#chubs the darkest minds

[eviloolive]

I’m really sorry to say this…

I know that Clancy is supposed to be like this super attractive guy, but I legitimately cannot help but imagine him as Nevel from iCarly💀

[thedarkestcrew]

Ruby : I'd actually rather go back to Thurmond on a suicide mission than talk about my "feelings"

Cate, Liam, Chubs, Zu, Vida, Jude, Nico, and literally everyone else: Ya that's part of the problem

[thesauceofawesome]

If Cole hadn’t died, he would’ve absolutely dominated the room, when Chubs made his speech. Could have made everything easier, and he definitely would have found Ruby quick as lightning, what with all his connections.

[in-an-hour-sunflower3285]

Chubs: I hate to say ‘I told you so’-

Liam: No, you don’t. You would marry ‘I told you so’ and have a baby with it and buy adjoining burial plots.

[anadorablehedgehog]

while i know it probably won't ever happen, i still hope that one day the world will realise how great the darkest minds series is and they'll make a tv show about it like they did for the mortal instruments and percy jackson.

[daisychains111]

even though I'm a very avid reader, I have the horrible habit of skimming and it came back to bite me today bc I'm rereading darkest minds and I got to the part where ruby is telling liam about her parents/Sam and am sobbing bc I had never read the part where ruby says that she was "Sam's 'Chubs' until she wasn't" and for some reason I had never realized how close they had been(even though im also pretty sure they have a cute reunion scene in ITA but i need to reread the whole book too bc its been forever and tbh i dont remember how it ends) and it just broke my heart idk...anyway don't skim your books kids

[sunflowerjude]

Chubs getting his first gray hair sometime during the series and naming it Ruby because she’s the primary source of his stress at any given moment

[give-bucky-his-boyfriend-back]

So I finished the Darkest Minds trilogy tonight and I feel empty.

What do I do now? I can't stop thinking about it aaaaagh

[nostalgicfortomorrow]

Why I love TDM so much

I love The Darkest Minds so fucking much. It's about found family. It's about trust and friendship. AND IT CREATES SOME OF THE BEST CHARACTERS I'VE EVER READ.

So obviously the setting. I like how much effort Alexandra Bracken puts into designing a world that I could definately foresee myself in a couple of years, especially with the rise of GMO food (agent ambrosia) and how it dives deeper into corruption and how a government works being that it never truly will care about it's people unlike many other dystopians I've read. I hated Shatter me (sue me, sure.) despite how similar it is to TDM because I didn't get a strong grasp of character and setting and it was mostly romance rather than an exploration of setting and our world.

Moving forward I LOVE THE CHARACTERS! They're realistic and lovable and flaw...ful? Whatever. The characters have a realistic representation of trauma in all its forms, and many of the characters have real feelings and you can really understand and love them. In many YA books I feel like the main hero doesn't really have much personality, but seeing the world from Ruby's eyes is a breath of fresh air. She's not bratty, but she's not perfect either which are the two swings in YA. She constantly feels guilt, and feels real just like if you and I were in the book together, we'd understand what Ruby is going through. And Liam who on the surface is the perfect dude but really, he's trying to deal with his trauma and guilt while simultaneously trying to keep an unhealthy, perfect facade to keep the rest of the group motivated. He has to live with the guilt of Caledonia and Cole as well as the childrens league and he learns to stop putting out a facade and just truly process his emotions. And Chubsie? My stubborn arrogant loveable grumpy bean. He's stuck with Zu and Liam for ages and now theres a total newcomer who may or may not be a threat. How would he feel? He learns to adapt and becomes bestiessss with Ruby which is extremely wholesome. And Zu. She's so sassy, and amazing, and a queen and yet she's also dealing with trauma by voluntarily going into silence because she doesn't have words to deal with her pain. She learns to speak up and become a force for good. I'd go into Vida, but I don't think I have enough time.

I love the found family. The different groups which become like family to each other. The Original Black Betty gang consisting of liam, ruby, chubs and zu. The never fade childrens league gang which consists of nico vida ruby and jude and maybe cole. And the final new black betty gang which basically pulls Vida into the family. the beyond the night gang with sam, mia and lucas. The darkest legacy gang with priya roman zu max and mayyyyyyybe even lana if she recovers. They are all family and as ruby states family is not the place but the people you are with and these characters make each other comfortable and happy and together and just adopt random children along the way in the case of the darkest legacy gang. Lets call them the psion ring gang. I just love the found family thing that this book series creates for us.

[marielaure]

Compilation of characters that easily fit into my head as “could be” blind/vision impaired/low vision.

Criteria: vibes, character design, or they’ve just done something I do even though they’re sighted 😊

In no particular order:

1. Gideon Nav

Artwork: @kraime

2. Barriss Offee

3. Inej Ghafa

Bonus: Poor Pencil Drawing of B/VI Inej:

4. Velma from Scooby Doo

Artwork: @kab2991

5. Zuko from ATLA

6. Charles “Chubs” Carrington Meriwether IV from The Darkest Minds

If you want my random, specific explanations just @ me with the character(s)

[eviloolive]

A question that’s been bouncing around in my head for a while is: did Clancy Gray love Nico?

I’ve been debating this internally because literally no one in my life wants to read or have in depth discussions about TDM, so I have to have them with myself.

