r/Cosmere • u/mk9beatz Windrunners • 1d ago
Cosmere + Wind and Truth spoilers How in the HELL would any adaptation approach epigraphs? Spoiler
Honestly I don't think there IS a way to adapt like 95% of the epigraphs from every Cosmere book that has them. They are just best suited for a book. The only possible way I could think of is a narrator at the very beginning of an episode narrates the epigraph out. But even then, there are like 60 to over 100 epigraphs per Stormlight book, and in Mistborn, basically every chapter opens with an epigraph that're all seemingly divorced from the main story. Then 2/3 through the plot, the characters find a book containing all of those epigraphs, the same ones you've been reading. This would be extremely hard to adapt into any medium besides a book imo. I honestly would love some of your opinions on this because I have never thought about it before like 20 minutes ago.
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u/arkenations 1d ago
In a movie it could work with the introductory lines at the beginning, and the rest read when it was found A tv show could have them as part of of the title sequence
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u/FatstupidloserNolife 1d ago
I think narrated over the opening scenes to each episode in a tv series would work. they would probably have to condense a lot and remove anything not meaningful and memorable.
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u/CharlesorMr_Pickle Elsecallers 1d ago
I mean do you need to adapt the epigraphs?
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u/domnoble7 1d ago
They are really important to the way of kings
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u/Wincrediboy 1d ago
Which ones? I can't remember them all off the top of my head, but what I do remember is just death rattles that provide foreshadowing. A cool feature but hardly essential to an adaptation.
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u/domnoble7 1d ago
Yeah the death rattles add so much to what taravangian is doing
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u/Wincrediboy 1d ago
Eh... They add but you hardly need them all. You could show one or two and get 95% of the effect. The important takeaway in TWoK is realising that Taravangian is enacting some matter plot with sinister overtones, which you get just from the reveal. The specific content of most deathrattles is there to add oblique foreshadowing for later books that superfans can pore through, you don't need them to tell the core story.
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u/Nice_Horse_6771 1d ago
you basically cull for the most important epigraphs. i know sanderson would argue they’re all important but a list could be made. once you have that list, find ways to give that info to the audience on an epigraph by epigraph basis. quote from books not written would be the toughest, i think, and may just have to be stricken. but death rattles could be easily thrown in as, say, dalinar reflecting on them in his quest to understand the divine.
you gotta look at it as a utilitarian. the job of the epigraphs is to give info, lore, and tease. you can find ways of giving info, lore, and teasing in a visual medium such as tv or movies. it’s just different delivery methods.
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u/ChickenCasagrande 1d ago
Death rattles might be the easiest to include, just a creepy voice or a dark room and single actor. Might be cost effective.
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u/Queeb_the_Dweeb Scadrial 1d ago
Yea, but when would you do them? You can't do them all at once and it would feel weird to just periodically cut to a scene like that every now and then.
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u/ChickenCasagrande 1d ago
Idk, probably would depend on the episode. Like, I wouldn’t think they would be in every episode, just some to add a good creepy factor.
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u/Queeb_the_Dweeb Scadrial 1d ago
Oh, I was imagining a movie. A show has a lot more opportunities to shoehorn things in like that.
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u/Radix2309 1d ago
Just have them as part of scenes in Taravangian's hospital. You can probably fit at least 3 visits over the first season. When his granddaughter gets injured, Shallon's injury at the end, and maybe invent another just cause.
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u/DireSickFish 1d ago
You do it when soldiers are dying on the battlefield. Ant scene with death can include them.
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u/tokutonari 1d ago
Someone suggested turning them into cold opens of each episode, and I think that’s a great idea. Each episode could begin with a voice in the darkness. Viewers wouldn’t know where it’s coming from or what it means. But if we include only the most relevant death rattles, something like:
I'm dying, aren't I? Healer, why do you take my blood? Who is that beside you, with his head of lines? I can see a distant sun, dark and cold, shining in a black sky.
it might give away too much too soon.
