Everything You Need to Remember Before Shadow and Bone Season 2

This post contains spoilers for Shadow and Bone Season 1. Shadow and Bone Season 2 premieres on Netflix on

It’s been almost two years since Shadow and Bone debuted on Netflix. The eight-episode series based on Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse novels is a sprawling fantasy that centers on a young woman in the fictional nation of Ravka. Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li) gets caught up in a world-ending battle after discovering that she has the ability to summon sunlight. The epic historical fantasy takes place in an immersive, vibrant world filled with loveable characters and dramatic action. But it also features a ton of intricate history and lore. So, if you need a reminder of where things stand as Shadow and Bone heads into its highly anticipated Season 2, here’s everything that you need to remember before you head back to Ravka.

What Are Grisha?

At the center of Shadow and Bone — and the Grishverse novels — are the Grisha. Witches by any other name, the magic users study what they call “the Small Science,” which allows them to manipulate different elements and substances as part of their powers. In this world, children are tested to see if they have a talent for the Small Science, and if they do they’re enlisted into the Second Army. The elite squadron of magic users protects the Ravkan royalty and is seen as both a terrifying enigmatic force and the upper-echelon of society. They’re led by the massively powerful General Kirigan and are split into their areas of expertise.

Corporalki: The Order of the Living and the Dead

• Healers – Grisha who can heal the wounded and revive the sick.
• Heartrenders – Grisha who can control / stop the hearts of anyone in their vicinity.
• Tailor – A rare Grisha skill set who can change the physical appearance of others.

Etherealki: The Order of Summoners

• Squallers – Grisha who can summon and control wind.
• Inferni – Grisha who can manipulate combustible gasses to create and control fire.
• Tidemakers – Grisha who can control water and liquid in the air.

Materialki: The Order of Fabrikators

• Durasts – Grisha who can manipulate and reconfigure solids at a base level.
• Alkemi – Grisha who have skills for working with and manipulating chemicals.

Who is General Kirigan/the Darkling and Is He Alive?

The Grisha are led by the most powerful Grisha of all, General Kirigan (Ben Barnes), who claims to be a descendant of the Black Heretic who created the nightmarish location known as the Fold. Filled with violent shadow creatures known as Volcra, the Black Heretic used dark magic known as merzost to create an army to protect Grisha but his use of the “abomination” of the Small Science unintentionally grew out of his control and created the Fold. Later in Season 1 it was revealed that rather than being a descendant of the Black Heretic, General Kirigan is the very same man. While he’d been claiming to want to destroy the Fold to make amends — enlisting Alina to help him — he really wanted to control the young woman and her powers. Importantly, the two had become romantically entangled before their showdown in the Fold at the end of Season 1. While Alina thinks Kirigan is dead, viewers know he’s still alive and has gained the power to control shadows and shadow monsters thanks to his time in the Fold.

Who is Alina Starkov/the Sun Summoner?

Growing up as an orphan in Ravka, along with her best friend — and talented tracker — Mal (Archie Renaux), Alina ended up in the First Army, the human, non Grisha arm of the Ravkan armed forces. Her work as a cartographer kept her busy, but Alina made sure to join when Mal was sent on a journey across the Fold, changing their lives forever. It was during a Volcra attack that Alina first used her Sun Summoning powers. But the ability to summon the sun was a Ravkan legend, and Alina was immediately pulled into the ranks of the First Army to help General Kirigan defeat the Fold. Arguably the only person as powerful as General Kirigan, Alina at first believed in and fell for the Grisha leader. However, after discovering the truth about her mentor from his mother, she reunited with Mal.

What Happened in the Fold?

After reconnecting with her childhood friend, Alina headed into the wilds of Ravka to find Morozova’s stag. According to the Darkling, if Alina killed the mythical creature she could use its bones to amplify her powers, allowing them to defeat the Fold. But when Alina came across the stag she couldn’t kill it and chose to spare it instead. It was a choice that would pay off, but not until after Kirigan arrived, killing the stag and trying to make Alina his prisoner. Utilizing the powers of his Durast, David (Luke Pasqualino), Kirigan created a collar for Alina out of the stag’s horns. He also crafted a small piece from the animal itself, allowing him to control her. Or at least that was the plan. When the Darkling revealed his true plan to Alina — to expand the Fold and control the world — she realized that the stag chooses who to empower and she was able to connect with it and use her powers to stop the Darkling, but not before the Fold grew.

What Happened to the Crows?

While in the original Shadow and Bone book the story was centered on Mal, Alina, and the Darkling, the Netflix series folded — pun absolutely intended — in Bardugo’s beloved ancillary characters, a team of young thieves and criminals known as the Crows. In the book series they didn’t appear until the spin-off duology that began with Six of Crows, but Kaz Brekker (Freddy Carter), Jesper Fahey (Kit Young), and Inej Ghafa (Amita Suman) all took main roles in Season 1. That meant their story deviated from the heist that first introduced them in the books. Instead, in the first season they were tasked with stealing none other than the Sun Summoner herself. Of course, the crooked crew with a heart of gold didn’t turn in the young girl, and instead helped her and Mal escape. As the season ended the Crows were headed back to the Barrel. The crime-ridden city they call home is their next destination as they need to reclaim their homebase, the Crow Club. Kaz had earlier bargained the Club away for Inej’s freedom with the big bad from the books, Pekker Rollins. But thanks to a generous gift from Alina, Kaz is pretty sure that they can get their club back again. How they’ll play into Season 2 is still to be seen, especially as the showrunners confirmed the show won’t be adapting Six of Crows’ big heist this season.

Where Are Mal and Alina Headed?

While we know where the Crows are going, for those who haven’t read the books the shape of Mal and Alina’s journey is likely a bit more unclear. The season ended with the reveal that some people think the Sun Summoner now known as the Sun Saint died in the Fold. It’s also unclear whether or not people outside of the Fold understand that Alina wasn’t in cahoots with the Darkling, and instead was working with him to expand the Fold into East Ravka. In an impressive feat for an eight-episode series with a bunch of new characters, the finale ends almost exactly the same way as the book with Mal and Alina headed out on the bow of a ship to live a secret and peaceful life together. But as you may have guessed seeing as there’s another season and many more books, that plan isn’t going to work out for the loved-up couple.

Did Nina Betray Matthias?

Some of the best — and occasionally most hard to follow — things about Shadow and Bone are the multiple storylines and sprawling cast of Grisha. There were major characters we met in small moments who will come into play in Season 2 like Genya (Daisy Head), the Grisha Tailor who befriended and betrayed Alina, and David, the Durast who made her collar. We also met another key future player in the once loyal Zoya (Sujaya Dasgupta), the Grisha who eventually aided Alina and Mal in the Fold against the Darkling. But the two of the major characters in the series who never interacted with our main cast were Nina (Danielle Gilligan) and Matthias (Calahan Skogman). The former was a Heartrender who was hunted down and captured by the latter. The enemies to lovers romance between the Grisha and the witch hunter is a fan fave storyline that was brought to life brilliantly for the show. But as Season 1 came to an end, the pair were split apart by fate after Nina falsely accused Matthias of being a slaver. Though it seemed like a betrayal, she did it to save his life as the First Army was arriving and they would have killed the witch hunter on sight. Understandably, Matthias didn’t care about her reasoning, and his imprisonment left Nina heartbroken and on a new mission that will likely shape Season 2.

There you have it! Everything you need to remember before Shadow and Bone Season 2 hits.

Rosie Knight is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything from anime to comic books to kaiju to kids movies to horror flicks. She has over half a decade of experience in entertainment journalism with bylines at Nerdist, Den of Geek, Polygon, and more.