would have Surgebinding, and the Old Magic, those are two at least, and there are things that are not explained in those at all, and how do you count creating fabrials? Is that a science and not a magic? Is that its own magic system?
Q2. It's a science, because anyone can do it.
A:  So Awakening is not a magic, then? Awakening's a science? Because anyone can Awaken if they get the breath.
Q:  That's something that stood out to me, because in all your other magic systems that we've seen so far there has to be some sort of snapping to occur, and that's unique, because- [...] Is there an active magic system on Threnody?
A:  Threnody has a non Shard-based...it depends on what you call a magic system. Do spirits coming back from the dead count as magic? It's science to them, but, it's goofy science.

EHyde
Q:  I was wondering about the in-world text, the Way of Kings. It's older than those 4500 years, right?
A:  It was written by Nohadon (sneaky look).
Q:  Especially since Jasnah mentioned how all the texts have been corrupted or changed since then, especially the ones dealing with the Radiants, I was wondering if we would find out how the Way of Kings survived intact for so long, or if it actually did, or if it's--
A:  They do say that--well let's just say that some books exist in translation over the centuries with the primary text having been lost, or things like this.
Q:  But you're not going to say if the translation is guaranteed to be accurate.
A:  I am not going to say that.

Q:  Lift's spren refers to the Nightwatcher as Mother, right?
A:  They definitely call somebody Mother. The implication in the text is that it's the Nightwatcher.
Q:  So I'm just gonna run with that right now. Is Surgebinding in general a melding of Honor and Odium ala Feruchemy being in some senses being not directly of Ruin or Preservation?
A:  Honor and Cultivation is what you mean? Um, there are spren of all three shards. And those spren can work within the bounds of the magic that has already been set up on Roshar.
Q:  What shard are Cryptics associated with?
A:  RAFO.

NutiketAiel
Q:  If you could write something we don't already know about the Moon Sceptre?
A:  I run into problems with some of these things, because there's not much to say, but what there is to say can be very spoilery. (writes "RAFO! But it is not Mraize's stick")

Q:  When a Radiant is in the Cognitive Realm, does their mind exist individually, like separately from their body?
A:  No.
Q:  So you physically travel to the Cognitive Realm?
A:  You can kind of step in between both but you do not separate from your body.
Q:  So when Shallan is only partly in--she's in both at the same time?
A:  Yeah. She's transitioning. It's not astral projection. But no that's a legit question.
Q:  So Shallan, and Lightweavers, are capable of physically stepping into Shadesmar?
A:  RAFO. But the implication is yes.

 

Q.  For Feruchemy, can you only inherit that? Or is there another way to get it?

A.  You could obviously get it through a Hemalurgic spike.

Q.  Yeah, but that’s kind of a different thing.

A.  It is hereditary, but it came from somewhere. [...] Which is a RAFO, but it’s not a big RAFO. There’s not something you missed in the books, or anything like that. It originally came from Preservation long ago. And there are other ways to get it, but you have not missed any major plot points regarding that. Good question.


EHyde
Q:  I had a couple other questions about the Recreance that you're probably not going to answer. I was wondering if the Radiants were deliberately trying to put Shardblades in the hands of non-Radiants, since they left them all outside a military base.
A:  RAFO. Since I've answered so many questions, the RAFOs are going to start flying freely. I'm like, "Now, what is there left to write books about?"

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Chicago (if anyone has the report/audio for Milwaukee, please let me know)
http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/7058-words-of-radiance-tour-chicago-signing-mar-22/page-2#entry116818

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Argent
Q:  Can you talk about the technical details of the glyphs writing system in the Stormlight Archive?
A:  The glyphs were designed by Isaac Steward. He is my scribe, artist, and cartographer. He is also the art director at my company. We sat down and I wanted something symmetrical, so actually half of the glyph is repeated. When you read into it, it's symmetrical, and you can read them by the points where they slant, but you will have to go talk to him about exactly how to do it, because I say "I want a glyph for this" and he designs it. So they are readable and based on Arabic word art.

Q:  Where do you get the ideas for cultures and ecology in your books that are so different than the fantasy that you see?
A:  Roshar came from a mixture between the storm of Jupiter as an inspriation mixed with the idea of an ecology that grows in a world that gets hit by this massive hurricane every couple of days,  How does life survive on a planet like that?  Mixed with my own sort of cool cultural things that I wanted to do.  All those note files on, "Hey, I want to do a cultire where the oldest person alive rules," "How do I make that work, what happens?"  "Well, people are going to start assassinating people older than them," and, "Where does that go?"  It's asking the ramifications.

Q:  Which character in the SA was hardest for you to write and why?
A:  Originally Jasnah being the most challenging because she has like 5 different things that are not me, she's very different from me.  When I wrote the 2002 version, I knew she would be the hardest to write, and I spent months preparing, and lurking on atheist forums and finding out how people thought and talked and things like this, in order to get her right.  THe nice thing is, I did all this work and she came out right from the get go.  But it was a lot of up front work to make it work.

???
Q:  What's up with the Parshendi just admitting that they killed Gavilar?
A:  There are definitely questions to be asked.
???

Q: What spren types are Glys, Ivory, and Wyndle?
A: RAFO, because I haven't decided yet. I know generally what they are, but I don't know how I am going to call them in the books. It happens with other things in my writing, Shards for example - Odium was originally Hatred; the idea was the same, but I decided to change the actual word.

