#giiih this is fucking huge

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What problems did you have with the darklings arc in siege and storm?

Basically LB relying on the cheapest and laziest (and maybe the grossest too) tool in order to make him completely irredeemable, that is, relying on none other than violence against women to show how BadTM he is. Which doesnt put her too far apart from writers that uses female character’s suffering to further a male character’s arc (I’m just not that infuriating cause usually these male writers tend to use women’s suffering to further a redemption for the male counterpart, ignoring the victims, which I consider worse than what we got in here, that is, what I call, a downfall arc in which at least the victims are put in the main perspective, but I still consider she ultimately did the same with all the Genya’s torture case, using her suffering to push the Darkling far from redemption, so… I’m still pissed. And I wont ramble nor rant about Genya’s case yet, cause I’ll get there).

Look, at first, I hadnt seen the pattern and I came to realize that there was one just long after I finished reading all the grishaverse books (i mean, the trilogy and the duology), and sometimes I get angry at myself for not getting it fast enough and sometimes I get angry for finally get it, cause I was way happier (or less pissed, depending on the angle you look at) when I hadnt had this one more thing to be pissed about with this trilogy.

And I think ultimately, I (plus lots of people) haven’t seen any fault (and some still dont) in Genya’s torture at first because of the pattern the book followed for his character, cause once you see him attacking Alina with his nichevoya, threatening to torture her, and seeing that he blinded his own mother, it isnt like you doubt he was capable of torturing Genya like that; but the problem with Genya’s case doesnt rely on his capability of doing such a thing, the holes in that plot point relies on his (lack of) reasons for doing so (which I’ll get there in a minute), so we let it pass because of the shock and the sadness (all of us feeling sad for Genya, and other lot feeling sad for Genya and the Darkling simultaneously, cause that was the moment we knew there was no turning back for him) without realizing how problematic all of that was.

So, analyzing objectively his arc in s&s where his bad deeds are concerned, you will see that it was basically focused on torture; but not torture towards any elements we dont care about, it was torture against female characters we care about. Like I pinpointed in the last paragraph already: the nichevoya attack towards Alina, the threat to torture her in order to press Mal to find the amplifier; blinding his own mother as a punishment for betraying him; and last but not least (and the most problematic one), he disfigured Genya because………… because. Or should I say: because ?????

In Alina and Baghra’s case I can get behind cause the reasons were clear, and if we learned something about the Darkling in s&b is that he doesnt do bad shit because; because he felt like it or whatever; I’m not saying what he does/did is justifiable, I’m just saying that he always has his reasons, he always do bad things to gain something, in order to pursue a goal, to punish someone that wronged him etc., this is one of his established character’s traits; so he’s bad, we all know that, but sadism was never one of his character’s traits, and if what he did to Genya wasnt sadism, what was it then? A coercive tactic to win Alina over? But he had tortured Genya long before he knew he was going to meet her, Genya’s scars were already there for a time, so it doesnt add up, and besides, if it was a tactic to coerce her, wouldnt it be much more efficient if he had waited to meet Alina and threat to torture Genya right in front of her so she would join him, like he did to Alina herself in the boat to coerce Mal? Like, it doesnt make any sense, especially considering that Genya was a grisha, and a grisha loyal to him! He wouldnt simply do such a horrendous thing to a loyal grisha just to try to get Alina, he would know it was kind of sloppy and risky and he had already presented other tactics much more efficient; he would know that the threat to torture Genya or whomever in front of her would’ve been much more practical and efficient, he did that before and got positive results, so ??!?!?!?!? And the reason being just coercion wouldnt really explain him dispatching Genya, either.

