The Uncanonical Start of the Cosmere: Dragonsteel Prime Review.

Dragonsteel Prime was written as Brandon Sandersons master's thesis. This book is no longer canon, however parts of it still are. In this video, Jason explores what he thought of the book, what he thought was weird, and speculates on what could still be canon.
Written in 1999 after writing Elantris, Dragonsteel Prime has only been available in the BYU libraries special collections. This "Sanderson Curiosity" is not available to read along with Brandon Sandersons other canonical cosmere works such as The Way of Kings, Mistborn, Words of Radiance, and more
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[@ospritely8144]

Absolutely love what you're doing with these videos. Not having any fellow Cosmere fans to talk with, your friendly, frank, informed, and outside discussions are what I've been craving.

[@jasonioan]

Thank you for the kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@AbeRain-ex7xl]

You should take a look at the 17 shard they have forums and stuff where you can talk with other cosmere fans

[@Trepur349]

I just want read about the shattering of Adonalsium

[@jasonioan]

Some day… in like 20 years.

[@wanderingshade8383]

I'm fairly certain that Jerick is a Dawnshard btw. That's why he has Microkinesis (specifically destructive Microkinesis) and is so good at picking up the Tzai magic at the warcamps. And I think the Dawnshard was held in the oldest tree which his father carved his castemark from, in the same way that Hoid's Dawnshard was in the topaz on his ring.

[@jasonioan]

That’s a really cool idea! I hadn’t thought that Hoids Dawnshard was in his ring, but that makes sense and is consistent with where dawnshards can be stored. Any idea what specific command Jerick’s Dawnshard would be?

[@wanderingshade8383]

@@jasonioan I think its "Destroy" or "Decay," given that Hoid seems to have "Grow." I think Frost basically says at much too, he says that Jerick's power is the inverse of Hoid's and it frightens him. Hoid's Dawnshard being in his ring also matches up with how he uses it (whenever he makes stuff grow he takes off the glove first, not true for his generic uses of microkinesis) and with a comment in I think WoK about other names he's gone by. He says that he has been called Topaz in the past for a gem he wore that lost all meaning in his wearing it. Aka, it was a dawnshard but one Hoid had it, the gem was no longer important because HE was the dawnshard now.

[@godminnette2]

I found Dragonsteel Prime fascinating as a sort of dissection of Brandon as an author, both how he has changed since he wrote it and how he hasn't. So many of his strengths and flaws are on full display in DSP; I've honestly been tempted to write a full essay on this topic. It is one of Brandon's worst novels, having some fundamental flaws in its capacity to work as a cohesive novel, yet it is also one of my favorites. As others have pointed out, Jerrick probably holds a Dawnshard; it is likely this comes from the tree his mark comes from, but it could be something else. I am a subscriber to the belief that the four Dawnshard commands are something akin to Create, Divine, Change, Destroy, akin to CRUD in software engineering. Topaz has the power of Creation and thus can't cause harm, only growth and creation. Jerrick can cause only destruction. Brandon has mentioned that Yolish magic is crazy powerful (and cites this as part of the reason he couldn't make the books work - he didn't have the skills to grapple with that powerful of a magic yet) and that in the modern cosmere, the Yolish magics are no longer fully functional (though he may have just been talking about Hoid's Lightweaving no longer being fully functional). I suspect many of the powers we see in DSP could still be canon for the time DSP takes place, but the remnants of them that remain post-Shattering are significantly more limited in capacity. Brandon also confirmed that in his original plans for Dragonsteel, you would see Avatars of Adonalsium feature in the book. Unless you can think of what else he could be referring to, the gods of Yolen are Avatars of Adonalsium. Also, as a psionics lover, I desperately want cosmere tzaionics to persist into modern cosmere. Using the cognitive realm to influence the physical is just so cool to me, especially if it's something one can simply learn how to do.

[@parkermm]

As of now the latest batch of WoBs we got included one where it was confirmed that in an earlier version of the Cosmere, Adonalsium had multiple avatars. I don’t think these 5 godlike beings are early shards, but instead are these avatars. Maybe it’s related to the Iriali religion of the One splitting itself or could be similar to Autonomy’s shenanigans. But I don’t think dragons are the same thing. I felt like the implication was that Frost was willingly following these rules because he thought it was the right thing to do. Not because he risked being torn from the physical realm for interfering. So perhaps they’re more direct creations of Adonalsium rather than literally being a part of him like the 5 avatars might be.

