Chronology
This page describes the chronology of events in the Cosmere. For a list of books published by Brandon, see the bibliography.
Up until The Way of Kings, all of the published Cosmere books were in chronological order, though some stories had been skipped.[1] Since then, some short stories have been placed either farther back or farther forward in time to fill in some gaps.
Books in Chronological Order
| Year | Book | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ? | White Sand | Before Elantris[2] |
| ? | Elantris & The Hope of Elantris | Far earlier than Hero of Ages but not thousands of years[3] |
| ? | The Emperor's Soul | Shortly after Elantris, and not so far that the technology level has changed[4][5] |
| -3 | The Final Empire | Hundreds of years later[6] |
| -1-(-2) | The Well of Ascension | |
| 0 | The Hero of Ages | |
| ? | Warbreaker | After the Mistborn Trilogy but before the Stormlight Archive[1] |
| ? | Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell | Comes in the latter half of the chronology, but before the Stormlight Archive[7] |
| ? | The Stormlight Archive | After The Hero of Ages and near the time of Alloy of Law. The first 5 books of The Stormlight Archive take place slightly before The Alloy of Law, and specific timing of the later books will depend on how long the gap between book 5 and 6 is[8][9] |
| 341 | The Alloy of Law | Takes place after the 5th Stormlight Archive book[8] [9] |
| 342 | Shadows of Self | Takes place 342 years after the Final Ascension (a year after the Alloy of Law.) |
| 342 | The Bands of Mourning | Takes place 6 months after Shadows of Self. |
| ? | Arcanum Unbounded essays | Long before Sixth of the Dusk but after the other books.[10] |
| ? | Sixth of the Dusk | Just prior to the era of the forthcoming sci-fi Mistborn trilogy[11][12] |
Speculation
Prior to The Way of Kings, all Cosmere books were published in Chronological order, but some important stories had been skipped.[1] From other interviews, we know that Dragonsteel comes at the beginning of the series.[13] Elantris will have a sequel which takes place ten years after the first book.[14] White Sand is one of the earliest,[13] but seems to come after Elantris, since it and Dragonsteel are considered the first two.[15][16] From the time of the Shattering to the Prelude of The Stormlight Archive might be around 6,000 years.[15] Another of the skipped novels is set on Ashyn.[17] The Warbreaker sequel, Nightblood takes place closer to Warbreaker and definitely before The Way of Kings.[18] There will also be a fifteen-year gap between Stormlight books five and six (the two story arcs).[19][20]
Notes
- ↑ a b c How is the Way of Kings related to the rest of the cosmere?
— Theoryland - 2010-10-15# - ↑ Brandon comments on the timing of White Sand.
— Reddit - Nov 28th, 2016# - ↑ When does Elantris take place?
— Theoryland - Sep 22nd, 2012# - ↑ When does Emperor's Soul take place?
— Theoryland - 2012-11-6# - ↑ Timeline of The Emperor's Soul
— Theoryland - 2012-10-30# - ↑ Could you tell us a chronology?
— Theoryland - May 2010# - ↑ Where does Shadows for Silence fall?
— Theoryland - 2014-4-16# - ↑ a b Is AoL between stormlight 5 and 6?
— 17th Shard forums - 2016-2-16# - ↑ a b How long before Way of Kings is Alloy of Law?
— Theoryland - Jan 2012# - ↑ Arcanum Unbounded Tour Chicago Signing
— 17th Shard forums - 2016-12-06# - ↑ Sixth of Dusk feels like a crossover...
— Theoryland - 2015-1-6# - ↑ How far ahead in the timeline is Sixth of Dusk?
— Theoryland - 2015-1-17# - ↑ a b What time period do they all fit in?
— Theoryland - 2012-12-6# - ↑ Will we be seeing any more worlds for the Cosmere?
— Theoryland - 2010-9-21# - ↑ a b How long from the Shattering to the Prelude in Way of Kings?
— Theoryland - 2014-11-29# - ↑ Received my first rejection letter
— Theoryland - 2013# - ↑ The Silence Divine
— Theoryland - 2010-10-15# - ↑ If you write Nightblood, will it come before or after Stormlight?
— Theoryland - 2014-3-14# - ↑ How much time elapses between the beginning of the main part of the story and the end of the series?
— Theoryland - 2015-1-6# - ↑ There's also going to be about a fifteen year gap in-world
— Theoryland - 2014-12-6#