Elantris epilogue: Sarene

Sarene arrives to speak at Hrathen's funeral. We learn that Raoden has set up court inside Elantris. I am not sure this is the best idea: wouldn't the people prefer the king to be a little closer to them, not some aloof god-like creature? Maybe not. Then we learn that Raoden has arranged for the nobility to distribute food to the poor. This seems a bit socialist to me. Who will produce the food if there is no profit in it? Then again, I suppose the Elantrians can make free food again now. It's a post-scarcity economy and people will mainly be making YouTube videos from now on.

Sarene makes sure everyone knows that without Hrathen's efforts to save Arelon, Teod would have been overrun, Raoden would be dead, and Arelon would have been taken over by Fjordells.

But thanks to Hrathen, everyone lives happily ever after.

Elantris 62: Sarene, Hrathen, Raoden and Dilaf

Sarene has a chat with Hrathen, wondering at his change of heart but not learning much. Then Fjon, the priest Hrathen expelled when he arrived in Arelon, turns up out of nowhere and sticks a sword in Hrathen. Turns out he ended up being trained as an assassin. So that's the end of Hrathen. Then Dilaf turns up.

Meanwhile back in Arelon Raoden finishes healing people and then decides he has to teleport to Teod to rescue Sarene. At least he's surprised she got there so fast, I was beginning to think it was only me. Anyway it's really dangerous to teleport without typing in the correct distance, and this is where Adien finally comes in handy: he know exactly how many steps it is! Also since becoming an Elantrian he has regained is full mental faculties.

Raoden turns up just in the nick of time to save Sarene but he only slows Dilaf down. He can't teleport them home because the magic is weak this far from home. Dilaf has hundreds of monks attack them. Just in the nick of time Galladon turns up with hundreds of Elantrians. The Elantrians win but Dilaf escapes to attack Sarene's father. Raoden pursues and fights Dilaf but is injured. Just in the nick of time Sarene turns up to help but she gets injured, too. Just in the nick of time Hrathen, who is apparently not dead and has a bionic arm, turns up and snaps Dilaf's neck with his bionic arm before dropping dead for real this time.

Just in the nick of time Galladon shows up and heals Raoden and Sarene. They live happily ever after.

Elantris 61: Hrathen, Raoden, Lukel, Sarene, Galladon and Dilaf

Dilaf is about to stick his dagger into Sarene's neck, but Hrathen has finally had enough. He's realised he's a baddie, and doesn't want to continue. So he punches Dilaf in the face and fights off another ninja monk and grabs Sarene and runs off. It turns out the superhuman ninja monks are not as formindable when they don't have the element of surprise and you do, and when you know what you are dealing with and its weak spots, and when you are wearing armour that looks like ceremonial armour but is in fact real armour.

Hrathen and Sarene make their escape.

Meanwhile Lukas and family are watching as the Fjordells set fire to the Elantrians and Raoden is climbing back out of the lake, becuase luckilky it doesn't dissolve you unless you want to be dissolved, and Raoden has changed his mind. He goes running off down the hill and Galladon and Karata follow. They realise Raoden must be doing something important so they fight off some guards who would otherwise have stopped him. Karata gets her head chopped off and Galladon gets a sword stuck in him.

Just in the nick of time Raoden draws the right Aon in the right place and reboots the Elantrian Magic Machine, complete with a cinematic light show. Hurray! The Elantrians now turn into proper Elantrians and instantly heal. It's probably too late for poor Karata, though. Raoden goes into the city and tells the Fjordells to leave within the hour.

None of this is going to help Sarene much, because she is in another city still on the run. And Dilaf is in pursuit.

Elantris 59: Raoden, Sarene and Hrathen

Raoden finds himself slung over the back of a horse and taken off to Kiin's house to lure Sarene out. He's not in a good way. He's been hit on the head and he's in a lot of pain and is dizzy. Which means he's going to be in a lot of pain and dizzy forever, magical miracle rescue notwithstanding.

Sarene is determined not to put her family at risk to save Raoden, but thinks the least she can do is go to the roof to see him and say goodbye. Unfortunately Dilaf and his ninjas overcome Kiin's moat and they scale the walls and snatch Sarene and family right off the roof.

