1 The Darkling
The Darkling is the primary antagonist of the series, but he is considered the most powerful Grisha of all. As a Shadow Summoner, he can manipulate darkness to create solid objects and creatures.
Jessie Mei Li
Meet the Sun Summoner who has brought us all together. At the start of Shadow and Bone, Alina is an orphan and simple cartographer in Ravka's First Army. Then a volcra attempts to separate her and her best friend/love interest Mal, forcing Alina to unleash her long-hidden abilities.
The two go to find the stag before the Darkling can and grow close again before confessing their love for each other. Alina gets Mal to promise to her that he should kill her if they are about to be captured by The Darkling, as she does not wish for her powers to be used against her will.
The Corporalki are considered the most valuable soldiers, and consequently, they are the highest ranking Grisha. A Corporalki Heartrender can snatch the air from your lungs, slow your pulse until you drop into a coma, or literally crush your heart in your chest—all without ever laying a finger on you.
Shadow and Bone's Kaz Brekker hates rival crime boss Pekka Rollins, and the Six of Crows novels explain his vendetta.
Alina and the Darkling kiss, with him making the first move in the novel and her making the first move on the show. But then she finds out he's actually using her to gain control of the Fold and rule the country, so she flees. Despite his nefarious plans, it is thought the Darkling did love Alina.
He sees her strong desire to belong and to find herself and it reminds him of himself. 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.
Did he have true feelings for Alina? Yes.
Ivan is a gay character from Shadow and Bone.
General Kirigan / The Darkling
The villain of Shadow and Bone seasons one and two is the Darkling, the former commander of the Second Army. He is a Shadow Summoner, and the creator of the Shadow Fold. He was born centuries ago and his mom is Baghra (see below).
Kaz Brekker/Rietveld, also known as Dirtyhands, is a 17-year-old master thief with a reputation for doing anything for the right price.
Zoya is well known and considered to be a powerful witch by the drüskelle. Zoya later gained the abilities of all Etherealki and also demonstrated passable skill as a Fabrikator. After bonding with Juris, Zoya can shapeshift into a dragon. Zoya is fluent in Kerch, Shu and Suli in addition to her native Ravkan.
As skilled as Alina is, though, the Darkling has to place higher than her in terms of power rankings once you take a look at everything he was capable of across the Grishaverse books.
Kaz is not Grisha, nor is he a soldier, an assassin, a spy, or a sharpshooter — he's a club owner with a sharp sense of style and a trademark cane in the shape of a crow. But he is still Shadow and Bone's most dangerous player.
Rather than raping or assaulting women, the Darkling tricks Alina into falling in love with him, his goal being to take Alina's power for himself and effectively enslave her.
The Darkling had a very difficult relationship with his mother, Baghra. She told Alina that Grisha used to be heavily persecuted even in Ravka and she was always shunned for being able to summon darkness, which was an extremely rare power, and never wanted her son to suffer as she did.
Mal was oblivious to Alina's love from before book one even began. He slept with Zoya and countless others before he realised who was waiting by his back door.
Dead: Aleksander Morozova (The Darkling)
The Darkling could only watch in awe as Alina cleared the darkness. In the end, he is killed by the blade of Neshyenyer by Alina as he reminisced on his one peaceful moment.
Barnes explained to Deadline that his character really does have feelings for Alina, and when he loses her, his army, and his palace everything “brews into this storm.” Not only is he tormented, but he's also angry about losing everything he had, and as the actor behind him said, The Darkling has “gone off” which is ...
Packed in there are so many couples: Jesper and Wylan, Nina and Matthias, Genya and David, of course Mal and Alina (and perhaps briefly Alina and Nikolai), and Kaz and Inej, though their relationship is less straightforward than the others.
Kaz slowly realizes his romantic feelings for Inej but tries to suppress them, viewing them as a weakness or a liability for both himself and Inej. Inej is also the one to pull Kaz out of his panic attacks.
Early in the duology, Jesper harbors a crush on Kaz, which he commiserates with Inej about and which Kaz does not return. He is also occasionally jealous of Inej's close relationship with Kaz. Jesper is often angry with Kaz for leaving him out of the loop and refusing to tell him vital information.