#the grisha are basically benders

[rubyglasses]

idk if someone else has already posted about this before but i'd be down for a six of crows animated show in the same style as avatar: the last airbender/the legend of korra

[gerrymike]

Dude fk my CTs I’m not studying for that shit instead let me spoil the entire plot of the one Grisha verse fic I have published because I did it so intricately in my head anyway yeah so Kuwei gets tailored into a new sexy young man on request and is set loose into Ravka little palace, makes friends with a pair of Shu sun summoner twins (fantasy Mongolia = Sikuri as per the Sikurzoi) Maxim and Matvei Ilyushin identical save personality, they goad Kuwei into bad behaviour and he gets goaded because he lives 2 make chaos and secretly craves friends who are bad influences. Finally in trouble for excessive property damage he gets out on probation of sorts, assigned a fabrikator (science magician) chaperone and gets stuck back into the lab where they’re cooking anti drugs, I wrote this all down on page somehow wow I did like 18k of that I think. Anyway just a recap

so chaperoned by lab fella Ty who’s hot talented with a similarly hot talented girlfriend Kuwei is in lab detention ffkkkkkk not good he hates labs. Understandably he gets off on the wrong foot with lab fella because some months or so of hanging around ilyushin twins have turned him into a problem child essentially. Upon request twins take him to the little palace nightly smackdown where he throws himself into the ring and gets his ass handed to him by the third in the hot and talented trio Sami riyad suli air bender wait that’s not the name for it ….squaller yes. Wakes up in the infirmary completely zooted, has to go to lab where he hangs with the one science magician he can stand, sascha mineyev, hot talented as well but not in the hot and talented friend group because she gets a kick out of chumming with losers but still likes to get a graft on Ty’s girl (who is queen of the nightly smackdown btw)

speaking of Ty’s girlfriend her names jin in addition to being zemeni she’s half shu so when summoned by tamar back to the infirmary to examine her pupils Kuwei builds a strange rapport with her based on their shared language and the fact that he is basically one of the only people who knows for sure that she’s been dosed up on some strain of parem that’s been boosting her beyond normal magic levels so she’s been heartrending on x games mode. She lets him know there’s an anonymous syndicate in the little palace that deals to kids who need a little extra za on a day to day basis except she can’t give him any names despite seeing her dealers pretty often

Ok so that’s a problem but now for some slice of life upon having a discussion with his tutor about the menaces that his besties are Kuwei wonders to himself huh do twins have identical mole patterns? Cause his good friends the ilyushins are freckled up, they have a system where they have their ears pierced and wear a jewel in a specific side so you could check the ear to verify who’s who, but when Kuwei looks closer he does realise there’s a different way to tell them apart. Eventually he comes to realise that by swapping their earrings the twins have been impersonating each other in specific situations…

[adhoption]

so I watched Shadow and Bone (spoilers).

it could have been interesting with the fantasy Russia setting (a break from the Anglo-Saxon norm, although of course they all speak with RP English accents like any fantasy series, and apparently the author didn’t exactly do their research so the names actually sound ridiculous to actual Russian speakers), diverse cast, and core premise of the sea of shadows (sailors making perilous trips to trade with the other side invoking everything from early sea travel to the Berlin Wall), but it never really gripped me.

It’s more of the same boring elemental magic: the two main types seem to be fire-benders and air-benders (how fresh and original), but there is a Prophecy of a Chosen One who is a light-bender, so of course that turns out to be our protagonist, and there is one guy who is a shadow-bender and is the only guy who wears all black so of course he turns out to be the villain. They don’t even try to shy away from the clichés. She is overpowered and destined to save the world, but a reluctant teenager who cares more about her personal life, and the bad guy is trying to seduce her in the most transparent ways which she nevertheless falls for.

We get the Academy for Gifted Teens trope on top of that, and yet despite the completely uninspired take on magic they still manage to fall fowl of the ‘too many types of magic’ rule, where we already have the standard elementals, the unique light powers from destiny, the shadow powers from the OG shadow-bender, and now some sort of bone magic from another OG guy who turned his fingers into animals and then you kill the animals and fuse their bones to you to enhance your power? It’s explained in a few seconds of exposition from a book, and even the basic types of magic aren’t really given a satisfactory justification.

Some of the characters sound like they would be interesting in the books (especially those from Six of Crows, which has been merged into the main Grisha trilogy in the show) and their actors had a certain amount of charisma, but there is also a lot of wooden acting with one line delivered after another in a way that doesn’t feel natural or human. Somebody will deliver a joke with a blank face, there will be a beat, and then somebody else will say how funny they are with a blank face. Don’t tell us, show us.

Even the interesting crew often seemed to be realised as one-dimensional stock characters. It feels like a YA staple to have a young female assassin who takes everything deadly seriously and spends the whole time lurking in the shadows with her knives, or a token gay guy who takes nothing seriously and flirts with everybody (because why mess with a good stereotype), but you don’t earn the fun of throwing these different characters together if you don’t make us feel like the characters are rooted in anything more than a recipe of tropes that you already know the target audience will lap up.

