Shadow and Bone Season 2 has finally aired, bringing both exciting and devastating updates for our favourite characters. Here's the ending of Shadow and Bone Season 2 explained:
How Did Aline Save Mal? How Did It Change Her Powers?
Mid-season, the characters come to the devastating conclusion that Mal is the third and final amplifier whose power Alina must absorb to destroy the fold.
Despite Alina's attempts to avoid killing Mal she eventually has no other choice but she does manage to bring him back.
It is at that point that we see a flashback with Baghra warning Alina about the danger of Merzost.
It's heavily implied that -- possessing that power of three amplifiers -- Alina was able to use Merzost to save Mal.
In the series, using Merzost twists one's Grisha powers so it is also implied that Alina can now summon shadows like Darkling.
Will Mal and Alina End Up Together?
The series end in a different note from Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse books, combining more than one in a single season. In the end of Season 2, Mal -- no longer an amplifier -- wonders how much of his relationship with Alina was predestined by both their abilities.
Disillusioned by that thought, he goes away to become a privateer and seek his own destiny, hoping that if he ends up back with Alina, it will mean that their relationship was genuine.
While Mal and Alina's relationship looks different -- and occasionally more toxic -- in the books, they never get this type of ending.
In the end of The Grisha Trilogy Alina sacrifices her powers. After that, she fakes her death and retires in Keramzin, where she marries Mal and takes care of the orphans there.
It remains to be seen if Shadow and Bone Season 3 will give them a similar ending.
What Is Happening to Nikolai?
Before his coronation, Nikolai makes an unsettling discovery. In the Season finale, we see that his wounds haven't fully healed and that through them a nichevo'ya shows up.
This might seem a bit abrupt to those who haven't read the books.
In the second book of the Grisha Trilogy the Darkling turns Nikolai into a monster. By the end of the trilogy, everyone is led to believe that he has recovered.
However, in the King of Scars duology readers find out that Nikolai still involuntarily turns into a monster, which makes him unfit to rule in the long run.
Because of that, Nikolai sets out on a quest to find a cure. In the process, he and Zoya discover information that changes everything they knew about Grisha magic.
Could the Darkling Come Back?
The series doesn't give any indication that the Darkling could come back.
However, in the King of Scars duology which we mention above, the Darkling does, indeed, return -- and even redeems himself to an extend.
The existence of the nichevo'ya that is now attached to Nikolai seems to foreshadow this. But given all the other changes, we have to wait and see how a future season will handle this.
How Does the Finale Set the Scene for Season 3?
Once again, the finale might seem a bit abrupt to those who have only watched the Netflix tv series.
Fjerda, Matthias' country, which hasn't been brought up to much in Season 2, is once again highlighted as an opponent to Ravka, while we also learn about the dangerous drug Jurda Parem.
Hopefully, it will all make sense if a Crow spin-off is made. In The Six of Crows duology, Kaz, Inej, Jesper, Wylan, Nina, and Matthias must break into a high-security Fjerdan prison to break out the creator of Jurda Parem.
This drug is highly addictive and it can make a Grisha about a hundred times stronger. Such an inventions has implications for the whole world, and, naturally, everyone would like to control it.
Our worry in that regard is that Shadow and Bone Season 2 has already eliminated major antagonists like Pekka Rollins and Tante Heleen while also unfolding Kaz's revenge.
As such, we aren't sure what the spin-off would look like, but we are very keen to see it greenlit either way.
Related: Do Kaz and Inej End Up Together in Shadow and Bone?
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