*Most of the individual moments mentioned here are specifically from the show, but this characterization is very true to the books as well.*
Thought I might as well wrap up the final member of Shadow and Bone’s neurodivergent trifecta. I poked around a little, and while there isn’t unequivocal confirmation in the books or explicit word from author Leigh Bardugo in interviews, I am absolutely certain that David is intended to be autistic, both in the books and on the show.
David is part of the Fabrikator order of Grisha, specifically a Durast. This means he can control and manipulate physical materials—while he has a particular affinity for metals, he keenly understands other materials like stones/minerals as well, and he can help other Grisha create amplifiers to boost their power. Like many Fabrikators, his role within the Second Army is considered less combat-based and more scientific. Fabrikators are primarily researchers, tinkerers, and inventors. They make the Grisha’s bulletproof keftas, the skiffs that allow them to travel the Fold, and other innovations.
Side note: even though this is the role that Fabrikators are funneled into at the Little Palace, I appreciate that it’s not an innate Fabrikator trait. After all, Jesper is a Durast as well, albeit an untrained one, and he’d go stir-crazy in a workshop far away from the action. It gets away from some essentialist “all Fabrikators are STEM nerds!” implications.
That’s just fine with David, though. He isn’t really trained for battle and prefers his workshop anyway. It keeps him safe, not only from the frontlines, but from confusing social interactions that elude his understanding (and don’t interest him.) He loves his work and can completely miss the fact that someone is even talking to him when his mind is busy brainstorming. He’s mostly unaware of Genya’s crush on him, even though he likes her himself, and her gentle flirting goes over his head.
Luca Pasqualino’s performance on the show leans into the “socially awkward genius” portrayal of David, and while that’s a particularly tropey form of autistic coding, I like that it doesn’t translate into “asshole” here, as it often does on other shows. Instead, when David ignores someone, it’s obvious that he’s simply lost in his head and isn’t intending to offend anyone. I enjoy his fidgety mannerisms and inability to read the room—there’s a great moment where Kirigan starts to point out that David doesn’t have to raise his hand when he wants to speak, then decides it’s not worth it and simply says, “Yes, David?” And it cracks me up when he’s been captured and raises his shackled wrists to wave at Alina when she comes in to question him.
In addition to his general social awkwardness and preference for being alone with his work, David’s brilliance doesn’t always extend to crisis situations. When he’s hit with something unfamiliar, he can flail—when Jesper startles him in Kirigan’s carriage, David’s first recourse is to throw a book at him. This doesn’t offer him much cover, as he’s quickly knocked unconscious. No, he works best when he has time to think, when he can come up with a plan.
I know I’m not alone in my favorite scene from David, on both the show and in the books. It’s where he finally expresses his feelings for Genya, in an incredibly David way. At this point, she’s been brutalized by Kirigan’s shadow monsters and left badly disfigured. It’s worth quoting his entire little speech here, because it’s so great:
David furrowed his brow. "I…I don't understand half of what goes on around me. I don't get jokes or sunsets or poetry, but I know metal." His fingers flexed unconsciously as if he were physically grasping for words. "Beauty was your armor. Fragile stuff, all show. But what's inside you? That's steel. It's brave and unbreakable. And it doesn't need fixing."
I just think it’s so lovely that David gets one of the most romantic moments in the whole series, and that his romantic moment is super autistic, right down to invoking his special interest to compliment the woman he loves. Just wonderful!
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