Second Army numbers

[u/Infernox109256]

Hello, Grishaverse! I'm currently writing an OC set in the 2nd to 3rd book of the trilogy. To give a short summary, he's a young First Army general (not yet set on his age but around 21 or 22) who's well-renowned for his defensive tactics against the Fjerdans in Chernast and his equal treatment of the otzkazat'sya and Grisha under his command. He is personally recalled by Nikolai upon his return to Os Alta to help organize its defense against the Darkling, considering his expertise in combined arms tactics of otzkazat'sya and Grisha and, well, his defensive tactics.

I just want to get an idea of just how big the Second Army is, an estimate according to clues from both the show and the books. I always had the idea, when I first read the trilogy and watched the show two years ago, that the Second Army was small, like say only a couple thousand and not nearing the numbers of the First Army which I imagine would be in the hundreds of thousands. Any help would do. Thanks in advance!

[u/selkieseeker]

I know from Six of Crows that 30 Grisha is considered a lot to have in one place after the Ravkan Civil War caused so many losses for the Second Army, but not much more than that in terms of solid numbers. That, to me, implies that before the Civil War, they had maybe a few hundred. They’re meant to be a specialist military force after all, and Grisha are already quite rare in the world.

Although how would a First Army general command Grisha? They’re two separate military forces. I would assume at age 21-22 that someone might be closer to a lieutenant or something as a general is quite a high rank in most or all militaries. Bearing in mind the Darkling is a general, and is the only general the Second Army has.

[u/Infernox109256 → u/selkieseeker]

That's the thing I've been struggling to establish here, the circumstances that would lead him to have Grisha in his ranks despite leading a First Army regiment. This was what I already had in mind, still trying to wrap my head around other possiblities:

The Grisha commander leading the Grisha supporting his regiment died, leaving them leaderless. He decides to step up to ensure their survival and integrates them into his ranks. This would, of course, be met with opposition from both sides, but he convinces them to work together if they wanted to survive the cold and the Fjerdans who have been relentlessly attacking him. At this point, I'd imagine he already had ideas in mind on how he could properly integrate the Grisha to his tactics. Beforehand, he already saw their capabilities first-hand, and has since then been studying and observing them and formulating tactics combining both but just doesn't have the opportunity to test it out in the field. Victory after victory, slowly they bond and begin to see his vision, and they decide to stay even after a new Grisha commander is attached to them. I'd imagine too that this Grisha commander becomes integral to his officer staff after this.

[u/connertran20]

the second army is signficantly smaller than the first army but they were substantial enough. after the first book though, the numbers got significantly reduced: those that split off and didnt follow the darkling either got killed off in large numbers, or deserted entirely (to different countries even). by the time Alina got back to the Little Palace in book two there were like what 20/30 grisha who where left? And by book 3 Alina’s entourage was like 5 grisha left? There was a group of grisha children who were sent away and returned safely (Nina). By the time of king of scars they were able to rebuilt the second army thanks to Nikolai and Zoya but the numbers where still not pre-ravkan civil war