#darklina my beloved

[theriverdiary]

Currently in the process of a making a sad kanej gifset but I got an idea for darklina x a certain Taylor Swift song and now I can't focus

[xalonelydreamerx]

well, that was a mess

[booklovingturtle]

Shadow and Bone Season 2 Rambles (SPOILERS)

S&B S2E2

Alina will show off her powers and her secrets in two seconds

Inuendo Mal?? Bookworm Mal??

Great lighting omgggg

DRama kween Darkling

GENYA IS AN AC-TOOOOORRRR

Kerch Thomas Shelby

Nina can stomp on my windpipe and crush my heart and I'd still love her

This prison serves LOBSER???? eeewww nvm they answered my question immediately

THEY HAD SEX??? AND THEY DIDN'T SHOW ME THE HELNIK SEXY TIME??? I AM LIVID!!!!!!!!!

Why is she telling on these random strangers on the boat I don't care you share a connection they are still strangers

Wait actually Vladim makes a really interesting point here the Grisha haven't even been able to help their own people bc they've been ripped from their homes for their army I forgot that

Careful 'Lina girl you sound like a Starbucks Karen

Gadgets and gizmos of plenty

It's moving a bit quick but then again I don't remember the book so maybe there's more

Who is this enough chic?

DARKMAMA YESSS GIMME SASS

inez's core strength is almost enough motivation to make me want to work out

What the HELL is with the furry purge mask dude???

The sound effects for the fight scenes need to chill the WHOOSH FWOOP is too much like turn down the volume on it

That thumps up was so cute I love Wesper

That'll cost Pekka bit more money lmaaaoooo

Its the way I don't remember a single thing about the amplifiers or how Darklina is connected through it

Lina finna bust

[ncarnesir]

Reblogging my beautiful Secret Sankta gift from last year because I love it that much!

Aleksander was desperate enough to do anything by the time that the Sun Summoner was found. He’d known that one was coming, he’d seen the signs. There had been reports of sun angels in Fjerda every day of summer, and the year prior there had been a comet shower that lasted a full week.

But what he had not expected, even in his desperation, was the meteor and the queen made of spun starlight with a crown of sunshine who stepped from the crater it left. A queen with knowing dark eyes and youthful smile as she drew a sun, a galaxy, from between her hands when he’d asked what she was.

Darklina Server Secret Sankta 2023 gift for @ncarnesir featuring words by @holy-muffins

[disgruntedvampire]

I still once again start to ship a ship without having read or seen the original material. Fandom here I come!

[jeonsolar]

I can't believe I just watched an 8 hour long Nikolina, Kanej, Wesper fanfiction of Shadow and Bone/Six of Crows.

Tags: canon divergence, Major Character death, Slowburn, But no slowburn if you know who I mean, Darkling’s evil AmPlIfIeD, 😉, Baghra is good in this one cuz I say so, Malina will be the main focus but I can assure you this is Nikolina, Just wait, Speedrun books 2 and 3, I have a whole new plot written post the Canon divergence, Darkling will NOT take his shirt off for that scene of the book, but I'll give you some Darklina choking to satisfy you Darklina freaks, Marriage of Covenience, Author skimmed the books and picked only a few things that they cared about, Like heavily laying undertones for Nikolina, Mathias is there sometimes, Sometimes, Like for real there will be episode where you straight up forget he's a character, Past Darklina, Current Malina, Future Nikolina, Zoya Genya and Alina are Bffs!, David my beloved 😔

Tell me if I missed anything that is not spoilers.

[stromuprisahat]

Oč krásnější než věčnost kdesi jsou krátké lidské naděje! Žít jinak nežli ty mě děsí a bez tebe žít hrozné je. V bezkrevné srdce nečekaný plamínek opět teple pad. A smutek na dně staré rány se ve mně pohnul jako had. Čím bez tebe je mi ta věčnost? Vladařství mého nekonečnost? Jen zvučná slova ubohá, chrám nesmírný, však bez Boha.

‘What is this eternity to me without you?’

