Recent entries

Jacob Byrazoto

When you first came up with the idea of Cradle, who's character arc was the first one you had thought of, was there a character that inspired the story initially? 

Will Wight

Obviously I said it earlier that Eithan and his true identity were fundamental to the setting, but this was always Lindon's character story, so Lindon's character arc was the one that I had really come up with, so in terms of Eithan, I had thought, ...yeah, I knew that there was going to be something for him to learn, but I didn't exactly know what that was, before I had written Cradle; but Lindon I was going 'This was all about Lindon', this was about Lindon going from weak to strong, and what kind of person does that and what kind of change that makes in your self and your life and your heart. So that's Lindon. 

Niko

At the end of Reaper, who wins in a fight, Lindon or Yerin. 

Will Wight

The end of Reaper. Lindon. Lindon does, yeah. That's, at the end of Reaper, Lindon is, I think is definitively ahead of Yerin, it's not a stomp, but he does win. 

Anonymous

It seems like dreadbeasts have their spirits fused into their material flesh as they grow more powerful, is this meant to be diametrically opposed to how the heralds do it? 

Will Wight

Yeah, so the end result is kind of similar, of dreadbeasts and Heralds, the point is that Heralds do it when both are stable and ascended, successfully I mean they're merging their spirit and body correctly, and dreadbeasts and dreadgods are doing it incorrectly. Now the dreadgods do it incorrectly, but they do it so synergistically that it ends up being correct, like loops around in on itself. It's, it's like doing it wrong so much that it becomes right, but dreadbeasts have done it wrong and they suffer for it. 

Mike M.K.

Who would win, Monarchs or the most powerful Greek gods

Will Wight

Any single Monarch Solos the entire Greek pantheon. I don't, yeah. Just, annihilates them. So, the feats that Greek gods perform in myth, are not that strong, on a Cradle scale. They don't, do anything like that. So, it's just, you could reasonably expect 'Oh Zeus could conjure a planet wide lightning storm',  but he doesn't, so, going with the feats they actually perform, yeah, any single Monarch Solos the whole setting. So, yup; but if you then assume we're talking about the Greek gods as they are portrayed in modern fiction, at a similar power scale to the Monarchs, then, sure, it depends on how strong you draw all the characters. 

Sage Pizza

If you could go back to the start of Cradle, and make one change, just one, what would that be and why?

Will Wight

I was asked this recently, and I don't have a great answer, to that question because; anything I would want to change would be more of an approach, or a style, or a structural difference or a way I would write differently, more than changing one specific thing. So the actual answer would be, I would want to make Unsouled and Soulsmith more indicative of the experience of the rest of the series. So in my experience or in my view and in lot of it certainly what a lot of people say, BlackFlame is where it starts feeling like the later books feel, and I agree with that. I think, Unsouled and Soulsmith do a lot and have a lot of great parts, and set up the characters and all that, it starts feeling like, 'Oh, this is what Cradle feels like!' around BlackFlame. So if I could find a way to bring that to book 1, especially the quick and easy humor, and the crew dynamic. So I don't know, the problem with, the easiest way to do that would be, to bring Eithan to Sacred Valley, right?; but that changes so much in the story, that it's, that would be hard for me to say I'd want to do that, that's just such a huge directional change for the series. It again makes the series, it already struggles as it is, being, between being Eithan's story and being Lindon's story. It's clearly Lindon's story, because we focus on him, it's his journey and he does all that stuff. We start with him, where as if Eithan comes into Sacred Valley and recruits him, and becomes, he kind of fulfills plot wise, Yerin's role, of taking and teaching him about the outside world. Then, that is another thing that Eithan is taking control of that Lindon is not, so I don't know, yeah. I don't know how I would do that, so it's probably not a change I would make.

Anonymous

Who is Mercy's father?

Will Wight

That's, a common question, that I get a lot. I don't remem.. I think I, I think I covered that a little bit in Dreadgod. I don't think I explicitly said who it was in Dreadgod. So I'm going to continue to not do that.

Anonymous

Have you taken any inspiration from fighting games for the different paths you've created?

