Question about the plot

[27alex]

Hello, can someone explain why the old Elantrians didn't fix the AonDor the same way Raoden did in the book?

 Elantrians understood how aondor worked, and could understand that the rift was the cause of the non-functional AonDor

[Quantus]

9 minutes ago, 27alex said:

Hello, can someone explain why the old Elantrians didn't fix the AonDor the same way Raoden did in the book?

 Elantrians understood how aondor worked, and could understand that the rift was the cause of the non-functional AonDor

Not enough, and not widely enough, for them to fix it before they succumbed to the (very novel) form of torture that the Reod imposed on them all.  They would have needed to get field intel and maps of the actual landscape changes, and by then they were being shunned and quarantined under the belief (or propaganda) that they were evil and/or cursed. 

An aggravating factor is that the most powerful (and thus most likely to understand the landscape implications and be able to lead the repairs) "were also placed under extreme pressure from the Dor, which ached for release, leaving them effectively immobilized through cyclical "attacks"" (from Coppermind).

If there were to exist any other populations of Elantrians elsewhere that might have intervened to repair the City and it's population, they did not act for reasons unknown.  

[Treamayne]

18 hours ago, 27alex said:

Hello, can someone explain why the old Elantrians didn't fix the AonDor the same way Raoden did in the book?

 Elantrians understood how aondor worked, and could understand that the rift was the cause of the non-functional AonDor

18 hours ago, Quantus said:

Not enough, and not widely enough, for them to fix it before they succumbed to the (very novel) form of torture that the Reod imposed on them all.  They would have needed to get field intel and maps of the actual landscape changes, and by then they were being shunned and quarantined under the belief (or propaganda) that they were evil and/or cursed. 

An aggravating factor is that the most powerful (and thus most likely to understand the landscape implications and be able to lead the repairs) "were also placed under extreme pressure from the Dor, which ached for release, leaving them effectively immobilized through cyclical "attacks"" (from Coppermind).

If there were to exist any other populations of Elantrians elsewhere that might have intervened to repair the City and it's population, they did not act for reasons unknown.  

Don't forget we also learn in the book:

Spoiler

Ch 1:

Quote

 Since the Reod, when Elantris fell, every person taken by the Shaod had been thrown in through the gates to rot; the city had become an expansive tomb for those whose bodies had forgotten how to die.

Ch 5:

Quote

Kiin looked at his wife, then back at Sarene. “Sarene, do you know what happened here ten years ago?”

“The Reod?” Sarene asked. “The Punishment?”

“Yes, but do you know what that means?”

Sarene thought for a moment, then shrugged. “The end of the Elantrians.”

Kiin nodded. “You probably never met an Elantrian—you were still young when the Reod hit. It is hard to explain how much this country changed when the disaster struck. Elantris used to be the most beautiful city in the world—trust me, I’ve been everywhere else. It was a monument of glowing stone and lustrous metal, and its inhabitants looked like they were chiseled from the same materials. Then … they fell.”

“Yes, I’ve studied this before,” Sarene said, nodding. “Their skin turned dark with black spots, and their hair began to fall from their skulls.”

“You can say that with the knowledge of books,” Kiin said, “but you weren’t here when it happened. You can’t know the horror that comes from seeing gods turn wretched and foul. Their fall destroyed the Arelene government, throwing the country into total chaos.”

He paused for a moment, then continued. “It was the servants who started the revolution, Sarene. The very day their masters fell, the servants turned on them. Some—mostly the country’s current nobility—say it was because the lower class in Elantris was treated too well, that their pampered natures inspired them to cast down their former rulers at the first sign of weakness. I think it was simply fear—ignorant fear that the Elantrians had a vile disease, mixed with the terror that comes from seeing someone you had worshipped stricken down before you.

“Either way, the servants are the ones who did the most damage. First in small groups, then in an incredibly destructive riot, killing any Elantrian they could find. The most powerful Elantrians went first, but the killings spread to the weaker ones as well.

“It didn’t stop with the Elantrians either—the people attacked families, friends, and even those who had been appointed to positions by the Elantrians.

Ch 37:

Quote

Raoden nodded slowly, almost forgetting about his agony. “During the Reod, they say the most powerful Elantrians were the first to fall. They didn’t fight when the mobs burned them.”

“As if they were overwhelmed by something. Kolo?” Galladon said.

 

So, the people who were already Elantrian when the Reod struck likely never even got the chance to try "solving" what happened or discovering the chasm line. The most powerful (most knowledgeable about AonDor and therefore closest to the Dor) were stricken with the same "attacks" that Raoden suffered from their Connection to the Dor. They were killed quickly. Those that survived were rounded up and locked into the city (e. g.  Riino - the "We were so beautiful once" hoed). By the time the "uprising" finished (less than a month) the inhabitants of the city probably didn't even know about the earthquake or the chasm it had created.

Only somebody who already had that information could have traced the chasm to the geography and its effects on the Aons.

Edited March 2, 2023 by Treamayne
Clarity