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Your search for the tag 'returned' yielded 25 results

  • 1

    Interview: Jan 10th, 2011

    JoeH42 ()

    In Warbreaker, is Clod the Lifeless body of Arsteel? I like this idea because Arsteel would have had some Breaths within him when he died, as this is how Vashir defeated him and Denth, and this could help explain why he seems to be a little more self-aware than most Lifeless. Could you respond to this idea?

    Brandon Sanderson ()

    I confirmed in the Warbreaker annotations that Clod is Arsteel.

    Clod is more self-aware than most Lifeless. There is something left of Arsteel within Clod. The Breaths that Vasher gave him when he killed him do have an effect on this.

    Tags

  • 2

    Interview: Jan 10th, 2011

    Locke219 ()

    Can Returned have children? If so, who was the first Returned to do so?


    Brandon Sanderson ()

    I'm going to have to RAFO that one because it's a big RAFO question for the world. In-world, it is believed both that they cannot and that they can. Mythology speaks of it happening, yet many Returned by their own experiment have not been able to have children.

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  • 3

    Interview: Jul, 2009

    Graendal

    A question that's been on my mind for a while. If Returned can't have children, how are Siri and Vivenna descended from one?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Excellent question. One I have to RAFO. When I was writing Warbreaker, I was planning on two books. I seeded two questions to be answered in the next book. One was the origin of the royal family. The second was how Vasher was able to survive while hiding his divine Breath. I will answer these questions. Eventually. (It has to do with restoring Breath and life to the child while still in the womb.).

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  • 4

    Interview: Sep, 2012

    ReaderAt2046

    What would happen if, right after someone died, they were made into a Lifeless, and then Endowment tried to Return that person?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Oooh...now that's a spicy one. Endowment's gift of a superpowered Breath would come down, strike the Lifeless, and all kinds of craziness would occur. You'd end up with a drab god, which would be hilarious.

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  • 5

    Interview: Sep, 2012

    joh-wee

    Can male members of the Idrian royal family and or Returned grow out their facial hair at will? If so, can this lead to epic beard competitions?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Totally

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  • 6

    Interview: Apr 15th, 2013

    Reddit AMA 2013 (Verbatim)

    NewbSombrero ()

    Is the risk of Vasher dying from wielding Nightblood unsheathed too long because Nightblood would consume his divine Breath or does that also extend to those who are not Returned?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes, and yes, it does apply to others.

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  • 7

    Interview: Apr 15th, 2013

    Reddit AMA 2013 (Verbatim)

    Phantine ()

    How cosmere-aware was the Lord Ruler? If a Returned waltzed into Kredik Shaw, would he have any idea what was going on? Or at least be able to recognize 'hey that guy seems endowmenty'.

    Brandon Sanderson

    Aware enough to know he wasn't alone, but not so aware that he'd know specifics. He didn't hold the power long enough to explore outward very far.

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  • 8

    Interview: Apr 15th, 2013

    Reddit AMA 2013 (Verbatim)

    Kurkistan ()

    Are the changing beauty standards of Returned and the "plausibility" of Forgeries determined by the same kind of "cognitive ideals or concepts which have taken on literal personification over time" that some types of Spren represent?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. These things all work according to the same fundamental framework.

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  • 9

    Interview: Apr 15th, 2013

    Reddit AMA 2013 (Verbatim)

    Kurkistan ()

    Does Denth have the Royal Locks, independent of being a Returned?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes. (Good question.)

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  • 10

    Interview: Oct 1st, 2013

    Question

    Why do the Returned need to sleep?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Sleep is necessary for many reasons - different from the reasons we need food and water, for example. One of those reasons (for sleep) is memory storage. Like humans, Returned need to sleep so their (important) short-term memories get moved to long-term storage.

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  • 11

    Interview: Mar 11th, 2014

    Question

    Why is Vasher on Roshar? Is he trying to get back Nightblood?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Kind of a RAFO. I won't go into all his reasons right now but there is one thing that was difficult to get on Nalthis that is much easier to get on Roshar. Going to Roshar solved that problem for him.

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  • 12

    Interview: Mar 4th, 2014

    Leinton

    Would Returned still Return if Endowment died?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Magic in the cosmere needs a guiding force. If it doesn't have one, the magic itself will gain sentience. Or someone would pick it up. So yes, Returned would still come, but there would be something different based on who was guiding the power.

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  • 13

    Interview: Aug 9th, 2014

    Jeremy

    What are the pre-requisites for someone becoming Returned? Does it depend on how much Breath they have?

    Brandon Sanderson (Paraphrased)

    It does not depend on the quantity of breath, but I'm not revealing the specific pre-requisites, since I need to save something for Nightblood.

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  • 14

    Interview: Aug 13th, 2014

    Question

    Would a Returned who bonded an Honorblade have their eye color change when they summon it?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's a RAFO! (More because I don't have my notes handy than anything else, though.)

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  • 15

    Interview: Mar 4th, 2014

    Leinton

    If Endowment were killed, would the Returned still come?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Somebody needs to hold the magic. If no one holds the magic, the magic will start to gain sentience. Interesting and bizarre things happen then, so I would say yes, but with the caveat that with whoever picks up the power or what happens with the power could end up changing that.

