Throne of Glass Chapters 13–16 Summary & Analysis

Summary: Chapters 13–16

Chapter 13

Training for the day ends, and Celaena goes back to her rooms to have lunch. Chaol joins her, and the two discuss their mutual love of books while they eat. The next day, Chaol returns to find Celaena doing pull-ups in her chambers, determined to grow stronger for the competition. On a walk around the castle later on, they run into Kaltain and a beautiful Eyllwe woman whom Kaltain introduces as Nehemia Ytger, the princess of Eyllwe. Celaena has heard tell from Eyllwe slaves in Endovier of Nehemia’s virtues as a leader and supporter of the rebel cause. Celaena endears herself to the princess by speaking in Eyllwe, and Nehemia uses Celaena as a translator in order to dismiss Kaltain. Nehemia tells Celaena that she has been sent to Rifthold by Nehemia’s father to learn Rifthold’s language and customs. As they part, Nehemia tells Celaena she wishes to be friends, and Celaena agrees.

Over lunch, Chaol finds himself struggling to stay on his guard around Celaena. He is unsettled by his growing compassion for her, and wishes she would show her dark side so that he can trust his instinct to distrust her.

Chapter 14

Celaena begins training vigorously on her own and with Chaol in preparation for the first test, getting stronger with each day. She finds herself loathing Cain, the brutish soldier sponsored by Duke Perrington, and becoming friendly with Nox Owen, a thief, and Pelor, a young assassin. The day before the first test, Pelor tells Celaena and Nox that one of the Champions—Bill Chastain, the Eye Eater—had been found gruesomely murdered that morning. Celaena is rattled by the news, but focuses on knife-throwing with Nox.

Later that day, Chaol comes to Celaena’s rooms to find her reading, yet again. They begin talking about Chaol’s past, and Chaol tells Celaena that though his family ruled the country Anielle, he grew up alongside Dorian in the glass castle. Chaol was supposed to join the royal council in his father’s footsteps, but abdicated his title as Lord and became apprentice to the Royal guard instead. Celaena refuses to go into detail about her own past, telling Chaol only that her parents died when she was eight and about Arobynn’s intense and at times sadistic training methods.

Chapter 15

Celaena arrives in the training hall on the day of the first test, apprehensive. Brullo gathers the Champions together and reiterates that the person who performs the poorest will be eliminated that day, before revealing that the first test is an archery competition. Celaena is pleasantly surprised, and Chaol warns her not to show off. Nox, Grave, and Cain all surprise Celaena by faring well. When it is her turn, Celaena tunes in her focus and purposefully misses several bullseyes, scoring in the middle of the pack but hitting the furthest target dead-on to hint at her abilities. She is frustrated by not being allowed to show off her full skills.

Chapter 16

On one of their morning runs, ten days after Celaena’s arrival in Rifthold, Chaol asks about the three large scars on her back. Celaena tells him she received them on her first day in Endovier, when she was whipped twenty-one times and thought she wouldn’t make it through the night. She was helped by a young woman who was soon after raped and killed by the guards as punishment. Celaena tells Chaol that on the day she snapped and ran for the wall, she murdered all four of those guards, and no one dared to molest her out of fear that she would kill them.

The next day during training, one of the Champions—Sven—makes a run for it. He is immediately shot and killed by the guards, and Celaena realizes he did it to commit suicide in the same way she had attempted in Endovier.