justaneedle

[justaneedle]

I'm torn between Temnyachok and Chernysh. 🤣 Temnyachok is a little bit more serious, but I'll probably go with Chernysh. Sasha the kitten is too hilarious.

Aleksander Morozova, the terror that flaps in the night

I've already talked about multiple inconsistencies and the overall ridiculousness of the Grishaverse linguistics, but you know what else bothers me? The Darkling. Not the character, but the name.

Why is it so...English? Ravka is supposed to be a pseudo-Slavic country with a pseudo-Russian language. They don't even have England in their world. Why would they refer to their scary magical man using the word that means nothing to them? The word "darkling" wouldn't evoke any associations with darkness in Ravkans; they don't know what "dark" even means. You'd probably be hard-pressed to explain to them why there is "the" in the front, since articles do not exist in Russian.

There are attempts to translate other titles - Sol Koroleva, Korol Rezni, "moy soverennyi"—they are poorly done, but the understanding that the English words wouldn't work in Ravka is present. So why does the Darkling sport a name that makes no sense to a Ravkan ear, and why does nobody ever ask what the fuck it even means?

Then again, even for English speakers, the word "Darkling" hardly means something ominous. The suffix "-ling" is commonly used for something small, juvenile or adorable: fledgling, sapling, duckling, darling, sweetling, etc.

If a duckling is a baby duck, does it mean the Darkling is a baby dark? Adorable. How am I supposed to take him as a serious antagonist when he's named like a small bird? The profound stupidity of the protagonists becomes crystal clear when they are essentially saying, "We must stop General Shadow Toddler! Free the world from the tyranny of the Infant Abyss!" Their world is falling apart, but sure, go fight an itsy-bitsy darkness.

And what would we get if we tried to translate this cutesy English title to Russian? Temnyachok? Mglushka? Mrachnyusik? Maybe Chernysh, like a common name for black kittens? That would be hilarious.

[justaneedle]

Not me thinking how the estimated ages of Alina, Mal, and Zoya don't make any sense. They've all been in the army for about a year, and they're all different ages. What the hell?

[justaneedle]

Me, being absolutely insane right now, but… Alexei, the Sun Summoner, anyone?

Supposedly an otkazat'sya, who came out from a not-so-poor family, staying in fair line of fear and curiosity towards the Darkling and Grisha? Dare I say he'd have more potential as MC than Alina?

[justaneedle]

Risk my ass and possibly the fate of my country 'cause some nasty old hag who hits me with a stick and, without evidence, tried to convince me using half-truths and lies, mind you that a good military strategy is something monstrous, even though it makes sense? No thanks.

Would you stay at The Little Palace after Baghra broke you out?

[justaneedle]

Antis: you only like the Darkling because he is a white, privileged, conventionally attractive man! Also antis: Oh, Nikolai such a great guy! We love our white savior king!

[justaneedle]

AU Darkolai, Canon Divergence Chapter 15 of S&B Darklina and Malina can save me, I swear.

Yes, even Malina, and no, I'm not crazy. I'm just annoyed by missed opportunities.

[justaneedle]

A fun fact about me: I'm very afraid of Japanese onryō. Well, not just Japanese ones. In general, I'm afraid of any scary shit that involves a deadly white person with dark hair (and most often, it's a girl with long hair, cause the hair scares me even more).

However, my favorite horror movies are Ju-On and the Grudge (yes, I separate 'cause I like "Ju-On" more), because they scare me the most.

I'm literally was afraid of Hallowinx! episode of Winx Club, while deliberately watching it.

[justaneedle]

Can you please talk more about why you think Malware has more potential than Alina,and wish she died? It's usually the opposite opinion that I see,and yours is certainly interesting.

The answer happened to be a little bit longer than I thought 🙃. I have an annoying habit of repeating myself when I try to explain my thoughts, so excuse me, pls.

1) Well, I wouldn't say it's about potential, but rather about which one of the characters more whole (although it should be noted that I haven't even reached the middle of Siege and Storm, so it would be mostly about the first book). More than that, they're both lacking of potential, but Mal doesn't really need one? I mean, if LB wanted to make him a better love interest, then sure, but she didn't? She just said they're happy in the end, and that's all, as far as I can say. Alina is the MC tho. She had to mean something in her own story.

They were both raised by the bigot in the environment with signs of a cult, and therefore were fed prejudices against a group of people they probably had never even met before [Before in S&B]. And all of this is already manifesting itself in them in less than a year of being in the orphanage (and Mal arrives at the orphanage even later than Alina), which is telling.

