Throne of Glass Chapters 9–12 Summary & Analysis

Summary: Chapters 9–12

Chapter 9

Celaena admires herself in the mirror after being dressed in finery by her servants. As she is preening with Philippa, Chaol enters, furious, and drags her out of her rooms. He tells her that the King of Adarlan has called for a meeting of the Champions before the competition begins the next day. Celaena is terrified upon hearing that she will soon be standing before the king, and remembers the last time she saw him, on the day of her trial when he sentenced her to enslavement in Endovier. Before they enter the throne room, Chaol tells her she looks pretty.

Chapter 10

After entering the room and bowing to the king, Celaena finds herself quaking with fear. The king tells the twenty-four Champions and their sponsors that they will compete over the course of the next thirteen weeks, where they will train and participate in tests designed to eliminate them one by one; failure will result in the Champion being sent back wherever they were taken from.

Afterwards, Dorian tells Celaena that she will be competing under the alias Lillian Gordaina, a jewel thief from Bellhaven who is heir to her merchant father’s fortune. As they are speaking, the woman Celaena saw in the gardens approaches Dorian. The woman attempts to flirt with Dorian, who introduces her to Celaena as Lady Kaltain Rompier; Celaena dislikes her immediately, and sees that Dorian and Chaol do too. Upon taking his leave, Dorian makes a show of kissing Celaena’s hand, much to Kaltain’s displeasure. Kaltain leaves, and Chaol and Celaena bond over mocking her.

Chapter 11

Chaol roughly wakes Celaena up, waiting as she eats breakfast and changes into pants and a shirt for the competition. They walk to the training hall, where the other Champions are all sparring with their personal trainers. Here, Celaena meets Cain, the brutish soldier sponsored by Duke Perrington. Cain mocks her, and her seething anger in response readies her to train. She and Chaol duel with swords, impressing each other with their skillfulness. Chaol disarms her, and tells her she needs to learn discipline. She gets up and heads for her weapon of choice, the hunting knives.

Chapter 12

Before she can come at Chaol with the knives, the Champions are called to attention by Theodus Brullo, the Weapons Master and competition judge. He tells them to introduce themselves, and Celaena meets the thieves, assassins, murderers, soldiers, and mercenaries that are to be her competition. The men laugh as she introduces herself, and she simmers with indignation. Brullo gives them a moment to get ready for their initial test—a run—and Chaol advises Celaena to always stay in the middle of the pack in order to pass through the competition unnoticed until the final duel of the four remaining Champions. She begrudgingly agrees.

Though it’s physically painful, Celaena manages to run the entire distance while staying in the middle of the pack. She worries that she won’t be able to complete the test for being so out of shape after her enslavement, but commits herself to finishing. She makes it to the end, but ducks into the woods a moment later to vomit violently, watched by Chaol.

Previous section Chapters 5–8 Next section Chapters 13–16