#Leigh. Leigh. LEIGH I WANT TO TALK. LEIGH I WANT TO TALK I WANT TO FUCKING T

[wylanslcve]

So if you've been following me on Instagram you would have seen me say recently that I've decided to take a step back from posting/sharing/creating Grishaverse content due to what Leigh Bardugo said (or rather what she didn't say) about the situation in Palestine. For context, during the press tour for The Familiar, an audience member asked Leigh about the justification for non-BIPOC authors profiting off BIPOC stories yet not advocating for real-life BIPOC people (since Leigh has been silent on Palestine since October, despite having expressed solidarity with Palestine in the past).

The video (which you can watch here) has been circulating the internet for a while, and I've already spoken about this on Instagram. I just forgot I had Tumblr for a second there, hence why I'm only addressing this now despite having already spoken about this. However, as someone who has an entire online presence dedicated to Leigh's work, it would be wrong and rather hypocritical of me to not address this.

Disclaimer: This is not a conversation about whether or not white/white-passing authors should be allowed to write BIPOC stories, as many people both in the comments of the original video and online generally have taken it. The issue isn't that Leigh is writing BIPOC stories - it's that she's writing them and choosing not to advocate for real BIPOC people.

The audience member asked a confronting but necessary question, and isn't harassing Leigh as many people online have interpreted it. Holding your favourite people accountable isn't "harassment", especially when that person is a successful author profiting off stories that reflect issues in the real world. Art is inherently political whether or not you want to acknowledge it. This also isn't about specifically asking Leigh this question because she's Jewish - it's because she profits off these stories and yet when these exact same issues are prevalent in the real world, suddenly they're "too political" for her to speak up about despite having expressed solidarity in the past. It has nothing to do with her being Jewish.

However, what's going on in Palestine isn't a political issue. It's basic human rights. It's about humanity, and acting as if posting about this issue is "performative" is ridiculous. I don't know what she's doing behind the scenes, so I'm not going to act as if she isn't doing anything outside of social media because I simply don't know, but when you have an online presence as big as Leigh's you should be using that platform to raise awareness and express solidarity. I understand that it's very easy to come across as "performing activism", especially on social media, but Palestinians have asked us time and time again to use our platforms to help raise awareness and amplify their voices. When you're someone like Leigh who profits off stories of the trials and tribulations of BIPOC people, the very least you can do is talk about the atrocities being committed against BIPOC people in real life.

No one is expecting you to be an expert on what's going on. If you've previously posted misinformation, why not learn from it and actually educate yourself and do better? You're literally an author who profits off stories of colonialism, oppression, dissemination, apartheid, segregation and genocide and suddenly that happening in real life is "too political"? And the amount of privilege you have to not want to get involved in talking about a real-life genocide because you "stopped being political on Instagram" is laughable. Just feeling sad about it isn't going to do anything. It doesn't erase the fact that an entire people are being ethnically cleansed in a genocide you refuse to talk about.

The Grishaverse means so much to me, it's gotten me through some extremely tough periods of my life, but I cannot in good conscience continue to support an author who chooses silence over her own humanity. All she had to say in response to that question was "free Palestine", but she instead said something akin to "I know about what's going on and I know silence and feeling sad about it probably isn't enough, but I'm just not going to do anything about it". Again, I know she's advocated for Palestine in the past, but why not continue doing so? No one is stopping her - she's actively chosen to stop.

As for my accounts? I'm still deciding what to do with them. I won't be deleting them, I'm not going anywhere, but I won't be posting edits or sharing analyses or general posts about the Grishaverse until Leigh decides to do better. This blog will probably turn into a multifandom blog, but who knows at this point. All I know is that I won't be promoting Leigh's work.

