#matthias is the gateway to fjerda. through his eyes we could have experienced so much of fjerda but we just... don't.

[retvenkos]

the worst thing netflix’s version of shadow & bone did was severely cut down the matthias (& nina) story line.

#olive rambles #no this isn't even about the romance they have #listen i could write a whole essay if someone asked me to but here's the skinny: #matthias is the gateway to fjerda. through his eyes we could have experienced so much of fjerda but we just... don't. #they strand matthias too early in the story and then barely give him an episode of development #and none of it has to do with fjerda beyond stereotypes #and sure sure sure fjerda isn't ~important~ yet #bit it actually kind of is. they're fighting a war against fjerdans. #part of the darkling's motivations involve the atrocities the fjerdans commit against the grisha. #it's iMPORTANT and by following matthias we could have /seen/ it and we could have been way more sympathetic to the darkling #plus there's so much to unpack in fjerdan society and since the books delve deeper into that in row it would be nice to have a basis #for the show. #and then you just have the worldbuilding. it's woefully underwhelming in the show and by adding in matthias and nina you get more of it easy #and sPEAKING of nina she is the perfect common thread character #and by that i mean she's in the soc duology /and/ the kos duology and she knows characters from the s&b trilogy she is pertinent to them all #by introducing her strongly we could have really tied all of the stories together in a cohesive way. #when we skip to a new cast in soc it wouldn't be weird because nina and matthias are there #and when we go to kos we are once again following nina into slightly unknown territory #and asdfsdfghjkjhgfdsdghj i have so many ideas for how they could have improved the fjerdan storyline #because here's the thing - alina is our in to ravka. matthias is our in to fjerda. kuwei is our in for shu han. kaz is our in for kerch. #all of these dynamics need to be ~shown~ #so alina is pretty simple. it's not hard to master. when we meet matthias we need to sEE HIM IN HIS HOMELAND ASDFGHJHGFDD #and then when nina goes to kerch and she is confused #she can hear whispers about dirty hands (ideally at the end of season one) and the set up is made. #then ofc when kuwei comes into the story he has flashbacks or tells stories about shu han while in the tomb. #which is iMPORTANT SET UP BECAUSE OF THE KOS DUOLOGY asdghgdsdfhgfdsdgh #and in the show i feel like tolya and tamar are going to have a stronger role in the set up of shu han since they are half shu like alina #so we'll get set up there for sure #so wHY did they fail the matthias storyline so hard???? fjerda is kIND OF IMPORTANT sdfgjkjhgfdssdfghj #i just have so many thoughts..... ways it could have been done........ the establishment of matthias and fjerda is critical