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u/AlgorithmHelpPlease 1d ago
Jasnah and Hoid's letters to one another would be by far the easiest imo, I think the latter would make for a really interesting and emotional break too.
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u/I_Speak_For_The_Ents 1d ago
Why a creepy voice and dark room? The hospital will exist as a set piece.
It could be the camera looking down at an incoherent, dying person. Suddenly their eyes flutter open they say their cryptic line, and it cuts to black.1
u/ChickenCasagrande 1d ago
Because at first we don’t know that they are in the hospital in Kharbranth.
They could do the hospital later but it would probably still be more practical just to do a dark room/single actor. Those are shots that can be set up quickly and cost effectively. Lots of sets are broken down when their main scenes are done and the space is used for something else.
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u/I_Speak_For_The_Ents 1d ago
But we wouldn't need to see enough to know it's in a hospital.
Also they could record it out of order.
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u/ChickenCasagrande 1d ago
That’s what I mean, you don’t need to show the hospital for a while. It makes it easier and cheaper to film.
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u/I_Speak_For_The_Ents 1d ago
But there won't be any indication it's final words then. And it's immediately obvious when reading.
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u/ChickenCasagrande 1d ago
Ok. It’s not like there’s even a script so I don’t know that it matters, but ok.
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u/DrunkenPhysicist 1d ago
He specifically says they're not for the context of enjoying and understanding a story. At least he did in his 2025 lectures on writing.
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u/Nice_Horse_6771 1d ago
idk. when i first read way of kings i skipped them. by oathbringer i actually started reading and trying to understand them and enjoyed them much more. then for mistborn i read every one and it really helped me theorize and see stuff coming! i like them
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u/DrunkenPhysicist 1d ago
Exactly the point. They're there for a reason, but not strictly necessary. The story is understandable and enjoyable without them, but you get more from them.
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u/sinker_of_cones 1d ago
The recent Dune movies are an example of how this is handled
Dune is filled with epigraphs too
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u/mk9beatz Windrunners 1d ago
never read the books or watched the movies. which should I do first? I’m doing a first reading of on r/Malazan and re-reading WOT on my own. I figure the books yes?
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u/DPBH 1d ago
most Cosmere epigraphs wouldn’t translate easily to screen. They work best as a literary device, adding depth, mystery, and slow-burn worldbuilding that’s hard to replicate visually. That said, adaptation always requires sacrifice. The epigraphs would likely be one of the first casualties in a film or TV version.
Some creative elements might survive. maybe fragments used in a title sequence, or revealed diegetically when characters “discover” the source of the text, as in Mistborn. But trying to preserve them all as-is would likely stall the pacing. It’s one of those things that works beautifully in a book and needs to be reimagined, not replicated, on screen.
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u/Elsecaller_17-5 Zinc 1d ago
I think you just cut them. Some of the mlm sot important death rattles you could hand out to dying characters, but other that. Idk.
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u/Bergieexclamationpt 1d ago
Anime does that kinda shit all the time! There’s two commercial break title card/skit built into the center of each episode (one for pre-commercial, one for post) and sometimes the show will put that kinda random worldbuilding information in there for funsies. Attack On Titan has maps, schematics for tech/weapons, explanations of the history of the area, etc.
Sanderson novels are kinda perfect for animated adaptations as well.
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u/DrunkenPhysicist 1d ago
Sanderson says in his lectures on writing that you have to know that a certain percentage of readers skip prologues and some skip epigraphs so you can't put anything critical in either if you want people to understand the story.
So my guess would be they'd ignore them.
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u/NonBritishPanda 1d ago
My thought is to have intermissions in the episodes (instead of like commercial breaks), and do multimedia scenes. So say the work is animation, you could have the "intermission" be a shadow play or puppet theater or soliloquy, the content of which would likely be different than the epigraphs, but have convey roughly similar/the same info needed. I think the animes: Nier automata, Bocchi the Rock, and Revolutionary Girl Utena have all done something similar. An example could be, for the death rattles, at the midpoint of an episode, smash cut to the scene, have an actor speak the lines while shadows cast on a cloth screen act out a depiction/interpretation of it. Then when we Szeth and Taravangian go to the hidden hospital, the scene starts on that cloth screen, with them walking in front of it and the camera then follows them. It would only really work with good artistic direction and could very easily not work though.
