Before I begin this analysis, I’d like to add a disclaimer that Sarah J. Maas can be seen as a controversial author, with readers all over the world taking issue with the prevalent issues found within her story-writing. Criticisms can include racial stereotyping of characters, stories inspired by highly contentious ‘birthright journeys’, and an inaccurate representation of various social issues like mental health awareness, according to some. This author does not represent the beliefs or values of Her Campus Richmond.
Also, a warning for spoilers ahead for the Throne of Glass book series.
Kingdom of Ash is the last book in a fantasy adventure series called Throne of Glass written by Sarah J. Maas. The books were released chronologically in terms of storyline. The order is The Assassin’s Blade, Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire, Queen of Shadows, Empire of Storms, Tower of Dawn, and Kingdom of Ash. This essay will analyse the growth of Aelin’s character in Kingdom of Ash as well as giving a brief overview of what has happened in the series so far.
The story is set in a world called Erilea where the King of Adarlan conquered all the Kingdoms ten years prior to the first book. Adarlanian soldiers pillaged and razed many places where magic users were prevalent, including the Kingdom of Terrasen, whose royalty were murdered in their sleep and believed to be dead. They were targeted due to the Fae blood in their ancestry, which meant that some of them possessed magic. After the King of Adarlan’s conquest, magic disappeared on the Northern Continent completely.
The Assassin’s Blade starts with the introduction of the main character Celaena Sardothien, an infamous assassin, who was found on the banks of the Florine River in Terrasen by Arobynn Hamel when she was nine. By the end of the prequel, Sardothien ends up getting captured by the King of Adarlan after attempting to avenge the death of her lover, Sam Cortland. She is then sentenced to life imprisonment in Endovier.
The first book, Throne of Glass, picks up after she is freed from the camp in return for competing to become the ‘King’s Champion’ with the Crown Prince Dorian as her sponsor.
Crown of Midnight sees her true form being revealed in the series of unfortunate events after the death of her close friend, Nehemia Ytger. It is revealed that Sardothien is in fact Aelin, the lost Princess of Terrasen, whose unprecedented power of flames was said to be reminiscent of her ancestor, the Fae King Brannon.
By the third book, Heir of Fire, she is sent to Wendlyn under the guise of murdering the Royal Family of Wendlyn by command of the King, when she instead seeks help from her aunt, Queen Maeve of Doranelle to train her powers. Rowan Whitethorn, a member of the Queen’s cabal of warriors, is sent to train Aelin at Mistward. Rowan develops a connection with her and betrays Maeve so that he can swear a blood oath to Aelin as his new Queen.
In Queen of Shadows, Aelin returns to Rifthold in a quest to free her cousin, General Aedion Ashryver, from the King’s dungeons and to free Crown Prince Dorian from the hold of the Valg. The current King of Adarlan is defeated and Dorian becomes King.
Empire of Storms sees Aelin recruit more fae warriors and then get captured by Maeve after an intense naval battle.
In Tower of Dawn, Chaol Westfall travels to the Southern continent to heal his legs after injuring them while helping Aelin defeat the old King of Adarlan. Whilst there, he discovers that Maeve is a Valg demon herself and manages to convince the Khagan into sending his armies to the Northern continent to support Aelin.
She is freed in Kingdom of Ash and marches with her armies to destroy Maeve and Erawan with the Wyrdkeys. After successfully battling with the Valg, Aelin is crowned Queen of Terrasen with Rowan as King consort, and a field of the famous Kingsflame flower starts to grow; the likes of which had never been seen since the reign of her uncle. Kingsflame flowers are a good omen in the Kingdom of Terrasen since they signify the start of the rule of a great monarch.
Firstly, one can analyse chapter 57 of Kingdom of Ash where it describes a scene from the Battle of Anielle where Aelin decides to make a grand entrance onto the field of war to lead the attack on the army from Morath. Aelin and the Court of Terrasen’s intervention in this battle was purely by chance as they happened to meet a ruk rider who was heading to join his regiment on their way from Doranelle. The main message of this scene is to portray Aelin’s show of strength as an effort to increase the security of her position as monarch.
