moonxreverie

[moonxreverie]

This YouTube comment has been on my mind since I finished SOTR so this is what I came up with:

Lucy Gray was the mockingbird, living on the outskirts of district 12 and was there at the wrong time when they were forced to stay there after the Dark Days. They were subjected to the Capitol’s politics despite not being a part of Panem, technically speaking. Lucy Gray became part of the Games and, likewise, the mockingbird became affiliated with the Capitol through the jabberjay’s release into the woods, but it still continued to sing its own song.

Haymitch was the jabberjay, a Capitol tool that did what it had to in order to survive. The Capitol thought they could control them, but they retaliated in the form of rebellion. Haymitch refused to be a piece in their game and tried to end it, and the jabberjay, in the eyes of the Capitol, created a freak of nature that showed the Capitol’s lack of complete control.

Katniss was the mockingjay, a slap in the face of the Capitol, something that was never meant to exist. Together, the song of the mockingbird that lived on for generations and the stubbornness of the jabberjay that refused to die, the mockingjay had the best of both worlds. It was a symbol of rebellion and unity.

[moonxreverie]

The Darkling & Alina & Nikolai | Where Is My Mind?

and you'll ask yourself: where is my mind?

or: the modern darkolina au 🚨

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Lanfear | VON DUTCH

I'm a monster too.

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Nosferatu (2024) x The Witch (2015) | All That She Wants

Does evil come from within us or from beyond?

(yes I forgot to post these on tumblr as well look away)

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No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love.

I feel like I'm sleepwalking and I don't know how to wake up.

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Elisabeth & Franz | Sailor Song

I don't believe in god, but I believe that you're my savior

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I dislike s2 of s&b like any other person. Hell, s1 had a bunch of problems that people aren't ready to face yet. But the sudden anti Alina hate i see e v e r y w h e r e is beyond frustrating. Because every character was butchered and people will criticize the writing, but somehow Alina is a special case and deserves bashing.

Same goes for book readers who very obviously are reading the books recently. s&b writers/ showrunners aren't the only misogynists here, the fandom - and that include's darkling/pseudo darklina fans are also sexists and they mask it as "criticism"

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The Darkling & Alina | Summer Silence

No matter where you go or where you hide, we will never be apart.

or: the fem!darklina shadow & bone / siege & storm au ✨🌙

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the darkling is the funniest bitch in ravka I swear. literally all of this is in the span of less than twenty pages he's great

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I’m fine

[moonxreverie]

The mystery of names (and their correct spelling). Part 1. Alina Starkov

So, I finally decided to make a post dedicated to the correct spelling of the Russian language in the Grisha Trilogy. I decided to start with names, and so that you don’t get bored, I decided to add a point about the meaning of names. So, let's start with the main character. And the correct spelling of her name in Russian is Alina Starkova, not Starkov. Why? Because Starkov is a masculine surname. For example, my surname is Kosareva, and my father’s surname is Kosarev. So, we've discussed the correct spelling, now let's move on to the meaning.

Alina (is abbreviated as Lina, Linka, Linochka, Linushka, Alinochka, Alinushka, Alya)

The name Alina has several meanings. Latin: The name may come from the Latin name Alina, meaning "small" or "gentle", or from the Germanic name Adelina, meaning "noble". Polish Meaning: In Polish, the name Alina means "bright", "brilliant" or "beautiful". Russian meaning: In Russian, the name Alina can also be interpreted as “bright” or “brilliant”, “beautiful and charming”, as well as “true”, “faithful” or “protector”.

Starkova

Our heroine’s surname is no less interesting, as it is one of the oldest Russian surnames. There are several versions of the origin of the surname: 1)Derivation from the name of the star The first version says that the Starkov surname comes from the name of a star or other celestial objects. In ancient times, the stars played an important role in people's lives, and some researchers argue that some families may have received the Starkov surname in honor of stellar phenomena or specific celestial events. 2) Origin from a profession or occupation Another version connects the Starkov surname with a person's profession or occupation. Since the Russian word for "starik" (old man) has been used throughout history to describe an elderly person, this may indicate that some ancestors of those with the Starkov surname may have been sages, elders, or engaged in other occupations that required wisdom and experience. 3) Origin from a geographical place There is also a version according to which the Starkov surname has geographical roots. It may be associated with the name of a specific place, for example, the name of a settlement or village. Over the course of time, the name of a place may have passed on as a surname to the population living in the area. 4) Origin from the name Some researchers propose a version according to which the Starkov surname arose from a short name associated with a patronymic. The Russian word "starik" (old man) could be a nickname or a short form of the name Stary, Starov, and so on. Gradually it could turn into a surname for subsequent generations. Regardless of the version of origin, the Starkov surname is usually associated with concepts of wisdom, experience and age. It can indicate a family's rich history, whether related to a star, profession, or geographic location. In the next part we will look at the Morozovs, don’t miss it😘

[moonxreverie]

Death by a Thousand... Stars?

