Popular Post RShara Posted March 9, 2014 Popular Post Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 (edited) I wanted to compile all the WoB from his signing Q&A's. Please feel free to add your signing questions to this thread or link to your thread and I'll try to keep this top post updated. I edited out non-WoR text to try and keep the length down, but I linked the original thread for those who want the full session. Also minor edits for spelling.Questions that came up a lot that I deleted to shorten this post: Vasher was in the 2002 version of WoK by name and was only changed to the new name after WoR first draft because he would probably go under a pseudonym. So he's been in Roshar 12 years our time. Warbreaker is a prequel for his character.Kaladin's originally kept the Blade and Plate in the 2002 WoK, but the book was too generic.The next books are: Szeth, Eshonai, Dalinar. He is fully capable of writing a book with a flashback character that has died.Lift, Jasnah, Renarin, Taln(the person who calls himself Taln) are confirmed to be flashback characters in the latter 5.Hoid will be a main character in the Dragonsteel trilogy as well as the third Mistborn trilogy, which will both be very cosmere-centric. Midnight Signinghttp://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6405-information-from-the-midnight-signing-spoilers/ PinpointQ: Can Shardblades kill spren?A: Theoretically, yes.Q: If Hoid got beheaded, would his body grow a new head?A: YesQ: What if Hoid got cut by a Shardblade?A: The Shardblade cuts the soul and what Hoid does heals the soulQ: Does Dalinar have Surgebinding abilities?A: RAFOQ: Belief has had a lot to do with the cosmere. (for example in Warbreaker. The appearances of the Returned had a lot to do with belief) Will Belief have a big part to play in The Stormlight archive? A: It already has. The two scholars measuring the spren.http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6571-brandon-byu-signing-march-4-2014/scm288Q: So, I don't actually own a hardcover copy of The Way of Kings, but I did notice when looking at one that there's a map of Shadesmar. And that the map shows that Shadesmar geography is precisely aligned with Roshar's geography. So I'm just going to assume that other planets we've visited so far also have realms of Shadesmar that are aligned geographically.A: That's very clever of you! Very clever...Q: So I guess my follow-up question is: is Elantris a Dawncity?A: Hmm. I could see where your reasoning could come to that conclusion, but no. No, that's not it. But your earlier extrapolations are in the right direction. Huntington Beachhttp://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6497-word-of-brandon-from-huntington-beach-signing/ ericthQ: What is Odium's edge. Vin and Ati killed each other but Rayse has downed 3 shards and survived. Was it skill, ability, numbers or possibly un-dispersed power?A: Some combination of the aboveQ: Could Sazed take down Rayse since he has two shards?A: Rayse is VERY scared of Sazed. However, given Sazed is a composite of two diametrically opposed shards, he finds it very difficult to act.Sir Read-a-LotQ: Was Adonalsium shattered intentionally, and if so, was the intention malevolent?A: Yes, and RAFOQ: Is the 17th Shard meant to represent a specific Shardic intent?A: The 17th Shard has a specific purpose, and the name was chosen very deliberately. Seattlehttp://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6583-adolin-Shardblades-skybreakers-wob-seattle-new-info-wor-spoilers-elantris-spoliers/ JerichQ: Is the Hoed from Elantris similar to the state of a Shardblade?A: [Paraphrased] Similar, but probably not exactly in the way you are thinking. It is kind of like two diseases caused by different bacteria: Both are caused by bacteria, but they are not exactly the same.Q: Is it possible then to reawaken a Shardblade if that Blade is wielded by someone who speaks the oaths of a KR?A: Yes, but it would be extremely difficult. The spren in a Shardblade are not trapped in a state of mid-transformation like the Elantrians. They are stuck in an agony cycle after having a significant portion of their consciousnesses ripped out of them. The Nahel bond is what allows Spren to think on [the] material plane and that has been torn away. It would be like having a data jack installed and then having someone come up to your head and rip it out of your head.Q: So you would basically have to replace the part that was lost to wake them up?A: Exactly.Q: Are the Skybreakers kind of like the MPs of the KR?A: Yes. That is actually a really good analogy.Q: Are there Radiant orders that would take someone like Adolin even after what he does at the end of WoR?A: I am not going to say whether or not Adolin will become a KR, but yes, there are several orders that would be very happy with what he did.Q: Like the Skybreakers or Dustbringers?A: The Skybreakers would probably not want him because he broke a law, but there are other orders that would think he completely did the right thing and be very happy with him.Q: Like the Dustbringers?A: (Didn't say anything but looked up at him, smiled and half nodded)AhoyMateyQ: Are larkin and lanceryn one and the same?A: There's a little bit more than just [being] one and the same, but in some ways they are.Q: Do all greatshells have spren?A: In order to survive with the science that I built, the greatshells almost all require some sort of spren to keep them from collapsing.Q: Did Adonalsium deliberately shatter itself?A: Good question! RAFO!Q: Why didn't Kaladin's brand heal if Lopen can regrow an arm?A: It comes down to how one views oneself. It is the answer that you think it is. So really what that's saying is Kaladin sees himself as branded.Q: Does Shardplate use a spren?A: That's a RAFO.Q: Can Glys, Renarin's spren, be a box?A: The box is not his spren.Q: Is a Desolation caused when a Herald breaks under torture?A: This person is asking the right kinds of questions.Q: Who's Nazh? The person who retrieved Shallan's notebook.A: You have seen him before.Q: Why does Urithiru not have hallowed stones?A: That'll be answered eventually. It's cultural, not magical.Q: Why does Lift feel that Darkness isn't a real person?A: Because Lift is an interesting person who has her own perspective on the world.Q: Is there anything that I should have asked that I didn't?A: Probably not. Do you know if anyone has figured out the hidden things in the map of Roshar?Q: I picked up the Easter Eggs for Mraize being a Worldhopper. It was actually the sand that did it, having been fortunate enough to read White Sand.A: Now there's something odd about that sand. What color is the sand in WoR?Q: Are the Parshendi at the village the only Parshendi there are? Besides the parshmen.A: The Parshendi as a people were all at Narak. Barring any scouts and things like that. That doesn't mean that there might not be any other Parshmen out there that have bonded spren, but they would not have been part of this nation – any more than if you found another human that they may not necessarily be American. http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6593-seattle-signing/Ness Q: Has Rock always been a third son?A: No. (85% sure)Q: Are the pools on the Horneater peaks shardpools?A: RAFOQ: Any hints on the chapter 84 code? [solved]A: There is a key in the book. http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6579-seattle-signing-report/JamHeretic Q: Would the powers of a magical object change if it went to a different world?A: It is plausible that they will, but most likely is that they don't work right. Most of them will not.Q: Why are Ryshadium cooler than regular horses? I suspect a spren bond.A: There is Investiture involved.Q: Can you tell me who the Herald is for the Truthwatchers.A: RAFO, sorry, good question.Q: How about one of the surges?A: I am RAFO'ing the Truthwatchers entirely.Q: Can you go into healing a bit more?A: Regrowth in the books - Healing is an aspect, Regrowth is ??,Q: What Radiant order would you be?A: I want to fly, so Windrunner.Q: When do we get to officially get to know what's going on in the cosmere?A: All of my epic fantasy books are connected with continuing characters. That's a way off, and that's because I don't want people to feel like they have to have read all my previous books to enjoy the series. It should be about the characters. Eventually I will write one that's a mashup, but we're not there yet. I'll be very upfront about it when I do it. For now it's just easter eggs.Q: How do you pick names?A: It really varies based on the book. I'm often picking a linguistic paradigm. Alethi - there are two separate paradigms because I like linguistics to be messy. Usually based on symmetry being holy, so they'd pick names one letter off from symmetrical to avoid hubris. Also suffix - like Kaladin is Kalak (herald) + din which is a suffix, all of them mean things, like the old Hebrew names have "born of" or "comes through". Stick that on and drop the last letter. Dalinar, Elhokar, all of those have suffixes - nar, kar.Q: What would happen if Alcatraz tried to wield Nightblood?A: They would get in a long conversation about random things and the book would just be those two having a discussion, and then the entire world would break probably.Q: Navani's fabrial bracelet:A: The stones don't have to be all heliodors. "They will change." (???)The number of prongs is not significant; the artist made the decision.arbronQ: How long has Zahel been slumming it on Roshar?A: For quite a long time, on this planet he can get something quite easily that is much harder to get where he came from. http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6584-seattle-signing-orders-and-surges-confirmed-d/ Order #5 is the Truthwatchers, Order #8 is the Willshapers, Order #10 is the Bondsmiths. Turns out I had Cohesion and Tension backwards on the chart I showed him, so I corrected the surges at his instruction in the diagram belowI also asked about healing something like eyesight and whether that would require Regrowth or if it was just the result of holding Stormlight and he said it would all depend on how the person envisioned himself.Cohesion involved being able to alter things at a molecular level, and his example was that you could push your hand on a table, and when you removed your hand there would still be a handprint.He pointed this out because he said he was sure Willshapers had access to Cohesion which is how he knew I had them backwards.Glyphs_zpsb8367fdf.png?t=1394388844 Oregonhttp://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6534-oregon-signing-march-2014/?p=107507 Q: By the end of the Stormlight Archive will you look into the minds of everyone who will develop powers?A: No.Q: Do the Windrunners have any Surges that Szeth doesn't have?A: RAFO because it's explained in WoR.Q: How many series in the cosmere?A: 36 novels, don't tell some people because they'll get scared. (Mistborn is 9, Stormlight is 10, Dragonsteel is the prequel and those are the core; everything else will be a trilogy or one-off and some might be novellas.) http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6421-the-nature-of-the-spiritual-realm/ ArgentQ: We know the Shadesmar is a (rough) translation of the phrase "Cognitive Realm" in the language of the people who first "coined" the name. Is there a similar name for the Spiritual Realm, and if so - what is it?A: There are cultures with a name for the Spiritual Realm, but most of them translate to "Heaven," which isn't entirely accurate by our understanding. Some day perhaps I will say more. Sazed has yet to learn how to touch the distant other side, where all souls go. He is able to see into the Spiritual and Cognitive Realms, and any spirits or souls who remain there, rather than passing on. Generally, you have to be tied to the Physical Realm in specific ways to not pass on. As for where Tindwyl is, I will have to leave this up to you to imagine for now. San Diegohttp://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6439-audio-from-the-san-diego-signing/ TalenelatQ: A while back someone asked if Hoid's sword is Nightblood, you said that was interesting. Is it similarly invested?A: I'm going to RAFO that. It is a very interesting question. Q: Anything you can tell me about Investiture?A: That is the word for someone