The mystery of names (and their correct spelling). Part 2. Aleksander Morozova

I'm back with a new analysis. In the last analysis, I promised to analyze the Morozovs. Let's start with Aleksander. And the correct spelling of his name in Russian is Aleksandr Morozov. Everything is simple with the surname: Morozova is the feminine form of the surname. The name is more complicated, as far as I understand, the correct spelling of the name in English is Alexander with an “x” and not “ks”, while in Russian it is written “ks”, but without the second letter “e”. Why Leigh Bardugo wrote this name the way she did is personally unclear to me🤨. Okay, we’ve sorted out the correct spelling, let’s move on to the meaning of the name.

Aleksandr (abbreviated as Sasha, Sashka, Sashen'ka, Sashechka, Sanya, Sashok, Sanyok, San'ka and these are the first that came to my mind, there are a lot of options😁)

I think I won’t surprise anyone by saying that the name comes from the Greek words “alekso” - “to protect” and “andros” - “man” in the sense of “human”, and means protector of people. Therefore, without further ado, let's move on to the surname.

Morozov

Morozov is one of the most common Russian surnames; moreover, it ranks 9th in the list of all-Russian surnames. Like the Starkov surname, there are several versions of the origin of the surname: 1) Origin from the name According to one version, the surname Morozov came from the name Moroz. "Moroz" is a weather phenomenon meaning extreme cold. In ancient times, names that denoted certain natural phenomena could become the basis for the formation of surnames. Thus, a person nicknamed “Moroz” could give rise to the Morozov surname. P.S. The most famous person named Moroz is the Russian equivalent of Santa Claus - Ded Moroz or Moroz Ivanovich, so perhaps Sashka is a descendant of the Russian Santa😂 2) Origin from occupation There is also a version that the surname Morozov came from the ancestors’ occupation of this type of activity associated with the frosty season. For example, they might have been involved in the production and sale of ice cream, ice products, or working in ice caves. 3) Symbolic meaning The surname Morozov can carry a symbolic meaning, indicating strength and perseverance. Moroz is a natural phenomenon that can overcome obstacles and remain unshakable. Therefore, the Morozov surname can be associated with a family possessing such qualities. 4) Relief features of the area It can also be assumed that the surname Morozov is associated with the relief features of the area where the ancestors of this family lived. It may have been a place with a cold climate or glaciers, which ultimately influenced the choice of surname. Regardless of origin, the surname Morozov attracts attention with its mystical and mysterious connotations.

The names of Ilya and Baghra deserve a separate analysis, so the next post will be about them. See you later😘

Is this my life now? Sol Koroleva, Sun Summoner, Sancta Alina, Moya Suverennaya, anyone, but not just Alina. Never just Alina. How quickly will the name I was given at birth, my real name, be erased from history, leaving behind a faceless Sun Saint, an icon that people put in a red corner to pray? How quickly will I stop being human, with human flaws and feelings in the eyes of other people?

I wonder if he felt the same? Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a silhouette in the far corner. Speak of the Devil.

Be afraid of what you wish for

An idea for a fanfic (maybe someday I’ll write this, right now I have other priorities). It's a mixture of books and show canon. Summary: The story that Morozov's stag can grant wishes turned out to be partially true. The Darkling so badly wanted the power of the Sun Summoner, and Alina so desperately wanted to prevent the expansion of the Fold, that the moment the Darkling put the collar on Alina, they… swapped abilities. Now the Darkling is a useless lamp (at least at first), and Alina is an uncontrollable avalanche of darkness, which only the Darkling can calm down (but Alina quickly realizes that the stag power is as much hers as it is his and simply plays along until she finds a semblance of control over a new force). Alexander curses his grandfather a lot, and Baghra laughs for a long time. There will be a lot of quarrels and mutual accusations between Darklina about what happened (and a lot of threats to Mal from the Darkling). Since Alina has absolutely no control over the shadows, she and the Darkling are now inseparable (neither of them is happy about this). The situation is aggravated by the war, a possible uprising in Western Ravka, and subsequently by the Apparat, who decided that the Darkling had desecrated the Saint by stealing her powers.