Dilaf phones up Sarene's dad and tells him he's holding his daughter hostage. Dilaf tells him he's about to pay him a visit by private jet (or some other fast travel system, presumably, because I don't see how else he can get to Teoras in one hour. Nobody seems surprised by this but perhaps they are distracted by the ultimatum: surrender or the girl gets it. Dilaf then does the typical bad guy thing and explains the whole plan: kill the royal family and sink the ships, then use Teod as a demonstration of power.

Dilaf sticks his sword into Raoden's belly and Raoden is now Hoed. Turns out this isn't quite as bad as it might have been, since he does at least lose conciousness.

Dilaf orders his men to take all the people to Elantris and burn everytone.

It's not looking good, is it? Galladon or someone had better have someting up their sleeve.

Elantris 58: Raoden, Sarene and Hrathen

Raoden is back in Roial's house. Shouldn't he be at the palace now? Anyway, he wakes to the sound of fighting in the city, and what's worse, Dilaf in his house with a bunch of demon soldiers. It looks like these are superhuman ninja priests with armoured bare chests. They fight off Raoden's guards without getting scratched and capture Raoden.

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Sarene is out arranging deliveries of weapons to Elantris because they're concerned about upcoming unrest due to Raoden becoming king. Little does she know she's about to be attacked by marauding superhuman ninja monks. The demons are running around slaughtering everyone in sight. The see Sarene. Her coachman is killed. She makes a run for Kiin's house but is caught.

Luckily, it turns out that Kiin is more of a total badass than his friendly merchant-chef persona lets on. Kiin the axe wielding hero actually manages to kill one of the monsters, though it takes a lot of effort. They escape to his house where all their friends are hiding (including Shuden and the previously missing Torena) and collapse the bridge. We finally learn why Sarene's dad doesn't like his brother: it turns out Eventeo stole the throne from his older brother while Kiin was off partying. So Kiin became the pirate Dreok Crushedthroat and learnt very useful fighting skills in the process.

Presumably Sarene is about to start worrying about Raoden but the viewpoint changes to Hrathen, who is learning all about Dilaf. It turns out Hrathen also went to the Dakhor monastery where monks are given potions to transform their bodies and give them superhuman abilities (dark magic I expect rather pre-dates Shu-Dereth, as that book Sarene found would no doubt explain), but Hrathen dropped out.

Dilaf did not drop out. He became a super-human ninja monk and has been hiding out in Arelon for decades preparing for the invasion. He also outranks Hrathen because he is a gradget, in charge of the Dakhor monastery. This rather explains his previous insolence. Hrathen's only purpose was to serve as a distraction. The real aim is to kill everyone in Arelon and wipe out the Elantrians forever.

Uh-oh.

The only hope now is for someone in Elantris to switch the magic back up to full power and use it to fight back. Who can do it? No-one in Elantris is as good at Aon magic as Raoden (although he sent Galladon back to teach people about AonDor and we don't know what has been happening there lately; hopefully someone there turns out to be a natural magician once given the opportunity). Raoden is captured. Can he use his magic to escape?

Elantris 56: Sarene

Shuden is not happy because his best friend Eondel is dead, his betrothed Torena has disappeared (a mystery to be solved later) and her dad Ahan turned out to be a traitor (and is still at large, possibly having escaped somewhere with his daughter).

City guard soldiers approach Roial's house. Raoden decides to parley, which turns out to be the right move because the soldiers are looking for a king.

Raoden decides to claim the throne and heads straight to the coronation ceremony. It's the latest in a long line of ceremonies in which people turn into Elantrians at the key moment. Dilaf somehow interferes with Raoden's magic disguise. What power does Dilaf have over AonDor?

It's not as bad as it could be: Sarene makes a rousing speech and persuades the assembled nobility to accept Elantrian Raoden as king. It seems to work. Personally I'd be a bit more worried about the peasantry: will they accept an undead king supported by a wife who came back from the dead? It seems far from a given. And peasants can be revolting.

Elantris 53: Sarene and Raoden

It's all happening at the secret meeting! They discuss various methods of deposing Telrii, such as raising an army of peasants or having him assassinated. Raoden drops out of character accidentally and Sarene figures out that he is Spirit. In the kitchen they have a nice chat, but Spirit lets on that he has more secrets.

