Why didn’t Vasher and Vivenna get much character growth?
Vivenna ends the book having experienced a great deal of personal growth. However, unlike some of the other characters, she is only a few rungs up the ladder. She’s got a long way to go. That’s why as I was plotting the book, before I even started, I decided I’d probably want to do this as a two-book cycle. Overlapping and forcing upon Vivenna the level of personal growth that it would take to get her character to completely reach an end point just couldn’t happen in the book. Particularly with me doing what I did with Lightsong and the personal arc he has, and with Siri. So Vivenna certainly had a lot of growth, but I planned a separate book where I could really delve into and dig into her psychoses and her psychology.
Vasher still has a long way to go too. His personal growth is more like a zigzag pattern—a line graph with lots of peaks and valleys. He’s been around and still hasn’t really found himself, though he’s thought he’s found himself a number of times. Anyway, those two characters led me to think that there was a lot more to explore there. I didn’t want to ram them through the paces it would take in this one book. I thought it would ruin the book. So I let them grow at the rate they needed to grow at, or decline at the rate they needed to decline at, and saved a second book in the series to deal more with who they are and who they become.
How did you develop the character Lightsong?
Rupert Everett was sitting in the back of my mind.
Actually, in order to develop Lightsong’s character well, I didn’t want to imitate any one voice. That’s something we always stay away from. But I had been wanting to work on writing humor in a different way from what I’d previously used. I spent a lot of time watching and analyzing the movie THE THIN MAN, the old comedy/mystery/crime film with an emphasis on very witty characters making wisecracks as they investigate a murder. If you haven’t seen it, it’s delightful. Along with AN IDEAL HUSBAND and THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, those were my three sources of inspiration. I was trying for a blend of those two styles—and then of course added my own sense of humor.
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?
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.
Is Nightblood a Shardblade?
Nightblood is an attempt by someone who didn’t know how Shardblades were made to create a Shardblade using a different magic system.
f Nightblood feeds on Breath, but Szeth doesn’t have it, will it feed on Stormlight?
Nightblood can feed off Stormlight, but Szeth can’t draw in Stormlight right now. So Szeth better not draw that sword, for a while at least.