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Real Villains of GV vs Antis - Part 1

1) Jarl Brum

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Alina Starkov is not a Scrodinger's cat

There are many peoole in this fandom who pretends Alina is a helpless teenager when it comes to accountability but then act as if she is some badass person when she created that discs or brought down the roof or defied the Darkling. This is not a Schrodinger's cat scenario, there are lives involved.

If Alina is a teenager who knew nothing about the Grisha, the wars or the genocide happening to them in other countries or the bigotry they face then she has no right being an authority over them. She has no rights pretending to know better about the Darkling or his motivations. She had no right judging Ivan or Genya or the other Grisha on the skiff for wanting a Grisha on the throne. I get that she was thrusted into the role but did she ever make an effort to understand them? Nope. It was all Mal, Mal, Mal and Mal.

The moment she decided to join hands with Nikolai, she took responsibility for the people around her. But did she act like that? No. She wanted submission from them while making no effort to act their leader. She let Mal do as he pleases and was fully focused on her unrequitted love alone. And finally after killing the Darkling, she removed the final layer protection Grisha had. Yes, he was the final layer of protection because Grisha were serfs in Alina's own words. She handed the throne gift wrapped to another Lantsov who turned a blind eye to the First Army witch burnings after the coup. So she removed the protection without negotiating any reparations and went off on a state funded retirement.

When Zoya made an inspiring speech about "who'll mourn for them?" this fandom clapped and celebrated it. But why was the question never turned back to Alina?

Who will mourn for the serving girls the king raped?

Who will bring them justice when Nikolai sent him away on a retirement trip to rape away more girls?

Who will mourn for all the lives that were lost in the civil war she caused?

Who will mourn for all the Grisha and oprichniki that were slaughtered by the Kings guards?

Who will mourn for all the Grisha that were burnt at the stake by the First Army in sham trials?

Who will mourn for all the starving population during the civil war?

Who will mourn for all the Grisha that fled Ravka to be slaves in Kerch?

Who will mourn for all the Grisha killed in the Shu and Fjerdan labs?

Who will mourn for all the Grisha who were turned into monsters in Shu and Fjerda?

These are all the blood on her hands. A consequence born out her selfish decision to run away after listening to an old crone who had abused her. These were the consequences of not giving the man who spent his life saving the Grisha a benefit of doubt and deciding that she knew better.

So, who will mourn for them?

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The Darkling, or the bizzare case of a character that was never written

Expectation: The Darkling is an antagonist you couldn't just dismiss.

Reality: That's why the protagonists clutch pearls and scream bloody murder after any word said by him and automatically dismiss anything he says as deception and manipulation. Makes sense.

Expectation: He's deceptively charming; he doesn't wear a sign saying "I'm a bad guy".

Reality: Yes! That's why he wears an ominous black cloak, has a reputation of a scary, ruthless dark wizard, and is called The Darkling. It's totally not "a bad guy" sign. it's a whole fluorescent banner!

Expectation: he's a leader you can imagine yourself following.

Reality: Never mind his ideology and politics are never explored. Grisha totally follow him because he's such a charismatic politician, enticing them with inspirational speeches and deceptive lies we never get to see, and not because their other alternatives are being hunted like an animal, vivisected, sold into slavery, or, I don't know, being burned on a pyre.

Expectation: He is manipulative.

Reality: We won't get to see a single occasion of him using a plausible manipulative technique and yielding any results. Baghra and Zoya say he's manipulative; what more do you need?

Expectation: He is seductive.

Reality: he runs away after kissing a girl and drops silly innuendos like "I'll make her scream". Yup, emotional ineptness is all the rage! So seductive.

Expectation: He is a tyrant.

Reality: yes, that's why when he briefly takes the throne, we get to witness bloody reign in its full glory! No, he doesn't slaughter otkazats'ya. No, he doesn't start random massacres. He commits much more terrifying, bloodcurdling acts of tyranny: he signs documents! And receives supplicants! Literal dictatorship!

Expectation: He has no regard for human lives.

Reality: Yes, like that time he destroyed a skiff full of civilians just so he could run away with his bestie. Oh, wait, it wasn't him; it was the heroic protagonist. Or that time he starved his own men to get a political advantage... Wait, it's also one of the good guys! Our guy is the one who spends centuries protecting an oppressed minority. That's the bad guy, yeah.

Expectation: He's brutal and power-hungry.

Reality: True, it's a well-known fact that any power-hungry megalomaniac with immense power in his hands usually waits for at least 3 centuries to strike. That's just a common courtesy among power-hungry maniacs.

Expectation: He evokes empathy.

Reality: That's why the protagonists foam at the mouth and scream "eeehvil" every time he's mentioned (so you, stupid reader, won't forget you are supposed to hate him), and none of his supporters or followers ever gets more than a footnote. What if you start thinking they are not evil, corrupted, mindless cronies who were stopped by righteous heroes!

