The Ultimate List of Questions for Brandon

[Sariel]

7 hours ago, Kered said:

Taking into account all we know of the Heralds, their Honorblades, and the current state of the Oathpact, after Taln returned from Damnation is it possible for someone to bond his Honorblade without is knowledge and or permission?

I don't think his Honorblade was present. As seen in the prologue to SA, only nine of the heralds left their Honorblades and abandoned the Oathpact, so Taln probably took his blade with him to Damnation. As a counter to that theory it can be said that he came back with only a shardblade, so we don't actually know if he had his Honorblade or not.

[Oversleep]

7 hours ago, Sariel said:

As a counter to that theory it can be said that he came back with only a shardblade

We don't know that - it's usually assumed that the Blade that got swapped out really was a Honorblade.

Edited January 13, 2018 by Oversleep

[The Sovereign]

On 1/13/2018 at 0:32 PM, Oversleep said:

We don't know that - it's usually assumed that the Blade that got swapped out really was a Honorblade.

We can go a step further, in this WOB Brandon confirms that Taln did have his Honorblade:

 

Quote

 

White Sand vol.1 release party (June 28, 2016)
#1 Share

Play/Pause

 

Questioner

The Herald of War at the end of Way of Kings-- I assume he had an Honorblade with him?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

Okay... So when Dalinar had the sword that he gave up...

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Questioner

...for the Stormfather it actually cried, which it typically happens if there's spren in the sword, which means that was not an Honorblade, correct?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, and if you look they're described differently!

Questioner

Which means somebody else has the sword, correct?

Brandon Sanderson

The sword was switched out!

Questioner

Probably by Wit. I'm not going to ask you for spoilers, but...

Brandon Sanderson

Wit does not have the sword.

Questioner

No!?

Brandon Sanderson

But... I can't-- I dunno if I've told people whether or not he at one point had the sword... But he does not have the sword now.

 

#hoid #taln's honorblade

 

 

[1shylu]

Random Questions OB WB

Spoiler

When Lift converts food into investiture by metabolism, is the flatulence investiture as well?  *laugh* can Kaladin/Vasher use that Invesititure?

What happens when you throw unsheathed Nightblood into a perpendicularity?  Can Lift drink from it?(and use nightblood?)

Is a planet core - beads in shadesmar?  Can i dive through the planet or is it one giant rock soul bead?

Can breath be used on a bead to send an object or even a person around in the PR?

 

Edited January 18, 2018 by 1shylu
box length

[Lelouch Vi Britannia]

On 1/18/2018 at 5:25 PM, 1shylu said:

Random Questions OB WB

  Reveal hidden contents

When Lift converts food into investiture by metabolism, is the flatulence investiture as well?  *laugh* can Kaladin/Vasher use that Invesititure?

What happens when you throw unsheathed Nightblood into a perpendicularity?  Can Lift drink from it?(and use nightblood?)

Is a planet core - beads in shadesmar?  Can i dive through the planet or is it one giant rock soul bead?

Can breath be used on a bead to send an object or even a person around in the PR?

 

I don't think that last one would work, don't they say that physically moving them is ineffective? I assume they're tied to their location in the physical realm or something.

[The One Who Connects]

Kinda OB Spoilers(its about the Unmade again)

Spoiler

So.. these aren't all about specific Unmade per se, since it's just permutations of the same question(s).

Unmade Movement Motivations:

• Does Yelig-Nar feel drawn to someone who swallows a gemstone, similar to how Nergaoul is drawn to high levels of violence?
  • If yes, can he ignore this draw, or does he have to go to this person?
• Is there something that influences where Moelach travels, similar to how Nergaoul is drawn to high levels of violence, or does he just drift?
  • If yes, can he(or Nergaoul) ignore this draw? And if no, is this due to being mindless?

Unmade Movement Speed:

• If Yelig-Nar is in Aimia, and someone swallows a gemstone in the Shattered Plains, how long would it take him to get there?
• If Moelach is in Aimia, and (something) draws him to the Shattered Plains, how long would it take him to drift over there?
• If Nergaoul is on the Shattered Plains, and a massive war breaks out in Aimia(somehow), how long would it take him to drift over there?

It's just a few things that occurred to me, and it'd be kinda interesting if he actually answered some of these.

[Andy92]

There might be an answer to this somewhere.

If you had an unkeyed metal mind stored with Connection on Roshar, could you use it to speak to the rhythms? 

[The One Who Connects]

22 hours ago, Andy92 said:

If you had an unkeyed metal mind stored with Connection on Roshar, could you use it to speak to the rhythms? 

