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Your search for the tag 'roshar' yielded 146 results

  • 1

    Interview: Sep 13th, 2010

    Patrick

    The settings of your novels often seem to be something quite different. It seems the majority of fantasy are basically earth with magic and maybe some cool animals to go along. The Way of Kings just feels different (and the Mistborn books for that matter)—harsher, darker, almost like what we would like call a wasteland. How and why did you create the world The Way of Kings in this way? The landscape of the Shattered Plains is especially unusual and evocative. Was it inspired by the landscape of the American Midwest?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The Southwest, particularly. My visits to places like Arches National Park, relatively close to where I live right now, certainly influenced me. More than that—and I've said this in numerous interviews before—I'm a fantasy reader foremost. Before I was a writer I was a reader, and I'm still a reader. As a reader, I grew a little bit annoyed with the generic setting that seemed to recur a lot in fantasy. I won't speak poorly of writers who used it very well—there are certain writers who used it extremely well—and yet a lot of other writers seemed to just take for granted that that's what you did. Which is not the way that I feel it should be done. I think that the genre could go many places it hasn't been before.

    When I approached writing the Stormlight Archive—when I approached creating Roshar—I very consciously said, "I want to create something that feels new to me." I'm not the only one who does this, and I'm certainly not the one who does it best, but I wanted a world that was not medieval Europe. At all. I wanted a world that was its own thing. I started with the highstorms and went from there. To a person of our world, Roshar probably does look barren like a wasteland. But to the people living there, it's not a barren wasteland. This is a lush world full of life. It's just that what we equate with lush and full of life is not how that world defines it. In Roshar, a rock wall can be a lush, vibrant, and fertile place. It may look like a wasteland to us, but we're seeing through the eyes of someone who's used to Earth's flora and fauna. I've also said before in interviews that science fiction is very good at giving us new things. I don't see why fantasy shouldn't be as good at doing the same. Perhaps even better. So that's what was driving me to do what I did.

    Tags

  • 2

    Interview: Jul, 2009

    HalBrandenburg

    Can you reveal anything about the setting in Kings?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The setting with be the most unique I’ve done. Entirely new ecology. The world is hit by a huge hurricane every few days. Everything has evolved to deal with that. There is no soil, just rock, and even plants have thick shells they can withdraw into.

    Tags

  • 3

    Interview: Sep 22nd, 2012

    Zas

    So the number of Shards that have been on Roshar is three, correct?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Correct.

    Zas

    People have been thrown by you saying that Odium is not native to Roshar.

    Brandon

    Odium is not native, that's the thing. Are any of them native? So if you dig the deeper question, are any of them native, ehhh, none of them are native to the planets you've seen so far. What I probably should've said to be more precise is that Honor and Cultivation were there long before Odium showed up.

    Tags

  • 4

    Interview: Apr 15th, 2013

    Reddit AMA 2013 (Verbatim)

    Herowannabe ()

    Is Sigzil, as Hoid's apprentice, Rosharan?

    Brandon Sanderson

    He is from Roshar.

    Herowannabe

    Has Hoid taken him to other worlds?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, Sig hasn't visited any other worlds.

    Tags

  • 5

    Interview: May 17th, 2013

    Kogiopsis

    Given that we now know that Odium can 'make it possible' for people to use magic that draws on him on other planets, has he done this anywhere besides Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Odium has been active on all other planets, including several we haven't seen yet.

    Kogiopsis

    This one I nearly did get RAFO'd, and the answer is basically a non-answer.

    Tags

  • 6

    Interview: Sep, 2012

    Emeralis00

    What do you call a human from each Shardworld (demonyms like Scadrialeese) ?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Selish, Scadrian, Nalthian, Rosharan

    Tags

  • 7

    Interview: Sep, 2012

    Thoughtful Spurts

    Are there any racist jokes in the Mistborn world?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, I would think there are lots of racist jokes everywhere. It's more of a thing on Roshar, however, where the races are more distinct and rub each other the wrong way more often.

    Tags

  • 8

    Interview: Sep, 2012

    FireArcadia

    Does the world map in the Way of Kings show all of the landmasses of Roshar? Does that make the continent on Roshar a Pangaea-like supercontinent? And as I think about it, are there tectonic plates on Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is a supercontinent. I won't say there is NOTHING out there, but (unlike Scadrial) there is not another full continent. Plate tectonics are not a factor on the supercontinent.

    Tags

  • 9

    Interview: Sep, 2012

    FireArcadia

    You once told me that Roshar is the name of the planet from the cosmere-literate point of view. Were the dawnsingers cosmere-literate?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There are various levels of cosmere awareness.

    Tags

  • 10

    Interview: Sep, 2012

    Telcontar

    When Surgebinding, the person is Binding a Surge (the elemental force). Are those Bindings (the spiritual link) the focus for Surgebinding on Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO

    Tags

  • 11

    Interview: Sep, 2012

    ReaderAt2046

    Does chocolate exist in the Cosmere?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. Not on Roshar, though.

    Footnote

    Brandon has stated that Scadrial is an Earth analogue, so if chocolate exists anywhere in the cosmere, it's probably there.

    Tags

  • 12

    Interview: Sep, 2012

    Lance Alvein

    Did Cultivation come to Roshar with Honor, or was she already on Roshar when Honor arrived?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Good question. They came together.

    Tags

  • 13

    Interview: Sep, 2012

    Stroniax

    What is your favorite world of the cosmere?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Favorite world? Probably Roshar, as it's the most unique.

    Tags

  • 14

    Interview: Sep, 2012

    Yamato

    Out of all your magic systems, which one would you choose to be a user of?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'd be a Mistborn if possible. So many fun interactions. Not quite as powerful as some of those on Roshar, perhaps, but very fun.

    Tags

  • 15

    Interview: Sep, 2012

    Yados

    Are the Heralds native to Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO (Man, you're good at asking those, aren't you?)

    Tags

  • 16

    Interview: Sep, 2012

    Zenith

    In one of the death sentence things it says something like three of sixteen ruled, but now the broken one reigns. Is this referring to the Shards on Roshar and if so, is the broken one Odium?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO

    Tags

  • 17

    Interview: Sep, 2012

    Observer

    What are the smoke-y spren that appear around a dead chasmfiend?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They are in a symbiotic relationship with the chasmfiend, and are part of what allow the creatures to grow to the size they do with an exoskeleton. (Along with a high-oxygen, lower-gravity world.)

    Tags

  • 18

    Interview: Sep, 2012

    E. Hyde

    Is Honor the only one who created people on Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO

    Tags

  • 19

    Interview: Sep, 2012

    E. Hyde

    Shinovar seems more earthlike than the rest of Roshar; does this occur naturally or was it somehow changed to be that way?

    Brandon Sanderosn

    RAFO

    Tags

  • 20

    Interview: Sep, 2012

    llwvyn

    My question is in regards to the writing system. In Warbreaker, when Siri is teaching Susebron to read, she mentions the letter "shash," which we now know better as a Glyphair from WoK.

    so onto the questions:

    Are the two writing systems related, or is this a chance coincidence of names? If they are related, did they stem from the same source? (i.e., do the people of Nalthis and Roshar both descend from a more ancient group of people?) If I haven't gotten a RAFO yet, did the separation from these other people create the legends of being cast out of the Tranquiline Halls?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There are interesting connections around the cosmere between linguistics and some cultures. Though different groups of humans were created on different planets, the Shards all share a single point of origin. However, the Tranquiline Halls legends are not related to a Nalthis/Roshar connection.

    Tags

  • 21

    Interview: Sep, 2012

    ROSHtafARian

    Will the fact that Roshar and the Silence Divine planet exist in the same solar system come into play at all in The Stormlight Archive, or is that only relevant for later books?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's mostly relevant for later books, but there are some things here and there.

    Tags

  • 22

    Interview: Sep, 2012

    Arcanist

    5. Are the intelligent sprens like Syl the “seons of Roshar”?

    Brandon Sanderson

    What a clever question. Gold star for you.

    Tags

  • 23

    Interview: Oct 30th, 2012

    Lance Alvein

    How are people with two different eye colours treated on Roshar?

    BRANDON SANDERSON (paraphrased)

    RAFO - this will be explored in one of Shallan's flashback sequences in Stormlight 2, and is already written.

    Tags

  • 24

    Interview: Oct 30th, 2012

    Lance Alvein

    Something that's been a bit of a thing on the chatroom for a while - Since there are Spren of everything on Roshar, is it possible that there is such a thing as a "squeespren"?

