the beyond [Theory] The Beyond is Simply the Space Outside the Cosmere Star Cluster

[Usseewa ✾ They♡Them ✾]

 

So, I'll start off by saying that I have looked at some WoBs and Brandon is usually cagey/RAFOy about the space beyond the Cosmere (which is actually "dwarf cluster," not a galaxy or a whole universe):

Spoiler

 

These two are very interesting IMO:

Spoiler

Questioner

Has anyone, Shard or otherwise, tried to leave the cosmere and will we see that on screen?

Brandon Sanderson

So far... Yes, and I think yes, it's likely. So yes and yes.

Footnote: Followup: https://wob.coppermind.net/events/379/#e13558
Starsight Release Party (Nov. 26, 2019)

Spoiler

Gallumbazos

I've been wondering if we were going to leave the cosmere star cluster and see how things are beyond that, guess it's confirmed.

Starsight Release Party (Nov. 26, 2019)

Brandon Sanderson

"Tried to" is operative here.

General Reddit 2019 (Dec. 11, 2019)

So it seems like maybe:

• Someone got to the edge of the cosmere and couldn't get past a force field or something
• Someone tried to leave, but didn't have the power/resources to travel that distance
• Someone tried to leave, but was stopped/impeded by a force/person/group
• Someone tried to leave, but couldn't, maybe because of a bond or Connection? Like they were too Connected to the cosmere and were literally unable to leave
• They couldn't find the edge?

RAFOs about the cosmere and beyond (not Beyond, though):

Spoiler

Questioner

Is there a center to the cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson

There isn't a center in the cosmere... I keep calling it a dwarf galaxy but I think they decided it's a cluster, instead of a dwarf galaxy.

Overlord Jebus

Even a dwarf galaxy is still really big.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, still too big. So we had to call it a cluster. Because we only wanted like what, we came up with 50 or 100 stars? So it's a cluster. Or a really dwarf galaxy.

Emerald City Comic Con 2018 (March 1, 2018)

Spoiler

Portugal_Stronk

If Adonalsium was based and shattered on the cosmere galaxy, what of the rest of the universe? Does it also have Investiture or is Investiture something strictly bound to the cosmere galaxy? Are there even other galaxies on that universe? 

Brandon Sanderson

I've been RAFOing that particular question--though it only just started popping up, at least with people asking it to me.

Skyward Pre-Release AMA (Oct. 27, 2018)

Spoiler

Mestiv

Cosmere is a dwarf galaxy. Does Investiture exist in other galaxies? Do those galaxies have their own Adonalsiums?

Brandon Sanderson

That is beyond the scope... that's a RAFO, but not a RAFO I'm going to answer, that is a RAFO that we are concerned only with the cosmere.

Skype Q&A (Oct. 8, 2018)

Spoiler

Questioner

So, is Adonalsium limited to the cosmere galaxy? I don't think he created the universe?

Brandon Sanderson

That is a RAFO. But the cosmere is a dwarf galaxy... They don't know about that.

Questioner

Will they?

Brandon Sanderson

Maybe.

Oathbringer San Diego signing (Nov. 14, 2017)

I think it might be that Brandon has no plans for the space outside the Cosmere, has only partial plans or ideas, or DOES have plans but doesn't want to reveal them, though the first two WoBs (about someone trying to leave) may mean he does have plans.

And that's where the Beyond comes in. I have some thoughts on this. You know how tales of Death (Marsh) travelled to distant planets (see: MB2 Ars Arcanum, maybe TLM's, and Tress)? And (at least I think) people on multiple planets have started believing in a "God Beyond"? So, maybe that's just natural, or it could be something similar. What if "Beyond," rather than some afterlife, is actually the space and galaxy/galaxies beyond the Cosmere star cluster. Shards know next to nothing about the Beyond, what if that has to do with the "trying to leave"? Shards could be unable to see beyond the Cosmere (it's actually in the Wiki that they can't: . Plus, the whole "stretching toward a point in the distance" sounds like one of those Sci-fi FTL moments where (think Star Trek) a spaceship "warps" and goes FTL, but you see that stretching and sort of distorting.

This GIF exemplifies what I mean:

Spoiler

 

Dalinar was "claimed by another" when he died in Wind and Truth. When I first read it, I immediately took note of it, as have others:

Spoiler

 

This might have been the "God Beyond."

As for the "God Beyond," taken literally, it could mean (a or the?) God (Shard?) in the Beyond, or simply beyond [the cosmere].

Here is a WoB (which I found from the Wiki) which says that Khriss really wants to know about the Beyond:

Spoiler

LittleMoss

What question about the cosmere does Khriss most want answered?

Brandon Sanderson

She would want to know what happens in the Beyond. Followed secondly by, how can you get Stormlight off of Roshar?

FanX 2021 (Sept. 18, 2021)

So, maybe she was the one (or one of multiple) who tried to leave the Cosmere.

So, overall, my theory is that the Beyond is the space beyond the cosmere star cluster, and that people are maybe transported there when they die, maybe reborn (Returned?) or they become something like Spren or the "ghosts" on Threnody and Canticle. And that the God Beyond could be a literal Shard or similar force beyond the Cosmere cluster. That raises the question of how people got knowledge of it (like Marsh/Death). Does that mean communication is possible? I think the WoBs confirm, imply, or suggest that no one from the Cosmere has left, but what if someone outside the Cosmere has entered?

Maybe the God Beyond is like the Adonalsium of another cluster/galaxy. Or Adonalsium is(/was) to the God Beyond as a Shard is to Adonalsium, since people (or at least some) within the cosmere believe the GB to be more powerful/greater than Ado.