#i'm so disappointed in leigh #i sincerely hope she does better #but until then i won't be promoting her work in any way #i'll keep my username on all my accounts the same though #palestine #free palestine #from the river to the sea palestine will be free #leigh bardugo #grishaverse #shadow and bone #seige and storm #ruin and rising #six of crows #crooked kingdom #king of scars #rule of wolves #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #jesper fahey #wylan van eck #nina zenik #matthias helvar #alina starkov #malyen oretsev #nikolai lantsov #zoya nazyalensky

[cowboylikejesper]

trying to characterize wylan as a “mini kaz” in combatting his infantilization is STILL mischaracterizing him. like yes, he ISN’T a weak “uwu smol bean” but he also isn’t some ruthless criminal. he never particularly WANTED to be part of barrel life and he never intended on staying. he found himself there out of necessity. what i absolutely love about his character is that he shows his strength without needing to be ruthless or violent, because strength can be shown in so many different ways. yes, he isn’t some weak baby and he also isn’t some ruthless, violent criminal. he’s neither of those and THAT is what’s so important about his character. and it really bothers me when people can’t even acknowledge the depth of that.

#i saw a tiktok about this and i just wanted to talk about it as well #wylan IS a badass. #but you don’t NEED to be violent to be one. #and that’s what i love so much about wylan #six of crows #soc #crooked kingdom #ck #shadow and bone #s&b #wylan van eck #leigh bardugo

[i-hear-a-sound]

“Cut back to the bathroom. Adam looks around him, not sure what to do, panicking. Lawrence can’t be dead, he can’t be alone in here. He can’t handle this alone. He needs his calm, collected Doctor, no matter how badly Lawrence has treated him.”

girls when

#clutches my noble steed as we valiantly gallop headfirst off the side of a bridge #saw #saw 2004 #lawrence gordon #adam faulkner stanheight #adam stanheight #chainshipping #saw films #Leigh. Leigh. LEIGH I WANT TO TALK. LEIGH I WANT TO TALK I WANT TO FUCKING T #HIS doctor. his calm……. calm and collected doctor………….. this horror film script makes me so #i hope you die. i hope we both die

[todd-queen]

LOOK WHAT CAME IN!!!!!!

I took these just cause I'm so excited about it!!! but I figured other people might want to read it too :) (I know Fangoria hasn't released it in the archives yet) so enjoy! and I'm sorry about the glare ;_;

#it came in 3 weeks early im so excited #havent even taken my work uniform off yet and i already read it #arahsjsiabsshsns #its so good #it came out Sept 2004- a month before Saw's release- so it's James and Leigh talking about meeting and behind the scenes of production #i want to roll this up and chew on it oh my goddddddd #saw 2004 #fangoria 236 #james wan #leigh whannell #saw bts #shawnee smith

[the-way-astray]

hate it when people want a short story collection or a spin-off of a certain series and then want it to be all about the main couple of the original.

(ranting in the tags)

#kotlc #tfota #soc #grishaverse #six of crows #the stolen heir #yes this is about those weirdos that wanted the marella short story to be about sokeefe (???) #but also about so many other things #was talking to a friend and she was like 'leigh bardugo should do a short story collection about the grishaverse' #and i was like OMG YEAH THAT WOULD BE SO COOL #but then she was like 'yeah she should do a short story on kanej!!!' #and i was like bro #why #not that i don't love kanej but omg #we got an entire duology about them #we don't need another short story about them when there are so many other characters to explore #also about those people that wanted there to be way more jurdan in the stolen heir duology #like??? did you not read the whole-ass trilogy that was centered around jurdan??? #i quite like jurdan and their fucked up dynamic but omg #we don't need more of them we got enough #the point of spin-offs and short story collections is to explore something that hasn't been explored in the main series #to flesh out the world or the other characters #we don't need more of the main couple we got enough of them from the main series if you want to read them then just READ THE MAIN SERIES #TIRED of seeing this and authors need to stop caving to that too #so many authors write short story collections and then it's just. the main characters from the original series #we got enough of them #we don't need more #you have so many other characters and aspects and lore you could explore and THAT'S what you choose to do #waste of potential honestly

[sawedofffeet]

Beautiful baby yo baby it's money it's money *lip bite* *snap*

#leigh whannell #abc recovery #babygirl #my stuff #he's everything i want to be and more #if i were a boy i'd be 90s leigh whannell with long hair and a helix piering talking too fast and having overall nervous energy #ur hand in marriage please 🥺 #i love the australian accent so much #can't believe there was a time i didn't like it #all u need is a fixation on a person and voilà #i wanna watch movies with him and talk about them for hours afterwards #save me long haired leigh whannell save me

