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siriuslyobsessedwithfiction · 1 month ago

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This post argues that most Darklina shippers ignore Alina’s lack of agency and the abusive dynamics in the series. Alina’s choices were largely controlled by powerful men — especially the Darkling — and the only real choice she made for her own happiness was to be with Mal. The Darkling manipulated, isolated, and abused her, stripping away her autonomy, especially through the amplifiers that symbolically and literally controlled her power. Even Nikolai, though seen as a fan favorite, initially approached Alina with political motives and pressured her into an alliance. Throughout the trilogy, Alina is used as a tool by various men, with Mal being the only one who loved and supported her for who she truly was, without any hidden agenda. The post critiques the romanticization of Darkling and emphasizes how Mal’s love was the only genuinely selfless and honest one in Alina’s life.

Okay, I guess this will be my essay I was going to publish anyway.

Alina Starkov and her inability to form healthy relationships

Let's put the Darkling and Nikolai aside for a moment. Yes, the only decision the famously indecisive Alina made for herself was continuously choosing Mal even though he was continuously shitting on her and not choosing her while for some reason also asking her to choose him. Why should we clap for that?

For many years now fans have been arguing about which love interest is best suited for Alina. The most objective answer to that question is none. In order to explain why first we need to dive deeper into Alina’s character and both her platonic and romantic relationships. The main problem with Alina's relationships seems to be the fact that she is an extremely passive character and rarely takes action, unless she's absolutely forced to do so. That is, if we don't count her suicide attempts. I think she is just written that way and obviously I cannot bash a fictional character for the way she is written by the author. LB's writing style there reminds me of a self-insert fan fiction from Wattpad. So Alina's lack of agency is actually the author's fault.

Of course as a typical y/n, Alina doesn't go out of her way to take action or make friends. They sort of come to her, like Marie and Nadia immediately assuming the roles of "best friend side characters in a new setting to provide exposition and gossip". The only one she seems to desperately hold onto and go to far lengths to to keep him in her life is Mal. Most of the time he doesn't even want to be there and makes that explicitly clear by weaponized incompetence: claiming that Alina doesn't need him while she consistently states that she needs him for support, not just tracking. But Mal constantly whines how he is useless, a one trick pony and the only thing he has to offer to her is tracking, even though the only thing Alina really needed, especially in the second book, is some comfort. Which ironically, Alina's proclaimed enemy - the Darkling provided. He sat with her during long nights and silently kept her company while Mal was out there drinking, gambling and sleeping with other women instead of performing his duty as Alina's captain of the guard.

Which is so bizarre. The "big bad manipulator" Darkling has plenty of alone time with her during multiple nights and never speaks to her, let alone manipulates or torments her. On the other hand, every time she interacts with Mal, they fight, he makes it about himself, asks her to make things go back to the way they were (that being her being sickly and fragile and trailing behind him like a mouse) as if she can turn back time. As if they aren't in the middle of a brewing civil war. As if Alina doesn't have a duty and a purpose for the first time in her life. Alina was overwhelmed by responsibilities she wasn't ready to take on, and her best friend Mal does the opposite of helping. He acts childishly and ignores his job instead of supporting her. Mal's big fight with Alina drives her to the point of running away aimlessly in the city in her pajamas and attempting suicide. Suicide, people. Mal is not her friend, let alone a good love interest.

It's important to remember that he didn't support her or accept her for what she was for two books straight, then made a belated 180 degree switch when the author decided that Malina would be endgame. Even the epilogue in RaR sucks. Once again, Alina is frail and strange, servants (who she now employs) don't respect her, sneer and make fun of her, while her now husband Mal turns a blind eye. Everything is back to the way it was: Mal thrives, Alina is...there, missing an essential part of herself, isolated, friendless unless her old ones visit once a year. The ending is supposed to be bittersweet, a couple who survived a war building a new life together, but I don't see the sweet part.

Alina had grown up into an extremely controlled and shut off environment. Not only did she live in a small village, she also lived in an orphanage which was basically a cult. It's crucial for development of children's minds and psych for them to have some sort of moral and core values explained and ingrained into them. Alina grew up in an orphanage where she did not have friends except Mal. Her only mother figure was an abusive hostile sexist woman. She doesn't really believe in saints and we never see her actually strive to make her country better. Her patriotism is usually out of obligation because she is stuck with her powers or because a charming person like Nikolai told her that they could do a lot of good together. Her only driving force in life is Mal. That is extremely unhealthy.

