Throne of Glass FanGuide 3: What to Know Before Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn

Summary

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Fantasy Fangirls – TOG Fantasy FanGuide Episode 3: Empire of Storms & Tower of Dawn

Podcast: Fantasy Fangirls
Hosts: Nicole & Lexi
Episode Date: February 16, 2026
Topic: Deep-Dive Fan Guide to Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass Series, specifically Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn

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Overview

In this episode, sisters Nicole and Lexi continue their four-part FanGuide for Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series. This installment focuses on Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn, rich in worldbuilding, character development, and major plot revelations. The episode is split into spoiler-safe (Part 1; spoilers only up through Queen of Shadows) and whole-series spoiler (Part 2) discussions, and mixes lore, character arcs, theories, and plenty of honest, witty sisterly banter.

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Part 1: Spoiler-Safe Discussion up through Queen of Shadows (04:06 - 62:16)

The "Tandem Read" Debate

(08:16 - 14:54)

• The hosts explain the popular reading method of "tandem reading" Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn, since their events occur simultaneously in different places.
• Lexi: Lays out the pros: keeps all POVs fresh, events sync in real-time, and it softens the infamous Empire of Storms cliffhanger.
  • “Empire of Storms is known for its dramatic cliffhanger and it can be very hard to finish that ending and then rewind in time and begin Tower of Dawn… so the tandem read makes sense for some.” (09:56)
• Nicole: Provides practical cons: logistical challenges with two physical books, overwhelming number of POVs, and the jarring differences in pacing between the action-focused Empire and the character-driven, romantic Tower.
  • “It is much harder to do the tandem read on audio unless you are actively paying attention to what chapter you're on... it made it way more difficult for me to immerse myself in the story.” (11:30)
• Both recommend the tandem read for first-timers, but reading each book straight through on re-reads.

Why You Must Read Tower of Dawn

(14:54 - 15:17)

• Tower of Dawn is crucial for the series, despite some fans’ initial hesitation: it’s a central character arc, expands the world, and offers vital info for the coming war.
  • Nicole: “Tower of Dawn is my second favorite in the series right behind Queen of Shadows. Like it is so well done. It is a character arc to end all character arcs.” (14:54)

Recap: Heir of Fire & Queen of Shadows

(15:25 - 22:51)

• Nicole delivers a highly entertaining, detailed, and sassy recap (see [Notable Quotes]) covering:
  • Celaena’s (Aelin’s) journey and trauma
  • Rowan’s Gordon Ramsay-esque mentorship
  • Dorian’s rising magic and tragic loss of Sorscha
  • Introduction of witches and wyverns, Manon’s evolution
  • Aelin’s family drama, political maneuvering, magical breakthroughs
  • The glass castle’s destruction, freeing of magic, Kaol’s injury

State of the World Going into Empire of Storms/Tower of Dawn

(27:37 - 41:09)

• Magic has returned to Aurelia
• Aelin has publicly executed the corrupted king and declared the end of slavery
• Dorian is king, alone and uncertain
• The hunt for three word keys intensifies, with allegiances and possessions tracked in detail
  • Lexi launches a recurring "Where’s the word… word, word, is that a word?" (29:21) segment—fun banter referencing the hunt for word keys
• Recapitulation of the Big Bad, revelation that Duke Parrington is Erewhon (the real villain, the demon king)
• Summaries of political structures in Terresan, details of special swords (Goldryn, the Sword of Orynth, Damaris), and Maeve’s shadowy manipulations

The Magic and Lore of the Witches

(42:42 - 48:38)

• Backstory on Ironteeth and Crochan witches, the “yielding,” and the deep curses binding their history
  • “The Iron Teeth are no closer to breaking this curse than Manaan's elders had been 500 years ago.” (46:14)

Key Character Set-Up for Empire of Storms/Tower of Dawn

(48:38 - 54:42)

• Elide's journey, trauma, and quest with a word key
• Quick shot of Southern Continent: Antica, Torre Cesme (magic healers), Kaol’s journey for healing, introducing Irene Towers—her Assassin’s Blade tie-in emphasized

The Southern Continent & Antica: New Setting, New Stakes

(54:42 - 58:19)

• Detailed breakdown of Antica’s political setup: succession by merit, not birthorder, brutal culling system for heirs, main royal siblings (Argan, Sartaq, Hasar, Kashin, Duva, Tumelun)
• Rukhin (sky warriors riding giant eagles), major world expansion

Host Impressions: Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn

(58:37 - 62:16)

• Nicole: Tower of Dawn is a favorite for depth of character arc and worldbuilding; Empire of Storms is exciting but less resonant, shines in action rather than character.
• Lexi: Empire of Storms is plot-driven and fun, but prefers more character-centric installments; Tower of Dawn brings surprising appreciation—especially for Kaol’s arc.

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Part 2: Whole Series Spoiler Discussion (70:14 – end)

Official Spoiler Warning at [70:14]: “If you have not read all eight books of Throne of Glass, please respectfully, kindly leave.” (70:32, Nicole)

Character Deep-Dives

Aelin: Chessmaster and Morally Grey Queen

(70:44 - 84:52)

• “Aelin is playing chess while everyone else is still learning to play checkers.” (71:35, Lexi)
• The burden of leadership: shouldering everything herself, often at the expense of relationships (esp. her inner circle).
• Secrets and Machiavellian plans: Aelin’s arrangement with Lysandra to ensure continuity if she must die—a morally complex decision hotly debated by the hosts.
  • Lexi (on Aelin): “Her upbringing as an assassin, hardened to be cold and calculating and cunning and ruthless, is absolutely an asset now that she is queen. But of course, that's mixed with empathy, hope for a better world, a fierce determination to fight oppression because people deserve freedom and happiness.” (74:05)
  • Notable back-and-forth: Lexi defends Aelin’s logic for secrecy; Nicole insists Rowan and Aedion deserved to be told. (80:56-83:31)
• The hosts passionately debate autonomy, trauma behaviors, and the hurts of Aelin’s choices—showing genuine empathy for each side.

Rowan: Loyalty, Love, and the Cost of Mateship

(84:52 - 92:23)

• Rowan’s evolution from independent Fae warrior to self-sacrificing mate and king-consort
• Iconic beach sex scene (and Lexi’s humorous take on sand logistics)
• The heartbreak of having to “accept” Aelin’s plans, Rowan’s refusal to give up on his wife, and the courage to beg his family for support during war
• Lexi: “Prince Rowan Whitethorn might not have his own army to give his queen, but he won one over with powerful speeches, hope for a peaceful and free future, and belief in a leader fighting for that future. Three huzzahs for Rowan.” (91:51)

Aedion, Lysandra, and Difficult Loyalties

(92:23 - 98:46)

• Aedion chafes at loss of agency, struggles with shifting roles, and mishandles his anger—especially toward Lysandra (acknowledged as a major failing, with Nicole citing his “big L” behavior).
• Lysandra’s arc of self-ownership, magical exploration, and loyalty, but called out as deserving better than “selective affection.”
  • “She is clever, she is loyal, but also her own person. She does not hide from her past, but she doesn't let it define her.” (98:06, Lexi)

Dorian and Manon: Trauma, Power, and Dark Romance

(98:46 - 109:14)

• Dorian’s quest to regain confidence and master new shapes of magic; his grief for Sorscha and complex relationship with Manon (“his darkness meets hers”).
  • “They are each other’s break and their escape from themselves and the world beyond. They just kind of understand each other in that way.” (102:00, Lexi)
• Manon’s growing doubts about Ironteeth doctrine, her rejection of the matron, and heritage as the last Crochan Queen
  • “Her identity is far from simple now, and her whole origin story gets rewritten in one gigantic reveal.” (105:01, Lexi)

Lorcan & Elide: Unlikely Partners

(109:14 - 112:40)

• Their “enemies-to-reluctant-allies-to-maybe-more” journey is a highlight (with a side of playful inside jokes about Lorcan’s age)
• Lorcan’s catastrophic choices at the end of Empire of Storms and immediate acceptance of consequences
  • “Lorkhan is the definition of actions speak louder than words.” (111:41, Nicole)

Tower of Dawn Crew: Kaol, Irene, and Nesryn

(112:40 - 130:51)

• Kaol Westfall: Deepest, messiest, rawest character arc in the whole series, as he faces physical and emotional trauma. The healing journey with Irene layers self-forgiveness, acceptance, and learning to let go of old self-definitions.
  • Nicole’s vulnerable real-life parallel illustrates Kaol’s sense of shame, and the physical and emotional challenge of recovery.
  • Irene encourages Kaol to address the “darkness clinging within him,” pushing him toward genuine healing—both body and mind.
  • Their romance is slow-burn, full of respect, honesty, and reciprocal healing.
• Irene Towers: A symbol of resilience and full-circle storytelling, with her Assassin’s Blade tie-in and decision to return home as a healer on her own terms. Her impact on both the story and the war effort is enormous.
  • The reveal for readers who know her Assassin’s Blade history is lauded as especially satisfying.
• Nesryn: Finds true belonging and self in Antica; embodies the bridge between continents, family, and worlds.
  • Her arc with Sartaq/Kashin and her significance to the future is especially highlighted.

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Top 10 Moments from Empire of Storms & Tower of Dawn

(131:32 – 157:26)

1. (132:32) The End of Empire of Storms: The Witch Mirror, Elena’s curse, Aelin’s necessary sacrifice, Maeve’s brutal capture, and Rowan’s legendary, “Where is my wife?”
2. (140:06) The End of Tower of Dawn: The Karen Qui spider’s revelation that Queen Maeve is actually the Valg Queen—a jaw-dropping twist. The discovery that healers can cure Valg possession.
3. (146:36) Lysandra’s shape-shifter sea dragon battle in Skulls Bay—breathtaking display of power and planning.
4. (148:35) The book gets “spicy”—famous romantic/sex scenes: Aelin/Rowan’s beach, Irene/Kaol’s tender moments, and Dorian/Manon’s wild magic.
5. Irene’s healing-driven romance with Kaol: from walking to banter, to the locket gift and shared vulnerability.
6. The Torre Chesme: center of knowledge, healing, and major plot reveals. The symbolism of the owl and the ring.
7. New characters in Antica—Argan, Sartaq, Hasar, Kashin, Duva, Hafiza—enrich the world.
8. (154:13) Falcon, Lysandra’s shifter uncle and the spider-silk tie-in—another brilliant SJM puzzle piece.
9. Aelin and Manon's mutual, well-earned exasperation with Elena: “There is no such thing as clarification with her.” (156:59, Lexi)
10. (157:26) Tower of Dawn's epilogue POV switch: a chilling reminder of Aelin’s fate, Maeve’s true identity, and set-up for Kingdom of Ash.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Lexi: “Aelin is playing chess while everyone else is still learning to play checkers.” (71:35)
• Nicole (on Tower of Dawn): “It is a character arc to end all character arcs. Like, I just… there’s so much you learn about the war and about the main players in the war, even though we're not on the same continent.” (14:54)
• Lexi (on Empire/Tower pacing): “Empire of Storms is action and sea adventure, while Tower of Dawn is a very character driven romance. It’s a lot.” (12:10)
• Lexi: “Her identity is far from simple now, and her whole origin story gets rewritten in one gigantic reveal.” (105:01)
• Nicole (on Kaol): “He is as much himself standing, sitting, or using a cane. I’m going to say it: This is the mother of all character arcs for Throne of Glass.” (123:34)
• Nicole (on healing as weapon): “Can we just take a moment of appreciation for the fact that the healers are actually the greatest threat in this world? Like, I just fucking love that.” (145:35)

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Memorable Banter & Pop Culture

• The recurring "Where's the word?..." bit (29:21) and running meta-commentary on complex SJM plot threads.
• Upfront, enthusiastic content and spoiler warnings for new and returning listeners.
• Candid sibling sparring over the ethics of Aelin’s most divisive plays (“They should have had autonomy!” vs “But it’s for the world!”) (80:56-83:31)
• Lighthearted asides: Lysandra’s “duty and booty,” sand-in-the-beach-sex logistics, Lorcan’s “old man balls” in the group chat.

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Conclusion & Next Steps

• Next episode promises a grand finale with Kingdom of Ash breakdown (spoiler and non-spoiler sections), as well as more fandom trivia and Q&A in their active fan club.
• Shout-outs to new club members, encouragement to join the discussion on social media, and teasers for upcoming Fantasy Fangirls content.

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Timestamps to Key Segments

• 04:06 — Official episode start
• 08:16 — Tandem read: pros, cons, variations
• 14:54 — Why Tower of Dawn matters
• 15:25 — Full recap: Heir of Fire & Queen of Shadows
• 27:37 — State of the world post-Queen of Shadows
• 40:26 — Key magic items & lore (swords, rings, amulets)
• 42:42 — Witch history, yielding, and cultures
• 48:38 — Elide’s setup & Tower of Dawn cast intro
• 54:42 — Southern continent & Antica royal family
• 58:37 — Host opinions on Empire & Tower
• 70:14 — Start of whole-series spoilers (Part 2)
• 131:32 — Top ten moments segment

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For New Readers and Diehard Fans Alike

Whether you’re a Throne of Glass superfan or reading for the first time, this episode is your ultimate companion for making sense of the lore, the characters’ sometimes-messy decisions, and the reveals that set the stage for the epic conclusion. The hosts’ passionate, funny, and thoughtful voices ensure even the deepest worldbuilding remains engaging!

"Let's begin." (Maeve, [157:26])

Transcript

[Hannah Berner]

Hi, this is Hannah Berner, co host of Giggly Squad. Let's be honest, we've all done things in our lives that may have just followed the crowd. Like drinking matcha. Even if you think it tastes like grass or pretending skinny jeans were actually comfortable. Have we been doing the same thing with Zero Sugar Cola? Last year, people across America took the Pepsi Challenge. No labels, no bias. Judged on taste alone, 66% of participants agreed. Pepsi Zero sugar tastes better than Coke Zero sugar and Pepsi Zero sugar won in every single market. Go out and try Pepsi Zero Sugar today. You deserve taste. You deserve Pepsi.

[Nicole]

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[Lexi]

You know the weird thing about health? There's a lot of health risks and conditions that can be kind of invisible that you don't know you have until something major happens or you proactively get it checked out. What surprised me is that some of the biggest heart risk factors are genetic and invisible, and most aren't tested in a standard physical.

[Nicole]

That's where function comes in. It's National Heart Month. Huzzah. And I've personally been thinking way more about my heart health, especially since I got my function results back last time and actually cholesterol was a really high factor on my Lab results I'm 32. I had no idea that was something that would be a thing. It was so surprising how much I didn't know until I saw my lab results. That was just one factor of many I've been working on. That's what we love about function. It doesn't tell you what to worry about. It shows you what's actually happening in your body and it gives you opportunities to help aid it.

[Lexi]

Function is designed by world class physicians and trusted by hundreds of thousands of members. You stop guessing, you stop being reactive and you start making decisions based on real insights.

[Nicole]

We love function and believe you will too. Own your health and start with your heart. Function gives you access to 16060 plus tests each year including advanced markers for heart health, inflammation, stress hormones and toxins for $365 a year. That's $1 per day. Learn more and join using our link. Visit www.functionhealth.com fantasy fangirls and use code fantasy fangirls25 for a $25 credit towards your membership. Welcome, welcome welcome to the Fantasy Fangirls Podcast where two sisters dive deep into beloved fantasy lore, character themes, theories and more.

[Lexi]

I'm Lexi, older sister and fantasy Lore nerd.

[Nicole]

And I'm Nicole, younger sister and romantic at heart.

[Lexi]

And today is Throne of Glass Fan Guide Episode three as we continue our four part fan guide journeying through this epic fantasy series, please listen closely to our spoiler warning because it's very specific and different for each of these fan Guide episodes. These Throne of Glass Fan Guide episodes are split into two parts. This episode three Part one contains plot spoilers for Assassin's Blade, Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows. Spoilers for those books of the series only. If you have not read beyond those five books, this Part one is for you. This is all about laying the foundation. As the world expands more and more and our characters are separated, then Part two includes whole series spoilers. Remember, this is the case for all of these Throne of Glass Vanguard episodes. We'll give you an obnoxious spoiler warning so you know when we move from part one to Part two. In case you have to jump off, Part two discusses character journeys and our biggest highlights from Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn. I cannot believe that we did both of these books in one episode. While we're on spoilers, these Throne of Glass episodes do not include spoilers for Acotar or Crescent City. If you want our mass verse conversations, we have a three hour compilation for for you to listen to from our 11 months of deep Diving Acotar link to that episode is in the show notes.

[Nicole]

So with all of that said, if you know that Erewhon is alive and well, but nothing else, then you're safe to listen to part one but not part two. Like Lexi said, we will have a huge spoiler warning for you to know when we are moving into whole series spoilers next.

[Lexi]

We a Fantasy Fan girls are adults who say adult things about adult books. In other words, friends, this podcast is.

[Nicole]

Rated rich much like these books. Kicking it up a spice notch or 12 spice notches we will too. So please be mindful of those little listening ears.

[Lexi]

Additionally, we are so excited to see you at upcoming live events.

[Nicole]

On April 8, we are partnering with the Denver Nuggets and Rebecca Yarros for a fourth Wing themed basketball night at Ball Arena.

