#Demon in the Wood

[chaosandwolves]

They've not only had the SoC script, they even had one for Demon in the Wood

How do you plan on two spinoffs and cancel everything???

I'm saying this again

Netflix doesn't even WANT successful shows that have a bit of effort and skill put into them cause they don't want to pay for it

They rather produce trash and hope it takes off instead of investing into things that are actually promising and full of potential and have ppl who care, working on it

They all and we deserve better

Let's get them a new home!

#save shadow and bone #shadow and bone #six of crows #six of crows spin off #demon in the wood #Netflix #I hope Netflix will crumble down

[aleksanderscult]

This line is actually funny when you realize that the Darkling is the one that should say it to her.

Baghra talks about disappointment, rejection and giving up.

But isn't the Darkling the one who despite all the love he used to show to his mother she only rejected him? Whenever he called her "madraya" she didn't share the sentiment. Whenever she was training him, she kept demanding more and more from him. When he gained the power Baghra had encouraged him to have, she didn't feel proud. When he had pride, she chastised him for that even though she raised him to be prideful. When he offered to take her home, she only decided to commit suicide in front of his eyes.

It was the Darkling that should say that line. No matter what he did, it wasn't enough. Loving her was hard and without true reciprocation.

#Baghra used the fourth and final stage of gaslighting before her fall #she really said “I will traumatise you even with my death” #the darkling #pro darkling #baghra morozova #aleksander morozova #pro aleksander morozova #demon in the wood #grishaverse trilogy #shadow and bone #ruin and rising #grishaverse

[is-today-tomorrow-in-nz]

I carry a deep admiration for Aleksander and his unbreakable will.

Human beings are creatures of comfort. We crave familiarity. While change is inevitable, most of us tend to stick to a routine to keep us grounded. It breaks my heart so much to think that the Darkling could not afford to have even such basic comforts. With every rebirth he had to breakfree of the habits of his past life and reinvent himself as a new person with a different set of likes and dislikes. Even his mannerisims has to be scrubbed clean to avoid suspicion. By the time we meet him in the Grishaverse how much of him is the real him? How many of his habits are his and not something he cultivated for his new persona?

He is a singluar fixture in time and eternity passes through him. The language he once spoke is dead, the music he once loved no longer exists, the places he once travelled are long gone, the people he once knew are nothing but a distant memory. With each turn of the Earth, everything he grew to like again is chipped away along with remains of his soul.

And yet he persevered. Even when he had nothing or no one to anchor him, he carried on through war, genocide, loss, grief and pain. He kept fighting till his last breath and sacrificed himself once again for the greater good.

He deserves so much better than the indignity that LB put him through.

#the darkling #aleksander morovoza #pro darkling #pro aleksander morozova #the grishaverse #lb critical #grisha critical #he deserves so much better #shadow and bone #demon in the wood meta #demon in the wood

[stromuprisahat]

Isn’t the status of Grisha much worse after TGT. How are the Righteous Gang claiming to be victors/heroes who made others lives better. From my pov, grisha are much worse off while the otkazatsya are in status quo. Also what was wrong with the grisha coming to LP to live. From the books, it seems that none of them had any connection to their parents/relatives. If so that can also mean that their family did not care enough to reach out to them after they left.

Or did the Darkling ban all communications.

I’m sure the Righteous Gang think that all the cons of their dumb decisions are in fact the Darklings fault. You know because he did this or he did that. They do bot think for a single moment that he was the only one doing anything for them. While the soldat sol (shouldn’t they have been doing some charity work in name of their Saint?) and all other grisha did not lift a single finger to elevate the position of grisha in Ravka through ANY means.

Ironically, the Gang's decision to abolish Grisha draft should serve to further alienate Ravkan commoners and destabilize Nikolai's reign.

"... His serfs will get a taste of money and education and start thinking about building lives and businesses of their own instead of praying for their master’s patronage. ... "

King of Scars- Chapter 11

Nikolai had abolished the practice of separating Grisha from their parents. There was no mandatory draft to pull children from their homes.

