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message 151:
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Leire
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May 15, 2018 01:57PM

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I thought I saw that somewhere on social media, I think it said people where excited that an asain lead was going to be in role. correct me if I'm wrong but in shadow and Bone is Alina half shu? it would make sense saying the village she grew up in before she became an orphan was close to the border, but I don't recall.

Someone pls see this and tell me what you think ! If you're as crazy as we are, you'd share this with Eric Heisser and Leigh Bardugo, or at least Leigh. Sharing on Twitter is the most efficient, since it has the most chances of being noticed. And keep it a surprise, don't give the exact hint of what you're sending, just make them more curious !
Just click this link, and see if it's worthy or not....
https://pin.it/y7prscqgkyiscm
Dont forget to tell us your opinions !

I constantly imagined this beautiful Russian model (I know she's got blue eyes, n all ! I just imagined em brown, ofc !), Nastya Kusakina as Alina. From the very first, I've been imagining her. The first time Alina's name was mentioned, she popped into my head like magic ! No second thoughts !: https://images.app.goo.gl/nmmzEBsaCXG...
Now tell me, how am I supposed to reimagine one of my fave fictional character to be someone else ? It's SO friggin hard !!!!! Everytime I'm imagining Alina as a Chinese, or something, my mind rejects that imagination and puts a big fat red cross across her face !
You know what ? Somethings are just meant to be.....even if you change em....nothing can really alter it.....

They only told about Alina being half Shu. Not Darkling, so I think he'll be played by someone European/American. To me, European/American character coldness, overpowers the Asian coldness. Asian people are mostly warm to me. I'm really warm hearted, lol ! Imagine.....a cold soul like Darkling's is born in the cold, harsh, cruel land like Russia.....Perfect !
I'd like a European/American person to play Darkling. I want them to have something Asian going on in their faces that isn't noticeable in first glance. But when you look at their faces a little closely, you'll catch something different about them.
Genes are weird that way, they give you different looks.....and they're not always bound in one place. You'll see Africans with red hair, white skinned South Asians, blue eyed Chinese.....and the list goes on....

I'd like to mention that she's got jewel blue eyes, a quality of Europeans/ Americans. So if it isn't the trick of genes, then she looks more Russian than Indian. Although I'll say that only some Russians have actually tan skin.
Honestly, I'm quite confused about this. I don't even know if I'll mind to have an Indian Zoya or not. I just found out through some research that in King of Scars, there is that mention of ethnicity of her. I haven't even read that book yet (wanna read after the second book comes out). So till now, I imagined her to be a white skinned Russian. This ethnicity mash up of the characters are confusing me....

Another thing, it always doesn't have to be Nastya to play Alina.☺ I don't even know if she acts or not. There are other nice Russian actresses that worked in Hollywood you know....Also there are other fab European and American actresses.....my mind would be at ease even if it's a little.....if they cast someone of that sort....
Anyways, since they are casting someone half Chinese or something....I also know some perfect half Chinese actresses with European/American ethnicity inside and outside Hollywood. Hope they reach the right ones !😘 +If you help them a little, they just might ! 💝+
Personally, I'd prefer an Alina that looks somewhat European/American and Chinese/Asian at the same time to indicate the half n' half ethnicity..I even know actresses for that !
I'm just a really concerned fan—a big one at that, you know.....too bad my concerns not gonna cost anything in the end....😳😌😔

'He spoke fluent Shu and Kerch, and could pass as either'.
So this says us that he looks Shu/Chinese AND Kerch/Dutch.....On top of that, he's got grey eyes !!! (Ugh !!!) And remember ? Jesper from Six of Crows got his grey eyes from his dad who's from Wandering Isles ?.... So you're tryna tell me.... Darkling's got Kerch, Kaelish AND Shu blood ?.....
But he's got the pale skin and grey eyes, a quality of Europeans and Americans. So can I stay assured that he's more European than Asian ?
Are you getting how confusing Leigh made everyone's ethnicity ?....
This honestly tires me.....
I'm immensely sorry for my messed up words.....

