The difference between the Cosmere and other worlds

[Bluest she/her]

OK, so I may not be the most observant person, but I just can't see the difference between the Cosmere and worlds like the one in the Reckoners or Alcatraz. Is it just that those two are alternate versions of Earth, or is it something deeper? Please reply with minimal spoilers. I know they're allowed, but I haven't gotten around to reading ALL of Brandon's books, okay. Sue me, but I read other things.

[Weltall]

You may have noticed that no Cosmere work takes place on Earth. This is because Earth does not exist in the Cosmere, the entire story takes place in a star cluster (Brandon's previously used the term 'dwarf galaxy') and humanity in this setting originated on a world called Yolen. Realmatics and Investiture are underpinnings of the Cosmere that do not apply to Brandon's other works.

Basically, trying to include Earth in the Cosmere (even an alternate universe Earth very different from ours) added far too much baggage so Brandon didn't want them to co-exist.

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ConserveGuy

Hi Brandon I don't know if you will answer, but. Did "earth" ever exist in the cosmere? There seems to be humans on all the planets. so where did humans come from? or even the idea of humans?

Brandon Sanderson

Earth did not exist in the cosmere. Humans existed on Yolen (and other planets) before the shattering of Adonalsium, and it is assumed Adonalsium created them.

From a writing perspective, stepping back, I feel like other book series (like the Wheel of Time, Pern, Shannara) really covered the idea of, "This is Earth and/or earth people in another dimension/after an apocalypse/or far in the future." It's been a common enough theme in fantasy that I felt I wanted not to touch on it. So there are no plans to connect the cosmere to Earth in any way.

/r/fantasy AMA 2017 (May 30, 2017)

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Brandon Sanderson
Uh, Rithmatist started in the Cosmere. The magic shares a lot of its roots, then, in Cosmere magic worldbuilding. I split if off because I wrote the whole first book with it being in the Cosmere. I split it off, saying “No, I don’t want Earth to be in the Cosmere.” Even an alternate version of Earth. It just raises too many questions about the nature of Earth being involved in this. I want the Cosmere to be its own dwarf galaxy of which not even a dimension of Earth is involved. And when I made that decision, I broke Rithmatist off. Boskone 54 (Feb. 18, 2017)

There are some of Brandon's non-Cosmere works that occupy shared universes (or shared multiverses) but none of them relate to the Cosmere. For example, Reckoners and the planned but currently on hiatus Apocalypse Guard take place within the same multiverse.

Edited March 5, 2019 by Weltall

[Bluest she/her]

Thanks