BeskarKomrk

I sent Brandon a message a week or so ago, and he sent me a response the next day, which I haven't had time to post until now. Here's the text I sent him (at least the relevant parts): Here's what he said in response: As I said in my original message, I believe that this implies Tanavast died more than two thousand years ago, which (assuming he was alive to see the Recreance) would put the Recreance at least that long ago as well. I believe it's been theorized in the past the Recreance played a part in the death of Tanavast, so the Recreance may have been relatively shortly before his death. My current plan is to add an event ~2000 years before Words of Radiance for the death of Tanavast, and then move the Recreance to be shortly before (like 100-200 years). Thoughts on that? Not really any new info here about the timeline for White Sand, but it's nice to have confirmation that it's still early in the book timelines now that it's been canonized. I'm comfortable leaving it where it is now, after Elantris but before Mistborn.

I definitely agree that Rayse was captured millennia ago. As you said, Tanavast may have been dead before Rayse was captured. I think it's also possible that Tanavast was killed after Rayse was captured. The quote says he cannot leave the system he's in; presumably this refers to the Greater Roshar System, which includes both Roshar and Braize. It's certainly not impossible that he could have traveled between them to kill Tanavast after he was trapped there. It's not even inconceivable that he could kill Tanavast from Braize due to the way the Cognitive/Spiritual Realms work with regard to distance.

@Spoolofwhool I've actually been thinking a lot about exactly that quote for the past week or so, trying to figure out what the implications are. Here's where I'm at currently. I think there are three ways of interpreting that quote, depending on who "another of the sixteen" refers to. Millennia have passed since the last time Rayse killed one of the original Shardholders (another meaning "in addition to the ones he had already killed). This doesn't specify who the last one to die was. Probably Tanavast, since Aona and Skai were killed a long, long time ago, but it's hard to say for sure. There is a WoB that Odium has killed at least one more Shard than the ones we know about, so Frost could be referring to that Shard. Either way, this would imply that Tanavast died at least two thousand years ago. Millenia have passed since Rayse killed anyone other than Tanavast (another meaning "in addition to Tanavast"). This tells us nothing firm about when Tanavast died, but it does tell us that Aona, Skai, and the other Shard died a long time ago. I personally would infer from this that Tanavast died sometime in the last few thousand years, but it's not the only way to read it. Millenia have passed since Rayse killed any of the original Shardholders (another meaning "besides himself", e.g. another member of his group). This would imply that Tanavast died at least two thousand years ago, along with Aona, Skai, and the other Shard. Note that, in all of these interpretations, I take "millennia" to mean "more than two thousand years ago, probably several thousand more". I personally think #1 is correct, which seems to be your reading of the quote as well. I was actually considering sending Brandon a message on Reddit to ask about this, even though I think more detail is likely a RAFO. It's also worth noting that we don't have 100% confirmation that Honor was alive during the Recreance, just like 95%. But that's enough to assume it's true until we see contradictory information, in my opinion. There is a WoB that says the Recreance is "not like 4000 years ago". That gives a relatively short period of time where the Recreance could have happened that is both "longer than two thousand years because it was before Tanavast died, which was more than two thousand years ago" and "less than four thousand years ago". Thoughts? I would not be opposed to moving the Recreance to be ~3000 years before the current day with Tanavast's death being somewhere after that. EDIT: I added Tanavast's death at 2000 years prior to Words of Radiance (e.g. when the Second Letter was written, more or less) and moved the Recreance to 50 years before that. I also assumed that the millennia referred to in Frost's Letter were Earth Years, rather than Roshar Years. I may end up moving these to be a little earlier at some point but we don't really have much hard evidence (as is usually the case here). It's interesting to note that Rayse must also have killed Aona and Skai more than 2000 years ago, which on my timeline puts their deaths as predating or approximately at the beginning of Sel's Late Period. I think it's likely that Odium's visit to Sel corresponds with some major event in Selish history that ended the Middle Period of history. This is a reasonably obvious guess to make, but you can consider it the first official prediction based on my timeline! Now we just need more information about Selish history...

