#positive Malina

[stromuprisahat]

Chapter 3- the rest

Alina’s microaggression towards Genya, Genya’s convenient change of heart and a drop of Malina. Oh, and a line I’d have loved to hear in the show.

Oh no, Genya doesn’t even bother to learn your fellow deserter's name! Shame on her, right, Alina?! Let’s react the way you know hurt her before! I can't wait for Genya to betray the Darkling for this girl!

I can practically hear Ben Barnes spit this out.

You ~think~?

Why?

Because I genuinely don’t understand Genya’s motivation here. Alina’s constantly treating her like a leper, but Genya keeps coming back for more as if gaining Alina’s friendship was her only goal.

Don’t forget to reassure your SO current situation’s NOT his fault (debatable, given the idiocy of your way of “hiding”)! Gosh, Alina, not everyone is in possession of your immense sense of self-blame.

This could’ve been such a sweet scene, if I didn’t know it’s between codependent dumpster fire and bigot trash, and the Great Villain’s goal is peace and acceptance...

[malinastharlock]

Shit! I forgot to post this yesterday. Hooray for boobies.

[rotisseries]

something about nina sitting there trying to start up mal's heart while alina leans over him, holding him dead in her arms, begging him to come back to her. something about how alina DOES get him back. how she calls him and he comes. something about how nina is witness to that. something about how one day nina will lean over matthias, holding him dying in her arms, begging him to come back to her, and he won't

[black-rose-writings]

Malina for ship game bc Im evil

Post in question: 3 good things about the ship

So, to get it out of the way, fuck you Nonny.

Number 1: It had a decent potential.

Like many things in the Grishaverse, the tragedy is the paths not taken.

For the book version, especially, because the characters are young and could have grown a lot through the relationship, if they had been allowed to by the narrative.

The situation they have at the start is one that a competent writer with fewer hang-ups could make a compelling story out of. Two childhood friends growing appart slowly, then relearning to love their adult selves.

And honestly, I think the show version would have been pretty okay, if they didn't make it retroactively very rapey at the end.

Number 2: I think a lot of the orphanage flashbacks in the show were kinda cool. I would have honestly not complained if they replaced half of the meadow scenes in the first season with more flashbacks to it.

And even in the book, I would have not minded seeing more of their Keramzin shenanigans either in flashbacks or them reminiscing(or like, one of them telling an embarassing story about the other), because those tended to be some of their best scenes.

Number 3: They end up living the cottage-core dream life in the books, I guess. Aesthetically, it's pretty cool.

[is-today-tomorrow-in-nz]

Let's talk about Mal

Malina is a ship that I absolutely loathe. It is one of the worst possible ships to exist and it should not have been in the canon. This does not mean I hate friends to lovers as a trope. But Malina is toxic on so many levels and Mal's traits should not be portrayed as an act of love, in a YA novel no less.

Character Breakdown:

Characteristics/ Background Info:

Gifted First Army Tracker/ Third Amplifier.

Conventionally handsome.

Driven.

Opiniated(Considering the century the story takes place in.)

Beds other women often.

18-19 years old.

Orphan.

Was raised together with Alina.

How Alina sees Mal till she is taken away

Alina has an unhealthy codependency with Mal. She follows him around not just in the orphanage but in the army as well. She pictures them as husband-wife since they were children. She is extremely jealous and is just waiting for Mal to see her and pick her. But she is discovered as the Sun Summoner and taken away to the Little Palace.

How Mal sees Alina till she is taken away

A childhood friend who he thinks he has outgrown. He explores life beyond what the orphanage has offered him. He carries no romantic feelings for Alina(or going by the trope he has not realised his feelings for Alina). But till Alina is revealed and taken away to the Little Palace, she is not someone whom he associated with love or dreamt of sharing his life with. She was just a remanence of his past life.

How their relationship evolves after Alina becomes the Sun Summoner

After Alina was taken away, Mal 'realises' his feelings for her. And with no response to any of his letters, Mal is worried for her 'safety'. In an attempt to reconnect with her, he risks his life to locate the Stag. All noble and admirable so far.

