Adien was an Elantrian from Sel, son of Daora, step-son of Kiin, younger brother to Lukel, older step-brother to Kaise and Daorn, and cousin to Sarene. [1]
His Story
Adien was from Kae, born autistic.[2] Throughout his childhood, Adien moved in an awkward, stiff, uncontrolled manner. He constantly mumbled numbers (e.g. - distances to landmarks in feet)[3] and words (e.g. - "Elantris")[4] to himself. Adien has a natural way with numbers, instinctively knowing how many strides exist between any two locations.[5]
In his early teens, five years before Raoden heals Elantris, Adien is taken by the Shaod.[6] Unwilling to have him thrown into Elantris (city), his family conceals Adien's condition with makeup[7] and keeps him close to home. The makeup gives Adien a pale white complexion with a strange cast to his face.[8] Because of his new condition, Adien spent much of his time sleeping.[9] With his family's help, Adien accomplished the unprecedented feat of staving off becoming Hoed for those five years.
At the start of Elantris (book), roughly five years before Raoden heals Elantris, Adien is a thin-faced boy in his late-teens.[10] His role in the events of Elantris (book) was minor. After Raoden healed Elantris, Adien gave him the exact distance to Teod so that Raoden could effectively use Aon Tia to rescue Sarene.
Future Role
Adien is the planned protagonist for Elantris 2.
Adien is my planned hero for book two. I like the concept of a healed autistic being the hero of the next book. And, since he's so good with numbers, he would be incredibly powerful at AonDor (http://www.brandonsanderson.com/annotation/84/Elantris-Chapter-60-3)
As a side note, I'm planning this [Hrathen’s] Seon here to make an appearance in the sequel (if I write one.) She would be Adien's own Seon, as he would probably be the hero of the sequel. (Along with his brother and sister.) For those of you who think I didn't deal enough with the Seons in this book—the sequel would have strong focus on them. In fact, I'm tempted to make this Seon a viewpoint character. However, that would bump me up to four characters, which wouldn't let me use the chapter triad system. (http://www.brandonsanderson.com/annotation/19/Elantris-Chapter-12)