—Kerch and Ravkan people look the same with pale skin. I'm just guessing he knows the Kerch language and can 'pass off as Kerch', in that sense.
The Darkling's mother, Baghra's last name was Morozova, a highly Russian last name. So DARKLING HAS RAVKAN (RUSSIAN) BLOOD.
—Darkling could also speak Shu and could even 'PASS OFF AS SHU' (Chinese). So was his dad a Shu ?
So HE LOOKS CHINESE AND RUSSIAN AT THE SAME TIME....
—Forget the effing Kaelish part...I know grey eyes are the trait of Kaelish (Irish) (Wandering Isles) people, but GREY EYES CAN ALSO BE THE TRAIT OF OTHER EUROPEANS AND AMERICANS...the ethnicity mash up is getting enough already !
—I think the DARKLING IS MORE EUROPEAN BECAUSE HE'S TALL, A TRAIT UNLIKE MOST ASIAN PEOPLE WHO ARE SHORT IN HEIGHT. IT IS A TRAIT COMMON AMONG AMERICANS AND EUROPEANS.
HE'S EYES ARE GREY, OF COURSE A TRAIT OF EUROPEANS AND AMERICANS.
AMERICANS AND EUROPEANS ARE CALLED 'WHITE PEOPLE' AROUND THE WORLD, SHUS TYPICALLY ARE KNOWN TO HAVE TAN SKIN although Chinese in real life and other Asians also have white-skinned people...

I think when in the Demon in the Woods it's said that he could pass off as either, means that he spoke so fluently that he could pass as being of that nation. Being of a nation doesn't make you look as the majority ethnicity... Like Alina being Ravkan but still looking half-shu, or Zoya looking half-suli. I don't think that phrase is any indication of how he looks.
To me, I always just imagined him as pale, blue eyes (I guess he's got green) and dark hair. Kinda vampiric I guess eheh
I don't particularly mind making Alina half-shu, though I would've liked that to be a part of the book series from the beginning and not just something they came up with for the show. Makes it seem more 'appeasement' than anything. Although, the shu part has always intrigued me... the names used in the book series are clearly Mongolian, but everyone thinks the shu are Chinese-inspired. They're not. They're Mongolian. Makes sense in the context of a Russian-inspired fantasy country to have Mongolian-inspired people at its borders. So if they could bring something more of that heritage, I think it would be very interesting.
Also, as long as they don't eliminate the Russian-feel of the series, and still have some slavic looking actors, then I'm fine with it. Reminds me of the debate regarding The Witcher casting.

I second that. It would be awesome!

Grey. According to Alina, “He had a sharp, beautiful face, a shock of thick black hair, and clear grey eyes that glimmered like quartz.”
[quote] Makes sense in the context of a Russian-inspired fantasy country to have Mongolian-inspired people at its borders. So if they could bring something more of that heritage, I think it would be very interesting.[/quote]
I agree! I hope the various ethnicities that would make sense based on the geographical positioning are well-represented!

Ravkan— Russian
Zemeni (from Novyi Zem)— Australian
Kaelish (from the Wandering Isles)— Irish
Shu (from Shu Han)— Chinese/ Mongolian
Fjerdan— Norwegian
Suli— Indian and/or Persian
*There ya go, ppl ! I've THROUGHLY researched it ! 😅*





“He spoke fluent Shu and Kerch, and could pass as either.”
Notice it doesn’t say “*so* he could pass as either”, but ”*and* he could pass as either”, which IMO signifies that in addition to his proficiency in the two languages, he had features and physical traits that could be associated with both nationalities.
After all, we don’t know what nationality his father was; we just know a few of his features: “He had a sharp, beautiful face, a shock of thick black hair, and clear grey eyes that glimmered like quartz.” (From Shadow & Bone)