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Portland Steelheart Signing


Mysty

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I just got back from the Steelheart signing tonight at Powell's Bookstore in Beaverton, OR. Brandon did two readings. The first was the parshendi interlude from WoR I've seen transcribed before. the second was the first chapter of the AoL sequel, which is in the Steelhunt vault if no one else has done a trasncription.

 

Brandon elaborated on his state of mind when he got the seed for Steelheart when he was cut of in traffic. Apparently he was late for a signing, lost without GPS, with a dead phone. He had left a steak knife in his luggage, and in the confusion at airport security he left his laptop in the scanner bin. The laptop was the only way to charge his phone, nor did he remember anyone's phone number to call at a payphone. so it was under those stressor that when cut off he thought "good thing i'm not a supervillain otherwise I'd blow up your car". by the time Brandon got to the signing he was bubbling to his agent about this awesome new book idea who had to bring Brandon back to earth, "didn't you just sign the WoT contract? didn't you just fly to NY and pitch your 10 volume SLA series?"

 

during the group Q&A someone ask Brandon why the general feel of Steelheart is so similar to Final Empire. He said that was due to his love of heist stories. A group of thieves tasking themselves to do the impossible is just one of his favorite types of stories. Knowing this, Brandon did conciously try to make Steelheart a different flavor of heist from FE.

 

The following are the questions I asked from the Ultimate list of Questions. The answeres are all paraphrased from what I can remember

 

Q: Is the Nightwatcher Cultivation or of Cultivation somehow?

A: That is strongly hinted in the book. (would not give a direct answer, but I believe the answer is yes).

 

Q: Are Shallan's "memories" a form of surgebinding?

A: Good question! Shallan has something besides pure physiology aiding her when taking a memory. (some magic is involved, but would not say yes or no to surgebinging in particular)

 

Q: Will Shallan and Hoid meet and have a battle of wits?

A: Good question! I think you should read WoR and find out.

 

Q: Is Baxil's Mistress destroying statues of the Herald Shallash?

A: Yes. Actually in the prologe her statue is missing because Baxil's mistress came through.

Q: Is Baxel's mistress Shallash?

A: I'm not going to answer that. (I know this had been RAFO'ed before, but I wanted to give it another try since he answered the first)

 

And a final note, Brandon is going to tweet a picture of me and my sister! My sister wore the Mistcloak she made for halloween and won the Steelheart signing poster. I wrote him a thank you note in Alethi Script which he thought was really neat (Thank you to whoever cracked that code and made it available on the Stormlight Wiki!)

 

That's about it...oh, if you ever go to a signing with one of his former roommates, Make him go to the front of the line! the person Captain Conrad from HoA, even with the excuse of a young kid up past his bedtime, was hesitant to go to the front until Brandon stopped the siging and forcefully insisted. If you don't remember Captain Conrad, know that he died horribly, so be careful when you ask authors for a cameo appearance.

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given his answer to the first question about Shalash and the death quote about a female vandal scratching out her own eyes, I'm pretty sure that counts as an oblique confirmation that the Mistress is in fact Shalash.

 

I agree, but I was still hoping for a definate answer to the question. Brandon sure likes giving evasive answers!

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Oh, come on, confirm that Cultivation and Nightwatcher are related already!

 

On a side note, do we know whether there are any Slivers in the Way of Kings? I'd be curious to find out.

Edited by Argent
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I'm nearly certain that Nohadon is a sliver of the Almighty. I say this, because he was responsible for the five oaths that are part of each order of the Knights Radiant. Kaladin says that the Stormlight worked better for him after he made the second oath. But the Radiants preceded Nohadon, and therefore saying the Words should not have had an actual physical effect. This is probably because Nohadon actually bacame a Sliver and changed the way Surgebinding worked. Also, note that Dalinar's vision of Nohadon is the only one where the Almighty does not talk to him. I'm not sure what the significance of this event is, but i believe it's because he's a Sliver. Also, out of curiosity, is there a chance that Odium has Heralds of his own?

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The Ten Fools. It's not 100% confirmed, but Brandon calls them counterparts to the Heralds, but separated by an additional degree.*

 

Regarding Nohadon, he might be a Sliver, but I see no evidence for it. I doubt he could've changed the way Surgebinding works, because the Lord Ruler (a verified Sliver) couldn't either. The oaths are interesting, and I'd be curious to find out how he figured them out - because I think  he didn't invent, but rather discovered them. With or without help. 

 

 * Which makes sense to me - we have three major magic systems, one of Honor (Surgebinding), one of Cultivation (Old Magic?), and one of Odium (Voidbinding). Honor and Odium have always felt diametrically opposite to me, which would leave Cultivation in the "middle," providing that extra degree of separation between the two male Shards' chosen warriors.

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Kaladin discovered the second oath without being a sliver.  Kaladin (Dalinar also!) is getting information from mysterious internal voices.  I'm not saying that Nohadon was not a sliver, but that another possibility is that the oaths are built into the magic system and become available when the participants are ready.  

 

Nohadon decided that it was time for the sword.  He could have gathered an honorable group of knights-to-be that discovered the oaths while bringing order to the world.  Later, when the oaths were known, he could have written them up as parables. 

 

Not saying, just suggesting. 

 

Edit: grammar

Edited by hoser
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gunslingers ()

The number 10 seems to be a recurring theme in this world. Are the Ten Fools the antithesis of the ten orders of the Knights Radiant?

