#Alina Strakov

[stromuprisahat]

Though compared to other characters and ships in the books, do you think that darklina could be called toxic from both parties (Aleksander + Alina)? Sorry if this offense anyone I only read the first book.

First of all- fuck offending people. Fiction is written to be discussed among other things and asking a question without ill intent should never be something to be afraid of.

As for the matter at hand- yes, absolutely.

There's plenty written on how did Aleksander wrong Alina and although most of it could be chalked up to caution, strategy and having to deal with mentally damaged girl necessary for his plans alongside more pressing matters like war and incompetent leadership. It's undeniable his feelings got involved, so he hardly remained simply cold and calculating.

He's also a petty bitch, who won't let an offense against himself and his goals slide, if he is in position to take revenge. (See: Genya's punishment, Nikolai's volcralization, partly burning that Saintsdamned orphanage..) Plus he knows words don't cost him anything, but often could work as well as actions (threatening to skin Alina, kill Grishenka etc.).

The main issue is that neither Alina, not plenty of readers see the difference between Alina as a person and her as a strategically important figure, later a leader and figurehead of part of his opposition. Or cannot grasp that a single action rarely has just one purpose with the Darkling.

For example burning that orphanage isn't necessary to prove how far he's willing to go- Alina already sees him as evil incarnate-, but it:

Destroys symbol of the past Alina keeps clinging to, even though it's holding her back.

Destroys one of few things she truly cared for.

Lures her out of hiding, so at least the Civil war can end.

Frees Alina from her shitty mother figure.

Settles the score of dead horrible women that kept damaging their "children" even from afar. And no, I won't cry for Anne Cunt any more than for Ol' Bags.

The other way around is often overlooked. Partly because Aleksander's viewed as a heartless monster by plenty of people, partly because he's the bad guy AND a ("white powerful") man, so he "cannot be abused", especially not by the heroine, from whose POV we see the story unfold.

Aleksander's only role model regarding long lasting relationships is his toxic mother, so he treats harm as affection, therefore we never see him complain, but let's be fair- if he were the one promising Alina to join her, only to proceed trying to kill them both through her powers, he'd be judged for it even more than he already is.

Alina from the first book never saw him as a human being. She found him attractive- yes-, but denied him something as basic as ability to have feelings. and once a salvation in a form of older female figure with puritan attitudes appears, Alina embraces her lies as a word of God, and immediately flees from him, never to stop and think about wider consequences of her sudden disappearance. Her dehumanization of him in the tent scene is quite something.

Alina from following books has fleeing moments of empathy, only to slide back into her "Evil man-needs to be destroyed" attitude. She feels ashamed of wanting him, she finds funny the notion he might've been sexually assaulted, she never considers his points or losses. There's probably more, but this already got longer than I intended, so I'll drop a link to my tag on their interactions I write as I go through the books.

While his unhealthy treatment of her is a combination of centuries of losses, damage caused by narcissistic mother and desperation of a cornered leader, hers of him is about bigotry, shame and will to be responsibility-free no matter the cost.

It's rather ironic, that he keeps trying to teach her- even though it's often the "tough love" he was taught at Baghra's knee-, while she uses "wisdom" of the same woman as ear plugs

Actually, the only truly nice action from her side I can think of is her honoring his last wish.

[stringcage]

Alina: Mal is everyone's type

Tamar:

[sad-endings-suck]

this is completely random question: but I'm rereading the grisha trilogy and that part in S&B where the Darkling says: "Did you tell him, Alina? Does the boy know how willing you were to give yourself to me? Did you tell him what I showed you in the dark?" - p. 302 Does this mean they had sex and it wasn't written in the book? Or was it a reference to that part during the Winter Fete where they made out in the dark?

I think the Darkling was just referring to Alina and him making out to mess with Mal. However, for all we (the readers) know, they had sex afterwards and it was intentionally kept ambiguous/fade to black because Alina is a minor.

[readytofangirl]

The way Alina escaped from the Crows in the show was stupid af!

Ok so I understand that for plot purposes they can’t have Alina stay captured by the Crows, but they shouldn’t have done that in a way that made the crows seem incompetent. Like you really think Kaz mf Brekker would not have thought of how to restrain her at all and that a flash of light made them loose her...I call bs. 