Q: Is the number of the Unmade fixed?
A: Yes.
Q:  Is it ten, is it ten, is it ten, is it ten, is it ten?
A:  Is it ten? No, it's not ten.

Q:  Is Hoid human?
A:  Hoid was human a long time ago. Now... it's complicated. We would call him human, and so will pretty much everyone else, but he is not exactly that.

    Brandon talked about something he called "Honor's purposes" or maybe "Honor's Purposes," and how they are the reason 10 is such a holy and dominant number - I assumed it meant Honor has (had) 10 of those Purposes. It was heavily implied in the conversation that Odium, if he has similar Purposes, does not have 10 of them.

Q:  Are the people from Dalinar's visions related? The people he has the vision through.
A:  No. It's not a Wheel of Time thing where you are going through generations.

Q:  If Nightblood is on Roshar, what happened to Vasher?
A:  Well, look really closely at this book.

Q:  In the last part of the book, Hoid is talking to some stuff, and says "If you think hard, this sentence is really clever." Are there any implications beyond this, or was that him just talking?
A:  Go compare to another sentence he used earlier in the book. He is making a pun off of the sentence he used before. It's not as clever as he thinks he is, it's kind of a bad pun.

Q:  Has Hoid been on Roshar before The Way of Kings?
A:  Yes.
Q:  Who would win in a fight, Kaladin or Kelsier.
A:  Kelsier would probably find him in his sleep and kill him then. So I'm going to say Kelsier because he would not fight fairly.  Kaladin would try and find a fair fight.

Q:  Do you have a particular favorite Order of the KR?
A:  I would probably be a Bondsmith. Though becoming a Bondsmith is hard, I don't know if I'd make it.

Q:  Are all the surgebindings going to be as developed as the Windrunning is?
A:  I hope so.  They are all in my head, so...

Q:  In regards to the one-armed Lopen - which arm is missing?
A:  I have always imagined it as his left, but I don't know if I ever said or canonized it.

Q:  Have we seen all four of the genders for the Parshendi?
A:  Yes
Q:  So there are more than malen and femalen?
A:  Well male and female.  In my original notes I was trying to decide what to call them but they eventually ended up with a male neuter and female neuter, then male and female.  So yes, there are four genders.  And if you can't tell, the malen and femalen are both asexual, completely.

Q:  Is Jasnah still alive at the end of the book, since the whole scene where she kind of appears...
A:  Yes, she is.
Q:  Why does she take so long to come back?
A:  Because Elsecalling is not precise even if you know exactly what you're doing, which she doesn't.

Q:  Are gemhearts, the gems in those chemically identical to mined stones?
A:  They are very similar. Not 100% chemically identical, they are far more pure for one thing. You would call them the same substance, but you would say "Wow, that is very pure!  There are no impurities!" They may have flaws, but no impurities.

Q:  The spren that are of Odium, the ones in the storm - are there be more of those and will they pair directly as opposites for certain kinds...
A:  There are more of them. There is not an exact one-to-one correlation.
Q:  I assume there will be ten opposite orders to the KR?
A:  RAFO. That's a big ol' RAFO.
Q:  Is it possible for a Parshendi to become a KR?
A:  In the past, no. Let's say this, in-world everybody would tell you no.

Q:  For Words of Radiance, could you put a comment about something in the upcoming books, nothing specific, just something I can think about? Something like "Renarin has a spren" you wrote for somebody else in The Way of Kings?
A:  [brandon wrote]"Stormlight makes plants grow."
Q:  Will the main characters from books 1-5 also show up [in 6-10]?
A:  Yes, they will be about as prevalent, maybe even a little more as the ones that are for 6-10 are [for 1-5].  The ones who survive at least.

Q:  With Kaladin's arm hit by the Shardblade, was that in any way a nod to Rand losing his arm?
A:  Not intentionally, sorry!

Q:  Is Nightblood going to be able to eat Stormlight?
A:  Nightblood will drain any Investiture, so yes.

Q:  I noticed Nazh's name at the bottom of the illustrations a lot - is that a character that's going to come in in the future?
A:  He's already appeared in the books. Very very cameo-ish tangential thing so you have to be really looking to spot him.
Q:  Books, plural?
A:  He wasn't in The Way of Kings, no. Not on screen, I don't think.

Q:  The gemstone Gavilar gives to Szeth, is that the gemstone that's spoke of in the epigraphs?
A:  RAFO.
Q:  If Adonalsium shattered with intent, would he always shatter to the same shards?
A:  It is plausible that he could have gone a different way.
Q:  So it could've been different Shards?
A:  Yes, that's plausible.

Q:  The PoV's for the prologues, will we ever see one from Gavilar's point of view?
A:  That's a big ol' RAFO. Because I want it to be surprising to see who you get in each book.
Q:  Have we seen a character who is a part of multiple organizations, for example the Ghostbloods and the Sons of Honor?
A:  Yes you have. I've a big cop-out there, because you of know who is in the Ghostbloods and the Lightweavers. You give me opportunities, and I will answer truthfully.

Q:  Will Jasnah be one of the characters that gets her own book?
A:  She will be.

Q:  Comments about how awesome Lopen is.
A:  Lopen is a very special dude. I planned, and I don't know if I'll get to it, but I planned an in-between books short story called King Lopen the First, King of Alethkar. And I am hoping I'll get a chance to write that and stick it somewhere for you guys. Because if you see in the end, he is claiming he was king for a while. You will find out why.