[diagoose]

sooooo, i was listening to one of my playlists for Leigh and I felt really inspired to draw a more detailed/refined portrait of her Aunt Arethusa(who's a very significant figure in Leigh's backstory). per usual i totally overthought it, and told myself that i couldn't draw Leigh's aunt until i figured out what Leigh's mom Lunaria looked like, gotta parse out the genes that they would all shareeeee for that fun familial resemblance.

soooooOooo fun little character design thing i guess.

lil notes under the cut

I wanted them to have enough similarities that you could tell Lunaria was her mom, while still having the traits of Leigh's dad shine through. I do love the concept of those little features they share being just noticeable enough to get under Leigh's skin.

first things first, these are sketches, but i thought i'd mention color anyway: Lunaria has the same scale pattern that Leigh does, just a shade darker and more iridescent(so shifts into shades of green and purple a little bit). she's also a platinum blonde where Leigh has distinctly black hair, which gives them a very shocking visual contrast. there's also the very obvious leigh has curly hair and Lunaria does not.

in terms of actual structural features: leigh gets the softer more rounded elements of her face from her mom, but Lunaria's face is more oval/rectangular where Leigh got the more "squashed" square shape from her dad. I really liked the idea of them sharing the same eye shape, I tried to make leigh's feels a lot softer with the rounded shapes in her facial structure, and make Lunaria's harsher by thinning out her eyebrows, raising the brow bone so they're more distinctly hooded, and pulling her hair back(forehead power i guess?). Leigh also inherited her dad's more prominant nose, but has a slight upturn to its shape that's from Lunaria.

probably gonna have to do this again when i design Leigh's dad. For now, it's a sufficient reference to start on a more detailed design for Arethusa.

#also i've wanted to talk about lunaria for a hot minute #dissect the woman #Leigh justifiably views Lunaria as a villian #but personally hot take #I don't really see her as one #she absolutely is not a person i would like to meet irl tho lol #my art #character design #digital art #oc leigh/enna #oc lunaria #my ocs #dnd

[lululeighsworld]

having several 'what if younger Gunter shows up to askr' brain worms all at once

#the prevailing one being 'leigh: i can't be a homewrecker 🙈🙈' #imagine if a mid 30s gunter whose still in the process of courting his wife shows up to askr #and he asks the summoner for proposal advice cuz he's uncertain if lorah will say yes *dies* #leigh: don'tsaywhatyoudwanttohear dontsaywhatyoudwanttohear #im also realizing how delicate of a balance hangs with these younger units #like if they are too AWARE of certain ongoings it could just be totally soul destroying #if this younger gunter were to notice that another great knight of nohr was walking around (the armour is pretty distinctive) he'd def #want to talk to them. meanwhile i think og gunter would do his damndest to avoid being seen by his younger self? #i know facial scars are not uncommon but one so prominent like his is a sign SOMETHING happened. and he's good at piecing things together #and then you definitely can't let him see garon because that is just a WHOLE other can of worms that would cause disaster #all this to say i think realistically an early fortress days gunter works better for feh. less hurdles to jump over #but that won't stop me from thinking about the other options

[longagoitwastuesday]

Happy Jack Vessalius Day to THE Jack Vessalius fan!! : )

🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🍊🪞✨

Indeed this is like a holiday to me. I think about it all year long in hopes of seeing new pretty art, like children wait for Christmas

#Noooo I saw this only now and it's almost 4am already here!!! #I guess it's still his birthday somewhere #It's Jack Vessalius Day every day in my heart of hearts in any case‚ I'll comfort myself with that thought 😔 #This was very sweet of you‚ Leigh. Thank you very much. It was so nice of you to remember me haha #An honour to be 'THE Jack Vessalius fan' #Perhaps not for others but sure is to me #And it's particularly nice coming from you #I talk too much #Sorry not to reply to this privately but I want to keep this ask #Jack Vessalius #Do not appear in the general tag‚ please

[capinejghafa]

Idk if it's just me hc-ing Kaz being tall or what, but I rarely see it ever brought up. So maybe I'm just make shit up lol not that the point needs to be brought up, but I'm just imagining Inej's short stature when she meets him for the first and second time, and no wonder he's startled by her. He's a tall person, and she's not in his field of vision. anyways that's what I was thinking about...

