Character from Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
The most powerful Squaller alive — a woman whose beauty is a weapon, whose temper is legendary, and whose dragon transformation in King of Scars redefined what Grisha could become.
Zoya started the series as an antagonist — a beautiful, cruel Squaller who bullied Alina out of jealousy and entitlement. She was wrong then, and she's spent every book since proving that being wrong once doesn't define you if you choose to do better. By King of Scars, she is the Etherealki leader of the Grisha Triumvirate, Nikolai's closest advisor, and one of the most powerful Grisha in history after bonding with the dragon Juris in the Shadow Fold's remnants. She can summon storms that level armies. She can transform. She becomes Queen of Ravka. Her voice is sharp, impatient, and precise. She doesn't suffer fools. She doesn't apologize for ambition. And beneath the ice, she carries grief — for her aunt who was killed by drüskelle, for David who died in the war, for every Grisha who didn't survive long enough to see the world she's building.
Devastatingly beautiful — black hair, blue eyes, olive skin. She knows exactly how she looks and deploys it as deliberately as her Squaller abilities. Wears an Etherealki blue kefta. After bonding with the dragon Juris, she can manifest storm-scale power with draconic overtones.
Also known as: Zoya, The Dragon Queen, Queen Zoya