Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

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.

How does a world that is wracked by storms supply food for an entire population?

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. [...]

roshar

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stormlight archive

Why does the shardbearer — when they're dueling with Adolin and Renarin — why does the shardbearer freak out when Kaladin grabs the sword — like, he screams, and shouts "I didn't kill you!" and ran away?

Yes.

Question

Why does he do that?

Brandon Sanderson

Because when Kaladin was there and they were touching it, they actually heard the spren that was inside of it.

Question

So it wasn't Syl that he heard, it was —

Brandon Sanderson

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.

spren

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shardblades

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kaladin

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syl

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radiants

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words of radiance

How did Shallan rescue Kaladin when they fell in the chasm?

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.

Question

Is healing a universal stormlight power then?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, within reason. Some are better at it, but it is a universal power.

Question

With Dalinar, as a bondsmith, what does that mean his power-?

Brandon Sanderson

That is a good question! That is going to be an [RAFO card].

stormlight

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radiants

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shallan

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syl

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kaladin

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dalinar

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words of radiance

Do we ever get to see a good banter between Wit and Shallan?

She is not quite ready yet to be on his level. And if you watch through the series, her use of humor will mature. And in fact you should be able to notice a difference between these two even [Way of Kings and Words of Radiance]. By later books she will be able to stand a little bit better. Right now he would rip her to shreds.

hoid

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shallan

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words of radiance

When Sazed

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]

Herowannabe

Really?

Brandon Sanderson

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.

Herowannabe

Thank you for naming a character after me!

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. I did it. He's from White Sand. I wrote the book in '98. Yeah, he's one of the Purelake guys.

Herowannabe

Is he Blunt?

Brandon Sanderson

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.

Herowannabe

Anyway, my question...

blunt

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fan names in the books

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crossover

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worldhopping

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white sand

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stormlight archive

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baon

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unpublished works

When Sazed is fighting Marsh, he hears a voice telling him about his rings—Whose voice is that?

[Impish grin]

Herowannabe

Can I make some guesses?

Brandon Sanderson

Sure.

Herowannabe

Is it Kelsier?

Brandon Sanderson

[Impish grin]

Herowannable

What does that mean?

Brandon Sanderson

That means I'm not going to answer that.

sazed

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kelsier

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mistborn

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first mistborn trilogy

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hero of ages

(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)

The Lord Ruler, he had his Lerasium beads, did he use them for Feruchemy?

[impish grin] Ah ha ha ha. The Lord Ruler, heh heh heh, That is an excellent question.

Herowannabe

Not going to answer?

Brandon Sanderson

Not going to answer that one.

Herowannabe

Would you answer if Hoid used it for Feruchemy?

Brandon Sanderson

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.]

lord ruler

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lerasium

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hoid

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allomancy

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feruchemy

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metallic arts

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mistborn

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first mistborn trilogy

Okay, a couple questions about Kandra. So when Kandra digest bones, obviously they need that Physically, but is there a Cognitive or a Spiritual purpose to the bones, too?

No, the bones are just there for the muscles to pull against.

Herowannabe

Okay, so they don’t need it for some Spiritual link through the bones to mimic someone?

Brandon Sanderson

No. Good question.

Herowannabe

Also, what would happen to a Kandra if you bisected it down the middle with half of its blessing ending up in either half?

Brandon Sanderson

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.

kandra

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mistborn

… [some more general gushing, talking about a Mistborn Adventure Campaign we ran over at steelministry.com trying to kill the Lord Ruler. If any of my players, or anyone else, wants to go listen to it, it’s at the 2:36:50 mark. If anyone else is interested in reading the narration of that game, it can be found here. One note of interest: Brandon did say that Kadrok’s idea of trying to spike the Lord Ruler to the point that Ruin could take him over was a clever idea.] ...

I’m curious, I’ve got a list of various cosmere bits of metal, and I wonder if you would rank them from like 1 to 10 or easy to difficult on how hard it would be to steelpush on them?

Okay.

Herowannabe

So, like metal inside a person’s body?

Brandon Sanderson

It depends on how strong the investiture in them is.

