Author Topic: ***SPOILERS Official Hero of Ages Spoilers Thread. Includes Q&A w/Brandon****  (Read 335762 times)

Chaos

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It may not surprise you, then, that I also have two Aon pendants. Also, whenever Brandon comes out with that Table of Allomantic Metals poster, you can bet that I'll get one of those, too.

My goal, you see, is to scare people with fanatical fandom--or, before MB3 came out, I would scare people with very lengthy theories. I'm scary that way.
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EUOL

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Folks,

This essay I just posted:

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/article/55/EUOLogy-My-History-as-a-Writer

Started as a blog post for this thread, talking about the old books I wrote to give context to my previous post.  It outgrew the length of a proper forum post, so I put it on the site instead.  But this might help you understand some of my history as a writer, not to mention explain the origin of all these old books Ookla that references all the time.
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My goal, you see, is to scare people with fanatical fandom--or, before MB3 came out, I would scare people with very lengthy theories. I'm scary that way.

Yay!  I'm glad there's someone to take that place.  I've been worrying that I'd be given that place WITHOUT wanting it.
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Chaos

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My goal, you see, is to scare people with fanatical fandom--or, before MB3 came out, I would scare people with very lengthy theories. I'm scary that way.

Yay!  I'm glad there's someone to take that place.  I've been worrying that I'd be given that place WITHOUT wanting it.

Glad I could be a service.

Folks,

This essay I just posted:

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/article/55/EUOLogy-My-History-as-a-Writer

Started as a blog post for this thread, talking about the old books I wrote to give context to my previous post.  It outgrew the length of a proper forum post, so I put it on the site instead.  But this might help you understand some of my history as a writer, not to mention explain the origin of all these old books Ookla that references all the time.

That is very interesting, Brandon. Very illuminating for an aspiring like myself. You know, you probably will influence my first book (I really need to get past chapter five on that project) far more than I will realize. Know that when you put out a great trilogy like Mistborn, you accomplish two things: you inspire young writers to become better, but you also inspire imitation. Not that imitating certain things is bad, especially for an initial book which probably won't be published without serious work. I just find it immensely interesting that when I read anything, the writer imprints something I can't quite identify into my writing style. I'm either somewhat imitating, but also at the same time I also react against things as I learn I'm taking too many concepts from other sources.

I just thought I'd like to let you know your reach as an author is far greater than just creating novels :P (in case you didn't know)
« Last Edit: October 20, 2008, 05:23:46 AM by Chaos2651 »
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Andrew the Great

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What he said.

Very interesting essay, I thoroughly enjoyed it. 
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I remembered a thread from ages ago in which Brandon posted a list of the books he'd written, I looked it up when I realised it wasn't in the article, and I figured you guys might be interested too, so here it is.


The complete Brandon Library is:

1) White Sand Prime  (My first Fantasy Novel)
2) Star's End   (Short, alien-relations sf novel.)
3) Lord Mastrell (Sequel to White Sand Prime)
4) Knight Life (Fantasy comedy.)
5) The Sixth Incarnation of Pandora (Far future sf involving immortal warriors)
6) Elantris (You have to buy this one!)
7) Dragonsteel (My most standard epic fantasy
8) White Sand (Complete rewrite of the first attempt)
9) Mythwalker (Unfinished at about 600 pages. Â Another more standard epic fantasy.)
10) Aether of Night (Stand-Alone fantasy. Â A little like Elantris.)
11) Mistborn Prime (Eventually stole this world.)
12) Final Empire Prime (Cannibalized for book 14 as well.)
13) The Way of Kings (Fantasy War epic. Â Coming in 2008 or 2009)
14) Mistborn: The Final Empire (Coming June 2006)
15) Mistborn: The Well of Ascension (Early 2007)
16) Alcatraz Initiated (YA Fantasy. Being shopped to publishers)
17) Mistborn: Hero of Ages (Unfinished. Â Coming late 2007)
18) Dark One (Unfinished. Â YA fantasy)
19) Untitled Aether Project (Two sample chapters only.)


EUOL

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Thanks for posting that.  Note that I can never quite remember which was first, Aether or Mistborn Prime.  I always feel that Aether should be first, since it wasn't as bad as the two primes, but thinking back I think that the essay is more accurate and I wrote it between them. 

