Freedom

Celaena desires freedom above all else, and this want is often mirrored in the characters that populate the novel at large. The King of Adarlan is seen as the embodiment of tyranny, and has used both military force and magic to dominate most of the world. Most of the characters desire freedom in one way or another. Nehemia desires her homeland to be free from the king's rule, Dorian wishes to be free in whom he chooses to marry, and of course Celaena herself has never really known what it is like to be free. By contrast, the characters who stand in the way of freedom desire power and control. These are exemplified by characters such as Perrington and Cain, who manipulate, bully, and destroy whenever it suits them. The king himself wishes to erase all manners of freedom from the land, and his son, Dorian, resents him...