#kanej #kaz x inej #soc #leigh said he was what 6" and Inej is like 5 something... so she's still pretty short #and i want to talk about height differences that's all #it's so dumb #but also i was thinking about the show #also kaz never looks down at her and #my brain decided to not think about work at work so...

[fantasticalleigh]

thoughts about the new rey movie and people’s reactions to the announcement

i was gonna reblog a post about this and just slide my opinion in the tags but it’s getting to be an essay so i think it warrants its own post

i’m not trying to attack anybody with this but this has been rampant since the announcement and i have thoughts:

i understand and share in the opinion that ben solo is a wasted character and that he (and TROS and the sequel trilogy in general) was severely mishandled, and i would not be sorry to see more of him. adam was one of the best things about this new trilogy. i was hardly a star wars fan until the day i went to see TFA on opening day. that experience was something i’ll never forget and i fell in love with kylo/ben and rey from the second they both appeared on screen during their respective intros. without them i don’t think i would enjoy SW the way i do now.

i’m so happy for daisy to have this new opportunity to continue rey’s story. She deserves it.

And before you chime in--yes, Ben deserves for his story to be continued, too. No one’s ever really gone, and all that. if he comes back i will be screaming on the way to the theaters with the rest of you.

but i have seen so many people state outright since the announcement that they refuse to watch the movie if ben isn’t coming back.

i understand that sentiment, i do--none of us want to get burned again TROS-style. we want to see the dyad together and alive and happy. we want lucasfilms to get a friggin grip and just--DO BETTER.

and remember, this is my opinion, but it rubs me the wrong way when people say they won’t watch the movie without ben (and i’ve seen it said over and over and over both here and on instagram) because it’s sort of implying that rey has no value without ben, like she is not interesting enough on her own.

now i don’t actually believe that’s what people mean when they say that (at least, not everybody) but that’s the feeling i get from it. i love rey and ben equally and so i’ll take any new content with them in it, even if they aren’t together. will it hurt? will it be bittersweet? yeah. but imagine if the new rey movie gets a really low turnout and then disney execs look at the numbers and go ‘hmm--let’s not do that again’ and then a new possible trilogy is cancelled or any chance we get of maybe a dyad reunion is also gone. bc we all know the mouse listens to money above all.

i love rey. i think she’s a great character who has just as much potential as ben and i can’t wait to see what she can do in a film where she’s top billing (until they throw in a mark hamill cameo because we all know he’ll be in it to some degree) but my point still stands. and daisy is a great actress who brought such depth to rey that i’m so excited to see her return and i can’t wait to see her as rey again.

do i still have a tiny bit of hope that it will be better this time and that ben will return? yes. i’m not gonna lie about it. this clown makeup is tattooed on. but it’s a cautious hope and i’m trying not to feed too much into it, because the reality is that it’s rey who’s back and i love her so i’m going to support her because i think she’s interesting and compelling on her own, just as she was in TFA before she ever met Kylo/Ben.

#star wars #leigh speaks #will i regret posting this? tune in to find out #reylo #rey nobody #ben solo #and i don't want to sound like a corporate shill for the mouse begging people to get their butts into seats #i just mean we gotta support our favorite characters/actors #so maybe lucasfilms/disney can see how much we love them and then they might make more content for them #they already failed us once #it makes me sad but i'm accepting that we might never see rey and ben together in any new content #i know there's adam stans who care mostly about him and you know what that's fine i'm mostly talking to reylos who love both of the #rey skywalker #also it's 2:26 am and i could have made this longer but i'm tired and should be asleep #but i've seen enough posts about this topic that i finally got annoyed enough to type the gist of it out #however it lands i hope lucasfilms/disney sees how badly the mishandled the dyad #from the merch to the marketing etc. #we all know they like to pretend the dyad never happened unless they're forced to #we've got a million and one t shirts of the motherfucking i love you i know quotes but not a single #item that i've seen featuring ben and rey together #except that loungefly bag that had them in chibi style #which isn't really my bag BUT it sold out fast and people LOVED IT #and disney still turns a blind eye #they just don't care and that's why i tell myself dyad reunion isn't gonna happen #anyway please discuss i will check in on this post in the morning but i need to sleep