Q:  Elhokar's assassination attempt, the drained spheres from his Plate - was that him draining them, Surgebinding?
A:  That's a RAFO. Good question. Let me say this. Drawing the Stormlight from an active set of Shardsplate is very difficult to do.

Q:  Why can Stormlight heal Lopen's arm, but can't heal Kaladin's scars?
A:  Because a lot of the healing in the cosmere works on principles of expectation and how you envision yourself.
Q:  So Kaladin has accepted the scars.
A:  Kaladin has accepted the scars, so Lopen never accepted the one arm. It's one of these ties when I built the magic systems that I wanted certain threads to run through them, so when I eventually have them being used in the same books, that there will be consistency among them, so they won't feel like everything's just thrown together. So, for instance, the intention and expectation, for instance, in Warbreaker. What you want to have happen, influences what does happen; the expectation, the way you are thinking about things, all that influences what actually happens. Very important for most of the cosmere magics.

Q:  Also, did you always plan for the cosmere to be a dwarf galaxy?
A:  "Always" is hard to say with the cosmere. Once I sat down and decided "okay, I need to build this universe and things," that's when I nailed a lot of this down. And that was all during the later stages of the cosmere development.
Q:  In Shadesmar you describe the beads, they are like little beads, this big, BB size...
A:  They are bigger than BB size.
Q:  Okay, and everything melts into beads. But when people pick them up, do they form into the thing they are supposed to be, or does one bead represents the stick, and...
A:  One bead represents the item that is seen and views itself as a cohesive thing.
Q:  Does a picture of it appear inside the bead, or...?
A:  We will get more into this as time progresses.

Q:  The prevailing theory on the 17th Shard is that Hoid worldhops using Shadesmar. I was wondering if you were willing to confirm or deny that?
A:  Hoid has indeed gotten between worlds before through Shadesmar.
Q:  And would you be willing to give us a hint as to how he does that?
A:  There are hints in the books. There is a hint in the very first cosmere book I released. [that would be Elantris] Which I thought was a huge hint, but so far I haven't seen anyone talking about it.  I thought for sure once people started figuring the cosmere, they would see the massive in-your-face hint I put in that book, but so far, as far as I know, no one has.  Now, the one [hint] about the map, that one I don't think is obvious. I know people have been trying to figure it out. It's going to be fun once you figure it out, but it's not something huge and obvious. The Elantris once was, like, enormously "HIIINT!"

Q:  If you were to use Allomancy to fly faster than light, would it be like the Navigators in Dune, where you pick out the best possible route through the stars?
A:  No, good question though! That's not quite the way. I haven't really given you the tools to figure it out, because I feel that the tools to figure it out, I couldn't give to the characters early enough. I wanted it to progress with the technological development, so the hints are only really brief in the story. You will not see a lot of this until the contemporary trilogy, where they are starting to figure out the technology for how this might plausibly work in the future.

Q:  Can you tell us which Shard is with [The Silence Divine]?
A:  This is a world that does not currently have a Shard.
Q:  Is there a limit to how many Shardblades you can have, be bonded to?
A:  Theoretically, not really. There are some things that can bound that. I can imagine people have a lot. In the original draft of The Way of Kings (2002) Amaram had two. And so, it's definitely possible to have multiples, and I had not thought of someone trying to bond every Shardblade.
Q:  So that means you can be bonded to more than one spren?
A:  Well, those Shardblades are...
Q:  Dead ones.
A:  Yes. So, can you be bonded to more than one spren? The question's answer is also yes. Potentially. But there is a much harder limit on that.
Q:  Is it possible to become a Sliver if you burn enough atium?
A:  I don't think so.
Q:  Is there a way to tell between different Investitures?
A:  [brandon misunderstood the question a little in the beginning - he thought the question was "can every Shard's magic detect other Investitures?"] Most of the magics have built into them that ability, but I wouldn't say that everyone does. I am trying to remember if all of them have... A lot of them have a power that would allow you to do that, but I don't know if every one of them does.
Q:  [Clarification]
A:  If you were really good at burning bronze, you could use bronze to distinguish between different types of Investiture from different planets even. And that sort of skill does exist in other magic systems.
Q:  Is it like a wavelength kind of thing?
A:  Yeah, that's exactly what it is.

Q:  Since Hoid is the Horneater god, are there, or at least implied, would other Shards...
A:  Hoid is not a Shard.
Q:  Or other Shards that are related to Hoid, since he's in the same time period. Would they also be Horneater gods?
A:  I think that the Horneaters might interpret things very differently from their reality, as they are viewing certain things...
Q:  So would they originally be from Roshar, or would they have travelled from somewhere else?
A:  That's a RAFO, it depends on the person. Hoid is not originally from Roshar.

Q:  The Nahel bond, what determines whether you get a Cryptic or an honorspren?
A:  The spren themselves.
Q:  So it doesn't have anything to do with the Orders of the KR?
A:  Um, you have to attract the spren, the same way you attract emotionspren, you have to attract the right spren for the Order.

Q:  Why can only women write?
A:  It has to with a lot of cultural mores, spraying out of a certain sort of essay written a long ago that divided masculine arts and feminine arts, and then some cultural things sort of went along with that ended up gaining momentum.

Q:  With all the spren, like the ones that are developing thought and all that, are you going to have them interact, that we see?  Because you don't really have very much interaction between them right now that we know of.
A:  Yes, we do not.  I think it's safe to say that, seeing what Syl and Pattern both say about other spren in this book implies that there is interaction between different spren that you can look forward to.

