History Characters / Elantris

* MadnessMantra: As you'd expect for a Hoed.

* DefeatMeansFriendship: [[spoiler:Subverted. She always tells her men to kill Raoden and anyone with him, but, after Raoden undermines her authority, her men kill her.]]

* TheAtoner: Increasingly, after what happened in Duladen. It culminates in the finale when [[spoiler: he turns against Wyrn and Dilaf out of a sense of justice, and in doing so helps save both Arelon and Teod.]]

* {{Determinator}}: Spends five days [[[spoiler:in Elantris after taking the concoction that]] with only a little bit of food and no water. Granted, he spends most of that time doing nothing but praying aside from [[spoiler:beating the crap out of Shaor's men when they attempt to attack him]], but he knows it's a risk and he's borderline delirious by the time the ordeal is over.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: And then [[HeroicWillpower he gets back up]] and kicks some ''more'' ass before dying for good.]]

* TheSpock[=/=]TheStoic: In heavy contrast to [[TheMcCoy Dilaf]]. He eventually comes to the conclusion that his form of loyalty to Jeddeth is by his god's design and and that he was never meant to be the zealot that Dilaf is.

[[folder:Raoden]]

!!Rebels

[[folder:Sarene]]
!!Princess Sarene

A Teoish princess, Sarene's hopes of marrying Raoden were dashed with the news of his "death", but she works to save Arelon regardless.

[[folder:Shuden]]
!!Shuden

A Jindo who earned a place in the Arelon aristocracy by way of his money.

!!Antagonists

[[folder:Hrathen]]
!!Hrathen

A gyorn sent by Wyrn to convert the people of Arelon in three months, or Wyrn will send an invasion force to conquer it, his loyalties are tested over the course of the novel.

[[folder:Iadon]]
!!King Iadon

The ten-year king of Arelon and father of Raoden, Iadon has replaced the broken-down system of Elantris with a wealth-based hierarchy, and instituted many unpopular laws.

* BrokenPedestal: Raoden idolized him as a child. This view shattered after Iadon became king and power corrupted him.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Who made his entire country's royalty operate in the same way. [[spoiler:He actually was planning long-term to change the system either after a certain amount of time or upon his own demise, by establishing titles at that point via his last will to the current crop of nobility, he was hoping that nobility granted stable titles would be strong enough as a collective to keep the country stable.]]
* DeathEqualsRedemption: [[spoiler:The proclamation granting stable titles to the Arelish nobility comes with his death, ultimately giving Raoden his legitimate claim to the throne.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:He hangs himself after his ruthless actions are revealed.]]
* NonindicativeName: "Iad" means "Trust" or "Reliable" in Aonic. Iadon is really paranoid (and was before becoming king).
* OffingTheOffspring: Sarene is convinced he killed Raoden. Actually subverted, since while Iadon might have ''wanted'' to kill Raoden, Raoden was turned into an Elantrian, not killed.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Extremely sexist; Sarene's BrainlessBeauty act is so transparently obvious, yet he buys it because of his lack of respect for women.
* SmugSnake: To the point that Sarene was very easily able to manipulate him by playing into his preconceived notions and ideas.
* SocialDarwinist: Turns out he was one of these, in a way. [[spoiler:Upon his death and the proclaimation that the nobility be awarded stable titles and that the system of nobility based on wealth be abolished, the rebels discuss his motives and come to the conclusion that he wanted the nobility to compete for their titles and earn them by merit, which would mean Arelon would have a stable, strong and somewhat competant noble class. The rebels ''also'' agree it was also still a rather scummy move on his part, however, even if they were stunned at how aware Iadon actually was about the instability of Arelon's political system.]]
* VillainousBreakdown: Sarene pretty much destroys him emotionally with a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech. [[spoiler:He has another one when his part in a cult of Mysteries is exposed, which ultimately causes him to be forced off the throne, resulting in his suicide.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Telrii]]
!!Telrii

