Pagerunner

It's on the cover of the cover on Arcanum Unbounded (let's not go down that road again), but it was apparently revealed first at the Phoenix Comic-Con earlier this year, on a t-shirt, I think. We discussed the meaning some back when the AU cover was first revealed. My favorite interpretation was that the sixteen-pointed star in the middle represents Adonalsium, and that the three other features (arcs, diamond, and circle) represent the three Realms. Which goes with which, is a matter of debate; I like the arcs as being Physical, with separate and individual planets. The diamond is Cognitive, a continuous shape made out of inverted arcs. Which leaves the circle for Spiritual.

It would just mean that they're not using Surgebinding in the afterlife. Heralds use the Honorblades whenever they come back, and get their Surgebinding again; other 'powers' (i.e. Taln's reflexes) can come from changes to their sDNA, not from a particular magic system.

Mistborn: Secret History spoilers:

Yeah, there's a lot of good info in there, but it can be a little hard to get at. I usually start on this page: http://theoryland.com/wheel-of-time-interview-search.php and either check a tag or use the search bar (since sometimes tags aren't applied consistently). Here's what you might be thinking of: http://theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=1074#1. Since he hasn't Invested (or hadn't until he was trapped in the Roshar system), he may have had more power available. In Secret History, we see that a Shard without a Vessel can be quickly Splintered, so it might have more to do with Rayse as an individual than the Shard of Odium.

Hate to pour cold water on this, but here's another relevant quote: http://theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=1153#16 Brandon interpreted "opposing force" very loosely, and appeared to be referring to the alliance of 16 who killed him and divided his power amongst themselves. So, it's an interesting thought, but the existence of anything like an opposite deity to Adonalsium comes from people running way too far with something that was barely a step above a RAFO.

We've been discussing this over here. I don't think anyone has raised your specific question about the lack of a Nalthis essay, so the mods might allow this topic to live. It's got an unsplintered Shard, so I can't imagine she just doesn't know about it. I don't recall seeing Khriss (or Nazh) in Wabreaker, but that might just be because the pre-WoK books don't have as visible worldhoppers as we've seen since then. I'm sure that the essays in Arcanum Unbounded are not all her information. She must have some info on Yolen, even if she hasn't found the world. Last info we got (which was a while ago, so take it as you will) was that there were 10 major Shardworlds and even more minor ones. So, there are a lot of minor worlds that have been excluded; we may see more of them frustratingly name-dropped in the back of the book. I don't have the specific numbers on me, but Khriss has been alive for at least hundreds of years, and she is one of the most knowledgeable people in the cosmere. I'm not sure when the in-universe date for these essays is (we know it's well before Sixth of the Dusk, so I think it's roughly concurrent with Stormlight, our latest series so far), but she's definitely had enough time to find her way around the galaxy.

In other words, Brandon will play the Cosmere version of Agrajag, to keep up with the Hitchhikers' references.

Does this mean no Nalthis essay? The much-anticipated star chart doesn't appear in this ToC, either; I wonder if that will be presented in the front of the book with no additional explanation, or if there's some extra stuff at the end (an Ars Arcanum Unbounded, one might say).

"Inside the Cosmoverso with Brandon Sanderson." Thanks, Google Translate!

I'd like to try it this year. I've never gotten it off the ground, although I did review my notes from a couple years ago and I still like my idea well enough. I recently got a new computer (Microsoft Surface), so I might try writing it through speech-to-text on my commute to and from work. That might solve the time problem - I'm always busy, but I'm spend a good chunk of my drive talking to the radio (like a crazy person), so I think I can easily convert that over to dictating passages.

