Dragonsteel (series)
| Dragonsteel (series) | |
|---|---|
| Setting | Yolen, Cosmere |
| Released | unpublished |
Dragonsteel refers to an unpublished series set on Yolen that has been called the prequel to the cosmere. It takes place first chronologically and will feature the Shattering,[1] Hoid's backstory,[2] and dragons.[3] One reason Brandon has not prioritized this series, though, is that he doesn't want readers to feel that they have to read his other books in order to understand what is happening, and he probably won't publish Hoid's story until it becomes relevant.[4]
He plans to rewrite and publish Dragonsteel at some point after the full arc of the Stormlight Archive has been completed.[5]
About
“Dragonsteel is an unpublished series set on the Shardworld Yolen. The first two books form a duology, with Hoid as a major character. They are preliminarily titled "The Liar of Partinel" and "The Lightweaver of Rens". The first one, and perhaps the second one as well are set before the Shattering of Adonalsium. Brandon will not show anyone these books, and I don't think he's even written them both. There are five more books that occur hundreds of years later, so not "directly" a series, but still the same world. These five are the core Dragonsteel sequence, the first of which Brandon wrote for his master's thesis at BYU. It is still in the library there. Many things have changed since then, so this book is no longer canon. ”
—User: Windrunner on Dragonsteel and related stories.[6]
Development
Brandon began work on the Dragonsteel series with Dragonsteel Prime, which was written as part of Brandon Sanderson's Masters Thesis and has provided source material for some of his later work, particularly The Way of Kings. Brandon regularly reminds readers that he wrote this version of the story when he was a much younger author and that it isn't his best work.[7] After positive response to his release of The Way of Kings Prime, he has discussed a possible release of this draft as part of a "Sanderson Curiosities" series.
In 2007, Brandon attempted to rewrite the series for publishing, this time beginning with prequels The Liar of Partinel and The Lightweaver of Rens. Taking place five hundred years before the events of Dragonsteel Prime, they were intended to explore the setting and Hoid's backstory in greater detail and borrowed the magic system from another unpublished work, Aether of Night. At this point, Brandon's plan was to release a total of seven Dragonsteel books, including the two prequels and a five-book main story arc beginning with The Eternal War, which would be a rewrite of Dragonsteel Prime.[8] Brandon wrote all of The Liar of Partinel and had outlined The Lightweaver of Rens, but was unsatisfied with the result and decided to put the series on hold while he worked on finishing Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time Series. He then shifted his focus to revisiting The Way of Kings instead, which he went on to publish in 2010, and Dragonsteel was rescheduled to be written after the Stormlight series. Of this attempt, Brandon has said that "every chapter was a chore to write."[9] He also felt that the characters did not quite work and does not share this book with fans because it will give them a wrong impression of certain characters.[10]
In 2019, Brandon published an updated outline of the cosmere in which Dragonsteel was reduced from seven books to three. By this point, significant parts of the original Dragonsteel story arc had been used elsewhere, and so the series was envisioned as a tighter story about Hoid's origins and the Shattering. A rewritten Dragonsteel series is still not planned for release until after book 10 of The Stormlight Archive.
Notes
- ↑ Salt Lake City Comic-Con 2014
— Arcanum - 2014-09-04# - ↑ Oathbringer release party
— Arcanum - 2017-11-13# - ↑ /r/books AMA 2015
— Arcanum - 2015-03-16# - ↑ Alloy of Law release party
— Arcanum - 2011-11-07# - ↑ Another Long and Rambling Post™ on Future Books
— Brandon's website - 2010-10-12# - ↑ Windrunner's post
— 17th Shard forums - 2013-01-20# - ↑ The Way of Kings Annotations
— Arcanum - 2017-11-10# - ↑ TWG Posts
— Arcanum - 2007-02-12# - ↑ Brandon's Blog 2013
— Arcanum - 2013-05-13# - ↑ Firefight release party
— Arcanum - 2015-01-05#