The Cosmere is a creation of Brandon Sanderson, one that connects nearly all of his oeuvre. The Cosmere is the universe that encompasses all the worlds of his novels, including The Stormlight Archive, the Mistborn series, Elantris, Tress of the Emerald Sea, and more. Unbeknownst to many of the characters in these novels, characters like Hoid (who makes a small guest appearance as Wax’s driver in the Mistborn: Wax and Wayne series) travel between worlds. Each world has its own magic system, manifesting in a variety of ways.

Sanderson has hinted, both through the novels and through communications with his fan base, that his novels are building up to both even more connections throughout the Cosmere universe as well as some conflict that is bigger and more dangerous than the conflicts of the novels thus far. For now, each of the series Sanderson has written stands independently from the rest, but he reveals more connections with nearly each book, especially in The Stormlight Archive and the Wax and Wayne series, beginning with The Alloy of Law.

Sanderson included these connections, he states, because he wanted to create a traditional fantasy epic without requiring fans to have to follow each individual book.