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Merzost, amplifiers, and other such things
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In Chapter 1 of R&R, when Alina recounts some of what they've found in Morozova's journals, nothing is presented as an astonishing revelation. It talks in passing of amplifier hypotheses, tracking the stag, the sea whip, firebird theories. The reaction to the texts seems to be more frustration than anything; one isn't given the sense that his modus operandi is revealed. I get the impression the journals found were rather more like scientific writings than a philosophical accounting, but one where the unifying theory wasn't listed.So we're still left to wonder: why did Morozova create the amplifiers that he did? While lust for power could be it, that seems like an overly simplistic answer to the hints we've seen in the books. Especially if he truly is also Sankt Ilya. Another thing of interest is what Alina reads of Morozova and a formula for liquid fire he allegedly created. It was very dangerous and he destroyed the formula very soon after creating it. If true, who is this person what would do that, but also employ merzost to create amplifiers that (in some people's opinions) no Grisha should ever actually have?
Annnnnd, I swear I had something else to say here, but between last night and now have forgotten it.
Dreams At Dusk wrote: "Why is merzost considered an abomination? Do we have any insight into that in the actual text or so far, have we pretty much just been told?We know that, unlike the Small Science, it does not fu..."
Firstly, congrats on the wonderful post.
About Morozova:
As I was reading the books, by his description he always reminded me of a Once upon a time character - Rumpelstiltsken. (If you haven`t watched it, it`s an ABC TV series) Rumpelstiltskin, was a normal man, but in order to save his son, he stole a dagger and killed The dark one. (The dagger is the only weapon that can kill him, The Dark one is immortal and, obviously, practises dark magic. ) When he killed the Dark one, he absorbed his powers, and became him. BUT afterwards he lost his son and became a monster. So, in the whole series, his most famous quote is: Magic...comes with a price!
We don`t know almost anything about Morozova. He could have become insane! He could have become evil! But, I`m pretty sure he`s alive out there!
Thank you, glad you liked the post:) That Morozova could be alive out there somewhere definitely seems like a possibility. I still have a lot of questions about him after R&R. How did his picture come to be as it was in the Istorii Sankt’ya? Someone must have known Sankt Ilya was associated with the stag, the sea whip, and the firebird. (Which at least somewhat implies knowing he was Ilya Morozova.) And how did they know that the valley near Dva Stolba was associated with he and his descendants? What resulted in him apparently bringing his daughter to the area where the firebird really could be found, despite the fact he'd used his power on her as third amplifier?Given Baghra's preoccupation with religious texts in R&R, and what we hear in S&B of all Grisha children having once been given a copy of the Istorii Sankt’ya, I've wondered if Baghra herself was behind the book. But then, how would she have known of the Dva Stolba association?
What was the sacrifice Morozova used in making the stag and sea whip and his daughter into amplifiers?
R&R left us in much the same position as the prior book in regards to merzost. It's said again and again to be an abomination, but I don't recall it being explained why that's an inherent property. (By 'explained', I mean something other than people's opinions.) I still do not feel like we've seen that it is. Horrible things were done using merzost, but in itself, it seems more of a. . .neutral thing. A give and take. (Oh, hey, a balance *eyes the Darkling and Alina*) It's a tool that can be used for good and bad things. The nichevo'ya, for example, do not seem required to attack people. It's what the Darkling had them do. What if he had them build homes for war widows instead?
Again, going back to the Witch of Duva, are the things that Magda and Nadya did with merzost 'abomination'?
I still think it's a lot more about potentiality, about what one can do with merzost, than about what one must do with it.
Alina thoughts on Morozova's daughter: "Morozova had created three amplifiers that could never be brought together without his daughter forfeiting her life, without his descendants paying in flesh and blood". That and surrounding text make it sound like Alina assumes that this is in a way the price Morozova paid for making the amplifiers to begin with. I don't disagree that's a legitimate interpretation for Alina to make, particularly coming from the position that she has been placed in by prior information given on merzost-as-abomination. But I also don't think it's the only possibility.
Baghra was a lonely child, whose mother was terrified of her and whose father was obsessed with his work and didn't pay her enough attention (and who had banned her from his workshop for pestering him). From what we hear of her childhood, it's doubtful she had any friends or was even allowed to try and have friends. Her mother favoured her little sister. Her mother forced her to hand over one of her very few treasures to said little sister. Little sister breaks it.
Baghra was a small girl herself, possessed of extraordinary abilities but emotions like most any child. She got very upset and reacted, but because of how she reacted, she killed her sister. Morozova used the power he had to hand to save his child and in the doing, linked her into the cycle of his amplifiers.
We could see this as a grand plan of Fate in punishment for his having dared to create the amplifiers at all. But it can just as easily be seen as something that is not at all surprising to have happened under the very unfortunate circumstances that were his life and family dynamic.
Post this to Leigh Bardugo! That woman neeeeeeds to be questioned for her crimes :D :D
R&R left us in much the same position as the prior book in regards to merzost. It's said again and again to be an abomination, but I don't recall it being explained why that's an inherent property. (By 'explained', I mean something other than people's opinions.) IKR?!
From the novellas you can see merzost is NOT an abomination per se.
But Alina just goes with what Baghra says, never questioning it and Baghra thinks it's abomination (since it was a merzost act that ruined her life when her father brought back his child), so it must be so. UGH.
My annoyment at Alina never thinking with her brain but just taking the version she likes more and running with it has just grown even more :\
It seems like a lot of authors/critics that review the trilogy praises something about Alina being an honest character about herself and her situation. Idk, there are times when I think I'm being a child about how narrow-minded she seems and then there are those more instinctive thoughts I have that it's really just a hard-to-accept bad character trait of Alina's.Anyways, I love your post Dreams at Dusk! You're really helping my headaches about the book lol. I still can't get past that the merzost/amplifiers cycle ideas don't make sense to me.
