Cause of the Shaod

[Pringles]

I finished Elantris a week or two ago, but I'm still confused about the Shaod. Is it like a withdrawal from AonDor? If it were like that, then why do new Elantrians get it? Also, why is it so particular on choosing people?

[Dellexe]

The Shaod is the transformation from ordinary human to Elantrian. I think what you're thinking of is the Reod. The Elantrians change into their "zombie" form because the Shaod is trying to change them, but cannot complete the process, leaving them in "zombie" mode. It hasn't been confirmed yet, but it's theorized that the Shaod takes people who are especially devoted to something. My personal theory is that the Power of Devotion, a splintered Shard, is trying to find a new host or body, and is reaching out to people whose Intents line up with Devotion's.

[Pringles]

That makes sense. I guess I wasn't reading carefully enough. It didn't seem explained very much.

[WeiryWriter]

As Kal Dell noted, there are actually quite a few different things going on here.

 

1.  The Shaod is the process by which people become Elantrians.  It's an analogous process to Allomantic Snapping.  It's a thing that is happening independently of everything else going on, it's just doing its thing.  There appear to be three requirements (1) have some Aonic ancestry, (2) be within a certain geographical region, and (3) be particularly devoted to someone or something.

 

2.  The Reod was a cataclysmic event, which occurred 10 years prior to the events of Elantris, that caused the creation of the Chasm.  We do not know the exact causes of the Reod, though we do know that it wasn't "natural" and it was not Odium.  The leading theory is that the build-up of pressure caused by the uncontrolled power of two Splintered Shards is to blame.

 

3.  The "Breaking" of AonDor was a natural result of the creation of the Chasm.  The Aons are directly tied to the geography of Arelon and the Chasm was a significant enough change to the land as to be reflected in the Aons.  This is why no one was able to use AonDor, they were drawing the Aons incorrectly.  It also means the extant uses of AonDor also ceased to function properly, most notably the Elantrian Metropolitan District.  Elantris and its four Gate Cities form a massive Aon Rao that targets the Elantrians and magnifies the strength of the Aons they draw.  Which means that after the Reod the Elantrians were the targets of an incomplete Aon, this is what made them into zombies (something similar happened to Dilaf's wife in one of the books Raoden was reading).

[Voidus]

Well we know that Odium wasn't around when the chasm formed, so he's not directly responsible at least but yeah most people assume it was a result of the Splintering of Devotion and Dominion

[Green Hoodie Mistborn]

I finished Elantris a week or two ago, but I'm still confused about the Shaod. Is it like a withdrawal from AonDor? If it were like that, then why do new Elantrians get it? Also, why is it so particular on choosing people?

 

The particular on choosing people part of your question has to do with the "hidden" criteria for becoming an Elantrian. Since Devotion is the intent of the Shard which powers AonDor, the thought is as Weiry said, people who are devoted to something are chosen.

 

Though, I would say that we haven't seen "evil" or "bad" Elantrians, so it would seem to be devoted in a positive way or to positive things. (the last part is my own thoughts, unrelated probably to general consensus). That could be a factor of time period and who whose PoV through which we see the story and action unfold however. 

 

In "Elantris" there are bad Elantrians, but I would argue that is a function of a combination of, condition and need to survive, rather than normal state. The closest would be Shaor's followers, but they are more mad than evil. 

[Curiosity]

I think that the Shaod is one of the effects of the continuously acting AonRao which the city of Elantris is made up of. When the Aon was incomplete, the effect of the Aon was disturbed and made the Elantrians into… whatever they were… people without access to the Ideal of health or something.

[WeiryWriter]

I think that the Shaod is one of the effects of the continuously acting AonRao which the city of Elantris is made up of. When the Aon was incomplete, the effect of the Aon was disturbed and made the Elantrians into… whatever they were… people without access to the Ideal of health or something.

 

That can't be the case though.  It is WoB that Elantrians existed before Elantris (which is also kind of common sense, since Elantris would have required Elantrians in its construction).  If Elantrians existed pre-Elantris than the Shaod has to as well (how else would the proto-Elantrians have come into existence?).  Therefore the massive Aon Rao cannot be the cause of the Shaod because it only came into existence *after* the Shaod.

[Curiosity]

Hmmm… good point. Can I see the source on that? I'll try looking for it, but I may not find it. 

 

Edit: Found this linked in the Coppermind. Seems to contradict what you said, though it is in the form of a legend… 

Edited August 4, 2014 by Curiosity

[WeiryWriter]

Hmmm… good point. Can I see the source on that? I'll try looking for it, but I may not find it. 

 

Edit: Found this linked in the Coppermind. Seems to contradict what you said, though it is in the form of a legend…

 

Those are early modern Elantrians not the proto-Elantrians I'm talking about.  Originally there were the proto-Elantrians who built the city.  At some point (perhaps when Odium killed Devotion and Dominion) the city was abandoned.  Years later the Aonic peoples migrated to the area and started living in the city.  Some time later Aonics started being taken by the Shaod.

 

 

Only Elantrians can draw Aons in the air, so someone taken by the Shaod must have developed the writing system. That is part of what makes writing a noble art in Arelon—drawing the Aons would have been associated with Elantrians. Most likely, the early Elantrians (who probably didn't even have Elantris back then) would have had to learn the Aons by trial and error, finding what each one did, and associating its meaning and sound with its effect. The language didn't develop, but was instead 'discovered.'

 

(source)

 

WEAK AONS

Elantris is like a massive power conduit. It focuses the Dor, strengthening its power (or, rather, the power of the Aons to release it) in Arelon. This far away from Elantris, however, the Aons are about as powerful as they were before Raoden fixed Elantris.

 

If you consider it, it makes logical sense that the Aons would be tied to ELANTRIS and Arelon, yet would work without them. The Aons had to exist before Elantris—otherwise, the original Elantrians wouldn't have known the shape to make the city. Their study of AonDor taught them a method for amplifying Aon power.

 

(source)

[Curiosity]

Ah. Thank you for the clarification, Weiry. Even if you are an Evil Librarian, you are a really helpful one. 

Edited August 4, 2014 by Curiosity

[Dankworth]

Though, I would say that we haven't seen "evil" or "bad" Elantrians.

 

In "Elantris" there are bad Elantrians, but I would argue that is a function of a combination of, condition and need to survive, rather than normal state. The closest would be Shaor's followers, but they are more mad than evil. 

For the most part I agree that the majority of Shaor's followers were simply driven mad by hunger and pain, but Raoden specifically stated that Shaor herself was an insufferable self-centered little monster before the Shaod took her.