#darkling stan forever

[farihahqaisari]

when you (the best lawyer in the world who never lost a case) entered a most-won-arguments compition but your opponent is literally a teenage girl (me) and her obsession with fictional morally grey men (the darkling).

[celebrimbor-apologist]

Liveblog of 2x08

Spoilerssss

Not ready. 

Not today, Recap 

Oh no, we are starting with Durin. 

DISA IS ALIVE 

KISS KISS KISS Oh I love them I will not survive this episode. 

….hi Balrog. 

Oh Durin oh love. No, this is not about strength. Please King Durin. But it won’t work because… I just don’t think it will.

Durin please, do not give in. Please. 

…hi Balrog properly. 

Oh well 

DURIN???? DURIN YOU OKAY???? 

Okay he alive 

YES TAKE IT OOOOF

Oh he is dad again, he leaves the ring and is- 

"Forgive me my son. King Durin"

Oh my HEART. 

DISA

Oh FUCK

Durin and Elrond recovering side by side manifesting NOW 

Yes I am watching the intro sequence because I need the comfort of it. 

Okay hello Rhûn

Hello stranger. 

MANWE????? MANWE PROMISED?? I DON'T THINK SO?????

“Old Friend” will forever sound homoerotic, X-men did that.

“My people were once kings” Whelp. Sauron's gonna make you kings again, babes, don't worry

I am so weary of this Dark Wizard.

“Pity will not defeat Sauron” Hahaha, Samwise disagrees, though I’d call it Compassion but that might just be 3000 years of language change in action

OH YOU BITCH 

Oh Stranger you beautiful son of a-

OH THE TREE OH THE TREE 

Númenor <3 

BEWITCH THE SEA???

OH YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE I AM TAKING YOUR FUCKING KNEECAPS 

Oh Númenor you are so fucked 

Elendil? Elendil where are you? 

The tears of the Valar themselves. Jup. 

Oh come on Elendil. 

Eärien, you have won back my love. 

No Míriel he really don’t wanna leave you, and I support him

Elendil. Oh Elendil and Mírel I love you both so much. 

NARSIL 

WHAT WHAT WHATAHEHJJCÄPJefpojdfknvkehräp

RECLAIM YOUR LORDSHIP

NARSIL 

Aaaaaand back to Eregion 

Okay Eregion Elf Archer you will not be forgotten 

Galadriel 

I WILL GIVE YOU NINE 

GALADRIEL 

NO 

Oh no

No 

No… No please, please…

“Look what you have done to yourself” I will personally end you. I will- I don’t even know what is really horrible to do?? I WILL- 

And he still resists. 

Defiant beloved Tyelpe

“Hear the dying words of Celebrimbor”

“The rings of power shall destroy you” THEY WILLLLLLL 

The haunting theme 

TYELPE 

Oh my dearest love 

TYELPERINQUAR 

Tyelpe 

Tyelpe died in his forge 

Tyelpeeeeee I’m not kidding, I am actually sobbing. Violently. Had to pause

THE MUSIC 

THE FUCKING TEAR OH ANNATAR I WILL FEED YOU TO THE DUCKS

“I have many names” Yeah, idiot, same, I'm trans too, but I’m not a fucking bastard asshole dickhead... I don't like insulting people so I'm out of insults.

Oh hi Isildur great, it’s about Estrid, means I can chill for a second 

I mean, at least we didn’t see the torture happen. But you know what?! I can fix this. I don’t fucking care anymore, fix it number seven if I need to but I am NOT LETTING TYELPE GO OKAY. Five stages of grief? NO, I am not moving past Denial. Deal with it.

Oh Theo hug nice.

Hi Estrid 

Well she is honest I can appreciate that

KEMEN FUCK OFFFFFFFFFFFF DIEEEEEEEE

Horse more useful than Kemen confirmed

Everyone wanting to punch Kemen as much as I do huh?

Galadriel if you give him the Nine I will end you

OH NO HE IS WEARING HER RING

OH YOU CLEAN UP NICELY

NAME??? GIVE US THE FUCKING NAME PLEASE

He gives it back??? ADAR REDEMPTION??? I STAN I LOVE I LOVE I LOVE 

"No more flames and no more darkness" Yes pls

Please I NEED his name now. 

Oh… Oh that’s Glûg… 

Oh I KNEW IT. 

They Sauron’d him. But hey, Adar looks less like a loser than Sauron in his Straight Era so.

Galadriel-

Oh hi Annatar 

OH THERE IT IS 

THE R 

THE R IN GALADRIEL I FUCKING LOVE THIS, Galadrriellllllll

OH NO. NOT THE FUCKING PARALLEL 

“Bring me their leaders” 

I still need Adar’s old name. This is such a Darkling moment. I neeed. (I caps-locked too much, my goddamn shift key is broken)

Yes fight him 

Never make war in anger Galadriel 

OH NO 

Gil and Elrond 

Ereinion <3 

Oh Elrond 

Ereinion is mad <3 

HOLY SHIT VIOLENT ELROND????? FOR EREINION???? YES PLEASE????

ARONDIR 

GIL WITH A KNIFE TO HIS THROAT 

I AM NOT OKAY

This is still not as bad as last episode hahaha.....

The way I fucking Screamed when she dropkicked him 

OH NO OH NO IT’S HOT SAURON (hysteric giggling)

Okay but Halbrand never looked so baby as Sauron does now sorry, loser man (derogatory) , si

Oh well but Sauron does not SOUND like her, similar but not the same, Morfyd Clark your SKILL 

“I know your mind” Oh go fuck yourself 

YESSSS GIRL GET ITTTTTTTTT “THE DOOR IS SHUT” FUCK HIM UPPPPPP 

YES HE HAS BEEN CUT THE-

Galadriel no 

Nononono

No, you have your ring you must be okay you must be okay you have plot armour 

I love how today Sauron gets told off by all of his exes <3 Celebrimbor, Adar, Galadriel <3 <3

Fuck he has the Nine

Horns?? "DWARVES" Ereinion stop looking so annoyed they are here to help, Gil-galad, king of standing in places prettily and autism you are the love of my life.

