King of Scars

“Tales of witches and wonderous happenings, warnings about cursed places—they were signposts to things that ordinary people didn’t understand […] But sometimes there were Grisha hiding in these places, disguising their powers, living in fear. Grisha they could help.”

Traditionally, the unknown and misunderstood is explained by magic. In a country like Fjerda where Grisha are hunted, any supernatural acts are seen as witchcraft or miracles. Nina sees these acts for what they are: Grisha using their powers. Following the tales of superstition will lead them to Grisha they can rescue.

“He’d come to recognize the bizarre phenomenon of Zoya’s beauty, the way men loved to create stories around it. They said she was cruel because she’d been harmed in the past […] Anything to soften her edges and sweeten her disposition […] Zoya’s company was like strong drink. Bracing—and best to abstain if you couldn’t handle the kick.”

Zoya’s beauty is mentioned several times throughout the story as one of her defining features. It plays a part of her past when her mother tries to marry her off at a young age, but her aunt saves her and sends her to Grisha school instead. Her beauty makes Zoya extra guarded and abrasive—as suggested by the simile of a strong drink.

“There was something about this place—the soaring towers, the ancient wooden walls inlaid with mother-of-pearl and carved with every manner of flower and beast. He always felt he was traveling into foreign territory, leaving the new world behind for someplace where dark bargains might be struck.”

The description of the Little Palace foreshadows Elizaveta’s palace under the Unsea. Both feature soaring towers and contain flowers and beasts. While the Little Palace suggests a feeling of otherness, the Unsea palace forces Nikolai to really leave behind his world and enter a foreign territory to strike a dark bargain.

“‘We begin in darkness,’ he cried to the swaying crowd, ‘and it is to darkness we return. Where else are the rich man and the poor man made equal? Where else is someone judged for nothing but the purity of his soul?’”

Yuri’s mission is to have the Starless One recognized as a Saint. He persuades his working-class audience by appealing to their need for equality. His rhetoric unites politics and religion to a common cause, drawing the attention of both the king and the Apparat.

“This is not just where the Starless One passed from this life. It is a place of ancient power, the very place the Darkling first ruptured the world and created the Fold.”

The Fold, later the Unsea, is a sacred place. It’s coincidently the site of the Darkling’s death at the hands of Alina Starkov, the Sun Summoner. In ancient times, it was the site of the thorn wood and Sankt Feliks’s martyrdom. As the oldest of most sacred places, it’s where Nikolai can rid himself of the monster, and it’s the setting for the second half of the book.

“That's what the job requires, Zoya. Ruling is not just about military victories. It's not even about setting fair laws and seeing them enforced. It's about these moments, the men and women who choose to put their lives and livelihoods in our hands.”

King of Scars is rife with political views. Here, Nikolai explains his diplomacy. In an effort to create a better kingdom, he rules for the people. He cares about nothing else, and he only wants what’s best for his people.

“Unnatural, they called me. A woman's body is meant to be soft, but mine was hard. A lady is meant to take small, graceful steps, but I strode. I was a laughingstock.”

Fjerda is a misogynistic society where women are meant to be seen not heard. They are the property of their fathers and then their husbands. Hanne’s character highlights the sexist culture by opposing those preferred traits.

“No one knows what to do with a living Saint.”

A recurring image throughout the narrative are martyred Saints. Zoya points out that the Saint worshippers only profit after a Saint dies. They sell artifacts of bone and cloth that supposedly belonged to a Saint. Living Saints, on the other hand, draw less attention.

“‘Zoya, say something spiteful.’

‘Why?’ she asked faintly.

‘Because I’m fairly certain I’m hallucinating, and in my dreams you’re much nicer.’

‘You’re an idiot, Nikolai.’

‘Not your best work.’

‘I’m sorry I can’t deliver better wordplay right now. I seem to be paralyzed with fear.’”

Zoya and Nikolai share a strange relationship. While they could limit their exchanges to those of general and king, they are more intimate and constantly banter. Zoya always speaks informally to Nikolai, usually insulting him. Nikolai, likewise, treats her as an equal and fires back even in the face of fear.

“There was something wrong about the place. He saw no signs of life, no birds circling, no movement at the many windows, no figures crossing the countless bridges. It had the shape of a city, but it felt like a tomb.”

The imagery throughout the narrative is foreshadowing that sets the tone. Nikolai describes the Unsea palace as lifeless—a tomb. The three Saints have been entombed there for centuries. It could become Nikolai’s tomb, too, if the ritual fails.

“She knew the need that turned everything you’d ever cared for—friends, food, love—to ash, until all you could remember of yourself was the desire for the drug. The wasted body, the dark hollows beneath her eyes—this girl was addicted to parem. And that meant she must be Grisha.”