[Lexi]

Plus we are so excited to do a live show at the neptune Theater on April 19th in Seattle. Tickets are on sale for you to dive deep into how to Train youn Dragon with us.

[Nicole]

Check out our website or the links below for more information and more events. Plus a promo code for dreamers and readers. In case you missed it, the Fantasy Fangirls Network Be Boppin' first up, Fantasy.

[Lexi]

Fan Fellas has officially launched their Season two where booktok star Steven Walker and our very own Hayden Sanity Manager are diving deep into Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn the well of Ascension.

[Nicole]

Season one of Mistborn Deep Diving the Final Empire is out now on the Fantasy fanfellas feed and Season two is only available on the Fantasy fanfellas feed. Be sure to give them a follow link is in the show notes and.

[Lexi]

We'Ve got another new show coming to you in late March. Fantasy Fan Reads will be hosted by the delightful Jess of Lost Books of Jess, where this podcast will be all about celebrating the joys of reading with author interviews, cozy coffee, conversations and so much more. Go ahead and give her a follow at Fantasy Fan Reads. We cannot wait to share more details with you soon. Last thing before we jump into Throne of Glass Fan Guide Episode three. If you love Fantasy Fangirls and want more events, more content, more community and so much more. So so so much more. Please check out Fantasy Fan Club, which just grew to add media network offerings.

[Nicole]

We have six network tiers you can join Holy Moly. Our three original Fantasy Fangirls tiers, the Hive Mind, the Spice Watchers and the Feral Fans, which includes access to our Boppin Discord Live Community Events promo codes, early access to ad free episodes. Our full episode outlines behind the scenes privileges so much and then also that for the network. So be sure to check out fantasyfangirls.com fanclub for more information.

[Lexi]

And really and truly friends, thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts. As we've turned this podcast, this media network, our author journeys into a dream come true. It's all because of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[Nicole]

And now to whatever end big sister, because we are covering Empire Storms and Tower of dawn this episode, it only feels right for us to kick off this no Spoilers section with to tandem read or to not tandem read? Quick tldr on what is a tandem read? Empire of Storms and Tower of dawn are actually happening at subsequent times. They're just following two different crews in two different parts of the world. So people have put together this master or full chapter by chapter breakdown of bouncing back and forth between the two books. So you read it as basically one big book versus two different books.

[Lexi]

You might be like, huh? Why would anyone want to bounce between these two books of considerable length since the first, especially to become one gigantic book that's more like monster genre? But anyway, since the two books take place over the same timeline, following different characters, it actually makes a lot of sense and is a super unique reading experience. So let's go through the pros of the Tantrum read first here. Number one, you don't have to completely abandon half the cast of characters in the series when you do the tandem read. Empire of Storms follows Aelin and her court Dorian Manon our crew on the continent of Irelia, while Tower of dawn follows Kael and Nezaren as he goes off on his mission to get healed, splitting up from the main group to travel to the southern continent. So the tandem Reed lets you stay with all of your favorite characters while falling in love with new ones and going on major character arc journeys. Pro number you are able to experience everything as it chronologically happens, especially since there are quite a few references from Empire of Storms events in Tower of Dawn and some of the hindsight or knowing what certain characters know as things play out in real time on the combined book pages is downright fun. As a reader like Chaol in Tower of dawn thinking Aelin would never do such a thing, and then you switch over to Empire of Storms and she does it. There are some really cool reveals in each book that make the extra context that much better when going between storylines and Pro number three, Empire of Storms is known for its dramatic cliffhanger and it can be very hard to finish that ending and then rewind in time and begin Tower of Dawn where it's a whole book before you find out what happens next to the main group of characters in Kingdom of Ash. On that note, with the ending, I've only recently heard of what's called a partial tandem read where you first read the majority of Empire of Storms up to chapter 51 and then you stop reading Empire of Storms and start reading Tower of Dawn up to chapter 50. Once you've read up to Empire of Storms 51 and Tower of Dawn chapter 58, then you go back to Empire of Storms, finish it through the end, and then finish reading Tower of Dawn. Ta da.

[Nicole]

I have never heard of that. That's brand new in my mind.

[Lexi]

Somebody had commented that they did it in our discord and I started looking into it more and I was like, well that's the best of both worlds. Oh gosh. That was not on to however that song goes stick. That's okay.

[Nicole]

What about some cons though? Con number one, carrying around two giant books everywhere, flipping back and forth is not ideal for some people. Now, some people have found ways around this. You can put sticky tabs in the chapters that you're focusing on, so then it's easy to know where you need to stop and where you need to flip back and forth. Or if you're like me and you did it on audio, you can make your phone background the chapter by chapter breakdown and then you're able to easily check where you're at in the tandem read. Now, I'm going to add this as like a con 1.5 because in my opinion it is much harder to do the tandem read on audio unless you are actively paying attention to what chapter you're on. And for me, consistently having to check chapter numbers just made it way more difficult for me to immerse myself in the story. Con number two, holy God, there are a lot of POVs if you do it this way. Aelin, Rowan, Dorian, Manon, Elite, Lorcan, Aden, Lysandra. And that's just one book. It's already a lot Then. Then add Kaol, Nesrin and at least two more characters you meet in Tower of Dawn. It's a lot to keep track of and it can be overwhelming trying to remember where a character's storyline is when you bounce back to them after being away for a while. And con number three, in my opinion, the pacing is so different in these two books. Empire of Storms is action and sea adventure, while Tower of Dawn is a very character driven romance. It's a lot. And sometimes immersing yourself in the story can be way harder when they feel wildly different. Plus they were published separately so they are intended to be different styles of stories.

[Lexi]

So again, it ultimately depends on the reader whether you want to tandem read or not. I will say I was very team tandem for your first read. That is how Nicole and I both did it, although I know that I pretty much raw dogged tandem read. But once when I did my reread, which doing these fan guides is my first time rereading Throne of Glass, I'm reading each book on their own and I'm finding that I personally prefer it that way. But still, the tandem read really is its own kind of experience that we don't get that often with book series. So if you're curious, go ahead and give it a try. Or you could compromise and do the partial tandem read where you get the best of both worlds with each book's intended pacing and immersion. Then the endings are broken up so you can survive that Empire of Storms cliffhanger and have some of that extra good context for both endings. I feel like the most common way to do it is the tandem on your first read. And then if you ever decide to reread the series, which I'll be honest, most people do, you read each book in their entirety. Empire of Storms first, then Tower of Dawn, though I will say once when you know what's going to happen in both books. I personally don't think the tandem read has as much impact as it does on a first read. I've seen the question too about reading Tower of Dawn first, please don't, because it has too many spoilers for Empire Storms, including literally the ending of Empire Storms in Tower of Dawn. So whatever you do and I cannot believe I even have to say this, but apparently I do because I had to say it to one of our team members. And you know who you are. Do not skip Tower of Dawn. It doesn't have to be your favorite of the series, but the fact that a lot of people do love it when they didn't expect to like both Nicole and I. It speaks volumes to what this book is capable of. In fact, right before we started recording, Nicole and I were gushing about how much we love Tower of Dawn and how it was a reminder on this reread with exploring a new continent with new cultures and characters and histories. The vibes are vibing it. It makes this world and this whole series and the characters that much richer.

[Nicole]

I think Tower of Dawn is my second favorite in the series right behind Queen of Shadows. Like it is so well done. It is a character arc to end all character arcs. Like, I just there's so much you learn about the war and about the main players in the war, even though we're not on the same continent as them that you have to read it. It's so important.

[Lexi]

All right, friends, who's ready for Nicole to recap the last two books round as she highlights what happened in Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows?

[Nicole]

Heir of Fire Celaena goes to Wendland, where nothing says healing retreat like wine and stale bread on a rooftop. What are you looking at, bird? But who are you people? Oh, you're witches. We'll come back to you in a moment. Prince Rowan Whitethorn, AKA Buzzard, is assigned to train Celaena to meet the Queen of the Fae. Maeve's standards. Imagine Gordon Ramsay, but immortal and hotter. Celaena, however terrified of her magic, has zero, doesn't feel worthy of being the queen she is, is mourning her friend and is deep in her tortured Poets Department era. Don't worry, Life of the Showgirl is just a book away. Meanwhile, in Rift Hold, Chaol, Adi and Ash river and the rebels begin playing 4D chess while pretending they still like the king. They investigate how magic was wiped out and quietly help the rebellion while maintaining their nothing to see here loyal soldier cosplay, all the while annoyed that he's left in the dark. Dorian continues his magical awakening, explaining experiments with controlling his powers, and teams up with Sorsha, a castle healer, to help keep his magic hidden. But remember those witches, it's okay, you're not supposed to. And you're supposed to want to groan when they come on the page. The witch clans are readying for the how to Train youn Dragon not made by Dreamworks. Manon witch, leader of the group called the Thirteen, calls dibs on the biggest, baddest wyvern of them all. It didn't work for JFB and it will not work for you. Instead, she bonds with Abraxos, who wants to wants to frolic through the flowers on his way to war. Manad's grandmother, the leader of the Black Beak witches, hates flowers like a grumpy puss, and she is not pleased with all of this brooding and back to Mist. Communicating with negative emotional intelligence. Rowan throws Celaena into deadly scenarios in the hopes that she, Aelin, will use her powers to shift into a Fae. Goddammit. Skinwalkers. Skinwalkers will help, but through mutual suffering, forest yelling and a giant cave fish with a sword plus emotional shared bagg. Celaena and Rowan slowly heal, grow stronger and form a ride or die bond. Bestie tattoos anyone? Love is in the air because Dorian and Sorsha begin falling madly in love in their forbidden romance montage. K O is still scheming. Our girl Celaena is ready to confront her decade long shame spiral over wasting Lady Marian's sacrifice. And Aelin decides she's done being emotionally constipated. She chooses to fight for a better world and claims her worth and absolutely obliterates Norik and the Valg princess using her fire magic and the Karen on bond. The continent of Aurelia hears about this and collectively goes oh, she's that girl. That girl. With a Karanom bond meaning she and Rowan can share power and go full. Avengers assemble when needed with Rowan's approval. Unlocked. Aelin goes to Aunt Maeve who immediately starts gaslighting and fishing for word key info. Excuse me ma'.

[Lexi]

Am.

[Nicole]

Aelin says counteroffer and trades Maeve the ring of her dead lover in exchange for Rowan's freedom from his blood oath to her in which she says she went to Jared's and Maeve breaks Rowan's blood oath and Rowan immediately decides to swear it to Aelin because free will is hot. Meanwhile, over at the Faerien Gap, it's war games and they're looking for a wing leader. No, not you Zaden. It's not a Shadow daddy who wins the title this time. It's Manon who despite saving Petra Blue Blood's life. Yes, despite who wins the title of wing leader in the war games. Ready to lead the Wyvern army for the King of Otterland. Back to Rift Hold. Yes, we are definitely in a Sarah J. Maas book. Now the king confronts his son about his forbidden love and unveils her secret. Sorsha is a rebel spy and literally goes all Anne Boleyn off with her head. Grief stricken, Dorian is then slapped with a Wordstone collar. Getting possessed by a Valg prince. Worst spa treatment ever. And Adien is thrown into prison for treason. Dorian's last act of autonomy. Yeet. Beats Kaol to safety because someone in the castle has to survive with a conscience. Queen of Shadows Aelin is back baby in Rift hold running approximately 12 secret plans trying to save her kingdom. Locate the word keys and not screaming at everyone who wronged her or who's just being an ass looking at you. K All. First order of business, break Adien out of prison cause family loyalty over laws. Always convinced her old master Erebin is holding onto one of the word keys Like a cursed Funko Pop, Aelin puts on her toxic ex employee mask, smiles through her teeth and quietly plots his downfall. Meanwhile, Kael and his fellow rebel ex lover Nesrin are out doing vigilante work, hunting the vog, rescuing prisoners, heading for demon experiments, and doing all their darndest to save the city. What else are they saving? Information. Kael's distrust of his ex. This time Aelin has him gatekeeping critical world saving information like it's his emotional availability. High in the glass castle, Dorian is going all Gollum, being fully possessed by a Valk prince and living his worst possible timeline trapped in his own body while the demon Joy rides him through the dungeon torture sessions, Kael is in full we can save him optimism mode. While Aelin is in her and his suffering realism mode and the group chat is officially on mute, Rowan rolls into Rift hold because Lorkhand is hunting Aylin and the word keys bad news bears, but at least the emotional support Fae boyfriend not a boyfriend is here. But in a plot twist no one saw coming, Lysandra and Aelin Speedrun. From childhood enemies to besties who commit murder together they absolutely obliterate Erob and Hamel. And by ending the slimy crime lord, Aelin inherits his entire fortune, proving once again killing your abuser is fiscally responsible. Money for armies, check. We get a big bad name drop. The vog's king name is Erewhon and he's probably hiding out in Morath assembling a demon army like it's a startup who just cashed in big on Kickstarter over in Morath, the place where Arawan is totally not hiding at all. Manon and the witches are stuck in a nightmare work environment with Arawan, I mean Parrington watching demon breeding experiments that somehow keep getting worse. The vibes shift when Manon witnesses Kaltain's terrifying shadowfire glow up. That girl is on fire. When the 13 witches learn about these experiments, the group chat starts questioning the mission and looks like someone invited a new member. Enter a lead lock, fragile but fierce, who immediately gets adopted by the witches for protection and her own witchy heritage. Back in Rift hold, the clock towers are revealed as the King's ultimate doomsday device, Magical Edition. And Aelin and crew decide it's time to take em down. Heist highlights include Kaol getting critically injured and paralyzed because the universe said character development. Now Aelin ripping the Vog prince out of Dorian like an exorcism. Speedrun, Dorian and Aelin combining their magic killing the king right after a not so evil villain monologue that we will absolutely be going over literally shattering the glass castle because subtle symbolism is for cowards when magic comes Aurora and back, Kaltane chooses a final act of defiance. She gives a lead the word key that was in her arm, and nuclear level revenges the mountain at Morath with Shadowfire so Alide can escape. Tragic Iconic no notes. The book ends with Kaol and Nesrin heading to Antika for healing Aelin securing Rifthold and Dorian's name, and then finally setting off to Terisa to reclaim her home.

[Lexi]

Thank you so much Nicole. That was fantastic. Round of applause, we'll dive into this fan guide setting up what's next in the series with no plot spoilers after a quick word from our sponsors.

[Nicole]

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[Lexi]

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[Nicole]

Anytime you see me in street clothes I am wearing quints full stop. In fact, I just had my birthday recently and my family knows me so well that they got me a lot of Quince gift cards. So I'm about to go shopping.

[Lexi]

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[Nicole]

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[Lexi]

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[Lexi]

It is time to turn to our Throne of Glass cheat sheet, AKA what this fan guide is all about. Once again, we are preparing ourselves for what we need to know as the world continues expanding in the Throne of Glass series. As always, reminder that due to the nature of this fan guide, we are sharing basic information from Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn about the world, the state of it, magic cultures, and introducing new characters. This is intended to help you get your footing as you keep reading these next books in the series, no matter if you tandem read or not. To be honest, that does not factor into this fan guide. Let's see what the political landscape looks like at the end of Queen of Shadows. Going into Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn, the glass palace in Rift hold was destroyed. The wall of glass from Aelin's save is a physical reminder of her power to the world, the savior of the city, or to others, a threat. Magic is free again. Huzzah. After the Clock Tower was destroyed, magic is restored in Irelia. For the first time in 10 years, magic can be wielded again on this continent. Aelin just announced herself to the people of Rifthold, declaring that she killed the King of Atterlin and his empire is over. Slaves are now free people, and Dorian will step into his kingly duties once when he's ready. So as we enter Empire of Storms, Dorian is back to himself without the Fog possession. Yay. I'm so happy for him. His father is dead and he is king alone in Rift Hold. As the rest of the crew heads north and we readers are not quite sure what the rippling consequences are of magic returning, the evil king's death, and Aelin's declaration about slaves being free. Of course, we have to do our. Where's the word? I said a word.

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[Lexi]

Word. Where's the word? Is that a word? Word. Where's the word? Who said a word?

[Nicole]

Word, Word. Where's the word? Stop it.

[Lexi]

You get that? What? No.

[Nicole]

What is that?

[Lexi]

Family Guy? I said a bird.

[Sponsor Voice]

Bird.

[Lexi]

Where is the bird? Is that a bird? Bird. Bird. Where's the bird? Anyway, never mind. All right. And when I say word, I mean word. Keys. Where are the word keys and who's got them? As far as we readers know, a lead is traveling north toward Terracin. Nicole, are you okay?

[Nicole]

That was like the longest setup for where's the word Keys. And I loved every second of it. Never change. Oh, my God. I love you.

