Khriss' age

[+King of Herdaz he/him]

How old is Khriss during all of the books? And do worldhoppers age slower or something, because she is in secret history, era 2, stormlight, and of course white sand which must have come first. My guess is at least 230 years old during Stormlight.

[RShara she/her]

White Sand, Khriss's origin story, is the earliest cosmere story, I believe, so Khriss, by the time of SA, is probably around 1000-2000 objective years old. However, people seem to have figured out a way to cause and use some sort of time dilation in the Cognitive Realm, and a lot of world hoppers seem able to take advantage of that. So subjectively, she's still within a human-normal lifespan.

Though it's not out of the question for her to have acquired enough Breaths for immortality at some point in the last few hundred years.

[Karger he/him]

Their are ways of gaining immortality that a scholar of Kriss's level would know about and could access.  As far as we know though she is just using CR time dilation the way many 17th shard members do.

[Elegy he/him]

Considering that she knows more about the cosmere than all of those Shards and whatnot that have been around for thousands of years, I don't think she's 40 some years old. She might not have gone through all the 1000+ cosmere standard years she's been around, but her lifespan is most probably magically enhanced.

The biggest question mark regarding chronology remains the time between White Sand and Elantris. There's been "hundreds but not thousands of years" between Elantris and Mistborn, and 300+ years between Mistborn and Stormlight. Khriss 1000 years, maybe some more, seem like a good call as her age.

Edited June 25, 2019 by Elegy

[CrazyRioter she/her]

I don't think Khriss knows more than the Shards do (except Harmony but he's new), she may know about specific areas of study then the Shards do, but I'm sure they have more general knowledge due to having more ways to gather information.

[Elegy he/him]

She is more knowledgable about the cosmere:

Quote

Questioner (paraphrased)

Is Hoid the most knowledgeable about what's going on in the cosmere?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

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.

Words of Radiance Houston signing (March 11, 2014)

He also clarified it later on:

Quote

ChocolateRob

There’s a character again that you've talked about in other signings-- That character has more information than Hoid about the cosmere. How does she have more information than Hoid?

Brandon Sanderson

Well, she is a very detail oriented person and takes the time to research very deeply into things. Where Hoid will often research enough as he needs to know to sound really smart and get what he wants. It is a matter of depth, if that makes sense.

ChocolateRob

Have we seen her?

Brandon Sanderson

Uhh, I don't know if you've seen her or not. I'm sure I slipped her in somewhere but I'm not sure... I think I may have, but I can't guarantee it.

Footnote: The character in question is Khriss, who at this point had not yet appeared in a published work.
Manchester signing (Aug. 6, 2014)

So I don't know how else to interpret that, as weird as it sounds.

[Karger he/him]

5 hours ago, Elegy said:

She is more knowledgable about the cosmere:

Depends what you mean about knowledgeable doesn't it?  A shard's mind is expanded and able to retain and analyze information from many magical sources much faster then any human.  Kriss may have done the reading but a shard can make educated guesses that come close about a verity of topics that Kriss has no knowledge of.  I do not think that Kriss knows more about Rosharan history then say Cultivation.  I think generally Brandon just meant magical and physical knowledge not necessarily historical or sociological.

[Elegy he/him]

2 minutes ago, Karger said:

Depends what you mean about knowledgeable doesn't it?  A shard's mind is expanded and able to retain and analyze information from many magical sources much faster then any human.  Kriss may have done the reading but a shard can make educated guesses that come close about a verity of topics that Kriss has no knowledge of.  I do not think that Kriss knows more about Rosharan history then say Cultivation.  I think generally Brandon just meant magical and physical knowledge not necessarily historical or sociological.

Khriss obviously doesn't know more about everything, just that the things she knows amount to more than anyone else. Like Brandon explained in the quote above, she's interested in the details. While she's certainly not as knowledgable about Rosharan history as Cultivation, she certainly knows more about Scadrian history than Cultivation, so it adds up.

That said, the question in the WOB I quoted admittedly related to specifically "knowledgable about what's going on in the cosmere", which is kind of a restriction, but since all the topics in the cosmere are connected, I think knowing things about the cosmere in general and knowing what's going on in the cosmere are most probably very closely tied together, if not a requirement for each other.

And even then, the original argument of her probably being unusually old due to her being 'at least the most knowledgable about what's going on in the cosmere' still stands.

[Karger he/him]

11 minutes ago, Elegy said:

Khriss obviously doesn't know more about everything, just that the things she knows amount to more than anyone else. Like Brandon explained in the quote above, she's interested in the details. While she's certainly not as knowledgable about Rosharan history as Cultivation, she certainly knows more about Scadrian history than Cultivation, so it adds up.

Exactly.

[+Child of Hodor]

19 hours ago, RShara said:

White Sand, Khriss's origin story, is the earliest cosmere story, I believe, so Khriss, by the time of SA, is probably around 1000-2000 objective years old. However, people seem to have figured out a way to cause and use some sort of time dilation in the Cognitive Realm, and a lot of world hoppers seem able to take advantage of that. So subjectively, she's still within a human-normal lifespan.

Though it's not out of the question for her to have acquired enough Breaths for immortality at some point in the last few hundred years.

That's a good point, Hoid uses some sort of time-dilation / hypersleep / stasis so that he doesn't experience all the time that has passed since his birth, in addition to being immortal.

I would think she also has made herself ageless or slowed her aging, because she undoubtedly knows various ways to accomplish it using the magic systems that she's studied extensively.  

Brandon seems to indicate worldhoppers like Khriss are using a combo of the above: 

Quote

Iceblade44

So White Sand [than Elantris] is earlier... Then how the heck old is Kriss then? Will we ever get an answer as to why every worldhopper is flipin immortal?

