theory [Theory] On In-world Artifacts, Endpapers, and the Stormlight Archive's Interior Book Design

[Usseewa ✾ They♡Them ✾]

(The following may be a bit messy, and is less of a theory and more my thoughts.)

So…

Has anyone else noticed that in the Stormlight Archive, the table of contents (ToC), book title page (e.g. “Book One: The Way of Kings”), part title pages (e.g. “Part One: Above Silence: Kaladin, Shallan”), interlude title pages, and endnotes all look like they are in-world artifacts (think Shallan’s Sketchbook or the maps that Nazh collects, where they are shown in the physical book that we read, but are actually present for the characters). Note that—aside from the book title page and the part title pages, which share a different design—all the aforementioned elements have the same design. Also, there is another “book title page” right after the table of contents, which just says “The Way of Kings” (in tWoK). Also note that—at least in tWoK—the second ToC page is reversed, which makes sense since I believe it is the only one with its design on the left side of the page. Design 1 (D1)—the design used by all elements except for the book and part title pages—has a folded corner, and they all have burned/worn edges, which makes them look like in-world artifacts in the first place.

I realized that, in tWoK, two of the in-world artifacts, Lumberyard and Alethkar, match the D1 and D2, respectively:

Spoiler

Here are photos of the designs in tWoK

Table of Contents

Spoiler

Book title pages

Spoiler

Part title (what does the big glyph on each one mean?):

Spoiler

Interlude:

Spoiler

Endnote:

Spoiler

Not specifically related to the interior design: obviously the text isn't in English on the actual artifacts, but there is probably the Rosharen (or whichever language) there instead, right?

Anyway, why do you all think these elements have this design? Is it simply thematic choice, or does it have a deeper meaning? Why are there two different designs?

If you don't know, the back cover blurbs were actually written by the Sleepless:

Quote

Questioner

Who writes these perspectives?

Brandon Sanderson

Those are written from a group called the Sleepless. You'll find them referenced in Edgedancer. They are Aimians.

Footnote: This exchange is referring to the passages on the back covers of The Stormlight Archive novels.
Arcanum Unbounded Chicago signing (Dec. 6, 2016)

I find this interesting because it shows that there can be in-world artifacts/text outside of the regular sketches, maps, and the like. This includes the Ars Arcanum, which was neat when I realized it was written by Khriss, and same with the AU essays (which I believe are also Khriss's?) The endnotes are also interesting. So, they are clearly in-world artifacts, but is it the a reproduced one or the actual thing? For instance, usually, in-world artifacts have signs of aging (like torn bits for paper, or cracking for paintings). The endnote for tWoK seems like a letter to Taravangian from one of his Silent Gatherers, and the paper is worn also. Obviously, the actual in-world letter wouldn't have the big word "Endnote" at the top, nor would it be in English. So, did Brandon "translate" it and rewrite it down, or did he use the same letter but sort of replace the letters with the English translation (the same goes for all his in-world artifacts)? What I mean is, imagine you had a magic ability (or glasses or something, like the Google translate where you scan an image) and you look at something written in a language you don't know, and then the text changes to be written in English (or a language you speak), like the Connection language understanding abilities.

So, could all these book elements (part titles, ToC, etc.) be in-world artifacts? This sort of relates to this thread about the namesake of the "Stormlight Archive":

Spoiler

 

Some users there suggested there could be a literal section in a Silverlight library called the "Stormlight Archive" and it contains the in-world books (Nohadon's Way of Kings, Word of Radiance, Dalinar's Oathbringer, etc.) This WoB is linked there:

Spoiler

Questioner 1

The drawers with the infused gemstones. Is that the Stormlight Archive?

Brandon Sanderson

No. That is not the Stormlight Archive.

Questioner 2

Is there a Stormlight Archive?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. But... it means the books. The archive of books that are all named after in-world books. The Archive is a pun on archived collection of books.

Oathbringer Portland signing (Nov. 16, 2017)

 

Also, don't you find it odd how the names of the books (and parts) form Keteks or almost-Keteks?

Quote

The titles of the five parts of each book form a ketek which is revealed with context in the endnote of every book. The abbreviations of the first five books also form a palindrome of five parts, being similar in structure to a ketek: (t)WoK - WoR - O - RoW - KoW(t).

The almost-ketek reminds me of the "once" in the Wind and Truth endnote's ketek that was found on the roof of Urithiru, since it made it a not-ketek.

Edit: I found a cool post that points out how the WaT end Ketek is actually (aside from the final "Once") the name of the books. I posted there too, saying that it actually matches perfectly (again, aside from the final "Once") to the titles of the books, when I believe the author/OP though it didn't match perfectly. The full Ketek in the endnote is: TWKWRORWKWT(O) which translates to: TWK (The Way of Kings) WR (Words of Radiance) O (Oathbringer) RW (Rhythm of War) KWT (Knights of Wind and Truth) O (???)

