(Spoilers) Discussion on the implications of Brandon's announcement on the Cosmere

[teknopathetic he/him]

Just now, Thaidakar the Ghostblood said:

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book three has to be Apoclypse guard I mean come on, it has a bunch of worlds on the picture so I really think it is that one.

 

About Book 2 or 3

Spoiler

Do you mean book 2? Book 2 has the character standing on the Europe/Arfica part of the Earth with a wizard hat and a gun? 
 

 

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood he/him]

Just now, teknopathetic said:

About Book 2 or 3

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Do you mean book 2? Book 2 has the character standing on the Europe/Arfica part of the Earth with a wizard hat and a gun? 
 

 

Spoiler

I meant book 2 sorry, yeah it seems pretty accurate to Apoclypse guard I think.

 

[teknopathetic he/him]

2 minutes ago, Thaidakar the Ghostblood said:

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I meant book 2 sorry, yeah it seems pretty accurate to Apoclypse guard I think.

 

Spoiler

I am not so sure. None of the months have a reward themed around that series? It is all Cosmere and Cytonic. Not saying you are wrong, but you think one of them would be themed that way to match the book itself. 

 

Edited March 1, 2022 by teknopathetic

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood he/him]

Just now, teknopathetic said:

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I am not so sure. None of the months have a reward themed around that series? It is all Cosmere and Cytonic. Not saying you are wrong, but you think one of them would be themed that way. 

 

Spoiler

I guess but it is still a possibility.

 

[Frustration]

Just now, teknopathetic said:

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I am not so sure. None of the months have a reward themed around that series? It is all Cosmere and Cytonic. Not saying you are wrong, but you think one of them would be themed that way. 

 

Spoiler

Well isn't apocalyspe guard the first in its series? I know there's more in its universe, but its the fist in its series.

 

[i’m in the details]

I bet 4 has something to do with invention. You can see chimneys in the background, and it looks kinda dystopian industrial esk. 
 

#3 is anyone’s guess, but I would bet it is set on Sel.
 

#2 is clearly non-cosmere, and maybe apoc guard 

#1 could be obrodai. Not likely First of the Sun because we have a sequel for that already announced. My guess would be it’s the world mentioned in the Arcanum of Rhythm of War where Khriss mentions Foil who studies servers. 

[+Oltux72 he/him]

3 minutes ago, i’m in the details said:

I bet 4 has something to do with invention. You can see chimneys in the background, and it looks kinda dystopian industrial esk. 
 

#3 is anyone’s guess, but I would bet it is set on Sel.
 

#2 is clearly non-cosmere, and maybe apoc guard 

#1 could be obrodai. Not likely First of the Sun because we have a sequel for that already announced. My guess would be it’s the world mentioned in the Arcanum of Rhythm of War where Khriss mentions Foil who studies servers. 

Each of the guesses by itself is plausible. But taken together they raise the question who the known Cosmere character would be.

[NameIess]

Here's some stuff from Brandon's livestream:

Spoiler

2 is the non-Cosmere. 1 and 3 have a big similarity. 4 is a book that Brandon has been planning to write years from now, that he really wanted to write but was unsure he would have time to in his life. It is a key part of a side character in the Cosmere that he's wanted to do for years, and the seeds have been set up in a different series.

 

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood he/him]

20 minutes ago, Nameless said:

Here's some stuff from Brandon's livestream:

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2 is the non-Cosmere. 1 and 3 have a big similarity. 4 is a book that Brandon has been planning to write years from now, that he really wanted to write but was unsure he would have time to in his life. It is a key part of a side character in the Cosmere that he's wanted to do for years, and the seeds have been set up in a different series.

 

Spoiler

oof! so 4 could possibly be the wacky magic kite one.

 

[mathiau he/him]

56 minutes ago, i’m in the details said:

I bet 4 has something to do with invention. You can see chimneys in the background, and it looks kinda dystopian industrial esk. 
 

#3 is anyone’s guess, but I would bet it is set on Sel.
 

#2 is clearly non-cosmere, and maybe apoc guard 

#1 could be obrodai. Not likely First of the Sun because we have a sequel for that already announced. My guess would be it’s the world mentioned in the Arcanum of Rhythm of War where Khriss mentions Foil who studies servers. 

Spoiler

#3 being on Sel would explain why they zoomed on a pattern and not a face in the small version

https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/036/474/438/2c757817d807582915e5f15f1d7529e8_original.png?ixlib=rb-4.0.2&w=680&fit=max&v=1645817431&auto=format&gif-q=50&lossless=true&s=0a8b26bb5b027bb02ff2b8fbd76cded6

If it is then maybe it will be about Shuden, since they kind of feel like they're dancing.

On another note

Spoiler

Someone took a screenshot of one of the front pages

 

 

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood he/him]

I just joined the livestream and have gotten nothin so far.

