#Poor fellow. At least he tried yk

[aleksanderscult]

I loved your analysis! Can you analyse the (barely there, not enough) Darklina scenes from the KOS duology? I could not rationalize some of what was going on there.

First of all, I'm so sorry for taking that long to reply, anon! (Hasn't it been over two weeks since you send this or what??😭😭)

Second, thank you so much for your kind words! 💗💗

Third, you and I both friend 🤝🤝

'Cause honestly I didn't know what the fuck was happening in that interaction too 😭

I'll actually analyze the only Darklina scene we got in RoW. But if you want another one too, just send me an ask!

So! Let's dive in and analyze that hot mess, shall we?

(note: I had to go back and read this scene very carefully in order to understand what the actual fuck they were saying💀)

⚠️TW!: PTSD, trauma⚠️

The way he's so obedient with her even in this life 😭

If somebody else had ordered him to do that, he wouldn't obey. But Alina? Alina is a different story and this is the first time he hears her voice since his death in R&R.

'Any little victory'

Uhh....okay...??

You made him wipe his feet. I'm.... impressed??

(confusion levels 📉)

LMAO MY BOY WOKE UP AND CHOSE VIOLENCE

I always believed that the dynamic between Aleksander and Alina involves lots of teasing. But not in the fun sense. But in the sense of "I'm getting under your skin. My words to you sting".

And that's what the Darkling does here too. He's a prisoner. Their prisoner. So he tries to gain the upper hand by using his wits, his past with Alina and the latter's trauma against her to get even.

Pretty clever, huh?

See what I mean?

He tries to weaken her confidence and it's interesting that back in Keramzin he also tried to get even (and he did) by killing her mother figure.

Aleksander: "Wanna fuck with me? Wanna mess with me? How about that time when I burnt that orphanage and killed your "mother"?"

*Alina's sure confidence is gone and now the Darkling has the upper hand in her feelings*

OUTSTANDING MOVE 👌

Excuse me, Misha? Who the Hell gave you the permission to interrupt or talk at all??

Also, do you really expect from the Darkling to remember a little boy while he was too busy trying to rule a nation, win a war and persuade Alina to join him?

And if you also expect him to remember you from that time when Baghra went out to confront her son while you escorted her, then you're also wrong. 'Cause he was too busy being furious that his mother sided and helped the opposite side and too busy being distraught because he was watching her fall to her death.

You're not important, son.

Sit down.

LMAO THIS IS SO HILARIOUS

Misha you're still an infant. Please shut up.

I honestly liked him in the Grisha Trilogy (I found him a cutie) but now I want to slap him and everyone else in this duology except Aleksander

The Darkling has survived numerous murdering attempts against him. He was finally killed by Alina not because of some grand display of her powers but because the former was so heartbroken by Alina's fate (and his own because he would be alone) that he just gave up on his life. Basically he committed suicide.

Misha, you wouldn't be able to kill him even now that he's powerless and in chains. Probably you would stumble and fall in the effort or smth.

Uhh actually no, Mal.

Threating him only makes you sound like idiots, honestly.

Also, since when did Mal gained ✨wisdom✨?

Wasn't he the hot-tempered one in the trilogy who always got angry with the mere mention of the Darkling? And the one who wanted to kill him as well?

Alina, you know damn well what his name is.

Honestly, I think she didn't say it because she wanted to respect the fact that he trusted her to keep it.

And I agree that Yuri is a horrible name for him. Makes him seem like a fisherman 😭

Meanwhile Alina in S&B:

So either Bardugo kinda forgot these scenes or we're led to believe that these scenes weren't her being happy, but we thought she was happy.

(me casually ignoring that theory because I choose to believe only the things that MAKE SENSE)

The fact that Bardugo made Alina believe that she was unhappy when she was whole with her powers and surrounded by people like her but totally happy now that she has no powers (a part of her soul actually) and living with a man that slut-shamed her in a toxic, childhood place is umm... yeah. Not good.

So basically:

Aleksander: "You look different. You look like shit. What the fuck did they do to you? This is not you"

Alina: "No bro I'm happy now that I live in toxic conditions where the teachers mock me, Mal takes me out for a walk to forget my psychological traumas and I raise some Grisha children that will fade because they don't use their powers and some others that I probably am in no condition to raise. At least that's what the author said is happiness, bro."

Aleksander: "......."

Alina: "......"

The readers: "........."

ALEKSANDER IS HONESTLY ALL OF US FRR WITH HIS LINES

"In peace"

Yeah, having PTSD certainly is peaceful. And knowing that you abandoned your country and left its fate to chance certainly makes you sleep like a baby at night.

"We chose the life we wanted"

Alina, you didn't CHOOSE to lose your powers. And before that you didn't even know what you wanted to do with your life. It was a last minute decision for you.

