poll Raoden, Sarene or Hrathen?

[Honorless he/him]

Yes, I know everybody loves Shai

and no, I'm not adding Dilaf to the list!

Edited November 24, 2019 by Honorless

[Yezrien]

#TeamHrathen

#GyornToBeWild

[NameIess]

#TeamElantris

[+Invocation]

Hrathen's arc made me like him most. Raoden and Sarene are the way they are, but Hrathen's massive change was the highlight of the book, not to mention his final scenes. I enjoy a large amount of drama and a heroic sacrifice both, and those are two tick boxes on the Hrathen chart.

[Honorless he/him]

Some found Raoden's quest for the truth about Elantris more interesting, some found Sarene navigating the politics of Arelon more interesting, some found Hrathen's character conflict interesting. Some found Raoden too perfect or found Sarene annoying and at one point petty, others found Hrathen's religious extremism discomforting (still better than Ais!)

I'm really curious about the results

Edited November 30, 2019 by Honorless

[Aon Tia she/her]

I am team Elantris.. I liked his whole let us improve conditions on actual hell and make it habitable place.. second come Hrathen for me especially near the end.. but serene I found some bits interesting and some boring like the long chapter on fencing and long descriptions of balls she attended

[The Awakened Salad they/them]

Hrathen does have the better arc, but I just like Raoden more. His optimism was a nice change of pace. 

[L7Weenie he/him]

Write in vote for Dilaf.  

[Honorless he/him]

On 11/26/2019 at 10:20 PM, L7Weenie said:

Write in vote for Dilaf.  

Welcome to the Shard, @L7Weenie! No Dilaf votes! 

[Calderis he/him]

Raoden is probably one of my least favorite Cosmere characters. His story is a series of events that happen too him, but he doesn't have to actually change at all because of those events. The man he is at the beginning and end of the book are the same. His powers change, his looks, and his social situation. But as a person, he doesn't. 

Sarene is very similar. Not quite to the same extent, she has a bit more of a journey of self acceptance with her whole "no one will ever want me" thing, but... Frankly I think that is a bit of a cliche internal struggle anyway. Still better than none. 

Hrathen on the other hand has to struggle with both the reality of if he even has faith in the first place, and then face what the people running his religion have done, and decides that while he still believes in his God, he no longer believes in the people running things. He has a real and difficult internal struggle. He's one of my favorite characters in the entirety of the Cosmere, and beyond the magics, he's the only character worth reading the book for. 

Edited December 7, 2019 by Calderis

[StarrFall]

On 11/24/2019 at 9:48 AM, Belzedar said:

#GyornToBeWild

+1

[Wander89 he/him]

Totally thought this was a snog, marry, avoid situation and don't know if I'm disappointed or not.

[Honorless he/him]

2 hours ago, Wander89 said:

Totally thought this was a snog, marry, avoid situation and don't know if I'm disappointed or not.

One does not simply say that and leave! Now we need answers!

[Wander89 he/him]

26 minutes ago, Honorless said:

One does not simply say that and leave! Now we need answers!

That's actually one I'd need to think about....

[Honorless he/him]

57 minutes ago, Wander89 said:

That's actually one I'd need to think about....

What's there to think about? It's easy, snog Hrathen, marry Raoden, avoid Sarene

[Wander89 he/him]

11 minutes ago, Honorless said:

What's there to think about? It's easy, snog Hrathen, marry Raoden, avoid Sarene

Not a fan of Raoden, couldn't live with that!

[Honorless he/him]

25 minutes ago, Wander89 said:

Not a fan of Raoden, couldn't live with that!

Well then, marry Hrathen & snog Raoden

[Merlin]

7 hours ago, Honorless said:

Well then, marry Hrathen & snog Raoden

Blargh. Get. That. Image. Out of. My. Head.

[Honorless he/him]

2 hours ago, WannabeWorldhopper said:

Blargh. Get. That. Image. Out of. My. Head.

What image?

[+Invocation]

10 hours ago, Honorless said:

What's there to think about? It's easy, snog Hrathen, marry Raoden, avoid Sarene

Snog Hrathen, we agree on that, but marry Sarene and avoid Raoden.

[Destruction he/him]

How about just hold the wedding near that pool of water and then "accidentally" trip all 3 of them into the pool and if it doesn't work for all of them AKA raoden then figure something else out.

[Knight of Iron she/they]

Just finished Elantris recently, I don't care much if Raoden was still mostly the same, I like him a lot the way he is. Next I have to say is of course Hrathen though I did find his evilness and ignorance mildly annoying. Stuff like calling Raoden "obviously an imposter, etc." But I like him. And then I don't like Sarene much.

[Sishal she/her]

Raoden is just a good guy who fights of the despair he finds himself in and does something about it. I find that hugely admirable.  

On the other hand I didn't really care for Hrathen most of the book... but that ending... oh wow

[Honorless he/him]

Saw what you did there, @erude1, so no clear favourites?

[erude1]

Just now, Honorless said:

Saw what you did there, @erude1, so no clear favourites?

It's quite difficult for me to choose because I have a pretty fond spot for Elantris being my first Sanderson novel. I think that although they may not be his most nuanced characters, there's something in each of the three that I could either find relateable, interesting, or inspiring. Paired with the interactions between the three, I think I can't really pick just one!