[Lexi]

I had that stuck in my head for days. So you're welcome, everybody. Elide is traveling north toward Tarasen, looking for Celaena Sardothian and Aelin Galithinius, not realizing that they are the same person. She has one word key after Caltain gave it to her from being implanted in her arm. So Elide has one word key going north. Aelin is traveling with another word key inside the Amulet of Orinth, which she received from Erebin, who had taken it from her when she washed up on shore as a girl. Lorcan thinks he's traveling with this key that Aelin actually has in Queen of Shadows. She tricked him into thinking that he has it. Aelin bets that Lorkhan is on his way toward Morath, the most likely place where the other two keys are under Erewhyne's control. We don't know the location of the third word key, but we did think that the King of Otterlin and Erewhen had two previously. Now, since a lead has one of those word keys, the bad guys have one word key. Real quick on this third word key. Based on the riddle in Elena's tomb, we can determine that one of the three word keys was hidden in a volcano. Back in Air of Fire, Aiden spoke with a man who had traveled farthest in a tavern, and he had been in Knoll, where there are active volcanoes. And he told Aeon that 10 years ago, the King of Arlin took a legion into the volcanoes and sacked the temple. What if that is when the king used the first workkey he found in Elena's tomb to access the second, hidden thanks to Brannon's fire magic in a volcano?

[Nicole]

I. That's canon. Like that is canon in my head. That makes way too much sense. That feels so intentional. You're brilliant.

[Lexi]

I don't know if it's supposed to be a really obvious thing, but I started word searching volcano, and I was.

[Nicole]

Like, oh, with Queen of Shadows, we get a huge download from the King of Otterlin right before he died. The Dark Lord is alive. And worse, he's Duke Parrington. Or more so was Duke Parrington hiding in Duke Parrington's body. So, hello, big bad vill alert. We finally meet you. This is one of those things that on a reread of the series, you see these little tiny offhanded lines here and there about Parrington having an onyx ring, how his eyes are obsidian, obsidian. And very off conversations that he's having with the King of Otterland about possessing Keltane. And it's like oh my God the whole time.

[Lexi]

Or even if readers guessed that Parrington was being possessed by Evolg, the extra big twist is that he is the Big Bad, the Dark Lord. And it's like, ah yes.

[Nicole]

In Queen of Shadows, Aelin and co find wordmark etchings on the wall telling the story of Erewhon and his two other Vog brothers leading the first Vog War. But only Arawn was kept here in this world. And he was destined to get his brothers back here for reasons unknown. So years later, it was Elena and Gavin who slayed him. Or so the story said. It turns out that they did not kill him at all. Only put Erewhon to sleep. Only put him to sleepy by in an iron tomb under a mountain in Morath.

[Lexi]

Gasp.

[Nicole]

So when the King of Otterland found the first word key in Elena's tomb, he brought that key to Morath and Parrington, not possessed, or at least not fully possessed yet, brought him down to the crypt under the mountain and had the king open up the iron sarcophagus, freeing and waking Erewhon. Bad. Bad. This is Bad. Who then took over Parrington's body and used his little like minions assemble to possess the King of Atterlin. For years, the King of Atterlin has been just another victim of the Vog. But when Dorian was born, he sensed his son's magic. So the king built a triangle of towers to rid the continent of magic in order to protect his son. Oops. Because he used his own blood and didn't know that by doing so accidentally allowed any of his direct bloodline to use their magic. Hence why Dorian has been able to use raw magic since it awoke in Crown of Midnight. So this whole time as the Duke of Parrington has been in Morath, beginning demon breeding and building up his army, using Vernon Loken as his minion, it has been Arowne, not Parrington. This is so bad. So luckily our girl Kaltane, in pure feminine rage blew up Morath, not stopping but putting a major dent in the demon King's plans.

[Lexi]

Now that Aelin is on her way to Tercen, along with Aden, Rowan and Lysandra. Let's talk about this northern kingdom in Irelia first. There's a lot of politicking here in Tarasen, so I'm going to walk us through some good to know politics as we head into Empire of Storms. After the Otterland conquest 10 years ago, Tarzan has been ruled by the noble houses, including Allspring, Darrow, Gunner, Ironwood, Lochen. Sloane and Surya. Darrow was King Orland's lover and the current primary steward for the territory. Remember, King Orlon was Aelin's uncle and he never had any children. And that is why she is now the heir and queen of Tarasen. So upon Aelin's arrival in Tercen, she will most certainly be meeting with Daro and the other nobles of her homeland.

[Nicole]

Because Terracin is the major target for our crew. Let's do a quick overview of some of the most important places in this nation. So we have it as we're going into Empire Storms. Nice and top of mind. If you get nothing else from this section, please at least get that. Orynth is the capital of Tarasen. It's where the royal family's home was prior to Otterlin's invasion. And the remains of the stronghold. Using that term loosely. It is in Orinth. Then we have Paranthe which is the second largest city in the kingdom. This is where Elite is from. And a bunch of other little cities and towns also are scattered throughout Taris. All of the cities are surrounded by two big mountain ranges. The Staghorns in the north and the Anniskols to the west. And the Oak Walled Forest makes up the majority of the kingdom in the north.

[Lexi]

Tarasen is known for its beauty. Think green forests and flatlands. Just dial that saturation up. And Tarasen is rich with lore. Like the Sun. Stags were brought to the land by Brannan and the Lord of the North. Which is. The White Stag is an ancient spirit tied to the royal bloodline and a symbol for the kingdom of Kingdom. The Lord of the north is a guardian of the Oakwald Forest with his constellation always in the sky to help guide people home to Terrassin. King's Flame is a rare sacred flower that blooms only when there is true peace in the kingdom. And then I also want to talk about a few objects that are tied to Terrassin. Like the Amulet of Orynth. It's a round disc with a white stag carved on the front. It has a burning crown of gold between the antlers with the immortal star that watches over the Galphenius family. Family. It's an honored family heirloom passed down to those who need its guidance. Aelin was wearing on the night of Tercen's fall. And the amulet protected her when she escaped into the river. She realized in Aerofyre that Brannon had hidden a word key in there. So there is a word key that she now carries in the Amulet of Oryrinth.

[Nicole]

Before we move from Terazin, let's discuss the main sword that is very special to people of this territory. The sword of Orynth, which is currently being wielded by Adien and has been for years. Previously, when he was general of the King of Otterland's army, Aedeon was allowed to keep the sword as a mockery of the traitorous man he's become. But he held onto it for what it symbolizes to him and the people of Tarazen. The owner of the sword is seen as the current protector of Tarasen and the general of its army. Seems pretty appropriate for Aedeon. You might be asking why doesn't Aelinn wield it now? Well, because she is wielding Goldrins. Goldrinn is a large gold hilted source with a ruby the size of a chicken egg set into the hilt. Feels rather apt for our fire breathing bitch queen back in era fire when Aelin was at the lake training gone wrong. Goldrinn is found and used to fight off the deadly lake giant creature from killing Lukka. It then becomes Aelinn's go to sword ever since, especially when she uses it against the Vog princes and their are quite surprised that she's wielding it. Especially when she's not Aethril or Brandon of the Wildfire Skrrr. Who are you people? Athril, Maeve's beloved, was a dear, dear dear friend of Brennan Galathenius who was Aelin's ancestor. Aethril had been blessed by Mala Firebringer and the sword along with it. We learned that Maeve killed a thrill after he and Brannon refused to let Maeve steal the keys for herself from the Valk. But after killing a thriller, Maeve was weakened enough that Brannon then took the keys from her and he took his friend's sword, Goldrin with the ring in its hilt into the cave where Aelin then finds it. It's important to note that the ring that is in Goldrin's hilt would have been Maeve's if you know, she hadn't killed her husband. It is this ring that Aelin returns to Maeve at the end of Heir of Fire in exchange for Rowan's freedom from the blood oath. But Aelin takes the sword, claiming that Brannon left it for anyone but Maeve to fight. Unfortunately, as Lorcan states in Queen of Shadows, that ring she did not want just for sentimentality, she wanted it because the ring grants immunity from the Vog powers. So now Maeve is immune to ever being Enslaved by the Vog or Wordstone collars. Oh dear. Okay, while we're deep on swords, my favorite is in the outline Lexi just writes, lets go ahead and round out the final notable sword, which is Damaris, also known as the Sword of Truth, which is currently with our Terase and crew. And this sword has been with us basically since book one, when Celaena found it in the tomb of Elena. After it's in Celaena's possession for a while, it is then passed to Kael, who grabs the sword on his way out of the palace. After sorceress death in Heir of Fire, it's not until clean of Shadows that we learn it's been called via legend, the Sword of Truth. Truth. And that Gavin Havillierd was rumored to be able to see, or rather feel truths when he wielded the sword. It is Aylin who suspects that there was a God of Truth, a Sin Eater so to speak, who blessed Gavin with this sword and its powers. Thank you for that overview of the swords.

[Lexi]

I know that can get a little bit confusing.

[Nicole]

I know I. I learned a lot when I was doing this section. And I've read this series more times than I can count.

[Lexi]

All right, right now let's check in on Maeve across the great ocean where she reigns over Doranel. Because we always want to keep an eye on this immortal Fae Queen. So as of now, Maeve is a wild card who is known for only looking out for herself. And she does have a great enough army that can either aid Terasen or join Erewhon. But according to Aelin, the Ash Rivers are at Maeve's beck and call. So if Maeve does not send aid, then neither will the Ash River. Doesn't matter that Aelin and Aiden are of that bloodline. Lorkhan, Maeve's second in command, left to come to Rift Hold. He now thinks he carries a Word Key in the amulet Aelin gave him in exchange for the Valk immunity ring to get that back. What he does not know is that the Word Key amulet is actually a replica Aelin had made Womp Womp for Lorkhan. But it's also very important for us to note that Maeve did not actually send him after Aelin and the Word Keys. Lorcan knows that his Queen, Maeve Knave will do anything to obtain the Word Keys. And with the three Keys power, she would make herself a God. Well, Lorcan says that kind of power would destroy her. So he's gone rogue. The only way he's able to do this with his blood oath tied to her, is emphasizing he is searching for the keys to destroy them to protect his queen from becoming a demon herself. I'm going to repeat that one more time. Lorkin has gone rogue because he has convinced himself that he is doing what what is best for Maeve. And that is how he's able to create this loophole in his blood oath under her control. It will be interesting to see how Maeve takes her second in command, disobeying her in a twisted by the rules way. The rest of the Cadre, as far as we know, are still in Windland, at the mercy of Maeve, including Gavriel, who takes the shape of a lion and is Aedeon's surprise Fae father. His mother kept Aedeon a secret to protect him from the clutches of Maeve. Maeve father does not know sun exists yet. Adien found out from Rowan, who knew right away that Gavriel is his father and Queen of Shadows. Also important to remember the twins who turn into wolves, Fenris and Connell, where one of them must always be anchored to Maeve's side. And then there's Vaan too, which he's always just kind of out there.

[Nicole]

And then there's Vaughn. And then there's Vaughn. All right, so that's Terison and that's Doran El Wendland. Now let's move over to Morath, where the witch clans are hippity happening over there. Morath is at least a third in rubble, thanks to Kaltain's explosion, which both Arawan and Vernon Lockhen survived. Manaan's grandmother, the High Matron of the Black Beak, is not happy. But she doesn't necessarily blame directly Manon for what happened in Morath. She's more just not happy about it in general. But the plan for the witches to be the aerial legion and prepare for war is still underway. And Manon and her matron are the top advisors to Duke Parrington, AKA Arawan. In addition to the Ariel Legion and the armies being built up, Arowan is building up witch towers with the help of the Witch Clan matrons. Bad.

[Lexi]

Bad.

[Nicole]

This is bad. Because these hundred foot high battle towers are huge mirrors. Not ordinary mirrors mirrors, but sacred mirrors of the ancient quote mirrors that were once used to build and break and mend. But with these towers, they will be amplifiers. For what you ask. Aha. Shadow Fire. Hence the reason Kaltane was here for the Duke Erawan, source of Shadowfire. And with her and these towers ailing, Galathenius and her Forces would be obliterated. I told you this was bad. But with Erawan no longer having Kaltain because she exploded in feminine rage, he will now need another source of shadow fire in order to get these towers up and useful. So let's zoom now over to our crew, the thirteen, whose cracks in their loyalty to the matron of the Black Beaks is really starting to show. While I'm not going to go into details, please know that I am about to talk about Aster and Storm. So trigger warnings for stillbirth, and as always, listen to your comfort level. But if you would like to skip, you only need to jump ahead about a minute. Astrin shared her story about how she fell in love with a human man, became with child, and tragically lost that child, then was beaten by Manon's grandmother.

[Lexi]

Fucking duh.

[Nicole]

In witch culture, to lose a witchling is a disgrace. And thus Asturin dishonored the Black Beaks and she was branded with the word unclean on her stomach. Stomach. Manon knew her grandmother was harsh. She's a Black Beak, after all. But this level of cruelty. Manon's questioning whether or not she'd like to continue with this leadership.

[Lexi]

And it was a lot for her to learn that her second, her cousin, her closest confidant, didn't tell Manon this traumatic secret she's kept for 80 years. Manon's grandmother did something so cruel to Astra and so outrageously and unnecessarily evil. Like we talked about in our part two of last episode, Queen of Shadows is where Manon looks inward and her obedience as a witch is getting beaten out for her loyalty to actual witches. It's really making Manon grapple with the reality of her grandmother's reign and what it's supposed to mean to be a blackbeak. Always that question lingering from what the Kraken witch said right before Manon was forced to kill her at the end of Era Fire. Her grandmother pretending it was a gift. Are monsters made or born? Abraxos is certainly not a born monster. He's a wyvern sized teddy bear. Though he's supposed to be this unfeeling, unintelligent brute beast. Manon sees the love Cressida has for her daughter and the love Petra had for Kili led to Manon saving Petra's life. She should have encouraged the death of a rival heir, but Manon's empathy won out. And of course, the experimentations with the witches and the demons has not sat well with Manon. In the slightest, as it was getting harder and harder to avoid needing to plant her feed on one side. As of right now, man Manon is back at Morth after Kaltain's destruction, extremely wary of Parrington and her grandmother's plans. A little more lore about the witches that we learn before we start Empire of Storms. Millennia ago, when the Valg entered this world to seize it for themselves, they wanted to ensure that their offspring could survive here too. So the Volg bred with the fae and the result was witches. The Iron Teeth Witches take after their Volg ancestors more hence why they're so wicked. There's more demon ancestors them. And why Erewhyne has been breeding his vulg with the witches to produce something new from these Valk origins. And the Kraken witches get more of the fae traits, AKA they're not as evil. And then I want to quickly introduce the magic that witches do have, which is called the yielding. And it is like this great magical burst where they yield themselves to the darkness. The yielding is basically a self implosion. It does mean that the witch will die, but it is very effective on the battlefield. For instance, Nicole did bring it up last episode, but it's worth repeating. After the first Demon War, King Brandon gave the witches the Western Wastes, Home of the glorious witch kingdoms where the witches lived until 500 years ago when the Witch wars broke out. The Iron Teeth clans banded together to overthrow the peaceful Kraken dynasty. But with her dying breath, the last Kraken witch cast a spell to ensure that as long as Iron Teeth banners flew, no bit of soil would yield life to them. This Kraken curse on the Iron Teeth witches and the Western World Wastes denied these victorious witches true possession of the land. The Western Wastes are completely dried up now. No bit of soil is yielding life and it's uninhabitable. Today. The Iron Teeth are no closer to breaking this curse than Manaan's elders had been 500 years ago. Remember that? Getting to keep the wyverns so that they can try to take back their homeland is the big driver for the Iron Teeth witches allying with Erewhon. The Kraken witch that Manon killed in Ere of Fire said that the Grand Kraken secret is not where they hide or how to break the Iron Teeth Curse. Because the Iron Teeth Witches have known all along for 500 years that their salvation lies in their hands alone. But no, that's not the Kraken's greatest secret. Their greatest secret is that they pity the Iron Teeth witches.

[Nicole]

Let's talk about a character we're going to get a lot more familiar with in Empire of Storms, and that is Elide. As we learn in Queen of Shadows, Elide is suspected of having witch blood, which explains why Vernon, her uncle, trapped her in a tower with a life altering ankle injury. And that deeply affects her to this day. And he also lined her up for the Valk pregnancy experimentation. He's the fucking worst. While alid and the 13 were in Morath together, they begin to take her under their wings, so to speak. Wing. Get it? As a result, a lead begins spying on Vernon and Erewhon in loyalty to the 13. Which brings us to where Elide's Queen of Shadows story ends. Manon, as repayment for the life debt she owes for Aelin for not killing Astrun, and because she's a good person no matter what she tells herself, frees a lead so that she can go to Terasen and find her queen, Aelin Galathinius. While simultaneously, Elide receives a word key that was trapped in Kaltain's arm and is told to bring it to Celaena Sardothian. Oh my God. This dramatic irony is my fucking favorite. Elide has no idea Celaena Sardathian and Aelin Galathenius are the same person. So Elide is setting off on foot with an injured ankle to hit the road to her queen in Terrazan.

[Lexi]

I love so much how Manon helps her find the courage to go to Tercen and do something with herself. Make something of herself. While Elite is the one who teaches Manon about hope and the importance of clinging to it. Yes.

[Nicole]

Okay, so that is our Empire of Storms crew. We've got Dorian in rift hold. We've got the Alen crew in In Terrazin, We've got the witches in Morath, and the lead is on the road again. Let's now move to the southern continent of Antika and switch over to our Tower of Dawn characters. The southern continent is home to the legendary Torchesme, an institute of magical healers. In case you're freaking out because the Torreiches may Sounds very familiar from Assassin's Blade, you are correct. But more on that in a moment. Kaol, at the end of Queen of Shadows, was paralyzed from the hips down. He would have died in that attack. However, Aelin slipped the Eye of Elena into his pocket, protecting him slightly. So he's going to the Torre to be healed and on his feet again for the war. But as hand of the King now to Dorian and The ambassador for Tercen. He also has another motive. They need help, desperate help, to win this war. So Kael is hoping to convince the Khagan, the King of Antika, basically to join the war as their ally.

