#anti Alina

[wiwiuraikawa]

me before watching the s&b: it's imposible to make Alina more stupid, selfish and obsesed abaut Mal then she already is.

me after 10minuts in ep1: ... never mind

#anti Alina #anti Mal #anti shadow and bone #who thaught that burning the important maps would make Alina story better? #she just look worse #that were important maps of a place that was preparing revolution #if she was conspirating with zlatan #but she just didn't want to be without Mal #and for what? #she belived to be otkazat'sya #If Mal was atacked she woudn't be able to safe him anyway #she (unintentionally but still) sentenced most people on the skif to death( or at least the other cartograthers since they woudn't be thare #I hate Alina in every univers #grishaverse

[kittenbradensgf]

btw the reason i am (mostly) anti-darklina is not for Alina’s sake :)

I don’t like Alina and I didn’t enjoy her as a character. She felt hollow and reading the books from only her pov felt tedious. I could go far more in depth in reasons that i didn’t like the way Alina was portrayed and why i feel she was wasted potential.

I’m more Anti-Darklina for Aleksander’s sake.

The narrative of making a long-suffered immortal leader of a persecuted minority group the villain really hits me the wrong way. I’m in no way saying that he was completely innocent, he hurt people greatly both directly and indirectly via the fold (but then, the fold was never meant to exist.)

But they were in war, had been for a long time. Many if the things he did, he did not as a cruelty but as the harsh reality of a military leader. Reading this from Alina’s perspective with her having no real experience in war is irritating.

And Aleksander didn’t revert to war and violence immediately, we know that. We know that he tried every other way to help and to save his people but it just wasn’t enough.

We know that by the present in canon he’s been fighting the same war for years, hoping for the miracle of a sun summoner. And Alina comes and she’s an inexperienced whiny orphan who doesn’t want to be there and is even somewhat against Grisha as a whole, doesn’t identify with them. And we’re supposed to believe that Aleksander absolutely falls for her. Sure, out of desperation for his people he needs a sun summoner, but he doesn’t need Alina.

And we’re still meant to see him as the villain. Think about if the novels were written from his perspective for a moment. He did what he had to do, thats the truth. If it was his pov you’d be rooting for him and hating how uncooperative and entitled Alina would be. Its a matter of perspective and i choose to see from his.

And i see that he deserved better.

#im gonna get ripped to shreds for putting this in any major tags #pro darkling #pro aleksander morozova #anti alina starkov #anti alina #say it with me… Sasha. Deserved. Better. #team darkling

[rosesfox]

your thoughts on alina and the darkling?

i don't like Alina. i think she's a terrible ''heroine'' and i think she's selfish.

about the Darkling, it's complex. i think Leigh gets a little lost in his development because she doesn't know where she wants to take him.

she says he's abusive to Alina, but regardless of his intentions, he's the one who makes her shine the most. she says he never liked Alina, but in ROW, a book that had nothing to do with him, Darkling says that Alina was the only thing that made him feel alive. it's confusing, because where are his feelings really, and how can he be the villain in Alina's narrative when it's next to him that she is most developed?

at the same time he is a villain and he does terrible things. everything bad that happens to Genya is his fault, he used Zoya's feelings to manipulate her and he killed all the grisha he created when they did something he didn't like. Darkling literally loses himself within his own cause, and he has no redemption. he's just this villain, and he's a very good villain.

anyway, i think the Darkling had a lot of potential for redemption and he would be a much better partner than Mal ever was for Alina. however, the way he ends up in Nikolai's duology makes me find him irritating and pathetic.

#anon ask #anti alina starkov #anti alina #the darkling #aleksander morozova #shadow and bone #leigh badurgo

[rebelside]

I'm also very in favor of shirtless matthias, but i do hope we get him out of there soon

And I still don't care about Alina and mal sorry l, actors are amazing though

And the chemistry of the two u know and the crows all together almost omggg

He's the love of my life and I am dead

#soc #sab #matthias helvar #spoilers #just in case #anti alina #anti mal #again not really but just in case

[suzieloveships]

Grishaverse series fundamentally being about teenagers taking back their own authority and committing revenge on adults that abused them and exploited them >>>>>>>>>>

#grishaverse #shadow and bone #six of crows #siege and storm #ruin and rising #crooked kingdom #alina starkov #mal oretsev #genya safin #zoya nazyalensky #nikolai lantsov #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #wylan van eck #jesper fahey #nina zenik #matthias helvar #anti darkling #jan van eyck #pekka rollins #malina #kanej #wesper #helnik

[dcvina-claires]

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

#i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again #this fandom does not deserve her #grishaverse #gv #shadow and bone #sab #seige and storm #sas #ruin and rising #rar #alina starkov #anti darkling #anti darklina

[aleksanderscult]

Alina: *has a good time in the Little Palace*

Mal:

#well that wasn't a heartwarming reunion was it? #anti malina #anti mal oretsev #anti mal #alina starkov #grishaverse trilogy #shadow and bone #grishaverse #darklina #pro darklina #alarkling #pro alarkling

[theweeklydiscourse]

My reasons for disliking the Shadow and Bone Netflix adaptations had very little to do with its “book accuracy” and had more to do with it being a terrible adaptation. In fact, I would’ve preferred if the writers had taken some liberties and revised certain flaws of the original trilogy to create a more compelling narrative.