Finally he sees her, he is more angry than relieved. Not to mention, it was her big debut. She had finally embraced her powers, had become healthy.

He claimed to be worried about her safety and was angry that she was safe(?). Once he realises his heroic act to rescue her is not needed he verbally bashes her for becoming who she was supposed to be(?) Practically calls her the Darkling's whore. See, I was a teenager once. I know that teenagers can be incredibly selfish sometimes. But if your bestie, whom you believed was being tortured, is safe and healthy, you don't bring them down, especially when you claim to love them. You will feel relieved. Yeah, it might sting a little to know that she has moved on without you and she is no longer the childhood bestie you grow up with. But, you support them and wish them well. However, Mal acts incredibly jealous and verbally lashes out unable to face his own inadequacy.

From here on it's red flag nation and classic abuser techniques and traits.

He finds runaway Alina. When you find your bestie whom you accused of being a cossetted princess a few days ago on the run, you become worried. But Mal is all 'I told you so'. His ego is soothed . The Darkling is bad just as he said.

He comments about Alina having an appetite. He has seen his friend sickly thin, with breathing issues, cold, hungry and suffering with an unknown illness for 8-10 years. And now he sees her finally healthy and eating and comments on it as if it is an inconvenience for him. This is were Alina should have had an awakening and walked away from him. But LB thinks this is cute and a healthy love. So Alina remains.

We skip to Siege and Storm, they are in incognito. Alina has wasting sickness again. But not a single concern from Mal. He doesn't question why she became healthy or why she becomes sick again. He is just happy that he got the girl he grew up with back.

When Alina is back in Ravka and with a prince no less. We see the absolute worst of Mal. He is jealous, once again of his own inadequacy, and takes it out on Alina. She is being thrust into a world of politics, in a country literally on the verge of civil war and all he can think of are ways to make Alina's new position about himself.

He throws tantrum anytime Alina has thoughts other than him. He doesn't allow her to focus on the war or grow into her new role. He hates that she is no longer the girl he grew up with. He hates that Nikolai is actually making her better, giving her autonomy, coaching her to the life of politics. He picks constant fights with her. Suffocating her more when she was already struggling under the pressure of leading an army.

Alina tries to establish herself as the leader and commander of the Second Army and he thwarts her attempts by telling the guards and soldiers under her direct command embarrassing stories from her childhood to 'humanize her'. She is the Sun Summoner, a living saint, someone who is being courted by a prince. But he cannot have that can he? He cannot let her raise to glory. He has to bring her down to his level to show her that she was no better than him. He does not want Alina to have anything that was not him or given by him. He punishes her for his inefficacy.

When Alina backs away from a kiss, he goes on to kiss Zoya and cheats on Alina and tells Alina she made him do it. This, right here, is how an abuser behaves.

I don't buy his redemption arc in Ruin and Raising. It was a switch up after the negative feedbacks to his characters and nothing more.

It doesn't matter in the end because, Alina's powers which were an integral part of her was ripped out and she ends up with Mal to become his wife. Mal gets his girl he grew up with, who has always been beneath him.

Mal was an anchor who did not allow Alina to move upward and succeeded in his attempts to sink her with him under the disguise of love.

Conclusion

LB portrays the Darkling as the evil guy and retcons the trilogy to show us how bad he was in the duology. But for an author who is so concerned about young girls falling for abusive men, she literally ignores the glaring, mile-long red flag in Mal and packages them as a destined lovers. For an author who is all about morality and opening young girls eyes to the viles of men, she is doing a disservice to her own readers. The chances of me as a woman, coming across an 'evil' shadow man like the Darkling or a literal Prince are zero(not even near zero.) But Mal is a regular guy. A guy whom we see in our everyday lives. You can see him in a friend who grows jealous of your growth and tries to sabotage your career or in a friend who carried torch for you and spreads rumours about you when he sees you with better men than himself or you can see him in a boyfriend who strings you along for a decade while he waits for his dream girl to come. My point is, men like Mal exist in the real world and the author cannot claim a moral high ground with the Darkling and ignore all the abhorrent things Mal did to Alina. I don't care if people reading this are pro Darkling or not but I care if someone calls Malina as a healthy ship.

