Shadow and Bone’s most legendary and deepest friendship and connection are that of Alina and Mal: ​​the love between the two makes them put their lives at risk for each other on more than one occasion, but that doesn’t mean that Alina doesn’t have any friends beyond Mal.

The Summoner of the Sun creates close ties with others such as Aleksander Kirigan (the Dark General) and Genya. However, * spoiler alert * they both betray trust horribly. However, while Alina is determined never to forgive the General – her relationship with Genya may not be totally fractured.

Genya Safin, the queen’s experienced Grisha corporalki and maker, becomes Alina’s first friend, accomplice, and confidant, once she begins her Sun Summoner training in the Little Palace.

Their connection is immediate from the beginning, and she seems to be the only one with whom Alina can be totally honest about how much she misses Mal and everything she is experiencing in this new phase of her life as a Grisha and savior.

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The comforting feeling of having Genya in her life is intensified when General Kirigan betrays Alina and shows true dark intentions. The Summoner of the Sun has a small ray of light when Genya visits and hugs her. Finally, she feels the comfort of a friendly face after feeling totally abandoned and naive.

However, the moment of calm does not last long, as Alina realizes that Genya also betrayed her trust: she lied to her, served as a spy for General Kirigan, never sent the letters she wrote to Mal, and is even responsible for poisoning the King.

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Anger takes hold of her, and the complaints begin. Genya fights back and reminds her that she warned her to be careful around powerful men. Alina considers that said warning must have included Genya as well and claims that she had attacked the King’s health. It is right there when the audience and Alina begin to understand Genya’s motivations.

The gray dressmaker admits she had no other choice. Her life story forced her to choose survival before friendship, which, she did not expect, would become as deep as the one she created with Alina. Tired of fighting against the terrible abuses of the King and achieving nothing, she preferred to wait and take advantage of the perfect moment to free her from this violence.

When Alina discovers this terrible truth, her anger dissipates, and she is even shocked and saddened by the abuse her friend suffered. She understands that the King deserves what he is suffering and forgives the fact that Genya has poisoned him.

Knowing Genya’s sad truth and her motivations also seem to help Alina understand why her friend gave in to Killigan’s orders: finally doing what he asked of her was a way to achieve her revenge against the King.

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In the first season, we no longer see Genya interact with Alina. However, thanks to the fact that Shadow and Bone is based on the books by Leigh Bardugo we know that these two powerful grishas will meet again.

Despite this minor altercation in their relationship and the fact that Genya remains on the Dark General’s side, their friendship will figure as their lifeline at crucial moments. Genya will have a chance to redeem herself with Alina, and luckily, she won’t fail at it, even if it means betraying Kirigan, aka The Darkling.

Image Source: IMDb