The most prolific motif in Crown of Midnight is loyalty. Ironically, loyalty harms the characters more often than it helps them. Chaol’s loyalty to the king means he puts Adarlan over his friends and their safety. When Chaol learns someone has made a threat against Nehemia, he keeps it to himself out of loyalty to the king. Then, when he knows the king intends to question Nehemia, he ignores his intuition and faithfully assumes the king would never hurt the princess. This prevents Celaena from protecting the princess, and Nehemia dies. Celaena may not have been able to save Nehemia even if she had known—but because of Chaol’s decision, she never got to try. Chaol’s loyalty to the king destroys the trust Celaena had in him. When she wakes up in the dungeon after attacking Chaol for betraying her, she thinks, “[Chaol] was so stupidly honorable and loyal to the king that he didn’t even think that she could have done something to prevent this” (241).

Even before Nehemia’s death, Chaol’s obsession with loyalty prevents him from deepening his relationship with Celaena. The day after Chaol feigned sleep to resist crossing the line with Celaena, “Chaol [is] glad he controlled himself.