Note: Please read books like 'Why Does he Do that?' by Lundy Bancroft or please watch the show 'Kevin can f* himself'. You will see the parallels and understand who Mal really is.

[romantichopelessly]

Shadow and Bone Season 2 Final Thoughts

I am going to split this into a SaB section and a SoC section, since I have very different thoughts on them.

Shadow and Bone

The Malina this season was EXCELLENT. Good stuff, excellent changes made on the front of Mal’s insane jealousy and miscommunication.

Gibson’s Nikolai was. So perfect?? I loved so much about him. He was just the right amount of dutiful and roguish, and I loved him.

Genya carried this season. The acting was so well done and always moving. She got the most tears out of me this season. Her confrontation with the queen & that scene in the last episode really got me.

No “I am not ruined. I am ruination.” Which was severely disappointing. I’m genuinely surprised it wasn’t there, because they kept in characters calling her ruined.

Tamar/Nadia were in just the perfect amount. They got crumbs in the book so I’m glad they at least got something here.

GenyaDavid was CARRYING this season. Every scene with those two was so heartachy. I cannot believe they moved up David’s death. But I’m not mad at it.

No “I am become a blade”. Honestly kind of glad for this kind of disappointed. It was funny as hell but also it would have been out of place so.

No Oncat???? Unforgivable omission.

Zoya deserved a bit more this season. Part of me felt like they shouldn’t have brought her in on the Shu Han side quest because she did so little there. She just felt like another body. Which she didn’t deserve.

The ending. Was so much and so much change that I have mixed feelings about. But props on them for taking the initiative to change that much.

Alina’s ending. I’m glad she didn’t have to lose her powers. While the epilogue with her running her fingers through sunlight she cannot bend is heartbreakingly good, I always disliked that ending for her. She deserved more than just a powerless domestic life because she wanted more. Yes she wanted to be able to be with Mal and be free, and I want that for her, but it shouldn’t have been at the cost of her powers.

Mal becoming a privateer is. I’m unsure of how I feel about it right now. It feels odd, because Mal has always said he only wants a calm life with Alina. But I get why they’re giving him this open ending, so they can continue. Which, by the last scene, they obviously plan to continue the SaB side of things into a King of Scars type story.

Nikolai’s ending. I am SO glad they went ahead and showed signs of his demon side. It honestly was good that they didn’t have him turn earlier in the season, because it would have felt cramped with everything else, especially when we just met him.

I do think Alina and Nikolai continuing the engagement is weird though. Why would they do that? How will it affect any possible future next season, especially if they’re going in KoS territory, with Zoyalai?

Six of Crows

Starting with the positives here: Nina CARRIED the crows this season. She was perfect. Annoyed with Kaz from the start. EXCELLENT with Inej and with Jesper a bit.

Similarly, the Helnik was perfect and heartbreaking. Just the right pacing even with the changes. They broke me. And the last scene of them actually killed me, I think.

For episodes 1&2 all I could think about with Wylan was how well they were capturing him. Just the right amount of genuine kindness and naïveté and snark.

I liked how they upped the violence for the crows. Everyone got to get a hit in. Kaz was a great step up in ruthlessness. Inej grew, and Nina actually got to use her powers effectively. And Wylan got some good shots in.

Episode 4 really threw me off with the crows though. I cannot believe that they added a scene from the last 100 pages of Crooked Kingdom to this season. Before the Ice Court. Kaz finishing off Pekka is the end of his arc. How on earth are they going to have him do the actions that it takes to get through the Ice Court Heist if he isn’t working to gain power and tear down Rollins?

Obviously they’re setting up Rollins to come back and be a threat again but how will that work?? He knows who Nina is. The CK heist hinges on Van Eck and Rollins not knowing who Nina is.

Wesper getting together actually made me feel dread as I watched it. I view the show and books as very separate, that’s how I enjoy them, but I couldn’t wrap my head around how they thought this was a good idea beyond fan service. Having Wesper together right off the bat ruins both of their character arcs. If they’re together before their growth, none of it means anything. Even in the show, to make it work, they had to fast track two very important reveals for them.

