The Grishaverse
The Grishaverse
The Grishaverse
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in: Grisha powers

The Cut

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using the Cut as depicted in .

Baghra using the Cut as depicted in Demon in the Wood (graphic novel).

"The man on top of me had been cut in two. His head, his right shoulder, and his arm lay on the forest floor, his white hand still clasping the knife. The rest of him swayed for a moment above me, a dark wisp of smoke fading in the air beside the wound that ran the length of his severed torso."
— The effects of the Cut, Shadow and Bone


The Cut is the rare Grisha ability to telekinetically bisect a distant object. It requires great power and great focus.[1]

History[]

Baghra first used the Cut as a young child by mistake, killing her sister when she broke her favorite toy.[2] Baghra was around 6 years old when she mastered the Cut.[3]

The Demon in the Wood[]

The Darkling first learns to use the Cut at 13 years old. He kills Lev and Annika with the Cut in a fight, after they tried to kill him and take his bones as an amplifier. He realizes that everyone in the village will blame him for their deaths and fears that he and his mother will be discovered as amplifiers, so he then uses the Cut on himself, giving the impression that the wounds had been made by otkazat'sya swords.[3]

Shadow and Bone[]

The Darkling uses the Cut to kill a drüskelle before he can kill Alina Starkov.[4] The Darkling later attempts to use the Cut to kill Morozova's stag, but turns his body at the last moment to avoid killing Alina, who throws herself in front of the stag.[5] Alina eventually unlocks this ability and uses it to destroy the Darkling's sandskiff, as she escapes the Fold with Mal.[6]

Siege and Storm[]

When the Darkling attacks Alina with his nichevo'ya, she uses the Cut to make them burn away to nothing, but isn't able to stop them all.[7][8] After Alina arrives at the Little Palace to take over the Second Army, she uses the Cut on the inner dome to stop them from bickering.[9]

The Fabrikators of the Second Army create a series of mirrors to amplify Alina's Cut,[10] but they are destroyed by the Darkling's forces when he takes the Little Palace.[11]

Ruin and Rising[]

Alina is ready to use the Cut to kill the Priestguards threatening to attack her friends, but Malyen Oretsev jumps in front of her, making her draw back. Instead, she uses the Cut to slice through a long table and open a dark trench in the floor before the Priestguards.[12] When they are attacked in the woods, Alina uses the Cut to kill a man who was about to attack Mal; she is so shocked at having killed someone that she throws up.[13]

While training with Baghra, Alina becomes powerful enough to use the Cut to split an entire mountain in half.[14] She later visits the Darkling in his mind, and he uses the Cut to sever the connection.[15]

When Nikolai Lantsov is attacked by the nichevo'ya, Alina obliterates one side of the terrace with the Cut, but misses the shadows the Darkling creates. She also smashes the crates the Darkling's Squallers send flying at her before they can do any damage.[16]

Shadow and Bone (TV)[]

Before the creation of the Shadow Fold, one of the soldiers of the King's Army managed to capture the Darkling's partner, Luda, and kill her. Enraged by her death, he used the Cut, killing nearly a dozen of the King's men.[17]

using the Cut in the second episode of Neflix's adaptation.

The Darkling using the Cut in the second episode of Neflix's Shadow and Bone adaptation.

General Kirigan rescues Alina Starkov on the road to the Little Palace, where her carriage is attacked by drüskelle, one of whom manages to pull Alina from the wagon and drag her into the field. Armed with a hatchet, the drüskelle raises his hand to Alina, but before he can bring his hand down, General Kirigan arrives and slices the man in two with the Cut.[18]

Later, after Alina has escaped the Little Palace, General Kirigan and his team track the Crows down to Ryevost, where Kirigan comes face to face with Kaz Brekker. He asks where they've stashed Alina. Kaz reveals that she fled on her own and that he doesn't know where she is. Kirigan calls on the Cut and slashes in Kaz's direction, but Kaz dodges the attack with a smoke bomb and flees.[19]

After preventing Alina and Malyen Oretsev from killing the stag, Kirigan kills it, decapitating the creature with the Cut.[17]

Known users[]

Books[]

TV[]

Trivia[]

  • It is unknown if other Grisha can harness this power or if it's specific to Baghra, the Darkling, and Alina, as other Sun Summoners have not been mentioned to use the Cut. No other type of Etherealki are shown to use the Cut either.

References[]

  1. ↑ Shadow and Bone, chapter 5
  2. ↑ Ruin and Rising, chapter 10
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Demon in the Wood
  4. ↑ Shadow and Bone, chapter 4
  5. ↑ Shadow and Bone, chapter 19
  6. ↑ Shadow and Bone, chapter 22
  7. ↑ Siege and Storm, chapter 1
  8. ↑ Siege and Storm, chapter 4
  9. ↑ Siege and Storm, chapter 13
  10. ↑ Siege and Storm, chapter 16
  11. ↑ Siege and Storm, chapter 22
  12. ↑ Ruin and Rising, chapter 2
  13. ↑ Ruin and Rising, chapter 6
  14. ↑ Ruin and Rising, chapter 7
  15. ↑ Ruin and Rising, chapter 9
  16. ↑ Ruin and Rising, chapter 11
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Season 1, Episode 7: The Unsea
  18. ↑ Season 1, Episode 2: We're All Someone's Monster
  19. ↑ Season 1, Episode 6: The Heart is an Arrow
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