#Darkling Book Two

[author-a-holmes]

Nanowrimo 2022 - Day Five

November is always my worst month for writing. It doesn't matter how carefully I plan, something always crops up.

This year, that something was a hospital checkup for my mum that I had to help out with.

She's fine, the outpatient procedure went well, and she's recovering at home, but it's made the start of Nano a slower one than I'd like.

Not only haven't I managed to get the 3-4 day buffer I prefer to have in place by the end of the first week, but I've actually fallen a little bit behind. And considering this year my goal is bigger than I've ever aimed for, I'll admit to being a little concerned.

But the thing is there's no point stressing. All words are good words, and all forward progress is good progress.

And if I have to keep writing into December, then I do!

How's everyone elses words coming? On target? Ahead? Or behind, like me!

[batmanlovesnirvana]

When they’re tragic “chosen ones” whose immense power and destiny lead them down morally ambiguous & tragic paths… a.k.a :

Anakin Skywalker

The Darkling

Paul Atreides

Daenerys Targaryen

me :

[aleksanderscult]

(Just to make sure it sent 😂)

What do you think would happen if book!Aleksander and Show!Aleksander met? I know people mostly make jokes and memes (because it’s fun so you can answer on a funny note too) but I’m actually really curious on what would happen if they sat down and were in a room together. Like for at least a few days they were around each other and what they thought of each other.

For some reason when I picture it, I always picture it in an universe/setting/whatever where they (for reasons that don’t matter) came back to life and it’s post-alina and they are telling each other how their version of the story went in it’s completion

You don’t have to answer it that way or picture it that way, but I’m just convinced that you would have the best view on it!

That ask was never sent. wtf?? 😭😭

*tumblr when i catch you 😠*

The funny thing is that I have already a meme of Book!Darkling and show!Darkling in my drafts. I've just never posted it.

For some reason the only place I imagine book!Darkling and show!Darkling meeting is the afterlife (😭).

Book!Darkling: "Who are you?"

Show!Darkling: "I am you"

Book!Darkling: ".....why do you have a beard?"

And if they had a conversation Book!Darkling would just want to slap his show counterpart for sooo many reasons.

Some of them are:

- Why is the show version so emotional all the time??

- Why does he display his emotions in general that easy? Book!Darkling was always trying to remain composed and the moments where he let his true feelings show was either because he was having an emotional upheaval thanks to Alina or Mal or because the situation was serious (the tent scene, the mutiny scene, the name reveal scene etc.)

- Why the HELL did the show version reveal his name that easily?? Throughout his childhood, Aleksander had his mother say to him "Never reveal your name to anyone. Never let them come close" and it's something that he kept. Until Alina came, he fell in love with her and revealed his name to her only after two whole books passed. After deeming her worthy to know it. The Darkling is a secretive person. By having the show version so open to Alina they took away the "mark" that his childhood and Baghra left on him and the beauty and preciousness of the name reveal scene.

- Why is he such a simp? Seriously Book!Darkling would question the identity of the show one. Like "Are you seriously me? Are we sure about it?". To be honest, Book!Darkling was a different kind of simp for Alina. He admired her for who she truly was (a strong, at times merciless woman, that was stubborn and fierce), not for what she thought she was (a girl that cannot handle difficult circumstances but tries anyway 'cause she has to). But even though he admired her for it, he never let it become his whole personality or let it distract him from his one, true goal: the safety of Ravka. Show!Darkling is such a simp that honestly this was his whole personality. This and the "tearing up" thing.

So, generally, I believe he would judge him hard for all of these and question his decisions. For the Book!Darkling is not at all hard to judge someone but it would especially easy to do it with the show version. He would disapprove hard and reject his identity as "the Darkling" 'cause he wouldn't remind him at all of himself.

And, since this ask requires a meme (😌), here's how Book!Darkling would react to his show counterpart's actions:

[lilisouless]

Grishaverse fandom myth : people hate Zoya because they have only seen the show and not read the books

Reality: people that have have only watched the show have stopped hating Zoya since season 1’s ending , they ignore her at the very worst , the people that hate her do it because she didn’t support him and those are both show only fans AND book readers

[singwith-love-at-our-throats]

gonna attempt to print and bind buffy fanfic into a real book, wish me luck

[mermaidhugs]

Looking forward to reading six of crows

[multiverselibrarian]

we want YOU for the second army

[marvelmusing]

Grisha Trilogy Book Covers

[callmefirefly]

This looks nothing short of EPIC!

