SJM books be like “yeah, well, some people can react to their traumas.”

One of the weirdest phenomenons is people complaining about characters not being complicated enough, then proceeding to shit on every complex character so thoroughly that you make it hard for us folks who actually appreciate their complexity to enjoy the characters in peace.

Sarah J Maas and her beloved Rowaelin

So… long time ago I was sitting in my room relaxing, when I found an interesting post on Instagram. The creator of this post goes by a nickname @yaz.the.bookish

chaol on other people's chapters in qos: mean, grumpy asshole

chaol on his own chapters in qos: dorian dorian dorian i miss him i love him i'm gonna save him i'm nothing without him dorian dorian

This is my first and last TOG post ever.

Anyone who says Chaol was in the wrong for not accepting or trusting Aelin after she was revealed to be Fae is someone I do not trust in the slightest.

My baby can do no wrong.

omg, i thought i was the only member of the chaol defense squad <3 he's made mistakes, yes, but he's far from being the villain people make him out to be

Chaol has the BEST and most realistic arc in the series and people HATE him for it. Chaol starts as a nobleman's son and Captain of the Guard who believes very strongly in honor and justice. He believes in the goodness of his home, that if you act right then good things will happen. And he gets so much shit CONSTANTLY for not trusting Celeana but when he meets her, she's a literal teenage criminal bossing him around for not letting her do whatever she wants.

He doesn't know who she is- or what she is. And while I don't think he ever approved of Endovier, I also think he thought she deserved to be punished for all the killing she did. Celeana spends half of HoF thinking about how revolted he was by how she killed Grave and Archer, how Chaol was not that kind of person.

They both want the other person to be someone they're not- that doesn't make them bad people. Celeana is always absolved for wanting Chaol to be a different man but she KNOWS all through CoM who he is and what he believes in and she goes into it anyway because she doesn't want to really think about it. Chaol is a good man- what the world ought to be.

But Chaol also grew up in Rifthold and his dream is to serve his home, his people, and his king- which is not compatible with who Celeana is. She's in denial all through CoM thinking she can escape and take her with him and it's very reminiscent of her relationship with Sam. She can win her freedom and be nobody at all with this man who she loves deeply, but she also can't be honest with.

And while she's gone working through her trauma and her destiny, Chaol is still in Rifthold on a knife's edge. Dorian is mad at him, he's trying not to know ANYTHING to keep both Celeana AND Dorian safe, and he's still clinging to the belief that if he does the right things, everything will work out in the end.

Which of course, isn't the real world. So now we're in QOS and Chaol is, narratively, where Celeana was in the very beginning of HoF. Filled with self-loathing, blaming himself for things outside of his control and realizing he was manipulated by people he trusted. Being in his head sucks because he keeps thinking he is an oath breaker, a traitor and a bad friend and he deserves to suffer.

But Aelin is not his queen- he serves Dorian. Why should he bow and scrape for her? Especially when she strolls in and basically tells him he's worthless, he's stupid, and he needs to hand over his clandestine operation to her while she keeps endless secrets AGAIN? I'm like, 300 pages in and every time she and him argue, she threatens to burn the city to the ground which is his greatest fear. And he STILL DOES EVERYTHING SHE WANTS ANYWAY. He still tells her how to bring back magic, knowing she might destroy them all. He still helps her rescue Aedion knowing she might kill Dorian (which she tries to do, and I'm not saying she's wrong for it, but it's the only thing he's asking her not to do).

I'm not finished with the book yet but like, Chaols arc is so interesting to me and what I'm learning is the fandom doesn't REALLY like flawed characters as much as they say they do. I have an ask about how Rowan never pushes back against Aelin- but Chaol is and everyone hates him for it.

“ It's only wrong when Sansa/Jaehaerys/Cyclops/Chaol/Jacen/Kyp/Ron does it ”

fandoms don't like nuanced characters

“Azriel can't have a book because SJM only have female protagonist”

Chaol Westfall somewhere in the MaasVerse:

Chaol, my love, my darling boy, and his wonderful, amazing wife.

