#Sankt Vladimir the Foolish

[stromuprisahat]

She never walked West Stave alone. With the Dregs at her side, she could stroll by the Menagerie without a glance toward the golden bars on the windows. But tonight, her heart was pounding, and she could hear the roar of blood in her ears as the gilded facade came into view. ... Inej forced herself to look at the Menagerie as she passed. It’s just a place, she told herself. Just another house. How would Kaz see it? Where are the entrances and exits? How do the locks work? Which windows are unbarred? How many guards are posted, and which ones look alert? Just a house full of locks to pick, safes to crack, pigeons to dupe. And she was the predator now, not Heleen in her peacock feathers, not any man who walked these streets. As soon as she was out of sight of the Menagerie, the tight feeling in her chest and throat began to ease. She’d done it. She’d walked alone on West Stave, right in front of the House of Exotics. Whatever was waiting for her in Fjerda, she could face it. A hand hooked around her forearm and yanked her off her feet. Inej regained her balance quickly. She spun on her heel and tried to pull away, but the grip was too strong. “Hello, little lynx.” Inej hissed in a breath and tore her arm free. Tante Heleen. That was what her girls knew to call Heleen Van Houden or risk the back of her hand. To the rest of the Barrel she was the Peacock, though Inej had always thought she looked less like a bird than a preening cat. ... Inej’s vision blurred. Trapped. Trapped. Trapped again. ... Move, her mind screamed, but she couldn’t. Her muscles had locked up; a high whine of terror filled her head. ... Inej stood frozen, shaking. Then she dove into the crowd, eager to disappear. She wanted to break into a run, but she just kept moving steadily, pushing toward the harbor. As she walked, she released the triggers on the sheaths at her forearms, feeling the grips of her daggers slide into her palms. Sankt Petyr, renowned for his bravery, on the right; the slender, bone-handled blade she’d named for Sankta Alina on the left. She recited the names of her other knives, too. Sankta Marya and Sankta Anastasia strapped to her thighs. Sankt Vladimir hidden in her boot, and Sankta Lizabeta snug at her belt, the blade etched in a pattern of roses. Protect me, protect me. She had to believe her Saints saw and understood the things she did to survive. ... The run-in with Tante Heleen had left her shaken, and the heft of the daggers in her hands wasn’t enough to soothe her rattled nerves. She knew she should get used to carrying a pistol, but the weight threw off her balance, and guns could jam or lock in a bad moment. Little lynx. Her blades were reliable. And they made her feel like she’d been born with proper claws.

Six of Crows- Chapter 10 (Leigh Bardugo)

[fantastic-nonsense]

For anyone wanting a breakdown of Inej's knives and where she keeps them:

Sankt Petyr: kept in a quick release sheath on her right forearm. Named after patron saint of archers, who was renowned for his bravery. Petyr was Inej's first knife and a gift from Kaz.

Sankta Alina: kept in a quick release sheath on her left forearm. Named after Sun Summoner Alina Starkov, patron saint of orphans and undiscovered gifts. Described as a "slender, bone-handled blade." Probably also given to her by Kaz.

Sankta Lizabeta: kept at her waist on her belt. Named after Sankta Lizabeta of the Roses, the patron saint of gardeners. Described as a "blade etched in a pattern of roses."

Sankta Marya: kept in a holster strapped to her thigh. Named after Sankta Marya of the Rock, the patron saint of those far from home.

Sankta Anastasia: kept in a holster strapped to her thigh. Named after the patron saint of the sick.

Sankt Vladimir: kept hidden in her boot. Named after Sankt Vladimir the Foolish, patron saint of the drowned and unlikely achievements.

She also wears knee pads that have "tiny steel blades" hidden in each of them, activated by a trigger on her ankles.

[ragingstillness]

Grishaverse reference

Hi Grishaverse moots, idk if someone has already done this before and if they have, sorry, guess we've got two cakes now.