Roial has hired some assassins and they are ready to go. But Ahan turns out to be a spy and has summoned the king and his guards to arrest everyone. They stick a sword in poor old Roial. Then Raoden reveals himself as Raoden! The soldiers don't want to attack him and they run off, and the Telrii is not far behind them.

Raoden explains himself somewhat. He tries to heal Roial but the magic isn't strong enough. Eondel calls him king. Sarene realises she has a husband.

All they have to do now is unite the people behind Raoden and defend the realm against the superior might of the Fjordells. Easy!

Elantris 50: Sarene

Hrathen is threatening to force everyone to convert religions, which if it happens will likely result in Sarene and her friends being arrested and executed (presumably because they would not be trusted to convert). Telrii is hesitating for now, but there is a sense of urgency about getting him off the throne.

She visits Roial's mansion where the fencing practice is now done. Roial has a new visitor, a mysterious Dula refugee named Kaloo (and his servant). Sarene is suspicious of him and challenges him to a duel and is surprised that he does not bleed when she pokes him with her sword. That means he's an Elantrian. It must be Galladon in disguise and the servant is Raoden. It must be a very good disguise.

Elantris 47: Sarene

Hrathen meets Sarene outside the gates. She tells him that she knows what he did. Her friends attack him but he fights them off and goes away, leaving them. He says that her father will convert to Shu-Dereth now, which rattles her.

But now presumably she is still free. Free to make a fuss and tell everyone what Hrathen did. Surely she still has reputation enough to do damage to Hrathen. He seems unconcerned about that for now, though.

Sarene goes back to her uncle Kiin's house and spends a few pages eating. Roial is there and he accepts that Hrathen was behind Sarene's adventure. There is discussion of the difficulty of taking action against Telrii since it would be treason. They agree to sleep on it.

Sarene calls her dad and amazingly, he is determined to go through with his conversion even though he knows Hrathen was behind his daughter's curse. It makes no sense to do this out of honour, since the promise was made under false pretences. But he says Fjorden will overwhelm Teod eventually anyway so he might as well surrender. Oh dear.

Even if our gang overthrow Telrii by force, Araluen has no defence against Fjorden. Their only hope is to solve the Elantrian magic problem, but apart from Raoden, no-one is working on that. And no-one expects it to be possible anyway. Something is going to have to change about that.

Elantris 44: Sarene

Sarene explains everything that has happened on the outside. Raoden is pretending to have been in Elantris a bit longer than he really has. Sarene is impressed at how well he seems to know all the people she knows. He just says it's important for even minor nobles to keep up to speed on the major nobles.

Raoden almost gives the game away when he reveals he knows about Sarene's marriage contract, but she doesn't follow this up.

She sends Ashe off to find out the latest news and he returns to say that Telrii is already king. That was a bit quick. So much for Sarene getting out of Elantris in time to stop it.

Elantris 41: Sarene

Raoden shows Sarene New Elantris. She likes him again now that she has seen what he has done and that the people like him.

New Elantris is such a happy place that children are running in the streets. Is that wise? What if they scrape a knee and it never heals? I think there was something about the Shaod not being as bad for children, but still. I'm worried.

Sarene sees a mad seon and assumes that Ashe will be like that. But he won't, since she was not really taken. I wonder if she will figure it out before she gets better.

Raoden is pretending to be some minor noble. I don't know why he doesn't tell her the truth at this point. It's getting weird. She's going to be annoyed when she does find out.

Sarene feels the cold but other Elantrians don't. Come on, Sarene, figure it out! Even Ashe the seon comes to visit her, proving her seon is not mad like the others. She sends him off to tell her family she's ok, but first she phone's her dad. He tells her his spies say that Telrii is waiting a few days before taking the throne. Will she get better in time to leave the city and put a stop to it? Her dad wants to break her out but she's having none of it. She thinks she can still help.

Elantris 38: Sarene

Sarene is suspicious of Hrathen's recovery. She knows it must have been a trick.

The head of the Korathi religion, the patriarch Seinalan arrives in town from Teod. He's ostensibly there for the king's funeral but Sarene wonders if he has other reasons to visit.

