#sankta elizaveta

[aleksanderscult]

It is also a teeny bit weird to make Zoya being prettier and thus a more ideal sun summoner be set up as thing to be proven wrong in the beginning but then Zoya actually becomes the Queen with lots of focus on how gorgeous she is and Alina fades into obscurity and wears old shawls.

I mean yeah.

Because apparently one of the messages this trilogy wanted to pass was how nothing is what it seems. Alina is not weak but very powerful, she just doesn't know it. Aleksander is not a man to be trusted but a selfish, power-hungry bastard, except Alina doesn't realize it until it was too late (*inserting dramatic tones if you didn't notice*).

Normally, Zoya wouldn't get that much spotlight. But, alas, Bardugo has said many times that she's one of her most favorite characters so she was bound to become important. A Squaller (among hundreds) became important by becoming a Saint as well.

Saints in the Grishaverse normally have very distinct, unusual powers. Alina had her light, Aleksander his shadows, Elizaveta's Materialki powers manifested themselves through her ability to control nature while Ilya didn't allow his powers to be restricted at all (he was both a Healer and a Durast as well as an inventor). Plus, they get martyred and Zoya is...well....alive.

Her push to the spotlight was, for me, too forced while, at the same time, the author tried to remove Alina's presence (as if she wasn't the main character for three books straight that the antagonist fell in love with and his plans revolved around her). Whether someone likes Alina or not, we have to admit that it's not going to be the same without her on the front. The story doesn't really make sense without her. It's like removing Harry Potter from his own books.

And it seems that whether Alina has powers or not, she stays hidden. And Zoya got what she wanted all along: the spotlight.

[kolarpem]

Morning Doodle: “Some people claim the first Priestguard were Grisha,” said Tolya. Tamar touched her fingers to the shark’s tooth at her neck. “In that version, the animals they became were the first amplifiers. Their spirits made the monks’ powers stronger.” (Leigh Bardugo’s King of Scars CH 9)

[stheresya]

what makes Elizaveta as a concept so compelling to me is that she is exactly what everyone accuses the Darkling of being. here we have a grisha of extraordinary power who in the past was a victim of persecution and violence due to her nature and yet she is not interested in liberating anyone from oppression. she just wants to reign supreme above everyone.

[kavinskysdick]

“I have lived for eons,” Elizaveta intoned gravely. “And I will live for eons more. I have seen empires rise and fall. I have seen hundreds of Grisha martyred. I have seen everything there is and everything there will be. You are nothing special."

Folks, it's that time of year again... IT'S THE GRISHAVERSE (mini reverse) BANG!! and I'm here to try so hard once more. Here is my magnum opus, my "I have worked too many hours on this and so no longer know what time is" piece, my love letter to immortality, and the premiere of my Juris headcanon... sort of.

Accompanied by the fic of the absolute madman who came along for the ride, tysm to @wafflesandkruge for this gorgeous piece of saintly negotiation and malcontent, I love it SO much: two gods before there was a world

ty as always to the tides and co. at @grishaversebigbang who put with me every season, xoxo and STAY TUNED FOR... ANOTHER!

[stromuprisahat]

She never walked West Stave alone. With the Dregs at her side, she could stroll by the Menagerie without a glance toward the golden bars on the windows. But tonight, her heart was pounding, and she could hear the roar of blood in her ears as the gilded facade came into view. ... Inej forced herself to look at the Menagerie as she passed. It’s just a place, she told herself. Just another house. How would Kaz see it? Where are the entrances and exits? How do the locks work? Which windows are unbarred? How many guards are posted, and which ones look alert? Just a house full of locks to pick, safes to crack, pigeons to dupe. And she was the predator now, not Heleen in her peacock feathers, not any man who walked these streets. As soon as she was out of sight of the Menagerie, the tight feeling in her chest and throat began to ease. She’d done it. She’d walked alone on West Stave, right in front of the House of Exotics. Whatever was waiting for her in Fjerda, she could face it. A hand hooked around her forearm and yanked her off her feet. Inej regained her balance quickly. She spun on her heel and tried to pull away, but the grip was too strong. “Hello, little lynx.” Inej hissed in a breath and tore her arm free. Tante Heleen. That was what her girls knew to call Heleen Van Houden or risk the back of her hand. To the rest of the Barrel she was the Peacock, though Inej had always thought she looked less like a bird than a preening cat. ... Inej’s vision blurred. Trapped. Trapped. Trapped again. ... Move, her mind screamed, but she couldn’t. Her muscles had locked up; a high whine of terror filled her head. ... Inej stood frozen, shaking. Then she dove into the crowd, eager to disappear. She wanted to break into a run, but she just kept moving steadily, pushing toward the harbor. As she walked, she released the triggers on the sheaths at her forearms, feeling the grips of her daggers slide into her palms. Sankt Petyr, renowned for his bravery, on the right; the slender, bone-handled blade she’d named for Sankta Alina on the left. She recited the names of her other knives, too. Sankta Marya and Sankta Anastasia strapped to her thighs. Sankt Vladimir hidden in her boot, and Sankta Lizabeta snug at her belt, the blade etched in a pattern of roses. Protect me, protect me. She had to believe her Saints saw and understood the things she did to survive. ... The run-in with Tante Heleen had left her shaken, and the heft of the daggers in her hands wasn’t enough to soothe her rattled nerves. She knew she should get used to carrying a pistol, but the weight threw off her balance, and guns could jam or lock in a bad moment. Little lynx. Her blades were reliable. And they made her feel like she’d been born with proper claws.

