I don’t know if this is a hot take but, it feels like Aelin is the same person she is in book seven as she is in book one, she never seems to grow or learn from anything at all. She just remains the bratty childish arrogant asshole she was at the start.
Honestly? I completely agree and I don’t think it’s a hot take at all. Aelin’s arc looks like a growth journey on the surface, but when you dig into the details, her personality and mindset stay mostly the same from Throne of Glass to Kingdom of Ash.
In Book 1, Celaena is arrogant, self-absorbed, and constantly convinced she’s the smartest person in the room. Fast-forward to Book 7, and she’s still making major decisions behind everyone’s back (Empire of Storms), still expecting total loyalty without offering full honesty. She never really apologizes or learns from her mistakes and faces almost no real consequences. Instead, people end up admiring her for her sacrifices, as if that justifies the manipulation.
Characters who offer a different perspective and challenge her: like Chaol in Queen of Shadows or Lord Weylan Darrow in Empire of Storms, are portrayed as antagonistic or outright villainous and the books back her up instead of exploring their concerns seriously. It’s hard to call that "growth".
Even the trauma she suffers in Kingdom of Ash doesn’t lead to noticeable change in how she treats people or how she carries responsibility. Her self-sacrifice is framed as heroic, but it doesn’t come with emotional humility or a deeper shift in worldview. She’s still the same self-important, dramatic queen with a god complex, only now with a crown and a court that always validates her choices. There's little inner reflection or genuine vulnerability beyond surface-level trauma.
So yeah, she might change roles (from assassin to queen) and names (from Celaena to Aelin) but her mindset and attitude? Basically untouched.
So no, it’s not a hot take. It’s a fair one. Aelin’s arc is more about her rising in power than actually evolving as a person.