I was fine with Jesper’s Durast powers being revealed this season. I even expected it. I thought Inej and Kaz would find out, or say they knew this season. And maybe Jesper would use his powers in secret. But no. Everyone knew by the end of the season, and he barreled through self acceptance in like 3 episodes. WITHOUT A SINGLE COLM APPEARANCE. Do you get how bad that is?? Colm is integral to Jesper’s shame, and he didn’t even show up, and though I like the scene with his mom in theory, how will Jesper and Colm have any good tension now? How will SoC and CK even work if Jesper has already solved the biggest source of his self esteem issues AND his gambling problem?

Which, by the way, insanely weird his addiction didn’t really come up this season. It was mentioned once or twice but really had no effect on his character. Which. Addiction doesn’t turn on and off.

Wylan’s illiteracy came out way too soon as well. He didn’t really get a chance to prove himself before Jesper found out, which. I can’t even articulate now why I hate that so much. I’ll have to make a separate post.

Back to Wesper speedrun. We can’t have so many critical Wesper scenes because of this. No “not just girls”. No Kuwei kiss, unless it’s a huge stretch in miscommunication when they’re already dating. No “I was paying attention” when Genya tailors Wylan because of course it’s not a surprise he knows his face if they’re dating.

Another one of my favorite scenes that won’t work now: The Kaz and Jesper Big Fight. Jesper knows who Jordie is already. It loses all tension.

Inej’s ending also really bothered me. Her having freedom and starting her hunt for slavers BEFORE the Ice Court? I genuinely don’t see how they can make the ICH work at this point. How will these characters ever come back together? Why would Inej come back? Just because Jurda Parem was an issue? Because if so, I feel they’ll be leaning too much into the Crows being pawns of the crown, which ultimately destroys their purpose. They aren’t chosen ones in ANY CAPACITY. Yes, Inej may do things for more moral reasons, but in the end she doesn’t work for the crown. Because of how they treat the Suli, especially.

[boombambaby]

[;Abrupt Kiss meme; @smartylina!]

Kuzco stops dead in his tracks, still mid turn with his hands halfway up to his 'no touchy', defensive position when he realizes its Malina and what's actually happening. He doesn't even have time to reciprocate the kiss before it's over, and he coughs to hide the blush he can feel warming his cheeks. "--Well, hello to you too! What was that for?"

[brekker-by-brekkerr]

general messy thoughts about sab s2 (spoilers ahead)

Things I liked:

- Genya. Daisy Head SLAYED completely she was SO GOOD. I didn’t like them downplaying her scars and I wished we had gotten the line “I am not ruined I’m ruination” especially knowing how much that line means to so many people but other than that Genya was everything Daisy did an INCREDIBLE job of playing her. I actually got teary-eyed at several points this season (and me and my emotions are not at all close so that’s a feat) and they were all either Genya or GenyaDavid scenes, which brings me to…

- Genya and David. They were so good. So wholesome. The best part of this season IMO. Like their brief scenes, them hugging in the woods, the tiniest moments STOLE the show. I cried for these two and these two alone. Also, David was so well-portrayed like I loved these two so much. 

- Several soft Malina moments that gave me butterflies and I felt accurately showed their dynamic, more toward the beginning of the season but they were there.

- Jack Wolfe as Wylan. I have some not-so-positive thoughts about the aged-up crows in general, but I still think Jack was a convincing Wylan and you can tell from both the show and from his interviews that he really cares about Wylan and his portrayal. Every time he LOOKED at Jesper I was like…wow just WOW.

- Getting to see Nina interacting with the Crows was nice. Especially when they turn around and she has waffles and Kaz has that annoyed moment but then we find out Nina got them the info they needed because she’s a spy and she’s incredible? 10/10 and one of the few moments that felt accurate to the real crows. Also, that part where she was talking to the guard and pretending she needed to pee (idk that was a weird way to describe it I know) but that was so Nina

- Also, just them together in a restaurant vibing was what I needed

- “The barrel doesn’t belong to kings. It belongs to bastards.”