"I fell pray to the same greed that drove you"

Girl, are we the only ones who did our homework??

In his POV in RoW he confirmed that he tampered with merzost in the past because he wanted to stop Ravka's wars. So as far as we know he never used power exclusively for himself.

"I paid the price for tampering with merzost"

Now hold a second. I thought that the reason Alina lost her powers is because Morozova wanted that said power to be shared by any otkazat'sya around. It wasn't that much of a punishment as much as a need for Morozova to share that power.

Unless it was..... both?

I just want a guy that will believe in me and my abilities the way Aleksander does with Alina, man 😭

He strongly believes that she could become a Queen even without her powers. And he's actually so right when he says to her that her wounds won't heal. Because no matter how much you try to convince yourself that you are alright. No matter how hard you try to persuade your mind that you're not broken, reality will always hit you. Some wounds never heal and Alina's certainly will not. She didn't lose a toy, she lost a part of her soul and witnessed many die. How the hell does she think she's suitable to raise children, when she herself is NOT okay psychologically?

"In the wake of your wars"

Excuse me. Why is the Fjerdan and Shu wars always the Darkling's fault??

"And maybe when our country is free, then that wound will close"

She sounds so brainwashed bye--

And just like I said, wounds like that never close unfortunately. It can only become more bearable with time. But not forgetable.

Ah yes. Bardugo makes us watch how cute their relationship is.

Am I supposed to take off my camera and snap pictures of them whispering with tears in my eyes: "They look so adorable"?

'Cause I won't.

The way Bardugo has made Mal unfazed by the Darkling's comments. A thing that completely contrasts his nature in the Grisha trilogy.

He also made him have "sassy" lines because we've got to like him somehow, right? 🤗

Still hate him

Basically, dear anon, the author has made Mal more "likeable", immune to the Darkling's insults, patient and witty in order for us to change our mind about him and finally like him.

(mission failed btw)

He is literally nothing like his trilogy counterpart and, if possible, she made him more annoying.

(how the hell she managed to do that, I don't know)

I just feel sorry for Aleksander who has to deal with all these jerks. If I were there, I would have helped him kill them and bury their bodies.

Because you let your heart and feelings get the better of you, Aleksander. Because you proved to be the most human of all these characters here. You let her come close. And that's what killed you.

(also, shut up Misha)

Alina, you could have said "no" to that invitation. So stop acting like they dragged you from the hair here.

"Do you think you could manage it?"

Do you, Alina? 'Cause really, what did YOU do to make the lives of Grisha better? At least he built a palace for them.

"It's not like you didn't get a fair try before. Hundreds of tries"

Yeah, and half of them failed because you got in the way. You refused to listen to him and, even if you didn't like the way he dealt with the persecution, you chose to run away (again) instead of deciding to stay and do better.

SHE DID NOT JUST SAY THAT ZOYA AND NIKOLAI COULD DO BETTER LMAO 😭😭

Zoya, the very fact that he mentioned you should feel like a badge of honor.

And yet Ravka is in its worst condition ever.

Sorry Alina but I don't see shit from them.

The fact that the Darkling keeps mentioning that he's eternal is to remind them that he has seen everything and done everything. He has more experience than they will ever have. Not to gloat about it. And yet Alina takes it as the latter.

And it's funny that Alina turns him down for the job saying he has no powers when Alina herself suffers from the same condition 😀

Finally someone with self-reflection.

THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING!!

PREACH!! PREACH!! 👏👏

When you have the "villain" exposing the true problem in the story, the flaws and failures while having the heroes screaming "EVERYTHING IS FINE. YOU'RE WRONG!" then you know that something is wrong.

How the Hell are they gonna provide eternal peace in Ravka and to the Grisha when:

They have no experience

They are too busy criticizing the villain instead of looking at their own flaws

They doubt themselves

(you can add to the list, guys)

And he's not shaken because he's talking with a Saint, Zoya. He's shaken because he's talking to Alina. She always had a way in getting under his skin. He said it.

"Fine. Make me your villain" fits here 'cause he never perceived himself as the bad guy but he knew that this is what others thought of him.

I think it still stung to him to know that others saw his every action in a negative light but he still kept going. And sometimes he even used it (at the end of R&R).

Alina still wants to believe that there's something redeemable inside him. Her POVs were always the "kindest" in the way they painted the Darkling.

MISHA COULD YOU PLEASE SHUT IT

What about his mother, huh??

Who, despite the abuse he suffered from her, he still cared about??

Alina?? Oh boy, he was in love with her, obsessed and gave her so many chances. Something that he almost never does unless he's desperate.

So PRETTY PLEASE STOP TALKING

Meanwhile the Darkling in R&R, chapter 11:

"I have regretted many of the things I’ve had to do in this war."

So either Bardugo forgot that or Alina did or Aleksander changed his mind.

