User:Lyht/seon

{!{Magical Entities |magic= AonDor, Splinters of Devotion |appearance= glowing, floating spheres with Aons at their core |world= Sel |books= Elantris }}

“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.”

—Seon Ien to Raoden

Seons are sentient beings found on the planet of Sel, described in the book of Elantris. They look like floating, glowing orbs, about the size of a melon, with an Aon visible at their center. The word "Seon" comes from the Aon "Seo", which mean "Loyalty" or "Service". They act as advisors or assistants, carrying messages and offering advice. They live a very long time, it is unknown how long or if they can die.

Seons are usually bonded to one person that they serve unconditionally. More than one Seon can be bonded to a person, and Seon can love and serve a full family even though being bonded to one person. Seons can be Passed to another. Usually this occurs within families, but they can be passed to anyone.

History and Origins

In universe

- in the setting of elantris they did not know the origin of Seons. However, almost all understanding of magic and history of magic had been lost. Some information in books. Could people before the Reod have know where they came from? - Because there is no Ars Arcanum in Elantris, we have no information on the in-universe research about Seons being done by Comsere aware individuals at the time of the book. - Ashe seemed to think they could be created. - They did not exist before Odium came to Sel - Odium splintered both Dominion and Devotion - Seons came into existence as an outlet of the power. They are Splinters of Devotion. - As far as we know, there are not any Seons (or equivalant) of Dominion. - It is unknown if they spontaneously came into existance, or were created through some form of magic, or some combination of the two - They are come into existence only in Arelon - 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. Rarely a Reod Seon might have shown 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.

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.

Abilities

- Speak, and make human noises - Travel anywhere, across the ocean - Connect with other Seon, act a long-range communication device - Simulate the appearance of people, when used as a communication device - Talk with other Seons? If they know them? - make their glow dim until they are almost completely dark - they don't need food - they can live enclosed for long periods of time with no adverse effects - In an early draft of Elantris where the Seon Ien healed Dalif, The scene was removed because Brandon thought the magic was not well enough defined.

Known Seons

There are a handful of known Seons:

• Ashe: Sarene’s Seon. His Aon means "Light, illumination".
• Dio: Eventeo’s Seon. His Aon means "Cold".
• Opa: Roial’s Seon. His Aon means "Flower".
• Ien: Raoden’s Seon. His Aon means "Wizdom".
• Mai: Riika's Seon from Hope of Elantris. There was also a Mai in Teod that contacted to Ashe, it could possibly be the same one. His Aon means "Honor".
• Aeo: Matiss's Seon from Hope of Elantris. His Aon means Bravery

There were also a few that were talked about, but where the name was never given. Hrathen spoke to Wyrn through a pair (Chapter 12). Hrathen later spoke to Forton, a man that created a batch of poison for him. (Chapter 18)

Deleted Scenes

Early versions of Elantris describe information about how Seons were created, and how they died, as well as additional elements of their magic. Those ideas are not cannon and may never turn into actual elements of the Seon's nature.

History

- Early seons were created by the Elantrians and were very, very tiny. The later Seons were an offshot of those -

Magic

- Seons could execute the magic of their Aon, but they could only do it once, and it doing so would die

Death

- in addition to the death that would come to them

“For you Seon lovers out there, never fear! I intend to get back to the Seon origins in the sequel to Elantris, when—and if—I ever get around to writing it. Know, however, that none of the above material is cannon. I was working ideas out on the page, and eventually removed them because I didn’t quite like how they worked. So, some of these concepts may show up in the next book, but some may not. ”

—Brandon Sanderson

http://brandonsanderson.com/elantris-alternate-ending-material/

Theories

It is not known how Seons are created. Replicated, made.

It is not know if Seons can die. It seems possible as it was mentioned that there were a lot less seons around after the Teod, and so perhaps they die if their current master dies. However, Raoden gave several Seons to what's-his-toes after the restoration of Elantris, Seons that seemed to have no master. This would imply that their master had died.

It is not known how seons communicate with other seons, but it can theorised that they do so through the shadesmar?

Original Content

Seons were magical servants of unknown origin on Sel. They took the form of floating orbs, each with a glowing Aon at their core that they were named for. Always loyal to their masters.

Seons acted as advisers as well as they provided a face-to-face communication with other people through their connections with other Seons. Seons lived for a very long time. Ashe had served Sarene's family for over two centuries.

Seons could be Passed to another. Usually this occurred within families, but they could be passed to anyone.

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. Rarely a Reod Seon might have shown 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.

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.

Recently Brandon Sanderson told that the Aons inside the Seons are Splinters of Devotion.

Notes

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