So, I believe the reason that "The" is present is because it is the first word in the title (and we are doing title case). Notice how none of the other titles have "the," "and," "of," etc. at the start, and therefore don't show up in the Ketek.

Also, I believe the reason why it is Knights of Wind and Truth and not Wind and Truth is because it is actually referring to the title of the in-world book, the one written by Szeth's future wife, the Shin scholar.

The Ketek having the titles of all the books could be relevant to this post, and maybe the "Stormlight Archive."

Here is the post (lots of credit to the OP for actually discovering the easter egg):

 

Is the interior cover art in-world or not? What about the book covers? Take this image from the interior of Word of Radiance:

Spoiler

Was someone actually there with Shallan and drew her? Did she do it? Or is it not in-world? I believe arts like this usually depict either an actual scene or general scene, but are they done by a character or is the answer simply Michael Whelan? Also, I never noticed before, but it looks like there is an odd-looking cremling on the edge of the ledge (haha) next to Shallan in this art. Is that a Sleepless? Also, are those Kaladin's boots? Lol.

Just looked at the Wiki, and it seems like the Herald artworks are all in-world, though not necessarily accurate (which makes sense):

Quote

[The depictions of the Heralds] are said to be in-universe artwork, and as such, they're not entirely accurate.

So, what about the covers? They clearly depict scenes.

Did anyone know that the Arcanum Unbounded star charts are actually an in-world mural in Silverlight? I find that interesting and am putting it here to gather all these observations (emphasis mine):

(On an unrelated note, should I put WoBs in spoiler tags, quotes, both, or either?)

Spoiler

Argent

What perspective is this constellation map seen/drawn from? Somebody from an earlier signing in this tour said they spoke with you about this, and you mentioned Silverlight, but not exactly... I got the impression that your reply wasn't transcribed verbatim  Can you address the perspective issue here? We now know that Silverlight is in the Cognitive Realm (where the stars don't necessarily match their physical arrangement, if they are visible at all), so if you worried about accidentally revealing that earlier, it's no longer an issue.

Isaac Stewart

The map was created to reside in Silverlight and represents a partial view of the night sky from a point we have not yet revealed. So, no, this is not a view of the night sky from Silverlight. This is a mural painted for a patron whose travels have taken them far far afield.

Footnote: This is from a private email exchange between Argent and Isaac Stewart.
Miscellaneous 2017 (June 1, 2017)

Here is a post I found about the mural:

Spoiler

 

Similar to how "Hoid's Travails" (Tress, Yumi, and soon The Fires of December) are told by Hoid (to an audience), what if all the Stormlight books are something similar/related? They are 3rd person, unlike Hoid's Travails, and don't have a clear narrator (I mean, you could say it does).

Whew, that was a lot, or at least it felt like it.

That's all for now.

Edited December 27, 2025 by Theory
Added info.

[Through The Living Ash he/him]

On 12/26/2025 at 2:39 PM, Theory said:

(The following may be a bit messy, and is less of a theory and more my thoughts.)

So…

Has anyone else noticed that in the Stormlight Archive, the table of contents (ToC), book title page (e.g. “Book One: The Way of Kings”), part title pages (e.g. “Part One: Above Silence: Kaladin, Shallan”), interlude title pages, and endnotes all look like they are in-world artifacts (think Shallan’s Sketchbook or the maps that Nazh collects, where they are shown in the physical book that we read, but are actually present for the characters). Note that—aside from the book title page and the part title pages, which share a different design—all the aforementioned elements have the same design. Also, there is another “book title page” right after the table of contents, which just says “The Way of Kings” (in tWoK). Also note that—at least in tWoK—the second ToC page is reversed, which makes sense since I believe it is the only one with its design on the left side of the page. Design 1 (D1)—the design used by all elements except for the book and part title pages—has a folded corner, and they all have burned/worn edges, which makes them look like in-world artifacts in the first place.

I realized that, in tWoK, two of the in-world artifacts, Lumberyard and Alethkar, match the D1 and D2, respectively:

  Hide contents

Here are photos of the designs in tWoK

Table of Contents

  Hide contents

Book title pages

  Hide contents

Part title (what does the big glyph on each one mean?):

  Hide contents

Interlude:

  Hide contents

Endnote:

  Hide contents

Not specifically related to the interior design: obviously the text isn't in English on the actual artifacts, but there is probably the Rosharen (or whichever language) there instead, right?

Anyway, why do you all think these elements have this design? Is it simply thematic choice, or does it have a deeper meaning? Why are there two different designs?