But at the same time, I think it's important that Mal is otkazat'sya — he won't be able to physically experience what it's like to be suppressed/lacking the power for Grisha (I don't think even comparing it to losing sight/hearing/limbs would help) because he seems completely devoid of compassion. However, Alina exhibits the same patterns of behavior (including the lack of compassion), but she is Grisha. She can feel it physically. And this is what makes Alina more of a problem for me than Mal: he's an asshole who deliberately ignores Alina's few attempts to explain her nature, and he's comfortable with that, so he doesn't want to change himself. Very simple, but logical. End of the story.

Alina, on the other hand, is stubbornly trying to go back to the point where she was miserable, and she's doing it quite consciously: all the glimpses of potential that she acknowledged (like her thoughts in the beginning of S&S, for example) are deliberately thrown aside. She doesn't try to change something for herself, even secretly (put your hands in a box and call out to the light, even for two seconds, silly. I don't believe that she didn't have the slightest opportunity to call out to the weakest ray of light, just for her own health). At the same time, I wouldn't have a problem with her behavior being at least subconscious — there's a trope where the character regresses, but it also needs to be described differently: she's the main character, so the actions she takes should at least accidentally advance the plot. Instead, the plot is driven by anyone but Alina (and often by the Darkling).

Mal is simply more whole as the character — at the beginning of S&B, he is living his best life, with Alina somewhere on the periphery, which gives the impression that Mal may be simply innocently insensitive (it later becomes clear that no. He's just an asshole). When the constant named Alina disappears, his life also changes, and although this is partly motivated by a desire to reconnect with the constant, he does it indirectly through the means available to him: does he feel indebted? He's trying to repay this debt by using his skills as a tracker. Does someone need to report to the Little Palace? He's taking advantage of this legitimate opportunity to see Alina. Then, realizing that something has changed, he decides to help her escape/find the stag, and so on. His actions have clear motivations (to make himself feel better most of the time), and he's acting accordingly to it (the problem is that his persona is shitty, and he's behaving like an emotional asshole who you should be wary of).

Alina… well, everything is much worse here: for about a year, she denying that her dynamic with Mal have changed, and at the same time we can see the lack of attempts to really talk about it -> reinforced denial of the truth about herself -> absolute disregard for what others are trying to explain to her (Ivan is a saint, I wouldn't stand her as well as he did) -> absolutely ignoring those who try to be nice to her (with the hint that, well, ‘you don't understand, she just thinks she won't be accepted because it's always been that way’, although literally no one except Zoya has an unreasonable dislike for her Ivan has a reasonable one, and Baghra is a bitch with everyone) -> she can't do anything, and she whines about it and about Mal -> it turns out that she can't do anything because she whines about Mal -> she gets excited, free, crashes on someone else, gets healthier, even expresses a desire to help her country -> throws it all in the trash after unsubstantiated accusations and runs off without a normal plan -> even to go after the stag is something that Mal offers, not Alina -> throws in the trash the opportunity to help her country AGAIN, allegedly out of mercy -> can't end the suffering of an already injured animal -> whines about how everything is unfair and, of course, about Mal -> creates THE shit and runs away from the plot into the sea (the good thing is that at least the villain needs this story).

So it turns out that all her actions boil down to a pattern of self-centered whining + Mal is distant/Mal is far away/Mal is angry with me/Mal is in danger. Plus, she's an asshole too, just more passive, which is why she loses to Mal in their toxicity.

2. Mostly for the lulz (I'm joking, but only partly). First of all, I'm annoyed by the whole "you'll have to kill me" situation in general, and the way it was presented in particular: Mal clearly, repeatedly states that his answer is no, but Alina still pushes him into making a promise, only for him… to break it? This adds nothing to their relationship other than Alina's unnecessary cruelty. For LB would be better not force Mal to agree, and then everything is pretty logical — he said no, right? — OR actually let him kill her (in any of his answers, this would be a more interesting outcome), because—

And now, secondly: this is a more interesting plot development. I'm sure if this happened, the Darkling would try to resurrect her/transfer her powers somehow while she's dying/do anything that would be more interesting than gathering fucking amplifiers. The possibilities are endless.

I hope the way I wrote it does make sense.

[justaneedle]

My God, it's been an eternity since I last heard this phrase. And yes, it 100% describes Alina. Reading these books, I'm more focused on how to fix Malina as a couple by doing the exact opposite of what LB does in the books, because Alina is just so unappealing that I'd rather focus on Mal, whom I openly hate after Chapter 14 of S&B.