So ok, if it wasnt coersion, it was a punishment then, right? A punishment would explain him doing this a while ago, it could explain him dismissing her too, cause whatever she did that “deserved” such a punishment meant that he wouldnt want a grisha like her beside him, correct? Which lead us to the question: a punishment for what? What could she possibly had done to wrong him so bad that made him take such an extreme action? Had he thought Genya had betrayed him? Cause that would explain, he wouldnt want a disloyal grisha beside him and certainly wouldnt let a betrayal pass unpunished, I mean, he didnt forgave even his mother, so… But the thing is: in any moment, the text back this theory up, the only passage we got that tries to explain the cause of such a violent act is Alina’s nonsensical thought that “Genya had dared to be her friend, to show her mercy” like, what does that even mean???? Like, she backtracks to the boat scene to explain, so what she’s saying is that the Darkling would have punished Genya for not shooting Alina or something??? Didnt she know that he needed her ALIVE and the situation in the boat could’ve gone wrong in many ways if Genya’d had try something crazy? And Genya “having mercy” on Alina and being her friend would never be reason enough to create such an outrage feeling in the Darkling so he’d find himself in a situation of having to punish a grisha that is on his side. Actually, I think he probably would’ve found a way to use Genya’s fondness of Alina in a much smarter way. So back to the boat scene, unless he thought Genya letting Alina go had been a betrayal (but like I said, it isnt like she had too many options there, and besides, what exactly the Darkling had seen and heard (IF he’d heard anything in that chaos, which I doubt he had) of that scene that played out between Alina, Genya and Tolya? DID he see something? Cause he had been shot in that moment, so I think even if he had seen something (which probably would’ve been just glimpses of it), he probably would’ve liked to know more about the situation, he probably would’ve liked to sit with Genya and interrogate her or something, he wouldnt have done anything rushed, neither punished a grisha that is on his side without the certainty that they “deserved” it), there’s still no plausible explanation for that torture. 

But even if he’d thought Genya had betrayed him in any shape or form, he would’ve said it! I mean, yeah, he isnt like those that try to justify himself much (which I personally love it lmao), but I think he would’ve said it in that dismissive way of his, cause he makes sure to point out betrayal, like, always! Or if not through his words, at least LB’s text would’ve made sure to make this clear, or at least it SHOULD HAVE made sure to make this clear, but it havent! There is NOTHING that back this theory up, not in that final scene in s&s, not even in r&r (and at the time I started to analyze all of this more deeply, I read the boat scene and the final scene again just to make sure I wasnt missing anything). At first, despite the shock and heartbreaking, I felt that something wasnt adding up, but at the time, I let it pass cause I thought the full explanation would eventually come in r&r, but well, it never did. And the problem of not having a decent explanation for such an atrocious act is that it feels gratuitous, something that was put there just for shock value and to further the Darkling’s downfall, so ultimately, it feels completely unnecessary (and I dont think I need to explain how ProblematicTM it is to portray violence against women as shock value and gratuitous, right?) and on top of it, it plays as an inconsistency for the Darkling’s character so, in conclusion, gross. A Total Mess.

And to further the explanation on why his arc in s&s rotating in victimizing only women is bad, let me add that I know that the Darkling’s motivation in victimizing characters that happens to be women doesnt come from misogyny on his part or anything like that. We know that in that world, women and men fight side by side in wars, that women can make great warriors just like men, that women can have the same or even more power than men in the military and stuff, and in the Darkling’s mind, people are more separated between grishas x otkazatsya, and him victimizing a person that happens to be a woman isnt a gender based motive, but the thing is: art doesnt happen in a vacuum. His cruelty being directed towards female characters might not be a gender problem in that world, but in our world, it is. His arc in s&s is a little ProblematicTM not because of an “in narrative” problem (maybe just in Genya’s case, which I’ve just covered up), but more of an “outside narrative” problem; it’s problematic considering the damage that poor portrayal makes in our world, especially in Genya’s case, where we can consider something even ooc for him to had done, leading to the conclusion that that was completely unnecessary. And I dont blame the character for any of this, I dont think his arc in that book is as problematic as Mal’s, for instance, he was still the villain, so I dont get frustrated and angry with the character himself, exactly because I know all that was the author’s decision, that the responsibility was entirely hers; cause if your villain isnt a misogynistic peace of crap, why pick just female characters to be deeply victimized by him to further his monstrosity in a whole book, then? Was that necessary? Why not pick male characters, then? WHY NOT KILL MAL FFS? Wasnt there any other ways to do that? I say, of course there was, but considering our world morality and ethics standards, make him victimize women was just the easiest way out, and that’s why I say: lazy. Lazy writing at its finest. And I think I dont need to say how disrespectful to the Darkling and, especially, to Genya’s character that was, right? So well, that. All that. I hope I made myself clear, and that I havent forgotten anything.

Anyways, sorry not sorry for the huge text, I hope you read it till the end. Thanks for the ask anon, now bye cause I’ve already spoken too much!               

#the darkling #tgt #the grisha trilogy #s&s #siege and storm #anon #ask #giiih this is fucking huge #sorry anon #hope you dont get tired #and dont give up on me #please #thanks