The Ultimate List of Questions for Brandon

[Blaze1616 he/him]

I didn't see this among the list of questions on the first page (so I hope this is updated), but here's a question about Shadesmar:

 

In WoR, Pattern tells Shallan that, in Shadesmar, the land and sea are the opposite as they are on Roshar. Is this the same for all worlds (Nalthis, Sel, etc.)? If so, What is the Shadesmar equivalent for space (i.e. If someone in a spaceship, no where near any planets, were to travel to Shadesmar...)

[Scriptorian he/him]

I can finally answer a question I posted here a few months ago. An Aon drawn digitally would be functional, but only if drawn by an Elantrain and only the first time. I.e. you couldn't load the file to activate it again.

 

The last day in Sanderson's class in April was an ask-me-anything class, and I was the only one to ask a Cosmere question. Awkward.

 

Edit: Got a new question. Would a split-personality disorder make it easier to be a member of two different Radiant Orders?

Edited November 3, 2014 by Serendipity

[Meg]

If one half a Siamese twin ( Two spines, one set of legs, basically these lovely ladies, Abigail Loraine Hensel and Brittany Lee Hensel. ) was to be given Lerasium would they both be Mistborn or only one of them?

If a Shardblade severed one of their spines would the other die?

Basically I'm asking if they have separate Spiritwebs.

 

 

I think that they would, because there's a WoB* that a Spiritweb is created at conception. There are two different fertilized eggs when Siamese twins are conceived, so I would guess that there would be two.

Sorry if this had been mentioned already, but I'm trying to catch up on this thread and when I will be at its end I'll have forgotten what I want to say:

Smurf asked about Siamese Twins (wikipedia calls them conjoined twins) and you, Curiosity, answered that conjoined twins "result" from two different eggs. I'm sorry, that's not right, conjoined twins are always identical twins (the German word is "eineiig", which means "one-egg-ish", what seems more accurate than "identical").

The question concerning identical twins was already answered by Kurk a few posts prior to those here quoted.

****

Edit:

 

Are the Heralds capable of having children?

Have any of the Heralds that ditched the Oathpact had children?

We know that Shalash is Jezriens daughter.

I assume she was born prior to the Oathpact. Whether the Heralds (after they were "made" Heralds) had children or were able to still have children, I don't know.

 

Yes. There's a WoB about that I believe. Let me go find it.

EDIT: Alright, I can't find the WoB, but I'm pretty sure they'rre solid Investiture. They are literally the Boies of Ruin and Preservation.

About the different states (is this the right word? I'm avoiding the word "forms". )of Investiture on Scadrial you might have a look here.

In general I'd suggest reading through the Coppermind Wiki and the WoT Interview Search which are both really interesting and exploratory.

Edited November 4, 2014 by Meg

[Shaggai]

 

 

Sorry if this had been mentioned already, but I'm trying to catch up on this thread and when I will be at its end I'll have forgotten what I want to say:

Smurf asked about Siamese Twins (wikipedia calls them conjoined twins) and you, Curiosity, answered that conjoined twins "result" from two different eggs. I'm sorry, that's not right, conjoined twins are always identical twins (the German word is "eineiig", which means "one-egg-ish", what seems more accurate than "identical").

The question concerning identical twins was already answered by Kurk a few posts prior to those here quoted.

****

Edit:

 

We know that Shalash is Jezriens daughter.

I assume she was born prior to the Oathpact. Whether the Heralds (after they were "made" Heralds) had children or were able to still have children, I don't know.

 

About the different states (is this the right word? I'm avoiding the word "forms". )of Investiture on Scadrial you might have a look here.

In general I'd suggest reading through the Coppermind Wiki and the WoT Interview Search which are both really interesting and exploratory.

I think "types" is generally used, since it has the same denotation without the connotations. It's not anything official, though.

[mail-mi he/him]

The source would help immensely in this case.

 

QUESTION

Is there a region based magic like Elantris on any of the other worlds?

BRANDON SANDERSON

The Aon magic is unique to that planet because it is intrinsic to the shard that created it, but you could theoretically hack the magic system so that AonDor would work on another planet.

I found it (Finally). It was different than i thought, I must of just inferred that the "hack" was "solve the other planet's region code"

 

Edit: here's a link: http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=1069#26

Edited November 6, 2014 by mail-mi

[Kurkistan he/him]

I found it (Finally). It was different than i thought, I must of just inferred that the "hack" was "solve the other planet's region code"

 

Edit: it's 25 on this list: http://www.theoryland.com/intvsresults.php?kw=aonDor

 

Bookkeeping: As Outis and I were discussing just earlier today, that's not actually a good link. It's a search that has different results depending on a lot of factors: when linking to quotes in Theoryland, you want to at the very least make sure to link to the specific interview, if not the question within the interview.

