#anti Darklina

[evellynssocbrainrot]

So Screen Rant ranked the ships of the Shadow and Bone TV show, and...

Kaz and Inej seem to be second place with...

Alina and The Darkling being first and that is honestly the most insulting thing I've ever seen.

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

Something something the volumes it speaks that the Darkling felt the need to put Zoya and Alina in competition with each other and put them against each other from the moment they met so that they wouldn’t be able to immediately acknowledge what was being done to them and unite against him something something

[dcvina-claires]

alina starkov i am sorry that no one understands your character. i’m sorry that you have been reduced to the “boring female lead in a love triangle.” i’m sorry that they don’t understand that you were never in a love triangle, but a victim of abuse. i’m sorry they don’t understand the metaphor of the sunlight in your soul outweighing the darkness in your abusers. i’m sorry that they didn’t love you after your light burned out and i’m sorry that they didn’t want you to have a peaceful ending

[lpa6zn]

Character created to show that society easily forgives physically attractive people: *exists* Society: *proves the point*

[blues-valentine]

As messy as this season was the scene with Alina, Genya and Zoya watching Darkling, their abuser — burn, was a really powerful moment.

[lainalit]

artists: darklina: missescara_23 | feysand: alexandrabrlm_art

[glitter50000]

Alina asked if he regretted any of his actions that he made over the course of the trilogy and he said he would be lying if he did and some people think he would’ve treated her right

[shewhotellsstories]

I actually don't like characters giving up their magic. It's been a thing with me since the first time I saw Hercules as a kid, so I get wanting Alina to keep her powers. I get wishing for her to have ended up alone at the end of the series. Still, I personally don't think D*rklina stans particularly liked Alina's character and before I blocked the tag I saw a lot of folks who seemed to just care about the Darkling's feelings and his feelings alone. Or worse, felt Alina was more at fault for things the Darkling set in motion than he was. (Alina's more complicit in Genya being raped repeatedly than the person who handed her over as a gift as a small child, apparently.)

[the-witch-of-woods-beyond]

pisses me off to absolutely no end whenever i see people say alina deserves better than mal and then in the same breath say they ship her with the darkling. like okay you find a traumatized teenage boy annoying so your idea is to ship the seventeen-year-old girl, who has never known comfort, with her abuser...................who used and manipulated her for her power only to steal it from her when she refused to cooperate with his plans of genocide...................who murdered the closest thing she had to a mother and the man who trained her to find strength in herself.......................and then showed her their bodies and said he’d kill everyone she ever knew until all she had was him..................okay then you do you i guess.

[theamazingannie]

The Darkling told Alina, “I will strip away all that you know, all that you love, until you have no shelter but me” and people still ship them as if they have some great romantic connection and not a classic abusive relationship

[lady-a-stuff]

I think people forget that one of the main themes in Shadow and Bone is summarized in "What is infinite? The universe and the greed of men." It's about the corruption by power, the awful things someone would do to achieve the power and basically saying that there must be a line you wouldn't cross. Alina asks Nikolai if he wouldn't walk her up the gallows steps himself if it would mean he would get closer to the throne and he gets shocked cause he doesn't know, he only hopes he wouldn't, he hopes he wouldn't cross this line, and a few moments later is she feeling ill cause she threatened to take the few comforts of a woman that lost all hope just because she wouldn't help her to get the power of the third amplifier "You’re taking to power well.… As it grows, it will hunger for more." says Baghra, and Baghra herself had tried to help her son to not cross this line but she couldn't save him.

So people forget this and go around saying Alina should have chosen the corrupted or that Mal is an asshole because he's wary of the path she's taking and this kind of infuriates me cause if you wanted a different end to Alina then you missed the point entirely

[persuedbybear]

If you are a Darkling or Darklina stan, particularly in the books, just keep scrolling, this post is not for you. No seriously, you're not going to like what I say.

