Siege and Storm

“‘This is the gift you gave me,’ said the Darkling. ‘The gift I earned on the Fold.’ His face was alive with power and a terrible kind of joy. But I could see strain there, too. Whatever he was doing, it was costing him.”

The gift the Darkling alludes to is the birth of the nichevo’ya, the vicious shadow creatures he controls. Here, through his manic joy about his new weapon, Alina observes what will be the first chink in the Darkling’s power: Creating the creatures holds some sort of cost for him physically.

“You two make it so easy. I prick him, you bleed.”

The Darkling notes how entwined Alina and Mal are emotionally and figuratively, and he threatens to use their link to manipulate them to do his bidding.

“Now, if the rumors could be believed, the Fold was expanding and Ravka was falling apart. Because of the Darkling. Because of the collar. Because of me.”

Alina’s admirable ability to accept responsibility is undercut by her predilection for self-blame. She knows the Darkling could not have amassed enough power to destroy Novokribirsk without her helping to grow the Fold. This kind of self-flagellation will haunt Alina until the climax of the novel.

“You are right about one thing, Summoner. The Darkling is a powerful enemy. You might want to think about making some powerful friends.”

Alina’s answer to the Darkling’s threat has been to hide, fight him alone, or operate on the defensive, waiting for his attack. Sturmhond suggests that there is another option: offense. He suggests forming alliances to build up support, implying that he will be one of these “powerful friends.”

“I want them, I thought. All that light, all that power. I want it all […] A restless shiver moved over me. I ran my thumb down the spine of the Istorii Sankt’ya. Was my greed making me see what I wanted to see? Maybe it was the same greed that had driven the Darkling so many years ago, the greed that had turned him into the Black Heretic and torn Ravka in two. But I couldn’t escape the truth that without the amplifiers, I was no match for him.”

Alina is overcome by her selfish lust for the third amplifier, wondering just how alike she and the Darkling are in their greed. She tries to justify her desire by deciding that without amplification, her powers cannot defeat the Darkling.

“‘Are you sure this is a good idea?’ she asked. She was gnawing on her lip so aggressively, I thought she might draw blood.

‘Of course not,’ said Sturmhond. ‘Anything worth doing always starts as a bad idea.’”

The Fabrikator constructing Alina’s second amplifier of sea whip scales worries about the results of combining amplifiers, a process frowned on in Grisha lore. Sturmhond, on the other hand, is willing to embrace the risk with his typical adventurous spirit.

“‘This is impossible!’ I yelled.

Sturmhond whooped. ‘When people say impossible, they usually mean improbable.’ With the moonlight gleaming off the lenses of his goggles and his greatcoat billowing around him, he looked like a complete madman.”

Sturmhond’s invention the Hummingbird, a boat that can fly, shows his incredible ingenuity and strategic abilities—particularly when he spirits Alina and Mal away to West Ravka while sending another ship toward Fjerda to confuse the Darkling. When Alina exclaims with wonder, Sturmhond reveals his philosophy regarding trying the impossible—he will always find a way around doubt.

“‘Genuine Alina,’ I repeated numbly.

Nikolai shifted uneasily. ‘There are rumors that you died on the Fold. People have been selling off parts of you all over Ravka and West Ravka for months. You’re quite the good luck charm.’”

Villages around Os Alta worship Alina as Sankta Alina, the Sun Saint. Here, Alina encounters a peddler selling her supposed bones as good luck charms—a reference to saint relics sold to Christian believers in our world. This disconcerts her: She didn’t die on the Fold, so the story of her as a martyred saint is a lie. Worries about whether she is being “genuine” often plague Alina; here, they’re given physical form in the guise of false bones.

“The pilgrims’ expectations terrified me. As far as they were concerned, I’d come to liberate Ravka from its enemies, from the Shadow Fold, from the Darkling, from poverty, from hunger, from sore feet and mosquitos, and anything else that might trouble them. They begged me to bless them, to cure them, but I could only summon light, wave, let them touch my hand.”

Alina finds the weight of people’s expectations burdensome; she feels there is a difference between her ability to summon light and holiness. However, she realizes that her questions about identity pale in comparison with the existential concerns of the people about the concrete evidence of their poverty, such as sore feet from their desperate pilgrimage.

“‘Please don’t punch me,’ he whispered. Then he yanked me hard against his chest and pressed his lips to mine. […] The crowd exploded into wild cheers, their voices crashing over us in an exultant roar. Before I could even react, Nikolai shoved me into the shadowy interior of the coach and slipped in after.”

To capitalize on the optics of the moment, Nikolai oversteps Alina’s boundaries to give the crowd the visual that they want: a kiss. Unlike Alina, he is a savvy political operator who has embraced his public image.

“‘But know this,’ [the King] said, wagging a finger at me. ‘If I find any evidence that you are fomenting action against me or that you have had any contact with the [Apparat], I will have you hanged without plea or trial.’ His voice rose to a querulous wail. ‘The people say you are a Saint, but I think you are just another ragged refugee. Do you understand?’”

The King shows his arrogance and insecurity, revealing how in over his head he feels in his rule. He dismisses Alina with a biased remark that is classist (she’s a “ragged refugee”) and prejudiced against Grisha.

“If they needed a lesson, I would give it to them. They could argue over the pieces of Sergei’s body. My hand arced through the air, slicing toward him. The light was a blade honed sharp by my fury […] At the last second, some sliver of sanity pierced the buzzing haze of my anger. No, I thought in terror as I realized what I was about to do. My panicked mind reeled. I swerved and threw the Cut high.”