Or (my theory) Bardugo changed his perception in order for us to feel less sympathetic towards him.

Nevertheless, at least he has a spine and knows where he stands.

And Alina wanted the Darkling to say it not for him but for her. So she can feel okay. Unless Zoya is talking bullshit.

YES ALEKSANDER WHY DIDN'T YOU LIE SO OUR HEROINES COULD FEEL BETTER ABOUT THEMSELVES???!!

HOW DARE YOU?? 😠😠

He tries so hard to persuade her that the reality she lives in will not pay off anything. First off, this is not who she is or what she was meant to become and second, why does she teaches children stories that are lies? Feeding them false hope, repeating a circle that others had also been doing.

"Do you *really* believe..."

He wants to make sure that she stands by that. He just can't believe that this is her opinion. Her choice.

He just wants her to shine people!! 😭��

"Those stories tell us the only people who matter are Kings and Queens. They're wrong"

Now tell me, Alina, which stories do YOU tell them? What do you teach them? That the world is as rosy as the orphanage they live in, where they only eat sugar and play the piano? Do you imagine what kind of reality check will those children get once they live in the real world?

And here, ladies and gentlemen, we see the Darkling having reached his limits and saying "Fuck this shit I'm out"

Congratulations, Aleksander! You survived that meeting with these buffoons and their groundless arguments!! 👏👏

Here, have this! 🏅

He saw his chance (Alina holding Mal's hand) and seized it. But I think he really meant all those questions he asked to Alina.

So, dear anon, what we have here is the villain making his effort (again) to be heard and understood. He tries to make them see his own point of view: Ravka is in serious danger and Zoya and Nikolai are in no position to protect it. He, on the other hand, can since he has more experience and balls to deal with these issues. The Darkling is no pussy. He truly makes hard decisions when he must, something that essentially all rulers must do when the situation calls for it.

But! We have the good guys silencing him and threating him (even having a little child to do the last one) in order for the reader to understand what he has left in his wake. How much pain he has caused.

Mal has gotten ✨magically✨ wiser and calmer and has actual wits to repel the Darkling's insults in order for us to get to like Mal and see how much he has changed.

Alina sounds like a brainwashed woman who is convinced that her lifestyle is great! That wanting something more (idk. a throne and changing the world maybe) is sinful and unfitting of her.

Aleksander is the only one who thinks otherwise for her, though. Thank God, I mean!

He sought Alina out both to reclaim his powers and because he just wanted to see her.

Personally, in this scene only the Darkling makes sense. The others either want to feel good about themselves by threating him or want to convince him that "Hey, we're the good ones here. We know what we're doing, okay?" and his own ways are shit.

Dear anon, if you have any other questions or want me to analyze any other Darklina scene from this book or duology that I didn't include, then just say so!

And please any others who want to add something about this scene, feel free to criticise in the comments! 💛💛

[chuyumi]

CHU YUMI   ------   a nineteen year old leo ( august 6th ), entp.

columbus born & raised, just like jeremy & taemin. a surviving victim of the same local mob.

among many of her father’s vices, gambling was the most prominent one. one that resulted into the aromdee’s losing their house & being penniless when the child was only six years old & still unaware of what life is.

her father got involved with the aforementioned mob, became their little bitch, and managed to get temporary roofs over their heads from time to time. they adopted a nomadic lifestyle, going from one moldy, shabby, tiny apartment to another.

he pushed her mother into an alcohol-filled world, the woman gulping her sorrows away with every strong beverage that hit the back of her throat. she, sober or not, still attempted to provide for her innocent baby & take care of her, even though her father seemingly forgot that he had a family.

when her mother, tired of the same shit over & over again, became vocal about it, is when the abuse started. chimlin was twelve & able to recognise & remember every single poisonous word directed at either of the two aromdee females, mark every painful blow & count every single tear that rolled from the two pairs of eyes.

there was another kid caught up in the mob & chim used to see him around, but he was an older boy & she was too shy to approach him. apparently he turned out to be the mob boss’ son, so really all she should ever feel for him is hatred, right?

but one day while she was sitting in front of her building, both tears & blood ( from a glass cut ) streaming down her face & making a mess on her clothes, was when he approached her. her light. her saviour. her rock. her e v e r y t h i n g. he showed her affection & kindness she’d never known before. he gave her his eternal support & vowed to never leave her alone, to always protect her. he helped her run away with her mother by her side. he gave her the money he got from his drug dealing job & all the cash he managed to steal from his criminal parents and all of that combined with what they had saved, they were able to find a decent apartment just for the two of them.

without his knowledge, chim dropped out of high school & did a lot of sketchy jobs in order to keep the food on the table for her & her mom. the older aromdee, at first, busted her ass to do the same but she was only becoming more depressed because of their struggles and basically gave into her alcohol & drug addiction fully. she stopped being responsible, stopped acting like an adult. more often than not, chim would find her passed out in the living room and would try to carry her to her room or at least put her on the couch or, on the nights when she was tired, she’d make sure she was covered with a blanket, had a pillow under her head and was lying on her side so that she wouldn’t choke on her vomit in the middle of the night.