GIL BATTLE BRAID GIL BATTLE BRAIIIIID EREINION GIL-GALAD BATTLE BRAID OH I LOVE HIM. NO LONGER PRETTY STANDING IN PLACES BUT PRETTILY FUCKING SHIT UUUUUUUUP 

(Someone please hug Elrond by the way)

Oh Annatar you can’t take the ring can you? She has to give it up. Oh I love it because this is not his ring - he had no part in it. 

FUCK 

NO GALADRIEL REMEMBER CELEBRIMBOR DON’Ttttt

“You wish to heal middle earth? Heal yourself” That is the BEST way anyone has ever been told to get therapy ngl

Arondir and Gil? 

Ring Time 

GIL IN ACTION 

Oh I love him, oh Ereinion my love. 

But the ring can

“I can” 

Oh Elrond. Oh my love. He hates this, but he loves her more. 

Oh Poppy

And the forge falls

Oh Elrond

Míriel 

Elendil 

OH YOU FUCKING DICKHEAD FEANOR’S HAMMER REALLY

I HOPE TYELPE HAUNTS YOU INTO THE FIRES OF MOUNT DOOM

Well. Gandalf it is. 

They say goodbye now, huh? 

Ah there is his stick huh

Hi Tom

Old Tom Bombadil <3

“Valley north of here” Good. Good that is Imladris 

Oh Ereinion. OH EREINION.

Oh Elrond.

Oh he smile <3 I needed this 

Remember the council of Celebrim-

VOROHIL VOROHIL VOROHILListen that end scene????? I AM FINE HOLY FUCK I AM FINEEEEEEEEE

[cabeswaterdrowned]

pretty little liars and the raven cycle!

Pretty Little Liars 

will do show first then books :)

Show:

favorite character: Spencer Hastings!! Mona is a somewhat close second and I love all 6 of the main girls but Spencer is everything to me

least favorite character: Ezra Fitz. Byron Montgomery is in second place which makes sense as they are practically the same person 💀

brOTP: I’ll say Spanna even though I also like them romantically, and Spencer and Jason have a really interesting dynamic as siblings/foils that I appreciate a lot

OTP: Vandermarin and Spemily, Vandermarin’s probably #1 ultimately because they’re soo the canon love story of Pll… but Spemily is so underrated imo and it’s my favorite Spencer ship and Spencer’s my favorite character so that gives it something extra for me. 3rd place is Spencer x Mona

OT3: going to say Hanna/Mona/Alison is ultimately the most fascinating one to me in the narrative but I’m open to a lot of different poly combinations with this show

NOTP: I don’t like any of the main het pairings but especially not Ezria

favorite storyline: Spencer’s 3b arc and Spencer’s 4b arc I love when my fave is suffering and in a spiral it’s fascinating xd. 4b is probably my favorite section of the show period between the Spencer addiction plot (which definitely has it’s issues in the writing but Troian is just fantastic playing it), Shadow Play, the EzrA stuff and Aria’s processing which I find very engaging especially in She’s Come Undone, it’s also where Emily/Alison is most interesting to me because of the attention given to Emily processing her feelings (attention that it never given again after this :/) Hanna stepping into the role of detective more than Spencer and Spencer and Emily’s fights so a lot of interesting shifts in dynamics caused by them knowing Ali is alive now, Ali’s coded diary… I just love it in all it’s messiness xd.

least favorite storyline: Ezria and the deadnaming both were terrible. A lot of post time jump storylines

what I wish had happened but didn’t: Ezra going to jail, men being held accountable for literally anything, for the writers to care more or at all the last two seasons I think anything even slightly good that happens post time jump is thanks to the actors and not the writers and even most of them seemed tired

what happened that I wish hadn’t: Ezra/Aria endgame male chars being given unwarranted grace in general

Books

favorite character: Aria Montgomery she has a slight edge over Spencer if we’re going with book versions of the chars specifically.

least favorite character: Wren since Ezra is less relevant in the books

brOTP: Spencer and Hanna + Spencer and Emily

OTP: Aria x Noel and Aria x Emily

OT3: Aria/Courtney/Emily

NOTP: Spencer/Wren since Aria/Ezra is less relevant in the books

favorite storyline: Emily faking her own suicide to then hunt down Alison in the last book slayyy.

least favorite storyline: Spencer’s romantic storylines in the second half of the series why so many flops :/ and then the Wrencer endgame yuck

what I wish had happened but didn’t: I wish Hanna’s arc had been stronger in the second half of the series although I’m not a fan of her post jump arc in the show either so…

what happened that I wish hadn’t: Wrencer endgame ugh.

TRC

favorite character: Blue Sargent there was a time when I readily considered her my favorite character in anything full stop still one of my forever girls I adore her.. Adam Parrish is a close second love him to pieces <33

least favorite character: I don’t really have one, I’ll say Kavinsky but mostly because he’s overrated/his stans are insufferable, while I’m reading he works fine within the story (this is the same way I feel about the Darkling actually)

brOTP: Blue and Ronan, Calla and Persephone and Maura, The Gangsey as a group

OTP: Bluesey ultimately but also Adansey and also Pynch and also Blue x Noah I contain multitudes <3

OT3: there is a lot of poly shipping potential in this series… Blue x Gansey x Henry is practically canon and I love them but I also am very into Gansey x Blue x Noah and Adam x Gansey x Blue… and Ronan x Adam x Gansey is also good…

NOTP: Ronan x Kavinsky less because it’s toxic I’ve shipped worse more because again the fandom is annoying

favorite storyline: the entirety of Blue Lily Lily Blue there’s so much in that book I adore, Persephone mentoring Adam, Blue and Calla scenes and Blue’s internal conflict while her mother is missing, Gwenllian and her dynamic with Blue and learning more about mirror abilities/what Blue is, Adam’s character arc in that book in general, so many of my favorite Bluesey and Pynch scenes and Persephone’s death is a gut punch that really works and the title… I love it :).

least favorite storyline: the ending of TRK is kind of anticlimactic even though I still love it like the other books

what I wish had happened but didn’t: Blue’s arc to have better closure in book 4

what happened that I wish hadn’t: the whole Adam and Ronan being racist to Henry part :/

ty!

