The thrilling first season of Shadow and Bone is stacked with easter eggs, secret cameos,
and hidden clues revealing what we can expect in future seasons of the show.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, I'm Jan and in this video I'm revealing 27 crucial details
you missed in Shadow and Bone and how they affect Season 2 and beyond.
Spoilers for the TV show and books ahead.
The Crows are arguably some of the biggest fan favourite characters in the Grishaverse,
and the show made sure that Kaz and Inej deliver one of their most famous phrases from the
novels.
"No one's dying today.
No mourners."
"No funerals."
In the books, the idea behind this expression is that it's another way of saying good luck
before undertaking a dangerous endeavour, somewhat similar perhaps to the phrase "Not
today" from another fantasy epic, Game of Thrones.
"What do we say to the god of death?"
"Not today."
'No mourners' is also the title of the episode finale, a shout-out that book fans will appreciate
given that all of the main characters survive crossing the Fold in that episode, even the
Darkling, aka General Kirigan.
Many of the other episode titles are also nods to the books.
For example, the seventh episode is titled "The Unsea", an alternate name used for the
Shadow Fold in the novels And it's in this episode where we go back
several centuries to learn about the events that led to
the Fold's creation.
Also near that map is the stolen DeKappel painting that Rotty was asking Kaz about in
the first episode.
"The thief had to get past four roving guards, high fences, padlocked doors, and a security
system designed by one of them Grisha witches."
The reason for this namedrop isn't just to show what an expert thief Kaz is,
it's also setting up the heist that Kaz is recruited for in the Six of Crows book
where the merchant Van Eck who Kaz stole the DeKappel painting from hires Kaz for a job
to kidnap a Shu scientist who developed a Grisha drug called Jurda Parem.
And the Jurda plant, which Jurda Parem is made from, is also mentioned later in the
show when the Conductor lists it as one of the ingredients he needs for the trip across
the fold.
"To cross, I'll need 20 pounds of alabaster coal.
A peck of Majdaloun jurda.
Not the kind from Kerch.
It's too weak."
We can see how both the DeKappel and the Jurda mentions in this first season may be setting
up the Jurda Parem plot for either season two or a spin-off series for the Crows.
Leigh Bardugo, author of the Shadow and Bone trilogy, the Six of Crows duology, and the
wider Grishaverse book series, has been heavily involved in the TV adaptation.
And on top of that, the best-selling author made a secret cameo in the third episode of
Season 1.
Bardugo is dressed in a purple Durast Fabrikator kefta, and she's the first Grisha to hug Alina
after her successful display of Sun Summoning powers at the Ravkan court.
And one of Bardugo's books, "The Lives of Saints", makes a brief appearance too as the
book that the Apparat gives to Alina in the palace library.
"A gift.
To mark our new friendship."
"The Lives of the Saints?"
As well as being a real-world book that Bardugo wrote as a companion to the Grishaverse,
The Lives of Saints is also an in-universe compilation of stories about Ravka's legendary
saints that will come in handy for Alina in later seasons as she learns more about Ilya
Morozova and his amplifiers, and discovers that one of the illustrations
of Saint Ilya in the book reveals some crucial information about him.
The quest for Morozova's stag and its antlers which the Darkling uses as an amplifier on
Alina are a big part of the final two episodes of the first season,
with Kirigan binding himself to the antlers and Alina through a Grisha ritual.
An intriguing detail is that the antlers being fused to Alina's neck and her forced connection
to Kirigan was foreshadowed right back in the first episode when Alina is on the skiff
about to enter the Fold for the first time, and her scarf blows off from around her neck
and the wind takes it back towards General Kirigan.
Alina losing the scarf could also be a reference to how in the books she uses a scarf to cover
up Morozova's collar.
In the TV show, Alina won't need a scarf to cover up the antler collar because she breaks
the Darkling's connection over her, and also because after that she absorbs the antlers
into her body.
Talking of amplifiers, Morozova's stag also appeared on the pages of the book that the
Apparat showed to Alina.
The other two creatures on this page are two more fabled beasts and living amplifiers that
we can expect to appear in the show's second and subsequent seasons.
First is the Sea Whip, a dragon prince said to be cursed to live as a sea serpent in waters
known as the Bone Road.
"The bone road ebbs and the bone road flows."
And notice how in this scene the Apparat is standing in front of a picture of what looks
like some kind of boat, pointing to the sea journey I expect Alina will go in on in the
second season in search of the Sea Whip.
The other creature is the Firebird, a mythical beast considered crucial to the identity of
the Ravkan nation, and reputed to be the third amplifier created by Morozova.
The hunt for the Firebird will likely be in the third season or later depending on how
the showrunner decides to continue adapting the Grishaverse trilogy, given the first season
also added in characters from the Six of Crows duology.
