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#pro darkling
aleksanderscult · 2 months
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Analyzing Aleksander's reaction to Alina's loss of her power
(I'm so sick and tired of seeing people use his "You are nothing now" words as a way to justify how he didn't love her that I decided to create a whole ass post about it.)
First of all, let's see what the powers of a Grisha mean to a Grisha, shall we?
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For a Grisha her powers is the same thing as the oxygen is for all humans. The constant beat of a person's heart.
Indispensable.
And in a way it's implied that a Grisha cannot live without it. Just like birds can naturally fly, just like a fish can naturally swim. It's part of their nature, part of their body and soul.
Now let's see Aleksander's reaction to Alina's loss of her power.
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The moment he saw Alina being unable to summon, he froze. At first he's in denial of what he sees.
How can a Grisha not being able to use her power? A power that is always there no matter what? A power that "feeds" them and keeps them healthy and alive.
We see Aleksander being in a state of shock as he tries to comprehend what is happening with her:
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He had never seen anything like that. A Grisha losing her powers is unheard of. Impossible.
He tries again and again to summon her light and bring it to the surface. The fact that he can't feel it causes him panic and pain. In a way, he can't find her soul.
And the very fact that she also lost her collar and feter is impossible too. When a Grisha claims an amplifier, a connection is made that can't be broken.
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Another fatal loss for Alina and a disastrous blow for Aleksander and his knowledge, since he knows more than anyone else how amplifiers work and how a Grisha's power work. All the hundreds of years he had spent watching and studying the ways of the Small Science and of power, have gone to waste right now as he tries to understand what is going on with the woman he loves.
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His near immortality and rare powers always made him seek someone else to connect with. Someone to understand him and be on the same level as him.
People say that he never actually wanted Alina to be his equal. Well, based on his words and reaction here, I would say he wanted to.
Right now there's no pretense, no tricks or a façade. We see him "naked" and exposed showing us his terror of Alina's loss and despair for his fate. Of being alone forever.
"You were meant to be like me."
Aleksander wanted her strong and confident. Unafraid to rise above the others and to stand right beside him.
"You're nothing now."
I know it sounds cruel but it is true.
If a bird lost its ability to fly or a fish its ability to swim, would you call that normal? If a person stopped breathing or her heart stopped beating, would you call her alive and whole?
Alina lost the very essence of her being, her soul and identity. What happened to her was something completely unnatural and just wrong. Aleksander has lived for centuries and knows more about the Grisha than anyone else (except of course his mother) so he knows that what happened to her, has crippled her. She's not the Alina she was. And she's never gonna be.
It's not a statement of disgust, apathy or scorn. They're words of pain and mourning. Shock and anger.
It's a complete ruin for Alina.
A devastation and tragedy for the unfortunate Grisha that experiences it for the first time in their history. And an equal devastation and sorrow for the Grisha that watched it happen to the person he cared most about.
And it's actually funny how Aleksander seems to be the only person that was devastated for what happened to her.
Everyone else was:
"Alina lost her powers"
"Okay cool".
In a way you can say that it was proof of how he was the one that truly cared about her fate while the rest of her friends didn't seem to give two flying fucks.
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The Darkling just gave up.
All he had fought for, all the patience he had mastered for years waiting for his equal to come, went to dust right in front of him.
In a way he committed suicide and just let Alina kill him.
Now if he didn't love her as some people say, why did he do these things after she lost her powers?:
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1) Called her to his side and searched for her hand to hold it.
2) Smiled at her and stroked her tears.
3) Entrusted her with his last wish because he'd seen her kindness and believed in it.
4) Asked her to say his name one more time so he could hear it from her one last time. A name that he had probably never said to anyone else for centuries.
5) Begged her to not leave him alone while he died because loneliness frightened him.
I'm sorry but if I was dying, I wouldn't want anyone at my side but the people that I loved the most. And Aleksander wanted the same too.
There's no way he felt disgust or anger towards Alina even after she stabbed him. Whatever she did, he forgave. And whatever happened to her in the end didn't stop him from loving her and wanting her presence at his side until his own end.