This would be the new list:

1) White Sand Prime  (My first Fantasy Novel)
2) Star's End (Short, alien-relations sf novel.)
3) Lord Mastrell (Sequel to White Sand Prime)
4) Knight Life (Fantasy comedy.)
5) The Sixth Incarnation of Pandora (Far future sf involving immortal warriors)
6) Elantris (First Published)
7) Dragonsteel (My most standard epic, other than the not-very-good Final Empire prime.)
8 ) White Sand (Complete rewrite of the first attempt, turned out much better.)
9) Mythwalker (Unfinished at about 600 pages. Another more standard epic fantasy.)
10) Aether of Night (Stand-Alone fantasy. A little like Elantris.)
11) Mistborn Prime (Shorter fantasy, didn't turn out so well.)
12) Final Empire Prime (Shorter fantasy, didn't turn out so well.)
13) The Way of Kings Prime (Fantasy War epic.)
14) Mistborn: The Final Empire (Came out 2006)
15) Mistborn: The Well of Ascension (Came out 2007)
16) Alcatraz Verus the Evil Librarians. (Came out 2007)
17) Mistborn: Hero of Ages (Came out 2008)
18) Alcatraz Versus the Scrivner's Bones (Came out 2008)
19) Warbreaker (Comes out June 2009)
20) Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia (November 2009ish)
21) A Memory of Light (November 2009ish.  Working on it now. Might be split into two.)
22) The Way of Kings Book One (2010ish. Not started yet.)
23) Alcatraz Four (2010.  Not started yet)

I plan for The Way of Kings to be ten books, and will release periodic stand alone novels in other worlds while working on it.  I'd say one every other year, if I can manage it.  They'll probably come from the list below.  Alcatraz is five books long, so there will be one of those in 2011 as well. 

Other Projects
Scribbler (Completed YA steampunk.  Really needs a revision....)
Dark One (Unfinished. YA  fantasy)
Untitled Aether Project (Two chapters only.  Never went anywhere with this.)
The Liar of Partinel (Finished stand alone in the Dragonsteel world.  Uncertain when I'll release it.  Really needs a LOT of edits)
Nightblood (Warbreaker sequel.  Title may change. Unwritten.)
The Silence Divine (Working title.  Stand alone Epic Fantasy. Unwritten.)
Steelheart (YA Science Fiction. Unwritten)
I Hate Dragons (Middle Grade fantasy.  Maybe an Alcatraz follow up.  Unwritten.)
Zeek Harbinger, Destroyer of Worlds (Middle Grade Sf.  Maybe an Alcatraz follow up.  Unwritten.)
There's also probably a White Sand rewrite, a Dragonsteel Rewrite, and some Elantris sequels somewhere in the future. 
« Last Edit: October 20, 2008, 07:36:04 AM by EUOL »
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EUOL

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Another question, Brandon. Would the Three Metallic Arts operate in other worlds, or are they direct results of Ruin and Preservation and thus only operate in Scadriel?

Okay, back to answering spoilers.  (Or, in the case of this post, half-answering them.)

To use Feruchemy or Allomancy in almost every case, one must have the right spiritual and genetic codes, imprinted upon people during the creation of Scadrial by Ati and Leras.  To use Hemalurgy, one must first have someone with these right spiritual and genetic codse, then take the power from them.  Other people on other worlds are not going to simply discover the Three Metallic Arts by accident.
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Chaos

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Aha!

We now have names for two other beings, Ati and Leras. Whoever they may be. Creator Shards? I can't help but notice that the names came as a pair, much like Ruin and Preservation.

EDIT: Okay, I just realized that perhaps Ati and Leras are just names for the people controlling Ruin and Preservation. *slaps forehead* Obviously.

Very interesting...
« Last Edit: October 20, 2008, 06:55:37 AM by Chaos2651 »
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EUOL

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Quote
Readers have met four shards other than Ruin and Preservation.
Have we met these four by name, or just by influence? I can't think of a name that would go with the one that the Elantris lake is a manifestation of.

Hoid could be one? I know nothing his purpose other than that he shows up in lots of different books, sometimes begging and sometimes telling stories. Since most of these series happen on different planets (though two of them may happen on the same planet as each other), I'm assuming he has mad planet-hopping skills.

...Nightblood...

Ookla, I'm going to be tight lipped on this, as I don't want to give things away for future books.  But I'll tell you this:

You've interacted with two directly.
One is a tough call.  You've never met the Shard itself, but you've seen its power.  
The other one you have not met directly, but have seen its influence.
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I have a rather simple question.  What was Spook's real name?  He gives a easternese slang term that becomes his name, then he goes by his Kel given nick.  So, what was his birth name?  (Yes, I wonder about random things like that.)

Jedal.  After his father.

Which is the reason why Spook didn't like using it.
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Re: ***SPOLIERS Official Hero of Ages Spoilers Thread. Includes Q&A w/Brandon*
« Reply #161 on: October 20, 2008, 07:08:16 AM »
So are all these epic novels in the same universe? Elantris, Mistborn, Dragonsteel, all that?