Addiction is a recurring motif, specifically addiction to drugs. In Fjerda, Grisha are intentionally addicted to parem to alter their powers. Nina, a victim of this herself, recognizes its power and the need to stop it.

“All of the rules the Grisha have created, that you live by, the colors you wear. You think you’ve been training to make yourself stronger, when really you’ve been training to limit your power.”

Juris wants Zoya to embrace her full Grisha potential. She is strong enough to harness more than wind if she just believes in herself and forgets everything she knows about Grisha power. This marks the beginning of Zoya’s transformation.

“‘Why do they stare so?’ he whispered. ‘What do they expect to see?’

‘You are no longer one man,’ said Tamar. ‘You are an army. You are the double eagle. You are all of Ravka. Of course people stare.’”

Isaak, as a mere palace guard, doesn’t comprehend the magnitude of kingship. While playing king, he learns that Nikolai represents more than himself. He is king, army, country—power and influence worthy of notice.

“We are all connected, King Nikolai. The Grisha, the Fold, the power inside you. The Fold is a wound that may never heal. But perhaps it was not meant to. Remember that when you face your trial.”

Grigori advises Nikolai that all things are connected. It’s no coincidence that the monster woke at the same time Ravka started experimenting with parem; the lure of power is strong, and the Fold symbolizes that power. Nikolai must resist that lure during his trial.

“Listening to you talk is like watching a sailor who knows the secret shape of a bay, all of the places where storms strike, and the rocky spots where ships run aground. You navigate these waters with such surety.”

Isaak admires Genya’s tactful political diplomacy. He would be lost without her, but his analogy paints a distinctive picture of confidence. This demonstrates the author’s artful use of imagery and description to emphasize character qualities.

“Are we not all things? They were words she remembered from long ago, from the writings of Ilya Morozova, one of the most powerful Grisha ever known. He had theorized that there should be no Grisha orders, no divisions between powers—if the science was small enough. If all matter could be broken down to the same small parts, then a talented enough Grisha should be able to manipulate those parts.”

Zoya realizes Juris is right. A talented Grisha, such as herself, can harness all the elements. If everything is connected and ultimately the same, she can manipulate anything—not just the wind. With this realization, Zoya advances toward her transformation.

“‘Would he not wish for a wife with whom he can discuss politics and matters of state?’

Brum sighed. ‘A man who spends all day handling the country’s business does not want to converse about such things with his wife. He wishes to be soothed, entertained, reminded of the gentler things in this world, the things we fight so hard to protect.’”

Jarl Brum epitomizes sexism. He urges his daughter to forget her studies and focus on becoming a proper lady who will attract a husband with her gentility. Brum is a product of his country’s patriarchal society.

“Nikolai had always understood that he and Ravka were the same. He just hadn’t understood how: He was not the crying child or even the drowning man. He was the forever soldier, eternally at war, unable to ever lay down his arms and heal.”

Several times throughout the story, Nikolai is compared to Ravka. They are the same, war torn and scarred. In this powerful moment, in the midst of his fight to kill the monster, Nikolai realizes he, like Ravka, will always be fighting for freedom. The monster will always be part of Nikolai just as Ravka will always have enemies.

“The doors to the ward slammed open, and the dead poured through. They moved with impossible speed, silent horrors, snatching the rifles from the Fjerdan soldiers even as they tried to open fire. Some were nearly whole. Others were nothing but bones and rags.”

Nina calls forth the dead women, murdered by the Wellmother and soldiers, to seek their revenge. The imagery enforces the horrific mood and fulfills Nina’s motivation—justice. It further shows the scope of the Wellmother’s crime.

“Stop punishing yourself for being someone with a heart. You cannot protect yourself from suffering. To live is to grieve. You are not protecting yourself by shutting yourself off from the world. You are limiting yourself.”

While Juris lies dying, Zoya refuses to lose him. He wants her to stop hiding from her feelings and embrace them. Guarding herself only limits her power. The metaphor emphasizes that real life has emotion; she can’t keep hiding from life. Juris encourages her to stop hiding and open the door to all the Grisha power within her.

“My king lies bleeding. I am his subject and his soldier, and I come to fight for him.”

After Zoya completes her transformation, she returns to defend Nikolai. Her challenging statement shows her loyalty. Tempted by ultimate power and a throne, Zoya humbles herself by claiming the status of subject and soldier. She will fight for Nikolai, not against him.

“They would build a new world together. But first they had to burn the old one down.”

Nina joins Hanne at the Ice Court. Together, they will fight Fjerdan patriarchy by infiltrating it’s ranks as model meek women. In order to change the culture, the old ways must first be extinguished.

“Nikolai rose, as if his wounds no longer pained him, as if the horrors of the last few days had never been, as if the demon inside him had been conquered after all.”

Ever the king, Nikolai puts aside his pain and exhaustion to stand strong in the face of opposition. His character arc is complete. He has accepted the monster within.