Throne of Glass Spoilers Ahead
I just realised why Dynasty by MIIA always makes me think of Throne of Glass.
It's not because it's Aelin's song.
It's Aelin singing to herself, to her friends, to Terrasen.
I think it's the song of everyone who loved that kingdom enough to bleed for it.
It's Aelin wondering if she was a fool or a thief. A fool for letting herself get close to so many people, only to watch them die or suffer because of the world she lived in: her parents, Marion, Sam, Nehemia, and so many more.
And a thief because, well, she was one. An assassin. A girl who survived by stealing and killing long before she became a queen.
"Found my one in a million" makes me think of Rowan. Of how she fell in love, lost, and loved again, only to find the person she was truly meant for. All her past loves becoming "a page torn from the story I'm living."
And "the scar I can't reverse" isn't just one scar.
It's every physical and mental wound she carries.
The blood, sweat, and tears she shed for her kingdom.
It's every scar cast upon a girl who was barely twenty years old.
"We built a dynasty that heaven couldn't shake."
I hear people standing in the ruins of everything they fought for and saying:
We lost everything for this.
But we kept fighting anyway.
Because "it all fell down" isn't one moment.
It's every hope she clung to being brutally ripped away, one by one.
It's finally reaching Terrasen after sacrificing everything, only for Darrow to look at her and decide she still wasn't enough.
It's the collapse of an entire legacy.
Aelin spent years carrying Terrasen on her back. Rowan, Aedion, Lysandra, Elide, Lorcan, Dorian, Manon, the Thirteen, they all carried pieces of it too.
By Kingdom of Ash, they're barely clinging to hope because hope died chapters ago.
And yet they keep moving.
That's why the song hits so hard.
It sounds like a kingdom grieving itself.
The song never ends with acceptance. It's grief mixed with defiance.
Which is exactly why it fits Kingdom of Ash so perfectly.
The entire book is people standing in the ruins of a dynasty and choosing to fight anyway.
I don't think Dynasty is Aelin's song.
I think it's the song of Aelin, Terrasen, Rowan, Aedion, Lysandra, Elide, Lorcan, Dorian, Manon, the Thirteen, and everyone who carried that kingdom on their backs.
...and suddenly I need emotional compensation. #sarahjmaas