Rule of Wolves- Chapter 9

The fact they aren't able to offer protection to any Grisha in Ravka, therefore hardly to children scattered all over the country, AND there's no system of home education, therefore these children might either hurt someone by accident or suffer from wasting sickness, aside...

This should be a gigantic legal issue.

(Although there's plenty of questions regarding servitude in general.)

Pre-KoS Grisha automatically became serfs. Their families were compensated financially.

Let's say Grisha are no longer required to move to Little Palace, otherwise everything stays the same. Are there lists of Grisha serfs to keep track of them? And how do they serve? Why should a family that keeps the amount of pairs of working hands get any money? Does it mean that a family of free- albeit poor- peasants, suddenly include a child serf with obligations of their own? Do these "free-range" serfs get personal assignments? That sounds like a whole lot of extra bureaucracy.

The other option is much more disasterous. If Grisha are no longer serfs, there's no reason to pay their families. They should be recorded the same way other free Ravkans are, and these records don't seem to be particularly meticulous:

Another [Ravkan Grisha] had been hidden in a root cellar when the Grisha Examiners arrived to test her. “My mother told them I’d been killed by the fever that had swept through our village the previous spring,” the Tidemaker said. “The neighbors cut my hair and passed me off as their dead otkazat’sya son until I was old enough to leave.”

Siege and Storm- Chapter 7

A year here, a year there... who'll know if the missing Grisha moved away, died or got kidnapped? But don't worry, the worst is yet to come- otkazat'sya (serfs). Why are Grisha freed as soon as three of theirs start whispering their advices into young King's ear (One of them rumoured to be his mistress to boot!), while common Ravkans keep bending their backs under nobility's jeweled slippers!

This is a starving, war-torn country, through which a wave of pogroms swept only a few years back! The hatred won't disappear only because a dead Saint allegedly appointed three of Grisha to what exactly? Represent? Or rule in the puppet-King's stead?

Sure, Nikolai's (strange, innovatory) reforms lead to more food for the poor... BUT- serfs are still property of their owners, unlike Grisha. West was somehow forced to remain with the East- feeding them, losing money to them. Nobles lost some privilages and whoever's not a complete baffoon will figure out they're losing power. Church should be pissed, because their leader got deposed, religious cult with Crown-appointed head took over and Nikolai cut their incomes too! Anyone even slightly distrustful towards Grisha- and that means all through Ravkan social strata- has every reason to believe they are running the country, which no longer means one black boogeyman, but a Suli whore with the King-killer.

_____

Members of Second Army weren't discouraged from staying in touch with their families, quite contrary. To make it more... well, to make it more KoS-ish, we get some specific data from Zoya:

She’d written every week to her aunt and every week received a long, newsy letter back with drawings of chickens in the corners and tales of the interesting traders who came through Novokribirsk.

King of Scars- Chapter 25

Ivan doesn't mention his family in present time, but I'd like to imagine he used to visit his widowed, almost childless mother until she died of old age.

_____

The only reason all those barely adult Grisha are even theoretically allowed to be teenagers, is that they're safe enough, thanks to Aleksander's work.

He was thirteen, but he’d had a hundred names, a new one for every town, camp, and city ... He would have lived next door to a garbage gully if it meant a roof over his head, hot meals, waking up in the same room every morning without his heart hammering as he tried to remember where he was. ... Grisha living in camps and broken-down mines, hiding out in tunnels. ... No safe place. No haven. There will be, he promised in the darkness, new words written upon his heart. I will make one.

Demon in the Wood

If Grisha are faring better at the beginning of Shadow and Bone, it's his doing:

... though it was smaller than the Grand Palace, the “Little” Palace was still huge. It rose from the trees surrounding it like something carved from an enchanted forest, a cluster of dark wood walls and golden domes. As we drew closer, I saw that every inch of it was covered in intricate carvings of birds and flowers, twisting vines, and magical beasts. ... We passed door after door, until finally we reached a chamber where another uniformed maid stood waiting by an open doorway. Dimly, I registered a large room, heavy golden curtains, a fire burning in a beautifully tiled grate, but all I really cared about was the huge canopied bed. “Can I get you anything? Something to eat?” asked the woman.