or something who has gained a portion of the magic of Adonalsium, like a Shardblade is an invested object, drawing in Stormlight is Investiture. Q: Why does the Stormfather consider himself dead, or will that be covered?A: That will be covered, eventually. Q: What about Kaladin getting sliced with a ShardbladeA: That is a clue for what is going on with Szeth and his understanding of what is going on with his blade. Szeth says you can't heal a Shardblade hit. Very subtle but big differences between what Szeth does and what Kaladin does. Q: If you have enough heating fabrials and enough stormlight, how high up could you go?A: He could theoretically break orbit if he has stormlight for air, and he could manipulate gravity, they have actually figured how long it would take to make it to the various moons.Q: How deep are you going into Shadesmar in WoR?A: Not much, have to wait till more exploration from Jasnah/Shallan.Q: For the return characters in Stormlight (Demoux/Gal/Vash) - how do you pick which ones you use?A: It just depends on where I feel like going, the interludes are complete freedom for me.Q: The cosmere has so much going on, what happens if you come up with something that would conflict?A: I don't include that, then.Q: Does Nightblood rip souls out of bodies by chance?A: Nightblood consumes Investiture, including the spark of life.Q: Is there a difference between Shadesmar and the Cognitive realm?A: Shadesmar is a word for the Cognitive realm specifically touching - it's a local word.Q: What kind of changes do Slivers go through after letting go of a Shard's power?A: It leaves them, imagine it like a balloon that has been deflated.Q: Ok so would Rashekk still have had powers?A: He would have had some residual effects, works the soul in weird ways.Q: If Endowment were killed, would the Returned still come?A: Somebody needs to hold the magic. If no one holds the magic, the magic will gain sentience. Interesting and bizarre things happen then, so um I would say yes, with the caveat that with whoever picks up the power could end up changing that.Q: To the spren, is becoming mindless the same as death?A: They consider it as such.Q: Are there birds outside of Shinovar in Roshar?A: There are, but very few and they are all in the west.Q: Can Breath be used to power Surgebinding?A: They are very similar Investitures, and most of the magics can be powered with the other magics if you are capable of making that happen. Q: What would happen to the Breath?A: The Breath would be consumed much in the same way that Stormlight is, renewable resource.Q: Any chance of a Shardspear?A: Shardspear? YOU are going to get RAFO'd. Q: Does Hoid ever show up somewhere, stand around for awhile, realize that there isn't a novel-worthy plot going on, and leave?A: Yes, Hoid gets around a lot and that has happened a couple of times. He does not know everything. Q: Can someone bond more than one honorbladeA: Honorblade? You can't bond an honorblade, though it can be given to you. Shardblades, however, come from a spren bond and it is possible to bond more than one. [clarified in a later signing] http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6523-hoid-drinking-at-the-fair-cosmere-implications/#entry106083DefiantBurrito Q: Can you tell me what Wit put in his drink in Shallan's flashback scene?A: It was something that you or I would probably not want to eat in our world, but that Wit got some benefit from eating...Q: Something we've seen in the Mistborn books, perhaps?A: Yes, perhaps like something you've seen in Mistborn. San Francisco Anaroth85Q: During the Final Empire Era, had anyone on Scadrial, particularly Sazed, Tindwyl, or Elend, read The Way of Kings?A: The Way of Kings as a novel is known off-world, but not on any of the planets you mentioned. At least not currently. Q: Will you ever write any chapters from the POV of a spren?A: Likely that he eventually will, but probably as an Interlude. More talk about main characters in SA and structure of SA. http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6587-san-francisco-signing-audio/ EnaMai provided most of these but I did some edits for more exact phrasing.Q: What powers does [Hoid] have, what magics is he using?A: If you watch in these books, he has used on screen so far three of the different magics.Q: Have we seen those three, do we know what those three are?A: You know at least two of them. More obvious clues are in [WoR]. Watch where he and Kaladin have some interactions. Watch carefully, you will see something in what he mentions. You've seen him and Shallan, that scene in one of her flashbacks, in that scene he uses one if you watch.Q: I was interested in the ??implications?? of Gaz coming back.A: Gaz was always planned to come back, which is why there's kind of a mystery to him in the first book, like where did he go? It's something Robert Jordan did that I liked.Q: Do you know how you're going to write how Hoid goes between worlds?A: Yes I do. There is a big clue in [WoR]. There is a very big clue in the very first book I published. Q: Do you hear the Parshendi song as you write it?A: To an extent, yes, but I'm not as musically inclined as some, and so if we ever do it, I'd probably have somebody else come up with something more...It's more of a cadence though.Q: Will you ever have characters use the different systems of magic openly in front of each other?A: I'll warn you this, the third Mistborn trilogy is a space opera, which will involve travel between planets.Q: How did you decide that you were going to tackle racism, classism, gender, all those things in WoK?A: One of the things I like about Fantasy is the ability to tackle things like this in a way that removes the baggage from our current society which is why you see me doing things like the gender relations centered around whether the hand is sleeved or not. I want to do something that is one step removed so that it is pertinent. The Parshendi-Human thing is going to be a big deal for the series so I wanted to introduce it early on in the books. Q: Would aluminum give an atium shadow? Like if someone threw an aluminum spear?A: The aluminum would not give an atium shadow. Good question.Q: The Ars Arcanum-is there an in-cosmere author of that? A: Yes, it is in cosmereQ: Because it seems like it'd be written by someone like HoidA: It's not him. I don't know if I've released who it is; but its probably not who people are thinking but it is in-world. Q: So what was the Moment?A: It was actually right near the climax. It was the phrase 'These words are accepted.'... Oh I thought you were talking about the Moment of Inspiration. Oh the moment you're asking about is the moment where Kaladin, in the original writing, he took the Blade and plate instead of turning it down.Q: Why didn't Shallan summon her Shardblade on the ship when they were attacked?A: The Shardblade has a lot of...I mean if you look at it she thought about it. She has this psychological thing where she ignores the past, and it's so painful to her, the things that happened.Q: Why did you gloss over (can't make this out)?A: Because Jasnah, that was not going to happen in this book. In the initial plot it didn't happen, and Shallan was unable to, in the initial scenes I wrote, come into her own and so I had to make major revisions to the plot for ths outline, the biggest thing I did was that.Q: What's your favorite original Shardholder?A: I don't know...The tricky thing is that I'm going to have to write them as their personalities because right now they are just concepts. I'm very fond of Bavadin but I can't say.Q Is Bavadin the only shard on Taldain?A: He is the only shard on the planet. (is he the sun?) - RAFOQ: Would a Hemalurgic spike take surges?A: Hemalurgy can interact with every one of the magics. I designed it specifically in writing Mistborn for future use. Because some of the magics are so limited by their planet I wanted one that transcended all of them and Hemalurgy is very important to the entire cosmere Its invention is a thing of great power and great danger to the entire cosmere.Q: Have people not from/on Scadrial used Hemalurgy?A: Yes.Q: What was the pouch on the Radiant in Dalinar's vision in WoR?A: RAFO. I'm not saying its important, but you have to get a RAFO.Q: Were there spren bonds before Aharietiam?A: I'm not going to answer that one either but we will delve much more into this. The spren were around back then but they're not nearly what they are now they've changed over the course of the book obviously. I think the cosmere theorists have figured it out. They are much more prevalent following Honor and what happened to him, but there were some spren on the planet before even that happened.Q: If there is one Shard on the planet, then are there more Shards in that Solar System?/Are there other shards in the Taldain solar system?A: Now that's a clever question. There is only one for that solar system. There are other places with only one. It's not uncommon. We've gone to places with more than one because that is where the conflict is cosmere centric.Q: What was Jasnah's "last thoughts?"A: Her "last thoughts" were of escaping. Q: There's another book with a black sword...A: It's the same sword, yes. In fact I wrote the original WoK involving the character who has that sword, then I wrote Warbreaker about him then I wrote [WoR].Q: Do all the humans have innate Investiture?A: I believe that they all do. I don't think that you've seen anyone without innate Investiture yet. [Drabs] do not have innate Investiture. And on Scadrial they have the pieces of Ruin and Preservation in them. And they do have it on Roshar.Q: Which Shard is that?A: You'll have to RAFOQ: In WoK you do this one thing from the PoV of Gaz, where you turn him from random bad guy to interesting character. You said that if we read carefully we could figure out what happened to him but I never could?A: So he had his debts. He was owing people debts and they came due and he deserted.Q: What's the deal with safehands?A: You'll find out eventually. There is something it originated in. Inspired by bottoms of feet being offensive in KoreA:Q: Why do they ride horses instead of fast insects of some sort?A: That is an excellent question that I am not going to answer.Q: At the very end of WoR, Dalinar touches a Shardblade and it screams at him. Should that particular Blade have been safe?A: No, it should not have. It's a clue that something has happened. There are other clues that something is wrong with what the story you've been told is.Q: Because Option 2 is that it's unsafe to touch an honorblade, but there's no evidence of that.A: There is no evidence of that. There's much stronger evidence that something else is going on.Q: Did Hoid switch out the blades?A: Hoid did not switch out the blades, but good question.Q: Does the Silence Divine take place in the cosmere?A: It does, it takes place on a planet called Threnody. There is no shard on that planet however. The magic is more something you interact with, not something you perform b/c there isn't a shard there.