nikolai and fruzsi

meet me in the meadow / s02e07

@ghosttsar

"My bruises have bruises," Nikolai complained lightly. He ached, every bone and tendon of him. He wanted to get up, for one of the first days in ages he didn't technically need to.

The crown was not his and when he had gone to sleep there was no pre-planning of what letters he would need to address when he first woke up. That was Zoya's job now... he wasn't so mean to immediately pawn every responsibility off on her, but he did get to sleep in.

Nikolai rolled over instead and curled his arm around Rowena who he could still feel beside him. "How are you feeling?" he wondered, burying his face between her shoulder blades.

literally every blonde male character is either the biggest golden retriever ever or the villain that tried to tear the whole world apart. there's no in-between.

Hey friendly reminder that Jesper Fahey was supposed to be attending Ketterdam University, the same place the royal family decided to send Nikolai to (and assumed he was also attending). If I see one more person dumb Jesper down to comic relief when he was smart enough to get into the same school a prince was attending, it's on sight.

OBSESSED with the costuming choice of giving him the same color palette of teal over olive for both Sturmhond and Nikolai, but with very different style garments

(also love the choice of olive for the under layer, for that First Army symbolism. also very Ravkan Colors of him)

(also also Nikolai having the same color palette as Sturmhond but way more muted/less vibrant is So Much)

Antis: "The Darkling was cruel! He killed, manipulated, lied and forced himself to Alina!"

*Meanwhile the antis when Nikolai cut the fingers of a man, decided to usurp the throne, lied to Alina, hid information from her and kissed her without consent:* "Now isn't he a cutie?🥰😭"

Halfway through tenth chapter of Siege and Storm, and it makes me so helplessly angry!

Nikolai's talking like Aleksander, yet he's The Good Guy™. He comes from privilage, picked the path that showed him suffering, yet we're supposed to see him as better than the person, who never got a choice, and still decided to care?!

Bribery and manipulation are alright as long as you're royalty?!

Brutality's excusable as long as you throw up in private?!

Am I supposed to believe Nikolai would be any better after half of what the Darkling lived through?!

I can't help but wonder why didn't Nikolai try to negotiate with Aleksander? He knows how Grisha are treated, what state is Ravka in, how corrupt is leadership... and he chooses more malleable, politically incompetent, inexperienced girl as an ally? When he's oh-so-nice and not-at-all calculating?!

Some S2 Shadow and Bone Troubled Birds! As you can see those first two Aleksander ones sort of go together!

hmmm something about dominik haunting the narrative in king of scars. everything nikolai does is at least a little bit for him. he learns about the life of average ravkan people by meeting dominik's family. he starts gaining influence in politics just so he can improve dominik's life. and then he promises dominik that he won't let ravka break him.

that promise fucking haunts him. it follows him wherever he goes. it's the driving force behind everything he does, every step he takes to heal the centuries-old wounds in ravka. it's what drives him to do better, be better.

dominik is always there, in the back of his mind: this country gets you in the end. always pushing him to do more, because he couldn't save dominik and so he has to save ravka (for dominik) (because he promised) (because he loved him)

post Rule of Wolves meetings between Fjerda and Ravka but it's just Nina and Zoya enjoying the little time they can spend together through late nights by the fire with plenty of red wine and gossip

Every fandom has it’s “if she was a man people would universally adore her”

and the “if he was a woman , fandom would call him mary sue”

“ it’s the devotion turned to loathing. it’s the loathing underscored by c o n s u m i n g  d e s i r e . it’s ' ONE DAY I WILL KILL YOU, AND IT WILL KILL ME TOO. ‘ “

nikolai lantsov & aleksander morozova

The two extremely funny ways @ghosttsar and I have refer to Nikolai getting turned into a shadow demon:

“And Then…”

“Then the horrors happen”

Ever getting so over excited about your favourite characters appearing in the book you're reading that you have to put the book aside to process it first or else you might accidentally throw it through the room from too much excitement? 🤣

(row spoilers!) no thoughts but nikolai and the throne. the fact that he was the bastard son. that once he was finally in line for the throne he became a demon. that no matter what happened he was never the one on it. that his story was accepting and rejecting that. that he knelt down and gave zoya the crown. the constant strive for a better ravka only for him to give it to her, the one person he knew he could trust it with. idk. just nikolai and his secrets and his love.

“I would give you a crown if I could," he said. “I would show you the world from the prow of a ship. I would choose you, Zoya. As my general, as my friend, as my bride. I would give you a sapphire the size of an acorn." He reached into his pocket. "And all I would ask in return is that you wear this damnable ribbon in your hair on our wedding day.”