57 pages • 1 hour read
Leigh BardugoA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
King of Scars is a collection of transformative tales. Bardugo illustrates how self-acceptance especially can be life changing; broken characters with identity issues provide the perfect avenue for exploring self-acceptance. Nikolai physically fights his identity and fears he is more monster than man. Zoya struggles internally with her past and worries she isn’t strong enough. Hanne combats cultural expectations and wonders if she must always hide.
Nikolai spends the majority of his storyline worrying about the monster inside him. He will do anything to protect Ravka. When attempting to break free from the monster, Nikolai realizes they are not as separate as he thought. Once he accepts his identity, he is free to save Ravka. Likewise, Zoya dwells on the past when she failed to protect those she loved. She was young and naïve, but that doesn’t matter to her, and she lives with her guilt and resentment every day. Juris persuasively tells her, “Stop punishing yourself for being someone with a heart. You cannot protect yourself from suffering. To live is to grieve” (464). After forgiving herself and accepting Juris’s sacrifice, Zoya transforms, unleashing unlimited power. Hanne, while a minor character, goes through her own self-acceptance transformation. Nina observes that “she had a wild, generous streak that could bloom into something magical if it was only allowed to flourish” (417). Hanne fully commits to Nina’s cause to free the imprisoned women, many of whom Hanne secretly helped with her healing Heartrender powers. Hanne alters her appearance to be more masculine using her Grisha power, and she demonstrates her commitment by cutting off all her hair to reinforce her masculine appearance. It’s the most power she’s ever used, and by changing to a masculine appearance, she protests the sexist culture of her parents.
Bardugo’s message is evident: Self-acceptance brings about transformation. Whether physically, mentally, emotionally, or culturally, transformation is good when it brings about improvement.
Zoya Nazyalensky, the icy general, is driven by her past to make a better future. Her regrets and resentment fill her core, and she is constantly on the verge of boiling over. She keeps that anger at the surface, ready to use it at a moment’s notice. While her anger is forefront, her resentment and despair run deep. Bardugo uses the following analogy to describe Zoya’s emotional state: “The well within her had no bottom. She tossed a stone into the darkness and she fell with it, on and on” (309). Zoya deals with her emotions by resenting herself and those who have wronged her. A prime example is her time with Juris, who breaks her precious amplifier. Zoya grew up drawing her power from that amplifier, and losing it felt like losing a limb. She plots her revenge while Juris gives her Grisha lessons: “[T]he stronger voice inside her said that if she got to know Juris, she could find a way to punish him for what he’d taken from her” (302). She resents Juris for breaking her amplifier, but she resents herself even more for relying on the object and showing weakness without it.
Resentment is a powerful tool. It spurs Zoya forward on a path of self-discovery, but it also keeps her in a dark emotional state. She dwells on her mistakes, noting “she could have stopped the Darkling, if she’d looked closer, if she understood, if she hadn’t been consumed by her own ambition” (464). After the civil war, Zoya uses that resentment as motivation to improve the Second Army under her command and expand Grisha protection. Her resentment pushes her determination “to assemble a force greater than what even the Darkling had raised. But that wouldn’t be enough. She intended to find a way to protect Grisha throughout the world so no one would ever have to live in fear or hide their gifts again” (108). Eradicating fear is an honorable goal. In the end, her resentment is a good motivator.
Bardugo gives various illustrations of the power of faith—whether that faith is in a divinity, another person, or oneself.
The text presents religious faith as the most precarious kind. In both Ravka and Fjerda, altars to Saints are erected, and a series of miracles takes place, sending the king on a journey of discovery. During the civil war, the people put their faith in Alina Starkov, the Sun Summoner. Now, followers of the Darkling surface, and Yuri is one such follower who is devoted unconditionally to the Darkling. His faith, and that of others like him, gives power to the Saints trapped in the Fold. Elizaveta explains that the Saints’ power can only reach those places beyond the Fold where there is still Saint worship. Zoya doubts this, saying, “A Grisha’s power doesn’t rely on faith” (281). Zoya has little faith. Over the course of the story, however, she slowly accepts the Saints for who they are and even embraces Juris’s instruction. Even Nikolai, who doesn’t believe in miracles, believes Elizaveta unlocked his chains and set the monster free the night of the bell tower attack. He reminds Zoya that “she said their power could extend beyond the Fold, but only where the people’s faith was strongest. Yuri was at the palace that night. Maybe Elizaveta used him to send her vines or insects past my guards” (487). Yuri’s faith made him an instrument for Elizaveta. However, the text doesn’t present religious faith as exclusively detrimental; it can overcome stress, anxiety, and fear. When faced with fear, Yuri prays, drawing a protective force around him.
Faith appears even outside a religious context, however, and it provides inner strength and gives a purpose to characters’ lives. After Zoya puts faith in Juris and the dragon, she has unlimited power and uses that power to save Nikolai. Faith leads to solutions: Zoya’s faith in Juris gives her the answer to the problem, and she becomes the dragon. Faith is transformative: Zoya embraces the power of the dragon, while Yuri becomes the vessel for the Darkling’s return. Bardugo paints a powerful picture of faith. Misplaced faith can be dangerous, as with Yuri’s devotion to the Darkling—but just a little faith, even in oneself, can be powerful, as with Zoya’s self-acceptance and ultimate transformation.
By Leigh Bardugo
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