[jemsboner]

I will forever love and stan Sebastian Morgenstern so jot that down

[mothsandbutterflies13]

I wholeheartedly second this.

I have not, nor will I ever, read the books. But I know enough about them and have watched skipped through enough of the show to get a basic understanding of the tropes used. And I can tell you right now, Mal is the EPITOME of the type of boy I'd stay far, FAR away from. Like, the Darkling might be a manipulative little shit, but at least he has REASONS. And I love him. I just want to hold him and tell him everything's going to be all right.

Mal doesn't have ANY reasons or excuses for his behavior. He's just a toxic person, full stop. If you're so against toxic relationships, why are you still backing possibly the most toxic one out of the entire series?

Dear antis,

I am unapologetically a Darkling stan. Like, I literally love The Darkling so much, I want him to have the world.

Oh, I’m also so in love with my darklina ship, you like totally wouldn’t believe it.

Hmmmmm, what else, oh yeah, Mal is shit. He was shit in book 1, and he’s shit all the way to the end.

What else, what else am I forgetting?? Oh yeah, Alina and Aleksander belong together, and they are totally the best couple.

Yours,

June.

PS: Seriously, coming to troll my post is a waste of time. You literally cannot make me feel any guilt or whatever over liking Aleksander Morozova or shipping darklina.

[madeyoumyvillain]

You were baited and fooled by Bardugo. How did she do that exactly? I want to hear the rant you probably have for it

There is no rant,I've gotten past it at this point. Shadow and Bone was marketed as an enemies to lovers story and we all know how that ended. If Leigh wanted us to NOT ship Darklina and root for the friends to lovers fighting for the greater good and defeating evil,I wouldn't have said anything. I don't think many people would ship Darklina if that was the case. But it's not. Yes,yk what,there is a rant.

And not just Leigh,many authors know that ETL arc is widely popular and loved so they start off their books or market them as ETL to grab the attention of the vast majority of its lovers,but it ends up being either friends to lovers or something entirely different. If she didn't want us to ship it,maybe she shouldn't have baited us? Why would you use "a dark heart,a pure soul,a love that will last forever" as a tag line when you plan on ending that ship and completely changing it? Maybe try promoting your actual hero and ship if you want the readers to NOT ship the wrong couple? Why would you talk about The Darkling and NOT about Malyen if he's the actual love interest,the good guy,the hero?

Leigh Bardugo hates The Darkling,hates us for liking him and has mentioned in KoS how we're a cult of crazy people for liking Aleksander. If she didn't want us to like him then maybe she shouldn't have written him as someone with ACTUAL motives while th good guys are fighting only because it's The Right Thing ™ to do while doing NOTHING about the actual problem and fucking off into the sunset to fulfill cottagecore dreams?

Picking sides in YOUR OWN fandom is the worst,most immature thing you can do. She recently opened up about how The Darkling embodies her abusive ex. Therefore,Darklina is abusive and we're abuse apologists for shipping it. Let me remind you that Bardugo herself forgets that Darklina isn't the main relationship,Malina is. And Malina is the exact kind of toxic relationship you find in real life. Malyen embodies toxic masculinity. So maybe while trying to make Darklina toxic,she forgot she was making Malina toxic too? It's not a competition for less or more,if you're abusive,you're abusive. Less or more doesn't matter,there's no better alternative of being abused. If she wanted us to believe that Alina is a strong,fierce and independent woman who makes her own decisions and doesn't need anyone, if she really wanted us young girls who are stupid and naive to never let a man hold us back then letting Alina end up alone would be the best thing she could do. Because neither of those men deserved Alina.

She has openly called Darkling stans disturbed and said that she wrote him as a lesson for younger girls to not excuse evil men just because they have slick hair and sharp jawline haha. I shouldn't be angry at her for shoving a FTL down my throat when she advertised a Light/Dark romance because she it did for ME so a hot and evil and charismatic man doesn't end up taking advantage of the stupid and naive girl I am. I should thank her for teaching me that I'm a young and dumb girl ready to be taken advantage of by evil, hot,dark, centuries old shadow summoners. Too bad I haven't found one yet:/

Look at these pictures and tell me where the fuck did she talk about her main,endgame ship and tell me if this isn't bait or not.

But no,I'm an absolute fool. A villain romanticizer. An abuse apologist. A pedophile and war criminal enabler in her eyes. I'm someone who hasn't been through anything traumatic in my entire life according to the antis when it's actually LB and them who can't differentiate between fiction and reality. It's LB who is one of the antis and shames fans of her own characters.

So yes,she is a baiter. She did fool us. And she keeps on dragging Aleksander's bloody corpse through the mud to milk money because she knows that alot of people in the GV fandom love him and expected a redemption arc for him. She uses him time and time again to hurt us. She's always treated Darkling Stans like shit. Always tried to make us feel wrong or morally corrupt for liking him. Tell me,how am I supposed to like this behaviour and why exactly should I respect someone who shames me for liking something that doesn't exist?