Edited March 1, 2022 by Thaidakar the Ghostblood

[+Oltux72 he/him]

50 minutes ago, Nameless said:

Here's some stuff from Brandon's livestream:

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2 is the non-Cosmere. 1 and 3 have a big similarity. 4 is a book that Brandon has been planning to write years from now, that he really wanted to write but was unsure he would have time to in his life. It is a key part of a side character in the Cosmere that he's wanted to do for years, and the seeds have been set up in a different series.

 

 

Spoiler

That kind of sounds like Silverlight - whose seeds stem from White Sand  basically

 

[StormingTexan he/him]

Spoiler

I feel like the 4th book is on First of the Sun. Maybe the sequel to Sixth of Dusk or possibly a little further in the future. Brandon said on the livestream it is the only one that prior reading of cosmere books will be really helpful and he said if you read Arcanum Unbound you would have the prior knowledge. He also said this one has the most cosmere tidbits and assuming this is set in space fearing cosmere that would make sense. I think (although I may be wrong) he said this was one he thought he would write way later down the road so this could also be a clue since it would be in a similar timeline as MBE4. The cover really has the vibe to me as well especially after reading the preview chapter for the sequel (to a book he may have already finished ). No idea on the other ones. 

 

[TeaKey]

Spoiler

From the kickstarter page:

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Each also takes you to someplace new, original, and vibrant. Three of these are Cosmere books taking place on new worlds, and the other one is something completely different.

Sounds like all of them will be set on new worlds we haven’t seen before

 

[mathiau he/him]

20 minutes ago, TeaKey said:

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From the kickstarter page:

Sounds like all of them will be set on new worlds we haven’t seen before

 

Spoiler

"Some place new" could still designate the Darkside or SoScad. Still, narrows the possibilities for #1 quite a lot. The only possibilities are Elegy (which is not accessible via perpendicularity), the Darkside and a planet of which we don't know the starchart. Please be Vax

 

Edited March 1, 2022 by mathiau

[NameIess]

Spoiler

I'm hoping #4 is Aether, but I don't really know what side character would be the focus.

 

[vegasdev]

Spoiler

Looking at stills, one of the books is titled something like Fire Wizards Handbook by Benedict England or something like that.

Spoiler

 

Edited March 1, 2022 by vegasdev

[Kandrafish]

 

 

On 3/1/2022 at 0:20 PM, Ixthos said:

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That certainly could be possible. Assuming my guesses are correct could he be in the Aether one or the Mistborn one or the Autonomy one?

 

On 3/1/2022 at 1:13 PM, mathiau said:

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I just checked which planet we know have a moon to know which planet it could be on (assuming it's one we know the starchart of and not, like, Vax) and I found Nalthis, Sel and I found that Nalthis, Roshar, First of the Sun, Elegy, Sel and Taldain do.

Roshar stands out of the the lot since one of its moons is green.

I doubt it's Elegy since it doesn't have a perpendicularity

 

 

On 3/1/2022 at 5:40 PM, Nameless said:

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I'm hoping #4 is Aether, but I don't really know what side character would be the focus.

 

So... A lot of people hope that Vax is one of the places of future development after this recent reveal.

 

Don't read further if you don't want to be spoiled (I think this is unlikely due to this being the second page) 

 

Timeline for the creation of these books is 2020-2022... And, out of the blue in 2021 (July 17th 2021 at JordanCon), I think, Brandon confirms the location of Vax on the Cosmere star chart! I don't think that was a coincidence. I think that he must have been thinking about Vax already because of the secret projects. 

Occam's razor would imply an Aether book, but it, at very least, implies an Aether tangential book.

 

Edited March 3, 2022 by Kandrafish
Specifying the date when Brandon wrote the location of Aethers as July 2021

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood he/him]

2 minutes ago, Kandrafish said:

 

 

 

So... A lot of people hope that Vax is one of the places of future development after this recent reveal.

 

Don't read further if you don't want to be spoiled (I think this is unlikely due to this being the second page) 

 

Timeline for the creation of these books is 2020-2022... And, out of the blue in 2021, I think, Brandon confirms the location of Vax on the Cosmere star chart! I don't think that was a coincidence. I think that he must have been thinking about Vax already because of the secret projects. 

Occam's razor would imply an Aether book, but it, at very least, implies an Aether tangential book.

 

good job Kandra! I hope it is an Aether book too!

[AquaRegia he/him]

Spoiler

I want to share my thoughts about the real-world details of this:

1)  After the first 30 seconds of this video, I was expecting "I've been acting like I can finish all these books I've been promising you before I die... and that's clearly impossible.  Sorry."

2)  I was smiling when the second secret book came out... but I literally laughed out loud when he dropped the three more secret books.