(didn't really love her, my ass)
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dreamsuvivor · 6 months
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Hear me out: the hot tall dark and mysterious vampire/immortal/other kind of mystical creature boyfriend will always be supperior to the boring basic “normal joe” bf, (no matter how toxic their relationship with the mc is). At least the toxicity is usually rooted in the fictional aspect of their relationship, (like their age gap, or idk killing somebody close to the mc). But the “normal joe”s are always just controlling and jealous in a very “every other guy you find on tinder” kinda way.
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greensaplinggrace · 7 months
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best thing about the darkling is that he's unrepentant though like thank god at least someone around here doesn't have the moral backbone of a chocolate eclair
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I carry a deep admiration for Aleksander and his unbreakable will.
Human beings are creatures of comfort. We crave familiarity. While change is inevitable, most of us tend to stick to a routine to keep us grounded. It breaks my heart so much to think that the Darkling could not afford to have even such basic comforts. With every rebirth he had to breakfree of the habits of his past life and reinvent himself as a new person with a different set of likes and dislikes. Even his mannerisims has to be scrubbed clean to avoid suspicion. By the time we meet him in the Grishaverse how much of him is the real him? How many of his habits are his and not something he cultivated for his new persona?
He is a singluar fixture in time and eternity passes through him. The language he once spoke is dead, the music he once loved no longer exists, the places he once travelled are long gone, the people he once knew are nothing but a distant memory. With each turn of the Earth, everything he grew to like again is chipped away along with remains of his soul.
And yet he persevered. Even when he had nothing or no one to anchor him, he carried on through war, genocide, loss, grief and pain. He kept fighting till his last breath and sacrificed himself once again for the greater good.
He deserves so much better than the indignity that LB put him through.
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daerklina · 8 months
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I genuinely don’t understand why people want that soc spin off or shadow and bone season three because the writers were just…racist as fuck?
they made Alina asian, promised they’d explore her shu heritage but instead they erased her personality from the books to insert 378392910 scenes from kaz’s childhood, it’s literally not Alina anymore and the way they reduced her to a just ‘girlboss’ because male writer thought it was feminist and progressive 🤡 they erased her strong feelings for the darkling, they erased her ability to make a cut, they erased her humor, they erased her powerful speeches from the books.
erasure of the inej’s trauma…she literally couldn’t normally touch people for almost two books and saying ‘ I want you without armor, Kaz’ after what (a month? because s2 is so fucking rushed) after s2 started. that’s a serious theme and getting rid of her feelings about what happened to her, the depth of her trauma and erasing it just for what…? to show kaz’s flashbacks again? or to make her girlboss because male author thinks it’s feminist?
erasure of jesper’s trauma, his struggle with being grisha, accepting it etc. it took him a very lot of time in the books just to confess that he’s grisha to the other members of crows. he was ashamed because of it and he thought that this is a curse (also this is a key that canonically novy zem wasn’t that friendly to grisha. if this statement is wrong, correct me cuz I don’t remember shit what happened in those books sawry). and then in the show jesper magically accepted who he is, threw his struggles away in two minutes and then brutally kvllvd grisha woman who also had huge struggles, trauma with being a grisha.
THIS SHOW HAD DONE THEM DIRTY, AINT NEVER FORGIVING THAT.
(the only good thing was Alina not losing power as a member of oppressed minority)
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darklinaforever · 20 days
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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...
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pr-olvdr · 8 months
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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 !
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theweeklydiscourse · 10 months
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The Darkling decided early on how much he would disclose to Alina about his plans for the coup based on a conversation they had on the way to the palace.
I like to look back at this scene from Shadow and Bone that takes place after Alina was seconds away from being killed by a Fjerdan assassin. She denies that she is Grisha, pointing to her plain and scrawny appearance for proof of her certainty and Aleksander responds with a remark about how Alina doesn’t understand what being Grisha even means.
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It’s a telling scene because it shows just how surface-level Alina’s view of Grisha is. To her, Grisha are shiny, beautiful and strong and they are prioritized over the common folk soldiers she once belonged with. Of course, Aleksander knows that there is so much more to being Grisha than just beauty, but realizes that there’s so much to unpack with Alina’s statement he doesn’t even know where to start.
This exchange explains one of the reasons why he didn’t disclose his true plans to Alina, much less his ultimate secret. If Alina has such a shallow understanding of Grisha identity, she will also have a shallow understanding of just how much is at stake in this conflict. Alina is no ordinary Grisha, so it hasn’t quite sunk in that she has skin in the game and is more significant than she realizes. Her denial of her Grisha identity (despite obvious evidence proving otherwise) Alina is staunch in her assertion that she is just a normal girl. It is that same denial that tells Aleksander that Alina cannot be viewed as reliable just yet, time needs to be taken to teach her a better understanding of the Grisha first.
