Statistical Analysis of the Cosmere (mid-2020)

[Elegy he/him]

(EDIT: Just noticed - to see the whole tables on the mobile page, you have to use the horizontal mode! Sorry for not seeing that earlier )

So, I finally pulled this through: This is a statistical analysis of word count of stories and POV (point of view) characters in the Cosmere, pre-Rhythm of War. It's based on those on the Coppermind both in concept and data, so it was not as much work for me as it looks like (still a bit ).

So, I necessarily followed the analysis conventions of the Coppermind, which means that I didn't include the following sorts of text:

• Ars Arcanum entries
• essays
• epigraphs
• Graphic Novels (naturally)
• chapter titles, generally text outside of the actual POVs (like text on illustrations and, in one of the short stories, footnotes)

These explain why these word counts are generally a bit shorter than information on other sources might imply.

On top of that, every new chapter is automatically a new POV (even if the character remains the same), while it's still the same POV if it's a new scene within the same chapter with the same character.

The analysis is also limited to the canonical Cosmere, so no Aether of the Night, White Sand Prose, etc. This means that White Sand/Taldain, despite being canonical, are not represented in this statistic at all. I plan on doing another analysis that is the same but with White Sand Prose included. Since White Sand Prose is only allowed to be discussed in its sub-forum, I will post it under my Statistical Analysis of White Sand Prose there, once I find the time to do it.

So, there we go:

1. Series

Story (8)	POV Characters  (98)	% of POV Characters	Word Count  (2,818,129)	% of Word Count
The Stormlight Archive	44	44.9%	1,276,934	45.31%
Mistborn Era 1	20	20.41%	731,642	25.96%
Mistborn Era 2	14	14.29%	337,427	11.97%
Elantris	10	10.2%	208,212	7.39%
Warbreaker	6	6.12%	196,014	6.96%
The Emperor’s Soul	3	3.06%	31,925	1.13%
Sixth of the Dusk	1	1.02%	18,083	0.64%
Shadows for Silence	2	2.04%	17,892	0.63%

• I counted the two Scadrial Eras separately, as well as Emperor’s Soul. This is mostly because it’s easier to just add the separate datas together.
• I counted Secret History as Era 1, and Allomancer Jak as Era 2.
• The character numbers don’t add up because two characters have POVs in several stories. They count in every story they're in, but only once in the total character number.

---

2. Single Works

Book / novella / short story (19)	# of individual POVs (all characters) (1,423)	% of Total POVs	Word Count  (2,818,129)	% of Word Count
Oathbringer	273	19.18%	454,440	16.13%
Words of Radiance	178	12.51%	398,238	14.13%
The Way of Kings	123	8.64%	384,265	13.64%
The Well of Ascension	147	10.33%	244,371	8.67%
The Hero of Ages	131	9.21%	225,372	8%
The Final Empire	74	5.2%	210,103	7.46%
Elantris	122	8.57%	201,372	7.25%
Warbreaker	110	7.73%	196,014	6.96%
The Bands of Mourning	83	5.83%	127,456	4.52%
Shadows of Self	70	4.92%	110,019	3.9%
The Alloy of Law	36	2.53%	94,652	3.36%
Mistborn: Secret History	26	1.83%	44,981	1.6%
Edgedancer	20	1.41%	40,660	1.44%
The Emperor’s Soul	21	1.48%	31,925	1.13%
Sixth of the Dusk	1	0.07%	18,083	0.64%
Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell	3	0.21%	17,892	0.63%
The Hope of Elantris	3	0.21%	6,840	0.24%
The Eleventh Metal	1	0.07%	6,815	0.24%
Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Elantia	1	0.07%	5,300	0.19%

• The word count for The Hope of Elantris is not exact but based on word count per page of the other Arcanum Unbounded stories without chapter division. I think it might be a bit less than indicated here, but it's close anyway.