[Lexi]

Easier said than done that Kael is not going to Antica alone. Alone. Nesrin Filique is traveling with him. Quick tldr on Nesrin. She is a former City Guard in Rift hold who was introduced in Queen of Shadows as she was working with Kael to battle Volg, rescue prisoners, and sort of kind of distract each other on lonely nights. Despite now living in Rift Hold, Nezarin's father is originally from the Southern continent, and this journey to Antika is taking her back to her homeland. Growing up in Rift hold, she experienced prejudice and hatred because she was foreign and looked different from the people of Otterlin. Her mistreatment partly led to her joining the City Guard in the first place. During her time as a City Guard, she was constantly looked over for promotions because she was female. Despite her incredible archery and battle skills, she is romantically ish involved with Chael by the end of Queen of Shadows and is the new captain of the Royal Guard. Congrats girl. Her duty and booty lead her to travel with Kael to the southern continent on his healing journey. And it sure does help that this is where she's from too.

[Nicole]

You did not just say duty and booty. That was so good. Remember that The Torrey Chesme sounds quite familiar. That is because we've met a character named Irene in Assassin's Blade. Quick tldr about her in that story. So spoilers for Assassin's Blade. Irene is the healer that Celaena met on her way to the Red Desert about two and a half years ago. After working at the White Pig Inn for a year with no end in sight, Irene is attacked by four mercenaries robbing her of her nightly earnings after killing three out of four of them. That sounds like Celaena. Celaena teaches Irene the basics of self defense techniques, but the fourth mercenary Confront technique technique. But the fourth mercenary confronts these two and Celaena does not help Irene. Irene instead doing some very in the Lion's Den style training teaching. And Irene uses her skills to incapacitate her captor. And then Celaena finishes him off. The short story ends with Irene returning to her room after Celaena's departure to find a purse full of money and a note saying the world needs more healers. And it's thanks to that money that Irene was able to reach the southern continent and start her training at the Torrent. Torre which brings us now back to Tower of Dawn. Irene has made it to the Torre. Yay. Thanks to Celaena's funds, and has studied her way to becoming the heir apparent of the entire Torre Chesme. This cannot be overstated. Irene's healing magic is incredibly strong. But Irene's not exactly happy that she's being called in to heal an Otolanian. The hand of the king, no fucking less. But as the healer on High Hafiza puts it, it will be her final test before Irene leaves the Torre so that she can then go back to Fen' Harrow and help in the war on Irelia. Really quickly, let's highlight why Irene is so against helping Kaol. Irene is originally from Fen', Harrow, a territory that was conquered by the King of Aterlin. She was very, very close with her mother, also a gifted healer who trained Irene from a very young age. But Otolenian soldiers burned Irene's mother alive when they conquered her home, in addition to all the other atrocities performed under the king's order. So Irene sees Kael as an agent of this evil king and holds a grudge on behalf of her mother and her homeland. I mean fair, so fair.

[Lexi]

Zoning in now on the city of Antika. Overlooking the city on the largest hill is the tower of the Torre Chesme. The Tory Chesme is a worldwide renowned academy for healing healers, is home to the best of the best mortal healers. And then Antica's spoken language is Halha.

[Nicole]

The southern continent has been under the rule of the Khaganate dynasty for over a thousand years, ever since the Khagan conquered the territory. Because this is a whole new part of the world. Let's go through an overview of Antika and most specifically the Khaganate, because it's mighty important to the story. First, the Khagan is a term of for the current ruler as they are seen as legend and godlike. A long time ago, when Antika was first forming as a way to prevent civil war, the Kagani accepted all the gods, the many, many gods into the public religion. So there's like 36 main gods that they worship. Don't worry, you don't need to know them all. The city is seen as a utopia of peace and justice and is about as opposite of Aurelia as it gets. It's free from conflict, free from wars and exploitation by leaders. Wow, how nice. Citizens are free to practice whatever religion and culture they wish. The cognate banished slavery. Yes, Antica is pretty fucking awesome and quite peaceful. Unless you are a member of the royal family. Because succession of the throne is determined by work worth rather than birth order, the children of the Khagan will compete their entire lives to show their worth and or impress the Khagan with the intention of being named their heir. Once an heir is named and bold highlight, italicize, underline they have offspring of their own. The new Khagan's first task is to eliminate any other challenges to the throne which is literally killing all of his or her siblings and all of his or her siblings offspring. This tradition has created quite bloodthirsty rivalry between the Coggins children and.

[Lexi]

A little bit of blood thirst in there.

[Nicole]

And distrust. Let's go through the current ruling family because we're going to get very familiar with them all. In Tower of Dark dawn, the current Coggin is named Urus. His six children are. This is oldest to youngest Argan. He is the politician. He is beloved by merchants and power brokers. Anyone with money, they love him. And he is referred to as the prince of spies. Next oldest we have Sartak, who is the commander of his father's Rukh riders, the Rukin. More on them in a moment. Then we have Hassan, a princess you do not want to cross. She controls the armada of the seas. Then we have Caution. He controls the armies on land. So like the foot soldiers and the horse lords. Then we have Duva, who is married and currently pregnant. And lastly Tumalun, who is the youngest.

[Lexi]

Is now a good time to tell our listeners that there's a quiz at the end of this part one.

[Nicole]

Absolutely there's not.

[Lexi]

I promise.

[Nicole]

I didn't think so.

[Lexi]

Okay.

[Nicole]

Did you write one?

[Lexi]

No, no.

[Nicole]

There's just so many names. So many names. But now is a good time to remind everyone that there is a trivia happening in the fantasy fan Club on February 28th.

[Lexi]

Let's go back to Rukin. Who are the aerial cavalry? And they dwell in the tavern mountains with their rooks. Rooks are enormous eagle like birds large enough to carry cattle and horses. And they are swift, nimble and clever. I'm sorry. All I can picture is the great eagles from Lord of the Rings.

[Nicole]

Same. Yes.

[Lexi]

The Rukin are writers who favor archery, which is very exciting. Rukin are organized into different clans with a hearth Mother Leader. Before we move into our whole series spoiler segment, let's close out this part one with a question you know we're about to ask. What did we think of Empire Storms and Tower of Dawn?

[Nicole]

I have not been quiet about my love for Tower of Dawn and I will continue to be loud about it. It is a beautiful book that feels quite removed from others in the series. We're in a new world with new customs, new cultures, new people and. And it's so fun to explore a part of the world when normally we don't really get to do that in fantasy books unless it's in epics like this one. In my opinion, it is SJM doing what SJM does best and that is character arcs on steroids. Plus there's mysteries, there's downloads, there's so many things that tie into the main plot back on Aurelia. It's just. It's awesome. It's so awesome. As for Empire of Storm, there are elements I love. The last 100 pages are just pure hold on to your butts territory. There's a side plot with a lead that's laugh out loud incredible. And have I mentioned this book in the series? Spikes those spikes the spice and the romance up like 10 notches. And as the romantic, I genuinely enjoy that. And all of this to say Empire of Storms is actually one of my less favorite books in the whole Throne of Class series for a God tier series. That's not really saying it's a bad book at all. It's just that there are elements in this book that I always have to be like, wait, there's hundreds of pages in between that and I don't remember anything that happened. Queen of Shadows and Air of Fire are where the character development shine. Tower of dawn is where the character development shines. Empire of Storms is more plot driven and action driven. And for me, the characters just shine brighter in Heir of Fire, Queen of Shadows, Tower of Dawn, Kingdom of Ashes. And it's not that I don't like it by any means. Please don't get that. It's more just when I spend the most time thinking about the whole book, I don't really feel connected to anything. Versus I think about the last hundred pages of Empire of Storms and I'm like, oh, that was a wild ride. So I like the last little bit. The whole book is not my favorite.

[Lexi]

That makes sense. And I think you and I do have kind of similar opinions here. While Empire of Storms has some of my favorite plot lines and plot twists, I'm realizing for me it doesn't quite compare to Air of Fire and Queen of Shadows. Exact same as you. Empire of Storm feels very plot driven versus character driven and there's just so much that's happening that you really need to be paying attention as you read it, that's not a bad thing whatsoever. It's just a totally different vibe than my two all star favorites of the series that are more specifically character driven. I think that's why Queen of Shadows is my absolute favorite because it really is balances the character and plot. While I think Air of Fire was very, very character driven, yes, Empire of Storms is still a phenomenal book and I completely understand how it's a lot of people's favorite in the series. I said this in Part two last week, but it's safe to say here now our characters achieve their own freedom by the end of Queen of Shadows and now starting an empire of Storms. It's time to free the world. Then there's Tower of Dawn. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up liking and appreciating Tower of Dawn. In case you haven't clicked guessed, Kale is not a favorite character of mine as much as I understand why he is the way he has been. Nicole, you've been very great about that. But I gained such a renewed perspective about him in Tower of Dawn and by the end I'm genuinely cheering him on. What an incredible character arc he does have in this book. I also love how different Tower of Dawn is from the rest of the series. The switch up is refreshing for the long series and I love all the new world building it introduces and then still all ties back together into the bigger plot. And we get a new character who we recognize. Irene and the way she appears in the story and the part that she has to play is absolutely fantastic.

[Nicole]

All right friends, we are about to begin our Throne of Glass series spoilers section.

[Lexi]

So if you have not read all of Throne of Glass all eight books, this is your time to say goodbye. But first, some housekeeping items.

[Nicole]

Items Next Monday will be our fourth and final fan guide. Let's get ready for the final of this epic Kingdom of Ash. Remember, Part one will be spoiler free for Kingdom of Ash. It will include spoilers for every other book in the series though. Then part two is just like this one. Spoilers for all tog books as we wrap up this Throne of Glass coverage.

[Lexi]

We'D love to give the biggest warm welcome welcome welcome to our newest feral fans and deep divers in the fan club.

[Nicole]

Thank you.

[Lexi]

Thank you so much for being here.

[Nicole]

Oh buckle up buttercups. Here we go. Thank you so much for joining. Jordan C. Emily Ashlyn Shannon S. Molly R. Abby F. Juanita Teagan Caitlin L.

[Lexi]

Louz Amber Caro P Alani Sammy D Emily I Josie Jen V, Karen, Kathleen H, Liz H, Jen P, Sab M.

[Nicole]

And do Darna's inner monologue, Ann Marie W, Crystal Alicia G, Reed B, Raelyn, Sammy and Sarah's runaway guitar.

[Lexi]

Wow.

[Nicole]

Welcome, welcome.

[Lexi]

And I can already tell you right now, next week we're gonna have this a whole bunch more because that wasn't even everybody we could fit in here. Thank you all so, so much. We love how many of you are so excited to become deep divers and support all of the shows here in the Fantasy Fangirls Network. And if you're like, hey, I want my name shouted out on the podcast and we shout with all this love too, go ahead and join our fan club@Fantasy Fangirls.com Fan Club Link is also in the show notes. We are very active on social media with many fan guides and lots, lots, lots more. So please be sure to follow us on Instagram and/ or TikTok at Fantasy Fangirls Pod. And if you're watching this on YouTube or you want to watch on YouTube, pretty please hit that subscribe button button to keep following along.

[Nicole]

Also, while you're hitting buttons, don't forget to hit that rating and review button for the podcast. And not just this podcast. Although if you want to rate us five stars and write a little love note in the review section, that sounds amazing. But be sure to do it for any and all podcasts you regularly listen to. All right friends, before we move into our spoiler segment, a quick word from our sponsors. We all think about our health as we go through life, and our health is kind of a jigsaw puzzle. It's not just about going to the gym. It's also about supporting an active lifestyle with a balanced diet. And then it also extends to multivitamins. They can help support you as you build the healthy lifestyle you want.

[Lexi]

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[Nicole]

One of the things I love about ritual is that you know that, like, taste that vitamins can have where it's like, this is not the case. One of my favorites is their probiotic and it tastes like a vanilla mint going down. So good.

[Lexi]

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[Nicole]

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[Lexi]

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[Nicole]

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[Lexi]

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[Nicole]

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[Lexi]

And you all know me with my marketing brain. I have pretty high standards for website tools, but Squarespace Tool delivers in every single way. One thing I love is their integrated Squarespace SEO tools. Every website is optimized to be indexed with meta descriptions, an auto generated site map and more. So you show up more often on search engines and bring in more of your ideal customers? Yes.

[Nicole]

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[Lexi]

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[Nicole]

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[Nicole]

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[Lexi]

Friends and fellow readers, this is our official warning that we are about to enter our Throne of Glass spoilers. Part of the episode where we discuss character journeys from Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn and we'll be sharing our favorite highlights and moments of foreshadowing for the series. So with all that said, spoilers for the whole series.

[Nicole]

If you have not read all eight books of Throne of Glass, please respectfully kindly leave.

[Lexi]

We'll miss you, but we don't want to risk spoilers for you. Bye bye. Okay everybody, we Got a whole lot to talk about.

[Nicole]

I can't believe if we did this.

[Lexi]

In one half of one episode. Like usual, let's jump right into the deep end with Aelin, because, oh boy, is Empire of Storms an interesting book for her. Aelin has fully shed her Celaena Persona and embraces the responsibility of what it means to be Queen of Tarasen. She is on a mission to save her kingdom, which involves a whole lot of decision making, maneuvering, strategizing. Aelin is playing chess while everyone else is still learning to play checkers. Or she. She acts like no one else knows how to play checkers, which translates to not much delegating. Despite the trust and relationships she has with her court, Rowan, Ady and Lysandra, she bears the brunt of planning and executing each plan without much of their input. Yes, despite them wanting to help and support and be in on the plans, we see just how much. Aelin has been working behind the scenes for two books now. Like back in the Fighting Pits, when she used Ansel's name and had red dyed hair. Back in Queen of Shadows. Shadows, this sent a message to Ansel to ready her armies, which began a whole domino effect where Aelin now has an ally readying to help her. But it's all been happening off page and then in Empire of Storms. All the letters calling in old debts. And she didn't tell anyone her plans. Shouldering this weight of maneuvering and always thinking 10 steps ahead, all on herself because she's so afraid of letting her inner circle down. The weight of the world is on her shoulders. Shoulders. And every action is putting the needs of others before herself, which is a huge change from earlier books, as everything Aelin does comes back to the question, will this ultimately help my people, Help my kingdom? Even if it's insane in the moment, if she pulls it off, will it aid them? Offer any political gain, or strategically send a message, then it is worth the risk. Skulls Bay is a perfect example. Yes, she does put a whole town at risk risk, but it has a great payout. And she does gamble that she's queen. From her perspective, she has to make these risks for the greater good, even if it makes her come off as arrogant, manipulative, and controlling. For her, though, that's what she feels she needs to be to be the leader that this continent needs right now.

[Nicole]

I also want to bring up that if we point out her upbringing, era Bonhommel taught her that you are better, you are safer, you are more controlled when you're alone. So it makes sense that her first instinct is to keep everything hush, hush. The weight of the crown starts to show for Aelin in Empire of Storms. But that weight she doesn't show to just anyone. Until finally, she allows for Rowan to see how much it is affecting her. For as much as I do struggle with Aelin and her decisions, especially at the end of this book, I do understand why she feels like she can't let this wait show. She has been handed an uphill battle to end all uphill battles. This is no longer about destroying the King of Otterlin, a tyrant who invaded her lands. No, he's not even the real problem. He's dead. We're now talking about a king of the Vulg Demons who is set on bringing two more of his kind back. And if she fails, it's not just her and her court dead. It is literally the end of the world as they know it. And we also can't forget she's 19 at this point. And yet, even with that weight and that youth, she still does manage to put one foot of the other day.

[Lexi]

After day after day.

[Nicole]

And that is amazing.

[Lexi]

And as frustrating as Aen can be to both readers and her court with all of her scheming, because I do definitely feel it as well, specifically in Empire of Storms, I will say that I love how we have a queen who has to be a little morally gray to succeed. Often one of the things that we associate with FMCs is their moral high ground. Not willing to endanger the innocent or risk the lives of those that she cares about. And Aelin certainly does not want to do any of those things and avoids it if she can. But I also think she's a queen who understands better than anyone that she needs to win for the sake of the world at any cost. And her upbringing as an assassin, hardened to be cold and calculating and cunning and ruthless, is absolutely an asset now that she is queen. But of course, that's mixed with empathy, hope for a better world, a fierce determination to fight oppression because people deserve freedom and happiness. And so she has that morality with. With her mission. But she knows that in order to make that mission succeed, she might have to get a little creative.

[Nicole]

Well, and going back to Erebin and how he trained her whenever he was on the page, she would always think about 10 different outcomes that he could possibly be wanting. Like that style of thinking she learned from him. And just because Ereoben is dead, it does not mean that. That she's just no longer going to think like that. Like that is ingrained in her so.