[He got the planets mixed up here]Q: If Kelsier's Cognitive Shadow or a Seon went to the forests of calamity, would they be shades?A: Yes, that is the same thing. The people on that planet; their Investiture; the lack of shard means that their cognitive shadows react differently. The ghost of Leras is the same thing too. Q: If Nightblood were on Roshar would he be a Shardblade?A: Yes, they are exactly the same thing. He is a Shardblade that is twisted and is a lot more powerful than normal. Naranth Q: What are Hoid's plans for his Lerasium bead?A: RAFO Houstonhttp://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6743-brandons-answers-in-houston-311-signing/?p=110173 Awesomeness SummonedQ: Where was Pattern before Shallan drew him?A: He was around. The bonding process had started when Shallan was young but then she pushed him away and he withdrew mostly to the Cognitive realm until the bonding was started again and she pulled him fully into the physical when she drew him.Q: What is the realmatic composition of Investiture?A: Investure is intended to be the building blocks of the cosmere so I would say for the most part it transcends the different realms. Probably more of the spiritual if anything but more accurately it transcends them.Q: Were the Heralds born on Roshar?A: RAFOQ: If Hoid were to hold an unsheathed Nightblood, would he feel sick?A: [Loud laughing]RAFOQ: Are the Ghostbloods accounted for in the Diagram?A: The Ghostbloods are in the Diagram.Q: Can you write an unknown ideal?A: They are still rough so this might not be the exact wording but: "I will stand when others fall."Q: How much more powerful is Nightblood than a a regular Shardblade?A: I haven't actually quantified that in my own mind so can't give an accurate comparison at this point. I will say that when he is fully consuming Investiture he can do some really freaky things.Q: If a non Windrunner picked up Jezrien's honorblade would they gain Windrunner powers as well?A: Yes.Q: If a Windrunner picked up that blade, would their abilities be enhanced?A: There would be some compounding but strength is not as much an issue with surgebinding as is the strength of the spren bond and how much Stormlight you are using.Q: Why were all the Shardblades swords when they can take on any weapon form they want? Would they all revert to swords when they die?A: When they die they'd revert to the basic form which was a sword since they were patterned after honorblades.Q: Feruchemists that can store Investiture, would they be able to then use that to power allomancy with say stormlight?A: RAFO.Q: Have we seen Cultivation's magic?A: Yes.Q: Is Hoid the most knowledgeable about what's going on in the cosmere?A: No, Khriss is the most aware by a long shot. Nazh knows a lot as well. Hoid might know more than Nazh but he is pretty in the know as well so it's close.Q: Are the Parshendi of Odium?A: Not originally.Q: Are the Parshendi of Cultivation?A: Not originally.Q: Are the Parshendi of Honor?A: NoQ: Is the Nightwatcher a spren of Cultivation in a similar way that the Stormfather is to Honor?A: The Nightwatcher is not Cultivation but is related. You're on the right track.Q: Demoux is the only world hopper we've seen that inherently ages. Is there something about world hopping that makes someone not age?A: There are ways around that. It is not intrinsic to the process. You would need to do something special.Q: Are there one or two shard pools on Scadrial?A: RAFO.Q: Will there still be Hemalurgy in the Alloy of Law series?A: Yes.Q: Can a Hemalurgy chart be made?A: Yes. We will make one eventually.Q: The ending of Mistborn was hidden in the first chapter epigraphs. Is there something similar to that in The Way of Kings?A: There is, but they are hidden in different places. The last chapter of the Stormlight Archive is somewhere in these two books.Q: Is it possible to steal Stormlight?A: It's theoretically possible.Q: Is there a region based magic like Elantris on any of the other worlds?A: 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.Q: In the chapter 84 code, does the sequence 111 denote a special character such as a space between wordsA: I do not believe there is a 111 to separate words unless it was added by Peter when I wasn't looking. I will say this, the key is in another epigraph. [solved]Q: Can anyone other than a Parshendi bond a voidspren? Like, can a human bond a voidspren?A: That is theoretically possible but humans are not good at bonding spren in the same way.Q: How about the other way around? Can a Parshendi bond a KR spren?A: Historically, the Parshendi were not made KR, or the parshmen weren't.Q: Can they become squires maybe?A: Historically they did not, but it's not impossible. Scottsdale the_archdukeQ: Is the woman around Wit's age named Reya?A: RAFO.Q: Is the Moon Scepter an object of Investiture?A: The Moon Scepter is an item that is important to Hoid, but I won't say why yet.Q: Was Szeth's resurrection done with Rosharan Investiture or that from Nalthis?A: RAFO.Q: What is the effect of the Nahel Bond on human lifespan.A: RAFO.Q: Does Hoid have all the abilities of the planets he's visited?A: Not yet.Q: Who are your biggest literary influences?A: Robert Jordan (big crowd laugh) and Victor Hugo.Q: Were Shardblades influenced by lightsabers?A: Yes (long aside about how everyone in the last 40 years was so influenced), but not sure how direct of an influence.Q: (Something about how he got his ideas for knights)A: A knight has a sword, armor and a horse. (my interpretation of the answer is that Ryshadium were closely related to the ancient KR)Q: Will Kaladin ever get Wit's flute back to woo a certain red haired young lady?A: Wit is very mad about Kaladin losing the flute. If he recovers it, he wouldn't let Kaladin have it again.Q: Is there time travel in the cosmere?A: We haven't seen time travel into the past, but we have seen it into the future in Alloy of Law. Omaha MacenQ: What group, if any, was Shallan's mother a part of?B. RAFO.Q: Was Shallan's father influenced at all by Odium?B. Yes.Q: Is it possible to bind with more than one spren of different types?B. I'm not going to say it's impossible. Sir Jerrichttp://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6777-questions-for-omaha-signing-3-13-2014/page-3 Q: Has Hoid ever visited the planet Braize?A: (sing-song voice) RAFO. Such a big RAFO. The biggest RAFO.Q: Could a Seon, or a Skaze, could they turn into a, some sort of Shardblade on their own planet?A: That is theoretically possible. It's—I mean they work under the same fundamentals, but they would need to have something to pull them more into the physical realm.Q: Do we see the highspren at all in Words of Radiance? And if so, do they look like a comet?A: That's a good question. That's a gooood, good question. I will say this, the comet, hmm, the comet spren. The comet spren is very important to an order of KR.Q: The hair color: is there a link between the hair color in Warbreaker and the hair color in—like with the Alethi always have black, and I can't remember the other country that always have their gold hair coloring?A: Yes. You are noticing something very interesting which was done deliberately.KythisQ: Is there anything Hoid was scared of? And if so, is it still around, and...A: There are many things that Hoid is scared of. He is really scared of Odium, but there are others. Lexingtonhttp://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6984-lexington-ky-signing/ tgancheroQ: Are highstorms a meteorological or magical phenomenon?A: Both. Q: Did the mistress from the interlude in book 1 destroy the Shalash statue on the night of Gavilar's death?A: Yes, and also all the other ones that we've seen, including the one in Shallan's vision in Words of Radiance.Q: Is the mistress Shalash?A: RAFO. Q: How many oaths can a Radiant swear?A: There is an upper-limit/threshold to the number of oaths a Radiant may make. By the end of WoR, Shallan is a step higher than Kaladin. Not completely sure on this one: He said that at one point Shallan may have said all the oaths for her order (or may have been capable of saying all of the oaths by the end of the book) but has since regressed due to "memory loss/repression." Regarding Dalinar: He said that Dalinar has had a bond with the Stormfather "for a while." He also only said one oath at the top of the Urithiru tower, not two. Dalinar conveyed a single idea in that particular oath.Brandon also clarified that the oaths, with the exception of the first ideal, are not restricted to specific words. Rather, a specific idea must be conveyed for the oath to be accepted.gpmushuQ: Do darkeyes feel the Thrill?A: Yes, they do. Q: Do highstorms get weaker as they move west because of normal meteorological reasons the same way a hurricane gets weaker over land or is it because they slowly drain investiture as they infuse spheres over the whole continent?A: Both. He said that anything like that will be affected by both normal science as well as the magic, but then he added that the highstorms are a natural occurring phenomenon that were on the planet before stuff started going down. I didn't get this confirmed, but I think he meant the stormlight part of the storm was added later, I'm assuming by a Shard.Q: Has the Thrill existed longer than the Death Rattles or have they both been occurring for about the same period of time?A: The Thrill and the Death Rattles started around the same time, but the locations for the two fluctuate and have been since they appeared. Sirscott13http://imgur.com/SvECwR9One Dawnshard is different from the rest.Daytonhttp://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6815-anyone-going-to-the-dayton-signing-19th/ Luke and darkanimereal1Q: So, the Purelake in Shadesmar is mountainous. Does this in any way have to do with the fact that the Purelake is so shallow?A: No. I haven't yet discussed the nature of the relationship between Shadesmar and the Physical world.Q: So, when Dalinar has his vision in what he assumes in the Purelake, he sees an obsidian fortress. Is that fortress in any way related to the fact that the Purelake in Shadesmar is mountainous?A: No.Q: Please don't tell me you're going to do a love triangle between Adolin, Kaladin, and Shallan.A: I'm not a fan of the traditional love triangle. However, I am fond of conflict in relationships.Q: The weepings--Shallan and Kaladin react very differently to them.A: They do.Q: It just seems to me that the Weepings feel very close to Cultivation.A: The primary thing you're noticing -- and I'm not going to say there's not any magical influence -- but the primary thing you're noticing is that Kaladin has season defective disorder and Shallan likes the rain. That's the primary thing you're noticing. I like the rain--my wife hates it. My wife gets depressed when it rains and I love when it rains.Q: Did Taravangian go to see the Nightwatcher before or after Gavilar's assassination?A: Um, oh man. I'm going to have to look at my timeline. I believe it's before, but I can't guarantee I'm right, because these things are all happening around the same time.Q: Because he says that Gavilar confided in him the night of.A: Ooooh, you're right. Nope, it's after. It is after. You can send that question to Peter so we can confirm it. There might be something I'm forgetting about Taravangian.Q: What caused a Desolation to end? Was it just the defeat of Odium's forces? Because the Desolations start when the Heralds break under torture.A: Because the Heralds can no longer be in existence. There is a certain period of time that they can be there, and after that, if they're there, they will start a new one. So the Heralds do need to leave for a Desolation to end.Q: Oh. So they've got a time limit.A: They do. Otherwise the Desolation will start again. What they discovered is not all of them have to. As long as one remains, the Desolation will not start again.Q: So, by the nine leaving, did that actually break the Oathpact for them? Did it change the cycle of Desolations?A: They have not completely broken the Oathpact, despite what they may think.Q: How much Stormlight equals one Breath? Do you have an actual ratio?A: I have a ratio. It's not on me.Q: Okay, that's a Peter question again.A: Yeah, well, I may not answer it even then.Q: Are the Heralds actually aware that Taln is back?A: Are the Heralds aware that Taln is back? Uh, you're implying that this person actually is Taln. [The smile on Brandon's face at this moment was the best, most excruciatingly awful smile ever. And we thought Peter was a tease.] Which is not guaranteed. It's not guaranteed. However, the return of the Voidbringers does indeed indicate to them, in their mind, that he would have returned.Q: So they assume because the Voidbringers are returning--A: Because the Voidbringers are returning, would be a clue to them that Taln has returned. DC RybalQ: Can the Heralds Surgebind without their Blades and if not are they under the same restrictions that others are.A: The Heralds without their Blades are incapable of the powers you're familiar with. It doesn't mean there aren't other things they can do.ShicacaQ: I was looking at the map of Roshar and it kinda looked like a spiral galaxy to me like it was flipping a certain way.A: That was intentional. You are on to something that no one's figured out yet. I was thinking it could be connected to people being able to manipulate gravity.It's not exactly what you think you're on to, but you're getting close to something that they've all wanted to know for a while.OutisQ: Are there any birds on Roshar?A: Yes, they're called chickens by everybody, and