[kanchelsis]

Hello! I've been reading your thoughts on the kos and I find them to be interesting. How do you feel about Zoya's character development? Do you think it was rushed or fitting? Also, what are your thoughts on Zoyalai?

hi anon!!

i'll try my best to explain. i'd like to establish that this is no way an attack on people who like zoya, a fictional character is just a fictional character and we vibe with what we vibe with. these are just my personal thoughts and shouldn't be taken as anything else.

when i first heard zoya was going to be a pov character in kos, i was actually excited. i quite liked her in tgt because i have a soft spot for characters that have mean exteriors to hide compassion. as much as i liked nikolina at the time, i was looking forward to seeing what kind of dynamic zoyalai would have especially after her comments about him in the trilogy.

instead... the way zoya is treated in the narrative really annoyed me. the fact that the story would stop to lavish praise on her didn't do her any favours. like, it wouldn't even matter if i liked her character anyway, this is a surefire way to irritate me and bardugo just seems desperate to make the reader think zoya's great. i think she did this with mal as well, and he's my least favourite character in the whole grishaverse.

one of the biggest themes in tgt is how power corrupts people with even the best intentions. the concept of merzost and the consequences of using it is one of my fave plot points! so when zoya was personally chosen by the saints and all the dragon amplifier stuff went down and the narrative started hitting home the point that she's the best grisha evah... yikes. i love how in ck inej has the part about 'invisible girls' that gets used to critique the trope of the chosen one, only for zoya to literally become the embodiment of that trope in kos. what is the point of making characters like the darkling who are corrupted by their power despite good intentions, while zoya can be ridiculously overpowered and it's fine? i hope this gets addressed in rule of wolves, but i doubt it - given how bardugo treats zoya, it seems likelier that it will be justified because zoya's ~badass~ enough to wield it with benevolence.

this is more personal than any of my other points but, but i don't like the #girlboss trope in fiction. instead of giving zoya meaningful character development and letting her have weaknesses to overcome, she gets put into this box labelled 'strong female character' and it annoys me so much. i think if zoya was allowed to have weaknesses and failings and humanising moments beyond a needlessly tragic backstory, i'd like her a lot more.

sometimes i wish i didn't like zoya from the get-go, because then at least i'd feel better about it. but in my opinion, there's no bad quite like wasted potential bad.

so yeah, as for zoyalai? it's a no from me. i don't think they had much chemistry besides pointless banter. like zoya, i'll forever mourn what could've been with these two while being salty about what bardugo actually wrote. i'm still surprised that zoya made those comments about nikolai in tgt and is suddenly all lovey dovey for him in kos. i'm guessing bardugo wants us to forget about that.

i know i said this at the start, but i'm saying it again because some zoya/zoyalai stans can be, uh... passionate, to say the least. this is just my opinion, not facts. i know it's a trend in fandom these days to dictate what characters people can and cannot like, but that's not what i'm trying to do here. please don't take this in bad faith. i think i have most toxic people blocked, but i'll tag this with anti tags just as a precaution.

sorry this is late, anon. have a lovely day 💕

[cto10121]

So, I keep thinking that perhaps LB realized that destroying the Shadow Fold was not going to solve all the troubles of Ravka and that could be the reason she wrote KOS duology to show the post-defeat-antagonist conditions. To like, tell us that, after the Chosen one won the war, Ravka became whole, but what happens then?? Does everything go back to normal on its own?? Grisha and otkazat’sya mingle together?? No prejudice?? Are Grisha safe?? What of the war with Fjerda and Shu Han??

And we have the answer: the new king set out to established something better and then by the end we have Zoya, a Grisha Queen, something better.

I’m barely on King of Scars (will read more and hopefully finish the book soon, I’m a fast reader), but from what I can tell, Bardugo’s plan is basically just handsome-woke-prince-and-his-Grisha-GF-queen-solve-prejudice-forever, which is. Really not how social change happens, only a superficial patching, but it’s YA, cto10121, everything must be dumbed down to the individual level, we must allow this, relax, calm down.

But it does rankle me that for three books destroying the Shadow Fold was the only plan by Alina and co., the only response to the Darkling’s Malcolm X shenanigans, and framed as THE ultimate solution...and then in Nikolai’s duology, we learn that (of course) the loss of the Shadow Fold did not magically fix the Grisha problem or Ravka’s wars. In fact, the situation is arguably worse for Grisha and even Ravka without the Darkling. There is still war and still prejudice, and now the Grisha don’t have to attend the Little Palace, so there will be more vulnerable Grisha out there. So I guess Bardugo felt she had no choice but to bring him back, but not before she has all the good characters casting shade on a cult of Darkling stans about how awful the Darkling was and how they are all abuse apologists.

[sayruq]

I finished Shadow and Bone. Here are some thoughts:

My ranking of favorite characters

Alina

Darkling

Mal

Genya

This is a well written book that was pretty easy to read and understand

I'm amazed by the fast pacing and how fast things seem to change

Plus I like how the writer developed the characters. Even side characters like Ivan, David, Baghdad, Zoya

I'm surprised by how weak darklina was. I expected more. They barely talked until the Darkling's villain reveal it feels like. Their conversations are revealing but not quite intense until the kiss but it all ended after that. I knew when I finished the book that darklina would never be endgame- not when Darkling used their kiss to mock her, not when he put that collar on her, not even during the Winter fete. Hell it's ambiguous whether or not Alina actually has feelings for him. He is a living amplifier and I think that plays a role because Alina suppressed her powers and has been almost a living ghost for years as a result. Darkling amplifying her powers and talking to her about grand destinies and such would be addictive. Is that love? I doubt it. I don't know what the other books say though.

On the other hand, it was pretty obvious to me from the get go that malina was the romance of the trilogy. I actually like how well it was developed even though Mal realising that he was in love with Alina happened off screen

Speaking of Mal, I was surprised at how much I liked him. I expected him to be this horrible person or at least consistently not good for Alina. I really understood where he was coming from. Like his anger when he and Alina were reunited. Was it the right reaction? No but by that point, he thought he and Alina were going to be eaten by eaten volcra, only for Alina to be taken away and he didn't stop it, then all he kept hearing was that she was killed or being tortured, he spent miserable months on the road trying to find a way back to her, he volunteered for dangerous missions and lost all his friends, and when he sees Alina again, she unrecognisable and seems to be having the time of her life.

