Questioner
Using a sinister vibe integrate Barbie horse into travelers gate world as a fragment realm.
Will Wight
The air swirls in front of you with a vibrant pink light. Startled, you take a step back, but the light soon snaps into a recognizable shape: a pink-edged doorway into another realm. An endless, perfectly flat field of plastic grass stretches out before you. The clouds seem painted onto the sky. A glossy horse turns to stare at you--it seems to be covered in brown chitin instead of hair. Its eyes bulge as though it can never blink. A woman stands next to the horse, her hand on the animal's mane. Her smile seems to wear her. She looks like a mannequin wearing the face of a human woman as a mask. Though you lock eyes, she says nothing. Her teeth clack together as though she tries to speak, but cannot. You turn from the portal and run. It's best to let a Traveler deal with this.
Questioner
Of all your characters, who's the strongest character you could take in a fist fight?
Will Wight
Otoku the doll.
Questioner
What is the weirdest, creepiest room in Valinhall?
Will Wight
I'm tempted to say "Kai's bedroom," but I've made you wait two weeks for an answer, so I have to give you something decent.There's a deep room that is only roughly connected to the rest of the House, and it's something like an aquarium for spectral fish. The room is completely dry, but these pale, ghostly, aquatic creatures "swim" through the air as though on the ocean. They look horrific and alien, and their moans pierce the ear. If they cut you, your blood drifts up into a wispy cloud, as though dispersing into water that isn't there.
Questioner
What is a useless item that can be won in valinhall
Will Wight
A fork with one prong bent. Valin once dropped it, and the inhabitants of the House hoarded it like a treasure. It's just a fork.
Questioner
If I stuck my face inside a nye then inhaled, would i get the powers of the nye?
Will Wight
Only if the Nye really liked you.
Questioner
In ‘Crimson Vault’ Denner uses a bell that returns everything to its respective territory. Does that also mean that the Tartarus sword that Erastes uses would have also returned? If it would, did a bunch of Damascan officers lose their swords as well?
Will Wight
Good question, but Tartarus steel is typically taken from the Territory and worked in the Unnamed World. It doesn't have enough of a connection to the Territory to be banished.
Questioner
Are Incarnations as powerful as a Traveler can become?
Will Wight
Essentially yes, but there are many measures of "power" depending on the Territory. Incarnations aren't necessarily the most skilled, or the best at using the powers they can call upon.
Questioner
Are we ever going to see romance between Simon and Leah?
Will Wight
Romance? NEVER.
Questioner
In The Traveler's Gate series, where do the Common people (non-travelers in the unnamed world) believe they go after they die.?
Will Wight
Villagers mostly believe they go to the Maker to be judged, but instead of sending them to a Hell- or Heaven-equivalent, he assigns to them a personal reward and/or punishment depending on their accomplishments in life.In Damasca, there was an ancient belief that good people went to Elysia and bad people went to Naraka, and references to this belief system still remain in some turns of phrase and works of art. However, modern people don't really believe that; they believe that souls go on to become part of a Territory in some way. In Enosh, they believe that the dead become saints: white-clad beings who are constantly judging and determining the fates of men.
Questioner
How do you probe your with to use the valinhall toilets
Will Wight
I don't understand this question except for the words "Valinhall toilets," so I'll answer what I can! The Valinhall toilets are basically bottomless outhouses. There appears to be nothing down there at all, forever, but no one dives deep enough to find out. Only the waste goes down. Also, the bathrooms are haunted.
Questioner
Who out of all your series is your favorite character to write?
Will Wight
I know this is your least world-building related question, but I'll answer it anyway: I enjoy the more colorful, less grounded characters. Kai, Bliss, Eithan, etc. They're just fun to write, and I can basically ad lib their dialogue and have fun with it. The problem is getting that type of character to care about what happens to them and have a relatable goal. So I have to try and humanize them as well, which can be difficult. There's a middle ground there, and I'm seeking it. If I could write more of that sort of character, I'd have more fun, and I feel like my characters would pop more. But it almost feels like there's a slider between making them interesting and making them relatable and organically motivated. There isn't, it just FEELS that way. I'm trying to hit the happy medium.