you've seen some of them. If you watch in WoR, there are things that people are calling a chicken which is not what you know of as a chicken.Q: Kaladin is a lot younger than his knowledge and training levels are? (Can't make out the rest)A: You've got to keep two things in mind. He's led a very hard life which has aged him experience-wise prematurely, and also Roshar years are longer than ours, so when in this book they say he's 19, he's not actually 19, he's more like, I can't remember the exact equation, he's like 23 or something like that.Q: What Order of KR would you want to be in?A: Ohhhh I would probably place myself in the Bondsmiths would be my guess. But the bondsmiths are very hard to get into, there's a limited number of people who can be Bondsmiths.Q: Do you have an advisor for the science?A: I usually run things by my editor who's very big into science, but mostly we go find an expert and have him read. The thing about it is, I have to hand wave a lot of things. Like the laws of thermodynamics, I can't, you know.. There are quantum physics in here. I'm trying to handwave as little as possible but we are breaking fundamental laws of physics, but even in terms of things like the laws of conservation. Energy is being conserved, but there's a supernatural source.Q: Is Hoid the one that comes out of the lake that Rock is talking about?A: RAFO.Q: What was the tweak you wanted to put in the end?A: At the end of the day, I kind of wish that I had had Kaladin decide not to kill Szeth. But him killing Szeth is what the outline calls for and it's going to send the book in some interesting ways but I kinda wish I hand't done that. Forcing him to live with what he'd done instead. Taking his blade and forcing him to live with what he'd done, I'd kind of wish that's what I'd done.Q: Is the fundamental force of gravity the same as it is on Earth. Is the constant the same?A: Yes, the constant would be the same. The big difference is when I'm tweaking the fundamental forces is, I imagine on Roshar that there are more fundamental forces. There are more than four. I've broken them up according to what their scientists have decided.Q: Are you going to make any of your primary characters into worldhoppers?A: Some of them already are. There are primary characters who are worldhoppers. We just haven't had books about them yet.In this series' main characters, I will RAFO whether any will become worldhoppersQ: Is the crossover surge for each Knight the same?A: To an extent, yes. Each of the combinations make a little bit of a tweak to how things act. But when you see the Skybreakers affecting gravity it will look much the same as what you saw on the Windrunners.Q: In book 1, Dalinar catches a chasmfiend claw. In book 2 ,he catches a Shardblade. Is he going to keep catching stuff in each book?A: Dalinar is pretty good at catching stuff. Umm...Rafo?Q: The line about 3 of 16 reigned and now the Broken One rules. Did Odium follow three other shards to Roshar, or is he the third shard?A: Odium is the third shard on Roshar. [discussion on Vorinisn and what philosophies it drew upon]Q: With the different headings on each chapter on the SA books, 5 years from now if I read the 5 books and I'm reading all of the last words of the people, is it going to be this huge foreshadowing?A: It will make a lot more sense.Q: Who would win in an argument, Shallan or Lightsong?A: [laughs]Lightsong. More practice. Maybe Shallan would eventually be able to hold her own but at this point he would win.Q: When can I expect Dragonsteel?A: A loong time. It's waaay off.Q: How much Stormlight is equal to one Breath?A: This is one of the times I have to go to Peter and say, They're asking, we have to canonize this.Q: Will Allomancy affect Shardblades?A: It cannot affect Shardblades. Well, cannot is a strong term. Things with innate Investiture are much more difficult to affect by any of the magics at all. Which is why it's very hard for Szeth to bind people or lash people whering Shardplate to the ceiling. In the same way Allomancy wouldn't be able to push on it without some help. Duralumin with a strong push would probably do it.I was just wondering if it was actually metal.It is metalish--it's metal enough for Allomancy to work on it.Q: If an Elantrian bonded to a Seon and traveled to Roshar, would that act as a Nahel bond?A: It would act very very similarly, yes. But it would be like… it wouldn't necesarily do the exact same things. It would be treated the exact same way, but wouldn't grant the same powers.Q: Is Shardplate crem?A: No it is not, good question.Q: What other magic systems in the cosmere have that same kind of if you use it a lot it gets better?A: It is a little bit more like wedging open cracks in the soul by letting the Investiture come in, and it can open the cracks more.Q: Are there other magic systems like that?A: Yes.Q: Will we see those any time soon?A: Maybe...RAFO.Q: Is it very difficult to worldhop from Sel because most of the world in its Cognitive realm version is ocean?A: No that is not the reason, good question.Q: What alloy did Hoid drink?A: Let's just say he was trying to make certain people act the way they wanted to.Q: Are there any locations on Roshar with red stone?A: Yes.Q: Where did the redstone on Feverstone come from?A: Roshar.Q: Is Eshonai going to be a Radiant?A: In the past, parshmen/Parshendi were not allowed to become KR. However, what I said might imply that that could change. But no promises.Q: Can spren be resurrected? Because ideas can never really die.A: This is theoretically possible but very difficult without the people who originally betrayed their oaths. Philadelphiahttp://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/7051-philadelphia-wor-signing-reports/page-3 macrosQ: Based on what we know currently about the ten heartbeats, why does Szeth require ten heartbeats to bring forth his Honorblade?A: Perception is a very important part of how these things all work, and remember, the Honorblades work differently from everything else. Everything was based upon them. Why don't you read and find out what's going on there, but remember, the characters' perception is very important.Q: So then that's why at one point Shallan requires ten heartbeats and now she doesn't.A: Right, just like — it's the exact same reason why Kaladin's forehead wounds don't heal, because he views himself as need— as having those, somewhere deep inside of him, and that can't heal until that goes away. And it's the same reason why in Warbreaker, when you bring something to life your intention, rather than really what you say, is what matters. It's all about perception.Q: In Mistborn, Allomancy tends to get a little addictive, is that something that's going to happen with Stormlight—holding it just because it feels good?A: You are noticing a similarity. That is intentional.Q: If Taravangian made the Diagram, and telling the future is of the Voidbringers, is that a bad sign?A: It depends on if you're speaking culturally or actually magically.Q: Magically, I guess.A: Because he would claim to you that he did it all with strength of mind and no magical influence other than enhanced mind. That's what he would tell you. And so in that case it would not be—culturally they'd look very weirdly at it, but spiritually he would say it's not of the Voidbringers.Q: Right. He would say that.A: Uh-huh.Q: We were talking that it's kind of a shame that Dalinar doesn't have his own "real" spren. I think it's an upgrade, is there a way I should think of this? Is it a cool thing or a bad thing?A: It's a cool thing, it's also a very dangerous thing.Q: Well [the Stormfather] controls the highstorms...follow-up question: if he dies, does that affect the spren?A: Dying, as long as the oaths are not broken, does not affect the spren in a very terrible way. There are effects.Q: So regarding Hoid, are we ever going to learn his real name at any point in time? I guess in Dragonsteel? I know he says about how he's borrowing stuff and about how he steals stuff.A: Yes. You eventually know his real name, but it depends on what you define as real.Q: Will the flute come back?A: A lot of people are curious about the flute. I have been non-committal, so far.LeiyanQ: Can you tell me the order of the three planets in the solar system?A: No.Q: Because I know Braize is the third one, I've heard that, is that true?A: I'm staying close-lipped about a lot of this.Q: Can you tell me which is the most massive moon [of Roshar]? Not the biggest, but the most massive.A: I think the biggest is the most massive. All three moons are much closer than our moon is.Q: And so is that Nomon?A: YesQ: How big is Nomon on the night sky, like compared to our moon?A: Larger than our moon, but not dominating of the sky. […] I do believe Nomon is bigger, but I had to have Peter run those calculations, so he may come back and say no Brandon, that's not possible, but I do believe it's bigger than our moon in the sky. You're supposed to be able to see moderately well by Nomon.EHydeQ: I was wondering, on Roshar, what sort of plants and animals do they use for fabrics, since they don't have a lot of wooly animals and the plants are different?A: Most of them are plant-based. I think I've mentioned one of the plants.Q: They have silk though, right?A: Yes. It's called sea-silk, they grow it in the water. It comes from the coasts.Q: So they don't have anything like our silk, then?A: If you looked at it, you would call it silk, but it is being produced in a very different way.Q: Our silk comes from insect cocoons, and they have a lot of that there, but they don't use it for fiber at all?A: Insect cocoons on Roshar are either they melt in water from the highstorm cycle, or they have stone in them, so they don't work really well for textiles. There are certain rockbuds you can shred the inside of the shell to get a textile, there's sea silk that grows out in the ocean, and there are other plants of a similar nature.RhandricQ: Is Vasher trying to find Nightblood?A: Vasher misses Nightblood and feels responsible for him.Q: How many worldhoppers have we seen?A: Oh, I haven't kept track, you've seen quite a few. There's one from Mistborn, did you catch him? I don't think people have really picked out the Terriswoman yet, who makes her way into them, but they're mostly not supposed to be noticeable yet, until you get to know them as characters and you look back and be like, "Oh that was that person."Q: Is it the Terriswoman I think it is?A: I don't know which Terriswoman you think it is.Q: Tindwyl?A: No.KurkistanQ: Speaking of [the Terriswoman wordlhopper who the previous Sharder had been asking about], is she the nurse in Warbreaker?A: [Gleeful]RAAAAAAFO!Q: Are the laws of physics in the cosmere Spiritually based?A: They...The laws of physics in the cosmere are ours except where they have been changed by Spiritual influence. So I guess you could say "Yes."Q: What would happen if you shot a Thug with an aluminum bullet or stabbed him with an aluminum knife?A: Ah, that's a good question. And, um.. the wound would not be able to heal around the aluminum, but once the aluminum came out, and was gone from the system, they would be okay.Q: Wait, is that a Bloodmaker, not a Thug?A: Oh, you're talking about Thu- Oh, okay. Yeah, ummm... It would work similarly, but it really wouldn't really have a huge effect on them.Q: Ah, okay. 