It's not exactly what you asked, but it's close-ish:

Quote

CADMIUM(paraphrased)
Would a Connection medallion accurately interpret a Listener’s Rhythms?

BRANDON SANDERSON(paraphrased)
Yes, it would, but not all of it, some would be lost in translation. You’d probably lose some of the nuance. It would probably be better to give the medallion to someone who couldn't understand it than someone who spoke it.

Edited February 4, 2018 by The One Who Connects
forgot links

[Andy92]

@The One Who Connects Seems like it can give at least a rough translation even if the dialect isn't perfect. Thanks! 

[Stark]

Can electric devices with an external, wired power source function inside a speed bubble, of either variety, if the power source is outside the bubble?

 

Can Honorblades leave the Rosharan system, or are they bound to the system containg Honor's shard?  If bound, is this why Wit did not take Taln's blade?  Or keep it if he did take it?

 

For the first question, I was thinking of playing video games inside a Bendalloy bubble to give you more playtime in a short period, which would help reviewers, or those of us with limited play times.  Then I wondered at about electricity flow.  If electricity is flowing through a wire at a certain rate, then passes into a sped up bubble, would this not effectively slow down the flow to an inconsistent rate, causing the device to not function properly?  Or inversely, if transitioning into a slowed down bubble, would this not increase the flow to the device and risk causing a short?  Or do I just suck at understanding electricity (entirely possible)?  Or is there a Cosmere work around that allows electronics to function inside bubbles without shorting or sputtering?

 

Or for a more physical interpretation of the electricity flow accross a bubble barrier, what happens to a stream or river passing through a bubble?  Does the water build up/drain?  Or will the liquid passing through the barrier invalidate the bubble and prevent it from forming?  Would electricity or wind do the same?

Edited February 12, 2018 by Stark
Additional thought

[The One Who Connects]

58 minutes ago, Stark said:

Can electric devices with an external, wired power source function inside a speed bubble, of either variety, if the power source is outside the bubble?

An object is either inside the bubble, or it isn't. So it depends on where that line is drawn. The power cord would certainly be considered as inside the bubble, so the device could use all the remaining power inside the cord, but I don't think the wall socket would be inside the bubble, so I think there'd be a delay of some sort before power travels into the cord.

Question could be augmented to ask if power could travel from an electric socket into a power cord if the cord is within the bubble and the socket isn't, but you appear to have done so later on.

[Stark]

16 hours ago, The One Who Connects said:

So it depends on where that line is drawn.

I guess that is the core of my question, where is the line drawn?  We have seen Wax and Wayne discussing attaching a bubble to a moving train, and we have seen Wax shoot through a bubble without disrupting it.So it is possible for inanimate material to enter and exit a bubble without it bursting, but the bullet is a single object, and in the case of the train car, the car is likely bigger than the bubble, so air flow is less of a concern.

 

But for large volumes of flow, I am really curious how it would work.  Like if Wayne and Marasi were both to create separate bubbles on top of a train, would Wayne's be less windy than the environment and Marasi's more windy because of the airflow being disrupted as it hits the speed barrier?  If both were to make a bubble that incorporated themselves and a person in a river (them on a raft, or at the bank), would the water be calmer around the person in Wayne's bubble than the rest of the river?  Would the person in Marasi's be swept away more quickly?  And then apply the same reasoning to the flow of electricity through a wire crossing the speed barrier into a powered device - would it falter in Wayne's bubble and suffer an outage from insufficient power?  Would it short from a power surge in Marasi's?  

 

The applications of this are kind of fascinating to me.  Bendalloy misting lifeguards.  Cadmium misting pseudo-EMPs, for a lack of a better term.  Cadmium mistings turning garden hoses into pressure jets - what could they do with a fire hose?  Cadmium paramedics should totally be a thing, slowing the back of an ambulance, to give more time to get to a hospital.

[Silverblade5]

Has there ever been more than one fifth oath radient of the same order alive at the same time?

Has there ever been a fifth oath Bondsmith before?

[+TheFoxQR]

1) Are the mechanics behind how the Parshendi, the Chasmfiends, and other native Rosharran life forms capture and draw on non-sapient spren in their Gemhearts similar to how Fabrials draw power/effects from captured spren?

In other words: Are the native Rosharran lifeforms organic fabrials?

In even more other words: Are Fabrials a synthetic imitation of native Rosharran life forms?

 

2) Shardblades and Honorblades - What significance do glyphs or patterns on the blade have?

I ask this because we have two seperate descriptions of Honorblades in two different time periods - In the WoK prelude, they are described as having inscribed glyphs and patterns, where as in the current time period both Taln's and Jezrein's Honorblades are described as being plain. Even the artwork reflects this. Similarly, multiple dead spren shardblades have been described as having some inscriptions, while I don't recall Sylblade or Patternblade as ever being described as having any ornamentation of this kind.