It’s going to be the longest month of my life waiting for this

[author-a-holmes]

Nanowrimo 2022 - Day Ten

And... we're officially well behind lol.

It's okay though. There's still time. And even if I write nothing else this month, I've made 5k progress!

I have plans for making this weekend a 10k weekend to try and catch up. Gonna set myself up with a Social Media ban, and just write all day on Saturday and Sunday, and see where I end up.

The last five days weren't a complete collection of zero days though. Although I didn't count any of it for nano, I did spend some time editing another chapter of Changeling.

That needed some rewriting. So I've got some words in, just none of the words I actually needed.

The 787 words I did get were done between 11 pm and midnight on the 10th, so right at the 11th hour. I'm hoping that's a sign of things beginning to pick up again.

How's everyone else doing?

[jakejeffreyperalta]

LISTEN. LISTEN. absolutely NO hate to the show i think they are doing a wonderful job and the casting is absolutely perfect but book zoya would make show zoya CRY. book nikolai's personality would make show nikolai's personality look like a piece of cardboard. show darkling would violently throw up for days if he ever encountered book darkling. the only person who is actually better in the show is mal 😭

[bravenewwork]

I watched Shadow and Bone S2 for like 12 times now and I might have slowly descended into madness but I have some thoughts:

* I was kind of put off by how bad Jessie Mei Lis acting was in basically all of the scenes with the Darkling and many times with Mal as well especially in the later episodes BUT then I thought:

what if it's intentional?? Jessie is an amazing actress and overacting doesn't seem like her style. SO what if it is actually Alina who was acting?? I feel like she has outgrown her old self so much at this point. She likes her power, she actually wants more of it. And she still feels the powerful connection to the darkling (see how she literally lights up when he touches her - the spark is still there). But she is still so caught up in her righteous cause that she is not willing to admit it to herself. When she talks to the darkling I felt like she is trying to convince herself of her motives as much as Kirigan, but you can see that it's getting harder for her to keep up the pretense.

* the same actually goes for her realtionship with Mal. He is absolutely right, she has outgrown him and in the very near future he would just hold her back. I feel like they both now it, but also won't admit it. I found it so weird when she couldn't find Mal after the attack by Kirigan's shadow monsters at the engagement party and was hardly worried about him. She asked for him a couple of times but her priorities were clearly on her mission. In S1 she would have moved everything to find him, this time he was more of an afterthought. And when he finally showed up, she yelled at him because he interrupted her connection with Kirigan and didn't seem relieved at all. ALSO: to me it looked like it was super easy for her to kill him in the end. She hardly hesitated, didn't shed a tear and clearly cared more about his amplifying power than him. In S1 she gave up the stag to protect him, this time she seemed very ready to kill the alleged love of her life to gain the power to destroy the fold.

* about tolnej: At first I was like wtf but after rewatching I don't think that the glance from Tolya was something romantic. In the books he's apparently aro/ace, so I really hope that they don't change that.

My theory is: He is a heartrender, so he is able to pick up on changes in her body. He is already intrigued by her (see the hallucination scene, the fight with Neyar). I feel like he kept an eye on her.

In the boat scene, he reaches out his hand and she takes it. For her, this is an immediate and stark contrast to what just happened before with Kaz. This is the kind of support she wants, someone who is able to touch her and hold her (even if it's hard) I imagine she also feels some kind of relief that the situation with Kaz is finally coming to a conclusion (from her POV), since the feelings are now on the table and the ball is in his court. She's reclaimed her independence during the whole season (e.g. "what happens here is up to me", freeing the women instead of returning to Kaz, setting boundaries in her relationship with him) and boarding the ship highlights that.

She feels different, hopeful, stronger and more independant. And by touching her hand, I image that Tolya felt the change in her.

Sorry for the rant, I will now return to watching it one more time. I need help.

[littleladybirdsblog]

“Why do you ship Darklina; it’s such a toxic ship?” 

Ben Barnes and Jessie Mei Li are hot. Next question.

[zoya-nazyalenskys]

mal being the third amplifier is still the most dumb and left fieldy decision ever 🙄

[nicollekidman]

can’t stop thinking about them cutting to a season one kiss flashback when the darkling is talking about finding peace for a moment… i literally had to pause bc i thought there was NO way. no subtlety no subtext no ambiguity they were like. show!darkling was just trying to Get Her Back but he forgot how to be normal about 300 years ago.