I keep seeing this rhetoric that Leigh Bardugo either mid or post series totally changed her version of the characters and which relationship she supports. I will agree that she's gotten more vocal about how much she doesn't support Darklina, but from the beginning of the series, she made it very clear what story she was telling.

We are told on page one of book one that not only does Alina end up with Mal, but that that is how it's supposed to be. Every book starts and ends the same way, with The Boy and The Girl. It's literally the framework of the series. Alina is the protagonist and the narrator, but it was always their story, not hers.

The Darkling, since book one, is confirmed to be an abusive, manipulative, self-serving, power hungry, child abducting and trafficking, mass murderer. And the writing never wavers on that. It never tries to redeem him. Because there is no redemption from that. There is no equation where my mother was mean to me + ends justify the means + loneliness = absolution for his actions.

There are moments that humanize him, where it is explained why he does what he does, and times when you are meant to be drawn in by him. But those are there to show that he isn't a monster, he's a monstrous human being, and that's worse.

It's completely in character when we learn in book 3 that he never actually cared about Alina, and only valued her powers and specifically what they could do for him, because his actions were driven by selfishness from the moment we met him. He's fascinating, and pitiable, but he was never presented as a hero, or even an anti-hero. He was always the villain.

[stromuprisahat]

Aleksander: “I have no intention of hurting you. You must know that by now.”

Alina: “Forgive me if I don't take you at your word.”

Oh truly? When did he hurt you? When he upgraded your uncontrollable powers? Is that why you continue to do so by yourself now?

Aleksander: “I was honest about what mattered.”

Alina: “Like creating the Fold?”

The Darkling’s always as honest as possible, while not endangering himself and his goals. Makes sense. If you live as long as him, it would be immensely hard to keep track of the lies, so he’s just adjusting interpretations.

Alina’s list of concerns:

Mal

Destroying the Fold

Aleksander: “Your obsession with the Fold is naive. Destroying it won't solve Ravka's problems. They've hated us and hunted us long before the Fold existed. I was there. Now stop this, please. And come with me. We'll rule together side by side. I promised that you and I would change the world. And I intend to keep that promise.”

Not a single word that isn’t truth. I only wouldn’t offer her equality. She’s too short-sighted and inexperienced for that.

Alina: “That is never going to happen.”

Good. He should snatch Nikolai and marry him.

Aleksander: “How do you see this playing out? You and your Lantsov Prince happily ever after? Your faithful tracker curled up at the foot of your throne.”

I’m certain there would be no issues concerning possible heirs, since Nikolai paternity’s questionable, the line of succession should continue through him and people hate Grisha. I’m sure Sun Saint would be venerated enough for people to accept some deserter’s bastard on a throne.

Aleksander: “I have seen what you truly are, and I have never turned away. I never will. Can they say the same?”

Honey, you have some serious illusions about what she is. 

- Do you know what an imago is, Will? ... a term from the dead religion of psychoanalysis. An imago is an image of a loved one, buried in the unconscious, carried with us all our lives.

~ An ideal.

- The concept of an ideal...

Hannibal 02×13- Mizumono

Alina: “They're not the ones obsessed with power and control.”

Neither is he, but the writers didn’t get the memo...

Aleksander: “Power must be controlled. And you are playing a very dangerous game with it.”

Well, yes! She just bitched about her lack of control like five minutes ago! But we can’t have our heroine admit the Baddie’s right, can we?

Alina: “You don't want me to tear down the Fold, because if I do, I'll destroy the only thing you have left.”

I just looove Alina’s empathy. Aleksander let her in enough to show her what their lives look like after few lifetimes, and instead of her at least considering how will that affect her, she’s mocking him.

Aleksander: “Have it your way.”

Sorry, but at this point I want your heartless girlboss dead. Shame the Darkling doesn't.

[lpa6zn]

[blues-valentine]

Re-watching S&B again and Alina was given zero exploration as a character because they were so busy rushing through the plot and everything about her felt extremely hollow which is truly such a shame because the show has not given Alina the level of nuance and intelligence she has as a character in the books.

