I just finished watching Shadow and Bone (finally!), which was fun and interesting as expected, but I am now back in Petty STEM Major Mode and it’s still because of how the Darkling describes his and Alina’s powers.
(see my previous book-based complaints here)
I think this quote was what really set me off:
“It’s not magic. It’s science. Or rather, Small Science. We do not conjure from nothing. We manipulate that which already exists around us” (S1:E3, 11:53-12:04).
My first reaction was “oh shit, if the Darkling is applying this to light then he has no fucking idea about how photons work, huh.” Not that I expect people in real life to know how photons work off the top of their heads, but I don’t like the Darkling or his methods, so I’m allowing myself to hold him to unreasonable standards in retaliation. Anyway.
I was getting confused because as far as I have been taught, photons (which make up light) are massless, and Grisha power seems to depend on having something to manipulate - which... implies mass??? I think??? Since Alina at least has some kind of particle to theoretically manipulate as a Sun Summoner, even if it is massless, I was willing to give her a pass, but the Darkling doesn’t get that because a) I personally think he’s annoying and b) shadows aren’t tangible and they don’t have a corresponding particle, so what the fuck is he manipulating?
In my last post about this, I figured maybe he was banishing photons, but the more I think about it the more I think that doesn’t really work. Darkness can be defined as an absence of light, and the most logical way to achieve darkness in physics terms is to absorb photons.
I’m starting to wonder if “shadow summoning” is just the in-universe rationalization for the Darkling’s ability to manipulate some unknown substance that completely absorbs photons. But then the question becomes... what is it? It can’t be darkness itself because there is no matter to an absence of light, but what the hell is this perfectly photon-absorbent, easily accessible substance?
The Darkling’s summoned shadows appear almost completely dark and sort of fluid, which almost makes me wonder if it’s just really dense air? Like how planets with thick, dense atmospheres will block a lot of the light trying to travel to the surface? I feel like this doesn’t work and the reason is probably because of something I haven’t learned yet, but it would be incredibly funny if the Darkling was just a really specialized Squaller and just let everyone think his bloodline was entirely unique.
Or maybe the darkness comes from ash or something, maybe a byproduct of Inferni’s combustion? They have to summon combustible material to set on fire, so something is burning, and they never tell us what the initial combustible materials or byproducts are. If there were a byproduct, it would be readily available in places where a lot of Inferni used their powers. The problem with that is that I think Inferni tend to use combustible gases in the atmosphere, since we never see anything visible, and that wouldn’t produce ash.
I guess a third option could be that he’s manipulating light/photons at frequencies that humans can’t see and therefore they appear dark, but that doesn’t explain how they would absorb other photons. Plus, I’m basing that off of two physics classes and some Wikipedia skimming, so who knows if that even makes sense. It probably doesn’t.
Basically, I have concluded that I have no fucking idea what the Darkling’s “shadows” are actually made of, especially since in this gif they seem a little bit iridescent? Which means they might be reflecting some light instead of absorbing it all?? And the Fold looks grey in some light, not black??? I have so many questions.
Anyway I’m sure Leigh Bardugo was not getting this pedantic about how the Darkling’s powers work when she wrote the books, which is honestly probably the wiser decision, but the fun part of fandom is that we get to be pedantic and overly detail-oriented, so if anyone has any theories PLEASE tell me, I want to think about it more.