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This next exchange is the second reason why Aleksander doesn’t tell her. Though Alina herself may not have said that superstition out loud, it still demonstrates how Alina was exposed to those views during her formative years. It raises his suspicion that Alina may hold some remnants of the Serf’s ideas and perhaps compels him to think ahead to assess if this could grow into a potential threat. He ABSOLUTELY cannot tell her the truth anytime soon if there is even the slightest possibility that she believes that he’s soulless and “truly evil”. If Alina snitched on him, his entire operation could be shut down for good and set the Grisha back decades. Not to mention the fact that it could get a lot of Grisha killed.
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“You didn’t hurt his feelings.” Dear Reader, this was only the beginning of Alina denying Aleksander’s humanity in order to avoid taking responsibility for her prejudice and to avoid the complex reality of the situation. You can almost hear the incorrect answer buzzer go off in Aleksander’s mind as Alina tells him her answer, I can almost feel his pure disappointment through the page.
Because Aleksander poses an important question that reveals one of Alina’s central conflicts that will continue throughout the trilogy. Alina is still deeply uncomfortable with the idea of Grisha powers after spending her life among people who call them unnatural and strange. To the point that it wasn’t just the fact that the assassin was sliced in two that bothered her, but because of the magic that sliced him. Why on earth would he trust her with his greatest secret when she reacts with such hesitation? He was testing her to gauge how long it would be before Alina could be trusted as an ally to Grisha and received an answer that told him it might take a while. If Alina can’t handle her the idea of her own powers, she cannot be trusted with a secret that could determine the future of Ravka.
I don’t know about you, but I fully believe that Aleksander had every intention of telling Alina the truth, it’s just that prioritizing his personal relationship with her over the safety of his people was a risk he couldn’t take. This gets a bit muddled later on because Alina’s narration seems to care more about her personal feelings of betrayal than the consequences this plan could have on the country. She never takes a moment to look at the bigger picture and consider the consequences of her reckless actions.
I know that I’m just breaking the scene down and explaining what’s happening in it, but it truly is such an informative scene that hints at a potentially fascinating storyline.
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alannacouture · 8 months
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They’re so cute together 💕
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sote-forever · 6 months
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Can we all agree that the Darkling isn’t born a monster and a manipulator, the society made him into one?
A part of Aleksander Morozova died that night when he was thirteen, next to the frozen lake, next to the two bodies of Annika and Lev. A piece of Aleksander Morozova died every time he witness his people being slaughtered, until there’s nothing left but the cold hard gravestone.
If he died at thirteen, he’d be a tragedy.
If he died before his killings start, he’d be a revolutionary hero that fought for the rights of Grisha.
Instead, he lived long enough to be a villain.
Yes he is terrible now, and he doesn’t regret it, there’s no argument to that, but what about before? Know that Grisha is based on Jews. Know that Fjerda kills Grisha. Know that Shu Han cuts them open, do experiments on them, and enslaves them. Know that the wandering isle believe Grisha blood to be a cure-all, so they kill them to drink their blood. Know that even Ravka is unkind to his people. Know that he witness these atrocities as a Grisha for centuries. Know that his mother teaches him everyone will be dust in the blink of an eyes. Know that all the Darkling ever wanted was to be loved by his country.
Know that this was him, it would have been him, but instead we are never going to see what he could have been.
All the colors you couldn’t see in the dark.
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aleksanderscult · 2 months
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The way Alina's light blends with Aleksander's darkness, the way he looks at her and the way they hold hands.
They were destined to meet and fall in love with each other and the antis can scream whatever they want.
Bardugo, fuck this ship up through your annotations and you'll see me in your walls. 🙂
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ohdeadlynightshades · 9 months
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Remembering we don’t know anything when it comes to Sun Summoners and their origins fills me with rage.
Ms. Bardugo, you were presented with an amazing opportunity of making Baghra’s sister—a nameless character supposedly important to the narrative—the very first Sun Saint, the one who spread the myth and make Alina her descendant… It would’ve made so much more sense. Saint Ilya could’ve conquered the darkness and the light and turned his daughters into his monsters. Instead you randomly decide to make Malyen an amplifier to add substance to your raspberry.
