notAustere Posted March 11, 2019 Posted March 11, 2019 (edited) I am currently reviewing for a test on World War II, and the textbook mentioned that America wanted to help Britain because if Britain fell, there was no democracy left in Europe and nothing was holding Germany back. I think this is similar to Teod's conflict on whether or not to help Arelon. (Teod is America, Arelon is Britain, and Fjordell is Germany). Other evidence for this includes the monastery Dakhor being similar in name and, it seems, ~ideology~, to Dachau. Thoughts? Disclaimer: I read Elantris about a year ago, so my memory of the details is shoddy, and some of this may be a little off. Edited March 11, 2019 by notAustere
Weltall Posted March 11, 2019 Posted March 11, 2019 Probably more of a coincidence than anything else, I think. Brandon's mentioned that Fjordell grew out of his interest in the relationship between the Roman Empire and the Catholic Church and what would have happened if an even more warlike culture had undergone a similar political/religious arc. Fjordell is basically what might have happened if the Scandinavians had conquered all of Europe, collapsed and then reimagined themselves as a theocracy. Arelon is supposed to feel 'Renaissance Mediterranean' with some particular Spanish touches. So any resemblence to World War II is probably unintentional, albeit an interesting coincidence.
SwordNimiForPresident the sword/that sword Posted March 11, 2019 Posted March 11, 2019 (edited) 9 hours ago, notAustere said: because if Britain fell, there was no democracy left in Europe and nothing was holding Germany back. Bolding is mine. Except for the giant scary red blob to the east. As an American, our version of WWII is a bit like reading the interludes from one of the Stormlight books, and then trying to pretend you read the whole series. Edited March 11, 2019 by SwordNimiForPresident 2
notAustere Posted March 11, 2019 Author Posted March 11, 2019 3 hours ago, SwordNimiForPresident said: Except for the giant scary red blob to the east. Of course. I meant in terms of attacking to the West.
Ammanas Posted March 11, 2019 Posted March 11, 2019 (edited) Fun fact about the U.S.S.R and WW 2 is that Germany sent about 80% of their troops to the eastern front during the war. Also regarding Fjordell Brrandon said in the new end note to the Anniversary Elantris the Hrathan was based upon his experiences as a missionary so his faith was one of many factors when constructing that religion. Regarding the O.P I thought the same thing and agree with you. I had a similar thread a while back and didn't find many that agreed though. Edited March 11, 2019 by Ammanas
SwordNimiForPresident the sword/that sword Posted March 11, 2019 Posted March 11, 2019 (edited) If we're looking for a good historical analogue to Elantris, I would lean more towards the Napoleonic Wars, scecifically the War of the Third Coalition. The battle at Teod has a fairly direct paralel to the Battle of Trafalgar. The major land power (France/Fjordel) losing a large naval battle, thereby losing its ability to threaten the island nation (Britain/Teod). It didn't end the war, but it did set the invaders back significantly and allow the defenders time to build a coalition, eventually pushing the invaders back and winning the war. Edited March 11, 2019 by SwordNimiForPresident
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