For example, it states that ‘there was no fear on her face,’ which perfectly sums up her strategic approach to leading the soldiers into battle. Since this was clearly a pre-meditated move, it proves that Aelin was trying to secure her position as a powerful Queen, and she was making a point to face the enemy calmly in an effort to also calm the soldiers.
Before the battle, another scene had taken place where the Court of Terrasen expressed concern over the fear taking control of the soldiers and the reputation of Aelin as a strong monarch. Evidently, this action portrays her determination in the face of adversity as she had still been in recovery from the horrors she suffered through in Doranelle when she had decided to intervene in the battle to save Anielle. This makes the content of the scene convincing in its depiction of Aelin’s strength and courage.
Another point to be made is the idea that she used her show of strength as a tool to impress the children of Khagan Urus of the Southern Continent, Sartaq, Hasar, and Kashin. An example would be when the scene states that she ‘glowed like the sun that now broke over the Khagan’s army.’ This means that the Khagan’s children were witnessing Aelin’s grand entrance, and she was trying to come across as a worthy ally to them. This is obvious because of the letter that she sent to the Princess Hasar previously, which reflected her need to make allies with the Southern Continent. Therefore, the scene is convincing in its insinuation that Aelin was trying to work on foreign policy to ensure her own security.
Lastly, it can be said that she was being economical in her approach so that she seemed like a secure Queen without putting her finances at risk. For example, it states that ‘she’d found armour below the keep,’ which shows that she was trying to use all the resources at her disposal. This is proven by the fact that she has repeated this same action in the past to preserve her precious war finances when she ‘borrowed’ (read: stole) some weapons from another treasury so that they would survive. Overall, the scene seems to be mostly convincing in its portrayal of Aelin’s effort to ensure security and to be as resourceful as she can.
Chapter 61 of describes another scene from the Battle of Anielle where the enemy loosens the bolts holding the dam near the field of battle, putting all the armies defending the city at risk of drowning before they can even reach safety. Aelin decides to use all her might against the tidal wave coming their way to save everyone’s lives. The scene puts forward the idea that the purpose of this display of power, other than to save lives, was to eliminate any opposition that still doubted Aelin as the rightful Queen of Terrasen.
As an example, it states that ‘they all saw her,’ which means that all of her allies on the battlements saw her immense show of power. This insinuates that it served to act as a deterrent for anyone that wanted to challenge her authority and that it was another way of ensuring her own security by eliminating any doubts about her position. This could be confirmed by the fact that Aelin ensured that she had enough information to lord over influential people so that she could control any potential enemies like when she blackmailed Rolfe into joining her cause in Skull’s Bay. So, the scene is convincing in its depiction of her attempt to get people to fear and respect her as a monarch.
Additionally, a point can be made that the scene shows how Aelin has grown as a character in her perception of the acceptance of diverse people in society. An example would be when it says, ‘Elide and Lorcan were still too far from the gates,’ which means she went out not only to save countless lives, but to give Elide time to get Lorcan to safety too. Evidently, Aelin showed that her willingness to save Lorcan, someone she had made an enemy out of, was because of the tolerance that she developed throughout the series.
It is revealed that earlier on in the series, she admitted to being ashamed about her fae heritage since people who are half-fae are discriminated against across Erilea; an example of a half-fae that had been ostracised from society would be Lorcan. It is interesting to see how travelling to Doranelle in Heir of Fire transformed Aelin’s perception of her own heritage and she finally saw it as something to be proud of rather than something to hide. By taking these arguments into account, it can be understood that this scene is quite convincing in its portrayal of Aelin’s skill as a monarch and her growth from an ignorant character to an empathetic one.
Chapter 110 describes a scene from the Battle of Orynth where Aelin and her warriors have a final face off with Erawan and Maeve to stop their efforts to enslave and conquer the entirety of Erilea. The main idea that the scene is trying to show is that Aelin is able to truly find courage to conquer her fears with the pressure of the world on her shoulders and that she is resilient despite her past troubles.
For example, it states that ‘she had not wanted to ask, to plan this,’ which means that she has the lives of others in her hands and that she was hesitant to risk those she cared about, especially when facing an enemy that she herself feared.