Six of Crows- Chapter 10 (Leigh Bardugo)

[yeehawesome]

I know we talk about men written by women but let’s talk about women written by women. More specifically women written by Leigh Bardugo. Top tier, first class, absolute bangers. I love you Leigh Bardugo.

[tirkdi]

Didnt he hate Elizaveta for the crime of enjoying sensations. I think he must have liked the grumpiness in Alina and show Alina would have been too bubbly aka annoying for him.

Importantly, he disdained Elizaveta for wanting:

Guess that made her weak or something ;)

On book Darkling thinking show Alina would have been too annoying (from this ask) – I certainly think that's possible! I also think he's probably pretty good at handling people who are bubbly and directing them where he wants them to go and tuning them out the rest of the time. Even though I think book Darkling would get along for eternity better with book Alina, I ultimately believe he could handle s1 Alina just fine, too. It's s2 Alina I think would get under his skin, and not in a fun way.

[kensthjerte]

my religion

[glitter50000]

Zoya: Why did Sankta Lizabeta call you babygirl?

The darkling: How about we stop talking for a while

[darkolaism]

i have a new canon now in which ulla is the one who creates the starless cult. and liza helps ulla to revive aleksander. and also they're lesbians

[aleksanderscult]

Such a random thought, but I've been obsessing about this for at least a week now. The religious systems in the Grishaverse are all twisted. None of them have names, none of them have strict theologies. The Sankt Pyotr of Brevno story mentioned something about 'Sikurian Psalms.' The 'Sikur' thing makes me think of the Sikurzoi, but I feel like I'm grasping at straws for some sense of coherency. Why is Djel a tree? Beats me. Who are the saints in the Ravkan religion saints of? No clue. Did I miss all this in canon or did LB just forget?

Oh yeah, the religion lore in the Grishaverse is beyond fucked, anon.

We (the fans) know practically nothing of it as well. Leigh has never explored it.

Essentially all Saints were Grisha with unique powers, all of them had brutal deaths and you need to die to become a Saint.

Alina is an exception because her power was what the Ravkans needed to get free from the Fold. So most of all they revered her for it. Oh! And Zoya. But that's because the author wanted to make her special with force so I won't get into it.

Saints are patrons of different things. For example, Elizaveta is the patron of gardeners, Grigori is the patron of doctors and musicians etc. I don't know how otkazat'sya decide which Saint is patron of what. Probably they do it based on their powers and deeds.

About the Fjerdans, we don't know how this God came to be, how the Fjerdans had this epiphany to worship this particular tree. Although I must say that it reminds me of the Old Gods and the weirwoods from the "Game of Thrones" universe.

[kolarpem]

Morning Doodle: The monks plunged into battle and sent the enemies of Ravka scattering, pushing them back and forming the borders that would hold, more or less, for thousands of years.” Yuri’s voice rose, caught in the telling of his tale, all hesitation gone. “But the battle lasted so long that when it was over and it was time for them to return to their human forms, they could not.” (Leigh Bardugo’s King of Scars CH 9)

[stheresya]

What do you think Elizaveta was like pre fold or during the time she was trapped in the fold?

