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Interviews: WoR Signing Report - Argent

Summary:

Entries

65

Date

Mar 22nd, 2014

Type

Verbatim

Location

Chicago

TourCon

Words of Radiance

Bookstore

Barnes & Noble

Reporter

Argent

Links

17th Shard (Report)

  • 1

    Argent

    Can you talk about the technical details of the glyphs writing system in The Stormlight Archive?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The glyphs were designed by Isaac Stewart. He is my scribe, artist, and cartographer. He is also the art director at my company. We sat down and I wanted something symmetrical, so actually half of the glyph is repeated. When you read into it, it's symmetrical, and you can read them by the points where they slant, but you will have to go talk to him about exactly how to do it, because I say "I want a glyph for this" and he designs it. So they are readable and based on Arabic word art.

    Tags

  • 2

    Question

    What spren types are Glys, Ivory, and Wyndle?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO, because I haven't decided yet. I know generally what they are, but I don't know how I am going to call them in the books. It happens with other things in my writing, Shards for example - Odium was originally Hatred; the idea was the same, but I decided to change the actual word.

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  • 3

    Question

    Is the number of the Unmade fixed?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Question

    Is it ten, is it ten, is it ten, is it ten, is it ten?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Is it ten? No, it's not ten.

    Tags

  • 4

    Question

    Is Hoid human?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Hoid was human a long time ago. Now... It's complicated. We would call him human, and so will pretty much everyone else, but he is not exactly that.

    Tags

  • 5

    Brandon Sanderson (Paraphrased)

    Brandon talked about something he called "Honor's purposes" or maybe "Honor's Purposes," and how they are the reason 10 is such a holy and dominant number - I assumed it meant Honor has (had) 10 of those Purposes. It was heavily implied in the conversation that Odium, if he has similar Purposes, does not have 10 of them.

    Tags

  • 6

    Brandon Sanderson (Paraphrased)

    Brandon spoke about how he planned all of The Stormlight Archive books to be named after in-world books - that's where the "archive" part comes from. Book #3 will be pretty... unique. He said we'll know what he is talking about when we see it (so I guess it won't be a normal book format or something. Maybe the Shin write their books on stone tablets or something...).

    Tags

  • 7

    Question

    Are the people from Dalinar's visions, the ones he has the vision through, related to one another?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No. It's not a Wheel of Time thing where you are going through generations.

    Tags

  • 8

    Question

    If Nightblood is on Roshar, what happened to Vasher?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, look really closely at this book.

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  • 9

    Question

    In the last part of the book, Hoid is talking to [a cremling], and says "If you think hard, this sentence is really clever." Are there any implications beyond this, or was that him just talking?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Go compare to another sentence he used earlier in the book. He is making a pun off of the sentence he used before. It's not as clever as he thinks he is, it's kind of a bad pun.

    Tags

  • 10

    Question

    Any progress on the Mistborn game?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Not that I can see, but they are telling me they are making progress, so we'll see.

    Tags

  • 11

    Question

    Has Hoid been on Roshar before The Way of Kings?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Tags

  • 12

    Question

    Who would win in a fight, Kaladin or Kelsier.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Kelsier would probably find him in his sleep and kill him there. I would say Kelsier because he would not fight fairly.

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  • 13

    Question

    Favorite Order of the Knights Radiant?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'd probably be a Bondsmith. Though becoming a Bondsmith is hard, I don't know if I'd make it.

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  • 14

    Question

    What's up with the Parshendi just admitting that they killed Gavilar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There are definitely questions to be asked.

    Tags

  • 15

    Question

    In regards to the one-armed Lopen - which arm is missing?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I have always imagined it as his left, but I don't know if I ever said or canonized it.

    Tags

  • 16

    Question

    Have we seen all four of the genders for the Parshendi?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. Malen, femalen, male, and female. Basically there is a male neuter and a female neuter, and then a male and a female. And if you can't tell, the malen and femalen are both asexual, completely.

    Tags

  • 17

    Question

    Is Jasnah still alive at the end of the book, since the whole scene where she kind of appears...

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, she is.

    Argent

    Why does she take so long to come back?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Because Elsecalling is not precise even if you know what you are doing, which she doesn't.

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  • 18

    Question

    Are gemhearts, the gems in those chemically identical to mined gemstones?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They are very similar. Not 100% chemically identical, they are far more pure for one thing. You would call them the same thing, but you would say "wow, this gem has no impurities." They may have flaws, but no impurities.

    Tags

  • 19

    Question

    That spren that are in the Everstorm - will there be more of those and will they pair directly...

    Brandon Sanderson

    There are more of them. There is not an exact one-to-one correlation?