Q:  After a spren has been bonded, what happens if the person they're bonded with dies?
A:  If the person they're bonded with dies, it is an emotional event for the spren, but not a damaging event. As long as their oaths were not betrayed.
Q:  Kind of like if a close friend dies?
A:  Maybe a little more personal than that but yeah.
Q:  I guess Helaran was not bonded to a spren then?
A:  Why do you say that?
Q:  I saw that his Blade had a gemstone at the bottom, so that was a clue.
A:  That is a very good clue.

Q:  The Horneater names are very similar to Polynesian names.
A:  That is the direct inspiration. I love how Polynesian languages sound, and so it's something I've been wanting to use for years.

Q:  Has anyone other than the Five Scholars and Vasher Awakened Steel?
A:  Not that Vasher knows about. And if he doesn't know about it, then there is a decent chance [that it never happened].

Q:  Can Returned feed on Stormlight?
A:  This is definitely possible.
Q:  The Ars Arcanum in the back of [The Alloy of Law] - who is written by?
A:  Same person that's written every one of them.

Q:  What is the gem cut that holds the most Stormlight, and does it vary from gem to gem?
A:  It does vary from gem to gem, and... I've got this written down somewhere... I am going RAFO, because it's more of a "I need to go to my notes and find out."
Q:  Where does the fiber for fabric come from on Scadrial?
A:  Brandon answered about Rosharan fabrics (see silk, rockbuds, etc) before I pointed out the question was about Scadrial - he then corrected himself. Scadrial is an Earth analogue. Scadrial is the place where if it's on Earth, you can assume it's available there.
Q:  If I were to try to Soulcast pewter, the way Shallan does with the blood in The Way of Kings, would it come out that an Allomancer be able to use it?
A:  You could create Allomantically viable metals, yes.
Q:  But is it automatic?
A:  I would say that the pure metals are, but the alloys are not.

Q:  Can the forms of power of the listeners be treated as anti-equivalents of the Orders of the KR. Could we consider Stormforms to be anti-Windrunners?
A:  You could consider it that way, but there is not a one-to-one analogue.
Q:  Because it seemed like there might be ten voidforms and their abilities are kind of anti-surges.
A:  Yes, there is definitely something there, but again I say, it's not a one-to-one correlation. They are not going to be exactly opposite.

Q:  The person who arrived at the gates of Kholinar, the one you refuse to acknowledge as Talenel - is that person the same as the one delivered to the warcamps?
A:  Yes.

Q:  Will a Surgebinder's eye color change when they Surgebind or have a Blade. Is the color of their eyes corresponding to their Order? So Windrunners would do blue.
A:  Yes.
Q:  So each Order does a different eye color?
A:  Each Order does indeed have an eye color representation.

Q:  Can you confirm the real names of the Heralds for me?
A:  Jezrien, Nale, Chanarach (nickname: Chana), Vedel, Paliah (nickname: Pali), Shalash (nickname: Ash), Battar, Kalak, Talenel (nickname: Taln), Ishar.

Q:  Is Awakening and BioChroma an end-neutral system?
A:  Yes. The amount of Breath you use, you don't lose Breath in the process of Awakening.

Q:  In the different worlds, can you spike people Hemalurgically with materials other than metal? Say, you create a wood spike for Breath, or a gem spike for surges?
A:  RAFO.

Q:  Shallan has this awesome Memory thing going on, Jasnah seems to have a really powerful geolocation thing, Kaladin is a really good fighter - are those just their traits, or is there something supernatural going on?
A:  There is something supernatural about those. Each Order... Well, how about this. If you look at scholars' interpretations, there are some scholars who think that these things are not supernatural in the past, and some who said they definitely are. But, if you look, many Lightweavers had powerful mnemonic abilities.
Q:  So it's definitely tied to the Orders?
A:  It's tied to the Orders. Now, I am not going to say that you've got them all 100% correct, but each Order, there are things that come with the Order, things that do not add up from simply the "you get this power plus this power," there is something else going on. And I would say that for Windrunners, watch the number of squires and the power of the squires is abnormal for the Windrunners.
Q:  And each Order's squires are somehow different from the other Orders'?
A:  Yeah... some Orders don't have them.
Q:  But some have more?
A:  Yeah.
Q:  The Iriali Long Trail, is it related to the cosmere?
A:  Yes.
Q:  So the Fourth Land, the Seventh Land, those are...
A:  They are in the Cosmere. This is where you give me a lot of wiggling, because yes, it is related to the Cosmere.
Q:  Did Gavilar see the same visions Dalinar did?
A:  RAFO.
Q:  The Parshmen/Parshendi/Listeners, do they give birth like humans do? Living little Parshendi?
A:  Yea, they give lifebirth.
Q:  Do Surgebinders have gemhearts like greatshells do?
A:  RAFO.
Q:  The ketek in the first book (Above the Silence, the illuminating storms - dying storms - illuminate the silence above), it seems like this refers to Honor's death.
A:  Mmhmm.
Q:  What does "Above the Silence" refer to?
A:  Above a silent land.
Q:  And the second ketek, in Words of Radiance, again similarly refers to the highstorm and the Everstorm. Is there more to it?
A:  No, it's by Navani about the two.

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Sugarhouse

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/7234-sugarhouse-signing-saturday-mar-29th/

(Added to the Database)

 

Q:  How does a world that is racked by storms supply food for(can't make this out).
A:  The thing to keep in mind is, it's not a barren planet.  There are lots of plants on this planet.  It's no more barren than a coral reef that deals with the tide rushing in and rushing out.  Now, life has to adapt to it but this is a really lush planet.  Just look at the Shattered Plains, there's grass everywhere and plants going all over the place.  It's just before a storm it becomes barren and then it becomes lush again.

