art by Jake Johnson

Theoryland Resources

WoT Interview Search

Search the most comprehensive database of interviews and book signings from Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson and the rest of Team Jordan.

Wheel of Time News

An Hour With Harriet

2012-04-30: I had the great pleasure of speaking with Harriet McDougal Rigney about her life. She's an amazing talent and person and it will take you less than an hour to agree.

The Bell Tolls

2012-04-24: Some thoughts I had during JordanCon4 and the upcoming conclusion of "The Wheel of Time."

Theoryland Community

Members: 7653

Logged In (0):

Newest Members:johnroserking, petermorris, johnadanbvv, AndrewHB, jofwu, Salemcat1, Dhakatimesnews, amazingz, Sasooner, Hasib123,

Theoryland Tweets

WoT Interview Search

Home | Interview Database

Your search for the tag 'old magic' yielded 10 results

  • 1

    Interview: Nov 23rd, 2011

    Tortellini

    This is a big one and I hadn't heard any of this before. A girl asked what was up with Taravangian, since it seemed a rough break between the tottering old man and the scheming mastermind that Szeth meets at the end.

    Brandon Sanderson

    The answer is quite surprising. Brandon said that Taravangian used the Old Magic, and that he wakes up each day with a different IQ. Sometimes he's a genius, sometimes he's an idiot. So what he does is he writes up math puzzles for himself in the evening, and if he cannot get a certain score in the morning the guards have orders to just take care of him and keep him away from important decisions for that day. That way he keeps his effect (personal speculation, it could be his curse, but also his boon if e.g. he asked for intelligence and only got it part-time) under control.

    Tags

  • 2

    Interview: Aug 8th, 2013

    Question

    Are Nightwatcher and The Old Magic related?

    Brandon Sanderson

    The Nightwatcher is related to The Old Magic and is related to a Shard.

    Question

    Which Shard?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO

    Footnote

    The Nightwatcher has been heavily implied to be related to the Shard Cultivation.

    Tags

  • 3

    Interview: Mar 21st, 2014

    Question

    How many people that we've met know the story of Dalinar's wife?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Know which story?

    Question

    The story about the pact, why he doesn't remember anything.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oh. Not very many at all know that he doesn't remember. He's had to fake it.

    Tags

  • 4

    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

  • 5

    Interview: Feb 17th, 2016

    Question

    [Note: This question was asked by a young boy sitting near the front.] So for the Stormlight Archive series–

    Brandon Sanderson

    The Stormlight Archive? How old are you? [audience laughter]

    Question

    Nine?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Nine? And you’re reading the Stormlight Archive? [loud cheering]

    Question

    So the character Lift, with her powers, why does she only have to eat food instead of sucking in stormlight?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So Lift is a really weird one. She visited the Old Magic and asked something very strange, and the Old Magic didn’t know how to treat that, and so answered with something equally strange. So you will actually see what happened with Lift and things like that, but suffice it to say some really weird things are going on.

    Tags

  • 6

    Interview: Feb 17th, 2016

    Question

    I kind of envision the Old Magic working a little bit like Hemalurgy, where some-- takes a part of the Physical DNA of the person and transmutes it onto the Cognitive DNA because everything seems to be a Cognitive shift for the person, am I thinking along the right lines?

    Brandon Sanderson

    You are thinking along very-- Yes you are thinking along the right lines. I won’t tell you exactly but you are thinking along the right lines.

    Question

    And then the curse Kelek’s Breath, is that a clue as to the origin of some of the Heralds?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Erm… Explain why you think it might be.

    Question

    Uh, well, Warbreaker--

    Brandon Sanderson

    Mmhmm

    Question

    The use of Breath…

    Brandon Sanderson

    Uhuh

    Question

    It seems like they have similar strength to somebody who has extra Endowment

    Brandon Sanderson

    Okay.

    Question

    So I’m wondering if they come from-- I can’t remember the name..

    Brandon Sanderson

    The Heralds-- You’re wondering if the Heralds come from Nalthis?

    Question

    Yeah.

    Brandon Sanderson

    The Heralds do not come from Nalthis, but that is an excellent question.

    Tags

  • 7

    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

  • 8

    Interview: Apr 23rd, 2016

    Ted Herman

    So for the Old Magic, in this classification system of end-positive, end-neutral, and end-negative, where would that fall under?

    Brandon Sanderson

    So, almost every magic in the Cosmere is end-positive, almost every magic is relying upon an external source of Investiture to power it. So that is mostly more relevant to Scadrial than anywhere else, because that concept is how I’m dealing with things like the laws of thermodynamics, and even what they call end-neutral is relying a little bit on the power of Investiture to facilitate. So even an end-neutral magic system as they define it on Scadrial is not actually end-neutral. What you put in you get out, but the power is facilitating that transfer. So that phrasing is kind of a....uh...Take that as a science on Scadrial that does not extrapolate well, and may not even be 100% accurate. [...] I look at it as, is there an Investiture externally powering the magic, and if you look at Allomancy, yes it is. You are drawing that power out. Feruchemy, you are putting Investiture in from your own body, it’s your energy transferring to Investiture, which is then stored, which you are then drawing out, and things like that. But that changing forms is facilitated by the magic. Whereas when you’re stealing stuff with - You could look for instance at the magic on Nalthis, you could look at that one as being, as kind of working as end-negative, meaning “I am taking it away from someone else”, or end-positive depending on if you’re the one receiving it or not. So again, it’s a phrasing that could be useful as a tool but doesn’t scale well to the other magics.

    Tags

  • 9

    Interview: Jun 28th, 2016

    Question

    It is mentioned that Lift went to the Old Magic. What did she get? Do you know what she got?

    Brandon Sanderson

    It is mentioned in Edgedancer.

    Tags