Brandon Sanderson

There is some time-dialation going on. I'll explain it eventually; we're almost to the point where I can start talking about that. Suffice it to say that there's a mix of both actual slowing of the aging process and relative time going on, depending on the individual. Very few are actually immortal.

...

Stormlight Three Update #5 (Nov. 29, 2016)

Besides, why wouldn't she partake in immortality? The only way she can chronicle all everything she wants to is if she sticks around to study it all, time-dilation can only do so much, she might get stuck on a planet for a long time due to unforeseen circumstances. 

Hoid has some special ability to understand exactly where he needs to be (although sometimes it fails him) Khriss may not have that or access to Fortune, whatever that involves. 

Quote

Paladin Brewer (paraphrased)

Why did Hoid not take both beads of lerasium?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Hoid has an innate ability to know where he needs to be and what he needs to do. Calamity San Antonio signing (Feb. 26, 2016)

 

Edited June 26, 2019 by Child of Hodor
Spacing

[Scion of the Mists]

7 hours ago, Elegy said:

So I don't know how else to interpret that, as weird as it sounds.

Both of those WoBs refer only to living beings.  The Shards are in a different category.  It's perfectly normal to not refer to gods when asked "who's the most X in the universe?"  

There's no way that the non-Shards know more than the Shards (excluding just-born Harmony).  

[Elegy he/him]

10 minutes ago, Scion of the Mists said:

Both of those WoBs refer only to living beings.  The Shards are in a different category.  It's perfectly normal to not refer to gods when asked "who's the most X in the universe?"  

There's no way that the non-Shards know more than the Shards (excluding just-born Harmony).  

It is not normal to refer to gods when asked anything because we don't have them floating around. The Shards are still persons and I don't see that restriction you mentioned in the WOBs. It's a possibility, but to straight out say that he refered to non-Shards as if that was obvious is wrong.

[Karger he/him]

32 minutes ago, Elegy said:

It is not normal to refer to gods when asked anything because we don't have them floating around. The Shards are still persons and I don't see that restriction you mentioned in the WOBs. It's a possibility, but to straight out say that he refered to non-Shards as if that was obvious is wrong.

I am going with mists on this one.  Considering that a shard can gain information on basically anything just by thinking about it I am going to say that they are the most knowledgeable beings in the cosmere and should not be considered when asking questions about human capability.

Edited June 26, 2019 by Karger

[Elegy he/him]

7 minutes ago, Karger said:

I am going with mists on this one.  Considering that a shard can gain information on basically anything just by thinking about it I am going to say that they are the most knowledgeable beings in the cosmere.

I'm not saying I don't believe that at all. It's just factually wrong to say that Brandon was clear on this, which was my point. Besides, I think we have gone a bit too far abroad. The question whether or not Khriss knows more than this or that deity is not exactly relevant to this thread's main topic, nor is it relevant for my answer in my first post. Khriss might or might not know more or less than a Shard. She still knows more than at least almost everyone else, we have that clarified and we can draw conclusions from that. Almost the entirety of this thread is already a discussion about technicalities that, in the end, don't really matter for the thread's topic.

Edited June 26, 2019 by Elegy

[Scion of the Mists]

1 hour ago, Elegy said:

It is not normal to refer to gods when asked anything because we don't have them floating around. The Shards are still persons and I don't see that restriction you mentioned in the WOBs. It's a possibility, but to straight out say that he refered to non-Shards as if that was obvious is wrong.

What I meant was Brandon only mentioned Hoid, Khriss, and Nazh.  He didn't refer to any of the Shards.  

Also, I would dispute the classification of Shards (Vessels) as people, but that's getting pretty off topic, so I won't go into it.  

 

1 hour ago, Elegy said:

I'm not saying I don't believe that at all. It's just factually wrong to say that Brandon was clear on this, which was my point. Besides, I think we have gone a bit too far abroad. The question whether or not Khriss knows more than this or that deity is not exactly relevant to this thread's main topic, nor is it relevant for my answer in my first post. Khriss might or might not know more or less than a Shard. She still knows more than at least almost everyone else, we have that clarified and we can draw conclusions from that. Almost the entirety of this thread is already a discussion about technicalities that, in the end, don't really matter for the thread's topic.

Welcome to the Shard!

[Elegy he/him]

9 minutes ago, Scion of the Mists said:

What I meant was Brandon only mentioned Hoid, Khriss, and Nazh.  He didn't refer to any of the Shards.  

I see where you're coming from, but the question doesn't imply any restrictions, so why would Brandon's answer. They clearly talk about it on an 'of them all' level. If that includes the Shards is, like I said, disputable. It's not clear that it doesn't though.

[Scion of the Mists]

38 minutes ago, Elegy said:

I see where you're coming from, but the question doesn't imply any restrictions, so why would Brandon's answer. They clearly talk about it on an 'of them all' level. If that includes the Shards is, like I said, disputable. It's not clear that it doesn't though.

I think it's pretty clear, once you factor in our knowledge of what happens during Ascension and the sheer magnitude and scope of the Shards.  

Plus, it's pretty common, to exclude Shards when answering questions, as they would automatically win almost all "who is the most [something] in the cosmere?".  For example, if a hypothetical WoB went like this:

Quote

Questioner

Is Hoid the most powerful in the Cosmere?  

Brandon Sanderson

No, Nightblood has him beat by a long shot.  The Lord Ruler and Susebron may also give him a run for his money.  

Questioner

How can a sword be more powerful than Hoid?  

Brandon Sanderson

Nightblood absorbs some Investiture each time he destroys something, so at this point he has way, way more raw Investiture than anything else.  Hoid's more of a Jack of all trades - he has collected various types of Investiture from across the cosmere.  

Nobody would be confused about whether or not Brandon was considering the Shards.