---

3. Shardworlds

Shardworld (6)	Works (19)	% of Works	Word Count  (2,818,129)	% of Word Count
Roshar	4	21.05%	1,276,934	45.31%
Scadrial	9	47.37%	1,069,069	37.94%
Sel	3	15.79%	240,137	8.52%
Nalthis	1	5.26%	196,014	6.96%
First of the Sun	1	5.26%	18,083	0.64%
Threnody	1	5.26%	17,892	0.63%

 ---

4. Complete Character POV Analysis (spoilered for length)

 

Character (98)	# of POVs (1,423)	% of Total POVs	Word Count (2,818,129)	% of Word Count
Kaladin	155	10.89%	366,382	13%
Vin	131	9.21%	335,935	11.92%
Shallan Davar	128	9%	319.564	11.34%
Dalinar Kholin	107	7.52%	259,003	9.19%
Waxillium Ladrian	96	6.75%	197,000	6.99%
Elend Venture	70	4.92%	111,786	3.97%
Sazed	55	3.87%	97,724	3.47%
Kelsier	50	3.51%	93,854	3.33%
Sarene	36	2.53%	89,784	3.19%
Marasi	52	3.65%	75,042	2.66%
Vivenna	32	2.25%	72,674	2.58%
Adolin Kholin	47	3.3%	72,371	2.57%
Raoden	41	2.88%	69,946	2.48%
Siri	37	2.6%	57,489	2.04%
Lift	24	1.69%	51,159	1.82%
Lightsong	27	1.9%	48,279	1.71%
Wayne	27	1.9%	45,243	1.61%
Hrathen	28	1.97%	37,495	1.33%
Spook	15	1.05%	32,999	1.17%
Szeth	20	1.41%	32,006	1.14%
Shai	16	1.12%	29,375	1.04%
Dusk	1	<0.1%	18,083	0.64%
Eshonai	7	<0.1%	17,896	0.64%
Silence	1	<0.1%	16,456	0.58%
TenSoon	13	<0.1%	15,991	0.57%
Vasher/Zahel	13	<0.1%	15,486	0.55%
Rysn	3	<0.1%	14,511	0.52%
Venli	14	<0.1%	14,221	0.5%
Taravangian	4	<0.1%	13,683	0.49%
Navani Kholin	10	<0.1%	13,426	0.48%
Moash	9	<0.1%	12,993	0.46%
Jasnah Kholin	9	<0.1%	12,562	0.45%
Breeze	9	<0.1%	9,921	0.35%
Rock	1	<0.1%	7,782	0.28%
Marsh	8	<0.1%	7,594	0.27%
Miles	3	<0.1%	6,894	0.25%
Straff	9	<0.1%	6,843	0.24%
Teft	10	<0.1%	6,601	0.23%
Matisse	1	<0.1%	6,292	0.22%
Wit/Hoid	4	<0.1%	6,098	0.22%
Allomancer Jak	1	<0.1%	5,300	0.19%
Zane	5	<0.1%	5,086	0.18%
Sadeas	5	<0.1%	4,840	0.17%
Cenn	1	<0.1%	4,510	0.16%
Skar	1	<0.1%	4,448	0.16%
Sigzil	1	<0.1%	3,987	0.14%
Fatren	1	<0.1%	3,741	0.13%
Kaza	1	<0.1%	3,207	0.11%
Ym	1	<0.1%	2,986	0.11%
Renarin Kholin	7	<0.1%	2,898	0.1%
Rlain	1	<0.1%	2,872	0.1%
Lhan	1	<0.1%	2,549	<0.1%
Lopen	2	<0.1%	2,213	<0.1%
Lukel	8	<0.1%	2,133	<0.1%
Axies	1	<0.1%	2,100	<0.1%
Hauka	1	<0.1%	2,087	<0.1%
Ishikk	1	<0.1%	2,058	<0.1%
Dedelin	1	<0.1%	2,056	<0.1%
Ellista	1	<0.1%	1,959	<0.1%
Winsting	1	<0.1%	1,858	<0.1%
Gaotona	4	<0.1%	1,797	<0.1%
Philen	1	<0.1%	1,629	<0.1%
Dockson	2	<0.1%	1,626	<0.1%
Allrianne	1	<0.1%	1,585	<0.1%
Gaz	2	<0.1%	1,447	<0.1%
Geranid	1	<0.1%	1,446	<0.1%
Daggon	2	<0.1%	1,436	<0.1%
Irich	1	<0.1%	1,405	<0.1%
Balat Davar	1	<0.1%	1,344	<0.1%
Tresting	1	<0.1%	1,327	<0.1%
Kalak	1	<0.1%	1,290	<0.1%
Baxil	1	<0.1%	1,267	<0.1%
Edwarn	2	<0.1%	1,261	<0.1%
Shalash	4	<0.1%	1,193	<0.1%
Mem	1	<0.1%	1,185	<0.1%
Wellen	2	<0.1%	1,157	<0.1%
Amaram	1	<0.1%	1,141	<0.1%
Mennis	1	<0.1%	1,037	<0.1%
Galladon	5	<0.1%	1,023	<0.1%
Talenel	1	<0.1%	915	<0.1%
Yanagawn	1	<0.1%	882	<0.1%
Sheler	1	<0.1%	878	<0.1%
Walin	1	<0.1%	876	<0.1%
Steris	2	<0.1%	828	<0.1%
Templeton	1	<0.1%	826	<0.1%
Puuli	1	<0.1%	819	<0.1%
Frava	1	<0.1%	753	<0.1%
Cett	2	<0.1%	697	<0.1%
Migs	1	<0.1%	663	<0.1%
Jordis	1	<0.1%	657	<0.1%
Chapps	1	<0.1%	464	<0.1%
Palona	1	<0.1%	398	<0.1%
Dilaf	2	<0.1%	351	<0.1%
Narrator (Elantris)	2	<0.1%	336	<0.1%
MeLaan	1	<0.1%	240	<0.1%
Human	2	<0.1%	234	<0.1%
Telsin	1	<0.1%	210	<0.1%
Fjon	1	<0.1%	145	<0.1%

