Search the most comprehensive database of interviews and book signings from Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson and the rest of Team Jordan.
2012-04-30: I had the great pleasure of speaking with Harriet McDougal Rigney about her life. She's an amazing talent and person and it will take you less than an hour to agree.
2012-04-24: Some thoughts I had during JordanCon4 and the upcoming conclusion of "The Wheel of Time."
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39
Mar 29th, 2014
Verbatim
Salt Lake City, UT
Words of Radiance Book Tour
Sugarhouse Barnes & Noble
Herowannabe
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I've gone through and transcribed the parts of the signing that I was directly involved in (the beginning and the end). I left out all the general gushing and picture-taking and Brandon giving instructions to the staff and etc. Any time I left out something more than 'um's or 'uh's I put "..." to show that I edited unimportant stuff out.
Oh, also, whenever I was aware of a 17thsharder talking (such as myself) I put their username in.
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Well the thing to keep in mind is that it is not a barren planet. There are lots of plants on this planet. It's no more barren than a corral reef that deals with a tide rushing in and rushing out. Now, the life has to adapt to it, but it's a really lush planet. If you go and look at the shattered plains there is grass everywhere and plants growing all over the place. Right before a storm it becomes barren, then it becomes lush again. [...] One of the things I kinda have to overcome with this book is that though it is very rocky and stony, it is very lush, and it's hard sometimes for people to imagine that. But even if it is a little bit barren, Utah is barren and it has supported people. [...]
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Yes.
Why does he do that?
Because when Kaladin was there and they were touching it, they actually heard the spren that was inside of it.
So it wasn't Syl that he heard, it was —
It was the sword's spren. That Kaladin was touching it — when a Knight Radiant touches it — you'll see when other Knights Radiant pick up sword, they can hear the screaming.
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She did not, it was actually Syl. But he was in the process of breaking the bond, and so she was able to get some stormlight to him, but that is what really — Like you can imagine, this bond was really a strain for her to use at that point, so it was her, but doing what she did just about destroyed her, which is why you don't hear from her after that.
Is healing a universal stormlight power then?
Yes, within reason. Some are better at it, but it is a universal power.
With Dalinar, as a bondsmith, what does that mean his power-?
That is a good question! That is going to be an [RAFO card].
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You do know that I've got a character in one of the books named Bowen? [Clarification: My name is Bowen. He said this while personalizing our books]
Really?
Yes. He's actually been in the books so far, but not by name. He's one of the Worldhoppers. If you go look and talk to them they may have identified him, some people who have read.
Thank you for naming a character after me!
Yes. I did it. He's from White Sand. I wrote the book in '98. Yeah, he's one of the Purelake guys.
Is he Blunt?
Yeah, yeah. [...] (later) So yeah, Bowen, you'll have to see because when I redid the linguistics for the world, his name I think got changed. I think it's now Baon. But in the very first draft of the very first book I ever wrote his name was Bowen. And the reason I think I changed it - is because he's a bowman. And I'm like I can't name the bowman—the archer—Bowen. That's kinda dumb. But in my head he's still Bowen.
Anyway, my question...
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[Impish grin]
Can I make some guesses?
Sure.
Is it Kelsier?
[Impish grin]
What does that mean?
That means I'm not going to answer that.
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(Stopped transcribing at the 0:12:20 mark, in case someone else wants to pick up the transcription there)
(Started transcribing again at the 2:34:55 mark)
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[impish grin] Ah ha ha ha. The Lord Ruler, heh heh heh, That is an excellent question.
Not going to answer?
Not going to answer that one.
Would you answer if Hoid used it for Feruchemy?
His bead? Hoid’s bead was—He originally got it because he wanted to be an Allomancer. [Note that he doesn’t actually answer the question.]
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No, the bones are just there for the muscles to pull against.
Okay, so they don’t need it for some Spiritual link through the bones to mimic someone?
No. Good question.
Also, what would happen to a Kandra if you bisected it down the middle with half of its blessing ending up in either half?
That would be—like ripping off any other piece of it—that would be very disturbing for the Kandra. But they could reabsorb and come back together. They would not be able to function half and half, that would eventually kill them basically. They can’t like send pieces of themselves off and do things. They can be ripped apart and heal, but if you ripped them in half, that would be killing them.
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Okay.
So, like metal inside a person’s body?
It depends on how strong the investiture in them is.
Is that going to be the answer for all of these?
Probably. :)
How about a spike charged with Hemalurgy? Not in a person.
Not in a person? It depends on how strong—yeah. A spike is moderately—in the realm of these sorts of things—moderately easy to push on, because a spike does not rip off very much investiture. Only enough to short circuit the soul, and it loses that over time. So I would put that at the bottom—with the top being very hard—to be one of the easier things.
How about a metalmind? A feruchemy metalmind that is "full."
That is going to be middle of the realm. Generally easier than, for instance, a shardblade, which is going to be very hard.
But a shardblade isn’t actual metal. Ish?
Ish. Is Lerasium a metal? Yeah.
So would that be the same for Shardplate, too?
Shardplate and blade are very hard. Blade is probably going to be harder. [...]
Halfshard? Like a halfshard shield?
Halfshard shield is going to be in moderate.
Nightblood? I imagine is going to be very difficult.
Very hard. Of all the things you’ve listed, he’s the hardest. Far beyond even a shardblade.
Far beyond metal inside a person?
Yes, depending on how invested the person is.
If someone was invested as much as Nightblood I’m pretty sure it’s going to be very difficult.
Yes, for instance, the Godking, at the end, with all of those Breaths. Pushing on something inside of him? Getting through all that? Gonna be REAL hard. Average person on Scadrial? You’ve seen how hard that is. A drab? Much easier.
That was actually going to be my next one- No, sorry, not a drab, a Lifeless.
A Lifeless. Lifeless are kinda weird, because they’ve had their soul leave, but then they’ve had a replacement stuck in, in the form of Breath, which puts them in a really weird position compared to a Drab, which has had part of their investiture ripped away, but the majority of it remains. So anyway, I’m going to give you one more. Pick your favorite.
Okay, a soul-stamped piece of metal.
A soul-stamped piece of metal is going to be on the lower, easier side. Not a lot of investiture going on in a soulstamp.
13
Anyone else have questions or books that they need signed?
I have a question. You gave me one of these little Szeth cards. I noticed on the back it looks like a game.
Yeah, yeah it does, doesn’t it?
What’s the story with that?
Those—that was just like randomly printed there.
[in a stage whisper] I don’t think he’s telling the truth.
We just got them back and we were like, "Wow, those random collection of letters look surprisingly like words from my books. How did that happen?"
[inaudible ]… look forward to that?
He’s not allowed to say.
It’s not a “Not allowed to say,” it’s that this is a fun little thing that may become something in the distant future.
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Lift is Abrasion and Progression.
Do you have a name of that type of Knight?
She's an Edgedancer.
Is she going to have more of a story later on?
Yes, Lift is one of the characters who was originally planned for the back five.
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He is a person that has shown up in all of my epic fantasy books.
How does he have so much information about what's going on and how is he always in the right place at the right time?
Those are very excellent questions. RAFO, but he has a surprising ability to be in the right place at the right time in the Cosmere.
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Yes.
How did they come by the Dawnshard[I think he and Brandon meant honorblade?] that Szeth got?
They historically kept all of them.
Does that have anything to do why they think stone is sacred?
You will find out more about that as time progresses
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One of my worlds has dragons.
Is it Dragonsteel?
Yes, it is.
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