I’ll never get over Chaol apologizing to Aelin in QoS, and Aelin not ever acknowledging her own hypocrisy and just going “Yeah sorry I tried to kill you, teehee!” …intimate partner violence is not cute.

Chaol had every right to be frustrated with her and while he shouldn’t have given her so much blame and could’ve expressed himself better, a lot of his concerns where completely valid and reasonable. Aelin blamed Chaol for things completely out of his control (Dorians capture, Nehemias death) and went against her word and tried to kill Dorian. But the difference is shes never expected to apologize or even acknowledge that she was ever in the wrong.

HES the one who has to come to Aelin with an apology. Because he wasn’t riding her dick the whole time and actually gave her some pushback? Because he couldn’t read her mind when she choses to withold infomation for no reason, even though he was always complicit in her plans? Alright then !!

(I don’t want to seem like I hate Aelin btw, I just went through a rough patch with her esp in this book.)

Chaol Westfall. The way he struggled with killing Cain for so long even though Cain was a terrible person and was going to kill Celaena. The way he is forced to kill regularly but is never desensitized to it. The way he was destroying himself in Tower of Dawn, trying so hard to walk so he could fight and die beside his men again. The way he struggled and succeeded to overcome the prejudices he was taught in his youth about people because he's a strong and brave and kind person, and wound up with the most powerful magical woman in the series, signifying his overcoming of his magic phobia. The way he never gave up on Dorian, was utterly loyal to his king even when he was under valg possession and everyone thought he should be killed. The way he knows himself, his good qualities and his bad qualities, and loathes himself because he think he failed. But he never failed. He tried his hardest but he's just one man. Even though he thought he failed, he never stopped trying. Because ultimately, his loyalty was to Dorian, his country Adarlan, and to his wife Yrene. And he lived for them. He lived for the dream of a better Adarlan that he never gave up on even when his former love said it should be burned to the ground. And finally, his faith was rewarded. Finally, everything was as it was meant to be. All hail Chaol Westfall. Hand to the King of Adarlan, husband to Yrene Westfall, and the best written character in Throne of Glass.

“Chaol loved the idea of Aelin”

I've seen this type of comments on Instagram and Tik Tok which is another prove that readers have problems with reading comprehension.

While being Celaena Sardothien, she and Chaol were in a relationship in which they hid many things from each other. It wasn't only on Chaols part, in fact… they both fücked up in this. During that time, he knew her being the assassin and not the lost princess. He only realised that she is Terrasen's heir bc before departuring to Wendlyn (which is at the ending of the book) she whispered to his ear some date or something.

My question is:

How could Chaol Westfall love all of her if he didn't knew that Celaena Sardothien, the Adarlans assassin was in fact Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, the lost princess and heir of Terrasen and didn't even get a chance to do so bc of how these books were written?

Chaol didn't love some idea of Celaena/Aelin, he loved the parts of her she SHOWED him and ALLOWED him to know. It's not his fault for not loving the parts she perpusely hid.

friendly reminder

chaol westfall is canonically loud in bed

Ironic how Chaol is so utterly loathed for not immediately accepting Aelin (for all of two seconds btw) but nobody bats an eye at Ruhn for the exact same behaviour with Lidia that was arguably worse and lasted longer and he didn't make up for nearly half as much as Chaol did ☕️

(Disclaimer I actually like Ruhn this is more of a dig at this insane fandom)

I’ve been reading SJM books the past few months and I honestly did not expect the amount of actual fighting happening between grown women about ships.

I love it. Please bring me into it

I don’t have strong opinions about any characters but I’ll form them if someone wants to argue I promise

Cardan greenbrair🤝 Jacks🤝 Dante santos🤝 Aaron warner🤝Damon torrance🤝 Eris vanserra🤝  Chaol Westfall 🤝All being our favorite problematic boysies