Herowannabe

Is that going to be the answer for all of these?

Brandon Sanderson

Probably. :)

Herowannabe

How about a spike charged with Hemalurgy? Not in a person.

Brandon Sanderson

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.

Herowannabe

How about a metalmind? A feruchemy metalmind that is "full."

Brandon Sanderson

That is going to be middle of the realm. Generally easier than, for instance, a shardblade, which is going to be very hard.

Aaradel

But a shardblade isn’t actual metal. Ish?

Brandon Sanderson

Ish. Is Lerasium a metal? Yeah.

Herowannabe

So would that be the same for Shardplate, too?

Brandon Sanderson

Shardplate and blade are very hard. Blade is probably going to be harder. [...]

Herowannabe

Halfshard? Like a halfshard shield?

Brandon Sanderson

Halfshard shield is going to be in moderate.

Herowannabe

Nightblood? I imagine is going to be very difficult.

Brandon Sanderson

Very hard. Of all the things you’ve listed, he’s the hardest. Far beyond even a shardblade.

Herowannabe

Far beyond metal inside a person?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, depending on how invested the person is.

Aaradel

If someone was invested as much as Nightblood I’m pretty sure it’s going to be very difficult.

Brandon Sanderson

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.

Herowannabe

That was actually going to be my next one- No, sorry, not a drab, a Lifeless.

Brandon Sanderson

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.

Herowannabe

Okay, a soul-stamped piece of metal.

Brandon Sanderson

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.

allomancy

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hemalurgy

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feruchemy

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metallic arts

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shardblades

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shardplate

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lerasium

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shards

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nightblood

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breath

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lifeless

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drabs

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cosmere

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crossover

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warbreaker

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mistborn

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stormlight archive

Anyone else have questions or books that they need signed?

Question

I have a question. You gave me one of these little Szeth cards. I noticed on the back it looks like a game.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, yeah it does, doesn’t it?

Question

What’s the story with that?

Brandon Sanderson

Those—that was just like randomly printed there.

Herowannabe

[in a stage whisper] I don’t think he’s telling the truth.

Brandon Sanderson

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?"

Question

[inaudible ]… look forward to that?

Aradel

He’s not allowed to say.

Brandon Sanderson

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.

words of radiance

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stormlight archive

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szeth

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fandom

What are Oldbloods?

Oldbloods are the...years ago Alethkar was ruled by a different group of people. A different, like, dynasty. It's been overturned and it's been a long enough time that they're not really a threat. But to acknowledge they're an Oldblood, they wear the tatoo that means, "We used to rule this place." And so, it's just a lineage of people in a dynasty that used to be the kings of Alethkar.

oldbloods

Is Wit/Hoid an Allomancer?

He did steal a bead of Lerasium off of Scadriel. If he were to make use of that bead, certain powers would have been gained.

hoid

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allomancer

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lerasium

I was just curious about Shardplate. In one of the books you said it was seamless like there weren't any chinks in it anywhere.

There are chinks but there is no direct line to the skin. So like if you see a slit, there's another little plate behind it.

shardplate

Shardplate thus far has been powered by Stormlight and the spheres, but now that we've got Radiants is it powered by themselves?

Well so far we have not had a Radiant wearing Shardplate.

shardplate

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knights radiant

Is that theory correct where the Heralds are kind of reversed now, where they're going against their [attributes].

RAFO

heralds

Is the second half of the series based off of some of these interlude characters?

Some of the interlude characters, yes. And some that aren't interlude characters. For example, Renarin is going to be one of the back five.

renarin

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future books

In the Stormlight Archive, there are a lot of Knight Radiant classes that are set at the end. Could you provide what abillities they have? Like Bondsmith?

Bondsmith I haven't really gotten into yet, though Bondsmith is next to Windrunners which means they will share one ability with Windrunners.

The adhesion surge is shared.

bondsmiths

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windrunners

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adhesion

What are Lift's abilities called?

Lift is Abrasion and Progression.

Question

Do you have a name of that type of Knight?

Brandon Sanderson

She's an Edgedancer.