Mikhail Lermontov, The Demon, 1830

[stromuprisahat]

Why don't you like Genyalina nor Zenya? Just curious,I don't like those ships either.

Genyalina suffers the same issue Darklina does- for it to work, Alina would need to drastically change. While Alina never sees the Darkling as a human being, Genya has it arguably better- she's the kind of friend that makes Alina feel good about herself.

I'll talk about Genya from the first book, because I don't consider what the author turned her into a character at all, merely a convenient punching bag, perpetual victim and occasional mouthpiece.

Genya's job was to introduce Alina to life of Little Palace and keep an eye on her. Genya's JOB. What she didn't have to do, was becoming Alina's friend. She's constantly trying to cheer her up, bringing her little gifts and latest gossip, drawing her out of her shell, even sneaking her into Grand Palace to try on the Queen's dresses- and let's not forget the Queen would certainly NOT be pleased about that.

She's the giving kind of person, while Alina mostly mopes around, still in denial about who she is, constantly whining about Mal and lack of letters from him. During her stay in Little Palace, she does exactly one (1) nice thing for Genya only, then promptly proceeds to disregard her experience with the Royals and upsets her, because Genya doesn't buy her apocalyptic vision of the Darkling's plans.

I've seen people arguing Genya was the one, who betrayed Alina first, because THOSE FUCKING LETTERS... I have three points to this:

Genya's a soldier at this point. Her personal feelings shouldn't influence her service. She's already possibly overstepping by pleading with the Darkling for Alina's sake. She's also a spy- a person, whose job description includes lying to people, whether she likes them or not.

Like it or not, Mal (and Alina's idealized past) are the reason she kept supressing her powers even after her discovery. Not only it rendered her useless for Ravka, her health kept suffering, so yes, I actually think cutting her off Mal was good for her. (I know it's an ugly concept, but what we want and what we need are often two diametrically different matters.)

Least but not last, Alina's dumb as a plum, writing about things that shouldn't make it out of Little Palace anyway. Censorship is a tool armies use to protect both their soldiers and their moves against their enemy.

To get back to your question, I don't ship Genya with Alina, because I think one of them gives as much as she can, while the other isn't really interested in reciprocity.

I've had this sort of friends. It sucks. It drains you. And once they dump you, you find yourself missing them anyway.

Zenya... well, if we're talking my beloved Genya from the first book again, she and Zoya didn't like each other. It's not hard to figure out why.

Zoya's hung up on the Darkling, while Genya truly has some sort of closeness with him. Zoya's needy to be the centre of all attention, while Genya's naturally captivating. Zoya's striving to be the best of the best, while Genya doesn't really do "anything useful", but still she's at court (and again, appreciated by the Darkling). Judging by the way Genya was delighted to see Zoya taken down a notch, I wouldn't be surprised if she were a part of anti-Safin slut-shaming club.

Although I prefer to ignore the post-character assassination "Genya" from later books, even their later friendship seemed to be working largely because Zoya can easily typecast the Tailor as another of the Darkling's victims.

[darklinaforever]

Okay friends, little announcement.

I think I need a break from tumblr for a little while. Maybe a week or two at least. Maybe even more. Who knows maybe even until the beginning of June, being busy with a move and lots of other things in mind.

I will continue to like and reblog certain posts, obviously. But I will no longer publish anything of my own containing opinions or analyzes during this period. And I will not respond to any comments under my posts during this period either, even if I will continue to maintain conversations that I have here on this application in private messages.

I need to learn to distance myself a little from all this negativity in order to learn to resist this toxic impulse to engage in discussions that lead nowhere with antis, whether it's Dameyra, Team Blacks, Darklina, Elriel (anti Elriel are really unbearable for some), Zutara, Kylo Ren / Ben Solo, Reylo, Sessrin, Sylki, and many more !

I know I need to stop responding to things like this, as many have already told me. The worst part is that I don't even respond to everything. I've lost count of the number of times I've used the block button. But the fact is that it's obviously not enough and I'm not doing it enough. I'm obviously responding to too many negative things already. By the way, thank you for your messages on this subject, even if I did not respond to them. It is imperative, even if only for the space of my community.