The script itself is filled with obvious, boringly predictable banter and corny lines, villains being villainous for no reason, heroes being proudly heroic, subtlety out of the window. The main ‘twist’ is that the sinister super-powerful shadowbender who is the only guy who wears all black (as they make a point of telling us) is actually the bad guy, which feels like the opposite of subverting expectations, and his relationship with the Chosen One super-powerful lightbender protagonist is classic Rey/Kylo Ren seduction, meanwhile we have scene-for-scene re-shoots of the Jon Snow/Ygritte courtship in the snow with the other main couple on the show.

You know those posts about how fandom distils characters into the same two or three personalities which they find ‘fun’, but which turn their treatment of all media into the same boring one-dimensional relationships? This show just feels like a pastiche of those tropes, like a shallow fanfic of itself, rather than bringing anything actually original to the table.

[vadergf]

PLEASE inform me what exactly Shadow and Bone is about no unneeded spoilers, though, just like, cast, setting, time period, that kinda stuff

I am partially interested because one of El's friends loves it, and I would like to converse, possibly

the only snatch is that Idk if it is worth my being distracted from writing

Okay imma try. So basically there are these people called the Grisha who are like the benders on avatar. So centuries ago, there was this one bender of shadows, who got power hungry and tried to create his own army out of the shadows but he accidentally created this huge black rift thingie between the country. The rift is called the fold and it's very dangerous and it has a lot of monsters and shit.

Now, there's a rumor, myth whatever of a sun summoner who is basically supposed to summon pure light. That person is said to have the power to destroy the fold. But it's a myth right??? Not exactly.

And then the plot just kinda goes from there ig.

Hope this helps

[sailor-hufflepuff]

I always just assumed it WAS magic, the Grisha just convince themselves it’s “Science” in an attempt to seem less scary to others (and themselves???).

And I totally mentally ascribe to them basically being benders: air/squallers, fire/inferni, earth/durasts, and water/tide makers.

Corporalki are just bloodbenders.

Thoughts on the Grisha Orders and the system

Based on the new information come to light in the King of Scars/Rule of Wolves duology (so spoilers for KoS and RoW obviously)

Ok so what we know from descriptions of Grisha powers in the books is that it is a "Small Science" and that it relies on manipulating matter which is common between all existing things in their world. If we're to apply that logic to our world, we can conclude that Grisha power relies on manipulatig either molecules or elements which exist in things. And so it would make sense, scientifically speaking, that a Squaller may also be able to tap into Inferni abilities or Heartrender powers and so on, because molecules and especially chemical elements are shared between everything, thus blurring the lines between the rigid Grisha orders. We'll assume that Grisha often specialise in only one "element" because of an intrinsic sense of familiarity that goes beyond science (like you would have an affinity for the piano over the flute for reasons unknown).

However where that scientific logic falls is with Aleksander's, and other shadow summoners' abilities to manipulate shadows. Shadows are the result of an absence of light, and so while Alina and other sun summoners still work within our scientific framework as they can manipulate photons of light, shadow summoners are essentially manipulating an absence of matter - a vaccuum.

So either the scientific basis of our world cannot be completely imposed on Grisha powers and there is a certain suspension of disbelief required (which is somewhat fair as this is fantasy in the end), even though it is presented in a scientific manner. Or Leigh is confused about the magic system she has created and is building on it as she goes along (which is understandable to an extent), therefore leading to certain inconsistencies.

[xtraordinaryfangrl]

it’s funny that darkling and darklinas are trying to be people with morals and trying to be woke with this many essays about the darkling being oppressed lmao first of all the darkling is centries old white man the world is catered build for him and him alone 2nd he lives in the palace has many people under following all his orders and he has control over the king so basically all of ravka he’s most powerful person in ravka so how exactly is he oppressed? do they know what the word means because I don’t think they do, they really saying all this like the writers can’t kill him because he’s an oppressed minority bla bla then ship him with alina who is literally the oppressed minority and abused by him can they stop trying to be fake woke like we can’t see right through them they are so transparent they just want the villain alive in hopes of him getting a redemption arc he can’t because he’s irredeemable so he can get with alina like she wants him like alina wants her oppressor back? If they really cared about oppressed minority people they should care about alina mal nina genya zoya ect who actually are oppressed by the darkling and ravkans instead of this oh poor rich immortal powerful white man he is so oppressed no he isn’t he’s the oppressor in this world accept it!

Definitely!

I mean, I get the Darkling’s plot for its base value. The Grisha were initially villainized because they had special abilities, like mutants in the X-Men universe and benders in ATLA. But the difference is he actually had the power to change things for the better. He still has it, but his grief and anger cloud his rationale.

Hence the phrase “you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself be a villain”.

[fandomlifeofsara]

Well, technically they may be... I mean, summoners can’t just produce water/air/fire out of nowhere, which is the same for benders. They both kind of use the energy of their element to manipulate it. So yeah, grisha Etherealki are basically benders.

Pro tip: never read grisha at the same time you’re watching avatar cause now I can only see the summoners as benders