#mal lb

[theweeklydiscourse]

I don't understand WHY Bardugo wrote Alina's ending the way she did. Did she think it would make for a bittersweet, satisfactory ending? (It did not.) Did she think it would be sharp and realistic? (It unfortunately was a bit.) Did she think she'd be subverting expectations?? Did she love Mal so much she went insane?? I just don't get it. I just don't get it. If by the end of the series she forgot to add in more love interest for Alina (because she obviously didn't want to consider the other two despite being fascinated with Aleksander) she could just have. Let poor Alina be alone. Why condemn her to such a fate? I think everyone I've talked about this has unanimously agreed they'd cease to exist if they were in her place. It's so. So strange

It’s all a consequence of the underlying conservatism and misogyny of the series. This is best illustrated through the fact that even in Alina’s “happily ever after” she is still regarded as a weird outsider while Mal is beloved by their new community. It isolates Alina in a way that the Darkling never could, it’s representative of Alina’s permanent dependence on Mal as a consequence of their marriage. Mal is allowed to have a life outside of his marriage, while Alina has to depend on him for emotional connection. She can only find fulfillment in her husband while Mal is afforded the freedom (and means) to seek fulfillment from other places.

What I imagine Bardugo thought, was that it would be heartwarming and pleasant for the “boy and the girl” to return to simplicity and live happily ever after. Hence the line: “They had an ordinary life, full of ordinary things—if love can ever be called that.” In isolation, it’s certainly a sweet sentiment that one might smile at in a different story. However, in this story, it’s a clear attempt to romanticize the dire (and downright depressing) circumstances of Alina’s so-called “happily ever after”. It looks like a happily ever after, but readers with a critical eye can see it for what it truly is. They are able to see the way Alina is disempowered at nearly every level, that she had been relegated to this role because she dared to want more out of life.

This gestures towards the fundamental reason why Malina is far more disturbing than the likes of Darklina. It’s disturbing because it reflects the ways women are pushed to settle down and sacrifice themselves for their man and glorifies that sacrifice as the healthy alternative to “greed”. Sure, the Darkling is villainous, but his actions are so beyond the normal scope of everyday relationships that they fail to land the same impact as Mal’s mundane assholery. Alina is considered greedy for wanting to excercise her power and influence for a noble cause, but somehow Mal isn’t greedy for wanting Alina’s full undivided attention despite her many other responsibilities? The narrative validates his unreasonable requests by presenting the ending as something wholesome and heartwarming. Mal’s selfishness and greed is validated by the text because it is societally acceptable and encouraged men to have those traits. He has to be the more powerful one in the relationship for this traditional happy ending to work.

Bardugo condemned Alina to a depressing fate because she was so fixated on the image of a fairy tale happily ever after that she ignored how Alina would be impacted by it. I think this reveals Bardugo’s strange affection for Mal, but it also shows how she failed to see how the realistic mundanity of Malina would not work in her favour. Because…yeah it’s realistic all right, realistically misogynistic that is.

[malinaa]

"you will die alone. and i will die in her arms." MY GOD THAT SHIT IS SO ROMANTIC AND ALSO THE SEXIEST THING TO EVER COME OUT OF MAL'S MOUTH

[stromuprisahat]

OG!Genya would've nailed FMK with Alina's options.

She'd fuck Aleksander like she admits she'd do in S&B.

She'd marry Nikolai for (looks,) better access to the Throne and a chance to dismantle monarchy from the inside.

She wouldn't think twice about killing the Blade Boy for she is a soldier in need of a strategic advantage, and we're supposed to believe he's Morozova's amplifier. Not to mention if she were to see the way he treats his "oldest friend". He might not be a rapist, but Genya has personal experience with more kinds of abuse, and no love for it.

[ragnarssons]

“oooooh but nikolai gave his compass to alina because he has feelings for heeeer” meanwhile, nikolai:

[greensaplinggrace]

highly specific pet peeve of mine when it comes to sab is that none of the characters act with any kind of wariness when they should. like the grisha would not be celebrating in the king’s court with genuine displays of emotion (and obvious shows of rivalry that can be exploited) for all of the otkazat’sya nobles to see. aleksander shouldn’t be showing so much genuine emotion in front of the king or any otkazat’sya (noble or not, they’re all threats to him after all). everyone should be tenser when they’re in court or around authority figures, and the ways they disregard authority are bizarre. that would have you flogged in any monarchy during that time period.

it feels like the writers don’t really grasp the setting or what it means to the characters. these people are soldiers, and even worse, they’re soldiers that are apart of a persecuted class. they should not be so comfortable in areas or around people where they would be thinking about their every little move and how it could be taken advantage of if it was shown. vulnerability should not be tossed around so carelessly by people who should be startlingly aware of life’s atrocities.

honestly, genya is the only character that even acts remotely like she should, in that she is always tense and wary and holding herself like someone who knows they can be hurt at any moment. and even then she’s loose in the king’s court (the king) when she would be at the height of her wariness and paranoia.