It became so unbearable that a subscriber told me to leave and I finally realize that I have reached a stage that requires change.

Again for the community, but also for my own mental health. Especially because I already have a complicated life outside of tumblr and adding more to it wouldn't be good. This place is supposed to allow me to escape, not cause me more anxiety.

But I think that for this, to succeed in finally stopping needlessly engaging in pointless debates that hurt some of my subscribers who like my basic content, and for my own person, I have to do it. I need to distance myself from this app for a while ; In order to come back more stronger and finally hope to be able to ignore these kinds of horrible people who pollute our fandom.

Because by giving them importance, I myself am polluting our fandom and our beloved space, and that is not a good thing.

I want to reassure and repeat that I am not leaving tumblr, I am just stopping personal posts for the moment and will resume them when I am ready.

No need to worry about that, the antis won't get the better of me with all their demands that I leave tumblr. It will not arrive.

Please note that this decision will officially take effect from tomorrow.

I love you all very much, you who have supported me all this time behind your screens. And thank you again for your messages of encouragement.

We'll see each other again soon, and I hope with a better perspective.

@aleksanderscult @kittenfangirl20 @nrilliree @lizzie-queenofmeigas @forevermore05 @darkcrowprincess

[itsnotunfinisheditsmystyle]

Darklina TT power switch

That's an old one.

Classic Alina and Aleksander both go back in time due to *wave hands* merzost when she stabs him. They wake up back in Kribirsk before the Fold departure.

However.

Their powers switched. To try and avoid causing too much mayhem, they need to cooperate. Aleksander fakes his death as the Darkling first, and Alina shows up as his "daughter" to take the lead of the second army. Aleksander comes back a bit later with a new identity as Ravka's beloved sun summoner (and gaslight the entire Little Palace that no he isn't related to the previous Darkling, how preposterous).

Alina is under 44625 metric tons of pressure as the new General of the Second Army, Aleksander is living his absolute best life abusing every ounce of power and credibility he gets for free as the Sun Saint.

"Everything you did, and now you willingly wear the colour of the Tsar's servants?" Alina asked skeptically from her desk —his desk, whatever, eyeing Aleksander lounging on an armchair and eating a slice of medovik. "What colour of the Tsar's servants? I'm the Sun Saint, he is merely a king, the colour I wear is my colour, and when he'll finally realise it, it will be too late," "And yet you wanted me to wear black?" "I was happy to share with you," She rolled her eyes at that, refrained herself from tossing something at his little self-satisfied expression. "It washes you out anyway," she grumbled, which wasn't even true, but the white and gold kefta did give an eery ghostly glow to his already pale skin. "And summoner's blue made you look green-ish," he shrugged.

[phthalosworld]

it has been eons (30 minutes) since i last saw my beloved (ao3). my bones are weary and my heart is steeped in despair (i had a lovely darklina longfic i was about to read as a bedtime story).

i don't know how much longer i can cope.

[thefudge]

Hello thefudge i hope you're having a nice weekend. I was reading your sophie fic and i'm genuinely in awe of how amazing your writing is when it comes to describing woc and their experience. You give them the sort of unhinged yet delicate quality that fandoms usually reserve for white female characters specially with who you're pairing them up with (i kept thinking of lana del ray songs when lukas picked sophie from her friends house) and i really appreciate that. Since i've read all your work multiple times i was wondering do you have any recs for fic authors or just book authors who focus on women of color in the same way? The trashy yet sensual vibe?

thank you for the kind words! you're too lovely! "unhinged yet delicate quality" <3

i got a similar ask some months ago, and i give a few book recs here.

