Alina is the novel’s protagonist and narrator. Her character is the chosen one, a common fantasy trope. She is a Sun Summoner, the only Grisha with power to destroy the Shadow Fold and save Ravka. The novel follows Alina’s journey to acceptance, both of her new power and of herself, and her inner narrative highlights her struggles with self-doubt, unrequited love, belonging, and responsibility.

Alina’s physical appearance and social status mark her as an underdog. Alina is thin and clumsy, with under-eye shadows and a sickly complexion. In childhood she’s described as “an ugly little thing [...] Pale and sour, like a glass of milk that’s turned” (2). With her brown hair and eyes and skinny appearance, she gets called things like “Sticks” (15) and “mouse” (51). She compensates with a quick-witted and spunky demeanor: “People, particularly big men carrying big rifles, don’t expect lip from a scrawny thing like me” (8-9). Alina starts the story as an unremarkable junior cartographer’s assistant with the inferior First Army. She avoids exposing that she is also a peasant and an orphan. Although Alina puts up a strong front, she constantly battles with self-doubt.