[gawankeundco]

‘die beschimpfen sich hier gerade’ - ah yes, hockey is back 💖

[intertexts]

relistened to 34 on my way home from work 2day.... genuinely fuckign started crying @ william's conversation w his parents and i HAVENT EVEN GOTTEN TO THE KEMURI PART YET. GOD . anyway hi ros my friend ros how has ur afternoon been :]

YEAG..... YEAH...... i also was relistening to the fucking. first hour or so of 34 today..... williams conversation with his parents..... if i think too hard about the wisp family i think i will actually dissolve into dust.... they love him so much. he is eighteen & so miserable he fucking needs a hug from his mom!!!!!!!!!!! :((((((((

anyway HII hi hi i have been good!!! hope u had a good afternoon too :] we r. back in the tranches babeey......!!! <- throws hardtack at u

[savebyhofer]

jake neighbours is so pretty i genuinely get a little distracted when they show him

[donnanobledefensesquad]

thinking about how leigh bardugo apparently had the actors for the darkling and alina read/watch wuthering heights as "homework" for their roles, thinking about the darkling "i will strip away all that you know, all that you love, until you have no shelter but me," thinking about how this is what heathcliff tries to do to cathy and it ultimately kills her. thinking??? insanity.

[wiwiurikawa]

ok but eternal sunshine by ariana grande is Darklina coded. The lyrics “So I try to wipe my mind, I’d rather forget than know for sure what we could’ve fought for behind this door” ?!

sorry for the wait but my health wasn't the best this week. Even thou I don't ship them (fanon alina x canon darkling is the only combination i like) I will try to anser the best as i can.

(Also english isn't my native lounguge so i can misinterpret some things.)

"I don't care what people say We both know I couldn't change you I guess you could say the same"

This remind me of how aleksander insisted that they could balance eachother and alina was like -nope.

No matter how hard aleksander tried to explain alina why he is doing everything, she doesn't listen. I don't reamember much outside of my frustration with the books but I don't think alina give aleksander the chance because she think of him as a monster and allweys dehumanzed him. So yes they couldn't change eachother.

"I've never seen someone lie like you do So much, even you start to think it's true"

Aleksander who lied to survive (and about his name...) and alina who lied too herself that she is happy (with her shitty boyfriend mal and after the trilogy).

"So now we play our separate scenes Now, now she's in my bed laying on your chest Now I'm in my head, wondering how it ends"

ok but that saunds like it's aleksander talking about malina. Alina in s&s was living in aleksander room in little palace and even though she wasn't on the best terms with mal it still fits.

Also the "play our separate scenes" can be interpreted that alina is playing a saint and aleksander a monster.

"I'll be the first to say I'm sorry"

they are too proud to do this. Both of them will not back down and thinks that what they're doing is the right thing.

"I showed you all my demons, all my lies Yet you played me like Atari"

I somehow feel like it suits both of them and not at all. Sorry i can't explain it.

"You're just my eternal sunshine, sunshine"

funny considering she lost her powers in r&r.

"So I try to wipe my mind Just so I feel less insane Rather feel painless"

It suits both of them so well. Alina constantly shamed for her feelings for aleksander and because of that she feeled awfull. Also when she didn't know about the link between them in s&s and thought she was going mad.

Aleksander trying to prioritise grisha but his feelings get in the way and he is mad about it.

"I'd rather forget than know, know for sure What we could've fought through behind this door So I close it and move"

entire trilogy in nutshell. I don't have many thoughts about this verse (but i hope you could write about that line. I'm really intrested what you think about it.) but i think it shows how alina refused to even thinking about colaborating with the darkling and rising to her actual potential.

"Won't break, can't shake This fate, rewrite Deep breaths, tight chest Life, death, rewind"

I just wanted to say that i really like this verse but i'm really tired and my brain isn't functionating anymore so i can't analise it now.

Also thanks for the ask and even thouht I don't like this kind of music it was fun to analise the lyrics. Hope this satisfy you a little bit.

[maybe-seggy-will-be-our-always]

[theweeklydiscourse]

Scars of Co-Dependency: The Link Between Alina’s Repression and Mal

The first chapter of Shadow and Bone ends with a musing about the strength of Mal and Alina’s love.

