The Grishaverse celebrates the return of Sankta Alina as she plans to take down the Fold and, hopefully, unite the whole country, starting with Ravka. With the threat of the Darkling still at bay, what, actually, is Merzost in Shadow and Bone Season 2 and why is Baghra against it?
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Shadow and Bone Season 2. Read at your own risk!
What is Merzost in Shadow and Bone Season 2?
Shadow and Bone Season 2 just delivered another part of the Grishaverse to Netflix with the story of Leigh Bardugo's books to the screens. One of the things brought to the screens is the "merzost," the opposite of Small Science.
Merzost is what the Ravkans call as an abomination of dark magic. As Baghra explained to Alina, merzost is the creation of something that did not exist before. Something that comes of life over death, and it corrupts anyone who wields it.
In Shadow and Bone Season 2, merzost is what corrupted the Darkling and drew him to create the Shadow Fold, the volcra, and the nichevo'ya which drains him of his own volition or control of his own senses, even to the point of acting on its own.
READ MORE: Will There Be A Season 3 of Shadow and Bone? What We Know So Far
When everyone thought that the Darkling is gone, it turns out that the merzost also corrupted someone else -- the king, Nikolai Lantsov. When a nichevo'ya pierced through him, a remnant of it remained inside of him and in the end of Season 2, it is seen to be alive inside Nikolai.
Unfortunately, in Shadow and Bone Season 2, despite Alina promising Baghra not to ever use it, she broke her promise to her and used it to resurrect Mal from death after she destroyed the Fold because Mal is the third amplifier, the Firebird.
In the end of Shadow and Bone Season 2, Alina may have also been corrupted with the merzost she used because when she attacked the Fjerdan who was amplified, she used the Cut and what came out of her was not light but darkness.
Shadow and Bone Season 2 is now available to stream on Netflix.
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