We are excited to reveal artist Michael Whelan‘s cover to the U.S. edition of Oathbringer, the much-awaited third book in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive fantasy series.
“We’re centered on a scene where Jasnah confronts the invaders,” Whelan says of the cover. “A giant has smashed a breach in the city wall, and Jasnah is called upon to restore it.”
“After dispatching several invaders with her Shardblade sword, she covers the gap with a brassy wall of magical metal. It’s a very visual scene, in which I saw a lot of possibilities for good images.”
Jasnah fighting a giant is a strong, evocative image [see: Where Does the Cover to Brandon Sanderson’s Oathbringer Take Place?] and Whelan’s initial sketches for the cover to Oathbringer focused on building the visual up:
“[These illustrations] are simple color experiments, playing around with creating lightning effects by painting in an acrylic wash them scribing out the lightning with a sharpened chopstick.”
“This is one of the various layout ideas I sketched out for the book cover. I picked the most likely of the pencil sketches and painted them as monochrome value studies, and –”
“This is an example of one of them.”
“This illustration is the one that was selected. I did a small [only 3 inches wide] sketch of the colors I planned for the picture, then went to work on the large and final version.”
“With the next illustration, I had laid in the general areas of color but decided it wasn’t going well. Upon consideration I realized the rocks I had painted into the wall were too distracting, so I repainted them in a simpler and – I hope!– less confusing pattern.The rest of it was just trying to get the image to match the picture I saw in my head.”
With that, the final cover was beginning to take shape.
“Brandon doesn’t elaborate on the formation of the metal which Jasnah casts up to shore up the stone wall,” says Whelan. “But in my mind I saw it as an organic process which, though metallic in texture, would have the appearance of “growing” in to fill the breach, like a stop-motion film of a mold growing or a flower opening. That lead me to thinking of using fractal patterns to define the growing shape of the metallic wall.”
Refinement of the cover proceeded from there, until finally…
Oathbringer, Book 3 of the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson is currently scheduled for release on November 14, 2017. It is available for pre-order now.
Wow.
Just wow. All I got.
Also, I’m very sad that it’s only March right now.
WOW.
What else is there to say, really? This is gorgeous!!
Stunning. Whelan is amazing.
Glad to see:
1) A female on the cover – without exposed breasts
2) Jasnah with the right skin tone and eye shape;
3) An amazing color story that will look great next to my other books.
Also, I want that outfit!
What a great scene! I knew that was Jasnah before I even read it was her. couldn’t have imagined her any different.
OK, this is weird…the site must be bogged down, because I have been trying to post for the last hour, and only just now has the comment box finally showed up for me.
Anyways!!
This cover is AMAZING! We finally get to see a glimpse of what (I think) could be the Voidbringers, or Thunderclasts, and Jasnah in all her Soulcasting, Radiant glory, and it is just beautiful. The fact that this is inspired by a scene in book just makes me want the book in my hands naow! even more…. sigh, but alas it is only March…
Absolutely gorgeous cover. Can hardly wait for the wallpaper versions to be made available (is it presumptuous to assume that that’s still happening?)
Not happy with the comment section right now, so hopefully this goes through. What a great cover! Though I’m not happy with the Shardblade. It looks too mystical. It’s doing something weird in the middle.
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!
7. @austin
That could be because it’s the first time we’re seeing a living spren as a shardblade and it could be morphing into a different form for Jasnah’s use.
Jasnah (and Ivory) look great! I am so looking forward to this!
Gorgeous Cover ?? This has me even more impatient for the release date to come. *Wishes time travel was real*
I would definitely speed forward to November to get my hands on this badboy.?
@Mods – I am also having problems both loading the comments and adding to the comments. For me, it seems to just be this page, as other pages’s comment sections load up just fine.
@3 – I cosign on all of your points (especially 1 and 2)! I am glad that Michael, Brandon and Tor supported this representation of Jasnah and didn’t shy away from who the character actually is.
Also, it looks like Jasnah is still wearing a glove on her safe hand (which is the only practical way to enter into battle, in my opinion), and she is wielding Ivory with her safe-hand; how scandalous!
Cover looks great, but isn’t a picture of Jasnah a bit of a………..spoiler considering what’s happened in the first two books?
@12 — I’m having the same problems with comments, though I’m having them on other pages as well.
I haven’t read this series, but I have to say that the first thing that struck me about this cover is how old-fashioned it looks. Which isn’t a bad thing! I feel like the recent trend towards more spare, “sleeker” covers with little or no artwork has been a loss to the genre, which used to produce such amazing artwork, like this, and made the SFF sections of bookstores so interesting to look at. I feel like this might be turning around, and I heartily applaud it!