Their determination to stay together is so strong that even the Duke takes notice. From the way this scene is framed, coupled with the context of how their relationship concludes, the reader is led to believe that this is the essence of their bond (and they would be correct in that assumption). Not because this scene is an example of ideal romantic devotion, but because it illustrates the codependency and stagnation that defines their relationship. Notice the phrasing of “The boy and the girl” which becomes a recurring motif throughout the trilogy. Even when Alina and Mal are older, they are still referred to with these terms even though they have long outgrown them. It’s a romantic framing device that characterizes their relationship as a quaint and simple dynamic straight out of a folktale, but it also represents the way that their relationship keeps them trapped in childhood. Their over reliance on one another keeps them stagnant and stunts their growth, this is particularly clear in Alina’s case where her physical growth is literally stunted by the repression of her powers.

Alina’s repression is undeniably linked to her relationship with Mal. This connection becomes impossible to ignore in Alina’s flashback to the day the Grisha examiners came to see her.

Alina almost instantly recognizes the truth within herself and panics. In this panic, she makes the choice to deny her powers to remain with Mal at the orphanage, knowing that if she embraced her power, it would mean leaving Mal. She actively suppresses her true self to stay with Mal and for years after that day, she is forced to cope with the consequences. Alina’s great sacrifice to stay with Mal is not rewarded by love, instead, she is met with more hardship. For example, Alina doesn’t seem to have many close friends aside from the ones that are already friends with Mal:

Alina’s appearance is sickly and thin, hence the insulting nickname. But her thinness also suggests a kind of starvation of the self. By denying her Grisha identity, she denies her body the nourishment it needs to be healthy and strong. Because her sickness is connected to her repression, it also extends to her relationship with Mal from which the urge to suppress first originated. In an exchange with Genya earlier in Shadow and Bone, Alina displays her insecurity about her condition.

Her insecurity, her fatigue, her sickness; it all circles back to the choice she made to stay with Mal. It is only after her revelatory flashback and the acknowledgment of her loneliness that Alina is able to make progress in her training and awaken her true strength. This progress is accompanied by her letting go of her attachment to Mal and freeing herself from that emotional burden. Alina says, “I'm sorry I left you so long in the dark.I'm sorry, but I'm ready now.” and reaches a breakthrough. One of the ways this manifests is in her physical appearance and maturing body.

Even though the remnants of her insecurity remain, the joy Alina feels cannot be dismissed. It is astounding that this is only able to happen once she lets go of her past with Mal and begins loving her true self. Her maturing body symbolizes her departure from that childhood connection that was holding her back, bringing her forward into adulthood. Once she begins loving herself and the qualities that make her unique, she can bloom. Mal’s connection to Alina’s repression and insecurity is RIGHT THERE and once you begin to really examine it, the link is difficult not to see.

In the Netflix adaptation, this connection is visualized through the cut on Alina’s palm.

In this case, Alina’s choice to stay with Mal is visualized through an act of self-harm. She intentionally cuts her hand to sabotage the Grisha exam, scarring herself in the process. The pain of cutting herself is a sacrifice to stay by Mal’s side and though some might consider that as a romantic act of devotion, I see it as further evidence of their flawed relationship. In both the book and the show, Alina harms herself and is doomed to a life of repression in service of staying with Mal.

This connection makes the ending even more baffling. It feels intentional that Alina is able to mature, find independence, empowerment, and new friends once she lets go of Mal, yet the ending suggests otherwise. The codependent nature of Malina is RIGHT THERE and yet the narrative never does anything to critique it and instead, chooses to romanticize it. It really makes it feel as though Bardugo favours Mal and his personal fulfillment over the empowerment of her heroine. So much so that she’s willing to wreck the progression of Alina’s character arc.

[malinaa]

im so completely normal about these two

[nicollekidman]

genuinely fucking insane how badly they’ve bungled alina. she’s not a sankta, she’s not conflicted with the darkling, she’s not summoning or growing as a grisha at all…… how the hell did they manage to do her WORSE than the books. she better go INSANE in this last episode and a half and get a corruption arc (in the season three we’re not getting and they dont want to make) or i’m killing everyone involved. jokes on me tho bc this is just going to keep me obsessed with her in her defense.

[ragnarssons]

kaz as an audience member i know you mean you can’t have her in your crew because SHE is your weakness, but saying it like that is ~mean *side eyes*

[zoya-nazyalenskys]

mal being the third amplifier is still the most dumb and left fieldy decision ever 🙄