[mail-mi he/him]

Bookkeeping: As Outis and I were discussing just earlier today, that's not actually a good link. It's a search that has different results depending on a lot of factors: when linking to quotes in Theoryland, you want to at the very least make sure to link to the specific interview, if not the question within the interview.

 

Thanks! I changed it.

[Oudeis he/him]

Why can't you unAwaken Nightblood? You can't unAwaken a Lifeless because its body is too similar to a human form, too "sticky" because it once had its own Breath, and the Breath therefore cannot be drawn back out. But a sword is not a human form, it isn't even organic, and it never had a Breath. Why does it Stick so well? Why can't you just unAwaken Nightblood? (Or is it possible that Shasharra could?)

 

Could Nightblood give up its mass of Breaths to heal someone, the way a Returned's Divine Breath can?

[Jo and the Bush all/any]

If you stored enough breath in a cloak, would it become impenetrable to Shardblades?

[Shaggai]

Do inanimate objects have Spiritual aspects? Would Shardblades still have the same properties on another Shardworld?

[Moogle]

Can you make a Hemalurgically charged spike from a plant?

 

(The answer is most likely 'yes', given how Shardblades act, but confirmation would be nice.)

[Oudeis he/him]

Hrm... I think RobotAztec asked this and was told 'no', but I'm not 100% certain...

 

Given that 16 is a huge number in all the cosmere, can we assume there are six Heightenings we don't yet know about?

[Robot Aztec]

i aksed someone to but tey didnt

unless it is in 10 hour signing??

[JimmyTMalice he/him]

Why can't you unAwaken Nightblood? You can't unAwaken a Lifeless because its body is too similar to a human form, too "sticky" because it once had its own Breath, and the Breath therefore cannot be drawn back out. But a sword is not a human form, it isn't even organic, and it never had a Breath. Why does it Stick so well? Why can't you just unAwaken Nightblood? (Or is it possible that Shasharra could?)

 

Could Nightblood give up its mass of Breaths to heal someone, the way a Returned's Divine Breath can?

Nightblood works the same way as a Returned in some ways, since they both consume Breath and most likely can't get it back. Since Nightblood is sentient it likely has control over its own Breath, and it can't speak a Command to give that Breath up (maybe it could do it mentally though). I doubt it would, though, since it's very much dominated by the Command to destroy evil that it was given.

[Oudeis he/him]

Jimmy: This thread is for questions we'd like to ponder, but also to ask Mr. Sanderson. Typically, in this thread specifically, we try to refrain from answering questions unless it is backed up by WoB or text. Otherwise, it's general etiquette to let questions simply stand.

 

EDIT: If you read the question and really start to think about it, you should totally start up a new thread in the Warbreaker forum and strike up a discussion there.

Edited November 10, 2014 by Outis

[Meg]

Jimmy: This thread is for questions we'd like to ponder, but also to ask Mr. Sanderson. Typically, in this thread specifically, we try to refrain from answering questions unless it is backed up by WoB or text. Otherwise, it's general etiquette to let questions simply stand.

 

EDIT: If you read the question and really start to think about it, you should totally start up a new thread in the Warbreaker forum and strike up a discussion there.

Sorry for offtopic: Outis, my bit of English fails me: What do you mean with "to ponder". I asked the dictionairy but got lots of possibilities which all don't explain to me the meaning of your second sentence.

And: It's "general etiquette to ..." ... is this so?

Thank you in advance for helping me understand.

PS: When clarified this post might/could/should be hidden?

[Alterodent he/him]

Re-reading WoR, and this is what I have so far:

 

Is the sun in Shadesmar the same sun as it is in the physical realm? Is it the same distance away?

 

Do Rashadium (sp?) only choose potential surgebinders?

 

Can the Parshendi feel the Thrill?

 

Do all the Shards have an opposite aspect (Ruin/Preservation, Devotion/Dominion)? 

[Kurkistan he/him]

Do all the Shards have an opposite aspect (Ruin/Preservation, Devotion/Dominion)? 

 

Nope.

 

Source:

CHAOS

Are Shards all paired? Does Endowment have a counterpart?

 

BRANDON SANDERSON

RAFO. Also, yes and no. Not all Shards have perfect counterparts like Ruin and Preservation.

 

QUESTION

Why were Ruin and Preservation linked together?

