Aethling

He has the transcript of his recent Torchat on twitter up. Truthfully, not many unknown questions answered. http://brandonsanderson.com/article/122/Tweets-January-23-28-2013

Not so sure you can count the 13 forsworn as ripoffs. Thirteen is a powerful number in western civilization at this point. The conspirators in Eddings' Tamuli books might qualify. Only one of them gets any real facetime, but each is described as having his own motivations. They even follow an evil god or gods. The sisters of dark from the Sword of Truth. At least I think that is what they are a called. I haven't read them in a while. They are essentially Black Sisters. Many people even claim they are a direct lift from WoT. Only Nicci gets any real facetime though, and she does undergo quite a journey. Loosely interpreted, you might be able to include the members of the deck from Mazalan. I don't know how they turn out though, as I never managed to finish book 3 due to other books coming out.

I just don't see Jasnah/Kaladin happening. She is too old, and she is from an extremely high-ranking family. I pictured her being around 35, so you are looking at a decade and a half age difference. Throw in the fact that she would be marrying way below her social level. Yes, Kaladin almost married a lower lighteyes, but the key word is Lower. You don't get much higher than Jasnah and her family. I think people are starting to read too much into her comments about the robbers and her decision to remain unmarried. She realizes that if she were to marry, it would severly curtail her ability to research and independence. Doesn't she even explicitly state that in the book? We already have multiple examples of women in Brandon's cosmere that just don't fit into the normal 16 and pregnant mold that some fantasy writers use. Vin, Vivenna, Sarene, and Siri to different extents chose to stay away from entanglements until the time was right. Viv still hasn't settled down, and Sarene was considered an old maid for not being married many years before. Why should she have taken pity on the men she killed? Almost all fantasy realms have a darker underside, and she was probably aware exactly what type of men they were.

I have pointed out here a few times that Jordan and Sanderson both remind me of Eddings. The timeline even fits fairly well with Eddings finishing up the Belgariad about the time that the first WoT book comes out.

Jasnah is too old for Kaladin. The age difference would just be too major. Adolin seems pretty infatuated with the current girl. It would be extremely scandalous for him to marry a darkeyed girl. Kaladin and Shallan seems to be the best fit. That would turn full circle for him marrying a lower-level lighteyes.

Yup, the Tor summary said he didn't know how the pipe was lit at the end. That was all Jordan, and he didn't explain. I have a feeling stuff like Nakomi will come out in the encyclopedia.

The disciples of Torak from Eddings' Belgariad and Mallorean are essentially the chosen disciples of an evil god. Dee and his associates from the Alchemyst series probably fit. Possibly Morrigan and her ilk from Iron Druid. It might be a stretch, and I haven't gotten around to the second book, but what about the people with the broken halos from Lightbringer?

I have been trying to find the actual session on Twitter, but I can't seem to be able to figure out how to get there. Never done anything on Twitter before, so will probably just wait until the full transcript is placed on Sanderson's site.

Rand and the pipe just seemed to me more of him affecting the pattern directly. After all, it did come after he had some major instances of changing the pattern. His tav nature always seemed to manifest itself, but now he has a conscious ability to affect it without being a tav. How needs to weave when you can just will something into existance. I have always felt that Sanderson and Jordan channeled a little Eddings. Sanderson moreso, and that seems like Rand's reward for allowing himself to be subject to the prophecies.

Two people with the same soul. That might be fairly interesting to pursue, but it would take one heck of an explanation. Easiest way to explain it would be multiple universes, but we haven't seen anything like that in a cosmere work.

Or just use a Mistborn. Tin for sighting. Pewter for controling the gun before and after pulling the trigger. Steel for adding umph to the bullet. Duralumin for adding force to the steelpush. Include a copper misting to keep it all covered and an Atium misting for seeing if the target will move suddenly or dodge. These could be done by the Mistborn, but I separated out so that the Mistborn can focus on the actually kill.

Not as a direct response to that question. I had the same thoughts as you about the humans, and the text v annotation difference spurred me to try to clarify the question of human origins when he did the QA. the thread is still open to read under the general theories forum. We will probably find out more about Yolen later, as it has not been the scene of any of the published works yet.

Sanderson confirmed in the QA last year that the human homeworld was Yolen.

And Finally, the end becomes a beginning and that beginning becomes the end. Rise, and save the world.

Tor has released a set of excerpts from the Rithmatist. According to the page, release date is May 13, 2013 http://www.tor.com/stories/2013/01/the-rithmatist-excerpt

With one day left, Tor presents: By the Light, he had a book to finish before he went! Does everyone agree that this has to be Loial?

Day 42: Loial, son of Arent son of Halan, had secretly always wanted to be hasty.

Day 41: They stood at the edge of time itself, and still Thom Merrilin found a smile. Hmm. Tone suggest he might not live, but then I might just be reading too much into it.

Day 40: "We'll remember those who fell, and we'll tell our children how we stood when the clouds turned black and the world started to die. We'll tell them we stood shoulder to shoulder, and there was just no space for the Shadow to squeeze through." Well, that is pretty obvious as to who will win.

Been finished since before Christmas. The way is getting to be unbearable. At least next week it will start to come to an end.

Day 39: They seemed to be cracks into nothingness. They drew the light in, sucked it away. It was as if he was looking at fractures in the nature of reality itself. Some sort of deathgate?

Day 38: Humankind did not have days remaining, but hours. Looks like Rand pulled the timing off just right then. If Bela turns out to be just a plain horse, it will be a minor disappointment. She has born two amyryllins and didn't she belong to Rand or Tam originally?

Day 37: I AM THE ONLY HONESTY YOUR WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN. That almost has to be the Dark One talking.