as for fic authors that focus on women of color, check out:

my beloved trash sister & friend tashii (@irresistible-revolution on tumblr) who writes layered and sensuous stories about bonnie bennett, azula from avatar, and others (you can also find more of her stuff on ffnet)

somethingdifferent (@janedazey) who often writes about women of color from various fandoms (the bear, batman, succession, star wars (her rose tico fics!)) and the vibes are impeccable

yourgirlislovely (@your-girl-is-lovely) whose stories definitely have those wonderful sensuous vibes, and you can see it in her black panther fics and other marvel content

brainyisalwayssexy (@desidarling123) who also writes wonderfully layered woc marvel content

Man_Who_Sold_The_World (@labyrinthphanlivingafacade) whose sandman & batman fics (+ others) center women of color in a very satisfying way

lostcoastlines (@badrituals) who is killing it with the halle baley/jonah-hauer king fics (+many woc fics on her main account, badritual)

wakandawinterprincess, who is truly wonderful when it comes to hot & layered shuri fanfics

gabrieeella (@darwinquark) who writes the best veronica lodge & also bonnie bennett!

NYS30 (@nys30) for all the bonnie bennett & bonkai goodness!

DR.Elsac2 on ffnet, for bonnie bennett and richonne

TheHedgeRider on ffnet for bonnie bennett

when it comes to darklina content where alina as a woman of color is both understood and explored, i found this fic by cheddarplums to be really interesting and well done, but i'm sure there are many more from that corner

there are probably a few others that do not come to mind right now, but it's a sad truth that women of color rarely feature in more transgressive fanfics for a variety of reasons...but i hope you enjoy the recs!

[thereisnolumos]

could i ask you, to please recomend us some darklina fics ?

Ten Suns in the Sky by PresidentHades: it’s one of the most interesting “what if” canon divergents, I’ve ever read. Alina’s parents are alive in this one and her relationships with Aleksander develop in a different manner, and it’s written SOOO BEAUTIFULLY. Do mind that it hasn’t been updated in two years, but I shall forever remain hopeful that it might, it’s this good.🔥 The fic also had additional minis to expand in the universe😍

In the Forests of the Night by MyAnnabell_Lee: it’s an AU, they’re in a Siberian taiga, morals are gray, there is an arranged marriage… *chef’s kiss* 🖤🔥

Social Sciences by yrulikethis: it’s a hilarious little modern!AU to brighten your day. Darklina as professors 👩🏻‍🏫👨🏻‍🏫

The Time Traveler's Darkling by PresidentHades: a little perfect canon divergent/AU that I probably know by heart at this point ⏳❤️

On The Outside Looking In by Keira_63: it’s an entire collection of outsider’s POV about Darklina. Some are dark, some are cute, some have our beloved Mal slander👌🏼😂

Terrible, Beautiful, Unsaid Things by Orlissa: LOOOOVE every single part of this series!!! All written to perfection and there are constantly more additions to the story. Canon divergent or as I like to refer to this one “what should have been”❤️❤️❤️

no shelter but mine by valkyrhys: single girl dad Aleksander makes even my indifferent to kids heart melt. He’s also probably a Mafia boss😏🖤

[theatresteph]

Last (and only 😭) book of 2024!!!

Bestie and I have been sharing Jonerys and Darklina fanfics for months, and before that I was slogging through a book I really didn’t like until I finally decided to read something better. So it’s great to finally end the year with my beloved Shakespeare 🥰

Much Ado About Nothing is my favourite Shakespearean comedy, and you might recognise a few lines from Anyone But You ❤️ I’ll try my hand at a fanfic based on it this year ☺️

Happy New Year, fellow bookworms!!!

[takaraphoenix]

Shadow and Bone: Season 2 Darklina Review

Okay, one more SaB season 2 review, this one very specifically only about Darklina. Felt wrong to put it into the main review because it would have taken like two third of the review probably.

I’ve never made a ship-specific review for a show before, but I have so many thoughts about them after this season, so here we go.

This ship just makes me feel unhinged to a degree I am not used to? I honestly think I usually feel pretty... normal... about my ships? Even when I love them a lot and they evoke strong feelings in me, but something about Darklina is incomprehensible to me.