 

BRANDON SANDERSON

Because they're such perfect opposites. Basically it's just an opposites attract thing.

[Oudeis he/him]

Sorry for offtopic: Outis, my bit of English fails me: What do you mean with "to ponder". I asked the dictionairy but got lots of possibilities which all don't explain to me the meaning of your second sentence.

And: It's "general etiquette to ..." ... is this so?

Thank you in advance for helping me understand.

PS: When clarified this post might/could/should be hidden?

 

To ponder means that you're posing something just so you (and others) can think about it; there's connotations that you're not really looking for a resolution, you just want to think for the sake of thought.

 

In this specific thread (and I don't think any others, maybe one or two) I understand it to be etiquette not to respond with hypotheticals or personal thoughts. This is a place where people post so we can have a repository of questions to ask Mr. Sanderson. If you'd like to post a question to be shared and discussed amongst the group, I believe we all agree to discuss it elsewhere, in either the specific forum for that book or as a cross-mere post in General Discussion.

 

I could be wrong.

[Shaggai]

Can the Parshendi feel the Thrill?

Eshonai appears to feel it during WoR, so probably yes.

[Oudeis he/him]

If a rock has been Soulcast into a crystal, is it easier, harder, or no different for a Forger to turn it back into the rock it once was?

 

This is part of why I dislike the arcanum of Forgery. Who decides what "plausible" is? If you ask anyone in the Rose Empire how plausible it is that someone could just touch a locked cell door and turn it into smoke, they would say it was utterly impossible. If people know that Elsecallers exist, however, it suddenly becomes entirely possible. Plausible means what one person will believe; there is no objective measurement by which one can say in an ironclad sorta way that one thing is more plausible than another. Something plausible to me might not be plausible to someone else. Is it the Forger? So a stupid Forger who is willing to believe anything is more powerful than an intelligent Forger?

[Kurkistan he/him]

If a rock has been Soulcast into a crystal, is it easier, harder, or no different for a Forger to turn it back into the rock it once was?

 

This is part of why I dislike the arcanum of Forgery. Who decides what "plausible" is? If you ask anyone in the Rose Empire how plausible it is that someone could just touch a locked cell door and turn it into smoke, they would say it was utterly impossible. If people know that Elsecallers exist, however, it suddenly becomes entirely possible. Plausible means what one person will believe; there is no objective measurement by which one can say in an ironclad sorta way that one thing is more plausible than another. Something plausible to me might not be plausible to someone else. Is it the Forger? So a stupid Forger who is willing to believe anything is more powerful than an intelligent Forger?

 

Why you're right, we need some better way of gauging this mysterious "plausibility"...

-Meat of the thing is right here if you want to skip a few thousand words of theory.

--EDIT: To summarize a bit, "people" don't decide if Forgeries are plausible, people do.

 

P.S. I'm still not letting you make "arcanum" a thing. 

Edited November 11, 2014 by Kurkistan

[Oudeis he/him]

Thank you for the WoB. I still don't understand it, for what I hope are obvious reasons. How many people decide what is "plausible"? What is the unit of "belief"? As I mentioned, the people of Sel would not accept "a gate turns into air" as plausible, but the people of Roshar would. To what percentage do either of those affect the forgery?

 

I see and accept that this is true, but I still dislike it. Almost every arcanum he comes up with is interesting and complex. His blatant admission that Forgery is "think of a thing and it happens" is lazy and boring.

 

I didn't make arcanum a thing. Mr. Sanderson made arcanum a thing. I'm just complying.

 

EDIT: Could Ruin manipulate the information stored in one of Shallan's memories? Can he change pictures, or just literal text?

Edited November 11, 2014 by Outis

[Kurkistan he/him]

Thank you for the WoB. I still don't understand it, for what I hope are obvious reasons. How many people decide what is "plausible"? What is the unit of "belief"? As I mentioned, the people of Sel would not accept "a gate turns into air" as plausible, but the people of Roshar would. To what percentage do either of those affect the forgery?

 

I see and accept that this is true, but I still dislike it. Almost every arcanum he comes up with is interesting and complex. His blatant admission that Forgery is "think of a thing and it happens" is lazy and boring.

As you yourself said just recently, this isn't really the place, but I'll just say again that I think there's quite a bit more sophistication to it than "think a thing and it happens."

 

I didn't make arcanum a thing. Mr. Sanderson made arcanum a thing. I'm just complying.

 

Yeahuh. 

[Moogle]

What state is the Investiture gained from burning metals in? Can it even be classified as gaseous/liquid/solid?

Edited November 12, 2014 by Moogle