Seon
“You look at things as a human, young master. You see rank and distinction; you try to order the world so that everything has a place either above you or beneath you. To a Seon, there is no above or beneath. There are only those we love. And we serve those we love. ”
Seons are magical servants of unknown origin on Sel. They take the form of floating orbs, each with a glowing Aon at their core that they are named for. Seons are always loyal to their masters.
Seons act as advisors and provide face-to-face communication with other people via a link with other Seons. Seons live for a very long time. Ashe has served Sarene's family for over two centuries.[2]
Seons can be Passed to another. Usually this occurs within families[2], but they can be passed to anyone.[3]
During the time of the Reod, a Seon whose master fell victim to the Shaod lost sentience, and made its way to Elantris where it proceeded to "wander" aimlessly and silently. Infrequently, a Reod Seon might show some unconscious recognition of their Elantrian master, but only through classically conditioned actions, not communication. Additionally, if closely inspected, the Aon of a Seon who had lost their master to the Shaod would appear to be patchy and incomplete.[4]
After the restoration of Elantris' magic and the completion of the Shaod, the Seons recovered their sanity and returned to their former state, though they were unable to remember the time they passed while the Shaod was incomplete.
The origin of the Seons is under investigation at the end of Elantris.
Trivia
Brandon Sanderson confirmed that the Aons inside the Seons are Splinters of Devotion.[5]
In an earlier draft of Elantris, Seons possessed the ability to 'complete' their Aons a single time, creating the effect their Aon is used for in AonDor, and killing the SeonTemplate:Annotation ref. Ien targeted this ability on Dilaf, 'healing him'; since Ien's Aon was still incomplete, this turned Dilaf into a fallen ElantrianTemplate:Annotation ref.