Q:  How did Shallan rescue Kaladin when they fell in the chasm.
A:  She did not, it was actually Syl.  But he was in the process of breaking the bond and so she was able to get some Stormlight to him but that is what set it really poorly.  This bond was really a strain for her to use at that point, so it was her, but doing what she did just about destroyed her, which is why you don't her from her after that.
Q:  Is healing a universal Stormlight power?
A:  Yes, within reason.  Some are better at it, but it is a universal power.
Q:  With Dalinar as a Bondsmith, what does that mean to his power?
A:  RAFO.
Q:  Why did the Shard-bearer when they were dueling with Adolin and Renarin, why does the Shard-bearer freak out when Kaladin grabs the sword?
A:  Because when Kaladin was there and they were touching it, they actually heard the spren that was inside of it.  It was the sword's spren that Kaladin was touching it.  When the Knight Radiant touches it, you can see when other Knight Radiant pick up the swords, they can hear the screaming.
Q:  Do we get to see any good banter between Wit and Shallan?
A:  She is not quite ready yet to be on his level.  And if you watch in the series, her use of humor will mature.  In fact you should be able to notice the difference between these two [books] even.  By later books, she will be able to stand a little bit better.  Right now, he would rip her to shreds.

[bowen/Baon is "Blunt" at the Purelake in WoK, and he's from White Sands.]

Q:  Is Wit/Hoid an Allomancer?
A:  He did steal a bead of Lerasium off of Scadrial.  If he were to make use of that bead, certain powers would have been gained.

Q:  I was just curious about Shardplate.  In one of the books you said it was seamless like there weren't any chinks in it anywhere.
A:  There are chinks but there is no direct line to the skin.  So like if you see a slit, there's another little plate behind it.
Q:  Shardplate thus far has been powered by Stormlight and the spheres, but now that we've got Radiants is it powered by themselves?
A:  Well so far we have not had a Radiant wearing Shardplate.

Q:  Is that theory correct where the Heralds are kind of reversed now, where they're going against their [attributes].
A:  RAFO.

Q:  Is the second half of the series based off of some of these interlude characters?
A:  Some of the interlude characters, yes.  And some that aren't interlude characters.  For example, Renarin is going to be one of the back five.

Q:  In the Stormlight Archive, there are a lot of Knight Radiant classes that are set at the end.  Could you provide what abillities they have?  Like Bondsmith?
A:  Bondsmith I haven't really gotten into yet, though Bondsmith is next to Windrunners which means they will share one ability with Windrunners.
Q:  What are Lift's abilities called?
A:  Lift is Abrasion and Progression.
Q:  Do you have a name of that type of Knight?
A:  She's an Edgedancer.
Q:  Is she going to have more of a story later on?
A:  Yes, Lift is one of the characters who was originally planned for the back five.

Q:  Are the rest of the books in the Stormlight Archive going to be different colors?
A:  They are, and you can actually match the color to the order of the Knights Radiant.  That's the Windrunners[WoK], that's the symbol of the Windrunners, that's the color. That's the Lightweavers[WoR], and that's the symbol of the Lightweavers, which is the same, and the color.

Q:  It seems like you have a Warbreaker thing at the end is that actually...?
A:  Yes, it is.

Q:  What are Oldbloods?
A:  Oldbloods are the...years ago Alethkar was ruled by a different group of people.  A different, like, dynasty.  It's been overturned and it's been a long enough time that they're not really a threat.  But to acknowledge they're an Oldblood, they wear the tatoo that means, "We used to rule this place."  And so, it's just a lineage of people in a dynasty that used to be the kings of Alethkar.

Q:  How do Alethi get married?
A:  I will show you a wedding ceremony eventually.

Q:  Who or what is Hoid/Wit?
A:  He is a person that has shown up in all of my epic fantasy books.
Q:  How does he have so much information about what's going on and how is he always in the right place at the right time?
A:  Those are very excellent questions.  RAFO, but he has a surprising ability to be in the right place at the right time in the Cosmere.

Q:  Have we seen another Lightweaver as of WoR?
A:  Yes, depending on your definition.  You could make the argument, the Order of Knight Radiant, no.  But you have seen people lightweaving, the skill, yes.

Q:  Would any of the orders be okay with someone being an assassin.
A:  Yes.
Q:  Is Lyss a surgebinder then?
A:  RAFO.
Q:  Can you compound metalminds to the point you beome like a savant?
A:  A savant happens because persistent use of the power has an affect on your soul, warping it.  Compounding is a very different thing.  So while you could draw some very powerful effects, I would not call them the same thing even if they are imitating each other at certain points.

Q:  Will we be seeing any more of Stick?
A:  Everybody loves Stick.  Everybody is very fond of Stick.  I have no current plans for Stick.

Q:  The bindings-Strong/weak axial, what exactly are those, what can they do?
A:  RAFO, but you will see it happening.  But remember that the original inspiration for the magics in the Stormight Archive were the fundamental forces as listed in physics.
[discussion on what characters have which surges]

Q:  Truthless are pretty rare in Shin society?
A:  Yes.
Q:  How did they come by the Dawnshard that Szeth got?
A:  They historically kept all of them.
Q:  Does that have anything to do why they think stone is sacred?
A:  You will find out more about that as time progresses

Q:  Can you give me a hint in the easter egg in the map of Roshar? What particular skill do you need for it?  Is it a different language or math related?
A:  It's not linguistics.  It is math related.  Let me remind you this is not going to be a mind blowing revelation.  It is going to be a nifty thing.  Someone actually got close at one of my signings.  They noticed something.  But it is a fun easter egg that will tell you more about the history of the world.

