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In late 2023 Paladin Creative met with the Dragonsteel events team to discuss Dragonsteel Nexus 2024, an annual convention for world-renowned fantasy author, Brandon Sanderson. With the much anticipated release of the fifth book of the Stormlight Archive “Wind and Truth” on the horizon, Dragonsteel wanted to add a big event to mark the occasion. Thus the Worldhopper Ball was born.
As fans of the books ourselves, we wanted to show an event that so far had not been covered: the wedding of two of its main characters, Shallan Davar and Adolin Kohlin. We conceptualized a high fantasy ball that would take our guests past familiar scenic elements from the books and eventually lead them to the world of the Stormlight Archive, Roshar. With the descriptions in the books as our guide, we brought the details on the page into our reality. Character actors performed scripted elements for the audience in an experiential novella. What resulted was an immersive experience and a space where imagination came to life.
Creative Design | Event Production | Graphic Design | Fabrication | Scenic Design | Talent & Show
The challenge of bringing the Worldhopper Ball to life was aside from the rich descriptions in the books, there was not as much official artwork or a film/TV adaptation to go off of. We spent months researching the texts, compiling a list of descriptors to fill out the vision of this world. The cultures of Roshar are a blend of cultures found on Earth so we stretched across the globe for a combined result from Mongolia, Morocco, East Asian, Middle Eastern, French in the Second Empire, Indian Royal, and a smattering of Eastern European. This was reflected not only in the footprint and decor, but the drape, costumes, and food as well. With each detail carefully chosen, the result was a rich melting pot of light and color, lending to the celebratory nature of the wedding.
Guests were treated to an arched entryway made after the chapter titles in the books, a luminescent tunnel through Shadesmare, a dance floor under hanging drape and colorful lanterns, themed food and bar stations, a guestbook to the fictional couple, flash-paper burning station, performances by character actors, a kata group and aerialists, and an emo DJ set to cap off the night.
Attendees from the Cosmere Conversations podcast had the following to share:
“It was just so magical to be given a space where collectively as a group we could all dream and give ourselves permission to imagine and suspend our disbelief in a way that maybe we haven’t since we were children.”
“It was an example of real magic on Earth […] There is something absolutely magical about a group of people coming together to imagine and to dream together. To create a world out of our own imaginations and bring it into the world with love and joy and share it together.”
Photography by Julia Stockton Photography
Guest Count: 3,500 | Venue: Salt Palace Convention Center