She doesn't really have any potential, because the author never intended for her to develop it — it comes out of nowhere and immediately goes back. The same goes for darklina, which is why they don't evoke any emotions in me: she suddenly develops an interest in him in chapter 12, even though there was no indication of such a change, and then we just throw it all in the trash two chapters later. So I'm more annoyed by the Darkling's desperate attempts to mold our protagonist into something, because as an outside observer, I understand that he's poking a stick at something that simply doesn't want to move. It's like watching him push a boulder up a hill.

Hell, I genuinely believe that Mal is a better character than Alina. Yes, he's an asshole, but at least most of the shitty things he does are done out of his own motivations (which can be more than one, unlike Alina's ‘Mal’). If he had killed Alina in the situation with the stag, he would have been ✨priceless✨ actually. Instead, he seemed to give in to her request, but not really.

A dumbass Grishaverse take for today: "Aleksander wanted Alina to abandon her values and loyalty to her friends and wanted to fit her into his world against her will."

Alina having "values" and "loyalty" must be my favorite joke. Her only value in life is "god forbid Mal is gonna be unhappy". She doesn't care that Grisha are being tortured, killed and subjugated for centuries. She doesn't want to side with the Darkling because he might enslave Grisha (source: Baghra said so), but has absolutely no problem to support the king who already essentially enslaved Grisha (that's what serfdom basically means) and also actively rapes young girls including Genya who Alina pretends is her friend.

Aleksander didn't try to make her fit "his" world. He tried to make her see the real world—the world where people like her are being treated worse than cattle—and make her care about someone other than herself and her dishrag tracker for once. It's painful to see him trying to reason with her while she's acting like a pathetic brat. "Waaah I don't wanna be grisha! It's not faaaair!!! Your mom said you are eeeehvul! What about Maaaal?!!!"

There is a phrase in Russian, "лепить из говна пулю" (literally "to mold a bullet out of shit"), which means fruitlessly trying to make use of, well, total crap, and that's exactly what Aleksander was trying to do with Alina. Because, let's be honest, Alina as a person is a piece of shit. She might not be sadistic like Jarl Brum, rapey like the Lantsov king, or openly violent like Mal, but she's still a selfish, hypocritical, narrow-minded, willfully ignorant coward.

[justaneedle]

What if… what if the Darkling was already in love with someone at the time of S&B? Yes, everything points to the fact that the more time passed, the more he cut himself off from following his emotions, while Alina's mere existence left him completely overwhelmed. But. Emotions are difficult to control, and we know that he had lovers, so what if it happened during the books?

Yes, I just want to make him suffer even more, as if his entire life wasn't enough. But I do it with love to him, unlike LB.

popped up young immortal, the Sun Summoner, who can't accept herself and sees him as a monster VS established relationship with understanding, supportive, loyal, but very mortal Grisha

Imagine THE mess in his head.

[justaneedle]

Um… why Pinterest suddenly decided that I was interested in Jareth by David Bowie from Labyrinth?…

No, it's not wrong, and I'm more than happy, but… why?

[justaneedle]

The desire to sit down and rewrite the gender-bender version of S&B or just some parts: 📈

It remains to understand, do I change everyone or only the Darkling and Alina…

no, it's not at all because I miss the Darkling from the first book, who could still afford to openly hope.

partly thanks to @lilu787788 ❣️, partly the reblog chain for (anti)percabeth moments in pjo.

[justaneedle]

I want a fanfic where our Righteous Gang ends up as transplants in AU where the Darkling couldn't achieve even half of what he achieved at the time of S&B. Or he did, but in a completely different place (yes, it pains me to take away the boy's patriotism, but… Sasha, go and build the home for Grisha and the loyal otkazat'sya in a different place, preferably slaughtering any enemy), because I fully believe that his main deterrents were his sentimental attachment to Ravka and his willingness to cooperate with others in the hope of peaceful progress.

And just see how their persecution and suffering lives unfold with a full set of memories.

They claim that their lives were shitty with what Alex built? Let them swim without it.

[justaneedle]

Fortunately for me, it was in an unconnected order 🙃

I read a little more of Siege and Storm. And only after I'd had some mead.

[justaneedle]

I read a little more of Siege and Storm. And only after I'd had some mead.

[justaneedle]

I'm reading Siege and Storm (chapter 3 — chapter 5)

1. Okay, listen, this is also a very interesting pattern: the Darkling is always far away. Alina always sees him busy with something else in the distance, whether it's on their way to the capital, living in the Little Palace, or now.

