Let's be real for a second. If you woke up tomorrow and realized you could literally summon the sun, you probably wouldn’t immediately know how to lead a military coup or fix a century-old scar on the face of the earth. You'd probably just be terrified. That’s the thing about Shadow and Bone Alina Starkov—she’s often criticized for being "passive" or "whiny," but she’s actually one of the most realistic portrayals of a traumatized teenager we've seen in modern fantasy.
She isn't Katniss Everdeen. She isn't some hardened warrior who was born with a sword in her hand. Alina is a mapmaker. A girl who spent her life trying to blend into the background so she wouldn't be separated from her best friend, Mal. When that light finally explodes out of her in the Fold, it isn't a "girl boss" moment; it’s a death sentence. Or at least, it feels like one.
The Problem With Being a Saint
People in Ravka call her Sankta Alina. They build altars to her. They pray to her. But honestly? Being a Saint is the worst thing that ever happened to her. In the books, Leigh Bardugo makes it clear that the more power Alina gains, the more she loses herself. It’s a classic "absolute power corrupts absolutely" arc that the Netflix show—bless its heart—kinda steered away from in favor of a more traditional hero's journey.
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In the original trilogy, Alina’s physical appearance actually shifts based on her power. When she’s suppressing her light, she’s sickly, thin, and mousy. Once she starts using it? She becomes radiant. Beautiful. Terrifying. It’s a physical manifestation of her addiction to the Small Science. By the time we get to Ruin and Rising, she’s chasing a third amplifier not just to save the world, but because she needs that hit of power.
Why the Show Changed Everything
If you’ve only watched the Netflix series, you saw a very different version of Shadow and Bone Alina. The showrunners made a choice to give her more agency early on. They also gave her a Shu Han heritage, which added a layer of racial tension and displacement that wasn't in the books. It made her feel more like an outsider in her own country.
But the biggest departure? The ending of Season 2. In the books, Alina loses her powers entirely. They're stripped away and distributed among ordinary people—hundreds of "Sun Summoners" who help tear down the Fold. Alina gets to live a quiet, anonymous life with Mal, running an orphanage. It’s bittersweet. Some fans hated it because it felt like she was being "punished" by losing her magic. Others loved it because she finally got the peace she’d wanted since page one.
Then the show happened.
The Netflix finale saw Alina keeping her powers but with a dark twist. She used merzost (forbidden shadow magic) to bring Mal back to life, and suddenly she’s performing "The Cut" with shadows instead of light. It was a massive cliffhanger that hinted at a "Dark Alina" arc we’ll likely never see now that the show is canceled. It turned her from a reluctant savior into someone potentially as dangerous as the Darkling himself.
The Mal vs. Darkling Debate (That Never Ends)
You can't talk about Alina without talking about the men who pull at her. This is where the discourse gets spicy.
- The Darkling (Aleksander): He’s the personification of "I can fix him" energy. He promised her a world where they were equals—two eternal beings who didn't have to be alone. But he was also a literal dictator who wore her like an accessory.
- Mal Oretsev: Book Mal is... controversial. He was often moody and held Alina back. Show Mal (played by Archie Renaux) is much more supportive, which made their romance actually feel like something worth rooting for.
- Nikolai Lantsov: The prince who offered her a crown and a partnership. Honestly, the chemistry between Alina and Nikolai was top-tier, mostly because he treated her like a political leader rather than a prize or a pawn.
Most people who hate Alina do so because they think she’s "defined by the men around her." But if you look closer, her story is actually about trying to escape those definitions. The Darkling wanted her to be his Queen. The Apparat wanted her to be a Saint. Mal wanted her to be the girl from the orphanage. Nobody actually wanted Alina.
What Most People Get Wrong
The biggest misconception about Shadow and Bone Alina is that she's a "weak" protagonist. People point to the fact that she’s often being rescued or manipulated. But consider the scale of what she was up against. She was a nineteen-year-old girl being groomed by a several-hundred-year-old shadow-manipulator who had the political and military backing of an entire nation.
Her strength isn't in her light; it's in her resilience. In the books, she survives being buried alive, being hunted across oceans, and the mental toll of having a psychic tether to her worst enemy. She makes the hard choice to fake her own death and give up her status to ensure Ravka's safety. That’s not weakness. That’s a level of sacrifice most "chosen ones" never have to face.
The Lingering Legacy of the Sun Summoner
Since the Netflix cancellation in late 2023 (and the subsequent fan campaigns that are still popping off in 2026), Alina’s legacy has shifted. She’s become a symbol of what happens when a story is cut short. We never got to see her navigate the shadow-tainted version of her powers. We never got to see if she would have eventually married Nikolai for the sake of the throne or stayed with Mal.
If you’re looking to dive deeper into her character, don't just stop at the show. The King of Scars duology actually gives some fascinating updates on what happened after the main trilogy. Even though she’s not the main character anymore, her influence is everywhere. Zoya Nazyalensky basically takes up the mantle of the "most powerful Grisha," but she does so while constantly measuring herself against the legend of the Sun Summoner.
Your Next Steps for the Grishaverse
If you're still mourning the show or just discovered the character, here is how to actually get the full picture:
- Read the original trilogy first, but go in knowing that book-Alina is more cynical and power-hungry than show-Alina.
- Check out Rule of Wolves if you want the "canonical" ending for Alina and Mal. It provides a closure that the Netflix series never will.
- Avoid the "Chosen One" comparisons. Stop comparing her to Rey or Katniss. Alina is a study in what happens when a normal person is crushed by the weight of a prophecy they never asked for.
The story of the Sun Summoner is essentially a tragedy disguised as a fantasy epic. Whether you prefer her as the simple girl who just wanted to go home or the powerful Grisha who almost lost her soul to the shadows, there's no denying she changed the landscape of YA fantasy forever.
Find the books, skip the discourse, and just enjoy the ride of a girl who finally learned how to stop being afraid of her own light.