Throne of Glass

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Fandom
Name: Throne of Glass
Abbreviation(s):
Creator: Sarah J. Maas
Date(s): 2012-2018
Medium: Book
Country of Origin: United States
External Links: Sarah J. Maas official website, Throne of Glass Wiki
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Throne of Glass, is a series of Young Adult fantasy books written by Sarah J. Maas. The story follows the journey of Celaena Sardothien, a teenage assassin in a corrupted kingdom with a tyrannical ruler. As the tale progresses, Celaena forms unexpected bonds and uncovers a conspiracy amidst her adventures. The series concluded with the seventh book in October 2018.

Canon Overview

Development

During her youth, Maas wrote fanfiction[1] and at age sixteen began writing the first draft of Throne of Glass. [2] The story was originally known as Queen of Glass and was inspired by Disney's Cinderella.

She uploaded the first chapters to FictionPress, a sister site to the famous Fanfiction.net, and it later became one of the most popular stories on the site with a small fanbase of its own. She continuously expanded on the story throughout the next six years until she removed the story in December 2008 with plans to get the work published.[3] Maas has stated that the series developed into more of an original epic fantasy during revisions prior to publication.

Bloomsbury Publishing acquired the novel in 2010. Throne of Glass, the first book of the series, was released in 2012.

Synopsis

  • Throne of Glass
  • Crown of Midnight
  • Heir of Fire
  • Queen of Shadows
  • Empire of Storms
  • Tower of Dawn
  • Kingdom of Ash

Characters

  • Celaena Sardothien / Aelin Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius
  • Rowan Whitethorn Galathynius
  • Dorian Havilliard
  • Chaol Westfall'
  • Manon Blackbeak

Fandom

There is somewhat of a combined Sarah J. Maas fandom, as her following also formed a fandom around A Court of Thorns and Roses, her second young adult/new adult series. ACOTAR was released in 2015 and is a retelling of multiple myths and fairy tales, including Beauty and the Beast. Much of the Throne of Glass fandom also shares ACOTAR related content, and vice versa.

Ships

Fanart

Fanart is common and is usually posted on Tumblr and/or DeviantArt. Largely due to the series' medium as literature, official artwork of the series is limited, and therefore fanart is typically subjective and based on the artist's personal image of the character. The main character's appearance also changes as she discovers her heritage and powers.

Fanfiction

Anti-fandom

The Throne of Glass series, and Maas' other series, A Court of Thorns and Roses, have both been heavily criticized by fans for a lack of diversity and negative depictions of LGBT and POC characters. This has been raised in meta posts by book bloggers and Tumblr users. An anti fandom also exists, primarily on tumblr, where users discuss the issues in Sarah J. Maas's writing. Often discussion and meta focus on various topics including homophobia within the series, writing issues, POC treatment, toxic masculinity, unhealthy relationships and possible misogyny.

"Antis" vs "Stans"

On Tumblr, users who oppose and critique Sarah J Maas's writing are typically referred to as antis. The "anti" fandom particularly rose to prominence in 2017 after the release of A Court of Wings and Ruin. Due to the controversy, the anti fandom grew in number and popularity. However, in turn, members of the anti fandom gained hate and abuse from some fans of ACOTAR and Throne of Glass. These particular fans were nicknamed "stans" by the anti fandom.

I'M ABOUT TO GO ON A SUPER LONG RANT ABOUT THESE ANTI-SARAH ASSHOLES AND I'D LIKE YOU TO READ There are so many toxic people who are anti-SJM or anti-so-and-so-character in this fandom. It’s definitely good to take a critical look at something you love to see if it’s unhealthy or problematic. Sarah isn’t perfect. She writes a lot of white characters, a lot of her characters are hetero; but she’s genuinely trying to get better. When we started complaining about all the white characters she wrote the Illyrians, she wrote the Summer Court. A lot of this fandom views Manon as East Asian. Could there be more? Definitely. When we pointed out that there were a lot of hetero relationships she wrote Morrigan, a lesbian, she wrote Aedion as bi, I personally think Manon is also bi. She also wrote a gay couple in Heir of Fire. She slips these in so subtly and doesn’t make a big deal out of it, so people forget. The only complaint brought up by y'all that is complete bullshit is that she’s romanticizing abusive relationships. If y'all want to know why I think I have the right to call bullshit on that you can talk to me personally. She’s one of the very few authors that truly listens to her audience and tries to improve herself. She’s worked so hard since she first wrote Throne of Glass. She’s always writing new material for us, traveling to meet us, and executing all of the technicalities to give us new material! And y'all have the gall to call her lazy, when her dad has just had a heart attack and she has her own health issues?!? SARAH ISN’T HERE TO SERVE US. SHE’S A FUCKING HUMAN WITH HER OWN LIFE. It’s healthy to take a critical look at a fandom or something you love. But picking apart literally everything she does is fucking awful and extremely unhealthy. Trying to stamp out the joy that other people get from Sarah’s work is vile. I cried when I read how well Sarah had written Aelin’s crippling depression, because she had put what I was going through into words so well and I felt a so much less alone. There are so many people who connect with Sarah’s writing and being an asshole and telling people that it’s problematic when it’s really not is atrocious. No one is going to be perfect and I truly feel sorry for the people who feel like they have to trumpet their hate out to the world. Sarah isn’t perfect but neither are you, and holding her to an impossible standard is unhealthy for you and for her. I don’t like Cassandra Clare and I think she’s problematic, but do I shit on everyone else’s love for her books? No, because I’m not an asshole. I really can’t summon up any emotion for these people except for disgust.[4]

Why can’t stans realize that it is perfectly fine to criticize something you like? Nothing is perfect. Nothing is flawless. You don’t have to become an anti. You don’t have to stop reading the books. Just please recognize that they have problematic aspects and plotholes that need to be fixed.[5]

Fanworks

Fanfiction

Fanart

Meta

Archives & Fannish links

Resources

References

  1. ^ tumblr@sjmaas: "Didn't you used to write Sailor Moon fanfiction?", Archived version
  2. ^ Sarah J. Maas' official website bio, Archived version
  3. ^ Let the Words Flow blog post: "Hey Everyone!", Archived version
  4. ^ I'M ABOUT TO GO ON A SUPER LONG RANT ABOUT THESE ANTI-SARAH ASSHOLES AND I'D LIKE YOU TO READ, Archived version
  5. ^ tumblr@velvetwrappedsteel: "Why can't stans realize...", Archived version
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