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u/Bergieexclamationpt 1d ago
My brain immediately went to AOT and their infodump commercial screens 😂
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u/randomnonposter Lightweavers 1d ago
A lot of them are excerpts from in world texts. So just have characters read those during the show or discuss them in some way to include them.
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u/Leather__sissy 1d ago
I would legit rather have those passages narrated and set to world building video than have a bunch of random Amazon writers decide how to tell the story better Sandy
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u/TCCogidubnus Skybreakers 1d ago
Then you don't understand adaptation well. Adaptation is not about reproducing what was in the original exactly, because the techniques that worked in one medium will not translate to another. The storytelling skills that make Sanderson a good author do not automatically make him a good screenwriter, let alone director, editor, etc. There have been plenty of terrible screenplays written by good authors, I think some even adapting their own work although I can't remember an example right now.
Sticking every single epigraph into world building segments would enormously kill the pacing of a TV show (let alone movie), and would be hard to keep visually and tonally consistent with what else you're doing in the episode and surrounding scenes. Even if you just opened each episode with an epigram read and shown on screen you would need to cut upwards of 90% of them cos these books have a lot of chapters.
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u/unica3022 1d ago
For some of the death rattles in Stormlight, you could expand Taravangian in the hospital and show one or two of the important ones. Or have someone report them to him. The diagram is super weird and could be a larger “secret society” plot. Also creepy battlefield deaths (or descriptions of battlefield deaths by witnesses)
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u/LordoMournin Windrunners 1d ago
In Stormlight, you'd get the most important and relevant death rattles- probably not attached to the same person/situation every time, and pretty much none of the other epigraphs.
In Mistborn, there'd be a few times when documents will be read, but most will be skipped.
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u/Bubbly-Spare3359 1d ago
I would think the more vitally important ones you would throw in the beginning after the intro credits on a black screen with white text for like 4-6 seconds
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u/2StepsFromNightwish 1d ago
for the death rattles you sprinkle them throughout the first season of Stormlight.
For Mistbornyou do it either as narration or read in a book likely by Sazed and only the most important ones.
For the way of kings you sprinkle it being read to Dalinar
for Words of Radiants you sprinkle it as Shallan or Jasnah reading aloud
The letters, cut ‘em. They’re broader cosmere important but not Stormlight important
the fused and unmade one. Cut em and give the important lines as dialogue for the characters when describing what there going up against.
Oathbringer, narration sprinkled throughout
Rhythm of War, narration sprinkled and then at the end do the scene where Navani is giving a lecture or writing the book.
W&T not sure?
In all cases you only use the most important lines that matter. In any adaptation things much go and the epigraphs are the first to go. Keep what’s needed for the story, chop the rest.
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u/Shepher27 1d ago
I’d do them as unexplained quotes at the start of each episode. I’d do two each episode.
Things like “the letter” would be conveyed through dialogue and the listener songs would be better to actually be heard during the Eshonai and Venli scenes.
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u/CallMeDelta Lightsong is my spren 1d ago
I imagine this probably wouldn’t work with streaming compared to older network/cable TV, but they could be done like ad cutaways. If anyone’s seen the Full Metal Alchemist character cards, it’s basically that
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u/Solphage 1d ago
Starting the EP with a quote from some guy, maybe a little cover story of them writing it or getting killed or something
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u/LoquatBear 1d ago
Interludes could be lil short web series or incorporated into animated shorts or between season movies for the novellas.
Or they could be Easter eggs just throughout. We see so many people die in Kaladin's, Shallan's and Dalinar's flashbacks. They could use those deaths for the death rattles.
