Shadow and Bone creator explains why Mal became Sturmhond

[Ed. note: This article contains spoilers for Shadow and Bone season 2 and Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse books.]

From its very inception, Netflix’s Shadow and Bone adaptation took great liberties with its source material, combining characters and storylines from Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone trilogy and the Six of Crows duology. It was an improvement on the books, and fans were optimistic about its future. Shadow and BoneWould do the same with the source material.

Fans were particularly eager about the introduction of one of the Grishaverse’s most beloved characters: Sturmhond, the privateer “don’t call him a pirate” persona of Nikolai Lantsov, the prince of Ravka. There is much of Storm and Siege follows Alina and Mal’s journey on Sturmhond’s ship, as they track down the sea whip on the Darkling’s orders and later escape from his control in a mutiny led by Sturmhond. While fans love Nikolai — enough so that he got his own duology — they also LovedThis time, with Sturmhond. The condensed timeline is however: Shadow and Bone Season 2 covers all of Storm and SiegeAnd Ruin and Rising, means that Nikolai reveals his true identity in episode 3, giving us only one episode of Sturmhond, Mal, and Alina’s sailing adventures.

Fans of Sturmhond were disappointed by the outcome. They enjoy the more carefree and sexy side of Nikolai when he is under his privateer persona. Patrick Gibson, who plays Nikolai, said he also found it “hard to let go of Sturmhond” this season. “I had so much fun exploring the differences and the similarities between those two characters and finding that line where Nikolai starts and Sturmhond ends,” Gibson told reporters. But even after Nikolai sheds his alter ego, Gibson enjoyed finding ways of “bringing little elements of Sturmhond into Nikolai as he starts to own his power a little bit.”

In the books, Sturmhond’s royalty reveal isn’t the end of the privateer’s saga. Shadow and Bone’s final chapter sees Nikolai rise to the Ravkan crown, but he does not retire from his Sturmhond avatar, and even appears to be back in the Crows’ shoes. Crooked Kingdom. The Netflix series takes a major departure from the books here: Shadow and Bone season 2 ends with Nikolai ascending to the throne, yes, but also finds him passing off the Sturmhond identity entirely to Archie Renaux’s Mal.

Image courtesy of Netflix

Readers were surprised to learn that Sturmhond revealed his princely identity too soon. However, Mal’s transformation into Sturmhond was likely enough to give fans an emotional shock to reset their hearts. It is quite a departure from the Shadow and Bone Trilogy’s ending where Alina and Mal settled in the countryside and lived happily ever thereafter. But showrunner Eric Heisserer sees the Sturmhond change as a felicitous way to set up both Nikolai’s next challenges as king of Ravka and Mal’s exploration of identity after the revelation he was — and is no longer — the third of Morozova’s amplifiers.

For his entire life, Mal never questioned that his place was by Alina’s side. Mal was driven by the desire to help Alina, even if that meant giving up his life. But after Alina destroys the Fold and he’s resurrected without his amplifier abilities, Mal finds he’s “lost his identity,” Heisserer told Polygon. “He realized that he had something that he was destined for, and fulfilled that role and had an emptiness of purpose that he needed to fill. We did everything we could to show his passion for ocean travel and for Hummingbird and Volkvolny over the course the season. So for him to have the opportunity to step into that and take on this role, we thought it was fitting and gave Mal a new dimension to explore and an ability for him to get comfortable with who he is before he decides to come back and pursue Alina.”

You did read it correctly. NaturallyMal will someday return to Alina. Both are endgame canonically! Jessie Mei Li plays Alina and loves the fact that they get this extra time before the happy ending. Li sees this as proof of how “healthy” their relationship is. “It reminds me of a childhood romance of my own. You know, that person that you care so much about, but you do go your separate ways and you need to come back together when you choose to be together,” Li shared with reporters. “I thought it was incredibly mature and a really great choice from the writers. […] It’s so exciting to think of Mal as having his own trajectory, his own story, so that we see more of him outside of Alina, because he’s such a great character.”

And as for Nikolai, Heisserer did say the king had to “[retire]The identity of Sturmhond at least for the foreseeable future” [emphasis our own]. So we’ll continue to hold on to our dream of seeing Nikolai in the privateer regalia again, this time once Mal is the one ready to shed a persona and embrace his true identity — one that will bring him right back to Alina’s side.

Petrana Radulovic also reports.