Shadow and Bone season 1's epic finale ends with disaster for the city of Novokribirsk, and an uncertain future for Alina Starkov and her friends. The first season of the Netflix fantasy series featured a major twist regarding the true identity of General Kirigan, but there are still plenty of unresolved mysteries and unanswered questions for future seasons to resolve.
Based on the Grishaverse books by Leigh Bardugo, Shadow and Bone is set in a fantasy world, where the country of Ravka is beset by war on two fronts and split in half by a monster-filled mass of darkness called the Shadow Fold. In season 1, cartographer Alina Starkov learned that she is a prophesied saint called the Sun Summoner who has the power to destroy the Shadow Fold, but General Kirigan instead hijacked her power with the intention of expanding and weaponizing the Fold.
Thanks to the intervention of Alina's best friend, Mal, and a band of criminals called the Crows, Kirigan was stopped before he could complete his plans and Alina was freed from his control. The ending clearly sets up Shadow and Bone season 2, which has reportedly already been green lit by Netflix. Here are the biggest mysteries and questions left by the season 1 finale.
How Can Alina Become Strong Enough To Destroy The Fold?
Alina might have stood a chance of destroying the Fold in Shadow and Bone's season 1 finale, but she was interrupted by Ivan's Heartrending attack and barely survived. With Mal's help she recovered enough strength to free their skiff from the Fold, but she will need time to recover before she can take another run at undoing the Dark Heretic's work. Shadow and Bone season 1 introduced the concept of amplifiers - different means by which Grisha can boost their powers - but Baghra warned that the use of these amplifiers can be brutal and corrupting. Alina has already had her powers amplified by Morozova's Stag, but taking down the Fold may require more than just raw power. Because Alina was trained in the shadow of the Darkling, she needs to continue her training away from his influence in order to truly refine her abilities and make them her own again.
What Is General Kirigan's Next Move?
Though it looked for a moment as though General Kirigan had been killed by the volcra, his own monstrous creations that live in the Shadow Fold, unfortunately Alina isn't that lucky. The end of Shadow and Bone's season 1 finale saw Kirigan emerging from the Fold, injured but alive, and commanding monsters in his wake. The one thing keeping Ravka safe from the Fold was the fact that the dark realm at least had borders that its denizens couldn't escape from, but since Kirigan has the ability to summon darkness, it appears that he can bring a part of the Fold with him when he leaves - at least, enough to allow its foul creatures to roam across the land.
If General Kirigan was dangerous before, he will be even more lethal now. Presumably he still needs Alina's powers in order to take full control of the Fold, but she'll be a lot harder to bring to heel now that she knows exactly what he is. The other witnesses on the skiff were all killed, so Kirigan could potentially return to his role as a general in the Second Army and make up a lie about what happened in the Fold, or he could invent another entirely new identity for himself. He could also publicly reveal that he is the Dark Heretic, but lies and deception seem to be more Kirigan's style.
How Will The Attack on Novokribirsk Impact The War?
General Kirigan causing the Fold to consume Novokribirsk may have eliminated the immediate threat of General Zlatan and his followers, but the impact across the rest of Ravka could be disastrous. For the Grisha, the expansion of the Fold could make people hate them even more than they already do. Grisha only enjoy the status they currently have because of their value to Ravka's military force, which has been waning for some time. Lieutenant Dohban told Mal that the worth of Grisha in the eyes of ordinary folk has decreased considerably due to non-magical weapons like guns evening the odds against them in battle. If the Grisha are collectively blamed for what happened to Novokribirsk, they could end up being feared and even hunted down by the people of Ravka.
The supposed "death" of the Sun Summoner only compounds the devastation of Novokribirsk. Alina was used by the king and the Grisha to inspire hope and confidence among Ravka's allies. After long, brutal years of war, the appearance of a saint and the promise that the Shadow Fold could be destroyed offered a much-needed injection of morale. With the Fold claiming another victory in its own war on Ravka, the country's forces could splinter once again and the countries of Shu Han and Fjerda could take the opportunity to press their advantage amidst the chaos.
What Is Kaz Brekker's Backstory?
Shadow and Bone season 1 dropped a lot of hints about Kaz Brekker's dark past, but left the details a mystery. Kaz has a burning hatred for rival Ketterdam crime boss Pekka Rollins, and is determined to get revenge on him for a past grievance. Pekka, for his part, doesn't even remember Kaz - perhaps because they first crossed paths when Kaz was a lot younger, or perhaps because Pekka has destroyed so many people's lives that he can't remember them all. There's also the matter of Kaz's leg injury, which is the reason he walks with a cane and limps painfully without it. Shadow and Bone season 1's flashbacks were mainly limited to Alina and Mal's childhood in the orphanage, but season 2 could delve more into the histories of characters like Kaz and the Crows.
Will Inej Find Her Brother?
Kaz's crew may not have gotten the million kruge reward they were hoping for, but the gift of a necklace from Alina provided more than enough to pay off Inej's remaining in denture, freeing her from the clutches of Tante Heleen and The Menagerie. While interrogating Arken, Inej revealed that she and her brother were kidnapped from their parents' wagon when Inej was 14 and her brother was 12. The two of them were separated and Inej has not seen her brother or her parents since. Before leaving Novokribirsk, Inej paused to check a memorial with the names of those lost in the Fold, thinking that if her parents' names were up there she could at least have some closure. But, as Kaz pointed out, her parents are unlikely to have died in the Fold because the Suli do not venture inside it.
While Inej seems to have little hope for her parents still being alive, she is still determined to find her brother. Now that she has been liberated from The Menagerie, she finally has the freedom to search for him properly, but this must be weighed against her sense of obligation towards "Saint Alina" and her loyalty to Kaz.
How Can Nina Free Matthias?
Just as romance was starting to blossom between former enemies Nina Zenik and Matthias Halvar, Nina was forced to take drastic action to protect Matthias from Fedyor and the other Grisha. To save Matthias' life, Nina accused him of being a slaver and promised to testify against him in court, attracting the attention of a ship captain collecting bounties on slavers. Nina's plan was to simply drop the charges against Matthias when he reached the court in Kerch, but this backfired when she learned that he could be in prison for years before getting a court date.
Shadow and Bone season 1's ending offers hope of escape for Matthias when Nina overhears the Crows discussing their need for a Heartrender. The Crows love nothing more than a good heist, and Nina's powers could no doubt prove useful to them. If Nina makes a deal with the Crows, they could use their skills to break Matthias out of prison. Whether or not he'll forgive Nina for landing him in there, though, is another matter entirely.
Is Mal A Grisha?
Shadow and Bone's flashbacks focused primarily on Alina's avoidance of being tested for Grisha powers when she was a child, but they also reveal that Mal was never tested either. On both occasions that the testers visited the orphanage, Mal had injuries from the frequent fights he got into, which made him ineligible for testing. Since Alina's powers lay dormant until a moment of absolute desperation, when she was about to be carried away by a monster, it's possible that Mal also has Grisha abilities that have yet to be revealed.
Will Jesper Ever Be Reunited With Milo?
Jesper Fahey may have given up his emotional support goat, Milo, in Shadow and Bone season 1 - but could the two of them be reunited in the future? Not wanting to subject Milo to the dangerous life of a thief, Jesper left his goat in the care of a barmaid in Kribirsk. Milo later became a surprise ally to Mal, who used the bullet Jesper had given to the goat as a parting token to free himself from captivity. At the end of season 1, Jesper and Milo are on opposite sides of the Shadow Fold, but hopefully they will see each other again.