Elantris: Difference between revisions

 

Not to be confused with the Hyundai Elantra.

* [[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, {{spoiler|Dilaf.}}

* [[After the End]]: Sort of. Elantris is not a pleasant place to live in anymore, though the world outside its walls continues as normal.

** 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]]: {{spoiler|Dilaf.}}

* [[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.

* [[Best Served Cold]]

* [[Cape Swish]]: Hrathen does this. When she first sees him, Sarene hopes he'll trip on it.

* [[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.}}

* [[Dramatic Unmask]]: {{spoiler|Raoden, in the home of his conspirator friend, to the usurper King Telrii.}} He was even [[Crazy Prepared]] about it, making it ''look'' like his disguise was mundane when it was really the product of {{spoiler|[[The Magic Comes Back]].}}

* [[Earn Your Happy Ending]]

* [[The Empire]]: Fjordell.

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]

** 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.

* [[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.

* [[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.

* [[Noble Demon]]: Hrathen again (ironic, considering that he's a priest).

* [[Not Using the Zed Word]]: The Elantrians--no bleeding, no heartbeat, no healing, unable to die unless [[Highlander (Franchise)|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. {{spoiler|So is Dilaf.}}

* [[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.

* [[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. {{spoiler|The light attracted a fungus which fed on it. This was not a problem while the fungus was alive but once the magic went away so did the glow, the fungus died and rotted coating the surfaces of Elantris in a thick oily slime.}}

* [[Principles Zealot]]: Subverted by Hrathen, who is quite reasonable, all things considered. {{spoiler|Played terrifyingly straight by Dilaf.}}

* [[Rasputinian Death]]

 

{{quote| '''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.<br />

* [[Turn the Other Cheek]]: Played straight, averted, and subverted.

* [[Vasquez Always Dies]]: {{spoiler|Karata.}}

* [[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.}}

* [[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 [[Chunky Salsa Rule|massive damage]] ends their suffering, or leaves them semi-conscious [[And I Must Scream|in their component bits]], still in pain forever.