The Sovereign's Assorted Questions

[Thirdofstars]

Thx

[The Sovereign]

I'd been on a Wheel of Time hiatus from the Cosmere for a the last several months but I'm reading through the Cosmere to start the year so I'm going to start maintaining this again.

[Wandering Shade]

On 7/18/2019 at 8:21 AM, The Sovereign said:

53.) Denth says that Vasher's use of the name 'Vasher' is a joke on his part. What is the joke?

According to a WoB that I'll link when I find it again, "Vasher" is the name of someone they both knew.

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/41/#e7138

Quote

Herowannabe's wife

How come it's a joke that he goes by Vasher?

Brandon Sanderson

Umm, heh. That's-- So Denth says it’s a joke because the name Vasher is someone they knew whose name he has appropriated.

Herowannabe's wife

Will we find out who that was?

Brandon Sanderson

Maybe, we'll see if I can work it in. But it is a joke because-- yeah. Denth is not amused.

Firefight release party (Jan. 5, 2015)

 

Edited January 4, 2023 by Wandering Shade

[The Sovereign]

I added a RoW question related to Rlain's surge/voidbinding.

[The Sovereign]

I just finished Part 2 of RoW on my Stormlight reread and added a couple more questions.

I specifically wanted to draw attention to Lin Davar's Soulcaster. There is a conversation between Reboniel and Navani regarding Soulcasters being Spren manifested in the Physical Realm. With what we know it seems extremely unlikely a sword strike could damage one. What is actually going on there? Note that Shallan is definitely NOT a reliable narrator so what she says can't really be taken as fact.

[Frustration he/him]

1 hour ago, The Sovereign said:

I just finished Part 2 of RoW on my Stormlight reread and added a couple more questions.

I specifically wanted to draw attention to Lin Davar's Soulcaster. There is a conversation between Reboniel and Navani regarding Soulcasters being Spren manifested in the Physical Realm. With what we know it seems extremely unlikely a sword strike could damage one. What is actually going on there? Note that Shallan is definitely NOT a reliable narrator so what she says can't really be taken as fact.

Well according to Navani in WoR it isn't unheard of for the soulcaster housings to become misaligned and stop working.

[The Sovereign]

1 hour ago, Frustration said:

Well according to Navani in WoR it isn't unheard of for the soulcaster housings to become misaligned and stop working.

Yes, this is true and I did think of that (as all of Stormlight is fresh in my mind), but I do wonder if her essentially novice understanding of Fabrials at that time is covering up a small mystery. I may well be overthinking this, but people being limited by the extent of their technology would be on brand.

[IlstrawberrySeed]

On 7/18/2019 at 6:21 AM, The Sovereign said:

61.) Are The Mink and The Lopen cousins?

Lopen is probably cousins with him, or will be soon, he's cousins with his pet fish.

On 2/8/2023 at 7:20 AM, Frustration said:

Well according to Navani in WoR it isn't unheard of for the soulcaster housings to become misaligned and stop working.

Isn't it a shardblade?

Edited February 14, 2023 by IlstrawberrySeed

[Frustration he/him]

1 minute ago, IlstrawberrySeed said:

Isn't it a shardblade?

What?

[IlstrawberrySeed]

4 minutes ago, Frustration said:

What?

I don't have the book, but in my memory, she used her shardblade. To stab him, I mean.

Edited February 14, 2023 by IlstrawberrySeed

[Frustration he/him]

Just now, IlstrawberrySeed said:

I don't have the book, but in my memory, she used her shardblade. To stab him, I mean.

No, it was Nan-balat with a dueling sword.

[The Sovereign]

First time back on the Shard in months, I added a question that I thought of on my Elantris re-read.

[Treamayne]

33 minutes ago, The Sovereign said:

First time back on the Shard in months, I added a question that I thought of on my Elantris re-read.

On 7/18/2019 at 9:21 AM, The Sovereign said:

71.) We know from TotES that to become an Elantrian you need to be invited. Is Elantris itself a Fabrial that invites potential Elantrians in addition to amplifying the powers of Aon-Dor?

WoBs:

Spoiler

Quote

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

The Shaod is an effect of Elantris.