I posted in the R&R Reaction Thread: Can someone help me out and explain how the Soldat Sol gaining sun summoning powers makes sense? So blah blah blah Morozova was a strange man, [is Mal's descendant, Mal's the third amplifier, Alina killed him (Morozova's daughter's life energy or whatever according to Leigh), the amplifiers break off of Alina, take her power forever, and give it to hundreds of Soldat Sol because "aren't we all made of things" or whatever. (hide spoiler)] What kind of plan is this??! What was Morozova's plan anyways? Should something horrible happen and a random hero need more power for good, here, kill these amplifiers and get an army of former otkazat'sya within this fighting range?(It hurts so much more that Leigh didn't tell us anything about the origin of sun summoning).
So Baghra's powers was an unnatural result of Morozova's play with merzost, and so are the Darkling's. Then Alina's powers are also merzost? Where did her powers even come from? Another of his creations or something? Plus, I can't wrap my mind around how merzost is abomination but giving sun summoning powers to otkazatsya Soldat Sol is all good. Seems too black-and-white, even for a cycle of balance.
Errgghh... I'm with Nessy. CRIMES!
This... is a very very interesting thread :)))Leigh said that Alina was born with her magic aaaaaand Leigh would probably write a novella about her birth and her parents.
About Dva Stolba being where Morozova brought her daughter - that is if they BOTH survived - I think Morozova continues the search for the firebird not knowing that he used merzost on his daughter... I'm thinking maybe he died like the others on the falls while her daughter was spared. Or if he died when they fell to the river, that is what I don't know... or cannot think about.
About the sacrifices... I think the darkling sacrificed his sanity and happiness for merzost. Morozova sacrificed his family's wholeness...
I don't think they're necessarily physical, or big... But those sacrifices do have a large impact on the person. Who knows maybe Morozova did die and he himself is his sacrifice.
Abigayle wrote: "It seems like a lot of authors/critics that review the trilogy praises something about Alina being an honest character about herself and her situation. Idk, there are times when I think I'm being a..."Leigh said "honesty" was what she appreciated the most about Alina and since then you have a whole bunch of "oh! How much I love Alina honesty" comments...
Tbh, I don't feel where Alina honesty is: to me she always run away from confrontation, with others but also with herself. "Denial and let's hope everything works out" is the vibe I got from her, NOT honesty for sure.
I think Alina didn't really see herself as she was. I think it was honestly how she saw it, but I think that it wasn't actually the truth of the situation so much.
Elvina wrote: "I think Alina didn't really see herself as she was. I think it was honestly how she saw it, but I think that it wasn't actually the truth of the situation so much."I couldn`t agree more!
I feel like too much was left unanswered, or not explored. Alina is the only sun summoner and that's supposedly this huge deal and our explanation is AFTER the book, from the author and not even in the book.."oh, she got her powers like everyone else and was born like that."Oh, okay.
WinterRose wrote: "I feel like too much was left unanswered, or not explored. Alina is the only sun summoner and that's supposedly this huge deal and our explanation is AFTER the book, from the author and not even in..."That's why Ruin&Rising = dissapointment.
Plus the fact that it was just 400 pages long list of explanation why I should like Mal. And now I hate him even more. I don't know how his beloved fans just look past the fact that he slept with the WHOLE girl regiment and made Alina feel like shit. Just, ughhhhh!
Nessy wrote: "I don't know how his beloved fans just look past the fact that he slept with the WHOLE girl regiment and made Alina feel like shit. Just, ughhhhh! "LOL.
BUT HE LOVED HER!1!! AND HE HAD NAUGHTY THOUGHTS ABOUT HER SINCE FOREVER!!111! SO IT'S ALL ALRIGHT!!!LOL
/Sorry
/End OT
We know that, unlike the Small Science, it does not fuel the wielder, but requires a sacrifice of some sort. But so far, the only sacrifices we've seen are the narrator, Nadya, of "The Witch of Duva" yielding up her own flesh and bone, the woman who was given the ginger baby handing over something unspecified (which I suspect was a bone or some such from her lost child) and in the trilogy itself, the Darkling using his own energy in crafting the nichevo'ya. So the examples thus far don't show a demand for sacrifice beyond the self (though nor do they rule that out as an option).
If Ilya Morozova did create his amplifiers using merzost, presumably something was sacrificed in the doing, but we don't yet know what.
Magda in "The Witch of Duva" bartered with people for her services, at least when it came to tonics and other treatments. She helped Nadya in return for assistance with chores. It isn't said outright that she takes any payment from the woman she makes the ginger baby for. Likewise, there is no obvious, extra cost for Nadya's ginger girl. Magda even told her she could just remain living with her (as opposed to trying to go home). She seemed sad that Nadya was determined to pursue her course.
In an aside, we don't even know if Magda was Grisha. We don't see indication Nadya is. So is merzost something anyone could work, if they knew how?
Back to the main point: we see merzost used to hurt others and also to help. Yet even though something like the nichevo'ya are deeply dangerous, how does that makes merzost infinitely more horrific than use of the Small Science? The latter can be used to help and to hurt as well.
Is it about the potentiality of the thing? That someone could do more with merzost and worse with it? Is it about sacrifice, even though we see that it doesn't inherently mean you must sacrifice something not your own? It seems like Alina has accepted that merzost is abomination, but it is difficult to tell if this is for any more of a reason than that she was brought up to believe that and also that the creation of nichevo'ya is a terrifying thing to she and the other Grisha.
It will be very interesting to see if we gain more insight into this in Ruin and Rising. We've heard a lot about abomination and people losing their humanity, but I don't think we've seen it yet.