Cosmere Timeline?

[Capnfury]

Hi,  I signed up years ago but don't know if I've ever posted.  So this may be my first.

 

I was thinking about the Stormfather and thought, what if it's Kelsier!  It was a fun idea but clearly insane.  It got me wondering though:

 

Is there an official timeline for when all the books take place?  It seems clear that Elantris is before SA but other than that I can't be sure what order any of the books may have.

 

Has this been posted or discussed anywhere?

[Zathoth]

http://coppermind.net/wiki/Chronology

 

We have this.

[Khyrindor he/him]

Mostly we figure Elantris came first. Hundreds, but not thousands, of years before Mistborn. Warbreaker is before Stormlight archive, and the first 5 books of Stormlight archive are just before the Wax and Wayne era.

 

So I think it goes like this

 

 

(Dragonsteel and White Sand and Liar of Partinel)

(Few thousand years?)

Elantris

(Few hundred years and Emperor's Soul)

Mistborn Era 1                                                                             }

(300 or so years, and Warbreaker)                                              }Mistborn: Secret History

Stormlight Archive Arc 1                                                            }

Mistborn Era 2 (Alloy of Law Era)                                                }

Stormlight Archive Arc 2

(Hundred or so years)

Mistborn Era 3

Mistborn Era 4 

First of the Sun

 

(And then the other Novellas we don't really know when they happened).

[Capnfury]

Exactly what I was looking for.  Thanks for the response!

[Ari he/him]

Mostly we figure Elantris came first. Hundreds, but not thousands, of years before Mistborn. Warbreaker is before Stormlight archive, and the first 5 books of Stormlight archive are just before the Wax and Wayne era.

 

So I think it goes like this

 

 

(Dragonsteel and White Sand and Liar of Partinel)

(Few thousand years?)

Elantris

(Few hundred years and Emperor's Soul)

Mistborn Era 1                                                                             }

(300 or so years, and Warbreaker)                                              }Mistborn: Secret History

Stormlight Archive Arc 1                                                            }

Mistborn Era 2 (Alloy of Law Era)                                                }

Stormlight Archive Arc 2

(Hundred or so years)

Mistborn Era 3

Mistborn Era 4 

First of the Sun

 

(And then the other Novellas we don't really know when they happened).

 

Secret History only aligns with Mistborn Era 1, it stops right after the events of Hero of Ages.

 

Also I think the only word we've had on Brandon is that it's on a similar timeline to what we are now calling Mistborn Era 4.

Edited February 3, 2016 by Ari

[Uilos he/him]

May I ask why First of the Sun is on the backend?

[Shardbearer he/him]

First of the Sun takes place close to the same time as the final Mistborn Era (3 or 4 depending on which numbering convention you follow)

[mackejn]

How did people place First of the Sun that late in the chronology? I haven't read it, so I wasn't sure if there was something in the story or a WoB about it.

[Shardbearer he/him]

WoB, I think.

[Asperity he/him]

How did people place First of the Sun that late in the chronology? I haven't read it, so I wasn't sure if there was something in the story or a WoB about it.

Never actually linked a source before but here are two URL hyperlinks for ya:

 

http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=1109#51

http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=1115#49

[Uilos he/him]

Actually just saw a WoB where it's confirmed First of the Sun is as far in the future as we've seen. 

[PallonianFire he/him]

I'm curious as to the placement of White Sand at the same time as LoP and Dragonsteel. From what I gather, the Dragonsteel series is going to show the actual Shattering of Adonalsium (and Liar of Partinel is definitely before that), but White Sand is clearly post-Adonalsium. It's early on in the timeline, for sure, but it's gotta be after Dragonsteel, right?

[Khyrindor he/him]

I haven't read them, so I just grouped them together since I know they are all before Elantris. 

[PallonianFire he/him]

Ah, that makes sense. I should probably not just assume that everyone's read White Sand.

[emailanimal he/him]

So I think it goes like this

 

 

(Dragonsteel and White Sand and Liar of Partinel)

(Few thousand years?)

Elantris

(Few hundred years and Emperor's Soul)

Mistborn Era 1                                                                             }

(300 or so years, and Warbreaker)                                              }Mistborn: Secret History

Stormlight Archive Arc 1                                                            }

Mistborn Era 2 (Alloy of Law Era)                                                }

Stormlight Archive Arc 2

(Hundred or so years)

Mistborn Era 3

Mistborn Era 4 

First of the Sun

 

(And then the other Novellas we don't really know when they happened).

 

Are you sure about White Sand, though?