Lashing out was wrong and I'm glad he apologised. I do wonder if he has powers. He is an unusually talented tracker.

As for their relationship, I'm sorry but I'm sold.

The fact that Alina would wait for him forever. The fact she would rather shiver in the cold than return to the Little Palace. The fact that she hid her powers for years to stay with Mal, then unleashed them becoming a Sun Summoner to protect Mal, then learnt to control them because she was trying to let Mal go, and later she gained control over her powers from the Darkling to save Mal. It's all Mal. I finally understand what Ben Barnes meant when he said Mal and Alina were the heart of the story

Speaking of Ben, he is going to be great as the Darkling.

I love the Darkling. Ruthless as hell, merciless, incapable of accepting that he has feelings for Alina and yet willing to hurt her for what he thinks is the greater good. Hurt his mother too.

He is a good villain. I like how driven, patient, manipulative, smart he is. I am a stan y'all.

I love how Alina keeps tripping him up. He never expects what she'll do next. She isn't a sycophant despite wanting to make him proud, she learns to control her power instead of floundering until he finds the stag, she is honest, she keeps amusing him, he thinks he has manipulated her into his control and twice she defies him by first escaping and by gaining control over her amplifier. Love that for her

Alina is such a great character. Leigh took the typical YA protagonist with mousey hair who is secretly beautiful and who is better than all the other girls and did something with it.

The loneliness Alina carries within her, the way she craves a sense of belonging after thinking her friendship with Mal has run its course, the way she wants to be beautiful because it means people will look at her and yet being at the centre of attention makes her nervous, the way she connects with people without trying so hard and she leaves her mark on them

I love that she is kind, compassionate and funny. I really hope her self hatred is dealt with. She is a good person and she deserves happiness.

I love Genya. I am so sad for her, the poor girl. @awkwardbutinwardlyverysassy I get why you ship them. They love each other, kindred spirits.

[harrysunflower6]

I really don’t understand people saying The Darkling is evil and darklina is pedophilic and we shouldn’t stan him. First of all, everyone should be allowed to stan or ship whatever they want and it is nobody’s business to tell otherwise. Secondly, the darkling is not a pedophile just because he is an immortal being. He is a young man in the books and no matter how much time you spend on earth if your body doesn’t age it is impossible for your mind to age, too. Maturity comes with the awareness of your own body aging and knowing that you will die. If you are an immortal being with a body of a 20 year old then how are you supposed to feel or consider yourself as an old men. In my opinion he is a young man with infinite knowlege and experience. Also, this is a fantasy book and some of you act like you’ve never seen a vampire movie or tv show. Other than that, the Darkling did not born this way no matter how cliche it sounds. Just imagine being a little boy who has to hide and run all the time because of his nature. He was alone for hundereds of years and he only knew a mother doesn’t love him and a friend who tried to kill him and steal his bones for power. If you think you can spend hundereds of years watching for your back all alone and that won’t change you as a person I don’t know what will. He is immortal and he had to hide his true nature and power for all this time to survive. Alina was the only person who could understand him and share the same power. She could accept him as who he is and they could be together forever without the fear of hiding or losing your loved one or seeing that person age and grow old before your eyes. That is why they were meant to be together because the only person who could see and understand him was Alina. Finally, I want to explain why he is not evil. Although his actions are bad, his intentions and goals are not. He wanted to make the world a safe place for everyone. He created the shadow fold to have a place where grishas could feel safe and don’t have to go through the shit he’d been through. It turned out as he did not expect. And later he decided to use the fold as an ultimatum to unite the whole world and stop the wars coming and the wars will happen in the future. All he wanted was to never let anyone else feel the same way he did. I know his methods are bad, like killing an entire village but imagine how many innocent died through out the history and how many could die in the future. He thought he sacrificed little to save many.

Ps. Through out these three books we saw Alina becoming more violent and power hungry. And this only happened in what 2 or 3 years? Also she had people around her who loved and supported her while the Darkling had no one and he lived this way for hundereds of years. I am sure if Alina kept her power in the end and we get to see her in a 10 years perhaps she could become worse then the Darkling.

[darklingswhxore]

It’s called guilt people baghra is obviously feeling guilty her maniac soon murdered alina parents and that’s why she also kept that psychopath from going near her! baghra is alina guardian angel who’s watched over her and made her strong even told her about her freak of son and what he actually is! she said woman solidarity above bastard son and I admire her so much probably why alina loves her too! BAGHRA SUPREMACY she atoning for not letting her darkness eat or choke the darkling in the vomb! Gotta love her for keep alina from becoming forever ruined and having alina not feel horrible afterwards! STAN BAGHRA GUYS!

You know what i heard BULLSHIT BULLSHIT BULLSHIT😚

and i think i know who you are the way this is written i have a idea why don't you come off anon i swear i don't bite and thankfully i ain't white either 🙃

[sheikah]

Hello! I'm sorry to ask this, but can you explain what spoilers you mean and the thing with Darklina? I just read the first book in the series; only managed to finish it because of The Darkling - love him. But I stopped reading the series/world after that one. So I'm a bit unsure if you mean spoilers regarding the books or the show? I'm a little late to the part. Reason for asking as an anon is because I got blocked by another when I asked a question about The Darkling...

Wow, someone blocked you for asking a question about the Darkling? I honestly don’t know how some people get through life being this sensitive haha... Relatively speaking he’s far from the worst villain out there??? 

Anyway, sorry it took so long to answer this. I wanted to get some distance from the spoilers so my answer wouldn’t be so emotional haha. Spoilers for ROW under the cut. Also, since you say you’ve just read the first book, I’ll be making brief mention of key plot moments from Siege and Storm and Ruin and Rising as well, so those would be spoiled for you, anon!