LB: I wanted to create a leader who was charismatic, appealing, a dictator you could imagine yourself following, an antagonist you couldn't just dismiss. Readers: So...What stopped you?

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Didn't realise fandoms were churches. If your morality is so fragile that you had learn what's right and wrong from TV characters then please stay off the internet.

It's always funny to watch people who took upon themselves the role of the fandom moral police exaggerating their importance.

"We won't be friends if you ship [fictional ship]" Nobody asked for the honor.

"You can like [fictional character] if you acknowledge that what they did was wrong!" You are not in a position to hand out permissions and set conditions for liking things.

"It says a lot about you as a person if you support [fictional concept]" I'm sure I'll recover if a rando on the Internet thinks I'm a bad person.

Nobody asked for your sermons. Nobody owes you an apology for enjoying fictional concepts. Nobody is obligated to justify themselves to you. Nobody needs your absolution. Get over yourself.

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The rot of the Grishaverse and the celebration of complacency

The thing about the Grishaverse is that evil wins in the end. Not that kind of evil that usually exists in fantasy stories—with magical curses, dark lords and supernatural creatures, but mundane, everyday evil, the ugliest parts of humanity. It's the triumph of cowardice, hypocrisy, complicity, comfortable ignorance, unchallenged self-righteousness, and moral, ideological, and intellectual bankruptcy.

The corrupt, oppressive system got to crush the resistance and silence the victims.

An opportunistic prince got to take the throne because, of course, only a nepo boy born into privilege and directly benefitting from the oppression of minorities can show the said minority "the right way" to fight for their rights.

A self-important, vitriolic, delusional bully got to feed her superiority complex and belittle and demean people consequence-free.

An insecure, raging bigot got to fulfill his cottagecore dream with an unassuming mouse of a wife who doesn't hurt his ego by stealing his spotlight.

A self-absorbed, ignorant coward got to run away from the responsibilities and consequences of her actions.

A corrupt king-rapist got a comfortable retirement and a free pass to continue raping whoever he likes.

A sadistic, inhumane genocide perpetrator, Jarl Brum, deserved another chance.

A circle-jerk of sanctimonious assholes got to proclaim themselves victors and therefore rewrite history, painting themselves virtuous and righteous and sweeping their crimes under the rug. They even have a fake saint story for the gullible religious crowd.

The "heroes" are not revolutionaries; they are chief executioners and mindless lapdogs of the oppressive regime. They are not reformers; they are vultures: they can only desecrate someone's legacy or parasitize on it. The best they can do themselves is self-righteous diatribes and performative acts of hollow virtue-signaling and grandstanding. People keep dying? Plant some petunias to honor their memory! The debt is growing? Perform a dragon somersault! Peasants are starving? Give them an inspirational speech and explain to them they just have to stop being poor! War and persecution disturb your beauty sleep? Bury your head deeper into the sand so the screams of countless victims couldn't reach you, and pretend that quiet is peace.

If the heroes had a shred of self-awareness, the story should have ended like that sketch where one Nazi asks another "Hans…Are we the baddies?". Unfortunately, it doesn't happen. The pedestal of moral superiority built on lies, convenient double standards, and unchecked arrogance still stands.

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Hi. What are your thoughts on Inej as a character and Kanej?

Hi,

Thank you for your ask. Unfortunately, I don't really care for the crows. I never grew any affinity towards any of them, so don't really care about the characters or the ships.

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A conversation with another reader made me realize that the only aspect of the Darkling that seems to stick in Alina's mind is the desire not to be alone. That she only allowed herself to see in him what was a reflection of her own feelings.

She never had to experience anti-Grisha persecution, so she doesn't see him as a survivor of countless horrors.

She doesn't care about others, so she's constantly overlooking his drive to protect others.

She's refusing to think about her future of an immortal, so when she's confronted with that side of him, she only focuses on what's she already closely familiar with. The loneliness.

Even when searching for sources on Morozova, she quickly decides he was lonely. It's what Alina understands, it's what she can easily identify with, it's the one trait she never denies the Darkling.

She might offer sympathy, but seems to be incapable of empathy. It's as if her brain could relate, but not extrapolate.

(x)

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Being a Darkling fan without shipping Darklina is a wild ride. Every time I say that Aleksander was right, there is a genius coming out of the woodwork with "so you want Alina to end up with the guy who [insert a favorite fandom accusation here]?" Honey, I don't care what happens to Alina. I think it would be hilarious if she turned into a volcra in the end.