- Tolya and Tamar were so cool in their introduction like they’re so hot and cool and powerful ahh

- When Genya, Alina, and Zoya are all at the Darling’s funeral pyre that was chilling

- The slivers of foreshadowing with Zoya.

Things I didn’t like:

- The weird slow motion in some of the fight scenes was so unnecessary lol

- Okay I’m not a fan of the Darkling and I’ve made that quite clear in the past, but I do think he’s a good and interesting villain and I like the Flavour he adds to the story but this season the Flavour was just…not there. It’s funny how many Darkling stans I’ve seen angry about this season because for once we’re in agreement. Like he was so boring and weird and just creepy instead of interesting and creepy? I wanted to skip all his scenes. Also, they took out so many of the awful things he did in the books like what about him killing Ana Kuya? When he says “you’ll have no shelter but me” that line hits so much harder and is so much more chilling and awful because he’s literally killing off the people in her life. Turning Nikolai into a monster himself?? The moment Alina loses her powers in the books and the Darkling tells her she’s nothing is SO IMPORTANT because it shows he’s just interested in her for her powers, which is a big theme in the books. As wonderful as Nikolai is, he needs Alina for what she can provide for Ravka. The Apparat just sees her for her power. Everyone wants to use Alina for something except for Mal who just wants them to be happy and able to make their own choices. Anyways, the Darkling didn’t feel like the Darkling from the books at all. Also, he was just cringy. Like I was laughing when he was like “I have returned. And I’ve made some new friends” and stared at the camera it was so bad.

- Ruin & Rising is my favourite from the trilogy and I was so disappointed with how much was cut out for the most random crap, like hallucinating and eating butterflies?? Instead of the bonding time with the whole TGT crew? And no Oncat I’m crying. There’s so much character growth that happens and so many relationships that are deepened in Ruin & Rising and WHERE WAS THAT?

- Personally, I didn’t think Paddy was giving Nikolai. Like he seems like a good person and actor and all that jazz but he just didn’t feel like Nikolai and since Nikolai is my favourite, this kind of hurt.

- Erasing Mal from the story and his struggles. Look, Mal is not by any means a perfect character. And he doesn’t need to be. Let him be messy. Let him struggle and sometimes be rude and make mistakes because that’s real that’s compelling. They could have shown all the book!Mal haters that maybe they were being too harsh on him because he was struggling SO MUCH but instead they just turned him into Perfect Supportive Man. His character growth in Ruin & Rising is so good especially after you’ve spent Siege & Storm thinking “what is going on with this man.” Seeing him owning up to his actions and seeing him working on his flaws and seeing his support for Alina is so good and we deserved it especially considering how talented Archie is.

- Cutting Zoya almost completely out, especially since this is the book where she goes through a lot of growth. Also, the fact that Alina choices they’re making are cutting into Zoya’s future story >:(

 Things I HATED:

- Killing off David. WTF. Obviously we didn’t see a body so he might come back but like…what’s the point. We didn’t even get to see Genya and David get married.

- Almost all of the Crows content. The rushed Crooked Kingdom plotlines with none of the significance from the books. Rushed Wesper. Matthias working with Pekka. Nina’s character completely revolving around Matthias. Kanej focusing on Kaz’s trauma but not Inej’s and making her contract with the Menagerie all about Kaz and his vendetta against Pekka and killing off Tante. Actually, pretty much everything Kanej this season was so awfully handled. Also, just not a fan of the Crows being aged up and I tried to be okay with it but this season made me more upset with the casting choices. The Crows stuff was so so so badly done I want to cry. Comfort rereading the duology right now

- The ending. Just…frick the ending. I hate it. Too many thoughts I just hate it I can’t even talk about it

- I’ve already reblogged a lot of posts that go into things I hated but just in general it was such a mess they combined too many stories without doing them justice and there’s more I’m upset about but this is it for now

[fuzzyflowers22]

Positive changes in season 2

They killed the king

WESPER KISSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No gross Nikolina kiss

Changing Alina’s power from “lost to greed” to “cost of merzost”

Bagrah telling Mal he was the firebird

Malina communication!