[Lexi]

Put this ruthless and cunningness that she does have along with her empathy and goal to create a better world. Put the two and two together and we get Aelin Galfinius and I do appreciate how the Queen and get shit done leader we see in Empire of Storms is a result of all the books that lead up to this one. She loves her inner circle, but she still can't trust them with her plans because of her deep rooted fear of failing earlier that scarred her specifically in Assassin's Blade.

[Nicole]

Every single decision she makes throughout this book is for Tercen and the future of her kingdom, not her future in her kingdom. The foreshadowing for Aelin being ready and willing to sacrifice herself for the nation has been honestly there since the beginning. But specifically Queen of Shadows, which she's actually suspected for a while that the cost of putting Erwin back in his place might be her life. She sees that as just part of her duty as queen.

[Lexi]

Which brings us to a particular plan Aelin and Lysandra have up their sleeves that they hid from everyone else, including Rowan and Aiden. That day Aelin was throwing up in the boat and asked Rowan to get Lysandra. It was not because she thought she was pregnant. It was because she knew she was going to die. And by getting Lysandra, it was setting a plan in place for when she died so she would not truly be leaving her kingdom. Because yes, Aelin has shared with Lysandra that she will have to die as as the price to banish Erewhon and restore the keys. But no one would have to know because Lysandra could wear Aelin's skin shape shift into Aelin for the rest of her life and pretend that Aelin is still alive. Lysandra taking on her identity when the real Aelin dies. Pretend to be married to Rowan, pretend to have his children, but they'd really be Aden's who looks like Aelin. Therefore Aiden and Lysandra's children could pass as Rowan and Aelin's children. Can I just say, poor Rowan, who gets the shortest stick of all. Having to pretend his wife is actually alive while she is secretly with her real love. And the way Adien reacts to this. I'm sorry, I think he is just one big L in Empire of Storms.

[Nicole]

But that's to be talked about here soon.

[Lexi]

As much as I do sympathize with this choice being taken away that Nicole will get to shortly. What he's experiencing is valid and completely legs and tough looks all around.

[Nicole]

Yeah, I know Aelin is making this decision for Terison and the betterment of the future. But I'm not gonna lie. I. I struggle with this one. Yes, it means the power of Terison would still be in her court's hands. Because here's the thing. If she and Rowan don't have a child, the power could go to anyone. And that is terrifying. So with this plan, it still means that Lysandra, Rowan and Adien are making all of Terison's decision decisions. But to not tell anyone except Lysandra is, in my opinion, a L L for aen, Especially when it greatly, greatly affects Rowan and Aiden's lives. So I am doing it. L L for Lysandra and for a. Mostly for Aelin, because Lysandra is following her queen's orders, but to not tell the them.

[Lexi]

Okay, yes, this is a drastic solution and secret that the girls have kept. And I do agree with your L's, and I also do want to go into a little bit more about the genuine reason behind this less than ideal plan. Because, yes, I agree that it is an L, it is a bad look, and I don't find it as unforgivable as other readers do. I know, right? All right. Okay.

[Nicole]

Explain your reasoning. Explain your reasoning.

[Lexi]

So why did AEN ask this of Lysander? Why would Lysandra agree to be Aelin as Queen of Tarasen and wife slash mate of Rowan for the rest of her life? Especially with holes in their plan like Aelin never having fire magic ever again when she's now known for it? Or their children having none of Aelin or Rowan's powers. Aelin is a symbol, a leader. And she cannot afford for the world to think that she's gone. She is the glue that is holding everything together. Especially with all the allies rallying around her now. By the end of Empire of Square Storms, they can't show up and AEN be dead. She is needed as a leader. If they did that and she was not there, then I think that everything would crumble. To bring this continent and its people into a new era, leverage Aen's connections and her reputation not only for the war efforts, but for a prosperous and peaceful time afterward. They can't show up and AEN is dead. She is needed as a leader to bring this continent and its people into a new era. To leverage Aelin's connections and a reputation not only for the war efforts, but for a prosperous and peaceful time afterward. But now she also knows the truth, that she will not survive this no matter what. In fact, in order to win this. She has to die. That is the price that must be paid. So when the real Aelin is gone, whether that's for the work keys or something else like what happens with Maeve, Lysandra is on standby to step in as Aelin and pretend all is well for. For appearances, more political stability, for hope among the people and authority among leadership so that they can keep that peace that they've worked so damn hard for, that AEN literally sacrificed herself for. And, yeah, the girls did not tell anyone, not even the two males directly involved in the plan, because, first of all, they couldn't risk the truth getting out. The secret was too important and quite frankly, too insane. This is very much an ask for forgiveness instead of permission plan, because I don't think for a moment Aden or Rowan would have gone through with it. And I'll say, but they should have had autonomy.

[Nicole]

They should have had a say in how the rest of their fucking lives are going to look.

[Lexi]

I agree that was a bad look when it comes into the children's side of things and all of that kind of stuff. But you tell me for one second, if they had mentioned this to Adien, I'm going to say specifically Aiden, because of how terribly he takes it. Like, it wouldn't have worked.

[Nicole]

See, I think Rowan actually would have been the one who. Who would be like, absolutely.

[Lexi]

I think Adien, he would not have accepted Aen's death.

[Nicole]

Exactly.

[Lexi]

And that's where she's like, okay. That's another thing, though.

[Nicole]

It's like Rowan has to pretend like his wife is alive for the rest of his life. And, like, I know that AEN is doing everything for the betterment of Terison, but he is her mate. He is her husband. You fucking communicate with those people in your lives. I'm so.

[Lexi]

I do think that maybe this is just my character bias, but I think that, yes, Rowan definitely should have known.

[Nicole]

Yes.

[Lexi]

But I also do understand why she did not tell him. Because by telling him, it wasn't so much about the plan. It was the fact that she would have to die for the plan to take action. And he's like, no, that's not gonna work. And she's like, but then it has to happen, though, for him to have.

[Nicole]

To stare at someone wearing his wife's skin for the rest of his life after he lost Lyria years and years ago, like, that's tragic. I get wanting to do everything for the betterment of Terison, Yes. But that is soul ruining for a person. And I'm sorry if my partner ever pulled something like this with me, I would be not happy.

[Lexi]

Okay. I don't know if this is quite a relatable situation. Okay.

[Nicole]

I.

[Lexi]

But, like, wait. Okay. But. No, actually, let's go with this. But would you do that to literally save the world?

[Nicole]

I would talk to him about it and make sure we both saw the.

[Lexi]

But what if he didn't? What if he absolutely refused?

[Nicole]

Then I don't like this game.

[Lexi]

Yeah, it's hard. Right? But I think that actually goes right back to these very, very difficult decisions that Aelin is making on her own. And I'm not saying that it's right that she did this. I'm saying that I understand it. And she was between a rock and a hard place. And I. I do really think that Rowan, at least give him some kind of nugget of helpful. Here's a chicken. Write him a letter of I'm sorry. Or, like, at least give him something after the plan. Seriously. But I. I think that, like, I totally get it with the fandom, and I think that this is the ultimate AEN thing to do.

[Nicole]

I think I agree with you on that statement, and that's one of the reasons that I do struggle with her as an fmc.

[Lexi]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

Okay. Well, I don't know if we're gonna find common ground, but I will say this. I do see where you're coming from in their decision making. It's not the decision itself that makes me want to throw hands. It's the people whose lives would be absolutely, irrevocably altered who did not get to at least know about the decision being made.

[Lexi]

I agree with you. While understanding why they did not. They had time, and it was just the four of them when they were both getting married, like, they could have. Absolutely.

[Nicole]

And it could have been much, much.

[Lexi]

I still think she should have just left a note. I think a note would have been fine.

[Nicole]

Dear Rowan. Dear Buzzard.

[Lexi]

Dear Rowan, I'm so sorry. Please. But, like, really like to. To. To do. To explain herself in the letter.

[Nicole]

I. I think that would have solved a lot. Them saying the plan on the beach in front of Lorcan, the Manon, the 13th elite, and everything is a lot more.

[Lexi]

They really.

[Nicole]

They did not get that part. I think that's a lot more odd. The secret might get out versus them saying it in the. In the dark of the night on the ship when they got married.

[Lexi]

Yes, that.

[Nicole]

Absolutely.

[Lexi]

Yes.

[Nicole]

Thank you. Okay. We can at least agree on something. Okay.

[Lexi]

No.

[Nicole]

Here's something else we can agree on. Adian Adien gets an L here.

[Lexi]

Adian does.

[Nicole]

I'm gonna. Now, now, here's the deal. I'm now gonna put myself in Adian's shoes, and you have to listen to me explaining this now. Adien.

[Lexi]

Okay, I. I'm repping my Lysandra shirt right now. I got you, girl.

[Nicole]

I got my. Hello, princeling. Hello, witchling one. Aden likes being in control. And being in Aelin's court is one big releasing of control. To say is that. That's an understatement. But being on the back foot on plans for her to just go off into the sewers in Rift hold, that's one thing. Having to sire children of the royal line so they look like you will. Well, having to pretend that you are not the father of the future leaders of Terrazyn and your love pretends to be in love with another male, that's another thing. I'm sorry. I think Aden should have known. I think Aden should have known. And Rowan. I'm saying both. Look, Adien is not the greatest. He does not handle this well in ash by taking out that anger on Lysandra. And in my opinion. Opinion. That is an unforgivable act that he does. Which we will talk about next episode.

[Lexi]

Yes.

[Nicole]

And I think his anger here is justified, as he puts it. When was he going to know about this? Before or after he thought he was taking his cousin to bed? He literally just saw her marry another last night. His anger is justified. But big. Big. But here. What he says calling Lysandra a quote, quote lying bitch is not okay. And that's just the start of his atrocities.

[Lexi]

So.

[Nicole]

L, Aiden. Big L. No. Bad.

[Lexi]

And I will say this like I. I commend Lysandra for how she's like. I will not apologize to you. I am serving my queen.

[Nicole]

I agree.

[Lexi]

And the way that he is extremely angry with her and she is standing her ground, I commend her for that.

[Nicole]

Pivoting slightly. But don't worry. We're not done talking about that scene. That'll be later. Let's move into Rowan and his Empire of Storms journey after Queen of Shadows. Aelin and Rowan say. Okay, we're doing this with their relationship. And we see a shift in them in Empire of Storms. They're no longer just besties who nearly sense everything with each other. They now want to jump each other's bones hard. Which, thank God, they get to do on a beach. Incredible scene.

[Lexi]

Okay. Yes. And I'm gonna be the one to say, say it. Beach sex involves so much sand. I Don't understand how they were out there for so long.

[Nicole]

Oh, my God. And with that full commitment to each other. Yes. Even without the mating bond, we see this unwavering loyalty to Aelin that, in my opinion, it feels different than Queen of Shadows, where, yeah, he was loyal, but he still got mad at her for acting behind his back, so. He also did shit behind her back, too, to surprise her and to do things on his own to aid the cause. Aelin needs this in a partner, and I feel like that cunning and taking the reins takes a backseat in Empire of Storms. He's still loyal to his queen. Like, ungodly so. And I'm not gonna lie, I kind of miss the almond oil. Surprising Rowan. It's not to say he's just fully laid down to. He does coordinate with his cousins in the final battle to turn the fight on Maeve, their queen, instead of fighting against Rowan and Co's army. It's like, yes, that Rowan. Yes. But going back to their relationship, they accepted each other into their whole hearts. And Rowan does not even know about the mating bond. I love this. I think that him not realizing there's a mating bond to accept and loving her with his whole heart, despite this mystical bond of the Fates tying them together, it almost feels more romantic. Even though on a reread, you're like, oh, my God, the signs are all there. Like when he uses the mating bond to prevent Aelin, who's possessed by Diana, from destroying an entire peninsula. But that choosing to love each other, that's what makes the ending of this book of Where's My Wife? So impactful and also choice. We talked about this last episode. That theme is going to come up with multiple times in this section as well. Even in a world where the Fates and the gods and your ancestry are driving the forces of all of our main characters, there is still choice in the matter. Like their choice to get married in the dead of night to each other.

[Lexi]

Oof. And then him being told that they are mates. The last chapter of Empire of Storms hits so hard as he processes this confirmation, because part of him did know that Aelin was his mate. But he turned away from the knowledge time and time again. Again, out of respect for Lyria, not thinking it could be true that Aelin is actually his mate. And now here he is with the full realization that Aelin is his mate and she has been taken by Maeve. He will not let this happen. He will not accept this outcome. He's lost one of his loves of his life already. He will not lose Aelin, too. The way he kneels in the sand, surrounded by her blood, just lost in his grief that his wife, his mate, has been taken. Oh, my heart. The fan art for this just pulls at the heartstrings. But then I love how he pulls himself together, refusing to get lost in the despair, and vows to find and save her. For instance, he doesn't really have much input into this whole plan that Aelin and Lysandra concocted, because he's like, not going to accept that as an option, that Aelin is gone forever. He's like, okay, you all do this. I'm gonna go find my wife. And then, last thing on Rowan, backing up a little bit. Bit. Overall, I really do appreciate how in Empire of Storms, Rowan demonstrates his loyalty not just to his queen and lover, but also to the kingdom of Tercen. It is Aelin's kingdom, so therefore it is his too. And he will do whatever he can to help, like talk to his relatives of House Whitethorn about coming onto their side. Before the big battle at the end of Empire of Storms, Rowan flies to one of the ships and talks to his cousin Inda about Aelin, the woman he loves whose heart burns with wildfire. He tells Inda about Erewhon and the threat of the word keys, and he tells her about Maeve's desire for the word keys too. So with all that laid out, Rowan gets on his knees and begs his cousin to not open fire on Terassin's armada and to turn the tables and fire on Maeves instead. Because this is their chance for a peaceful world. To not fight for the queen who has enslaved Rowan, but instead for the queen who saved the him. And his cousin says that she'll consider it. Then Rowan flies to another cousin ship and gives the same spiel. And then to another Whitethorn ship and another, begging House Whitethorn to commit treason and betrayal so great that they will never be able to return home to the Fae lands where Maeve rules, that everything they have will be seized and destroyed. That is an extremely big and risky ask of Rowan. But of course he's doing it anyway, because it's for his queen. For a better world world. So then, during the big battle with Maeve's armada, the silver banner with the screaming hawk, the Sigil of House Whitethorn, flies without Maeve's black flag of a perching owl. And these white thorn ships start firing on their own armada, turning against Maeve at great cost to now side with Aelin and Rowan. So Prince Rowan Whitethorn might not have his own army to give his queen, but he won one over with powerful speakers, speeches, hope for a peaceful and free future and belief in a leader fighting for that future. Three huzzahs for Rowan Lexi.

[Nicole]

You know who does not get any huzzahs?

[Lexi]

I know exactly who.

[Nicole]

Going back to Adien more broadly in Empire of Storms. He hasn't changed that much since Queen of Shadows.

[Lexi]

He whines more in Empire of Storms, which I didn't think was possible after the last book. I'm so sorry to ADM lovers.

[Nicole]

I'm so sorry. I know you all. I'm so sorry. Don't worry, I will get all into that. But for right now we see that ADN is slipping back into the role of general rather than cousin in this book, I'm going to say actually, or at least he's trying to slip back into the role of general. Their situation may have changed. They're in Terracen talking to the terrorists and Lords versus living in an apartment in Rift hold under wraps. And with that change, he is more in his element as liaison to Ren, Murtaugh and Darrow. But Aelin is very much still in charge, which he's not mad about her being in charge. She is queen after all. It's just a shift for him. Like I talked about last episode, Adien is used to being in the driver's seat in the rebellion. He is a leader of the Bane. He was undercover, he was working with Ren and Martha and Kaol and was definitely the one in charge in Heir of Fire. While a general must be able to lead, they must be able to follow. And this is a lesson that he really struggles with throughout this series and he has no problem making it other people's problems too. And now that Adien is not in all of the plans, it's really weird for him. I give him a book for adjusting to that because yes, this is looking completely different than he thought it would look. But his book was last book that was Queen of Shadows. Adjust with the program Adien God and we see how well that goes in the end of this book. As I've previously discussed, we do get some character movement with Aiden, who starts flirting more and more with Lysandra and vice versa. She's not not against it. And for both of them, this relationship does feel more like a distraction. There is attraction. Of course he thinks that she's his mate by the end of Kingdom of Ash, although I don't think we ever get confirmation that I at least remember we'll Talk about the distraction it provides for Lysandra in a moment. But for Adien, it's a distraction from the war, the impending doom of Erewhon. But most importantly, it is a chance for him to feel special and needed. It's not that it's not prevalent in Aelin's correct court.

[Lexi]

It is.

[Nicole]

It's just not what he thought it would look like. And therefore, it's not good enough.

[Lexi]

I will say, though, I think that Rowan took that place. Yes, obviously, with the blood oath, we're not talking romantically, but he is her right hand. Adien always thought that was going to be him. And I think that without that, even though he is still very close in her court, he does not have much of a say. He is not informed of things. He's having to play catch up constantly. And as much as I get frustrated with his character, I completely understand all that. I would be flipping frustrated too. And I do think that when you're saying that with Lysandra, she gives him love and support and understanding and asks him questions that nobody else really does. And he. That makes him be like, I want to marry you. I want to be with you.

[Nicole]

The start of every healthy relationship.

