Yes, in Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone books, Alina and Mal end up together, finding a private happy ending by faking their deaths, marrying, and running the orphanage where they grew up in Keramzin, away from the magic and war. In the Netflix series, their journey is left more open-ended after Season 2, with Mal leaving to find himself, though the show generally aligns with them reuniting eventually in the books' spirit.
Tolya and Tamar Kir-Bataar manage to save Mal. However, Alina has lost her power. She fakes her death, sealing her legacy as Sankta Alina, the Sun Saint, and claims a new identity. She and Mal marry and rebuild the orphanage at Keramzin, which was destroyed by the Darkling.
They slept together in the second book. When Alina was back in the little palace.
Mal and Alina were growing apart and they were growing apart rapidly. Mal wanted Alina to be the same girl she was before she entered the fold and that in itself is unfair to her. Alina grew throughout the entire trilogy.
In Leigh Bardugo's books, the answer is yes, they end up together. At the end of Ruin and Rising, Tolya and Tamar Kir-Bataar bring Mal back to life and Alina loses her power.
The only real difference in behaviour is that Mal doesn't sleep with Zoya when they meet in the first episode (episode 1 minute 17:59), which we are told that he does in the book. 5.
While his desire for Alina is not a healthy one and is obsessive, he truly does develop feelings for her. She is the one person who can bring balance to his life. The one person who will understand the weight of eternity and never leave him behind.
Despite his nefarious plans, it is thought the Darkling did love Alina. However, Alina ends up killing him at the end of Ruin and Rising. Alina and Nikolai Lantsov: In Siege and Storm, despite fleeing together, Mal and Alina begin to drift apart. Enter Nikolai Lantsov, younger son of the King of Ravka.
Is Mal a Grisha? While Mal is not a Grisha, he does have magical powers, which are revealed in Ruin and Rising. Mal is a human amplifier, which means a Grisha can use his powers to enhance their own.
Alina breaks free, leaps out of the ship, saves Mal, and destroys the ship. The book ends with Mal and Alina taking passage across the True Sea, escaping from Ravka and the Darkling.
Four months after Alina Starkov discovers she's pregnant, the father of her unborn child finds her hiding place.
In the end, Zoya realized and burned his body, but his spirit managed to flee and introduced itself in Yuri Vedenen's body while he was unconscious and thus the Darkling came back to life. Nikolai and Zoya bound his hands and took him back with them to the palace.
Zoya later expresses that she wish she said yes to him, especially because they are about to go into a battle that could kill them both. They both survive, and a few days later, Zoya admits to Nikolai that she loves him. The two begin a romantic relationship after that.
Following its success, Netflix renewed the show for a second season, which premiered on March 16, 2023, and adapted Siege and Storm (2013), Ruin and Rising (2014), and parts of Crooked Kingdom (2016). Despite growing fan support, Shadow and Bone was canceled after two seasons in November 2023.
After Alina harnesses the firebird power, she enlists Heartrender Nina (Danielle Galligan) to help heal Mal, who's, you know, dead. This means he's beyond healing, so Alina uses the unpredictable and powerful form of magic known as merzost to resurrect her love.
Type of Villain
Aleksander Morozava, also known as the Darkling or General Kirigan is the main antagonist of the Shadow and Bone book series and its 2021 Netflix adaptation of the same name, serving as the main antagonist of both seasons.
Squallers: Suborder of Grisha who can manipulate wind. Sun Summoners: A suborder of Grisha who can manipulate light. These are the rarest type of Grisha, which is why Alina (Jessie Mei Li) is so important.
But in Ruin and Rising, Mal cannot deny his love for Alina, making the ultimate sacrifice at the end by giving his life so that Alina can use his amplifier powers to stop the Darkling. Thankfully, he is healed, and he and Alina live happily ever after, running a Grisha orphanage.
Powers & Abilities
Spell Casting: Mal is able to change and control events through the use of incantations and recitations, which either she creates or comes from her mother's old book. Potion Making: Mal is able to brew and concoct paranormal potions with supernatural effects.
In Leigh Bardugo's novel, Kirigan (Ben Barnes) stuns Alina (Jessie Mei Li) with an unexpected first kiss. Later, after they demonstrate Alina's abilities to the king's court, the two passionately make out and the narrative suggests they come very close to having sex before they're interrupted.
Ulla is a half-sildroher songcaster and the Darkling's half-sister by their mother, Baghra. Ulla is revered by humans as Sankta Ursula of the Waves.
Unfortunately, he also uses that as a means of manipulating the much younger and naive Alina, seducing her in order to gain control. In the books, the Darkling is the aggressor and their first kiss is initiated by him without her consent.
Nikolai asks Alina to return with him to Ravka and help him to defeat the Darkling. He also proposes marriage to her, suggesting that such an alliance would make both of them stronger and allow them to unite the First and Second Armies against the Darkling.
In the books Aleksander was regularly called the Darkling, but in the show, it was changed to General Kirigan.
Alina is automatically powerful just by being the Sun Summor. She destroyed the Fold, which was with the help of three amplifiers. Because of those amplifiers, she is in third place. Coming in at number two, we have the Darkling.