    BRANDON SANDERSON (paraphrased)

    They do exist, however, they would be called by a different name on Roshar.

    Tags

  • 25

    Interview: Nov 6th, 2012

    Question

    Were there highstorms on Roshar before Adonalsium Shattered?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Were there highstorms on Roshar before Adonalsium Shattered? I'm gonna RAFO that. I'm not gonna answer you, because I'm mean. Maybe someday you shall have your answer to this important answer.

    Tags

  • 26

    Interview: Apr 15th, 2013

    Reddit AMA 2013 (Verbatim)

    Shadowsaber223 ()

    If Odium were lured to Scadrial, would his physical body turn into a burnable metal? If so, could Harmony create an Odium-metal legion of Mistings to consume and burn it? Would that weaken him sufficiently enough to be killed or destroyed?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The difficulty here is, again, one of Identity. People born on Scadrial have an Identity tied to it and its magic. Odium would have to do certain things to make them able to use a magic he fuels. He has done these things on Roshar, so it's not impossible for him to manage it on Scadrial.

    Tags

  • 27

    Interview: Apr 15th, 2013

    Reddit AMA 2013 (Verbatim)

    claytonphillips ()

    Several times in Way of Kings, you have characters think of the Shin as having big or round eyes. Do the Shin really have giant eyes, or do all the other peoples of Roshar have an epicanthic fold on their eyes?

    It seemed to me that this was very similar to how characters in second world fantasies, like Faile in Wheel of Time, are designated as "Asian" even though there is no Asia in the book. Is this a subversion of that? Are the Shin the only people on Roshar who look Western European?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You are right, actually. Normal eyes on Roshar are those with an epicanthic fold. The Shin do not have this. Note, however, that they wouldn't look "Western European." Roshar races are fairly far off from what we imagine as Earth ones. The people most likely to look Western European to you would be those from Mistborn.

    Tags

  • 28

    Interview: Apr 15th, 2013

    Reddit AMA 2013 (Verbatim)

    Windrunner17 ()

    Why does Scadrial, which has two Shards, only have three manifestations of investiture, (Allomancy, Feruchemy, and Hemalurgy) but Sel, also with two Shards, has five manifestations of investiture (AonDor, Dakhor, ChayShan, Forgery, and Bloodsealing)?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Sel's magics are much more regionalized than Scadrial's. Each area has its own manifestation, but they're all actually the same magic. So really there is one magic on Sel—much as Windrunning and Lightweaving on Roshar are kind of different magics, but also kind of the same.

    Tags

  • 29

    Interview: 2013

    Kaladin_Stormblessed (March 2013)

    Discussion of the week: Shadesmar & Truthspren

    http://coppermind.net/wiki/Shadesmar

    sufficientlyadvanced

    It says that it's dangerous to travel to Shadesmar on Sel. Why?

    Brandon Sanderson ()

    It has to do with the Dor and the lack of an entity controlling much of the power Odium left in his wake on Sel.

    Phantine

    Woah, that's interesting. I had no idea Odium left little bits of his power on Sel... I guess it kinda makes sense for evil monks to be powered by pure hate, though.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Odium did not leave his power behind, one should note. He left several other powers which are now, to a large extent, mindless...

    Windrunner17

    This is an awesome answer!

    If you wouldn't mind answering, does Roshar have a similar problem, with Honor being Splintered?

    Thanks!

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, Roshar does not have the same problem. There are some differences going on. (One reason being that the spren are far more extensive on Roshar, and provide something of a "release valve." The Seons and the Skaze on Sel are not numerous enough to fulfill a similar function. Though, of course, that's only one part of the puzzle. Raw power is dangerous.

    It's one reason everyone should be thankful Kelsier was around on Scadrial.

    Tags

  • 30

    Interview: Jun 20th, 2009

    Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

    Way of Kings: Is set on a strangely awesome world. Apparently, a super large storm (like hurricane size) passes across the Earth every few days. This happens in a very predictable cycle. Because of this, there is no soil anywhere, everything is stone. The plants and animals have adapted to this environment, so they are also pretty strange. The plants, for instance will be much like a coral reef. They have shells, or can withdraw into the ground, and do so when the storm comes. They also will do the same thing if you try to step on them and such. So like, as you're walking, the grass around you shrinks into the ground, and pokes back out again when you pass.

    I also found out that the Way of Kings is largely about the birth of magic, since Brandon was tired of fantasy books talking about the death of it. As such, most of the magic systems are largely unknown, and will be explored. There was at one previous time, several hundred years past, magic on the earth. However, it's been gone for a while, and is being rediscovered. There are a total of 30 planned magic systems, and the books will jump around chronologically between the present and character's pasts. The technology level is a typical fantasy, Renaissance minus gunpowder. At least I think that's what he said.

    Tags

  • 31

    Interview: Oct 1st, 2013

    Question

    What is the definition of a focus (in The Way of Kings' Ars Arcanum)?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Foci, though linked to the magic system, are more like artifacts of the philosophy surrounding the magic system. A focus is a philosophical concept, rather than a hardfast rule related to the magic system. A man-made, artificial way of explaining the magic system. Like the periodic table.

    Tags

  • 32

    Interview: Oct 5th, 2013

    Question

    Feruchemy is the "balance" between Ruin and Preservation. Would any combination of Shards create a "balance" magic, so to speak, or are only certain Shards compatible?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Feruchemy ended up being a balance system, because of how polar Ruin and Preservation were. Any world with at least two Shards will result in a similar phenomenon.

    Question

    Like Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Like Roshar. There is something like that going on there.

    Tags

  • 33

    Interview: Aug 8th, 2013

    Brandon Sanderson

    There are 2 Shards on Roshar, however Honor is dead.

    Footnote

    The two Shards are Honor and Cultivation.

    Tags

  • 34

    Interview: Aug 8th, 2013

    Brandon Sanderson

    Odium's presence is felt on Roshar, but he is on Braize, the 3rd planet in the system.

    Tags

  • 35

    Interview: Mar 29th, 2014

    Question

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

    Brandon Sanderson

    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. [...]

    Tags

  • 36

    Interview: Mar 21st, 2014

    Leiyan

    Can you tell me the order of the three planets in the solar system?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No.

    Leiyan

    Because I know Braize is the third one, I've heard that, is that true?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm staying closed-lipped about a lot of this.

    Leiyan

    Can you tell me which is the most massive moon [of Roshar]? Not the biggest, but the most massive.

    Brandon Sanderson

    I think the biggest is the most massive. All three moons are much closer than our moon is.

    Leiyan

    And so is that Nomon?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Leiyan

    How big is Nomon on the night sky, like compared to our moon?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Larger than our moon, but not dominating of the sky. [...] I do believe Nomon is bigger, but I had to have Peter run those calculations, so he may come back and say no Brandon, that's not possible, but I do believe it's bigger than our moon in the sky. You're supposed to be able to see moderately well by Nomon.

    Leiyan

    So I had some things I figured out, I just wanted to know if they're true or not. So I have that the orbits of the moons would precess so that the farthest point is always pointing towards the sun.

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, one more time.

    Leiyan

    [uses diagram to explain the question]

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, we have figured all this out. It's in the wiki--so me just saying--it's not in the wiki that you can find. I would need to go compare this. All the calculations on things like this--this is stuff where I sat down with Peter, who knows much more astronomy than me and said "here's what I want" and he's like "well it has to be this" and I put that in.

    Leiyan

    Do you know, do the moons orbit the opposite direction to Roshar's rotation?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I believe they do but I'm not 100% sure.

    Leiyan

    There's no eclipses as far as I can tell, so the plane of the orbit must be strongly inclined, 'cause there'd be an eclipse every day if there were eclipses-

    Brandon Sanderson

    We had to fudge that because as you said, if there were any it'd be all the time.

    Tags

  • 37

    Interview: Mar 21st, 2014

    EHyde

    I was wondering, on Roshar, what sort of plants and animals do they use for fabrics, since they don't have a lot of wooly animals and the plants are different?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Most of them are plant-based. I think I've mentioned one of the plants.

    EHyde

    They have silk though, right?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. It's called sea-silk, they grow it in the water. It comes from the coasts.

    EHyde

    So they don't have anything like our silk, then?

    Brandon Sanderson

    If you looked at it, you would call it silk, but it is being produced in a very different way.