[@jasonioan]

Woah! I didn’t know that! I’ll need to find those WoBs! After thinking about it more, I think you’re right. The Dragons are different from the Gods.

[@parkermm]

I think the WoB was from the Chicago Comic-Con. The same one with the Szeth sample chapters

[@jasonioan]

Awesome! I haven’t gone through those yet, but I will very soon . Thanks!

[@MelonKnees]

Yup, this was my exact thought as well upon hearing that WoB.

[@enrichcoulet]

Damn I can’t believe my silly little art for Jerick made it to ur videos 😂😂 thanks for the credits man, love ur cosmere content! ❤

[@parkermm]

I binge read this the moment it became available to Backers and it’s been destroying me that no has been discussing it yet lol

[@WoWhunter007]

Same! I'm so glad the algorithm decided to recommend this video to me

[@Astor4o]

Whoa, great video! I can't believe you don't have any more traction on the platform. I honestly didn't want to listen/read Dragonsteel - feel weird about non-canon stuff so this video was super useful.

[@jasonioan]

Thanks! I’m hoping more people find my videos as well. I’m glad it was helpful!

[@dpowemsj]

You continue to put out the best Cosmere related content. Hope your channel grows exponentially. I will say I think we should assume there isn't any canon we can take from Dragonsteel Prime, since most of the other curiosity content includes stuff that's been used elsewhere or is no longer relevant. I would love a Dragonsteel Prime 2 after the end of the book.

[@jasonioan]

Thank you so much! That means a lot to me! And I’m inclined to agree with you. There’s too much stuff in here for it to be “canon”. I also think Tamu Keks are going to get reworked a bit.

[@LewsTherinTelescope]

(spoiler talk) . . . . . . Regarding Dawnshards, we've been told elsewhere that there were at least two in the book, and there's an exchange between Doruse and Aronack at the end about "the source of power" which gave rise to Jerick's abilities, so it seems likely he's tied to one as well-top suggestion I've seen is the ancient tree his castemark is from? Less clear if Ryalla is too or if her powers come from a different unrevealed source. (On that note, I'm very curious why Frost cares so much about her. Though he's just as surprised by her powers as he is by Jerick's, so probably not directly related to why she has them.) Before the full book came out I figured the gods were dragons as well because of the whole "fain life seems to be warped to be more draconic" thing, but the prologue makes me less sure since we see a bunch of them there and Drephrast mentions "your brother" to Ethain (rather than "our brother"). Maybe they're like, OG dragons and the rest are their less powerful offspring? We did recently get a WoB that Adonalsium had avatars pre-Shattering,[1] which seems likely to be those guys, but that's not really mutually exclusive with them being dragons either, Telsin is both an avatar and a human after all. I'm also very curious how they connect to Liar of Partinel's dead gods, especially since Aronack was still around in that book. I saw someone over on the 17th Shard Discord propose that Rafete could be the Father, since uniquely his name was written with two words instead of one, and he's the only one of the five we don't have a confirmed sighting of. Tzai blows do seem overpowered. We know they were still planned in February 2007 after the canon Cosmere had begun,[2] but that was a looooong time ago so who knows if they're around now. We know from WoB that the Yolish magics changed after the Shattering[3] and Hoid's Lightweaving is no longer fully functional,[4] so could be they _used_ to be possible but the Shattering broke it? Oh, fun minor note, Selonis's "Mother of the World" title was reused in Stormlight. Odds are he just thought it was a cool generic life goddess title, but it'd be kind of cool if Selonis became Koravari since we know the latter is a dragon rather than a mortal like most of the other Vessels. Hopefully Cultivation doesn't require the sacrifice of virgins though. [1]: wob.coppermind.net/events/535/#e16586 [2]: wob.coppermind.net/events/291/#e7825 [3]: wob.coppermind.net/events/122/#e3314 [4]: wob.coppermind.net/events/367/#e11587

[@CheyenneSedai]

This does not surprise me at all from you Punny

[@LewsTherinTelescope]

@@CheyenneSedaiI have many Curiosity thoughts! more than I have canon thoughts sometimes xD

[@jasonioan]

These are some great, and some ancient, WoBs. Thanks for including them! When I went through the book for the second time I was hoping there would be a specific number of dragons in the prologue, but he closest I could find to a specific number was "dozens". Having an Adonalsium avatar still kicking around in the cosmere would be a paradigm shattering addition. I kinda hope this actually happens.

[@godminnette2]

I should have scrolled down before leaving my own comment - I said almost all of the same things in my own! I also spent way too long looking for that third WoB you cited when writing my comment just to be sure I wasn't imagining things, and ended up giving up.