I recently finished reading lb's written version of Lives of the Saints and I have many thoughts. The following are my guesses on nation of origin and grisha power for the saints mentioned in the book, based on the stories provided. There isn't a ton of information, but these are my best guesses, feel free to put these interpretations in your fics!

Also lb's grasp on Russian is tenuous at best, so keep in mind that this list is written letter for letter the way the chapters were titled, not the way these names would be properly spelled.

Sankta Margaretha - Kerch, likely Durast

Sanka Anastasia - Ravkan, likely Healer or Alkemi

Sankt Kho - Shu, Durast

Sankta Neyar - Shu, Durast

Sankt Juris of the Sword - presumably Ravkan but he dates back to before Ravka was a country, his story references one of his miracles not his actual story of sainthood so his Grisha designation is unknown, we do know that he's a two-souled Grisha bonded with the Dragon

Sankta Vasilka - probably Ravkan due to her being described as the first firebird, likely a two-souled Grisha with a firebird, maybe a Durast or Squaller 

Sankt Nikolai - unclear nationality due to his being on a ship from an unknown port, potentially Ravkan, Squaller, maybe an Alkemi too 

Sankta Lizabeth of the Roses - Ravkan, maybe a Durast, maybe a two-souled Grisha with bees, maybe an Alkemi with plants

Sankta Maradi - Zemeni, Tidemaker or Squaller

Sankt Demyan of the Rime - Fjerdan, Durast

Sankta Marya of the Rock - Suli, Durast

Sankt Emerens - Kerch, maybe Alkemi or Heartrender

Sankt Vladimir the Foolish - Ravkan, Tidemaker

Sankt Grigori of the Wood - Ravkan, Healer, potential Durast, two-souled Grisha with a bear 

Sankt Valentin - unknown nationality, potential Squaller or Heartrender, potential two-souled Grisha with a snake 

Sankt Petyr - Ravkan, potential Inferni or Heartrender

Sankta Yeryin of the Mill - Shu, likely Durast or Alkemi 

Sankt Feliks Among the Boughs - Ravkan, likely Alkemi, the Thornwood grew where he died, two-souled Grisha with a hawk 

Sankt Lukin the Logical - unknown, potential merzost-using Healer or Heartrender

Sankta Magda - Ravkan, Healer or Alkemi, maybe secondary Squaller gift, saved Grisha children from pyres

Sankt Egmond - Fjerdan, Durast, forced to create the Ice Court 

Sankt Ilya in Chains - Ravkan, merzost-using Durast, potential Healer/Heartrender too

Sankta Ursula of the Waves - from an area in Fjerda where she is called a princess but we known her mother is Baghra and her father a sildroher, making her half-sildroher half Ravkan, Tidemaker

Sankt Mattheus - unknown nationality, Alkemi or Heartrender, turned wolves into dogs, possible merzost using Heartrender or two-souled Grisha with a wolf

Sankt Dimitri - unknown nationality, likely a merzost-using Healer or Heartrender (or a Squaller playing a joke due to his? skeleton being found in a room still praying and also talking)

Sankt Gerashim the Misunderstood - likely Ravkan, potential Durast, his vow of silence makes me think it's more likely that he was attacked and made mute because it says he stopped talking at 15 and didn’t say a word in his defense before he died

Sankta Alina of the Fold - Ravkan, Sun Summoner, obviously 

The Starless Saint - Ravkan, Shadow Summoner, obviously 

Extra thoughts I had reading the book:

“Half of novokribirsk was lost” - this is how the Darkling moving the Fold was described so I guess we have a better grasp on where the Fold moved to and how many people died

The story with Alina isn't about her own sainthood but about people praying to her, specifically Grisha children who are being sold to Kerch slaver, what a surprise that Alina didn't fix everything governing Ravka (I am bitter as hell and this is sarcastic)

Ulla being described as a princess is odd because what is she the princess of?

We know that dragons and sildrohers exist in the grishaverse but nebulous "demons" are also mentioned as taking over people's bodies. It's unclear how real these might be or whether they were trauma responses or mental health issues.