    EHyde

    Our silk comes from insect cocoons, and they have a lot of that there, but they don't use it for fiber at all?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Insect cocoons on Roshar are either, they melt in water from the highstorm cycle, or they have stone in them, so they don't work really well for textiles. There are certain rockbuds you can shred the inside of the shell to get a textile, there's sea silk that grows out in the ocean, and there are other plants of a similar nature.

    EHyde

    I was also wondering about the Steel Alphabet in the Mistborn books, each letter aesthetically looks like it's built from a cuff, a spike, and a bead, and was that intentional to reflect the magic systems?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. Do remember that that writing system was developed by the Final Empire. They actually took the ancient Terris symbols and made them more to their aesthetic over time.

    Tags

  • 38

    Interview: Mar 21st, 2014

    Question

    Is Shai on Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Hehehe, good question!

    Question

    Has she already popped up?

    Brandon Sanderson

    She has not already popped up.

    Question

    So she's not a Radiant. Or is she?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You have not seen her on screen yet, other than in her story.

    Tags

  • 39

    Interview: Mar 19th, 2014

    Ant

    Where did you get the idea of a world ravaged by fierce storms?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The original seed of an idea was the storm of Jupiter, this massive persistent storm. Of course, that's a gas giant. The physics are very different. But I remember one day staring at a picture of Jupiter and thinking about a storm that circled the world that was massively powerful. That was one of those seeds that stuck in my brain. This sort of thing happened over months and years until that seed grew and developed and mixed with other things I was thinking of, and the result was Roshar.

    Tags

  • 40

    Interview: Mar 19th, 2014

    Ant

    The use of spren are a brilliant idea, what was the inspiration for these creatures?

    Brandon Sanderson

    In part, they stem from the underlying cosmology and overarching rules, the dictates of the magic systems of my shared universe. I was looking for a manifestation of that in Roshar. I also was searching for something that would give Roshar a different feel from things that I'd done before. I wanted this book and this series—and everything about it—to feel different from fantasy worlds in the past. I wanted it to be fantastical, but I wanted it to be unique. I wanted something that could consistently remind the reader, "Oh, I'm in a different place. Wow. Their emotions manifest visibly when they feel them strongly. This place is bizarre." That was one of the main inspirations. Looking in our world, one inspiration is certainly the Eastern concept in Shinto mythology of everything having a soul, every rock and river and tree having something living inside of it that is a manifestation of it. Since I was working with the idea of Platonic realms and the like, I spun that off into the spren.

    Tags

  • 41

    Interview: Jun 10th, 2014

    shdwfeather (Tor.com)

    One of my favourite parts about Roshar is the diverse set of cultures that exist in the world. Could you talk about some of the inspirations for the complicated cultures such as the Alethi?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Building Roshar, I wanted to make sure that I was doing a little extra worldbuilding work. I don't want to say that for something like Mistborn I'm not doing worldbuilding work, but my focus was in other areas. I wanted Mistborn to be accessible, so I made it an Earth analogue.

    I consider Roshar my showpiece for worldbuilding, and as such I wanted everything about it to display some of the best of what science fiction and fantasy is capable of: new ecologies, new cultures, cultures that feel real but that at the same time are not just earth analogues. Because of that, I've done a lot of work to individualize and distinctify a lot of the various cultures on Roshar.

    Now, that said, creativity is really the recombination of things you've seen before. We as human beings, by our very nature, can't imagine something we've never seen. What we can do is take different things we've seen and combine them in new ways. That's the soul of creativity. It's the unicorn idea—we've seen things with horns, and we've seen horses. We put the two together and create something new, a unicorn.

    Because of that, I don't know if it's possible to create a culture in a fantasy book that isn't inspired in some way by various earth cultures. I'm trying not to be as overt about it as The Wheel of Time was, because one of the cool things about The Wheel of Time was its twisting and turning of Earth cultures into Randland cultures.

    That's a big preface. What are my inspirations for the Alethi, for all of the different cultures? There's definitely some Korean in there. There's some Semitic cultures in there. The magic system table, the double eye, is based on the idea of the Sefer and the Tree of Life from the Jewish Kabbalah. That's where I can trace the original inspiration of that. I can trace the original inspiration of the safehand to Koreans not showing people the bottom of their feet because they felt that that is an insult—that's not something you do. I can trace the Alethi apparel to various different clothing influences. I'm hoping that a lot of where I get the cultures is based off the interplay between the setting, the histories, the idea of the highstorms, and the metaphor of the desolations. My influences come from all over the place.

    Tags

  • 42

    Interview: Jun 10th, 2014

    Neuralnet (Tor.com)

    The characters eat all of these crustaceans... do they have some sort of butter to dip into—even without cows, although maybe they have cows in Shinovar? (I can't be the only one who envisions himself on Roshar eating dinner every time I eat crab or lobster)

    Brandon Sanderson

    Their milk products are much lesser used, but they do get cream and whatnot from sow's milk. The pigs on Roshar produce more milk from years of natural genetic modification—breeding and whatnot—in the same way that humans have bred cows over the centuries. So they do have milk products. Some of their curries will have different types of cream. Whether they're dipping the crustaceans depends on the culture. For instance, Horneaters have teeth that break claws. Their back molars are different from standard human molars. To a lesser extent, the Herdazians have the same thing going for them. For those two cultures, they'll chew the shells and eat them. For the Alethi, they're probably dipping the meat in a curry, or just preparing the curry with the crustacean meat in it. There are other cultures where they’ll sauté it or have a sow's milk dipping sauce or things like that.

    Tags

  • 43

    Interview: Jun 10th, 2014

    Isilel (Tor.com)

    Does military service raise one's nahn/dahn?

    Let's say somebody from a very low nahn, who is basically a serf, right? I mean, they don't have the freedom of movement. So, what if a man like that rises to a sergeant and serves 25 years with distinction, does he go back to being a serf when/if he retires from the military? Would he be required to return to his village/town of origin? Can something like this be properly controlled, even? I mean, do they check traveling people's papers?/

    Brandon Sanderson

    There's a lot of parts to this. Rising within nahns and dahns happens more easily in Roshar than rising in social status did in most societies that had similar things in our world—for instance India, or even England. To an extent, it is very easy to buy yourself up a rank. What you've got to remember is the very high ranks are harder to attain. By nature, the children of someone of a very high rank sometimes are shuffled down to a lower rank—until they hit a stable rank. There are certain ranks that are stable in that the children born to parents of that rank always have that rank at as well. Your example of the soldier who serves with distinction could very easily be granted a rank up. In fact, it would be very rare for a soldier to not get a level of promotion if they were a very low rank—to not be ranked up immediately. The social structure pushes people toward these stable ranks. For the serf level, if you're able to escape your life of serfdom and go to a city, often getting a job and that sort of thing does require some measure of paperwork listing where you're from and the like. But if you were a serf who was educated, that would be pretty easy to fake. What's keeping most people as serfs is the fact that breaking out of it is hard, and there are much fewer of those ranks than you might assume. The right of travel is kind of an assumed thing. To be lower ranked than that, something has to have gone wrong for your ancestors and that sort of thing. There are many fewer people of that rank than there are of the slightly higher ranks that have the right of travel. It's a natural check and balance against the nobility built into the system. There are a lot of things going on here. Movement between ranks is not as hard as you might expect.

    Isilel

    Ditto with the lighteyes—does exemplary service raise one’s dahn?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's much harder for a lighteyes, but the king and the highprinces can raise someone's dahn if they want to. But it is much harder. In the lower dahns, you can buy yourself up in rank. Or you can be appointed. For instance, if you're appointed as a citylord, that is going to convey a certain dahn, and you could jump two or three dahns just by getting that appointment. Now, if you serve poorly, if a lot of the people who have the right of travel leave—which this doesn't happen very often—if your town gets smaller and you're left with this struggling city, you would be demoted a dahn, most likely. If a lot of the citizens got up and left, that would be a sign. They could take away your set status by leaving. That’s something that’s built into the right of travel. So these things happen.

    Isilel

    If parents have different nahns/dahn’s, how is child’s position calculated? For instance, if Shallan had married 10-dahner Kabsal, what dahn would their children belong to?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The highest dahn determines the dahn of the child, though that may not match the dahn of the highest parent. For instance, there are certain dahns that aren't conveyed to anyone except for your direct heir. The other children are a rank below. I believe that third dahn is one of the stable ranks. If you're the king, you're first dahn. Your kid inherits. If you have another kid who doesn't marry a highprince, and is not a highprince, then they're going to be third dahn, not second, because that's the stable rank that they would slip down to, along with highlords and the children of highprinces.