Questioner
Are there any (successful) tartarus travellers who traverse the labyrinth alone?
Will Wight
Tartarus Travelers still tell the story of Nasha, a young girl who was, according to legend, born in the Steel Labyrinth. She learned to crawl its corridors and bring its mechanisms to life, scavenging food and water from within the endless network of living gears.
Some Travelers swear that, when they were separated from their squads and lost in the corridors of the Labyrinth, they encountered a girl who silently guided them home.
Questioner
If Simon had to pick an animal he would be, what would he pick?
Will Wight
When Simon was a child, he found a badger burrow behind his family's house. The badger largely ignored humans, but viciously attacked any other animals who get close to the burrow entrance.
Simon enjoyed watching it, and he was impressed with the way the badger completely ignored anything that wasn't a threat, but wasn't afraid of anything. And it spent a lot of the day nestled snug in its den.
This left an impression on him, so he'd pick a badger.
Questioner
What would happen to the Crimson Vault if it had inhabitants?
Will Wight
The Vault itself is actually the tip of the iceberg. There's much more to Ragnarus than Leah or any of her ancestors ever discovered.
Questioner
We have never seen further into Ragnarus than the single room behind the door and it doesn't sound like people tend to travel the other direction. What else is there in Ragnarus? Is it an expansive territory with a lot to discover?
Will Wight
Once, there was a king that ruled a vast realm. He dove deeply into the power of his world, which rewarded sacrifice: everything he loved was slowly consumed by his collection of magical artifacts.
The scope of this travesty grew to encompass his whole world, until the population of his enormous kingdom served only to feed his magic.
Finally, the fabric of his reality crumbled to dust. Faced with what he'd done, the king managed to preserve the one thing that still mattered to him.
And so his Vault drifted through the oceans of chaos. Until, at last, it found a resting place.
Questioner
Why is the sky blue?
Will Wight
All the creatures of Helgard have blue blood because they are descended from the original ancient titan, he whose blood covers the sky. Every sunset, he comes back to life and his blood retreats. Every sunrise, he is slain once more.
Questioner
Do u have a name for Amalgams energy Traveler's use or does each territory have a different energy that's used or do they adapt to Amalgam?
Will Wight
The Territories each have their own small, half-formed magic system, and Amalgam is kind of the container in which all of those are mixed.
Questioner
Is Damasca a notable power? You said "medium country or large state," but they also have the only* Elysia and Valinhall travelers...
*that we are aware of
Also, are there any magic artifacts that are not nor have ever been connected to a Territory? Or are they ALL tied to a Territory, whether it is known or not?
Will Wight
All of the known artifacts with supernatural powers are believed to be connected to a Territory. Is that belief correct? Who knows?
Damasca used to be larger and more important than it is now. Though it could have the chance to rise again...
Questioner
How much of the Traveler's gate world have we seen? Are there explorers/colonies lost within a territory Robinson Crusoe style?
Will Wight
We have seen one small area of the Traveler's Gate world. Like a medium country, or a large state.
Why such a small area, if they have Territories to travel long distances? That's a great question, and hopefully one that I will have a chance to answer in the next book.
Most stories of lost colonies come from Asphodel, both because it is easy to get lost and forgotten there (the Mist is known to devour thoughts and memories) and because there are more colonies in Asphodel. It's the best Territory for farmland, so it's actually the Territory with the greatest number of Travelers. They just don't typically fight; they usually focus on raising crops and keeping farmers safe.
Questioner
Thanks for answer my first question! Here goes number two: Are there any "dark" or "evil" magics on Amalgam? (something that requires blood sacrifice or is socially unacceptable to practice)
Will Wight
There are some answers to this question that I don't want to go into too much detail about, pending spoilers and/or me changing my mind, but each Territory has its dark side.
In general, Ragnarus is considered to be the "evil" Territory. But there are birds in Avernus that can twist and warp the personality of humans, addictive parasitic flowers in Asphodel, and terrible weapons left buried in Lirial. Most of the Arbiters of Naraka obtained their power from the acts of brutal injustice perpetuated against them, and it has left them twisted and broken, willing to commit unspeakable deeds in the pursuit of their ideas of justice.
