Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

Several things. There's a real challenge in this book because I did not want to go the path of The Wheel of Time in which there had been an Age of Legends that had fallen and that the characters were recapturing. Partially because Robert Jordan did it so well, and partially because a lot of fantasy seems to approach that concept. But I did want the idea of a past golden age, and balancing those two concepts was somewhat difficult. I eventually decided I wanted a golden age like existed in our world, such as the golden of Greece and Rome, where we look back at some of the cultural developments etc. and say, "Wow, those were really cool." And yet technologically, if you look at the world back then, it was much less advanced than it is now, though it was a time of very interesting scientific and philosophical growth in some areas. What we have in Roshar is that the Knights Radiant did exist, and were in a way a high point of honor among mankind, but then for various reasons they fell. The mystery of why they did and what happened is part of what makes the book work.

Why is this world appealing to write in? Well, I like writing my worlds like I write my characters, where at the beginning of the book you're not starting at the beginning or the end of the characters' lives; you're starting in the middle. Because when we meet people, their lives don't just start that day. Interesting things have happened before, and interesting things are to come. I want the world to be the same way. Interesting things have happened in the past, and interesting things are to come again. I want there to be a depth and a realism to the history. It's fascinating for me to write at this point because on the one hand, there are things to recapture in the past, but at the same time there are things that the people in the past never understood and could never do. The former heights of scientific reasoning didn't go at all as far as they could have gone. So there are new places to explore and there are things to recapture. In a lot of ways, this plays into my philosophy for storytelling. The greatest stories that I've loved are those that walk the balance between what we call the familiar and the strange. When a reader sits down and there are things that resonate with stories they've read before that they've loved, there's an experience of joy to that. At the same time, you want there to be things that are new to the story, that you're experiencing for the first time. In this world, that's what I'm looking for. There is that resonance from the past, but there's also a long way to go, a lot of interesting things to discover.

The number 10 seems to be a recurring theme in this world. Are the Ten Fools the antithesis of the ten orders of the Knights Radiant?

Have you ever killed off a character and later regretted it?

When writing a battle scene in which thousands die do those deaths affect you in any way?

It's actually a mix of both. I generally flesh everything out at the beginning—then, as I write (particularly the first book) knock huge holes in the worldbuilding and replace them with new and better things.

I work everything out, then leave notes to myself as to what is cannon so I can throw out bad ideas and replace them with better ideas as I write.

So, all ten orders are finished and worldbuilt. (I feel pretty good about them.) However, I could decide to move some things around as I write.

What can you tell us about the Knights Radiant?

Um…what can I tell you that's not in the books?

17TH SHARD

A little more about them.

BRANDON SANDERSON

There were 10 orders of Knights Radiant. Each order was based on a combination of two of the "smaller" magic systems in this world, so to speak. You combine two of them together and they each had something kind of "their own". So if you look at the map in the front of the magic system and you mark circles that include one large circle and two of the smaller circles in between, you can find the 10 orders right on there. The mini circles are the powers and the big circles represent the orders and the essences and things like that. So one big circle, two little circles equals an order of Knights Radiant.

Which one will you focused more in the future, the Heralds or Radiants? Will you dig deeper into each of Heralds story and some of Radiants?

I feel that I should probably RAFO this one. We are going to delve into the Radiants as orders a lot. But the Radiants as individuals? Depends on what you mean. Kaladin is well on the path toward becoming one of them, though he's not one yet, as Teft is quick to point out. So if you mean focusing on actual Knights Radiant, we'll have to see if anyone actually manages to become one.

The Heralds are integral to the entire story, which is why the Prelude focuses on them. Since someone showed up at the end of the book claiming to be one of them, I think you can obviously expect some attention to be drawn there. Who each of the Heralds are and what their natures were is important.

Do Szeth and Kaladin both belong to the same order of knights radiant?

Szeth isn't actually in an order of Knights Radiant. Something different is happening with Szeth that people have already begun to guess. And Kaladin isn't yet a Knight Radiant, but the powers he uses are those of the Windrunners, one of the orders of the Knights Radiant. Szeth is using the same power set. So your phrasing is accurate to that extent.

That is correct; it's going to be ten books. Ten is a holy number in the series. It's related to the Order of Knights Radiant and the number of magic systems and things like this. So ten books.

Marc Aplin

Is the 1000-page format something that's going to continue throughout the series?

Brandon Sanderson

Each of the books will be medium long. I'm not sure...you know, I can't tell you exactly how long they will be. Instinctively, looking at my outline, I feel that the first is probably one of the longest in the series, which is a bad way to do it, honestly. You really want to have the first ones be the quick pow, and the middle ones get to be the thick, meaty ones. But I'm expecting... This one was about 400,000 words; I'm expecting them all to be around 300,000 words. There may be some that go a little bit longer. It'll depend on the book and how many characters I decide to deal with in that book, and the plot structure of the books.

Are the symbols going to be further explained throughout the series?

Yeah, you want me to- let me open this up *opens WoK* what she’s talking about are the symbols right here, this does relate to the magic and to the Knights Radiant. I will eventually explain what it is but for right now it’s just there to be interesting and to look at. It should be telling that one of them ended up on the front of the book, this is actually the same symbol as one of these, just done in a slightly different style. This is what we call in the books the glyphs, the writing system, they actually can be read phonetically, but they are also partially art.

