#anti queen of glass

[amaltheas-garden]

people still shocked that in the year of our lord 2024 some of us don't want to see Dany get her 'happy ending' by becoming the white savior who was promised

[ennawrite]

Aelin would not like Rhysand. Stop saying they would be friends. Aelin would take one look at Velaris & then at the Illyrian camps and burn Rhys to a crisp & serve the Court of Nightmares roasted wings for dinner.

[tinasshelf]

I’ll never get over Chaol apologizing to Aelin in QoS, and Aelin not ever acknowledging her own hypocrisy and just going “Yeah sorry I tried to kill you, teehee!” …intimate partner violence is not cute.

Chaol had every right to be frustrated with her and while he shouldn’t have given her so much blame and could’ve expressed himself better, a lot of his concerns where completely valid and reasonable. Aelin blamed Chaol for things completely out of his control (Dorians capture, Nehemias death) and went against her word and tried to kill Dorian. But the difference is shes never expected to apologize or even acknowledge that she was ever in the wrong.

HES the one who has to come to Aelin with an apology. Because he wasn’t riding her dick the whole time and actually gave her some pushback? Because he couldn’t read her mind when she choses to withold infomation for no reason, even though he was always complicit in her plans? Alright then !!

(I don’t want to seem like I hate Aelin btw, I just went through a rough patch with her esp in this book.)

[dawntoducks]

As someone who started reading throne of glass in 2017, I really, really want elucien to be endgame. And if this was any other author, I wouldn't have any doubts about elucien being endgame. The only reason I'm worried is because doraelin was also supposed to be endgame in tog, and you can definitely see hints toward it in the first few books. It wasn't until HoF/QoS that stuff was retconned/ignored so that the endgame pairing could be switched.

Again, I'm a MASSIVE elucien shipper, so I'm still holding out. And tbh, I highly doubt sjm would make Lucien suffer that much; he is one of her favorite characters, after all. I mean, the poor guy has been through enough already.

This is not hate toward SJM at all; just pointing out that she's diverged from the original plans for her stories in the past.

[darklinaforever]

I'm always perplexed when people try to say that nothing can justify Maven's horrible actions because he didn't always have his mother to influence him... Except that I find that completely stupid. People really just say that if his mother isn't around anymore, he should be able to make an effort to change and if he doesn't, then he is completely responsible for his actions. Just, no. Maven was a sick person. Mentally. No joke. And in the worst way possible. His mother literally trained him to be a monster. Obviously he will continue to be even without her. It wasn't just his presence that was fucking influencing him. She literally cut his brain into a thousand pieces with her fucking powers ! FUCKING MAGIC POWERS ! How can you seriously expect the guy to be normal ? She turned him into a monster and just because she disappears isn't the magic solution to the problem. He still hears her fucking voice in his head. Yes, Maven made decisions on his own, without direct suggestions from his mother, but would he have made them if his mother hadn't formatted him from BABY ?! I think the answer is clearly NO ! If you suggest otherwise it's because you think Maven would have been a monster in any case which is contrary to what history shows. I'm tired of seeing people say that yes it's not his fault if he became like that, but to give ourselves moral superiority, we're going to add behind that he is completely responsible once he reaches a certain age and above all when his mother dies. No. It's not that simple. Yes, Maven did horrible things, but I'm sorry, it's not his fault. The guy's had his brains butchered over and over again since he was a baby ! It is broken ! Completely ! Even if he still has some lucidity, nothing can really cure him at this stage. I remind you, he's had his head tampered with since he was a baby. Maven became a person suffering from madness because of this. His actions are actions committed by someone clearly suffering from madness, and if his mother had never done anything to him, he would never have become a monster. Maven is not in the same situation as many bad guys with bad experiences that transformed him or simply having someone who has influenced him since childhood. This is someone who has had his head / brain reshaped by his mother's literal powers since baby. Can you even imagine ? This is a complete rant, but sorry, I don't understand how anyone can say that Maven is actually responsible for the horrible acts he committed. It's beyond an explanation, it's downright a big extenuating circumstance. I realize that many will disagree, but that's what I think. Maven is a horribly tragic character. Nothing will change my mind.

And if I could, this is what I would do to Maven's dear mother, that bastard Elara... before she touches the baby Maven :

[feyres-divorce-lawyer]

credit: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZM2vmDxv9/

imma just leave this here

[nestaismommy]

Someone just told me that Nesta was written like a throne of glass character and I cannot stop thinking about it.