3)  I'm not super surprised at the number of people shouting "TAKE MY MONEY, BRANDON!", since I am among them.  But I am a little worried about their ability to fulfill the obvious demand.  The Kickstarter has been up for just over 6 hours, and they've been pledged over $8 million, 8 times their (1-month) goal of $1M.  Let me say that again: they have exceeded their ONE MONTH GOAL - by 8X - IN SIX HOURS.  Not sure if Dragonsteel is set up to make so many books so fast.

In any case, my misgivings did not stop me from buying the Full Brando.

 

[mathiau he/him]

7 minutes ago, Kandrafish said:

in 2021, I think, Brandon confirms the location of Vax on the Cosmere star chart!

Wait, what?

2 minutes ago, AquaRegia said:

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they have exceeded their ONE MONTH GOAL - by 8X - IN SIX HOURS. 

 

Spoiler

This is a pre order kickstarter, the initial goal doesn't matter

[+Oltux72 he/him]

Does that mean that #5 will be kite magic?

[Pagerunner he/him]

This is phenomenal news. I cannot overstate my excitement. So much of the teases coming from Brandon are things that, as a fan of just his Cosmere books, I don't particularly care about; Mainframe and co-authoring Reckoners/Skyward stories and the secret video game and even the Mistborn movie script he's been working on. I have legitimately thought to myself, "Man, it's a shame that we're not getting any new standalone Cosmere stories on new planets, like more novellas like Sixth of the Dusk or Shadows for Silence." But here, we're getting three stories on new planets, not part of existing series, that have already been written and aren't delaying the mainline books. Just... incredible. If a genie had popped out of a lamp last week and given me a wish under the condition it had to relate to Brandon Sanderson, I would have absolutely wished for one such story. To get three is unreal. We're going to have four new Cosmere stories in less than twelve months (with Lost Metal kicking us off at the end of this year), not even counting Stormlight Five (if/when it gets out in late 2023). This may be the greatest time to be a Cosmere fan.

So, let me get some specific predictions out there before the reveals start coming in on Thursdays. First of all, I think one of these books will be an Aether book. There have been a few hints about the Aether worldbuilding being under active development during 2020, which was while Brandon had been secretly working on these earlier projects. I'll post a few of them below. I'm waffling between SP1 and SP3 as the Aether project; based on the cover, SP1 looks to tie in more with a physical, elemental theme. But SP3's cover, which seems to imply some romance, has the whole yin/yang thing going on to make me think of a Romeo/Juliet story, which would tie in well with the Aether dichotomy we saw in Aether of Night.

I think I'm gonna lean towards SP1, but in his reveal livestream, he did say that there were significant worldbuilding similarities between SP1 and SP3, and technically the Kickstarter blurb doesn't specify three new planets ("Each also takes you to someplace new, original, and vibrant. Three of these are Cosmere books taking place on new worlds, and the other one is something completely different."), so maybe both SP1 and SP3 are on the Aether planet. Let's get crazy with it.

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Questioner

Are there still six different types of Aethers in current canon? Or has that changed?

Brandon Sanderson

They have expanded. I’m using the Aethers behind the scenes for a lot of space age things. And because I’m doing that, I am adding in a few more Aethers. There’s going to be some limits on this. I’m tweaking which Aethers I’m actually making, ‘cause some of them didn’t work as well as other ones.

There will end up being more, but I won’t canonize the number until I have the Aether book ready to release.

Waterstones RoW Release Event (Nov. 18, 2020)

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Brandon Sanderson

Future Aether books are very likely. And the aethers themselves are going to be very like the ones in the book.

If I did try to make it canon, I'd probably remove the whole Shard plot from the book and instead either use another Shard, or not add a new one, since the Aethers (as I have them now in the notes) function without a Shard's involvement, and even predate the shattering. (Note, that's not yet canon.)

Rhythm of War Preview Q&As (Oct. 8, 2020)

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rektosaurusd

Also, is there anyone in the Cosmere I could make for X?!

Brandon Sanderson

Hmm. Xisis. He'll show up eventually.

CephandriusTW

I have just seen this and I'm curious. Is there any information about Xisis that you could give us before entering RAFO territory?

Brandon Sanderson

Not human, from Yolen, currently hanging out on a planet quite near to where you can find a lot of the aethers.

General Reddit 2020 (Sept. 6, 2020)

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LewsTherinTelescope

You've said that Darro, from Aether of Night, will be appearing in the Nightblood novel. Will he be appearing as a worldhopper (presumably from the Aether planet) or as a transplanted character, similar to how you've said Dalinar was in Dragonsteel before being moved to Stormlight?

And (probably entering RAFO territory) if he is a worldhopper, will he have a functional Amberite in the Nightblood novel?

Brandon Sanderson

It's a RAFO, as mostly I just haven't decided on a lot of things about this novel yet.

