trendkill he/him Posted March 21, 2014 Posted March 21, 2014 I wasn't able to find anything on this in a search, but I kind of had a brain blast during my current reread of Elantris. All of the Arelon people say things like "Merciful Domi," "Gracious Domi," "Burning Domi," etc. On the surface, it seems like they all follow the Aonic language and such, which would point to Aona/Devotion being their "God." But the fact that they refer to their god as "Domi" has me wondering if maybe they are actually worshipping Dominion. Their name for their god seems like a very convenient shortening of Dominion to me. Do we have much evidence one way or the other on this? Might be a good one to ask Brandon.
Argent he/him Posted March 21, 2014 Posted March 21, 2014 I doubt it. Dominion's Shardholder was called Skai, and his Splinters, the Skaze, are pretty involved in Fjordell - the type of culture that developed there has very little in common with Arelon.
trendkill he/him Posted March 21, 2014 Author Posted March 21, 2014 (edited) Oh, I agree that the cultures based around Aona's magic vs. Skai's magic are completely different, but I'm not sure if I buy the Domi/Dominion connection as being just a coincidence... Edit: added some words. Edited March 21, 2014 by trendkill
WeiryWriter he/him Posted March 21, 2014 Posted March 21, 2014 It's just a coincidence. Domi as based of Aon Omi, which is an in-universe name. Dominion is the English, out-of-universe, name of the shard, inhabitants would know it as whatever the word for Dominion is in their language. Also it just doesn't fit thematically at all. Shu-Korath, which worships Domi, is focused on unification through love, i.e. Devotion. Shu-Dereth, which worships Jaddeth, is the one that is focused on unification through obedience, i.e. Dominion. 2
trendkill he/him Posted March 21, 2014 Author Posted March 21, 2014 (edited) *Shuffles to the list of Aons in the back of the book.* Drat... You're right. Omi = Love. Really thought I was on to something there... Oh well. Edit: Wait... The couple of names it has listed that use Omi are Domi and Omin, both of which are in the word Dominion... I'm not convinced that this is a coincidence anymore. Well, not fully convinced at any rate. The definition of Omi being Love points to my original hypothesis being wrong, but Brandon being tricky like a fox makes me continue to wonder... Edited March 21, 2014 by trendkill
WeiryWriter he/him Posted March 21, 2014 Posted March 21, 2014 There is still the fact that Domi/Omin are both Aonic words while Dominion is an English one. They are faux amis, false cognates. It is nothing more than coincidence. 1
Green Hoodie Mistborn he/him Posted March 21, 2014 Posted March 21, 2014 It appears to just be based on the Aon Omi Posts 9-12 all deal with that Aon
trendkill he/him Posted March 21, 2014 Author Posted March 21, 2014 Hmm... Certainly looks like I'm wrong here. I'm still looking at it with squinty eyes (a la Fry Not Sure meme), but that's just because I'm suspicious by nature. I'll shelve it for now. Next time I'm at a reading/signing, I might ask about it, but I'll admit defeat.
Tempus Posted March 23, 2014 Posted March 23, 2014 I'm going to also go in the squinty eye camp. While the in-world Omi may mean love, and may be contextually pure (as of such), Brandon is the one who designed the language. Brandon has a thing for puns which he admits, but also a love of irony which he doesn't admit (but is the basis of many of his plot twists!) It would be just like him to ironically assign the Aonic word for love to have a similar root word as the alternate force on the planet, not out of any narrative significance, but because it made him giggle.
trendkill he/him Posted March 23, 2014 Author Posted March 23, 2014 While continuing my reading, I realized that both Korathi and Derethi followers technically worship the same god, since their religions are both splinters of Shu-Keseg. Korathi call the god Domi and Derethi call him Jaddeth. If I'm not mistaken, the bad magic that the Derethi show at the end (can't recall the name of it) was certainly Dominion based. If the Korathi worship the same god... And really, the only magic we've seen from Devotion is the Aons, which were only used by the Elantrians, who didn't belong to either religion. Well, possibly Forging, too, but that isn't relevant to this topic.
Tempus Posted March 23, 2014 Posted March 23, 2014 The purpose of the religions as stated makes it clear that Jaddeth/Skai is Dominion, and Domi/Aona is Devotion. As well as the nomenclature. Keseg was given the concept of 'mind' -unclear if it represents adonalsium or some theoretical combo shard some old Jingo dreamt up.
trendkill he/him Posted March 23, 2014 Author Posted March 23, 2014 (edited) It's been a few years since I've read Elantris, so I don't remember some of the finer details. This is mostly just be musing on things as I go through the book and coming to odd conclusions Although, another explanation for the religious differences: in the book (or maybe just Brandon's explanation of the religions), it talks about how the guys who start Shu-Korath and -Dereth were followers of the guy who started Shu-Keseg, and they started their religions when he died. Maybe Keseg = Adonalsium, him dying is the shattering, Korath = Devotion and Dereth = Dominion. I think I may have just proven that part of my theory wrong. Go me! Edit: Although... Sarene's Seon said something interesting... Page 188 of the paperback "They are a group of miserable, cursed individuals that your God appears to have forgotten - and the rest of the country is trying very hard to follow His example. " The fact that a Seon would say "your god" is odd to me. It could mean either the Seons aren't religious or that their god is not the same as the Korathi god. Could go either way. Edited March 23, 2014 by trendkill
Green Hoodie Mistborn he/him Posted March 24, 2014 Posted March 24, 2014 (edited) It's been a few years since I've read Elantris, so I don't remember some of the finer details. This is mostly just be musing on things as I go through the book and coming to odd conclusions Although, another explanation for the religious differences: in the book (or maybe just Brandon's explanation of the religions), it talks about how the guys who start Shu-Korath and -Dereth were followers of the guy who started Shu-Keseg, and they started their religions when he died. Maybe Keseg = Adonalsium, him dying is the shattering, Korath = Devotion and Dereth = Dominion. I think I may have just proven that part of my theory wrong. Go me! Edit: Although... Sarene's Seon said something interesting... Page 188 of the paperback The fact that a Seon would say "your god" is odd to me. It could mean either the Seons aren't religious or that their god is not the same as the Korathi god. Could go either way. Relevant WoB on this: Ashe says to Sarene "your god". Do Seons (and Skaze) have a religion/god?BRANDON SANDERSON They have an inkling of the nature of their original Shards, which they would consider their gods.QUESTIONKind of like a first, a prime, a parent?BRANDON SANDERSONYes. They kind of know what happened that created them, and they also know this is not the god being worshiped (by Sarene), so... Source We know that Skaze are splinters of Dominion (Skai) and Seons are splinters of Devotion (Aona), so I'm still not convinced about this overall theory. Edited March 24, 2014 by Green Hoodie Mistborn 1
trendkill he/him Posted March 24, 2014 Author Posted March 24, 2014 (edited) I might be reading this the wrong way given my own biases, but that seems like I might be on the right track... At least in that the Seons don't consider Domi to be their god. What that means for my original theory, I don't know. Edited March 24, 2014 by trendkill
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