Elantris

Sarene feels betrayed by Spirit, but confronts Iadon and prevents him from sending troops to destroy Elantris. She climbs the wall to look down at the city and sees Spirit cradling a fallen man. She is still fascinated with this mysterious leader, but decides never to see him again. She goes to her uncle’s and hears the surprising news that Hrathen was taken by the Shaod.

Hrathen feels satisfied as he exposes his transformation and the Korathi priests prepare him for entrance into Elantris. Once in the city, he drops to his knees and prays aloud.

Raoden takes Saolin to the lake so he can find peace. With no more free food, people return to New Elantris and take up their work. Raoden and Galloden approach Hrathen to warn him about Shaor’s men, but when they witness Hrathen skillfully fighting off an attack, they conclude he doesn’t need their help. Instead, Raoden marches into Shaor’s territory and dumps a load of seed corn before her followers. When one approaches their fire later and asks to cook the corn, Raoden hopes he has reached the last shreds of humanity remaining within Shaor’s followers.

Roial escorts Sarene to a party at his house to cheer her up. She’s been moping and feels slighted; her dinner was served late, and the cook explained that one of her serving girls had run off. At the party they mingle, and Roial boasts that he will get a load of goods to the yearly market before his rival Ahan will.

After Ashe reports that King Iadon is leaving the party in secret, Sarene follows him through the alleys of Kae and into the sewers. There she finds Iadon, half-naked, holding a knife above an eviscerated young woman. Sarene screams and the black-robed figures with Iadon rush to attack, but she has defenders. Eondel is there with men from his legion; Roial helps her to her feet; she also sees Dilaf watching. The king was taking part in the Jeskeri Mysteries and is thrown in jail. The conspirators need to decide what to do next.

In the courtyard of Elantris, Hrathen observes an eclipse and understands how people could feel awe over the appearance of the moon, even if “he was not capable of irrational veneration” (381). He follows Shu-Dereth because it makes sense to his logical mind, and that is enough for him. Though weak and dehydrated, he continues to pray to Jaddeth.

Though some of Shaor’s men surface from their “bestial madness” (382), the others begin to revere Raoden as their new god. They give him the wig that Shaor wore, which is now bloodied, suggesting they have killed her. Raoden gives them food and orders, hating to treat them like less than human, but they have “surrendered their intellect” (383).

Raoden studies AonDor with increasing urgency as his pain grows, and he tries to teach the others what he knows. He realizes that the Elantrians and the city used to glow because they were constantly infused with the Dor.

Raoden learns that the gyorn Hrathen has been healed.

Iadon hangs himself in jail and Duke Telrii is likely to take the throne. The conspirators gather and suggest that if Sarene marries Roial, together they will be wealthy and powerful enough to take the throne of Arelon. They watch Hrathen return from Elantris with no sign of the Shaod upon him.

In the depths of his suffering, Hrathen remembers the tortures of Dakhor monastery. Then the potion he ingested, which simulated the effects of the Shaod temporarily, wears off and he calls for the guards to release him.

Back in Kae, he is shocked to find Iadon dead and Telrii seizing control. To his further surprise, Dilaf shows reverence to Hrathen now. Hrathen summons a priest who is from Rathbore, the monastery that trains assassins.

Raoden is struck by an overpowering wave of agony, almost a seizure, and feels the Dor trying to move through his body. Karata and Galloden report that he is glowing. Raoden fears the Dor will rip him apart and asks again that they take him to the lake if he ever becomes one of the mindless Hoed. He expresses suspicion that Hrathen was really healed.

Sarene, too, is suspicious of Hrathen’s sudden healing. At the harbor, she greets the patriarch of Shu-Korath, a charismatic man named Seinalan. At Iadon’s funeral, Seinalan shares a proclamation: Iadon declared that nobility is now inheritable, which means that estates and the peasants attached to them can now be passed down to children or family. After Iadon is buried, Sarene prepares for her wedding, somewhat relieved that she will at least have a husband now. But, when she enters the hall and lifts her veil, there is screaming. Sarene bears the marks of the Shaod.

Hrathen announces that Sarene’s transformation is the judgment of Jaddeth. He is satisfied that the wedding has been prevented: He has falsely transformed Sarene with the same elixir he had used on himself. With Duke Telrii taking the throne, Hrathen’s conquest of Arelon is nearly complete.

Raoden notices that the guards have left their posts on the walls and wonders if Wyrn has invaded. He is concerned for the survival of New Elantris. When he is told there is a newcomer, he goes to the gate and welcomes Sarene.

Sarene is awed by the difference in New Elantris. The place is clean and the inhabitants wear clothes sewn from the fabric she provided. There are around 600 people, men, women, and children. When Sarene sees the loving respect with which Spirit is treated, she realizes he is not the tyrant she thought. He shows her the garden where they are growing corn and the temple, where she recognizes the carvings from the Do-Korath, the holy book that holds the teachings of the Korathi religion. She sees Spirit glowing before he collapses and realizes that Elantrian magic is not an illusion. That night, as Sarene shivers in her room, Ashe finds her. She asks him to check on events in Kae. Ashe communicates with her father. Once again King Eventeo demands to bring her home, and once again Sarene insists her loyalty is to Arelon now.

