The Assassin's Blade

Celaena Sardothien is the protagonist of The Assassin’s Blade, central to all five of the prequel novellas. She begins as a 16-year-old assassin in Rifthold, a member of Arobynn Hamel’s Assassins’ Guild. She is known as “Adarlan’s Assassin,” a notorious killer with a long list of names on her red ledger. However, despite being an assassin and killing for a living, she has a strong sense of justice and morality, which motivates her to free the people enslaved on Skull’s Bay, a decision that has ramifications ending in Sam’s death and Celaena’s enslavement. Still, though she begins with a sense of justice, her conception of justice and sense of self develops across the novellas, highlighting her character arc of Self-Discovery and Empowerment. In Innish, she gives away her money to Yrene, to help her become a healer. In the Red Desert, she spares Ansel’s life even after her betrayal. Back in Rifthold, she pays for Sam’s freedom to get him away from Arobynn. She continues to do good deeds, to try to do what’s right, which foreshadows the savior archetype Celaena will come to fulfill throughout the later Throne of Glass books.