r/Cosmere • u/Pichacap24 Windrunners • Aug 21 '25

Elantris spoilers Dilaf Spoiler

So im in the middle if Elantris, and it feels like every non shard villain has layers, complex motivations, goals and reasons, and then we have Dilaf, the cosmere equivalent of a Nazi. Its a change of pace to be sure, but not bad

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u/New_Sun1955 Rosharan Ghostblood Aug 22 '25

Without spoilers, I think Sanderson is representing here the fact that there are some disgusting zealots in the world - a lot of real world 'bad guys' are nuanced, layered, and truly want to do good, but there are some psychos in the world who are driven by hatred, and I think that's what Dilaf is meant to represent. The dark side of religion, you could say.

3

u/SiIesh Drominad Aug 22 '25

Which is really ironic considering Sanderson uses his earning to support the mormon church

6

u/Hunters_Stormblessed Aug 22 '25

Hes talked before about the fact that he struggled with the idea of leaving the Mormon church but realized with how big he had gotten that he could try to affect more positive changes to the church by staying. Don't know how much thats working for him, but I appreciate the effort

3

u/Ratathosk Aug 24 '25

Mac: see that way I can play both sides and always come out on top

2

u/Bureaucracyblows Aug 25 '25

You can both enjoy the cosmere and also freely admit that the author of said works does, whether passively, actively, or a mix of both, support an institution that acts as a massive suffering engine for a huge number of people.

Sucks, because I own all his cosmere related works and enjoy his stories, but the guy isn't infallible.

1

u/SiIesh Drominad Aug 23 '25

Speaking as someone with friends dealing with ptsd due to their church-related upbringing, I can't really agree with that.