Chapter 37 Summary and Analysis: Nikolai

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

At dawn near Arkesk, Nikolai surveys a battlefield stripped of its natural defenses. Fjerda's drugged Squallers have leveled the centuries-old northern forest, leaving rocky, open ground that favors their tanks. Ravka's forces are camped on a low rise north of the village of Pachesyana, where General Pensky's First Army troops have dug trenches—some deep enough to stop armor, others protecting rocket launch platforms.

Nikolai's strategy is a deliberate gamble. Unable to defend every possible invasion point, he let Sturmhond's blockade weaken, tempting Fjerda into a two-pronged attack at the bay and at the border near Arkesk. He hopes to draw the wolf into a single, decisive bite—and then break its jaw.

The battle opens not with stealth but with spectacle. Adrik, the highest-ranking Etherealnik on the field, commands the Sun Soldiers—Sun Summoners who carry Alina's legacy—to flood the empty fields with blinding light. The Fjerdans, waking to a strange sun rising in the south, have little time to wonder. Nadia's Squallers hold the wind at bay while Leoni's Fabrikators launch the first volley of titanium rockets, their shells glinting as they arc toward Fjerdan tanks and troops. The strikes are devastating, pitting the field with smoking craters.

Nikolai watches from a lookout tower, the scene uncomfortably reminiscent of the bombing of Os Alta. He orders Pensky to push the tank battalion forward with infantry and Grisha at the lead. Nadia hopes the enemy will retreat; Tolya knows better—not with Jarl Brum commanding, whose political future depends on a brutal, decisive victory.

A second volley flies, but this time the Fjerdans are ready. Their tanks roll over the smoldering bodies of their own soldiers, and their infantry surges forward. That was the last of Ravka's missiles. The remaining shells are steel, empty of explosives—a bluff Nikolai hopes the enemy won't see through.

With no long-range options left, Nikolai decides to lead the charge himself. Tolya protests, insisting the king is needed alive to command, but Nikolai counters that if Ravka falls, it won't need a king anyway. Soldiers shout Korol Rezni—King of Scars—a name he no longer minds—and fall into step behind him. The battle becomes a brutal, close-quarters brawl: gunfire, smoke, a knife to a gray uniform, a bullet grazing his shoulder. He thinks of Halmhend and Dominik's dying words, and of his promise to build something new—a promise that has come down to this.

Then the beast arrives: the massive transporter full of drugged Grisha. Nikolai's flyers release the Zemeni antidote, but the Squallers riding the vehicle wear masks and drive the haze back with a hard gust. Worse, the Fjerdans push strange objects into position—large metal disks, somewhere between a dish and a bell. Nikolai recognizes them: Nina's parabolas. Songbird. The strange helmets the Fjerdan soldiers wear suddenly make sense.

Soldiers lift mallets and strike the disks. A terrible thrum fills the air, amplified by the drugged Squallers. The sound rattles minds and bones, dropping Ravkan soldiers to their knees, weapons falling from their hands. Blood leaks from Tolya's ears. The helmeted Fjerdans surge forward, picking off helpless Ravkans.

With his forces collapsing, Nikolai makes his final gambit. He releases his demon—knowing that once his troops and enemies see what he is, the crown will be forever out of reach. Let Vadik Demidov have the throne, he thinks. Ravka would survive.

The demon soars toward the bells, but the sound is too much. The vibration fractures its shadow body, unspooling wings and form. Nikolai, on his knees in the dirt, feels the demon breaking and knows he will die with it. After thousands of years of Lantsov kings, Ravka will fall. He grits his teeth, feels fangs in his mouth, and commands: We die together. The demon shrieks its response, and they hurtle toward the bells.

Key Events

The lured attack: Nikolai deliberately weakens Sturmhond's blockade to draw Fjerda into a two-pronged assault at a location of his choosing.
Daybreak: Adrik commands the Sun Soldiers to flood the field with light, opening the battle with a show of force.
Two volleys: Leoni's Fabrikators and Nadia's Squallers deliver two devastating titanium missile strikes; the second is the last.
The charge: Nikolai joins the front lines personally, rallying soldiers under the name Korol Rezni.
The parabolas: Fjerda deploys Nina's sonic weapons—metal disks struck with mallets—paralyzing Ravkan forces while helmeted Fjerdans fire at will.
The demon's release: Nikolai unleashes his demon as a final gambit, sacrificing any claim to the throne.
The fracture: The sonic vibration tears the demon apart, and Nikolai resolves to die with it, hurtling toward the bells.

Character Development

Nikolai: This chapter completes his arc from strategist to sacrificial king. He accepts the Korol Rezni name, abandons hope of keeping the crown, and chooses to become the monster Ravka needs—even at the cost of his own life and identity.
Tolya: His loyalty is unwavering. He protests Nikolai's decision to join the charge, then insists on fighting beside him, bodyguard to the end.
Adrik: Elevated to command of the Sun Soldiers, he carries the legacy of Alina's power into battle, a symbol of Grisha resilience.
Nadia and Leoni: Both execute their tactical roles under extreme pressure, their grim faces reflecting the moral weight of killing at a distance.
Brum (off-page): His presence shapes the enemy's tactics; Tolya's certainty that Brum will not retreat underscores his ruthlessness.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

King vs. monster: Nikolai's final choice—to reveal his demon and forfeit the throne—collapses the distinction he has fought to maintain. The crown and the monster cannot coexist.
Sacrifice and legacy: Nikolai's willingness to die with his demon mirrors the Lantsov dynasty's end; he accepts that Ravka's survival matters more than its royal line.
Hope vs. despair: The Sun Soldiers' light and the soldiers' rallying cries represent hope, but the parabolas' sound—and the demon's shattering—drown it out.
The cost of modern warfare: David's warning that bigger rockets would change everything proves true; the battle is murder at a distance, swift and final, and Ravka cannot sustain it.
Faith: The Starless encamp on the periphery, armed with fists and sticks if necessary—a quiet counterpoint to the technological horror of the battlefield.
The bells as death knell: The parabolas—Nina's invention turned against Ravka—symbolize how Ravka's own ingenuity can be weaponized against it.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 37 is the climax of the northern front, where every thread of Nikolai's strategy—the blockade gambit, the Sun Soldiers, the titanium missiles—collides with Fjerda's brutal countermeasures. It marks the public revelation of Nikolai's demon, destroying his carefully maintained dual identity and ending any hope of a Lantsov succession. The chapter also raises the stakes for the novel's final act: with the demon fracturing and Nikolai resolved to die, Ravka's survival hangs on forces outside this battlefield—Zoya in the south, Genya's mission, and whatever the Darkling intends.

Study Questions

Why did Nikolai deliberately weaken Sturmhond's blockade, and what did he hope to achieve?

He could not defend every possible invasion point, so he let the blockade give way to lure Fjerda into a two-pronged attack at the bay and at Arkesk. By choosing the ground, he hoped to force a decisive engagement on his terms—a single, massive bite he could break.

What role do the Sun Soldiers play in the opening of the battle, and why is Adrik significant in this scene?

The Sun Soldiers flood the field with light as a show of force, blinding the enemy and signaling the attack. Adrik, as the highest-ranking Etherealnik present, commands them, carrying forward Alina's legacy of Sun Summoning into a new generation of Grisha warfare.

Why does Nikolai release his demon even though he knows it will cost him the crown?

With Ravka's missiles exhausted and his soldiers paralyzed by the parabolas' sound, he concludes that his country needs a monster more than a king. He is willing to sacrifice his identity, his throne, and ultimately his life to give Ravka any chance of survival.