Will Wight

Hmm, yes and no. I don't go to any fighting games specifically, so it's not, I can't think of a, fighting game that is specifically inspiring a specific path or ability or whatever. It's hard for me to say, 'yeah, this is based on Guilty Gear', or whatever; but, the aesthetic of a fighting game, I really like, and here's why. So the fighting games are these really colorful larger than life characters that really pop on screen, and they have consistent thematic designs, and their moves come out fluidly, and they play against one another. The kind of concept of a fighting game, if you sort of pull back from a broad perspective, is that you have all of these amazing champions that are, happen to be balanced against one another in single combat. They are all in the setting at the same time, but they are all very different colorful people, and I love that concept. That is exactly what I like in a setting, that is I just love the fact that all these people are kind of, out there somewhere moving and shaking, and yet they're, you stick them in an arena and go 'FIGHT!'. Either one could win, it's pretty cool. So, the concept of a fighting game I think is really neat, and I would love to write a series that has more direct inspiration from fighting games, because, aesthetically, color wise, theme wise, I think that's pretty cool.

Amber

If Lindon and Yerin lived in our world, what would their professions be?

Will Wight

Ooh, that's, uh let's see. I feel like Lindon would end up teaching something, or like academic in some way. That's probably, that's how I kind of how I picture Lindon is he would end up, like getting his PHD in a really obscure subject; and then Yerin probably, I can't imagine Yerin doing anything but fighting. So I'm thinking like, MMA fighter or something. That's her, she's scrappy.

Josiah

When writing this series did you have a plan in place for where you wanted to go, or was everything thought up as you went further and further

Will Wight

I covered that a minute ago (refer to entry #18)

Chason

Is there a path you really wanted to work into the main story but couldn't?

Will Wight

Yes. The path of the broken star, the one, one of the ones Lindon gets offered in BlackFlame instead of black flame. That was one that I had come up with a long time before because it's honestly based on, it's got a really uncool backstory, but there was in MegaMan Battle Network, (...) Bass is one of the enemies, and he in that series has a really cool power set, and I really liked it. Aesthetically. So I've been trying to look and work it into a magic system ever since, and so I worked it into Cradle, and sort of translated it, into Cradle, and then that became the foundation of that path, and I didnt get to use it. Its still unused. (Takes sip)

Anonymous

Who is canonically the strongest monarch?

Will Wight

It's a lot softer than you'd think, because, they're good at different things, in different ways. So they're all kinda sort of balanced, the, Sesh was the strongest in like an all out fight, but he's gone now so, there you go. In terms of they all have their own tricks, their own specialties, they all have their whatever. Right now Reigan Shen probably has the most cards to play, it really is almost a rock paper scissors sort of thing.

Chacho

How far ahead did you plan this series, was Eithan always Ozriel? I appreciate how well everything seems planned out.

