localvillainsimp

[localvillainsimp]

I can’t wait to defend everything the darkling does in season 2 becaus he gets so much worse and it’s fantastic

#the darkling #darklina #alarking #if villain bad why sexy

[localvillainsimp]

I forgor I had tumblr oops

#oops i guess

[localvillainsimp]

Yeah, we like morally grey characters but have you ever felt sad for a villain? so much that it made you cry?

#the darkling #sebastian morgenstern #maven calore

[localvillainsimp]

#the darkling #aleksander morozova #darklina #alarking #maven calore #if villain bad why sexy #aaron warner #alina x darkling #grishaverse #shadow and bone #grisha trilogy #red queen #the mortal instruments #sebastian morgenstern #book memes

[localvillainsimp]

Nobody can stop me

#the darkling #aleksander morozova #darklina #alarking #maven calore #if villain bad why sexy #aaron warner #alina x darkling #sebastian morgenstern #king maven #red queen

[localvillainsimp]

I have 99 problems and getting a sexy villain who loves me solves all of them

#the darkling #aleksander morozova #darklina #alarking #maven calore #if villain bad why sexy #sebastian morgenstern #aaron warner #shatter me #warnette

[localvillainsimp]

darklina + text posts

#i love this #darklina #shadow and bone #alina starkov #the darkling #aleksander morovoza #alina x aleksander

[localvillainsimp]

Darkling: can we do……the thing?

Alina: thing?

Darkling: *wraps his arms around himself* this thing?

Alina: …….you mean a hug?

Darkling: yeah, that.

#this hurt me #poor aleks #I'll hug you #grishaverse #shadow and bone #alina starkov #the darkling #darkling #aleksander morozova #darklina #alarking

[localvillainsimp]

Why can't he live? Just once 😭

#the darkling #aleksander morozova #darklina #alarking #maven calore #red queen #shadow and bone #if villain bad why sexy #sexy villain

[localvillainsimp]

Waiting for shadow and bone season 2

Everyone: excited about new characters and future awesome fights and exploring more characters backgrounds

Me: IS DARKLINA GOING TO GET BACK TOGETHER? I NEED MORE DARKLINA KISSES!

#me #darklina #shadow and bone #the darkling x alina #darkling #alina x kirigan #alina starkov #the grishaverse

[localvillainsimp]

We’re on the board, baby!!!

#as they need to be #deserved #Darklina

[localvillainsimp]

Darkling “showing his villain self” is honestly just, like a breakdown. 

look at this man and tell me I’m wrong. 

He was raised exclusively by an abusive, emotionally unavailable mother who taught him to be proud, how to kill, that lives of many are less worthy than his own, to do anything for survival, that he will always be alone (without her)

Was born as a Grisha (a hunted, oppressed minority), a Shadow Summoner (an Other / freak / abomination for other Grishas), an amplifier (a sought out power-boost for desperate Grishas trying to survive, which leads to isolation)

Spent his formative years running, hiding, being hunted. Basically being in Fight or Flight mode 24/7.

Near death experience at 13 (as his so-called friend tried to murder him for his bones, so for something he was born with and as, was forced to harm himself to avoid lynching).

Served under heck knows how many Kings (many of which saw him as less than, a demon, a monster, a tool to be used), ridiculed, having to fight to have his voice heard

Watched many of his friends, (lovers), and people who served with him die

Listened to countless stories of how Grisha are still experimented on, tortured, burned alive, sold into slavery, etc.

Even after generations and generations, not much has changed for Grishas, despite his efforts to make a safe haven for them

King had the nerve to assault and hurt a Grisha in his service, the First Army treats the Second Army horribly despite profiting from just their presence

Vasily is next to the throne and he’s even worse than his father, so he’s running out of time

His own mother betrayed him

The Sun Summoner decided to desert

The people he tried to protect desert him and fight against him

Being left in the Fold and attacked by volcra probably did some mental damage as well

Also he knew the saints apparently, so probably knew their stories (and they are not happy stories)

like, honestly, I’m only surprised he didn’t go “violence is a question and the answer is yes” just, 200 years before Alina was born. when did being a Grisha and being good to non-Grisha ever ended NOT horribly in the history of Ravka (before Alina) 

#speaking facts #sab salt #anti lb #the darkling #anti leigh bardugo #darkling #aleksander morozova #aleksander kirigan #general kirigan

[localvillainsimp]

They completly forgot that the only reason that Grisha (INCLUDING THEM) are not burned at the stake is because of Darkles. I'm so done with this book tf is this. The self-proclaimed “Good Guys” are nothing more than ignorant children. I can't with this.

So I got my nasty little hands on RoW and;

“The choices the Grisha are presented with are impossible ones. The power the Taban government wields is too absolute.”

“So it’s not a choice at all,” said Genya. Tolya shrugged. “It’s the same way the Darkling built the Second Army.”

Zoya bristled at that. “The Second Army was a refuge.”