The inspiration for these that I gave to the artist was the Arabic writing, where people actually, often take words and will do them as designs and these beautiful works of art, changing the words, and that’s what happened with the-you probably can’t see that very well- the embossing on this but that’s what happens with the writing system on this world and so the glyphs will usually will write them in the shape of something and that’s one of the glyphs written in the shape of a sword. So that will be explained eventually, it is something for the entire series, every book will have the same end pages like this so slowly over time you will understand that and I haven’t said anything at all about the one in the back, and I don’t intend to for quite a while.

There are connections in the things you mentioned above, though I don't want to speak of specifics yet for risk of spoiling future revelations.

As for blurring the line between what makes sense and what is fun...I err on the side of the fun. However, part of my meticulous planning is about how to make the fun make sense. I feel that is part of what makes this genre interesting. I decided I wanted to do a story about the Knights Radiant, with the Plate and Blades. From there, I spent a long time thinking about what would make those kinds of weapons reasonable and important to a society.

You can do anything, but do try to focus on laying your groundwork and being consistent.

And so like the Windrunners, they’re just one Order of the Knights Radiant, aren’t they?

Yes they are, in fact they are- every order is a grouping of one of these [points to the large symbols on the Radiant tables] and two of these [points at the smaller symbols], these are the Surges. So these are the ten, sort of forces. And so Windrunning is pressure and gravitation, which are those two. But the Skybreakers are right there [points to gold symbol in the upper middle], with a different combination and each of these different groupings would make one order of the Knights Radiant. And that is the symbol of the Windrunners, right there on the cover. [Points at the swordgylph under the dust jacket]. So, fun little easter-egg type things there.

I’ve got three names, and you can tell me what you think. Peter wants “Knights Radiant”; Moshe, my editor, wants “Lightweaver”; and I want “The Words of Radiance.” For the second Stormlight book.

(general chaotic discussion of names, pros and cons)

I don’t like yours, it’s too long.

BRANDON SANDERSON

They like “Lightweaver” – I’m worried, having a book called “A Memory of Light” and then another one with Light in the title the same year, which was why I didn’t go with that.

(more general chaotic discussion)

BRANDON SANDERSON

You guys are voting for Knights Radiant. It seems too on the nose for me, is the thing. Like naming Pat’s (Rothfuss) new book “Kvothe has sex” or something like that, you know? Yes, it’s what the book’s about, but it’s very on the nose – it’s exactly what the book’s about. Does that make sense? That’s why it bothers me, but that’s why all the marketing people are like “Yeah, that’s what it’s about! Let’s make it!”

HARRIET

Think. up. a. new. one.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yeah, but Moshe needs it like two weeks ago!

HARRIET

Some other weaver. Radiant Weaver.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Hey, that’s not bad. That’s actually good. You can make it two words.

(more chaos)

HARRIET

It’s better than the other three. I haven’t read a word of it...!

Yes.

Question

Why does he do that?

Brandon Sanderson

Because when Kaladin was there and they were touching it, they actually heard the spren that was inside of it.

Question

So it wasn't Syl that he heard, it was —

Brandon Sanderson

It was the sword's spren. That Kaladin was touching it — when a Knight Radiant touches it — you'll see when other Knights Radiant pick up sword, they can hear the screaming.

The Stormlight Archive already has that feeling of an "epic" tale, not just in the size of the novels and the rich world building but the story too. Do you have any idea how long the book series might go on for?

Yes. I conceived The Stormlight Archive as a series dealing with ten characters, where each book took one of the characters and delved deeply into their past and their psychology. Granted, the other characters will appear, as Kaladin is a big part of Words of Radiance even though this volume could be described as Shallan's book. Since I have those ten characters, and there are ten orders of Knights Radiant, I built a ten-book series with two five-book arcs: five books and then a break, followed by another five books.

Historically, the Parshendi were not made Knights Radiant, or the parshmen weren't.

Question

Can they become squires maybe?

Brandon Sanderson

Historically they did not, but it's not impossible.

There are more of them. There is not an exact one-to-one correlation?

Question

I assume there will be ten opposite orders to the Knights Radiant?

Brandon Sanderson

RAFO. That's a big ol' RAFO.

The spren themselves.

Question

So it doesn't have anything to do with the Orders of the Knights Radiant?

Brandon Sanderson

Um, you have to attract the spren, the same way you attract emotionspren, you have to attract the right spren for the Order.

You could consider it that way, but there is not a one-to-one analogue.

Question

Because it looked like the powers of the voidforms are kind of like anti-Surges...

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, yes, there is definitely something there, but again I say, it's not a one-to-one correlation. They are not going to be exactly opposite.

Tags

Boy, this is a really interesting one that I'm surprised I haven't been asked more often. I have been asked it once or twice and it's really hard to say because where do I think I would belong? Or where would (I) want to belong?

Because I've always wanted to fly, so if I'm going to choose one thing — one power — I'm choosing "I can fly." Even though it's not the smartest power I could pick, it's what I would pick. If I could self select, then that might be where I would go. But, I don't know if I would honestly fit there accurately. I'm not sure if that's where I'm meant to be. I would probably be more likely to be a Bondsmith than anything else, with just knowing my personality. It's a good question.