Shadow and Bone is a world in which every single thing has profound meaning, including the color of the Grisha’s keftas. Is the Grisha in question Materialki? Then they wear purple. Corporalki? Red. Blue is reserved for Etherealki, and only one Grisha wears black — the Darkling himself (Ben Barnes). 

So it’s only natural the Season 2 episode titles are also full of deep significance. Praise the Sun Summoner, Shadow and Bone Season 2’s co-showrunners Eric Heisserer and Daegan Fryklind talk about the names of those episodes  ahead of the premiere on March 16. 

For the second season, Heisserer, Fryklind and their writers room “widened the scope” of which books in Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse could inspire episode titles. “That meant looking at the theme of each episode and figuring out where we’re sending our characters or what our characters are leading us towards,” Heisserer tells Tudum. 

Take, for example, the Season 2 premiere, “No Shelter but Me,” which takes its title from the third “Shadow and Bone” book, Ruin and Rising. The episode picks up after the devastation and promise of the Season 1 finale. Alina (Jessie Mei Li) and Mal (Archie Renaux) are hunting for new amplifiers after leaving the Darkling in the Shadow Fold; the Crows must return to Ketterdam after teaming up with the Sun Summoner herself. 

“‘No Shelter but Me’ felt like a good descriptor for the fact that both Alina and Mal and our Crows find themselves without any allies and in some pretty deep trouble,” Heisserer says. 

Writers for each Season 2 episode were free to intuitively choose the perfect title for their episode — save for Episode 5 and Episode 6, whose titles, “Yuyeh Sesh (Despise Your Heart)” and “Ni Weh Sesh (I Have No Heart),” were always predetermined. “Those two episodes are very tied together. They’re a real call and response,” Fryklind says.  

In the Grishaverse novels, “yuyeh sesh” and “ni weh sesh” are paired Shu proverbs that encourage someone to do what must be done. Fans might assume the reference to Shu culture may mean Shadow and Bone is heading to the never-before-seen country. Heisserer and Fryklind aren’t afraid of that theory. 

“We’ve mentioned that we’re broadening our map,” Fryklind says. “So it is a nod toward where the story is headed.” 

The ultimate direction of Season 2 is the finale, titled “No Funerals.” Viewers with great memories — or an unwavering loyalty to the Crows — will notice its direct connection with the Season 1 finale, “No Mourners.” The Crows always say “No mourners, no funerals” before a big job. This finale pairing is the other big “call and response” of Shadow and Bone episode titles, Heisserer explains. 

“The relationship between those two finale episodes is that the two groups are united again, however fleeting, and that they need each other,” Heisserer teases. “They’re all in dire straits and have to lean on each other, which is also part of the spirit of that phrase. It’s a call to say, ‘We have each other’s backs.’ ” 

Will the aftermath of the Season 2 finale call for funerals — or mourners? Tune in to Shadow and Bone Season 2 when it debuts on March 16 to find out, and see all eight episode titles below.

Episode 1: “No Shelter but Me”

Episode 2: “Rusalye”

Episode 3: “Like Calls to Like”

Episode 4: “Every Monstrous Thing”

Episode 5: “Yuyeh Sesh (Despise Your Heart)”

Episode 6: “Ni Weh Sesh (I Have No Heart)”

Episode 7: “Meet You in the Meadow”

Episode 8: “No Funerals” 

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