Why Kingdom of Ash did Dorian dirty // Kingdom of Ash – Dorian, wasted potential
*Major spoiler waring for KoA! *
KoA was a huge disappointment (at least for me), especially the second half (as soon as the witches arrived at Orynth and Dorian found Aelin.)
Nearly every character went downhill, their development was stopped/rushed because the focus was only on Aelin (e.g. Rowan and Lorcan, strong male characters turned into literary simps). The final battle was rushed and just not comparable to the previous books.
But I will focus on Dorian because technically he was equal to Aelin, (one of) the protagonist(s) of the series, so the loss of character-focus probably hit him the most.
Erawan and Galanthynius/Havilliard
Something that does not really hit Dorian personally (his character for us readers) was the focus of Erawan’s “fear/hate” towards Aelin. It was said that Erawan hated the Galanthynius and Havilliards for arresting him, so why does he only focus on Aelin? Aelin is just Galanthynius, while Dorian is BOTH. And it has been Dorian’s ancestors (Elena & Gavin) who locked Erawan up, so shouldn’t his hate be more towards Dorian? It can’t be the fact that Aelin’s fire can kill Valgs, Dorian has raw magic, so he’s as dangerous to them as Aelin. And if that’s not enough there’s still his name.
Nameless is my price
This was the riddle which accompanied us through all the books. In the end, we found out that it did not mean that Aelin has to scarify herself, no, it was the King of Adarlan. He sacrificed his afterlife. He was the nameless person, because a curse of Erawan made him and the whole world forget his name. Only Erawan remembered his name. And the King himself once, during the birth of his firstborn son who he named after himself. Dorian. Erawan knew all the time that Dorian has a name which shouldn’t even exist. We don’t know if the name “Dorian” was a course for Dorian II or a blessing, but it should make Erawan hate him even more.
The name could also have played a way bigger part in KoA (I repeat, this was the main riddle since the first book if we exclude Assassin’s Blade).
He’s Human
Dorian struggles with the idea, which came up from Maeve, that he maybe is partly Valg. His father was a Valg while he was conceived. Maeve asked herself if Dorian was not also partly Valg. I know, this is more something personal, but it would explain many habits of him:
His two kinds of “dark magic”/phantom hands.
If you read carefully, you realise there are two kinds of his phantom hands. One, where he has to use his hands, his phantom hands are just an extension of himself, he feel’s everything he touches etc. (e.g., while Aelin (Celaena) attacked Chaol in CoM). The other one is similar to Maeve’s (Valg!) magic. It’s not described very well but it’s definitely darker and he does not have to use is hand (e.g., on the island during their campfire, while Dorian protected Manon from an attack in EoS).
Why he gets along with Valg.
He was the only one who was not scared of Manon and her coven, he was raised by Valgs he could handle Maeve without efforts (he never had a mentor or something like this) he killed a Valg inside of him … suspicious, right?
And also appreciable, the long-term effects. If Dorian would be a Valg, Hollin would be one too (Hollin has definitely Valg-habits). And eventually there would be other ones, too. Would they be accepted in society? What would Aelin etc. do if there would be after the end of the war still Valgs left?
Dorian survives
First of all, I love him. He’s my absolute favourite character but sometimes a sadder end is a better one….
Dorian found the third Wyrdkey in Morath and left. But why searched he for Aelin? He didn’t even know where she is, so what were his intention? After he found her, he wanted to sacrifice himself, he did not want Aelin do die. So why did he go to her? There’s no logic behind this action. Dorian suffered from extreme PDST, way heavier than Aelin ever did (this does NOT mean that he went through worse than Aelin, you cannot compare one trauma to another one, it also does not mean that he’s mentally weaker than her, he is just a different person). He had absolutely no will to live left, why did he not end his life? It would change the story extremely, especially for Aelin. Her burden would be taken from her, by (one of) her best friend(s). How could she handle this (again)? (Would also match to point 2)
Another problem, what shall Dorian do after KoA?
Sarah J. Maas books are mainly focused on love-interests so I’m doing this here, too.
There is no doubt that he still mourns over Sorscha’s death, maybe he’ll never fully get over this loss. First thought is, of course, MANORIAN.
I am a hardcore Manorian-shipper, but I do not believe that they will be endgame (sadly), I have another side written why they won’t. For this point it’s enough, that Dorian does not want/can not love another one (he asked himself when looking at her [Manon] would stop feeling like betrayal; he believed that Manon’s proposing was not based on feelings; the whole time he tries to convince himself that there is nothing between them), while Manon on the other side is not suited for a relationship. At least now. Maybe in a hundred years it’s different but currently she has to learn how to feel. Conclusion: Manorian is an unrealistic scenario.
What is left? Dorian falls in love with another woman (with my Manorian-part I probably already have refuted this), Dorian gets an arranged marriage or he dies alone.
Both is a pretty sad idea, especially when we consider, that Dorian was always the romantic one while others said the brain is more important (ToG or CoM). He also refused in ToG or CoM to marry anyone for another reason than love.
PDST
I already mentioned it, Dorian suffered from heavy PDST. What happened to this? It was all barely mentioned through the books (but clear to see), so what is he going to do? He has no partner/mate (like Aelin and Rowan) who could help him. His best friend is married and is going to be a father, so he will be busy. His other friends, Aelin and Manon are pretty far away and that’s it. His family is death or does not like him, also no option.
In the end he feels better because Manon said she could visit sometimes. And Maas wrote this like everything is going to be better for him now. I know, SJM is not the best author in writing traumatized characters, mainly they find a love interest and everything is good, but that is not how it works. A trauma isn’t gone because a person probably will show up sometimes.
I don’t know what I was cooking when I wrote this post over four years ago. Hope you enjoy it anyway it seemed like a waste to not post it.
