Ars Arcanum

Ars Arcanum is a glossary or appendix section at the end of the books that are part of the cosmere universe. The information is presented from an in-universe perspective.

Every Ars Arcanum is written by Khriss. The annotations on many of the images from the various books are made by her assistant Nazh.

Brandon initially planed to use the phrase "Ars Magica" for these glossaries, as he felt it was "a cool Latinate take on 'Magical Arts' or 'Magical Skills'." However, there was a role-playing game with that name, so he instead went with "Ars Arcanum," which he ultimately felt had more of a true-Latinate feel.

Ars Arcanum in each book or series

All of the cosmere stories containing an Ars Arcanum are listed here in rough chronological order.

Elantris

The tenth anniversary edition of Elantris has an Ars Arcanum that lists all of the Aons and their meanings, along with a brief write-up of AonDor. Other editions do not have an Ars Arcanum, though they did have a list of Aons.

Mistborn

The books in the Mistborn series each have an Ars Arcanum with the table of Metallic Arts, describing what each of the Allomantic metals does. Since more metals are discovered and new things about them are learned, the table in each later book has more metals and information with greater accuracy.

Warbreaker

The Ars Arcanum in Warbreaker includes a table showing the abilities granted by the different Heightenings of BioChromatic Breath.

The Stormlight Archive

The Ars Arcanum in The Stormlight Archive gives detailed information about the Ten Essences, as well as descriptions of the different Surges and how they are used by Surgebinders. Some information has been added in each book: a Lightweaving section appears in Words of Radiance and Oathbringer contains an additional section about Soulcasting.

Notes

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