Elantris

The word “unity” appears throughout the book as a guiding principle and goal. Ironically, some of the most divisive actions are pursued in the name of unity. Fjorden’s effort to convert other countries to Shu-Dereth in the name of unifying the land under one god, leads to a Hrathen overseeing a bloody revolution in Duladel and to Dilaf ordering a massacre in Kae. Iadon’s attempt to unify Arelon after the Reod was to mandate feudal conditions that only increased inequality. Nevertheless unity remains a desired end for the accompanying peace and prosperity it is assumed to bring.

Father Omin, the Korathi priest, encapsulates the novel’s philosophical stance when he tells Sarene, “Unity often springs from strife” (229). This idea is typical of older fantasy fiction, which often chronicles a period of political, religious, or social conflict that ends with the restoration of a benign centralized power that will ostensibly unite and pacify the world—a conservative vision that replicates the value systems of ancient epic and medieval romance.

The novel’s political actors want to concentrate power in one right king. Sarene’s political machinations have this kind of unification in mind: Her arranged marriage to Raoden will bond Teod and Arelon, and her support of Raoden’s splinter group is an attempt to improve Arelon’s rule. Though Raoden pays lip service to communitarian living, he is the unquestioned leader of New Elantris, empowered to assign new arrivals to work, to negotiate with neighboring gang leaders, and eventually, to wield the most powerful magic. When he restores Elantris, he happily takes up the position of king, his previous commitment to classless living giving way to the promise to make things better, but not equal. Hrathen and Dilaf also work for unity—the unity of a world-spanning empire, which shows that the concept of unification is not necessarily a beneficent one. When Hrathen sees that Wyrn’s plans to conquer Arelon and Teod include the infiltration of Dilaf and his monks to massacre unbelievers, Hrathen decides that while what he desired from joining the priesthood was the feeling of unity, he must now fight Dilaf in defense of a larger goal—opposing brutality—even at the cost of losing a unifying religion.

A different sense of unity emerges in the novel’s focus on healing, which is always an effort towards repairing wholeness and integrity. One key aspect of Elantris’s golden age was its residents’ ability to heal. This magic bound Raoden to the city as a boy and helps explain Dilaf’s unbounded, grief-fueled rage at its failures. Hrathen uses the horror of the ravages of Shaod to falsify faith healing, tricking the populace of Arelon with a potion that temporarily gives him the marks of Shaod. Raoden works to master AonDor so he can heal those whom the Shaod has made them living corpses. Until then, Raoden institutes a different kind of healing, building New Elantris on the model that satisfying work and shared resources will unify Elantrians. This suggests that healing and unity do not always mean a state of perfection, but are instead an evolution or ongoing process.

The novel’s take on religious practice demonstrates that achieving unity does not necessarily preclude its shattering—change is inevitable. Although religious strife forms the core of the plot, it turns out that both Shu-Dereth and Shu-Korath are versions of the religion of Shu-Keseg—a setup that mirrors real-world religious splintering such as the Protestant Reformation that fractured Christianity. Both denominations teach the value of unity, but their divergent approaches and bad-faith applications have divisive consequences. Shu-Korath centers love and acceptance—unity through compassion, forgiveness, and tolerance; Shu-Dereth centers order—unity through rigid and clearly defined hierarchical control. This clash results in bloody conflicts (Duladel’s revolution), religious chicanery (Hrathen faking being cured of the Shaod), and fanaticism (the product of the Dakhor monastery). The novel does seem to posit Shu-Dereth as an overwhelmingly malevolent faith, though Hrathen’s eventual realization that his belief in order can transcend Shu-Dereth’s violence points to the fact that Derethi followers including Emperor Wyrn have simply been misusing its tenets in self-serving ways. Similarly problematical is the sectarian offshoot called the Mysteries, which exploits Jesker beliefs. King Iadon’s downfall is the result of his obsession with the Mysteries’ most deplorable rite—human sacrifice—which he exploits for personal gain and political station. He is seeking not faith but power, and he has taken innocent lives to do so.

In contrast to the varieties of religious belief, the Dor is a truly unifying essence—a magical animist force that exists in all things as a sort of natural fact. The Dor has both positive and negative applications: the Elantrians use the Dor for healing and creation, practitioners of ClayShan like Shuden use it for defense, and the monks of Dakhor use it to amplify their physical force. The Dor parallels Eastern practices like yoga or tai chi, which rely on and manipulate energy, while Shu-Keseg more resembles Abrahamic religions, based on scripture, communicated through prophets, and worshipping a single ruling deity.

The novel holds a dim view of practices or political structures that enforce conformity through coercion or achieve unity through destruction. Instead, the novel represents as healed institutions that tolerate difference: Elantris has always accepted religious faiths, and leaders of Arelon allow chapels of Shu-Dereth. Unity is more a matter of peaceful coexistence than uniformity of culture or belief.