she-posts-nerdy-stuff · 20 days ago
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Hello! I have not read the shadow and home series, only seen the show and read six of crows (very obvious if you see my account) and I really don't get the whole "is the Darkling is evil or not", because I haven't seen arguments from the pro Darkling side and very few from the anti Darkling side... Can you explain it for me?
Hi! Thanks so much for the ask, I can definitely do my best to explain this for you but I am firmly of the anti-darkling belief so I think the best way for me to go about this is to outline common pro-Darkling points and explain why I disagree with them, and suggest that if you'd like more detail into the pro-Darkling arguments that you look through the tag, or through the pro-darklina tag <3
I just wrote a summary of S&S and R&R to the best detail that I could from memory only to remember that the entire plot summaries are available on the Grishaverse wiki (*screams*). But anyway the summaries were very long so I've cut them and if you want to check the plotlines for more detail you can do that on the wiki the summaries look really good (better than mine lol) but if there are any specific points I mention that you want me to expand on I can just let me know in the replies :)
Nb: this entire post will be spoilers for the Grisha trilogy and probably the entire Grishaverse.
Please be aware that I am going to address the backstories & traumatic experiences of several characters but most specifically Alina, Mal, Genya, and Zoya.
So I believe that the main points in the pro-Darkling argument are that he had noble causes, that he did genuinely love Alina, and that his actions are a product of the suffering he'd been through. However what I also see a lot of, though generally I avoid pro-darkling posts because I don't have any interest in starting an argument with anyone (and btw I'm going to tag this as anti-darkling and anti-darklina, which I always do when I'm talking about him so that anyone who doesn't want to see it can filter it out just as I can do with the pro-darkling and pro-darklina tags if I don't want to see them), is criticisms of Mal as the 'incorrect choice' for the final love interest and a 'bad person'.
So going point by point down these as to why I disagree with them:
"The Darkling has noble causes." -> The Darkling claims that his cause is a safer world for Grisha, and this on its surface is absolutely a noble cause. I would never deny that. The Grisha have been marginalised, abused, and oppressed throughout world history, and at 400+ years old in a pre-industrial revolution/early industrial revolution world the Darkling has seen and been subjected to a great deal of this. It is an undeniably noble goal to want to protect his people and to help them rise up. However, the Darkling can only see it come at the cost of mass death not only caused by the Shadow Fold's construction but the centuries of its presence on the continent, mass death caused by the destruction of Novo Kribirsk, direct and indirect murder of thousands of innocent lives, and the abuse of Alina, Genya, Zoya, David, Nikolai, Mal, and not only more characters we know but countless characters who encountered him during his rise, a compulsory draft for his people in the country where they were supposedly safest, brutally attacking his own mother and leaving her blind in the aftermath, and more. Now I'm not going to talk about the compulsory draft too much because I don't actually know if that was the Darkling's invention or not and I absolutely believe that the infrastructure of Ravka was designed to abuse and manipulate Grisha through nationalism (see Nina Zenik), but I think it's so important to note that after the Civil War massive strides forward are made in the treatment of Grisha in Ravka without any kind of destruction on the levels that the Darkling claimed were necessary. Nikolai disestablishes the compulsory draft but this doesn't stop the Second Army from reforming, or from Ravka sending missions to rescue at risk Grisha. The goal of these missions was still to recruit for the Army, but all individuals were given a choice and those that refused were still offered protection or safe passage. It's by no means a perfected system, but it's a great improvement from a draft that brought Zoya in at nine, Genya in at seven, Nina in so young she has no memory of her life before, and so on, and manipulated them their entire lives.
Before I let the manipulation lead me into my next point, I want to add that I also don't entirely trust a statement of the Darkling's causes being noble in the first place. On it's surface, as I said, a safer world for Grisha is an undeniably noble cause noble cause - but turning the abuse their people suffered against otkazats'ya people is not. I believe liberation that requires oppression is not true liberation. We also see that he willingly kills the Grisha teachers from the Little Palace, despite saying to Alina that he doesn't want to waste more Grisha lives, threatens the children from the Little Palace, attacks Genya for betraying him, and causes mass slaughter of anyone, Grisha or otkazats'ya, who sides with Alina. That doesn't sound like making the world safer for his people. It sounds like a power-hungry dictator using a commonly held ideology to manipulate the populous into supporting him.
