Elantris Analysis--Part 2

I did a non-spoilerific post about Elantris a while back. I've always meant to give the book a more in-depth analysis, but I kept forgetting. So, this is part 2. I'll probably do more later, but this time I'm going to focus on one third of the book: Hrathen's story.

--BEWARE OF SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT--

When we first meet Hrathen, he thinks himself as a "savior" to Arelon. Most people who read Elantris will probably notice that at the end Sarene declares him to be just this--albeit not for reasons Hrathen considered at the beginning. It's a nice use of bookends with an ironic echo. It also shows that Hrathen's core values remain the same throughout the narrative: Hrathen simply wants to save people from being destroyed--and although at first he is mostly a spiritual salvation, Hrathen always wanted to provide a physical salvation for the people of Arelon.

"He had determined to succeed in Arelon without a slaughter such as he had instigated in Duladel. But, again, was it really because he wanted to save lives? Or was it because he knew that a smooth conquest was more difficult, and therefore more of a challenge?" (p.332)

Hrathen is very much a man of peace in philosophy, but of war in practice. He constantly wore a suit of armor and never loses a physical fight (he ultimately dies at the hand of an assassin, which does not count as a fight). He tries to avoid violence whenever possible, though, preferring words--and sometimes money--to fight his opponents.

What I believe ruined Hrathen's plans--ultimately, more or less--was the time limit placed by Wyrn. If Hrathen had been able to work at his own pace--instead of rushing to convert the nobility--he would have had both the time and energy to deal with the problems caused by Dilaf, Sarene, and Telrii. However, when he tried to address each of these issues with less attention than they deserved (often ending up ignoring them until they grew beyond his control), he not only was thwarted by each of these individuals, he also became tired and hopeless enough to doubt his own beliefs. In the end, he still believes in Dereth, but he also decides to remain true to the core he had back when he came to Arelon and back when he left Dakhor: that human life is valuable, and that anyone who destroys innocent lives is evil.

"You just told me that killing this Elantrian was fated by Jaddeth--that you were simply following Jaddeth’s fate by forcing my hand. Which is it to be? Would the deaths I cause in riot be my doing, or simply the will of God?" (p. 259)

"It didn’t bother him that the miracle was an effect of Forton’s potion--Hrathen had found that the most supposed miracles were either natural or the result of human intervention. Jaddeth was behind them, as He was behind all things, using natural phenomena to increase the faith of man.
"Hrathen raised praises to God for giving him the capacity to think of the plan, the means to execute it, and the climate to make it succeeed." (p. 434)

Hrathen spends much of the novel as a hypocrite. Hrathen feels justified when he questions Dilaf as to whether taking action means that it was God's will for him to do so. When Hrathen creates his own "miracle," however, Hrathen considers himself to be doing the will of God because it ended up happening that way. It is quite likely that Dilaf followed similar lines of self-justification that he didn't vocalize either.

"Men would die, true, but their loss would not be meaningless. The entire Fjordell Empire would grow stronger for the victory over Teod. The hearts of men would increase in faith. It was the same thing Hrathen himself had done in Arelon. He had tried to convert the people for political reasons, using politics and popularity. He had bribed Telrii to convert, giving no heed to saving the man’s soul. It was the same thing. What was a nation of unbelievers when compared with all of Shu-Dereth?
"Yet, even as he rationalized, his stomach grew sick.
"I was sent to save these people, not to slaughter them." (p. 584)

"He had convinced himself that the Republic’s fall was a necessary tragedy. Now he had dispelled that illusion. His work in Duladel had been no more ethical than what Dilaf had attempted here in Teod. Ironically, by opening himself to truth, Hrathen had also exposed himself to the guilt of his past atrocities.
"One thing, however, kept him from despair--the knowledge that whatever else happened to him, no matter what he had done, he could say that he now followed the truth in his heart. He could die and face Jaddeth with courage and pride." (p. 596)

Although Hrathen questions himself throughout the book, it is when he sees Dilaf committing the vile acts that Hrathen himself had committed, that he is forced to choose: his core beliefs or his intellectual ones. Hrathen makes his decision--and although he has to face his hypocrisy head on, is able to find peace in choosing that which is right.

Until they die in Teod, Hrathen and Dilaf constantly struggle. Hrathen initially assumes that he is in control--as he always had been previously--and underestimates Dilaf's power. Hrathen does this understandably--as far as he knew, Dilaf was an Arelene too young to have gained much experience with the ways of Fjordell and Shu-Dereth. It was a misconception Dilaf allowed to persist, although his mask was not quite perfect. He would instinctively use his native tongue when caught off guard. He mentions his knowledge of details of past events that he should have been too young to know. However, what gave some of the most numerous hints was Dilaf's instinctively asserting his status as one more powerful than a gyorn.

Consider the following:

"Hrathen hid his annoyance at Telrii’s use of his name rather than his title; there would be time to change such disrespect at a later date." (p. 157)

"Perfectly, my lord Hrathen." (p. 158)

The first quote shows Hrathen as one who has too many things to do, and will willingly forgo part of his duties while he is focused on other things. However, the fact that Hrathen does not ever get around to taking a stand against Telrii until it is too late proves that he should have established his role as one not to be pushed around earlier.
The second quote, only a page after the first, is spoken by Dilaf. It is the first instance in the novel in which Dilaf uses Hrathen's name. Although Dilaf also uses an honorific, it borders insult, when you consider the first quote. It says that if Telrii can act as one too familiar with Hrathen, Dilaf can as well. Other characters also use the phrase, "my lord Hrathen," and it is always by someone that does not really respect him.

"There was a vengefulness to the way Dilaf was wresting control away from Hrathen. Perhaps the arteth was still angered over the incident with the Elantrian prisoner, or perhaps Dilaf was just transferring his anger and frustration over Sarene’s humanization of the Elantrians against Hrathen instead.

"Regardless, Dilaf was slowly seizing power." (p. 365)

Dilaf's primary motivation in all he does is hatred. And love. But mostly hatred. He hated Elantris for the failing to produce the miracle his own religion could not do: heal his wife. He suffered the loss for twenty years, and the hate only grew stronger, consuming him. In some ways, he merely masked his own self-hatred for attempting to go back on his religion when he was at his weakest. When Dilaf was charged to destroy Arelon, Wyrn provided him with a means to fulfill many of his desires: to prove his loyalties--once and for all, to get his revenge on Elantris, and to humiliate the Hrathen who had proved too weak to remain at the Dakhor monastery, yet managed to rise to power.

"He was not a zealot; he would never be a man of extreme passion. In the end, he followed Derethi because it made sense. That would have to be enough." (p. 415)

Dilaf was a man of passions while Hrathen was a man of intellect. Two polar opposites that both claimed to follow Shu-Dereth...Hrathen began to question his faith. When Hrathen analyzed his beliefs--all of them--he found some truth and some falsehoods. His core, however, remained intact: innocents should not suffer. It was his core that won.

"I have followed Shu-Dereth since I was a child--the structure and formality of it have always called to me. I joined the priesthood. I…thought I had faith. It turned out, however, that the thing I grew to believe was not Shu-Dereth after all. I don’t know what it is. […] I still believe Dereth’s teachings. My problem is with Wyrn, not God." (p. 596)