Q:  We have yet to see a dragon from you, I was wondering if those are coming?
A:  One of my worlds has dragons.
Q:  Is it Dragonsteel?
A:  Yes, it is.
Q:  Different surges are shared by different orders.  Do they work the same for the different orders?
A:  They work basically the same though there is some...sometimes the combination will produce some side effects that are unique, but the basic powers are the same.
Q:  Does Vasher want Nightblood back?
A:  Vasher feels responsible for Nightblood.
Q:  Is there any reason he didn't go by "Vasher"?
A:  Because in the original draft he was, and I'm like, "That's just too easy."  Plus he's kinda trying to hide.  He's not as foolhardy as a certain other character who goes willy nilly by the same aliases over and over again and doesn't care.  Picking a new alias, if you know peple will potentially be looking for you, having them not be able to ask for you by name is useful.
Q:  Are we going to see the flute again?
A:  Hoid is very disappionted by the loss of his fluee and would like to recover it.

Q:  Is Jasnah aware of the Diagram
A:  RAFO.
Q:  Does Hoid have 2 Honorblades?
A:  Hoid currently has no Honorblades.

Q:  Has Hoid used his Lerasium Bead for Feruchemy?
A:  Hoid got the bead originally because he wanted to become an Allomancer.

Q:  [Paraphrased]How difficult would it be to Push on various things.
A:  [Paraphrased]It depends on the amount of Investiture in the person/object.  Nightblood would be the hardest thing to Push on, harder than Shardblades.

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JordanCon

nalesean
Q:  Suppose you had a Feruchemist that was also skilled in forgery. If they soul stamped themselves, would they normally be able to still use Feruchemy, and if they were able to use Feruchemy after a soul stamp would they be able to access their own metalminds.
A:  [Paraphrased]You could do so, but it would require jury rigging in order to make it work, since the soul stamp overwrites the current spiritual aspect of a person. He then said that the accessing the metalminds would also require some amount of jury rigging.
Q:  With a yes or no answer, would the following analogy be correct? If Syl is to Stormfather, as Wyndle is to Nightwatcher, then is Pattern to Cusicesh?
A:  [Paraphrased]: No, not exactly.
Q:  If a Feruchemist using an aluminum metalmind stored their identity to zero, then filled a coppermind with all of their knowledge, would another Feruchemist with an identity set to zero be able to access the first Feruchemist's coppermind?
A:  [Paraphrased] I'm not going to tell you a definite yes or no, this is something that needs to be saved for future books, but you are thinking along the correct lines about how identity works regarding Feruchemists.

darniil
Q:  Zahel has parted ways with something he's had for a while.  Will we ever get to read about how that happened?
A:  I may not write the actual story, but you will find out what happened, yes.
Q:  Shadows for Silence - where does it fall in the overall cosmere timeline, in relation to the other books?
A:  [Paraphrased]In the latter half of things, but before the Stormlight Archive.

rossnewberry
I asked Peter about the pattern of highstorms and Weepings, and whether the pattern they followed was possibly palindromic. He replied that it seemed to be. Left some wiggle room in the answer, but there you go.

 
I also asked Peter about the different meter used in the epigraphs containing bits of the Listener songs, and whether that was because they were supposed to be sung to different Rhythms. He said yes.

Later, I asked Brandon what the Rhythm was for the Listener Song of Listing. He said that it's not one of the emotive Rhythms, and that the Parshendi have certain Rhythms for those chants.

Finally, Isaac taught us how to say Bridge 4 in Alethi, which is "vev gesheh." Vev = 4, Gesheh = bridge.

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JordanCon (thanks Weiry!)

 

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/7473-waygate-foundation-livestream-part-deux/?p=128262


Q:  What are Cultivation's feelings with regards to the Stormfather?
A:  Cultivation's feelings-- I don't think that has spoilers-- Cultivation is, um uhhh [long pause] I just have to decide how I can say things that are not spoilers.  Cultivation, the Stormfather reminds her of certain things about someone else she knew, and she feels the same way about the Stormfather in some ways as this person she knew.

Q:  Are there kandra hiding in any of your books, besides the Mistborn ones?
A:  Yes there are! [smugly] yes there are...

Q:  Any hints at the thing hiding in the maps of Roshar?
A:  The map of Roshar, what hints can I give you? The same thing is hiding in all of the maps of Roshar.  All of the ones we have done so far have the same thing.

Q:  Will Hoid ever have a book of his own?
A:  Yes he will. He will several.

Q:  Is Harmony aware of events on Roshar?
A:  [hesitantly] Yeeeeeeees, some of them.

Q:  Will you tell us a little about the sword from Warbreaker?
A:  Nightblood is a weapon that I devised.  He is partially inspired by my love of Michael Moorcock's writing.  He was built into the cosmere using many of the foundational cosmere magic system things that exist on multiple worlds.

Q:  Do Nightblood and TenSoon have the same voice?
A:  You read Nightblood and TenSoon with the same voice, okay. Sure… Suuuure…  Yes they totally can.