The TV show's depiction of the Fold and the murderous Volcra beasts has been pretty impressive
as getting CGI creatures to look good can be tricky especially on TV budgets.
VFX supervisor Ted Rae was visually inspired by gargoyles and demons for the look of the
Shadow Fold monsters.
And there's a shout-out to that when the Darkling stands right between two gargoyles as he calls
on the forbidden merzost magic that ends up creating the Fold and the volcra.
If you find the geography of Shadow and Bone a lot to take in, then it's worth taking a
look at the map of the Grishaverse which you can find on Bardugo's official website.
In the show you can spot that map framed on the wall inside Kaz's office just behind his
desk where it also serves to hide his safe of valuables.
A vital member of the Crows crew will also be Nina who meets Kaz, Inej and Jesper at
the end of season 1.
"I have a plan.
We're going to need a Heartrender."
As a Grisha spy, Nina can speak six languages, and there's a fun moment earlier on when as
she describes the Wandering Isle to Matthias she slips into an Irish accent.
"Oh, the Wandering Isle.
Well, I can fit in there, no trouble."
This is a reference to how the Wandering Isle in the Grishaverse is based on Ireland, and
it's also a nod to the fact that the actress who plays Nina, Danielle Galligan, is Irish
herself.
There's a nice moment during Nina and Matthias's enemies-turned-lovers storyline where Nina
gets to enjoy some waffles with the burly Fjerdan.
Book readers will know that Nina is obsessed with waffles.
"I can't wait to introduce you to my truest love."
And her love for the battered treats would probably even rival any romantic feelings
she has for Matthias.
"Is this supposed to be sweet or savory?
Yes."
These next few easter eggs include spoilers for the ending of the books, so if you want
to avoid these, you can skip them by going to the timestamp on screen.
Although the Darkling appears to be immortal, "He is eternal."
in the final episode Inej manages to throw one of her daggers straight into his chest.
Kirigan however seems to call upon his merzost powers and pulls the blade out unharmed, exclaiming
"It will take more than this!"
So could Kirigan's words be hinting towards the fate that awaited him in Ruin and Rising,
the final book in the Shadow and Bone trilogy, where Alina kills the Darkling when she stabs
him with a blade made of Grisha steel?
And although Inej loses that dagger during the battle inside the Fold, later on Alina
gives Inej her own blade as a replacement.
"It's not much, but it'll fend off a bully or two."
"I know just what to name it."
In the books, Inej names her knives after Ravkan Saints, and although she doesn't say
it here, we can expect that she'll name that knife Sankta Alina, as she has a knife called
this in Six of Crows.
I wonder whether the TV show will have Inej kill the Darkling with the blade that Alina
gave her, rather than Alina doing it herself as she does in the books?
Perhaps, Inej failing to kill him the first time around was simply the set-up for her
succeeding later on, and wouldn't it be poetic if she did it with a knife called Sankta Alina?
Another easter egg for book readers is when Zoya warns Alina about becoming a martyr.
"So remember this.
Saints become martyrs before they get to be heroes.
So... stay alive."
That may be hinting at how, at the end of Ruin and Rising, Alina fakes her own death.
Sankta Alina goes on to become a fabled Ravkan martyr, while Alina and Mal each take on new
names and go off to live a quiet life together.
And if you want to dive deeper into the ending of Shadow and Bone's first season and some
Season 2 theories including whether Mal has secret Grisha powers, tap here to watch that
video or follow the link in the video description.
As we can see, a lot of attention and detail has been put into Shadow and Bone's first
season, and the costumes are no exception.
For example, the thorn patterns on the Grisha keftas are a reference to Leigh Bardugo's
The Language of Thorns book which is a collection of Grisha folk tales.
The embroidery on Alina's kefta forms a sun symbol which is similar to the Sun Summoner
sunburst symbol used to represent her elsewhere in the show.
And Morozova's stag antlers form a similar sun symbol referencing why Alina has always
felt connected to the stag through her dreams and also why it bestowed its power on her.
And Shadow and Bone even worked with linguist David Peterson to create several original
languages on the show including developing the Ravkan, Fjerdan and Kerch languages we
hear.
Peterson is perhaps best known for developing the Dothraki language used in Game of Thrones.
And in a humorous meta moment, the book that David throws at Jesper when the Crows are
kicking him out of his carriage is a Ravkan version of Bardugo's Shadow and Bone book
that was specially made for the show.
"He threw a book at me."
I'm looking forward to Season 2 and I'm curious to see how Kirigan will track down Alina and
Mal, though with his Grisha spies everywhere, he'll doubtless soon be on their trail.
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So, what other details or easter eggs did you spot in Shadow and Bone?
And what are your favourite moments or theories about the show?
Comment with your thoughts below, and if you enjoyed this video, a thumbs-up and a share
are hugely appreciated.
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Thanks for watching and see ya next time!
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!