However, they instead made superficial changes that added little to the value of the show and were bandaid solutions to deeper problems with the source material. They didn’t expand on the original story, they only narrowed the scope. This, was its ultimate flaw that ended up culminating in a watered down version of what we once knew.

For example, the rehabilitation of Mal’s image seemed agreeable initially, but harmed the story in the long-run. The writers understood that book!Mal was disliked, but instead of re-examining that character and expanding (and perhaps improving) his arc, they refashioned him into a boring and frictionless character that offered little to the emotional stakes of the story. This choice, was a prime example of the dilution of the characters and story for the adaptation that ended up creating a weaker experience altogether.

The girlbossification of Alina, the lobotomizing of the Darkling to make it easier for the heroes to defeat him, cramming the Crows into a plot that didn’t concern them, blaming Grisha persecution on the Darkling, making Zoya a racist/the Darkling’s side chick, all of those idiotic flashbacks, were symptomatic of the writers inability to take risks.

#lb critical #shadow and bone #the darkling #alina starkov #s&b critical #s&b netflix #s&b salt #darklina #aleksander morovoza #anti leigh bardugo #zoya nazyanelsky #six of crows #malyen oretsev #netflix

[greensaplinggrace]

alina starkov i am so sorry that no one understands your character. i'm sorry that you have been reduced to the fandom's morality pony at the sake of your real personality and your depth. i'm sorry that they don't understand that you existed as a person outside of the men in your life, and that your relationship with your trauma was complicated and ugly and understandable. i'm sorry they didn't love you for this anyway.

i'm sorry they don't understand the metaphor of the sunlight in your soul representing your self discovery and growing ability to accept yourself - that every scene where you long so desperately to know yourself and then glow when you finally do is cast in darkness by those who would rather you starve yourself in the name of conformity than eat healthily at the table of self love.

i'm sorry that they didn't love you enough to see how much losing your light hurt you and i'm sorry that they didn't want you to have a happy ending that you truly wanted - one where you could be all of yourself without shame or borders. i'm sorry their love for you was so performative that it stripped you of everything you are, that it left you wanting and shamed and filled with grief. i'm so so sorry.

#this fandom really does not deserve her #grishaverse #shadow and bone #sab #alina starkov #sab salt #myramblings #you bet your ass i'll go to bat for my girl #when will the people who claim to love her stop speaking complete and utter shit? #fandomcourse #sab discourse #anti darkling bs #anti darklina bs

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

It’s a while since I was outrightly anti-Darkling on here but I’m currently trapped on Darklina TikTok I don’t know how I got here but I’m scared someone please come rescue me

#grishaverse #shadow and bone #anti darkling #leigh bardugo #alina starkov #malina #mal x alina #malyen oretsev #mal oretsev #genyalina

[rewrite-canon]

“[insert character] should have been evil!” let people be good and nice goddamn it.

#its so easy to just become evil and horrible and bad. remaining a good person is a testament to their strength #no i dont want another morally grey anti hero i just want a hero. thanks. #STOP TRYING TO EVILFY MY COMFORT POOKIES 😡 #clark kent #superman #<- yes this was about him but im gonna tag other characters ive heard this argument for #harry potter #izuku midoriya #alina starkov #mare barrow #percy jackson #nico di angelo #juliette ferrars #inej ghafa #jonathan joestar #frodo baggins #peeta mellark #lucy gray baird #bnha #my hero academia #pjo #heroes of olympus #shadow and bone #red queen #tbosas #the lord of the rings #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #the hunger games #jojos bizarre adventure #rewriting

[darklinaforever]

I really think Mal Oretsev is the worst endgame romantic interest in existence.

Really.

There are many canonical ships I disagree with, but Malina ? This is the worst of all for me.

Alina had so much potential, and it was all wasted on a stupid tracker ; When she could have had the Darkling or Nikolai !

As much as I will always wonder what could be wrong in Alina's head to prefer her childhood friend to these two, and also what could have been going on in Leigh Bardugo's head when she wrote the character of Mal and the Malina relationship.

Like... she didn't notice that the character and the relationship were catastrophic ? Is that the height of romance for her ?

It sucks...

#anti malina #anti mal oretsev #alina starkov #the darkling #pro darkling #nikolai lantsov #darklina #alarkling #nikolina #darkling x alina #darkling and alina #alina x darkling #alina and darkling #nikolai x alina #nikolai and alina #alina x nikolai #grisha #the grisha trilogy #grisha trilogy #shadow and bone trilogy #the shadow and bone trilogy #shadow and bone #siege and storm #ruin and rising #anti leigh bardugo #grishaverse #aleksander morozova

[pr-olvdr]

i keep seeing a bunch of anti darkling posts and it's pissing me off. stop attacking people for liking a character. idgaf what he did to make himself a villain, the point is, he's a FICTIONAL CHARACTER. not a real man. people can like what they like. there's nothing wrong with that. if you like the darkling, that's perfectly fine. if you don't, that's also fine but QUIT TELLING PEOPLE WHAT THEY SHOULD AND SHOULDNT LIKE. my morals are not fucked up just because i like a villain !

