Ah, we needed some more Lukel. He hasn’t been around enough lately. I’m glad I had the presence of mind to throw in a character to balance out Shuden and Eondel’s solemnity. Lukel doesn’t really have much part in the plot, but he’s always there to throw in a nice quip or two. His annoyance at being told his face is too pink here is probably one of his best moments.
I brought in the Patriarch for a couple of reasons. Though Joshua wanted to cut him (my agent is quite the headsman) and suggested that I have Omin reveal the proclamation, I felt that I needed someone with a little more authority to fill that role. Plus, ELANTRIS is a book about religion, and I wanted to look at the idea of having a religious leader who isn’t necessarily as. . .wise as his people would like. By giving the Korathi religion a man like the Patriarch at its head, I could show a different aspect of faith in the book—the idea that a religion is more than its leader, and faith is more powerful than one man. I think that for any religion to last, it needs to be able to survive IN SPITE of the people who run it, rather than just because of them.
By the way, in the original draft, when Sarene gives her “All of Arelon is blessed by your presence” line when the Patriarch is on the docks, the Patriarch originally said “I know.” Moshe thought this was a little overdone, so I cut it. In my mind, however, the Patriarch IS overdone and cliché—that’s part of his character. But, anyway, one other item about this scene is the storm. I threw it in so that I could fudge the time of the Patriarch’s arrival—the triad structure requiring me to have had him on the boat longer than the trip should take. This might actually not be necessary any more—in the original, I had him leave before he found out about the king’s death. (I’m. . .not exactly sure why. Something to do with pacing and the triad structure. However, it was always my intention to have him read the proclamation at the funeral, so I had to have the ASSUME that Iadon would be executed, then take off with the proclamation. Either way, I eventually fixed this, smoothing things out considerably.)
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