[gellavonhamster]

shadow and bone s2 (ugh)

In a few words: script bad, cast good, I have Opinions and you will hear them (but maybe don’t read this if you genuinely loved this season, I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade)

In more than few words:

the bad:

taking so many books and stuffing them all into eight episodes was decidedly not a good idea. It’s rushed. It also ruins all hopes for a more or less book-accurate Crows storyline that the Helnik part of s1 had me harbouring, because so much of Crooked Kingdom has already been used

it is not enough to reproduce a moment from the books on screen if the context which made that moment powerful in the books is lost. An example would be “Goodbye, Aleksander” - no one knows his name in the books, it’s the final moment of humanity allowed the man behind the villain, but there’s nothing surprising about this address in the show - but there were many such cases

I realize that some levity is needed and the books aren’t completely serious either, but some of the funny ha ha stuff felt so unnecessary... like when that one follower of the Darkling says something like “uh-oh” when she notices a grenade is about to explode next to her. MCU disease

there was something off about Kanej this season. I don’t think he pushed her away that much in the books. This is slipping into the more stereotypical “you’re better off without me!!” territory, which is not really what they were in the books

why the hell is Heleen dead? Inej should be the one to destroy her - it’s her nemesis, the Pekka Rollins to her Kaz, she deserves that

also, why the hell was Dunyasha replaced with some random creepy guy? I don’t even like Dunyasha, but I enjoy the dark twin thing she and Inej had. It felt important

speaking of the characters I don’t even like that still deserved better treatment, all of the Darkling’s scenes were so boring to me this season. Boring ass cliché villain lines... it’s like this was made for TV and they needed some parts when the audience can go to the bathroom

Jesper and Wylan = big cringe :( those slutty bisexuals can never remember who they sleep with, amirite

do NOT like Tolya apparently developing a crush on Inej, he’s as aroace in the books as it can get in a universe where such terms haven’t been invented yet. They better do NOT erase that

the good:

the cast continues to be perfect. They’re taking the mediocre script they’re saddled with and making it better with their skills, chemistry, and charm. I love everyone in this bar

Nikolai! I’m trying to remember why I was unsure about this casting at first and can’t, but in any case, I was wrong - he was very good. Properly charming and annoying, with a touch of the boy king and a touch of the Too-Clever Fox, just the way it should be

the small interactions between the Crows like Jesper hugging Inej or Nina and Kaz having to pretend to be a couple made me happy

Jesper’s poison-induced hallucination might’ve been predictable, but I loved seeing him and his mom together, loved Aditi in general

the BEE!!! Yeah, that was some good foreshadowing

Genya and David were one of the best things about this season, I love them so much

the mixed bag:

I was really glad I saw spoilers about David’s death in advance because otherwise I might’ve punched the screen, but then I watched the last two episodes and... no one warned me the body wasn’t found? Come on, it’s fantasy, if the body wasn’t found, it usually means something. A Twitter mutual of mine suggested the Darkling might come back in David’s body, which I would not like to happen, but otherwise I am pretty excited about the possibility of some kind of Came Back Wrong (or - dare I hope - even a happy ending?..). Of course, he dies at a later point in the books, but the showrunners have admitted that what they’re making is essentially fanfiction, and saving the character expected to die is a very fanfiction thing to do. The problem is, their fic hasn’t been particularly good so far. Still, I am very curious about how this is gonna turn out