Excellent graph, @DSC01, and much more indicative than personal stories of who has or hasn't killed whom, although I would like to see it extended to the left to give release sales for the other books, and comparisons to its competition over the same period of time. If you ever find the actual hard sales data, please let me know, but whenever I've looked in the past I've wound up empty handed. It's not the sort of thing that gets wide publication. To clarify my original point, I was referring more to mechanisms of how different methods of adaption can increase viewership. In all-time Amazon bestsellers, GRRM is 48, Brandon is 54, Tolkien is 60. But Rowling is #1, and I have many friends and family members (and coworkers, and acquaintances, and probably a pet or two) who have read nothing beyond what is assigned for school, and Harry Potter. The Jason Bourne movies prompted the creation of a second Bourne book series by a different author, which is at 10 books and still going strong. Game of Thrones has been successful beyond anyone's wildest dreams, and it has made the books more popular among fantasy readers (and made some new fantasy readers while it's at it!), but it still hasn't had the impact that a movie can have. I think that's borne out in the graph, as well - you've got a ton of Book 1 sales, but people don't stick with it to Book 5 (which is floating at where Books 2 and 3 were before the show). Which is my counterpoint to people saying that Stormlight Archive would be best as a TV show, because it could be a faithful adaption. I think movies can drive more people to read the books than a TV show can, which broadens the audience for the definitive experience. Again: not saying it hasn't increased the popularity. Just that a movie can do it more impactfully.

Can someone tell me what's wrong with Shannara Chronicles? I haven't read the books, I watched the show on a whim, and I really enjoyed it. I contrast it very favorably with Legend of the Seeker, an adaptation a few years back of Terry Goodkind's books, in its pacing and scope. (I didn't like the episodic nature of Seeker, where they broke it out into a bunch of 45-minute self-contained adventures, which really took the wind out of the larger story). Normally, I don't see any downside in adapting a book. Even bad publicity, like the Eragon movie, brings up often that the books are different and avoid many of the pitfalls. Game of Thrones has pioneered a unique issue, where the adaptation of an ongoing series overtakes the novels, and the books have taken second fiddle to the show. I think it is extremely relevant to point that out for Stormlight's case, and I think (some) of the downvotes are a little unfair. The TV show has objectively altered the experience of the books (making them take longer, spoiling elements in a different medium, presenting alternate events that will make understanding continuity more difficult), so just saying "you can ignore the movies if you don't like them that much" is missing the point of some of the complaints. Hey, does anyone else think it's time for some anecdotal evidence that challenges basic assumptions? Well... here goes. Did anyone else notice how Game of Thrones didn't cause anyone to read the books? Everyone I know who read it, read it before the show came out, and a lot of people who were crazy about the show were adamant about not reading the books, not absorbing spoilers. It got just bizarre in some early seasons - people saying they couldn't wait to find out what Character X would be up to, how their story would turn out. But, I'm thinking, "If you really wanted to know, then why are you avoiding the books like the plague? I already know!" It was completely different than Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter or even Jason Bourne, where a lot of people read the books only because they watched the movies and heard how much they were missing out on from those worlds. I wonder if it has to do with the time commitment... watching a movie is three hours of your life, and that's it, while a TV show will take up as many as 20 hours per season. Books, it all depends how fast you read, but it's definitely comparable to TV shows. If you've already put in the effort to watch a show, do you really want to spend another large chunk of time to read what you had just watched? So, what I'm trying to say is, a strict adaption won't bring more readers. It will bring greater exposure to the story, but once you've watched a faithful adaption, there's no incentive to go read the books. But when you really enjoy a movie and hear how much more there is in the book, that can be a driving factor. Seeing a great Kaladin movie and hearing that the book has three other main characters, that could get people to want to pick up the books. You gotta save some good stuff for the readers.

What I enjoy most about the Cosmere (which, obviously, is what the rest of you must like as well) is the worldbuilding and potential for theorizing and predicting. Those attributes will not translate over well to the big screen. Characters will. Kaladin and Kelsier will not say and do everything they say and do in the books. Long explanations of magic systems will not fit. But powerful character moments, another one of Brandon's strengths, will fit in. There are some extremely cinematic scenes in Way of Kings - Gavilar's assassination, Dalinar's chasmfield fight, Kaladin's first bridge run, the battle on the Tower, and Taln's return will be the key moments a Way of Kings movie will be built around. The rest of the movie just needs to connect those scenes in a satisfying way. Most of Shallan's story is not as high-octane, and I think it would fit thematically with Words of Radiance (considering it's focused on her and all). Her and Jasnah's research into the Parshendi as Voidbringers is really resolved in Words of Radiance, as well, so I'd push her story out of the first SA movie, letting it focus on Kaladin and Dalinar. The second movie can calm things down, go for some more intrigue, and catch up on Shallan's story and then show how it impacts the other characters when she gets to the warcamps.

