We're about to enter a new phase of the Cosmere, the fictional universe where most of fantasy author Brandon Sanderson's adult fantasy novels are set. Earlier this month, Sanderson released Wind and Truth, the fifth novel in The Stormlight Archive and the end of its first arc. This is a major turning point for the Cosmere, with evil gods unleashed and the conflict escalating to a galactic scale. After this, Sanderson is taking a hiatus of several years to work on other books before returning to The Stormlight Archive.
The first Cosmere project he'll be turning his attention to during that hiatus is Ghostbloods, the third era of his Mistborn series. Mistborn is set on the world of Scadrial, where metal-based magic and the inexorable march of technological progression have resulted in a world far more similar to our own than in most of Sanderson's works. The first Mistborn trilogy was a traditional epic fantasy set in a blasted post-apocalyptic land covered in ash; the second, frequently referred to as Wax & Wayne, took place several hundred years later as Scadrial moved into its Wild West phase. By the end of Wax & Wayne (aka Mistborn Era Two), skyscrapers are cropping up and airships hover in the skies.
Now we're starting to get a better idea of what awaits in Ghostbloods. Every year, Sanderson publishes a blog post titled "State of the Sanderson," where he goes through everything he worked on in the year and outlines what's on the horizon. This time around he revealed some new details about Ghostbloods, which has me more than a little excited to see where the series is headed.
"Ghostbloods (Mistborn Era Three) is up next, and will be my mainline project for the next five years or so," Sanderson said. "My goal is to write the three books straight through, with only the break for the Rock novella in the middle—then hand them off to production to do continuity and the like, giving us plenty of time to do what I did for the first trilogy so many years ago. (Back when I wasn’t as important an author to the publisher, and so they’d take two or more years to publish a book after I handed it in. That gave me a lot of time to make sure the three books had a lot of tight continuity, which I appreciated.)"
The "Rock novella" Sanderson is referencing is Horneater, a Stormlight Archive novella he's planning to release ahead of Ghostbloods to let fans of Roshar return to that world to tide them over during the long wait for the next Stormlight books. That one is set at the same time as Rhythm of War, before Wind and Truth kicks off.
Sanderson also promises that we'll see some familiar faces in Ghostbloods. "This series will mark the return of some familiar (somewhat spike-filled) characters from Era One, along with some new characters. It will follow, as the title indicates, the Ghostbloods and their activities on Scadrial, some fifty years or so after the end of Era Two," he said. "I’ve been planning this trilogy since 2006, and I’m very excited to finally write it."
That's a lot of new information. Let's talk about it a little below, but first heed this SPOILER warning, because to even theorize about the "somewhat spike-filled" characters, we have to get into details from Mistborn Era One and Two, as well as The Stormlight Archive.
Ghostbloods will feature the return of Mistborn Era One characters
As should be obvious from the title of this series, Ghostbloods will largely deal with the shadowy organization based on Scadrial — the Ghostbloods — who have gradually made their presence known in the wider Cosmere. We saw these secretive operatives in The Stormlight Archive, where they were trying to smuggle Stormlight off of Roshar, as well as in The Lost Metal, the final Mistborn Era Two book, where they got mixed up with Wax, Wayne, and Marasi's attempts to stop the deity Trell from asserting influence over Scadrial.
The Ghostbloods are obviously a key player in the wider Cosmere conflict, and the fact that they're still so prevalent after both Mistborn Era Two and the first arc of The Stormlight Archive leaves readers primed for a story that gets into all the nitty-gritty about their organization. I'm not surprised Sanderson is preparing to give them more focus.
Nor am I surprised about the reference to "somewhat spike-filled" characters from Mistborn Era One returning. The obvious one here is Kelsier, aka Thaidakar, aka the Lord of Scars. Kelsier was murdered by the Lord Ruler during the first Mistborn book, but in the novella Mistborn: Secret History, we learn that Kelsier's spirit survived the encounter and eventually began to reconstitute itself on Scadrial. By the end of The Lost Metal and Wind and Truth, we've seen several characters have brief run-ins with Kelsier, who now has a metal spike through one eye.
In Mistborn these metal spikes can give people various powers outside of their normal Allomantic or Feruchemical abilities, including a sort of immortality. Since Kelsier is the leader of the Ghostbloods and he has a spike, it seems like he's a no-brainer for Mistborn Era Three.
As for other characters with spikes, the main one I would guess is TenSoon, the kandra. Kandra are nigh-immortal shapeshifting creatures who live on Scadrial, powered by spikes which connect them to the god Harmony. Since kandra live so long, any of them turning up in Mistborn Era Three feels like fair game.
As for some of the other characters like Vin and Elend, I imagine they're gone for good. They died pretty final deaths in Mistborn Era One, and so far there haven't been any hints Sanderson is bringing them back. But you never know...
The last character from Mistborn Era One I'm expecting to see in Ghostbloods is Sazed, known by this time as Harmony after he absorbed the Shards of Ruin and Preservation. Harmony/Sazed was also a major player in Mistborn Era Two, which ended with growing uncertainty about his stability as a deity. I imagine he'll factor into Ghostbloods in ways both large and small.
Mistborn Era Three is set roughly 50 years after Era Two
The last bit of key Ghostbloods information in Sanderson's post is that Mistborn Era Three is only set around 50 years after the end of Era Two. That's a much smaller time gap than we saw between Era One and Two, which were about 300 years apart.
But in the grand scale of the Cosmere, it makes sense. This will allow all of Ghostbloods to happen during the 10-year time jump between Stormlight books 5 and 6, since there's a time relativity bubble around Roshar that keeps time moving slower there than in the rest of the Cosmere. So whatever happens in Ghostbloods, the characters who survive it will be positioned to impact the next arc of The Stormlight Archive when the time comes.
As for when we'll be reading Ghostbloods, Sanderson estimates that the first book of the trilogy will release in December 2028, with books two and three following in 2029 and 2030.
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