Elantris

Elantris was the city of the gods. Elantrians were people who had been magically transformed by a strange effect that strikes people at random, turning them into near-immortals able to command powerful magics. Anyone the transformation took--beggar, peasant or nobleman--would leave their old, mundane lives behind and move to Elantris, to live in glory, wisdom, and splendor, worshiped by mere mortals for all eternity.

Eternity, as the introduction puts it, ended ten years ago. In a cataclysmic event that tore open the land, the magic suddenly failed, turning the Elantrians into grotesque zombie-like creatures stripped of their magic and their glory. The transformation still strikes at random, but now as a curse, condemned by all the religions of the world.

The story opens with 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 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...

And then everything starts going wrong all at once. The kingdom of Arelon is unstable due to inept leadership, the most beloved man in the kingdom (who could have held things together) is "dead," and a high priest of the militaristic Dereth religion has just arrived in the capital city. He has three months to convert the people of Arelon, or they will all be wiped out by the Derethites in a holy war. And that's just the first couple of chapters. To say anything more would be to spoil things.

Elantris is the first published book by Brandon Sanderson, who went on to write the Mistborn trilogy, Warbreaker, The Stormlight Archive, and the last three volumes of The Wheel of Time.

Not to be confused with the Hyundai Elantra.

This book provides examples of:

 * Action Girl: Not Sarene's forte, as she's more of a political type, but she does fence regularly for sport and is good enough to hold her own against the most physically powerful character in the novel,
 * After the End: Sort of. Elantris is not a pleasant place to live in anymore, though the world outside its walls continues as normal.
 * Anti Magic:
 * 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
 * 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.
 * Axe Crazy:
 * 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...
 * Best Served Cold
 * Cape Swish: Hrathen does this. When she first sees him, Sarene hopes he'll trip on it.
 * The Cavalry:
 * Chekhov's Armoury: Plenty of seemingly minor details turn out to be significant later on, and only the most important one was obvious enough to identify as a Chekhov's Gun beforehand.
 * Chessmaster: Sarene. And Hrathen.
 * Church Militant: The Shu-Dereth religion views combat as an expression of one's loyalty to God and Wyrn, and all of its priests are expected to be at least competent warriors. Hrathen's vestments actually include armor, though that's supposed to be ceremonial.
 * Corrupt Church: It's very heavily implied that Wyrn, the priest-emperor of the Derethi, cares more about power on earth than righteousness before God. This is subverted with the two main Derethi characters, however--
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: An entire aristocracy full of them, (the king set up his system of nobility and titles specifically based on the ownership and production of wealth), but Telrii and the King are by far the worst.
 * Cult: "The Mysteries."
 * 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 had planned for the Elantrians over
 * Dragon With an Agenda: Dilaf.
 * Dramatic Unmask: He was even Crazy Prepared about it, making it look like his disguise was mundane when it was really the product of
 * Earn Your Happy Ending
 * Elephant in The Living Room: Nobody at court wants to discuss Prince Raoden's death.
 * Elantris itself is also this for the Arelenes after the Reod.
 * The Empire: Fjordell.
 * Even Evil Has Standards
 * 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.
 * Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The Derethi/Fjordell empire is a combination of the Romans and the Norse, per Word of God. Jindo is loosely based on China, and Teod is remniscent of Britain in that it's a tiny island that is nonetheless a world power due to its incredibly formidable navy.
 * Fate Worse Than Death
 * Faux Death: Played with.
 * Femininity Failure: Sarene tries to be traditionally feminine, but isn't exactly good at it. This leads to her having trouble fitting in with the court.
 * Geometric Magic
 * Functional/Geometric Magic: AonDor, the magic of the Elantrians, is based on a set of special runes that must be traced exactly the right way in the air, with an endless variety of effects generated using special modifiers and varied line lengths.
 * which apparently works by tracing patterns though special movements, sort of like a Supernatural Martial Arts. He cuts down with his eyes closed.
 * Good Republic Evil Empire: Averted; all the nations involved on both sides are monarchies and Hrathen was able to topple the Duladen Republic in favour of a Fjorden-backed monarchy in part because he was able to exploit the fact that the Duladen were ruled by an oligarchic out-of-touch ruling class, known simply as "the republicans".
 * Gotterdammerung: Elantris was known as the City of the Gods until all the magic went sour.
 * Guile Hero: Sarene, certainly, and Prince Raoden, to a lesser extent.
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * Ironic Echo: At the beginning of the novel, Hrathen is convinced that eventually, the people of the city will see him as their savior.
 * Karma Houdini: Wyrn gets away untouched, with just his recent plotting thwarted. Sanderson hopes to write a sequel someday and intended to preserve Wyrn as Big Bad of the setting.
 * 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.
 * Knight Templar: Hrathen, and
 * 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.
 * Madness Mantra: Each Hoed, an Elantrian who has been driven into a catatonic state by the injury, has their own.
 * Magic a Is Magic A: Seriously. If you want a slightly different effect, you'll need to use Magic A'.
 * Mayfly December Romance: It's not really addressed in the book, but it's implied that Raoden will far outlive Sarene.
 * Meaningful Echo:
 * Meaningful Name: Plenty, most of which are only revealed by checking the Aonic glossary in the back.
 * Mission From God: Hrathen and Dilaf are both driven by their devotion, though
 * 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.
 * No Zombie Cannibals: Justified. The Elantrians' flesh tastes so horrible that even the perpetually-ravenous Elantrians can't bring themselves to eat each other.
 * Non Indicative Name: Iadon, see character sheet for details.
 * Noble Demon: Hrathen again (ironic, considering that he's a priest).
 * Non Human Sidekick: The Seons.
 * Not Using the Zed Word: The Elantrians--no bleeding, no heartbeat, no healing, unable to die unless beheaded or purged with fire, accumulating unfading pain with every minor injury, and constantly ravenous. Almost all Elantrians are reduced to moaning, immobile heaps within a year of transformation even if they avoid going insane from pain and hunger before then. Sanderson plays up those who've managed to keep their sanity as victims of something like zombie apartheid.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Sarene's very good at this.
 * Only Sane Man: Raoden only meets one person who's managed to retain both his wits and his humanity after becoming an Elantrian.
 * Phosphor Essence: Before being reduced to twisted wrinkled pseudo-zombies, Elantrians glowed faintly.
 * 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 played with further when, 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.
 * Powered By a Forsaken Child: require sacrificing  one must die to  while
 * Power Glows: All magic glows, the more the better. Elantrians and their very city all possessed a constant glow of power before the disaster struck.
 * Interestingly the glowing was responsible for one of the problems that occurred after the Reod.
 * Principles Zealot: Subverted by Hrathen, who is quite reasonable, all things considered.
 * Rasputinian Death
 * The Reason You Suck Speech:Sarene gives a nasty one to to Iadon.
 * The Reason You Suck Speech:Sarene gives a nasty one to to Iadon.