That doesn't sound like protecting Grisha. It sounds like killing them.
Back to the manipulation.
This manipulation was not from the institution alone; no, it was very much directly from the Darkling. This brings me into point two - "The Darkling genuinely loved Alina." ->
The Darkling manipulated Zoya, who remember effectively grew up with him because she was brought to the Little Palace at nine after escaping her abusive mother's attempt at forcing her into marriage. Zoya was brought to the Little Palace by her aunt, Liliyana Garin. The Darkling made Zoya feel like she had to rely on him, whilst simultaneously telling her that she was special. The famous quote "You and I are going to change the world" was actually said to Zoya long before it was said to Alina, whom the Darkling used the exact same manipulation tactics against, and it was also used later in Rule of Wolves against Yuri, a monk from the Cult of the Starless Saint, who worship he Darkling as a fallen Saint. The way I read it, this is a very clear writing choice to emphasise that the Darkling does not care about any of the people he speaks these words to; this is the manipulation tactic that he knows, that he is used an unknowable number of times, and that he has had lifetimes to perfect and learn how to use it to his gain. He essentially tied Zoya's self-worth to his opinion of her, and she spent her entire life trying to be good enough for him, trying to impress him, trying to prove herself as worthy of his acclaim, of his attention, and arguably of his protection since he was her protector as a child. After escaping her mother and being brought to safety, Zoya grew up believing that she was lucky to be treated the way the Darkling treated her. In the books it's implied they may have had a sexual relationship, and this was confirmed as part of show canon during season one. Lilyana was later indirectly killed by the Darkling when he destroyed Novo Kribirsk by moving the Fold. Sometimes I'm almost glad she can never know what happened to Zoya, because she loved her and she thought she was protecting her and I think that knowing what the Darkling did to the niece she left in his care, believing that she was saving her, may very well have broken her.
When Alina arrived at the Little Palace, the Darkling discarded Zoya like a toy he'd grown bored of. He manipulated Alina using the exact same tactics that he did Zoya, which of course we see a great deal of first hand throughout the trilogy. During the process of this, Zoya suffers greatly from the process of being tossed aside. The Darkling intentionally sets Alina and Zoya against each other from day one, denying them any chance of camaraderie or realising what was being done to them. The way I read this, this was the pitting of women against each other by a misogynist, not only for the misogynist's gain but also because he actively feared the strength that they would have together. I've spoken about this before but yeah that's how I feel about it, we miss out on what could have been a lot more Zoya & Alina power and just general content because the Darkling purposefully turns them against each other. Alina starts experiencing everything that Zoya did - the Darkling makes her feel important or special on his terms, he makes her want his attention, he makes her feel like her importance is reliant on him, he makes her believe that she is incapable alone and needs him at her side, etc - and since this is all Zoya has known since childhood she doesn't know how to identify the similarities in his treatment of them as abuse but instead believes that he has lost interest in her in favour of Alina because she is more special, she is more important, she is more precious. Zoya has spent her entire life trying to be exactly what the Darkling wanted, and the way he casts her aside is so deeply damaging to Zoya because all those things he did, making her think that she was only special or important or worthy for as long as he said so? She believed them. Her self worth was so utterly destroyed by Alina's mere existence that without understanding it was the Darkling who had done that to her, not Alina, of course she hated her. The two of them overcoming this distance and developing their relationship is probably one of my favourite subplots