If it helps, my instinct is just to make him a local, as the Aether planet (though canon because of things in Stormlight) isn't one I've completely finished worldbuilding yet.

General Reddit 2020 (July 13, 2020)

 

That brings me to SP4. I've been wracking my mind, trying to think of a male worldhopper side character who could feature in this book. (Based on comments from Brandon's reveal livestream, where he said it's the most cosmere-focused, that it features a known character who's a side character, and that it's a story he's wanted to write since the early days of planning the Cosmere. Oh, and that it's written in first-person viewpoint.) It doesn't need to be the worldhopper's planet of origin; I think we can rule that out, since I don't think we have any known worldhoppers where we don't know where they're from. So it's an existing character, important long-term to the Cosmere overall story arc, that Brandon has long had plans for.

But let's not take things at face value. Brandon has been so incredibly deceptive throughout this process, and I have no doubt he's maintaining more secrets for the next four reveals where we get details. So, let's expand our definition of "side character" to include those who will be main characters one day, but thus far have only featured in side appearances with perhaps the occasional viewpoint.

I think SP4 has to be a Hoid story.

Stylistically, the first person narration is something Brandon has planned to use for Dragonsteel when he gets to its rewrite. What if he's using this opportunity of secret projects to do some experimentation in an environment where there was literally no harm in failing. If it didn't work, he could pull the book, and nobody would be the wiser; can't do that with Dragonsteel. And in terms of being a story he wanted to tell for a long time and might not get; oh, that screams Hoid to me, one of these adventures that he'll be able to toss references to like all the other mysteries.

 

So, we'll find out over the next month whether I got any of that right. But no matter how it falls out, I think we're going to need an updated star chart; perhaps the August "Cosmere Themed Swag Box"? Perhaps you'll all be finally catching up to my star chart with the Aether planet on it, and I'll need to track Brandon down to get me a new one.

 

To summarize, my speculation on the three Cosmere secret projects:

• SP1: Aethers
• SP3: Cosmere Romeo and Juliet
• SP4: Hoid Side Story

 

EDIT: And another thing. I forgot to even mention that the banner for the Kickstarter and the livestream announcement and all that is literally Hoid smirking at us. More weight to him being the star of SP4.

Edited March 2, 2022 by Pagerunner

[+Oltux72 he/him]

5 hours ago, Pagerunner said:

That brings me to SP4. I've been wracking my mind, trying to think of a male worldhopper side character who could feature in this book. (Based on comments from Brandon's reveal livestream, where he said it's the most cosmere-focused, that it features a known character who's a side character, and that it's a story he's wanted to write since the early days of planning the Cosmere. Oh, and that it's written in first-person viewpoint.) It doesn't need to be the worldhopper's planet of origin; I think we can rule that out, since I don't think we have any known worldhoppers where we don't know where they're from. So it's an existing character, important long-term to the Cosmere overall story arc, that Brandon has long had plans for.

The early days would refer to Elantris, The Final Empire or White Sand. I think we can rule out unpublished novels, as the character is known. That would rule out that #4 is centered on somebody from First of the Sun or Threnody.

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But let's not take things at face value. Brandon has been so incredibly deceptive throughout this process, and I have no doubt he's maintaining more secrets for the next four reveals where we get details. So, let's expand our definition of "side character" to include those who will be main characters one day, but thus far have only featured in side appearances with perhaps the occasional viewpoint.

I think SP4 has to be a Hoid story.

But Hoid would not be a character that would otherwise be overlooked, would he? And Hoid is not referenced in Arcanum Unbounded outside The Emperor's Soul.

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Stylistically, the first person narration is something Brandon has planned to use for Dragonsteel when he gets to its rewrite. What if he's using this opportunity of secret projects to do some experimentation in an environment where there was literally no harm in failing. If it didn't work, he could pull the book, and nobody would be the wiser; can't do that with Dragonsteel.

If you go by experimentation, he'd not experiment on Hoid.

Quote

And in terms of being a story he wanted to tell for a long time and might not get; oh, that screams Hoid to me, one of these adventures that he'll be able to toss references to like all the other mysteries.

Well, so let's narrow this down. Male worldhoppers from early works. The list is surprisingly short:

• Baon
• Galladon
• Hoid
• Riino
• Felt
• Demoux

If the cover features the protagonist, Galladon will be unlikely, as he is bald.

I'd like to read about Baon, but if their is a connection to Arcanum Unbounded, then it points at Demoux.

 

Edited March 2, 2022 by Oltux72
I forgot Riino

[Ixthos Luke/Luke]

21 minutes ago, Oltux72 said:

And Hoid is not referenced in Arcanum Unbounded outside The Emperor's Soul.

Well, and beating up Kelsier in Mistborn: Secret History 

 

I'm wondering if secret project 4 is set inside an O'Neill Cylinder, based on the pattern in the background, with the "clouds" being plants or buildings further along the tube.