While speaking with news outlet Winter is Coming, fantasy author Brandon Sanderson recently spoke about his long-term plans for his the Mistborn: Ghostbloods arc, he's got a much, much bigger picture in mind.

While Sanderson has often been the first to say that hard sci-fi isn't something in his wheelhouse, it's also clear that the future of the Cosmere and its intricately nested multi-novel narrative is one that will, in many ways, feel like science fiction. There will be space travel, interplanetary wars, and cosmic struggles writ large. But amid the conversation about the future, Sanderson also mentioned something from the Cosmere's past: the backstory of the setting's most enigmatic character, the seemingly immortal bard Hoid.

Brandon Sanderson Already Has Plans To Write Hoid's Story After Finishing The Stormlight Archive

The Enigmatic Bard Needs More Page Time

In his interview with Winter is Coming, Sanderson mentioned the sheer number of books he's basically been sitting on the ideas for ever since the first Mistborn book was released:

There's a few of those. Like when I finally get to write the Hoid backstory, that's another one...I know exactly what it's gonna be, I just gotta find the hole in my schedule to write it. And that one's not planned until after Stormlight 10, so people don't have to panic too much. But you know, I've wanted to do this forever, and so being able to sit down and finally do it feels extremely gratifying, and the writing's going great. You know, these are characters that I've known for 20 years that I finally get to introduce to people.

Of course, the yet-untitled tenth Stormlight novel is well down the list of Sanderson's active projects, with the aforementioned Mistborn: Ghostbloods trilogy slated to be his next main project, and released in conjunction with the next two Elantris books. That means Stormlight 6 likely won't be released until 2031 – and that's assuming that Sanderson can stick to his projected schedule, which is the kind of assumption that generally coaxes Murphy to raise his head, rub his hands together, and start derailing things.

It's amazing to think that Sanderson has been sitting on a plan for Hoid's backstory for so many years, especially when you consider how long the Cosmere has been in development. While Elantris and Mistborn: The Final Empire were the first Cosmere books released (in 2005 and 2006, respectively), Sanderson has mentioned in numerous interviews and s that the series' roots reach back much further – and do indeed involve the enigmatic Hoid.

Hoid's Backstory Has Already Been Teased About For Years

It's Been A Long Time Coming

From a real-world perspective, Hoid made his first appearance in Dragonsteel, the novel Sanderson wrote as his honor's thesis for his bachelor's degree in 2000 (via Brandon's Blog). While Hoid wasn't that story's main character, he clearly left an impression on the author, as he made appearances in both Elantris and The Final Empire, immediately raising questions for sharp-eyed readers who noticed the character appearing on supposedly connected worlds.

While Dragonsteel was never published, the existing draft of the book was made available as a free in 2024 as part of the BackerKit campaign for the leatherbound edition of The Way of Kings. Dragonsteel Prime, as this draft is called, still loosely informs the canon of the Cosmere, although many of the particulars no longer apply; Sanderson has said that much of the worldbuilding and some of the events are canon, but not the characters, although the particulars are still unknown.

More importantly, Dragonsteel was set on Yolen, the mysterious Cosmere planet where humans first appeared. It's also the world that was home to the Cosmere's supposed creator god Adonalsium, as well as its grave. Although the details remain a mystery, it's known that seventeen individuals ed together in a conspiracy to kill Adonalsium, and upon its death, its Investiture was divided into the Cosmere's 16 Shards, which were each taken up by a member of the conspiracy – except for, notably, Hoid.

I'm So Excited To Read Hoid's Backstory, Even Though It Won't Be Here For 10+ Years

It Will Be Worth The Wait

The Way of Kings, the first Stormlight Archive book, was my first Cosmere novel, so I was introduced to Hoid at his most verbose and visible, at least so far as his early appearances go. I still clearly when I first dove into the broader Cosmere, through Mistborn and Warbreaker, and saw Hoid reappear – never with the same face or guise, but all too quickly a pattern emerged, showing that this odd immortal was clearly a major player in the universe, although his true role remained obscured.

Sanderson still has a good dozen novels to go before he gets to Hoid's story, and even with his legendarily prolific nature, that's something that will absolutely take time.

If Hoid's backstory, whether in a rewritten version of Dragonsteel or some other incarnation, is truly something that won't happen until after Stormlight 10, then it very well may be a decade away, or longer. Sanderson still has a good dozen novels to go before he gets to Hoid's story, and even with his legendarily prolific nature, that's something that will absolutely take time. Still, the Cosmere has continually proven to be the kind of story that's well worth waiting for – at least, so long as I don't have to wait so long as to need Hoid's immortality myself.

Sources: Winter is Coming, Brandon's Blog