I've been going through my notes on Siege and Storm, and one particular detail stood out. It's an excerpt from the prologue:

[...] they stood together on deck, picking out constellations from the vast spill of stars: the Hunter, the Scholar, the Three Foolish Sons, the bright spokes of the Spinning Wheel, the Southern Palace with its six crooked spires.

The note says: Double-check the constellations! Alina's bedchamber has a star-speckled dressing screen! The Darkling's bedchamber has constellations on the ceiling!

And then I remembered my notes on Ruin and Rising. And guess what? The monastery of Sankt Demyan, otherwise known as the Spinning Wheel, was turned into an observatory 'a few hundred years ago'. Double-check the constellations!

[...] the bronze columns were constellations—the Hunter with his drawn bow, the Scholar bent in study, the Three Foolish Sons, huddled together, trying to share a single coat. The Bursar, the Bear, the Beggar. The Shorn Maiden wielding her bone needle. Twelve in all: the spokes of the Spinning Wheel.

It's been abandoned 'for over a century'. This version of the Darkling is approximately 120 years old. Coincidence? I think not. Sugar had been rationed in Ravka for the last hundred years, which can only mean that the current war had started around the same time he'd made himself known again.

But what about the monastery? I think that the Darkling was the one who'd turned it into an observatory. My only proof is a tale found in The Language of Thorns. It's a story about his half-sister Ulla, titled When Water Sang Fire. Our Youngling was the seer's apprentice in the lost city of Söndermane, a scholar cloistered in the Prophetic’s Tower. A stargazer!

At each level the apprentice named another subject: history, augury, geography, mathematics, alchemy. Ulla hoped they’d wind all the way to the top of the tower, where she knew they’d find the famous observatory.

However, stargazing wasn't his only preoccupation there. But we'll come back to that later. Double-check the constellations! Let's get back to the twelve spokes of the Spinning Wheel.

The Hunter with his drawn bow? That's Sankt Petyr, with his still-burning arrows. The Scholar bent in study must be Sankt Dimitri. The Bear is obviously Sankt Grigori. The Shorn Maiden wielding her bone needle is probably Sankta Vasilka, the first firebird.

What about the others? Thirteen Saints were shown on the massive triptych behind the altar in the original Lantsov chapel, where the first Ravkan kings were crowned. Thirteen Saints were featured in the original version of the Istorii Sankt’ya. But there are only twelve spokes, twelve constellations. Who's the odd one out?

Sankt Demyan is most certainly not, and here's why.

According to The Lives of Saints, the site of Sankt Demyan's death is the tallest mountain in the Elbjen. He was the nobleman who owned the land upon which a cemetery stood; and when the birches started to obscure the path, he had his servants cut a new one. When the rains came to disturb the cemetery, Demyan designed the aqueduct around the graveyard, diverting the water to irrigate the fields. But the people still complained.

He was desperate to please them. He asked the Saints to raise the cemetery up to the sun itself, so it would no longer be obscured by the shade of his previous creations.

He laid his hands upon the soil, and the earth began to shake. The ground rose higher and higher, until the highest mountain was made. The cemetery was intact, but his own family crypt was broken. The people accused Demyan of disrespecting his family name by using dark magic, and the angry mob stoned him to death. He became known as the patron saint of the newly dead.

Sankt Demyan's miracle was the creation of the highest mountain in the northern Sikurzoi.

But why is this important? Because the Sikurzoi mountains cover most of Ravka's eastern and southern border with Shu Han. And the Spinning Wheel is located in the Elbjen, which is the Fjerdan name for the northern range of Sikurzoi. More so, it's the place the first firebird came from. And that firebird is Ravka.

But what if I tell you that the first Taban queens also come from the highest mountains of the Sikurzoi range? The palace of the Taban dynasty has the Court of the Golden Wing. You know who else has golden wings? Sankta Vasilka, the first firebird.

It's said that the borders of Ravka were sketched by the firebird's flight. Its rivers run with the firebird's tears. And when one of her feathers fell to earth, the young warrior picked it up and carried it into battle. No one could defeat him, and so he became the first king of Ravka.

But where are the stars? The old Taban queen resides in the place called the Palace of Thousand Stars. Even before the first Taban queens have come to their rule, Sankta Neyar was already one of the Six Soldiers, the sacred protectors of the Shu Han.

Remember the constellations? The Southern Palace and its six crooked spires? The Spinning Wheel? It's all there, written in the stars.

And the Starless Saint knows that.

His bedchamber is built on a hexagonal plan, like the temples of Ahmrat Jen. His dark wood walls are carved into the illusion of a forest crowded with slender trees. The birch trees, like the ones growing around the cemetery. He almost died there, once.

Demon in the wood. Demyan in the wood.

The domed ceiling above his bed is spangled with chips of mother-of-pearl laid in constellations, to create the illusion of the Spinning Wheel. The ebony screen in Alina's bedchamber is speckled with mother-of-pearl stars, too. It was probably brought from his rooms, as only his chambers are furnished in ebony.