A very rich Arelene duke, Telrii hopes to gain the throne and usurp Iadon with the help of Fjordell.
----
* BigBadWannabe: Plots to be King of Arelon and bring it under his control, but he's really not as dangerous as he thinks he is.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: His means of keeping his wealth are highly amoral.
* FatBastard: He's quite obese and very much a ManipulativeBastard.
* ILied: [[spoiler: Ahan wanted to send the conspirators to prison just to spite them.]] Telrii had other plans.
* OffWithHisHead: [[spoiler:Courtesy of Eondel.]]
* PuppetKing: [[spoiler:Subverted in that he tries hard to not be under Hrathen's rule when he rises to the throne.]]
* SmugSnake: He thinks everyone else is playing to his tune, not aware that he's the one being used by Hrathen [[spoiler:and Dilaf, among others]]. He's also not nearly as smart as he thinks he is.
* StupidEvil: While most of the time he's not a complete idiot, he has his moments, one of which has severe consequences - specifically, [[spoiler:ordering Roial's execution on the spot rather than jailing him as Ahan requested.]] This particular decision is particularly poor considering the political consequences of [[spoiler:going back on his word and executing a well-respected nobleman (whereas a public trial would've been much more paletable to the citizenry and the nobility), the execution was of minor benefit to him, it causes a more legitimate claimant to the throne (Raoden) to expose himself, and it gets him killed by a vengeful Eondel (pissing off the man ''with his own personal army'' and arguably ''the best fighting force in the country'' was in itself an incredibly bad idea) who could have otherwise accepted imprisonment if all the rebels lived. Hrathen in particular notes in reaction to the news that such a spontaneous execution had likely scared the already apprehensive nobility.]] In short, it was a spiteful decision that resulted in him screwing himself over.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Dilaf]]
!!Dilaf

A young-looking and psychotic arteth in service to Hrathen, but who seems to have his own agenda and bigotries. [[spoiler: He is actually an elite Dakhor priest, a superpowered agent of Wyrn who is 71 years old and has been plotting the destruction of Arelon for decades, waiting for Hrathen to fail while he puts his original plan of genocide into action.]]
----

[[folder:Wyrn]]
!!Wyrn Wulfden the Fourth

The ruler of the Fjordell Empire, Wyrn serves as a mostly unseen BigBad to the novel.
----
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: He's known as "Wyrn", as if the title were his name.
* EvilOverlord: The perspective of those outside his empire, who oppose his rule and efforts at conquest.
* FinalSolution: [[spoiler: He has decided that the utter annihilation of the Arelene people is required to prevent Elantris from coming back to power ever again.]]
* GreaterScopeVillain: He’s the essential head of the Shu-Dereth church as well as TheEmperor, and Hrathen and Dilaf are both subservient to him.
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: His only actual appearance so far is a brief scene where Hrathen calls him up via Seon (and we only see the opening part of ''that'').
* PriestKing: Spiritual ''and'' secular leader of Fjorden. His written orders are considered scripture.
* {{Seers}}: [[spoiler:According to WordOfGod, [[ChekhovsGunman Fjon]]'s assassination of the then-nearly immediately traitorous Hrathen in Teod was meant to show, among other things, that Wyrn has limited future sight.]]
* SorcerousOverlord: It's hinted in the novel [[spoiler: and confirmed by WordOfGod]] that he's some kind of magic-user, but the details are as-yet unknown.
* TheUnfought: Given he's in Fjordell during the book, and the story itself takes place in Kae and Elantris.
[[/folder]]

* VillainHasAPoint: [[spoiler: While he's at least partially motived by irrational hatred and RevengeByProxy, he ''does'' have a cold-blooded logic to his genocidal mission- there was always the remote possibility that Elantris would return to power and be a massive threat to Fjordell ambitions, and given the way Shaod works on Sel, ethnic cleansing probably was the only practical way to prevent that from happening. Hrathen, by contrast, never considered the return of Elantris to be a possibility in the first place, and never saw them as a threat at all.]]

* ActionMom: [[spoiler:It's why she wants to get into the palace so badly.]]

* TheLancer: [[spoiler:Becomes a secondary one to Raoden, along with Galladon, after he earns her trust and she discovers his identity.]]
* NobleDemon: [[spoiler:Shifts to AntiHero.]]

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Or rather, My God, What Did I Nearly Do?. He breaks down on figuring out the beauty of Elantris after so long.

* RebelliousRebel

%%* MasterSwordsman: Even called as much.

%%* WarriorMonk

* PriestKing: Spiritual ''and'' secular leader of Fjorden.

* BadassBookworm: Once [[spoiler:TheMagicComesBack]].

* DefeatMeansFriendship: He manages to convert both Karata and Aanden to his side by proving his philosophy about life in Elantris is superior to theirs. [[spoiler:Subverted with Shaor.]]

* HopeBringer: To the people of Arelon and to the Elantrians.

* BladeOnAStick: His first weapon, before he gets sword stolen by Raoden, is just some rocks tied to a piece of half-rotted wood.

%%* ActionSurvivor

%%* WideEyedIdealist