Part of it, clearly, is the incredible amount of chemistry between their actors. I mean, that’s just off the charts, the eye-fuckery between them in delicious, they put so much passion into their scenes, it’s amazing. Not just their romantic scenes in season 1, but also their scenes in season 2. Even their enemy scenes are filled to the brim with so much raw passion.

But it’s also the writing. Which I find confusing because I’ve heard it, repeatedly, that the author apparently doesn’t even... like... Aleksander...? Or the ship? And I’m... Look, there is the very simple nature of hero/villain ships in that they will always happen on account of people wanting to ship heroes and villains, regardless of how much you want to discourage them.

But the writing on this doesn’t discourage it, it encourages it to levels that I’ve rarely seen. I mean, they crammed legitimate soulmate tropes into this show. Things happened these season that I have used in fanfiction as “soulmate AU” plotlines.They had shared dreams. Not even just shared dreams, but they could talk to each other in these shared dream spaces.

The whole “two sides of the same coin” and “the light and the darkness” and the sun and moon symbolism is the obvious one, it’s wildly beloved, we’ve seen it in season 1 already. It’s catnip for villain/hero ships.

But now they added literal soulmate AU tropes into the mix and I’m not supposed to be madly deeply into this...? I don’t really know how that’s thought through.

Alina’s wanted poster was actual fanart of Darklina. She was wanted for fanfiction plot. I would actually like to read that alternate timeline she was wanted for. That was a great pitch. I’ve seen someone say that was supposed to mock Darklina shippers? I’m sorry? There was art of my ship in canon and the entire country thought they were some badass power couple why was I supposed to feel mocked by that? That evoked a feeling of validation and satisfaction in me...?

I’ll be honest, I was very afraid of season 2 for a multitude of reasons and one of them was Darklina. I loved them in season 1, when they actually got together, but knowing the writer doesn’t like the ship, knowing they wanted to actively discourage shippers, and knowing what other shows/movies like to do when a hero and villain fully find themselves on opposing sides, I really dreaded where season 2 would find Aleksander and Alina.

Part of me feared that they’d make Alina the doe-eyed hero; a very common trope, especially when there are canonical feelings - of any variety - between the hero and the villain is that the hero very desperately and naively tries to reason with the villain and tries to redeem them. And, let’s be real, it would not have been unreasonable to suspect so because with literally everybody else Alina displays a disturbing amount of naivety and forgiveness. Every single person who has backstabbed, betrayed and manipulated her, she has forgiven and let close again without any hesitation.

Anyway, that’s just a dynamic I greatly dislike, it’s not my cup of tea. So I was very pleasantly surprised by the way it went - for one, by just how completely Alina turned against Aleksander, it seemed very extreme especially considering her over-eagerness to forgive virtually everyone else, but also because I really enjoyed it. I didn’t expect that. I mean, I ship them, why would I enjoy them opposing each other this much?

Again, the incredible chemistry between their actors really played into it. Every confrontation between them was so charged it was so intense to watch. There was something so very overwhelming about Jessie and how... powerful she was, when she held her head high against Aleksander. True power couple vibes.

Baghra was also a big part of delivering the ship this season, making Alina confront just how deep the bond between them runs? It just seems like such a choice to put his mom on her side and to have his mom make Alina consider this deep soul connection that she shares with Aleksander. Once again, you write it like that and I’m not supposed to sell my soul to this ship, how?

It was also incredible to me just how much the writers made Mal look like a rebound. Going into this season, I was aware that book canon dictates Mal and Alina would become a couple. But I kind of expected there to be... a build up...? I was bracing myself for them to spend season 2 building up a romance, but they just right away started with them making out. I’m sorry, how can I take this serious as a relationship, she’s been with Aleksander like, what, a week ago? And now she’s making out with Mal?

And the first time she uses the term “love” to describe what’s going on between her and Mal isn’t when she’s with Mal, it’s when she’s with Aleksander, in the dreamspace. And I’m not supposed to take that as her trying to make him jealous?