I do not want to blame Alina for not being an extrovert and going out of her way to make friends but I think we should acknowledge that her insecurities often get in the way of her forming relationships. She doesn't make friends in the first army because she is insecure about how small and fragile she is and maybe some people were cruel to her and if they were, it's understandable why she would be hesitant to put herself out there. But the thing is though, the very first thing we see from her, the very first words she utters are hostile towards the person who just bumped into her. Someone says to her "watch where you're going" and she snaps at him: "why don't you watch your fat feet". Well, fat shaming was certainly not necessary. She could just say "sorry" or "watch where you're going yourself" or just "piss off". She immediately retaliates to point out his "flaw" because only thing she sees in herself are her own flaws. The sentence she says after that in her inner monologue is that the soldier probably didn't expect lip from a scrawny little thing like her.

She shames others and then shames herself and the cycle repeats and it never goes anywhere. She doesn't learn to not judge herself or others and that is one of the reasons why she can't form healthy relationships. Furthermore, when she gets to the little Palace, she's prejudiced against Grisha and doesn't try to make any friends once again. As an introvert I understand why she wouldn't want to in new environment but but the smart thing would be to not be completely alone. The only "friends" she made are the ones who came up to her and literally stuck to her - Marie and Nadia, and she didn't really care about them.

Then, there's Genya. Alina finds out that Genya has been accepted into the second army and that she was a spy for the Darkling and she immediately takes it as a personal offense. In reality, Genya was a servant, a Grisha without color, so she should've seen the spy thing coming. The darkling wasn't in the little Palace most of the time so obviously he would have someone to keep an eye on her. Also she guilt-trips Genya when she doesn't immediately take Alina's side and even when we hear Genya's backstory and what she went through, Alina doesn't feel nearly as sympathetic as she should have for a friend. Why would Genya put her trust in the girl, who is allied with her abusers - the royal family, and for months didn't even care to get to know people around her, since she was only there until she could find a way to reconnect with her one sided childhood crush? Genya was well-versed in political situations and got double dose of suffering as a Grisha and as a servant, while Alina didn't even accept being Grisha. She should've known Alina wouldn't stay and bother to liberate Grisha and she didn't. She left everything up to the family who was responsible to Genya's rape for years. And Nikolai, who Alina praises to heavens and claims is the best future for Ravka, sent his rapist father to a nice luxurious retirement in the Southern colonies, as well as his mother who was equally at fault for what happened to Genya because she was the one who removed her protection from Genya and allowed the king to rape her. Alina doesn't express any concern over that, nor did she express concern when the King was in her presence and spent his days "chasing servant girls". Ew. Just ew. Alina sees what happened to Genya before her very eyes and allows it to happen. Alina is not Genya's friend.

Even in Siege and Storm, for some reason, Alina demands loyalty from Grisha who she hasn't done anything good for. What do they owe her? Alina came to the little Palace, didn't train, was prejudiced against them and they're supposed to choose her over the man who gave them shelter and trained them and kept them safe? Alina claims she does not want to be a saint or a queen or a leader one second and the next she demands unquestioning loyalty from other Grisha, as well as Nikolai's rogue Grisha and her cult. But do we really see her doing anything for them? No. When she went to the little Palace all she said is that the darkling was a psychopath and that he would take over the world, which he wasn't even planning to do. And then she threatened the remaining Grisha in the little Palace that she would have them in chains if they didn't listen to her. Imagine if the Darkling did that. She never really befriends the Grisha that stuck with her. When the inferni Hershaw shares his backstory and tells them how in the Wandering Isle people crack Grishas' heads open because they believe that their blood has magical properties, even brash Zoya is appalled and expresses her condolences. Meanwhile all Alina thinks about is herself, that Hershaw sharing his backstory means that he will place his hope for a better world for Grisha in Alina now and how she doesn't want that kind of responsibility.

The point is that Alina never goes through the steps that are required to make a friend, but when she needs one, she always demands to have them there at her beck and call. Otherwise they are a terrible person, a traitor for not being on her side and the Darkling's puppet.