How do you think AFO would be taken out?

Hard to say! All the heroes uniting against him as ~the ultimate evil~ might seem satisfying on some level, but it also plays directly into AFO's toxic comic book narrative and it doesn’t really "engage" with his character in a totally satisfying way, if that makes sense. I'm firmly on team "afo shouldn't get what he wants, Ever" so I'm not a fan of any ending that merrily sends him off into his next life as a "demon lord" instead of actively trying to rip that mask from him. Hori hasn't really let me down on this front, yet-- and as I suspected, it does seem as though chapter 419's AFO is more or less picking up where body!AFO's character arc left off. AFO's core desires as a human and the immensely fragile "heart" he's hidden away are both things that are being directly challenged in the most recent chapter, too:

Izuku, the hero, constantly inspires others to come to his aid because he doesn't hide his humanity, his identity, or his struggles from others-- people see him fighting for his life and realize that he is "just like them," and that motivates them to rush to his side and offer help. Meanwhile, AFO finds himself completely alone because he wont let go of the demon lord role and accept his own humanity. Something something We Still Need To Know His Name smthing sm.

With all of that in mind, I still think the most appropriate way of defeating him involves forcing him to confront his own humanity + weakness in all its ugliness (which Hori has already been doing at a pretty steady rate this arc!) and ultimately forcing him to take responsibility for Yoichi's death. This might seem like a massive leap from the person AFO is right now, but depending on how things go, I do think Hori could pull it off.

Anyway, as for what I would like to see:

Personally, I would like an end where he willingly lets Yoichi go (and by proxy, finally lets Tenko go). Not because I think this would redeem him (it wont) or because I want him redeemed (i don't), but because I do feel like something along these lines would be the natural conclusion to his character arc and the best way to symbolize him accepting death/his mistakes. He came into the world desperately gripping onto Yoichi, and was unable to ever truly live or truly die due to his obsession-- so it makes sense to me that AFO will only be able to leave this world when he finally lets Yoichi go. Like.... even now, we see him stubbornly persisting with the idea of conquering the world even though he feels it's totally pointless-- with the implication that he's doing this because the demon lord role and the captain hero comics are literally the only thing he has atp that still connect him to Yoichi in some capacity.

If I end up being right and the OFA embers now exist within Tenko's body, then ideally, I still want some sort of conversation + resolution between the brothers before Yoichi finally passes on with the rest of the OFA embers. I'll admit that I've never been 100% fond of the idea of reading Izuku & Tenko's story as Yoichi/AFO's "good ending", simply because so much of Tenko's story is about reclaiming his own identity (+ detangling himself from his abusers) and so much of Izuku's story is about finding his own identity-- which is why I feel the final resolution to the OFAFO plot needs to be between AFO and Yoichi, not Izuku and Tenko.

I actually don't want Tenko to kill him! I think I've said this before, but I feel this outcome would be only satisfying to folks who want Tenko to have very surface-level revenge on his abuser w/o thinking about the effect this act would have on Tenko himself. I personally feel it wouldn't do Tenko any favors, mentally, since the crux of AFO's abuse involved convincing Tenko that he only exists to destroy. And people really hate to admit it, but-- Tenko sincerely loved AFO and I don't want him to have to repeat the tragedy of being forced to kill someone he loved all over again (even if they don't deserve that love by any stretch of the word). Like, a lot of people want Tenko to take AFO out the same way he took Kotaro out, but I feel this would only emphasize how Tenko and AFO are trapped in an endlessly repeating cycle.

side note: Kotaro coming directly from AFO's stomach/womb during the 270's vestige realm sequence feels extremely intentional now, what with the constant cannibalism and pregnancy imagery surrounding AFO and Tenko. MHA continues to be a masterful example of visual storytelling and Horikoshi continues to be a straight up freak for no real reason /positive!

