The Lord of the North is a constellation crowned with a star that guides the people of Terrasen and represents survival in The Assassin’s Blade. When Celaena is in the Red Desert with Ansel, camping after their theft of the Asterion mares, she describes the purpose of the Lord of the North, telling Ansel it exists “so the people of Terrasen will always know how to find their way home. So they can look up at the sky, no matter where they are, and know Terrasen is forever with them” (179-80).

The Lord of the North is important to Celaena because it is emblematic of the past that she lost. She is from Terrasen and is truly Aelin Galathynius, the heir to the throne of Terrasen. She cannot follow the star home because there is no home for her to return to under the rule of the King of Adarlan. He destroyed Terrasen and even sought to hunt to extinction the sacred white stags that represent the presence of the Lord of the North. The king’s conquest of Celaena’s homeland means that her relationship with her Terrasen roots is complicated, but her past still motivates her in hopes that Terrasen can rise again.