If you don't know, the back cover blurbs were actually written by the Sleepless:

I find this interesting because it shows that there can be in-world artifacts/text outside of the regular sketches, maps, and the like. This includes the Ars Arcanum, which was neat when I realized it was written by Khriss, and same with the AU essays (which I believe are also Khriss's?) The endnotes are also interesting. So, they are clearly in-world artifacts, but is it the a reproduced one or the actual thing? For instance, usually, in-world artifacts have signs of aging (like torn bits for paper, or cracking for paintings). The endnote for tWoK seems like a letter to Taravangian from one of his Silent Gatherers, and the paper is worn also. Obviously, the actual in-world letter wouldn't have the big word "Endnote" at the top, nor would it be in English. So, did Brandon "translate" it and rewrite it down, or did he use the same letter but sort of replace the letters with the English translation (the same goes for all his in-world artifacts)? What I mean is, imagine you had a magic ability (or glasses or something, like the Google translate where you scan an image) and you look at something written in a language you don't know, and then the text changes to be written in English (or a language you speak), like the Connection language understanding abilities.

So, could all these book elements (part titles, ToC, etc.) be in-world artifacts? This sort of relates to this thread about the namesake of the "Stormlight Archive":

  Hide contents

 

Some users there suggested there could be a literal section in a Silverlight library called the "Stormlight Archive" and it contains the in-world books (Nohadon's Way of Kings, Word of Radiance, Dalinar's Oathbringer, etc.) This WoB is linked there:

  Hide contents

Questioner 1

The drawers with the infused gemstones. Is that the Stormlight Archive?

Brandon Sanderson

No. That is not the Stormlight Archive.

Questioner 2

Is there a Stormlight Archive?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. But... it means the books. The archive of books that are all named after in-world books. The Archive is a pun on archived collection of books.

Oathbringer Portland signing (Nov. 16, 2017)

 

Also, don't you find it odd how the names of the books (and parts) form Keteks or almost-Keteks?

The almost-ketek reminds me of the "once" in the Wind and Truth endnote's ketek that was found on the roof of Urithiru, since it made it a not-ketek.

Edit: I found a cool post that points out how the WaT end Ketek is actually (aside from the final "Once") the name of the books. I posted there too, saying that it actually matches perfectly (again, aside from the final "Once") to the titles of the books, when I believe the author/OP though it didn't match perfectly. The full Ketek in the endnote is: TWKWRORWKWT(O) which translates to: TWK (The Way of Kings) WR (Words of Radiance) O (Oathbringer) RW (Rhythm of War) KWT (Knights of Wind and Truth) O (???)

So, I believe the reason that "The" is present is because it is the first word in the title (and we are doing title case). Notice how none of the other titles have "the," "and," "of," etc. at the start, and therefore don't show up in the Ketek.

Also, I believe the reason why it is Knights of Wind and Truth and not Wind and Truth is because it is actually referring to the title of the in-world book, the one written by Szeth's future wife, the Shin scholar.

The Ketek having the titles of all the books could be relevant to this post, and maybe the "Stormlight Archive."

Here is the post (lots of credit to the OP for actually discovering the easter egg):

 

Is the interior cover art in-world or not? What about the book covers? Take this image from the interior of Word of Radiance:

  Hide contents

Was someone actually there with Shallan and drew her? Did she do it? Or is it not in-world? I believe arts like this usually depict either an actual scene or general scene, but are they done by a character or is the answer simply Michael Whelan? Also, I never noticed before, but it looks like there is an odd-looking cremling on the edge of the ledge (haha) next to Shallan in this art. Is that a Sleepless? Also, are those Kaladin's boots? Lol.

Just looked at the Wiki, and it seems like the Herald artworks are all in-world, though not necessarily accurate (which makes sense):

So, what about the covers? They clearly depict scenes.

Did anyone know that the Arcanum Unbounded star charts are actually an in-world mural in Silverlight? I find that interesting and am putting it here to gather all these observations (emphasis mine):

(On an unrelated note, should I put WoBs in spoiler tags, quotes, both, or either?)

  Hide contents

Argent

What perspective is this constellation map seen/drawn from? Somebody from an earlier signing in this tour said they spoke with you about this, and you mentioned Silverlight, but not exactly... I got the impression that your reply wasn't transcribed verbatim  Can you address the perspective issue here? We now know that Silverlight is in the Cognitive Realm (where the stars don't necessarily match their physical arrangement, if they are visible at all), so if you worried about accidentally revealing that earlier, it's no longer an issue.

Isaac Stewart

The map was created to reside in Silverlight and represents a partial view of the night sky from a point we have not yet revealed. So, no, this is not a view of the night sky from Silverlight. This is a mural painted for a patron whose travels have taken them far far afield.

