alinasheretic

[alinasheretic]

I will never understand why Leigh Bardugo spent an entire book showing good reasons why Mal and Alina don't work as a couple, only to make them the endgame at the end anyway, while ruining Alina's entire arc as a heroine😞

#no one can convince me that alarkling wasn’t originally meant to be endgame and leigh just switched at the last minute #NO. ONE. #shadow and bone #anti malina

[alinasheretic]

Siege and Storm& Ruin and Rising: a summary

#this is canon #leigh refuses to give us the povs she wrote for him during the trilogy because this is his entire thought process!! #and yk some occasional mass murder #lol #aleksander morozova #alarkling

[alinasheretic]

[art credits go to avendellart, s.aajieus, mirascocoarts]

#shadow and bone #alina starkov #aleksander morozova #alarkling #darklina #the darkling #demon in the wood #ruin and rising

[alinasheretic]

siege & storm

“The Darkling stepped into the light, and I saw a faint tracery of scars over his face… so the volcra had left their mark. Good, I thought with petty satisfaction. It was small comfort, but at least he wasn’t quite as perfect as he had been.”

ruin & rising

“Some petty part of me had hoped I’d find him weakened, his black hair turned to white like mine. But whatever damage I’d done to him that night in the chapel, he’d recovered better than I had.”

Alina enjoys seeing evidence of scars she leaves or causes to the Darkling, and possibly has a possessive streak for him bearing her marks

#possessive!alina YESS #alina starkov #alarkling

[alinasheretic]

Would his plans have completely crashed and burned had he discovered her after she was already 100?

Anon do u feel like his plans didn’t completely crash and burn?

#lol what #shadow and bone #the darkling #asks

[alinasheretic]

A thought: Aleks said that he came to Alina only when she called to him, so the “tell him you see me when he takes you in his arms” was literal, because she was thinking about him in that moment, she wanted to be held by him instead of m*l

#ALARKLING CRUMBS

[alinasheretic]

One of my favourite aspects of the grishaverse is how aleks went into the whole sun summoner thing w “Ooh look!! A fresh opportunity” just to develop feelings (and let’s be honest ; a hate boner lol) and fall for her chapel move😭

#they’re both idiots #MY idiots #💞💞💞

[alinasheretic]

girl wtf is wrong with you (me to me)

#alarkling

[alinasheretic]

#alina starkov #I’m trynna see something #feel free to reblog w ur arguments for why btw #shadow and bone #alarkling #darklina

[alinasheretic]

#I’m trynna see something #no other option btw only these two make sense #feel free to reblog w which one u choose and why btw #shadow and bone #aleksander morozova #alarkling #darklina #the darkling

[alinasheretic]

Oh she totally would😭

(Btw I love how this turned into like an actual discussion qkqkqk)

imo Alina would wear the heart print boxers too

LMAO fair! the blue outfit would probably require more effort to wear than she’d want to bother about

#shadow and bone #alina starkov

[alinasheretic]

self indulgent morning doodle of alina in that super historically inaccurate anastasia dress

#MY LOVE #💓💓💓 #alina starkov

[alinasheretic]

Agree w everything, Victoria once again stated everything perfectly but I’d like to add: while KoS certainly retcons plenty I do think that his disinterest in the other immortals makes sense, because as Victoria already stated, he fears the loss of control way too much. Like he clearly would not be able to impose the same level of control he envisioned for his relationship with Alina onto the other immortals solely due to them being older, more experienced and hence way less able to fall for his tricks. But I also think his disinterest in them is connected with the fact that they just never did anything! They had all that power and they sort of just, existed, never got involved with the politics. Whereas he was someone who once upon a time genuinely wanted to change the world for the better (something which paradoxically in the end was his doom and turned him into an absolutely awful person). Based on all of that I don’t think it’s an unlikely assumption to make that he just found them to be very boring!

Alina, on the other hand is someone who is still so young whom he thinks that he can not only shape however he sees fit but also the idea of watching her grow and see who can she become over the centuries would be incredibly appealing to him (plus when he saw how much energy she, someone whose powers were literally the opposite of his, put solely into spiting him, that had to fuel his obsession with her even more)

And if he really wanted company he wouldn't have abandoned all those immortals there. Or he would have gone back to get them out eventually but he didn't.

I’ll be real, I don’t think the worldbuilding or even character stuff introduced in KoS is particularly consistent with anything happening in TGT.

That being said, I think that can be explained by him having a particularly outsized idea of who can possibly be a real companion to him. A lifetime spent fearing vulnerability has left him with a white knuckle need for absolute control. He’s lonely but he doesn’t want a true equal, he wants someone who can simultaneously fulfill all his emotional needs, validate his perspective and choices, and never challenge him, all while being auspicious and long lived enough to deserve his attention.

Alina is not these things, aside from her chosen one status as Sun Summoner elevating her to his interest, but she’s young enough that he thinks he can mold her into it.

But consider that before that, his prospects are… no one LOL. I don’t think he’s never had any connections ever, but there are always strong caveats. Again, he will have no trust or show any vulnerability for immortal characters or anyone who might feasibly ever be a threat to him. And then anyone else is going to be short lived enough comparatively that it will have either 100% ended in tragedy one way or another or he just hasn’t bothered to care.

Like he barely views otkazat’sya as people, meanwhile until he does gain absolute power, he’ll mistrust any Grisha who will have something to gain from killing him for his bones. Meanwhile! A true, powerful immortal could be a threat, and can never be trusted. And by the time he is powerful enough not to worry about being killed for an amplifier, the jadedness of watching everyone die has probably fully set in.

And like again, we do see in Demon in the Wood how he’s set on a path of isolation. We literally see Baghra raising him to trust no one, and to view the unit of the two of them as fundamentally other and above all other people. And of course, she is herself emotionally stilted and distant from her own traumatic upbringing. We don’t have any real details for when he actually breaks with her. But at least for the length of a typical childhood, probably longer, he will not have had like any other real perspective or model for meaningful relationships. That’s going to be deeply ingrained!

#shadow and bone #aleksander morozova #alarkling

[alinasheretic]

Modern day AU where Alina just sends pictures like this to everyone <3

#alarkling

[alinasheretic]

Modern day AU where Alina just sends pictures like this to everyone <3

#shadow and bone #alina starkov #alarkling

[alinasheretic]

How would it affect the series if this was the darklings carriage <33 give arguments pro and against!

Alina would instantly fall in unconditional love with him and the rest of the series wouldn’t happen. I don’t think this needs further elaboration though because it’s just so obvious :)

#QKQKQKKQJQQ #LMAOOO

[alinasheretic]

HELP

What kind of underwear do you think people wear in the Grishaverse? Would Nikolai wear those white heart-print boxers that show up in cartoons whenever a character's pants are comically torn? Explain why or why not

Who knows maybe they’re just all going commando lmao