The economy of Arelon is one of the interesting features of this book. Even still, I’m not certain if I made things a little too odd here. The idea of nobility being tied directly to money is described so often by the characters that I worry that readers will think the system too foolish to have arisen. However, I think that by establishing the king as a former merchant—and by pointing out how the system was created quickly, to fill the void after the fall of Elantris—I manage to keep the economic and social situation in Arelon within the realm of possibility.

Chapter Seven (Spoilers Hidden)

Annotation Elantris Chapter 6 Chapter six (No Spoliers. Sorry!) In this chapter, we first get to see some of the scars that Hrathen is hiding. Part of what makes him such a compelling character, I think, is the fact that he considers, questions, and seriously examines his own motivations. The things he did in Duladel…

Annotation Elantris Chapter 5 Chapter Five (No Spoilers–Sorry!) This chapter includes two very important events. The first is the establishment of Hrathen and Sarene’s relationship. The ‘dramatic eye-lock’ is, admittedly, over-used in fiction. However, I found it appropriate here, since I later have Hrathen remark on Sarene. I wanted to establish that the two had…

Chapter Four (Spoilers Hidden)

Chapter Three (Spoilers Hidden)

Chapter Two (Spoilers hidden.)

Annotation Elantris Chapter 1 Chapter One There are a couple of interesting things about this chapter. First off, it didn’t originally start with Raoden waking up. When I first wrote the book, I threw Raoden directly into the city, line one. That original line was: “It wasn’t until Raoden heard the gate swing closed behind…

Annotation Elantris Prologue Prologue I’m a very sequential writer. When I write a book, I usually start with the prologue and write straight through until I hit the epilogue. Though I can’t remember for certain, I’m pretty sure that this prologue was the first thing I ever wrote for Elantris. Back in those days, I…

Annotation Elantris Acknowledgements page I’ve had a few complaints about this page–but not the complaints I expected. When I was writing the acknowledgments, I was worried that I’d leave someone out who gave me good comments on the book. It took me a lot of searching through old records, but I think I finally found…