Bagrah and genya team up

Another living saint! A great example of how stupid the darkling is

What they did with Pekka Rollins means when they get him next time is gonna be much worse. It’s what he deserves 😊

Showing what actually happens to Matthias in hellgate

No stupid Zoya and Mal kiss (idk what their ship name is)

STURMHOND MAL

Inej and sturmhond team up!

Shadow blade with Inej wielding it!!!!!!!!

Zoya and Tolya with the crows!

It felt like David’s death was more meaningful this way

Giving more face to the grisha on the darklings side I felt was actually important

Dominik being more than just a flashback

Proactive Alina! She was getting shit done this season

Wylan using Tolya as a cockblock 🤣

Jespers mama

The Zowa at the beginning blocking first army to save them!🥹

Nina and Zoya’s interactions

[aleksanderscult]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clC5ZJqM_v4

You know what ? I take the end of the series as positive only because it gives me the Nikolina endgame. It's crazy how Alina seems to have a better chemistry with anyone who isn't Mal, even with all the effort the writers put into making him Prince Charming. No, but look at this look that Nikolina gives each other at the end of this video and dare to tell me that this isn't a greater demonstration of chemistry than Malina has done in the entire show ?! It's something that will always kill me. How am I supposed to believe that Malina is the ultimate true love when Alina looks at men other than Mal that way ? The Darkling in season 1 and finally Nikolai in season 2...

In fact, the end of season 2 proves the Darkling was right. Throughout the season he keeps explaining how rotten the world is and no one listens to him. Everyone makes him the big bad guy to take down. Alina thinks that all the problems will disappear and clearly once he dies, everything is worse than before. Same on the Crows side with the case of Nina and Matthias thinking that being pardoned by the king would be enough to save him from this rotten world and not he will remain locked up. Basically, in the end nothing has really changed and limit, everything is worse for the characters on a personal scale but also for the world with the drugs that appear. Then Alina is surely the new Darkling at the end. It looks like a parody and the worst part is that the writers didn't even do it on purpose.

I don't like talking about that show because I hate it.

It's obvious that the writers understood how much of a jerk Mal was in the books so they whitewashed him in the show. But by doing so they made him incredibly boring.

Nikolina had a good premise in the show but again as I said I didn't like the characters in the show so it makes no difference to me and I didn't really care with what the writers were going to do with this ship (I think they were going to screw it up too according to some rumors that circulated for season 3).

Anyway, anything is better than Malina, Alina had better chemistry with Oncat than him, the show's Darkling didn't appeal to me (too emotional for my taste) but his opinions were right nevertheless.

What happened in the book, happened in the show too: the Darkling died and the world got screwed up instead of being fixed.

[koroleva-nazyalensky]

I have my grievances with season 2, sure, but one thing they did do is conclude it in a way that I personally would have loved the Grisha Trilogy to have ended the first time around.

Like obviously, I would’ve loved more Darklina. BUT, we’ve been living off of crumbs for years now, and they made Mal less of an asshole in the show, so I knew we weren’t going to get much post war room anyways. I’m sad the tethered scenes got cut short (RIP this isn’t real—let me) and he didn’t die in her arms, BUT he didn’t say she was nothing so I’ll take that as a win.

That said, I’ve always thought that an intriguing aspect of Alina’s character development is her affinity for power.

In the book, it scares her how much she wants it because it positions her in league with the Darkling.

"You were meant to be my balance, Alina.  You are the only person in the world who might rule with me, who might keep my power in check."

"And who will balance me?"

She fears it, and quashes her hunger for it time and time again, for Mal, for her own sanity. And yet, she doesn’t get a choice when she loses it. That loss permeates through everything, even her quiet life in Keramzin.

“Sometimes he would find her standing by a window, fingers playing in the beams of sunlight that streamed through the glass…”

This quiet life she defaults to makes sense for her character because her agency in the books wavers frequently and she’s very affected by Mal’s disdain for her abilities (for like the first TWO BOOKS–). But is frankly, boring as hell for a former saint. And, like the Darkling in a way, I did think she could deign to accomplish more.