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part 2 of the post-fall au where will starts an instagram account for himself and hannibal and uses it mostly to piss jack off

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now say it with me: authors/artists dont owe you moral purity. an author/artist job is not to hold you by the hand & tell you exactly what is Good™ & what is Bad™. you should be able to think for yourself

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post-fall au where will starts an instagram account for himself and hannibal and uses it mostly to piss jack off

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part 7 of the post-fall au where will starts an instagram account for himself and hannibal and uses it mostly to piss jack off

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Ravka if Alina had learned the history of oppression, segregation and genocide of Grisha and current political affairs instead of writing lengthy letters to Mal, whining how much pretty privilege Grisha had and thinking she could solve the philosophy of Grisha powers on her own:

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It actually makes sense if you think about it. Nikolai did send more girls to be raped by his father, started a civil war and even cut off the food supply to let his people starve. He turned a blind eye towards to the masaccare and the sham Grisha trials done by the first army. Later helped repel the mandatory Grisha children training. He really is the King of Slaughter. 😆

King of scars, also known as The Butcher King

I already made a post about the atrocious misuse of Russian words in the Grishaverse. It seems like I forgot to mention one rather hilarious detail.

So, Nikolai is Korol Rezni. The King of Scars duology in Russian-speaking countries is published under the name "Korol shramov"(King of Scars literally), so I guess "reznya" was supposed to mean "scars"? Except it doesn't. Reznya doesn't mean just "cutting". Reznya means "slaughter, massacre, carnage, butchery". The connotations are not just off, they are outright ominous. If it was supposed to mean something like "the king who survived a massacre" - that also doesn't work, only if he personally orchestrated this massacre. The King of Slaughter doesn't sound like the kind of ruler who would keep the country strong. It sounds like the kind of ruler who would drown it in blood. As you name the boat, so shall it float.

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These people sit in 21st century with human rights and committees and talk about how an man from the early 19th centuary, who belongs to an oppressed group that is actively being killed, should have behaved. I'm surprised they haven't said, why didn't the Darkling go the UN or ask the US for aid or stage protests in social media.

I've seen posts about how the Darkling's ideal end would be him learning to trust again, accepting some things are and will always be beyond his power, and while I agree with the concept- he DOES need to learn to live instead of constant survival-, I'll add an important note:

He needs to have a reason.

The "present" world we're introduced isn't really better for Grisha than the world of his childhood, it's actually turning to worse, and who exactly is he supposed to trust? Everyone he chose to trust at least a bit's either dead, a traitor or both.

What exactly is he supposed to have faith in?

There's a difference between hopeful and delu-lu.

Which one of the events of TGT or later books could challenge his views?

It's all betrayal and slaughter.

Sorry, but I can't see anything short of Deus ex machina or lobotomy that could give him sufficient reason to change into less cynical creature. So yeah, it's either Zoya- or Alina-treatment.

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The Eternal Love of Malyen Oretsev

This fandom has a lot of ships and while I don't have a problem with most, Malina is the one ship I truly despise. Not because Mal ended with Alina and not Aleksander. Those of you who have been following me know how much I dislike darklina, because Aleksander truly deserved someone better than Alina. My issue with Malina is, it is the most toxic ship in the fandom. It is filled with abuse, cheating and emotional manipulation and yet somehow the ship gets glorified. The antis who often stand on their moral high horse seem to celebrate the toxicity of Malina.

Mal was so toxic that when the books were made into a TV show, they literally had to rewrite him and give him a new personality. That's how toxic he was.

Scene after scene LB shows how much he hates Alina for outgrowing him, for being a Grisha, for being the Sun Summoner, for daring to think of another man, for being healthy, hell! even for eating enough. The list just goes on. He spent the entirity of book 2 humiliating Alina by picking up fights with Grisha to prove his worth, by being drunk out of his mind, by cheating on Alina and worse, told embrassing stories of her to 'humanize' her as if those guards hadn't worked in a palace full of Grisha all through their life and as if being Grisha was not human enough for Mal. Book 3 was no better. He tormented her with his emotional withdrawal, pretending to do dangerous stuff for her benefit.

After all this drama, LB makes Alina end up with Mal and used BS quotes like, "They had an ordinary life, full of ordinary things – if love can ever be called that." Totally ignoring the torment he put her through. And her cult laps it all up and ships them together and minimizes all his abusive traits as 'boys being boys'.

In the meantime, Mal was only able to accept Alina again because she lost her powers. Just for a moment, let's imagine if Alina destroyed the Fold but didn't lose her powers in the process. Instead of being a saint, she chose to go back to live in anonymity with Mal. Will he still accept her? Will he still be kind to her? Will he treat Nikolai, Zoya or Genya's visit the same way? No.

Mal was able to love Alina only because Alina regressed and he was finally allowed to love her on his terms.

But as usual LB points at a ship and calls it cute, her cult immediately nods and praises them, ignoring everything she showed in three books. So much for teaching young girls about abuse. Malina is the most toxic because he is NOT an immortal being or a prince. He is the guy who will stand next to you and keep you away from your blessings.