With the release of Shadow and Bone on Netflix, fans the world-over are being introduced to the Grishaverse – and with it a lot of new terminology and characters with which they may be unfamiliar. A major component of Shadow and Bone is the Shadow Fold, which serves as an antagonistic object of sorts that drives a lot of the plot through the first season of the series. The show is based on a trilogy of books by author Leigh Bardugo, so there are answers there for those who have read them, but for those being introduced to Shadow and Bone for the first time, the Shadow Fold may come off as a little, well, confusing.
Fear not! We have answers. And not just answers, but interpretations as to whether the Fold was created on purpose or by accident by one of the stars of the series – but we’ll save that spoilery portion until a bit later. Up first, let’s get into the basics.
What Is the Fold?
The Shadow Fold is an area in the geography of the world of Shadow and Bone that is incredibly dangerous, and through which only few travel. It splits the country of Ravka in half, which has left one side of the country in dire need of supplies and food while the other half flourishes. Travel through the Fold is not only tricky, it’s deadly – many who go in never come out. Why? Because it’s inhabited by ghastly creatures who thrive on darkness and kill anyone they see.
How Do You Get Across the Fold?
Travel through the Fold is usually by a boat, even though the Fold does not contain water – it’s on top of a sand-like substance. These boats are control by Grisha – or magic-folk – who have the power to manipulate the wind. While traveling, one must stay in total darkness. If one of the Fold’s creatures sees a light, it will pounce and kill in an instant.
Why Don’t People Just Go Around the Fold?
Going around the Fold is just as dangerous for the people of Ravka. To the North is the country of Fjerda, whose inhabitants believe Grisha are witches and should be hunted and killed. To the south is the country of Shu Han, which also has an antagonistic stance towards Ravka. So those in Ravka are mostly stuck unless they’re willing to risk crossing the Fold straight through.
Who Created the Fold?
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Shadow and Bone Season 1.]
Here’s where we get into spoiler territory. From here on out, if you haven’t finished Shadow and Bone Season 1, turn back.
So who created the Fold? As foretold in the beginning of the series it was the Darkling, a Shadow Summoner (a Grisha with the ability to conjure darkness) from the bloodline of the Bonesmith, a Grisha with immense power who wielded it for his own gain. This Darkling created the Shadow Fold.
But what we don’t learn until halfway through the season is that Ben Barnes’ character General Kirigan is actually the Darkling. He’s been alive for centuries, waiting for the Sun Summoner to arrive so he can bend the Fold to his will. And he created the Fold all those years ago.
How Did the Darkling Create the Fold?
As revealed in a flashback in Episode 7 of the series, the Darkling created the Fold when he was cornered by the King’s men. He had already made an enemy of the King, who was afraid of the Darkling’s power and was now hunting down and rounding up Grisha. After the Darkling’s partner is killed before he eyes, he returns home to discover that his life, his mother’s life, and his fellow Grisha’s lives are all in danger. He decides to read from ancient texts used by the Bonesmith to create an army, and attempts to turn the King’s men into his own army that he can control. But the spell is botched, and the Shadow Fold erupts from his back. The men, meanwhile, are transformed into the ghastly creatures who inhabit the Fold and make it so dangerous for crossing.
Did the Darkling Mean to Create the Fold?
The big question is whether the Darkling meant to create the Fold way back when, or if it was an accident. Collider’s own Christina Radish posed this question to Ben Barnes during an interview for Shadow and Bone, and he revealed that he has his own interpretation that may differ from that of Bardugo's and showrunner Eric Heisserer's:
“I actually don’t even know if the showrunner, the author and myself agree on the answer to this. No one has asked me that question. That’s a brilliant question, actually. There was a line that was actually cut from that ‘Make me a villain’ scene. She originally said, in the first cut of the scene, ‘You did the Fold.’ I said ‘It was a mistake.’ And she said, ‘That was no mistake.’ He had this intent to use the magic of the world. The small science is what we see the Grisha use, but there is actual magic in the world too. It drains you and feeds on you, but it allows you to do things that are unnatural. He plans to use that to create an army. He goes from rebel leader trying to fight the good fight, to trying to abuse this power that he has to create an army.”
Barnes maintains that the Darkling did not mean to create the Fold:
“That is his first mistake, but I don’t think he means to create the Fold or the monsters or the demons in it, and I don’t think it really works in the way he thinks it’s going to. I don’t think he meant for what happened to happen. I see it almost like this big hormonal rush that just overwhelmed him and literally bursts out of him and creates this thing. He’s fascinated by the fact that he was able to do this. He realizes that he’s powerful beyond measure, at that point, and that gives him a change of course of ambition and he realizes that he might try to do things a different way, which is a less noble way. His pursuits are the same and his agenda is the same, which is to protect his own and make sure there’s not a war. But instead of doing it nobly, he thinks that the best way do that is by making himself all powerful through the politics of fear.”
So the Darkling created the Fold, and by the end of the season he has merged his powers with Alina’s (Jessie Mei Li) to help him control it – expanding and contracting it at his will. And while Alina sidelines him for the time-being, the last shot we see of the series is the Darkling walking out of the Fold with the creatures at his side, controlling them outside his own creation.