Alloy of Law 17th Shard Q&A (Nov. 5, 2011)

Quote

chalkonthewall

In Elantris did Elantris ever not exist? like before it was built did the Shaod choose people? and if it did was their power the same? I'm mostly asking that if they were to build another Elantris in Teod would Elantrians be just as powerful over there?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, there is a point where Elantrians didn't exist. Excellent question. The rest is a RAFO.

Stormlight Three Update #5 (Nov. 20, 2016)

Annotations to Ch 55:

Quote

Brandon Sanderson

Aons are an interesting part of this book–perhaps my favorite of the world elements. If you think about the system I've set up, you'll realize some things. First, the Aons have to be older than the Aonic language. They're based directly off of the land. So, the lines that make up the characters aren't arbitrary. Perhaps the sounds associated with them are, but the meanings–at least in part–are inherent. The scene with Raoden explaining how the Aon for "Wood" includes circles matching the forests in the land of Arelon indicates that there is a relationship between the Aons and their meanings. In addition, each Aon produces a magical effect, which would have influenced its meaning.

The second interesting fact about the Aons is that only Elantrians can draw them. And Elantrians have to come from the lands near Arelon. Teoish people can be taken, but only if they're in Arelon at the time. Genetically, then, the Teos and the Arelenes must be linked–and evidence seems to indicate that the Arelenes lived in the land first, and the Teos crossed the sea to colonize their peninsula.

Only Elantrians can draw Aons in the air, so someone taken by the Shaod must have developed the writing system. That is part of what makes writing a noble art in Arelon–drawing the Aons would have been associated with Elantrians. Most likely, the early Elantrians (who probably didn't even have Elantris back then) would have had to learn the Aons by trial and error, finding what each one did, and associating its meaning and sound with its effect. The language didn't develop, but was instead "discovered."

There are likely Aons that haven't even been found yet.

Elantris Annotations (Feb. 14, 2006)

Quote

Argent

The updated Elantris map (from the anniversary edition) includes a city map, and the interior of Elantris looks awfully like Aon Ela. Was it indeed designed so the streets for Ela, and if so - does this merely augment/support the giant Aon Rao, or does it have a separate effect?

Brandon Sanderson

This was designed this way! It is separate from the shape of the city itself.

Argent

But does it have an actual effect, or is it just aesthetic?

Brandon Sanderson

It doesn't have an effect at the moment. It might once have.

Worldbuilders AMA (Dec. 3, 2015)

Comments: We still don't quite have a good picture of the early timeline - and older WoBs mix and match terms - but based on what we have so far it seems:

• The City was built by people using the MoI that would become known as AonDor (possibly the Aon version of Soulcasting) who had some level of contact with Devotion and/or Dominion before they were splintered (they were not yet Elantrians, as Elantris did not exist).
• Either by-design, or because of the clash with Odium, the mechanism for the Shaod became part of the city itself.
  • Possibly one of the Aons formed by the street layout - like Ela in the WoB above)
• Something happened to the builders (possibly fallout from the Splintering).
• Time Passes
• The Aonic People Settle the land, the magic is termed AonDor and the current names and pronunciations are given to Aons as they are discovered based on their inherent meaning
• The people that would become Teoish resettle across the Sea - but retain enough Aonic heritage to be chosen by the Shaod, but only if they are within the borders of Arelon.

Hope that helps

[The Sovereign]

Thanks @Treamayne! I'm sure I've read those WoBs at some point in the past but it has been several years at this point. I really should go back in refamiliarize myself with the earlier WoBs, I'm sure there are some gems there that I've simply forgotten about.

Edited August 7 by The Sovereign

[Treamayne]

26 minutes ago, The Sovereign said:

Thanks @Treamayne! I'm sure I've read those WoBs at some point in the past but it has been several years at this point. I really should go back in refamiliarize myself with the earlier WoBs, I'm sure there are some gems there that I've simply forgotten about.

What I have been doing (YMMV) is right before/after a re-read, I'll use the Arcanum Tag Browser to select tags the from associated book/series and read though the WoBs that way - so it's not (usually) as cumbersome as some of the longer Event sections, and they can chain easily by clicking another tag from the bottoms of WoBs in the first set. E. g. Elantris City has WoBs leading to AonDor Tag, Shaod Tag, etc. 

[The Sovereign]

I just added 2 more Stormlight Questions and a Mistborn Question.

