The Aethers of Lor

[Pagerunner]

I can't believe I've never searched for anything on Aether over in the TWG. I finally did... and I found some very interesting stuff.

While he was revising the first Mistborn book back in 2004, Brandon was developing a series called the Aethers of Lor (originally Lore), set in the world of Aether. It was going to be a megaseries, with smaller series set on the same planet (the planet of Lor) using different aspects of the magic system, inspired by the overall structure of Dragonriders of Pern. The first book was going to be called Climb the Sky: Aether of Wind Trilogy, Book One. (Although a lot of TWG members didn't seem too keen on that name.) He never got further than planning; he canned that to focus on finishing the Mistborn trilogy, and we all know what happened after that. (If you don't, he decided to work on Dragonsteel, and put that aside when asked to finish the Wheel of Time.)

EDIT: It also had the Royal Locks in it. (As did Dark One, apparently. They sure got around.)

Aethers of Lor must be the untitled Aether project that Brandon lists in his unpublished works; nobody was thrilled with the name, so he probably considered Lor a placeholder. I also think it's the missing fifth project from the ancient Tor Proposal. (The three write-ups Brandon included in his blog were Elantris, Mistborn, and Stormlight. Dragonsteel was almost certainly one of the other two, and the timeline fits for Aethers of Lor to be the fifth.)

So, a couple very important takeaways from this:

• The Aether world was actively developed even after Mistborn had been written, and Ruin and Preservation had been cannibalized. Brandon doesn't mention if this is cosmere or not, because the concept of the cosmere hadn't been very well developed among his readers at the time (5 points to whoever links Peter saying he doesn't think Way of Kings is on a shardworld), but I think because the concept was driven by an expansive magic system, that it almost certainly was set in the cosmere. Which means, he must have had a Shard or two to go with it.
• The Aether of Wind doesn't appear onscreen in the manuscript. It looks like it gave flight, which isn't all that inherently interesting. But I wonder if it also had a counterpart, and if the worldbuilding kept the Fell Twins as history? But regardless, the magic of the Aethers definitely extends beyond what we've seen in the Aether of Night to further elements.
• The world of Aether of Night is referred to as Vaeria in the text. Did Brandon just consider renaming it to Lor? Or was Vaeria merely a region on Lor? (Similar to how he once referred to Opelon as the "world that Elantris takes place in." Since the latest way Brandon referred to the world was as Lor, then I find it hard to believe that Vax is the world of the Aethers. There are superficial similarities between Vaeria and Vax (inasmuch as they begin with the same two letters), but Vax is very different than Lor.

Edited July 26, 2017 by Pagerunner

[Weltall]

Very interesting finds! Between this and whatever he was planning in Liar of Partinel's original draft, he's definitely got lots of raw material for the rewritten Aether plus whatever new stuff he wants to do. I wouldn't be too surprised if he brought a couple more Aethers into the rewrite to open up opportunities to do cool things with the magic system, maybe one per 'side'? As long as he keeps Ferrous in the final product in some form; I want to see that one developed more.

Vaeria is explicitly referred to as a world in Agaris' thoughts in AoN (and he should know) so if Brandon was mulling the world name being Lor(e) and set on the same planet as Aether of Night for this project, it would have to be a retcon. Not a difficult thing to manage as AoN is unpublished so only his beta readers (and now everyone with access to the manuscript) would know that it had ever been something else, had Climb the Sky ever been written and published.

With that, I don't think we should use his mulled change to rule out that Vax could be Vaeria renamed. Thirteen years is a long time and he could have mooted that change and gone for a new spin on the original name during that time. Of course Vax could still be a completely different setting and the similarity with Vaeria a total coincidence but I don't think these posts really tell us anything one way or the other.

[Pagerunner]

The latest Way of Kings annotations have an interesting bit on Syl's unpublished history as a cosmere character:

Quote

You might be interested to know, then, that she was actually developed for a completely different book in the cosmere. I often speak about how books come together when different ideas work better together than they ever did separate. Kaladin and Syl are an excellent example of this. He didn’t work in The Way of Kings Prime, and her book just wasn’t going anywhere. Put them together, and magic happened. (Literally and figuratively.)