    Question

    I assume there will be ten opposite orders to the Knights Radiant?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO. That's a big ol' RAFO.

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  • 20

    Question

    Is it possible for a Parshendi to become a Knight Radiant?

    Brandon Sanderson

    In the past, no. Let's say this, in-world everybody would tell you no.

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  • 21

    Question

    For Words of Radiance, could you put a comment about something in the upcoming books, something not too specific, just something I can think about? Something like "Renarin has a spren" you wrote for somebody else in The Way of Kings?

    Brandon Sanderson (Paraphrased)

    Brandon wrote "Stormlight makes plants grow" in the guy's book.

    Tags

  • 22

    Question

    Will the main characters from books 1-5 be as prevalent in 6-10 as the secondary characters now are?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, the main characters will be as prevalent in 6-10 as the secondary ones are in 1-5, maybe even more so.

    Tags

  • 23

    Question

    Will Nightblood drain Stormlight?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Nightblood will drain any Investiture, so yes.

    Tags

  • 24

    Question

    I noticed Nazh's name at the bottom of the illustrations - is that a character that's going to make an appearance in the future books?

    Brandon Sanderson

    He's already appeared in the books. Very very cameo-ish tangential thing, you have to be really looking to spot him.

    Argent

    Books, plural?

    Brandon Sanderson

    He wasn't in The Way of Kings, no. Not on screen, I don't think.

    Tags

  • 25

    Question

    The gemstone Gavilar gives to Szeth, is that the gemstone that's spoke of in the epigraphs?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO.

    Tags

  • 26

    Question

    If Adonalsium shattered with intent, will he always shatter to the same shards?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is plausible that he could shattered in a different way.

    Question

    So it could've been different Shards?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, that's plausible.

    Tags

  • 27

    Question

    The prologues, will we ever see one from Gavilar's point of view?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's a big ol' RAFO. Because I want it to be surprising to see who you get each book.

    Tags

  • 28

    Question

    Have we seen a character who is a part of multiple organizations, for example the Ghostbloods and the Sons of Honor?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes you have. [Pause for a photo] I've a big gap out there, because of you-know-who is in the Ghostbloods and the Lightweavers. You give me opportunities, and I will answer truthfully

    Tags

  • 29

    Question (Paraphrased)

    [Comments about how awesome Lopen is.]

    Brandon Sanderson

    Lopen is a very special dude. I planned, and I don't know if I'll get to it, but I planned an in-between books short story called King Lopen the First, King of Alethkar. And I am hoping I'll get a chance to write that and stick it somewhere for you guys. Because if you see in the end, he is claiming he was king for a while. You will find out why.

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  • 30

    Question

    Elhokar's assassination attempt, the drained spheres from his Plate - was that him draining them, Surgebinding?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's a RAFO. Good question. Let me say this. Drawing the Stormlight from an active set of Shardplate is very difficult.

    Tags

  • 31

    Question

    Why can Stormlight heal Lopen's arm, but can't heal Kaladin's scars?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Because a lot of the healing in the cosmere works on principles of expectation and how you envision yourself.

    Question

    So Kaladin has accepted the scars.

    Brandon Sanderson

    And Lopen never accepted the one arm. It's one of these ties when I built the magic systems that I wanted certain threads to run through them, so when I eventually have them being used in the same books, there will be consistency among them, so they won't feel like everything's just thrown together. So, the intention and expectation, for instance, in Warbreaker. What you want to have happen, the expectation, the way you are thinking about things, all that influences what actually happens. Very important for most of the cosmere magics.

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  • 32

    Question

    In the future Mistborn series, will there be any spectator sports around the magic system?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is very likely. In fact, one of the reasons I wrote The Rithmatist was to play around with a magic system that's used as a sport, as a game.

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  • 33

    Question

    Also, did you always plan for the cosmere to be a dwarf galaxy?

    Brandon Sanderson

    "Always" is hard to say with the cosmere. Once I sat down and decided "okay, I need to build this universe," that's when a lot of this happened. And that was all during the later stages of the cosmere development.

    Tags

  • 34

    Question

    In Shadesmar you describe the beads, are they like little beads, this big, BB size...

    Brandon Sanderson

    They are bigger than BB size.

    Question

    Okay, and everything melts into beads. But when people touch them, do they form into the thing they are supposed to be, or just one bead represents the stick, and...

    Brandon Sanderson

    One bead represents the item that is seen and views itself as a cohesive item.

    Question

    Is there a picture inside it, or...?

    Brandon Sanderson

    We will get more into this as time progresses.

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  • 35

    Question

    The prevailing theory on the 17th Shard is that Hoid worldhops using Shadesmar. Could you confirm or deny that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Hoid has indeed gotten between worlds before through Shadesmar.