[alder24]

On 7/18/2019 at 3:21 PM, The Sovereign said:

74.) Were Seer Mistings actually Oracle Mistings that were mislabeled?

Yes

Spoiler

Xais56

Brandon has said that everyone ought to be able to burn Atium, like they can all burn Lerasium, and the fact that they can't was an oversight on his part that he would've done different in hindsight.

Maybe now he's had an in-universe reason to re-write the laws of allomancy it's back to his intended concept; Mistborn burn all 16 base metals, mistings burn one base metal, non-allomancers can only burn godmetal.

Peter Ahlstrom

My explanation for this is that Preservation somehow caused all naturally occurring atium to form as an alloy of atium and electrum. The atium Mistings were actually electrum Mistings.

Xais56

It's a very tidy solution, but it creates the maddening question of what does pure atium do?

Peter Ahlstrom

That answer has already been revealed canonically. RAFO.

Footnote: It has since been clarified that the effect was revealed on the Table of Allomantic Metals poster and seen at the end of The Hero of Ages.
General Reddit 2021 (Nov. 2, 2021)

 

On 7/18/2019 at 3:21 PM, The Sovereign said:

69.) Does the Southern Scadrian method for creating Medallions require Hemalurgy?

We don't know, Hemalurgy makes it much easier, but it's not needed. 

Spoiler

Mojonero

Back before the Final Ascension, if you had a full Feruchemist and a Mistborn, both with access and knowledge of all 16 metals, could they make medallions without the use of Hemalurgy?

Brandon Sanderson

If they knew what to do maybe. Much easier with Hemalurgy - but it would be possible.

Dragonsteel Mini-Con 2021 (Nov. 22, 2021)

 

On 7/18/2019 at 3:21 PM, The Sovereign said:

48.) Was the Diagram specifically warning against allowing Rlain to form his bond? ["TherehastobeananswerWhatistheanswerStopTheParshendiOneofthemYestheyarethemissingpiecePushfortheAlethitodestroythemoutrightbeforethisoneobtainstheirpowerItwillformabridge"]

Personally I believe it's about Eshonai becoming a Radiant. She is the missing piece (missing Radiant Order). If Eshonai wasn't pressed by Alethi to desperation, she would most likely refuse to test the Stormform with any Parshendi. That means she would have enough time to develop her own bond with Timbre and show the Five a different way of obtaining powers - a way without Odium, a Radiant way. Without Stormforms, they can't summon an Everstorm, there is no bridge. But that's just speculation.

On 7/18/2019 at 3:21 PM, The Sovereign said:

34.) Who painted "The Battle Of Twilight Falls"? (At the Starsight Release on 11/26/19 R'Shara asked about the painting in Celebrant, they are done by the same artist)

The painter was not meant to be someone specific/important (and not Hoid):

Spoiler

Gordon

The paintings (I think there were at least two, right?) that remind Lightsong of his dreams and the Manywar etc. Is the Artist someone we know? If not, will we eventually meet him/her in a later book? Does the artist hope to affect Lightsong this way, or is it just some guy giving abstract art to his God?

Jared

Is the artist that painted those paintings Hoid?

Brandon Sanderson

Hoid did not make the paintings. The goal of those paintings—and this is spoilery, by the way—the paintings are actually what the text implies that they are. They are abstract paintings which Lightsong, having a touch of the divine, is able to see and read into things that aren't necessarily there.

Beyond that, art is a magical thing in the world of WARBREAKER. When an artist creates a work of art, part of the artist's soul ends up in the artwork. Someone who has many breaths and who's Returned like Lightsong has the inherent ability to see into the art and perceive that. So Lightsong can interpret correctly an abstract piece, based on what the artist is trying to convey, in a way that a normal person couldn't.

I was not trying to make the artists anyone specifically important. In the case of those paintings, they are wonderful artists—I think they are two separate artists, if I'm thinking of the two paintings that you're indicating. As Lightsong has a splinter of divine nature inside him, he is able to interpret the paintings—to foresee, using them, and to see into the soul of the person who made them.

Goodreads Fantasy Book Discussion Warbreaker Q&A (Jan. 18, 2010)

 

On 7/18/2019 at 3:21 PM, The Sovereign said:

33.) Did Llarimar become the God King's new head priest after the events of Warbreaker?