#shadow and bone #six of crows #nikolai lantsov #crooked kingdom #grishaverse #kaz brekker #king nikolai #nina zenik #prince nikolai #the darkling #aleksander morozova #alina starkov #the darkling x alina #darklina #alina x aleksander #aleksander morovoza #aleksander kirigan #darkling shadow and bone #pro darkling #anti darkling #alina x darkling

[rosesfox]

(shadow and bone season two spoilers!!!!!!!!!!)

i, as a stan of zoya and zoyalai, couldn't have hated this ridiculous ending more. i don't know how they're going to separate nikolina, make zoya stand out as a general and nikolai's main and truest love interest. the way it looks, even if they were to adapt kos and row, it would look like zoya is a replacement for alina. they took the crumbs they could have from zoyalai and still didn't add, even knowing that the endgame is zoyalai and that zoya is the one who will become queen. it's just awful, and i really hated it.

nikolai never loved alina, alina never wanted to be with nikolai and always saw him as a friend, mal would never leave alina lol and most important of all zoya was the first person nikolai loved and chose for himself beyond of his duty as monarch.

they changed crucial things for the continuity of the story, there is no opening for even more of the crows (since crooked kingdom was poorly adapted) and kos and row are beyond my imagination. that was so bad. i think overall they managed to spoil all the characters, but i as stan da zoya am particularly enraged.

and also, my god, the changes with nikolai! they really didn't understand the importance of the sturmhond to him.

#zoyalai #zoya nazyalensky #nikolai lantsov #alina starkov #shadow and bone season 2 #shadow and bone tv #six of crows #crooked kingdom #kanej #wesper #helnik #malina #nikolina #anti nikolina #darklina #the Darkling

[is-today-tomorrow-in-nz]

Why I cannot accept Alina Starkov as a protagonist

I have a love-hate relationship with Alina's character. Mostly hate though. I loved the few bright moments she had but I absolutely loathed the moments where she was came off as an utterly selfish, unsympatheic, sanctimonious brat which dried up the any pity I had for her.

When I think of Alina, the analogy that comes to my mind is elephants. When elephants are tamed their handlers use an interesting strategy. The handlers use the heaviest iron chains that are too strong for the young calves to break away to tether them. The young calves try as they might to break free, soon realise that the chains are stronger than them and give up. They slowly start to live within the limits of the chain. However as the elephants reach adulthood, the trainers switch to normal, lightweight chains to tie them up because, by now the elephants have been fully trained to believe that they are too weak to breakaway. So the elephants rarely ever attempt to test the strength of the chains or even attempt to escape. The elephants having forgotten the strength they posses, learn to live within the limits of the chains.

Alina is just like those elephants. She has the power of the Sun coursing through her veins and yet instead of raising up to the situation, she actively chooses to remain stagnant. She remains tethered with her one-sided affection for Mal, her crippling self esteem issues, her shame of having 'impure thoughts' and, her fear of becoming something more than she had imagined. Eventhough the chains does not help her realise her true potential or even give her room to breathe, she is unable to comprehend anything beyond it and remain fearful to breakfree.

Had she been a side character, then, all of these flaws would not have mattered. But she is the protagonist and the entire triology moves forward through her. I'm not belittling her fears but the problem with the Chosen One trope is that at one point, the Chosen One is supposed to break away from their shackles and overcome these fears as the story progresses. Because, the story is not about the Chosen One, it is about the cause they are representing. But with Alina we never see that growth and so the cause she represents remains unfulfiled. Rather than becoming the one moving the story forward, she becomes an elephant in the hands of her handlers- Nikolai, Mal, Zoya, Apparat etc. She goes where they direct her to.

We see her passiveness cause actual detriment to the story as she is directed to side with the 'good guys' instead of representing the suppressed people who sees her as a beacon of hope. And in the end her life or death did not impact the cause she represented.

People may say that she suceeded in killing the Darkling and took down the Fold. But neither was her true purpose. She was supposed to be the one who bridged the gap between the otkazats'ya and the Grisha. And so, her victory in the final battle does not satisfy the end goal as the person she killed also wanted the same.

By defeating the Darkling, she no longer becomes the Chosen One. Instead she becomes an instrument of the oppressor who actively wants to maintain the status of the monarchy which in turn thrived on the Grisha serfdom. From a passive protagonist she becomes a passive antagonist. And in the end of it all she serves no purpose to herself or the people she was supposed to uplift and goes back to her chained elephant life with Mal as her new handler.

And this is why I could never accept Alina as the protagonist.

#alina starkov #alina critical #shadow and bone analysis #anti shadow and bone #anti leigh bardugo #grishanalyticritical #girshaverse #anti alina starkov

[blues-valentine]

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

#shadow and bone #shadow and bone netflix #zoya nazyalensky #alina starkov #genya safin #anti darkling #anti darklina #grishaverse