#alina deserves to be loved

[starlessmistake]

[markantonys]

[fandomrantsandtwittertakes]

[greensaplinggrace]

alina starkov i am so sorry that no one understands your character. i'm sorry that you have been reduced to the fandom's morality pony at the sake of your real personality and your depth. i'm sorry that they don't understand that you existed as a person outside of the men in your life, and that your relationship with your trauma was complicated and ugly and understandable. i'm sorry they didn't love you for this anyway.

i'm sorry they don't understand the metaphor of the sunlight in your soul representing your self discovery and growing ability to accept yourself - that every scene where you long so desperately to know yourself and then glow when you finally do is cast in darkness by those who would rather you starve yourself in the name of conformity than eat healthily at the table of self love.

i'm sorry that they didn't love you enough to see how much losing your light hurt you and i'm sorry that they didn't want you to have a happy ending that you truly wanted - one where you could be all of yourself without shame or borders. i'm sorry their love for you was so performative that it stripped you of everything you are, that it left you wanting and shamed and filled with grief. i'm so so sorry.

[stromuprisahat]

The only thing that was at least partly able to make Alina realize something's wrong with their relationship, and stand up to Malyen, was her power.

Not seeing the outside world, because she never let it touch her.

Not being Grisha, because she never truly accepted the identity with everything it entails, but the joy of summoning the Light belonging to her only.

And it was violently ripped out of her, distributed among a bunch of fanatical randos, so she has to seek the only certainty her life provided her with, no matter how harmful.

[aleksanderscult]

That answer from the author only makes me so much angrier about Alina's fate in R&R. Apparently back in 2013 Leigh believed that the fact the protagonist embraced her powers made her "the person she was meant to be". A confident girl that doesn't try to be someone else.

So what happened? Why did the author had to fuck this shit up by stripping her of her power? In order to end up with a (shit) man. Was she so desperate to make the protagonist end up in a shallow love story instead of having her strong, confident, powerful and herself?

I believe that, at some point, Bardugo decided to "take" her power because how else could she have that cutie lil ending with Mal? She sacrificed Alina's true happiness to get her bullied by teachers older than her, be "loved" by a man that made her feel less than she is, living in obscurity instead of shining bright, become a beacon of hope for her people and a symbol of unity and having an empty hole inside her because a piece of her soul is missing.

And yet she dared have Alina say that line:

For the 28383 time, Aleksander was right:

It is a living. A living Hell apparently.

[doc0bill]

I absolutely adore how in kos it’s made very clear that everyone loves Genya and agrees she should be protected and only deserves good in life. Everyone without missing a bit would die for her as they absolutely should.

[samsknives]

i understand that alina is literally the main character of the original s&b trilogy, but the way it ended pissed me tf off. zoya’s storyline in KoS & RoW is something that is really important to, not only me, but so many people. and they’re sort of giving some of it to alina if she is going to become queen. one of the major plot points of nikolai’s duology was zoya becoming the FIRST grisha queen, and if alina is going to be married to nikolai it would be her. don’t get me wrong, i love alina, but giving her things that another female poc character in the series gets is completely unfair to zoya.

im really mad about all of this.

like zoya’s character development is something that is really important to me, because i relate to her a lot, and alina is amazing and i love her, but i don’t think that she should be given other characters major plot points.

[ghoulwings]

Some signalis playlists I’ve made

[lilisouless]

I don't understand people who say they love Zoya but say things like "Nikolai will never fall in love with her if Alina is there" or "Alina being queen destroys Zoya´s character" like actually believing Alina is superior to Zoya and she can only shine if she is absent

[fallen-goldfishcracker]

Okay so I know everyone's worried about the alleged bad season 2 reviews and concerned that it'll be horrible but honestly? Watching the trailer? I'm so excited. I loved siege and storm (mainly for Nikolai haha) and although we can already tell that there are massive changes, I'm excited to see what they are. And the sets and CGI and production of the whole thing looked so cool you can tell so much effort was put into the show, and we have a fantastic cast who I trust to put their heart and soul into their roles- so yeah! I'm excited. In one month we get a high quality well acted author endorsed crossover fanfiction between all my favorite characters- and I can't fudging wait. I already read siege and storm multiple times- heck yea give me a new storyline and new interactions I will eat that stuff up.

Also the show has Wesper so it could literally be the worst steaming garbage ever but give me .4 seconds of ✨sexual tension✨ and gay pining between Jesper and wylan and I will endorse this show til my dying day. I just love my boys so much

Anyhow this was a ridiculously long post to say I am excited for the show and you can be too!

[ilovefredjones]

just saw a take that ‘the darkling still loves alina when she loses her powers’

the darkling after alina loses her powers:

[ID: a screenshot of an excerpt from ruin and rising. it reads:

‘[…] searched mine—confused, nearly frightened. “You were meant to be like me. You were meant ... You’re nothing now.”

He dropped his hands. I saw the realization strike him. He was truly alone. And he always would be.’ /END ID]

[phonoix]

Also I never thought I'd say this but,,,, I'm loving s2 Mal.

He's like- A totally different person from the books, go boy I love you!

He's being reasonable with the whole Nikolai situation, he's even like... On joking terms with him.

And Alina and Mal were not like this in Siege and Storm. They barely even talked to each other but this??? This is actually pretty good. (I honestly dreaded reading about them in the second book but now I love them)

Am I actually a Malina stan now?

[i-who-has-never-had-a-name]

Is this a safe space to talk about how I don't care and neither like the shadow and bone trilogy but think the six of crows duology is a masterpiece?

[our-king-bree]

this is no hate to Zoya at all cause like I haven't -and won't- read kos so I haven't see her development but how come she can became the avatar of the grishaverse and a fucking dragon but Alina couldn't keep her powers cause it was "too much power for a single grisha" like..... if Leigh had explained this please let me know but I feel it's a bit unfair

[stromuprisahat]

Siege and Storm- Chapter 20 (Leigh Bardugo)

Why does Alina simply assume NOTHING Nikolai does might be genuine?!

This one's for the "If only he were honest with her..." crowd, claiming it's all Aleksander's fault she ran away from him. She treats Nikolai in similar way- and he "only" kept his true identity secret, when helping her escape from the Darkling- the man, who knew him, and wouldn't let him anywhere near the Sun Summoner.

One of Alina's patterns seems to be dehumanizing people, who "sin" against morals instilled in her . Be it the Darkling with probably every aspect of his existence, Nikolai thanks to concealing his identity or herself with "greed" for the amplifiers. Once you're tainted, you no longer deserve her trust, every action is suspicious and deceitful. As a side effect the person concern loses human traits like feelings and emotions.