    Isilel

    Or, and another thing—what happens if a lighteyed child is born to darkeyes or even slaves? Which should happen often enough, given that male nobles seem rather promiscous. Anyway, are such people automatically of tenth dahn?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The situation is very much taken into account in these sorts of cases. Normally—if there is such a thing as normal with this—one question that's going to come up is are they heterochromatic. Because you can end up with one eye of each color, both eyes light, or both eyes dark. That's going to influence it a lot, what happens here. Do you have any heirs? Was your child born lighteyed? This sort of thing is treated the same way that a lot of societies treated illegitimate children. The question of, do I need this person as an heir? Are they born darkeyed? Can I shuffle them off somewhere? Set them up, declare them to be this certain rank. Are you high enough rank to do that? Are you tenth dahn yourself? What happens with all of these things? There's no single answer to that. The most common thing that's probably going to happen is that they are born heterochromatic. Then you're in this weird place where you're probably declared to be tenth dahn, but you may have way more power and authority than that if one parent is of a very high dahn, just as a bastard child in a royal line would be treated in our world.

    Footnote

    The Tor.com transcript attributes this series of questions to Isilel and ESSH, however the questions themselves all come from Isilel's question submission. ESSH asked a related question that was unanswered.

    Tor.com

    Tags

  • 44

    Interview: Mar 4th, 2014

    Leinton

    Are there birds outside of Shinovar on Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes but they're all on the western side of the continent. There are no birds in Alethkar and nearby nations other than chickens and other fowl brought from Shinovar.

    Tags

  • 45

    Interview: Mar 4th, 2014

    scm288

    So, I don't actually own a hardcover copy of The Way of Kings, but I did notice when looking at one that there's a map of Shadesmar... And that the map shows that Shadesmar geography is precisely aligned with Roshar's geography... So I'm just going to assume that other planets we've visited so far also have realms of Shadesmar that are aligned geographically.

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's very clever of you! (smiles) Very clever...

    Tags

  • 46

    Interview: Mar 6th, 2014

    Question

    How did you decide that you were going to tackle racism, classism, gender, all those things in The Way of Kings?

    Brandon Sanderson

    One of the things I like about Fantasy is the ability to tackle things like this in a way that removes the baggage from our current society which is why you see me doing things like the gender relations centered around whether the hand is sleeved or not. I want to do something that is one step removed so that it is pertinent... The Parshendi-Human thing is going to be a big deal for the series so I wanted to introduce it early on in the books.

    Tags

  • 47

    Interview: Mar 6th, 2014

    Question

    Do all the humans have innate Investiture?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I believe that they all do. I don't think that you've seen anyone without innate Investiture yet. [Drabs] do not have innate Investiture. And on Scadrial they have the pieces of Ruin and Preservation in them. And they do have it on Roshar.

    Question

    Which Shard is that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You'll have to RAFO

    Tags

  • 48

    Interview: Mar 6th, 2014

    Question

    Why do they ride horses instead of fast insects of some sort?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is an excellent question that I am not going to answer.

    Tags

  • 49

    Interview: Oct 14th, 2013

    Brandon Sanderson

    Great magic unleashed here. (Written in someone's book with an arrow pointing at the Shattered Plains)

    Tags

  • 50

    Interview: Oct 14th, 2013

    Question

    So there are two other planets in the Roshar system, are they the Tranquiline Halls and Damnation that you mentioned in The Way of Kings?

    Brandon Sanderson

    (After consideration) There has been in the past knowledge of other planets in the system and that has indeed influenced the mythology of the world.

    Tags

  • 51

    Interview: Oct 14th, 2013

    hoser

    Are you willing to tell me anything about the history of the Vanrial community at this time?

    Brandon Sanderson

    What specifically did you want to know?

    hoser

    Well, is their eye color lighter than the typical Alethi peasant?

    Brandon Sanderson

    (after a long pause) I think I'll just stay away from this for now.

    Tags

  • 52

    Interview: Aug 9th, 2014

    Khyrindor

    Do the Honourblades reflect the natural pairing of Surges, or did Honor decide which Surge pair to put in each Blade?

    Brandon Sanderson (Paraphrased)

    The pairs are natural to Roshar in the same way as the metals on Scadrial.

    Tags

  • 53

    Interview: Aug 13th, 2014

    Question

    Both Parshendi and Horneaters are able to see spren ordinary humans can't. Is there a connection between these abilities, or do they come from completely different sources?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Horneaters are human/Parshendi hybrids. (There are several Roshar races that have Parshendi blood in them.)

    Tags

  • 54

    Interview: Aug 13th, 2014

    Question

    The "God Surges" you mentioned recently, are they a part of the Way of Kings frontsheet?

    You've said that there are three types of Blades in the Stormlight Archive. We've seen "dead" Shardblades, Honorblades—is the third type the "living spren" Shardblades, or is there another type we haven't seen?

    Do all Surgebinders breathe Stormlight in, or are there other ways? Is Lift one-of-a-kind in this regard?

    Brandon Sanderson

    All I said regarding this was to tell a fan that it was possible to make an analogy between the god metals on Scadrial and certain powers on Roshar. However, these are not a codified part of the magic system.

    Lift is one of a kind.

    Nightblood is a very unique kind of Shardblade, but IS a Shardblade.

    Tags

  • 55

    Interview: Aug 13th, 2014

    Question

    Which of your worlds, if any at all, have ice cream, or at least, the ability to make ice cream?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Scadrial probably has it already. Roshar is farthest, not having as much in the way of milk products.

    Tags

  • 56

    Interview: Aug 13th, 2014

    Question

    On Roshar, do they have an equivalent for cats, like how they have axehounds instead of dogs?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, they do not. Though there are various domesticated animals fulfilling a similar role across the planet. (Domesticated minks and pigs come to mind.)

    Tags

  • 57

    Interview: Aug 13th, 2014

    Question

    In Well of Ascension, it mentions that the language of Terris had a gender neutral pronoun. If you actually constructed the language, what was that pronoun? Or did you just leave it as its English translation of "it"?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I didn't spend a long time on the languages in Scadrial, since most people were speaking the same tongue. I just used "it" in my own writings. Roshar has a lot more detail on the languages, because culture-clash is a bigger part of the theme of the series.

    Tags

  • 58

    Interview: Aug 13th, 2014

    Question

    Zahel/Vasher is in Roshar for Nightblood? Will we know in Stormlight Archive why these two were separated? or in the sequel of Warbreaker?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The Warbreaker sequel will give clues about this, but the actual event happened between that and TWoK. So I'm not sure where I'll slip it in.

    Tags

  • 59

    Interview: Mar 22nd, 2014

    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.

    Tags

  • 60

    Interview: Nov 29th, 2014

    Lady Radagu

    Since Horneaters don't really go for Vorin dresses, what would your average Horneater guy and girl wear? Anything special to differentiate a Nuatoma and their retinue?

    Brandon Sanderson (Paraphrased)

    I'm going to have to RAFO that. We're actually working on the sketches for those, and until they're finalized, I don't want to say anything to canonize them. But we will get you that information.

    Tags

  • 61

    Interview: Sep 4th, 2014

    Questioner

    Is Dalinar clean shaven or does he wear a beard?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It depends on the day, and the time. Dalinar is clean-shaven through most of the books you have seen.

    Question

    That's what I thought but he [man with the woman asking the question] thought not.

    Second person

    The audiobook reader just gives me an impression of a wizened person with a well-kept beard.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Let's see if I've got... if I've got enough internet...

    Second person

    I get the impression that Sadeas has a creepy mustache from the audiobook as well.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Beards are not in fashion in Alethkar right now.

    Question

    Which is why Kaladin shaves it off.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Let's see, The Way of Kings, I've got the artwork I used as-- [shows secret canon drawing] So there is the concept art we used for Dalinar.

    Tags

  • 62

    Interview: Dec 6th, 2014

    mail-mi

    Okay, cool. And then, just one more, shouldn't the rest of Roshar be more Earth-like, more Shinovar-like, kind of, with Cultivation on Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You are mistakenly assuming that Cultivation means Earth-like flora and fauna. Roshar is very bountiful and like it's not a barren land. Roshar is very....

    zas678

    Thriving?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's thriving. Yeah, it just has a different ecology. You're mistakenly assuming that our ecology is the only sort that can be bountiful.

    Tags

  • 63

    Interview: Dec 6th, 2014

    Brandon Sanderson (Paraphrased)

    Odium is able to influence all 3 important planets in the Rosharan system, Roshar, Braize, and Ashyn.