'Cause Peter was implying that there was some weird aluminum interaction with Thugs.A: What was he thinking of... There is some weird interaction but-Q: In the wedding scene [in Alloy of Law] Wax thinks that they would have aluminum bullets to deal with Thugs and I was like, "Oh that's a typo," and Peter was like, "Oh no it's not..."A: No no... That would just be- it's like I said: healing it until the bullet is gone. It's just the same as the Bloodmaker.Q: If I get a Slider, a Pulser, and a Nicroburst in a rocket with a lot of metal, do I have FTL?A: [Laughs]You're getting closer but you haven't figured it out yet.Q: Are flamespren, are they all doing their own thing, or is there some Ideal of "Fire" sitting in the Spiritual Realm that they're all based on?A: Each spren is based on the Ideal of Fire.Q: And is that sitting in the Spiritual Realm?A: Yes, we're using sort of a Platonic Ideal, and that concept is in force, so <sounds hesitant> "yes", but [spren] are manifestations of it.Q: So these Ideals in the Spiritual Realm: Divine Breath, does that heal by accessing some Ideal of Human Health: so a guy who had never had a tongue and doesn't know how to speak all the sudden has a tongue and can speak?A: You are... [LONG pause] You are, um, on the right track. Because the Breath is... eh. How can I explain this? You are, yeah... So... So each Breath is a shade of diety, right? And each Breath incorporates into it this sort of idea of being endowed by the diety Endowment, correct? And so each Breath you hold brings you one step closer to becoming like that, and so what you're saying is... is yes, kind of true, yes.Q: But it's like within the Breath, not sitting off by itself-A: Yes, yes, yes exactly.SweetnessQ: What do the glyphs in the Kholin glyph pair mean?A: Oh boy, it's in my notes, I should know that, but I'd need to look it up.Q: What would the Willshapers think about Adolin killing Sadeas?A: The Willshapers would probably be ok with that.Q: Since the evil on Threnody isn't a Shard, can you tell us anything about its actual nature? Is it an actual being, and is it related to Adonalsium?A: Everything is related to Adonalsium in the cosmere, most of the magic you're seeing is a just a natural outgrowth of cosmere related magic and cognitive shadows. The Evil is similarly related.Q: Were the Ryshadium artificially enhanced or created, or were they natural?A: Oh, RAFO! Good question!RITQ: Glowing Shardplate and retractable helmets. Is that a similar origin of the Shardblades-A: There's a similarity, but they are also very different.Q: Yeah, I noticed they do seem like advanced fabrials, because Adolin just keeps going on and on about how they're all interchangeable and how they all feel comfortable after a while, and it doesn't have the same kind of thing with the Shardblades.A: No, it doesn't. Though a Shardblade, used for a long time, will change shape slightly.Q: Is it the power of the bond between humans and spren, the Nahel bond, or from the swords-the existing Shardblades-that causes the eyes to turn light?A: Yes.Q: Does each specific order have their own spren that they would bond?A: Yes. Each order has a spren that is distinctive. All Windrunners come from wind- from honorspren.Q: So Nohadon's still alive, right?A: RAFO! Why would you say that Nohadon's still alive?Q: I know he's still alive.A: Why would you say he's still alive?Q: It's the perfect trick, that you're gonna bring back Nohadon. It's my feeling about things.A: Um...Q: When do we get to see a Radiant and a Mistborn go at it?A: It's gonna be a while. It is gonna be a while. Unless- yeah.Q: Is Shai on Roshar?A: Hehehe, good question!Q: Has she already popped up?A: She has not already popped up.Q: So she's not a Radiant. Or is she?A: You have not seen her on screen yet, other than in her story.Q: I was wondering if you had, off the top of your head, any one-armed Herdazian jokes.A: [Laughs]Only the obvious one. How do you get a one-armed Herdazian out of a tree? You wave.Q: I was writing about the stances, and I was wondering if you could match them with (unfolds drawing).A: I would have you email this to us, because Ben McSweeney made the final call as he drew these, which one was which. While I had notes on each of them, he matched the stances to them, so it would be really easy for me to get them wrong.Q: So what's your favorite thing from The Way of Kings? s, coming from the actual book in The Way of Kings.A: The book in-world? I would say it's the story that Nohadon shares about walking and passing the man with his burden.Q: With the ten books split into five and five, is that going to be chronological?A: Yes. They will be chronological.Q: I was curious, I know Jasnah wasn't in it too much … I was curious-she's such a believable non-religious character, was it more difficult writing her as a religious person? I just thought she was so well done even though she's not-A: You know she's always been that way in my head, since I conceived of her. I spent a lot of time on atheist forums, learning how to talk the right way to make her real.Q: I do have to know--how many cousins?A: It depends on what your definition of cousin is. By Lopen's definition, basically all of the people - there are a lot of cousins. He's counting like fifth cousins, like, dating his sister or his mom's sister - that's a cousin.Q: How many people that we've met know the story of Dalinar's wife?A: Know which story?Q: The story about the pact, why he doesn't remember anything.A: Not very many at all know that he doesn't remember. He's had to fake it.Q: Is Lopen still going to have one-arm jokes? That's my big concern.A: He will always have one-arm jokes! He's probably going to have to come up with some two-arm jokes.Q: How are you going to finish the cosmere stuff? Like when you get to book 35, how are you gonna resist like book 36, we're gonna say "Courage is held by a dude named Steve and according to Hoid he's pretty cool." Just extend it another … how are you going to finish?A: We'll see. We will see. The thing is there's a beginning, middle, and end to the shattering of Adonalsium and the involvement there. More stories can be told in the cosmere, but there's a beginning, middle, and end to that. When I finish that, that is the sequence that I wanted to tell.Q: And you have that outlined out?A: I do.Q: Is Lopen going to be one of the [main characters in the second five-book sequence]?A: He is not, he's a side character.Q: Is there a difference between the Shardplate of the Radiants and the current Shardplate?A: Yes.Q: Kaladin in the second book seemed to be a different Kaladin than at the end of the first book.A: What way?Q: Angrier, and my question is, why did you write him that way?A: He has always been angry. In the first book, he is focused on saving his men and now that his men are safe, all of those emotions--if you go look at him from the first nine chapters of Way of Kings, he's that way there, it's when he becomes focused on saving his men he has something to drive him and it kind of subsumes these things, but once they're safe all these things he hasn't dealt with came back out.Q: The epigraphs for The Way of Kings, that were talking about how the various Shardholders are influenced by their shards over time--how does that impact someone like Harmony, with multiple shards?A: The main effect it's having on Harmony right now is his inability to act sometimes, because his two sides are pushing, and so he is having trouble being proactive. It'd take a long time before it really becomes manifest, but he's had several hundred years, so it's starting to have an effect.Q: Could you use the Feruchemical ability to store identity to heal damage done to you in the Cognitive Realm?A: Um...yes, but it's gonna take a roundabout method to make that happen. But identity can be very useful for all sorts of things like this.Q: Do you know if Graphic Audio is ever going to tackle the Stormlight Archive?A: I would like them to, but it's really up to Tor Audio, or actually MacMillian Audio. They are the ones, because we sold the audio rights to them, that would decide when they're going to do subsidiary licenses. Which they only recently decided on Mistborn. So I'm sure Graphic Audio would like to do it, probably after a few books of this are out they'll start doing it.Q: Before the Recreance, there were three Bondsmiths. Did they all bond supersprens, or is Dalinar an exception?A: They did something similar.Q: Can the Unmade be bonded?A: Wow...plausible. Er, possible, I should say.Q: If you came up with a Radiant-like ideal, for yourself as a writer, what would it be?A: What a great question! (writes the answer in asker's book).Q: What Jasnah did, in the first book, with Shallan in the alleyway. And what happened at the end of this book, between Adolin and the other character. Would you put them on the same level? Or would you say that what Adolin did was maybe a little bit darker?A: I would say that what Adolin did was less dark, personally. I would say that what Adolin did was something that needed to be done, that no one else was capable of doing.Q: Will it have any ramifications for him down the line? With how it was handled?A: Oh, there are definitely ramifications. How it's handled, there's lots of ramifications. And there are certain characters who would think that what he did is totally, totally, totally wrong.Q: Hoid said [in Warbreaker] that he learned stories from a place where gods have died. Is that Roshar?A: RAFO. I will say this. A god has died on Roshar. Only one, that we know. So, "gods" would not be plural.Q: Is Shallan's father actually her father?A: Heh. People asked if her mother were actually her mother. No one's asked yet if her father was her father. Yes, it was her father. I will give you that. Her mother and father as presented in the story were actually her mother and father.Q: Szeth a lot of the time throughout Words of Radiance is referring to the fact that he's hearing his victims scream in his head. Is that actually his conscience screaming at him or has he possibly already bonded to a spren in some way, that is displeased with-A: That is not the spren. Good question. It is not...the spren is not a spren that is a...for one of the orders.Q: But it is related to--A: I didn't say that. I just said it is not a--it is not a blade. It is not one of those.Q: If you had to pick one favorite character from the Stormlight Archive, right now, who would it be?A: It's hard to say. Dalinar was my first character, so he'll always have a special place in my heart.Q: What came first, Pattern or Chalklings?A: Pattern was before Chalklings, good question. For some part of its existence, the Rithmatist was in the cosmere, until I decided I just don't want Earth in the cosmere at all, even a bizarre sort of version of Earth.Q: Which of your characters do you think would win in a fight?A: Uh … at what stage in their career?Q: Not the Slivers.A: Okay, so they don't count, the Shards of Adonalsium don't count … does Kelsier have atium?Q: Yes.A: Then … a Mistborn burning atium is really hard to beat in any other way.Q: So you think that Kelsier would beat Vin?A: Oh, Kelsier would beat Vin if he had atium and she didn't. If they both did? Vin has more raw talent, Kelsier has more experience. So if you can pick Vin after she has more experience she will give him a fair fight, otherwise, not.Q: The letter in the epigraphs in Way of Kings, the recipient--is he or she--are they in Words of Radiance?A: They are not in Words of Radiance in person.Q: Will they be in the next book?A: That's a RAFO. But they have not appeared in person in the series yet.Q: If someone--Vasher says that Nightblood would kill him, is that just because he has this big deific Breath? Would it kill an ordinary person, like a drab?A: It would suck the Breath from anybody, and if they were unable to feed it he would feed on their soul.Q: So they would die.A: Yes. Anybody wielding Nightblood, he will suck their soul. For too long, he will eventually, if you draw him, he will suck your soul.Q: When does a person become a Surgebinder? Because Kaladin talks about when he was a child, about it being a familiar feeling, and Shallan obviously was younger. Or is it when they speak the Words?A: The bond starts forming before the words are spoken, but if the words are never spoken that bond will eventually evaporate and get broken. But the bond will start forming before. Just like an emotion attracts a spren, acting in the way that the spren you would eventually bond will start drawing them toward you and that will start to create that bond.Q: I know that there's three sorts of forms that magic presents itself in, the liquid and the solid and air. What would Breath be?A: Breath is definitely like Mist, it is in the form of the air.Q: And is Stormlight the same?A: Stormlight is the same. Good questions!Q: Would Vasher be able to use Stormlight in the same way that he can get Breath?A: That would not be immediately easy, but Stormlight could feed Nightblood.Q: Which is why Szeth can wield Nightblood?A: Eh, you'll have to see if … but yes. That could theoretically happen. You can use most of the magics on most of the planets to fuel the other magics, if you know how to do it, it is not easy.Q: Are we going to get a book with