Throne of Glass Chapters 1–4 Summary & Analysis

Chapter 1

Celaena Sardothien, the deadliest assassin in the kingdom of Adarlan, has been imprisoned and enslaved at the Salt Mines of Endovier for the past year. Today, she has been removed from her work shift by Chaol Westfall, Captain of the Royal Guard, who roughly escorts her through a building designated for overseers. Celaena recognizes that he is trying to confuse her by taking a convoluted path up staircases and down hallways, and is amused, guessing that he would be a worthy adversary for her. The finery of the building contrasts with the brutality of the slave camp, where the kingdom of Adarlan enslaves its prisoners. The slaves are mostly rebels from Eyllwe (one of the last countries rebelling against Adarlan’s rule), people suspected of practicing magic (which has been outlawed by the King of Adarlan for some time), and other criminals and commoners. Celaena tries to get Chaol to tell her where he’s taking her, but he refuses, and she begins to fear that she is to be executed. He leads her into an opulent room, where the Prince of Adarlan is sitting on a throne.

Chapter 2

Chaol and Prince Dorian Havilliard wait for Celaena to bow. She refuses, and is aggressively thrown to the floor by a man behind her: the vicious Duke Perrington. Dorian is bored with Perrington’s attempt to humiliate Celaena, and dismisses him. Having been raised by the King of the Assassins from a young age, Celaena refuses to let herself feel humiliated. She stands, and finds herself very attracted to Dorian, silently bemoaning the fact that she is no longer beautiful after being enslaved in the mines for a year. Dorian questions her about her experience of the mines, and learns that she tried to escape once. Celaena admits, however, that she knew the attempt would be futile, and had run for the wall not to try and escape, but to commit suicide by baiting the guards, who instead knocked her out. Celaena demands that Dorian tell her why she’s been summoned to him, and he says he has a proposition for her.

Chapter 3

Dorian dismisses his guards except for Chaol, and tells Celaena that her freedom is on the line. She is elated at the prospect, and stops planning an escape to listen to him. Dorian tells her that his father, the King of Adarlan, needs a Champion—someone to do his dirty work and kill his enemies. Celaena is aghast at the thought of working for the evil king, but is told that she can either work for him for four years and then be granted her freedom, or be enslaved in Endovier until her death. The catch, Dorian tells her, is that she must compete with twenty-three other criminals selected by members of the king’s council to be crowned the Champion. Celaena will be taken to the royal castle and compete under an alias, and sent back to Endovier if she loses the competition. She agrees, dazzled at the possibility of her freedom.

Chapter 4

Marred by her time as a slave, Celaena struggles to appreciate the amenities given to her during her first night out of slavery; she cannot sleep in the bed provided for her, and vomits after eating real food. She holds onto the hope that she will get better for the competition. The next morning, Chaol comes to fetch her. He waits impatiently as she admires herself in new clothes, and soon pulls her out to the caravan. Celaena is given a horse to ride on their journey to Rifthold, though she is still chained to Chaol during the trip. As they ride, she tries to banter with him but he is unwilling to engage with her and grows angrier the more she asks about his past.

Next section Chapters 5–8