The funeral happens. It is short and to the point. Sarene notices that Telrii looks frustrated, presumably because she is going to marry Roial which eliminates his claim on the throne. I am not so sure. Then the patriarch makes an announcement. Turns out Iadon left a will that fixed all the titles in place after his death. His plan was to have people fight for noble positions, and then let the winners keep them. This also changes the rules of succession to the crown but Sarene assumes that strengthens her claim.

She's still going to marry Roial, though. Belt and braces, I suppose. Though I'm not entirely sure what the rules of succession are now. Iadon doesn't have another son. It's all a bit vague.

At the wedding Hrathen looks calm. Hrathen and Telrii are definitely up to something. There is something of the badly playing band about them. The wedding goes well until Sarene lifts her veil and everyone screams. Looks like Hrathen has given Sarene the fake Shaod poison.

Oh boy, now all the set up is going to pay off. Sarene is going to be thrown into Elantris, meet Raoden, and find out that she's still actually married to him. Then they'll find out that she hasn't really got Shaod. Hrathen probably expects her to die of starvation in Elantris, but Raoden probably has some sort of food supply and she'll be fine. She'll emerge a few days later and it will look like she has healed. That might help with her claim to the throne!

Elantris 35: Sarene

Sarene's dad is quite proud of her for dethroning the king. Who is now dead, by the way, having hanged himself despite being in prison. I'm gonna come out and say it: Iadon did not commit suicide!

Now there is the problem of the succession. Sarene does not want Telrii taking over. However he is both the richest man in the land and has bought off the city guard.

Shuden has the excellent idea of Sarene marrying Roial and combining their wealth and convincing the people that this is the continuity option, since Sarene is already a princess. This is possible because her marriage contract is now void. Yay! So she can marry someone she likes. Yay! But to save the country she is going to have to marry some random old guy. Boo!

It could be worse, he's quite a nice old chap and she gets on okay with him. And there is to be absolutely no hanky panky, since no heirs are required (she can get those from her next husband after Roial is dead). This is purely a marriage of political convenience. How much more civilised than Westeros is Araluen!

So that's all sorted then. Except Sarene then finds out that Hrathen has been healed. Which means all the people are going to think he's awesome and it's a sign from god. And he is going to support Telrii.

Elantris 32: Sarene

Iadon has been ignoring Sarene since she shouted at him. Other people in the court have become wary of her, too. Nonetheless, she gets Roial to host a lunar eclipse party. Telrii is there having his own sub-party next to the king's sub-party, indicating that he's building power ready to take the place of the king.

This might happen sooner rather than later because Sarene follows the king into a sewer and discovers him naked and covered in the blood of a virgin. So that's what he's been up to, and it explains the mystery of the disappearing servants. Dilaf has also followed and soon the whole city knows and that's the end of the king. He's been arrested. I'm not sure what that means for "princess" Sarene.

Elantris 29: Sarene

Sarene is crying because she thinks her boyfriend is a baddie. She thinks Shaor's men were only attacking because they were so desperately hungry. She doesn't know they were like that anyway.

The king massively overreacts about the attack in which no-one was hurt and sends men to kill all the Elantrians. Sarene has to yell at him to stop it, and he does. And he starts crying.

Sarene goes to the walls of Elantris to have a look. She notices the corpses are still alive. She realises that they don't need food to survive and wonders why the still want to eat. I suppose she'll figure it out eventually. She watches Raoden grieving and cradling Shaolin, supposes a tyrant can still love his followers, and wonders if he can really be a good man. I'm not entirely sure why she assumes he is a tyrant at all.

 

She goes to visit her uncle and learns that the whole court heard her chastising the king. That could cause rather a lot of political instability, I would think. There is news that someone unexpected was taken by the Shaod. Probably Hrathen.

Elantris 28: Raoden, Sarene

Raoden is reading the books in the secret underground bunker. He's keeping the acid lake a secret for now because he doesn't want the whole city to commit suicide. He learns about the Dor, the magical energy that can only fit through Aon shaped Aons and whose effects are controlled by the shape. Makes sense. I still think they're in the Matrix and the computer program that controls the magic just needs restarting.

Ien the Seon is floating about being weird.

It's becoming clear that they can't hold Shaor's men back much longer. Sure enough, on Sarene's next visit, they attack. Luckily nobody gets hurt.