    Question

    And would you be willing to give us a hint as to how he does that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There are hints in the books. There is a hint in the very first cosmere book I released [Elantris]. Which I thought was a huge hint, but so far I haven't seen anyone talking about it.

    Argent

    Really?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Mmhmm. I thought that once people started figuring the cosmere, they would see the massive in-your-face hint I put in that book, but so far, as far as I know, no one has. [Some chat about Brandon's tendency to drop sneaky hints and how he likes doing that] Now, the one [hint] about the map, that one I don't think is obvious. I know people have been trying to figure it out. It's something fun once you figure it out, but it's not something huge and obvious. The Elantris once was, like, enormously "HIIINT!"

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  • 36

    Question

    If you were to use Allomancy to fly faster than light, would it be like the Navigators in Dune, where you pick out the best possible route through the stars?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, good question though! That's not quite the way, I haven't given you the tools to figure it out, because I feel that the tools you need to figure it out, I couldn't give them to the characters. I wanted it to progress with the technological progress, so hints are only really brief in the story. You will not see a lot of this until the contemporary trilogy, when they are starting to figure out the technology for how this might plausible work out in the future.

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  • 37

    Question

    Can you tell us which Shard is with [The Silence Divine]?

    Brandon Sanderson

    This is a world that does not currently have a Shard.

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  • 38

    Question

    Is there a limit to how many Shardblades one person can have?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Theoretically, not really. There are some things that can limit bound that.. I can imagine people have many. In the original draft of The Way of Kings Prime, Amaram had two. And so, it's definitely possible to have multiples, and I had not thought about someone trying to bond every Shardblade.

    Question

    So that means you can be bonded to more than one spren?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, those Shardblades are...

    Question

    Dead ones.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. So, can you be bonded to more than one spren? The answer to that question is also yes. Potentially. But there is a much harder limit on that.

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  • 39

    Question

    Is it possible to become a Sliver if you burn enough atium?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I don't think so.

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  • 40

    Question

    Is there a way to tell between different Investitures?

    Brandon Sanderson

    [Brandon misunderstood the question a little in the beginning - he thought the question was "can every Shard's magic detect other Investitures?"] Most of the magics have built into them that ability, but I wouldn't say that everyone does. I am trying to remember if all of them have... I lot of them have a power that would allow you to do that, but I don't know if every one of them does.

    Question

    [Clarification]

    Brandon Sanderson

    If you were really good at burning bronze, you could distinguish between different types of Investiture from different planets even. And that sort of skill does exist in other magic systems.

    Argent

    Is it like a wavelength kind of thing?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yea, that's exactly what it is.

    Tags

  • 41

    Question

    Since Hoid is the Horneater god, are there, or at least implied, other Shards...

    Brandon Sanderson

    Hoid is not a Shard.Question

    Or other Shards that are related to Hoid, since they are in the same time period. Would they also be Horneater gods?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I think that the Horneaters might interpret things very differently from their reality, as they are viewing things...

    Question

    So would they originally be from Roshar, or would they have traveled from somewhere else?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's a RAFO, it depends on the person. Hoid is not originally from Roshar.

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  • 42

    Question

    The Nahel bond, what determines whether you get a Cryptic or an honorspren?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The spren themselves.

    Question

    So it doesn't have anything to do with the Orders of the Knights Radiant?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Um, you have to attract the spren, the same way you attract emotionspren, you have to attract the right spren for the Order.

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  • 43

    Question

    Why can only women write?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It has to with a lot of cultural [???], spraying out of a certain sort of essay written a long ago (Arts and Majesty) that divided masculine arts and feminine arts, and some cultural things sort of went along with that ended up gaining momentum.

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  • 44

    Question

    After a spren has been bonded, what happens if the person it's bonded with dies?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is an emotional event for the spren, but not a damaging one. As long as their oaths are unbroken.

    Argent

    Kind of like if a close friend dies?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Maybe a little more personal than that.

    Question

    I guess Helaran was not bonded to a spren then?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Why do you say that

    Question

    I saw that his Blade had a gemstone at the bottom, so that was a clue.

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is a very good clue.

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  • 45

    Brandon Sanderson (Paraphrased)

    Vague hints for a Stormlight / Cosmere tabletop RPG, as suggested by the stats on the back of Szeth's card. Other cards will be forthcoming.
  • 46

    Brandon Sanderson (Paraphrased)

    Viewpoint characters: Szeth, Eshonai, Dalinar. Jasnah will be in the back five.

    Tags

  • 47

    Question

    The Horneater names are very similar to Polynesian names...

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is the direct inspiration. I love how Polynesian language sound, and I've been wanting to use one for years.