 

3) What do Honorblades look like in the Cognitive realm?

We know that the shardblades are spren manifested in the physical realm, and these spren look like people in the cognitive realm when not summoned as a blade. What about Honorblades? What do they look like when they are not in the physical realm in blade form? Are they held in the Cognitive realm? Do they retreat way back into the spiritual?

Edited February 20, 2018 by TheFoxQR

[Mistspren]

I have a question for Brandon:

Which shard would get along best with Hoid?

At worst it would be a RAFO, but it could give us insight into other shard’s relations on Yolen, or at best another shard’s name.

[Dunkum]

Some questions on interaction between systems (spoilered because of the length):

Spoiler

1. we know that bronze allomancy can be used to detect other types of investiture, and we know that a skilled seeker can differentiate between the different kinds of allomancy they are detecting, and that the allomancy forms fall into a pattern; so given that:
a. if a sufficiently skilled seeker were around a bunch of surgebinders would they be able to
  -detect the difference between the surges?
    -what kind of patterns would that result in?
  -detect different uses of the same surge (e.g. tell a full lashing from a reverse lashing, or soulcasting one of the ten essences from another)
  -detect a surgebinder who was holding stormlight without specifically using it?
  -detect spren?
  -detect shardblades or plate?
  -distinguish between a living sprenblade and a dead shardblade?
b. if our skilled seeker were on sel could they
  -detect aons being used?
  -distinguish between different aons?
  -detect an elantrian that was not actively using an aon?
  -detect someone actively using the chayshan?
  -detect someone actively using the dakhor?
  -detect a dakhor monk who was not actively using their abilities?
  -detect someone who was soulstamped?
  -detect a forged object?
c. on Nalthis could they:
  -detect someone holding a large amount of breath?
    -if so, about what is the threshold for detecting held breaths?
  -detect someone actively using awakening?
d. on first of the sun:
  -detect aviar?
2. given what we know about bronze, it stands to reason that a coppercloud may be able to protect against other types of investiture so:
a. Roshar:
  -could a coppercloud prevent the user form being affected by the following surges:
    -soulcasting?
    -windrunner lashings?
    -regrowth?
    -abrasion?
  -would a coppercloud protect another person inside its radius from the above?
  -would a lightweaver illusion be able to pass into a coppercloud?  could it be created inside one?
  -does the coppercloud protect better against investiture that originates from outside of its radius?
b. Sel
  -as with the above, would a coppercloud be able to protect the user or other individuals within its radius from:
    -aons?
    -chay-shan?
    -dakhor?
    -soulstamping
  -would forging be possible inside the coppercloud?
  -would a forgery degrade more quickliy if it were brought inside a coppercloud?
c. nalthis:
  -is awakening possible (or harder) inside a coppercloud?
  -can someone return if they die while inside of a (sufficiently strong) coppercloud?
d. first of the sun
  -would a coppercloud protect the user from the various monsters the way certain aviar can?
  -would a coppercloud prevent aviar from using their abilities (e.g. would it prevent the death visions that sixth of the dusk gets from his aviar)?
3. Assuming you knew how to hack the system appropriately, would it be possible to create an Elantris-style giant aon to enhance all windrunners (or bondsmiths or elsecallers, etc)?  Allomancers?  Ferruchemists?
4. With enough breaths, could you awaken a soulstamp to full intelligence (ala nightblood)?
  -if so, would the attributes that are described by that stamp affect the personality of the awakened entity?
  -would the soulstamp still work after?
    -if yes, what would that do to the personality of the awakened entity?
5. With enough breaths could you awaken a (at least partially full) metalmind to full intelligence?
  -if so, would the resulting entity be able to access the stored attributes?
    -what if the metalmind is unkeyed?
    -what one of the breaths used in the awakening was the original born breath owner of the metalmind?
    -what if all of the breaths used in the awakening had belonged to the owner fo the metalmind at the time the attribute was stored?
  -would the presence of existing investiture alter in either direction the amount of breaths required to gain intelligence?
  -would the stored attribute alter the required number of breaths?
  -would memories, identity, or connection stored in their respective metalminds affect the resulting personality?
  -all of the questions above, as applicable, but for a hemalurgic spike?
6. this one isnt about interactions, but it just occurred to me: in warbreaker, lightsong gives his divine breath to susebron to heal him, but susebron was already a returned.  so does this mean he now has 2 divine breaths, or does the healing rob the divine breath of some/most of its investiture?
  -if so, and if he knew some of vasher's tricks, could he give away one of the breaths for the divine healing effect, while retaining the other?
7. If someone awakened a metal bead (not necessarily to the point of sentience) and an allomancer swallowed and burned it, would it be able to override the normal allomantic use the way a metalmind can?
  -if so, what sort of effect would it grant?
8. if someone inscribed an aon on a metal bead and an allomancer tried to burn it, would that affect the power provided by the metal?
  -would it provide some version of the Aon's effect?
  -what if they were specifically in Elantris at the time?
  -would the invesiture to power the allomancy still be 100% coming from Preservation/Harmony, or might some be coming from the remains of Devotion/Dominion?
9. if someone had done some kind of surgebinding on a metal bead (e.g. a lashing, or slicking it - something that is retained until the stormlight drains away) and an allomancer burned it (before the stormlight had drained) would it change the effect of the metal?
10. If you add another type of investiture to a hemlaurgic spike (e.g. use it as a metalmind, awaken it, inscribe it with aons):
  -would the spike still be usable as a hemalurgic spike?
    -if so, would the additional investiture change the effect of the spike?
  -would the normal hemalurgic decay be able to affect the other investiture, that is would the hemalurgic decay actively drain other types of investiture stored in the same object?
11. if someone was actively tapping stored Identity, would it be harder to soulstamp or soulcast them above and beyond the normal effect of investiture interfering with investiture?

