Headscratchers / Shadow and Bone

• Arken Visser, the Conductor, uses a small train to travel through the Shadow Fold...but how are there even any tracks for the train to cross on? It's nigh impossible that they were laid before the creation of the Fold, since that happened several centuries ago and Ravka hadn't reached that level of technology yet. It's just as impossible that Visser laid them all by himself. It might have been that the line was another failed attempt on the part of Ravka to find a way to cross the Fold other than by skiff, like the botched attempt at digging under it — but then why is so much of the line complete, with only a (relatively) small gap in the tracks, and why is the line such a secret?
  • Wooden railways (like the Reisszug) were rare but predated steam power, so it is still possible that they were an unfinished rail project at the time of the Fold's creation. Ravka is discovering technological inventions at the time of the show, but is behind its rivals because of the Fold, so perhaps the Conductor learned of trains abroad and then adapted them to suit the tracks he discovered?
• Haven't read the book, but isn't Baghra sabotaging Alina's training instead of helping? Alina clearly has no idea how to summon the light, but instead of offering any instructions Baghra repeatedly hits her, interrupting the concentration, and her questioning and insults only stress Alina out.
  • Baghra eventually reveals that Kirigan is manipulating Alina to weaponize the Fold, so Alina actually being trained properly would not have been the best outcome. Messing up her training was intentional - that, and she is kind of a hardass.
• How did Wylan manage to remain functional after getting dosed with the drug from the orange flowers when almost everyone else was on the verge of death? Was it just because he was outside the building? That seems like a pretty big hole in the security system.
  • The gas was only being dispensed inside of the building so until he created a hole there was no way for him to get dosed with it. Once the hole was open some of the gas would come out and he probably breathed some in but since he was outside it would be heavily diluted with the air and it's unlikely that he got a big enough dose to be dangerous.
• If that drug makes people hallucinate "the thing they want most in the world" or whatever, why is Kaz's hallucination of him getting taunted and drowned by Jordie? All of the other hallucinations are positive; except for Tolya's, but I can buy his being an outlier due to him slowing his breath interacting weirdly with whatever was happening in his brain as a result of the drug.
  • I think that interpretation is wrong, it seems more likely that it just amplifies their existing thoughts and emotions. Kaz was already suffering from PTSD so it basically amplified that. Similarly Tolya was worried about his sister (even if he hides it), Inej was struggling with her feelings towards Kaz, and Jespar was thinking about love and relationships so all of them had hallucinations around their thoughts.
• Who exactly designed and created that stained glass window of Alina with the stag antler amplifier? Everyone who knew about it after Kirigan expanded the Fold was either dead or on the run, and Alina herself was widely regarded as a traitor who colluded with Kirigan. And it's only been a few weeks at most from the end of season 1 to the end of season 2.
  • They might have made it beforehand and happened to have gotten the details right. Alternatively, word got out somehow - Fabrikators would probably have less production time anyway, and even less if one was working with an Inferni who could blow the glass quickly.
• Why did the Fjerdans send a Grisha to attack the coronation? Don't Fjerdans hunt Grisha?
  • It's explained further in the books (and hopefully in future seasons!) but the Fjerdans execute some captured Grisha while enslaving others — particularly Durasts — to serve them. The creation of jurda parem makes enslavement even easier, as it gets the Grisha hooked, dependant and willing to do anything for their next fix.