The thing about Alina choosing to lead and accept Nikolai’s proposal at the end of Season 2 without any sort of question is not only that it was so uncharacteristic of her but it removes the nuance of those choices. Alina’s ending on R&R has more weight when you know how Alina viewed life in court, how she knew that people were using her as a pawn for their agenda and she was the only one not making choices for herself. Nikolai wanted her as a queen to strength his claim to the throne and unify the second army. The Darkling wanted her power. The Apparant wanted her to be a Saint. A lot of her circle of friends extended some level of expectations towards her as well.

At the end of the season, Alina feels like a fanfic version, very watered down and like they tried too hard to make her so “female heroin” but forgot the aspect of her that was conflicted, not the nuanced Alina from the books. They didn’t give her the time to show that she was in fact someone that was aware of how those choices would impact her life and her desire to be seem as more than just someone that fulfills a role or duty. It removes the depth of contemplating those choices because being a savior, a queen, a saint, was something thrown on her and while she loved her power it was also difficult for her. Alina’s dilemma over her situation deserved exploration instead of his hollowed version. They could’ve at least make it more nuanced, make a point that Alina was choosing this for Ravka, because she thought it was her responsibility to the people, not for herself.

There’s are actual book quotes from Alina (*BOOK SPOILERS):

ー Siege and Storm (Chapter 21).

ー Ruin and Rising (Chapter 8).

ー Siege and Storm (Chapter 21).

ー Siege and Storm (Chapter 23).

ー Ruin and Rising (Chapter 7).

ー Ruin and Rising (Chapter 16).

ー Ruin and Rising (Chapter 10).

ー Ruin and Rising (Chapter 18).

ー Ruin and Rising (Chapter 18).

Alina knew she would have to marry Nikolai if she wanted to achieve some level of peace for Ravka but she also viewed it as a way to amend for the things she thought were her fault. It was never a dream for her. It was a constant source of anxiety. Alina was a tormented girl that wanted peace and she was aware her visibility would never allow her that. And, an important thing the show skipped is that Alina was suicidal and she constantly contemplated death as the only alternative for her pain mostly because of her powers and their effect on her.

Yeah, I know the show is changing things up but denying Alina the exploration of her own thoughts and why being the sun summoner, a queen or a saint was an added pressured to her existence that goes beyond Darkling or the fold is basically ignoring her as a character. Ignoring Alina’s Santakhood was erasing a core element of her persona. Ignoring Alina’s distaste for the royal court was also refusing to give Alina some depth. Alina had layers. She was seduced by power just as much as she was disgusted by it. She was seduced by a glamorous life just as much as she knew it was all pretenses. And at the end, choosing to step away from that was her choice. Faking her death, creating her own matyrhood was her own choice, marrying Mal and leaving the palace was her own choice. Alina’s ending is supposed to be bittersweet but it was her own desire, not someone else's. She wasn’t made to chose this for a sense of responsibility or duty. Alina not having her powers was the only way she could’ve archived the peace she desperately longed for.

I do like the idea of this version exploring her in a position of power and how would that be for her but it’s the fact they just turned her into whatever that was at the end, the typical “I get to be a queen in pretty dresses and Nikolai is flirting with me” version that goes so far from who Alina is. Her not being able to express her fears over being a queen or such an influencial figure made her arc feel empty. It feels like they just forced her into a figure of “empowerment” because this fandom has convinced themselves that Alina wanting to live a peaceful and domestic life — after not being able to chose her own destiny for the whole trilogy, somehow regresses feminism.

I really hope Season 3 (if it happens) turns this around and committs to give Alina her depth and the exploration she deserves because I do not stand for this girlbossification of Alina. Luckily, I still have the books. If Alina is going to have powers in this show version, let it be her own powers and not someone else's because Alina being an extension of Darkling with his dark powers was one of her biggest fears. They aren’t even allowing her agency on her own.

[queen-of-weird-girlboy-nation]

No but there’s something about malina finding peace and happiness in that orphanage. I would read a whole book about their life there yes I would