The Grishaverse—the encyclopedic fantasy series written by Leigh Bardugo, including the first book and title of the Netflix adaptation, Shadow and Bone—draws mostly from European and Asian history. Though the franchise includes several nation states, so far in the Netflix series we’ve been introduced to just three: Ravka, Fjerda, and Shu Han. The series protagonist, Alina Starkov, we are told, was born in the border regions of Shu Han and Ravka and is herself part Shu. In the book series, however, Alina was full Ravkan, Ravka being the Grishaverse’s stand-in for Czarist Russia. (Though, Ravka was also inspired by 16th century Amsterdam, Bardugo has said.) The Ravkan language appears to have many Russian cognates and spelling similarities. The name “Starko… Click below to read the full story from Men’s Health
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What to Know About the Shu Han From Netflix’s Shadow and Bone
