#IF THE DARKLING WAS A GIRL

[9474s0ul]

#fanart #sonic #metal sonic #amy rose #eclipse the darkling #sonic au #sth #sonic the hedgehog #metal scourge #rosy the rascal #shadow the hedgehog #clownoc #clowns #organic metal sonic #?? #girl idk lmaoo #aim 33

[feckyeslife]

Sorrynotsorry

#s&b #the darkling #literally what even with the goldwork on the kefta my dude??? #so head over heels for a girl who last tried to kill him #keep the dream alive darkles #alinaxdarkling #darklina #shoop into the main tags

[greensaplinggrace]

alina starkov i am so sorry that no one understands your character. i'm sorry that you have been reduced to the fandom's morality pony at the sake of your real personality and your depth. i'm sorry that they don't understand that you existed as a person outside of the men in your life, and that your relationship with your trauma was complicated and ugly and understandable. i'm sorry they didn't love you for this anyway.

i'm sorry they don't understand the metaphor of the sunlight in your soul representing your self discovery and growing ability to accept yourself - that every scene where you long so desperately to know yourself and then glow when you finally do is cast in darkness by those who would rather you starve yourself in the name of conformity than eat healthily at the table of self love.

i'm sorry that they didn't love you enough to see how much losing your light hurt you and i'm sorry that they didn't want you to have a happy ending that you truly wanted - one where you could be all of yourself without shame or borders. i'm sorry their love for you was so performative that it stripped you of everything you are, that it left you wanting and shamed and filled with grief. i'm so so sorry.

#this fandom really does not deserve her #grishaverse #shadow and bone #sab #alina starkov #sab salt #myramblings #you bet your ass i'll go to bat for my girl #when will the people who claim to love her stop speaking complete and utter shit? #fandomcourse #sab discourse #anti darkling bs #anti darklina bs

[imruination]

This is not targeted at any particular group at all

#actually this is targeted at that one girl on Twitter that almost made me quit the show #I was just trying to look up one particular scene and tumblr is slow #malyen oretsev #malina #anti darkling #shadow and bone spoilers

[mizmageheart]

Little Darkling girl Ana wants to play on your phone.

#kingdom hearts #fanart #kh fanart #heartless #digital painting #art #monster girl #darkling

[theweeklydiscourse]

Sometimes I think about the way that the Darkling is openly distrusted and perceived as a dark and shadowy figure even within the little palace. To me, this detail undermines one of the messages the story attempts to communicate about how looks can be deceiving and how powerful (good-looking) men can get away with abuse.

It is important to consider the contents of Shadow and Bone prior to the reveal and subsequent descent into cartoonish villainy that occurs in later chapters. The early chapters should be establishing the Darkling as someone who can exploit and manipulate with impunity due to either privilege, a good reputation in the community, or his role as an authority figure. However, you get the impression that the Darkling isn’t well-liked or even trusted enough to accomplish such a task.

This is in part due to the lack of details provided about the culture and social aspects of the Little Palace, but readers are frequently shown examples of the Darkling’s reputation as a dark figure. He is shrouded in rumours of the occult (ex. When Genya informed Alina that there was a rumour that he had fed her his blood) which speaks to a sense of uneasiness felt by those around him. When Alina tells him that she thought the meeting she would have with him might involve torture, he frowns and tells her that he’s not a monster unlike what she “might have heard”. A line that implies that this is a view held by individuals other than Alina.

On paper, the Darkling has qualities common amongst abusers. However, the story fails to use these qualities in a subversive way that would accurately convey the insidious nature of abuse, and what it takes to get away with it. You see this on display when you place him beside the likes of villains like Makima or Akio Ohtori, two villains who were trusted by most people around them barring a few exceptions that knew the truth. Both of these examples manipulated more people than just the main characters of their respective stories, and that is essential to understanding why Shadow and Bone failed.

If his good looks play a role is his ability to manipulate, then the text needs to actually show me that through character interactions rather than inserting that meaning retroactively. Does he seduce people? If so, who is it that he’s seducing or swaying with his charm? What is he accomplishing by using his beauty as a tool to achieve his goal of power and control?

If he’s an authority figure with a lot of influence and power, show me how he uses or abuses that authority. The minute that Baghra started raising objections to his plan regarding the Stag, he should’ve removed Alina from her student position immediately (something he would’ve had the power to do). He could’ve moved Alina closer to him so he would have more access to her and be able to exert his influence over her.

There were possibilities, they just weren’t acted upon.