I added another WoB to the sources tab that can be found here. The thing I'm not sure about in this quote is when Year 0 is on this 10,000 year timeline. My first thought would be the Shattering of Adonalsium, but that doesn't match up with Stormlight Archive being in the middle of the timeline. If there are 6000 years between the Shattering and the Prelude to Stormlight Archive and then another 4950 years (in Earth Years) between the Prelude and the main series timeline, there's just no way that can be in the middle of a 10,000 year timeline. My next guess is that the 10,000 year timeline starts either from the Prelude to SA or from another pivotal event around the same time frame (possibly Odium killing Aona and Skai on Sel). Assuming the Prelude is Year 0, this puts Stormlight Archive right around the middle at ~5000 years into the timeline. This would imply that the end of the Cosmere arc (the final Mistborn trilogy) happens around Year 16,000. This is about 4,000 years later than I had originally placed it. I have changed the dates on the spreadsheet to update this estimate. This also affects the estimated date for Sixth of the Dusk. I want to point out that I have no idea what length of time the final Mistborn trilogy will span. It, in and of itself, could take place over thousands of years (depending on how Brandon does FTL travel with relativistic time dilation). So I suppose the date on the timeline actually refers to the end of the trilogy, based on the information we currently have.

Sorry for the necromantic activity I'm engaging in here, but a user posted a WoB in another that I believe was from this signing. This WoB is not in this thread or on Theoryland, but was instead posted on Facebook, and I had never seen it before, so I wanted to make sure it was recorded in a more central location (so it could possibly be added to Theoryland and such). Here's the full Facebook post: Here's the link to the WoB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/270545169744383/permalink/731811053617790/

For what it's worth, they clearly know at least a little bit of probability/statistics, based on the graphing of the distribution of Mr. T's intelligence in WoR.

Yes he does.

Hello fellow Sharders! For a little while now, I've been working on a project in my spare time. I wanted to create a (very) rough timeline of the events of the Cosmere that we have seen so far. So... I did! You can find it here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JJtJhHwpKdow01n2-bsT3scVvqJd6lZh4uvpNwcslv8/edit?usp=sharing Here's a little explanation of what I did and how the whole thing is set up. First of all, I used this page as my starting place and reference. The timeline is organized and color coded by planet, so that books not technically in the same series (like Elantris and The Emperor's Soul) will be in the same set of columns. I filled out each planet's timeline based on the Coppermind page linked above, then made my best guess as to how all the different series fit together. You can find my notes, reasoning, and sources in the other two tabs, but I'll give a rough outline of my thought process here as well. CAVEAT: obviously this is heavily guesswork and estimation, so I would not encourage using this for evidence for any theories. My intent was to give a framework for asking questions and thinking about the relationships between the series. As an example, the question that started me off on this project was "Is it possible that Vasher was on Roshar during the Hierocracy?". I've also included predictions for many unreleased books. I mostly did this for fun, but it should make it easier to update and refine this spreadsheet as the books are released; the framework for them is already in place this way. Without further ado: THE PROCESS The two pillars of the Cosmere Timeline are the Mistborn Series and The Stormlight Archive Series. These two cover the widest ranges in time and have the most timeline information within them. Thus, I began with these two series and how they interweave. We have it from WoB that there are roughly 6000 years between the Shattering of Adonalsium and the Prelude to The Way of Kings. This is admittedly non-canon, but I had to use something and this is the best estimate we currently have. From there, we know that the main plot of The Way of Kings takes place 4,500 years after the prelude. I made three assumptions at this point. 1. All dates/times given within the text of The Stormlight Archive are given in Roshar Years, where 1 Roshar Year = 1.1 Earth Years. Thus the 4,500 years between the prelude and the main plot is actually 4950 Earth Years. 2. All planets other than Roshar have years of the same length as Earth. This is obviously a huge unfounded assumption, but we have no information to the contrary, so for now it's the best estimate I have. I looked into the possibility of calculating the length of the year based on planet size and orbit, but there isn't really a correlation. 3. The 4,500 years later refers to the gap between the prelude and the prologue (e.g. the night of Gavilar's assassination). So the prelude is 4,500 years before the year 1167, which happens to be -3333 (in Roshar Years). From there, I filled out the rest of Roshar's timeline from the Coppermind in Roshar Years, then made another column for Earth Years so I could relate the dates to the other Cosmere books. The next task was to place The Alloy of Law in relation to The Way of Kings. We know Alloy takes place after Stormlight 5, and I estimated from various WoB that the first five Stormlight books take place over a period of a few years. Thus, I somewhat arbitrarily placed Alloy as happening about 7 Roshar Years after Stormlight 5. This gives time for the entire Wax and Wayne set of novels to take place between Stormlight 5 and Stormlight 6, assuming a 15 Roshar Year gap between the events of those two novels. Again, this is an estimate, but it seems reasonable enough until we get more evidence. So how does this fit into the rest of the Mistborn timeline? Well, Alloy takes place 341 Earth Years after Sazed Ascends to become Harmony. This places Gavilar's assassination as happening 324 Earth Years after Sazed's Ascension. From that starting point, I filled out the rest of the Mistborn timeline based on the Coppermind. With my two pillars in place, I then filled in the rest of the books based on WoB and some slightly educated guessing. You can find my reasoning for the placement of all of the other series on the Notes tab, but I would be happy to go into it more here if there are any questions. Please keep in mind that we have no firm dates for most of the placements and they are inherently very subjective! I would love feedback on this project from all the passionate Sanderson fans here. Any evidence or arguments for moving things around on the timeline will be deeply considered, and I'm happy to discuss that in detail in this thread. Any design suggestions or additional information people would like to see on the timeline are also welcome. Some of the timelines for individual planets are fairly sparse (White Sand, the novellas/short stories). My next project is to help update the Coppermind page with some of this info before incorporating it into the timeline. My plan is to continue updating this timeline as new works and information come out. Hope you all find this helpful! Version description (spoilered for length):

