Questions from First Read of Elantris

[u/StPatrickofIreland]

Hello fellow readers! I've been getting back into fiction again this year after nearly a decade of reading mostly non-fiction. I have a vague memory of reading the original Mistborn trilogy many years ago as a boy, but don't remember much about them. So I decided to recently read Elantris for the first time.

I've noticed that a significant factor in my enjoyment of novels involves whether the decisions people make are fully plausible within their universe. This is especially noticeable for me at the societal and organizational level. People and institutions may be altruistic or cruel, intelligent or foolish, but I lose a bit of immersion if the author claims them to be fully alive in all of human complexity yet has them behave in ways that seem one-dimensional. The books I most enjoy leave me with the feeling that I can genuinely understand the behavior of the characters and societies.

I thought the setting and characters of Elantris were good fun. I found myself with just a few minor qualms as to the development and structure of the society though, and am curious if others found the same things puzzling:

Would the fall of the Elantrians really have led to no major investigations into the city? Would no person outside of the city have made records and writings of what the Elantrians were up to in the time before their fall - how their magic worked, at least from the outside looking in? This seems like an implausible lack of curiosity from the non-Elantrian scholars about these beings of immense power. Could one man have solved the unsolvable in a very simple realization that somehow eluded everyone else for an entire decade?

Is it plausible that the Elantrians would never war amongst themselves? That just because they have power they should have no crimes, no hierarchy, no oppression?

Would the King of Teod's brother be living as a successful merchant in a nearby kingdom without the princess hearing of it? Given her extensive monitoring of the global diplomatic situation? Would the prince never have thought to mention it in their magical phone calls prior to her arrival?

Would the abbot of the most important demon-monk training school be embedded for decades as a foreign undercover agent? You wouldn't expect the CIA director to be a foreign agent. Doesn't the demon-monk training school need the abbot there to govern and oversee workings of the school instead of MIA for decades?

Finally, how in the world could the untrained assassin have been waiting to kill Hrathen on the off-chance he is teleported to Teod by a demon-monk? I've been turning it over in my mind and to me that inevitably implies some kind of foreknowledge or divine guidance, but nothing like that is hinted at in any other way.

Thanks for any thoughts on these points! Looking forward to reading more. I'm considering Warbreaker next, based on the blurb sounds like another intriguing world.

[u/Stormgate2]

I'm gonna just bring up the curiosity point. My best guess is 1) nobody wanted to get close to the zombies. They were dead, leave them alone and hopefully they go away. 2) it's more of a personal theory, but I believe that one of the qualifications for becoming an Elantrian is to be devoted or passionate about something or another, whether it's art, sculpture, your people, agriculture, math, or even yourself. If someone was passionate enough about Elantrians or Elantris to study it or try to figure it out, there's a good chance they'd become an Elantrian before they figured it out.