Shadow and Bone- Chapter 5

While I can "excuse" some of the "heroes"- victim of otkazat'sya brainwashing institution, unloved privilaged kid with saviour complex, bigoted religious fanatics due to questionable parenting, universal punching bag... LB's new best girl's somehow coming out of it as the worst one.

Just the fact Zoya was saved by the very law she didn't mind abolishing, going from starving asset of her own mother to well-fed, respected soldier, who knows what do sable and silks look like... what a horrible life to lead! Such deterioration! If only the Darkling didn't bother trying, she'd be free to scrape along as she pleases!

Centuries worth of Aleksander's efforts are the reason Zoya gets to whine about her suicidal aunt instead of being maritally raped by some ancient creep, or outright dead after getting pregnant way too young.

#reply #Grishaverse #grishanalyticritical #The Righteous Gang™ #The Darkling #Second Army #Ravka #Second pseudoArmy #Nikolai Lantsov #Zoya Nazyalensky #KoS Chapter 11 #RoW Chapter 9 #S&S Chapter 7 #KoS Chapter 25 #Demon in the Wood #S&B Chapter 5 #books #quotes #Leigh Bardugo #anti Zoya

[tirkdi]

when you realize your character arc begins and ends as the demon in the wood

#demon in the wood #rule of wolves spoilers #the darkling #aleksander morozova #grishaverse #i will not apologize for my behavior

[alina-lantsova]

i re-read demon in the wood, my all times favourite grishaverse thing and i will now randomly spam. because little sasha is the death of me:

aleksander - shadow summoner - morozov being scared of the dark:

a literal kitten:

evil aleksander/eryk (hes trying so hard):

more evil deeds, protecting people from bullies...very bad, hate him

this entire page is just full of sasha being evil and manipulative and evil and...evil and...e...vil...

following the whole thing of him helping and following annika to get her an amplifyer, totally understanding why she would want one, despite also being wary because he is an amplifyer himself...

evily asking her THAT outragous question:

following him getting worried about a little child he barely knows, because she might be in danger, rushing towards the place she might be....

after some more drama he continues to care for the child that is NOT grisha...

than he saves everyone. because hes evil.

one of the best scenes in the whole grishaverse:

THIS:

literally the whole think where annika intents to kill him for his bones and his first reaction is this:

....

the most relatable fear...

after baghra burns down the village, killing everyone:

AND of course his most evil plan of all...: making a safe haven for his kind:

i am emotional about him, i feel so much about him, i adore annika and find it sad that no one ever talks about her, baghra is a fucking asshole...bye

#aleksander morozova #the darkling #demon in the wood #leigh bardugo #shadow and bone #long post #screenshots

[rainingriversofyou]

Alina x The Darkling - Shadow And Bone

Artist: wictorian_art / @wictorianart

#wictorian_art #alina starkov #the sun summoner #aleksander morozova #the darkling #darklina #grishaverse #leigh bardugo #the grisha trilogy #alina x darkling #alina x aleksander #shadow and bone #seige and storm #ruin and rising #demon in the wood #the grisha series #book art #booklr #bookish art #fantasy art #illustration #book fandom #book fanart

[shesalittlelost]

He is an apt pupil 😌

#the darkling #demon in the wood #aleksander morozova #grishaverse #posts #mine my own

[theterrorofbeingseen]

anyone else going insane on this fine wednesday night

#the darkling #the pure buttery color of sunlight……. #all the colors you can’t see in the dark………….. #god. #demon in the wood #this is the only actually good thing leigh has ever written #well this and the language of thorns #tagging this as darklina. You Know Why #darklina

[doyouknowthis-grishaverse]

#grishaverse #shadow and bone #my polls #fandom polls #grishaverse polls #the grisha trilogy #ditw #demon in the wood #language of thorns #lives of saints #the tailor #my fave is the tailor i love it #its a hard choice though because i loved demon in the wood too #and the other two are beautiful books too #genya safin #the darkling #aleksander morozova #ulla morozova #baghra morozova

[theweeklydiscourse]

It feels like beyond the pro-darkling/darklina sphere, it’s kind of rare to see Shadow and Bone fans truly cut to the bone about the underlying issues in both the trilogy and Leigh Bardugo’s subsequent spinoff series.