#guys chainsaw man is so good please read/watch it #revolutionary girl utena mention again #lb critical #shadow and bone #the darkling #alina starkov #s&b critical #s&b netflix #s&b salt #darklina #aleksander morovoza #anti leigh bardugo #grishaverse meta #grishaverse #baghra morozova #genya safin

[aleksanderscult]

Me when I realize that Alina ended up with a man that slut-shamed her, didn't accept her as she is (with her powers and status), fucked around girls knowing that Alina knew, didn't stop his friends from bullying her and made her feel guilty for being happy and healthy:

#the longer I think about it. the more I want to lobotomize myself #and don't tell shit to me about him not having a problem with her powers or that he suffered from PTSD #1) that is no excuse to make somebody else feel like shit #2) the Darkling had been fighting for four centuries too. Do you not think that he didn't see traumatic things as well? #Leigh who the fuck did you choose to give our girl to #Alina deserved better #anti malina #anti mal oretsev #anti mal #alina starkov #darklina #pro darklina #alarkling #pro alarkling #grishaverse #grishaverse trilogy #shadow and bone #siege and storm

[hyper-fixated-princess]

So… listen up. From the 6th to the 12th of november it’s Netflix’s Geeked Week 2023. A week full of surprises, trailers, announcements, news, exclusive clips, et cetera et cetera.

I believe that if we have ANY chance of a SaB renewal or the Soc spinoff happening, we’ll probably know on that week.

#a girl can dream #shadow and bone #shadow and bone netflix #netflix shadow and bone #sab #six of crows #six of crows spin off #six of crows netflix #netflix six of crows #leigh bardugo #the darkling #alina starkov #zoya nazyanelsky #nikolai lantsov #kaz brekker #kaz x inej #inej ghafa #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #mathias helvar #nina zenik #netflix #netflix geeked week

[theriverdiary]

Can they say the same?

#rip the quality #i tried #anyway #look at my girl #slicin' & dicin' #love to see it #my favourite immortals #and my favourite quote #corruption arc #darkling x alina #darklina #the darkling x alina #alina starkov #sun summoner #shadow summoner #the darkling #team darkling #aleksander morovoza #aleksander kirigan #alina x aleksander #shadow & bone #s&b #s&b netflix #sab #shadow and bone #s&b s2 #s&b spoilers

[onlyallytothesun]

YA protagonist will be like "I know your trying to dismantle an oppressive system but you're being mean about it, so im going to stop you! And patch it out later... maybe..."

#shadow and bone #alina starvok #shadow and bone mal #the darkling #shadow and bone darkling #malina #darklina #ya #ya authors #somebody called Alina an insert for a teen girls to live out their rebel phase #and yeah #it also why Darkling is so boring #any form of oppression he faces is not the center of his narrative its his obsession with Alina #which makes everything he fights for feel so hollow #but that is by design #if you treat revolution as salad dressing then you dont have to adress or do any radical changes to the status quo #just as Lindsay Ellis pointed out in Les mis #not the hunger games tho #that shit should have been the blueprint #an anti the great one man theory that showcases that movements are made of community not ONE great person who leads it all #katniss is a manufactured savior and i absolutely love it #cant believe i wrote this series off as mindless dystopia blame Divergent for that #six of crows #anti alina starkov

[alinasheretic]

The Darkling by Dagny Art

#totally love how the entire fandom just agrees that he’s a horse girl! #so real of us! #aleksander morozova #the darkling #shadow and bone

[xalonelydreamerx]

Despite my best efforts, I was thinking of the Darkling.

#alarkling #darklina #alina starkov #aleksander morovoza #book alina starkov #book darkling #grishaverse #tgt books #shadow and bone #the darkling x alina #the darkling #Baghra - you hag! that woman screams Greek mother-in-law in the worst possible way 😭 rip Alina baby girl #the grisha trilogy #my edit #xalonelydreamerx edit #forgot to watermark this but don't think I won't haunt you down if anyone reposts it #darklinaedit

[takaraphoenix]

Stanning a villain and/or a villain/hero ship is honestly so funny because every now and again you will see a post by someone who has nothing better to do with their time than post about the things they hate, hoping that the villain will commit more atrocities so their fans will, I don’t know, see the light and stop loving them and stop shipping them.

Just, fundamentally showing that they really-really have no idea what loving a villain is about?

The atrocities are sexy. The atrocities are part of the appeal. We like the atrocities in this house.