A big part of Tenko's healing was always going to involve him confronting his feelings for Kotaro, specifically-- all of his love and disappointment and wishes and anger. And with that in mind, it feels like Hori is setting AFO up to act as a sort of Kotaro proxy for this next stretch of Tenko's character arc (even TomurAFO's current hairstyle and facial structure reminds me of a mix of Kotaro x AFO x Toshi.... Hori really said "Tomura's final character design is gonna be a mish-mash of every potential father-figure who has ever let him down byeeeeee :)" and he was sooooo sick for doing that wtf). Anyway, I know people like to joke about AFOtaro, but honestly, the narrative itself really does justify the read of Tenko being AFO and Kotaro's traumababy lmfao...., 😭

Also worth mentioning is that this iteration of AFO/TomurAFO has pupils, despite there being no Tenko component to his personality at this time. AFO's lack of pupils are textually/canonically meant to convey his inability to "see" others as people, so I'm very interested to see where Hori intends to take things from here.

Does Alina mean "small" or Alina mean "protector"?

While analyzing the meaning of the name Alina, I suddenly realized that the main character is connected to both Mal and the Darkling.

Her name can mean “small”, and if we translate the abbreviated name Mal from Russian literally, it will mean “small” (and his name can also mean “evil”, “bad” and “cattle”, but this is a topic for a separate post).

But at the same time, the name Alina can mean “protector.” Do you know who else’s real name means “protector”? Alexander! And this is a real irony, because whenever Alina followed the path of Alexander, she really became a protector, and when she followed Mal, she actually became small. In other words, being with Mal for Alina means being a weak child and a smaller version of herself, and being with Alexander means being strong and protecting others. It’s a pity that Alina never realized this (or rather, the author did not allow her to realize it)😔

I don't think Leigh Bardugo intended the characters' names to be that meaningful (otherwise she wouldn't have left Alina with Mal), but it's an interesting detail that perfectly describes Malina and Darklina relationship.

The mystery of names (and their correct spelling). Part 1. Alina Starkov

So, I finally decided to make a post dedicated to the correct spelling of the Russian language in the Grisha Trilogy. I decided to start with names, and so that you don’t get bored, I decided to add a point about the meaning of names. So, let's start with the main character. And the correct spelling of her name in Russian is Alina Starkova, not Starkov. Why? Because Starkov is a masculine surname. For example, my surname is Kosareva, and my father’s surname is Kosarev. So, we've discussed the correct spelling, now let's move on to the meaning.

Alina (is abbreviated as Lina, Linka, Linochka, Linushka, Alinochka, Alinushka, Alya)

The name Alina has several meanings. Latin: The name may come from the Latin name Alina, meaning "small" or "gentle", or from the Germanic name Adelina, meaning "noble". Polish Meaning: In Polish, the name Alina means "bright", "brilliant" or "beautiful". Russian meaning: In Russian, the name Alina can also be interpreted as “bright” or “brilliant”, “beautiful and charming”, as well as “true”, “faithful” or “protector”.