David and Genya both suffer at the hands of the Darkling's manipulation as well, though in different ways - and directly I want to talk about Genya but it is still more than worth acknowledging David as well. Genya was found by testers at 7 and presented to the Queen by the Darkling as a gift when she was 11. So super crazy take, I know, but I think there are ways of training someone to be a spy without giving them away into slavery. The Darkling placed Genya in the path of abuse from both the Queen and the King, and it is strongly implied that she told him she was being raped and physically abused and that he manipulated her into believing that her pain was worth something because she was his soldier. Even if she didn't directly tell him, the sexual abuse that the King committed against Genya is not a secret in either of the palaces, and is in fact part of the reason that the Queen physically abuses Genya because she takes out the anger she can't voice against the King on her instead, and the Darkling never did anything to protect her. Even when she tells Alina everything that happened to her, she says that she is his soldier and that this was her role. And after everything that she did for him, for giving her entire life up and enduring years of abuse, the Darkling turns on Genya the moment that she expresses care towards Alina. Genya was simultaneously pulled in two directions: her beauty was what, she believed, caused the King to attack her and subsequently the cause of her pain, but it was also a product of her Tailoring and without it she never would have been worth the Darkling's time. Being so thoroughly manipulated by him, she therefore believed that he beauty was what gave her worth. The Darkling knew exactly what he was doing in taking that away from her, not only the physical pain he caused her, not only the loss of her eye, but the subsequent inability to Tailor her scars and be who she saw herself as before. Genya's scars in the books are described to extend across her entire face and down her neck, down her arms, and along her hands, prompting Jesper in Crooked Kingdom to wonder "what manner of weapon" would be capable of causing them.
"The Darkling is a product of pain and abuse that he suffered throughout his life" -> yeah, absolutely. He wasn't born to be evil and I really enjoyed learning more about his childhood in the prequel graphic novel. But I don't think that excuses mass murder, or abuse, or any of his other actions
"Mal was not Alina's ideal love interest and came across as a bad person" ->
Personally I don't think Mal is a bad person, I think that he made mistakes during the trilogy but that ultimately he begins this story as a seventeen year old child solider; he is afraid for his own life and the lives of his friends, children and young adults make mistakes that older people are more aware of/in tune to or less likely to make, and the world he understood fell from his grip very, very rapidly.
I also know that a lot of people don't like Alina and Mal's ending, particularly with Alina losing her powers. (Brief explanation: Alina fakes her death and they tailor one of the fallen soldiers, Ruby, to look like her so that she and the Darkling can be burned together. Alina no longer has sun powers and Mal is no longer an expert tracker. Together they vanish to live alone in happy obscurity and run an orphanage. One day, the staff of the orphanage see a group of Grisha, including a beautiful Suli Squaller and a Corporalnik missing an eye, bring the woman who runs the place a blue kefta embroidered in gold and see that it makes her cry. They wonder if perhaps she knew a Grisha who died and has been given their kefta in commoration, but that's because they haven't seen the note inside that says "You will always be one of us" (This would be around where I start sobbing) ) Personally I think that this is a brilliant ending, with tragedy and bittersweet beauty sewn right through it. There are many implications through the trilogy that as Alina becomes more powerful she feels the pull and high that power can bring her as dangerously alluring. As she correctly identifies when she fakes her death, the people would have eventually turned on her as a heretic just as they did the Darkling. What I don't think she verbally acknowledged but that I saw as implicit in the text, was that she, like anyone may have done with access to such immense power and such a long lifespan, had the potential to become deserving of that label if she continued down the path. Alina giving up her power shows a distinct and beautiful difference between herself and the Darkling: she knew when to stop.
And she loved Mal. She loved him, and he loved her. So freaking much. Everything Mal does, every single decision he makes - even when they aren't all that smart - is born out of love for Alina. And they are both so very young.
Okay so I think that is pretty much everything I have to say off the top of my head, I hope that this was helpful! I feel like maybe a more nuanced/evenly-weighted explanation was what you were looking for and I'm sorry if this was too heavily weighted against, but people posting in the pro darkling tag will absolutely be able to explain their own arguments better than I can and I don't think I would be able to present them accurately to their opinions because they'd be affected by my own in my writing.