A ton of these people are hermits, likely because it helped hide their powers.

Lots of saints being accused of conspiring with the “demons,” lots of the saints are described as “witches.”

The prose feels like I’m reading propaganda written by the Apparat. ex: All the saints are described as pious and this is what their actions are attributed to despite clearly being the result of Grisha powers.

It's interesting to me personally lb even included Aleksander or allowed a story to exist that showed how his expansion of the Fold benefitted a Ravkan citizen.

Most Saints are described as weak and sickly, wonder why that is (wasting sickness from hiding their powers). 

The Tula valley was desolate before the Fold because Feliks died there and many crops rotted after his death.  

A lot of these stories have townspeople and noblemen turning on the saints, also lots of stories of people fighting for royalty then being betrayed by the same royalty (what a sucky trend for Grisha).

Many saints are said to be monks and scholars, this might be Apparat propaganda but it also might be an extension of them being in hiding about their powers.

Lot of saints are Durasts and Alkemi, likely because Materialki powers are the easiest to hide. Possible Etherealki Saints probably didn't survive long enough to be remembered.

A surprising amount of saints were Squallers. This may be because wind is harder to predict than other natural forces and is more likely to be dismissed as nature rather than Grisha power.

Only one saint is a potential Inferni. Probably because it's arguably the most difficult power to hide.

Some of these legends definitely seem older than others because they reference each other and lb does not make it clear where in the historical timeline they fall in relation to each other.

Some of the saints are only described with their miracles not their stories of sainthood, this is a curious choice and I wonder why it was made.

Some of the saints' deaths are written as fade to black while others are described in excruciating detail. Another weird choice.

[number63liveblogs]

The Lives of Saints part 3

SANKTA MARADI

This is, once again, one of the stories where it’s very easy to see the Grisha work behind everything. Maradi seems to be just a moderately powerful tidemaker, who has a penchant for helping people.

SANKT DEMYAN OF THE RIME

Unlike the story of Sankta Maradi, this one feels like it’s missing something. Like, if what the story tells corresponds at all to the reality, there’s definitely something that has been left out. The pattern of first coming to someone to get them to fix your problems and then immediately pivoting to murder once the solution wasn’t perfect usually needs at least a little more to be happening behind it.

SANKTA MARYA OF THE ROCK

Okay, none of the Grisha powers are explicitly connected to rock, but they could be? So this could be just that the wise old woman knew about Marya’s powers, but on the other hand the last book pretty heavily implied that there are genuine oracles among the Suli, so it could go either way.

SANKT EMERENS

See, the way this story talked about alcohol is how I was expecting Ayama and the Thorn Wood to talk about alcohol, and the way it actually talked about alcohol pulled me out of the story.

SANKT VLADIMIR THE FOOLISH

Again, a clear thing that a tidemaker could do. Granted, according to the story he was able to keep the waters at bay for several days without sleep, but that can be a story that has grown in the telling, and besides he did die of exhaustion afterwards when using their powers is supposed to make Grisha healthier.

SANKT GRIGORI OF THE WOOD

Interesting, Grigori doesn’t get a “new” story, and instead it’s about what we heard in the story proper. Maybe because he had so much focus?

---

I do wonder if the regular people ever, like think about how easy it is to map so many of these stories to Grisha powers. Although to be fair, it’s much easier from the point of view of someone to whom both Grisha powers and these miracles round out to “magic” that doesn’t exist in the real world, so the connection is much easier to see.

[inahandful-of-dust]

The Appearances of the Saints

Here are the descriptions of the physical appearances of the Saints of the Grishaverse.

Sources: The Lives of Saints; King of Scars; The Language of Thorns

***

Sankta Margaretha

In her image in The Lives of Saints she has black hair. She was originally from Kerch.

*

Sankta Anastasia

Known as a great beauty, she had red hair bright as a field of new poppies and green eyes that shone like polished glass.

She was Ravkan, more precisely from the village of Tsemna.