We don’t have all of Rule of Wolves yet, obviously, but people with early review copies posted photographs of pages on Twitter, and I’ll link them below

From those pages, we can gather the following:

The Darkling (as we know from the ending of King of Scars) has returned in Yuri’s body but basically looks and sounds like his old self.

A darkness/blight much like the Fold is spreading and killing. Nikolai and Zoya need the Darkling’s help with combatting it because of his magical power/past experience with merzost.

In the early parts of the book they keep him prisoner in a cell flooded with sunlight to prevent him from summoning shadows.

At some point during the story they trust him enough to release him. They bargain with him. He will help them in exchange for a meeting with Alina Starkov. Bear in mind that prior to this Alina would have assumed him dead.

They are concerned by this request but they agree. In the Darkling’s POV he muses that he needs to meet with her to “get his power back” or something. Not sure how this make sense since Alina lost her own powers. 

Anyway, so far, none of the above bothers me at all. But then...

When they meet with Alina it’s one of the most bizarre and OOC encounters I could imagine. Mal is there, and the Darkling randomly, out of nowhere, comments on how they’re related and Mal is like “lol we all hate our relatives amirite???”

Alina’s reaction to seeing the Darkling again is... no reaction at all. She doesn’t seem shocked, happy, upset, nothing. This man who loomed so large in her life and her destiny, this man she was forced to murder in Ruin and Rising... is BACK FROM THE DEAD, and everyone is just sitting around like it’s afternoon tea.

The Darkling looks at her and comments that she looks different. Here is the first thing to really and truly pisses me off: Alina says the reason she looks different is because she’s happy now and “[he] never really saw her that way.” As in, Alina was never once happy around the Darkling. If you just read Shadow and Bone, you know this is obviously not even remotely true. But it isn’t treated like a lie from Alina in the narrative. It’s treated like the truth the big, bad Darkling deserves to hear from her. 

Eventually they come to an agreement and the Darkling agrees to help at the cost of his own life. [Here is where I want to interject something. I’ve seen a lot of people insinuate that Darkling stans are upset because Leigh killed the villain of her story. In other words, they’re suggesting that we’re stupid for being upset because obviously villains die. I just want to say for the record that I 100% expected the Darkling to die in Rule of Wolves. That is not the issue here.]

Before the Darkling sacrifices himself (something that is, at least, somewhat framed as a selfless act to save Grisha and Ravkans), some truly odd writing from Leigh. First, he tells a whole bunch of people his real name. No one asked??? He just tells everyone. A lot of Darklinas are angry because prior to this, his name was a secret only known by Alina. It was something they shared, an intimacy, and it was significant because in “Demon in the Wood,” the Darkling’s backstory, we see the target his true name put on his back all his life, and that Baghra cautioned him to tell no one. So him telling Alina was a gesture of trust. Him telling everyone destroys that.

The second weird thing about the death scene is that he basically screams something along the lines of, “I’m not sorry.” Again, this feels so weird. Like deliberate spite from Leigh. Making sure not to redeem him before killing him off.

So I don’t know all the magical/lore details, but when the Darkling sacrifices himself it is in some ritual where his body is pierced and mutilated by a bunch of magical tree branches??? Supposedly he will continue to exist this way in some sort of eternal super-hell where he just suffers in pain without dying forever, all to keep the darkness from spreading. Zoya and Nikolai bear witness.

This last part is the part that upsets me the most, more than anything else I guess. So later, at the end of the book, Zoya is with Genya and Alina. Zoya reveals that she’s been having nightmares wherein she sees things from the Darkling’s point of view--destryoing Novokribirsk, etc. She realizes how easy it could be to lose yourself with the kind of power the Darkling--and now Zoya herself--possesses. She wonders if he really deserves this eternal and unimaginable suffering and torture. Zoya proposes letting him out to mercy kill him. Genya and Alina are doubtful, but even Genya is swayed before Alina is. And this is the heart of the issue for me. Zoya, who loathes the Darkling more than anyone, is the one having mercy and taking pity on him, while Alina is utterly apathetic to his suffering. Alina, who wept openly over his body and held him as he died. Alina, who honored his last wishes and saw to it that he had a funeral of honor alongside what the people believed to be a literal saint in Ruin and Rising. Alina, who struggled with wanting and feeling for him all the way to the end of the trilogy, whose last word in the trilogy was his name. Alina, who had compassion for the animals she had to kill for the amplifiers. That is Alina Starkov. But the Alina Starkov in Rule of Wolves is completely unaffected when this man she seemingly used to love is being tortured literally forever. She couldn’t care less. And so all of this together feels like a deliberate slight to Darklinas, and that’s why we’re angry. 

Anyway, Alina eventually agrees that the Darkling can be freed and killed, so Zoya says they’re going to replace the Darkling with the relic heart of a saint or something, and hire Kaz to steal it. So SOC3 is coming.

We did get one tiny crumb of Darklina. In the Darkling’s POV, he admits to himself that the real reason he wants to see Alina again is because “with her, he was human again.” He also ponders on why she was always able to defeat him and best him, and thinks that it’s because of something more than her stubbornness and bravery: “something he knew the name of a hundred lifetimes ago.” Most people are interpreting this as him finally admitting to himself that he loved her. It’s something!

Pics for reference.