And, again, I am really not looking to start any kind of argument with anyone over this, I'm just explaining my reasons for where I fall and if anyone reading this disagrees then please remember that my opinions don't discredit your own, they are yours and mine are mine :) <33
Thanks for the ask! <3
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12-alien-wolves-stan · 2 years ago
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Malkolai ft Anna’s (actress of Tamar) excellent commentary
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timeandspacelord · 3 months ago
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DID I HEAR YOU REQUEST KAZOLAI ASKS BELOVED 👀
Did any of their friends or family want them to get together? (I feel like I know the answer to this but…)
Who whispers inappropriate things in the other’s ear? (Again, I feel like I know the answer to this one but 👀👀)
What are their favorite things to do together? (crime)
Who’s more protective?
What are some songs that apply to their relationship, in-universe or otherwise?
Who kills the bugs in the house?
Who’s the better cook?
Okay hehehehehe
Did any of their friends or family want them to get together? Well, Zoya didn't, but Inej kind of did and Nina definitely did. Wylan probably thinks Nikolai will be a good influence on Kaz (laughable, really, they're the same person). Jesper will take any in he can get with the flying boat man
Who whispers inappropriate things in the other’s ear? Oh, both of them, constantly. It's a game (that started during their bet in Bastards in Crime) and they're both determined to come out as the winner. Nikolai does it more often, but that just makes it more potent when Kaz does it
What are their favorite things to do together? Cause mischief, of course. Torment Zoya by being flirtatious in her presence. Scheme. What are they planning? That's for them to know and you to find out >:)<
Who’s more protective? They're both protective in their own ways. Kaz is Like That™ the way he is with all his Crows. He doesn't show it much, but he definitely feels it. Nikolai is more openly protective, especially after [REDACTED] in BotSDitS. He'd never hinder Kaz in any way, but he does worry sometimes
What are some songs that apply to their relationship, in-universe or otherwise? This requires more thought. All I've been listening to lately is bardcore and none of those songs really apply (except, maybe parts of Bad Romance? "Thou art a criminal whilst thou art mine" comes to mind). If I think of anything else, I'll definitely like. reblog this with it lol
Who kills the bugs in the house? Kaz 100%. Nikolai's a little baby about it, because I think that's funny
Who’s the better cook? Logic says Kaz, but logic also says neither of them is particularly well-versed in the culinary arts
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barrel-crow-n · 1 year ago
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Mal: Having two partners is both amazing and complicated. But all our problems are solved with communication.
Alina, to Nikolai who has his arms around Mal: It’s my turn to cuddle Mal.
Nikolai: FIVE MORE MINUTES DAMMIT!
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marvelmusing · 2 years ago
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You should do a Possessive Alexander and Jealous Nikolai one shot. Where they are both pining for the reader to be there's and you can't decide which one to choose- oOoOO shiversssss.
I do have an idea kinda similar to this that’s been lingering in the back of my head for awhile.
Nikolai and the reader are childhood best friends (that are in love but won’t tell each other) but then he joins the army, and then disappears off to be Sturmhond (breaking the reader’s heart because he doesn’t tell her where he is or what he’s doing).
The reader becomes Chancellor of Ravka - a job with limited power despite the title. Most of her days are filled with paperwork as she tries to bring about change in Ravka - battling against the nobility to make life better for Grisha and the average Ravkan - which attracts the attention of a certain Second Army General.
When Nikolai returns to court he finds the reader is now very close to the General.
Cue the jealousy and pining between them all.
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zoyalaisobachka · 3 months ago
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I'm having a few post Rule of Wolves thoughts, so if you haven't read the book yet, skip it lol
After meeting his actual father and giving up the crown, does Nikolai keep the Lantsov name or would he choose Opjer? (I mean, it perhaps wouldn't be worth the effort since he'll surely propose to Zoya not too much later).
Would Zoya stick with her surname Nazyalensky or would she take her Suli fathers name Nabri, since her heritage is not just a little part of her regency?
Since the former kings chambers now belong to Zoya, where does Nikolai live? During RoW it didn't seem like they shared this space, so is it just a random other bedroom? (It probably wouldn't take too long for him to move back in tho 🤣).
