Elantris

Raoden decides to hold his coronation to prevent a power vacuum. As he faces the people, his illusion is removed by a blonde Derethi priest who is manipulating the Dor. To prevent panic, Sarene kneels to accept his rule, and others follow suit. Dilaf storms out in anger, while Raoden worries what will happen next.

Hrathen feels jealous when he sees how Sarene looks at Raoden, but he focuses on his goal to convert Arelon. Hrathen follows Dilaf to the market and sees the emperor’s men come forth from the formerly abandoned tents. Wyrn has begun his invasion a month early, and he has sent the monks of Dakhor as his army.

Raoden wakes to find Roial’s house under attack by what appears to be demons: bare-chested men, their flesh ridged and disfigured by the bones beneath. Dilaf commands them to capture Raoden.

Sarene gives a beggar named Hoid a set of boxes to deliver to Elantris. They contain swords and bows. As she travels back to Kiin’s house, her carriage is attacked. Kiin fights off the creatures and brings Sarene into the house. Sarene recognizes the axe her uncle wields and realizes he was the infamous pirate Dreok Crushthroat. He had attacked Eventeo—the younger brother who stole the throne that should belong to Kiin.

Hrathen is sickened by the fact that Dilaf is massacring the people of Kae, but as gragdet—head of a monastery—Dilaf is his superior now. Dilaf reveals that the plans all along have been not to convert Arelon and Teod, but to utterly wipe them out and thereby “end the heresy of Elantris forever” (515).

Dilaf tricks Sarene and captures her, then uses her to tell King Eventeo to gather his ships. Dilaf will arrive in the capital city in an hour, and if Eventeo does not surrender, Dilaf will kill Sarene. Dilaf runs Raoden through with a sword and Raoden collapses, overwhelmed by the pain. He has become one of the Hoed.

Galloden and Karata collect Raoden and prepare to take him to the lake, as he asked them to do. Kiin and his family are captured and taken to Elantris, along with the other survivors of the city. Soldiers bring out the Elantrians and make a pile of their bodies, and Kiin’s son Adien lies down with them.

Dilaf uses a spell to transport himself, his monks, Hrathen, and Sarene to Teod. As they wait for Eventeo, Dilaf tells Hrathen that he had a wife whom he took to Elantris when she fell sick. He believes the Elantrians deliberately performed the spell wrong to torment her and hurt him because he was a Derethi priest. She threw herself down a well, and Dilaf had to burn her to end her misery. It turns out that Dilaf first met Hrathen when he was sent to Dakhor—Dilaf is one of the monks of that monastery.

Raoden realizes something about the shape of Elantris and its surrounding cities before he falls into the lake.

Hrathen remembers what he had wanted from the priesthood: unity. He attacks Dilaf and runs away with Sarene, fighting off the monks. When Sarene questions why he would help her, Hrathen says Dilaf’s actions are evil and Jaddeth only wants devotion, not a massacre.

Back in Elantris, Shuden fights the Fjordell soldiers. Lukel helps, and so do the women Sarene taught to fence. They are quickly defeated and many are killed, including Queen Eshen. The soldiers set fire to the bodies on the pyre.

Raoden tears himself from the soothing embrace of the lake and runs down the mountain back to the city. Galloden and Karata fight to keep the soldiers from taking Raoden, and Karata is beheaded. Raoden draws a line in the dirt to represent the Chasm, thus completing the Aon that is Elantris, and light explodes from the ground, enveloping the entire city. He feels it in his body: “It was more than just light. It was essential purity. Power refined. The Dor. It washed over him, covering him like a warm liquid” (535). The light races to outline not just Elantris but also the four cities that once surrounded it, including Kae. Raoden feels his heart begin to beat: “The Shaod, the Transformation, had finally completed its work” (535). He tells the soldiers of Fjordell that they have one hour to leave town.

As Elantris erupts with light, Lukel sees Elantrians emerging from their pyre, intact. As the demon monks attack, a flash of light from Raoden levels them.

Hrathen tells Sarene that his problem is with Wyrn, not God; Hrathen knows that he is following the true faith in his heart. In the crowd, he is attacked by Fjon, the former leader of the Kae chapel.

Raoden heals Lukel and others. He learns from Ashe that Sarene has been taken to Teod. Raoden decides to try a complex Aon that will transport him to Teod. The Aons are working at full strength since the Dor that feeds Elantris has been unleashed. Adien, whose mind has been restored now that the Shaod is complete, helps Raoden with the calculations that are required to draw the Aon.

Sarene is about to be recaptured by Dilaf when Raoden appears. He fights Dilaf and the monks using Aons, but is overwhelmed. Just then, Galloden appears with an army of Elantrians, all of them using the Aons they have been practicing. Dilaf defeats Raoden in combat, and when Sarene tries to fight with her sword, she is injured, too. As she falls, Hrathen appears. He is stripped of his armor and his forearms have the same twisted bone markings as those of the monks of Dakhor. He throttles Dilaf, his arm glowing as he strangles the man. Then Hrathen slumps to the ground. As Galloden heals Raoden and Sarene, Sarene demands to know what is going on.

Sarene and Raoden are married by Father Omin, the Korathi priest. Raoden’s seon has been restored along with Elantris. Raoden wonders how the Dakhor monks found their own version of AonDor, using Fjordell characters. He recognizes that the ChayShan dance that Shuden performed is another variation of the same power. He suspects there is more than one way to access the Dor. But then he brings his attention to the present—his wedding to Sarene.

Raoden has moved his throne to Elantris, reformed the nobility, and eliminated serfdom. Sarene and Raoden stand before the barrow of King Iadon, which includes a memorial to Roial, Eondel, Karata, and Saolin. Sarene puts flowers on one last grave as they hold a funeral for Hrathen; she asks that he be remembered as the man who saved Arelon, Teod, and Elantris.