[musialawirtzrichten]

rules: post photos of 8 ppl u have a crush on/are attracted to (other ppl might notice patterns in ur attraction you dont)

thank you for tagging me @torunarigha 💕 and people are very pretty, that’s true. I tag @entgegengesetzt @deanshenderson @footywritingworks @donkeykai @havertzz (you don’t have to do it 💕)

I’m currently waiting for the Schornsteinfeger/ chimney sweeper to finish so I have time to explain this, because I feel like a have to lol

1. Sebastian Stan: It’s because of Bucky in tfatws and probably because my former step sister forced me to watch every of his movie with her. BUT its kinda difficult rn especially after his video yesterday. In German we say kritisch. 2. Ana de Armas: THIS WOMAN WOW. B*n Affl*ck didn’t deserve her tbh, I would have treated her and her cardboard better than him. Really excited to see her in the new bond movie. 3. Zendaya: Does she need any explanation? NO! 4. Ben Barnes: My 10 year old self had a crush on him as Prince Caspian, I watched him being fan cast as Sirius Black and now he’s walking around as the Darkling and is living rent free in my head. He can sing like an angel, he reads a lot of books, he has an englisch literature degree, he is well spoken, he can play the piano and the guitar. Is he the man of my dreams ? Probably 5. Daniel Brühl: He’s a polyglot and in this house we stan intelligent people. And even tho he’s half German he’s pretty cool. 6. Pedro Pascal: how can you not love this guy??? Him as Din Djarin wil forever have a special place in my heart and ofc i love javi peña and narcos <3 7. Michael B. Jordan: that man is 🤌 He’s handsome af even tho he and his gf call me single in every single language with their pics. 8. Diego Luna: He was amazing in rogue one *one of the best Star Wars movie* and narcos. I loved him so much as Cassian and I’m so excited for Andor. Diego talking about jabba is one of the most hilarious things ever.

[lostin-starkdust]

Shadow and bone : thoughts

part 2 because I have a LOT TO SAY

okay alina's light is so beautiful??????

Mal just running even when injured because he thinks she's in danger,,,, my heart

THE WONDER ON HER FACE MATCHES THE WONDER ON DARKLING'S FACE

okay who gave ben barnes permission to be this hot and this terrifying???

JESPER COMING THROUGH AS ALWAYS SIR I LOVE YOU AND YOUR SKILLS SO MUCH

Kaz brekker with a goat will forever be one of my favourite images

The darkling asking 'did you not like the colour I chose for you?', aleks, my man you are NOT subtle

'call me aleksandar' WHEN I TELL YOU I SCREAMED

'you and I are going to change the world' LMAO SHE'S BLUSHING WE LOVE TO SEE IT

sir whaddya mean 'they see me as a remainder of the problem, not the solution' YOU CREATED THE PROBLEM

okay but I loved hearing alina's and mal's letters to each other, it was such a lovely touch

I also loved watching parts of their childhood, to show their bond, THE HOLDING HANDS I- I CAN'T I LOVED IT SO MUCH

The effects and the lighting, Jesus and the chemistry between darkling and alina *chefs kiss*

OHMYGOD THE SCENE WHERE SHE LEAVES BUT STAYS AT THE DOOR AND HE WALKS AND STAYS ON THE OTHER SIDE MSHSJSHSJSJSISKUWKWOWKDHDHD

THIS SCENE JAHSJSJSKWIWJ

how is jessie mei lei so pretty??????????

wow mal's actually in love with her JAHEJEJSJDJD

HE COMPARED HER TO TRUE NORTH, TO HIS HOME (I have thing for couples who do that, I DIE)

HIS VOICE OVER SAYS THIS AND SHE DECIDES TO ERASE THE MARK ON HER HAND AJDGEHSJWKWKHDJDJEJE

mikhael and dubrov I loved you

KAZ BREKKER AS A SCULPTOR I REPEAT KAZ BREKKER AS A SCULPTOR

inej just shadowing that guard,,,, my amazing wraith

Kaz asking jesper to put away the guns and jesper shooting it at the exact same Tim as the chime on the clock, I STAN A GENIUS

INEJ SNEAKING UP ON KAZ JAHSJSDJD, 'A LITTLE SLOW ON THE DRAW' I LOVE THEM YOUR HONOUR

jfc aleks with deep angry voice is TERRIFYING

Zoya's *angry voice* "SHE'S SULI" we love to see it.

Alina is a LITERAL VISION IN THAT KEFTA

inej's little 'sankta alina'

KAZ TRYNNA FIGURE OUT HOW SHE MADE THE LIGHT LMAO

THE LYNX FLUSH DAMN WOW, I'm dumb enough to admit that I did not see that coming

I liked Marie tho, poor kid

DARKLING YOU GIANT SLEAZEBAG (*British voice* I CAN'T BELIEVE YOUVE DONE THIS)

I'm talking bout the BLUE IRISES

THE HEIGHT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ALINA AND THE DARKLING IS KILLING ME LITERALLY KILLING ME

The scene where he was sitting on the table and she kissed him and THEN HE STOOD UP, I DIED THERE

Also the soft blushy smile alina had on her face after that and aleks stealing a glance at her,,,,,,,,

ALSO THE WAR ROOM MAKE OUT SCENE, MY GOD THE PASSION, OFF THE CHARTS, 10/10

[icarus-sun]

I didn’t like Alina in the book and frankly, I even forgot that she was half-Shu and I also didn’t like Mal that much because in the books he seemed too much like Gale from Hunger Games BUT JUST THAT ONE EPISODE AND I AM LIKE, I HAVE NEVER EVER LOVED THEM BOTH SO MUCH, the casting is BEAUTIFUL, everything about them is beautiful and gosh, I WANT TO BEAT THE DARKLING BACK WITH A STICK GODDAMN DARK HERETIC, gosh, Mal and Alina FOREVER, stanning them so hard right now. It is just so beautiful to actually see the diversity and all of the culture and gosh, my heart, my goddamn heart is just SINGING THIS SHOW PRAISES RIGHT NOW.

Edit: Thanks @blind4lcve for the correction! I’m so glad that they decided to make Alina half-Shu in the Netflix show then. It really does make her character more striking and gosh, so much possibilities to be explored from that connection!! I just fell in love with her even more!

[teacup-tyrant]

SHADOW & BONE REVIEW: EP 2

On this episode: Kaz and Inej have a lovers quarrel, I still love editing and scene transitions, Pekka Rollins is a bag of dicks, and a bunch of really good quotes.

