Elantris: Difference between revisions

The story opens with [[Wise Prince|Raoden]], the beloved Crown Prince of Arelon, waking up to find it took him in his sleep. He's thrown into the now-ruined city of Elantris, which has transformed over the last ten years from a majestic City of the Gods into a crumbling, filth-covered insane asylum filled with cursed immortals whose bodies do not heal from even the slightest injuries. His fiance from [[Arranged Marriage|a political marriage]], Sarene, arrives from another kingdom to be told that he suddenly died during her journey, leaving her officially his widow under the terms of the contract. She immediately suspects assassination, but soon she finds far more pressing matters to worry about...

 

 

 

Not to be confused with the Hyundai Elantra.

* [[Anti-Villain]]: Hrathen. His primary motivation in coming to Arelon isn't because he believes the Arelene to be wrong (though he does), it's that he wants to save them from a terrible fate, namely {{spoiler|genocide at the hands of Wyrn's forces.}}

** Also, the one time he had to convert a population through bloodshed, it weighed heavily on his conscience, and continued to do so even to the present time of the story.

* [[Badass Preacher]]: Derethi priests ''look'' like this, in large part because their typical garb consists of a suit of ornamental, ceremonial armor. Hrathen, on the other hand, ''is'' this; that armor he wears constantly? Totally real.

* [[Bare-Fisted Monk]]: Subverted. There are some ''very'' scary monks out there...

* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: So the Elantrians were benevolent semi-divine beings who ruled over a genuine utopia... and then they were all made into hideous zombie-like creatures because they earned the wrath of God (according to Shu-Dereth). Seems more than a little unfair.

** Not to mention what {{spoiler|Dilaf}} had planned for the Elantrians over {{spoiler|the (accidental!) cursing and death of his wife.}}

* [[Earn Your Happy Ending]]

* [[Elephant in the Living Room]]: Nobody at court wants to discuss Prince Raoden's death.

* [[Everything's Better with Princesses|Everything's Better With Princesses And Princes]]: Sarene and Raoden are the most competent politicians in the book.

** Making them [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]].

* [[Fate Worse Than Death]]

* [[Faux Death]]: Played with.

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|Hrathen.}}

* [[Ironic Echo]]: At the beginning of the novel, Hrathen is convinced that eventually, the people of the city will see him as their savior. {{spoiler|Well...yeah, but not exactly the way he intended.}}

* [[Kill It with Fire]]: Failed Elantrians are very flammable, and many people are more than happy to help out.

* [[King Incognito]]: Raoden, sort of, several times. {{spoiler|When he's first sent to Elantris, he doesn't give his real name. People unusually smart and/or close to him figure out who he is in the end, but most people come to follow him simply because he's leading by example and getting things done. When Sarene accidentally subverts his efforts to help Elantrians by giving them handouts, he doesn't admit to being in charge and lets her think the former gang leaders are still running things. And later, he leaves the city disguised as a [[Jive Turkey]], because he's still trying to figure out how to fix the magic.}}

* [[Knight Templar]]: Hrathen, {{spoiler|1=though a combination of [[Character Development]] and sympathetic POV soon make it clear he is far less fanatical than he seems,}} and {{spoiler|Dilaf.}}

* [[Love Before First Sight]]: Both Raoden and Sarene began to fall in love with one another when they could only speak over Seon and via letters, but hadn't met face to face.

* [[Magic A Is Magic A]]: Seriously. If you want a slightly different effect, you'll need to use Magic A'. {{spoiler|It is heavily implied that the old Elantrians had to learn all this over long time, in universities.}}

* [[Mayfly-December Romance]]: It's not really addressed in the book, but it's implied that Raoden will far outlive Sarene.

* [[Meaningful Echo]]: {{spoiler|When Saolin goes Hoed, his [[Madness Mantra]] is "I have failed my Lord Spirit." When Raoden does, his is "Failed my love."}}

* [[Meaningful Name]]: Plenty, most of which are only revealed by checking the Aonic glossary in the back.

* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: The pirate Dreok Crushthroat. For bonus points, "Reo" means "Vengeance" in Aonic. Fortunately, he was defeated before the story begins. {{spoiler|It's actually Dreok ''Crushed''throat, but that's not much better.}}

* [[No Zombie Cannibals]]: Justified. The Elantrians' flesh tastes so horrible that even the perpetually-ravenous Elantrians can't bring themselves to eat each other.

* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: Sarene's very good at this. {{spoiler|So is Dilaf.}}

* [[Only Sane Man]]: Raoden only meets one person who's managed to retain both his wits and his humanity after becoming an Elantrian. {{spoiler|At first.}}

* [[Planet of Hats]]: Subverted with the Dulas. They're supposed to be an entire culture of optimistic, lazy, rather silly airheads, but the main Dula character, Galladon, is a pessimistic, cynical [[Deadpan Snarker]] who has the most common sense of anyone in Elantris. This is frequently remarked on by other characters, to his annoyance, and we don't ever really see a "typical" Dula in the book.

** Then [[Exaggerated Trope|played with]] further when, {{spoiler|1=through AonDor and costuming, Raoden}} impersonates a Dula, playing every stereotype of them he knows to the hilt. The Arelene nobility don't know the difference between the impersonator and a genuine Dula, while the difference is perfectly clear (and also very annoying) to Galladon. Sarene becomes suspicious when she realizes just how much of a stereotype he is.

* [[Religion of Evil]]: Shu-Dereth is considered one by many. Hrathen, of course, thinks that it's [[Lawful Neutral|perfectly]] [[The Spock|logical]], {{spoiler|even after he agrees that its current leader is evil.}}

* [[Rule of Three]]: The story alternates between the perspectives of the three main characters, Raoden to Sarene to Hrathen and back to Raoden. Only for it to fall apart completely (mixing up the order and including perspectives from other minor characters) towards the end during the 'Sanderson Avalanche' as various plotlines reach fruition .

* [[Sins of Our Fathers]]

* [[Start of Darkness]]: {{spoiler|Dilaf}} reveals his near the end. {{spoiler|He was a Fjordell priest sent to spy on Arelon, but he [[Becoming the Mask|became the mask]] and fell in love with an Arelish woman, who he married. She later fell very sick, and he took her to Elantris for healing--but the healer botched the job and turned her into an undead Hoed instead. Dilaf put her out of her misery, but the act of doing so caused his mind to snap. Returning to the Derethi faith with a passion, he vowed to [[Disproportionate Retribution|destroy Elantris utterly]] in revenge.}}

* [[Steven Ulysses Perhero]]: When Raoden gets asked his name in Elantris, he tells the guy to call him "Spirit," which is the meaning of the Aon (rune) Rao in his name.

* [[Villain Protagonist]]: Hrathen is somewhere between this and [[Anti-Hero]] in his own POV sections.

* [[Warrior Monk]]: All the priests of Shu-Dereth, but especially Hrathen. {{spoiler|It seems from Dilaf's reaction that the other priests don't make a practice of wearing ''real'' armor day in and day out.}}

* [[Worthy Opponent]]

* [[Zombie Advocate]]: Justified in a setting where [[Not Using the Zed Word|no one calls them zombies]] and they aren't mindless.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Fantasy Literature]]