(x, x, x)

1. Yeah, and then they just dissolve to make more space for the Avatar.

Unless it's about Tailoring. That one makes the transformation from unique skill to "Everyone and their mother does it!" by the second book...

2. Something something that makes things something... I'm glad we got much better science teachers back in school. Also- no wonder the science of Grishaverse is as wonky as it is.

3. Fascinating. First in R&R Ilya puts back together a dead body as if it were a jigsaw puzzle, AND revives it. (Alright, a very fine fusion of clearly cut parts plus the "unnatural" magic. He already worked with living tissue before playing doctor.)

Then some flying lizard preaches about Grisha limiting themselves by such division as if it didn't really exist for anyone.

Hi! I’ve been thinking a lot about the Grishaverse lately, especially its worldbuilding and magic system—and I’ve come to realize something that I both love and struggle with.

The idea of “Small Science” is incredibly compelling to me, mainly due to its scientific roots and it basically consisting in atoms manipulation. That concept is one of the things that drew me in the first place. But as the story progressed, i felt that the system doesn’t always stay consistent with that core idea (especially in the last duology). At times it feels grounded and rule-based, and at others it drifts into something much softer, where the initial rules do not exist (for example wearing multiple amplifiers) and magic starts to feel more like… well, magic.

This isn’t a criticism so much as an observation from someone who really enjoys digging into systems and structure. So, partly for fun and partly for my own sanity, I’ve started working on a small personal reference/headcanon book where I try to “make it make sense”.

If you’ve ever noticed inconsistencies, had your own interpretations/headcanons, or even come up with “fixes” in your head, I’d genuinely love to hear them. What would you change, clarify, or expand?

I was thinking about how ridiculously undeveloped the "small science" is. First of all, if Grisha can only manipulate existing elements, what the hell is shadow summoning supposed to be? Shadow is not an element; it's just the absence of light. Dark matter? It looks dark exactly because it doesn't interact with light, so all that glorified sun summoning would be absolutely useless against it (the closest thing I can think of as a counterpart for dark matter is dark energy, which is certainly not light)

Black holes? They are black because gravity there is too strong for light to escape. Actually, a black hole is what happens when a particularly massive star dies, and that would be a beautiful metaphor to explore, but alas, we are stuck with the "light is nice, dark is eeehvul!" type of mentality. So, places are dark because there is no light, and the problem ceases to exist as long as light appears (which means the Shadow Fold should disappear on its own on a sunny day), or they are dark because light is powerless there. So Alina being some valiant fighter against darkness is scientifically ridiculous. What is she even fighting?

The extent of her power is also unexplored from a scientific point of view. Apart from cutting someone in half and blinding them, which are rather trivial and obvious ways to use light, you can create radioactive exposure or use elaborate illusions.

this theory goes against the regular Grisha power "inheritance" rules (if you're Grisha, one of your parents was the same type as you), but I don't care, bc neither Alina nor Aleksander were really "normal". & that shit w/Zoya & Juris still makes me salty (no spoilers though), OP ugh.

ANYWAY--

imagine the Darklina kid having the power of gravity, kinetic energy, or merzost itself (w/o the harmful effects). let me explain.

gravity is unseen. stars are basically just balls of plasma held together by gravity & a lot of movements/phenomena we study concerning outer space is thanks to the gravitational pull of a star on other stuff. also, Aleks controls the unseen, in a way.

kinetic energy = movement in general. Gambit/Remy LeBeau from the X-Men (Marvel Comics) controls this, so he can make objects spontaneously combust OR slow things down. cue the ultimate form of Etherealki!!

merzost is, in short, forbidden magic that everyone finds unpredictable & costly. but Ilya Morozova had a pretty good handle on it. he was able to resurrect his daughter using it & his exposure to it altered his blood/DNA/whatever enough to give his descendants a new Grisha power (IDK why HE didn't become a Shadow Summoner). so a merzost Grisha might be an advanced Healer, able to completely resurrect & reconstitute people. maybe they could speak to spirits. tbh merzost is just witchy jurda parem.

I've seen lots of fics about the Reader being a "Star Summoner" or a "Moon Summoner"...if you use these ideas, please tag/credit me! I'd love to see your take on these--

(see my previous book-based complaints here)

I think this quote was what really set me off:

“It’s not magic. It’s science. Or rather, Small Science. We do not conjure from nothing. We manipulate that which already exists around us” (S1:E3, 11:53-12:04).

My first reaction was “oh shit, if the Darkling is applying this to light then he has no fucking idea about how photons work, huh.” Not that I expect people in real life to know how photons work off the top of their heads, but I don’t like the Darkling or his methods, so I’m allowing myself to hold him to unreasonable standards in retaliation. Anyway.

I was getting confused because as far as I have been taught, photons (which make up light) are massless, and Grisha power seems to depend on having something to manipulate - which... implies mass??? I think??? Since Alina at least has some kind of particle to theoretically manipulate as a Sun Summoner, even if it is massless, I was willing to give her a pass, but the Darkling doesn’t get that because a) I personally think he’s annoying and b) shadows aren’t tangible and they don’t have a corresponding particle, so what the fuck is he manipulating?

In my last post about this, I figured maybe he was banishing photons, but the more I think about it the more I think that doesn’t really work. Darkness can be defined as an absence of light, and the most logical way to achieve darkness in physics terms is to absorb photons. 

I’m starting to wonder if “shadow summoning” is just the in-universe rationalization for the Darkling’s ability to manipulate some unknown substance that completely absorbs photons. But then the question becomes... what is it? It can’t be darkness itself because there is no matter to an absence of light, but what the hell is this perfectly photon-absorbent, easily accessible substance?

The Darkling’s summoned shadows appear almost completely dark and sort of fluid, which almost makes me wonder if it’s just really dense air? Like how planets with thick, dense atmospheres will block a lot of the light trying to travel to the surface? I feel like this doesn’t work and the reason is probably because of something I haven’t learned yet, but it would be incredibly funny if the Darkling was just a really specialized Squaller and just let everyone think his bloodline was entirely unique.

Or maybe the darkness comes from ash or something, maybe a byproduct of Inferni’s combustion? They have to summon combustible material to set on fire, so something is burning, and they never tell us what the initial combustible materials or byproducts are. If there were a byproduct, it would be readily available in places where a lot of Inferni used their powers. The problem with that is that I think Inferni tend to use combustible gases in the atmosphere, since we never see anything visible, and that wouldn’t produce ash.

I guess a third option could be that he’s manipulating light/photons at frequencies that humans can’t see and therefore they appear dark, but that doesn’t explain how they would absorb other photons. Plus, I’m basing that off of two physics classes and some Wikipedia skimming, so who knows if that even makes sense. It probably doesn’t.

Basically, I have concluded that I have no fucking idea what the Darkling’s “shadows” are actually made of, especially since in this gif they seem a little bit iridescent? Which means they might be reflecting some light instead of absorbing it all?? And the Fold looks grey in some light, not black??? I have so many questions.