Footnote: This is from a private email exchange between Argent and Isaac Stewart.
Miscellaneous 2017 (June 1, 2017)

Here is a post I found about the mural:

  Hide contents

 

Similar to how "Hoid's Travails" (Tress, Yumi, and soon The Fires of December) are told by Hoid (to an audience), what if all the Stormlight books are something similar/related? They are 3rd person, unlike Hoid's Travails, and don't have a clear narrator (I mean, you could say it does).

Whew, that was a lot, or at least it felt like it.

That's all for now.

[WaT spoilers below]

It would seem to me that the table of contents and Interlude pages would suggest that the books themselves, not just their namesake books, were written at some point in world. I'm not certain who would do such a thing—many of the scenes in the books happened privately, where only a few could have known about them. The Sleepless do spy on a lot of the events and do write the end cover text, but there a some things they could not have seen. Take Dalinar's final Ascension. How could they have known about his vision with Nohadon? If the books were to be an in-world artifact, that would suggest they were created by some unknown Invested entity that had been watching the whole time. Although, I guess that the power of Honor meets that description, so that is theoretically possible that they were written by some future Vessel of Honor (I just can't see Taravangian doing this). 

I can say that I recognize the glyphs behind the Part pages as glyphs referring to specific Heralds: see https://coppermind.net/wiki/Glyphs/Index

I'm inclined to say that the interior cover arts are not in-world, but if the ones of the Heralds are, it's certainly possible. Most of the characters presumably would become famous after the events of the archive, so it makes sense that someone would draw/paint them. 

[Usseewa ✾ They♡Them ✾]

1 minute ago, Ashkaloda said:

It would seem to me that the table of contents and Interlude pages would suggest that the books themselves, not just their namesake books, were written at some point in world.

Yes!! That's exactly what I was getting at!

WaT spoilers:

Spoiler

2 minutes ago, Ashkaloda said:

I'm not certain who would do such a thing—many of the scenes in the books happened privately, where only a few could have known about them. The Sleepless do spy on a lot of the events and do write the end cover text, but there a some things they could not have seen. Take Dalinar's final Ascension. How could they have known about his vision with Nohadon? If the books were to be an in-world artifact, that would suggest they were created by some unknown Invested entity that had been watching the whole time. Although, I guess that the power of Honor meets that description, so that is theoretically possible that they were written by some future Vessel of Honor (I just can't see Taravangian doing this).

It could be:

• ...that it was Nohadon/"Nohadon" (we still don't know Nohadon's nature) who wrote the books
• ...that multiple forces collaborated and corroborated information and accounts. For instance, the Sleepless and other forces. Maybe they all got involved in Silverlight.
• ...that - as with Hoid's narrating - some details (though likely not Dalinar's meeting with Nohadon) were fabricated (unless, say, "Honor" watched the characters to know each time they smoothed their skirt or scratched their head.)
• ...that it was the God Beyond or something.
• ...that the characters - those still alive whenever the books were being written (such as possibly our new Herald Kal) - gave info from what they remembered, essentially being interviewed.

Good point about the characters likely being famous in the future, that would make sense for why these books would be written. Perhaps these are some sort of biographies? I mean we have the flashbacks. Maybe the chapters in the physical books we hold are reordered/excerpts from the in-world (not namesake) versions?

Thanks for taking a look at this Theory!

[Through The Living Ash he/him]

3 hours ago, Theory said:

Yes!! That's exactly what I was getting at!

WaT spoilers:

  Hide contents

It could be:

• ...that it was Nohadon/"Nohadon" (we still don't know Nohadon's nature) who wrote the books
• ...that multiple forces collaborated and corroborated information and accounts. For instance, the Sleepless and other forces. Maybe they all got involved in Silverlight.
• ...that - as with Hoid's narrating - some details (though likely not Dalinar's meeting with Nohadon) were fabricated (unless, say, "Honor" watched the characters to know each time they smoothed their skirt or scratched their head.)
• ...that it was the God Beyond or something.
• ...that the characters - those still alive whenever the books were being written (such as possibly our new Herald Kal) - gave info from what they remembered, essentially being interviewed.

Good point about the characters likely being famous in the future, that would make sense for why these books would be written. Perhaps these are some sort of biographies? I mean we have the flashbacks. Maybe the chapters in the physical books we hold are reordered/excerpts from the in-world (not namesake) versions?

Thanks for taking a look at this Theory!

I would be shocked if people in-world didn't write about it, given it is presumably one of the most important sequence of events in the cosmere. It could be the Nohadon whatever it is, though I doubt it was the characters in an interview given that some of them are dead. 

Ofc! Any time. 

[Usseewa ✾ They♡Them ✾]

1 minute ago, Ashkaloda said:

though I doubt it was the characters in an interview given that some of them are dead. 

Unless...the interviewer interviewed them from Beyond!!! (tho we'll never know much/anything about the Beyond, as Brandon doesn't wanna talk about what actually happens yada-yada)