In its fallen state at the beginning of the novel, the magical city of Elantris represents a lost golden age. Once, it was home to an elite superhuman people chosen magically and at random. Now, the Shaod that used to create Elantrians has become a disfiguring curse, and Elantrians are taboo “monstrosities” (42). The once-gleaming city is covered in a coat of decaying slime.

Elantris symbolizes the ability to repair or heal even the worst circumstances. Arelene citizens would bring their wounded or ill to Elantris for magical cures; Elantrians would supply neighboring cities with magically created food in times of bad harvests.

However, there has always been a dark side to Elantris’s magic. The power of AonDor was not always successfully used. While Raoden’s leg was healed by its proper application, the nightmarish experience of Dilaf’s wife shows that Aons were sometimes mangled or would not work as hoped. The separation of Elantrians from regular humans also took its toll: Galloden’s father lived in Elantris but was “a poor, lonely god in a divine city” (323) without the company of his wife. Karata’s family too has been parted by the Shaod.

Raoden’s New Elantris tries to undo this dark history.