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  • 48

    Question

    Has anyone other than Vasher and the Five Scholars Awakened Steel?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Not that Vasher knows about. And if he doesn't know about it, then there is a decent chance [that it never happened].

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  • 49

    Question

    Can Returned feed on Stormlight?

    Brandon Sanderson

    This is definitely possible.

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  • 50

    Question

    The Ars Arcanum in the back of [The Alloy of Law] - who is it written by?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The same who's written all of them.

    Tags

  • 51

    TheChronicFeruchemist

    What is the gem cut that holds the most Stormlight, and does it vary from gem to gem?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It does vary from gem to gem, and... I've got this written down somewhere... I am going RAFO, because it's more of a "I need to go to my notes and find out."

    Tags

  • 52

    TheChronicFeruchemist

    Where does the fiber for fabric come from on Scadrial?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Scadrial is an Earth analogue. Scadrial is the place where if we have it on Earth, you can assume it's available there.

    Tags

  • 53

    TheChronicFeruchemist

    If I were to Soulcast pewter, the way Shallan does with the blood in The Way of Kings, would an Allomancer be able to use it?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You could create Allomantically viable metals, yes.

    TheChronicFeruchemist

    But is it automatic?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would say that the pure metals are, but the alloys are not.

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  • 54

    Question

    Can the forms of power of the listeners be treated as opposite / equivalents of the Orders of the Knights Radiant. Could we consider Stormforms to be anti-Windrunners?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You could consider it that way, but there is not a one-to-one analogue.

    Question

    Because it looked like the powers of the voidforms are kind of like anti-Surges...

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, yes, there is definitely something there, but again I say, it's not a one-to-one correlation. They are not going to be exactly opposite.

    Tags

  • 55

    Question

    The person who arrived at the gates of Kholinar, the one you refuse to acknowledge as Talenel - is that person the same as the one delivered to the warcamps?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Tags

  • 56

    Argent

    Will a Surgebinder's eye color change when they Surgebind or have a Blade... Is the color of their eyes corresponding to their Order? So Windrunners would do blue, and...

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Argent

    So each Order does a different eye color?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Each Order does indeed get a different eye color.

    Tags

  • 57

    Question

    Can you confirm the real names of the Heralds for me?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Jezrien, Nale, Chanarach (nickname: Chana), Vedel, Paliah (nickname: Pali), Shalash (nickname: Ash), Battar, Kalak, Talenel (nickname: Taln), Ishar.

    Tags

  • 58

    Question

    Is Awakening and BioChroma an end-neutral system?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. You don't lose Breath in the process of Awakening.

    Tags

  • 59

    Question

    In the different worlds, can you Hemalurgically spike people with materials other than metal? For example a wooden spike, or a gem spike?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO.

    Tags

  • 60

    Argent

    Shallan has this awesome Memory thing going on, Jasnah has this geolocation thing, Kaladin is a really good fighter - are those just their traits, or is there something supernatural going on?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There is something supernatural about those. Each Order... Well, how about this. If you look at scholars' interpretations, there are some scholars who think that these things are not supernatural, and some who think that they are. But, if you look, many Lightweavers had powerful mnemonic abilities.

    Argent

    So it's definitely tied to the Orders?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's tied to the Orders. Now, I am not going to say that you've got them all 100% correct, but each Order, there are things that come with Order, things that do not add up from simple the "you get this power plus this power," there is something else going on. And I would say that for Windrunners, watch the number of squires and the power of the squires... these are abnormal for the Windrunners.

    Argent

    And each Order's squires are somehow different from the other Orders'?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeeeaaaa... some Orders do not have them.

    Argent

    But some have more?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yea.

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  • 61

    Argent

    The Iriali Long Trail, is it related to the cosmere?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Argent

    So the Fourth Land, the Seventh Land, those...

    Brandon Sanderson

    They are in the cosmere. This is where you give me a lot of wiggling room, because yes, it is related to the cosmere.

  • 62

    Question

    Did Gavilar see the same visions Dalinar did?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO.

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  • 63

    Question

    The Parshmen / Parshendi / Listeners, do they give birth like humans do? Living little Parshendi?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yea, they give lifebirth.

    Tags

  • 64

    Question

    Do Surgebinders have gemhearts like greatshells do?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO.

    Tags

  • 65

    Question

    The ketek in the first book (Above the Silence, the illuminating storms - dying storms - illuminate the silence above), it seems like this refers to Honor's death.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Mmhmm.

    Question

    What does "Above the Silence" refer to?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Above a silent land.

    Question

    And the second ketek, in Words of Radiance, similarly refers to the highstorm and the Everstorm... Is there more to it?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, it's by Navani about the two.