*

Sankt Kho

There is no description or image of Sankt Kho. He was Shu, so it can be assumed he had black hair and yellow-gold eyes.

*

Sankta Neyar

In her image from The Lives of Saints she has black hair. She was Shu, so it can be assumed she had yellow-gold eyes.

*

Sankt Juris of the Sword

Juris looked to be a man of about forty. He was as big as Tolya, maybe larger, and Zoya could imagine he must have cut a daunting figure with a broadsword in his hand. She could see a tracery of scales over his shaven scalp, as if his dragon features had crept into his human body. [King of Scars; Chapter 17]

In his image he has dark hair and light eyes. He is Kaelish, so it can be assumed he has pale skin given that the people of the Wandering Isle are said to tipically be redheaded and pale-skinned.

*

Sankta Vasilka

In her image from The Lives of Saints she has black hair.

*

Sankt Nikolai

The captain and the crew were shocked to see the little figure with the golden hair tramping toward them across the ice. They’d thought he must be dead, for who could survive the night in such a wilderness? As he drew nearer, they expected to find him hollow-eyed and ragged with hunger and cold. Instead his cheeks were pink, his stride even, his eyes bright.

*

Sankta Lizabeta of the Roses

“Juris, stop this,” said a woman, emerging from between the rows of soldiers. She wore a dress of blooming roses that blossomed and died in curling vines around her body. Her golden hair was a buzzing mass of bees that swarmed and clustered around her radiant face. [King of Scars; Chapter 17]

She was originally from Ravka, more precisely a village called Gorubun.

*

Sankta Maradi

When people left the old woman gifts [...].

In her image in The Lives of Saints she has black hair. She was Zemini.

*

Sankt Demyan of the Rime

There is no description or image of Sankt Demyan. He was originally from Fjerda.

*

Sankta Marya of the Rock

In her image in The Lives of Saints she has black hair. She was Suli, so it can be assumed she had bronze or brown skin and dark eyes.

*

Sankt Emerens

In his image in The Lives of Saints he has orange hair and pale skin. He was originally from Kerch.

*

Sankt Vladimir the Foolish

In his image in The Lives of Saints he has brow hair. He was Ravkan, more precisely from Os Kervo.

*

Sankt Grigori of the Wood

In his image in The Lives of Saints he has dark brown hair and dark eyes.

*

Sankt Valentin

In his image in The Lives of Saints he has brown hair.

*

Sankt Petyr

In his image in The Lives of Saints he has brown hair. He was originally from the Ravkan village of Brevno.

*

Sankta Yeryin

In her image from The Lives of Saints she has black hair. She was Shu, so it can be assumed she had yellow-gold eyes.

*

Sankt Feliks among the Boughs

In his image in The Lives of Saints he has brown hair and blue eyes.

*

Sankt Lukin the Logical

In his image in The Lives of Saints he appears as an old man with white hair.

*

Sankta Magda

In her image in The Lives of Saints she has grey hair. For further notions see also "The Witch of Duva" in The Language of Thorns.

*

Sankt Egmond

In his image in The Lives of Saints he has blond hair. He was Fjerdan.

*

Sankt Ilya in Chains

In his image in The Lives of Saints he has brown hair and blue eyes.

*

Sankta Ursula of the Waves

And of course Signy knew Ulla with her black hair and her gray-tinged skin.

[...]

Away from the blue depths of the sea, the sallow gray-green tinge of her skin was gone and she glowed burnished bronze as if she had tucked sunlight beneath her tongue. Her hair was black as it had always been, but here in the bright light of the human world, it shone like polished glass. Her eyes were still dark and strange, but dark like a midnight path that might lead somewhere wonderful...

[The Langauge of Thorns; When Water sang Fire]

*

Sankt Mattheus

There is no description or image of Sankt Mattheus.

*

Sankt Dimitri

There is no description or image of Sankt Dimitri.

*

Sankt Gersami the Misunderstood

In his image in The Lives of Saints he appears as an ald man with white hair and beard.