“Maybe for some,” said Tolya. “The Darkling took Grisha from their parents when they were only children. They were taught to forget the places they came from, the people they knew. They served the crown or their families suffered. What kind of choice is that?”

“But no one experimented on us,” said Zoya. And some of us were perfectly happy to forget our parents.

“No,” said Tolya, resting his huge hands on his knees. “They just turned you into soldiers and sent you out to fight their wars.”

“He’s not wrong,” said Genya, looking down at her wine. “Don’t you ever think about what life you might have led if you hadn’t come to the Little Palace?”

excuse me what.

what.

Did Genya magically forget about everyone in the 2nd Army that was there because the Darkling saved them? Because their parents would be targets for having Grisha children, or didn’t want a ‘freak’ in their household, were nowhere near equipped to handle a training of a Grisha. Not to mention everyone who was orphaned because of the prosecution against Grishas, or was sold into indenture, slavery, etc.

It’s rich of Tolya to say Sasha turned them into soldiers, like, what choice did he have? The Tsar needed to see Grisha as useful, otherwise they would be in the same place as pre-Fold, meaning full-on witch hunts for Grisha in Ravka. If they were anything but soldiers, he wouldn’t be allow to train them how to fight. It would be viewed as a coup-in-the-making, or that he’s gathering his own army to take over the throne. But, if it’s the army for Tsar… This way, Aleksander could teach the Grisha to defend themselves without raising suspicions. Could ask for funds, and use it to educate the children, to give the parents an incentive to send the kids to him, and not to Fjerdans, Shu Han, Kerch, or leave them in the woods to die.

Not to mention, cLEARLY NOT EVERYONE ENDED UP AS A FUCKING SOLDIER, DID THEY, GENYA. How many Fabrikators just spent years in the Little Palace, instead of active service? How many Grishas were just teachers, for the young ones? 

I’m just- ugh.

#where brain #like where #row #rule of wolves #anti leigh bardugo #darkling #aleksander morozova

[localvillainsimp]

“It has to be me, of course.”

Zoya’s eyes narrowed. “Of course. A man known for selfless acts. You do nothing without first calculating your own gain. Why would you start now?”

“Because I’m the only one who can.”

“Is it my imagination,” asked Nikolai, “or do you sound smug about that?” 

“I am immortal,” said the Darkling with a shrug. “You possess a barescrap of my power. Zoya is only just learning how to master hers. I am the linchpin. I am the lodestone. I move the tide.”

“You did cause all of this,” Nikolai said. “Remember?”

“Is this meant to be your redemption then?” Genya asked. “Your great sacrifice?”

Few things. First; Darkling you dramatic bitch. Second; Nikolai you gay bitch. Third; Genya, you bitch. Like, is this really necessary? The man had his worst punishment given to him already, came back, and now is ready to spend eternity being tortured in a new, even worse way. 

Aleksander did not live his entire life. He went from being a child hunter by everyone in the world, not being able to touch or trust anyone because of who he is, isolated by his mother, to serving idiot kings who cared not for his cause, who only saw him as a tool and a weapon that needs to be blunt and sharp at the same time. Humiliated but loyal at all times. He went from just surviving to committing his eternal life to make the world a safer place for Grisha, to make a haven for them, to protect his people. There was no peaceful life with a lover and children for him, ever. No friends surrounding him and helping him through his worst moments. No simple joys in his life beyond those he got to experience while hiding, running, fighting or working.

She and the Darkling hadn’t exchanged a single word or glance until now.

“No forgiveness for me, little Genya?”

Zoya whirled on him. “Show her respect or I will gut you where you stand.”

“No, Zoya,” Genya said. “He and I are due for a chat. I forgive you for these scars.” He couldn’t hide his surprise, and she laughed. “You didn’t expect that, did you? I don’t regret them. I found my way to who I was meant to be through the pain I endured. I’m stronger for it.”

Zoya is threatening to kill the only person who can fix the universe, cool. Genya forgives for being punished for desertion and treason, cool. Why should Sasha respect her, tbh, she did nothing to earn it in his eyes, only lost it.

“But the rest I can’t forgive,” Genya said. “You gave me to the queen’s household because you needed a spy. You knew the old king’s gaze would turn to me. You knew what I would endure.” She shut her eye, remembering. “You told me I was your soldier, that all of my suffering would be worth some future glory. It wasn’t.”

Now that’s just bullshit. He could not predict that the king would be evil, stupid and bold enough to assault a grisha. He could not predict that Genya would be hurt this way, Sasha is not a goddamn fortuneteller. 

“The cost—”

“Do not speak of costs.” Her voice rang through the clearing, her red hair burning like autumn fire. The patch she wore was emblazoned with Alina’s symbol. It shone like a star. “If the cost was so necessary, then you should have been the one to pay it. I was a child and you offered me up as a sacrifice for your centuries-old war.” 