I don't see a difference between the metals and their molecular patterns. The structure of the atoms and molecules is what defines a material; you can't have the structure without the physical material, and no sample of that material exists without that structure. If you want to claim that the metals are the catalyst for Scadrian magic, you can do that. But I don't think the metal/molecular pattern distinction adds anything to the argument. The metals are the focus. There's no reason why they can't be the catalyst as well.

Since the thread has already been brought back, I'll go ahead and ask: did the recording for this signing ever get processed? If not, I'd love to help out with writing a transcript or splitting the files up. Also worth noting that the questions we do have earlier in the thread are not on Theoryland.

Try and find the thread for the signing you were at in the Events and Signings forum. If somebody recorded the signing there may already be a transcript of it. If not, I would post it in that thread. I agree with what you're saying, but I don't agree with the math you've set up here. Specifically, I think you need to differentiate between "ordinary souls" from Nalthis and from elsewhere. A Drab doesn't have one Breath's worth less investiture than a normal non-Nalthian. I would say it like this: X = investiture of the soul of an ordinary non-Nalthian D = investiture of a Drab Y = investiture of a Breath N = D + Y = investiture of the soul of an ordinary Nalthian (a Nalthian person w/ one Breath) such that D < X < N. This implies to me that an ordinary person not from Nalthis who gains a Breath will actually then have more innate Investiture than an ordinary Nalthian. Math aside, Lifesense seems a little more complicated then we're assuming in this thread. Awakeners at the higher Heightenings can estimate how much Breath another Awakener has, which is clearly some sort of measure of Investiture. I just reread Warbreaker, but I don't remember the answer to this: can Awakeners with perfect Lifesense detect Lifeless, Returned (ones who are not suppressing their Divine Breath), or Nightblood? I don't believe they can detect Lifeless, but I can't remember exactly. But if that's the case, I'm not sure why as Lifeless also possess one breath. So there would have to be more to Lifesense than strictly detecting Investiture.

The WoB you're thinking of, where Brandon says that Taldain is "currently inaccessible", is here: Seems like a reasonable enough theory, though what constitutes "currently" is always up to individual interpretation. I also personally do not believe that Trell is Autonomy, for what it's worth.

Anakin or Luke?