Have you ever killed off a character and later regretted it?

When writing a battle scene in which thousands die do those deaths affect you in any way?

Brandon Sanderson
First Question: Yes, ten is a number of mythological import in the world. The Ten Fools are, essentially, the opposites of the Ten Heralds—who each represented an ideal. (Those ideals were later adopted by the orders of Knights Radiant, so yes, there is a connection—but there's a step between them.)

 

I'm not sure you're interpreting this correctly Argent. I read this as "There is a connection between the KR and the Ten Fools and that connection is the Ten Heralds." So pretty sure Brandon confirms Ten Fools and Ten Heralds are opposites but there is nothing there about Cultivation being in the middle.

 

I agree with Nohadon not being a Sliver. Timing doesn't fit. We know Tanavast was alive at the Last Desolation, we also know the KR existed then. Unless there is some weird time travel thing going on, it's impossible for Nohadon to use the power of Honor to invent the Words or alter Surgebinding.

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Oh, come on, confirm that Cultivation and Nightwatcher are related already!

 

On a side note, do we know whether there are any Slivers in the Way of Kings? I'd be curious to find out.

When I got the confirmation that the Nightwatcher couldnt go out of the Valley and was definitely not human I supposed so. I know this is not an answer for my theory but still happy to be at least in the right track.

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cem

I'm pretty sure(don't quote me on this) but I'm sure Brandon has said that every shard has a shard pool. The one's we've come across are; the place where Elantrians go to die, the well of ascension ect...

so on Roshar there should be two, one for Cultivation and one for Honour. This means that if someone(Nohadon) found this shard pool he would, after using his powers, become a Splinter

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cem

I'm pretty sure(don't quote me on this) but I'm sure Brandon has said that every shard has a shard pool. The one's we've come across are; the place where Elantrians go to die, the well of ascension ect...

so on Roshar there should be two, one for Cultivation and one for Honour. This means that if someone(Nohadon) found this shard pool he would, after using his powers, become a Splinter

It's possible but isn't it kind of a reach? Not every Shardpool works like the Well of Ascension anyway. Pits of Hathsin produce atium and Devotion's Shardpool is a nice way to commit suicide. But neither allows someone to use the power of their Shards.

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It's possible but isn't it kind of a reach? Not every Shardpool works like the Well of Ascension anyway. Pits of Hathsin produce atium and Devotion's Shardpool is a nice way to commit suicide. But neither allows someone to use the power of their Shards.

 

Well, we know very little about Devotion's pool.  True, it released elantrians from their suffering, but it did not do so to Raoden.  It is conceivable (and likely) that there is more to it than just a suicide tool.  Your overall point is accurate though.  The well was a special case which resulted from the way and degree to which Preservation invested himself.

Edited by Shardlet
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I'm pretty sure(don't quote me on this) but I'm sure Brandon has said that every shard has a shard pool. The one's we've come across are; the place where Elantrians go to die, the well of ascension ect.

As far as I can recall, Brandon has never said that every Shard has a pool. In fact, he said that Harmony destroyed both the Well and the Pits when Sazed Ascended, so presumably he didn't have one then.
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First time poster here :| So bear with my ignorance of what's already known. I was able to make it to both Portland signings and at the first was able to ask him several questions. Unfortunately I wasn't prepared for the opportunity to ask him so many questions so I'm afraid my questions were fairly poor and probably already answered. However he specifically told me that he confirmed something that he'd never confirmed before. So stay tuned:)

Of the few questions of import that I asked. Here are the ones I remember:

Q: Are we going to see more of Marsh?

A: (smiles) he'll be around ...

Q: Will we see Kaladin face Amaram?

A: I wouldn't put such a strong conflict as that without a purpose.

Q: I've noticed that in both elantris and roshar there are specific shapes to the cities and in both instances there as chasms. Is there a connection between the two worlds?

A: Oooo:) yes there is definitely a connection there. As you know all of these worlds are part of a universe and my magic systems share basic rules. So you'll see similarities. (He wouldn't elaborate on the chasms. He just sort of smiles mischievously)

Q: What is the stone that Gavilar gave to Szeth before he died?

A: good question, there are clues to what it is. (I'm going to try to get this answer right) if you decode Shallans letter in the beginning of The Way of Kings you will find some significant clues to what the stone is. The letter has already been decoded over at the 17th shard but I've never confirmed that those clues are in fact there. So go tell the 17th shard I confirmed that and they will love you for it. :)

I unfortunately do not remember the letter he is referring to. So please point me in the right direction. Also, you can love me know:)

Josh

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Q: What is the stone that Gavilar gave to Szeth before he died?

A: good question, there are clues to what it is. (I'm going to try to get this answer right) if you decode Shallans letter in the beginning of The Way of Kings you will find some significant clues to what the stone is. The letter has already been decoded over at the 17th shard but I've never confirmed that those clues are in fact there. So go tell the 17th shard I confirmed that and they will love you for it. :)

I unfortunately do not remember the letter he is referring to. So please point me in the right direction. Also, you can love me know:)

Any chance you mean Navani's Notebook?

It tells us spren can be trapped in gems. Interesting.

Edited by Morsk
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Shallan did write a letter in the beginning of WoK. starts on pg 137 of the paperback. it is her second attempt of pettitioning Jasnah for a wardship. however, i don't know of anything in that letter that remotely refers to that stone. Navani's notebook sounds much more reasonable, especially since it is possible she had seen the stone being Gavilar's wife.

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