Question

Is she going to have more of a story later on?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, Lift is one of the characters who was originally planned for the back five.

lift

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edgedancer

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abrasion

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progression

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future books

Are the rest of the books in the Stormlight Archive going to be different colors?

They are, and you can actually match the color to the order of the Knights Radiant. That's the Windrunners[WoK], that's the symbol of the Windrunners, that's the color. That's the Lightweavers[WoR], and that's the symbol of the Lightweavers, which is the same, and the color.

knights radiant

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color coding

It seems like you have a Warbreaker thing at the end is that actually...?

Yes, it is.

The Warbreaker "thing" is Nightblood in the end of WOR

nightblood

What are Oldbloods?

Oldbloods are the...years ago Alethkar was ruled by a different group of people. A different, like, dynasty. It's been overturned and it's been a long enough time that they're not really a threat. But to acknowledge they're an Oldblood, they wear the tattoo that means, "We used to rule this place." And so, it's just a lineage of people in a dynasty that used to be the kings of Alethkar.

oldbloods

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alethkar

How do Alethi get married?

I will show you a wedding ceremony eventually.

alethi

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wedding rites

Who or what is Hoid/Wit?

He is a person that has shown up in all of my epic fantasy books.

Question

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?

Brandon Sanderson

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.

hoid

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cosmere

Have we seen another Lightweaver as of WoR?

Yes, depending on your definition. You could make the argument, the Order of Knight Radiant, no. But you have seen people lightweaving, the skill, yes.

lightweaving

The bindings-Strong/weak axial, what exactly are those, what can they do?

RAFO, but you will see it happening. But remember that the original inspiration for the magics in the Stormight Archive were the fundamental forces as listed in physics. [discussion on what characters have which surges]

surgebindings

Truthless are pretty rare in Shin society?

Yes.

Question

How did they come by the Dawnshard[I think he and Brandon meant honorblade?] that Szeth got?

Brandon Sanderson

They historically kept all of them.

Question

Does that have anything to do why they think stone is sacred?

Brandon Sanderson

You will find out more about that as time progresses

truthless

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shin

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szeth

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honorblade

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stone shamanism

Can you give me a hint in the easter egg in the map of Roshar? What particular skill do you need for it? Is it a different language or math related?

It's not linguistics. It is math related. Let me remind you this is not going to be a mind blowing revelation. It is going to be a nifty thing. Someone actually got close at one of my signings. They noticed something. But it is a fun easter egg that will tell you more about the history of the world.

roshar

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maps

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easter eggs

We have yet to see a dragon from you, I was wondering if those are coming?

One of my worlds has dragons.

Question

Is it Dragonsteel?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, it is.

dragonsteel

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dragons

Different surges are shared by different orders. Do they work the same for the different orders?

They work basically the same though there is some...sometimes the combination will produce some side effects that are unique, but the basic powers are the same.

surgebindings

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knights radiant

Does Vasher want Nightblood back?

Vasher feels responsible for Nightblood.

vasher

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nightblood

Is there any reason he didn't go by "Vasher"?

Because in the original draft he was, and I'm like, "That's just too easy." Plus he's kinda trying to hide. He's not as foolhardy as a certain other character who goes willy nilly by the same aliases over and over again and doesn't care. Picking a new alias, if you know people will potentially be looking for you, having them not be able to ask for you by name is useful.

vasher

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hoid

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worldhoppers

Are we going to see the flute again?

Hoid is very disappointed by the loss of his flute and would like to recover it.

hoid

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kaladin

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flute

Is Jasnah aware of the Diagram?

RAFO

jasnah

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diagram

Does Hoid have 2 Honorblades?

Hoid currently has no Honorblades.

hoid

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honorblades

Has Hoid used his Lerasium Bead for Feruchemy?

Hoid got the bead originally because he wanted to become an Allomancer.

BWS has stated elsewhere that Hoid has not used his lerasium bead.

hoid

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lerasium

[Paraphrased]How difficult would it be to Push on various things.

[Paraphrased]It depends on the amount of Investiture in the person/object. Nightblood would be the hardest thing to Push on, harder than Shardblades.

allomancy

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pushing

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nightblood

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shardblades

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investiture