Honestly that could just be because I’m thinking of specific areas like YouTube or TikTok where this brand of critique is few and far between, but for a series as old as this one, I’d expect there to be a little more in-depth reflection on it’s flaws.

We’ll see a few similar points that are brought up frequently, but you’ll find that the critics who raise these points do so on a surface level. For example, the most common criticism of the series is the fact that it felt wrong to have the heroine lose her powers at the end, but it’s more common for people to just leave it at that instead of digging deeper into why it felt that way. Even then, you’ll have the odd contrarian piping up to argue that the people criticizing that aspect of the series just didn’t “get it” the way they did and that it was perfectly fine storytelling.

Inversely, you will hardly see any content that discusses the issues of the Grisha persecution storyline even on a surface level unless you delve into pro-darkling circles. Despite materials like Demon in the Woods and the Nikolai duology that display the Grisha’s plight in vivid detail, it isn’t a common topic of discussion among fans. When pushed to the limit, you’ll even see fans denying that the Grisha were ever oppressed at. On some level it makes sense why fans wouldn’t exactly be keen on discussing the flaws of their precious books, but it almost feels as though the fandom actively discourages discussions like this.

It could be that I’m just not searching hard enough, but I hardly see any YouTube videos or TikToks that discuss these things or try to dig into the issues with the series. You have the usual suspects like it being built on cliches, annoying heroine, annoying love interest and a terrible ending, but I feel like I need more.

#fandom discourse #grishaverse fandom #pro darkling #the darkling #alina starkov #Grisha persecution #s&b critical #lb critical #shadow and bone #aleksander morovoza #shadow and bone season 2 #shadow and bone netflix #grishaverse #demon in the wood #king of scars

[skyfiresthings]

doing my part to try and keep the tags trending

that is all you may leave

#kanej #leigh bardugo #shadow and bone #fuck netflix #helnik #wesper #six of crows spin off #grishaverse #wylan van eck #jesper fahey #six of crows #demon in the wood #zoyalai #zoya nazyalensky #nikolai x zoya

[aleksanderscult]

Eryk when Annika tried to kill him because he's an amplifier:

#he never got a rest #the darkling #aleksander morozova #demon in the wood #demon in the wood meme #meme #grishaverse meme #annika #shadow and bone #grishaverse

[mal-zoya]

DEMON IN THE WOOD (2022) by Leigh Bardugo & Dani Pendergast

#demon in the wood #the darkling #aleksander morozova #baghra morozova #finally got around to read this #holy crap #first of all - beautiful #second of all - holy crap

[stromuprisahat]

The Demon in the Wood (Leigh Bardugo)

... HIS MOTHER had TAUGHT HIM to think clearly, even WHEN HE WAS HURTING...

How?

How did she teach him that?!

Because Baghra doesn't seem to have problem with physical violence, and as far as I remember, her method of teaching could be summed up as just do it, or *snap*.

#Grishaverse #Demon in the Wood #The Darkling #Baghra Morozova #grishanalyticritical #V #short story #quotes #Leigh Bardugo #anti Baghra

[glitter50000]

How Baghra tells Aleksander that everyone else is dust compared to the two of them and that the grisha always die because no one is as strong as the two of them then Aleksander tells Alina that he’ll strip away all that she knows till she has nothing but him and they’re all they will need is great like damn the apple does not fall far from the tree

#And by “great” I mean it makes me 🙃 #Shadow and bone #shadow and bone netflix #demon in the wood #baghra morozova #the darkling #aleksander morozova