Is he going back to sea more regularly? Stay over in Ketterdam now and then, annoying Kaz? Having nerd meetings with Wylan, missing David while at it?
I need answers.
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greensaplinggrace · 1 year ago
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🔥 I’m so curious any unpopular opinions you might have about Nikolai….
do you want me crucified? please nikolai is this fandom's baby 😭😭
I'm alksjdflks- neutral on Nikolai at the best of times and I dislike him at the worst of times.
as a character, I find him fun, but I also find the 'charming rogue' archetype tired when it comes to him. I don't necessarily hate the archetype, but for some reason the way bardugo leans on it so much to make nikolai appealing rubs me the wrong way. I think it's a cheap imitation of what could have been a better crafted character. the times I have found nikolai most appealing are when he's cunning, political, and practical - especially after he's infected by the merzost. I also really like how similar he actually is to the darkling in a lot of ways, that's compelling to me. but all of that just makes me neutral towards him.
what makes me often swing into dislike is his function within the narrative. he essentially serves as the White Savior, and even when he gives zoya power (which in itself is handled unrealistically), it is with the same functional plot power and armor of a White Savior. I don't like the way bardugo handled the grisha and the monarchy, and unfortunately nikolai is just too tied into it all.
but actually the biggest unpopular opinion about him for me is that I think he should have also been an antagonist. not only would it have actually given bardugo's message about 'men in power' a lot of weight, but it would have been a brilliant study in how being outcast and othered doesn't automatically make you bad, and how being loved and accepted (and actually charming lol - he would serve as a much better 'charming abuser in hiding' than the darkling) doesn't necessarily make you good.
because this scene -
“I’m telling you that if you want to be a leader, it’s time you started thinking and acting like one.”
“I’ve heard this before, you know, from the Darkling and his supporters. Be brutal. Be cruel. More lives will be saved in the long run.”
“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.”
-is the perfect setup to such a plot, and it would have given actual weight to what bardugo was trying to convey about men and power. it also would have gotten rid of the white savior trope, cast a more realistic light on the vilification of her only activist for the oppressed minority, and added more complexity to all of the characters.
tl;dr - unpopular opinion: nikolai would have served better as another antagonist, and I think his narrative function was unpleasant
send me a 🔥 for an unpopular opinion (x)
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ricardian-werewolf · 7 months ago
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List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who liked or reblogged something from you! get to know your mutuals and followers (ू•‧̫•ू⑅)♡
Patrick Gibson
Shadow and Bone
my friends
history (I have a final on Saturday and I never want to hear the words IR in a sentence ever again)
Nikolai Lantsov 6. Babylon Berlin - I've been hardlining the soundtrack along with shadow and bone for the past two weeks for this bloody final.
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featherstcnes · 2 months ago
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@heartsbreaking asked: [ underwater ] a kiss shared while submerged in water ( sturmhond/nikolai & lara/vasilissa )
it was late, and deep down, nikolai knew that they should be back to the ship by now. they'd been docked for a few days, and while a large chunk of his heart was taken by being on the open seas, another part of his heart was focused here, and on this moment. the moon was full tonight, and he could see it in the sky as the sun went through its last few moments of setting into the sea on the horizon. his eyes focused on lara as it felt like they almost circled each other. the waves were calm, the moonlight sparking among the surface. they both were swimming with legs and arms propelling them forward, the two of them close and then at some points, not close at all.
" lara - " he'd been wanting to say so much the entire night, and yet had felt like he could say nothing at all. he often had many lines or over dramatic analogies to drone on about at sturmhond, but when it came to matters of the heart, he felt a bit useless. but here, as their heads were both below the water, a hand reached out to reach for her cheek. he knew she was close, but the darkness of the night creeping in and his eyes closed, it left him fumbling in the dark. but as his fingers graced her skin, anchoring himself to her, he allowed himself to lean forward. he paused, just for a moment to allow her a chance to pull away before he leaned in to kiss her. it was soft, salt water cresting his lips before he pulled away, his fingers brushing against the skin of her cheek. here in the dark, eyes closed beneath the surface of the water, it was as if the two of them could be absolutely nobody -- he did not have to be sturmhond. he did not have to be anything other than who he was in this moment, here with her.