- Oh ok the title screens are all different, cool

- Again with the scene transitions mimicking body movements, good editing, good editing

- Oh damn Kaz is scrambling to make a plan and then him and Inej are fighting, I love it. AHA and he feels bad about it when she walks away. (My roommate just woke up and I had to rewind this part and be like "LOOK, LOOK AT THEM." her response to Kaz was: *shakes head* "Idiot." Lololol)

- If y’all thought Kaz was a drama queen HAH he is nothing compared to the Darkling. Full disclosure, I don’t like the Darkling so this will be me seeing if Ben can change my mind. God, his eyes are SO BIG, it's like he’s wearing circle lenses but he isn’t.

- YES, FIRST CANE WALLOPING, GET EM BOY-O!!! Oh Jesus, I yelled when they smashed Kaz's face on the desk. YOU GET YOUR HANDS OFF HIS CANE, I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF. That is some good rage in Kaz's eyes there, as there should be with Pekka.

-“And dump you in the harbor” Pekka says, omfg this hurts meeee, this hurts me so much. Book readers, we know how important that was

- "Never make decisions out of fear, only out of spite." AHAHA that is an excellent Kazy line, 10/10 would spite again

- Scene transitions on the word “go.” Sorry, I’m going to be on about their scene transitions the entire time, get used to it

-There’s kind of a mix of various accents between everyone and every country and I like that

- Is that a fucking furry outside the Menagerie, Jesus Christ ahahaha. Ok laughing over, this scene is going to break me I just know it

- Ah yes, a removing of all the hidden knives trope scene. Classic.

- Why did she call Inej "little bird?" No no Nina is a bird. Should she not have called Inej a lynx?

- I do really like Heleen's office though. I like her peacock stained glass window.

- Ayyy he’s a slaver, why not kill him? 2 years down the line and Inej would do that job for nothing. So I suppose this is the... her getting to that stage part. This is pre-SoC Inej, remember. No killing. Yet.

- Also, jfc this one 6 hour night is going to last forever isn’t it?

- Ok so apparently Jesper and Inej have some secrets about each other they know and then Kaz appears and WOOOOSH goodbye she is gone

- Noooo I was enjoying these scenes so much, I I don’t want to go back to Ravka yet, let me stay here in Ketterdam :(

- Fedyor is cute. I like him and I like his accent, I wish they all sounded like him

- Shaky cam for inside a carriage always makes it more believable, good good

- Oh a tree in the road, you say? Call Kaz, he’ll help, he’ll get her outa there

- So this is all wonderfully violent so far, which made Netflix give it its adult rating I assume and I’m loving it ahaha sorry.

- Ohhhh the Druskelle are here! I just heard one yell "drusje." NICE

- "Listen to their heartbeats, how many are there." Ohhh that is a clever use of grisha power, I like that

- Oh shit, Darkling with a running dismount, epic

- I don’t like how these Fjerdians look like thugs. Maybe it’s just their camouflage uniforms. But I pictured them more... regal-looking since Druskelle are such an honorable straight-laced bunch. Uniforms could have reinforced that trait

- Oh my god, the cut just sliced that dude in half. Brutal.

- Jesper said he wants a demo man; Wesper stans are frothing at the mouth

- I don’t like how much they call Kaz "boss." Maybe that' because I don’t want him being the boss because he shouldn’t be a boss yet, but that’s just my book brain taking

- "That’s evil." "It’s what I would do." Hahahaaaaa yes, Kaz, tell us more about how evil you are. And also he touched his arm and Kaz was like WOAH WOAH, STEADY ON

- So Inej refuses to kill, does she? Well that’s gonna change and it’s gonna be tragic and painful. I’m here for it eh heh heh

- Even the Darkling's hankie is black. So on brand.

- Oh he pronounced Druskelle correctly. Good job, considering Ben Barnes recorded himself saying all the words and sent it to the entire cast. He was Production Dad to all these young fresh actors and I just think that’s beautiful.

- Is he riding a Frisian? I need to know. For science. Because goddamn if those horses not the most beautiful in the entire world. They are literally hair goals.

- Was that just SOME RANDOM DUDE riding a horse that was used in every promo shot?!?! Ahahaha that’s hilarious. It’s not Kaz in a fancy coat sorry lololol

- POPPY. An instant favorite new character for everyone. "Yes, you snoop." This is fucking amazing, best scene of this episode hands down

- Little Palace still looks French with Russian onion domes slapped on top. Ok.

- The Darkling has such a haughty presence. His nose is always up in the air. Yes, you're better than everyone else, we get it. Also, I cannot stress how much I love the Ravka theme music

- Oh Alina my girl, let me hug you. I would like to live in her bedroom; I would host so many tea parties

- "When our closest friend is in trouble we do foolish things." Cuts to Kaz. LOL. More magical editing at work.

- Oh god, Kaz just staked the Crow Club on her.

- I’m glad we’re staying in Ketterdam for a while and not like immediately fucking off to Ravka bc that’s a little what it felt like in SoC. Because I love Ketterdam and I want to stay there as much as possible. Also, my autocorrect keeps trying to change it to Rotterdam and yep yep, it's right but also, no.

- Ok. Lemme dish here for a sec. MY THEORY about how he’s the boss and not per Haskell how we’re going to get there by the end of the series is coming together. Helen says it’s “all yours to lose” and I think he IS going to lose it and that’s how we’re going to get to the dregs. Somehow Haskell will take over the gang and the club and he’ll hold Inejs contact and Kaz is going to have to work his way back up to get it. Calling it now.

- (*edit - so in hindsight... I guess Kaz did actually lose it? Until Alina gives him some fancy jewelry to sell in a deus ex machina move. We don't really know what else happened while they were away. Idk. Jury's still out. What do you think of my theory?)

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