Q:  Shadows for Silence, cosmere timeline, where does it fall with the rest of the books.  
A:  It is middle cosmere, a little on the late side but not-- It is pre-Stormlight Archive, so yeah.

Q:  Why was the base form of Shardblades chosen to be blades, as swords?
A:  It's because the Shardblades were devised-- I can't spoil the second book-- They were devised as imitations of the Honorblades, which were created and given to the Heralds.  So since the original pattern was the Honorblades, they were built to feel like the Honorblades.

Q:  Is Hemalurgy still practiced during Harmony's reign?
A:  Yes.

Q:  When will we see a Hoid book?
A:  You will see a Hoid book-- You will NOT see a Hoid book until I finish the first five books of Stormlight and the next Mistborn trilogy at the earliest.  More likely is after Stormlight is done.

Q:  From the moment you begin worldbuilding "har how long did it take you before it really resembled what we read in The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance?
A:  Resembled? I would say about a year.  But I started worldbuilding it in 2001, if you read the version I wrote in 2002 you would say "This feels like Roshar" but the spren weren't in it yet.

Q:  Are we going to see any chapters that are expressly(?) Hoid now that he is becoming more and more important?
A:  You have seen two. Are you going to see more? Yes.  I would say that if you look at the structure of the first two Stormlight books, you will find several themes and those themes are likely to be repeated in future books.  And Hoid does like having the last word.

Q:  Did the original sixteen Shardholders all know each other?
A:  Yes they at least-- Yes, I would say that they did.

Q:  ??
A:  Hoid waxes poetic on the idea that the more people expect the harder it is on the artist.  This is more the critic in me having noticed my own expectations for a piece play dramatically into how much I enjoy it
[...]
How someone who analyzes art like a critic in my analyzes art what would be an observation they would make.  Hoid is not me and he does not voice necessarily my personal opinions but he is an artist and a critic so he notices some of the things I notice.

Q:  Did Ben or Isaac design the glyphs in The Stormlight Archive?
Isaac:  I did.  So here's an interesting thing the-- [trolling] no I'm not going to tell you that.  *lots of laughter* I think it would be a spoiler for Book 3.  Bridge Four in Alethi, you guys ready? Vev Gesheh.  Vev is the number four, Gesheh is bridge.  When I design the glyphs, I always make sure I know how to say it in Alethi before I design the glyph.
Ben:  Is there a reason for that?
Isaac:  There is a reason for that.
Ben:  Are you going to tell us what that reason is?
Isaac:  Nope.  The glyph writing system is just a-- You are supposed to be able to look at it and say "Hey that's-- That means bridge" but it could be elongated, it could be changed, it could be-- but the same shapes are in there and that means "bridge" or whatever else that is.
Isaac:  The glyphs don't really relate to pronunciation.  You learn them from seeing the glyph and knowing what the word is for that.  But the people, the people who create the glyphs have a different process from those who read them.
Isaac:  It can be somewhat difficult to draw the glyphs, we generally go through several iterations of different looks of things before we come up with something that we like.

Q:  Lift stands outside Kredik Shaw, her goal is to eat the Lord Ruler's lunch, can she get a way with it?
A:  I think she totally can.  She's Lift, she'll just get him while he's sleeping.

Q:  Hoid mentions that no story is new, is repeated, this feels like Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time overarching philosophy, any connection?
A:  Certainly, though it is more a storyteller's connection.  Storytellers know that the same stories are told over and over and we have just learned to interpret them differently for our different lives.

Q:  Will we get more of Lift?
A:  You will get a lot more with Lift.  She was written into the outline from the very begining as one of the people who gets a book of her own.

A:  With Lift part of the inspiration was-- Boy, what was the inspiration for Lift? When I was building the Stormlight Archive I said "I want the Knights Radiant to run the gamut of different character styles, ages, and types of story."  And when you say "knight"-- When I say knight you imagine one thing, what you don't imagine is a thirteen-year-old hispanic girl, right? And I said "I want to have the people who are in the Knights Radiant to not be the standard what you think of."  They are the entire world's cultures having different people.  And so I said "What are somebody who does not fit that mold?" That you would say is not a knight.  Lift was partially developed out of me wanting to build a character who was awesome but was so different from what everyone would think of. ‘Cause you say knight and they think of white dude in armor and I wanted something very different from that.  And that's where she came from.  It also came partially from my wife reading a lot of fantasy and complaining and she's like "You know the asians show up in fantasy, asian culture inspires a lot.  European culture of course does.  You see a lot of these things but where are the hispanics?"
[...]
Yeah there's one.  So she challenged me to put a hispanic culture in my books because I had never done it before and so Lift is an outgrowth of that, so are the Herdazians.  They are meant to be sort of in the same way that the Alethi are inspired by Korean culture, mashed up with this sort of concept of medieval knights.  Shallan is based a little off of Western American/Europe culture.  The Herdazians are launching off some of the original hispanic concepts.  So the thing is, you want every culture to be new and original but you are working from somewhere.  And the problem is we all work from the same stories for so long that is part of the reason why fantasy is starting to feel so stale.

Q:  Have you decided on the POV characters for the back five of The Stormlight Archive?
A:  Yes I did.  When I created the original ten book outline I did decide everybody who was going to have a book.

Q:  Concerning everything on Roshar, is it safe to say The Stormlight Archive will become the backbone series of the story of the cosmere?
A:  There are three backbone series: Dragonsteel, Mistborn, and The Stormlight Archive.  And Mistborn is past, present, future, Stormlight is the center, and Dragonsteel is the beginning.  So really it goes: Dragonsteel, Mistborn, Stormlight, Mistborn, Stormlight, Mistborn.  Is basically how this backbone sequence goes.