Ugh... typed a long post, and lost it all. I'll try again, and maybe come back and edit in more complex thoughts. Props to the big guy. This is the definition of success. Brandon does 1 cosmere book a year. As long as he can keep that up, he should be fine. Do Dragonsteel as a canon movie trilogy. Do Stormlight as a non-canon pair of trilogies. Six main characters (Kaladin, Dalinar, Shallan) (Szeth, Jasnah, Taln), do two books per movie, cut a lot of stuff. You need to have integrity as a film first, as an adaption second. Rothfus and Martin slow down because they get involved in other things. It's their prerogative. I trust Brandon has his priorities 'straight.' He loves writing, and I'm sure he will put that first. Reckoners probably would have been a better first adaption, but it's not cosmere. I will be going opening night and bringing friends.

All hardcovers will have all the interior illustrations, but I encountered a different issue when I've ordered online before. If size matters to you, make sure you order the correct hardcover. I ordered a copy of Way of Kings when Words of Radiance first came out, and it was only 3/4 the size of the WoR hardcover, so it didn't fit on the shelf with the rest of my books. (Okay, yes, it did technically fit, in the sense there was enough space, but it was shorter and I didn't like how it looked.) I wound up going to a local bookstore a year back, since it was bothering me so much, and found a full-size hardcover. (By the way, even the small hardcover had the endsheets in it.)