It is seen at the beginning of the book and during her rescue from Doranelle, that Aelin suffered from trauma flashbacks due to the mental and physical torture that Cairn administered to her by order of Maeve. This infers that the face-off with Maeve is clearly that much more daunting due to her fear of being captured and tortured again. Indeed, earlier on in the battle, Maeve tried her hand at invading the minds of Aelin’s warriors to mentally torture them. So, her courage in the face of her trauma and justified fears shows the strength of her character as Queen of Terrasen. The scene convincingly conveys the way Aelin conquers her fears in order to save the world and how she thrives in the face of adversity.
A second point that can be made is the idea that the religious policy that Aelin implements and endorses is not inclusive of all the people that follow her. An example would be when she says, ‘I am a God,’ which is a statement that shows that her character still has some way to go in terms of growth. This is because this and many other references to blasphemy that she has openly made earlier on in the book (e.g., repeated, and consistent uses of the cuss word ‘Godsdamn’) alienates her own supporters that are religious. The scene makes the clear the idea that Aelin is not shy of appearing blasphemous and that she does not care about the fact that the people around her may be religious; they might be offended by her words and withdraw their support.
This can be seen when she meets the Lord of Anielle and uses similar cuss words that caused him to take offense and refuse to support her. The chapter somewhat convincing in its portrayal of Aelin as a strong character because it depicts her being courageous when facing her fears, but it also shows how she can be limited in her character growth.
In conclusion, the arguments presented above are very convincing in proving that Aelin is one of the greatest main characters since it reflects the way she has grown as a character and how she has learned lessons in the past that have made her effective in her role as Queen. Her past trauma has also made her more empathetic, and she has displayed this during the Battle of Anielle, where she held back the tidal wave to save people.
There are many more examples where she proves she is politically savvy (Chapter 57), courageous (Chapter 61) and socially aware (Chapter 110). Despite this, there is an argument made that shows how she still has many flaws like not being religiously inclusive. A counter argument that her flaws add to her character depth, and it makes for a more complex kind of storytelling when reading chapters from her perspective. Therefore, the arguments put forward prove that Aelin is one of the greatest main characters in modern YA fantasy.
Glossary:
Aedion Ashryver – Cousin to Aelin and General of Terrasen.
Aelin Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius – The main character of this story.
Adarlan – A Kingdom in Erilea that establishes an empire at the start of the story.
Anielle – A city in Northern Adarlan where a great battle takes place.
Arobynn Hamel – Known as the King of Assassins in Rifthold.
Cairn – Maeve’s second in command.
Doranelle – The Fae Kingdom where Aelin sent to train.
Dorian – Crown Prince of Adarlan.
Elide Lochan – The Lady of Perranth and childhood friend to Aelin.
Endovier – A slave camp in the North of Erilea.
Erawan – A Valg King that came to Erilea through a portal.
Erilea – The continent where most of the story takes place.
Hasar – Eldest daughter of the Khagan.
Kashin – Son of the Khagan, younger brother of Sartaq.
Kingsflame – A flower native to Terrasen that blooms during the rule of a great monarch.
Khagan Urus – Ruler of the Southern Continent, untouched by the Valg.
Lorcan Salvaterre – A former member of Maeve’s cabal of warriors.
Maeve – Queen of Doranelle and Aelin’s Aunt.
Mistward – A camp in the Fae Kingdom where fae train their powers.
Nehemia Ytger – Princess of Eyllwe.
Orynth – A city in Terrasen.
Rifthold – A city in Adarlan.
Rowan Whitethorn – A Prince and former member of Maeve’s cabal of warriors.
Ruk – Winged creatures that the aerial legion of the Khagan’s army ride.
Sam Cortland – An assassin that fell in love with Celaena.
Sartaq – Eldest son of the Khagan of the Southern Empire.
Terrasen – A Kingdom in the North of Erilea where Aelin originates.
Valg – Otherworldly demons that are hell bent on invading Erilea.
Wendlyn – A Kingdom that borders Doranelle.
Wyrdkeys – Pieces of a portal that can help send the Valg back to their world.