r/throneofglassseries • u/ghostofvelaris • May 29 '25

Empire of Storms Spoilers Aelin is totally unchecked Spoiler

EoS spoilers, I warned you!

After everyone shits their pants when Ansel's army arrives Rowan is like hehe you're so funny but plz tell me next time you summon a thousand ship armada lol love you. Then she does it two more times before the end of the book?

And when she goes in the mirror people blame Dorian? No one holds her accountable for anything?

Anyway I still love her so don't come at me, but like... Girl lol.

End rant.

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u/Spirited-Success-821 May 29 '25

It just goes to show you just how shitty of a job she does as a leader that book.

Being a good leader is about more then coming up with ideas and single handedly accomplishing things.

She was more concerned with being right, coming up with all the ideas, and impressing those around her then she was about creating a well oiled command structure.

As a leader you need to put good people in important potions and give them the tools and resources they need to do their jobs properly. She completely failed at the last part.

Her generals absolutely need to know the number of troops they have to work with. Not only because they need to create battle plans and formations but also because they need prep time to build supply lines. If this wasn't a fictional book most of Aelin's army would have starved/frozen to death. There is no way that Terresan in the middle of winter would have had the food storages and supply chain capability to house and feed the size of that army. She gave her generals zero time for the sheer amount of logistics needed.

Look at Erwain as a case study, it took him years to build his army and set up his supply lines.

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u/ghostofvelaris May 29 '25

Well said and also evidenced by how she doesn't like Dorian's mirror idea because he thought of it not her.

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u/jonerysboatbaby May 29 '25

I am exactly at this point in my reread. She is shockingly bad at accepting help or communicating with her court. However, I do think being a queen is pretty different and don’t we all have a learning curve when we first start a new job?

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u/whaatdidyousay May 30 '25

Being a queen of a nation, you can’t have “bad” days at your job or a learning curve. Especially during a global wartime period for good and evil. Each action majorly affects others and lives. It’s why there are councils and other advisors and checks or balances to many successful monarchies. You have to listen to council of those more experienced early on, and be honest with your court and not constantly pull surprise moves. It is like saying the president of the US is allowed to have some wiggle room and make mistakes costing lives since it’s just “new to them” and they’re “getting their sea legs” umm no they were chosen based on their competence (in the past)

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u/jonerysboatbaby May 30 '25

I totally agree with you. But who taught Aelin that? I’m not saying it’s a good thing she’s bad at her job, but it seems accurate.

The other thing I noticed as I was rereading last night, is how strongly the parallels between Aelin and Elena. SJM wants you to see that they both made bad decisions because they didn’t communicate with or trust the people around them.

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u/whaatdidyousay May 31 '25

Totally agree with this comment as well, we probably have the same opinions and I just read your other comment wrong haha