Overall, I like the cover. I like that most of the small details match the descriptions of Jasnah. The shape of the face and skin coloring. I also like the fact that one hand is gloved/covered. I hope this means that Jasnah will be a central part of the main story line. I hope her appearances in book are not limited to an Interlude. As the previous 2 covers depicted scenes that happened in the main part (not a flashback or an interlude), I hope that pattern continues.
I wonder if the town/city she is defending is the same town/city she and Wit were headed to at the end of WoR. If so, I wonder if Wit will take a more active role or he will be content to observe. I think the latter. If he does take any affirmative action on screen, I think it will not be until the second 5 books.
My one issue with the cover is her sword. I understand it probably is Ivory (a live sprenblade). I think the form should have been a rapier. That was the form Jasnah’s took when she confronted Wit at the end of WoR. The sword on the cover is a single edge blade (saber or scimitar). It is unlikely that in defending the town/city from a Voidbringer, she would have Ivory take a different form than what she is most familiar with. Her use of a rapier indicates she is most comfortable with that form.
Thanks for reading my musings.
AndrewHB
(aka the musespren)
Amazing cover. Not only it is my favorite of the three, it also makes excited to read Jasnah which I previously wasn’t.
Does anyone know if Brandon approves of the “Alethi look” being proposed here (as I know he disagreed with Kaladin on the WoR cover)? It is rather close to what I had mentially canonize, so a confirmation would be great :-)
Also, Brandon mentioned he sent a snippet of the ending to Michael so he could draw the cover which implies this amazing scene happens towards the end of the book. I am noticing one of the spears is harboring a red flag… Would this mean the soldiers fighting down below are Sadeas’s? Wouldn’t they be flying blue is they were Kohlin’s? Jasnah appears to be building a set of stairs which perhaps implies she is fleeing away as it looks like she is going up and not down…? Also, it looks like she is trying to fix the breached walls which would imply the soldiers are attacking whichever city she is defending. Kholinar? Urithiru?
But then, there is this “monster” lurking within the background…
Whichever, great cover, really great cover.
Re: Jasnah’s sword, a couple of things. I personally love that this reflects an instant when her Blade is either coalescing or vanishing, so we get the part sword/part mist effect. I think it’s lovely. As for the form he takes here… I think Jasnah & Ivory would be smart enough to go with whatever form will work best for the circumstance she’s in. Much as Syl changed from sword to spear to hammer to axe to shield as Kaladin needed, I would expect Ivory to be a rapier if Jasnah were in a fencing match (or one-on-one fighting), but perhaps something larger and more edged if she’s taking on multiple opponents who aren’t carrying Shardblades. From the multitude of spear-points in the background, I would assume this latter is the more likely situation.
Unfortunately, I cannot read the other comments, so I am not sure if I am repeating what’s already been said.
I like the cover, but the text is somewhat spoilery, so I would have appreciated a warning.
I love Michael’s art, and this is no exception. Amazing piece.
I had to rack my brain for who Jasnah might be. I feel that I’m going to have to re-read the first two books before November, as it’s been so long since book 2 came out.
It’s beautiful and certainly better than the first draft of the cover of WoR where Kaladin looked like he was escaping from the 1970s. But the description of the wall possibly organically growing does not match at all with the soulcasting already seen in the series. She would be instantly transforming a specific section of air into metal. Like when Adolin witnessed soulcasters making a windbrake from thin air in WoR.
This is a pretty great cover. I’m pumped for this book.
@19, check out the Stormlight Archive reread on this sight. There’s lots of great insight into these books.
Michael Whelan is the Best! I’m hopeful we’ll get more Jasnah in this book!
Is this still a flashback book? Or is this battle in the future???
@22 – Hi Tek!
To my understanding, this is still a flashback book for Dalinar.
Wor spoilers: The Jasnah action is likely happening in Roshar’s present, after the unleashing of the Everstorm at the end of WoR.
Why is she flying above the steps? This isn’t one of her powers as far as I remember…
But I like the giant, especially because I missed it/him before reading the text. “hidden in plain sight”, and cleverly done.
Haha! Why am I not surprised that it is a post discussing Brandon’s upcoming work that crashes the comments! :D
Other than that, agree with everybody. The cover is wonderful (and I have realized that this is exactly what you could expect of Whelan, nothing short of amazing).
*FAINTS* can’t wait. And Jasnah!!! Awesome!!!
Great that another installment is upcoming! And super about the cover art. I have always been a huge fan of Michael Whelan’s work.
@24: It looks to me like she started materializing a staircase, and she’s summoning her Ivory-blade and getting ready to come down to the ground. She’s not flying. As you say, that’s not one of her powers.
Cordially,
Ben M.
