The Most Tragic ‘Shadow and Bone’ Character Was Barely Developed

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• Shadow and Bone largely ignores Genya’s dark and tragic backstory in favor of the action, but this is a disservice to Genya’s character.
• The show changes Genya’s story, refocusing on her relationship with David rather than her personal trauma and rebellion.
• The lack of focus on Genya’s history denies the opportunity to explore the complexity and darkness of the fictional world.

Shadow and Bone adapts Leigh Bardugo‘s books, delivering a story of magic, greed, personal growth, and romance. Though the story takes audiences through a unique fantasy world, the thing the show does best is the characters. Combining two of Bardugo’s series, the show has even more characters to work with, leaving it full of interesting characters, including the religious criminal Inej (Amita Suman), the prince-turned-privateer Nikolai (Patrick Gibson), the immortal Darkling (Ben Barnes), and so many more. Yet, with all the fascinating people in the story, many don’t get the time they deserve. In fact, the show sidelines one of the deepest and most tragic stories in the series. Genya Safin (Daisy Head) plays a pivotal role, but her dark history is brushed over in favor of the action. It is understandable with so much going on, but this denies Genya her journey, which exposes the worst of this fictional world.

While war rages in the fictional country of Ravka, the heroes fight the Darkling’s army of shadowy nichevo’ya that he created with merzost, Genya struggles to overcome more personal demons. Introduced in Season 1, Genya is in the worst situation throughout the series, but she is kind to Alina (Jessie Mei Li) when others resent her. From the time she was young, Genya was used and manipulated by everyone given power over her and rejected from the Grisha society. This history is established in the series, but it doesn’t explore the lasting impact on her. While it depicts her escape, Genya’s journey of rejection, abuse, self-hate, and healing is rushed, leaving the character’s arc to feel incomplete. Her story is also combined with her romance with David Kostyk (Luke Pasqualino), which becomes a driving force for her, making her character less independent than in the books. While Season 1 explores the beginnings of Genya’s story, Season 2 fails to develop her character and personal trauma.

What Is Genya’s Story in ‘Shadow and Bone’?

Genya’s dark history began as a child. While many Grisha are Corporalki, meaning they can manipulate the human body, Genya is unique. While most learn to stop a heart and inflict pain helpful in war or to heal, Genya’s skills lay in altering appearances. As such, she was known for her beauty even as a child. In an early example of the Darkling’s evilness, he used his power as the leader of the Grisha army to give Genya to Ravka’s Queen Tatiana (Georgia Reece), who used the child’s powers to remain beautiful. Because of her position as a servant, Genya was shunned by the other Grisha, who held some level of respect due to their work in the army. The general dislike for Grisha separated her from the other servants, leaving her to be a lonely child. But that isn’t the worst thing she endured. As she grew, Genya became more beautiful, attracting King Pyotr’s (David Verrey) attention. For years, he sexually assaulted her, which became an open secret throughout the palace. Whispers followed Genya, and Queen Tatiana resented her. Throughout this time, the Darkling used her as his spy, promising to bring her back to the Grisha when he could while doing nothing to solve the problem.

Genya believes she owes the Darkling, and at his request, she spied on Alina in Season 1, hiding the letters from Mal (Archie Renaux) to drive her toward the Darkling. Though she and Aline become friends, Genya remains apart from the Grisha. Genya warns Alina to be wary of powerful men, a lesson she learned through experience. But it all seems to end for Genya when she finally receives a kefta at the end of Season 1 after King Pyotr has fallen mysteriously ill. Alina pieces together that Genya poisoned the king for the Darkling. Though hurt by her friend’s betrayal, Alina understands why Genya did what she did but insists that the Darkling doesn’t deserve her loyalty, yet Genya is not swayed. She mistakenly trusts him, claiming he saved her when the situation was of the Darkling’s making. Genya’s story serves as an early warning of the Darkling’s true nature, and she and Alina share a rare understanding of each other as his victims. Genya’s story is undoubtedly the darkest. While Kaz (Freddy Carter), Inej, and even the Darkling have faced pain and loss, none have endured the years of abuse Genya was forced to. Season 1 sets up Genya’s history as it is still going on, but the show doesn’t depict the lasting impact on Genya.

How Does ‘Shadow and Bone’ Change Genya’s Story?

As the show combines books for Season 2, the story moves more quickly, but the speed isn’t the biggest change in Genya’s story. While she starts still loyal to the Darkling in both versions, the show has her slowly realize the truth while working as a personal healer and seeing his ruthless tendencies. Meanwhile, she searches for David among the gathering Grisha. When she finds him, David sees the Darkling for what he is, and they plan to run away, but Genya is caught. She spends time as the Darkling’s prisoner, tortured by the nichevo’ya for her attempt to run and for David’s escape. Yet the books show her tortured for sparing Alina. This slight change takes away from her relationship with Alina, and it removes Genya’s agency. While the books have her own act of defiance cause the Darkling’s wrath, the show connects it to her relationship with David. Genya isn’t exactly passive as she attempts to escape and sacrifices herself to save David, but the change is significant.

When she escapes with Baghra (Zoë Wanamaker), Genya reunites with both Alina and David, but she faces punishment for poisoning the king. In the books, the king threatens to punish her, while in the show, he has already been killed, and the queen and Prince Nikolai accuse her. Not facing her attacker is a large change, cutting one of the character’s significant emotional beats. Yet in the book and show alike, Genya reveals that she poisoned the king by putting the substance on her own body, passing it to him slowly through the unwanted attention he gave her. This explanation frees her of any crime and, in the book, relieves the king of his power. Having the king dead when Genya returns minimizes the danger of her actions, yet this scene does highlight Genya’s story briefly, though it is over far too fast. Genya’s trauma continues throughout the books as she comes to terms with her scarred face after the Darkling takes away the one thing she’s always had. Though her relationship with David is a source of healing in the books, the show relies too much on his compliments rather than the time Genya needs to accept her title as Razrusha’ya, meaning the ruined. While most celebrate the end of the war, Genya is left mourning David, whose death was added to the show. The show focused on the relationship between Genya and David at the expense of the rest of Genya’s story. The show’s lack of time dedicated to Genya’s history is unfortunate, as it proves that the Darkling is far from the only evil in the world, and with Shadow and Bone‘s untimely cancelation, it will never have the chance.

Shadow and Bone Season 2 is available to watch now on Netflix in the U.S.

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