sometimes her mom would bring home her boyfriends, fellow addicts, that chimlin only tried to ignore because they were nasty & reminded her of her father. when they tried ordering her around &, for example, demanded a glass of water, she’d bring it & splash it into their faces lmao.

other than on those occasions, the two of them barely ever saw each other because they were always out on the streets … their relationship became so cold and ?? idk but the people she met on the streets meant more to her than her own flesh & blood. they drifted apart a lot.

i sort of wanted to drop this part of her when alice made jaesung a camboy, especially since kerry has a sugar daddy, but i can’t because it makes sense and i need it ok sorry. stage one: when she became of legal age a year ago, she added cam shows to her resume. they were more erotic & aesthetic rather than nasty & trashy. she’d never reveal her body fully, only heavily imply what was going on, use a bunch of filters & dress up in appealing pastel colours. and it turned out that people’s frustration & curiosity gained her a lot of money ?? stage two: she busted her ass & was incredibly persistent until she got a job as a go-go dancer in one of the local nightclubs. she was too street smart for anyone who visited that place   ------   she never drank anything there. she didn’t want to risk being drugged. stage three: she started giving lap dances so that she’d get paid more. stage four: sure, even when she was only a dancer, they’d offer her a lot of money in order to take her home or into a random hotel room where she’d provide them with sexual favours and, at first, she used to refuse all of it. then she became greedier. at first she’d only allow them to watch her. she’d put on a show just for the other person. then she started to accept sleeping with them if she was attracted to them. 35+ tho ?? no thank you.

because of all of that, she managed to get a couple of regular viewers/fans/whatever that are throwing their money along with gifts at her left & right ( she has a po box & basically she often returns home to her pals with packages & is like ??? i’m secretly a really popular youtuber & y’all are living under a rock sMFH !! )

before she was living with her friends, she used that money for, yes, food & necessities BUT also on ridiculously expensive crap just beacause ?? like, she definitely had that phase. but she could never pull it off. she’d throw on ridiculous high heels & a fur coat but she’d always be a street kid without manners & with the sharpest of tongues. watch her kick your ass & not giving a shit whether she gets blood or dirt on her silky blouse.

it all changed when she moved in with her friends. she’s now sending her mom money ofc & spending it on her friends more than herself. she often appears with random gifts & is like “don’t you know that it’s international friendship day pls. ...... . .. take that” or she’s be like “YO MAMA GOT PAID TODAY WOOO!!” ....... yes she refers to herself as mama. stfu. she apologises with gifts, she expresses her love with gifts. she doesn’t know how to do it in any other way. she goes to the grocery store & spends her money on all of their stuff & tells them “of course i took our joint $$ what are you talking about”

don’t fight me on this bc no one’s ever mentioned & i’m calling dibs on it   ------   she’s the one who breaks the expensive gift rule.

ok moving on. she’s been telling everyone that she’s taking online classes & that she’s an economy major. but yk the truth is, she’s a high school dropout & she’s soo embarassed of that that she can’t even say it to taemin.

she also sneaks out at night to go to work & prays to everything holy that her friends will never choose to go out to the club where she works bc everyone knows her there & they’d come up to her to greet her if she appeared there with them.

this bitch never sugarcoats anything. she’s real af. if you fuck up, she’ll tell you you fucked up. she’ll tell you when you’re being a dick. she’s sooo blunt & uses profanities non stop.

she can be so childish somethimes, you don’t even know. this is because she didn’t have a proper childhood, it was taken away from her against her own will so now she’s making up for it. she had to grow up when she was supposed to play and be careless. please take her to playgrounds and let her play with dogs and watch old disney movies with her and play video games with her and tell her stupid jokes.

the type to yell at someone for looking at her the wrong way on the street JFHBEFEFKLJGS

always carries a butterfly knife & a lighter ( jeremy taught her cool tricks with both of those ok )

.............. she’s sweet tho. JFGEPFGE

she’s bisexual af.

she sacrifices relationships with people she has genuine feelings for just because she can’t get rid of her sketchy jobs, like, she needs them. she’d starve otherwise.

she really hates this about herself but she can’t help it.

the reason why she’s so obsessed with money is that she didn’t have anything while growing up, obviously.

she’d rather marry a rich person whom she doesn’t love so that her kids would have everything she never had rather than a poor person whom she loves and risk making her kids go through what she went through.

she loves girls soo much, she worships them. she will make your nose bleed if she hears you talk shit about them. she’ll hurt you even more if she sees you hurt a girl or be rude to one like. please.

all she wants in life is to be f r e e.