Warning: The following article contains spoilers for the Shadow and Bone season two finale, and the Grishaverse novels.
Shadow and Bone‘s second season hit Netflix on March 16, and it left both new and old Grishaverse fans equally stunned. Despite having Leigh Bardugo’s fantasy novels as source material, the show isn’t afraid to play around with storylines and subvert expectations — something more appreciated by some than others.
Regardless of fan opinion, episode eight of season two made one of the biggest changes to Alina Starkov’s character we’ve witnessed this far, giving her the ability to summon shadows. This power formerly belonged only to the Darkling’s bloodline, but it seems like the events leading up to his death have changed more than one person in the story. At the very end of the season, while her friends are dying, Alina uses the Cut to kill the Grisha responsible, but it looks nothing like her previous ones. This Cut is clearly made of shadows instead of light, which is far from what one would expect from the Sun Summoner.
While Alina looks entirely too pleased about this development, viewers were left wondering how she managed that and what this means for the character moving forward.
Why can Alina summon shadows?
Over the course of the show, the side effects of using Merzost are made explicitly clear to viewers. When he first created the fold, the Darkling’s use of the forbidden magic led the people residing in that location to become Volcra, and later, the antagonist became sick for using it to create shadow monsters. As if the message wasn’t clear enough, Baghra even makes Alina promise to never use Merzost, as the magic always demands a high price and its user never knows what it will be.
Despite all warnings, Alina’s desperation to revive Mal after killing him leads her to use Merzort, and instantly, viewers see the veins in her hand turn dark for a moment. As a consequence of saving Mal’s life, Alina became a Shadow Summoner. At the time of writing, it’s unclear if she can no longer summon light at all, but it’s safe to assume she no longer has that ability since manipulating both light and shadow wouldn’t exactly be a sacrifice.
Additionally, the fact that Alina loses her Sun Summoning ability altogether in the third Grishaver book — Ruin and Rising — makes the protagonist’s power change in the show almost certain. Given Alina’s sinister smile at the end of season two, there’s a chance Netflix might turn this into an opportunity to explore the character’s darker side in future seasons.
For now, though, fans can stream seasons 1 and 2 of Shadow and Bone on Netflix.