These aren’t perfect but here are some ideas on how they could’ve done the Alina escapes thing without the crows character assassination:

1. She gets out of the trunk and Kaz wacks her with his cane. Then Jesper and Kaz moves to restrain her and she burns through one of Kaz’s gloves making him jump back at the slight skin to skin contact (which also surprises Inej and Jesper). The sudden release of pressure from Kaz letting go and his reaction to her touch makes Jesper loosen his grip and Alina flashes her light at him. ALINA THEN RUNS AS FAST AS SHE CAN INSTEAD OF SLOWLY BACKING AWAY. Jesper starts shooting at her retreating figure but misses because he is disoriented by the light. Kaz asks Inej to trail her but Inej is not doing it seriously because of the religion thing. 

2. Alina doesn’t escape until later so she is still with them when they go to that barn place. So they are being chased by the Darkling gang and are taking a short stop to recuperate and for Kaz to break down the plan (basically the convo that happened when they were laying down on the grass near the train and it explodes). Alina is still in the trunk because they would’ve secured that damn thing. Mal sneaks up and start to fiddle with the locks and Inej catches him like she did in the skiff. Mal got the chains loose enough that Alina is able to kick it open. She springs out but Inej has her knife on Mal’s throat and Jesper now has his guns pointed at Mal and Alina. They have quick banter before the barn door explodes and they all scramble. Chaos ensues. Mal and Alina end up in the woods without the darkling noticing they slipped away. The crows split up and basically the same thing happens but now near the barn instead of in the town. 

These aren’t very well thought out but well at least this doesn't make it seem like the crows were defeated by a flashlight. 

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk

[neverhaveieverheardkazbrekkersay]

Matthias: Are you still breathing?

Nina: Won't you tell me if you found that deeper meaning

Wylan: Do you think I've gone blind?

Jesper: I know it's not the truth when you say, "I'm fine"

Genya: So go ahead and break my heart again

Darkling: Leave me wonderin' why the hell I ever let you in

Pekka Rollins: Are you the definition of insanity?

Kaz: Or am I?

Inej: Oh, it must be nice

Alina: To love someone who lets you break them twice

Mal: Don't pretend that I'm the instigator

Jordie: You were the one, but you were born to say goodbye

Nikolai: Kissed me half (Kissed me half) a decade later

Zoya: That same perfume, those same sad eyes

[cuteangrycoconuts]

me on my way to rewatch episode 5 again:

[the-randomness-and-fandomness]

Grishaverse meets Potterverse...some edits went better than others haha.

[cardigantaylor13]

hi everyone! I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but jessie posted on her story explaining her take on the stunt double situation! I think she explained very well as the complicated situation it is – and made a lot of great points as someone who is a both woman of color and someone in the industry. if you’re interested, I would really recommend reading it to get a bigger understanding of this delicate thing. I really like her explanation!

[nabechillo]

the darkling 🌑

[jmlascar]

Zoya & Alina

[kazoo-the-demjin]

The Darkling: We have fun, don’t we, Alina? Alina: I have never been more stressed out in my entire life.

[sixofbabycrows]

probably a hot take but i don’t understand how in shadow and bone literally any side character you take is more interesting than alina or mal. like how did leigh manage to come up such cool characters like nikolai or genya or even the darkling but decided to focus the story on a basic teenage girl and her basic teenage boyfriend

[juneisafantasyaddict]

The selfishness Baghra couldn’t teach Aleksander for 500 years, she managed to teach it to Alina in less than a year, and LB is like “she’s one of the good guys.” Lol

[dj-batman-abed]

Do it for her

Sankta Alina 🙌 /lh /hj

[dr-lizortecho]

Fi- creates morals based off internal moral system. Fights for what she believes is right even when others disagree. Strives for individuality

Se- lives in the moment, takes in surroundings in real time, follow impulses and reacts to world around her

Ni- aha moments, analyzes the world around her internally finding connections

Te- attempts to organize information given to her, creates efficient methods

[sweet-villlain]

I'M IN TEARSSS OMG

THEY JUST ANNOUNCED THE SHADOW QND BONE'S CAST

AND LOOK AT THEM

THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING

LOOK AT OUR KAZ AND INEJ AND HESPER AND ALINA GSKSKSSGS

I THOUGHT ARCHIE WAS KAZ BUT HE'S MAL?HOW AM I GOING TO HATE HIM NOW?

JUST.LOOK.AT.HEM.