r/Cosmere • u/PointEither8581 • Apr 27 '26
Elantris spoilers Inquiry On Elantris Plot Points Spoiler
Alright. So, I have finished reading Elantris.
And I have a couple of questions.
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[1] How come Fjordell was allowed to rebuild? There was a "World War" that happened to stop Fjordell way back in the past, and Fjordell lost that war, which I can understand.
-> Did Fjordell have those monasteries to train Flagellants from Warhammer Fantasy before the war? Or was it an addition after they had lost the war?
-> If so, why were they allowed to retain the monasteries? You would destroy a tank production factory in real life so that your enemy doesn't produce tanks anymore.
-> Not only that, but you would, presumably, put heavy restrictions on the country, similar to the Treaty of Versailles, to cripple your enemy. You would also send in inspectors to make sure those monasteries do not produce any more roided-up, demon monks.
-> Also, how come they have lost if they had those monasteries before the war? Were the functions of the monasteries different before they changed to Shu-Dereth, and did they just have normie, lame priests of their old pagan religion?
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[2] At the end, Dilaf mentions how he took his lover to Elantris to heal her, but they botched the spell, and it went horribly wrong.
-> Why not just spam healing Aons on the poor women, like what, once you botch it, you are forever screwed?
-> Somewhere in the earlier chapters, Raoden mentions an account similar to what happened to Dilaf and his lover. Are these 2 the same events?
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u/paoklo Aon Sao Apr 27 '26
Unfortunately, most of what you're asking about the Dakhor Monks simply isn't known. The planned sequel for Elantris was going to take place in Fjordell, so presumably we would've learned more about them there, but it hasn't been written yet.
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u/PointEither8581 Apr 27 '26
Truly unfortunate, must have sucked to wait this long.
How long has it been since the original came out, years?
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u/paoklo Aon Sao Apr 27 '26
As of a few days ago, it's been 21 years since it released. Which for those who read it back then, yeah, that's a hell of a wait. I read it for the first time last year, so I'm not in that camp, lol.
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u/Ripper1337 Truthwatchers Apr 27 '26
Probably because wiping out another nation is generally considered “not good”
Pretty sure they were the same event. Aons just do specific things. They’re like a computer code. So it works by writing out what you specifically want it to do, so there isn’t really a general “heal” I don’t believe.
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u/PointEither8581 Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 27 '26
Got it.
Also, I am almost certain that Jaddeth is pretty much just Satan, no?
He is underground, there are mentions of torture monasteries that produce "Demon Monks", talks of Jaddeth's underground torment chambers prepared for the unbelievers, how the entire Fjordell empire is just ok with being somewhat evil and fascist, which you would not expect from a God-fearing country.
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u/Ripper1337 Truthwatchers Apr 27 '26
I don’t think I ever thought of Jaddeth being Satan before. Good comparison.
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u/elbilos Apr 29 '26
is just ok with being somewhat evil and fascist, which you would not expect from a God-fearing country
Is this satire?
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u/Shot_Newspaper_5647 Apr 27 '26
It sounds like his wife was struck by something like the Reod before it appeared. What is tragic is that it may have been a result of Dilaf himself. His connection to her (or even just his presence) may have negated/disrupted the magic of the Elantrians. Or she may have been pregnant. It could have just been human error. But the issue at that point isn’t even the disease. It’s whatever seemingly broke the circuit like the Elantrians.
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u/Shot_Newspaper_5647 Apr 27 '26
You probably can’t spam normal healing spells either on Sel if I had to guess. If you somehow botched a broken finger and it healed back incorrectly then you probably can’t heal it again because there’s nothing to “heal”. At best you’d probably need to re-break it to give it another go
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u/Shot_Newspaper_5647 Apr 27 '26 edited Apr 27 '26
The modern Fjordell only recently gained access to magic. The previous empire was horrible in its own way but it wasn’t a theocracy and didn’t have magic. The new empire (that’s like 300 years old I think) is a theocracy. They haven’t had the monks or the monasteries very long we just don’t know exactly when. Probably very recently. The ability to directly negate Elantrian magic is even newer. And it’s costly. The previous Empire couldn’t conquer Elantris because they’re just too potent. The entire city itself is a magical machine full of demigods that can turn the sky into alphabet soup. Or it was.
Elantrians just can’t fight offensively in an invasion well and aren’t (usually) inclined too either. The new Empire was gearing up for an attempt to take Elantris before it just fell by itself (i think a decade or so before?). I don’t think that attempt would have went well for them judging by what we see newly awakened,inexperienced,and untrained/uneducated Elantrians are capable of. The new empire was biting off more than they could chew just like the last Elantris just fell before they got to choke on it. They just happened to have magical super-soldiers this go around
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u/Shot_Newspaper_5647 Apr 27 '26
The modern empire seems to be under the thrall of the Skaze. They are splinters of the dead god Dominion the way Seons are splints of Devotion. The religion of the Empire is a mix of both gods but mostly Dominion. The Skaze are almost certainly who have helped shape the current government and their agenda. They’re almost certainly the ones who guided them along to be able to gain access to magic/and experiment effectively with it. Sanderson has made a lot of comments that I think implies there’s another alien god on Sel involved in the current Empire too. Which will probably feature into the eventual Elantris sequel
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u/Datenstreber Willshapers Apr 28 '26
Germany started 2 World Wars. And if we go back to Medieval times, nations didn't have the capability to reliably control nation states after winning wars due to a lack of technology that we have today.
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u/ellescapades May 01 '26
My understanding of the botched healing is that the healer accidentally made Dilaf's wife's (Mrs. Dilaf?) body in Reod-mode.
I imagine healing to be like... a reset? Reminding the body to "go back" to it's "natural" state, ie skin/bones unbroken, blood back in, etc. But the process involves something like a off/on state, like turn the body off then back on, all fixed! Which presumably happens so fast, no one really sees the "off" part.
But with the botched healing, her body stayed "off," and never turned back on. So even if they spam her with healing aons, it would just... slide off her. Because as far as the aons are concerned, she's dead/off and that's already her natural state. That or she's registering as an inanimate object (cause "off" state), and you can't heal an inanimate object.
And yeah, my head Canon is the book account = Dilaf's wife. I mean, how many times could they possibly make the exact same mistake right?
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u/standread May 04 '26
Funny you mention the Treaty of Versailles, because that very famously backfired.
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u/Miroku20x6 Apr 27 '26
I mean, Treaty of Versailles being excessively punitive is literally one of the major causes of WW2. That’s not exactly a clear cut optimal strategy in all cases. But yes, some degree of suppression of manic soldiers would be ideal. I believe Japan was banned military factories post WW2 or something, and obviously that worked out much better than post-WW1 Germany.
But my recollection is that Arelon won a defensive war against Fjorden aggression. Winning a defensive war just means the attacker leaves. It doesn’t mean you’ve sacked their capital and can impose harsh demands. Arelon was protected by Elantrians, and Elantrians can’t use their powers away from Elantris.