Edited August 21, 2020 by Elegy

[+Krox he/him]

Nice, statistical analysis is always good!

I got curious, how are the percentages of POV-characters in the total number of characters? If you feel like working onward on this
Maybe keep it to "Characters with actions" to avoid including every name ever mentioned 

[Elegy he/him]

5 hours ago, Krox said:

I got curious, how are the percentages of POV-characters in the total number of characters? If you feel like working onward on this 

If you count every character with a Coppermind page, it looks like this:

Shardworld (8)	Characters (1,377)	% of total Characters	POV Characters	POV % of characters on that Shardworld
Roshar	731	53.09%	42	5.75%
Scadrial	379	27.23%	34	8.97%
Sel	120	8.71%	12	10%
Nalthis	66	4.79%	6	9.09%
Taldain	48	3.49%	n/a	n/a
Threnody	18	1.31%	2	11.11%
First of the Sun	12	0.87%	1	8.33%
Other	3	0.22%	1	33.33%

•  The characters in the „Other“ category are: Hoid, Frost, Uli Da
• Every character counts only once
• Shard Vessels are assigned to the world they are Invested in
• Roshar POV characters are two less than the Stormlight character number above because of the two POV characters in Stormlight that are not Rosharan

[Honorless he/him]

Good work! 

Is the no of PoVs (in the second table) counting every PoV chapter? Because the Final Empire does not have that many PoVs. Could you tag it as such? It looks confusing otherwise. I just did a double-take.

Edited July 26, 2020 by Honorless

[Elegy he/him]

8 hours ago, Honorless said:

Good work! 

Is the no of PoVs (in the second table) counting every PoV chapter? Because the Final Empire does not have that many PoVs. Could you tag it as such? It looks confusing otherwise. I just did a double-take.

Thanks! It counts the total number of POV scenes of all characters in the book combined. That's the difference between a "POV" and a "POV character", and this is the former - I should find a way to make that clearer, because now I see how it seems misleading. I took the data for the Final Empire from this page and double-checking, it should be correct. I just phrased it in a confusing way, well, I didn't phrase at all, since I just took the phrasing from the Coppermind and didn't think of the change of context. I'll change it when I get up 

I should also add a note that every new chapter is automatically a new POV (even if the character remains the same), while it's still the same POV if it's a new scene within the same chapter with the same character - because that's how the Coppermind pages handle it.

EDIT: Done - I hope it's clearer now! Let me know if I should change other things, I will happily do it to make the tables more understandable!

Edited July 26, 2020 by Elegy

[Frustration he/him]

I like how Stormlight is almost half the cosmere.

[Elegy he/him]

42 minutes ago, Frustration said:

I like how Stormlight is almost half the cosmere.

Yes! With only four releases at that! As soon as Rhythm of War is out, it will be easily more than half of it. Then after book 5, Mistborn will presumably catch up a bit, but I doubt it will ever reach it again (adding ~150,000 words for Lost Metal and ~700,000 for the next trilogy would make it almost 2 million words, while Stormlight, even without novellas, will almost certainly surpass 2 million with book 5).

