I like Raoden!

[chongjasmine]

Just started reading elantris, and among the three characters, I like Raoden the best.

[Robin Sedai she/her]

Yep, Raoden is amazing!

Edited January 21, 2022 by Robin Hatter

[SymphonianBookworm she/her]

Agreed. 

Wow, what a concise response. But yes, he is amazing. 

[HOID WANTS INSTANT NOODLES he/him]

He is one of my fovorite charcters. There is something about a character in a book creating something that I find really satisfying

[The Wandering Wizard he/him]

I liked Raoden the most on my first read, but on later reads I really liked Hrathen.

[Hessi's Ward she/her]

I love all three POV characters of Elantris but Raoden is in my top 5 favorite male characters in fantasy in general. In the words of Tumblr, he is my blorbo from my books.

[BinarySecond]

I love Raoden, he's such a dork.

[KickAssMagicRobot he/him]

It's easy to get me hooked on a character who's determined to stay positive, even when it's difficult. Someone who works to build something to uplift everyone.

[dannnex male]

his PoV is probably my favorite storyline of the book, but as a character I think he’s my least favorite of the 3 =P.

The other 2 are just so interesting in their motivations n stuff

but Raoden’s situation is more interesting so it balances out. 

[chongjasmine]

I am so glad so many people like Raoden as well.

[The Sovereign]

Honestly I found Raoden pretty boring. He is too much of a Gary Sue for me. Hrathen is the character in Elantris I found most compelling. He is flawed, but also ambitious, intelligent, and simply put interesting. I like Sarene too but she just doesn't have the on page presence that Hrathen has.

[Treamayne]

I don't mind Raoden, but I really liked Galladon (and wished we had more from his PoV). And I agree with his assessment - I can be friends with an optimist; but it certainly becomes exhausting sometimes.

[The Stormfather He/Him]

raoden is awesome, but I definitely like the story of hrathen's PoV because of all the poilical scheming and stuff.

 

[The Sibling she/her]

I have always found Raoden's story to be the least interesting. I feel like up until very far into the book, it was predictable and simple. As a character, I find that he doesn't have realistic motivations, and his dialogue feels forced. That being said, if I had to choose one character from Elantris who I would want to be friends with, it would be Raoden. I like him, but he's not interesting enough to keep my attention.

[The Stormfather He/Him]

raoden's story seems like the least intriguing but if you look closly at the descriptions of elantris you can find little tidbits that are very intriguing and awesome if you like little bits of lore

[The Sibling she/her]

12 hours ago, stormform wert said:

raoden's story seems like the least intriguing but if you look closly at the descriptions of elantris you can find little tidbits that are very intriguing and awesome if you like little bits of lore

Yeah, but I feel like this is not done as well as it is in Stormlight or Mistborn. You can find a lot of stuff if you read closely, but I don't even like his story enough to want to read closely.

[The Stormfather He/Him]

[Weaver of Shadows he/him]

I personally loved Raoden’s character. I also loved the other 2 PoV characters. Raoden seems to be unflawed, but if you read closely you see his doubts. I like that there is someone with problems that are harder to notice, as sometimes that is how it is in life too.

Edited May 16, 2023 by Lightweaver2
Clarification

[The Sibling she/her]

I was reading the Elantris annotations on Arcanum, and I sort of understand why some people love Raoden and some people hate him. In his annotations, Brandon explains that Raoden doesn't really grow that much as a character through out the book. Most of the character growth is reserved for Hrathen. Sarene is manipulative, and sometimes naive, so that makes her chapters a bit more interesting. Raoden is just a perfect character, agressively optmistic, never stays down for long, he's just great. Some people probably really like reading POVs like that. They can be inspiring and cheerful. But others probably  find it boring because Raoden is so perfect. I think that I'm somewhere in the middle. Maybe if Raoden were a side character in Sarene's POV, that would be better.

[chongjasmine]

Raoden is a heroic kind of characters who care for others more than he cares for himself. He is also a born leader, who leads naturally. I like this kind of character.

 

Edited January 12, 2025 by chongjasmine