50 Fun Facts About Six of Crows

Which American fantasy author wrote the heist novel Six of Crows and its Grishaverse companions?

Leigh Bardugo set the story in the world of her earlier Grisha trilogy, but swapped a country at war for a merchant city run by thieves.

What is Kaz Brekker rarely seen without in Six of Crows, the legacy of a childhood trauma?

Leather gloves cover the hands of a boy who was once dumped among plague victims and swam to shore using his brother's body as a float.

Which nickname did Inej Ghafa earn for slipping in and out of anywhere unseen and unheard?

The Wraith is the name Kaz gave her after buying out her contract, and he taught her to crack safes and pick pockets along the way.

In Six of Crows, Inej Ghafa gives each of her favourite knives a name taken from which group?

Saints lend their names to all six of the blades she carries, a habit that suits the most devout member of the crew after Matthias.

Ketterdam, the canal-laced trading city of Six of Crows, is loosely inspired by which real European city?

Amsterdam in its Dutch Republic heyday was the model, which is why Ketterdam answers to a council of merchants rather than a king.

Which costly habit keeps Six of Crows sharpshooter Jesper Fahey deep in debt in Ketterdam?

Gambling hooked him soon after he arrived from a frontier farm to attend university, and his father still believes he is in class.

Nina Zenik, a former soldier of Ravka's Second Army, is which kind of Grisha in Six of Crows?

Heartrender Grisha work on the human body, and Nina turns the gift to gentler use at her day job, where she alters her clients' moods.

From which island prison do the Crows break out Matthias Helvar early in Six of Crows?

Hellgate held him for a year after Nina, trying to shield him from Grisha spies, falsely denounced him to a Kerch trader.

Which novel, set days after Six of Crows, completes the story of Kaz Brekker's crew as a duology?

Crooked Kingdom opens with the crew cheated of their reward and one of their own held hostage, so the thieves turn on the merchant who hired them.

Which Netflix fantasy series gave the Crows of Six of Crows an original storyline in its first season?

Shadow and Bone ran for two seasons before Netflix cancelled it, taking a planned spin-off about the Ice Court heist down with it.

Which Ketterdam gang, marked by a crow-and-cup tattoo, counts Kaz Brekker as its lieutenant?

The Dregs are named for sitting at the very bottom of the city's roughest district, and rivals dismissed them as a joke until Kaz made them competitive.

Which powerful Ketterdam gang, owners of the Emerald Palace, is the chief rival of Kaz Brekker's crew?

The Dime Lions use the symbol of a feral cat curled into a crown, and their other businesses include the Sweet Shop and the Kaelish Prince.

Which powerful Ketterdam figure swindled a young Kaz Brekker and his brother out of their farm money?

Pekka Rollins posed as a friendly merchant to run the con, and years later he cannot even recall the boy who has built his life around revenge.

Which nickname did Kaz Brekker earn in Six of Crows for doing any job for the right price?

Dirtyhands is a reputation he leans on, because rivals who believe he will carry out any threat tend to back down before he has to.

Jan Van Eck disowns his son Wylan in Six of Crows because the boy cannot master which skill?

Reading defeats him because of severe dyslexia, yet he is a fine mathematician, chemist and musician, and the crew's demolitions man.

Which Fjerdan war machine do Jesper and Wylan hijack to smash out of the Ice Court in Six of Crows?

A tank from the fortress's own armoury rams through the walls, and the crew fire its gun to bring down a bridge behind them.

Which actor plays the cane-wielding thief Kaz Brekker in Netflix's Grishaverse adaptation?

Freddy Carter plays him with blue eyes, although the novels describe Kaz as very pale with dark hair and dark brown eyes.

From which Ketterdam brothel did Kaz Brekker buy Inej Ghafa's indenture before Six of Crows begins?

The Menagerie marked its girls with a peacock tattoo on the forearm, and Inej is the only known member of Kaz's gang who does not wear the gang's own tattoo.

Which act did Inej Ghafa perform in her family's travelling troupe before she was taken to Ketterdam?

The tightrope was her act from early childhood, and she walked it barefoot beside her father and cousins, falling only once.

Which Ketterdam district of gaming halls, brothels and slums is home turf for Kaz Brekker's gang?

The Barrel lies between two canals, East Stave with its betting parlours and West Stave with its pleasure houses, and tourists roam it in costume.

Matthias Helvar once belonged to which holy Fjerdan order trained to capture and execute Grisha?

Drüskelle swear sacred oaths, and Matthias ends up giving his to Nina, vowing to keep safe the very Grisha he once took captive.

Which Shu scientist, the inventor of jurda parem, is Kaz Brekker hired to rescue from the Ice Court?

Bo Yul-Bayur has already been killed by the time the crew reach his lab, so they bring out his teenage son, who was being forced to redo the research.

After surviving jurda parem withdrawal in the Six of Crows duology, Nina Zenik gains power over what?

The dead answer to her once the drug has rewired her gift, which makes Nina the only known Corpsewitch.

To which Grisha order does Jesper Fahey secretly belong, a gift inherited from his late mother?

Fabrikator power lets him guide a bullet around a corner, but his father, fearing persecution, raised him to keep it hidden.

Which prized pearl-handled weapons is Six of Crows sharpshooter Jesper Fahey almost never seen without?