Even the Darkling, who wasn't in the little Palace most of the time, who always traveled across the whole country to various military points to ensure that the borders were controlled, a person who couldn't allow anyone to get close to him, who had to remain professional with everyone, who couldn't let anyone know that he was an amplifier, still had more friends than Alina who he encouraged to make friends. He had his personal guard - the Oprichniki, and a few heartrenders he was close to, like Ivan for example. Alina only has a few Grisha during the trilogy whose names we even find out and she never even checked up on them. When they come to her with their grievances Alina never takes the opportunity to grow closer with them. No, it's always about Mal, who's doing just fine without her but will complain how she's not paying attention to him.

Now, as for the Darkling, her interactions with him are very open in Shadow and Bone. It's just good communication between them when he was in the little Palace. They talked, Alina wallowed in her insecurities and he actually found her sour humor funny, which was very cute. And he did his best to answer her questions and ease her worries. He literally told her he was over 120 years old, that had been waiting for her for a long time, that he finally felt a connection with someone. And here's the thing: Alina never outwardly rejected his advances. She told him he was no longer alone, that he had her, the damned kiss was consensual. And then Alina runs away with Mal and goes back to every prejudice she initially had about him. What is he supposed to feel? He tries to get her back. And he bargains and shows he's willing to negotiate even after she screwed up his carefully planned coup. He even says that he doesn't mind her thing with Mal because he will die eventually or she will find out that it won't work out with him. The Darkling's primary goal wasn't "manipulating" or "possessing'' Alina, it was saving Ravka from collapsing. But over the next two books, she refuses to look at the big picture and properly address the problems which darkling is trying to fix. If only Alina actually talked to him instead of throwing baseless accusations every five seconds. She could literally call him anytime through the tether, he visited her all the time and she just refused to communicate. If she no longer wanted a relationship with him, she could at least speak to him about serious matters, like avoiding the civil war the country clearly couldn't take.

Her relationship with Nikolai was not genuine. Did it have potential to actually become genuine if they acknowledged each other’s flaws? Yes. But Alina justified Nikolai’s selfish ambitions as him trying to do what’s best for Ravka while never granting the Darkling the same leniency. She is appalled at Darkling’s willingness to kill the Grisha who turned on him after he asked him to not make him to do it and not to start an actual civil war but is okay with Nikolai sacrificing the Grisha loyal to Alina to get himself on the throne. What’s the difference between Nikolai’s and the Darkling’s relationship to Alina? Nikolai presents himself better in order to stay in her good graces. The Darkling is a general, Nikolai is a politician. The Dakling told her how it was, what he had to do, and Alina couldn’t handle the ugly truth. In both Shadow and Bone and Siege and Storm, we see the Darkling call her out numerous times, asking her the real questions:

Why would she run without giving him a chance to explain himself? (She was still prejudiced against him and didn’t view him as an actual human being even after how much kindness he had shown her)

What was her long-term plan? (She didn’t have one)

Did she really want Mal or Nikolai? (She wasn’t sure)

Nikolai never bothered her with such difficult questions. He was all too glad to prance her around, use her as a political tool, be charming to her and show her a glimpse of a wounded boy with a dream. Funny how fans call the Darkling the manipulator when all he had was a strategy to help Grisha, and yes, for that he needed Alina’s power. He actually risked his plan at the winter fete with his flustered flirting. You’d think he’d be better at it, and perhaps he could be, but he was actually too honest and hopeful too soon.

Meanwhile, Nikolai needed Alina for his image, to strengthen his claim to the throne even though legally he had no right to it. Who is truly the selfish one here? Nikolai kissed her in public without consent and then shoved her into a carriage, practically trapped her in an engagement…Do we really believe he wouldn’t expect her to be involved in politics, uphold their image as King as Queen and for her to birth an heir? The Darkling put a collar on her because she ran away, ignored her duty and responsibilities to her people and her country, and screwed up his carefully planned coup. And because she needed the amplifiers because she didn't train and couldn't to anything without them. I will not hear the degrading “she was just a girl” as an excuse. It’s an explanation, sure, but not an excuse. She was an adult, she was a soldier, and her running away and refusing to cooperate was the equivalent of someone stealing the nuclear codes and the only cure to the land of Chernobyl infested with zombies. She was considered a saint as soon as she was discovered for that very reason, because she was crucial to any sort of plan for Ravka. Nikolai and Darkling have lots of similarities in that regard. They claim everything they do, they do it for Ravka.

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