 

To be more specific, let's do this.... We have the following cataclismic events in Cosmere:

 

 

1. Shattering of Adonalsium

2. Splintering of Dominion and Devotion (death of Aona and Skai) on Sel

3. Oathpact on Roshar

4. Splintering of Honor (Death of Tanavast)

5. Entrapment of Ruin by Preservation

6. The Last Desolation/Heralds abandon Talanel ( Roshar)

7. Evil comes to Threnody

8. First Returned on Nalthis

 

All of these have so far been off-screen. So, the question is: what is the correct order of these events (the order above, except of the Shattering, and Roshar timeline, is close to arbitrary), and how do the books fit between them?

 

Here is what we know:

 

a. Liar of Partinel < Dragonsteel

b. Dragonsteel < Shattering   (I am using beginning of the novel as the time marker)

c. Shattering < White Sand 

d. Shattering < Aether of Night

e. Shattering < Skai/Aona dead

f. Skai/Aona dead < Elantris

g. Elantris < Emperor's Soul

h. Elantris < Mistborn 1,2,3

i. Shattering < Ruin trapped

j. Ruin trapped < Mistborn 1,2,3

k. Mistborn 1,2,3 < Warbreaker

l. Warbreaker < Stormlight Archive 1-5

m. Shattering < Oathpact 

n. Oathpact < Tanavast dead

o. Oathpast < Last Desolation

p. Tanavast dead < Stormlight Archive 1-5

q. Last Desolation < Stormlight Archive 1-5

r. Last Desolation < Mistborn 1,2,3

s. Last Desolation < Warbreaker

t. Mistborn 1,2,3 < Mistborn 4,5,6,7

u. Stormlight Archive 1-5, < Mistborn 4,5,6,7

v. White Sand < Mistborn 1,2,3  

w. Aether of Night < Mistborn 1,2,3  [possibly non-canon]

x. First Returned < Warbreaker

y. Aona and Skai dead < Tanavast dead

(Do we know what came first : Tanavast Dead or The Last Desolation? )

 

 

Unfortunately, this is still a partial order. We do not know how the following are related to each other:

 

 * Death of Tanavast vs. Entrapment of Ruin

 * Death of Tanavast vs. Mistborn 1,2,3

 * Oathpact vs.Mistborn 1,2,3

 * Returned on Nalthis vs Mistborn 1,2,3

 * White Sand vs Aether of Night 

 

and many more...

Edited February 4, 2016 by emailanimal

[ag23blue she/her]

I've been (tentatively) working on a Cosmere timeline, and would love some outside opinions if anyone's interested 

Cosmere Timeline.xlsx 

I'd love to hear any questions or comments so I can keep tweaking it! (PS stands for "post shattering" since I couldn't seem to find any other measurments)

Edited April 13, 2017 by ag23blue

[Jofwu he/him]

@ag23blue, there's a pretty good one here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JJtJhHwpKdow01n2-bsT3scVvqJd6lZh4uvpNwcslv8/edit#gid=0

[ag23blue she/her]

@jofwu Thanks a lot! This is great!

[cometaryorbit]

On 2/3/2016 at 5:36 PM, emailanimal said:

 

Are you sure about White Sand, though?

 

To be more specific, let's do this.... We have the following cataclismic events in Cosmere:

 

 

1. Shattering of Adonalsium

2. Splintering of Dominion and Devotion (death of Aona and Skai) on Sel

3. Oathpact on Roshar

4. Splintering of Honor (Death of Tanavast)

5. Entrapment of Ruin by Preservation

6. The Last Desolation/Heralds abandon Talanel ( Roshar)

7. Evil comes to Threnody

8. First Returned on Nalthis

Quote

(Do we know what came first : Tanavast Dead or The Last Desolation? )

Splintering of Honor / death of Tanavast is after Last Desolation - apparently by thousands of years, as it's post-Recreance.

First Returned on Nalthis is ~500 yrs (IIRC) before Warbreaker, so c. 800 years before Stormlight Arc 1. Probably shortly before the Hierocracy on Roshar.

The Evil taking over Homeland is within a century-ish of 'Shadows for Silence' - Silence's grandmother was one of those who fled it.  It's probably the last event on your list. Nazh (who is from Threnody) in Secret History doesn't seem to know about what's happened on Threnody (if it even has happened by that point) - he says becoming a cognitive shadow is "an important rite" and is kind of offended Kelsier just stumbled into it, but at the time of 'Shadows for Silence' it's a contagious infection.

