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The Recipient of the Letter is a Dragon!


GreyPilgrim

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Hello all! I know I'm new here, though I've been lurking for a while and haven't come across this. Over on the WoK reread, a commenter (Zizoz, likely the very same from here on 17th Shard) noted the "old reptile" bit and postulated that the recipient might be a dragon. Another commenter said they would ask their husband to ask Brandon about this at GenCon. That same (Ciella) posted earlier:

I just a got a call from my husband. I told him to ask "If the recepient of Hoid's Letter in Way of Kings is a Dragon?". I really expected Sanderson to RAFO it, but instead he confirmed it!! Apparently he said that no one has ever asked him that before and that it was right on the money and from an unpublished book (Dragonsteel, I'm sure). Assuming the hubby asked correctly, that confirms both that the recipient is a Dragon and Hoid is the writer. Great catch!!!

That is pretty interesting. Has there been discussion of this before? I couldn't find any. Further, does anyone know anything about the dragons in Dragonsteel? Why would Hoid be writing to one of them?

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That's nice we've got a confirmation of that. I mean, we already knew Hoid wrote the letter, but I've been curious about the recipient for a while. And I know there was some serious speculation on it being a dragon, so I'm not surprised.

As for the other part of your post....I don't think we can really talk about it, since Dragonsteel's unpublished. And I'm pretty sure we were all asked not to talk about unpublished works on the forums. However, to satiate your curiosity a little bit, there's not much we really know about the dragons. They're only in the very beginning of the book. (I haven't finished it quite yet, but I'm pretty sure that's right. Someone correct me if it's not.)

Edited by little wilson
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I am not remotely surprised, and frankly was hoping this was true.  It would add a lot to the story, IMO.

 

I'm guessing that someday Brandon is going to have to rewrite and publish Dragonsteel so that the BYU librarians won't declare him anathema and start hunting him down.

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To publish it is the plan. Dragonsteel is but the first book of seven, and is the most integral to the cosmere, IIRC.

Just kidding about trying to get it from the library, though. I don't plan on reading any unpublished works. Even if Brandon gives them out willingly, he is not satisfied with them and plans to rewrite most of them. My respect for him as an artist will not allow me to read them. I would much rather read them when they are published and he is satisfied with them. Beyond that, they are not canon anyways, so any number of elements could change between now and publication. The only unpublished works I may change my mind on are Aether of Night, which I don't believe he plans to publish ever, and maybe WoK Prime, if he ever decides to give it out, as it would be interesting to compare it to the published version.

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There are a few Brandon will give out if you email him and ask for them (White Sand, Aether of Night, as well as [maybe?] Mistborn Prime and Final Empire Prime). His email address can be found on his site. Dragonsteel was Brandon's Masters thesis. The BYU library has one copy which is always out, but can be reserved.

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Is anyone else curious about Hoid went about sending this letter?  I haven't seen that discussed at all.  I doubt he could have used a courier or a traveling merchant.  Maybe he put it in a bottle and tossed it in the general direction of Yolen in Shadesmar?  Or he could have sent it to the guys chasing him with a note that said "For your boss."

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Is anyone else curious about Hoid went about sending this letter?  I haven't seen that discussed at all.  I doubt he could have used a courier or a traveling merchant.  Maybe he put it in a bottle and tossed it in the general direction of Yolen in Shadesmar?  Or he could have sent it to the guys chasing him with a note that said "For your boss."

 

Hoid delivered it himself.  He used his ninja stealth and myriad powers to sneak in and leave it on the recipient's kitchen table.  But since the recipient appears to be a dragon, his "kitchen table" may very well be a slab of rock in a cave.

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Is anyone else curious about Hoid went about sending this letter?  I haven't seen that discussed at all.  I doubt he could have used a courier or a traveling merchant.  Maybe he put it in a bottle and tossed it in the general direction of Yolen in Shadesmar?  Or he could have sent it to the guys chasing him with a note that said "For your boss."

I'm pretty sure someone posted this idea elsewhere, but I kind of like it. Hoid laid a false trail for the members of the Seventeenth Shard chasing him, it would be nice if once they arrive at the end of the trail they come upon the letter. Although if Hoid's false trail amounted to "somewhere in the Purelake" it's probably a lot more effective at keeping them occupied.

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That Hoid may have left a false trail is supported by the somewhat cryptic language he used ("the element" to refer to his lerasium, "essentially immortal", "I protect its safety like I protect my own skin"). Also, as far as we cam tell, it was not signed and he did not address it to anyone by name. He could have left it like this so that someone could look at it and not glean amy compromising information.

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That's possible for an in-world explanation. However, I think the most likely reason for Hoid being so vague and cryptic is that if Brandon made him too specific, casual readers would be like "This post has been reported for attempting to skirt the rules? Lerasium? What's that?" And then when they find out it's from Mistborn, they'd be like " seriously? So not only is this series 10 (really big) books, he also expects us to read all his other stuff too, just to understand it? Not happening."

Now, that's not saying Hoid doesn't have his own motivations for not being specific. Any good author would make sure a character has the right motivations. It's just, I'd bet Brandon's prime reason for the vagueness is to not scare off readers, so yes, Hoid has his motivations, but they're there because of that prime one. Mostly.

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The idea came up earlier in the year at some point... Or maybe mid last year.

 

I remember because I came here, posted it, and someone told me that it had been discussed in the chat room the day before.

 

That said, I don't think Brandon had confirmed it until now.

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  • 4 weeks later...

This is from Traveler, also from the WoK reread comments. Apparently he(?) was at the release.

wetlandernw the letter from Hoid to the dragon. The Dragon is I mortal but he can be killed. He is a he also. I will be around to see if I can get another chance to so we will see.

[sic]
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It says that wetlandernw indicated that the letter was from Hoid to a dragon, the dragon is immortal but can be killed, and the dragon is male.  The last comment appears to indicate that wetlandernw was at a signing at the time and indicated that he intended to get in line again to ask another question.

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That quote is so grammatically broken I'm not exactly sure what it means.

Translation: The Dragon is immortal but he can be killed. (So technically not immortal, but he won't die of old age). The Dragon is also male. "wetlandernw" (who asked the question I suppose) will attempt to ask for more detail at some later point.

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