Tress timeline indicates a large gap between Mistborn Eras 3 and 4

[Jozomby]

I just finished Tress, and I (like others) have been trying to place it in the timeline.  I came to the same conclusion that it happens in the "mistborn space age," likely before the events of Mistborn Era 4.  I've always assumed that Mistborn Era 3 would be followed pretty quickly by era 4 (100 years seemed like a reasonable amount of time to go from 1980's tech to ftl).  Tress, though, indicates that this gap is likely much larger.

First off, a few assumptions (if any of these are wrong, then we can throw out everything else I have to say:

• There is only 1 group of Iriali
• Computers did not exist anywhere in the Cosmere 2000 years prior to the events of the Stormlight Archive
• Tress takes place before Mistborn Era 4 (if Era 4 is the "end" it would be strange to be getting stories after it at this point.  Also if Tress is after Era 4, that would likely place the Sixth of the Dusk sequel after Era 4 as well, which would be really weird)
• Scadrial tech proceeds at a similar speed to Earth tech (with a higher cap since ftl is possible in the cosmere)

So we're pretty sure that Tress happens after Mistborn Era 2.  We know the Iriali were on Roshar for thousands of years, and went to Scadrial afterward.  But going to Scadrial doesn't really matter here.  It doesn't even matter if there's some sort of Iriali diaspora and some go to Scadrial and some go to Lumar.  What matters is that after Rhythm of War at some point, the Iriali go to Lumar, stay for a bit, then leave, then 300 years pass, then Tress happens.  As others have identified, this means that Tress happens at a minimum of 300 years after Rhythm of War.  Add time for them living on Lumar, and perhaps additional time on Scadrial, and we're likely up around 500 years, conservatively.  (In order for Iriali to be an important enough language for some random Duke's son to learn, they were probably a fairly big presence on Lumar, and not just a quick stop-and-go.)

I've always assumed that Mistborn Era 3 will follow pretty soon after Era 2.  1980's tech doesn't seem that far off.  It seems safe to say that there's no more than 100 years between the eras.  So, if we say that Tress happens right before Era 4, that puts somewhere around 400 years (200 at an absolute minimum) between Mistborn Era 3 and 4.  That's a lot more than I had previously thought, and it's making me rethink my expectations of Era 4.  I have a hard time seeing it take 400 years for Scadrial to get from 1980's tech to ftl.

So here's some speculation on what this may mean:

• Something goes terribly wrong in Mistborn Era 3, and sets Scadrial back far enough that it takes them 400 years to catch back up again and then figure out ftl.
• Or, perhaps Mistborn Era 4 is not set at the beginning of the space age, but far into it.  Perhaps, instead of being a "first contact" or "new powers warring" story, Era 4 is set in a space age where Scadrial and others have been in space for hundreds of years.  I don't know about you all, but this is a new idea for me.  I kind of like it though.  I feel like this is the more likely explanation, and it seems to line up with how we've seen Scadrial's influence on various planets across the cosmere in the later stories.

Anyways, let me know what you think, or if this is old news to all of you.  The idea of there having been hundreds of years between Era 3 and 4 has got me excited - there's a lot of interesting possibilities and stories that could come out of that.  I'm looking forward to empires spanning lots of planets, large scale imperial politics, etc.

[alder24]

8 hours ago, Jozomby said:

• Or, perhaps Mistborn Era 4 is not set at the beginning of the space age, but far into it.  Perhaps, instead of being a "first contact" or "new powers warring" story, Era 4 is set in a space age where Scadrial and others have been in space for hundreds of years.  I don't know about you all, but this is a new idea for me.  I kind of like it though.  I feel like this is the more likely explanation, and it seems to line up with how we've seen Scadrial's influence on various planets across the cosmere in the later stories.

We know from SotD2 chapter:

Spoiler

That both Scadrial and Roshar manage to colonize multiple planets across Cosmere and incorporate them into their space "empires". This means that they likely had hundreds of years for this to achieve before SotD (which is before Era 4), so the gap between era 3 and 4 will be quite a large one.