Quote

a. Liar of Partinel < Dragonsteel

 

Is Liar of Partinel still going to be a canonical thing?

Quote

 

Unfortunately, this is still a partial order. We do not know how the following are related to each other:
 * Oathpact vs.Mistborn 1,2,3

Oathpact and Last Desolation way precede Mistborn Era 1 (and Rashek using the Well & becoming TLR).

Stormlight Arc 1 is roughly contemporary to Mistborn Era 2, which is a bit over 300 years after Mistborn Era 1. The Last Desolation was 4,500 Roshar years (~5,000 Scadrial / Earth years) before Stormlight Arc 1 / Mistborn Era 2, so something like 4,700 years before Mistborn Era 1. The Oathpact was probably a couple thousand years before that.

Quote

 * Returned on Nalthis vs Mistborn 1,2,3

The Returned existed somewhat before Mistborn Era 1 - they were around at the time of the Manywar, which was 300 years before Warbreaker.

[Weltall]

10 hours ago, cometaryorbit said:

First Returned on Nalthis is ~500 yrs (IIRC) before Warbreaker, so c. 800 years before Stormlight Arc 1. Probably shortly before the Hierocracy on Roshar.

Pretty close. The Manywar was about three hundred years before Warbreaker and according to Hoid, Vo the First Returned lived about three hundred years before that, so six hundred years give or take.

Quote

Is Liar of Partinel still going to be a canonical thing?

Extensively rewritten but yes, it's still going to be a thing eventually. Brandon has cautioned us not to take the excerpts we already have as canon, though Arcanum Unbounded did confirm that fainlife (in some form at least) is canonical. He's not planning on working on it and the rest of Dragonsteel until at least Stormlight Archive is done.

[Zerix]

Is there a WoB saying warbreaker is only a little before (hundreds of years being a relatively small number) WoK?

[Zerix]

Woops sorry for reviving a dead thread. 

[The One Who Connects he/him]

1 hour ago, Zerix said:

Woops sorry for reviving a dead thread. 

At least the last post was still this year. By necro standards, that's pretty good.

You can also edit your previous post to avoid double posting. (It's kinda frowned upon around here)

1 hour ago, Zerix said:

Is there a WoB saying warbreaker is only a little before (hundreds of years being a relatively small number) WoK?

Maybe? The placement of Warbreaker implied within this one should still be accurate, even if Alloy got moved around later because it could not happen in that timeframe.

Quote

Goron

You've mentioned before that all your books so far are in chronological order (Elantris, the Mistborn trilogy, Warbreaker, Stormlight Archive). Alloy of Law takes place about 200 years after The Hero of Ages. (Right?) Does this put it chronologically before or after Warbreaker?

Brandon Sanderson

The Alloy of Law takes place around 300 years after The Hero of Ages and several hundred years before the events in The Way of Kings. That does put it around the same time as Warbreaker.

We do have a WoB saying that the Warbreaker Sequel is directly before Stormlight Archives though, so there's that.

Quote

Questioner 1

So Warbreaker 2 would it take place before the start of...

Brandon Sanderson

Oh, before. Yeah, Warbreaker 2 is before Stormlight 1, yeah. In fact, chronologically I think it's the exact book before Stormlight 1. I don't think there's anything in between there.

[Joseph Archuleta]

i was not sure were the Sel stories are set

but i think i have a pretty good idea of the rest of the order of books if not the exact dates in relative to each other.

working backwards we know Sixth of Dusk is the latest in the timeline, even later then the Arcanum description of Drominad System. also i think that 'The Ones Above' are the same as 'Eyree', which if you missed from Secret History, they called the praises of Devotion and Domination.

Wax and Wayne/ Mistborn era 2, takes place after book 5 of StormLight and we can tell it is at least a little bit after War Breaker. i don't know how much time paced for Vivenna, Kaladin says she is about thirty but realm jumping can be weird.

Mistborn era 1 is about 300 years before era 2. 

and White Sands happens before all that because of Khriss.

so of the stuff that is published in the Cosmere i think that it is White Sands < Eleventh Metal Mistborn 1,2,3+ Secret History <  War Breaker  < Storm Light 1,2,3< Wax and Wayne+ Allomancer Jack < Sixth of Dusk

and so that leaves only Elantris + hope  and Emperor's Soul and Silence in the air.

[RShara she/her]

My favorite timeline

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JJtJhHwpKdow01n2-bsT3scVvqJd6lZh4uvpNwcslv8/edit#gid=0

Edited March 4, 2019 by RShara