I think it would have been great to see that in the text. I can think of a big reason why it isn't there, however. Breeze is present in many of the chapters of the book but almost none of them (maybe none at all?) are from his viewpoint. Most of the time he's in a scene, it's from the point of view of either Sazed or Spook. So we don't get to see what's going on in his head very much, and both Sazed and Spook are too wrapped up in their own troubles to care much about Breeze.

Not a phd here, just a lowly B.S. in Physics, but here's my thoughts on the matter. An alloy like steel is a mixture of multiple elements, with at least one of them being a metal. The properties that make steel valuable as a building material are properties of the molecular structure, which does indeed change when it is melted down. However, steel in general, and Allomantic Steel in particular, are defined by the percentages of the different elements they contain. That mixture doesn't change when melted down. If you touched molten steel (ouch), you would still be touching the same mix of iron atoms and carbon atoms and whatever else is in Allomantic Steel. So from that perspective, I don't see why it would make a difference. I also think there's an argument you could make that the Cognitive Identity of steel isn't changed when it's melted down, and that's the determining factor behind why it would still work.

Somebody who was active at the time can probably give a better explanation than me, but I'll try to give a brief overview. There are very few mentions of Adonalsium in the text of any of the books. The earliest one, I believe, is in the epigraphs in The Hero of Ages. Most of what we know does come from asking questions over the years and extrapolating from the answers. There was a huge flood of new information in a thread on the Time Waster's Guide Forum after Hero of Ages came out, which you can read here: http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=727. You'll notice that people in that thread are already somewhat familiar with terms like Adonalsium and Hoid. Many of them had already been interacting with Brandon on those forums or in person for years. Many of them had read unpublished works that aren't available now. I don't know of any record of those interactions, although I'm sure there are some older threads in the TWG Archive that you could find and read through. Some of the things that had been discovered through WoB over the years were finally said in Secret History, but there are still a lot of things we only know through questions. Theoryland is an excellent resource to read through all of that information.

Doesn't Lightsong say this in Warbreaker?

You use the "@" and the username, similar to how you would on Twitter or Facebook. That's why I was a little surprised that it didn't automatically do it in your post above. I'm definitely also interested to see what's going on here. There was a theory going around a week or so ago that Stormlight was unkeyed Investiture already, which would make it easy for him to use. That doesn't particularly answer how he absorbs it (since we've only seen Surgebinders use it from gemstones), but maybe he just stands outside during a highstorm and it automatically works.

Uhhhh... there is a way to flag him. I don't know why that didn't already, you just do @Kurkistan.

@Three1415 could you run through your reasoning for how long it is between Desolations? This is something I've been thinking about and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter.

RAFO stands for "Read And Find Out". Usually Brandon answers questions with that when he doesn't want to tell us the actual answer (cause it would give too much away). So they're just encouraging you to read the next book!

I won't say anything to spoil it but you should definitely keep this passage in mind in the next book!

I just re-read that chapter a few days ago, which is the only reason I remember it at all. The Aons confuse me sometimes with how they're integrated into names.

This is actually mentioned in the book itself. That's one of the things that leads Galladon to realize that Spirit is, in fact, Raoden (Elantris Chapter 10).

1. We don't really know much, to be honest. There is a Derethi priest in Emperor's Soul somewhere, so Shu-Dereth definitely still exists. Beyond that, I think we can assume from the ending of Elantris and various WoBs about the potential sequels that the Fjordell Empire did not conquer Arelon and Teod, and in fact is weakened following the events of the novel. 2. There are two different things at work here. The Aons are related to the land and, as such, follow the shape of the land. The chasm in the land has to be added to every Aon from this point on to make them work. So all of the individual Aons that Raoden tries to draw throughout the novel fail because they don't feature the chasm line. What Raoden realizes toward the end of the novel is that the city of Elantris is itself a giant Aon that acts as a power amplifier for the entire magic system. The amplification no longer works because the Aon that the city represents does not have the line corresponding to the chasm. When Raoden draws the chasm line into the sand, he completes the city's Aon and reactivates the power amplification, allowing the Shaod to be completed. In a sense, AonDor was never really broken. They could have used it at any time throughout the novel (and the previous ten years) by adding the chasm line to the individual Aons. What was broken was the amplification brought by the city itself, which in turn prevented the Shaod from working completely.