It's death by a thousand stars...

[moonxreverie]

Alina's sun summoner ability cannot be a metaphor for her escaping the cycle of abuse and living her own peaceful life when its very presence indicates something entirely different about her character. When her abilities are tied more closely to her identity and her growing path to self discovery, any framing of their presence in her life as only a fight against abuse comes across as cheap and shows a spectacular misunderstanding of her character.

Alina losing her abilities doesn't show a need to no longer fight. It doesn't show freedom or liberation. It shows instead brutal oppression and cruelty. 'She can be on her own and the darkness cant get to her anymore' is a funny way of describing the loss of a light power that could by nature repel the darkness and bring her kinship. In fact, it is almost a direct misinterpretation of the events that took place, and through its very wording contradicts itself.

Alina losing her powers cannot be a big metaphor for letting go of the past and moving onto internal peace when it drives her into a horrific regression and throws her into an eternal misery and grief stricken state. Where her very being is repressed so that she may conform and assimilate to her oppressors.

You cannot state that this hatred of her ending is only because it has been done terribly to other female characters before as if this is all some transferred bias. Alina's story is itself regressive through it's own path throughout the books. Her repression and the championing of her internalized bigotry through a narrative that structures itself around restrictive and puritanical morality can be easily tracked, picked apart, and analyzed as itself a story that rejects any real liberation or character progression to force the main female character into a box of conformity.

While Alina strives to be loved and cared for, she states multiple times what she truly wants. Which is the ability to accept and love all of herself in every way, with the freedom to love who she wants and to craft an ending that she wants, where she does not have to give up any of this. That Alina's very desire to have an ending where she can live freely is rejected so that fans can pat themselves on the back for liking her canonical regression feels grotesque. She did not actually want her ending. She could barely stomach it.

Alina's powers did not only represent her fight against abuse. They represented something more to her fundamental character and her arc of self actualization. There is no peoticism in her losing her powers except that of a greek tragedy and it's unfortunate protagonist. Alina didn't even choose to lose her powers. They were stripped from her against her will. In every way, her agency and pershonhood and very wishes are violated. But this is ignored in favor of championing some "subversive" and "enlightened" and apparently feminist story that simply does not exist.

[moonxreverie]

Am I late to the Shadow and Bone fandom? Yes extremely so.

But I just need to say I hate Mal and how things ended for Alina.

(There will be spoilers for the books in case you can’t tell already)

Like I get she would’ve hated being a leader but she spent the entire first two books learning to let go of Mal and become stronger because of it. She always made herself smaller to hold onto him and when she finally grew into herself it was taken away from her again for him and the only thing he could say was “Damn. Sucks you’re going through it, but I did kind of want this the whole time.”

He admitted he wanted her to lose her powers!! After!! She!! Just!! Lost!! Them!! And!! He!! Only!! Was!! Sorry!! She!! Was!! Upset!! Not!! That!! She!! Lost!! An!! Important!! Part!! Of!! Herself!!

Every other character was shown in the book to have embraced every part of Alina, especially her summoning. The only one who didn’t? The one who was supposed to be the love of her life. Mal didn’t even try to hide the fact that he never understood her and never will.

Even the Darkling showed that he valued all of Alina more than Mal. Even. The. Darkling. When at the end of Ruin and Rising, the thing that first breaks the Darkling is that ALINA lost the ability to summon. I may argue he was more upset that Alina had lost that part of her than he was when she killed him.

My thoughts on the Darkling and how he was written can be saved for another post but another character who also valued Alina more was Nikolai. Nikolai always knew Alina was great and admired every part of her. Not only did he respect her abilities, but he also understood her as a friend. Nikolai always had an understanding of Alina that Mal refused to understand, which is why he resented him in the beginning.

Alina’s ending just put her back where she was in the beginning. She didn’t get stronger, if anything she regressed as a character. Yes, Alina would’ve hated politics, but losing her power and staying with the man who has said from the beginning that he never wanted her to have powers and basically wanted her to rely on him is not a great ending for her.

[moonxreverie]

Similarities Between the Darkling and Nikolai: 

hella sexy

momma’s boy

unknown biological father 

lives in a palace

i_just_cant_wait_to_be_king.mp3

wants what’s best for their country 

drives like a maniac 

has killed people 

knows how to use his sword ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

has a fake persona for political reasons 

dramatic af

loves popping outta nowhere to save/ruin the day 

leads an army 

charismatic to their followers

thirsty for alina starkov 

mentor to alina starkov 

kisses alina starkov 

gets rejected by alina starkov goddammit alina why 

physically incapable of containing sass, inneundo, or snark

obsessed with cultivating an AestheticTM

will glady shit over mal given the slightest opportunity 

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Showleksander meets Bookling

(someone cried after that, it wasn't Bookling)

(credit to Kenny from the darklina server for the dialogue)

[moonxreverie]

Sankta Alina ✨