I recently started reading the new Skyward book, Blightfall, and was shocked by what I found. This series takes place outside the Cosmere, but an early chapter gave me a very fun reason to ask whether that could ever change.
Blightfall is the first book in a new trilogy called Riftwake, by Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson, set in the same Cytoverse. If you need a refresher before starting, our Skyward series recap covers the earlier novels and novellas, with spoilers for those books.
Spoiler warning: The discussion below reveals spoilers from chapter four of Blightfall.
A familiar name
During a gathering in before a mission, Jorgen walks into the room, but he’s acting strangely. Weirdest of all, his voice doesn’t sound right. Very quickly, the disguise drops, revealing that it’s actually FM using an illusion.
She has a new type of taynix with her. These are the slugs in this universe with specific powers, like transportation or concussion blasts that knock people unconscious while leaving inorganic matter alone.
This particular slug can create illusions. And his name is…
His name is Hoid!
He’s got an ivory body and rainbow-colored spines. Just like the character Hoid from the Cosmere, he has the power of illusion. The chapter then explains the name:
“Hoid was a wanderer from Old Earth mythology who performed illusions, traveled the stars, and appeared in the unlikeliest places.”
If you’re a Cosmere fan, you know Hoid as someone who turns up across different worlds and books. Illusion magic is one of his longstanding abilities.
An Easter egg, or something more?
Sanderson and Patterson are probably just having some fun with an Easter egg here. Since Skyward takes place in the future with descendants of Earth, my idea is that the Cosmere books became so popular in the future that Hoid essentially became a mythological character in humanity’s history, with his stories passed down generation after generation.
But there’s the small, unlikely, probably impossible possibility that it could hint at something else…
So Sanderson has previously described the Cosmere as something smaller than dwarf galaxy. What if Skyward takes place beyond it, in the future after the Cosmere stories have ended, and people like Hoid have ventured out to explore the wider universe?
And maybe, just maybe, Hoid is pretending to be a slug so he can take part in this story and influence it somehow.
It’s a stretch, but there’s a chance (a very small one) that this is the real Hoid from the Cosmere entering the Skyward series! Probably not, but either way I am having a lot of fun with Blighfall so far!
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