Alina realizes that high emotion, “the buzzing haze of my anger,” can cause her power to be less controllable as a result of the second amplifier. The passage also shows the power of the Cut, explaining why it might be needed to defeat the nichevo’ya.

“You cannot violate the rules of this world without a price. Those amplifiers were never meant to be. No Grisha should have such power. Already you are changing. Seek the third, use it, and you will lose yourself completely, piece by piece. You want my help? You want to know what to do? Forget the firebird. Forget Morozova and his madness.”

Baghra, outraged at Alina’s request for directions to the third amplifier, and mourning her lost son The Darkling dissects the Summoner’s motivations. She is sure Alina will lose herself if she keeps trying to grow her power.

“Vasily stepped into my path. ‘I don’t know what arrangement you’ve made with my brother, but you must realize that he’s a second son. Whatever his ambitions, that’s all he ever will be. Only I can make you Queen.’”

In a comical scene, the foppish Vasily proposes to Alina only to best his brother. Vasily thinks he’s superior to Nikolai because no one questions his parentage, though readers can see that he is ignorant.

“She blinked her tears back and glared at me. ‘I still don’t like you, Starkov. I never will. You’re common and clumsy, and I don’t know why you were born with such power. But you’re the Sun Summoner, and if you can keep Ravka free, then I’ll fight for you.’”

Zoya, once loyal to the Darkling, explains why she will follow Alina despite their antipathy: Zoya believes in a greater cause. Zoya is a pragmatist who will sublimate her jealousy to defeat the Darkling.

“‘I do not know,’ [the Apparat] said. ‘I swear it. But when the Darkling left the Little Palace, he did not realize it would be for the last time. He left many precious things behind, things others believed long since destroyed.’”

The always enigmatic Apparat wants Alina to lead her followers, an army of Sun Saint worshippers. Instead, Alina demands he tell her about Morozova’s firebird. While he doesn’t know the bird’s whereabouts, the Apparat does imply that Morozova’s journals still exist and defines them as precious.

“‘No, Alina. You came here for Ravka. For the firebird. To lead the Second Army.’ He tapped the sun over his heart. ‘I came here for you. You’re my flag. You’re my nation. But that doesn’t seem to matter anymore. Do you realize this is the first time we’ve really been alone in weeks?’”

Mal and Alina have completely different goals that are driving them apart. Mal puts Alina above all else, but she cannot do the same for him. Mal’s pivotal confession makes it clear what Alina could never sacrifice.

“It’s because you actually care about what happens to the country […]. The throne is just a prize to Vasily, something he wants to squabble over like a favorite toy. You’re not like that. You’ll make a good king.”

Alina astutely observes that Nikolai doesn’t fight Vasily’s insults in public or during the king’s advisors’ meetings because Nikolai is operating out of true love for Ravka, rather than personal gain. Vasily is shallow, but Nikolai has what it takes to be a true leader.

“Mal’s features melted into shadow and then formed again like a face from the mist. Pale, beautiful, that thick shock of black hair, the perfect sweep of jaw. […] The Darkling rested one gentle on my cheek. ‘Soon,’ he whispered. […] I screamed. He broke into shadow and vanished.”

Initially, this dream vision shows that Alina deeply hopes to reconcile with Mal, but it quickly turns into a nightmare of violation—Alina is actually being intimate with the Darkling in disguise. The word “soon” implies that the Darkling assumes they will very shortly be together.

“‘Go where? Chasing after some mythical creature that may not even exist. On some impossible quest into mountains crawling with Shu?’

‘Alina,’ Nikolai said softly, ‘that’s what heroes do […] He can’t change who he is any more than you can stop being Grisha.’”

Alina initially wants to stop Mal from trying to find the firebird alone, but Nikolai allows Mal a new, important identity. Nikolai labels Mal a “hero,” declaring that this persona is the core of his being. This allows Mal to regain what he has lost—purpose and a feeling of being good at something.

“I’d seen a thousand horrors on this long day, but this was the one that broke me, Genya cringing away from David like a frightened animal. Luminous Genya, with her alabaster skin and graceful hands. Resilient Genya, who had endured countless indignities and insults, but who always held her lovely chin high. Foolish Genya, who had tried to be my friend, who had dared to show me mercy.”

Genya’s nichevo’ya wounds show that the Darkling’s punishments are fierce and unmerciful. Alina’s enumeration of all of Genya’s qualities, and how she’s been reduced to a “frightened animal” mirror how the Darkling makes Alina feel.

“Like calls to like. I’d sensed it when the Hummingbird entered the Unsea, but I’d been too afraid to embrace it. This time, I didn’t fight. I let go of my fear, my guilt, my shame. There was darkness inside me. He had put it there and I would no longer deny it. The volcra, the nichevo’ya, they were my monsters, all of them. And he was my monster, too.”

Alina accepts that she helped create the dark creatures of the Fold because she has as much dark power as the Darkling himself. However, the realization that “like calls to like” will allow Alina to siphon out the Darkling’s power, depleting it.

“‘Some of the pilgrims have taken to calling Genya Razrusha’ya. Warn them once. If they speak the world again, cut out their tongues.’ […] They didn’t blink, didn’t flinch. They made their bows and were gone.”

Alina’s command that the pilgrims stop denigrating Genya shows several things: her sympathy for Genya, her intolerance of prejudice, her strength as commander, and her decision to entrust Tolya and Tamar with orders again after learning they worked for the Apparat in secret. Alina has grown smarter; she uses the resources at hand with political precision rather than succumbing to fits of personal pique.