54 pages • 1 hour read
Heir of Fire
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Themes
Redemption Through Self-Acceptance
At the novel’s beginning, Celaena is depressed and hopeless following the events of Crown of Midnight. She feels heartbroken and betrayed by her friend, Princess Nehemia, who planned her own murder to incite Celaena to reclaim her throne. She also feigns bravado to hide her poverty. After losing her, Celaena vows to fulfill her oath to Nehemia but nonetheless sees herself as an unredeemable “monster” (3). The connection between her emotions and her fire is evidenced by the narrative’s metaphoric way of describing her state of mind: “There was nothing left in her, not really. Only ash and an abyss and the unbreakable vow she’d carved into her flesh, to the friend who had seen her for what she truly was” (4).
However, throughout the story, Celaena slowly regains hope and finds redemption through self-acceptance, which she develops largely through Rowan’s support. Significantly, Rowan and Nehemia are two of the only people who support Celaena unconditionally, so the Fae prince offers a symbolic parallel to the late princess.
At first, Celaena and Rowan strongly dislike each other. Celaena’s confidence hits rock bottom when he rejects her, prompting her to reflect: “It would have been nice to have one person who knew the absolute truth about her—and didn’t hate her for it” (274). Indeed, Celaena’s worst fear is being abandoned because of her true nature. That fear causes her to hide her identity as Aelin, to repress her magical abilities, and to bury her traumatic experiences. The connection between her emotions and her magic is also developed through the theme of Staying in Control. Her relationship with Rowan improves over time as the latter consistently chooses to remain by Celaena’s side and support her character growth. Ultimately, their bond is cemented when Celaena claims him as a friend, they become carranam, and Rowan takes the Blood Oath to serve her as a queen.
Celaena finds redemption when she finally accepts and embraces her identity as Aelin: “She was the heir of ash and fire, and she would bow to no one” (497). Whereas she initially feels like she needs to conceal her worst impulses for fear of hurting others, Rowan’s unconditional acceptance helps her gain confidence in her abilities.
The author’s division of the book into two parts—“Heir of Ash” and “Heir of Fire”—speaks to Celaena’s journey. In Part 1, she is too preoccupied with her misery and emotionally unstable to control her fire magic. She is like ash: a burnt-out residue of what she can be. By the novel's end, she has mastered her emotions and overcome her fears, making her the Heir of Fire, ready to vanquish evil and serve as queen.
Staying in Control
The connection between characters’ emotions and mastery over their magical abilities is evident throughout Heir of Fire. Dorian, for instance, loses control over his ice magic when upset, while Celaena accidentally sets things on fire when she is afraid or overwhelmed. Her nickname, Fireheart, is a reference to both her abilities and her impulsivity. As a result, the characters’ emotional growth is illustrated by their increasing control over their magic.
In the beginning, Celaena’s depression is highlighted through the running metaphor of her losing her fire. When Rowan rejects her, the narrative states that “with each step [Celaena] took back to her room, that flickering light inside of her guttered. And went out” (274). Celaena’s fire regains strength when Rowan later offers her his friendship: “Something molten rushed through her, pouring over every crack and fracture still left gaping and open. Not to hurt or mar—but to weld. To forge” (366).
Rowan understands that Celaena needs to control her dangerous abilities because they are tied to her destructive impulses: “The moment you get agitated or angry or afraid, the moment you remember how much your power scares you, your magic rises up to protect you” (281). Celaena explains that her identity as an assassin helps her stay in control of her most negative emotions, like rage, and that is why she “must be Celaena, not Aelin—because being Aelin means facing those things, and unleashing that monster” (372). Throughout the story, her fear of accidentally hurting others with her fire or rage prevents Celaena from truly gaining control over her abilities. With Rowan’s support and training, she eventually understands that her trauma is what she is truly afraid of. Learning to face her emotions and embrace her grief leads Celaena to better hone her magic. For example, when Rowan sets her a challenge to free Luca from the frozen cave, rather than feeling afraid of her power, Celaena is able to control her fire because she does not want to hurt him.
Although Dorian grows similarly throughout the novel, Celaena particularly illustrates the significance of self-acceptance as a path toward control. She eventually embraces her identity as Aelin because she is now able to stay in control of her rage and her magic because she has processed her trauma. At the end of the book, she makes her emotional growth evident when she faces Maeve:
The power wasn’t in might or skill. It was in the control—the power lay in controlling herself. She’d known all along how vast and deadly her fire was, and a few months ago, she would have killed and sacrificed and slaughtered anyone and anything to fulfill her vow. But that hadn’t been strength—it had been the rage and grief of a broken, crumbling person (509).
Her emotional growth and confidence position her well for what comes in the next book of the series, Queen of Shadows.
Oppression Versus Freedom
Oppression versus freedom is a recurring theme throughout Maas’s Throne of Glass series. It is one of the main plot points, since the books depict Celaena/Aelin’s quest to defeat an evil, oppressive king and reclaim her rightful throne. She repeatedly states that her goal is to bring peace and freedom to the continent:
She would remake the world—remake it for them, those she had loved with this glorious, burning heart; a world so brilliant and prosperous that when she saw them again in the Afterworld, she would not be ashamed. She would build it for her people, who had survived this long, and whom she would not abandon. She would make for them a kingdom such as there had never been, even if it took until her last breath.
She was their queen, and she could offer them nothing less (467).
Unlike the king, Celaena desires to use her power to protect others and help them prosper. Her vow to create a better world contrasts with the king’s desire to conquer and oppress as many people as possible. The king wields power to control and dominate. Celaena’s objectives are framed as more positive and pure through her connection with the natural world—for example, her magical ability to control fire and water and the almost divine blessing she receives from the Little Folk, or the faeries, who recognize her as their rightful leader.
On the other hand, the Valg are depicted as evil and unnatural. For example, the smell of their magic is described as “wrong.” The king uses black rings to control his closest subjects’ minds, leading Aedion to comment to Chaol: “I thought the ring smelled strange—and knew only a fool would accept that kind of gift from him” (145). Manon notes that even the blood of the animals raised near the Valg is odd: “It wasn’t rancid, but like the men here, it tasted off” (259).
At the beginning of the book, Celaena believes that only she can defeat the king because “it would take a monster to destroy a monster” (3). However, as she regains hope and self-acceptance throughout the story, she realizes instead that “it would not take a monster to destroy a monster—but light, light to drive out darkness” (467). Celaena is associated with fire and the king with black magic, and this light-versus-dark opposition characterizes their antagonistic relationship. This further highlights Celaena’s aim to help her people and free them from oppression.
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By Sarah J. Maas
