I require some assistance, please.

[ThroughTheLivingSequence she/her/they/them]

I was wondering if it is possible for one person alone to fully understand the Cosmere. Everything I thought I knew about it was shattered when I took a peek at the Coppermind. Anything that I can't quite wrap my head around gives me a small form a anxiety, which is probably why you'd call my personality anxious. When regarding my favorite author and book series, it upsets me how little I know. So, would it be possible for one human to fully understand the Cosmere and what it contains? How would one obtain this knowledge, by reading every single one of Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere works? If so, how many are there? Or are there only a key few? Such as ones explaining characters such as Hoid, Khriss, or the shards? Please help me on this matter

[+Invocation]

We're still missing a bunch of information, particularly things like Hoid's backstory and some pretty significant details on the Dawnshards and the Shattering, so right now? No, you can't understand it all. Give it 30 something years for all the yet-unpublished books to come out and then we'll be a lot closer to a complete understanding of the cosmere and its workings.

[Frustration]

With the coppermind, arcanum and the published cosmere, you can understand anything we do know.

Not everything that there is to know, but everything known

[+JesterLavorre she/they]

Yeah. There is a lot of random little things that you wouldn’t get from the books, that either Brandon has said or that people have just figured out. I wouldn’t stress it too much. People are understanding, and if you’ve read all the books you shouldn’t have a problem.

One thing that helped me learn and catch up on a lot of the less obvious things were Shardcasts, but those do definitely take a time commitment to watch and are maybe not the most efficient way to go about things. Still, if you’re interested, or if there’s a topic they have a podcast in that you want to hear more about, definitely give it a try.

[ThroughTheLivingSequence she/her/they/them]

Thank you both for the information. I feel much better now.

[Karger he/him]

No.  You can get up to date on everything we know about the cosmere(read all the cosmere books, unpublished works, and WoB) then put together the information available from deductive reasoning.  However the cosmere is constantly growing and becoming more complex.  High level cosmere scholars like those of us on the shard can sometimes anticipate future changes but even we are surprised fairly regularly.

[Quantus he/him]

Not on this side of the Wizard's Curtain, No.  Only Brandon and some of his inner circle have all the data.  It's highly consistent and interconnected though, so as long as you dont mind revising your headcanon when a theory gets proven wrong, you can have a lot of fun filling in the gaps with theorycraft.   

[+Harrycrapper]

Although it likely isn't comforting, there are also things that Brandon says he will never reveal, like what happens when someone goes in to The Beyond. It's something I think all authors do because sometimes the question is more compelling than the answer. 

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood he/him]

well, to Khriss the answer is, she was from the planet Taldain which is way more advanced by now than the other planets, Khriss was exiled and does not have as much of a complete understanding of the cosmere as say Hoid.

[+Invocation]

15 minutes ago, Thaidakar the Ghostblood said:

Khriss was exiled and does not have as much of a complete understanding of the cosmere as say Hoid.

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)

Behold. An intriguing truth.

Provided it hasn't been contradicted, at least.

Edited September 24, 2021 by Invocation

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood he/him]

7 minutes ago, Invocation said:

Behold. An intriguing truth.

Provided it hasn't been contradicted, at least.

wait, but in secret history Khriss seemed less knowledgable.

[+Invocation]

15 minutes ago, Thaidakar the Ghostblood said:

wait, but in secret history Khriss seemed less knowledgable.

It's possible Branderson changed his mind in the two (Secret History was 2016 right?) years between that WOB and SH, but it's also possible that was solely about that one incident, since I'm not sure that's a regular thing for Khriss to be able to observe. On a lot of levels.

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood he/him]

1 hour ago, Invocation said:

It's possible Branderson changed his mind in the two (Secret History was 2016 right?) years between that WOB and SH, but it's also possible that was solely about that one incident, since I'm not sure that's a regular thing for Khriss to be able to observe. On a lot of levels.

secret history was 2015 as you said. yea.