*  ―  𝑫𝑰𝑭𝑭𝑬𝑹𝑬𝑵𝑻 𝑾𝑨𝒀𝑺 𝑻𝑶 𝑲𝑰𝑺𝑺 𝑺𝑶𝑴𝑬𝑶𝑵𝑬. | accepting
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dregstrash · 2 years ago
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there’s this fic you wrote a while back called “these are our golden days” and I keep coming back to it when I’m in my zoyalai funk. So I was wondering, would you ever consider writing a chapter 2?
Hi!
Wow!
That fic was actually so much fun and I definitely think I had plans for it. So maybe a chapter 2 isn’t unrealistic. But I don’t know if I’ll get to it soon.
I do have a prequel if you’re interested:
If you wanted any of my other Zoyalai stuff I have a series on Ao3 (https://archiveofourown.org/series/2284442)
But if that isn’t your speed @wafflesandkruge has some phenom zoyalai stuff as well
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hyperfixatedonthisnow · 1 year ago
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I was reading your (n)sfw alphabet about Nikolai and you’re headcannon is that he likes to be submissive sometimes…is that why he’s called ‘puppy’ *hint hint* *wink wink*
In the books it’s used as a derogatory nickname, but I much prefer this idea! And let’s be honest, Nikolai gives off serious golden retriever puppy vibes, so yes this would definitely link in to the submissiveness imo 😁
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victoriousfidelity · 6 months ago
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@amreality said: "You don't know how glad I am to see you made it. Here, let me get you a drink." conversational sentence starters. | accepting.
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"I have a better idea," Sigyn smiles, taking Nikolai's arm and falling into step beside him. "Why don't you show me where the drinks are, and tell me why you included a request for moral support with the invitation I received for tonight."
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timeandspacelord · 1 year ago
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patron saint of Kazolai (Bastards in Crime my beloved 🖤)
All Kazolai shippers and non-shippers alike, come to me for unintelligible noises about how perfect the Kaz Nikolai parallels are
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where-theres-smoak-2 · 2 years ago
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Shadow and Bone' Season 2 Soundtrack Reveals First Single "Come Sail Away"
Did you see?
(Book Spoilers!)
I did, I gave it a listen too and maybe its just me but parts of it reminded me so much of He's a Pirate (the Pirates of the Caribbean theme). I mean listen to the first like 16 secs of Come Sail Away and then the opening chords of He's a Pirate and tell me they don't sound similar. The music for shadow and bone has always been really good and this single they released is no exception. I definitely feel like its got something to do with Nikolai our swashbuckling privateer prince. My theory is this will play either when Nikolai first makes an appearance on his ship, when Alina and Mal are sailing with Nikolai for the first time searching for the sea whip or it could be when the airship takes off for the first time, kind of a play on this idea of sailing away as they are in a boat but one that sails the clouds instead of the sea. They also released the titles for the full soundtrack and it has some interesting names in there for sure:
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Some of these are pretty straightforward Tolya and Tamar and Wylan are obviously the character theme songs and will likely play when we first see them or whenever they have a particularly big scene. Mattias Fights again is pretty obvious it'll be from the clip we saw in the trailer where it looks like Mattias is being forced into cage fights and Nina goes to see him.
Some of these titles definitely caught my eye though. The one titled Become The Blade I do think is in relation to Mal and that tattoo he gets so maybe we are going to see him get his tattoo this season. I do wonder though if they are going to change the wording of the tattoo to 'Become the Blade' as opposed to 'I am become a Blade'. I know alot of readers complained about the tattoo not being grammatically correct, I myself think its a bit of a mouthful and I always have to read it a few times to get the wording straight, it doesn't exactly roll smoothly off the tongue. I wonder if they might simplify it in the show to make it a bit more audience friendly?