She belongs there. She would thrive there.

Someone tell Aelin and Rowan to adopt Nesta and get her away from Rhysand’s cult please

[pergaminaa]

omg hold on i just realized something!!!

the Blackbeak Matron is the ONLY one who knew about Manon's bloodline, like-- Manon is an actual fucking queen by birthright and the Matron is the only person who knew it because Manon never learned about this.

so remember when Asterin was telling Manon what happened to her with her hunter and witchling? The Matron warned Vesta and Sorrel not to bring it up to Manon or there will be dire consequences.

Now hear me out: Manon fucking loves Asterin. If she knew what her grandmother had done, she would have probably done something like take the Thirteen and just leave or something like that.

We all know how the Matron loved threatening Manon that she'd replace her, but while it worked on Manon, her grandmother never really intended to do that.

It's the same reason why she wanted Vesta and Sorrel to remain quiet: she has a literal fucking queen at her beck and call. Manon is ready to do anything for her grandmother just to get some praise, and the Matron isn't going to let go of that. It's why she needed Manon loyal to her (through fear because Manon didn't really trust her but she fears what she'd do)

So at the end of the day, the Matron was after more power. She kept Manon by her side through unorthodox tactics because she loved having so much control over her. And also because of Manon's royal blood, she can have so much.

I think it's also why she wasn't fully against Erawan showing interest in Manon. Because with that union, she will reign supreme.

It's just-- the way she played Manon for her whole life for no other reason than being a shitty person is what irks me the most. She literally used everything that is Manon and twisted it, turning it into something ugly.

I'm sorry but when Manon just killed Rhiannon without even questioning it? Just blindly obeying her grandmother because it's what she's been conditioned to do???

Later on, we see Manon really struggling between doing what is right and doing exactly what her grandmother wants even when she doesn't agree with it. Every time, her grandmother wins (until the part where she was about to execute Asterin) and I honestly think that the Matron was happy with how she has the actual Queen of Witches under her command.

[gabilina]

Throne of Glass was published on fictionpress in 2003. The original version was called Queen of Glass and was supposed to be a Cinderella retelling. As we read throught the final product we can see that apart from glass palace in Rifthold it has little to do with the classic Grimm's/Perrault's tale. In the original fairytale we had cruel stepmom and wicked stepsisters who were mean to Cinderella - Throne of Glass has none of that.

I saw people talking abt how both Acotar and Crescent City shares many elements taken from Abrahamic Religions and I think that with Throne of Glass it's the same, especially the storyline from book 1 about Celaena being a slave at salt mines.

In their old posts @alexcollix7 and @longsightmyth pointed out that Celaena being a slave at salt mines storyline was ripped off Lucivar Yaslana's arc from The Black Jewels trilogy by Anne Bishop, but I think it actually has something to do with The Book of Esther.

The Book of Esther also features a young heroine being sold into slavery who then wants to overthrow a powerful ruler - this can't be coincidence

[do-you-think-im-spoopy]

Hmm yalls precious Rowan doesn't seem to like it when Aelin is ruthless either... but when Chaol doesn't like it yall lose your minds... 🤔 #queenofshadows #chaolwestfall

[lucy-the-cat]

The Red Queen Midnights Collection is a series of AUs set in the Newblood Queen universe, a Mareven role swap au where Newbloods Rule, Reds are still oppressed, and Silvers exist in a hazy space in-between. Read the main series here

Sweet Nothing (Queen!Mare makes Maven her consort), Would've Could've Should've (something about Maven and Elara), and You're On Your Own Kid (Elane bonding with Maven) are locked in since they won the last two polls. This poll is for determining the next oneshot.

[lucien-calore]

rowan is a cheap, boring and rude version of chaol. they're both grumpy, annoyed, no-nonsense warriors who at first are wary of aelin/celaena but grow to care for her deeply. they even have the same mbti!! the main difference is that chaol did it first, and chaol did it better.

[highqueenofelfhame]

I’m going to start this off by saying that I don’t care if you don’t share my sentiments because this one is a little… I think it’s going to incite a lot of opinions and that’s great, I love the discussions. This is just wholly my opinion and what I think and what I’m picking up on during my reread (relisten really) of Kingdom of Ash. 