Post-East River we’re of the understanding that Clancy Gray is an evil little weasel(he is) that cares for no one but himself. Of course throughout In The Afterlight we’re given a different perspective, he might be a piece of shit and he might be selfish but he does think about other people and what would be right for them(even if his methods are corrupt). Until the end of ITAL I didn’t think there was anything that Clancy truly loved other than power. I never thought that he felt any genuine romantic feelings towards Ruby. I think he liked her, but more importantly I think he liked her power. And he never held anyone else close enough to care about them.

But then there’s Nico… We know that Nico was in love with Clancy, that’s not a debate. He literally tells Ruby in ITAL. But does Clancy love Nico? Nico has been there for Clancy since they had been roommates and were experimented on together at Thurmond. In ITAL through Clancy’s memories we see Nico caring for him in a way that Ruby describes as loving/yearningly. Nico is willing to do practically anything Clancy. And during their time together at Thurmond, Clancy is extremely protective over Nico. It’s interesting that Clancy would choose to care for someone when he expressly believes that colors other than orange are less than. And Nico is green, the bottom of the food chain, I’m sure in Clancy’s opinion. And if we know one thing about Clancy Gray, it’s that he craves power and control. But Nico doesn’t have power and Clancy doesn’t want to control him, so why would Clancy keep him around?

Obligation? Kindness? Love? Towards the end of ITAL when it’s revealed that Clancy has been controlling Ruby in her sleep and having her send messages to PSFs to inform them of their location, we see a conversation play out between Clancy and Nico. Nico had been deeply hurt by Clancy’s second betrayal and is expressing his anger towards Clancy. Nico is begging him to call off whoever is coming and Clancy seems to almost give in. This of course is surprising to both readers and Ruby as Clancy seems to always be putting on a facade. Of course we know how it ends but it’s the fact that Clancy almost gave in to Nico’s pleads that is interesting to me.

To answer my own question: did Clancy Gray love Nico? Yes. Did he love Nico romantically? That could be debated. I think that Clancy loved Nico, but I also think that Clancy never knew how to love the way that Nico might have wanted. In another universe they might have been happy.

Thank you for coming to me TED Talk

[thedarkestcrew]

Headcanon that Ruby can talk to animals

It's a bit after ITA when Ruby is in some boring meeting

when she sees a squirrel outside the window

and she's so sick of only being in peoples minds

so she's like ' I wonder what it's like to be a squirrel with no thoughts'

then she's like ' wait I COULD know'

chubs is in the meeting with her and he looks over to Ruby staring intently out the window at some random tree and texts Liam that she's going through it again

' Ruby is most definitely having a psychotic breakdown fix it'

Liam walks into a room later that day to see Ruby opening the Window and letting birds fly in because they honestly just want to chat with her

she gives such good advice to birds tbh

he calls her different Disney princesses all the time

' hey Snow White, I love you so very much'

' good morning sleeping beauty'

' Darin there's a mouse downstairs could you tell it to... not be down there anymore'

she went into a spiders mind once and she honestly has a soft spot for them now

like they're just little guys walking around

Nico goes to squash a spider and Ruby gives him ( and the surrounding kiddos) a long lecture about how just because a spider is small doesn't mean it needs to be killed and it deserves kindness as much as anyone

no one will dare kill a bug in fear Ruby will look at them disappointedly or yell at them

Zu has once said ' oh you want to be mean to me? My friend controls SPIDERS, suck on that, bi-'

her parents consistently walk into their house and find raccoons and deer everywhere

" okay I understand the raccoon BUT WHERE DO YOU EVEN FIND DEER IN A CITY"

" that's Tom"

[seeker-of-stories19]

[in-an-hour-sunflower3285]

Ruby league Au

She's like totally devoted to the league and is an exemplary psi soldier.

The other league kids are still terrified of her tho so she never truly opens up and let's all her sadness and grief turn to anger. So she's just like mean and hot.

She still doesn't get along with Vida but she is far more attached to Jude and Nico than she originally is in Nf.

She isn't made team leader right of the bat, becuase Martin is deemed much more stable. (He also is a mind controlling bastard)

She's made leader though after Martin has an unfortunate accident and is KIA. Ruby maybe accidently had something to do with it but it really was an accident

The Betty gang somehow find east river without Ruby, though it takes a while longer.

They also somehow don't get caught (cough plot armor cough)

Zu leaves with hina, Kylie, and talon like cannon.

In this version of events Clancy actually let's Chubs get ahold of his family and Liam goes to drop him off at his uncle's.

They never deliver Jack's letter because Chubs read it and they realized it was a bad idea.

When Liam arrives back at east river he finds it in ruins. 

Disparaged and alone he sets of to find his family.

Eventually he runs into some trouble with skip tracers and turns to Cole for help.

He arrives in Philadelphia and unknowingly brings trouble right to Cole's door.

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I will add more in a reblog I just didn't want to make this too long

[arf5506]

Unpopular opinion about the darkest minds:

I actually like the movie.

I saw it first so it probably affected but... I get the book is much better and there's so much left out... But I feel like they really captured the characters on each of them. I also feel like the movie gives the black betty vibes, like all this teenage fucked up safety, and the music also contributes to making it just the vibe. I agree that they left so much out, there's so many mistakes and I would've loved to see it better done, but I love the feeling it provides.

I actually love the movie, is how I got in this fandom and I have very fond memories.

[the-darkestminds]

There’s something so intoxicating about a well written, dark, traumatic YA novel where the characters suffer so much but still manage to love so fiercely. The absence of smut forces the author to create a deeper connection between the characters. I love it so much.