poll Raoden, Sarene or Hrathen?

[+Invocation]

1 minute ago, Dreamer said:

Hmm? You've been consistent with your views...

Before, I lined it up with Marry Sarene, Snog Hrathen, and Kill Raoden, but now I feel like Sarene and Hrathen need to be swapped (sorry Raoden, you just don't hit the boxes for me).

[Honorless he/him]

Come on guys, vote for your favourite Elantris character and tell us why you like them!

[CosmereanAntelope he/him]

On 12/8/2019 at 4:45 AM, Calderis said:

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. 

...And that's not a bad thing. In fact, I think the circumstances he's been put in makes him MORE interesting because his unchanging hopeful and kind attitude is now tested by the pains of being an Elantrian (pre-restoration, of course). It's really engaging to see this really stable, just overall nice dude get thrown in the dumps... it just makes you root for him more.

[Snake Eyes Productions_YT he/him]

I love Hrathen and Raoden.

[Mage he/him]

I agree that Hrathen has the best character arc and is, from a literary point of view, the best character. However, I voted Raoden because I enjoyed his viewpoint chapters the best. As a character he isn't my favorite, but I am a fan of the 'take a bad situation and make it better' plot archetype (another instance of this archetype is bridge 4 in tWok), so I was just getting through the Hrathen and Sarene chapters so I could read about Raoden and Elantris. I know that wasn't exactly the point of this poll, but that is my opinion on the three main Elantris characters.

[Snake Eyes Productions_YT he/him]

I enjoyed Raoden's viewpoint chapters the most, though I can't help but liking Hrathen a lot. But overall, I decided to vote for Raoden.

[Kings_way he/they]

Hrathen. All three have conflicting goals at some point in the book, and the one I wanted to succeed mainly depended on whoever was narrating at the time. I liked Heathen the most. To Raodon and Serene, he was obviously the villain, but when you get to his chapters, you see that almost everything he does is to try to save everyone he can. His ending was amazing.

[Spren of Kindness she/her]

Raoden is my favorite, though I really enjoyed Sarene's chapters.  Hrathen wasn't ever my favorite, though his character arc was really good, in my opinion.

[dannnex male]

Daaaaaang why all the Sarene hate?!? I mean, I voted Raoden, but I really like Sarene. She kinda seems like a Beta-Shallan to me. Also, a lotta people are saying that Raoden doesn’t even have a character arc but that’s so wrong. Yes he’s relatively the same at the beginning and the end, but his journey is about trying to do just that. He has so many points where he almost gives up but he doesn’t. He has to learn to endure and maintain his optimism, which hasn’t ever been too hard for him until he gets thrown in Elantris. I think he isn’t completely the same either, he comes out of Elantris a little less naive and a little wiser. Going through Hell can do that to people. I might be a little biased towards Raoden because I felt his scenes were a bit more interesting than the others. I always love a good mystery. As for Hrathen, he always surprises me whenever I reread Elantris. I always seem to forget how good of a character he is.

[DramaQueen she/he/neopronouns]

So, I don't know if this is a flaw with the poll, but it let me vote for Sarene and Raoden. Not that I'm complaining, the best chapters (in my opinion) were the ones where the two of them were together. Their chemistry was just *chef's kiss*

[Honorless he/him]

8 hours ago, DramaQueen said:

So, I don't know if this is a flaw with the poll, but it let me vote for Sarene and Raoden.

It's a feature 

[BreezeCauthon he/him]

They're all really good, which is nice. I love a good redemption arc, though, so I voted Hrathen.

[thebubblesarealie he/him]

Hrathen and Raoden are where it’s at. I love Hrathen’s arc and I love Raoden’s personality.

[Skaromas he/him]

Raoden, I liked his character and his arc of discovery, Sarene was alright and her arc is also interesting but Hrathen I just found dull and a character whose chapters (after reading the book once) I just skipped on my first reread.

[midnight13 she/her]

I really liked Hrathen's arc, but he's a bit too slippery for me. While I enjoyed reading his chapters, I do not want to meet him. Well, unless he's there to save me from hordes of dakhor priests.

[MasterGhandalf]

Gonna have to go with Hrathen on this one. I like Raoden, but he also feels a lot like a dry run for later characters like Kelsier or Kaladin who have a similar 'charismatic leader who has to learn how to give others hope in a terrible situation' vibe but also much greater internal complexity. Sarene is more interesting, IMO, but also doesn't have as much depth as some of the later cosmere protagonists. Hrathen, however, is and remains one of Brandon's best characters, and his struggles with his faith, his conscience, and his duty are the strongest parts of the book. So ultmately, it's not really much of a contest - got to give a vote for the gyorn. 

[chongjasmine]

I think I like Raoden best among the three. I didn't like Hrathen, and I found Sarene annoying.

[JDharmawan]

A lot of the things Raoden did and said resonates with me. Really love Elantris because of all the early Raoden chapters. I don't necessarily dislike the other characters, but for me, Raoden took the spotlight every time.

[Conure1243 He/Him]

Raoden was the one I was interested in throughout the entire book, but by the ending I ended up liking Hrathen just as much.

[TheUnInvestedCremling he/him....]

Im team Raodon. He is passionate like me. 

I would say @KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren would like Hrathen as he is logical.

Either way, Hrathen is just on the wrong side  he would be great if he was Korathi

[KaladinsSenseOfHumourSpren He/Him]

21 minutes ago, LordHathsin_Surviv0r said:

Im team Raodon. He is passionate like me. 

I would say @KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren would like Hrathen as he is logical.

Either way, Hrathen is just on the wrong side  he would be great if he was Korathi

...

I go with Hrathen because he is a more interesting character.

Also he reminds me of a Red Rising character.

[Morning Star by Pierce Brown spoilers]

Spoiler

It's Cassius when he flips.

Also, have you finished ES?

[TheUnInvestedCremling he/him....]

57 minutes ago, KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren said:

...

I go with Hrathen because he is a more interesting character.

Also he reminds me of a Red Rising character.

[Morning Star by Pierce Brown spoilers]

  Reveal hidden contents

It's Cassius when he flips.

Also, have you finished ES?

Yes, I made a status update about it..

[Talaon He/Him]

I went with Raoden.  I like Sarene and Hrathen too, but Raoden's desire to help people in the absolute worst situation really resonated with me.  Plus, I like that he enjoys reading and studying, which I do as well.

[momadrac they/them]

I like Sarene, because I enjoyed her chapters the most and I like how she just went ahead and manipulated the politics of Arelon, as well as putting a cog in Hrathen's plans

 

[Myst He/Him]

My main reason for liking Hrathen is at the end of the book, where he says his problem isn’t with Sho-Dereth, but with Wyrn. And I think that’s admirable, to know that the thing you love isn’t perfect, and others use that same thing to do destroy, but to choose it anyway, because you believe it’s right, even if it has problems. The others never had to make that choice.