    Tags

  • 64

    Interview: Sep 4th, 2014

    Question

    How much involvement does the other planet in the same system as Roshar have with Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    *long pause* Your question has a fundamental flaw to it.

    Question

    And that is?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That there are multiple planets that have an influence on Roshar.

    Question

    I thought there were multiple planets in the system that--

    Brandon Sanderson

    There are, but you said "the other", there are more than one so the phrase, "the other" doesn't make sense.

    Question

    How much influence do the other planets have?

    Brandon Sanderson

    A great deal.

    Tags

  • 65

    Interview: Jan 8th, 2015

    fletchershair

    How long has Odium been on Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson (Paraphrased)

    He couldn't say for sure without getting out the timeline, but a LONG time.

    fletchershair

    Has he been on Scadrial or Nalthis?

    Brandon Sanderson (Paraphrased)

    No, but he is aware of their existence.

    Tags

  • 66

    Interview: Mar 8th, 2014

    AhoyMatey ()

    Do all greatshells have spren?

    Brandon Sanderson ()

    In order to survive with the science that I built, the greatshells almost all require some sort of spren to keep them from collapsing. (I suspect greatshells in the water may not require them.)

    Tags

  • 67

    Interview: Mar 8th, 2014

    AhoyMatey

    Is there anything that I should have asked that I didn't?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Probably not... Do you know if anyone has figured out the hidden things in the map of Roshar?

    Tags

  • 68

    Interview: Mar 8th, 2014

    arbron

    How long has Zahel been slumming it on Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    For quite a long time, on this planet he can get something quite easily that is much harder to get where he came from.

    Tags

  • 69

    Interview: Mar 13th, 2014

    Macen

    Are there any other continents on Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I haven't said if there's anything else out there, but I have said that it's a pangaea. Meaning if there's anything else out there, they are small. They are not of a similar scope in size. Now on Scadrial, there's other stuff going on. And I've told people that for years and years and years. So you may find some other stuff going on there. So the southern continent was populated on Scadrial, during the Final Empire era even. It was just impossible to reach because of the heat. The poles were the only habitable places on the planet. So anything in between just cooked. Final Empire was on the North Pole.

    Tags

  • 70

    Interview: Mar 13th, 2014

    Macen

    The Cognitive Realm, is Shadesmar a Roshar specific term?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Shadesmar is a Roshar specific term. But when I translate from what other people are saying in these books, I just translate it to Shadesmar. For instance, when Wit is talking about it, he's going to call it Shadesmar, he's just going to use the Roshar term. But no, Shadesmar is what--it's called there.

    Tags

  • 71

    Interview: Mar 14th, 2014

    the_archduke

    Is chouta (sp?) based on food from Korea?

    Brandon Sanderson

    (Long explanation about industrializing societies developing portable food) and no, it is Mexican/Italian, think deep fried meatballs in a soapapila (sp?)

    Tags

  • 72

    Interview: Mar 19th, 2014

    Question

    Which map holds the Easter Egg?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The main map of Roshar.

    Question

    From which book?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Either book, it's the main one that will go in each copy. It's VERY hard and it won't change a whole lot.

    Question

    Does it have anything to do with the compass?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Not the compass.

    Tags

  • 73

    Interview: Mar 20th, 2014

    Rybal

    How did you come up with the geography on Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The geography on Roshar was developed as a natural outgrowth of the highstorm, which was the first concept for Roshar, which was inspired by the storm of Jupiter, which was me wanting to tell a story about a world with a continual magical storm. And then I built the ecology and all of these things up from that. Roshar had to grow up--I had to find a mechanism by which stone was deposited by rain, because I felt that the constant weathering over that long of a time would leave no continents. So the crem was my kind of scientific-with-one-foot-in-magic hack on keeping the continent. So the continent does drift. They don't have plate tectonics. The continent actually moves as it gets weathered on the east and gets pushed that direction over millennia of time.

    Tags

  • 74

    Interview: Mar 20th, 2014

    Shicaca ()

    I was looking at the map of Roshar and it kinda looked like a spiral galaxy to me, like it was flipping a certain way.

    Brandon Sanderson

    That was intentional. You are on to something that no one's figured out yet.

    Shicaca

    I was thinking it could be connected to people being able to manipulate gravity.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It's not exactly what you think you're on to, but you're getting close to something that they've all wanted to know for a while.

    Tags

  • 75

    Interview: Mar 20th, 2014

    Outis

    Are there any birds on Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, they're called chickens by everybody, and you've seen some of them. If you watch in WoR, there are things that people are calling a chicken which is not what you know of as a chicken.

    Tags

  • 76

    Interview: Mar 20th, 2014

    Outis

    Is the fundamental force of gravity the same as it is on Earth. Is the constant the same?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, the constant would be the same. The big difference is when I'm tweaking the fundamental forces is, I imagine on Roshar that there are more fundamental forces. There are more than four. I've broken them up according to what their scientists have decided.

    Tags

  • 77

    Interview: Mar 20th, 2014

    Outis

    The line about three of sixteen reigned and now the Broken One rules. Did Odium follow three other shards to Roshar, or is he the third Shard?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Odium is the third Shard on Roshar.

    Tags

  • 78

    Interview: Mar 20th, 2014

    Outis

    If an Elantrian bonded to a Seon and traveled to Roshar, would that act as a Nahel bond?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It would act very very similarly, yes. But it would be like… it wouldn't necesarily do the exact same things. It would be treated the exact same way, but wouldn't grant the same powers.

    Tags

  • 79

    Interview: Mar 20th, 2014

    Outis

    Are there any locations on Roshar with red stone?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Outis

    Where did the redstone on Feverstone come from?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Roshar.

    Tags

  • 80

    Interview: Mar 20th, 2014

    Outis

    Was there any specific reason why you chose to not have men not be able to read in [Roshar]?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, it relates back to the origin of where the safehand comes from and things like this.

    Tags

  • 81

    Interview: Mar 21st, 2014

    Question

    Hoid said [in Warbreaker] that he learned stories from a place where gods have died. Is that Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO. I will say this. A god has died on Roshar. Only one, that we know. So, "gods" would not be plural.

    Tags

  • 82

    Interview: Mar 21st, 2014

    Question

    In other worlds, are we seeing any magics already? Like, Allomancy might be in Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You've seen people using Allomancy in Roshar before.

    Question

    You said that on Roshar the only reason they have aluminum is that they can Soulcast it, right? I think you said something like that … maybe? I was wondering how that would work, if an Allomancer were to--

    Brandon Sanderson

    Aluminum has some weird properties on all of the magic systems, not just allomancy. It does not have the same effect, but aluminum has some bizarre effects.

    Tags

  • 83

    Interview: Mar 21st, 2014

    Leiyan

    I'm curious about the sun, it's described as white, and our sun is typically described as yellow. Is it a different type of star?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The yellowing of our sun is not actually caused...so our sun being yellow is not based on the star's actual color.

    Tags

  • 84

    Interview: Mar 21st, 2014

    Leiyan

    So is it bigger than our sun? Smaller? If there's anything you want to throw out there I'll take it.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Okay...I'm having to reach into my memory. This is not canon. Younger and larger, I believe it is both. Younger and larger.

    Tags

  • 85

    Interview: Mar 21st, 2014

    Leiyan

    Do the moons relate to the highstorms at all?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The moons...at all? Sure! You'll love this. The star's age, at Roshar--Earth astronomers would say that is a star which could not have planets with life on them orbiting it.

    Tags

  • 86

    Interview: Mar 21st, 2014

    Leiyan

    There are three planets in the system, are they all in the habitable zone? At least two of them must be … Q2(I think this was NutiketAiel?). When you say three, is it actually three in the solar system, or is it three-?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There are three planets with sentient beings on them.

    Tags

  • 87

    Interview: Mar 21st, 2014

    Leiyan

    There are more than three planets in the solar system?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There are. With non-sentient beings. There are three planets of importance. So I didn't give you very much, you already knew … here's something. You may have heard a reading from one of those planets today.

    Tags

  • 88

    Interview: Mar 21st, 2014

    Leiyan

    Doesn't Shadows of Silence happen in there too?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Threnody? No. Threnody is not one of the three.

    Footnote

    in the Rosharan system

    Tags

  • 89

    Interview: Mar 21st, 2014

    NutiketAiel

    You have a tendency to create books with theocracies that are legitimately ruled by the gods, and this seems to be missing. Is that a direction that the Knights Radiant might be heading, or is something else going to happen?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I'm gonna RAFO that one. There was a theocracy on Roshar at one point. There was also a mage-ocracy. A lot of things have existed on Roshar.