 

[wocka duckbill]

I Have Just one question. are all the swears connected somehow? or do you just want to use them for fun?

[Stark]

Question that may slightly brush up against OB Spoilers:

Spoiler

Regarding the mental state of 'modern' day Taln - How does he compare to one of the Hoed in Elantris?  Both are semi-catatonic, repeating a mantra of varying extensiveness.  Both are in what could be described as a transitory state - The Hoed mid-transition to Elantrian, or regressive transition from Elantrian to Elantrian.  Taln has transitioned from potentially pure cognitive to a physical state.

 

And as a follow up, how does Jezrien compare to a Hoed - Every time we see Jezrien he seems stuck in the same conversational loop.  Not in a mantra, but the same conversation.

It has been hinted that a single person could bond more than one spren, the caveat being that they would need to meet the criteria of both spren for it to work, and find a way to swear the oaths in a non-contradictory manner.  Is the inverse possible as well?  Could a spren bind two people simultaneously?  Likely not, but could it work?  What if the people in question were Identical twins?  Or were drift compatible in the pacific rim universe?

Do spren have an identical twin analog among them?

Edited March 5, 2018 by Stark
More questions

[Arash.F]

As someone who (living far faraway) will probably never have the chance to attend a signing session, I have some questions for Brandon which I have to ask here; some cosmerological questions.

We have this phrase as fact in the Coppermind:

A: ...the main story of the cosmere occurs in a compact dwarf galaxy, meaning it has many fewer stars and systems than our galaxy.

And this one:

B: There are ten primary planets in the cosmere, sometimes called Shardworlds,

So here's the questions:

1-Is the Cosmere that dwarf galaxy (with 10 primary planets and stuff) or the universe (its main story happen in A dwarf galaxy?

2-Surely there's much difference between the whole universe and one galaxy. There are at least an estimated 200 billion number of galaxies in our own universe. Is this universe (which is or contains Cosmere) the same as ours? Could Adonalsium be the craft of some ultimately advanced

3-Is Adonalsium related to other galaxies somehow? Does the God who is believed and is not one of the Shards have anything to do with them? Is the God other than Adonalsium have infinite powers too?

4-Did Adonalsium create all galaxies and the whole universe or just the first humans and some planets at least? If there are two creators with infinite power, it might be that none of them created all galaxies, cause I doubt a same universe can have two omnipotent creators.

5-If Adonalsium created human beings, do other races (non-humanoid, non-anthropomorphic ones) exist in the Cosmere?

6-I, as an atheist, have some kind of viewpoint on the universe which might not be really common (at least in my own country). In my opinion God is a concept created by mankind. So here's my question: Is Adonalsium really a God (like there's one omnipotent God in Christianity, Islam and Judaism) who created humankind or it's a representation of some ultimately evolved species and intelligence? I mean something like the First-Born that exist in A.C.Clarke's Space Odyssey series, ultimately-evolved species which gained non-corporeal forms over millions of years; or the Catalyst in Mass Effect video game, an AI of a billion years old.

P.S. Probably all these question about Adonalsium and Gods will be RAFOed, but I just wanted to at least know that are they relevant? Am I on the right path?

