Jump to content

Way of Kings Prime Scene, Two Way of Kings Annotations


Chaos
 Share

From now until Oathbringer's release this November, Brandon's assistant, Peter, will be posting some deleted scenes from the first two books. You might have missed these last week, but we now have awesome things: a scene from Way of Kings Prime--the version Brandon wrote in 2003--with proto-Szeth, and the first two Way of Kings annotations.

Let's talk about the deleted scene, The Way of Kings Prime: Jeksonsonvallano. Clearly this is extremely reminiscent of Szeth, so in this old version, he is named Jek. It's a fascinating look at the differences from the 2003 version and the 2010 version. (Brandon's said Way of Kings Prime has dramatic differences compared to its rewrite.) [UPDATE: This Jek scene is actually NOT new, but, Peter will be posting deleted scenes from Way of Kings. That part is true!]

Brandon says about this scene: 

Quote

 

One of the big differences between the 2003 version of The Way of Kings and the published version was a massive restructuring of timelines. With Szeth, where he began in the old version is a combination of what became the prologue and the epilogue of his storyline in the new version. This happened across the board—for instance, Taln showing up in the epilogue of the book used to happen in the prologue. What happens at the end of Kaladin’s flashback sequences in the published version was right near the beginning of where his story began in the old version.

For many reasons, I felt the book needed to be restructured so that I could dig into the character personalities in a different way. So in these scenes you will see things that are reminiscent of the ending of The Way of Kings as it’s published. I suggest perhaps staying away from this until you’ve read the book.

 

And indeed, don't read that scene unless you've read the book! If you have, however, it's an interesting look into things that could have been. 

Next up we have two Way of Kings annotations: the introduction and the indpapers. Annotations were these awesome things Brandon wrote before the Wheel of Time train hit them. He generally wrote these during the copyedit, but now Brandon's team is larger and his time is more precious, so he doesn't do them any longer. That's too bad, because annotations were a fascinating look into the process and definitely revealed lore on a great many things. (The Mistborn annotations are amazing.) Still, I suppose we'd rather Brandon writes new books.

Now, Peter says in the introduction that we will only have annotations up through chapter 12, but already these are super cool. Check out the one on endpapers and look at these crazy Surges:

Double-Eye-Complex-2003-1024x623.gif

Thought? Awakening? Time? Way of Kings Prime clearly must be ridiculously different. It also looks like the Radiants had, uh, some different names, and not our usual Windrunner/Lightweaver/Truthwatcher type things. I hope we learn a lot more about this as the annotations continue! We'll keep you up-to-date as these annotations go live!

Edited by Chaos

 Share


User Feedback

Recommended Comments

So glad to see WoK annotations finally come online! I've been waiting for this for sooo long!

2003 version Double Eye seems like a more traditional chart of elemental magic. The glyphs are intriguing. Reminds me of Arabic script somehow?

Share this comment


Link to comment
Share on other sites

49 minutes ago, Bean Delphiki said:

We'll only have annotations up to chapter 12? Is there any possibility on getting more?

Sounds like Brandon was pretty emphatic that there will be no more annotations. He has a lot on his plate and doesn't want to use his time on the annotations and instead use it to write his books, go touring etc.

Share this comment


Link to comment
Share on other sites

My impression is that we will not get more annotations. I love annotations, but... Wouldn't we rather Brandon writes books? Ultimately that is the trade-off at this stage.

Share this comment


Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, Extesian said:

I...would rather more annotations than Apocalypse Guard :ph34r:

Brandon has more fans than cosmere fans, and him writing other books keeps him refreshed for big cosmere works. 

I can understand this, and I'm not insanely excited for Apocalypse Guard either, but it's really important to him that he takes breaks. (Plus he is outlining Stormlight 4 anyway.)

Share this comment


Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, Kurkistan said:

Not to burst anyone's bubble here, but we've had the Jek (or as I prefer to call him Jerk) bit for quite a while now.

I was confused about that as well...

Share this comment


Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Chaos said:

My impression is that we will not get more annotations. I love annotations, but... Wouldn't we rather Brandon writes books? Ultimately that is the trade-off at this stage.

Tough call. Part of me would rather Brandon cut back on some other series/books and write annotations but I fully understand that he needs to do things his way. So, if it was up to me I'd vote for annotations but seeing as I'm just some random fan on the internet I will instead be happy with whatever Brandon chooses to write!

Share this comment


Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Kurkistan said:

Not to burst anyone's bubble here, but we've had the Jek (or as I prefer to call him Jerk) bit for quite a while now.

Forgot about that. It's hard when Brandon is literally just not tweeting posting this new stuff, so I don't remember what's old or new.

Share this comment


Link to comment
Share on other sites

So awakening was a Rosharan Magic I originally?  I wonder if that's part of why we have some Nalthian influences showing up in WoR, to set up scene and Brandon had planned with Surgebinding and awakening.  

Share this comment


Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, Comatose said:

So awakening was a Rosharan Magic I originally?  I wonder if that's part of why we have some Nalthian influences showing up in WoR, to set up scene and Brandon had planned with Surgebinding and awakening.  

That was my thought!

Share this comment


Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm pretty sure this "Awakening" was another name for Soulcasting.

Also, last time I heard Brandon talk about annotations, he wouldn't rule out ever writing more. But it's extremely low priority. Most readers would rather get more books.

Edited by PeterAhlstrom

Share this comment


Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Chaos said:

Brandon has more fans than cosmere fans, and him writing other books keeps him refreshed for big cosmere works. 

I can understand this, and I'm not insanely excited for Apocalypse Guard either, but it's really important to him that he takes breaks. (Plus he is outlining Stormlight 4 anyway.)

I'm just being flippant :) nothing compares to Cosmere, but I've read and loved every last non-Cosmere book. And I absolutely appreciate that while other authors take breaks from writing, Brandon's breaks still involve writing.

Hmmm and very interesting that soulcasting was called awakening. It doesn't actually make a lot of sense to me, but it feels like a long time since we had a non-reddit WoP so I will gladly eat this tasty knowledge, these delicious lies.

Share this comment


Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of the first impressions I had was that I was reading a "classic" type of fantasy, one that doesn't seem to hold a candle to the current revisions. I also got a kick out of the Shardblades "earning" their glyphs.

Share this comment


Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎9‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 0:19 PM, Chaos said:

Brandon has more fans than cosmere fans, and him writing other books keeps him refreshed for big cosmere works. 

I can understand this, and I'm not insanely excited for Apocalypse Guard either, but it's really important to him that he takes breaks. (Plus he is outlining Stormlight 4 anyway.)

Yeah, and if you go back and read the 2016 State of the Sanderson blog post, he has two publishers. Apocalypse Guard seems like a contractual obligation that also serves to keep Brandon refreshed. I believe Brandon is earnestly interested in the material aimed at younger readers. I also have young kids and would love to share my talents with them; so I get where he is coming from. Perhaps we will see less of this stuff as his kids grow up and they get into the Cosmere.

Share this comment


Link to comment
Share on other sites



Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Add a comment...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...

×
×
  • Create New...