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greensaplinggrace · 8 months
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the darkling says “fine, make me your villain” because he is. what’s not clicking
#shadow and bone#grishaverse#sab#aleksander morozova#the darkling#pro darkling#sab meta#‘he acts like he isn’t the villain’ like yeah I guess if you want to examine it without any deeper analysis#when the statement itself is actually fascinating to put into a narrative context and analyze the means by which certain steadfast roles#are enacted throughout the books#and the larger implications of character want/desire and leading goal vs world state and perceived morality#largely due to prejudice and war time sentiments#as well as the individual harm caused and the way it’s significance becomes questionable when placed in stark contrast#to the broader political and socioeconomic climate#which doesn’t even take into consideration individual character roles and the doylist analysis of their relative functions as ideas#instead of entire personalities with depth#when you give an idealistic character a goal larger than life with a tactical relevance over a moral one#within a story that also centers around a broader goal of ‘saving the world’ as well as personal trauma#and attempt to liken both to the same moral equivalence and significance#then try to pit them against each other#especially when your narratively condemned villain desires more than anything to protect the masses and be loved for it#showing a fascinating level of genre unawareness. yet displaying a relative awareness to the role he has been unwillingly cast as#because he is both at odds with the genre but not with the general moral tone of the story and it's discordant messages#that rely on the pov of a character that fundamentally cannot understand him#because of his place in the story#and cannot understand the world state#because of her place in the story#you are going to get statements like this#sure yes. he ‘says it like he isn’t the villain’#but come on. we can do better
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Why Nikolai fails as a leader
I made a post about why I cannot accept Alina as a protagonist here. I wanted to continue the trend and do the same with the other members of the Righteous Gang. I will start with Nikolai this time.
This is a long read so, brace yourselves.
Nikolai Lanstov is a character I enjoyed reading very much and he is the only member of the Righteous Gang that I find likeable. He is shown as an inventor, visionary, a lawless pirate and a prince who threw away his cushy life to support his country. LB proposes him as an alternative- the 'good' leader opposed to the 'evil' Darkling. However, as the story progresses, we cannot help but see several parallels between them. Both are clever, have a thirst for power(not for themselves), are patriotic and posses an opportunistic nature.
So what differentiates our 'Good' King from the Dark Lord? The short answer is LB and her plot armour.
In other words, the 'goodness' in Nikolai that is supposed to make him better than the Darkling is never put under trial. Even though, Nikolai as a character has enough traits in him to make him swing easily towards the 'evil side', LB restricts his character to his goodness and devices a plot armour in such way that his morals and ideals are rarely threatened.
Let me point out a few key instances where LB restricts Nikolai's character growth to keep up his clean image:
Nikolai's bid for the throne: Ever since Sturmhond's true identity as Nikolai is revealed, we are shown of his ambition to take over the throne of Ravka. We also see the ground work he had laid since his days as a soldier in the First Army but his plans just stops there. After re-entering Ravka, his only plan is to solely rely on Alina(a fickle person at best) accepting his hand in marriage, kickstarting his campaign for the throne. With the Darkling on the run and the country in shambles, we see no tangible efforts from him even when the situation calls for it He neither strong arms Vasily(or the King) nor does he march in and seize the throne. He does nothing but attend meetings and act as an underling to Vasily. For someone who loves Ravka enough to give up his princehood and live his days as a pirate in the sea, we don't see him doing much to aid the said country when it is in literal chaos.
So how does Nikolai secure the throne?
Answer: The Darkling does it for him.
LB had already established Nikolai as a morally grey character. So why didn't she let Nikolai blackmail his father or brother to position himself in the throne? The country is in shambles and the entire population is looking for a miracle. Marching in with the Sun Summoner, his First Army supporters and seizing the throne is obviously the correct step here and yet we don't see Nikolai doing that or rather LB doesn't let him do that because if she did, then how can she differentiate her hero from the villain?
Nikolai's when faced with the truth about his parents: For once, we are given an excellent opportunity to see how good and righteous Nikolai is. He learns the truth about his dear father, aka the rapist King. He also learns how his mother had been turning a blind eye to his crimes for years. And he, their only remaining son, is placed is in a position to dole out judgement for their crimes.
