wob On WoB Canonicity and Reliability

[Usseewa ✾ She♡Her ✾]

So, I get the feeling that WoBs aren't canon. (With that last one, looks like someone already asked this, and they aren't. Or not fully?)

Okay, so WoBs aren't necessarily canon. Can we still use them to disprove theories? For instance, everything about the Beyond. Brandon doesn't want to reveal much/anything about it, but I (and others) have made some theories relating to it. Those theories don't really work since we'll (supposedly) never know anything about the Beyond. But, if WoBs aren't (always) canon, maybe Brandon will reveal info in the future or change his mind?

Basically, can we trust anything he says? Or, how much should we rely on them? Should we just be able to quote some random WoB and Shatter a Theory?

 

And that's all I have to say about that.

Spoiler

@Frustration

 

Edit: is this the right subforum?

Edit2: I'm aware that this whole thing probably sounds ridiculous lol. But I still am curious.

Edited February 2 by Usseewa

[Frustration]

3 minutes ago, Usseewa said:

So, I get the feeling that WoBs aren't canon. (With that last one, looks like someone already asked this: https://www.17thshard.com/forums/topic/95377-are-wobs-actually-canon/, and they aren't. Or not fully?)

Okay, so WoBs aren't necessarily canon. Can we still use them to disprove theories? For instance, everything about the Beyond. Brandon doesn't want to reveal much/anything about it, but I (and others) have made some theories relating to it. Those theories don't really work since we'll (supposedly) never know anything about the Beyond. But, if WoBs aren't (always) canon, maybe Brandon will reveal info in the future or change his mind?

Basically, can we trust anything he says? Or, how much should we rely on them? Should we just be able to quote some random WoB and Shatter a Theory?

 

And that's all I have to say about that.

  Reveal hidden contents

@Frustration

 

You can PM me directly if you want, I don't bite.

Well the generally accepted method, and one which Brandon himself gives to us is this:

Books > WoBs > Everything else.

Basically that means that WoBs can be considered canonical insofar as that they do not contradict the books, and we remember that Brandon may change his mind.

Spoiler

Brandon Sanderson

So, any questions?

Questioner

Well, I was kind of wondering, you've got this whole culture of, exactly that: people asking you questions about your stories outside of the stories.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah.

Questioner

I was wondering, is that something you developed or decided on? Or--

Brandon Sanderson

That I inherited from Robert Jordan. It had started happening a little bit, but it was really a thing that Robert Jordan fostered in his fans, that I got very used to doing. And so, I just kept doing it. I do warn my fans: I change my mind. And so, um, the things I say--they call them the Word of Brandon--Word of Brandon is level below what's in the text in hierarchy, because I will change my mind, and I will get things wrong when I don't have my notes and stuff. And so-- But yeah, but you can find collections of things I've said. And most of them are still true. Once in a while I'm writing a book, I'm like, "No, this just doesn't work out." But you know that--that just happens with everything.

Like I'm writing Oathbringer, right? And I've mentioned things in Dalinar's past before that are from my outline of Dalinar's past. I sit down, I write the flashback sequences, I'm like, "Oh no. Continuity error," right? And so we just have to go with fixing it in this book and then say, "First book's got a continuity error, guys." Because once you actually sit down and write out somebody's life across thirty years, you can't get them sometimes into places where you had noted stuff. So, it's--I wish I could be like 100% accurate on all things. It just doesn't work out. Even the books like Mistborn, that I wrote all three in a row, and then we edited them, and then sent them out--still had continuity errors, so. Ehh.

Ad Astra 2017 (May 5, 2017)

 

This allows for for things like TLR using the Well of Ascension to achieve his Allomantic powers to be canon, while Oathbringer being an Honorblade to not be, despite WoBs for both.

 

Does that answer your question?

[Usseewa ✾ She♡Her ✾]

4 minutes ago, Frustration said:

You can PM me directly if you want, I don't bite.

Well the generally accepted method, and one which Brandon himself gives to us is this:

Books > WoBs > Everything else.

Basically that means that WoBs can be considered canonical insofar as that they do not contradict the books, and we remember that Brandon may change his mind.

  Reveal hidden contents

Brandon Sanderson

So, any questions?

Questioner

Well, I was kind of wondering, you've got this whole culture of, exactly that: people asking you questions about your stories outside of the stories.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah.

Questioner

I was wondering, is that something you developed or decided on? Or--

Brandon Sanderson

That I inherited from Robert Jordan. It had started happening a little bit, but it was really a thing that Robert Jordan fostered in his fans, that I got very used to doing. And so, I just kept doing it. I do warn my fans: I change my mind. And so, um, the things I say--they call them the Word of Brandon--Word of Brandon is level below what's in the text in hierarchy, because I will change my mind, and I will get things wrong when I don't have my notes and stuff. And so-- But yeah, but you can find collections of things I've said. And most of them are still true. Once in a while I'm writing a book, I'm like, "No, this just doesn't work out." But you know that--that just happens with everything.

Like I'm writing Oathbringer, right? And I've mentioned things in Dalinar's past before that are from my outline of Dalinar's past. I sit down, I write the flashback sequences, I'm like, "Oh no. Continuity error," right? And so we just have to go with fixing it in this book and then say, "First book's got a continuity error, guys." Because once you actually sit down and write out somebody's life across thirty years, you can't get them sometimes into places where you had noted stuff. So, it's--I wish I could be like 100% accurate on all things. It just doesn't work out. Even the books like Mistborn, that I wrote all three in a row, and then we edited them, and then sent them out--still had continuity errors, so. Ehh.

Ad Astra 2017 (May 5, 2017)

 

This allows for for things like TLR using the Well of Ascension to achieve his Allomantic powers to be canon, while Oathbringer being an Honorblade to not be, despite WoBs for both.

 

Does that answer your question?

Yeah, I guess.

Thanks.

[Frustration]

2 minutes ago, Usseewa said:

Yeah, I guess.

Thanks.

No worries.

[Qianweilian He/him]

2 hours ago, Frustration said:

Well the generally accepted method, and one which Brandon himself gives to us is this:

Books > WoBs > Everything else.

With the one caveat that narrators can be unreliable, so there may be a case where a character says one thing in a book, and a WoB says something else, and the WoB is right.

[listerfeend]

On 2/2/2026 at 6:34 PM, Qianweilian said:

With the one caveat that narrators can be unreliable, so there may be a case where a character says one thing in a book, and a WoB says something else, and the WoB is right.

And also the caveat that, sometimes, a WoB retcons things and that then becomes canon... Honestly, it's extremely confusing sometimes, trying to keep up with everything.