In the scenario she’s placed in at the end of season 2, not only has she distanced herself from Mal willingly, but she gets the chance to be Grisha without the Darkling looming over her. She uses Merzost to revive Mal, has full control over her powers with all three amplifiers at her disposal, and used the cut, completely destroying a Grisha under the influence of Jurda Parem. On top of all this, she has fully accepted her role as Sankta Alina and is on her way to be Queen of Ravka. 

Think about the implications of this. A big theme in the books is that *ouat voice* all magic comes with a price, dearie. If Alina gets to keep her powers, it’s implied that she also gets to keep her prolonged life. She is at an all time high, her impulse controls are dead and out at sea, and her inflated pride has the potential to lead her to THE MOST satisfying fall.

When she uses the cut (in the same way the Darkling does) the upshot and shadow in her eyes as her mouth upturns slowly–UGH I’m honestly living for it. And like, we know she needs something to do while the crows are out there ice court heisting right? RIGHT? I’m not saying this is where I saw this show going, but since we’re here in this HD fanfiction world why NOT have Dark!Alina? How would show!Alina, crack under the Apparat’s influence? Who’s going to be her balance when the Darkling and Mal are gone and Nikolai is literally dealing with his own demon?*cough* and falling for Zoya *cough* What would it take to get this girl’s hair white? And what do I have to do to get a Yurified Darkling in the same room as her?

On that thought, (pardon my unabashed love for drama, I am a Darklina girlie in this Malina world above it all) if we even get to some version of the KOS Duology, does this mean she’ll still be Grisha when the Darkling comes back as the Black Heretic? Will she be queen? A mad saint shunned in the same way he was? A self-fulfilling prophecy? How absolutely delicious would that reunion be? For her to stab the monster and then become him? She wouldn’t be able to look him in the eyes and take the high ground like she did in the sanatorium scene. Everything he tried to warn her about would come to fruition. They could face each other as equals who made some decisions and just like retire together for eternity. (My delusional Darklina shipping ass is brought to you by Start a War btw… I read it immediately after Ruin and Rising on ff.net the first time around, I highly suggest it if you too are suffering)

To get back to the point, were it not for the Duology and the Zoyalai of it all, I’d honestly be for the Sol Koroleva route all the way. I mean, look at her!!!

Don’t you just want to see her gain the world, and then lose it all in the time it takes the crows to break Matthias of Hellgate? You can’t tell me a season 3 with an OP Sankta Alina dealing with post-civil war Ravka wouldn’t be entertaining at the very least.

Like, of course at the end of the day I want Zoyalai endgame with blue ribbons and rings the size of an acorn, peep the url, besties. But GUYS come ON we know how these things go. Mal’s gonna come back, reign her in and they’ll eventually end up in that boring orphanage with a cat or whatever anyways. In the meantime, we could have so much fun!

If you approach the show as you would fanfic, it’s not as maddening. Trust me, I’m a Darklina shipper and a Zoyalai shipper– you can’t even get to one of those without stabbing and burning the other. I know the showrunners would sooner give us some random love triangle with Tolya and Inej (a topic for another day) than all this but a girl can DREAM.

In conclusion, I did not prematurely lose David for nothing, I need to know where they’re going with this, so please be more chill so we get that unhinged season 3, thank you.

[stromuprisahat]

Somewhere in middle of retconing Malyen they created Malina with decent sibling energy. Making them sleep together feels pretty incesty. And NOT in the ~hot~ Borgias/Targaryen way...

[malinastharlock]

I'm excited to reveal my latest acquisition, an Umbreon Pokémon outfit that is too cute for words. I've been impatiently waiting to do a photo shoot and I feel sexy af. I hope you all have a great day and enjoy the photos as much as I do!