This is a phenomenal idea. I like to slip in my baseless conjecture into other topics; I'll probably bookmark this. I love extreme speculation, and then being able to point back and say "Ha! I knew it! Please ignore all the other things I predicted that didn't happen" So, here are my crazy thoughts: Stormlight The ten main characters will become ten new Heralds. Taln and Ash will carry over to the new group; Ash might join another KR order, since Shallan is definitely our Lightweaver. A new Shard will Invest in the Roshar system, either to assist Cultivation or to keep Odium trapped after she dies. I suspect Frost might be this Shard. Possibly Endowment, to go with existing Warbreaker connections. Books set in the afterlife and the war there have well documented theories elsewhere, but I think they will be the main setting of the Back 5, with a major cataclysm happening at the end of Book 5 that might actually involve the end of the world and the destruction of the planet. Odium cannot be destroyed - just look at Sel, the Shards are reforming. The series will end with his power being exiled from the Physical and Cognitive Realms, locked up in the Spiritual Realm, until it will eventually be taken out for the eventual reassembly of Adonalsium. Nohadon is Ishar. Mistborn One of the four unused Steel Alphabet symbols belongs to ettmetal. It is in a group of metals which interact with magic systems and Investiture, but cannot be burned/stored in/spiked. The bad guy in the Modern trilogy will be a Mistborn assembled from Hemalurgy. A major trope in thrillers is for the hero cops to become the hunted; a serial killer going after their Allomantic powers would fit the bill quite nicely. The Future trilogy will largely take place off of Scadrial. We did some Shardworld math elsewhere: 10 major Shardworlds, minus Scadrial, Sel, Nalthis, Roshar, Braize. Ashyn, Taldain, Yolen, leaves two main Shardworlds without a series in their systems. I think each of those two worlds will be the setting of a Future Mistborn novel, as the heroes try to deal with the Red Rip destroying the universe, with the third being the hunt for Yolen and the final solution to the Red Rip. (The Red Rip is distorting Shadesmar, meaning conventional space travel will be required instead of traditional worldhopping.) Recent WoBs on Yolen make me wonder if there is another major Shardworld in the system. Dragonsteel I think we'll see a number of Shards killed on Yolen during Dragonsteel by Rayse, which will prompt the Shards to flee to other planets. This is also somewhat based on math: 16 Shards, minus Ruin, Preservation, Dominion, Devotion, Endowment, Honor, Cultivation, Odium, Autonomy, and [Worldless] leaves 6 Shards to go among 3 remaining Major Shardworlds, including Yolen. I think 1 per each of the two mystery Major Shardworlds is reasonable, and Frost on Yolen, leaves 3 other Shards that Odium has splintered. I suspect the Red Rip may be an amalgamation of these three Shards, which is why it is overpowering Odium; no one holds it, and whatever Intents drive the power are causing it to go haywire. Ambition is also not on a world, so that leaves 5. But Ambition may be part of the Red Rip; we don't know its ultimate fate. Aethers The world the Aethers are from is one of the two unknown Major Shardworlds. Even though it does not have a series on the outline anymore (with many of its original elements going to Mistborn), it does have a Shard and does have a magic system. That's why Peter said Aethers are already canon - because their world will be visited in the Future Mistborn trilogy. It will be a very technologically advanced world. As other series get more established, Aethers will begin to appear, being used by supporting Worldhopping characters. The magic system behind them will be extremely straightforward (LoP sample chapters, it was basically a symbiote in the hand) and will be useable anywhere in the cosmere, so it will fit easily into other series without needing a lot of explanation (unlike trying to place a Surgebinder on Scadrial or an Elantrian on Nalthis). Homeland I think the other missing major Shardworld is Homeland. Justice, the Shard of Justice, died there from the Red Rip's influence, and the inhabitants fled to Threnody. When they visit it in Future Mistborn, it will be a post-apocalyptic world the heroes need to escape from. Secret Books As we've seen with Alcatraz, Brandon can keep a long con running about book number. He's told us the series he has planned for the Cosmere and their lengths, but I think he's lying to us. I don't think Mistborn 3 is the finale. I think there'll be a separate book or three that will serve as the true Cosmere finale, a total ballin' Conflux with Hoid leading people from every world to reassemble Adonalsium. Additional Shards I've posted extensively elsewhere about how I view the Shards: as Divine Attributes, separated from the other aspects of God (Adonalsium) to become flawed caricatures of themselves. Based on that, here are the other Shards I think we'll see: Tribulation (God tests those he loves) Justice (God gives people what they deserve) Duality (God, who has revealed himself at various times in various ways) Omniscience (Frost, staying on Yolen and observing, a.k.a. the Survival Shard; alternatively, a Shard that runs The Restaurant at the End of the Cosmere) Oh, yeah, I think Silverlight is built around the second Shard that's not on a planet. I think those are most of my crazy speculation... I don't have any for Warbreaker, Elantris, or White Sand, 'cause I've mostly thought about the backbone series for the cosmere. The other ones will be relevant, but probably not as big-picture. If I come up with any I've forgotten, I'll probably make a new post, and then edit this one for reference. Edited Dec 13, 2016, for Arcanum Unbounded info and associated WoBs from the tour.

Hardcovers aren't cash grabs - the leather-bound editions are cash grabs. (Full disclosure - I have Elantris leatherbound, and will be buying Mistborn when it comes out in December. I have confidence that even if I decide to abandon collecting the full set, they will hold their resale value.) But no one who buys them is surprised at what they get, anymore than any other limited edition book or film collection - they're called "Collector's Editions" for a reason. I was once where you were @GreyPilgrim - college student, not much money, and I was even hesitant to buy books because of space concerns. What worked out well for me was going to my local library - I could request books for them to purchase, and they charged me a 25-cent 'reservation' fee for it. I got Alloy of Law that way, within a month of it coming out. The only downside was that there was another library patron who would smoke while reading - and I could unfortunately recognize his particular odor on all the Sanderson books in the library. But that's not that big a deal in the long run, so I'd recommend seeing if your library will be picking up a copy, and you can read Edgedancer and SSFH for almost nothing. Another budget-saving measure I took (this was back before I was reading Brandon) was waiting for the paperbacks. Buying a hardcover is kind of like paying for a movie ticket; it's more expensive, but it's the only way to get access to the content right away. I, personally, don't watch too many movies in theaters; I wait until they come out in Redbox, and then watch them for $1.50. Waiting for a paperback to come out is the same; cheaper, and you miss out on some of the 'release experience,' but you still get all the content in the end. I'm actually still doing that now; there's a sci-fi book series that I've been following pretty much since it came out in 2006. The final book came out in May, but I haven't purchased it yet; I'm waiting for the mass-market paperback, which will cost a third as much. The other reasons I've moved to hardcovers are more along the lines of super-fan syndrome. I've had numerous paperbacks fall apart after about a dozen reads (no, I didn't read them a dozen times - I'd pass them around to friends. And reread them a couple of times myself.), so hardcovers will last better if you plan on sharing. And, as far as I know, you can't share ebooks at all (please correct me if I'm wrong; I am quite a caveman when it comes to this sort of thing). I also like having hardcovers in front of me for research purposes - when I'm trying to build a theory about realmatics or something big, I like to be able to open to similar passages across books (like comparing Forging to Soulcasting).