Secondly, if you like Chaol, this post probably isn’t going to be for you and that’s okay. But if you’ve been on my blog for a decent bit of time you’ll know that I don’t like him and I have so many reasons for it. I never found his character “development” to be enough for me to come around to him. I will give him credit where it’s due in this post but I just have a lot of thoughts that are so loud I wish i could pause them so I could like, finish my dinner. But I can’t because they’re screaming in my head and I have to get it out. 

I’m also not here to argue about Aelin. I mean, I absolutely will, but that’s not the focus of my thoughts currently in this moment even though a lot of this is going to be focused on her and Dorian to help make my main point.

Toward the end is what I really want to focus on because I’m currently in the thick of the final battle with Aelin just having called herself a god (iconic) and Yrene is getting ready to face Erawan. So now that you know where I’m at, I’ll get into it. 

I’ve noticed through my listen that at every turn, Dorian is like whats up what can I do to help this cause and help this war and help the future. I think we can all agree on that because I think we all love Dorian, I genuinely have never seen any Dorian discourse anywhere and I love that for him. He’s a cinnamon roll, we protect him. And once he and Aelin are reunited, he doesn’t spare a second thought about doing what he can to help her. Closing the gate together? He’s putting on her shoes before she’s really even finished talking and ready to go. In the battle when Elide and Yrene are like this is what we need you to do? He’s flying off without having to be asked twice, without having to even think about what he’s about to throw himself into.

Dorian’s character development is genuinely something that is great and well written and he has fully grown into the King he’s meant to be. And it’s amazing. 

But at every turn when Dorian immediately says yes, Chaol immediately says no. And that’s kind of always his M.O. Chaol’s thinking has always come from a selfish place and this is something that I see in the text over and over. SJM tried to sell his character development but it’s just not there for me. 

At this point in Kingdom of Ash, yes he has a lot more to lose. The stakes are a lot higher to him and I understand that. I think it’s great that he’s thinking so much for his wife and his future child and the family that they will have together. 

However. There isn’t going to be a family if there’s no world left. Right? Like there isn’t going to be a baby if they don’t get out of the absolute dumpster fire their world is in right now and there are limited ways for that to happen.

He is always immediately for Dorian’s life being spared over Aelin’s. And I also do understand that to a degree. Like, that’s his best friend, that’s his brother, they’ve grown up together. But he never thought about this other person that he considers to be his friend when it came down to it. 

This is when I’ll bring up Aelin because it’s relevant to her and Dorian in the last several chapters of this book but also to her character. I can’t stand it when people say she’s selfish when she’s proved time and time again that she’s incredibly selfless. Like if you think she’s selfish you’re reading the words but not seeing the actions, you know? Especially in Kingdom of Ash but in everything leading up to it. 

When she’s in the coffin the only thing keeping her going is knowing that she is the person that is going to have to end it all. She’s going to have to give her life so that everyone she loves and all the people of their entire world will have a better one. She’s been resigned to that for a while. It’s why she didn’t bother fighting Maeve when she was captured on the beach, it’s why she didn’t care if she made it out alive at the end of Heir of Fire when she walked out to face the demon princes. Not only does she have pisspoor mental health and does a lot of suicide missions, but she’s doing it all with the thought of the people she loves in mind. And I think Dorian had a lot of similar motivations in KoA, especially considering he destroyed Morath for his father (whom he still hated.) 

The two of them have always been thinking about the bigger picture, about the future, about the future generations. Even Dorian entirely walked away from Manon offering him literally everything because he knew it wasn’t what she truly wanted, and knew that it would be something of a prison to her, no matter how much he might love that future for himself. Dorian didn’t walk into Morath with selfish motivations. He walked in there not even really truly knowing what was going on with Aelin at the time, knowing that at the end of the day he could be the one having to sacrifice his life to close the gate. He also knew if he was caught he would have another collar put around his neck or be killed. But he did it anyway. 

Chaol, while I understand that his stakes are much higher right now, he’s still like really only thinking about the situation as it pertains to him and what he wants. He wants Dorian to live, he doesn’t want Yrene to face Erawan knowing that she’s like the only person that can truly defeat him at this point. And again, I understand it. I understand the selfish motivations here but it also just goes back to not feeling like he had much character development. 

He’s not entirely the same as he was at the beginning. I don’t think anyone can go through what they’ve gone through and come out the same on the other side. It’s just not possible. But I also don’t think his development has gone far enough to cancel out the wrongs, the hurtful shit he’s said, the prejudice he’s shown specifically to fae and magic wielders. Like, he only decided Rowan was a good male when Rowan tried to heal him at the end of QoS. Which again: only pertains to him and his perception on things which is a very tight circle around himself.