Revolvers mean so much to him that losing the pair in a card game, staged to keep a lawyer away from his office, is a real sacrifice.

What is the name of Kaz Brekker's older brother, whose death in a Ketterdam plague drives his revenge?

Jordie had sold the family farm and brought Kaz to the city hoping to become a merchant, only to lose every coin to a con.

Before naming himself after dockside machinery, Kaz Brekker was born with which surname?

Rietveld survives as a black letter R tattooed on his bicep, and he later revives the name as an alias in a con of his own.

Which actress plays the knife-carrying spy Inej Ghafa in Netflix's Grishaverse adaptation?

Amita Suman was born in Nepal and moved to Brighton at seven, and she had a guest role in Doctor Who before landing the part.

In Kaz Brekker's plan in Six of Crows, how do the six crew members first get inside the Ice Court?

As prisoners, having swapped places with six captives on an intercepted wagon, they reach the cells and then climb for the roof.

Which currency do the merchants and gangs of Kerch count their fortunes in throughout Six of Crows?

Kruge are the stakes of the whole heist, because Kaz is promised thirty million of them for the Ice Court job.

Which god of commerce, often pictured as a human hand, do the merchants of Kerch worship in Six of Crows?

Ghezen is honoured through work itself, so in Kerch a contract is close to sacred and the main church is built in the shape of a hand.

Which disaster left enemies Nina Zenik and Matthias Helvar depending on each other to survive?

A shipwreck in a storm sank the vessel taking the captive Nina to trial, and the pair then spent three weeks crossing the frozen north together.

At which Ketterdam pleasure house does Nina Zenik work in Six of Crows, soothing her clients' moods?

The White Rose keeps her in the city for one reason: she will not go home until she has found a way to free Matthias.

Which Ketterdam brothel keeper bought the kidnapped Inej Ghafa and recognises her inside the Ice Court?

Tante Heleen exposes her to the guards, but Inej takes the woman's diamond choker, and the stone helps the crew drill their way out.

Inej Ghafa grew up travelling Ravka in the caravans of which nomadic people?

Suli families like hers tour as performers, which is how Inej came to be an acrobat long before she became a spy.

Six of Crows sharpshooter Jesper Fahey grew up on a farm in which frontier country?

Novyi Zem is where his father still farms, and that farm became the security for a loan Jesper took out to cover his debts.

Which ageing gang boss does Kaz Brekker overthrow single-handed in the Six of Crows duology?

Per Haskell had sided with Kaz's enemies, so Kaz fought his way through the old man's loyalists and took the gang for himself.

Which run-down Ketterdam house serves as home and headquarters for the members of Kaz Brekker's gang?

The Slat is where members sleep and live, and Kaz had the building fixed up as part of turning a failing outfit into a real power.

Which animals is Matthias Helvar forced to fight in a prison arena show in Six of Crows?

Wolves are sacred to his people and the companions of his old order, so killing them in the ring leaves him distraught.

Which sacred tree does Kaz Brekker uproot at the heart of the Ice Court to open an escape route?

An ash, ancient, giant and silver, marks the holiest spot in Fjerda, and beneath it lies the spring that feeds the moat and the river beyond.

Which Fjerdan commander, once Matthias Helvar's mentor, locks Nina Zenik in a cell at the Ice Court?

Jarl Brum had also commanded the ship on which Nina was first held captive, and Matthias chooses her over him, knocking his old mentor out cold.

Which paranormal fantasy was the first novel for adults by the author of Six of Crows?

Ninth House won the Goodreads Choice Award for best fantasy novel in its year and opened her Alex Stern series.

Once free of her indenture, Inej Ghafa plans to captain a ship of her own for which purpose?

Hunting slavers becomes her calling, and she later leaves two captured traffickers, tarred and stuck with crow feathers, outside the city hall.

Which commodity in Jan Van Eck's silos does Kaz Brekker plot to ruin in the Six of Crows duology?

Sugar spoiled in the silos would send its price soaring, and Kaz had quietly bought shares in rival suppliers beforehand.

On which misty, reputedly haunted island does Kaz Brekker's crew hide after Jan Van Eck's betrayal?

Black Veil was once the burial ground of the Kerch rich, whose marble mausoleums give the crew a hideout that nobody visits.

Which reclusive body does Kaz Brekker impersonate with disguised Grisha refugees to halt an auction?

Council of Tides members control the sea around Ketterdam and had not shown themselves in public for 25 years, so few could spot a fake.

Which later Grishaverse duology continues the story of Nina Zenik after the events of Six of Crows?

King of Scars sends her undercover into Fjerda, where she works to smuggle Grisha out of the country that once put her in chains.

Which Ravkan Grisha Tailor restores Wylan Van Eck's own face late in the Six of Crows duology?

Genya Safin undoes the disguise that Nina had tailored onto him, which had left him the double of a Shu boy for weeks.

Which medical condition of the Six of Crows author inspired Kaz Brekker's limp and his walking cane?

Osteonecrosis means that she sometimes needs a cane herself, which she revealed in the novel's acknowledgments.

The author of Six of Crows grew up in Los Angeles, but in which city was she born?

Jerusalem was her birthplace, and she went on to study English at Yale before working in copywriting, journalism, makeup and special effects.