All I could see was a cheap rebound and I honestly felt bad for the guy. She’s literally standing in a shared mindspace with the man she has a deep soul-connection to, teasing him and using Mal to make him jealous. Unhinged behavior. Excellent. I love it.

Even the corruption arc for Alina!! Because one of the things that get me about Darklina is that I really, truly, genuinely under no circumstances would want a redemption arc for Aleksander - and here I’m cutting a rant that is going to be its own plot probably - I would much rather have a corruption arc for Alina.

Sure, Aleksander died. And I absolutely could have done without that. But... his last act before dying was trying to save her life and that was. Damn. That hit me hard. And then he still died by her hand. And that also hit me hard. But I even kind of liked that? In a poetic sense?

And then the corruption fully kicked in at the end, Alina wields shadows and smiles. Unclear if she smiles because she enjoyed using shadows, or because she enjoyed killing, or because she enjoyed the powers. Maybe all three.

Either way, Baghra talked so much about Morozovas and resurrection and now Alina has these powers and seems to like them and it seems reasonable to assume Alina could or might resurrect Aleksander with them.

Whether or not she does that though, once again I ask, how do you give her his powers, how do you keep condemning him for killing people and then you give her his powers and you make her smile after using these powers to kill someone - and you still don’t want me to ship this? Really?

This ship is so... poetic and intense and it makes me feel so much and I truly can’t comprehend that the writers actively want viewers not to feel that way about this ship because damn, they’re really bad as writers if this is them writing with the intention of “this ship bad :/ these two Not Good Romantic Partners :/”. You can’t pack a dynamic full with so much symbolism, tension and so many romantic tropes and expect people to not be into it.

[aelsie]

Welcome to my Ted Talk. Topic of the Day: Darklina Season 2 👀😬😱

Spoilers! 🚨

I had very low standards for this season when it came to Darklina because I’ve read the entire Grishaverse and well….it was rough when it came to that ship. I was a little disappointed that they took out certain moments, lines and points from the books. They made up for it with some replacement scenes but most of all with that ENDING! Oof, the ending gave way more open doors than I expected!

I always knew that they wouldn’t end up together. My beloved Darklina ship was a Shakespearean tragedy from the beginning. And yet I was looking forward to watching one half of my ship kill the other half of my ship. What a very strange ship! And yet I rode it happily! The connection they had throughout the season was powerful, the strange trust Alina and the Darkling had, the magnetism, the undeniable pull between two people who really had no other equal but each other and in so many ways made the other their only refuge. It was as if they were fighting on stage but behind the curtains they were confiding in each other, no matter how angry they were, conversations between two kindred souls, or two people who KNEW that no one else could truly understand them but the other. A literal one of a kind connection.

Throughout the season, the way he talks about their powers and the darkness, he’s warning her, cautioning her about the dangers of it, and all the terrible things that come with it. He also flat out tells her that with him gone the nichevoya will hunt her, but she takes it as a threat instead of a warning. A very Darkling thing to do btw. In the end, he’s saying, be careful because you’ll end up like me and it’s not pretty, you’ll lose yourself and will lead an empty life. I wouldn’t want that to happen to you. When the nichevoya goes to attack her, he yells for it to leave her alone and boy, that just proves that he still has a kernel of humanity and that he does indeed hold affection (maybe love or as much as he can love) for Alina. And he doesn’t want her to end up in the place he has—filled with pain, rage, resentment, loneliness, heartbreak, loss of humanity and quite possibly no salvation.

One of the surprisingly emotional moments was when he talks about hope and there’s a flashback to their first kiss. He basically admits that when she came into his life, he started believing that he could have some salvation, he started having HOPE, hope in controlling the literal demons and darkness in him, in ultimately saving HIMSELF. The Darkling remains nameless in the books and he only reveals his name to Alina about 2/3 of the way in book 3 during a *cough* intimate scene. For the show Ben said in an interview that his incredibly vulnerable admittance of finding hope when Alina came into his life was their replacement scene for that scene. I think that just might be more impactful.