A couple of years ago (January 2012, I believe it was), I was spending the last couple of weeks of my Christmas break from college with my two brothers, who were at a different college a half-hour away from mine. Our schedules weren't in-sync, so their classes had started up and all their friends were back, and one of those weekends we did an RPG session. No extended campaign or consistent storyline, just an all-day adventure with one-shot characters that my brother had written. We used the Wizards of the Coast Star Wars RPG (Saga Edition), which we had played extensively in high school, so I knew how to stat up a character very well. Now, I had met most the people I was playing with before, but didn't know them all that well - they were my brothers' friends. As we were rolling up characters, I got the sense that we weren't taking this terribly seriously - goofy backstories, no constant immersion, looking for some laughs. So, I build myself the perfect character. Min-maxed like crazy. Wookiee, for the Strength bonus. We all got to start at level 8, so I knew exactly where I wanted to end up and chose the perfect feats/talents for armor usage and martial arts. Sunk all my starting credits into the most expensive strength-augmented armor I could afford, with just enough left over for a broken translator unit. And then, I cleared my throat in preparation, and the other players were introduced to... Arnold Schwartzenbacca, the greatest Wookiee Soldier the galaxy had ever seen. Needless to say, he was a hit, and was instantly voted in as leader of the party, so I got to perform all of our interactions with NPCs in my bad-Arnold-impression voice. Everyone found ways to chip in, offering references to classic Arnold movie lines. Every combat centered around me wading through blaster fire unharmed up to the enemies (heavy armor reduced my walking speed, so it took a little while), and then ending them in one punch with an appropriate quip while everyone else kept them from escaping. I don't recall too many specifics (which is probably for the best), but my brother who was GMing was getting humorously frustrated by how much I had stolen the show. (The other brother was, of course, egging me on to no end.) One thing led to another, the party gets split, and there we are: Arnold and one other character, in the engine room of an Imperial Star Destroyer as I literally punch the engines apart. The GM looks expectantly at my partner. If I finish off these engines, the mission is a success - but if I somehow fail, all is lost. A squad of stormtroopers comes in behind me, and my partner opens fire on them, letting me finish the mission. Obvious move, right... but as the GM fumed, we (the players) learned was that the other player had been recruited by my brother beforehand to play a mole. He was an Imperial the whole time, waiting for his moment to sabotage the mission. But, as we adventured together, he had a change of heart. He couldn't betray the Wookienator. So, when the GM gave the player the signal to turn sides, he ignored it, and we handily polished off the Star Destroyer and completed the mission. My brother hasn't forgiven me to this day for 'ruining' his mission. Whenever he invites me to join his RPG group anymore, he has but one condition: No Arnold Schwartzenbacca.