Q:  ???
A:  The drawing glyphs is based on Korean and Chinese writing systems.  I'm Mormon, I served a mission in Korea for two years, loved the writing system and the language.  It was part of what inspired me to do that.  There is this really cool thing where in Korea they used Chinese characters to write for a long time and they are very difficult to learn because you just have to memorize them and there was a great king Sejong who said "My people are being mostly illiterate because these are so hard and we don't even speak Chinese, we are not Chinese.  We use their characters, can we develop a language, a writing system that will allow us to do this" and his scholars got together and devised Korean which is a way to phonetically write Chinese characters kind of, it's their own thing.  You write them in little groups to make little Chinese characters, it's the coolest thing ever.  But you can right most Korean things, not everything, most you can write as a Chinese character or as a phonetic Korean construction of three letters that create that Chinese character sound and I liked that idea and it spun me into the idea of the Aons and the Aonic language and things like that.

Q:  What does Glys look like?
A:  Uhhm, RAFO. [smiles]  Looks like a big RAFO.

Q:  Hoid can regrow his head, so can the Lord Ruler, what would happen if you cut them both off and switched them?
A:  That's… really weird.

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London

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/14339-qs-and-as-from-the-london-signing/

Sabrina Stormshard
Q:  Where is Nazh from?

A:  Threnody!

Q:  Could an awakened sentient object (e.g Nightblood ) bond a spren?

A:  Technically but the specific circumstances you would need are so bizarre, in practice no.


Wyrmhero
Q:  Can you could Hemalurgically Spike a dead thing, similar to how Breath goes into dead things? Could you spike a Lifeless?
A:  Yes, if there was enough of the soul left for the Spike to take. (I regret not asking if Allomantic Lifeless could be a thing)
Q:  What would happen if you made a cup of tea from the Flowers of Edgli?
A:  You would have a very interesting cup of tea.

kari-no-sugata
World Hopping Hint in Elantris:  Raoden has misinterpreted one of the Aons.

Q:  Could an Elantrian wield Nightblood?

A:  It's possible but would be very dangerous - you'd have to figure out a way to connect Nightblood with a local source of Investiture.

On Shallan's origins as a character: mostly derived from a character in Dragonsteel (I'm guessing the woman who turns up at the end of the "Liar of Partinel" book fragment that's been posted on his website) and Mat Cauthon. Specifically mentioned that she has issues with authority figures.

On origins of Dalinar: from story he wrote as teenager - his brother is the king who gets assassinated and he has to decide whether to take over from his nephew or not. Hoid is the court magician

 

 

Manchester:

 

http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/14404-manchester-signing-august-5-2014/

BlackYeti
Q. In Words of Radiance, we have Vasher showing up.  One of his aliases on Nalthis is Kalad, which is very similar to the name of one of the Heralds on Roshar. So I was wondering how far back this connection between him and Roshar goes.

A. It goes pretty far back, in fact I wrote Way of Kings, the 2002 version; he was a main character and was Kaladin’s sword master. I wrote Warbreaker to jump back and write out his back story, so to me Warbreaker actually came after Way of Kings. But the connection goes back pretty far, further than you would first guess.

Q. Did he actually come from Nalthis and not Roshar?
A. I’m not going to actually answer that one.   Well I can answer that: yes he does come from Nalthis. It’s pretty obvious that the way that the Breath’s working, the reason he moved is because it’s easier to get Stormlight than Breaths, and Stormlight can fuel being a Returned like him. And so yes, he was born on Nalthis. Becoming Returned without being born on Nalthis would be really hard.

Q. Can I ask you about the body of a Shard in the physical realm? About the different states of matter, what determines the state of matter that they are in? Because I’ve read the relevant sections carefully, haven’t noticed much about temperature difference.
A. The idea for me working on this is that they transcend, they permeate everything. They permeate all life on all the realms. And that there are manifestations of them that leak out, and it’s kind of like they appear there in the various states. When you say that you’ve got the gas, you’ve got the liquid, you’ve got the solid: but you’ve also got inside of you, inside of that plant, like they’re everywhere. And so what determines it? In my head it’s just like when some of that power permeates, some of it distils, just like water. There’s some water in the air, there’s some that freezes: that’s temperature. But it’s not always temperature whether it’s in the air, or whether it’s falling. Imagine a spiritual version of humidity, that is influenced by what’s happening on the Spiritual Realm and the Cognitive, and that’s what you get.

Q. Because you’ve talked about alloying the god metals, I was wondering whether you would be able to melt them down as you would with normal metals.
A. If you could distill the god metal: you could distill it out of the mist, that’s theoretically possible.

Edited by RShara
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It should be a playlist of nine 8 min videos.  I had formatting issues.

 

Ok, I think I finally got this audio available.  It was a ROYAL PAIN IN THE... you know where to get this off my ancient I Pod and onto a file.  My I Pod couldn't export it directly from its internal voice memo to a regular file but I was able to export it 8 min at a time to my email. Trimming it into 8 min chunks on the touchscreen SUCKED. So there is some overlap. Sorry. I formatted onto a cloud player.

 

https://soundcloud.com/green-fire-1/sets/wor-signing-line-q-a-by-green

 

It starts about a minute before Outis's ends.

 

No?  The link sends me to the playlist.

Edited by Green Fire
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