(Wet and veterans of tor.com, long time no see. Been very busy)
7 months, is it? Ugh, the agony.
I love it. The best part was just knowing it was Jasnah immediately. He caught her essence.
Oh my GOSH.
Is this going to be part of the Sanderson climactic avalanche?
Jasnah and Ivory FTW!!
I am *down* with this cover! Can’t imagine anyone doing a better job than Michael Whelan. Really appreciate his sharing the journey to the final version. travyl (my far-away friend!) kinda blew me out of the story for a minute, but I can get behind Ben M.’s explanation.
ETA – Betting it’s Kholinar.
Seeing as Jasnah was my favorite character in TWoK, and she barely appeared in WoR, I was excited beyond measure to see this cover. She looks gorgeous, doesn’t she? And completely badass! I knew it was her as soon as I saw the cover. Can’t wait to get my hands on this book.
Jasnah!! At first I thought she was levitating. Then I read Ben’s comment and it made sense. Ivory looks really cool. And a giant! Thunderclast? What Shallan and Kal saw above them walking when they were in the chasm?
Looking forward to November!! Woohooo!
I don’t like this style of cover, it feels very dated and makes me less interested in picking the book up.
I also find Jasnah’s pose problematic, it looks unnatural, like she’s twisting round to show off her body rather than fighting. That’s not Jasnah from the books, that’s Jasnah in male fantasy.
Excited!!
Overall like the cover, but wish that (a) the giant had not gotten quiet so blocky compared to prevoius iterations: it feels a little fake/mechanic/childish and (b) wish that the metal had stayed more metallic looking and that it was more obvious whether Jasnah’s hand is on the wall or not–ambiguous looking and it kind of ruins the realness of her flowing cape to know whether there would be room for it without her contorting her body. :/
But…it’s always easier to critique than create. ;) Keep up the good work! Onward to cover #4. :)
@35 I’m not seeing what you’re seeing, apparently. I don’t see any twisting to show off her body, there. It’s a pretty straightforward pose, with nothing that seems in the least bit sexualized. I mean, look at what she’s wearing. It’s practically the opposite of the typical impractical fantasy outfits one sees on women. No chain-mail bikini, no boob armor… If someone asked me to find examples of the antithesis of stereotypically sexist SFF art, I might select this as one. The most attractive things about Jasnah in this depiction are her projection of confidence and power. Am I the only one who sees that, or…?
I LOVE seeing Jasnah, and I too love a heroine on the cover of a major fantasy novel who is dignified and abundantly clad as makes sense with practicality and how the character is actually portrayed in story. What an obvious and yet still so annoyingly rare concept for cover art. Although I didn’t pick up from the text that Alethi lighteyed women wore capes..but I like the boots. Very practical.
I agree that her presence on the cover of book 3 could be a big spoiler for book 2, although if readers are aware that all the books contain flashbacks and that book 3 is Dalinar flashbacks, there is always the (probably thin, considering the huge monster and the fact that we don’t think Dalinar knew about Jasnahs’ radiant-ness) possibility that it’s a scene from a Dalinar flashback.
Ways @32 (sorry *friend* to have perplexed you ;)). But people kept commenting that Jasnah was clad, and I din’t find that astounding, after all WoR already contained a picture of a properly clad Shallan (albeit inside the book).
@38 It is a spoiler, in a way, but with the series being so long and complicated, I imagine that few new readers will see the Oathbringer cover and realize that it’s Jasnah and what this means about the state of affairs in WoR. Sure, as soon as I saw it, I thought, That’s Jasnah! but I’m an obsessive fan who reads all of the books multiple times and talks to people on message boards and such. I’d say that it’s not likely to cause too many people disappointment.
Jasnah’s dress kind of reminds me of a mistcoat…and she has powers conducive to worldhopping…crazy theory time!
That aside, this is a gorgeous cover, and count me among the people delighted to see Jasnah’s ethnicity represented accurately. She appears to be doing a pretty bad job of keeping her not-dead-ness a secret.
Braid_Tug @3
I Couldn’t agree more!…… well accept maybe about wanting the outfit part. Somehow I just don’t think my hips would do it justice:)
et al: I definitely agree that it is refreshing to see a fantasy cover depicting a heroine that’s wearing decent clothing. I can’t stand chain mail bikini clad women on covers and not just because of the look my wife gives me when she sees what I’m reading…I think it is degrading and demeaning.
Re 35 / 37: one could say that it doesn’t make sense, that Jasnah is facing “us”, instead of looking at the wall she is creating or at the giant who looms on her right side.
But despite my critics here and above I like the cover.
The cover looks great, it gave me anticipation spren :D
Small critiques:
I too understood soulcasting to be instantaneous, this could have been shown if the metal portion had filled the entire portion of wall missing, but remained very translucent, like the mist effect on the sword or the lower steps.
