STAG Posted May 31, 2021 Report Share Posted May 31, 2021 So, I hope people don’t hate me for this but there are obvious connections between the knights radiant and the LDS priesthood. Brandon is a member of the LDS church as well, so is that connection known? Thoughts? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinkoln he/him Posted May 31, 2021 Report Share Posted May 31, 2021 Could you explain the connections you found? I am really tired and don’t have the ill power to think about it much. Yes, I there are very likely connections. Many things have been found to have some kind of correlation between his books and the LDS church 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STAG Posted May 31, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2021 I don’t want to over simplify, but the idea that you have a bond with a spirit, and you make oaths that you have to keep to receive its power is almost exactly the priesthood. I wouldn’t think anything of it if he wasn’t a member, but the connection is really cool. What are some other correlations in his writing? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frustration he/him Posted June 1, 2021 Report Share Posted June 1, 2021 Following of Oaths(Covenents) or lose power. Separation of power(Stormlight) and Authority(Oaths) ETC Yeah, I've noticed 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STAG Posted June 1, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2021 Any connections like that in other books? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honorless he/him Posted June 1, 2021 Report Share Posted June 1, 2021 Yes, there's parallels in Mistborn as well Spoiler 1) The idea of Ascending to become the next god 2) metal plates containing gospel I'm sure there's others, but I've forgotten what they were. There are many older topics on this though, just Google Search LDS or Mormon + Mistborn. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirFlapFla Posted June 2, 2021 Report Share Posted June 2, 2021 The fact that odium takes guilt is very similar to be tempted by Satan in our religion(I am LDS) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
earthexile Posted June 8, 2021 Report Share Posted June 8, 2021 One of the more arcane concepts in Mormonism is Exaltation, which teaches that Gods are former human beings and that humans can become Gods and rule their own worlds. And what is the Cosmere but a universe ruled by a pack of Gods that used to be mortals? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danex he/him Posted June 8, 2021 Report Share Posted June 8, 2021 Sorry to burst your bubble, but the connection isn’t intentional. Quote Caderade24 I was wondering in which ways has the LDS religion/theology influenced your writing? I mean, aside from trying to keep your books relatively clean and accessible. For example, it seems like the oaths of the Knights Radiant have some similarity to LDS covenants. Brandon Sanderson I don't think being LDS can help but influence my writing, though I personally follow Tolkien's philosophy: I stay away from specific allegory. I just try to write the best story I can, staying true to what the characters believe (or don't believe.) So while I don't doubt that people can find parallels, I leave that for readers to theorize about. Most are not intentional, but that doesn't mean they aren't real. /r/fantasy AMA 2017 (March 14, 2017) and here’s another. Quote LupusAstaris Is there any specific instance where you hid something in one of your books that only other Mormons would recognize? Brandon Sanderson No, I don't really do this that much. Because my heritage and my faith are both LDS, there are certain things that other people have come to me and said, "Hey, was this influenced by your religion?" I'm like, "Ha, yeah, probably was." But I didn't sit down and hide things in there. Most of those are, people notice it and come to me and I'm like "Yeah, that probably did come from that." I'm sure there are some things. YouTube Livestream 3 (Jan. 25, 2020) aaaaaand another. Quote Questioner I was wondering in what books, particularly Mistborn, is the conscious decision when you put in little snippets of LDS lore in there, like plates, metal plates-- Brandon Sanderson You know most of it is unconscious. Once in a while something intentional slips in that I’m like "Ooh that's a cool connection". A lot of it is unconscious. Firefight release party (Jan. 5, 2015) Aaaaaaaaaaand here’s one more. Quote Questioner How much does your theology, like your theological background, makes it into...? Brandon Sanderson It's rarely intentional. But you can find it all over the place kind of unintentional in there. More it's like what I find heroic influences it, right? I find faith and optimism heroic, so you'll find that sort of thing in my books, and things like that. Makes me very fascinated by religion, if you can't tell. DragonCon 2019 (Aug. 29, 2019) And honestly, in these quotes I think that Brandon is doing the “polite ultra-inclusive” thing that he always does, and there’s even less of a connection than these make it seem. Has anyone else noticed this? I’ve noticed that Brandon will rarely correct a fan on a perspective that they have, even about little things like character pronounciation. He’ll always say that people are welcome to pronounce the names the way they want. Or whenever someone asks a question like “Is [x] character meant to be read as [LGBT+]” or just “is [x] character supposed to represent [y]” questions in general, he’ll never say “No”, instead saying something along the lines of “It wasn’t intentional”. Honestly a smart move on his part, avoids making any fan feel excluded or wrong or anything. In this case however, I think the answer is just actually “No, I did not write any references to LDS culture.” 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chinkoln he/him Posted June 8, 2021 Report Share Posted June 8, 2021 2 minutes ago, Dannex said: In this case however, I think the answer is just actually “No, I did not write any references to LDS culture.” After reading all those, I think the answer is actually “99% of correlations you find are not actual references, but there is 1% that I did put there and recognize as a reference to LDS culture” 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STAG Posted June 8, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2021 6 hours ago, Dannex said: Sorry to burst your bubble, but the connection isn’t intentional. and here’s another. aaaaaand another. Aaaaaaaaaaand here’s one more. And honestly, in these quotes I think that Brandon is doing the “polite ultra-inclusive” thing that he always does, and there’s even less of a connection than these make it seem. Has anyone else noticed this? I’ve noticed that Brandon will rarely correct a fan on a perspective that they have, even about little things like character pronounciation. He’ll always say that people are welcome to pronounce the names the way they want. Or whenever someone asks a question like “Is [x] character meant to be read as [LGBT+]” or just “is [x] character supposed to represent [y]” questions in general, he’ll never say “No”, instead saying something along the lines of “It wasn’t intentional”. Honestly a smart move on his part, avoids making any fan feel excluded or wrong or anything. In this case however, I think the answer is just actually “No, I did not write any references to LDS culture.” I don’t think anyone was saying his things are 100% intentional, and even if he isn’t hiding things only LDS will understand, that doesn’t mean there aren’t things in his books that are very similar. I think it’s wrong to say there are NO references to LDS culture, when obviously Brandon sees that there are, whether intentional or not. I do respect that he lets us interpret characters however we want. I think authors give up a little of the imaginative rights to their characters when they give it to the public, something J.K. Rowling should probably try to understand. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fallen_Jedi09 Posted April 21 Report Share Posted April 21 As a member myself, I would say that the concept of becoming gods in Elantris is very similar to transfiguration in the scriptures. The fact that a person can become an elantrian overnight or “in the twinkling of an eye” sounds like it came from Brandon’s background. But it may just be one of those subconscious references. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justsomekidinasuit he/him Posted April 29 Report Share Posted April 29 i wish being an ordained priesthood member could make me alter my spiritual connection to the ground. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justsomekidinasuit he/him Posted May 23 Report Share Posted May 23 On 5/31/2021 at 11:15 PM, STAG said: Any connections like that in other books? Brandon has deliberately said that Hrathen's character in "Elantris" was directly inspired by his time as a missionary. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fallen_Jedi09 Posted June 5 Report Share Posted June 5 Something I just realized is the power of the Bondsmith has some connections to the sealing power, or the power to bind things in both heaven and on earth. Or rather the power to make and enforce oaths. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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