If he truly had any regard for Aelin he would have had a hesitation, even a little bit, when she was the one that was like okay yeah I’m going to die. There would have been something there, some objection, but there wasn’t. Dude never even said sorry for anything he had said to her when he made her feel like a monster. And that’s just a whole other level of fucked up that I’m not going to get into right now. 

Even Rowan, knowing his mate was sacrificing herself, he still acknowledged that it was her choice, that he never lets her do anything, and he came to some sort of place of acceptance. Was he devastated? Absolutely he was. He didn’t know if his tattoo would work or if her and Dorian doing it together would keep them both alive, but he supported her decisions as much as he didn’t like them. Because he also understands what is at stake and that it’s just bigger than them. He was straight up like if she doesn’t come out, I’m going to die too and I’ll find her in the afterworld. Is that selfish? Sure. But there were other people that, if Aelin had died, could rule Terrasen if they succeeded and closing the gate had gone how it was supposed to (with Erawan being taken out with the gods.) But my point is he still supported that, he accepted it. 

But I just don’t see the development from Chaol that we were supposed to see. When Yrene wants to face Erawan, he just keeps trying to shut it down. Because Chaol refuses to see outside of his bubble. Yrene knows what’s at stake. She knows she’s carrying their child, she knows she loves this man something fierce, but she also knows that none of that is going to matter if they don’t win the war, if she doesn’t at least try to take out Erawan when she’s capable. 

And like the badass that she is she fucking does it like a queen. 

I will do another post on Aelin’s selflessness one of these days and I will bring receipts with quotes and page numbers to go along with it. I feel like I’m getting into rambling territory. But all of this is just to say that I simply don’t see Chaol’s character development in terms of him not being selfish. 

I may add more to this later, it’s late and I need to eat my dinner. Thanks to autism, my thoughts were so loud I couldn’t even focus on eating and the only way to make them relax a little was by getting them out of my brain and onto a page. 

Anyway, I still don’t like chaol. And I’m not even on a fresh chaol hate-train. I haven’t read this full series in over a year but relistening has just like further solidified for me that he just really hasn’t changed that much. Not nearly as much as SJM wanted us to think, anyway.

And I still think that Yrene, the brilliant healer, getting pregnant was the silliest story line. 

But also like how can Yrene defeat a valg king while pregnant but Feyre’s healers couldn’t do a fuckin c-section? Hello?????

Okay that’s all. 

Love u bye

[smolandweirdwriter]

I feel like my biggest problem with Celaena/Aelin was just that. Celaena Sardothien and Aelin Galathynius were two COMPLETELY different people.

“But that’s how it’s supposed to beeee!” Angry sjm Stans protest. “It’s her becoming a Queeeeen!”

And yeah, okay, that would be fine. But let’s analyze this from a distance, alright?

in Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight (and also assassin’s blade if you read it first ig), we get the beginnings of the character Celaena Sardothien: arrogant, vain, and traumatized (not that her trauma is written very well, but we can touch on that later). And all of this is good- She is open for character development. And she does. She has a full character arc throughout the events of Assassin’s Blade AND throne of glass, the latter even spilling into the beginning of crown of midnight in which she refuses to kill the people the king orders her to.

BUT THEN! Her character development is completely cast aside in favor of her “lost queen” arc. Enter Heir of Fire Celaena! She is traumatized again from the death of her friend, she is suicidal, she is depressed, she does not want to claim her birthright as queen. And all of this would be fine on its own, but it is now COMPLETELY skewing away from the Celaena we got to know and like. As she learns to control her power, she becomes more like her “original” self— the celaena who was cocky and bitchy and had a huge “better than other air-headed girls except for when I’m air-headed of course then it’s ok” attitude. She becomes Aelin and doesn’t listen to anyone. And then she… doesn’t change. Like I really thought QoS would be a good opportunity for her. She can learn to become queen, be more level headed. And she IS NOT. She just continues making more terrible decisions and thinking herself the best. Every single point Darrow brings up in EoS is a legitimate one, and while I don’t blame Aelin for getting angry, I DO blame her for not being able to swallow her damn pride and think for two seconds. She has been gone for TEN YEARS. She’s been a champion murderer for their enemy. She returned with a Fae warrior who was once sworn to the dangerous queen of the fae. OF COURSE THEY’RE NOT GOING TO TRUST HER. of COURSE they’re not going to hand her the kingdom just because it’s her birthright. She’s a whiny brat who thinks she deserves everything just because she’s powerful. And while it’s good characterization, it’s that of a person you want to see change and evolve and learn from her suffering, not just suffer for the sake of having a dramatic backstory and remain the exact same.