2. Fuck it, don't tell me we have three books with three subplots about finding the Plot Device amplifier. (can they get done in this one at least?…)

Y'know, there's media there you see the trope and just shrug. And then there's The Grisha Trilogy. At this point I'm not sure the Darkling can keep me here. There's something soul-sucking about these books.

3. Well, I'm glad he can see it too:

“Tell me you’re not contemplating what I think you are,” I said. “Tell me the amplifier is for some other stupid, gullible girl.” “Someone less stubborn? Less selfish? Less hungry for the life of a mouse? Believe me,” he said, “I wish I could.”

I have this strange feeling, like it wasn't the original plan (from the first book) to gather amplifiers. Y'know, when it seems to fit in with the information that was previously provided, but you just know that something is off about it.

4. Said the girl who was just going to run away:

“You can’t control the Fold. It has to be destroyed.”

5. It's actually funny. I genuinely like when he starts acting bitchy (if he will go apathetically venomous instead of mad but controlled, it will be a horror. And he will). Just try to tell me that he didn't deliberately keep quiet in that scene just to let Alina worry about Maaal, when everything points to the fact that the Darkling needs his tracker abilities, because it's literally the same scenario as with the stag.

7. I want to hit the author and them over the head. Especially Alina. Because she didn't react like this even in the last book. Of course, let's just ignore how you found the fucking magical stag.

8. What a relief it is to have him back to effectively threatening these two if they act like stubborn fuckers. What were they even (especially in the first book) counting on? What Alina thought Mal's going to do?

9. Why am I supposed to believe in this?

Ivan bowed and darted from the room, closing the door behind him. “He can’t wait to get away from you,” I said, hovering by the door. “He’s afraid of what you’ve become. They all are.”

Couldn't LB at least write Ivan flinching from him or something to prove the point? Specifically from the Darkling, specifically Ivan, because nothing from earlier looks convincing.

10. I feel like I should say how much I love characters like the Darkling. He doesn't want to hurt people just because. But he will if it's necessary (or reached his breaking point). And the saddest part is that I really believe that Leigh Bardugo wrote him as such a wonderful character by accident. Otherwise, she would have understood his value.

11. The more I read these books, the less convincing I find the fact that there were any reasons why the Darkling didn't usurp power in Ravka centuries ago (especially since the author forcing upon us just how greedy he is).

Aleksander is unique, literally the only one in the history of Ravka at least. He's much more unique than Baghra and Alina combined, due to his personality and goals. Baghra may be older than Sasha and has the same powers, and Alina may be the one of her kind and has the same, if not greater, potential (*cough*), but they are passive.

Wanna make him the villain? Make him the usurper of a neighboring country who now wants to absorb Ravka as well. It was insanely easy to not make him the only person who has been defending his oppressed people for centuries, and who has been fighting in the war as a general of the army to protect his country's borders from multiple enemies, all while serving the kings and therefore still having limited freedom of action. Instead of dragging him out of the dead to prove something to the fans. That's ridiculous.

That was reaction on this and something I know from the fandom, by the way:

I crossed the room, coming to stand before the desk. “Then why give me a second amplifier?” I asked desperately, grasping for an argument that would somehow make him see sense. “In case you’ve forgotten, I tried to kill you.” “And failed.” “Here’s to second chances. Why make me stronger?” Again, he shrugged. “Without Morozova’s amplifiers, Ravka is lost. You were meant to have them, just as I was meant to rule. It can be no other way.” “How convenient for you.”

12. Knowing a few lines from Demon in the Wood it's truly painful. I mean, it's hurt neverless without it, because it's literally the core of immortal characters, whose immortality treated right, but damn:

“He’s gifted, I grant you, but no Grisha. He can never be your equal.” “He’s my equal and more,” I spat. The Darkling shook his head. If I hadn’t known better, I might have mistaken the look on his face for pity. “You think you’ve found a family with him. You think you’ve found a future. But you will grow powerful, and he will grow old. He will live his short otkazat’sya life, and you will watch him die.” “Shut up.” He smiled. “Go on, stamp your foot, fight your true nature. All the while, your country suffers.” “Because of you!” “Because I put my trust in a girl who cannot stand the thought of her own potential.” He rose and rounded the desk. Despite my anger, I took a step back, banging into the chair behind me. “I know what you feel when you’re with the tracker,” he said. “I doubt that.” He gave a dismissive wave. “No, not the absurd pining you’ve yet to outgrow. I know the truth in your heart. The loneliness. The growing knowledge of your own difference.” He leaned in closer. “The ache of it.”

But. Be fair, man: you can't outgrowth the pining either, although handle it much better.

