#SORRY GOT WEIRDLY BACK INTO MY COSMERE THOUGHTS SEEING ELHOKAR AGAIN

[cabin12kid]

No I'm actually going to talk about Elhokar Kholin so spoilers for the entirety of Stormlight Archive ahead.

Elhokar literally is just a fucking idiot. Like he really is just that dumb and there's no real reason for it. He was literally written to die. Like from the first draft. He's technically a catalyst death but like ? Even then ??? He's just such a fucking loser.

His negligence leads to death and suffering of his people. He even admits he has "the title, but not the capacity" of a real king. He's whiny and overly obsessed with his dwindling image.

But, as we find out through Kaladin, by the gods he is trying. Elhokar goes on a rant about how whenever he tries to seek council, he's chosen the wrong people. Whenever he tries to do things himself, he fucks things up so bad other people have to come fix things.

In regards to particular deaths, even Dalinar explains that Elhokar was mislead. And should be have known better? Probably yeah. But did he? Clearly not. The fault absolutely lies with Elhokar, and yet it also really is just circumstance. The people who SHOULD have taught him, particularly his father and uncle Dalinar, absolutely weren't fucking there to teach him.

And you could say that well his cousins and sister did absolutely fine. And you'd be right. But I also could probably write a whole other long post about how Adolin, Renarin and Jasnah's upbringings were so distinctly different from Elhokar's but back to why he's a loser.

He's also so fucking paranoid it's painful to watch, not in sympathy, but in pure cringe. At least on the surface. The most nutritious assassin in the world killed his father. And then the assassin returns, and he's not even there for Elhokar. He's there for Dalinar, his uncle, and then Kaladin.

Elhokar starts having what he assumes to be hallucinations. Shadows in mirrors, whispered voices only he seems to be able to hear. It's likely he heard clicking growing closer and closer, possibly heard humanoid shadows with bodies like shaped obsidian and heads of ever shifting maddening patterns asking him "what are you?"

We watched another character nearly go insane under this treatment. We literally watch Elhokar slowly lose it. And the worst part is, literally EVERYONE around him had the answer. He wasn't crazy, he was literally BLESSED WITH POWERS FROM THE GODS.

And despite everything, all his paranoia and failed attempts, he goes to Kaladin, a lowly bodyguard, and asks him, BEGS HIM, to teach him to be a better leader. Unfortunately, Elhokar is a funny fuck up side character who is destined to die. And, quite frankly, Kaladin has like more immediately pressing shit to deal with.

And that interaction I think encapsulates Elhokar's entire place in the narrative, in this world. He's so painfully close. He IS trying. And it does not matter if no one cares. Because so much of Stormlight Archive is about overcoming personal demons. Stepping up when one needs to, yes. But also about how important it is that people are not meant to suffer in isolation, alone, without support.

In the end, that is why Elhokar dies. Because by the time people started to take his issues seriously, started to think "hey, maybe he isn't a lost cause," it's... Not too late. Elhokar was literally starting his road to recovery and self discovery. And then he was just dead.

He didn't get time to improve. Not significantly. He didn't get time to grow or develop or even truly grapple with the more specific mistakes he's made. He's just gone. For him, it's just over. It's very valid to argue he literally got nothing productive done. All of the potential was there, and then it just wasn't.

Anyway I have A Lot Of Feelings about this guy but he absolutely is an absolute Cringefail Loser so please consider voting for Elhokar <3

Round 1; Group 3B

About Jon he has lost every other poll he has been in. his only canonical appearance is scrawny and tired. he was once kidnapped for a month and moisturized by evil clowns and everyone just thought he was being a dick and not showing up to work.

About Elhokar lived served cunt then died but like if he didn’t serve cunt. he just lived and then died