Starkova

Our heroine’s surname is no less interesting, as it is one of the oldest Russian surnames. There are several versions of the origin of the surname: 1)Derivation from the name of the star The first version says that the Starkov surname comes from the name of a star or other celestial objects. In ancient times, the stars played an important role in people's lives, and some researchers argue that some families may have received the Starkov surname in honor of stellar phenomena or specific celestial events. 2) Origin from a profession or occupation Another version connects the Starkov surname with a person's profession or occupation. Since the Russian word for "starik" (old man) has been used throughout history to describe an elderly person, this may indicate that some ancestors of those with the Starkov surname may have been sages, elders, or engaged in other occupations that required wisdom and experience. 3) Origin from a geographical place There is also a version according to which the Starkov surname has geographical roots. It may be associated with the name of a specific place, for example, the name of a settlement or village. Over the course of time, the name of a place may have passed on as a surname to the population living in the area. 4) Origin from the name Some researchers propose a version according to which the Starkov surname arose from a short name associated with a patronymic. The Russian word "starik" (old man) could be a nickname or a short form of the name Stary, Starov, and so on. Gradually it could turn into a surname for subsequent generations. Regardless of the version of origin, the Starkov surname is usually associated with concepts of wisdom, experience and age. It can indicate a family's rich history, whether related to a star, profession, or geographic location. In the next part we will look at the Morozovs, don’t miss it😘

I will never understand why Leigh Bardugo spent an entire book showing good reasons why Mal and Alina don't work as a couple, only to make them the endgame at the end anyway, while ruining Alina's entire arc as a heroine😞

Russia's contribution to World War II has been significantly understated. Do you think that we lost 26.6 million people, including 8,668,400 military personnel, just because of a small skirmish?

Briefly about what it's like to be disabled

People, when I, as a disabled person, say that I am not able to work as well and efficiently as a normal person:

A short personal story about self-acceptance. Please look at the tags carefully before reading!

Hatred or resentment?

Every time someone claims that Alina and the Darkling hated each other, I laugh because these people apparently don't understand the difference between hatred and deep resentment. I am not a psychologist, but being a person who knows both resentment and hatred, I clearly draw a line between these two concepts. And I know for sure that when you hate someone, you will not want to spend a single minute with this person, and certainly you will not willingly hug him, shed tears for him and desire his presence. No, you want this person to die, preferably painfully, you want this person to disappear from your life forever and you wish them all the worst. It's another thing when you are just very angry at someone, but you still love and care deep down. Do you still want to hurt this person? Yes. Will you gloat when he fails? Definitely. Will you still secretly desire his company? Yes, if you are honest with yourself (and Alina is not one of those who are honest with themselves, let's admit it). Will it hurt you if this person dies? Undoubtedly. Of course, resentment can turn into hatred, but I didn't see that even at the end of the trilogy, which only proves how much they both cared for each other. Love is a complex thing and simplifying it to something primitive, like constant kisses and hugs, is short-sighted. At the end of the day, no one hurts you like people who truly care about you.

Every protagonist is so different and complex and handles things differently and...yeah sure. But can we talk about how many types of evil characters and antagonists there are? I'm not talking about morally grey, I'm talking about who we call EEEVVILL bastards.

What makes a character evil and who decides? Is author even a competent authority on the subject if they don't seem to understand what they wrote? And change the villain's story in the way that doesn't make sense for their personality and motives just to suit the plot?

Is the main character an unreliable narrator who demonizes them and makes them the bad guy? Could the antagonist be redeemed? Were they forced to commit crimes in the name of a greater good and in what case do they have a better point than the hero? Was it convenient for everyone to blame everything on one person? Do we just ignore the different world setting, ethics and politics and judge them by modern standard? Or maybe they were never would have become a villain if someone was kinder to them? Or maybe, they were always meant to be evil. Driven by narcissism, greed, envy, belief in their own superiority, results of trauma and psychotic tendencies.

Maybe someone is a villain but the main character doesn't realize it, doesn't see them as one and readers are only picking up hints here and there when their masks slips and they do something hard to justify.

*Alina, in a rage, burns the Druskelle squad alive* Mal: horrified, can't believe she did this😱 Nikolai: worried but impressed😶 Alexander: delighted, always knew she had it in her😏

You guys just have to trust me on this one and click here okay?

Pin for survivors

Disability will have you thinking shit like “I’m not even that disabled. I can manage as long as I limit myself to very specific careers, never go shopping for more than an hour or two at a time, keep my plans open so I can cancel and stay in if need be, and only go out a few nights per week at the most”