Elantris - Plot Summary

Plot Summary

The book focuses on three principal characters whose experiences are strongly intertwined with and often direct the course of the plot. Much of the book occurs in groupings of three chapters each, one for each of the three main characters.

• Raoden, the prince of Arelon, is taken by the Shaod (The profound physical transformation through which one becomes Elantrian. Elantrians look different than they were before the transformation. They cannot die or be killed, except by drastic measures, such as burning or beheading. Their bodies do not repair themselves. They do feel pain, which gradually increases as injuries accumulate. They do not need to eat, but still have hunger pains.) at the beginning of the book, and is whisked off to live in the cursed city of Elantris, once, with its inhabitants, the wonder of the world. Persons transformed by the Shaod are treated as dead by those outside Elantris. Raoden's story line centers on his efforts to improve the Elantrian way of life beyond the anarchy to which it succumbed when Elantris fell.
• Sarene, Raoden's political bride whom he has never personally met, arrives in Arelon held by a legally binding contract that says she is married to the prince, even if he is dead. Widow of a supposedly dead prince and a new member of the mostly ill-suited Arelon nobility, she struggles to find out just what is going on, and to help the downtrodden common people, even the people of Elantris. Sarene's story line deals with her attempts to stabilize and improve the monarchy, and to prevent Hrathen's intended revolution.
• Hrathen, a Derethi gyorn (high-ranking priest), also soon arrives in Arelon, with a mandate to convert the country to the Shu Dereth religion within three months time, or his religion's armies will come to wipe out the city. Hrathen's story line focuses on his efforts at political maneuvering to sway the Arelene aristocracy and place a converted Derethi on the throne, and on his struggles to come to terms with the religion he is supposed to believe.

The story threads intertwine with each other (Sarene's and Hrathen's from almost the beginning of the book) and merge in the culmination of the book's climax.