Will Wight

This is an interesting, this is the question, so, was Eithan always Ozriel? Yes, and even more yes, because it was before I even came up with Cradle. So, he really was, Eithan was the character, that kind of this whole thing was built around, and not really, not because of his journey. It's lindon's journey, but in terms of, uh the setting, was really designed around Eithan being Ozriel. So... Yeah, that whole thing, the whole universe doesn't work anymore if that's not true; but, I was still building it so I was like, well... If I need to change my mind in the future, I can so I was still being cagey about it, in case I got to a point where I need it to change direction, but I didn't. So then, and how far ahead did you plan the series? (Takes sip) That, way way way in advance; but everything else, there are monuments that I, theyre landmarks that I can, that I set up. So I'm headed to these things, and there are concepts that I'm, that I've embedded in, and planned for, it's there it's in the background, it's done; and there are themes that come and go throughout the whole series that I'm setting up. So a lot of people go back to Unsouled and they go 'Oh man, there are, all these bits of foreshadowing for later books', Yes and no, some of them are just absolutely, yes they're foreshadowing. Others are, they are themes that echo throughout the whole thing. Things that Elder Whisper, the first elder, or whatever, tell Lindon about the sacred arts, and certainly what Suriel says, they are themes that echo throughout the series. So, yes they do come back, later, because that's, those are the ideas that the whole series is wrestling with. So its less foreshadowing, more, yeah I have a consistent thematic element throughout the whole thing; and then the other thing is, I often go back to my previous books and I see what I've established, and I think about okay how would people take this, what are they going to expect? Then I use that to make my future plans. It's kind of a mix of planning way way way in advance and, planning each book out, and sort of improvising. So a lot of things I leave open to future me to figure out. So I leave these elements that I, I leave myself tools in the future that I can use to play with, and then I figure out what I'm going to do with them when I get there. So, that is kind of how I work. You, we talked about Eithan's plans earlier, that's kind of how in this case I'm doing things, I'm sort of setting things up and then figuring it out later; but I set pieces up so that I can figure out how I can use them later. That's kind of the idea. So one of the infamous examples of that going wrong, is in, Ghostwater, when everything in Lindon's pack is destroyed and you have this, scripting stones he got in book 2, yeah it's because I intended Lindon to have a whole subplot with him scripting, and then I realized that would take way took much page space and focus away from soulsmithing, so I did away with it, and then the scripting stones had no purpose, so I was like 'crap'. (Takes sip)

Brandon Quill

Do either Reigan Shen or Lindon fully count as a dreadgod yet? If so, which?

Will Wight

They do not.

Mat

Would you continue the Cradle series but as a continuation series, once Lindon and friends ascend outside of Cradle?

Will Wight

Mat asks, and I assume it's Mat Cauthon asking on this form, (...), You know, maybe? Possibly, yeah I might continue Cradle past, ascension. That's one of those things that I'm, kinda, I'm like, yeah I'm gonna complete, the series is called Cradle, I'm going to complete their journey in Cradle; and then of course they're going to ride off into the sunset. Is there more adventure in the sunset? Yeah, of course there is. Should I, am I going to write it? Maybe. Yeah. I'm not against it. (Will's brother calls from off screen 'please write it, please!') Sam's begging, Sam's put his vote in

ForTheAfro

If Orthos were to obtain the dragon icon, could Lindon use dragon authority through their bond?

Will Wight

Uh, no. That would not, it would not work. That way, and vice versa it wouldn't work. So, Lindon wouldn't be able to, to use dragon, if he, if Lindon obtained dragon icon Orthos wouldn't be able to tap into it, having said that, what would happen is that, it would make it easier for the other to manifest the dragon icon. So, that is what would really happen. Is because, of the connection between them, they would both become more attuned to the dragon icon.

Vincent

Several times in the early books, Eithan mentions having grown up in BlackFlame city, was he just completely lying or was there any truth to what he was saying?

Will Wight

No, there was some truth to what he was saying, that's real, BlackFlame city is really old, this is, he was obviously saying it in such a way in order to, he was trying to hide from both the Arelius family and BlackFlame people, so he was playing some verbal shell games with his backstory, but yeah he did, he really did go kinda, he was really kind of here and there. So when he actually grew up, travel between BlackFlame city and the Arelius home land was a lot easier and faster and less restricted, so he'd kind of pop up, he was, he grew up in several places. So yes, that was something you could accurately describe him as having grown up in BlackFlame city and yeah growing up in the rosegold continent. (Takes sip)

Nick Fuller

Are they still fun to write?

