Sanderson books and their movie influences

SpoilerCosmere spoilers (no Emberdark)

Hi all,
Sanderson has talked in his lectures about how he takes movie plots and genre tropes and adapts them into his books. I personally think this is a big key to his success, so I went throguh and wrote down the ones I could think of. Please feel free to correct or add more if you think of them! --- and yes I guess spoilers for all books, if you conisder this as such

STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE

  • WoK - Kaladin (sports movies/Gladiator); Shallan (dark academia); Dalinar (courtroom dramas, assassination thrillers)
  • WoR - Kaladin (sports movies pt 2), Shallan (solo wanderer westerns), Dalinar (assassination thrillers pt 2)
  • O - Dalinar (political war films), Shallan (Gothic mansion / Robin hood), Kaladin (I know I've seen the movie where the guy sees war from both sides and then can't choose who he fights with, but I can't pinpoint the film exactly? Kingdom of Heaven? Last Samurai? idk)
  • RoW - Kaladin (Die Hard) & Navina (Academic thrillers/Oppenheimer), Dalinar (unsure), Shallan (unsure)
  • W&T - Dalinar/Shallan (portal fantasy), Kaladin/Szeth (Buddy cop/RomCom structure, Pokémon), everone else (last stand finales, Helms Deep, Minis Tirith, etc you know the trope) 

MISTBORN

  • M: TFE- General (Oceans 11, Star Wars), Vin (My Fair Lady)
  • WoA - General (political thrillers), Vin (Love triangle), Elend (Princess Dairies)
  • HoA - General (War thriller) & Spook (Les Miserable)

MISTBORN: ERA 2

  • AoL - Sherlock Holmes / westerns / batman 
  • SoS - davinci code / Seven / serial killer noir
  • BoM - Ark of the convanent / guy ritchie's sherlock 
  • TLM - general (mission impossible / league of extraordinary gentleman/MIB), 3rd act reveal (Silo/Fallout), Marasi (secret spy organization thriller)

SECRET PROJECTS

  • TotES- Princess Bride / Wizard of Oz / Pirates of The Caribbean (before anyone pushes back on this one, Tress's outfit is exactly Elizabeth's in the final act, its a lover needing to rescue their interest plot, the person who helps them is a legendary hero who's lost his mind and yet somehow still wins the day, and yes also pirates.)

  • Yumi/NP - Your Name

  • SM - Mad Max

  • IotE- alien invasion / --- note, I haven't read this one, just going off what's been said about it

Lemme know how I did and what others you'd add to this!

E - 

Posted Sep 14, 2025, 1:55 PM UTC

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