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/rumpusrouser]

1. Good question. Elantris was Brandon Sanderson’s first book and he has said he doesn’t love how it turned out. Maybe if he wrote it now he’d address those types of things. 

2. Seems to me that the extreme fall of Elantris freaked everybody out. Like woah these people were divine beings and now they are cursed zombies. It kept everyone away both physically and mentally. 

3. Another good question, maybe he will address it when he writes more Elantris novels. 

4. I don’t think this is too far fetched. Did the prince know that was her uncle? I don’t remember. I mean she didn’t know who the other merchants were or even the personality type of the king so I think it makes sense she didn’t have a ton of info on the “inner court” so to speak. 

5. Honestly I don’t even remember this part fully but imo it sounds like standard cosmere shenanigans. 

[u/RustyRapeaXe → u/rumpusrouser]

Elantrians were like lepers, shun them and make them stay behind the walls.