The sword would have made more sense materializing tip-up, handle down, it looks odd like this. More symbolic than practical.
Jasnah seems to be hovering, kinda like Storm from the X-Men. The cape looks good, but it supports the superhero figure. Even if she’s descending the steps (which are also hovering), as their opaqueness/transparency seems to indicate, her pose is a bit gravity-defying. But she does look heroic :)
Information or poetic license?
The wall can’t be that high, if we can see the tips of the spears. They’re also missing battlements. Minor city or artistic shortcut?
The giant seems to be walking away from the city and Jasnah seems to be descending from the wall breach. Maybe the focus of the battle isn’t here, but where the giant is headed.
Can’t decide if the spears are attacking the city or marching around its’ walls, I don’t think the ribbon’s color is relevant. On the WoK cover, Dalinar’s cape was also painted red, for it matched the overall palette better. Spears being a human infantry weapon, they’re probably marching towards the main battle.
Closing note:
Man, does that giant look discouraging. How do you fight something with its’ head (literally) in the clouds?
44: I think Jasnah’s “hovering” is just artistic license. The concept further up which had Jasnah leaning onto a boulder to soulcast the wall is probably closer to the scene in-book. Although, if this is Jasnah starting the Soulcasting process and immediately jumping down to join the fight, I’d be willing to suspect that this is her jumping off of Ivory as he reverts from sprenstaircase to sprenblade.
Looks awesome!!
I already pre-ordered it lol
This is going to be the best birthday present I’ve ever had in my life. I’m so happy there’s a cover, that it’s an amazing cover, and that the book has a release date, and the release date is days from my birthday!
What? No ShardFork?
Wrong book.
Great cover!! Since Dalinar was already on a cover, makes sense for his sister, the Master Scholar of Radiants right there.
She’s gonna school the Radiants finally.
I’m a bit with Tristan here. The pose feels weird: facing us, and away from the danger? Why? I don’t get a sense of wish-fulfillment from it — the other comments describing all the reasons it’s not the stereotypical side-pose or what-have-you seem persuasive to me — but the pose looks undeniably odd when you consider what Jasnah’s doing.
As to other general feelings on the cover, I’m missing the vibrance of color present in the prior two books. The brown-gray wall dominates the cover, and the slight bits of purple don’t do enough to distinguish it overall, in my view.
Generally, I’m not a fan of this cover.
At the same time, I was similarly down on the cover for book two. The major reason was that Kaladin looked very hunched-over to me, and he didn’t feel nearly as dynamic as I would picture him in the scene obviously portrayed. But Michael Whelan turned around some improvements to the cover in that precise regard — allegedly when he took advantage of some unexpected extra time to do so (but I have my doubts on that). So maybe, if I’m lucky, he’ll be able to make further improvements to this before publication.
Wait, isn’t this cover a spoiler? In WoR, Jasnah presumably dies, yes? I don’t read every short story collection/novel Sanderson puts out so was the fact that Jasnah’s alive revealed somewhere? Or did I somehow miss it in WoR?
@50 Jasnah was in the epilogue of WoR where she talked with Hoid/Wit.
I’ve noticed a lot of people seemed confused that Jasnah is alive. Do some editions of WoR not have an epilogue?
Or maybe people haven’t realized that epilogues are part of the story? Dunno.
I mean, I think the art is as stunning as the next person, but I guess that’s one way to spoil the fact that Jasnah is still alive (I know it was hinted at, but still .-.)
@54 – Hinted at? She threatened to kill Hoid with her living Shardblade in the epilogue… No, there’s no hinting involved. Words of Radiance was eminently clear that Jasnah was alive.
@55 – This is still boggling my mind! I don’t…I don’t even…sigh, I just don’t get it.
Honestly, when I first saw the cover, with just Jasnah and the sword, I didn’t like it. Man, it looked like some 70s fantasy art I would’ve seen in a garage sale.
But then I clicked through and saw the whole thing.
HOLY CRAP. Whelan’s done it again!
Is it just me or does she kind of look like…Melania Trump?
@58 – You’re right! And that explains exactly why she’s building the wall.
“fractal patterns” … too awesome.
@48 Isn’t Jasnah Dalinar’s niece, not his sister?
All I can say is Jasnah, and Ivory!!!!
I love these covers! They definitely spark a lot of imaginationsprenaround me….
one thing I don’t like as much- why is Jasnah facing away from everything she is doing? I think it’s great to see her face, but she should be facing the wall she is soulcasting…
then again, the other covers didn’t fully make sense until I read the scenes they represented- perhaps that is also the case here?
Cant wait for November!!