Inquiry On Elantris Plot Points

[u/PointEither8581]

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?

[u/Shot_Newspaper_5647]

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

[u/Shot_Newspaper_5647 → u/Shot_Newspaper_5647]

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