There has been some confusion about Raoden’s line “After I left” to Sarene right before they go back into the kitchen. Right here, he’s getting ready to tell her that he’s really Raoden. He is implying that, after he left Kae (and was thrown into Elantris) he didn’t think his group of noblemen would keep meeting. It was supposed to be a subtle hint—Sarene would catch something too obvious, and I didn’t want to weaken the drama of Raoden’s appearance.
This is a very noble, and a very sorrowful, scene. A lot of emotions fly around in this chapter. Again, if I have done my job and made you sympathetic to the characters and their stories, then these emotions will come off as powerful drama. If I’ve failed, then all you’ll get from this scene is melodrama. I hope it worked for you. I wanted Raoden’s final revelation—and return to Kae—to be a dramatic and powerful event.
Originally, this scene happened with the Mad Prince, whom I’d built up as being deathly afraid of spirits and ghosts. When Raoden appears, Eton thought he was a ghost, and ran away. (Ha ha. Another pun off the original title of the book. I felt so clever—then cut it all out.) Anyway, on consideration—and in rewriting these scenes to use Telrii instead—I realized that Telrii’s soldiers would never strike down Raoden. His nature as the true king of Arelon would be enough to send them all fleeing in surprise and worry.
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