So, the image itself is fan-created, but the content is all accurate (unless there's a typo with Surge or Herald naming; I'm not looking too closely at the names right now.) It's an in-universe depiction, and there are cultural elements that aren't necessarily significant to the magic systems (like the infamous woman on chart in the back of the book, who is not intended to be anyone in particular). It's definitely an interesting observation, but I think it's a bit of a stretch. It would mean that the individual characters and their stories were prophesied, something that, while possible in the cosmere, doesn't have the groundwork laid for it in this story IMO. Furthermore, Brandon has previously described the large symbols in the chart as "a concept or an ideal mixed with an essence, what they call the elements of this world..." so I'd view the connections as something between the Orders or the Essences/Attributes associated with them, not necessarily specific people. All the connections you mentioned have also been reproduced on the other chart, in the back of the book. On both of these charts, the majority of the connections follow a simple pattern - connected to both adjacent Orders and the one opposite them. The only ones that are different are the Windruner/Edgedancer and Stoneward/Lightweaver; they also look slightly different on the other chart (in terms of the directions of the zigs and zags), but that may just be due to their placement. Uh... what was I saying again? Oh, right, if the connections refer to characters on one, then the other chart would have to be referring to the characters, as well. Which I don't think is likely.

Here's his profile. As of right now, his last visit was Jan 27th, when he posted some notes about Mistborn: Secret History. Before that, he hadn't posted since 2012. So, technically speaking, yes, he has been here. But only for special occasions. If you'd like to meet him in person, you can check when and where he's having signings and find one that would be reasonable for your parents to take you to. Brandon keeps a list on his website, and there's a tour happening soon that he doesn't have listed on that page yet (but was announced here). He'll sometimes interact with fans on Twitter or Reddit - I'm not on either of them, so I just lurk, but when he posts a writing update on Reddit, especially, he'll reply to people asking questions about it. Hope some of these help - good luck getting a hold of him, somehow!

Welcome to the Shard! Brandon is planning another series connected to the Reckoners, called The Apocalypse Guard, but it probably won't be out for a couple of years. Here's what the big man himself said about the new series.

I've been watching the Amazon page for Arcanum Unbounded; I think they'll be putting up preview pages in a couple days. (30 days before release date, right? That means Saturday.) The only thing I haven't read in there is Edgedancer (for obvious reasons), and I'm not terribly worried about spoilers for it, so my first priority was gonna be to scour preview pages for any mention of Vax. Now, with Silverlight in the mix... who am I kidding, Vax is still top priority, but I'll keep an eye open for Silverlight as well.

If he name-drops like that and then comes back with a RAFO, so help me... I wondered at first if it could just be another Roshar city, known for diamonds so all their spheres shine silver. But, based on the exact wording, I think it has to be somewhere else in the cosmere - Brandon was comparing Azir to Elendel and Silverlight, so it must be a larger cosmere comparison. But he does call it a city... I thought he referred to the Restaurant at the End of the Cosmere as more of a space station, last time he mentioned it. (i.e., not attached to a planet.) I don't know if something like that would match the description of a city... unless it were a Shadesmar city. As far as naming conventions, I don't think it fits on Sel, Scadrial, Roshar, or Nalthis. (Maybe Southern Scadrial? I don't think we've seen any city names, yet.) Not First of the Sun, either. It would fit on Threnody (Lastport) or maybe on Taldain (Lossand).

It might be due to the different authors. There were four (now only three) people who write the strips, and different styles of humor appeal to different people. Rob's strips are the funniest, IMO, and Dave's are pretty good too. Kris has a very weird sense of humor, so his strips tend to be more absurd and nonsensical; there are a good number of his that I just don't find funny. And Matt, who's no longer with them, had the most offensive style of humor; I didn't enjoy a lot of his, either. Some of my favorite comics came when they took turns drawing comics in each others' styles, obviously making fun of them ([1] [2] [3] [4]). I think they have just the right amount of mockery, while still being humorous on their own. Maybe it's just me, but I've thought the quality of the strip overall has declined since they started working on the show. Which makes sense - they only have so much time to work, and anything they put in the show is going to be something they can't do in the strip. But since I don't pay to get the show, I'm probably missing out on some of their best stuff. Which is what it is... I'm not complaining (okay, fine, maybe I am complaining a little bit), since it totally makes more financial sense for them to do what they've done.

It's not Nightblood, although Brandon did call it a good question when it came up. Which, based on the particular phrasing of your question, doesn't bode well for your mental well-being. But I don't feel qualified to evaluate your sanity, especially over the internet, so I'd recommend seeking out a licensed professional.