[Lexi]

Well, and then on top of that, Adian's got daddy issues. An heir of Fire. He learned from Rowan that the King of Doranel, the legendary Fae warrior Gavriel, is his father. Now in Empire of Storms, they meet for the first time. Backing up here too. Before Aiden was born, while in Maeve's service, Gavriel traveled the world and at some point met Aiden's mother and fell madly in love. But he did not want Maeve to find out about his love because that would be bad news bears. And when Maeve ordered him back, they never saw or spoke to each other again, even though they both cared deeply for each other. In fact, Aden's mother told him not to contact her and he respected that. But Aiden's mother spent her life and even sacrificed her life to keep Aiden's true identity hidden. No one except her cousin Aelin's mother knew who Aiden's father was. She was shunned by her family family and fiercely protected her son from Maeve ever finding out who he was and taking him to be enslaved like his father. When his mother grew sick, she refused to seek help from the Fae healers because it was too big of a risk. So she sacrificed her life to keep her son safe and away from Maeve's claws. And understandably, that translates to a lot of tangled emotions regarding his Father. We readers may see this as further consequences of Maeve's need to leverage love as and wield it as a weapon to control those under her thumb and see how drastically it affects so many people. But Aedeon feels it was abandonment and blames Gavriel for his mother's sacrifice. And it's just so messy for Aiden, who's already going through a tough time of figuring out where he fits by Aelin's side. He has spent the past 10 years secretly fighting for Terasen while a general in the King of Otterlin's army. He's a fiercely loyal person and between. Betrayal cuts so deep for him and it doesn't matter the intention behind it. If we're talking about Adien, of course we have to talk about Lysandra. I love Empire of Storms for one of my favorites, Lysandra, except for her relationship with Aden. Again, I'm not personally a fan and think that she deserves someone who treats her better. Especially for how supportive and there for him she is. Aiden feels selective in his affection for her.

[Nicole]

Hear, hear. Yes, but that's not what I want to talk about.

[Lexi]

I love how Lysandra gets to explore her magic and flaunt her badassery in this book. She is clever, she is loyal, but also her own person. She does not hide from her past, but she doesn't let it define her. For years she has worn the mask of a courtesan with no magic and no true free will. Now she is free. Free from her debt and a trapped life. Free from magical construction constraints. Free to be loyal to who she believes in. She gets to be herself and learn who she is in the process. I love how she's always turning into different animals. She's exploring what she can do, experiencing the world from every angle, every sense. She's savvy and cunning. And I love how she leverages her shape shifting and battle on land or sea. Yes.

[Nicole]

All right. Moving on to Dorian, who, remember, just got the Valk Prince out of him right before he killed his father and the glass cat castle exploded. Rift Hold's not doing so great right now. He's a king without a kingdom. He's incredibly powerful magically, but doesn't feel an ounce of that power in the form of confidence. Confidence in the war. Confidence in his place as Aelin's allies. And she was the one who stepped up after all hell broke loose last book, not him. Not to mention the first time he's been left alone in Rift Hold. The city is sacked act and Rowan has to save him. Yes, this is after Manon kills Zalta, the Yellow legs witch, and then Rowan saves him, but still, he feels like he's always getting fucking saved. And most importantly, Dorian's lost all confidence within himself. He's lost everything, including the only thing in life he truly cared for. Sorsha. Yeah, he has Kaol, but Kaol's an Antika. And Doria just feels so alone and like an outsider.

[Lexi]

And it's so sad how multiple times he wishes Chaol was there or that he could talk to his best friend.

[Nicole]

I know. Emperor of Storms. Is the Book of Dorian getting his confidence back? Does he fully achieve that? No, and honestly, I don't think he does until he goes to Morath next book In Kingdom of Ash once, when.

[Lexi]

He really starts tapping into his magic and discovery, discovering what he's capable of doing, like shape shifting, for instance. That's never been done before. And he works so hard to make it happen. But obviously that's not this book.

[Nicole]

Well, and I'll be honest, Aelin kind of takes him down a few pegs by giving him like, yes, he's lost, but she kicks him while he's down.

[Lexi]

I'm sorry he has to remind others and himself multiple times throughout the book that he's a king.

[Nicole]

Yeah, and I'm sorry I'm giving Aelin an L for that. But this is not Aelin's character dissection. Dorian's comment confidence does get a little bit of movement, and there's one witchling who's to thank for that.

[Lexi]

So of course we cannot bring up Dorian without discussing his situationship with Manon. But we have to rewind back to Sorsha because I know I'm guilty of it. Their relationship and her character were only one plot line in one book when there is so much else going on in the series that I think that we can collectively forget about her a little bit. Dorian's love and loss defines him, though. As well as surviving the Volks possession session, bottom line, he's been through some really dark shit. While I do wish we got a little bit more character development from him, in Empire of Storms, he is beginning to harness and explore his own raw magic, finally having the chance to do so. But that's not the only thing he has the chance to do. Remember last episode where I said Manon was his light in the dark? When Dorian broke the grip of the Vogue prince possessing him to say, I'll bleed whatever color you tell me to do? These two share this electrifying connection she pulled him out of the darkness, even momentarily. And she checked in on him at the end of Queen of Shadows. After giving Aelin the message that he's still inside, she gets to see him back to being himself and know that she played a part in that. He had his human love. He had his romance with Sorsha. He felt that deep, intimate and gentle connection rooted in trust and love. That is the last thing thing Dorian is looking for nowadays. His heart is broken. He is mourning the loss of her now, when he couldn't while trapped by the vulg. And on top of that, he killed his father after learning he's not all bad. There's some conflicted feelings there. But his father still had his girl beheaded in front of him and countless other atrocious things in the continent. So here we have Manon, a morally black, immortal witch who even takes a little after her vulg ancestors, who is killing killed men for sport. But he's not just a man, and she's not just a bloodthirsty witch. When Dorian says I have no interest in human women, too breakable, it summarizes why he is so attracted to Manon in a nutshell. She meets his darkness, but not in an evil way, if that makes sense. She doesn't back down from it. In fact, she understands his darkness more than most, with her own dark roots. And within that darkness in him is no breakable princeling. They've both got their own trauma and their own origins, but they are each other's break and their escape from themselves and the world beyond. And they just kind of understand each other in that way.

[Nicole]

Speaking of the witch herself, her confidence too is wavering, but not in herself. Never in herself in the system. After Asterin shared her story and Manon started to see glimmers of what the other side has and their value. Values. Specifically referring to Aelin's choice not to kill Astarin in Queen of Shadows, Manon starts to wonder if her grandma's way is really the only way. And finally, in a brutal, epic fight, she breaks away from the matron, nearly getting killed in the process. When she was supposed to punish and kill Asturin, instead she attacked her grandmother and still managed to escape. Fucking badass ass. Manon never had her parents as role models. They were dead thanks to Grandmama Blackbeak. And her only maternal figure has always been the matron. It cannot be overstated how big of a deal it is that she is breaking away. Covens are everything to witches, and you respect your leader. Full stop.

[Lexi]

But as we learn kind of early on in Empire of Storms, Manon is not only the heir to the Black Beak Iron Teeth, she's the last Kraken queen. What? I remember exactly where I was when I read this for the first time. On a walk with the kids by mom and dad's house. And I just literally stopped in my tracks. Like mouth open once again. I just love, love, love how her culture's history that we keep harping on in these part one segments come back in a huge way, specifically from Anon. And now we have have two queens destined to save their people, representing the three species. Okay, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Back to this huge plot twist that Manon is part Kraken and her grandmama is even more of a witch with a capital B than we already knew. Which we did know what she did to Astra. And she's bad to the bone.

[Nicole]

She's just yee hao.

[Lexi]

During the one on one showdown with her grandmama, the truth of Manon's heritage and parents come out. Turns out Manon's mother didn't not die giving birth to her. Her grandmother ripped her mother's throat out and killed her. When Manon's mother was in labor, she confessed who the father was. Surprise. Manon's father was a rare born Kraken prince. Holy shit. Manon's father was a Kraken? Ah, yes. And Manon's mother said that this child of the Iron Teeth and the Kraken would be the key to breaking the curse of the Western Wastes. Her father, who never stopped loving her mother and the child she bore, searched for his daughter when she was young. Until Manon's grandmother killed him too. But not before delighting in telling him what she did to his loves. Manon's grandmother tried to train the same weakness out of Manon to turn her into a force of nature. A warrior equal to none. A child of war. Not the answer to peace. And then, because we're still not done, the Kraken witches are had been spying on the Iron Teeth this past spring. So during Era Fire, because they finally learned the identity of their dead prince's lost child. Manon's half sister. So her father's other child was the one searching for her half sister. And her name was Rhiannon, named after the last Kraken queen who cast the curse. Yeah, that was the Kraken which Manon was forced to kill at the end of Era Fire and take her red cloak. The Kraken who played planted the seed for Manon about Iron Teeth being made into monsters instead of born. So this means that not only has Manaan been killing her relatives, the Krakens, all her life, unknowingly, she also executed her own half sister, who was the royal bloodline. And now Manon is the last of the Kraken royal bloodline. The last of the Kraken witches. Oh, how the tables have turned. Manon makes may have previously been internally struggling with the fact she has a good heart, but she at least held strength in her identity as an Iron Teeth witch, heir to a brutal legacy. But this cranks it up a million notches and changes things. Her identity is far from simple now, and her whole origin story gets rewritten in one gigantic reveal. The Kraken represent what the Iron teeth detest, but also what Manon has been gravitating towards toward for several books. Empathy and compassion. And it puts a lot more responsibility for the fate of witchkind on Manon's shoulders. The Kraken queen who cursed the land on the Iron Teeth said this would break the spell. Quote, blood to blood and soul to soul. Together this was done. And only together it can be undone. Be the bridge, be the light. When iron melts, when flowers spring from fields of blood, Let the land be white, witness, and return home. Little cryptic, huh? But the idea is that only when the two kinds of witches can come together, blood to blood and soul to soul, Will they break the curse. Sounds like Manon being the most likely literal embodiment of both kinds of witches. And they will have to fight together in a war, setting this up for Kingdom of Ash. As manon and the 13 and Dorian go to go find the Kraken witches and bring them to the cause. Ah. I especially love just these two queens, both two peoples. And between Manon and Aelin, they make up the humans, the fae, and both of the witches. One worships fire, the other worships darkness. I just love it all so much.

[Nicole]

By the end of this book, Manon is fully on the, I'll say like, good side. Although she'd claw out my throat if I ever said that to her face. She goes into the witch mirror with Aelin, which, by the way, that alone is just a showing of trust of how far these two women go. Is given the word Keys sneakily from Aelin gets back with the 13, who come in to save the day from Maeve's armada in the final battle. But at the end of the day, she just wants to fight on the right side of History. That's right. For both of her people, both Black Beak and Kraken, and ultimately what's best for her land. Like in two and a half books? No, I'd say three books. In three books, Manon goes from oh, my God, why are you here? To oh, my God. Like, her story is masterful, masterfully done.

[Lexi]

I love how it just weaves into the greater story, too, in so many different ways. Yes. Then we have one of the most unlikely duos in the series.

[Nicole]

That's an understatement. Lurkin.

[Lexi]

And a lead. I just love these two so much. And in our group chat with the girls, somebody was like, I just picture Lorcan really old, like, saggy old man balls.

[Nicole]

And I was like, excuse me.

[Lexi]

Defending my old man, Lorcan. Their travels through Empire of Storms is low key. One of my favorite plot lines of the entire series. I love how their relationship evolves when they pretend to be husband and wife at the carnival and. And how they seemingly are two opposites to end up being one of my personal favorite couples of the series. And they go through so much, especially at the end of Empire of Storms. Lorkhan is bound to Maeve with the blood oath, and he is in love with her, though he holds no hope of a future with the queen. But his value is only measured in his usefulness and obedience. Enter Elide, a seemingly weak and unskilled human girl who Lorgan comes to realize, reception, respect, and admire for how unbreakable she is, how strong and cunning a lead truly is. Lorkhan is a warrior, a destroyer, and as fate would have it, he winds up protecting this human. By the end of Queen of Shadows, Elide has this hope within herself that keeps her going on her mission to find Aelin and Celaena. And she challenges Lorkhan's entire worldview straight up, telling him that what he feels for Maeve is not love, and he deserves better than what Maeve made him. She shows him what he does deserve. Gentleness, kindness, choice, partnership. And he can't help but gravitate toward that and want that. Except everything goes to shit when Maeve comes back into the picture, AKA the end of Empire of Storms for Lorcan. Lorcan thought he was preventing something worse. He thought he was doing right. And, yeah, Maeve is the only solution that he ultimately knows. Instead of trusting the situation, he brings the control right back to them. And with that said, gigantic L for you, Lorcan, for the end of Empire of Storms. And I will also say that the way that he wears those consequences and feels that regret and shame and guilt and he cannot forgive himself for how much he knows that he he did wrong. So I know he gets an L. But I also commend him for how he recognizes his wrong and then tries to make it right.

[Nicole]

Immediately beginning he is the definition of actions speak louder than words.

[Lexi]

Any sense of free will is stomped out as Maeve takes control over him immediately when she comes back into the picture, turning him back into a weapon of destruction, an instrument of harm even on a lead, being forced to restrain her, the one person he is dedicated to protecting all book before Maeve disposes him, dishonor him and breaks the blood oath, leaving Lorcan in shame and regret, but also gratitude that Aelin did what she did to protect Elite. Like he can't regret that part because Elite is at least okay the way he weeps for the first time in centuries when Rowan is demanding to know where his wife is. This overwhelming culmination of the consequences of his actions. Just like you're saying there, right Nicole and poor Elide feels feeling so betrayed. What a climactic tragic ending to this book for them after everything they went through and their emotional journeys coming together.

[Nicole]

All book oh shifting gears so 90 degree pivot hard. Let's talk about our Tower of Dawn crew, starting with my boy Gail, who at the beginning of the story is at his lowest low. His entire life has been the guard and being part of the that he's relied heavily on his body and movement to propel him forward and suddenly without warning, that part of himself is taken away. If anyone has undergone major injury that impacts your quality of life drastically, then you know what he's experiencing. I know when I had my knee injury I couldn't stop laughing because of how my knee popped out. But literally I couldn't walk for weeks and then I couldn't get into a special specialist's office for multiple weeks more. And my muscles around my leg were so out of use and weak that I literally had to learn how to walk again. Thank you American health care. But I was furious at my body for being so weak. I was furious at the world because things that were once so easy were suddenly impossible. Mind you, I lived on a three floor walk up in Chicago and no, there's no elevators for that. I was angry for the people who were looking at at me with pity or frustration when it took me longer to do something that was easy for them. This happened a lot more often than you think it would. And most of all though, I was livid at myself for not healing faster, for getting into that position in the first place, for feeling my least favorite thing in the entire world, which is helpless. For Kaol, he's experiencing all of this. And then add the stress of being Hand of the King when there's a war on their doors, doorstep. And it's Kaol who, the entire time we've known him has been adverse to looking inward and facing emotions swirling around in him that that's what he needs to do to heal. It's far easier for him to just continue pushing on because there's things that have to be done, damn it. And after all, quote, if he cannot protect his loved ones on his feet, sword in hand, is he even useful? Does he even matter?

[Lexi]

Matter?

[Nicole]

That quote right there sums up KL.

[Lexi]

Yes, well, and his lack of self worth, of feeling like he doesn't matter. It translates to him almost giving up on himself with getting healed. He doesn't feel worthy of it. He doesn't think that it can be done. But he is here for Dorian's sake, for his king's sake, so that he can return home to him eventually. But it's kind of a mission that he doesn't truly believe in himself.

[Nicole]

Exactly. One of my favorite scenes in Tower of Dawn is when Kaol is going to the Toray and Irene, in teaching the other students, has the other healers, like, get K O off his horse. And it's a fucking mess. Because in that scene, yeah, there's this, like, fact that the Toray is all about teaching first. And that fact is so ingrained in their school's culture. But as admirable as that is, it makes K O feel like a study subject, not a person. And he regresses in his healing and openness as a result. He's mad, but most of all, he's embarrassed and he's angry with himself. I love how uncomfortable it is to read because we're in chaos pov and you just feel him being prodded and barely held up, and he can't do anything about it. It's a metaphor for his life. He feels like he's no longer a person, but instead his injury is all he is. And it's so human, and I fucking love it. But that part of his journey is also what puts him and Irene face to face with each other. It's the first time she intentionally sees him as a person. With Leia's, he's an onion. And she sees that he's ashamed and that there's deep trauma there. He's not just a soldier to Otterlin. And that's it.

[Lexi]

Ah, but then he moves his toe for the first time. Irene and Cale just had a moment, moment of vulnerability after a healing session. And his toe curls. Then more. It's the first moment the two of them realize what they're facing with this healing process that Irene and Cale will have to face the darkness clinging within him. The way he is able to do this, to move his toe, when he has doubted the possibility of that ever happening again, it lifts his faith up in Irene. It ignites a nuisance of hope in himself. Remember, like, once you get to the next chapter, it's like he couldn't stop moving his toes. Like, he is just so excited. And it's like he doesn't want to let it be too big of a deal because it's kind of like, well, it's only the toes. But the fact that that even was able to happen opens up so much more opportunity and possibilities for what could lay ahead.

