watching season 2 of s&b with my fiancé when he randomly says, “i don’t care about these people” in regards to the actual s&b plot, but when kaz is on screen “he’s all i care about. he’s my babygirl” so true king
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Sometimes I think the difference between darklinas and antis is which parts of the (frankly contradictory) books we consider canon.
Darklinas look at book one, at the Darkling who has worked tirelessly for centuries to free his people without taking power for himself, look at the monarchy which allows endless wars and starvation at the whims of a rapist, at Mal who ignores (at best) and undermines (at worst) the heroine while merrily sleeping his way through the first and second armies, only to notice her the moment she looks at someone else…
We look at those things, and look at later books and say “That doesn’t make sense. The Darkling would never ally with Fjerda, would never kill Grisha, it’s against everything that he is.”
We say “the Lantsov dynasty is corrupt, and should be destroyed, the entire feudal society of Ravka needs an overhaul”.
We say “A boy who compares the girl he wants to marry to a donkey, who kisses another girl the moment Alina’s attention wanders from him, who openly prefers her when she was sickly and powerless, is not good husband material.”
Antis, on the other hand, seem to take the opposite view. They see the Darkling as the power-mad mass murderer of RaR, and assume the General who eats on the ground with his men was a manipulation.
They see Nikolai as a shining example of the fairytale prince and conclude that the monarchy only needs a NEW king, a GOOD king, and everything will be fine.
They see the Mal who is willing to die for Alina, who gives himself to her and her cause, and think “I wish someone were willing to die for me. I wish someone would look at me and change his ways,” and thus view his characterization in books one and two as the foibles of youth.
Darklinas look at the duology and say “it was the King who conscripted Grisha and otkazatsya alike, who raped Genya, and the Darkling who gave everything for Ravka.”
Antis look at the duology and say “Zoya and Genya both blame the Darkling for their problems, therefore he must have groomed them.”
Which is more canon, the first thing written or the most recent thing published? I think that’s what truly divides us.
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When will people realize that Zoya saying Alina couldn't run the Second Army wasn’t a sign of jelaousy? It was just Zoya acknowledging that Alina isn't a god nor a saint, but a *person.* Zoya wants the Darkling dead, and she knows Alina has only know about her powers for a year & probably shouldn't run an army.
Basically Zoya sees through all of the YA "chosen one" bullshit & raises you with "Alina is a fucking person like the rest of us & glorifying her isn't gonna fix anything." Tbh it's probably why Alina ends up accepting her friendship in the first place.
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my favorite panels from the demon in the wood graphic novel:
1. baby aleksander being afraid of the dark when he’s a shadow summoner will never not make me cry
2. baghra is a literal hot queen and this is one of my favorite grishaverse quotes
3. the cute lil joy on his face when he’s summoning is my new favorite thing
4. i couldnt not include this because look at him
5. aleksander’s favorite color being sunlight is the purest thing and i always wish he had told alina that rip
6. crying part 1
7. crying part 2
8. this page is so gorgeous and heart wrenching at the same time
9. like calls to motherfucking like is such a good quote also and i’ll never get over it
10. showstopping amazing never been done before what a beautiful last page and just gorgeously done
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It makes me laugh, when people try to call the Darkling a dictator, while saying that Leigh Bardugo portrays this aspect and the damage he causes really well... when there is none of that in the real trilogy. We don't even see the things he does once he becomes king actually. Nothing makes him worse than the former king in fact...
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SHADOW & BONE - CHAPTER 5
“Well,” I said, “there was an old serf who worked on the estate …”
“Go on,” he said. “Tell me.”
“He … he said that Darklings are born without souls. That only something truly evil could have created the Shadow Fold.” I glanced at his cold face and added hastily, “But Ana Kuya sent him packing and told us it was all peasant superstition.”
The Darkling sighed. “I doubt that serf is the only one who believes that.”
I said nothing. Not everyone thought like Eva or the old serf, but I’d been in the First Army long enough to know that most ordinary soldiers didn’t trust Grisha and felt no allegiance to the Darkling.
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thinking about malina and zoyalai and the way they differ is that malina are always willing to put each other above all else and zoyalai have a shared priority of ravka that they consider more important than their partner
Like mal says he doesn’t care about the country, that alina is his flag, alina is his nation, and eventually sacrifices himself not for ravka but for alina. alina consistently chooses mal over any opportunity to lead ravka and make it better, and eventually chooses to live with him in the countryside with no commitments to the country despite literally being a national saint.
But for zoyalai, both of them put the country above the other person and the fact they know the other person would prioritize the country over them is why they’re so confident in the relationship. nikolai knows that zoya would be able to run the country without him and that she will always value the country over him and zoya knows that nikolai has dedicated his life to his country at the expense of his own happiness and would always continue choosing ravka over anything else
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aesthetic meme: [1/7] AUs → pre-canon!darkolai
“Do you think I’m like the Darkling?”
I studied him — the golden hair, the sharp uniform, those too-clever hazel eyes.
“No,” I said slowly. “I don’t think you are.” I rose to go join Mal. “But I’ve been wrong before.”
— "siege & storm"
***
At night they were the jaunty dandies, at daylight — knights of bitter wars.
They weren’t "royalists" and "traitors" — they were all their country’s sons.
But that life span in short-lived cyclone, and passed like fleeting summer cloud,
Above impassible horizon their guiding star was burning out.
— "to the generals of the russian civil war"
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