Possible:

Spoiler

Argent (paraphrased)

Will Llarimar become Susebron's high priest?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

I would not be surprised if the events took him there.

Argent (paraphrased)

Do you think he would be unhappy with the position?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

No. Susebron is going to make at least, if not a good God King, then at least an earnest one, and Llarimar would approve of that.

Steelheart Chicago signing (Oct. 5, 2013)

 

On 7/18/2019 at 3:21 PM, The Sovereign said:

16.) Does pre-Ascension [Rashek's Ascension] Allomancy (like Alendi's Seeking) still exist in the Southern Scadrian's bloodlines?

The seed is in their genes, because they all have Preservation's fragment in them and they are pre-Lerasium strength. Very, very weak, hard to be awakened without Mists intervention (Alendi was Snapped by Mists).

Spoiler

Comatose

So here's my last question. If there ARE people on the other side of the world, did Vin kill them all by placing the sun on their side, or do they have they're own Ruin/Preservation battle going on over there as well? Do they also have allomancy feruchemy and hemalurgy?

Brandon Sanderson

No, they're not dead. Yes, Rashek was aware of them. In fact, he placed them there as a reserve. I knew he wanted a 'control' group of people in case his changes to genetics ended with the race being in serious trouble. All I'll say is that he found a way other than changing them genetically to help them survive in the world he created. And since they were created by Ruin and Preservation, they have the seeds of the Three Metallic Arts in them—though without anyone among them having burned Lerasium, Allomancers would have been very rare in their population and full Mistborn unheard of.

Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide (Oct. 15, 2008)

 

Spoiler

Brandon Sanderson

Also, as a note, Alendi was an Allomancer, as the epigraph notes here. He had to be—he heard the pulsing at the Well of Ascension when nobody else could. "Ah," you might say, "but I thought that you said Allomancy didn't exist before those beads." That isn't 100% true. The legends say that Allomancy came with the Deepness. Alendi was one of the very first Allomancers, and he gained his powers as the mists began to cover the world.

That's important.

Because, of course, he was Snapped by the mists, like is happening to people in this book.

The Hero of Ages Annotations (Feb. 23, 2010)

 

[The Sovereign]

@alder24 Thank you very much, that was a very helpful response! I used to be very up to date on the WoBs, but fell off the wagon a couple of years ago. I have been working my way through all of them from the beginning and doing my best to search through Arcanum before adding new questions, but there are definitely some gaps that were not answered at the time I had originally added the question or that I simply forgot, missed, or haven't got to yet.

Regarding "TherehastobeananswerWhatistheanswerStopTheParshendiOneofthemYestheyarethemissingpiecePushfortheAlethitodestroythemoutrightbeforethisoneobtainstheirpowerItwillformabridge" the "ItWillFormABridge" is what indicated to me that it may be talking about Rlain; Tumi calls him "Bridger of Minds".

Edited August 19 by The Sovereign

[alder24]

17 minutes ago, The Sovereign said:

@alder24 Thank you very much, that was a very helpful response! I used to be very up to date on the WoBs, but fell off the wagon a couple of years ago. I have been working my way through all of them from the beginning and doing my best to search through Arcanum before adding new questions, but there are definitely some gaps that were not answered at the time I had originally added the question or that I simply forgot, missed, or haven't got to yet.

There is way too many WoBs to keep track of them all. I thought there was a WoB about "fixing Dor by Ascending," which is one of your question, but I couldn't find it.

18 minutes ago, The Sovereign said:

Regarding "TherehastobeananswerWhatistheanswerStopTheParshendiOneofthemYestheyarethemissingpiecePushfortheAlethitodestroythemoutrightbeforethisoneobtainstheirpowerItwillformabridge" the "ItWillFormABridge" is what indicated to me that it may be talking about Rlain; Tumi calls him "Bridger of Minds".

I think it's a different type of bridge, Nales talked about it. That was his reason to hunt Radiants, to prevent a bridge from forming, which would cause another Desolation. RoW ch 77:

Quote

“Impossible,” Nale repeated. “Ishar said only a Connection between the worlds could cause a bridge to open. And Taln has not given in. I would know if he had.…”

 

[+robardin he/him]

On 8/19/2024 at 4:59 PM, alder24 said:

There is way too many WoBs to keep track of them all. I thought there was a WoB about "fixing Dor by Ascending," which is one of your question, but I couldn't find it.