Or, what if there is simply no Beyond and no God Beyond? I still think there is something beyond (but not necessarily Beyond) the Cosmere.

Edited December 26, 2025 by Theory
Title change, added stuff.

[Frustration]

While Brandon has said he intends to answer the question as to whether or not the characters can leave the cosmere he intends to leave the questions about the Beyond unanswered

Spoiler

Questioner

After people die, in this universe, where exactly do they go? Because, at first they appear in this one world, and then they go somewhere else.

Brandon Sanderson

So where do people go when they die. *laughter* In the cosmere. One of the things that's very important to me as a writer, when I am writing stories, is when we get to these kind of fundamental questions about faith and religion and things like this, that the narrative is allowing multiple characters' viewpoints to be plausibly true, if this makes sense. For instance, I am not gonna come out and say, "Is there a capital-G God of the cosmere, is there an afterlife?" These are not questions I'm gonna answer, because in-world, they can't answer them. What they can say is, your Investiture will leave what we call a Cognitive Shadow, which is an imprint of your personality that can do certain things. And that most of those fade away, and you can see them, glimpse them, and then watch them go. But, are they going somewhere? Or are they not? Is that simply the Investiture being reclaimed, Is it more of a Buddhist thought, where your soul is getting recycled and used again? Is it nothing, you return to, you know, being-- yeah, is it a different type of matter? Or is there a Beyond, is there a capital-G God? Things like this. These questions are not answered. I'm never gonna answer those.

Now, the characters will try to answer them. But it's important to me that both Dalinar and Jasnah can exist in the same universe, and that the story is not saying "This one is right, and this one is wrong." The story is saying "This is how this one sees the world; this is how this one sees the world." It's very important to me from the beginning to do that, just because-- Like, I hate reading a book where someone espouses my viewpoint only to get proven wrong by the entire structure of the narrative, and in that universe, that person is wrong. But I'm like, "In our universe, I don't think that I am. Just the way you constructed everything makes it so that I have to be wrong, if I were living in your universe, even if it's a universe that's not a sci-fi/fantasy one." If that makes sense.

This is just kind of for respecting my characters and for the people who hold the viewpoints of my characters, in particular if they happen to be different from my own viewpoints. I feel there are certain lines I'm not gonna cross.

So, the answer is: who do you believe? Which of the philosophies in the books do you look at and say "Yeah!" Or, even better: listen to lots of different ones, and maybe these different viewpoints are all gonna have interesting points that'll give you things to think upon.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/332/#e9596

 

 

 

[Usseewa ✾ They♡Them ✾]

13 minutes ago, Frustration said:

While Brandon has said he intends to answer the question as to whether or not the characters can leave the cosmere he intends to leave the questions about the Beyond unanswered

  Reveal hidden contents

Questioner

After people die, in this universe, where exactly do they go? Because, at first they appear in this one world, and then they go somewhere else.

Brandon Sanderson

So where do people go when they die. *laughter* In the cosmere. One of the things that's very important to me as a writer, when I am writing stories, is when we get to these kind of fundamental questions about faith and religion and things like this, that the narrative is allowing multiple characters' viewpoints to be plausibly true, if this makes sense. For instance, I am not gonna come out and say, "Is there a capital-G God of the cosmere, is there an afterlife?" These are not questions I'm gonna answer, because in-world, they can't answer them. What they can say is, your Investiture will leave what we call a Cognitive Shadow, which is an imprint of your personality that can do certain things. And that most of those fade away, and you can see them, glimpse them, and then watch them go. But, are they going somewhere? Or are they not? Is that simply the Investiture being reclaimed, Is it more of a Buddhist thought, where your soul is getting recycled and used again? Is it nothing, you return to, you know, being-- yeah, is it a different type of matter? Or is there a Beyond, is there a capital-G God? Things like this. These questions are not answered. I'm never gonna answer those.

Now, the characters will try to answer them. But it's important to me that both Dalinar and Jasnah can exist in the same universe, and that the story is not saying "This one is right, and this one is wrong." The story is saying "This is how this one sees the world; this is how this one sees the world." It's very important to me from the beginning to do that, just because-- Like, I hate reading a book where someone espouses my viewpoint only to get proven wrong by the entire structure of the narrative, and in that universe, that person is wrong. But I'm like, "In our universe, I don't think that I am. Just the way you constructed everything makes it so that I have to be wrong, if I were living in your universe, even if it's a universe that's not a sci-fi/fantasy one." If that makes sense.

This is just kind of for respecting my characters and for the people who hold the viewpoints of my characters, in particular if they happen to be different from my own viewpoints. I feel there are certain lines I'm not gonna cross.

So, the answer is: who do you believe? Which of the philosophies in the books do you look at and say "Yeah!" Or, even better: listen to lots of different ones, and maybe these different viewpoints are all gonna have interesting points that'll give you things to think upon.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/332/#e9596

 

 

 

Ah, well. Thanks for pointing that out. At least we'll (hopefully) get answers about what's outside the cosmere, or at least characters leaving/being able to leave.

[Through the living Wahr He/Him]

Maybe, If Ado actually only created the Cosmere and there are things outside of it, what if the Aethers came from the space beyond the Cosmere and thats why they claim to be indipendent from Ado

[Nitpicking]

On 1/1/2026 at 5:06 PM, Wahrheitswächter said:

Maybe, If Ado actually only created the Cosmere and there are things outside of it, what if the Aethers came from the space beyond the Cosmere and thats why they claim to be indipendent from Ado

I thought I implied that.

[Usseewa ✾ They♡Them ✾]

6 minutes ago, Nitpicking said:

I thought I implied that.

I don't see a post by you here.

Edit: or did you make a typo? Such as an "I" instead of an intended "it"?

Edited January 3 by Theory