Warning: Shadow & Bone season 1 and book spoilers about Jesper.
Shadow and Bone’s Jesper Fahey is a sharpshooter who can’t miss, but his rare skill with guns has another element behind it: Grisha magic. Jesper is one of the Crows, a band of criminals from Ketterdam led by Kaz Brekker, and his sharpshooting skill is invaluable during their job to capture Sun Summoner Alina Starkov. In the course of the job, he uses his beloved pistols for impressive trick shots and life-or-death conflicts against enemies as tough as the Volcra, and his bullets always find their mark. Jesper’s history is never discussed in the series, but the books reveal his Grisha secret.
In Six of Crows, Jesper is forced to reveal his identity as a Durast, a Materialki or Fabrikator Grisha who can use the Small Science to manipulate materials like metal, glass, and stone. While he does not use his power consciously, he does use Fabrikator magic in a unique way to manipulate his bullets. He never misses a shot because he is controlling the bullet’s metal. Jesper was unaware he was using his magic this way for a long time, but once he became conscious of the way he could guide his bullets, he used it to perform even more impossible feats like curving bullets around corners.
Jesper kept his Grisha blood a secret from the Crows because of his family history. He is originally from Novyi Zem, a country all the way across Shadow and Bone’s map from the Grisha home of Ravka. His Zemeni mother was Grisha, referred to as zowa or “blessed” in his home country. However, when his mother died as a result of using her Grisha power, Jesper’s father hid Jesper’s power and discouraged him from ever using his Fabrikator magic in hopes of saving him from a similar fate. Unfortunately, repressing this power had unintended consequences for Jesper.
![Is Jesper Secretly A Grisha? Shadow & Bone Sharpshooter Explained](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Shadow-and-Bone-Jesper-Hugging-Milo.jpg)
Grisha become ill when they don’t use their power. In the book Shadow and Bone, Alina Starkov quickly becomes healthier once she stops holding back her Sun Summoner power. Jesper does not become physically sick from the years of repressing his magic, but this sickness manifests in his gambling addiction. In the Six of Crows books, he always feels energized and less restless after a shootout because that’s the only time he uses his Grisha magic. He still loves risk once he begins consciously using magic, but his gambling addiction becomes more manageable.
The show has not yet touched on Jesper’s backstory, but upcoming seasons are likely to explore Jesper coming into his own as a Grisha. As the show explores his power, fans can expect Jesper’s sharpshooting to evolve to a whole new level. Though the story will be changed in some ways between page and screen, Jesper’s Grisha identity is an integral part of his character that Shadow and Bone will soon need to reveal.