13. Frustrated growl:

I knew he was a practiced liar. He could fake any emotion, play on any human failing. But I couldn’t deny what I’d felt in Novyi Zem or the truth of what the Darkling had shown me: my own sadness, my own longing, reflected back to me in his bleak gray eyes.

Where? No, I'm not saying he can't at all, but he didn't do it! He almost never lie, because it's not necessary — the truth is much more powerful and cruel, and the Darkling loves telling the truth so much, that does it most of his time, if only the situation doesn't require otherwise (there were examples here, but I realized that I didn't need them right now: if someone has no idea what I'm talking about... well, I don't understand how that's possible, but then I'd consider a separate post).

14. I'm somewhere between "cringe inside the universe" and "cringe outside the universe". Double bad shit, haha. Let's be honest, knowing these two, the most likely scenario when he make her scream is if the Darkling threw Maaal overboard or something like that, and they all know it (maybe not Mal).

15. Our main character wants a bunch of people to die (they're not even the Darkling's, mind you) vs the death of the sea serpent, ladies and gentlemen:

A shout from the longboats drew my attention. A man on the boat nearest the sea whip stood up, a harpoon in his hand, taking aim. But the dragon’s white tail lashed through the sea, split the waves, and came down with a slap, sending a rolling wall of water up against the boat’s hull. The man with the harpoon sat down hard as the longboat tipped precariously, then righted itself at the last moment. Good, I thought. Fight them.

No, it might not seem so hypocritical with someone else, but the fandom saying something about trauma after the Fold/Massacre on the skiffs already at this point, no?

16. …guys, you probably know how fucking mad I am right now. Y'know, I hoped this at least wouldn't be so stupid. Someone punch me if I'll overestimate LB's skills at least once more. And no, an amplifier of this walking trash doesn't make the situation any better.

I thought I'd throw the pad away. To be so incompetently wasted, my—

17. Well, what can I say... let's raise our glasses to Genya and her lost brain. How could she make so many stupid decisions at once?

18. I'm not sure if I want to talk about a person named Hello…

19. I'm aware that the nichevo’ya supposed to be horrific, but all I can do is admire the Darkling. It's a mix of "I adore you" and "so I'd want to do everything to prevent you from doing it, baby".

20. It's funny how, if you compare these moments, the scene with the sea whip is more ugly than the scene with the stag one. But we only have one designated villain.

21. She'll (LB) explain, won't she? Yes? It won't be like with the Fold, right?

“First answer a question for me,” Sturmhond said, reaching into his frock coat. He drew a little red volume from his pocket and tossed it to me. “Why was the Darkling carrying this around with him? He doesn’t strike me as the religious type.” I caught it and turned it over, but I already knew what it was. Its gold lettering sparkled in the sun. “You stole it?” I asked. “And a number of other documents from his cabin. Although, again, since it was technically my cabin, I’m not sure you can call it theft.”

22. …please, don't tell me it's just a mask, right now he's at least interesting. "Sturmhond"

23. No, I won't stop finding this pattern as funny in a completely bad way:

I rubbed my temples. I felt a headache coming on. I was tired and confused, and Sturmhond had a way of talking that made me want to shoot someone. Preferably him. But he’d freed us from the Darkling, and once Mal and I were off his ship, we might find our own way to escape. For now, I couldn’t think much beyond that.

24. At one point, I want to write why the definitions that Alina (LB) is trying to impose on the Darkling, but then I realize that I don't want to. What's the point? She (and her characters) clearly don't understand the context of her own world. That's truly hopeless.

25. Babe…

But if the scales functioned like Morozova’s collar, then the dragon’s power was also mine to bestow. I could give the scales to one of Sturmhond’s Heartrenders, maybe even Tolya, try to take control of him the way the Darkling had once taken control of me. I might be able to force the privateer to sail us back to Novyi Zem. But I had to admit that wasn’t what I wanted.

should I say it doesn't work like that? You can control the power, but first of all, you're a fucking newbie and that would be weak as fuck in the terms of control (if the author not bad). And… they're still would be able to kill you (except plot armor).

26. That will be very personal shit… but tell me that Mal isn't the kind of person who gets angry over nothing when they're drunk. Well, based on the previous scene (and the snippet of this one), it doesn't seem to be the case, but I don't trust these books.

[justaneedle]

Ivan Semyonovich Kaminsky returns to the Making at the Heart of the World. He will always be with us.

Siege and Storm- Chapter 4

Let’s pour one out for the last of named Grisha loyalists, Ivan “Couldn’t even get proper surname in canon”…

I wish it would end here.

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