    Tags

  • 90

    Interview: Mar 21st, 2014

    Rhandric

    How many magic systems are there on Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It depends on your definition. Is Windrunning its own magic system, or is it a division of a larger magic system? Are the ten different Surges each their own magic system, or are they all the same one?

    Rhandric

    If you assume the surges are all one.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well then you would have Surgebinding, and the Old Magic, those are two at least, and there are things that are not explained in those at all, and how do you count creating fabrials? Is that a science and not a magic? Is that its own magic system?

    Rhandric

    It's a science, because anyone can do it.

    Brandon Sanderson

    So Awakening is not a magic, then? Awakening's a science? Because anyone can Awaken if they get the breath.

    Rhandric

    That's something that stood out to me, because in all your other magic systems that we've seen so far there has to be some sort of snapping to occur, and that's unique, because- [...] Is there an active magic system on Threnody?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Threnody has a non Shard-based...it depends on what you call a magic system. Do spirits coming back from the dead count as magic? It's science to them, but, it's goofy science.

    Tags

  • 91

    Interview: Mar 29th, 2014

    Question

    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?

    Brandon Sanderson

    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.

    Tags

  • 92

    Interview: Apr 16th, 2014

    rossnewberry

    I asked Peter about the pattern of highstorms and Weepings, and whether the pattern they followed was possibly palindromic.

    Peter Ahlstrom

    He replied that it seemed to be. Left some wiggle room in the answer, but there you go.

    Tags

  • 93

    Interview: Apr 16th, 2014

    Question

    Any hints at the thing hiding in the maps of Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The map of Roshar, what hints can I give you? The same thing is hiding in all of the maps of Roshar. All of the ones we have done so far have the same thing.

    Tags

  • 94

    Interview: Apr 16th, 2014

    Question

    Is Harmony aware of events on Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    [hesitantly] Yeeeeeeees, some of them.

    Tags

  • 95

    Interview: Aug 6th, 2014

    BlackYeti

    In Words of Radiance, we have Vasher showing up. One of his aliases on Nalthis is Kalad, which is very similar to the name of one of the Heralds on Roshar. So I was wondering how far back this connection between him and Roshar goes.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It goes pretty far back, in fact I wrote Way of Kings, the 2002 version; he was a main character and was Kaladin’s sword master. I wrote Warbreaker to jump back and write out his back story, so to me Warbreaker actually came after Way of Kings. But the connection goes back pretty far, further than you would first guess.

    Tags

  • 96

    Interview: Jan 17th, 2015

    Question

    I’ll make sure to write that down somewhere. I really liked Silence, by the way. She was awesome. Are we going to find out who brought Nightblood to Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Tags

  • 97

    Interview: Mar 12th, 2015

    pat_skelly (Reddit)

    Hi there Sanderson,

    I have two questions,

    1. What are you really excited about that is being released soon? Like screaming fangirl level. It doesn't have to be a book either. It could be like you are getting a puppy. 2. What are your thoughts on Kramer's depiction of a Herdazian accent? Is it what you were trying to go for or no? When I read WoK I thought they had more of a Mexican accent but Kramer has brought me over to his, what I believe is, Australian accent.

    Brandon Sanderson (Reddit)

    Bloodborne. I love, love, love From Software's games. I've been playing them since King's Field One, so get off my lawn you kids.
    It makes me laugh, and I like that there are other interpretations out there--since it's a fantasy world, and their accent doesn't have a 1-to-1 correlation with our world. That said, the were originally Hispanic inspired, so you were on the right track.

    Tags

  • 98

    Interview: Apr 24th, 2016

    Melissa

    Could a Rosharan be hemalurgically spiked with a gem or fabrial?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO.

    Tags

  • 99

    Interview: Jan 21st, 2015

    Weiry

    Whether the plague on the Purelake has anything to do with the fact that the magic fish form symbiotic bonds with spren?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No. Worldhoppers brought a disease to Roshar that they didn't have before. It's the common cold. Rosharans' investiture makes it so they’re usually a healthy bunch so something like the cold is kind of frightening. "Its a plague of the sniffles”.

    Tags

  • 100

    Interview: Jan 24th, 2015

    Question

    Apparently that’s the southern continent, are we going to see the northern continent?

    Brandon Sanderson

    What, on Roshar? Roshar is only-- it is a pangaea. On Scadrial, there is a lot more going on, so you will see multiple different continents there.

    Tags

  • 101

    Interview: Jan 24th, 2015

    ccstat

    There’s been some discussion on spheres, from Roshar. Are they made by glassblowing or by soulcasting?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They can be made either way.

    Tags

  • 102

    Interview: Jan 24th, 2015

    ccstat

    Are gems in those spheres mined or exclusively from gemhearts?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Some are mined. Mining is not easy on Roshar.

    Tags

  • 103

    Interview: Oct 12th, 2015

    Question

    If another Shard came to Scadrial, would that be enough to create a godmetal?

    Brandon Sanderson

    If another shard just came to visit, probably not.

    Question

    If they brought a spren or-

    Brandon Sanderson

    If they came and completely Invested the world, then things might start happening. But there's some special circumstances, remember. Ruin and Preservation created that planet. Specifically. And so there's some goofy things that happened because of that. For instance Roshar was not made by Honor, Cultivation, or Odium. That's one of the big differences about what's going on there.

    Tags

  • 104

    Interview: Oct 12th, 2015

    Question

    How did Nightblood get on Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO.

    Tags

  • 105

    Interview: Oct 9th, 2015

    Question

    If Kelsier had been born on Roshar, would he have become a Knight Radiant and if so, which order?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I think there’s a possibility that some of the orders might want him, but it really depends on which period he was born in, and what he’s up to, because Kelsier has this dark streak in him and he could go villain very easily, depending on what’s going on with him. That’s kind of how I view Kelsier’s primary attribute, if channeled correctly he’s a great force for good, but he’s like right on the line.

    Tags

  • 106

    Interview: Oct 9th, 2015

    Question

    The metals, the ones used in Allomancy, are they naturally occurring on Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Question

    And all the alloys too?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh, all the alloys on Roshar… The magic of the metals, the metals are actually the key, so there is no power in the actual metal. You can use metals from other worlds. Metal is like a password.

    Tags

  • 107

    Interview: Apr 2nd, 2015

    Ruro272

    Is Roshar, or has Roshar always been the only large landmass on the planet?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Roshar is.... (Brandon then pauses and looks up, thinking very hard) Roshar has always been the largest landmass--as long as there has been land. (This statement was met with a LOT of OOOOHS, and Brandon had a definite grin on his face).

    Footnote

    Now this one is extremely interesting. If any of you guys have followed the discussions regarding the "Hints on the Roshar map" that Brandon's alluded to many times, the 17th Shard finally cracked the code that the landmass is a 2d cross section of a 3d shadow of a 4d Juliet transformation something or other blah blah, some crazy math thing. There is a whole thread about this topic somewhere on this forum, and the similarities are striking--plus Peter himself commented on that thread "About time you guys figured this out". So what does it mean that the shape comes from some complex mathematical methodology and not just random? Well, because somebody in that thread commented that they thought Roshar was created from leftover crem from highstorms over the course of thousands of years. Based on what we know about Roshar's shape, the fact that Brandon has commented on needing a system in which "earth" is deposited from the air, and the strong implication that there was a time when Roshar had no landmass at all, I think I'm definitely on board with the "Roshar = crem" theory.

    Tags

  • 108

    Interview: Feb 17th, 2016

    Question

    What can you tell me about where spren come from?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Spren come from where everything in the world of Roshar comes from. The are a natural part of life there. They come from the same place rocks and the wind and all of that...

    Tags

  • 109

    Interview: Feb 17th, 2016

    Question

    Is Yesteel on Roshar right now?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That is a RAFO.

    Tags

  • 110

    Interview: Feb 17th, 2016

    Question

    If Vasher is on Roshar where the hell is Vivenna?

    Brandon Sanderson

    OOOOOH that’s a RAFO!

    Tags

  • 111

    Interview: Feb 17th, 2016

    Question

    It feels like Roshar is-- has an essence, where it’s like a prism, you can see all the rest of them, due to the nature of the Cognitive Realm and the spren’s ideas, Cognitive things coming to light. Have I spent too much time looking at the Shard?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, you are on the right path. Of all the things you noted, that one is the one that is perhaps the most important.