Will Wight

So, is the Cradle series still fun to write? This is a very interesting question, because people ask variants of this question all the time, which is very understandable, and yes and no? Uh, the No is, nothing is fun to write to completion, like there's no, there's nothing, theres no book thats fun the entire time. Like, so there's always aspects of writing and rewriting, and it's just a grind. It's hard. You just gotta, you gotta produce the book, right? So, you can't like every part of the process, and you can't like everything you put in the book, you have to, a lot of it is just work. So, in that, to that degree, its like, yeah keeping up with a popular series for a long time is a lot of work. So, do I like those parts? ... Yes, I like the results of them, I like the ideas, I like the, and I certainly wouldn't trade it for anything, but is it fun the whole time? No. It's not, this whole saying that if you love what you do, you'll never work a day of your life, is nonsense. Uh, but! The, on the other hand, in terms of the, are the Cradle books still fun, is Cradle still a fun world to be in, is it still fun to come up with Cradle ideas? Do I still like the characters, yes! I wouldn't write something that I didn't enjoy, I would just write something that I did enjoy. ... So if Cradle wasn't fun to write, I would write it so that it was, fun to write. It's not, yeah, I always have fun. Coming up with stuff that is, I just like coming up with ideas. I like coming up with stories, I like being in the characters heads, I like, I like it when the stuff, the ideas come together and I think this, ooooh, this is a cool little moment, I can do, so I read the Reddit thread this week, it was really fun, it was your top three moments in Cradle, and, and that was fun. Especially because most of those were intentional, they were stuff that I was like 'aw yes!', 'this is going to be a big fun moment, I'm going to enjoy this!' and that was most of what people wrote. Some of them, they wrote that they thought were great moments and I was like, I, I did not put any thought into that, that just kind of came out. Sort of an organic thing that emerged, and that was even cooler. That was neat; but anyway, yeah, so the point is, yes they're fun, no they're not fun all the way, just because, what, how would that work? That would be a hobby, not a job. 

Telowyn

Ozriel disappeared without notice, how did his presence and mantle end up in Abidan lockdown?

Will Wight

He had to leave those behind. So, he, left them when he disappeared. So he had to leave those, there's no, he can't take them with him, so there's, he can't hide them, he can't hide those, I mean he can, he did, but you can't hide those permanently, because of course he had one particular method for hiding himself, and they're tracking him down, so they're going to find his presence and mantle, and scythe. So. The scythe, of course, remains hidden, but the presence and the mantle did not.

Cradle Enjoyer

What Sage would have trained Lindon had he become an Uncrowned?

Will Wight

I had an answer to this, I had charted all of this out, uh, shoot, I don't remember the, ... I don't remember. Dang it, that's a good question. Uh, I had a real answer to this, and I'm trying to, mmm I'll have to come back to that. I'll have to see if I can, well there's a, I'm just going to speculate on what I may have been thinking, I really did chart this out, I had, because, so I had actually made tournament brackets for the Uncrowned, and I had charted it out, based on who would win. Right? Like who would get the people, and either one was a possibility so the sage's had discussed that, and I really had, had this in an Excel spreadsheet, no joke, uh, but, yeah, so there's a, there is a sage that hasn't shown up much, that I think he has a cameo in Dreadgod actually?; but it's a fire, a fire sage, so he probably would have done it. Yeah, probably. That's my guess, on my, I'm speculating on my past intentions. (Takes sip)

Anonymous

Was Eithan's goal always to push both Yerin and Lindon toward early Sage, and did he know the blood shadow would allow her to advance as she did?

Will Wight

Well it says Yerin and London but my phone does that all the time too, even though I write Lindon way more often than I write London. (...) Okay, so obviously Eithan understood what a blood shadow was on conceptual level very well, he clearly understood the theoretical, how.. how that's all going to work; but no, he didn't have that specific goal in mind, what he was doing was working with the tools that he had, and he was kind of going hmm, what can I do with these raw materials, a lot of things! So he was sort of, his idea was sort of, to continue moving them in the right direction, and that's another thing that I've said about people when they've asked about pushing him, pushing Lindon toward BlackFlame, what if he had picked another path? There's actually a blooper about this in BlackFlame, we uh haven't released the bloopers yet. Yeah there's a blooper about this in BlackFlame now, we're adding it, but there are people who ask what he would have done if lindon had picked a path other than BlackFlame, and the answer is he really, he would have gone with it. So he, he does that a lot, its kind of how he plans throughout the series, is he sets up stuff that is going to work, kind of, no matter how, as long as you're heading in the right direction, it's going to work. So in terms of the specifics of how it was going to play out, he was like yeah so riff it, it's like jazz, except with advancement and lazer fists. (Takes a sip)