Mal Is the Firebird and the Third Amplifier After revealing that Mal is a Morozova descendant (making him a distant cousin of The Darkling), the group realizes that in order for Alina to be powerful enough to destroy the Shadow Fold, she must kill Mal and claim his power as she did with the Sea Whip and the Stag.
Even though the story might play out a bit differently in the Shadow and Bone books, it's revealed in Ruin and Rising that Mal is the Firebird and that he's distantly related to The Darkling through the Morozova bloodline. However, he's described as The Darkling's “great-nephew.”
While searching for the last amplifier, Mal and Alina find out the truth about Mal's heritage. He is descended from Baghra's sister, making him a great-nephew of the Darkling. It also makes him an amplifier. He accepts this fate, understanding and willing to die for Alina.
It takes Alina, Mal, and co. much longer to discover that the firebird is much closer than any of them expected. In Episode 6, we learn that orphan Mal's actually part of the Morozova bloodline (and a distant cousin of Kirigan and Baghra).
Mal is Alina's childhood friend. Both of them grew up as orphans at Duke Keramsov's estate in Keramzin.
It turns out Mal is descended from Baghra's sister, making him a great-nephew of the Darkling. Upon this discovery, Mal makes Alina promise she will kill him for his power if she needs it.
Neshyenyer being from Shu Han adds another layer to the Mal connection: Both Mal and Alina are part Shu, and they've experienced racism all their lives because of it. (Shadow and Bone's handling of race has garnered compelling criticism.)
Ulla is a half-sildroher songcaster and the half-sister of The Darkling via their late mother, Baghra. She is also known as Sankta Ursula of the Waves.
He has always wanted her light to balance his shadow. Their connection persists because of what The Darkling believes Alina to be. He is constantly referring to her as "my Alina," which is creepy, but that is the true depths of their connection.
In When Water Sang Fire, there is a scholar around whom "the shadows seemed to shift as he passed, pulled along by him like a tide." This is the Darkling. The same story also reveals the Darkling has a half-sister named Ulla, mothered by Baghra.
Despite his nefarious plans, it is thought the Darkling did love Alina. However, Alina ends up killing him at the end of Ruin and Rising. Alina and Nikolai Lantsov: In Siege and Storm, despite fleeing together, Mal and Alina begin to drift apart.
Mal (played by Dove Cameron) is the daughter of Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty) and Hades (Hercules), the latter left when she was a baby. Mal reunites with Hades in Descendants 3.
In this adaptation, Mal is Inej´s brother. Inej doesn't have a brother in the book series. Why make that change unless it is a big deal? Seems unlikely, Inej's brother grew up with her and their family, while Mal grew up with Alina in the orphanage.
Later during the coronation, after Mal takes the wand from Jane, she ends up confessing she loves Ben and wants to be with him because he makes her really, really happy.
This was later found out to be false as Morozova's daughter, and by extension, Mal, was the third amplifier, by virtue of her resurrection. The firebird's path of flight was said to be Ravka's original borders and that the firebird's feather was what protected the first Lantsov King in battle.
While they manage early on to find and kill the ice dragon Rusalye, aka the sea whip, it takes them until the end of the season to realize that the final amplifier, the firebird, is actually Mal.
Mal was oblivious to Alina's love from before book one even began. He slept with Zoya and countless others before he realised who was waiting by his back door.
Rather than raping or assaulting women, the Darkling tricks Alina into falling in love with him, his goal being to take Alina's power for himself and effectively enslave her.
Alina is automatically powerful just by being the Sun Summor. She destroyed the Fold, which was with the help of three amplifiers. Because of those amplifiers, she is in third place. Coming in at number two, we have the Darkling.
4 Nina Zenik
Nina attended school at the Little Palace where she was forced to train with the Second Army, in turn becoming a spy for the Darkling. She was captured by the druskelle during her mission of finding those who help rogue Grisha escape.
Ben Barnes was born on Aug. 20, 1981, making the General Aleksander Kirigan/The Darkling actor 41 years old in March 2023. Between the books and the series, The Darkling's age has been estimated to be about 500 years old, but presents as 30s/40s.
Zoya shielded their bodies with her own and took the brunt of the attack, leaving her with eight long scars on her back.
Zoya destroys the remains of The Darkling when she realizes what is happening, but The Darkling's spirit goes into the body of a man named Yuri Vendenen. So, while The Darkling does return in some form, he does not return in the one that people recognize him as.
A firm part was ensuring that the letters of Alina and Malyen Oretsev (Archie Renaux) never reached each other. This was because Mal had been Alina's constant since childhood. That connection had only grown over the years — with Alina so devotedly attached to Mal that she even ventured willingly into The Fold.
According to the Ravkan government, Shu Han is known for both its scientific advancements and harsh treatment of its Grisha.