[Nicole]

I remember just bawling reading that for the first time because, oh, my God, it's so, so beautifully written. Now, around this time, we also see chaos shift from Nesrin to Irene. Let's be honest, him and Nesrin were never really more than friends with Benny's. They deeply care for each other, sure, but their sexual relationship was always out of convenience. She's part of his old life just as much as he's part of hers. When Nesrin distance herself from him and he distances himself from her, it's because he's trying to pour himself into the healing process. Process. And it's no surprise that these two start growing in different directions. Which brings us then to him falling in love with Irene. I'll talk more about why they make such a good match in a moment. But for Kale's healing journey, falling in love with Irene feels so beautifully natural.

[Lexi]

I really just love the two of them so much. They're one of my absolute favorite couples in the Throne of Glass.

[Nicole]

I think they're. They're my favorite as well. I think they just make sense. I think they're my favorite.

[Lexi]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

Like, nothing against Aelin and Rowan, but like this.

[Lexi]

Elite and Lorcan are also up there.

[Nicole]

I love that for you. I love that for you.

[Lexi]

But I think that Irene and Chaol just also their love story how it. I love that they have a whole book to let it happen. Like, just. I love it. I love Tower of Dawn.

[Nicole]

Me too. And Irene doesn't offer him a leg up. She does not coddle him she believes he can do anything that anyone else can do. And this is a new feeling for K All since the injury. But most of all, the newest feeling is that Irene encourages Kaol to face his inner challenges head on. That's something Kaol has never experienced and we have never seen from him, as he's always been looking at the outward threat.

[Lexi]

You don't have time for your inner healing when you're off in the sewers fighting the vulg and rescuing people, which is honestly fair.

[Nicole]

But right now, when literally that is part of the process, it makes sense that it's so hard for him to tap into that. But it's when Irene encourages him to do that inner healing, that is when they're both able to go into his injury and not obliterate it, but get it down to the very, very dregs.

[Lexi]

They're able to peel back the layers. Like the injury is really and truly his trauma and it's literally just peeling through all of it and.

[Nicole]

Yeah, well. And speaking of. So when we get to the final healing session, we see all that trauma and all the layers that it involves. K all sees his father smug with victory after Kale practically sold himself back to Anniel in order to save Celaena, the woman he loved, the woman he tried to save from Otterlin. But his father has something over him. That man kept his oath. He got Celaena to Wendlin. But Kael did not uphold his promise to go back to Nel. And thus he kicks in his self hatred in this healing session. Oathbreaker, traitor. For Aelin, he sacrificed his honor. And to him, she was fine with it. That he'd shredded apart the value that held him, his soul together. And he hates her for it. Hates how fine she is with it. And not even fine. She seemed to even enjoy herself. Quote. For this haughty, swaggering, self righteous woman, he had shattered parts of himself. And in the end, she'd gone to another. To Rowan. Quote. As if she were going from one room to another. It further cements for him this belief. Belief that he is worthless. He is not enough. But then, as Rowan holds this version of Aelin in this vision, her scarred wrists. Chaol sees this mask slip off of Aelin's. He hears her. I'm sorry that she whispered to him on the dock in Crown of Midnight, right after he said he loved her. He sees the guilt and the weight that presses in on this Queen of Terrasson. And the hatred he feels for her softens, then disappears. So there's a few layers gone. Then we get a new shame layer, and we start to see the vision for what it is. A reliving of all the reasons he feels worthless. Which then comes Dorian. The moment Kaol ran, leaving Dorian to the fate of the collar with sorcerer's blood on the floor. Who is Kaol to serve? A man when he abandoned him right when his king needed him most, when the castle was destroyed and Kaol's spine along with it. He knows now what he feels deserving. He feels like he deserved that injury because of the choices he made with Dorian. But despite Kaol's anger towards himself and what he believed Dorian should feel towards him, which is fury and disappointment, his friend still remains in front of him in this vision. Because there's one promise that Kael has not been broken, and that is to save Dorian and to save the kingdom. And in this dark pit of hell, facing the worst parts of himself, he still has that. So that tells him that this is not the end. And as Dorian and AEN disappear, there is one person still standing in this vision, Irene, who says that it is his decision of what to do with this darkness. To shape himself with it or to give it power over him.

[Lexi]

Him.

[Nicole]

And luckily, Kaol chooses the former. While Kaol's injury vastly improves after this healing session, the story ends with him regressing because of what happens with Duva, which, yes, we will go through later. His injury can still be suppressed, he can still walk, but it is limited entirely to Irene's magical. Well, there will be times, many times, where he'll need the cane or the chair. And while beginning Tower of Dawn, Chael would have been furious and burrowed down within himself in anger. End of Tower of Dawn sees this as no difference. He is as much himself whether he is standing, sitting, or using a cane. I'm gonna say it. This is the mother of all character arcs for Throne of Glass. Kaol is a deeply proud man who struggles very deeply with self hatred because of how he's let others down and broken oaths. This is his number one value. You but we see at the end of this book that the oaths severed have no power over him anymore because he is choosing to forgive himself, knowing that Dorian and Aelin have long since forgiven him too. But now, quote, looking at her, at that smile. Life. He had a life to savor, to fight for. Go, Kale.

[Lexi]

I love that so much. Oh, and we got a similar thing from Aelin back in Queen of Shadows, what she said to Rowan, how because of him, she wants to fight to live kind of thing. Yeah. So they each. They were what each other needed at the time, but they definitely are not what each other need forever.

[Nicole]

Exactly. Exactly.

[Lexi]

All right, this brings us to Irene. I love Irene. Like Nicole said in part one, we know her from Assassin's Blade. When she first came on the page in Tower of Dawn, I squealed like, what? So sorry. I guess we did spoil that for you in Tower of Dawn Part 1 there. But we're gonna go through the characters. Yes, we see other characters return from Assassin's Blade, but none with the same level of off page development as Irene. Like, not even Ansel. And before we get into her and Chaol's romance, may we just take a moment to give Irene the biggest round of applause for how much she has achieved in the past two years. Years. She used the money the mysterious woman gave her to secure passage to Antica. And she has busted her butt, learning everything she can since she has seized every opportunity, every challenge with two hands. Just kidding. The text has both hands, but close enough. She has studied, she's practiced her skill sets and saved lives. She's particularly gifted with strong healing magic and she has climbed to the very top of her class, scoring the best score anyone ever has on their exception exams. She is dedicated to saving lives and using the gift the goddess of healing Silva has granted her and the opportunity that a young stranger gave her that changed her life forever. She was not going to waste either of these gifts, so she's thrown everything into becoming the best of the best these past two years. You go, girl. This is such a fantastic introduction to her. Years after we saw her on the page last in very, very different circumstances. And it illustrates Irene's go getter character and her devotion to her craft and her stubbornness to not give up. But before she leaves the Torah, now that she is a fully fledged healer, Hafiza has a final challenge for her. She is to heal a man who is not only from the rain that destroyed her home and killed her mother, but a man who dutifully served the former king, AKA her enemy. And guess what? Irene has no interest in doing doing this. But she is a healer who made a vow. And this is her greatest challenge. Heal an enemy, as K all says.

[Nicole]

When they first confessed their love to each other, he had a feeling he loved her since the first moment he saw her. Which, remember, she was not nice. She even insulted his manhood. One of my favorite scenes. But it's because she looked at him as a person, not with pity for being in a chair, which is how he's felt since the interview injury. But instead she saw him, even if she didn't like him necessarily. Chaol hates to be looked down upon. It's one reason it was so tough for him in Queen of Shadows, because he felt like Adien was looking down on him too. Irene is the same way since her run in with Celaena back in ab. Even though she didn't know it was Celaena, she refuses to be a victim. She's climbed over mountains, traveled across seas, and yet somehow she still ended up at the Torah. And in just two years, she's become one of the best healers they have. She is a fighter and she and Kaol's way of seeing the fight in the world is very similar. Irene looks at how she can heal, how she can see the best in someone, and how she can help. And in a time where Kale's whole world felt like there was so little he could do to help, he needed someone to remind him that seeing a better world is as much an attitude as a it is a skill set. And Irene needed to heal her view of Otterlin. And seeing a man who was incredibly loyal to Otterlin and chose Love Athene to work against the King and country. What that was all he knew. She was seeing someone who left the comfort of Otterlin to fight against it. That is so healing for Irene and made her feel less alone with her own trauma and grief.

[Lexi]

For those of us who read Assassin's Blade before Tower of the dawn, so not Unicole. Wow. We know from Irene's introduction and mention of the young stranger and the note she still keeps that Aelin Celaena has continued to have a huge impact on her life. And I love that throughout the book.

[Nicole]

There are so, so so so so.

[Lexi]

So many breadcrumbs between her and Cha's conversations where I kept being like oh, oh is now the big reveal? Oh, but like I was just on the seat of my pants. But that's not the same. But last we readers are just waiting and waiting and waiting as we know this reveal is coming at some point. See, this is why I love sometimes having additional information as a reader. It feels like you're part of the author's secret. And like all giddy for the reveal, it's not until the very end, literally the last chapter for these character POVs where Irene comments that she doesn't need this note anymore because she's not alone and she has found her courage. And finally, the moment we've been impatiently waiting all book 4. Chaol recognizing the handwriting of the note. And he immediately pieces together when Celaena would have been traveling through Inish. And instead of feeling negatively toward Aelin like he previously felt, he recognizes this as a gift. Quote, a gift from a queen who had seen another woman in hell and thought to reach back. And a hand with no thought of it ever being returned. A moment of kindness, a tug on a thread. What a full circle moment. Not just for Irene's character arc, but for Chaol's and his feelings toward Aelin. And Irene is not coming back to Irelia to play a part in this war by herself. Oh no. With her, she brings 300 healers. And the Khagan has agreed to save the people of the healer who saved his daughter. And remember, her people are in Aurelia. So he answers with 1000 ships and 1000 Rukin to aid in the war efforts. Back at the beginning of the book, remember, he was like, no, that's not happening. We would not do that to Kale. But for Irene, after what she has done for him and his family. Absolutely. All of this happening because Celaena Sardothian years ago answered the tug to help a barmaid.

[Nicole]

Last, but certainly not, not least, we have Nesrin. Nesrin is the definition of charting her own path and returning home. In this book. She comes to Antika and instantly feels more herself. She's surrounded by family and a culture that makes her come alive. And she finds love within that new life. I love Nezrin. In Tower of Dawn. There's this self discovery that feels equally subtle and rich all at the same time. And if you feel like it's rare that we see something like this in books, we so often see a character finding their place in a foreign land. But to see someone retire to the land of their ancestors and find that peace there, it's like these little moments of her accent starting to come in because she starts to feel herself again. And all of that is before she goes with Sartak then to the Rook Riders.

[Lexi]

I love their storyline and I love how it leads them to the spider. Nesrin has spent her life trying to fit in in Rift Hold. Her mother is from Otterlin, but her father left Antika to make a home for himself in Rift Hold. And while Nesren has visited her father's homeland several times in the past, immediately when she arrives in the God City, she is just soaking in everything about her homeland. She doesn't identify it for a while, but there is such a sense of belonging here that she has never experienced with Rift hold as she has to fight for her Worth there. Here she is respected, and she is welcome in a way Rift hold won't welcome her. Nesrin is the bridge between these two continents. A child of both lands who feels torn between them. But to save this world, the two continents will have to come together to fight evil, destroy it once and for all in this war to define history. And she is a literal embodiment of that. It's time to wrap up this episode with our time. The top 10 moments from Empire of Storms and Tower of Dawn. Before we do that, though, hours. Literally hours after we finished episode two, I literally sat up straight like we didn't mention a really important one from last episode. So super quick, honorary mention from Queen of Shadows. And yes, this is recording before episode two comes out. I'm very, very nervous for the comments that we're going to get, but I promise it's in here. In episode Aelin visiting Sam's grave with Rowan accompanying her before she sets off the domino pieces for Errand's death. And she gets this closure with Sam that she and her heart have needed. Telling him she loves him for the first time. It's just such a beautiful scene.

[Nicole]

I cannot believe we didn't mention that. But yes, I agree completely. One of the most beautiful scenes in that book. Now to the actual books we're covering this episode. Episode number one, the end of Empire of Storms, is Sarah J. Maas taking the last 100 pages and making it the roller coaster of your life. Since a lot happens at the end of that book between the Witch Mirror and Maeve and all of this, let's take a second to just go through what happens. And it just. It deserves its own recap. In the Witch Mirror, which Dorian notes, it's the power of knowledge, Aelin and Manon witness a memory of of Elena sealing Erewhon in the Iron Sarcophagus using the eye of Elena. Skrt Surprise. That is the lock that they've been searching for. In this memory, we learned that the gods are pissed that Elena used the lock to trap Arawan. Because the gods plan to use that lock to bind the word Keys, open a Word Gate and return to their God home. Also banishing Arawan from this world in the process. Process. But with Elena's action to use the lock on Erewhon. The lock created in the Iron Sarcophagus and completely drained in the process. It was thus wasted. And since they only know this is a temporary solution, that Erewhon will rise again, Elena is willing to pass on that responsibility to someone else. The gods Tell Elena that her punishment for wasting this lock and wanting to pass the burden on to someone else whenever Erewhon wastes wakes up is that someone from her line, the line of incredibly powerful Brannon, must forge a new lock by putting all of their power into it and die in the process. Because Elena's mother, Mala Firebringer, sacrificed her mortal life in order to create the lock, thus becoming Deanna. And Elena must guide this ancestor of hers to their death without telling them that their life will be the price.

[Lexi]

Price.

[Nicole]

Elena does not tell Gavin this, though. Only that she's going to help the next person forge the lock. Woof. So Tl Dr. Elena fucked up. The gods punish her by saying your fuck up means that you have to walk another person through this whole process and you're basically gonna wait around and see when it happens. Smash cut to the next memory we see in the mirror. It is Elena visiting Nahim. Nehemia believes that she is called to die for the purpose of saving Aurelia. But Elena tells her that no, girl, sorry, you're not the chosen one. Or at least not in the way that you think. Instead, it's going to be a descendant of Brannon's, which either means it's going to be Dorian or Aelin who pays this price. So Elena instructs Nehemia to go to Otterlin to see these two. Dorian and Aelin, who would fulfill this curse from the king gods. And how will she know who Aelin is? Aelin Galathinius is supposed to be dead. She will know Aelin Galathinius by her eyes and the bastard mark of Brannan. Because remember, nameless is my price.

[Lexi]

Ah.

[Nicole]

So this whole time, Nehemia knew who Celaena was. But as a result of going north, Nehemia also learns that she will not see the country of Illway again and she will die in Atterlin. Next is not really a memory, but instead, Elena appears in front of Aelin and Manon, where she tells Aelin that Aelin died in the river while escaping from Tercen. And Elena made a deal with the gods for Aelin's life and to get Arab and Hamel over to go save her. But the cost is now that Elena is finally able to pass on when the new lock is created. But Elena cannot be reunited with her husband and her children.

[Lexi]

Talk about an info dump there, Nicole.

[Nicole]

No kidding. But now we go to part two of the end of Empire Storms, where Maeve is on the beach with a blade to Elide's throat. Lorcan summoned Maeve when he saw Ansel of Briarcliff's armada, thinking it was Erewhon, and he wanted Maeve to help and thus protect Elide from the Valk King. Well, she's here. Why doesn't she just start talking? And talking she does. She knew that Rowan was Aelin's mate, so she used her magic to trick him into thinking that Lyria was his mate before sending troops in to kill Lyria in the hopes that it would break Rowan and make him swear the blood oath to her. Genuinely trash human, Maeve. This way, she could ensure that when Aelin and Rowan's paths did cross, she had them both eating out of the palm of her hand. Now, after that, nice little Dallas. Maeve then breaks the blood oath ties for both Gavriel and Lorkhan, just as punishment for the two of them. But she keeps Fenris attached to her, and she takes Aelin with her in an iron box with an iron mask over her face. This is horrific. And I love the symbolism of covering her face, using that mask to again rid herself of the identity that she just got back. Oh, my God. It's so fucking painful. Evil. But there's one bright spot in the vast, vast darkness. Aelin discreetly slipped the word keys to Manaan. So luckily, Maeve will not have those in her clutches, only the Queen of Tarasen and Kain to rip her to shreds.

[Lexi]

I'll also say another bright spot. At the end of Empire of Storms, all of her allies are answering her call. Aelin has rallied an arc to rattle the stars, even if she won't be here to see it. But she's done it. She fucking did it.

[Nicole]

Just when everything went down with Elena. Then it's Maeve. And then we get her download on the mating bond and how Lorkhan called her here. Then Aelin is taken. Then we get Manon having the keys, thank the gods. And that's when Rowan arrives. And you're so, so worried for him, finding out about Aelin. Her blood is on the floor. And we get this iconic line, where is my wife? The hammer in the iron coffin to all of our hearts at the end of this book. Sarah J. Maas. Masterful. Oh, my God. But then we get the plan of Aelin and Lysandra pretending to be Aelin, Rowan being married, basically, to Lysandra Aen. And then Adien fathering their baby piece. And I want to talk really quickly about Rowan's reaction to this plan. He is stunned because he's not mad, because it's not really the top of the things that are at his mind right now. He's grappling with the fact that his mate, his wife, is Aelin, not Lyria. He's been a part of a huge lie and manipulation from Maeve, and that weighs heavier on him. The truth is, he's not angry. At least not like Adien at this new plan. Because he has no inclination to follow this plan. He's only determined to get his wife back.

