Theory / Headcanon Re: Sankta Vasilka & Ilya Morozova
From the GrishaVerse Wiki: "Vasilka lived in solitude in a high tower. One day, a sorcerer came to [steal the secrets] behind her beautiful tapestries... He lied to her father, saying he would like to speak with her in hopes of marriage. However, Vasilka never answered his questions directly, only asking him about things such as colors and quality. In frustration, the sorcerer demanded her hand in marriage so they [might] rule those lesser than them, or else she would be thrown out of the tower. However, whilst they were talking, she [wove] golden wings for herself... [and] once he threatened to push her from the tower, she donned the pair of magnificent wings... and soared away."
According to the Istorii Sankt'ya, Sankta Vasilka, the patron saint of unwed women, was a talented young weaver (and most likely a Fabrikator Durast) who crafted wings, flew away from her pursuer, an avaricious sorcerer, and was to have become the first firebird. Acknowledging the similarities between a firebird and a phoenix, the firebird in the original trilogy was symbolically Mal and, by extension, his ancestors who also carried the power of the third amplifier. Naturally, the first to carry this power was the younger daughter of Ilya Morozova (the sister of Baghra and the aunt of Aleksander, the Darkling), which would figuratively make her the first firebird (her life restored by the unholy power of merzost). Therefore, is the resurrected daughter of Sankt Ilya in Chains venerated in Ravkan religion as Sankta Vasilka?
I realize there is a difference between the firebird that lives in the Sikurzoi that the characters encounter in the third novel and the true third amplifier: the bloodline of the resurrected second daughter of Morozova, the metaphorical reborn firebird (like a phoenix). But I am referring to the third amplifier as Baghra's younger sister, resurrected by her father. As I see it, the story of Sankta Vasilka is an allegory for the fate of Ilya Morozova's younger daughter. That there is a mention of a young woman who becomes a firebird seems too specific to be a coincidence. And, as the original trilogy describes, Lantsov kings traced their ancestry back to the firebird, which implies a cultural knowledge of heritage (though her last descendant was in fact Malyen Oretsev) from this creature whose power and myth overlapped with that of the child saved by Sankt Ilya in Chains (demonstrated by the firebird's presence over the arch of Dva Stolba in Sankt Ilya's illustration in The Lives of Saints). This child, of course, was his own daughter, whom he resurrected with merzost. However, since Sankta Vasilka was a woman said to have "become the first firebird", this distinguishes her story from the myth of the magical creature. As I recall, there is only one firebird, and if there is only one, it cannot reproduce; it could only be reborn, as a phoenix might. That there would be a "first" firebird implies that the creature has a lineage—that there are more firebirds, that this firebird has descendants. Likewise, the novels describe this creature with a sort of mysticism that implies it is unique—the one and only—Alina's semi-obsession with it reflects this. Likewise, the Sea Whip and the stag are also thought to be unique, mythical, immortal or nigh-immortal beings, so it would follow that the firebird (the one living in the Sikurzoi, not the daughter of Morozova) would be as well.
The Sea Whip, of course, was rumored to be a cursed prince, but the characters never discovered if the Sea Whip was, in fact, once a man. The stag was supposed to be powerful and magical before the Bonesmith intervened, but I believe it was only ever an animal. They conclusively learn that the only amplifier who was a person was Ilya Morozova's youngest daughter, and the Lives of Saints denotes where she could be found: the arch that would one day be the settlement of Dva Stolba. I think we can assume that the firebird (the real creature) didn't spend all its time around Dva Stolba, as the stag and its herd didn't remain stagnant in the glen where Mal and Alina found them, and the Sea Whip didn't remain curled around just one of the rocks of the Bone Road. Also, the firebird is shown dwelling above a high arch that could one day resemble two towers, as that of Sankta Vasilka. That the book containing the only true reference to the firebird (both to the amplifier's location and to the real fantastic creature) contains another reference to that bird does not seem like a coincidence. To me, this says that perhaps the Lives of the Saints recorded the name of Morozova's resurrected daughter, Vasilka, but separated his martyrdom from the miracle of the creation of the figurative firebird. One way of thinking of this is that peasants and monks conflated details of the two stories—the sorcerer who pursues Sankta Vasilka and threatens to throw her from the tower and kill her (as the townspeople threw Morozova and his daughter from the bridge into the river) is a combination of both the figure of Morozova (a man of powerful magic and avarice who uses—or at least tries to use—a young girl to discover untold mysteries) and the prejudiced townspeople (who see the incredible things that happen around this girl but still attempt to kill by throwing her from a great height). The two saints may have been canonized together, or Sankta Vasilka not long after Sankt Ilya in Chains, allowing time for people to confuse the details, like the arch of Dva Stolba and the bridge of the town into Vasilka's tower and the acts of a powerful Durast and rumors of the firebird into this image of the girl who became the first in her line with such power.