I think she was from Climb the Sky. Mainly because there's no sign of Syl in our other major unpublished works (Aether of Night, Mythwalker, Dragonsteel, or any of the Mistborn primes), but she does fit quite well into the what little we know of this book.

I think Syl was an embodiment of our titular Aether of Wind, and that Brandon repurposed the bonding mechanism of Aether into the spren (which is a similarity that many have noted, especially with the Liar of Partinel sample chapters). This fits with what we saw in Liar, as well, with the sentience of the Duskr Aethers, something that had been vaguely hinted at in Aether of Night, as well.

[Weltall]

Hah, I was wondering which unpublished cosmere work he could have been referring to but I hadn't even considered Brandon's mentioned Aether series. It would definitely fit with the development of Aethers from the available book to Liar and the implications of wind-based Aethers in Lor. Nice idea.

I was thinking of asking Brandon about Syl's original story at the Oathbringer signing, actually.

[Weltall]

Oh hey @Pagerunner, I asked Brandon at the San Francisco signing and he confirmed that Syl was from Climb the Sky. And was very surprised when I asked.

Also, there was another Sharder who I talked to right afterwards about it. Sorry, I didn't get your name. Nice meeting you!

[Pagerunner]

Last month, Brandon replied on Reddit about plans for Lor:

Quote

simon_thekillerewok

Is there a planet called Lor? (aka what planet will Aether of Night take place on).

Brandon Sanderson

I do plan a planet called Lor. But Aether of Night is very in flux right now, so I won't canonize where it takes place.

source

This statement seems (to me, at least) to say that the Aethers are still planned for Lor. Both the "plan" and "won't canonize" indicate the same thing, that he's not going to lock himself into anything, but that it is the tentative path forward. Which matches with other recent statements that the Aethers, though present in canon, don't have a developed backstory yet:

Quote

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

Aether, is that how you say the book? Aether of Night? Is that going to get published at some point?

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

I will probably bring that into the mainline Cosmere. Right now, it's not in continuity because I've changed enough things about the way that Shards work, and things like that. The Aethers themselves are in continuity. Mraize has Aether, some bits of Aether, in his little collection. They are in continuity somewhere, but I haven't dropped them into the actual continuity.

source

That presents a pretty big hurdle for Vax being the Aether planet. If Lor is still being planned, then Vax (which has already been mentioned in canon) can't be the latest revision of Vaeria/Lor. And since the Aethers could still potentially remain Yolish magic, then that means that they can't be the magic system whose Initiation Khriss was speaking of in the Elantris Ars Arcanum:

Quote

Pagerunner

Are the Aethers from one of the Shards that we know? Or are they of a Shard we haven't learned about?

Brandon Sanderson

Right now they are pre-Shattering.

But I will probably change that.

source

 

[+Invocation]

On 1/14/2019 at 8:20 PM, Pagerunner said:

That presents a pretty big hurdle for Vax being the Aether planet. If Lor is still being planned, then Vax (which has already been mentioned in canon) can't be the latest revision of Vaeria/Lor. And since the Aethers could still potentially remain Yolish magic, then that means that they can't be the magic system whose Initiation Khriss was speaking of in the Elantris Ars Arcanum:

Quote

I wouldn't say that it rules it out. Does Lor happen to have a moon?

[Pagerunner]

50 minutes ago, Invocation said:

I wouldn't say that it rules it out. Does Lor happen to have a moon?

If Lor has not gone beyond planning stages, then it cannot be part of the worldbuilding for Vax, which is already in canon. If Brandon doesn't get around to incorporating Lor, then what is Vax orbiting?

[+Invocation]

On 1/18/2019 at 9:48 PM, Pagerunner said:

If Lor has not gone beyond planning stages, then it cannot be part of the worldbuilding for Vax, which is already in canon. If Brandon doesn't get around to incorporating Lor, then what is Vax orbiting?

Hmmmm... good point.

Could be Vax is more than just one thing. Might be a very specific route through the CR or something.

Or he could have multiple areas where Vax could be.

Wait a second. Could Vax be a roaming planet?

Edited January 21, 2019 by Invocation