Another two that I am excited by is Jesper's Past and Shu Han. I would love to learn more about both of these subjects. I didn't read the six of crows books so I don't know, well anything really, about those character's pasts so I am really looking forward to learning more about them. I've also always been interested in learning more about the other cultures in the grishaverse. We learnt a bit about Fjerda through Mattias so it will be interesting to learn more about Shu Han especially as our main character is part Shu Han.
Stronger Than An Emerald is yet another interesting one that I am sure has to do with Nikolai and maybe to do with his relationship with Alina. In the books his mother gives him the Lantsov Emerald which he then uses to propose to Alina with (this is mostly a political engagement). The Emerald comes into play again later after the darkling turns Nikolai into a winged beast using merzost, Nikolai manages to retain some of his mind and uses the emerald to show Alina he does still recognise her. I wouldn't be surprised if we see this play out in the show and Stronger Than An Emerald is played over the scene where Nikolai shows he still recognises Alina.
The last two that caught my attention is Let Me Be Your Monster and Hope For The Future. The latter one is actually one we had in season 1 and its what I refer to as the darklina theme as it plays during their first kiss scene, it also happens to be one of my favourite songs on season 1's soundtrack, its just so beautiful. It does make me wonder if there is going to be some big emotional moment between Alina and Aleks at some point during the season, maybe in one of their mind palace scenes? I just really hope its not that scene from the end of the third book, because I could not handle that, thanks but no thanks. As for Let Me Be Your Monster I again think this will be darklina related, it reminds me of three things for some reason, the first is Aleks' 'Fine make me your villain' line, 'Let me be your monster' just gives me very similar vibes. It also reminds me of one of the tether bond scenes, I think its in the third book but I am not 100% sure, where Aleks is kissing Alina's neck and says something like 'Let me... It isn't real, let me'. Its actually a surprisingly tender and vulnerable moment between them. The last thing it reminds me of is a couple of scenes from the books that have similar vibes, one is from the chapel scene in book 2 where Alina describes the darkling as being her monster too:
There was darkness inside me. He had put it there, and I would no longer deny it. The volcra, the nichevo’ya, they were my monsters, all of them. And he was my monster, too.
But there is also a scene in Ruin and Rising, again in the tether bond where the darkling is trying to convince Alina to be his queen and they have this exchange:
“You might make me a better man.” “And you might make me a monster.”
If I was going to guess I do think Let Me Be Your Monster might play during one of those tether/ mind palace scenes. Or it'll be from the chapel scene.
I am looking forward to the release of the soundtrack because as I said the season 1 soundtrack was so good so I am expecting good things from the season 2 soundtrack.
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kcrclrezni · 2 years ago
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me: ahaha if only i had cool action sequence content for my fc like in the show OH WAIT
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tricewithaz · 2 years ago
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Nikolai - 13
MY BOY!!
Nikolai is generally a pretty cocky, confident person. Not really one to get embarrassed easily and definteley accepts compliments with pride. That being said:
A really deep crush being too noticed to be appropriate. See: "Your heart is in your eyes". Oh I know his ears were crimson red.
A strong willed woman (ahem zoya ahem) being a bit too close to him, to powerful in that situation, could easily kill him in a flick of a nail. Her eyes slowly scanning him, a flutter of her lashes. Heart racing, in a good way,
Being percieved as cute. Not attractive, not hot. not handsome. Cute. Something that generally stopped happening around the age of sixteen. But when a friend or a lover messes his hair up when he's concentrated, when Zoya smirks silently when he gets into his engineering endeavors, something warms him up from the inside and he can't really contain a smile. There's a boyish charm to him that he doesn't really notice.
Getting caught being a bit too excited about something, particularly novels.
Talking about which: romance novels. I'm talking kicking his bed and giggling.
He still doesn't get used to Zoya kissing him on the cheeks. Surprises him every time and he shortcircuits for a second.
give me a character+a number and i'll give you a hc
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