Kind of the point of loving a villain is loving that they are a villain. Which, ya know, includes the atrocities. 😂 😂 😂

#Villain Apologism #Villain Stanning #Pro Villain #Hero/Villain Shipping #love the mutual who put the post on my dash #with a tag I HADN'T blacklisted yet #wanna piss in OP's coffee for not tagging the post AT ALL though #Darkling #Darklina #this is very very specifically about the Darkling #I wanna see him murder more people #that's kind of the fun about it?? #be unhinged baby girl kill the oppressors <3 #I DON'T want Alek to join Alina's side?? #I want Alina to be unhinged and join HIS side??? xD

[sukibenders]

TBOSAS movie is proving time and time again that as long the character is a handsome white man, he can get away with anything or be babified of any wrongdoing. Like the number of people that I've seen go out of their way to try and justify Snow's actions, not even just young Snow anymore at this point but he's largely where this happens, using the term "he was just misunderstood" and acting as if his trauma was an excuse is mind-blowing. Did he go through traumatic stuff? Yes, but acting as if that excuses many of his actions, specifically for young Snow because there's no way in hell that mindset will work even a fraction with his older self (but people still try), is false and a mindset that needs to be stopped. Like I can't help but think about the way he views the people of the districts already in TBOSAS, seeing them and anything about them as animals rather than people, and how that mindset even falls on to the Covey and Lucy Gray herself. When reading some of their scenes together he comes off so passive aggressive when she talks about her plight, but it's largely because he treats her like an object---no, a PRIZE to be won and owned (thinking back to how, before they were even together romantically and where she didn't owe him shit, he still saw her as "his girl" and would get obsessive over the fact that others gravitated to her in a way he didn't like).

I'm not saying that it's wrong to find the bad guy attractive, it's not and Snow is very handsome, I will admit that. But just because he got a face card doesn't mean that should be basis for justifying every horrendous act he's done. And also, he's eighteen years old, why are people acting like he doesn't know his right from his left? He knows exactly what he's doing, from the books where his thoughts are literally laid out for us, to the movie itself. Though not as clear cut sometimes as the books, there are plenty scenes that let you know who he is (I think back to that classroom scene where Gaul is asking them questions, and Sejanus rightfully calls them out on their bs, but Snow uses his outrage and turns it into a way to make the Games better, completely going against Sejanus' original point).

What's even more sinister is some in the fandom going as far as to blame Lucy Gray for all of Snow's problems by saying "oh, but if she had just heard him out then maybe he wouldn't have been so heartbroken", as if she should had further risked her life and wellbeing to adhere to this man's needs when he was out to harm her or the fact that him having his heartbroken is justification for everything else he did before and after. There are many other examples of this, but it set a precedent for a very glaring problem in fandom spaces where the female character, especially if they are woc, is always to blame for the male, usually white, character's bad actions and that if they just listened to them and heard them out then so on and so on. Reminds me very much of the treatment of Alina in both show and books fandom spaces and babifying of the Darkling's actions by putting all the blame on her (never mind the fact that he's the cause for so much of her trauma, he's pretty after all *this was sarcasm*).

It's been a minute since I've seen the movie, so my example may be a little fuzzy, but my point still stands. You can like these characters and find them attractive, that's fine and normal. But where problems arise is when you try to paint over their bad acts because you thirst after them and/or proceed to place blame on the female characters, especially if they are woc, as a scapegoat.

#the hunger games #tbosas #coriolanus snow #lucy gray baird #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #shadow and bone #shadow and bone netflix #alina starkov #the darkling #anti coriolanus snow #thinking back to woc characters being blamed for yte male characters actions another eg. would be kiara from obx #i still remember people saying she was wrong for pushing rafe off the boat and leaving him that she should have heard him out #even tho he was responsible for so much pain towards her and her friends (some of which seemed racial motivated but that's for another time) #snow fans darkling fans or just anyone who can't interact with this post with a level head dni #lucy gray did nothing wrong! leave my girl alone! #she saw them red flags and dipped #and we love that for her

[greensaplinggrace]

people will really just throw any tag onto their inflammatory posts. like i promise you that the normal people in this fandom don't want to see your rancid discourse when they look in the tag of the thing they like

#grishaverse #shadow and bone #resident evil #ada wong #girl why are you tagging an anti darkling post with malina when it has nothing to do with it?? #liking something doesn't mean disliking something else? grow up? #sab fans will tag any anti post with six of crows #the soc fans dont want to see that! #the topic of your post isn't even remotely related! #some wild assumptions are going on in your brain about the delineation of love and hate in fandom #lmfao #also stop putting genyalina in your unrelated discourse while we're at it #the genyalina shippers dont care lmfao #if its not about genyalina then why are you tagging it... #and then ill see anti ada wong posts tagged with like chris redfield #girl why are you involving him #keep your sexism to yourself #myramblings

[alicentes]

Genya deserves to murder someone tbh

#by someone i mean the darkling #let my girl murder some men #shadow and bone #genya safin #genyalina #sab spoilers #finally catching up on the show #i hate the hell she was put through and for what?