As The Darkling dies, he looks up at her and says “Blue skies. My little saint.” This is the one scene I wish they kept from the book. Alina was way more emotional about his death in the book, she cries and holds his hand as he’s dying. In the show, you can see a flicker of empathy and sadness on Alina’s face. It’s there but not enough in my opinion. Either way, it still tells us that now more than ever, after everything this season, she understands him and knows him even better. She has seen and been around that darkness well enough. Maybe a little too well, as we see in the end. She grants him his final wish which is to make sure there is nothing left of him (but not really, his hand is still out there, ooooh!) His funeral was strangely sad when technically he is the villain. He’s a fantastically complex villain.

Also, boy am I glad that she chose not to be with Mal and decided to stay in the palace with Nikolai because that means no losing her powers and no Malina (for now). Alina is tenfold better in the show than the books just for that and that crown looks GOOD on Alina. I do want my Zoyalai eventually. And we see flickers of that when Zoya looks at Nikolai, interested. I do think that they will be endgame at the end of the day. Which begs the question, what about Alina?

The show ends with Alina using the shadow cut and her looking shocked and then scarily pleased with herself. The darkness has creeped into her. Exactly what Aleksander warned her about and didn’t want to happen to her. He will come back (which does happen in the books, so don’t fail me Netflix 😭) and I wonder if he might play a role in getting rid of that darkness within her, an ultimate show of how he cares for her. Wouldn’t that be a crazy “redemption” arc? He does tell her in the show “let me be your monster” and “let me carry the hatred of the world” as if he’s saying I’ll carry the darkness and you the light and together we’ll balance out and create peace. At least, that’s what’s going on in his head. Either way, those were really heavy lines to say to Alina. In the books, we do see him make a sacrifice for Ravka, stopping the Fold growing again by willingly trapping himself into a tree—literally being a monster holding back the bad things in the world. Maybe he'll do some redemptive thing for Alina also. We never did see his body disintegrate in that last scene. Also, Zoya was shooing a bee off of her--bees being the sign of Sankta Elizaveta aka one of the Saints who resurrects The Darkling in KoS. Maybe Alina will suffer under the weight of the darkness and who knows maybe Alina will find some strange relief to see him again. The one other person who not only understands but KNOWS. At this point, I expect that they will become even more like equals and will meet halfway. Now that Alina has slowly, subtly but surely walked a similar path to darkness—use of manipulation, harsh words about taking everything away, becoming colder, leading the second army, working as right hand to a king, saving a loved one with merzost, and finally, gaining shadow powers.

It’s the best we could realistically ask for in this ship. Because yes, in many ways, they do have a romance—twisted, toxic, gruesome, and tragic as it is but it’s there in my opinion. It’s an undeniable connection, a temptation that can’t be taken away, and what happened between them is the definition of changing someone’s life completely. Even on Alina’s end when she talks about how he was the first to show her her true powers, her value, how she was meant for more. Of course Baghra says that those still remain true regardless of him but you know that as Alina is saying it a part of her still feels so betrayed and so hurt. Because she did feel something for him once and had HOPED for something more with him, even Baghra tells Aleksander that there was a time when he could have earned Alina’s love. At the end of the day, it’s a way more compelling pairing BECAUSE of its complications and tragedy.

I never imagined Alina to take a dark turn, that’s a ballsy but fantastic move for the writers but I am SO here for it. It was always a pipe dream for some Darklina shippers. But...well, here we are! It basically happened! She might not have joined the Darkling's dark side, but she's basically gotten her own dark side now. It makes her more interesting and complex and opens the door for more darklina. Maybe not endgame Darklina but just more of their angst and drama. I remain a darklina fan even if their romance is terrible and tragic but their pairing is so messy, complex, poetic and has so many layers. Let’s suffer with this ship together my friends 😈🥹

With that, can we have season 3 now PLEASE?

PS. The Darkling is such a simp, even when she's destroying the Fold, he looks around with amazement and says "extraordinary" as if he's so proud of her. He's like biiiish that's mah wife-y, she's about to destroy my creation AND me because she's a badass. You go wife-y!