What is a question you would ask for a WoB if you could?

[Lunu’anaki]

Hoid has mentioned before that he has goals. Does Hoid have a specific acheivable ultimate goal which these goals serve, or is his mission one which he expects to be undertaking forever?

Ultimately I'd probably get RAFO'd... but I think it might promt some interesting comments from Brandon.

[Hmmm lies]

Here are the questions I would want to ask:
Will there be more content on Lumar/Komashi/Canticle?

Have humans evolved naturally on any planets?

Could another Shard cause someone to Return, using a different form of Investiture than a divine Breath?

Is there really a planet where pancake-like beings communicate with farts like Hoid mentioned?

[Elite01]

My questions would be 

If divine breath can be used to heal any injury can you use a large number of regular breaths to achieve the same result? What would the command be? 

We have seen ghostbloods on Roshar and Scadrial, can we assume there are cells on other planets as well? 

How did Lift enter Dalinars vision that one time? 

[Lighteyed Lieutenant]

Does Hoid like his bacon chewy, or crispy?

Is a tri-shard possible?

Did Hoid get his Breaths through storing Investiture in Nicrosil and then accessing it as Breaths? Is this even possible? If yes, can it be used in other magic systems?

It is said that Ruin is stronger than Preservation. If this is true, then are some shards more powerful than others, or was this imbalance because Preservation was wounded?

 

[alder24]

12 minutes ago, Lighteyed Lieutenant said:

It is said that Ruin is stronger than Preservation. If this is true, then are some shards more powerful than others, or was this imbalance because Preservation was wounded?

The answer, HoA Epigraphs ch 54:

Spoiler

Quote

Preservation's desire to create sentient life was what eventually broke the stalemate. In order to give mankind awareness and independent thought, Preservation knew that he would have to give up part of himself—his own soul—to dwell within mankind. This would leave him just a tiny bit weaker than his opposite, Ruin.

That tiny bit seemed inconsequential, compared with their total vast sums of power. However, over aeons, this tiny flaw would allow Ruin to overcome Preservation, thereby bringing an end to the world.

This, then, was their bargain. Preservation got mankind, the only creations that had more Preservation than Ruin in them, rather than a balance. Independent life that could think and feel. In exchange, Ruin was given a promise—and proof—that he could bring an end to all they had created together. It was the pact.

And Preservation eventually broke it.

Ruin and Preservation created Scadrial and everything on it and they both used up equal amounts of their power to do that - everything is 50% Ruin and 50% Preservation. But Preservation wanted to create humankind and gave them a bit more of himself than Ruin, thus Preservation's power grew weaker as life on Scadrial was growing, making Ruin stronger in contrast.

In Cosmere terms it means as Shards invest in their world, they're spending some of their power, trapping it in the system, which makes them weaker when it comes to interactions with other Shards. The Shard that didn't invest in any world would be the strongest - generally wounds and other factors also count. 

WoB:

Spoiler

Shardbound

Does each Shard have the same quantity or quality of Investiture?

Brandon Sanderson

Um, yes. They were equal proportions originally, how about that.

Shadows of Self London UK signing (Oct. 19, 2015)

 

[Kfish]

If a Koloss-blooded human and a Singer had a child would it's skin overall gain a slightly blue-ish tint or would there be blue swirled with the red/white/black pattern?

[Highprince10]

Can a Leecher drain shardplate making it freeze up from touching it and if so how long would it take?

[alder24]

1 hour ago, Highprince10 said:

Can a Leecher drain shardplate making it freeze up from touching it and if so how long would it take?

Yes, but only from a dead plate, which is fueled by gems with Stormlight. A living plate isn't powered by Stormlight, it only draws it to repair itself. A Leecher holding a Shardbearer would prevent them from summoning (and probably dismissing) their Shardblade - it would probably work with a living plate too.

It would take quite a bit of time and Chromium. Scadrial deals with little investiture compared to Roshar, Stormlight is quite a lot compared to what Metalborn are using.

Spoiler

FirstRyder

Could Aluminum be used to protect a Surgebinder from a larkin?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

havoc_mayhem

Would a larkin be able to steal Stormlight from a surgebinder wearing Shardplate? Any comments on whether Shardplate or aluminium would be more effective protection?

Brandon Sanderson

Getting through both would be relatively equal--with the problem being that Shardplate is powered by investiture, which the larkin could feed on. So aluminum is better in that specific case.

Stormlight Three Update #5 (Nov. 19, 2016)

 

Spoiler

Questioner (paraphrased)

If a Leecher was holding a Shardbearer and burning [chromium], would the Shardbearer be able to summon their Blade?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

No.

Warsaw signing (March 18, 2017)

 

Spoiler

Trae Cooper (paraphrased)

Why are Invested objects like metalminds and Hemalurgic spikes able to be Pushed and Pulled on, but Shardblades and Shardplate, which are also invested, are not susceptible to Pushing and Pulling?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

There were a few concepts that he outlined in answering this question.

1.) The ability to Push/Pull an Invested object is predicated to the amount/power of the Investiture.

2.) Further, Invested objects also gain resistance to pulling/pushing based on proximity to soul possibly via the soul. An example given is that a Hemalurgic spike touches the blood of the person, and from there is now part of both the Spiritual Realm and the Physical Realm. This provides what Brandon termed a kind of "soul interference," based on its proximity to the soul.

This further explains why Vin required more than normal power to Push/Pull the metalminds from the Lord Ruler, because of their proximity to his soul, via the Spiritual Realm.

3.) The amount of Investiture is relatively low on Scadrial, whereas worlds like Sel and Roshar are pushing around "high power" according to Brandon. I interpreted this to mean that Hemalurgic spikes and metalminds have low amounts of Investiture compared to Shardplate and Shardblades.

Brandon said that theoretically you can Push/Pull Shardblades and Shardplates but you would need to wield an incredible amount of power. One example he gave that could so such as a thing is that if you were a Mistborn wielding the full power of the Well of Ascension, you could Push/Pull Shardblades/Plate.

DragonCon 2012 (Sept. 4, 2012)

 

Spoiler

Kaymyth

I asked the question about chromium vs a Compounder with both Invested and un-Invested metals in both their stomach and piercings.

Brandon Sanderson

What it boils down to is this:

1) Yes, the piercings will get burned off.

2) The non-Invested metals go before the Invested ones. He said that because Invested metals are harder to affect, it takes a little extra time and effort to get them to burn off. So a Leecher trying to clean out a Compounder would have to get a good grip and hang on for a few seconds.

3) Chromium burns about as quickly as duralumin, so if you're trying to burn off a lot of metals, it is possible to run out of chromium before your target is clean. This would probably only be an issue when dealing with larger pieces (like jewelry) rather than your standard metal-flakes-in-the-stomach deal.

ConQuest 46 (May 22, 2015)