Hrathen has managed to assert his authority over Dilaf and his miraculous healing has caused mass conversions. All that remains is to conquer Teod.

Raoden and Galloden climb the city walls of Elantris and see the flag of the City Guards waving above Duke Telrii’s mansion. Raoden worries that Wyrn might attack Arelon. In the chapel, he finds Sarene reading a book on political myths that describes how the history of Fjorden was rewritten in accordance with the Shu-Dereth religion.

Sarene tells Spirit what has been happening in Kae. He is shocked by the news of his father Iadon’s death and his involvement in the Mysteries, and that she was going to marry Roial. Ashe returns to inform them that Telrii is king.

Hrathen walks the walls of Elantris, looking for signs of Sarene. He is annoyed that he cares about her fate. Hrathen is approached by the seon of King Eventeo and strikes a bargain: If Hrathen can heal Sarene, Eventeo will convert to Shu-Dereth. Hrathen would then have conquered Teod as well.

As Sarene reads, Raoden practices drawing Aons. She was taught that the basis of an Aon is a drawing of Arelon, the two lines and a dot representing the landscape. Raoden still can’t get his Aons to work and wonders why. When the splotches on Sarene’s face fade before his eyes, Raoden realizes Hrathen used the same trick on her that made the priest appear to transform. Sarene doesn’t want to leave Elantris—or Spirit—but he asks her to go back to Kae and help the people of Arelon.

Hrathen insists that Jaddeth has healed Sarene, while her friends take her to Kiin’s house. Sarene eats as much as she can. She feels sick that her father converted, since he taught her always to stand for truth and fight for right. She fears it is hopeless to resist Telrii, but she wants to protect Arelon and Elantris.

Hrathen seethes as he is forced to wait to see King Telrii; Hrathen’s stature in Arelon has fallen somewhat as Sarene’s experiences have made people doubt his ability to heal Elantrians. Newly emboldened by his position and Hrathen’s diminished standing, Telrii has written a letter to Wyrn saying he will convert to Shu-Dereth only if he can be made gyorn. Hrathen is certain that Wyrn will be outraged and attack at once.

Raoden has a breakthrough with the Aons when he realizes that the basic outline does not include the Chasm, which formed after an earthquake 10 years ago. He deduces that the Chasm caused the Reod—not the other way around, as was believed. He adds a line for the Chasm to the Aon he draws and is struck by a surge of power as the Dor is freed. His Aon explodes into fire and burns a section of the library. Raoden is exultant, but also perplexed; the Aon should be even more powerful than that. Something is still missing. Raoden practices until he can create illusions and tells Galloden he is going to get them out of Elantris.

Sarene’s conspirators are cautious about staging a revolution, even though she is sure that Wyrn will attack, force everyone to convert to Shu-Dereth, and she will be thrown in prison. She misses Spirit and Elantris; it was the one place she “could remember feeling unconditional acceptance. She had not been a princess, she had been something far better—a member of a community where every individual was vital” (468). In the gardens at Roial’s home, she practices fencing with the women. One day, she is surprised when a Duladen aristocrat is announced. He has brown skin, is outrageously dressed, and says his name is Kaloo. Sarene is suspicious and challenges him to a fencing match, which she wins when he surrenders.

Hrathen walks among the booths of the Arelene Market, which is half-deserted. Dilaf confronts him and mocks Hrathen for failing. Hrathen’s plans have all slipped away, and Dilaf claims he will have the victory. Hrathen wonders what Dilaf means.

Galloden sews up the wound Sarene gave Raoden when they fenced—he was the one pretending to be Kaloo—and they discuss strategy. Raoden wants to find a way to put Roial on the throne instead of Telrii.

Sarene is put out when Kaloo joins the conspirators’ meeting. They discuss options, and Raoden says that they should enlist the City Guard. “Give men an honest choice,” he says, “and I believe they will choose wisely” (485). At this, Sarene recognizes Kaloo as Spirit and draws him aside to talk. She is angry that he lied to her, but softens when he says he came to find her as well as help with Arelon.

The meeting is interrupted by King Telrii and members of his guard. Ahan accuses Roial of treason and a soldier kills Roial on the spot. Kaloo removes his illusion and Telrii recognizes Raoden, the prince. Raoden tries to heal Roial with Aons but is unsuccessful. He weeps at the man’s death: Roial was like a father to him when Iadon was not. The others are surprised as they regard Raoden, and Sarene remembers that they are engaged to be married.

Hrathen forces his way into Telrii’s palace chambers and finds a bloodbath of soldiers fighting. Count Eondel kills Telrii and then falls, mortally wounded.