Based on the Grisha Trilogy book series by Leigh Bardugo, ‘Shadow And Bone’ is a young-adult fantasy web series on Netflix. The story follows a young girl who discovers her true powers in a war against the monstrous fold that took away her family.
The story begins with army troops gathering at the east of the kingdom of Ravka, to cross through a vicious fold that divides the country into parts. Threatened to lose Mal (Archie Renaux) in the expedition, Alina (Jessie Mei Li) comes up with a plan and joins the garrison.
Onto the dark route, Alina strikes with an unknown powerful light to rescue Mal when he gets attacked by monsters. Her actions save everyone, and she is declared as the Sun Summoner.
The Crows in the west — Kaz (Freddy Carter), Inej (Amita Suman) and Jesper (Kit Young) — find ways to travel the fold and kidnap her. General Kirigan (Ben Barnes) makes Alina believe that she is a Grisha with magical powers who could destroy the fold.
They take her away from the army to the King’s palace for training under Kirigan’s supervision, where Baghra (Zoë Wanamaker) teaches her to control her powers. The Crows plan to enter the little palace by joining an entertainment group.
Mal decides to reach Alina by giving the location of the mystical Stag to Kirigan, which could amplify the Sun Summoner’s powers. Baghra reveals Kirigan’s true identity to Alina as the Darkling who created the fold.
Feeling betrayed, Alina runs away from the palace. She dodges the Crows and meets Mal, who joins her on the journey to find the Stag. The Darkling finds them and kills the Stag to control Alina’s powers for his selfish motives. Does his plan work?
Shadow And Bone ending explained in detail:
Crossing the fold
After taking control of Alina’s powers, General Kirigan decides to lead a ship towards the west through the fold. The Crows and Mal also join the expedition, with a shared motive — to kill the Darkling.
While in the fold, Alina suggests Kirigan destroy it with the amplified power of shadow and bone, but he refuses. The Darkling instead starts spreading the fold to take revenge.
Mal, Kaz, Inej, and Jesper come to rescue Alina but get outnumbered by the magical powers of the Grisha soldiers. Kirigan continues demonstrating the scope of his powers with Alina under his control.
The Stag’s powers
Amidst the battle within the depths of the fold, Alina visualises the mystical Stag and discovers that she is the real owner of her abilities. She frees herself from the Darkling’s control and stops the destruction with her power of light.
Mal and Kirigan face-off against each other as the Grisha General starts losing control. Mal shoots him, and the vicious monsters take him away into the dark.
Jesper, Inej, and Kaz protect Alina from a Grisha soldier by shooting him off the ship. Alina regains consciousness and carries everyone safely to the west of Ravka.
The Darkling returns
After escaping the shadows of the fold, Mal stops a weak Alina when she urges to destroy it. The only surviving Grisha soldier, Zoya, advises Alina to stay careful as she will get blamed and threatened more after the incident.
They board a ship travelling to some other part of the country to escape. The Crows contemplate over their plan to kidnap the Sun Summoner and present her in exchange for millions. Mal and Alina discuss staying together and keeping their identities a secret as the Darkling is gone.
The last scene of Shadow And Bone shows General Kirigan coming out of the fold, wounded. We see him marching towards the city with the monsters following him out of the dark.
Shadow And Bone is the first book in the trilogy, and hence the web series should be followed by more seasons.
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