I'm afraid that question is best left to the rest of you, for now, to discuss.
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Peter Ahlstrom

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Re: ***SPOLIERS Official Hero of Ages Spoilers Thread. Includes Q&A w/Brandon*
« Reply #162 on: October 20, 2008, 07:17:43 AM »
Will elements of your untitled Aether project be worked into the Dragonsteel series?

Quote
The Silence Divine (Working title.  Stand alone Epic Fantasy. Unwritten.)
Steelheart (YA Science Fiction. Unwritten)
I Hate Dragons (Middle Grade fantasy.  Maybe an Alcatraz follow up.  Unwritten.)
Zek Harbringer, Destroyer of Worlds (Middle Grade Sf.  Maybe an Alcatraz follow up.  Unwritten.)
These titles are news to me. You described two potential YA or middle-grade books to me and Karen when you came out to Book Expo, plus Dark One, but now I can't remember the plots except they were cool (and that one of them involved superheroes). Are they among this list? Also, is that really Harbringer or is it supposed to be Harbinger?
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1) How did Inquisitors find Atium mistings?
2) Before, Inquisitors had supernatural healing.  How did they get the Feruchemists for the spike?  Were the keepers not so hidden after all?

3) And this is more towards the whole physics stuff, but is Feruchemy really balanced?  If it gives diminishing returns, wouldn't this end up as a net loss of power?
4) How much control do allomancers have over pushing and pulling metals?  

1)  They spike the drinks at one of the nobility's balls with trace amounts of Atium, then cause a bit disturbance.  (Often, the Inquisitors themselves arriving will do it) and burn bronze and watch for brief pulses.  The body will burn metals instinctively if it can, which has been shown quite often in the series.  This is also how they get a lot of their secret information about who is a Misting and who isn't.  It's not a perfect method, since you have to watch for Copperclouds messing things up, but it is effective once in a while.  

Any time an obligator who is not a Misting joins the Ministry, he is unknowingly given a larger chunk of atium and then forced into a series of rituals that will drain him physically and get the body to react and burn the metal.  This was how Yomen was discovered.

2)  The keepers have been hunted for years.  Much like skaa Allomancers, they were often captured and taken by the Inquisitors.  It didn't happen nearly as often, of course.  Two things to remember, however: Not all Inquisitors had the same spikes, and spikes CAN be reused with much less effectiveness.  The longer they are outside of a body, the more their power degrades.

3)  It doesn't diminish.  Or, well, it does--but only if you compound it.  You get 1 for 1 back, but compounding the power requires an expenditure of the power itself.  For instance, if you are weak for one hour, you can gain the lost strength for one hour.  But that's not really that much strength.  After all, you probably weren't as weak as zero people during that time.  So if you want to be as strong as two men, you couldn't do it for a full hour.  You'd have to spend some energy to compound, then spend the compounded energy itself.  

In more mathematical terms, let's say you spend one hour at 50% strength.  You could then spend one hour at 150% strength, or perhaps 25 min at 200% strength, or maybe 10min at 250% strength.  Each increment is harder, and therefore 'strains' you more and burns your energy more quickly.  And since most Feruchemists don't store at 50% strength, but instead at something like 80% strength (it feels like much more when they do it, but you can't really push the body to that much forced weakness without risking death) you can burn through a few day's strength in a very short time if you aren't careful.  

4)  Depends on the Allomancer.  Zane and Kelsier were both unusually skilled in this area, and represent the higher end of what is possible.  
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Ok, I am new write and reading forums, so I'm a little slow on it, so please be kind.....
1.) What if RAFO?
2.) Who is HOID? I have read Elantris and all 3 Mistborns but don't remember the name, am I missing something?
3.) Dragonsteel, is that by Brandon or L. Yep, I am soooo confused.
4.) These Shards everyone is talking about...what are they?

I would be glad for someone to eliminate my ignorance on these matters....

As far as Kel's grabbing the power to Pres to hold for Vin, was it him that whispered to Spook, when Spook was unconscious, to get his message to Vin?

No problem!  Welcome.  Don't worry.  Someone probably answered this already, but I've only skimmed the later pages of the thread, as I'm trying to make my way through the questions.

1)  "Read and Find Out."  It was one of Robert Jordan's favorite phrases, and I have inherited it.  (Symbolically, actually, through his bookmark, which was given to me by his wife.  It's a little string one with weights on the end which spell out RAFO.)  When I say it, I don't mean it rudely at all--it is intended to mean "I'd rather not say, as this will spoil future books."  It doesn't indicate how I'll answer the question, or even if I will answer it.  It simply means that if I were to do so now (even to say "I'm not going to include this") I feel it would spoil the enjoyment of future books.

2)  Hoid is a mystery which I cannot speak on other than what has been written in the text of the novels.  However, I'm sure that others have explained it by now.

3)  I just did a post on my website explaining this.

4)  RAFO. ;)
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