How do you feel about the ending for Zoya and Nikolai? I can't imagine the people truly accepting Zoya as their queen, though I love the idea of her ruling. And I do like Nikolai going back to privateering. It feels fitting for him?
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
im glad u asked !!
first of all I think there was a TON of foreshadowing for this exact ending. in tgt and kos zoya was described as “saintly” and referred to as a “queen” multiple times:
“Toss him over,” Zoya said. “Break his heart cruelly. I will gladly give our poor prince comfort, and I would make a magnificent queen.”
“Zoya was not kind and she was not easy. But she was already a queen”
“What is a mortal king to a queen who can summon storms?”
and for nikolai:
““Lay down the thorn, boy king. Haven’t you earned a bit of rest? Aren’t you tired?'He was. Saints, he was. He thought he had grown used to his scars, but he had never grasped how much of his will it would take to hide them. He had fought and sacrificed and bled. He had gone long days without rest and long nights without comfort. All for Ravka, all for an ideal he would never attain and a country that would never care.”
boiled down to it....zoya was always going to be a queen. nikolai is all strategy and charm, and yes he made a good king, but even we felt like it was too good to be true. and all in all while he was a soldier and always desired the throne, I think he was too much for ravka more than ravka was too much for him. maybe it was recklessness, maybe it was his age or his trauma but I doubt ravka was ready for nikolai, but it was made for zoya. nikolai selling his inventions left and right, pleasing peasants while pissing off nobles, creating ties only to turn around and break them...in a way, he needed restraining, and as a king, no one could restrain him.
zoya is more clearheaded. the only real fatal flaw i would attribute to her would be her rage. but unlike nikolai, zoya isn’t taking on the throne as a rage filled girl fresh from the war. she maintains her anger, wears it like armor, but she is guided by juris, the dragon, and the ancient knowledge that live in her head. and if anyone thought she lacked empathy...well that was solved too. hard not to feel someone’s pain when you can quite literally feel it.
I don’t think the people have much of a choice honestly? I feel like in order to please everyone, she can please no one, and vice versa. she fits into all tje categories. she fits into none. she is a soldier, she is a grisha. she is ravkan and suli. she is saint and girl. and honestly she is exactly what ravka needs.
plus...would you challenge a dragon sitting on you country’s throne? cuz like...personally...i wouldn’t
NIKOLAI PRIVATEERING !!! I REPEAT NIKOLAI PRIVATEERING !!
ok first of all we know his place is beside zoya, but that he would become sturmhond again, if only on occasion makes me so happy!! he was always happier at sea, and you can tell the way he flipped with alina in tgt and the same with zoya in row. its like when he’s on his ship, there’s less weight on his shoulders and like...he just generates so much more happy energy?? he’s known for optimism and cracking jokes but I honestly think he’s happier at sea!
other than that....zoyalai in my mind rent free 🥺🥺🥺 thank you leigh for not killing them not forgiving u for david tho