[locklylemybeloved]

OK YALL BUCKLE UR SEAT BELTS AND LISTEN UP CAUSE I SAW THIS FANART SOMEWHERE LAST NIGHT AT GOD KNOWS WHAT TIME AND DECIDED IT WAS AMAZING AND PROCEEDED TO OVERANALYZE IT SO HERE U GO ALSO PLS LET ME KNOW IF U KNOW WHO THE ARTIST IS CAUSE I WANNA CREDIT THEM BUT I HAVE GENUINELY NO IDEA WHERE I FOUND IT. I HONESTLY THINK I WAS DELIRIOUSLY SNUFFLING AROUND THE DARK CORNERS OF THE INTERWEB AND STUMBLED UPON THIS WHILE HALF AWAKE AND SO THATS WHY I KIND SOUND UNHINGED SO BEWARE. OK HERE WE GO.

first things first i just wanna say ahead of time that i have no hate to anyone who ships a specific ship that i mention, these are just my opinions :)

caution to everyone btw, im not a malina, nikolina, or darklina shipper but out of the three i like nikolina best since i genuinely liked them but i like zoyalai way more and nikolai also basically just wanted to marry alina for political purposes so yeah

lets start with the darkling. this ones probably the easiest. his stance, position, and where hes standing kind of reflects how he only wants to control and use alina. idk if u can tell, but i have a passionate hate for him.

ok next: mal. hm. where to start. to me, the way that hes looking at alina but not fully taking her hand is like showing that he loves alina, but in the end he never gave her anything. he wasnt there for her in the end and so hes not meeting her halfway. also he has the personality of a wet paper towel

lastly: nikolai. my beautiful amazing nikolai. he gave alina so much, and tried so hard to love her but he stated HIMSELF that he didnt love her (he said he liked alina and COULDVE grown to love her, but he didnt love her). and u can see this in the way he holds her hand firmly (giving her a lot) but he doesnt truly love her (hes not looking at her)

i just wish that alina ended up with someone who truly did love her and actually SHOWED her that they did. and believe me, genya and david is amazing and i love them sm and row mentally damaged me but genya and alina had a good setup for being ✨romantically involved✨

yes ik it never quite reached the level for me where i was like SHIP SHIP SHIP THESE TWO ARE ALL THAT COULD EVER BE YESS but there was def some potential for those two.

anyway yeah 🥲 this is mainly just my opinions on the ships and the whole alina ship quarrel but the fanart reminded me of it

[2shayll]

“they lived an ordinary life full of ordinary things”

WE WERE ROBBED! I was really hoping Malina would be endgame as it is in the book. But they just had to drag it out more.

I know we did get the line and I know they’re doing this to keep Jessie and Archie in the show, BUT, the writers really messed with the storyline. They made Mal leave her, something he would never do and made Alina as the queen, something she never actually wanted in the book. It was this dilemma that had her distanced from Mal and her desire to be ordinary that made her realize that she was far from her humble roots as an orphan. She became too power hungry and she even scared herself. This is one instance in which I can say the books are better. I’m trying to see the positive, in that maybe, this will be a slow burn instead and we can appreciate Malina more for it

Side note: I’m also a Zoylai stan so I’m also mad about that. Nikolai and Zoya’s relationship doesn’t need more of this drama

[eerna]

hii i need you to help me out cause soc and ck were some of my favourite books and i genuinely did not enjoy season 2 at all… i know people say the performances were good but i don’t really feel like that’s true for a lot of the actors? also yeah everything was rushed but also it straight up did not make any sense sometimes? the only moments i enjoyed were basically the ones copy pasted from the books and some of the innovative moments of the end (ew inej and tolya tho) anyways i’m really trying to find stuff to like abt it so pleaaaaase help what won you over?

OMG OKAY POSITIVITY BREAK!!!!!

I liked Daisy Head as Genya a lot!!!! She was amazing and the one performance I see no fault with. Freddie Carter slayed the "you Inej, you", Amita Suman slayed the armor scene and Inej vibes, Jack Wolfe and Danielle Galligan slayed in general. Archie Renaux did give off a "I'd rather be somewhere else" vibe, but considering he's been treated like a chewtoy by *akhem akhem* some fans for the past 2 years, I can't fault him, he is still doing well enough for me to care abt Mal. I liked the part where the crows all stand around in their Komedie Brute costumes. Nina flirting with Kaz and Kaz sending murder eyes towards her is great. Black Veil looked really cool. The Darkling crying over his mom was genuinely a heart pinging scene. I also enjoyed the Malina ending, as well as Nikolai. The fort where the final battle takes place is super pretty and made me wanna go hiking.