If Grisha Powers Are An Inherent Ability Attributed To A Race Of People, Then It Should Be Physically

If Grisha powers are an inherent ability attributed to a race of people, then it should be physically impossible to distribute one’s power so completely that they lose it entirely. LB’s worldbuilding is a mess of contradictions, but this might actually take the cake. If there is a limit to one’s power and greed for more power is the trigger that somehow redistributes them, then all that should have happened was that Alina lost the excess power. Meaning she would lose the power of the amplifiers and Merzost, not her inherent gift that she was born with and that should not be able to be stripped from her.

Alina lost not only a physical piece of herself that was crucial to thriving and being happy, but she also lost a piece of her identity. She made a sacrifice and yet did not know what the sacrifice would entail, and so she was stripped of her powers unwillingly and forcibly, losing a vital piece of herself as well as a massive part of her identity. This was what made her Grisha, and it was what gave her community within a marginalized group.

Greed being the reason her powers were redistributed is a shallow and insubstantial reason to strip your main female character of her agency and a massive part of her identity within a marginalized group. If it had truly been because of greed, then that which was the result of her greed would have been the only thing stripped away. The only reason the ending to R&R happened was to create a scenario where Alina would have no choice but to settle down with Mal. She got railroaded into that ending without even the opportunity to make a choice. She could have just as easily kept her powers, lost Merzost and the amplifiers, had her powers distributed, and settled down with Mal afterward as a choice she makes for herself. But she was robbed of that choice.

The ending was cheap and cruel and regressive to Alina as a character.

Also, Alina’s status as a Grisha is in no way comparable to Mal’s tracking ability. Mal’s tracking ability is the result of being Morozova’s amplifier and Alina’s is the result of being a Grisha. Mal’s abilities were created by someone else, they were a connection to the planet. Alina’s were something that she inherited and that allowed her to fully realize herself as a member of the Grisha. They are not in any way comparable. And Mal losing his tracking ability (which he only had because of Morozova’s amplifiers) is in line with the price of taking all three amplifiers, which is that he loses the amplification Morozova gave him. Alina only losing the power of the amplifiers would actually fit better with what LB sets up in so so many ways. I made an entirely separate post just about that, because the thematic implications would make the entire series’s ending actually make sense.