Why is MBE4 the end of the Cosmere story?

[Szmit]

@Ixthos

Questioner

Concerning everything on Roshar, is it safe to say The Stormlight Archive will become the backbone series of the story of the cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson

There are three backbone series: Dragonsteel, Mistborn, and The Stormlight Archive. And Mistborn is past, present, future, Stormlight is the center, and Dragonsteel is the beginning. So really it goes: Dragonsteel, Mistborn, Stormlight, Mistborn, Stormlight, Mistborn is basically how this backbone sequence goes.

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[Ixthos Luke/Luke]

1 hour ago, Szmit said:

@Ixthos

Questioner

Concerning everything on Roshar, is it safe to say The Stormlight Archive will become the backbone series of the story of the cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson

There are three backbone series: Dragonsteel, Mistborn, and The Stormlight Archive. And Mistborn is past, present, future, Stormlight is the center, and Dragonsteel is the beginning. So really it goes: Dragonsteel, Mistborn, Stormlight, Mistborn, Stormlight, Mistborn is basically how this backbone sequence goes.

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I'll see your post and r- ... actually, I don't play poker, so ...

 

Core books are Dragonsteel, Mistborn, Stormlight Archive, and Elantris

[Slimy_Slider]

On 9/7/2018 at 5:33 AM, Weltall said:

The kandra are a bit more questionable since they're very long-lived but Brandon has confirmed that they're do have a limit on their lifespan. Depending on what the upper limit is and how much time is going to pass before the final era, it may or many not be possible for someone like MeLaan to live that long.

I asked Brandon about Kandra lifespans in the Read for Pixels livestream the other week. His answer was that Kandra not only have a lifespan, but we've seen an example of ageing in the First Generation. Assuming that living a sedentary lifestyle may have made them a little less healthy, that's a sign of age-related degradation at about 1000 years. I mention the sedentary thing because TenSoon, ReLuur and Paalm were all of the third generation so come the time of Era 2, they would have been equivalent ages, yet they don't show anything similar to the First. So depending on how much time it takes to get to Era 4, that could potentially mean a loss of most, if not all of the current Kandra. Unless Harmony interferes to make more of course.

[Spoolofwhool]

1 hour ago, Slimy_Slider said:

I asked Brandon about Kandra lifespans in the Read for Pixels livestream the other week. His answer was that Kandra not only have a lifespan, but we've seen an example of ageing in the First Generation. Assuming that living a sedentary lifestyle may have made them a little less healthy, that's a sign of age-related degradation at about 1000 years. I mention the sedentary thing because TenSoon, ReLuur and Paalm were all of the third generation so come the time of Era 2, they would have been equivalent ages, yet they don't show anything similar to the First. So depending on how much time it takes to get to Era 4, that could potentially mean a loss of most, if not all of the current Kandra. Unless Harmony interferes to make more of course.

I was under the impression that the weirdness of the First Generation was more due to them being originally human, not having been born mistwraiths and possessing the natural instincts that kandra have. That WoB is a bit funny in that regard, but it could be saying that they just showed the effects of age earlier than when kandra would normally show them, but that's how the effects will manifest eventually.

[Calderis he/him]

We also don't know what the relative age of the first generation was when they were created, compared to a born mistwraith. 

When the first generation were remade, were they the equivalent of a Kandra their ages? 100 years? 1000?

[Draginon he/him]

It also makes you wonder what an old Kandra would be like. Would they physically look the same in their natural state or would it be more them taking longer/finding it harder to shapeshift? The only way we can know for sure is if TenSoon shows up in the later Eras since he's our best reference.

[Weltall]

22 hours ago, Slimy_Slider said:

I asked Brandon about Kandra lifespans in the Read for Pixels livestream the other week.

Ahh, then that one was yours, nice one. Yeah, I saw it while perusing Arcanum and it's the quote I was thinking of.

[Slimy_Slider]

Yeah, it was pretty cool to have one of my questions get answered. I did post about 5 or 6 and the kandra one was probably the least exciting one, but still good, especially considering the fact that I'm not likely to get to go to most Q&A/Signing events.

[Ripheus23]

On 9/2/2018 at 2:14 PM, Calderis said:

What happens when science and education progress to a point that the average person in the Cosmere is aware of the Cosmere itself? When the space between planets is thought of, and the world's are thought of in relation to each other? 

I don't think that any of that would be close to its actual size... But I also think it's going to prevent people from crossing "light years in a step." 

Now we've got a WoB about this topic:

Quote

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

In the Cosmere, as space becomes more developed...*inaudible* outer space.

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

It's an interesting question that I've had to ponder. Would the space race happen more slowly because there's an alternative, or would it happen more quickly because you know other planets are inhabited. I'm not going to answer what I came up with, because it's a plot point in the books. So I'll give you a RAFO card, but that's the question to ask yourself.

Questioner [PENDING REVIEW]

That wasn't my question! My question was, in the Cognitive Realm, with the gap between planets...

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

Oh! Will the gap between planets get larger as more people travel in between it. So, barring things like space stations, there's going to be so few minds in between, that I don't expect space to become larger because of that.

I don't expect it to be a factor, except--barring--there will be possibilities of certain regions popping up.

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[Solant he/him]

6 hours ago, Ripheus23 said:

Brandon Sanderson [PENDING REVIEW]

It's an interesting question that I've had to ponder. Would the space race happen more slowly because there's an alternative, or would it happen more quickly because you know other planets are inhabited. I'm not going to answer what I came up with, because it's a plot point in the books. So I'll give you a RAFO card, but that's the question to ask yourself.

One thing to consider is that space travel offers alternative methods of reaching places previously seen as difficult to reach for the average worldhopper, not to mention ease of shipping goods to other planets vs world hopping (traveling the CR on foot or by ship, whatever the case may be. We know that Scadrial had existing trade routes as early as Era 1).

As for the original question as to why the final trilogy in the over arching Cosmere sequence would be considered Mistborn books, even though it is a space opera. It's probably mostly due to the fact that even though we can safely assume we will see technological advancements across the board with the Cosmere by this point, thematically the progression of society from TLR era up through space travel was always meant to be at the core of the greater Mistborn books. I wouldn't be surprised if we were dealing with an almost entirely different cast by that point in the story, with the exception of Hoid. I'm sure we will have full on Cosmere crossover story wise, but most of the familiar names we will see will likely be strictly for nostalgia value (look how much of that we got with Era 2, and that was only a couple hundred years after Era 1!).

It's so hard to speculate, seeing how far down the road that will be.