Edited March 9, 2018 by Arash.F
Adding some details

[Fezzik]

On 3/9/2018 at 3:10 PM, Arash.F said:

5-If Adonalsium created human beings, do other races (non-humanoid, non-anthropomorphic ones) exist in the Cosmere?

Yes.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/181-stormlight-three-update-4/#e3768

On 3/9/2018 at 3:10 PM, Arash.F said:

6-I, as an atheist, have some kind of viewpoint on the universe which might not be really common (at least in my own country). In my opinion God is a concept created by mankind. So here's my question: Is Adonalsium really a God (like there's one omnipotent God in Christianity, Islam and Judaism) who created humankind or it's a representation of some ultimately evolved species and intelligence? I mean something like the First-Born that exist in A.C.Clarke's Space Odyssey series, ultimately-evolved species which gained non-corporeal forms over millions of years; or the Catalyst in Mass Effect video game, an AI of a billion years old.

Adonalsium is a supremely powerful being (so are the shards), whether God is the label you use is up to you, but Brandon Sanderson will not provide a definitive answer about whether a more omnipotent omniscient "God" exists (called the god beyond by its adherents).

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/100-rbooks-ama-2015/#e3436

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/202-barnes-and-noble-book-club-qa/#e4444

[Arash.F]

@John203

Thanks for these links. Yeah i read things about the God Beyond which is unknown for us at this time.

I merely wanted to about other galaxies. It will be RAFOed. I just wanted to know that will we hear from other galaxies before the end?

By the way, I think "omnipotent" is not a relative term, at least the definition that I meant it. There can't be more omnipotent, something is either omnipotent or it's not.

 

Do you know the answer to this one? It's important to me. I couldn't find the answer wherever i searched

Is the Cosmere that dwarf galaxy (with 10 primary planets and stuff) or the universe (its main story happen in A dwarf galaxy?

 

I know this is not a thread for discussion. Where can we talk more about this? Should I post a new topic?

[The One Who Connects]

Random thoughts from half-asleep me before bed last night.

Backstory: Sel is basically all one magic system. In AonDor, the Aons(from the Aonic language) have powers associated with them. Dakhor Monk bones resemble Fjordell Runes. Logical conclusion: Fjordell Runes are the Dakhor equivalent of Aons.

1. From a magical perspective, are the symbols from the Fjordell language functionally equivalent to Aons from the Aonic language(IE: granting power based on their shape)?
2. Can a Dakhor Monk be created with bone patterns of Aons?
   • If yes: Where would it have to be done: Elantris, Fjordell, or somewhere in-between?
   • If yes: Can it be done without hacking the magic system?
   • If no: Is that an "absolute" no, or a "not without hacking the system" no?
3. Can an Elantrian use Dakhor symbols as Aons?
   • If yes: Where would those be stronger: Elantris or Fjordell?
   • If no: Same "if no" as Q2.
4. If an Elantrian used the Dakhor symbol for granting say.. physical strength in AonDor, would it grant the same power? Would the same be true if a Dakhor Monk used the Aon for strength in their bone patterns?
   • If the power is changed: Why is it changed, and what would it be changed to?
   • If one changes, but the other doesn't: Why?
   • If both change, are they changed to the same thing?
     • If not: Why not?
5. Would there be some sort of magical consequences if a Dakhor Monk had bone patterns of both Fjordell Runes and Aons, or could the magic symbols coexist?
6. In the same vein, could you do the Dakhor bone transformation process on an Elantrian?
   • What effect, if any, would that have on the Elantrian's ability to draw Aons?
7. Can a Dakhor Monk be taken by the Shaod?
   • What effect, if any, would that have on the powers granted by the Monk's bones?
8. Elantrians can make use of Aons "drawn" onto objects(Ex: Tia Plates). Can the Dakhor makes something that does the same?
   • If yes: Could a non-Dakhor person use them?
   • If no: Does Dakhor absolutely have to be bones then?
9. On that subject, is there a way to make Aon plates(or the Dakhor equivalent) usable/activatable by normal people?
   • If yes, can it be done without hacking? (I've got a few ideas with Aon Coding, but...)

[Zelly]

Question for Brandon:

Is there a "place" where the all of the Cognitive Realm bottlenecks or converges? No matter where you were coming from or going to?

Edited March 14, 2018 by Zellyia

[Fezzik]

All roads lead to silverlight.

[Kidpen]

A few questions I'm pretty sure have not been asked before:

1. Is the Horneater god Hoid, or did Rock just mistake Hoid for the god?
2. Does Nightblood require a Connection with those he communicates with?
3. Can a Shard have multiple Vessel's?

Edited March 27, 2018 by Kidpen