it's difficult to say considering the only pre-fold content we have of her is The Lives of Saints, a book that does not go in-depth into its saint life and its narratives are known to be slightly fabricated for religious purposes. but assuming some of the elements in her tale had basis on actual events and leaving aside all the religious propaganda, here's what we roughly get: a peasant girl had a special ability with bees. one day her village was attacked by raiders. she saved them all. they repaid her heroism by tearing her apart in a field of roses. this little summary makes me assume there are two elizavetas: the elizaveta that always was and the elizaveta that she became after the attack.

elizaveta is one with the bees, thus she has always been deeply connected with plants, especially roses -- she's the patron saint of gardeners, after all. and this connection probably influenced how her senses are affected by the world around her. there's this line in aleksander's pov: "He remembered how Elizaveta had craved sensation—the taste of wine, the touch of skin, the feel of soft earth beneath her feet." (The Monk, Ch. 26, RoW) this tells me that elizaveta liked to indulge her senses, that she was often seeking things that were pleasing to the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue, the stomach, the mind and the skin. this may be the one thing that remained unchanged throughout her life because i think that craving to simply feel alive is probably a consequence of her power. it kinda reminds me of dyonisus who was a deity of vegetation and also greatly associated with pleasure. now imagine someone like that being trapped for 400 hundred years in a place that denied her of her senses? it's no wonder she went a little mad.

but of course we have to talk about what she became after she was "murdered". in true anti-grisha hate crime fashion her murder is quite horrific. she was killed in the village that she had saved, bound and torn apart while her own people (who were only alive thanks to her) did nothing to object. this definitely made her resent humanity as a whole. we know for a fact that she was very close to the darkling before the fold and they probably met shortly after this incident. i think he provided her a safe haven and a purpose to fight for, and he was also the only one who was as unique as herself back then. imagine an unique person with immense power rescues you from certain death, helps you get stronger and gives your life purpose? at the very least you'll spend the rest of your life in gratitude to that person. so it's no wonder that she grew to worship the darkling. their power and uniqueness made her think of themselves not only as superior to the otkazat'sya but also other grisha. i'm not sure when when her views on power became so twisted, if she began to think like that shortly after her "death" or while she was trapped in the fold. because it's curious that elizaveta is so unwaveringly loyal to aleksander despite their goals being different, and we can't even argue that that loyalty is due to his great power and his uniqueness because she spent centuries alongside two people who were as powerful and as unique as herself and she hated them. maybe she truly loved sasha even as he was.

of the 3 saints trapped in the fold, i'd say liza was affected the most. their place was in a constant state of un-life. they were isolated from the world, there was no food, no smell, no hunger, no wind, no temperature. everything was monochromatic. they were alive but not really alive. they couldn't even sleep to get some momentary relief. these circumstances would take a great toll on anyone, but specially on someone who's so deeply connected to nature and soil life such as liza. the one thing that kept her going was hope that she would be joining aleksander someday and they would rule ravka together, in the meantime she occasionally used her powers to toy with her worshipers a little bit and pretended to debate her "roommates" on the best course of action to get out of the fold while hiding her real intentions.

TL;DR: elizaveta was a nature girl who liked to enjoy herself, but having an unique power, being part of persecuted group, and being in prison for centuries in a constant state of un-life without the ability to shut out her conscious for one second probably messed her up.

[unabashedmoonlight]

I wonder what Aleksander killing Elizaveta would look like. Would he go the John Snow backstabbing route (without the emotions involved of course) or full on attack her while looking her in the face or something else entirely, probably involving his cult and what would be her reaction?

The girl saved people only to then be brutally murdered by them and that would have happened again with Aleksander hushsfjdh thoroughly wasted character.

[stromuprisahat]

I went through all of your metas especially about the righteous gang, anti Zoya and Jesus I love you. I agree with almost everything you say except that I think Aleksander has gone a bit insane now lol. I don't fault him for it and find it fun but yeah anyways.

What do you think of how he treated Elizaveta and how she treated him?

Thank you, I just hope all those nice anons I've got so far are not only the one person. :D

Aleksander in R&R is a broken man, especially towards the end. That's why Alina kills him so easily in the end. He got used to weathering loss and betrayal, but he quicky grows tired of Alina's defiance, then he watches his mother commit performative suicide, only to witness his long-awaited equal being butchered by his granfather's legacy. He only wanted some snuggles, instead he got even more struggles. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I know there are people, who liked Elizaveta, or at least her potential, but for me her creepy obsession vibe was too strong. Two days after I've received this ask I've read a good summary of Aleksander's feelings about her, and honestly- I totally agree with him. She's fucking annoying and I'll never cease to admire his self-restraint for not murdering her for it.