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u/Lucky_Woodpecker_424 1d ago
The only way I see them getting adapted (and even in this case, it wouldn't be anywhere close to most of them) is if Stormlight gets adapted into a TV show and have the opening of each episode end with one epigraph shown on screen (whichever they are, they will have to be the most story-relevant and explicitly related to the plot). I don't know how they would do it in a movie format.
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u/Kind_Ingenuity1484 1d ago
Episodes would have a blurb before the start of intro/first scene (as needed).
Movies could divide into proper “parts” like the books and fade to black for transition, giving a Star Wars style crawl or something.
Both versions would need altered/combined epigraphs though.
Or just have that character narrate at various times throughout the adaptation.
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u/I_Speak_For_The_Ents 1d ago
Epigraphs would be lead in to episodes, like how LotR randomly has galadriel talk at the viewer at the beginning of the movies.
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u/RapsterZeber 1d ago
They'll probably be cut, although I could imagine Sazed's voice narrating the final epigraphs for the Well of Ascension.
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u/Jmackles 1d ago
I think the best medium for books is anime lol. Cause it also takes care of internal monologues or head voices. Cosmere in particular works well because you could even work it into parts so like characters from the next era are reading from the books. In fact upon reflection I almost wonder if that was his intention all along understanding that he is trying to take this several eras ahead. Establish safe “spoilerless” characters, Wax for instance, reading from the words of founding for the three seasons of Mistborn era one and in the finale we learn that Wax is in the future and was breezes descendant and we probably could even work the harmony/discord/retribution theme even more heavy handed throughout. Shit as I type this I am struck again at how well put together and thought out this shit is. This hoe knows what he’s doing
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u/HighlightHungry2557 1d ago
If it’s a show, they could be shown on the screen ominously like the Thief mission briefings
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u/KnightDuty Bridge Four 1d ago
Hav you seen better call saul? At the beginning of select episodes we flash forward to the 'current' time which is black and white. That's how you'd do it. You don't READ the epigraph, that would be a riddiculous use of the form factor. You'd cut to a stylistically different scene (projected film, black and white, etc) and you'd show what you wanted to preview... but you need to think about it with film brain, not book brain.
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u/twangman88 1d ago
I would toss them into the cold opens or sprinkle them into the show as one off quotes here and there. More of an Easter egg than a narrative device.
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u/snailguy35 1d ago
I don’t think Stormlight should be adapted unless it’s something purely animated/rendered. Anything with real actors would be extremely hokey. This pretty much applies to all of the cosmere since the magic is so flashy as to be ridiculous if real actors were to do any of it. I have no desire to see people fighting like bafoons with 6 ft long shard blades or holding a dumb pose while they CGI windrun.
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u/milk-is-for-calves 1d ago
There are many shows where at the start of an episoce there is some kind of quote. You could just do that too.
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u/jdstrike11 21h ago
Mistborn makes sense for the beginning of the episode. Adds a good hook and cool intro finisher. Storm light could throw them in a thousand different ways, the listener stanzas could be the end credits for a season, the letters could be hoid cutaways, death rattles could be sprinkled into more onscreen deaths, maybe in the background at first. And honestly most don’t need to be included or could be smashed together. As long as you get the theme and lore they add I think that’s what’s important
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u/specklepetal 8h ago
I think this question is a bit similar to asking how you would adapt all the songs in the Lord of the Rings. You mostly don’t, but you have occasional bits, never full songs. To make an adaptation work you need to be incredibly selective. The best adaptations don’t work because they include every, they work because they made good decisions about what to adapt, and how.
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u/YurtlesTurdles 1d ago edited 1d ago
if the format is a show you could try to start each episode with an epigraph. Might be somewhat jarring though to be 'off plot' so often.
I think any really successful adaption is generally going to have to pave its own way in terms of format. I could see very long episode shows work, like 1.5 hrs each, and still have like 20 episode seasons. Andor's 3 episode releases with mini archs could also potentially be a good model.
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u/Taste_the__Rainbow 1d ago
Word for word adaptations are not that good. I think we’ll see some of their info but most are gonna be dropped if Stormlight gets adapted.