Lift?A: You are going to get a book with Lift as a main character. It is going to happen I promise. And I'll probably do some more shorts with Lift because she is so much fun.Q: The Seventeenth Shard--is their purpose limited solely to tracking down Hoid? Or is it something grander than that?A: No, they have other stuff. It is something grander than that.Q: He's just one of many priorities?A: Yes. They are very worried about what he's going to be doing.Q: But there's others they're worried about as well?A: Yes. So they have a task, they have goals, and they are worried that he is going to be at cross purposes to them, so they are trying to hunt him down.Q: What's his name, the one who sends the letter with pictures … Nazir?A: Oh, Nazh? Nazh… (he gives a longer name. Sounds like Nazreloft, obviously spelling uncertain)Q: He's not in the list of …A: He appears in one place in that book.Q: Rock sounds Hawaiian, Hawaiian royalty. Is that a pun on Dwayne Johnson?A: [Laughs] No, it's not. That's a coincidence.Q: In other worlds, are we seeing any magics already? Like, Allomancy might be in Roshar?A: You've seen people using Allomancy in Roshar before.Q: You said that on Roshar the only reason they have aluminum is that they can Soulcast it, right? I think you said something like that … maybe? I was wondering how that would work, if an Allomancer were to--A: Aluminum has some weird properties on all of the magic systems, not just allomancy. It does not have the same effect, but aluminum has some bizarre effects.Q: Is the surge "cohesion," that we haven't really seen much, strong axial, is that related to the fabrials for the half-shards?A: Aha! Um, I'm gonna RAFO. It's not me not knowing the answer, it's me not knowing if I should say or not. I will RAFO that, because I don't want to get into that too much right now.Q: For the Honorblades, if somebody that was already a Radiant used an Honorblade, would they get that Surge also?A: It is possible to get multiples, yes. Good question.Q: Does Szeth have a puppy, and what would it be like if he did? Because I feel like he could really use one.A: Szeth could totally use a puppy. He totally could. He does not have an axehound pup, but he totally should get one. But he does now have something very puppy-like.Q: The Long Trail of the Iriali, was one of the first three lands Braize?A: Hehehe. No. Excellent question.Q: The Aimians seem disliked throughout the world. Is that based on something that has happened in the past?A: Um, yes, but they're also really creepy.Q: Are they open to manipulation like other sentient non-human humanoids of Roshar? The Parshendi? Or, similar?A: Um, RAFO.Q: What's your working title for the third book?A: It has two. The original working title was Stones Unhallowed. However, Rothfuss is using Doors of Stone, and I kind of feel like I might want to do something different, so my interim title is Skybreaker, but it has to be an in-world book. The in-world book for book 3 is kind of a different one, so I can do a lot with it, but Stones Unhallowed is easier.Q: If somebody with some kind of magical ability, for example Allomancy, etc., were to travel off-world, would they still have that ability?A: It depends on the ability. Some are easier to use off-world than others. You have seen Allomancy used off-world already.Q: Are we going to get ten different perspectives for Gavilar's death?A: You will get five.Q: Did the shattering of Honor happen in the Cognitive Realm, and Ruin in the Physical? The reason I'm wondering is, are spren the expression of the shattering in the Cognitive Realm while Ruin's physical being is an expression of the shattering in the Physical?A: This is an interesting theory that I don't want to completely shoot down, but it is not heading in absolutely correct directions. The shattering of a Shard is an event that transcends all three realms.EHydeQ: I was also wondering if there's any chance of seeing a Nightblood point of view.A: There is a chance of seeing a Nightblood point of view. It is something I have sincerely contemplated...and even maybe posted about online.Q: Were there Desolations before there were humans on Roshar?A: No.Q: And, how were the Radiants able to summon their Shardblades at the Recreance if they'd already decided to break their oaths?A: Their Shardblades are part of what brought them to--part of the Oathpact--but breaking the Oathpact did not affect their ability to bond or unbond Shardblades.Q: What information do Stormwardens use to predict Highstorms?A: Um, many things, some of which is necessary to the process and some of which is not. But previous highstorm arrival is a very big part of it, and highstorms from previous years, most recent highstorms, and if they can get when the highstorm left the other side, that's a calculation that will help them, and things like this.Q: Was Nohadon a Bondsmith?A: RAFO! Good question.RhandricQ: Have the Bondsmiths ever had a Shardblade? Have any other Bondsmiths had Shardblades.A: RAFO! Good question. Good question.LeiyanQ: So I had some things I figured out, I just wanted to know if they're true or not. So I have that the orbits of the moons would precess so that the farthest point is always pointing towards the sun.A: So, one more time.Q: [uses diagram to explain the question]A: So, we have figured all this out. It's in the wiki--so me just saying--it's not in the wiki that you can find. I would need to go compare this. All the calculations on things like this--this is stuff where I sat down with Peter, who knows much more astronomy than me and said "here's what I want" and he's like "well it has to be this" and I put that in.Q: Do you know, do the moons orbit the opposite direction to Roshar's rotation?A: I believe they do but I'm not 100% sure.Q: There's no eclipses as far as I can tell, so the plane of the orbit must be strongly inclined, 'cause there'd be an eclipse every day if there were eclipses-A: We had to fudge that because as you said, if there were any it'd be all the time.Q: I'm guessing it's a RAFO, but why do Honorblades work the way they do?A: Honorblades were crafted before Shardblades existed--Q: So they were crafted.A: They were crafted before Shardblades existed, and all Shardblades that exist came about as certain individuals trying to find out how to copy Honorblades.Q: So would it be fair to say that Honorblades are analagous to fabrials in some sense? Trap spren in a crystal yada yada Stormlight power?A: There is an analogy there, that I think would pass the SAT's rigor for analogies.Q: Is Nightwatcher Cultivation, or an analogue of the Stormfather to …?A: These are excellent questions you should be asking.NutiketAielQ: Were the original sixteen Shardholders after the shattering all human?A: Uh … RAFO. There are three races on Yolen. Three sentient races.LeiyanQ: I'm curious about the sun, it's described as white, and our sun is typically described as yellow. Is it a different type of star?A: The yellowing of our sun is not actually caused...so our sun being yellow is not based on the star's actual color.Q: So is it bigger than our sun? Smaller? If there's anything you want to throw out there I'll take it.A: Okay...I'm having to reach into my memory. This is not canon. Younger and larger, I believe it is both. Younger and larger.Q: Do the moons relate to the highstorms at all?A: The moons...at all? Sure! You'll love this. The star's age, at Roshar--Earth astronomers would say that is a star which could not have planets with life on them orbiting it.Q: There are three planets in the system, are they all in the habitable zone? At least two of them must be …Q2(I think this was NutiketAiel?). When you say three, is it actually three in the solar system, or is it three-?A: There are three planets with sentient beings on them.Q: There are more than three planets in the solar system?A: There are. With non-sentient beings. There are three planets of importance. So I didn't give you very much, you already knew … here's something. You may have heard a reading from one of those planets today.Q: Ashyn. I knew that too!A: I have not revealed that though!Q2: Doesn't Shadows of Silence happen in there too?A: Threnody? No. Threnody is not one of the three.Q: On the back of the Szeth card, it's a gamepiece?A: Yeah, they just printed all of those random words there! Random collections of letters. It's really surprising that they would print all this on the back of the card and have it happen to turn out to spell out things like "Investiture," I can't believe that! I have no idea why that might've happened.NutiketAielQ: Were all the original sixteen Shardholders from Yolen?A: Yes.Q: You have a tendency to create books with theocracies that are legitimately ruled by the gods, and this seems to be missing. Is that a direction that the KR might be heading, or is something else going to happen?A: I'm gonna RAFO that one. There was a theocracy on Roshar at one point. There was also a mage-ocracy. A lot of things have existed on Roshar.RhandricQ: How many magic systems are there on Roshar?A: It depends on your definition. Is Windrunning its own magic system, or is it a division of a larger magic system? Are the ten different Surges each their own magic system, or are they all the same one?Q: If you assume the surges are all one.A: Well then you would have Surgebinding, and the Old Magic, those are two at least, and there are things that are not explained in those at all, and how do you count creating fabrials? Is that a science and not a magic? Is that its own magic system?Q2. It's a science, because anyone can do it.A: So Awakening is not a magic, then? Awakening's a science? Because anyone can Awaken if they get the breath.Q: That's something that stood out to me, because in all your other magic systems that we've seen so far there has to be some sort of snapping to occur, and that's unique, because- [...] Is there an active magic system on Threnody?A: Threnody has a non Shard-based...it depends on what you call a magic system. Do spirits coming back from the dead count as magic? It's science to them, but, it's goofy science.EHydeQ: I was wondering about the in-world text, the Way of Kings. It's older than those 4500 years, right?A: It was written by Nohadon (sneaky look).Q: Especially since Jasnah mentioned how all the texts have been corrupted or changed since then, especially the ones dealing with the Radiants, I was wondering if we would find out how the Way of Kings survived intact for so long, or if it actually did, or if it's--A: They do say that--well let's just say that some books exist in translation over the centuries with the primary text having been lost, or things like this.Q: But you're not going to say if the translation is guaranteed to be accurate.A: I am not going to say that.Q: Lift's spren refers to the Nightwatcher as Mother, right?A: They definitely call somebody Mother. The implication in the text is that it's the Nightwatcher.Q: So I'm just gonna run with that right now. Is Surgebinding in general a melding of Honor and Odium ala Feruchemy being in some senses being not directly of Ruin or Preservation?A: Honor and Cultivation is what you mean? Um, there are spren of all three shards. And those spren can work within the bounds of the magic that has already been set up on Roshar.Q: What shard are Cryptics associated with?A: RAFO.NutiketAielQ: If you could write something we don't already know about the Moon Sceptre?A: I run into problems with some of these things, because there's not much to say, but what there is to say can be very spoilery. (writes "RAFO! But it is not Mraize's stick")Q: When a Radiant is in the Cognitive Realm, does their mind exist individually, like separately from their body?A: No.Q: So you physically travel to the Cognitive Realm?A: You can kind of step in between both but you do not separate from your body.Q: So when Shallan is only partly in--she's in both at the same time?A: Yeah. She's transitioning. It's not astral projection. But no that's a legit question.Q: So Shallan, and Lightweavers, are capable of physically stepping into Shadesmar?A: RAFO. But the implication is yes.EHydeQ: I had a couple other questions about the Recreance that you're probably not going to answer. I was wondering if the Radiants were deliberately trying to put Shardblades in the hands of non-Radiants, since