[@jessehughes8274]

I guess White Sand is the canonical start for now? Earliest in the timeline, and has gunpowder cannons?

[@jasonioan]

I fear for when Taldain returns to cosmere relevance

[@SuaveToday]

Yo love your videos, been getting recommended them recently. Really great production and research, great job man

[@JoaoMateus-nu3bf]

recently discovered your channel, love your content, keep up with the amazing videos!

[@jasonioan]

Glad you like them!

[@aonene17]

Love the map with a note to Nazh, that's clever! I honestly just disagree with Brandon about Ryalla being proto-Shallan, they're almost nothing alike besides being female Lightweavers. If Shinri doesn't qualify, Ryalla definitely doesn't, imo. XD Hello tiny dragon you found in the woods!!

[@windingleaf6284]

I hope the algorithm catches your videos some time - your content is so good! pls keep at it. your approach and style is a wonderful addition to the other cosmere scholars .-)

[@jasonioan]

Thank you so much! I hope so too!

[@007Rincewind]

Thanks I found out about the lasers from a WoB, It is cool that is Canon.

[@WoWhunter007]

Wonderful video! I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on this book.

[@Theangryhermit]

Gotta love the PNW backdrop!! Great video!

[@jasonioan]

You know it!

[@krystlspoonz]

I feel here we see the birthing of the Dawnshsrds. Hoid is obviously curious and unfamiliar with why he can't hurt people at this point and Jarric (sp?) and Riala obviously expressing abilities beyond what they should have. It's been a hot minute since I read it. Hoid obviously is also very young and begins to gain a hatred for the "Gods," likely avatars of Adonalsium. It appears to be the beginning of the conflict leading to its destruction. Edit: Lack of needing investiture could also potentially be attribute to the Dawnshard abilities as we don't really know how they work well yet. Potentially microkinesis being the mechanism by which they work.

[@watcherofwatchers]

Dragonsteel Prime is definitely not canon, but it's a fantastic read. I was wholly invested and wanted a lot more when I was done. It was like a weird Twilight Zone version of Way of Kings. Lol

[@bananacelesti1926]

Nice video! I’m so afraid of reading Dragonsteel Prime because of spoilers, and probably this will still be the same, but this video is good, and I gave it a watch anyway Hahaha

[@jasonioan]

Thanks for watching! I think reading the book as a fun "what if" curiosity is still valuable. You can see what the cosmere could have been and the things Sanderson thought were important to reuse.

[@Kiivenn]

I just ended the book and.. yeah.. it's not good. And I don't mean this as "Not good for how good Brandon Sanderson is" I really mean as a not good book. While Elantris has a payoff and some mini-payoffs while you're reading, this book has none, and when you think you'll been given some... You don't.

[@jasonioan]

I’ve been waiting for a comment like this. After I made the video I thought “Is this really better than Elantris?” I remembered not liking Elantris much, but I haven’t done a re-read of it for years. My wife and I started listening to it again shortly after this video came out and… Elantris is much better than Dragonsteel Prime. There’s not much if any payoff in Dragonsteel Prime as you mentioned, but it really seemed like Brandon wanted to make a sequel and have a lot of the payoff there. I read a WoB recently from a comment under this video. At one point Brandon wanted to retrofit Dragonsteel prime as a book called “the eternal war” and it would be book 4 in the Dragonsteel series. I REALLY don’t think that would’ve worked either. Thanks for the comment, I hope you enjoyed the video at least.

[@elijahehrisman9980]

Nice video Jason!

[@jasonioan]

Thanks!

[@gamgam7979]

just sayin, i think riala is lightweaving (even though it isnt named in the book), which has never been considered a type of microkinesis to my knowledge and is separated from it by hoid (from my memory). Seems like the types of magic are all seperate (cognitive illusions, lightweaving, microkinesis), and not like they're all considered types of microkinesis.

[@noahclark7603]

Man Carrying Thing has nothing on Jasoniaon

[@ryanratchford2530]

Maybe those gods are like Proto-Heralds?

[@jasonioan]

Maybe? They seem significantly more deity like than the heralds, but I suppose they could be. 🤔

[@curiousdaniel78]

I have three hours left of the book. I am so sad hopefully, watching the first part won’t mess up the algorithm. 🫠 I promise I’ll come back when I finish the book.

[@jasonioan]

A lot of the big lore reveals happen near the end (in typical Sanderson fashion). I didn’t expect this video to do super well anyway, so no worries! Just come back when you’re done with the book!