[dawntoducks]

Sometimes I get on TikTok and see people talking about how perfect all the couples are in tog and I can tell they’re new to the series like…yall weren’t here for the great velvet wrapped steel/rataelin discourse of 2016-2017 😭 we were coming for each others throats waiting on EoS.

[westfall-castle]

hey! Aelin stan here, I just wanted to say that i've seen your anti Aelin posts and you make really good points! You're completely correct in pointing out that Aelin should in no way have all the "life experience" SJM throws at her or be able to play the queen card all the time. In my opinion, the root issue is bad writing and SJM's apparent inability to write MCs who aren't some glorified, deified "perfect" being who checks all the boxes ever imagined.

I honestly wish that we saw more of Aelin making her mistakes and having to deal with the consequences. Like yeah, we sort of do, but not in any real way, and I think that's one of the things we as readers in general but also as Aelin stans tend to gloss over. She was rash and impetuous and never seemed to suffer the consequences, and everyone around her backed her up even when they "were mad that she didn't tell anyone her plans." Again, i think a decent part of this is bad writing and a too-heavy relance on the fantasy as opposed to making characters believable, but Aelin was the main main character, she deserved more than being exalted to god status.

thank you for being a voice of critique :) feel free to respond however you think this giant rambling braindump deserves :)

Hi Aelin Stan! I hope you’re doing awesome.

First of all I’m so sorry for taking centuries in replying to this 😭 Thank you very much for taking the time to drop by and leave your question.

Thank you so much for reading my posts! I wouldn’t consider myself fully anti-Aelin, but I include the tag so people can navigate through the content easier and well, because that post, as you remember, wasn’t precisely hyping her up hahah 😅. I do, however, see she has lots of positive traits to her and actually like her, she has a special place in my reader heart.

I agree with you completely! It was most likely because lots of things were going on throughout the series. First, it heavily relied on fantasy, as you say (which is not bad and it’s part of why I loved it) but soon SJM was tasked with

-Generating lore for this fantasy world

-Explain fantastic elements as more characters were added (For example: Introduce Manon= Explain the whole dynamics about witches. Introduce Rowan= Explain the whole dynamics about fae and demi-fae)

- Weaving the characters and making them interact so we had a story

-Developing each character’s arc

- Bringing the story forward making it make sense

-Write romance for all these characters ending with more than 6 pairings

SO IT WAS A LOT GOING ON! And I do admire as a reader the amount of work this represented and how she brought it forward. in the end, the series counts with 8 books and it still left us wanting for more!

At the same time, maybe this was the reason there wasn’t enough space for development, introspection, accountability for Aelin. There simply was no space for this to happen! If Aelin suffered the consequences, as you very smartly mention, it would have required to edit the text and narrow certain elements to have space, or add 2 more books to the series and make it 10 (which I’m personally not opposed to hahah, but we know how editorial publications work and it’s already hard as it is to publish 8 books in a row!)

Perhaps the work got so big no amount of words did it justice. Maybe we wouldn’t have gotten Elide or Aedion. Who knows how it would’ve gone.

Many readers mention in their critiques of TOG the space management (aka: reading and editing to cut out irrelevant parts and make reading more efficient and straightforward) What I can say about it is: I agree, however, SJM is the writer. We must respect as readers that maybe these parts in her mind were specifically relevant to her and helped her build this big fantasy world in her head. Many parts could be left out to make it “neater” but it’s easy to critique when you’re not the one who’s writing.

Throughout the 8 books, I felt SJM’s necessity to transmit. She wanted to take us into the narrative, clarify all of the reader’s questions and she did a commendable job in doing so. However, she did drown in words in some parts. Sometimes you were reading and the narrator was talking and talking and you couldn’t help but think: ???? Why is this relevant? Hahaha

Maybe these parts could be used for the character development we were seeking at the expense of cutting out certain details from the books.

Well, you have no idea how much I love engaging in these types of conversation so I really have to thank you 🥹❤️ I send you a hug wherever you are and you’re not rambling! It makes so much sense! I can see you’re an avid reader 💕

Lots of love and if you ever want to discuss books again I’m here! Promise to take much less in replying.