[Frustration he/him]

2 hours ago, Elegy said:

Yes! With only four releases at that! As soon as Rhythm of War is out, it will be easily more than half of it. Then after book 5, Mistborn will presumably catch up a bit, but I doubt it will ever reach it again (adding ~150,000 words for Lost Metal and ~700,000 for the next trilogy would make it almost 2 million words, while Stormlight, even without novellas, will almost certainly surpass 2 million with book 5).

And the you add Novellas in and the back five and even when finished about half the Cosmere will be Stormlight.

[+Child of Hodor]

Wow! Great work! 
 

Im surprised to see Wax have so many more POVs than Wayne. It feels like they bounce back and forth more than they actually do. I would have guessed 60 /40. 

Maybe it’s  because I find Wayne a bit much at times, so his POVs feel more frequent to me . 

[FriarFritz]

Wow. Brandon has published almost 3 million words in the Cosmere alone.

[Frustration he/him]

13 minutes ago, FriarFritz said:

Wow. Brandon has published almost 3 million words in the Cosmere alone.

 

[Honorless he/him]

Daggon's name links to Siri's page, @Elegy

[Elegy he/him]

10 hours ago, Honorless said:

Daggon's name links to Siri's page, @Elegy

Fixed! Thank you!

[Chinkoln he/him]

I felt like Renarin, Rlain, and Teft have all had more POV's than that, but it must have just been my brain rooting for some of the best characters.

[Kingsdaughter613 she/her]

Why don’t you do graphic novels? The graphic novels are told from differing POVs as well. Three primarily, though there might be others. (I’d have to reread them, which I’d rather not do. They were... not great, to say the least.)

 

This is pretty cool, btw. Thanks for putting it together.

Edited December 14, 2020 by Kingsdaughter613

[Elegy he/him]

On 14.12.2020 at 3:50 PM, Kingsdaughter613 said:

Why don’t you do graphic novels? The graphic novels are told from differing POVs as well. Three primarily, though there might be others. (I’d have to reread them, which I’d rather not do. They were... not great, to say the least.)

 

This is pretty cool, btw. Thanks for putting it together.

Thanks! 

I didn't include the graphic novels since they're so different as a medium. I personally don't feel like it conveys quite as much to compare Kaladin's POV word count to, say, the word count of Kenton's dialogue. (It's also much harder to count words in the graphic novel format, since the text is imbedded into the pictures.)

I have done a Statistical Analysis of White Sand Prose though, so you can compare those numbers if you're interested. I've always considered adding that one's data to this table, but was reluctant to do so, since White Sand Prose isn't canon. Maybe one day!

For now, as soon as I feel like returning to this table, I'll probably just add Rhythm of War and Dawnshard to this one. That's definitely on my to-do list!

Edited December 16, 2020 by Elegy

[Honorless he/him]

So no Allomancer Jak or Nicki Sauvage wordcount from the broadsheets either? 

[Elegy he/him]

2 hours ago, Honorless said:

So no Allomancer Jak or Nicki Sauvage wordcount from the broadsheets either? 

They're not included in the Statistical Analysis pages on the Coppermind, so no, not for some time at least. I would like to have them in here though, so hopefully one day. 

I've also considered adding the Ars Arcani and Arcanum Unbouned essays as Khriss POVs. Also the epigraphs, although I guess the latter would complicate matters. Would I add every gemstone archive entry as "Unnamed Knight Radiant no. x"? I haven't decided how I'd handle that yet.

[Hoid the Former Drifter he/him]

On 7/22/2020 at 8:53 AM, Elegy said:

The characters in the „Other“ category are: Hoid, Frost, Uli Da

so frost is actually mentioned in the cosmere?

[Elegy he/him]

4 minutes ago, Hoid the Drifter said:

so frost is actually mentioned in the cosmere?

That list was compiled from the Coppermind pages. That doesn't necessarily mean that the characters are mentioned by name, just that there is a Coppermind page for them. It was the easiest way I could think of for a semi-complete list of persons in the Cosmere that we know of. Technically, a character could have a Coppermind page with only mentions in interviews/Q+As, and that character would still count.

As far as I remember, Frost was not mentioned in the books by name. He was only referenced in the letters.