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  • 16

    Interview: Mar 22nd, 2014

    Question

    Can Returned feed on Stormlight?

    Brandon Sanderson

    This is definitely possible.

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  • 17

    Interview: Aug 6th, 2014

    BlackYeti

    Did he [Vasher] actually come from Nalthis and not Roshar?

    Brandon Sanderson

    I’m not going to actually answer that one. Well I can answer that: yes he does come from Nalthis. It’s pretty obvious that the way that the Breath’s working, the reason he moved is because it’s easier to get Stormlight than Breaths, and Stormlight can fuel being a Returned like him. And so yes, he was born on Nalthis. Becoming Returned without being born on Nalthis would be really hard.

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  • 18

    Interview: Mar 12th, 2015

    neart_roimh_laige (Reddit)

    Hey Brandon! It was so great seeing you in Seattle a while back.

    I actually had a couple questions:

    **SPOILERS FOR WARBREAKER******

    First of all, it seems that when Returned give their blessing that requires their life, to do so is to give up all of their BioChroma. Well, there was a time where Vivenna can't sense Vasher because he was a drab. Since that would mean he put all of his BioChroma somewhere and is SPOILER one of the Returned, why isn't he dead?

    Also, it seems as if only the royal family has the ability to change their hair color. However, when Vasher kills Denth, his hair flashes through a ton of colors before he dies. What are his ties to the family? Is there something I missed? Will there be another book explaining this?

    Thanks for all your hard work!

    Brandon Sanderson (Reddit)

    I did mention these things in the annotations, as has been pointed out, but boy--it's been a while. I don't remember what I wrote in the annotations and what I didn't.

    All Returned are, in a way, "related" to the royal family in their investiture. (The magic they hold.) Vasher has some specific and powerful control over his own powers, which I didn't go into much in the book. But if you delve into the annotations, you'll get more.

    Footnote

    Brandon has separately confirmed that Denth has the Royal Locks independently of being Returned.

    Theoryland

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  • 19

    Interview: Dec 12th, 2015

    Question

    Why did Vasher Return? What did he want to accomplish?

    Brandon Sanderson

    RAFO.

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  • 20

    Interview: Oct 12th, 2015

    Question

    What planet is Vasher from?

    Brandon Sanderson

    He did originate on Nalthis, but he Worldhopped very early in his life.

    Question

    And what planet did he get the ability to change his shape, or is that because he's a Returned?

    Brandon Sanderson

    That's because he's a Returned, yes.

    Question

    So it's not because he's a Lightweaver?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Nope. That is a great question, though. He is mostly what he appears to be, with some hidden parts of his past.

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  • 21

    Interview: Oct 12th, 2015

    Argent

    On Nalthis, can aluminum prevent somebody from Returning? So if you kill somebody with aluminum and leave the weapon in them?

    Brandon Sanderson

    [Long pause]I don't think that's going to be enough. I think that…

    Question

    Different way then?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yeah there are totally ways. I don’t think that that’s going to be enough. There's a difference between being inert and blocking Investiture, and actually sucking out Investiture. If you stuck Nightblood inside of a corpse; there are certain things… if you had a larkin or whatever sitting there that ingests the Investiture as it was coming in, that would prevent [Returning]. I think with aluminum you would just have somebody that comes alive with a wound, so maybe... But I think it would just heal around [the aluminum] and you'd just have a spike in you, kind of like Hemalurgy—but not like Hemalurgy. It's inert, but you know what I mean.

    Question

    Which suggests you can't actually Awaken aluminum.

    Brandon Sanderson

    No. It's not going to hold a charge.

    Kurkistan

    I assume you can't Forge it, either.

    Brandon Sanderson

    No. In fact the unForgable metal-

    Argent

    Ralkalest?

    Brandon Sanderson

    There's an unForgeable metal mentioned.

    Kurkistan

    Could we call it aluminum if we wanted to?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Let's just say that aluminum through most cultures was considered a mythological metal, and when people could actually find some, they considered it more valuable than gold, in our culture. So just sayin’...

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  • 22

    Interview: Apr 23rd, 2016

    Question

    On Nalthis we know that Endowment makes splinters to create divine breaths to bring Returned, the process with which those Returns are chosen, is that deliberate by Endowment or is that a process that was put into place to select?

    Brandon Sanderson

    Yes.

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  • 23

    Interview: Jun 28th, 2016

    Question

    Can a Returned give their Divine Breath to someone else like how a regular Nathian would give their Breath away? Ie: would that then make the recipient "Divine" or elevate them to the 5th heightening?

    Brandon Sanderson

    They can give their Divine Breath away but it wouldn't make the recipient divine or anything. Basically, this is how they heal someone- by using the "My life to yours, my Breath become yours" command.

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  • 24

    Interview: Sep 1st, 2016

    Question

    On the planet of Nalthis, is the method with which people are chosen as Returned an autonomous system that is not governed by intelligent Entity ?

    Brandon Sanderson

    No, good question

    Tags