I am one of the few people who think TGT had a good and appropriate ending, but show!Alina is different enough from book!Alina for me to believe the changed ending works well. Show!Alina has definitely suffered, but she’s still seen less death and pain than book!Alina (no execution of Ana Kuya; no death of Botkin either, as far as I recall; no Harshaw; no Fedyor dying; Marie’s death is less brutal and doesn’t happen in front of her eyes, etc.), she didn’t spend as much time underground, she wasn’t as manipulated by the Apparat in addition to the Darkling. She’s also much more ambitious and eager to be a leader. It makes sense for book!Alina to want a quiet life where no one would bother her anymore, but it also makes sense for show!Alina to take an active part in reforming Ravka. And it also makes sense for Mal to want to find out to what extent his feelings for Alina were real and what was just amplifier stuff, to find his own path now that there is no predestination for him. I do believe Malina will be endgame in the show as well, because the showrunners are planning to adapt the Nikolai duology too, which means Zoyalai and Zoya as the queen, but I have no idea how it all is going to happen

it looks like we’re going to see dark!Alina, which could be interesting! Alas, I don’t trust the writers of this show to make a good job of it

not gonna lie, the idea that Sturmhond is a title one can pass on like Dread Pirate Roberts in The Princess Bride is funny af

I saw a tweet pointing out that it makes sense for Inej to “train” on  Sturmhond’s ship before captaining her own ship later, and on the one hand, I agree, but on the other hand, how are they going to bring her back for the Ice Court Heist if she’s already at sea

#shadow and bone spoilers #shadow and bone netflix #leigh bardugo #gella talks grishaverse #talk talk talk #i think i remembered everything i wanted to say #tried to write this yesterday but headache got the best of me

[beldaroot]

if it's really true that eric heisserer only wanted to do a six of crows adaptation, but netflix forced him to include shadow and bone, then eric heisserer is still an idiot lol and i blame him more than netflix. if he really wished to do the crows justice, he would've known that the best route to take for their story is developing a movie, not a show. given the existent success of the duology as books and how popular heist movies are to the general public, the movie would've gained a larger audience and if done well, would've been successful enough for crooked kingdom to be adapted. sure, some scenes would be cut and storylines may be a bit rushed given the restricted duration of films, but i'm sure fans would be willing to sacrifice that if the adaptation was genuinely faithful to the books' story.

#i know i read the books after the show was announced but while reading the books it felt like it would be such a great MOVIE #like i wouldn't be surprised if leigh wrote it to mimic a movie structure - everything happening chronologically w some flashbacks #also this man literally wrote arrival? you know how to write movies whyyyy did you want a show in the first place???? lol #i don't trust him... and leigh shouldn't have given the rights either i'm sorry! but that's my honest opinion #ok i'm done talking about this dumb show!! i'll live in peace now!! #sab #soc

[elegyofthemoon]

yeah i shouldnt be anywhere near pandora hearts before 8 am....dangerous

#im still bawling ndjfjdjfjd #it always makes me happy when someone (or a quiz in this case) is like 'u remind me of oz' lIKE ????? #ME??? #I MEAN THATS BOTH A BAD AND GOOD THING DEPENDING WHICH OZ UR TALKING ABOUT LMAOOOO #hdjfjdjd the description just made me think of leigh tbh shes so sweet like #i think may/june was having such a bad time and she sent a message about not trying too hard to be happy for others sake #and how its ok to NOT be happy and i jgnfngnfnf #it still means a lot honestly jnfnf #but yeah. flashback when i read the descript and i went 'o. wow i really jffjjfjd' #snow speaks #friends tag #rolls around i just love my friends a lot theyre so sweet and i just want them to be happy always like how do i repay that kindness gjjfnfd

[unseeleigh]

CHAPTER THREE BABEY

#leigh makes things #dndads #dungeon and daddies #nark #if anyone ever wants to talk to me about this i have so many headcanons i dont put in here #and i would love you forever

[queerleigh]

My biggest weakness is that I don't pray. I honestly just don't know how without it feeling fake af. It's a very embarrassing and humiliating thing to have to admit.

And here my priest wants me to be ordinated lmao

#leigh speaks #im gonna have to talk to her about this i guess #i dont want to tho