    Question

    The prism idea.

    Brandon Sanderson

    The idea that Roshar is special and a key on Shadesmar.

    Tags

  • 112

    Interview: Feb 17th, 2016

    Question

    How many magic systems are in The Stormlight Archive, and how many of them [have been seen?]

    Brandon Sanderson

    I would see the only major one you haven’t seen is Voidbinding, it depends on how you count them. I count fabrials as one, Surgebinding as one, and Voidbinding as one. And then the Old Magic is kind of its own weird thing.

    Tags

  • 113

    Interview: Feb 17th, 2016

    Question

    With Nightblood coming in [to Words of Radiance] does that produce a magic system from a different book or does that stay separate?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It will stay separate.

    Tags

  • 114

    Interview: Feb 16th, 2016

    zas678

    Did Vasher visit Roshar before or after the Recreance? I ask because he probably had to have seen a live Shardblade to model Nightblood after, right?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Vasher didn't have to have seen a live Shardblade. He could've heard stories and modeled Nightblood after those.

    Tags

  • 115

    Interview: Feb 16th, 2016

    CarolaDavar

    Does the pool in Elantris have anything to do with the Pool that Rock mentions is in his homeland?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Look closely at who he says comes through that pool (I took this as a yes, I later found out that my Mom asked him if Hoid travels through the pool, and Brandon said yes, he worldhops through the pool)

    Tags

  • 116

    Interview: Feb 27th, 2016

    FeatherWriter

    Is something wrong with Roshar's afterlife?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Uh, why do you ask?

    FeatherWriter

    Because of the Tranquiline Halls stuff? Needing to reclaim them?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Um. So, I'm... not going to answer anything about Roshar's afterlife.

    FeatherWriter

    Kay, alright.

    Tags

  • 117

    Interview: Feb 19th, 2016

    Silverblade5

    Would hemalurgy on roshar require spikes to be made of gemstones?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO.

    Tags

  • 118

    Interview: Apr 8th, 2016

    Blightsong

    Can Odium change written word on Roshar like Ruin could on Scadrial? (I was wondering this because it would make it easy for him to manipulate Mr.T that way.

    Brandon Sanderson

    *apprehensive* This is not really a thing that Odium does. Um, yea.

    Tags

  • 119

    Interview: Apr 8th, 2016

    Blightsong

    Are sandlings from white sand an early concept for crustaceans on Roshar, with greatshells being a parallel to deep sandlings.

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, um, the idea for white sand came first, and it was more that I was exploring divergent ecology, but I've been doing that in Dragonsteel and in White Sand and in here with Roshar. I would say that the fact that white sand hadn't been published meant that I could do something's that were similar without worrying about repeating myself, but it's not like I used them specifically as models.

    Blightsong

    *jokingly* So does this mean we are going to get to see little dragons running around in Dragonsteel?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Uh, well, in Dragonsteel the dragons are sapient, so when I write Dragonsteel I will put dragons in there, but the dragons are intelligent and uh, can take human form, but there are actual little dragons.

    Blightsong

    Wait, they can take human form?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, yes, yup.

    Tags

  • 120

    Interview: Apr 8th, 2016

    Blightsong

    How much did Super Mind Taravangian know about the Cosmere as a whole, roughly, rough estimate.

    Brandon Sanderson

    He had a little bit of knowledge. Not as much as... not as much conscious knowledge.

    Blightsong

    Did he guess about the three realms?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, he knew about the three realms. He didn't have to guess on that, he had read philosophy and things, that knowledge is there on Roshar.

    Tags

  • 121

    Interview: Apr 8th, 2016

    Blightsong

    Was Hoid trying to become an Elantrian kind of in a way how Kelsier was able to connect to preservation to take up the shard?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, the thing about it is your getting Hoid before he knew as much as he did in Scadrial era, so what he was trying to do was completely ineffective and it couldn't have worked.

    Blightsong

    Doesn't it get weaker the farther away you are, so it wouldn't help at all.

    Brandon Sanderson

    mhmm.

    Question

    Well we have an example of an Elantrian on Roshar, so.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes we have an Elantrian on Roshar, but we don't see him use any powers, and his skin is dark on Roshar rather than glowing. That is something to be aware of. While I keep doing this, who is here for the magic draft? *Talks about the magic draft and his writing process for a bit*.

    Tags

  • 122

    Interview: Oct 14th, 2015

    Question

    (Obscured)

    Brandon Sanderson

    So Roshar's also high-oxygen, which does some weird things. That's how we justify the crustaceans. Which does weird things to people as well, so.

    Tags

  • 123

    Interview: Oct 14th, 2015

    Question

    How does the density of Roshar compare to the density of Earth?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Roshar's density? So, Roshar is less dense than Earth. As well as being a bit smaller. I mean, we're at .7 gravity, so you can run the numbers. I'm sure the people on here (nods at my smartphone) will. And they'll figure that out.

    Tags

  • 124

    Interview: Oct 14th, 2015

    Question

    Has anyone figured out what the secret in the map was, in Words of Radiance?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, they have. That it's modeled after the Julia Set. Which is meant to indicate that Roshar was designed specifically.

    AndrewStirlingMacDonald

    Did it happen through crem buildup?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No.

    Tags

  • 125

    Interview: Nov 28th, 2015

    Shawn M. Halverson (https://www.facebook.com/groups/270545169744383/permalink/731811053617790/)

    So I just got back from the book signing Brandon held today, I asked him about the time between each of the original 99 desolations.

    Brandon Sanderson

    It turns out that the number 99 in the stories was made up, and that there were much fewer of them. He also then stated that the cosmere runs along a 10,000 year gap and that Roshar falls right into the middle of the timeline. He ended with "That should give you a perspective of the timeline and events of the desolations". I figured that if anyone wanted to know a bit more of Roshar's history they might find this interesting.

    Tags

  • 126

    Interview: Apr 23rd, 2016

    Question

    If the highstorms existed prior to the Shards’ arrival, what’s the relationship between the highstorms and the Stormfather?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh good question. I was wondering if someone was going to ask that. So, I’ll try...let me see…[sighs] You know, I’m actually going to RAFO this one. And let me tell you why, because I mean, I want to give you some reasons to be interested in the things that Dalinar will be talking about with the Stormfather. So this is a RAFO with an explicit promise for book 3. These are things that will be covered now that we have bonded the Stormfather to a person who can now ask some of these questions. I could totally just tell you now, but where the fun of that? Read book three.

    Tags

  • 127

    Interview: Apr 23rd, 2016

    Question

    This whole talk of both Roshar and the highstorms, I’m glad that you said they predate the Shattering. There are some people on 17th Shard that believe the entire continent is crem that’s accumulated, one highstorm at a time.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Good. Let me actually squish that one a little bit because there are mineral deposits that have been mentioned that you have to mine, and crem...there is actual ferrous iron that you can smelt on Roshar, you have to know how to get to it and things like that, and there are actual gemstone mines and things like that, but they’re much harder to get to and Soulcasting is a stopgap that’s helped with this a lot, but there are actual deposits and things like that.

    Tags

  • 128

    Interview: Apr 23rd, 2016

    Question

    This is a yes-no-RAFO question. Did Shinovar originate on Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah. Mhm.

    Tags

  • 129

    Interview: Apr 23rd, 2016

    Question

    When it comes to the… epic-level spren on Roshar, like the Nightwatcher and Stormfather - is the number of epic-level spren equal to the number of Bondsmiths that you have on Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Hm, is the number of epic-level spren related to the number of Bondsmiths you have? Well, I’ve said there’s a maximum of three. And there are three Shards involved in Roshar. I’m not gonna tell you if that’s a coincidence or not. Sorry. [laughter]

    Tags

  • 130

    Interview: Apr 23rd, 2016

    Question

    So is Vasher - [lady?] who was part of the process creating Nightblood a worldhopper, then?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Vasher had been to Roshar before he created Nightblood, yeah.

    Tags

  • 131

    Interview: Nov 22nd, 2016

    BYU Bookstore (Paraphrased)

    Djarskublar

    So, say you have a gold/gold Twinborn and they worldhop to Roshar and they study the magic and do the whole Khriss and Nazh thing for a while so that they know a lot about the magic, but they've also left themselves a lot of options with what they can do. So then they manage to pull up a gold shadow of them having actually become a Surgebinder and then kind of meld themselves with that shadow a bunch, could they change their Cognitive Identity enough so that they could, like, tap a lot of Gold and grow the spren and actually be a Surgebinder?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Unfortunately, no. It's a good question, but no. That won't work for a couple of reasons. One of which is simply creating Investiture is not something that can happen, right?