they left them all outside a military base.A: RAFO. Since I've answered so many questions, the RAFOs are going to start flying freely. I'm like, "Now, what is there left to write books about?" Chicagohttp://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/7058-words-of-radiance-tour-chicago-signing-mar-22/page-2#entry116818 ArgentQ: Can you talk about the technical details of the glyphs writing system in the Stormlight Archive?A: The glyphs were designed by Isaac Steward. He is my scribe, artist, and cartographer. He is also the art director at my company. We sat down and I wanted something symmetrical, so actually half of the glyph is repeated. When you read into it, it's symmetrical, and you can read them by the points where they slant, but you will have to go talk to him about exactly how to do it, because I say "I want a glyph for this" and he designs it. So they are readable and based on Arabic word art.Q: Where do you get the ideas for cultures and ecology in your books that are so different than the fantasy that you see?A: Roshar came from a mixture between the storm of Jupiter as an inspriation mixed with the idea of an ecology that grows in a world that gets hit by this massive hurricane every couple of days, How does life survive on a planet like that? Mixed with my own sort of cool cultural things that I wanted to do. All those note files on, "Hey, I want to do a cultire where the oldest person alive rules," "How do I make that work, what happens?" "Well, people are going to start assassinating people older than them," and, "Where does that go?" It's asking the ramifications.Q: Which character in the SA was hardest for you to write and why?A: Originally Jasnah being the most challenging because she has like 5 different things that are not me, she's very different from me. When I wrote the 2002 version, I knew she would be the hardest to write, and I spent months preparing, and lurking on atheist forums and finding out how people thought and talked and things like this, in order to get her right. THe nice thing is, I did all this work and she came out right from the get go. But it was a lot of up front work to make it work. Q: What's up with the Parshendi just admitting that they killed Gavilar?A: There are definitely questions to be asked.Q: What spren types are Glys, Ivory, and Wyndle?A: RAFO, because I haven't decided yet. I know generally what they are, but I don't know how I am going to call them in the books. It happens with other things in my writing, Shards for example - Odium was originally Hatred; the idea was the same, but I decided to change the actual word.Q: Is the number of the Unmade fixed?A: Yes.Q: Is it ten, is it ten, is it ten, is it ten, is it ten?A: Is it ten? No, it's not ten.Q: Is Hoid human?A: Hoid was human a long time ago. Now... it's complicated. We would call him human, and so will pretty much everyone else, but he is not exactly that. Brandon talked about something he called "Honor's purposes" or maybe "Honor's Purposes," and how they are the reason 10 is such a holy and dominant number - I assumed it meant Honor has (had) 10 of those Purposes. It was heavily implied in the conversation that Odium, if he has similar Purposes, does not have 10 of them.Q: Are the people from Dalinar's visions related? The people he has the vision through.A: No. It's not a Wheel of Time thing where you are going through generations.Q: If Nightblood is on Roshar, what happened to Vasher?A: Well, look really closely at this book.Q: In the last part of the book, Hoid is talking to some stuff, and says "If you think hard, this sentence is really clever." Are there any implications beyond this, or was that him just talking?A: Go compare to another sentence he used earlier in the book. He is making a pun off of the sentence he used before. It's not as clever as he thinks he is, it's kind of a bad pun.Q: Has Hoid been on Roshar before The Way of Kings?A: Yes.Q: Who would win in a fight, Kaladin or Kelsier.A: Kelsier would probably find him in his sleep and kill him then. So I'm going to say Kelsier because he would not fight fairly. Kaladin would try and find a fair fight.Q: Do you have a particular favorite Order of the KR?A: I would probably be a Bondsmith. Though becoming a Bondsmith is hard, I don't know if I'd make it.Q: Are all the surgebindings going to be as developed as the Windrunning is?A: I hope so. They are all in my head, so...Q: In regards to the one-armed Lopen - which arm is missing?A: I have always imagined it as his left, but I don't know if I ever said or canonized it.Q: Have we seen all four of the genders for the Parshendi?A: YesQ: So there are more than malen and femalen?A: Well male and female. In my original notes I was trying to decide what to call them but they eventually ended up with a male neuter and female neuter, then male and female. So yes, there are four genders. And if you can't tell, the malen and femalen are both asexual, completely.Q: Is Jasnah still alive at the end of the book, since the whole scene where she kind of appears...A: Yes, she is.Q: Why does she take so long to come back?A: Because Elsecalling is not precise even if you know exactly what you're doing, which she doesn't.Q: Are gemhearts, the gems in those chemically identical to mined stones?A: They are very similar. Not 100% chemically identical, they are far more pure for one thing. You would call them the same substance, but you would say "Wow, that is very pure! There are no impurities!" They may have flaws, but no impurities.Q: The spren that are of Odium, the ones in the storm - are there be more of those and will they pair directly as opposites for certain kinds...A: There are more of them. There is not an exact one-to-one correlation.Q: I assume there will be ten opposite orders to the KR?A: RAFO. That's a big ol' RAFO.Q: Is it possible for a Parshendi to become a KR?A: In the past, no. Let's say this, in-world everybody would tell you no.Q: For Words of Radiance, could you put a comment about something in the upcoming books, nothing specific, just something I can think about? Something like "Renarin has a spren" you wrote for somebody else in The Way of Kings?A: [brandon wrote]"Stormlight makes plants grow."Q: Will the main characters from books 1-5 also show up [in 6-10]?A: Yes, they will be about as prevalent, maybe even a little more as the ones that are for 6-10 are [for 1-5]. The ones who survive at least.Q: With Kaladin's arm hit by the Shardblade, was that in any way a nod to Rand losing his arm?A: Not intentionally, sorry!Q: Is Nightblood going to be able to eat Stormlight?A: Nightblood will drain any Investiture, so yes.Q: I noticed Nazh's name at the bottom of the illustrations a lot - is that a character that's going to come in in the future?A: He's already appeared in the books. Very very cameo-ish tangential thing so you have to be really looking to spot him.Q: Books, plural?A: He wasn't in The Way of Kings, no. Not on screen, I don't think.Q: The gemstone Gavilar gives to Szeth, is that the gemstone that's spoke of in the epigraphs?A: RAFO.Q: If Adonalsium shattered with intent, would he always shatter to the same shards?A: It is plausible that he could have gone a different way.Q: So it could've been different Shards?A: Yes, that's plausible.Q: The PoV's for the prologues, will we ever see one from Gavilar's point of view?A: That's a big ol' RAFO. Because I want it to be surprising to see who you get in each book.Q: Have we seen a character who is a part of multiple organizations, for example the Ghostbloods and the Sons of Honor?A: Yes you have. I've a big cop-out there, because you of know who is in the Ghostbloods and the Lightweavers. You give me opportunities, and I will answer truthfully.Q: Will Jasnah be one of the characters that gets her own book?A: She will be.Q: Comments about how awesome Lopen is.A: Lopen is a very special dude. I planned, and I don't know if I'll get to it, but I planned an in-between books short story called King Lopen the First, King of Alethkar. And I am hoping I'll get a chance to write that and stick it somewhere for you guys. Because if you see in the end, he is claiming he was king for a while. You will find out why.Q: Elhokar's assassination attempt, the drained spheres from his Plate - was that him draining them, Surgebinding?A: That's a RAFO. Good question. Let me say this. Drawing the Stormlight from an active set of Shardsplate is very difficult to do.Q: Why can Stormlight heal Lopen's arm, but can't heal Kaladin's scars?A: Because a lot of the healing in the cosmere works on principles of expectation and how you envision yourself.Q: So Kaladin has accepted the scars.A: Kaladin has accepted the scars, so Lopen never accepted the one arm. It's one of these ties when I built the magic systems that I wanted certain threads to run through them, so when I eventually have them being used in the same books, that there will be consistency among them, so they won't feel like everything's just thrown together. So, for instance, the intention and expectation, for instance, in Warbreaker. What you want to have happen, influences what does happen; the expectation, the way you are thinking about things, all that influences what actually happens. Very important for most of the cosmere magics.Q: Also, did you always plan for the cosmere to be a dwarf galaxy?A: "Always" is hard to say with the cosmere. Once I sat down and decided "okay, I need to build this universe and things," that's when I nailed a lot of this down. And that was all during the later stages of the cosmere development.Q: In Shadesmar you describe the beads, they are like little beads, this big, BB size...A: They are bigger than BB size.Q: Okay, and everything melts into beads. But when people pick them up, do they form into the thing they are supposed to be, or does one bead represents the stick, and...A: One bead represents the item that is seen and views itself as a cohesive thing.Q: Does a picture of it appear inside the bead, or...?A: We will get more into this as time progresses.Q: The prevailing theory on the 17th Shard is that Hoid worldhops using Shadesmar. I was wondering if you were willing to confirm or deny that?A: Hoid has indeed gotten between worlds before through Shadesmar.Q: And would you be willing to give us a hint as to how he does that?A: There are hints in the books. There is a hint in the very first cosmere book I released. [that would be Elantris] Which I thought was a huge hint, but so far I haven't seen anyone talking about it. I thought for sure once people started figuring the cosmere, they would see the massive in-your-face hint I put in that book, but so far, as far as I know, no one has. Now, the one [hint] about the map, that one I don't think is obvious. I know people have been trying to figure it out. It's going to be fun once you figure it out, but it's not something huge and obvious. The Elantris once was, like, enormously "HIIINT!"Q: If you were to use Allomancy to fly faster than light, would it be like the Navigators in Dune, where you pick out the best possible route through the stars?A: No, good question though! That's not quite the way. I haven't really given you the tools to figure it out, because I feel that the tools to figure it out, I couldn't give to the characters early enough. I wanted it to progress with the technological development, so the hints are only really brief in the story. You will not see a lot of this until the contemporary trilogy, where they are starting to figure out the technology for how this might plausibly work in the future. Q: Can you tell us which Shard is with [The Silence Divine]?A: This is a world that does not currently have a Shard.Q: Is there a limit to how many Shardblades you can have, be bonded to?A: Theoretically, not really. There are some things that can bound that. I can imagine people have a lot. In the original draft of The Way of Kings (2002) Amaram had two. And so, it's definitely possible to have multiples, and I had not thought of someone trying to bond every Shardblade.Q: So that means you can be bonded to more than one spren?A: Well, those Shardblades are...Q: Dead ones.A: Yes. So, can you be bonded to more than one spren? The question's answer is also yes. Potentially. But there is a much harder limit on that.Q: Is it possible to become a Sliver if you burn enough atium?A: I don't think so.Q: Is there a way to tell between different Investitures?A: [brandon misunderstood the question a little in the beginning - he thought the question was "can every Shard's magic detect other Investitures?"] Most of the magics have built into them that ability, but I wouldn't say that everyone does. I am trying to remember if all of them have... A lot of them have a power that would allow you to do that, but I don't know if every one of them does.Q: [Clarification]A: If you were really good at burning bronze, you could use bronze to distinguish between different types of Investiture from different planets even. And that sort of skill does exist in other magic systems.Q: Is it like a wavelength kind of thing?A: Yeah, that's exactly what it is.Q: Since Hoid is the Horneater god, are there, or at least implied, would other Shards...A: Hoid is not a Shard.Q: Or other Shards that are related to Hoid, since he's in the same time period. Would they also be Horneater gods?A: I think that the Horneaters might interpret things very differently from their reality, as they are viewing certain things...Q: So would they originally be from Roshar, or would they have travelled from somewhere else?A: That's a RAFO, it depends on the person. Hoid is not originally from Roshar.Q: The Nahel bond, what determines whether you get a Cryptic or an honorspren?A: The spren themselves.Q: So it doesn't have anything to do with the Orders of the KR?A: Um, you have to attract the spren, the same way you attract emotionspren, you have to attract the right spren for the Order. Edited March 27, 2014 by RShara 75 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 This could be very useful with all those threads popping left and right... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muco Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 Kaladin name means 'herald'! Is that a big hint BS just gave out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricree Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 No. Kalak is the name of a herald (the POV at the start of WoK). Kaladin's name comes from his, in the sense that a Catholic might name their child after a saint. Shallan, likewise, is named after Shalash. The name might still be relevant, but it's just as likely to be a part of worldbuilding the culture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricree Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 This could be very useful with all those threads popping left and right... The quote about Zahel wasn't unexpected, but it was still a matter of some debate. Nice to have it cleared up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOneKEA Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 I find it very important that Brandon specifically said "Rayse is terrified of Sazed's" instead of "Odium is terrified of Harmony". That suggests several interesting points about the relationship between the cognitive and spiritual aspects of a Shard. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurkistan Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 If you're serious about this, here's a dump of all the links I've collected since WoR's release. There might be some repeats to yours: http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6584-seattle-signing-orders-and-surges-confirmed-d/ http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6421-the-nature-of-the-spiritual-realm/ http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6485-is-kals-swordmaster%E2%80%A6-spoilers/#entry105474 http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6439-audio-from-the-san-diego-signing/ http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6512-new-shard/#entry105888 http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6439-audio-from-the-san-diego-signing/#entry105148 http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6523-hoid-drinking-at-the-fair-cosmere-implications/#entry106083 http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/5853-san-francisco-wor-signing/page-3#entry106161 http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/5853-san-francisco-wor-signing/page-3#entry106200 http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6497-word-of-brandon-from-huntington-beach-signing/#entry106950 http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6584-seattle-signing-orders-and-surges-confirmed-d/?p=107466 http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6583-adolin-shardblades-skybreakers-wob-seattle-new-info-wor-spoilers-elantris-spoliers/ http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6587-san-francisco-signing-audio/#entry107484 http://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/6579-seattle-signing-report/#entry107626 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RShara Posted March 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 Okay getting to work on those ones. Thanks! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RShara Posted March 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 The site regularly timing out on me is NOT helping lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterAhlstrom Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 (edited) Isn't this what the Theoryland database is for? Who has editing access on that currently? Edited March 9, 2014 by PeterAhlstrom 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windrunner Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 Me, Eric, Joe, and Weiry. We're working on getting them in there. It is mostly Weiry right now though. Thing have gotten busy for me lately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galavantes Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 I'd do it. All I do at work all day is documentation anyway. Alas I'm not one of the inner circle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RShara Posted March 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2014 Feel free to copy and paste from my post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naranth Posted March 10, 2014 Report Share Posted March 10, 2014 Couple of questions I heard asked that we'll probably like: Q: When will Hoid's books come out?A: Well, there's the Dragonsteel series which is [kind of] the prequel, and then he's a main character in the final Mistborn trilogy. Q: What are Hoid's plans for his Lerasium bead? A: {Smiled and pulled out a RAFO} There are a couple more that I can't remember exactly that I'll edit in once I talk to my buddy who asked. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted March 11, 2014 Report Share Posted March 11, 2014 Really? You thought he would answer the question about the lerasium bead? You funny you. But it's pretty cool that he'll be in the Mistborn Sci-Fi. Kind of makes sense, with them traveling all over the cosmere, but cool nonetheless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Releaser Posted March 11, 2014 Report Share Posted March 11, 2014 Really? You thought he would answer the question about the lerasium bead? You funny you. But it's pretty cool that he'll be in the Mistborn Sci-Fi. Kind of makes sense, with them traveling all over the cosmere, but cool nonetheless. The way he's talking about Mistborn 3, it sounds like its going to be a Star Trek SciFi book, where they gather up all the invested folk who can use the powers of their shard from the various planets, and bring them to a big war or something awesome like that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asperity Posted March 11, 2014 Report Share Posted March 11, 2014 I think it might be helpful to have a list of revealed info solely about WoR, at least for a little while since the book just released and has Invested the obvious stimulation. Anyhow, I wonder if Mistborn 3 will be the Cosmere finale. While I'm sure Dragonsteel will have current events, it'll probably be more of a prequel since it's designated as a prequel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marianmi Posted March 11, 2014 Report Share Posted March 11, 2014 Q: How about one of the surges?A: I am RAFO'ing the truthwatchers entirely. Interesting.... Shardblades, however, come from a spren bond and it is possible to bond more than one. So, plates are a second spren... Level 5 knights are more powerful because they bonded more than one spren Interesting. Another theory... what are the chances that acting towards dead spren as if they were alive, and ... believing in them ... would be the thing to actually making them alive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RShara Posted March 11, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2014 Okay I think that I got all of the signing quotes in. Let me know if you spot more, or if I missed any! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asperity Posted March 11, 2014 Report Share Posted March 11, 2014 Also we know that Braize is the world referred to as Damnation. It's in WoR but I 1) haven't seen it mentioned in this forum from the threads I've read and 2) didn't want to remake another thread as I had already made one in the Cosmere board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marianmi Posted March 11, 2014 Report Share Posted March 11, 2014 Q: As to the Innate Investiture on Roshar, which Shard is it from A: RAFO Stormfather refers to both Kaladin and Dalinar as "child of Tanavast", so it's pretty clear what shard ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galavantes Posted March 11, 2014 Report Share Posted March 11, 2014 Also we know that Braize is the world referred to as Damnation. It's in WoR but I 1) haven't seen it mentioned in this forum from the threads I've read and 2) didn't want to remake another thread as I had already made one in the Cosmere board. How do we know this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asperity Posted March 11, 2014 Report Share Posted March 11, 2014 How do we know this? Mentioned in one of the early/mid-ish Kaladin chapters. Paraphrasing but "Damnation, called Braize in the old songs". 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gravytrain Posted March 11, 2014 Report Share Posted March 11, 2014 Darkness. Wind from the depths of nothingness, battering him. He felt as if he were standing above the void itself, Damnation, known as Braize in the old songs. Home to demons and monsters.Sanderson, Brandon (2014-03-04). Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archive, The) (p. 370). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shards of Mist Posted March 11, 2014 Report Share Posted March 11, 2014 Q: How do you pick names? A: It really varies based on the book. I'm often picking a linguistic paradigm. Alethi - there are two separate paradigms because I like linguistics to be messy. Usually based on symmetry being holy, so they'd pick names one letter off from symmetrical to avoid hubris. Also suffix - like Kaladin is Kalak (herald) + din which is a suffix, all of them mean things, like the old Hebrew names have "born of" or "comes through". Stick that on and drop the last letter. Dalinar, Elhokar, all of those have suffixes - nar, kar. In Mistborn, I didn't want linguistics to be your focus, for in that I picked a simpler naming paradigm - I lifted linguistics from the real world. Central Dominance is French. The Germanic area, we have Elend and Straff, and then we hav eSpanish on the other area. I just kind of took Earth cultures and appropriated them. That's an easier way to do it, because Mistborn is kind of an earth analogue. But Roshar is very different. Mistborn I didn't want you to think of the difference, which is why I gave everyone nicknames that are easy to say. So, this is an interesting topic to me. The names on Roshar are steeped in meaning. He compares suffixes of names to Old Hebrew with "son of" or "comes through". Shallan therefore would theoretically mean "daughter of" or "comes of" Shalash, her namesake. Makes a ton of sense since Shallan is a lightweaver and Shalash was the Herald of the Lightweavers. How does this work with Kaladin though? His name would theoretically mean "son of" Kalak. But, Kaladin is a Windrunner. The order of Jezrien. Interesting..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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