For a character in Shadow and Bone, danger lurks around every corner, and season 2 puts Mal in some deadly situations, but what will happen to him by the end of the season and will he die?
*Warning: Spoilers for Shadow and Bone Season 2*
Malyen Oretsev has been a key character since his Netflix debut in 2021, as he’s a lifelong friend to Alina Starkov, who joins her in a dangerous fight against Darkling.
In season 2, Mal was revealed to have a larger role in the world of Shadow And Bone, but by the end of episode 7, his fate was up in the air, with many fearing he would die.
What happened to Mal in Shadow And Bone Season 2?
In Season 2 of Shadow And Bone, Mal teams up with Alina to find the last two amplifiers, creatures that will help her harness her powers as a suncaller and help her fight the Darkling.
Alina already found an amplifier in season 1, the stag, and in the new episode, she’s on the hunt for sea whips, ice dragon Rusalye, and firebirds.
However, as the episode progressed – with Alina and Mal’s relationship complicated by the arrival of Nikolai – it was revealed that Mal himself was the last of the Firebird Amplifiers, as he was a descendant of Grisha Morozova, the power that originally created them. This also means that Mal is Darkling’s great-nephew, since they are also related to Morozova.
In order for Alina to harness the power of the power amp, Mal had to be sacrificed, which unsurprisingly wasn’t something she really wanted to do.
Did Mal die in Shadow And Bone season 2?
Technically yes, Mal did die in Shadow And Bone season 2, though not permanently.
At the end of Episode 7, when Alina and Mal reach the center of the Shadow Fold in hopes of knocking it down, they encounter a dark demon who wants to stop them.
An enraged Alina uses the Cut ability to knock out Darkling Kirigan, but in the process, also hits Mal, leaving him injured and fighting for his life as the credits roll.
When the story begins in episode 8, Mal asks Alina to stab him and sacrifice him completely so she can use the full power of his amp to destroy Fold, at which point, he dies.
But not for long. After Alina successfully destroys the Shadow Fold, she asks Nina the Ripper to help bring Mal back to life.
However, Nina was unsuccessful, meaning Alina had no choice but to use merzost’s black magic to resurrect Mal.
While this could indeed bring Maul back to life, it could have devastating consequences in the long run, as this is the type of magic Morozova used to use, and the one the Dark Elves originally used to create the Shadow Fold.
his fate in the book
Just like in the Netflix series, Mal is forced to sacrifice himself in order to help Alina defeat the Darkling and destroy the fold in the Grishaverse book.
But unlike the series, Mal was brought back from the dead by the Rippers Tolia and Tamar, not Melzost, and Alina lost her after defeating Dark Spirit the power of.
In the novel Ruin and Rise, Mal and Alina do not go their separate ways, but return to the ruins of their childhood orphanage, Keramzin, which they rebuild and live out the rest of their lives under new identities.
It wasn’t until the events of Lord of Scars and The Law of the Wolf that Alina and Mal were used in a plot where the Dark One unexpectedly returned to the body of cult leader Yuri Vedenin.
Shadow And Bone season 2 is available for streaming Available on Netflix after release Thursday, March 16, 2023.
In other news, has Nadia been recast in Shadow And Bone season 2? Who replaced her?