poll Raoden, Sarene or Hrathen?

[+Invocation]

1 minute ago, Dreamer said:

Hmm? You've been consistent with your views...

Before, I lined it up with Marry Sarene, Snog Hrathen, and Kill Raoden, but now I feel like Sarene and Hrathen need to be swapped (sorry Raoden, you just don't hit the boxes for me).

[Honorless]

Come on guys, vote for your favourite Elantris character and tell us why you like them!

[CosmereanAntelope]

On 12/8/2019 at 4:45 AM, Calderis said:

The man he is at the beginning and end of the book are the same. His powers change, his looks, and his social situation. But as a person, he doesn't. 

...And that's not a bad thing. In fact, I think the circumstances he's been put in makes him MORE interesting because his unchanging hopeful and kind attitude is now tested by the pains of being an Elantrian (pre-restoration, of course). It's really engaging to see this really stable, just overall nice dude get thrown in the dumps... it just makes you root for him more.

[Snake Eyes Productions_YT]

I love Hrathen and Raoden.

[Mage]

I agree that Hrathen has the best character arc and is, from a literary point of view, the best character. However, I voted Raoden because I enjoyed his viewpoint chapters the best. As a character he isn't my favorite, but I am a fan of the 'take a bad situation and make it better' plot archetype (another instance of this archetype is bridge 4 in tWok), so I was just getting through the Hrathen and Sarene chapters so I could read about Raoden and Elantris. I know that wasn't exactly the point of this poll, but that is my opinion on the three main Elantris characters.

[Snake Eyes Productions_YT]

I enjoyed Raoden's viewpoint chapters the most, though I can't help but liking Hrathen a lot. But overall, I decided to vote for Raoden.

[ShrubSeph]

Hrathen. All three have conflicting goals at some point in the book, and the one I wanted to succeed mainly depended on whoever was narrating at the time. I liked Heathen the most. To Raodon and Serene, he was obviously the villain, but when you get to his chapters, you see that almost everything he does is to try to save everyone he can. His ending was amazing.

[Spren of Kindness]

Raoden is my favorite, though I really enjoyed Sarene's chapters.  Hrathen wasn't ever my favorite, though his character arc was really good, in my opinion.

[danex]

Daaaaaang why all the Sarene hate?!? I mean, I voted Raoden, but I really like Sarene. She kinda seems like a Beta-Shallan to me. Also, a lotta people are saying that Raoden doesn’t even have a character arc but that’s so wrong. Yes he’s relatively the same at the beginning and the end, but his journey is about trying to do just that. He has so many points where he almost gives up but he doesn’t. He has to learn to endure and maintain his optimism, which hasn’t ever been too hard for him until he gets thrown in Elantris. I think he isn’t completely the same either, he comes out of Elantris a little less naive and a little wiser. Going through Hell can do that to people. I might be a little biased towards Raoden because I felt his scenes were a bit more interesting than the others. I always love a good mystery. As for Hrathen, he always surprises me whenever I reread Elantris. I always seem to forget how good of a character he is.

[DramaQueen]

So, I don't know if this is a flaw with the poll, but it let me vote for Sarene and Raoden. Not that I'm complaining, the best chapters (in my opinion) were the ones where the two of them were together. Their chemistry was just *chef's kiss*

[Honorless]

8 hours ago, DramaQueen said:

So, I don't know if this is a flaw with the poll, but it let me vote for Sarene and Raoden.

It's a feature 

[BreezeCauthon]

They're all really good, which is nice. I love a good redemption arc, though, so I voted Hrathen.

[thebubblesarealie]

Hrathen and Raoden are where it’s at. I love Hrathen’s arc and I love Raoden’s personality.

[Skaromas]

Raoden, I liked his character and his arc of discovery, Sarene was alright and her arc is also interesting but Hrathen I just found dull and a character whose chapters (after reading the book once) I just skipped on my first reread.

[midnight13]

I really liked Hrathen's arc, but he's a bit too slippery for me. While I enjoyed reading his chapters, I do not want to meet him. Well, unless he's there to save me from hordes of dakhor priests.

[MasterGhandalf]

Gonna have to go with Hrathen on this one. I like Raoden, but he also feels a lot like a dry run for later characters like Kelsier or Kaladin who have a similar 'charismatic leader who has to learn how to give others hope in a terrible situation' vibe but also much greater internal complexity. Sarene is more interesting, IMO, but also doesn't have as much depth as some of the later cosmere protagonists. Hrathen, however, is and remains one of Brandon's best characters, and his struggles with his faith, his conscience, and his duty are the strongest parts of the book. So ultmately, it's not really much of a contest - got to give a vote for the gyorn.