If you are unfamiliar with the “Grishaverse”, I sympathize. Until I watched the Netflix show, and then deep-dived into the novels, I had never heard of this IP. The Crows, the underworld gang characters, are much easier to scan and appreciate. How they’re written in the books is basically how they’re played in the show. They’re clear and extremely enjoyable.
However, Alina, the protagonist of the Netflix series and of the Grisha plotline, is portrayed very differently in each work. Because we only have one season, talking about the show is difficult. The novel, though, is complete. We can look at this particular Alina and make some choices.
Throughout the Shadow and Bone trilogy, is Alina a consistent character? Can the changes to her be explained by her summoning power? I don’t particularly like Alina, and I’m curious why that is.
She’s passive in the first book. The Darkling manipulates her easily. Her feelings for Mal aren’t initially returned, which she just accepts. Zoya and Genya walk all over her. In the later books she takes more initiative, but she still has an oddly passive side. It’s possible Alina was meant to start repressed as her power is repressed, then blossom as she opened up her summoning skill. I don’t see that clearly delineated. If it were, the Netflix show would not have been able to completely ignore this character detail.
So, what do we have? She’s not a Body Type, before or after she releases the sun. She doesn’t experience the world in a physical way. To suppress a major magical power is so will-driven, so mind over matter, she must be Head. A Heart Type would’ve integrated more easily into the LIttle Palace and not been so socially awkward.
Five, Six, or Seven? The key to her may be the amplifiers. Any grisha will want the power enhancement, but Alina becomes obsessed. Unlike in the show, the collar of stag antlers never disappears. She must wear a scarf if she wants to disguise her identity. The book doesn’t describe what it feels like to have pokey bones around your face, and I’m sure the show removed them because they’re unbelievably awkward and unsettling to look at. They’re only possible in a novel that won’t address their physicality. But let’s imagine that collar, and that wrist fetter, and think about what kind of person would live with that weight day after day. Probably only a Six, only a number that will uphold duty over other concerns. Suppressing her power in the first place — refusing to be grisha, something unheard of — is the same kind of Six-like stubborness.
I very much look forward to seeing season two, and to whether the show can make a more likable and cohesive Alina. Her actions in season one are still rather passive, regardless of the actor’s strength, so I worry. A passive protagonist is hard to dramatize. If Alina won’t affect her own fate, if she is someone else’s pawn for much of the story, her character arc is flat and uninteresting. I actually hope the show takes liberties, something I wouldn’t normally say about source material.