#leigh is a darklina simp in denial

[serpenteve]

do you think Leigh *meant* to show that the Darkling was right in the duology? because literally everything got worse for the Grisha after he died lmao

lmao so true ☠️

I think LB has a strange love-hate relationship with the Darkling's character. On the one hand, she seems bitter that so many fans were simping for the villain instead of her insufferable and toxic Mal & Alina pairing and this duology was her way of preaching to the fans that "akshully, the darkling is an evil manipulative mass murderer and if you still simp for him after this you're as stupid as yuri"

But on the other hand, she is equally as fascinated and obsessed with his character as we are or otherwise she would not have him popping up in short stories, anthologies, and even in this duology where she basically had to resurrect him and gave him a redemption arc with the promise of more Darkling content in the future.

She wants to paint him as the villain and she will use her mouthpieces of Zoya and Nikolai to do it. But the actual events of the novel since his death and the destruction of the Fold tell a very different story. Without the Fold intimidating an invading force, Ravka has to fight on two fronts. And there's no way so many Grisha would become victims and slaves to the Shu and Fjerda if the Darkling was still alive.

Honestly, the best quote that summarizes Leigh's characterization of the Darkling is what William Blake said of John Milton's Paradise Lost about why he accidentally made Satan so sympathetic (and sexy 😏). Leigh is "of the Devil's party without knowing it" 💅🏽

#viv answers #cant believe i compared this series to fucking paradise lost but here we are #leigh is a darklina simp in denial #its the only interpretation that makes sense yall #row spoilers #rule of wolves spoilers

[serpenteve]

the comparison to Milton took me out but Leigh being a Darklina simp in denial really IS the only interpretation that makes sense. I think she ~likes him as a villain~ and is bitter, like you said, that he's more beloved than her stale-ass alleged soulmates. But I hate that she was petty enough to attack fans andruin Darklina things in the duology. Like making "you and I are going to change the world" into his pick up line 🙄Seriously I will pay her to never write about the Gregverse ever again.

Ignoring the obvious problem with book!Mal and his characterization, she really shouldn't have paired them off so early at the end of S&B because all the relationship tension vanished and she was forced to create a dumb conflict between them in S&S and we all know how well that turned out 🙄

I actually love the "you and I are going to change the world" thing being Aleksander's pickup line because you can just *tell* LB put in there thinking "That'll show those dumb misguided Darklina shippers!! See, you poor manipulated souls? He says that to everyone!!" ......like yeah, he's a manipulative power-hungry little demon and we stan even harder tbh 🙌🏽

#grisha discourse #viv answers #i have so many asks im behind on 😭 #anti row