    Djarskublar

    They are a gold Twinborn, so they can tap a lot of gold...

    Brandon Sanderson

    They can tap a whole bunch, that's true, they can do that, but simply having it is not gonna create a spren because the spren is from a different god, right, a different Shard.

    Djarskublar

    So if they had Regrowth cast on them, would that do it?

    Brandon Sanderson

    hems and haws for a second.

    Djarskublar

    A really, really big Regrowth like in the middle of a Highstorm.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Hmmm, this, you are getting to the realm of plausibility at that point. I still don't think gold is the way to do it. I think you just get all that Investiture. It would become sapient by you sticking a whole bunch of Investiture, and then you can bond to that. But it's not like people gain what you would have done. Does that make sense? That's just what's going to happen, is you're gonna, you can create a, potentially create a spren that way, but you are more likely to end up with something like Nightblood. But you could potentially create a spren, but I mean you're just gonna end up...

    Djarskublar

    So there are more optimal ways to do that?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, go bond a spren. (evil grin of course)

    Djarskublar

    But you can't easily bond multiple, and if you did this you could maybe get multiple.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Nyeaaahhh... The spren still has to choose. If you want to be a Surgebinder, the choice is being made. You can't fake your way into it. Decision and Honor are too much a part of Surgebinding for you to be able to fake your way into that. Other magics you might be able to do that. Other magics that don't require, like, Surgebinding works because a piece of Honor or Cultivation or a mix has chosen you specifically. There is will from the actual Investiture involved in it in Roshar.

    Djarskublar

    Okay.

    Brandon Sanderson

    So it's not something you can cheat your way into, right. But cheating your way into Breath might be easier, right.

    Tags

  • 132

    Interview: Nov 22nd, 2016

    BYU Bookstore (Paraphrased)

    Question

    Then finally I asked if Vasher and Nightblood were separated before or after coming to Roshar (I kind of felt like this had probably been asked before but I couldn't find any info on it so I went ahead),

    Brandon Sanderson

    and after hesitating for a minute, he said that they were separated after.

    Tags

  • 133

    Interview: Nov 22nd, 2016

    BYU Bookstore (Paraphrased)

    Question

    My brother asked a question about my cousin's theory on parshendi(I don't remember exactly what the question was)

    Brandon Sanderson

    Brandon said that the parshendi were created to be part of the Rosharian ecosystem.

    Tags

  • 134

    Interview: Nov 22nd, 2016

    BYU Bookstore (Paraphrased)

    Question

    no question

    Brandon Sanderson

    The 17th Shard is about nonintervention, but they're not doing so great a job, seeing as they took the common cold to Roshar.

    Tags

  • 135

    Interview: Nov 22nd, 2016

    BYU Bookstore (Paraphrased)

    Question

    no question specified

    Brandon Sanderson

    The "how-did-Vasher-get-to-Roshar" thing will be explained. For now, we know that Vasher got tired of "sucking souls" and, through previous study with a group of scholars, knew how easy it was to get Investiture on Roshar (same way he knew what a Shardblade was so he could try to replicate it (and we all know how that turned out: Nightblood)). With this same group of scholars, he figured out how to get into the Cognitive realm.

    Tags

  • 136

    Interview: Nov 29th, 2016

    Question

    If you were on Roshar, and tapped Connection, would you be unable to use Scadrial magic?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, but that's a good question. You would not be able to use Selish magic though, because that is dependent on location.

    Tags

  • 137

    Interview: Nov 30th, 2016

    Borderlands SF-AU Tour (Paraphrased)

    Question

    Why spheres on Roshar? Something related to the highstorms makes more sense, right?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes there is a reason for them being spheres. RAFO.

    Tags

  • 138

    Interview: Dec 3rd, 2016

    Alice aka Wetlander

    Is it relevant that Lift was ten when she stopped aging?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It isn't a coincidence.

    Tags

  • 139

    Interview: Dec 3rd, 2016

    AndrewHB

    Is gestation period for humans the same on Roshar as Earth?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Basically, yes.

    Tags

  • 140

    Interview: Dec 3rd, 2016

    Mason Wheeler

    OK. Now, the Weeping that happens each year on Roshar, does that occur each time when the 3 moons are in a particular alignment?

    Brandon Sanderson

    no, it's more related to the planet's orbital position than the moons' position.

    Tags

  • 141

    Interview: Dec 6th, 2016

    Question

    Has Denth ever been to Scadrial?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So Scadrial is one of the planets that’s easier to get to, in Cosmere terms. I will say this: he did not travel the Cosmere widely. But Scadrial is one of the easier ones to get to - he spent a lot of time on Roshar, and did not travel widely.

    Tags

  • 142

    Interview: Dec 6th, 2016

    Question

    I’ve been fixating on this mass exodus. The Iriali, are they the people of the mass exodus? I’ve always wanted it to be the people of Threnody.

    Brandon Sanderson

    The Iriali are not native to Roshar. There is stuff going on on Threnody too, it shares some similarities.

    Tags

  • 143

    Interview: Dec 6th, 2016

    Question

    Is it possible that someone could have gotten to the Cognitive Realm on Scadrial without the Well of Ascension?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

    Question

    ...Can we know how?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, how many Shardpools would Scadrial have?

    Question

    Two, so the Pits of Hathsin would be so?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. So you’ve adopted the term “Shardpool.” That was never really my term, but I’ve started using it. What happens with a Perpendicularity is large concentrations of Investiture, particularly purely attuned to one of the Shards, will create an access point. You’ve seen another one--

    Question

    Yeah, yeah I know these.

    Brandon Sanderson

    You know which one I’m referencing?

    Question

    Yes.

    Brandon Sanderson

    That you didn’t see a Pool from?

    Question

    Oh wait… [Laughter]

    Brandon Sanderson

    Okay, he knows, so… We’ll move on.

    Question

    Why??!! [general protest, laughter]

    Brandon Sanderson

    Okay, fine. Umm, at the end of Words of Radiance.

    Argent

    There has to be one there because Jasnah has to leave somehow, right?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, but Honor’s Perpendicularity moves.

    Question

    Woah...so...Highstorm?

    Brandon Sanderson

    [hems and haws]

    Question

    So, I don’t know if this is a RAFO sort of question, but you call them Perpendicularities, will we see this sort of thing created?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah, Perpendicularities can be created. You’d need a ton of Investiture. But, basically what Jasnah does is create a little mini Perpendicularity and slips herself into the Cognitive Realm.

    Question

    So it’s just a question of skill, not a question of--

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah. It’s hard to pull off...but some of the powers are built to do it.

    Tags

  • 144

    Interview: Dec 6th, 2016

    Argent

    I have a follow-up on the map? Most of the constellations seem fairly straightforward. The one containing Roshar has a Shardbearer or Herald…

    Brandon Sanderson

    There are a couple that don’t make [sense]. Sel gets a lamp, yes.

    Question

    Why?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Ask Isaac about that, he came up with the symbolism. And I like all the symbolism. But I would go to him about the symbolism of that. Ask him to write an essay for my website about it, because he has really cool-- Cause again, cause I said to him, ‘I want a star map’ and I wasn’t gonna put constellations on it, right? Just, the one in the back cover that doesn’t have constellations, that’s what I asked for and he came back and said ‘I did a constellation map with these things, what do you think?’ and I said ‘that’s cool!...Can you explain these to me?’ so I’m just gonna let Isaac go with that, he chose it, he chose the perspective and the point of view, so it’s his map, and he’s canon on that.

    Tags

  • 145

    Interview: Dec 6th, 2016

    Question

    So you’ve said, moving a spren off world from Roshar is difficult. What about physically, say the Ones Above visit them, and they fly away?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So one of the things you’ll have to be asking questions and theorizing on is what happens if you try to carry a spren around the planet. What happens to their Cognitive sense, right? So you’re on Roshar, right? So on the Physical Realm what would happen--because on Shadesmar, you have a flattened version. So there are questions for you to be theorizing implicit in that. And one of them is, what happens, you cross a threshold circling the globe, your spren, what happens to them? Right? This relates to the question you’re asking.

    Question

    Wait wait, you have a three dimensional plain coexisting with a two dimensional plain?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Well, two dimensional is the wrong term, but basically.

    Tags