Mason Wheeler

I know it's a bit late, but I ran into him here and managed to get a few Cosmere questions in: Q: In Dalinar's visions, he interacted with people in ways that seemed strange and unexpected to those he was interacting with, and they responded appropriately. Did his actions actually influence the past, or not? For example, did he help influence Nohadon to write The Way of Kings? (Note: This is a very interesting question to ask because both answers reveal something very interesting. A yes says that time travel in some form is possible under Cosmere magic; a no says that the dying Tanavast had enough power and awareness available to him to create some extremely detailed and highly interactive simulations, which is far more capability than Leras had while dying!) A: No, they were just projections sent into his mind. Q: We know that Hoid has a bead of Lerasium, that he obtained during the events of The Well of Ascension. As of the most recent Cosmere book chronologically, (The Alloy of Law, I believe,) has it been used? A: Well, umm... probably not exactly in the way you're thinking... Q: OK, specifically, has it been used either by Hoid burning it or by him giving it to someone else to burn? A: Well, Hoid's a very resourceful person, and he finds uses for most of the things he gets ahold of, though they're not always the expected uses. So yeah, he's found something to do with it, but I'll have to RAFO that one, because it's going to come up in later books and I don't want to spoil things.

I was there too, and I asked a few Cosmere questions. I didn't record any of this, and what I'm reporting here, both in my questions and his answers, (particularly his answer to the first question) are kind of paraphrased, but this is accurate enough. (Note: Mistborn and Way of Kings spoilers ahead.) Me: You've said that Splintering a shard is essentially the same thing as the shattering of Adonalsium, repeated on a smaller scale. Brandon: Yeah. Me: And a while ago, someone asked you if Splintering was permanent or reversible, and you said that it can be reversed. Brandon: Yeah. Me: And shard holders tend to take the name of the shard they hold. So you've got Sazed, who goes by "Harmony" now, after taking up Ruin and Preservation. That makes me wonder, does he hold two shards... or one? Brandon: You could really answer that either way. The distinction is a really subjective one, and you could say that he's holding both shards, or that he holds one single Harmony. Me: So, according to King Taravangian, the... erm... I don't actually know the name for it, the uh, death-babbling phenomenon... Brandon: Death rattles. Me: OK, death rattles have been going on since about the time the Parshendi were first discovered. Soon after this, King Gavilar was killed, and he said something that sounds kind of nonsensical. Was that him talking, or someone else? Brandon: No, that was Gavilar. Me: All right. And related to that, sometimes some little concepts kind of... cross worlds. When Miles [from The Alloy of Law] died, who was talking there? Him, or someone else? Brandon: Wow, that's a really excellent question. And I'm afraid I'm going to have to RAFO that. Me: Aww... figures. Also, I overheard him saying to anther fan that all magic on Sel is essentially programming, and building up a complex Aonic effect or an intricate Forgery works just like writing code. (As a computer programmer myself, I found that pretty cool.) Please don't double post. Use the Edit button instead. Thanks!