[Lexi]

Exactly. Because accepting this plan would be to give up on his wife, his mate, his fireheart, and hell no, he will not even consider that option.

[Nicole]

My heart breaks for Rowan. And this type of reaction is far more Rowan versus anger. Like we see with Angel. He is going to jump into action and control what he can control. He is not one to just lay down and take Aelin's plan as law. Which is another reason why I think he's so good for Aelin. Okay, that was all number one. Number two, if we go through the end of Empire of Storms, it would not be right if we did not go through the end of tower of dawn.

[Lexi]

2. Have I ever told you how much I love you? You on your own took on both of these in this episode.

[Nicole]

It was twofold. One, I knew you were stressed. And two, I wanted to understand these better because it all happened so fast and I've read these books so much, but I still feel like I didn't get it until laying it all out like this. Starting off with the download from the Stygian spiders, the Karen Qui. We learn from them that many knave is queen of the Vaalgasp.

[Lexi]

Ah, what I will say. I really wish this wasn't spoiled for me. What an insane reveal.

[Nicole]

Yeah, I'm. I'm. A lot of this book was spoiled for me and I'm very sad. Okay. The Karan Kui are actually also Valg princesses. The spider shares the tale of when they as Valg, were ruled over three brothers, the Valg kings, for thousands of years. Years. Until a dark queen with even darker magic emerged. She was pursued by all three of the Valg kings, but she was desired only by Orcus, the eldest. After they wed, Maeve was not so happy. She was bored. And so she spent long hours pondering the riddles of the world. That's a way to spend your time. And she found a way to use her gifts to travel between world worlds. So one day, when Orcas was gone to see his brothers, she stepped into a new world, taking the spiders with her to this Very place where the Karen Qi is telling the tale. And she told them to stay behind and guard this gate, this rip in the world that she made because she did not want to go back to the other world to her husband. But the Karen Qui, they heard musings through this rip about Orcus and his brothers finding ways to control the gates between worlds with forged keys. So the three brothers hunted from world to world, destroying these realms in their wake, mind you, until they reached this one. But they didn't find Maeve, because she'd gone to Doranl. She'd ripped into Mab and Mora's minds and convinced them that she was her sister. So when the three Valg Kings got to this world, they had no idea what armies they found faced, but they also had no idea who Maeve was because she was in a Fae body. So once Maeve realized how they got here with the keys, she then wanted them for herself to banish them and kill the three kings. And also to use the keys as she sees fit between this world and others that she could go to. She managed to get the keys. She sent two of the kings back to their OG realm. But before she could get Arawan sent sent back to, the keys were taken from her by Branon Galathenius. So in the meantime, Maeve has been building up her own defenses, her own armies, her own healers surrounding her in case Erewhon were to rise again, realize who she is, and thus she would be protected from any incoming fog.

[Lexi]

I've always found it such interesting storytelling that it's Nesrin who gets this big download about Maeve. She's one of the more detached characters from the Fae. She's on a continent away and accidentally comes across this info from the Valk Princess spider, who is all too happy to tell her dinner a story. I love how this creates another obstacle for how to get this extremely vital information to the main crew in Irelia. Like Maeve, being the Vault Queen completely changes the game. And ah, I love how we get this right before Kingdom of Album, where it's like, okay, characters have to connect and catch each other up with all that they've learned about the bad guys.

[Nicole]

But again, that's just download part one, because now we have what Irene, Hafiza and Kale learn from Duva, the pregnant second youngest daughter who's been pretty in the background throughout this entire story. Until we encounter her in the tombs of the palace and realize she's been possessed by a Vaal dog. Princess Parrington sent a wordstone ring to Duva as a wedding present, which she's been wearing for months. The youngest royal sibling, Tumaloon, suspected that something was off with her next eldest sister. And Duva, possessed, pushed her youngest sister out of a balcony.

[Lexi]

Woof.

[Nicole]

But why are they here in the first place? Parrington Erawan caught wind of a healer who is Silba's heir with the power of healing humans with Valg hosts, literally healing the Valg out of them. This is why Maeve surrounds herself with healers and Doranel. The Valg intend to take Irene back to Erewhon with the wordstone ring on Irene's finger. And if she does not comply, Hafiza, Irene's mentor and motherly figure, is dead. So huge, big deal. Alert. Irene can cure the Volg and out of humans.

[Lexi]

Ah.

[Nicole]

This is perfectly preparing us for what she does with Erewhan at the end of Kingdom of Ash. It's how he goes bye bye.

[Lexi]

Well, and he's so scared about these gifted healers being in the continent. And so that was his reasoning for magic being outlawed, as I understand it, at least. Yes. Is that. It was like, nope, we got to get all of my. My risks off the board here. And then he started really looking at the Tory chessmen because he knew that there was going to be healer who could potentially stop him. And that's what Duva was doing here was as a spy. Or not actually Duva, but the Valk princess within her. Yeah.

[Nicole]

And can we just take a moment of appreciation for the fact that the healers are actually the greatest threat in this world? Like, I just fucking love that.

[Lexi]

Yay. I love that.

[Nicole]

But when Duva aims a huge blast of Valk magic at Irene, it is Kayol who takes the brunt of it and shatters Ka Kale's spine all over again, making those wounds absolutely fatal. But thanks to Selina's defense training, Irene is able to get the vogue down. And Hafiza is able to put Duva into a deep, deep, deep sleep, while Irene rushes to heal Kale, making a deal with Silva. He's healed. Sort of. His ability to walk is directly tied with Irene's strength of magic. Also, their lives are now tied together to too. Should one fall, the other will too. This is such a huge foreshadowing. And oh, my God, how this comes into play when Irene becomes pregnant and Chaol is literally fighting on battlefields in a war. Oh, my God. Ah, the story. So good.

[Lexi]

Number three. Lysandra's sea dragon battle was just the definition of badass. I just Love how the sky is the limit for her and how brave and strategic she is. The foreshadowing in Skulls Bay in the lead up to is just Chef's Kiss, with her studying images of the sea dragons to understand how to turn into1 and AEN ensuring that she gets access to see said images. Our crew having a shape shifter on our side is a really big deal. And we see just how impressive that is and how much that can really change the tides of a battle here. The symbolism of the sea dragon for the Mycenaeans, the impact this message sends of a sea dragon fighting to protect Skulls bay. Again, that's AEN's really masterfully thinking strategically five steps ahead. Okay. How can this make the biggest impact, including positive impacts, to give people hope? I love it so much. And then following up with that, really just the whole time in Skulls Bay, it is packed with good character interactions. The appearance of 2AEN at Skulls Bay, also great foreshadowing for the end there. And then Celaena revealing herself as AEN to Rolf and him having that whole reaction. The arrival of Gavriel and Fenris. I love them coming back into the series and finding a way to work around Maeve's orders to be able to be with this crew because they believe in Aen and they especially by the intelligence of it. Learning the heartbreaking story of the price Rolf paid for the magical maps inked on his hands. Oh, and then being the heir to the Mycenaeans as well. The show of fire magic where Aelin's been burrowing into her magical well for three days to put on that fire sky explosion, proving how strong and powerful she is. And this is a warning to her enemies that she is not someone to mess with.

[Nicole]

Well, and it. It makes its way to an like, that's how big of a deal this is. That they're like, whoa. This is. We're not just dealing with a normal person here.

[Lexi]

Yeah.

[Nicole]

Number four. I would not be me if I did not mention this in the top 10 moments. Sex is in the house. Multiple scenes. Hello. We get Rowan and Aelin on the beach. Finally, multiple times going at it. Irene and K all together. I legit cried for the first time. They were in the tent on Irene's birthday. It was so beautiful. And then, of course, Daddy phantom hands. Wow. That is. That's a different side of Dorian, that's for sure. I know. It is completely destructive friends with benefits situation. But thankfully, it worked out in the end.

[Lexi]

And honestly, it's destructive. It is two mutual parties that are like, you know what? The world's on fire. Let's do this.

[Nicole]

That's fair. I think Dorian needs a little healing before he goes straight into into that. But to be honest, I can't even be mad because. Excellent use of your magic, sir. And I love how Manon, who eats men for breakfast, is like, this is new. I love it. Okay, number five, while I'm on my romantic high horse, allow me to just gush over my favorite K all and Irene moments. When Irene tricks Kale into walking for the first time and then he kisses her on his feet and it's just so beautiful. At Irene's birthday. Just honestly, full stop. But specifically when Hasar makes fun of Chaol and Irene literally tackles the princess into the water and it's Rena and Caution who defuse the situation, making it so Irene does not die. And when Chaol gives Irene the locket for her note from Celaena. Oh, my God, the whole couch running joke bit. And now Kale brings it to Otterlin. Kale and Irene, Irene going on a date for dinner. When Chaol helps her with self defense classes.

[Lexi]

When Irene realizes that making Chaol angry is the best way to get him walking. And then they're fighting just turns into playful banter.

[Nicole]

I love it at the party at the castle where it's to Holmes day, and it's like the two of them are in a crowd and they're all heady from the smoke and they're getting closer and closer. I could go on and on. I love them.

[Lexi]

No. Number six, The Tory Chesme in general. You all know me. You know how much I appreciate a learning institute with a library and lots of books for research and secrets to discover. It's literally the premise for the book that I'm writing. I love the Torey Chesme's history, how it stood the test of time and rains and conflicts, because it is deemed valuable as a healing center and it is honored. I love how it is a symbol of the God city on the highest hill and visible from every angle of Antica. I love the role the Tory Chesme plays in the plot, offering bits of information for our characters as they piece together new and old mysteries. That's another thing I really love about Tower of Dawn is it's a mystery book, kind of like Throne of Glass book one. I love how important the owl symbolism is, which is the symbol of silba, and how owls are everywhere at the tower. Actually, owl symbols are everywhere in the city. There may be 36 gods here, but Silba reigns unchallenged as the the most celebrated. And then how the owl was also in the tapestry back in Celaena's old room that led to Elena's tomb. That owl represented Athrael, and his Sigil of the Owl meant his loyalty to Silva. Tldr Silva made the Ring of Immunity, not Mala, which protects the wearer from Valk possession. Also, Irene Towers, blessed by Silva, heir apparent healer on high at the Torrey Chesme. Torrei means tower. The Tory Chesme is a giant tower. That's not a coincidence. And Hafiza doesn't think so either.

[Nicole]

One of my favorite things about the series, and one of the most difficult things that I didn't realize would be so difficult until we started doing these things, was that things are presented as one way, like Athrul's ring being forged by Mala. And then it's like, nope, psych. It's actually Soba. Or like, Maeve is one of the third sisters. Nope, psych. She's a foul queen. And I'm just like, no wonder it.

[Lexi]

Made it so hard, you all. It's so hard. To keep these spoilers straight in part.

[Nicole]

One, we've had to edit a lot out on the cutting room floor because we realized later on. All right, number seven, the new characters we meet in Tower of Dawn, we have Argen, who's a shady fuck, and he's got all the I'm the future Khagan in the bag energy. Then we have Sartak, who will become. Become the future Khagan. He lives with the Rukin and he's so happy in the skies. And I love. I know we didn't get to talk a whole lot about him and Nezrin and him bringing her to his chosen family, the Aerie. He gets to introduce her to his hearth sister, Borte, and his hearth mother. Hello. And also when Sartak turns up at Nezren's family home with Kadara, his rook, and all of the kids start climbing over Kadara and he's like, it's fine. I love it. Then we have Hassar, who somehow I both enjoy her as a character and also cannot stand her. She is such a headstrong personality. She has no problem talking down to people, whether it's her siblings or Irene or Chaol. Bully, in my opinion. But with her partner, Reina, Reina is the perfect counterbalance to her. If Hassar was pure flame, then Reina was flowing water slaughter. Beautiful. And then we have sweet Caution, who's just so in love with Irene, but also so respectful of her that he has no ill intent towards Chaol when they clearly become a thing. He is caring to all. He sits with the servants at their bedside when they fall ill. He hates the double talk of court. Instead he decides to live among the soldiers. I wish we got to know Caution a little bit better, but there is so many things happening and there is no time.

[Lexi]

I have another one for the characters we meet in Antika the healer on High Hafiza and how she mentors Irene and has all sorts of wisdom up her sleeve. She brings humor and light heartedness that I love. Like when she meets Chaol and it's like oh, Irene said you were handsome. And Irene's like no, I did not. Or when she tells the long ago story when she got someone drunk to spill her secrets and how she was disappointed three bottles bottles of expensive wine she purchased with all the money she had didn't help her. Get more info Like I love the elderly woman and her stories. Yes, same number eight piggybacking off a new characters in Tower of Dawn. But this one gets his own because of how he fits like a puzzle piece into the story. Falcon, another shape shifter and Lysandra's uncle. His father and brother. Lysandra's father were also shapeshifters. And we learned that Lysandra's father abandoned her and her mother. When Falcon grew up to become a merchant, he searched for his niece. He found Lysandra's mother dying already and she was able to share with him that she threw her daughter out and described her. But then her mother passed away before he could get the girl's name. Besides, the description of the girl he had wouldn't match Lysandra's body she got stuck in 10 years ago. She shape shifted into a new face and now doesn't remember what she used to look like. The description description that Falcon had been given. But that's not his only connection to the bigger story. Because a year before he went to the southern continent, Falcon sought the Stygian spiders and bargained for a hundred yards of spider silk in exchange for 20 years of his life. To his surprise, the spider took the age off his current age. So he looks 20 years older than he actually is. So if you're like, wait, this sounds familiar. It's because we met him in Assassin's Spirit blade. Celaena purchased 6 inches of spider silk from Falcon in the Red Desert and had a strange conversation with him. And Manon met the same spider who shared the bargain she struck with this merchant before Manon stole spider silk from the spider that was Falcon. About the 20 years off. Yeah, number nine. This actually goes back to Empire of Storms. The endless annoyance that Aelin and now Manon have toward Elena. We kind of touched it on earlier, but Elena made her choice a thousand years ago to use the lock's power to encase Erawan, which is the equivalent of putting a band aid over the problem.

[Nicole]

My favorite is when she's like, I didn't think I'd like you so much when Aen was like, you've known all along that you're, like, raising me for slaughter, basically. And Elena's like, I'm sorry. It's like she is actually sorry, but it is was so funny how she's like, I didn't think I would actually get to know you as a person and, like, learn to care for you. And it's like, rain it back, girl. Bring it back. Oh, gosh.

[Lexi]

And then all the rest that Nicole highlighted there in the download, there's a part where Manon is wanting clarification, and AEN's like, yeah, now you see why I'm so annoyed with Elena all the time. There is no such thing as clarification with her. And to be honest, I would be.

[Nicole]

Very frustrated with her as well.

[Lexi]

I would.

[Nicole]

Would be livid.

[Lexi]

Elena would not fit in to the FFG vibes. No.

[Nicole]

We'Re a little too type A. Just a dad.

[Lexi]

And number 10. Lastly, the epilogue of Tower of Dawn as we head into Kingdom of Ash. To us readers surprise, it's a POV switch and more like an epilogue for Empire of Storms titled Fire Hydra Heart, which, oh, twist the knife. I absolutely love, though how this is in Tower of Dawn instead, as our reminder of AEN's situation now with the knowledge we have that Maeve is actually the Vulg queen. This makes Aen being in her clutches even worse, if we thought that was possible. And so many nuggets in this epilogue allude to what we've learned about Maeve. Aen is nameless, trapped by the vulg, not to the darkness that Maeve brings. And she gives Aelin a spider's smile. Oh, it was a spider who told us about it. SJM's all like, oh, this is all happy right now at the end of Tower of Dawn. Well, remember this devastation we're coming back to. Literally setting us up for the final book with Maeve's chilling words. Let's begin. There we have it, friends. Episode 3 of Our Throne of Glass journey. That might have been one of the hardest episodes we've ever done. I'm not gonna lie things. Thank you so much for listening and tuning in to this Throne of Glass fan guide.

[Nicole]

Friendly reminder, next Monday is episode four where we are covering the final book of the series. Kingdom of Ash. Part one will not have spoilers for Kingdom of Ash and part two will somehow fit into one episode where we will discuss the finale of this epic fantasy. Thank you to our Throne of Glass content researcher, guest researcher Sammy for all of her help with these fan guides. And of course our executive producer, AKA our sanity manager and co host of the Fantasy Fan Fellas podcast, Hayden.

[Lexi]

Please give us a follow on Instagram and slash our tick tock at Fantasy fangirlspod and Fantasy Fan Fellas and Fantasy Fan reads.

[Nicole]

Oh my God, that's so cool to hear. And last but not least, share this episode with your fellow Throne of Glass friends. If they are like, where are the word keys? Who are these people? I don't know what's going on.

[Lexi]

Word.

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[Lexi]

Where is the word? Is that a word? Where is the word? Is that a word?

[Nicole]

Word?

[Lexi]

Where is the word? Where is the word? Is that a word?

[Nicole]

Word? Where is the word Goodbye.

[Lexi]

Goodbye.

[Nicole]

And for both of them, this relationship. I swallowed a pistachio the wrong way.

[Hannah Berner]

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