I think it's a different type of bridge, Nales talked about it. That was his reason to hunt Radiants, to prevent a bridge from forming, which would cause another Desolation. RoW ch 77:

 

Don't take Nale's words as insightful as to what's going on. I always thought that angle ("must prevent Nahel bonds from forming to avert enough Connection between worlds to form a bridge and bring about another Desolation") indicative of Ishar and Nale's insanity, because that doesn't make sense.

l mean, Nale himself is still leading a group forming new Nahel bonds: the Skybreakers. So how, then, is that somehow an exception? He never did explain how "what you do [to Lift, in forming a bond to Wyndle] could bring about the end of the world" yet not what HE did with recruiting new Skybreakers all the time to bond to highspren.

He's evidently trusting or following what Ishar told him, who as we eventually see directly, is chull-dung crazy if a Bondsmith isn't leveling up.

And by those words, Nale seems to think forming enough of a "bridge of connection" via Nahel bonds would trigger another Desolation even if "Taln has not given in - I would know". Which has never happened before? I mean, even before Aharietiam, the Radiant orders existed in between Desolations, and of course even after Aharietiam (as seen in one of Dalinar's first visions of Radiants coming to help him fight against Midnight Essence), up until the False Desolation that ended with BAM's engemming and then the Recreance, all in short order.

That's THOUSANDS of years tallied up, of "people forming lots of Nahel bonds of all kinds on Roshar without a Herald breaking on Braize and yet no Desolation until that happened".

[alder24]

2 hours ago, robardin said:

Don't take Nale's words as insightful as to what's going on. I always thought that angle ("must prevent Nahel bonds from forming to avert enough Connection between worlds to form a bridge and bring about another Desolation") indicative of Ishar and Nale's insanity, because that doesn't make sense.

Yes, it was HIS reason for hunting Radiants and I do agree with all you said - it doesn't make any sense. But I was pointing out that the Diagram was predicting the same bridge that Ishar and Nale feared. But Nale wrongly believed Radiants will form it, while the Diagram predicted Eshonai with her Stormform will form it. This is all my belief, with no concrete evidence. 

[+robardin he/him]

1 hour ago, alder24 said:

Yes, it was HIS reason for hunting Radiants and I do agree with all you said - it doesn't make any sense. But I was pointing out that the Diagram was predicting the same bridge that Ishar and Nale feared. But Nale wrongly believed Radiants will form it, while the Diagram predicted Eshonai with her Stormform will form it. This is all my belief, with no concrete evidence. 

Must have something to do with the Everstorm then? And maybe also as a result of the engemification of BAM that "broke" so many things on Roshar.

[The Sovereign]

I added a question about SA. This one is more of a "theory" than a question; This seems intuitively obvious to me. From a story telling and pattern perspective it makes sense; As we know, Ash and Taln will be POV characters in the back 5. 10 Orders, 10 Flashback Characters; Dustbringers and Stonewards are the left out orders of the Protagonists. Taln will obviously be the Stoneward which leaves Dustbringer to Ash. I suspect the Oathpact will be completely dissolved by the end of SA5 leaving Ash and Taln as "free agents" while Ash is the Patron of the Lightweavers, her maddened state is far more in line with the Dustbringers. Also during Oathbringer Dalinar and the Stormfather comment on who "Two are missing" from their Radiant circle.

[Treamayne]

1 hour ago, The Sovereign said:

Taln will obviously be the Stoneward which leaves Dustbringer to Ash.

Considered before:

Spoiler

 

Quote

 

rjl

Is Shallash/Ash going to be a Dustbringer? (So Dalinar's count can be all 10 orders)

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO

Oathbringer London signing (Nov. 28, 2017)

 

Quote

yahasgaruna

The plan to have each book focused on one order is still on, right? Does that mean Book 3 will focus on the Bondsmiths or the Skybreakers depending on whether Dalinar or Szeth are the flashback focus? And what about the book focused on Ash, since she was the Herald of Shallan's order? Am I right in assuming that book will focus on the Dustbringers?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO.

Stormlight Three Update #4 (Sept. 9, 2016)

All the RAFOs

Edited August 28 by Treamayne
SPAG

[The Sovereign]

I added a couple of questions that came up during my re-read of "The Lost Metal".