"Sarene: Defiance, Iadon? I think you'll feel differently when everyone knows the truth. You know they already think you a fool. They pretend to obey you, but you know-you know in that whispering part of your heart that they mock you with their obedience. You think they didn't hear about your lost ships? You think they weren't laughing to themselves at how their king would soon be as poor as a baron? Oh they knew. How will you face them, Iadon, when they learn how you really survived? When I show them how I rescued your income, how I gave you the contracts in Teod, how I saved your crown.

You are a fool, Iadon. I know it, your nobles know it, and the world knows it. You have taken a great nation and squashed it in your greedy hands. You have enslaved the people and you have defiled Arelon's honor. And, despite it all, your country grows poorer. Even you, the king, are so destitute that only a gift from Teod lets you keep your crown.

How will it look, Iadon? How will it feel to have the entire court know you are indebted to a woman? A foolish girl at that? You would be revealed. Everyone would know what you are. Nothing more than an insecure, trivial, incapable invalid."


 * Redemption Equals Death:
 * Religion of Evil: Shu-Dereth is considered one by many. Hrathen, of course, thinks that it's perfectly logical,
 * 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.
 * Sinister Minister: Subverted with Hrathen, who is both a priest and fairly sinister but really just wants to save everyone from being massacred by a holy war.
 * Sins of Our Fathers
 * Smug Snake: Duke Telrii thinks he's a Magnificent Bastard. He is very, very wrong, and winds up a puppet to pretty much all of the more competent villains. King Iadon is a bit better, but he still falls squarely into this too.
 * Start of Darkness: reveals his near the end.
 * 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.
 * The Messiah
 * Turn the Other Cheek: Played straight, averted, and subverted.
 * Vasquez Always Dies:
 * 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.
 * Well Intentioned Extremist: Hrathen.
 * Wizards Live Longer: Elantrians and Dakhor both have longer-than-natural lifespans.
 * Wound That Will Not Heal: When the cursed Elantrians suffer pain of any sort, it doesn't fade, remaining as strong forever as it was when they were first injured. Nobody's quite certain whether massive damage ends their suffering, or leaves them semi-conscious in their component bits, still in pain forever.
 * Worthy Opponent
 * Zombie Advocate: Justified in a setting where no one calls them zombies and they aren't mindless.