Do Elantrians drink?

[Tem]

It's been a while since I was active on here, but I finally read Elantris and it lead me to a question:

When Hrathen pretends to have been taken by the Shaod, he almost dies of thirst, thinking to himself he should have known it would be difficult to go so long without water availeble. We see in one of Raoden's chapters that there is indeed one well in the city, but it is mentioned that the original Elantrians would not have needed water to survive, so there aren't many. So I think it is established that Elantrians don't need to drink, the same way that they do not need to eat.

For the Elantrians during the most part of the book, hunger and a desire for food is mentioned, though they do not need it to survive. But thirst is never mentioned and to me it seemed that the well had not been used before Raoden entered the city, so I guess they probably do not desire water the same way as food. But if that is the case, wouldn't it have appeared as strange that Sarene needed to drink during her stay in the city? There are explanations given why her lack of hunger or pain do not give the fake transformation away, but no explanations in that regard.

I know it's a super nitpicky question and it maybe just isn't explicitly mentioned that they also experience thirst, I just wanted to know if anyone else has thought about this Or are there maybe even WOBs on the subject?

[Treamayne]

Welcome to the Shard

6 minutes ago, Tem said:

It's been a while since I was active on here, but I finally read Elantris and it lead me to a question:

When Hrathen pretends to have been taken by the Shaod, he almost dies of thirst, thinking to himself he should have known it would be difficult to go so long without water availeble. We see in one of Raoden's chapters that there is indeed one well in the city, but it is mentioned that the original Elantrians would not have needed water to survive, so there aren't many. So I think it is established that Elantrians don't need to drink, the same way that they do not need to eat.

For the Elantrians during the most part of the book, hunger and a desire for food is mentioned, though they do not need it to survive. But thirst is never mentioned and to me it seemed that the well had not been used before Raoden entered the city, so I guess they probably do not desire water the same way as food. But if that is the case, wouldn't it have appeared as strange that Sarene needed to drink during her stay in the city? There are explanations given why her lack of hunger or pain do not give the fake transformation away, but no explanations in that regard.

Just to clarify, you are specifically talking about Reod Elantrians - not true Elantrians. Pre-Reod and post-Recovery (post-Raoden?), Elantrians would eat and drink normally (mentioned a few times on how they created food from scraps), though it is unclear how "necessary" it may have been while infused with Dor. Mistborn Spoilers:

Spoiler

In Secret history, they are specifically shown to need to drink liquid Dor to maintain themselves - they we do not see them consuming normal food or beverage. 

As far as Reod-Elantrians are concerned, one thing to consider is that in real life, most people cannot tell the difference between thirst and hunger unless they are losign water through sweat or other mechanisms (searchable, one article reference here). This is actually one of the factors to the Obesity Problem - many people snack when they "feel hungry" - but they are actually thirsty and need fluids, not solids. Back to the point, a Reod Elantrian would not likely be able to tell - thirst adn hunger would all feel the same - but are equally unecessary because they are "in stasis" mid Shaod, and therefore sustained entirely by the Dor. 

Elantris and Annotations:

Spoiler

Ch 25:

Quote

Raoden’s eyes opened wide. “That we aren’t dead, my friend.”

“No heartbeat. No breathing. No blood. I couldn’t agree with you more.”

“No, really,” Raoden said, growing excited. “Don’t you see—our bodies are trapped in some kind of half transformation. The process began, but something blocked it—just like in that woman’s healing. The Dor is still within us, waiting for the direction and the energy to finish what it started.”

“I don’t know that I follow you, sule,” Galladon said hesitantly.

Raoden wasn’t listening. “That’s why our bodies never heal—it’s like they’re trapped in the same moment in time. Frozen, like a fish in a block of ice. The pain doesn’t go away because our bodies think time isn’t passing. They’re stuck, waiting for the end of their transformation. Our hair falls away and nothing new grows to replace it. Our skin turns black in the spots where the Shaod began, then halted as it ran out of strength.”

“It seems like a leap to me, sule,” Galladon said.

 

Annotation to Ch 59:

Quote

Oh, and yes, Elantrians can go unconscious. They can fall asleep, after all. The Elantrian brain is the one organ that continues to work very similarly to the way it did before the Shaod. So, taking a large amount of trauma can make it black out. The Elantrian won’t remain unconscious forever–but when he wakes up, the actual physical damage will be there. That’s why Raoden loses his sense of balance and everything gets fuzzy.

 

Hope that helps

[Tem]

2 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Welcome to the Shard

Just to clarify, you are specifically talking about Reod Elantrians - not true Elantrians. Pre-Reod and post-Recovery (post-Raoden?), Elantrians would eat and drink normally (mentioned a few times on how they created food from scraps), though it is unclear how "necessary" it may have been while infused with Dor.

Thank you for the comment! Yes, specifically Reod Elantrians, I blanked on the correct name for them while typing.

It makes a lot of sense that thirst and hunger would be identical to them. I would kinda expect that they would try to drink to help with the sensation of hunger (given that at least in real life, it also works the other way around because of the effect you mentioned - if somebody wants to eat less, it is very helpful to drink when feeling hungry), since water is available in the city while food is very hard to come by. So I think what surprised me was that the well did not seem to be an object the different bands fought over. But they might have just been completly focused on the food that newcomers had on them and never really looked for alternatives. And since eating does not really help with a Reod Elantrians hunger, water probably wouldn't help as well. So they might have tried once and then lost interest.

[Treamayne]

On 7/19/2024 at 6:00 PM, Tem said:

since water is available in the city while food is very hard to come by.

But water was not available in the city - there was only one well (and not one meant for drinking - no cross-brace, rope, or bucket) and it took Raoden a significant effort to find/make the "rope" he and Karata used. It was still at least 15 feet too short to reach the surface of the water. 

Edited January 20, 2025 by Treamayne
SPAG

[Tem]

11 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

But water was not available in the city - there was only one well (and not one meant to be for drinking - no cross-brace, rope or bucket) and ti took Raoden a significant effort to find/make the "rope" he and Karata used. It was still at least 15 feet to short to reach the surface of the water. 

Thank you very much again. I completly overlooked that there would be no rope or buckets available. That explains it then

[chongjasmine]

I don't think Elantrians during the Reod period drinks. Their bodies are as good as dead, they had no need for food or water.