I do agree, this is the most likely explanation. There will  be more Cosmere series, that now are unknown, before Mistborn era 4 will happen, so there will be stuff happening in those hundreds of years in between era 3 and 4, WoB:

Spoiler

Brandon Sanderson

That's the list of things people often ask me about. Unsurprisingly, I have other projects in the back of my mind. For example, I have two more Cosmere series that will need to be written before we can get to the third "big" Mistborn trilogy. (The sf one.) But that's the long, long-term plan.

State of the Sanderson 2014 (Dec. 18, 2014)

 

[Jozomby]

A large gap between Eras 3 and 4 also matches pretty well with the original plan for Mistborn as a trilogy of trilogies.  Without Wax & Wayne, we'd have ~400 years between Final Empire and 1980's tech, so another 400-500 years between 1980's and space age would make sense.

[Elegy]

I'd like it if the gap between Era 1 and 4 was 1000 years. Then the time we'd spend on liberated Scadrial would be equal (or more) than the Final Empire lasted. It would also be the time that the Well theoretically would have filled up again. Not in-world reasons, but I imagine it'd be kinda cathartic/poetic.

Edited April 14, 2023 by Elegy

[WeakenedWorrier]

The illustrations at the climax of TotES show both Riina and Hoid drawing Aons. But the Aons shown don’t have the new chasm line required to make Aons work at the end of Elantris.

Does that mean that TotES takes place before Elantris?

Edited May 1, 2023 by WeakenedWorrier

[alder24]

11 hours ago, WeakenedWorrier said:

The illustrations at the climax of TotES show both Riina and Hoid drawing Aons. But the Aons shown don’t have the new chasm line required to make Aons work at the end of Elantris.

Does that mean that TotES takes place before Elantris?

No, it's in the far future of the Cosmere:

Spoiler

Scotch the Piper

Who is Hoid, as the narrator, telling the story [Tress] to?

Brandon Sanderson

That is a RAFO in that I believe it is evident in the books. Well... I believe some of it is evident. Not the specific individuals, but this far enough in the future of the Cosmere that I don't want to talk about individuals he might be speaking to. You can figure out the general tone; and people have. It was very clear, I think, to fans when they started posting. So you can ask on a fan forum, if you want them to give their thoughts; but I'm not gonna speak more than that.

There's stuff that is relating to all of this that I can't even talk about yet, because it gives too many spoilers. I'll be able to talk about them soon. Give me a couple years, and I can start talking more about timeline and when certain things are happening that I just can't do at the moment because of certain spoilerific reasons.

Tress Spoiler Stream (March 31, 2023)

It's almost certainly on the First of the Sun. Talking spaceships, laptops etc.

But about Aons on the picture without any chasm line, I have this feeling Brandon or Howard were talking about it on the livestream, but there is no WoB about it. However one Aon, first Aon Aon, has to have the chasm line drown, rest can be without it. It is still missing from the image, maybe they "fix" the chasm?  WoB:

Spoiler

linkhyrule5

Why is there only one Chasm line per Aon? Since each Aon is made up of repetitions of Aon Aon, shouldn't there be a Chasm line per repetition?

Brandon Sanderson

The Aons aren't JUST made up of repetitions of Aon Aon. There's a lot more to them than that. Some follow a repetition pattern, others do not. The only requirement is using the initial Aon once, then building from there. Because of this, I made the new requirement be only one use of the chasm line.

Aons can actually have multiple forms and still work. For example, if you drew the chasm line on each one of those Aons, they'd work fine. (Maybe even better, in some cases.) What is happening in the books is that the Aons are ALMOST functional, and the Dor is straining to come through them. The chasm line brings them the one step further they need to be functional. However, further tweaking could make them more efficient.

/r/fantasy AMA 2013 (April 17, 2013)

Isn't it more surprising that both Riina and Hoid can draw Aons on another planet with full strength so far away from Elantris? Not that a painting is missing a line?

TLM spoilers:

Spoiler

Yes, Shai did it as well, but she drew her own "Elantris" based on the Basin geography. Riina had a map of the planet in her tower, but it didn't glow like it was an Aon.

And welcome to the Shard