It created the Fold and turned everyone who lived there into Volcra. To fight back, the Darkling found a spell to make the soldiers submit to him, but it went badly wrong. This made the king wary of the power of his people, the Grisha, which led him to order a purge of them. Centuries ago in the lore of the show, he helped the king of Ravka win a war. However, he later reveals that he is in fact the Darkling. At first, he tells Aline that he is descended from the Darkling, or Dark Heretic, the man who created the Fold. In one of the major twists of the first season of Shadow and Bone, we learn the true identity of General Kirigan. Who is the Darkling?īen Barnes as the Darkling in 'Shadow and Bone.' Netflix We have seen one of these in the show so far-the antlers that are melded into her body. Her abilities increase thanks to the use of objects known as amplifiers. In Bardugo's later books, Alina becomes much more powerful and comes to be seen as the savior of Ravka. As such, she may have the power to destroy it and reunite the two sides of Ravka.

Her light-bringing abilities are the opposite of the Darkling's Shadow Summoner powers, which created the Fold.

What is a Sun Summoner?Īlina realises that she has powers in the first episode, when she emits a burst of light that wards off the Volcra during a supply run across the Fold. In the show, we see characters try to cross the Fold-and discover that Alina's Sun Summoner powers may be the key to destroying it once and for all. I wanted to take something figurative and make it literal.' Created by the Darkling many years before the events of the show, the Fold is inhabited by monsters such as the flesh-eating Volcra.īardugo told Entertainment Weekly: 'In most fantasy, darkness is metaphorical it's just a way of talking about evil. Known in the book as the Shadow Fold or the Unsea, the Fold is a strip of darkness that divides the country of Ravka, which is based on Tsarist Russia. Read on for everything you need to know about the Fold, the Grisha, the Shu, the Sun Summoner and more.

We have taken some of the most common questions viewers have asked and answered them below. The show introduces much of the lore from the novels, but there are so many unfamiliar terms used in the first few episodes that it can be difficult to understand all the details. Shadow and Bone is Netflix's latest big fantasy series, based on the books of Leigh Bardugo.

Grisha book