Did she just tell him he should be the one being raped by the king? I- 

It’s nowhere in canon, but I can only assume in all his life Aleksander was forced to sacrifice himself in more ways than one, if not to one of the kings, then someone else. Let’s remember he spent century or even more in times were just a bed to sleep in was something he was unsure to have. Not to mention he was nowhere near as powerful or influential, and Baghra wasn’t by his side every day. She left him (even as a child) for days, all alone, and until age 13 he couldn’t even use the Cut to protect himself.

Also it’s just cruel to say to someone they should be the one to experience sexual assault.

She laughed, a sad, small sound. “And the worst part is that no one remembers. When people speak of your crimes, they talk of the slaughter of Novokribirsk, your murder of the Grisha who were once under your care. What I lived through stayed hidden. I thought it was my shame to bear. Now I know it’s yours. You were father and friend and mentor. You were supposed to protect me.”

“I had a nation to protect, Genya.”

“A nation is its people,” Zoya said. “Genya, me, my aunt.”

The Darkling raised a brow. “When you are queen, you may find such calculations more difficult to make.”

First; is Aleksander’s crime here not killing the king for hurting Genya, then? Would she prefer he commit treason and doom every Grisha in the country, by letting Vasily take the throne and order a genocide on all Grishas? Would she prefer if he murder both the king and Vasily, to protect her? He couldn’t exactly do anything to the King in this regard, not without risking safety of everyone in the Second Army. 

Second; It is impossible to rule a nation and focus on the safety and well-being of every single person in it. Not when you oversee tens of people at once, lead campaigns, win wars, and deal with constant problem of persecution all over the country and the borders.

“There will be no redemption for you,” Genya said. “The woman I am can forgive you for the punishment you dealt me. But for the sake of the child I was, there is no penance you can perform, no apology you can speak that will make me open my heart to you.”

“I don’t remember asking you to.”

Who is Genya to speak of redemption for him? Her actions led to the war as much as Baghra’s, Alina’s, and Aleksander’s. She’s naive to think there are not sacrifices and casualties in war. That one person can literally protect every single person in their command, especially when they serve the one who hurts someone in their command. It’s not like Darkling could publicly accuse the King of sexual assault, nothing would happen, no one would enforce the law on the man who rules the country.

Genya and Zoya are so naive and stubborn in their empty hatred it hurts.

#woke up and spoke straight facts #the darkling #anti lb

[localvillainsimp]

The Darkling lifted one shoulder. “An eternity of suffering as penance for my crimes. I ask but one thing.”

“Here it comes.”

“Build me an altar, so that I may be remembered.”

Zoya scowled. “As a tyrant? A killer?”

“As the Starless One. Give me a place in your books. When night comes, let there be one more candle lit for one more Saint. Can you agree to that, merciful queen?” he drawled.

The Darkling seemed almost disinterested, but the demon in Nikolai sensed it was a pose.

“He means it,” Nikolai said in disbelief. “He’s willing to die.”

“It is not death,” said the monk. “Death would be a kindness.”

Genya tilted her head to the side. She was watching the Darkling closely.

“But it’s not death you fear, is it? He’s afraid he’ll disappear.”

Nikolai remembered what Genya had said. All the Darkling ever wanted was to be loved by this country. He knew that feeling well. He’d had to face it when he’d stared down his demon. There were few men Ravka loved. Saints were another matter.

This man sacrificed hundreds of years for Ravka already, and he’s willing to suffer for eternity, but still it’s not enough for our dear protagonists. He already paid for his crimes. He lost everything, he was killed. There are already people who follow the Starless Saint, and Grisha who remember their General who saved them and protected them. To erase him from history would be not only cruel, but also stupid. ‘Those who do not know the history are doomed to repeat it,’ or however that quote went.

“Do we let him play the hero?” Zoya asked.

Genya nodded once. “Let him do it. Let our suffering have meant something.”

Zoya stood framed by red blossoms and thorns, a queen who needed no crown. “It will be done.”

I swear to– Is Genya’s only personality trait being the king’s victim? not even a survivor, just a victim. no agency of her own.

also, ‘let him play hero’ Zoya you are FUCKED if he doesn’t help you, Ravka is fucked, the continent is fucked, the world is fucked. he’s the only hope here, he’s willing to pay the price and he is the only one who can fix this. It’s not the first time he’s the saviour either. Without him Ravka would collapse 400 years ago, even before the Fold.

[localvillainsimp]

"both ships are totally valid and I think people should be able to like what they like" - Jessie Mei Li

say it louder for the people in the back and the author

THANK YOU JESSIE!

it's not that difficult to understand is it?

#darklina

[localvillainsimp]

My love for toxic things in fiction does not scare me because I know how to differentiate fiction from reality.

And I think the same thing happens to most people.

That is why I do not understand the problems of some people with characters and worlds that do not exist.

#they are so terminally online they can't differentiate reality and fiction #it's called ✨fiction✨ for a reason #get off the internet and touch some grass #darkling #darklina