Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

DragonCon 2012 - Nalesean's Report (Paraphrased)

Hi --

Long time lurker, first time poster.

While at Dragon*Con, during Magic:tG with Brandon, I was able to get an answer to one of the question on the big list of questions.

Here is the question:

Why are invested objects like metalminds and Hemalurgic spikes able to be Pushed and Pulled on, but Shardblades and Shardplate, which are also invested, are not susceptible to Pushing and Pulling?

His answer was complex, I took notes, but didn't get recorded audio. I am going to try to explain as best as my notes and memory support.

There were a few concepts that he outlined in answering this question.

1.) The ability to push/pull an invested object is predicated to the amount/power of the investiture

2.) Further, invested objects also gain resistance to pulling/pushing based on proximity to soul possibly via the soul. An example given is that A hemalurgic spike touches the blood of the person, and from there is now part of both the Spiritual Realm and the Physical Realm. This provides what Brandon termed a kind of "soul interference," based on its proximity to the soul.

mistborn, hemalurgy, feruchemy, investiture, physical realm, spiritual realm, ,

Cosmere Q&A - 17th Shard (Verbatim)

Would it be fair to describe the three realms as the Spiritual realm providing motivation/general directives (gravity, desires, energy, etc.), the Cognitive realm interpreting and applying those directives, and the Physical realm as where these directives--as interpreted by the Cognitive realm--are actually implemented? All of this with interactions/change flowing back and forth between the realms as well (Physical phenomena affecting thought affecting the spirit, for example).

Ha! That's a very interesting way to look at it. The theory isn't all there, but it's thinking along the right lines.

realmatic theory, spiritual realm, cognitive realm, physical realm,

Cosmere Q&A - 17th Shard (Verbatim)

Is the Cognitive realm the only way to access the Spiritual Realm from the Physical Realm, and vice versa?

No.

realmatic theory, spiritual realm, cognitive realm, physical realm,

Cosmere Q&A - 17th Shard (Verbatim)

Does the Physical Realm of the Cosmere have more or less the same structure as our own? It's obvious from Mistborn that solar systems function as they do in our universe, but it's less obvious if there are galaxies, clusters, superclusters, and so forth. Are there? If the Cosmere does have the same structure as our own, are the Shardworlds all in the same general area (a galaxy, for example), or are they completely spread out?

Good question. I designed the cosmere to have much the same structure, but imagined the action happening in a compact dwarf galaxy. Still a lot going on, but far, far fewer stars and systems than our own.

physical realm, cosmere,

Steelheart Signing Report - Argent (Paraphrased)

Do the Spiritual and Physical Realms have names, like Shadesmar is the Cognitive Realm?

Kind of, but not really. Shadesmar is just a rough translation of "Cognitive Realm" in the language of whoever first found out about it. Other people, planets, and worlds wouldn't call it Shadesmar, they would call it whatever their words for "Cognitive Realm" are. This applies to the Physical and Spiritual as well.

shadesmar, cognitive realm, spiritual realm, physical realm,

WOR-Manchester

Can I ask you about the body of a Shard in the physical realm? About the different states of matter, what determines the state of matter that they are in? Because I’ve read the relevant sections carefully, haven’t noticed much about temperature difference.

The idea for me working on this is that they transcend, they permeate everything. They permeate all life on all the realms. And that there are manifestations of them that leak out, and it’s kind of like they appear there in the various states. When you say that you’ve got the gas, you’ve got the liquid, you’ve got the solid: but you’ve also got inside of you, inside of that plant, like they’re everywhere. And so what determines it? In my head it’s just like when some of that power permeates, some of it distils, just like water. There’s some water in the air, there’s some that freezes: that’s temperature. But it’s not always temperature whether it’s in the air, or whether it’s falling. Imagine a spiritual version of humidity, that is influenced by what’s happening on the Spiritual Realm and the Cognitive, and that’s what you get.

shards, physical realm, metaphysics, realmatic theory,

Calamity-Philadelphia, PA

Is there a correlation between Awakening steel (Questioner later clarifies that by this he means making Nightblood), and summoning a sprenblade (Brandon tries to get him to clarify, live or dead sprenblade, but I don’t think they ended up on exactly the same page).

Someone should REALLY verbatim this one… the difference here is in one, you’re pouring Investiture into a physical object, in the other, something closer to pure Investiture is entering our realm and taking on a physical shape. Similar but different things. There is a correlation, but (trails off)

awakening, sprenblades, investiture, physical realm,