In the middle of all this Raoden admits he's been holding back food from Shaor's men. This is one of those annoying plot devices where the plot is driven by people just not explaining themselves properly. If he just said, look, they're madmen and they can't be helped and I was actually just protecting you and your feed-the-hungry scheme. Oh, and I'm only taking extra food to help the suffering. Then she would be like, ok , cool. Instead she thinks he's a thieving tyrant. Oh well, I'm sure they'll sort it all out in the end.

Elantris 26: Sarene

The plot to keep King Ioden from going bankrupt seems to have worked. The conspirator Edan, who was at risk of losing his title for being too poor, has done a runner. Aunt Daora seems to think Sarene is in love with Shuden but actually she's in love with Spirit/Raoden. Just wait until she finds out he's her husband!

Elantris 23: Sarene, Raoden

Raoden introduces himself to his wife as Spirit. She doesn't recognise him. He takes her somewhere and does a deal whereby he will "allow" her to distribute food in return for supplies. She gets the notion that rule of Elantris depends on controlling bare necessities rather than wealth or power. I think Sarene, and possibly Sanderson, are confused, though: wealth is not money, it is control of stuff: and bare necessities are just the first "stuff" that you need when you haven't got anything else. The question for Sarene is what Raoden is going to do with the stuff: is he using it for good or evil?

Raoden is trying to keep his attempt at civilisation a secret because he thinks it will scare people into attacking Elantris. This seems like a mistake: it will not help Sarene think he is good, and who wouldn't want civilised neighbours?

Sarene seems to have forgotten everything she knew and is thinking that the gang leaders are keeping the people in a state of near starvation. Why does she suddenly think there is a supply of food to keep from people?| They are starving because there is no food, not because there is food that people are keeping from them. She also notices that people are afraid and assumes they are afraid of the gang leaders. They are afraid of suffering an eternity in agony due to their condition. How hard could it be for Sarene to find this out? How hard would it be for Raoden to just show her?

By the end of the chapter she at least realises that Raoden is the leader and is also hungry. There is some hope that she will figure it out. She also seems to like him, proving their inevitable compatibility.

Elantris 20: Sarene

Sarene cooks up a plan to help Iadon by arranging some sort of trade deal with her father so that he does not get too poor to be king, leaving Telrii the richest man to become king and help Hrathen.

When she makes this offer to Iadon she gets him to give her permission to enter Elantris to give food to the Elantrians for her Widow's trial. This will also frustrate Hrathen by demonstrating that the Elantrians aren't demons.

Because of all this Iadon figures out that Sarene is not the total airhead she made out she was.

Sarene is worried that the kingdom is on the verge of collapse now that Raoden is gone, since everyone hoped life would be better after he took over.

There is a mystery of disappearing servants. And also there is a mystery of strange noises in the night. Sarene figures out there is a secret passage near her room leading to Iadon's chambers (presumably the one Raoden and Karata used) and the king is making secret excursions in the night.

Elantris 17: Sarene

Sarene is teaching the women of the court to fence. Apparently the Elantrians used to frown on combat, even consensual combat for sport. They sound like a right bundle of fun, then.

In an impromptu sparring session with Eondel, who lets her win so that she can save face, Sarene figures out that her political games are a matter of life and death.

She does to visit the local priest (the good kind, not Hrathen), and finds out she is supposed to do something for charity for her widow's trial. She also finds out that she did indeed get all Raoden's stuff, which I have been asking about since the beginning. How is this not the first thing she figured out?

She has a chat with her dad, who is considering surrendering to the Fjordells. Which makes the alliance forged by the marriage seem less worthwhile. Then again, it turns out Sarene was considered a hopeless spinster back home and needed to marry a foreigner anyway.

Sarene's dad is worried about a secret monastery that he hasn't been able to get his spies into. It's Dakhor. We happen to know, from seeing inside Hrathen's head, that there are ninja monks in training in there.

We finally find out the king's bad news: Wryn has been sinking his ship to make him poor, so he will look silly and lose power.

Sarene hears a funny noise inside her room. Or maybe inside one of her walls. Except it's an outside wall. Must be a secret passage then, and someone is spying on her. Naturally she dismisses it and goes to sleep.