How does Nikolai punish his family?
Answer: He doesn't.
He shamelessly uses the opportunity to establish himself as the King and sends his parents on a nice, luxury retirement to the colonies. So where did his sense of justice go? How is he the 'good' King when his first instinct is to pardon his kin and not hold them accountable? Isn't that what self-righteous, non-Darklings supposed to do? And the way LB later twists this on the Darkling is laughable. Nikolai literally denies Genya her justice and yet the Darkling is blamed for it. Instead of Nikolai shouldering the responsibility for his actions(by extension his family's), the entire fault is solely placed on the Darkling. What is one more evil deed to his list of crimes, eh Miss LB?
Nikolai on Mal's insubordination. Why does he allow Mal(much later we see it with Zoya too), a literal nobody, to talk and treat him the way he does? He was well within his rights as a prince to demand Mal's blood and yet time and time again he lets Mal walk scot-free? Why? Because he is different? Because he wants Alina to see him in a positive light? To present himself as a better prospect? Because he is a good person at heart that doesn't want to force Alina into something and 'win' her over? So kissing Alina without her consent, in a public event no less, was an act of chivalry?
Answer: Because if he acted, it would make him look as 'bad' as the Darkling. The Darkling would have never accepted insubordination from anyone let alone a nobody tracker from the First Army. He demands respect as any good leader should. Punishment for insubordination is not as 'evil' act as LB perceives it to be. It has been existing since the dawn of time and it exists even in today's modern society. You cannot mouth off figures of authority without consequences. And yet LB cannot have that because Nikolai is not the Darkling. He is different, he is 'good'.
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Throughout the trilogy and duology, through several mouth-pieces, LB keeps telling us how much of a good person Nikolai is and yet when presented with an actual moral dilemma, she does not allow him to make a decision that would sully his 'goodness'. So how can we, as readers, call him 'good' when he is never presented with a trolley problem?
LB keeps shooting Nikolai in the knee to keep him from growing. Because if he did, then we would see how he was no different from the Darkling. The 'evilness' of the Darkling stems from the fact that he had to make hard choices since the day he was born. He had taken up an cause that no one before him did and so being 'good' was never an option for him because the only choices he had were preserving his soul or preserving his community. And he chose the latter and this is where Nikolai fails as a leader. Nikolai never had to make a choice of sacrificing a few for the goodness of many. LB swathes him in plot armour after plot armour that by the end of the duology he is almost as virtuous as Virgin Mary.
It's a shame that LB's views of the world are restricted to black and white. Had she understood the nuances of morality, she would not have maimed one of her strong characters.
A good King shows strength, courage and fights for his country. He commands respect from his subordinates and strives to improve the lives of his subjects. A good leader does not hesitate to use any tools at his disposal to get results he needs- diplomacy, violence, threats, warfare etc. A good leader will always puts his people first before his morals and more importantly does not give up his crown to Daenerys Targaryen knock-offs. By making Nikolai's character cling to his cloak of morality, LB makes him look like a people-pleasing child rather than a formidable leader he has the potential to be.
In conclusion, as much as I like Nikolai as a character, I would say Uther Pendragon made a better King to Camelot than Nikolai did to Ravka.
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daerklina · 9 months
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“why do you stan this character, they did [insert crime], ur prawblemateec😭😭”
they have pretty face? they don’t exist? have you considered that I don’t give a fuck? let women have hobbies?…
that whole discourse with villains bores me senseless. “they are evil & cruel etc” — yes, they are, this is literally why we stan them, I’m not a pro in using some ‘very smart’ terms, so I’ll explain it in easy words.
yes, we like villains because of their nature, because they’re evil and because they have charisma, cunningness, magical, their motives and their character is intriguing NOT FUCKING BECAUSE WE ARE THE SAME😭
also “you like [insert character] because of an actor” — No!?! I like them because of their personality and if I do like them because of an actor, it’s not a fucking crime? yes, we admit we like them because of an actor, that’s the powerful aura lol.
the most confusing thing about all of this is when a person stans a morally grey character but actively shits on you and creates a whole ass ‘hate communities’ because you stan another morally grey character + ur not pure enough if you stan [insert name] 🤡🤡 + they will make you a criminal and create million lies about u and ur character + “my villain is morally superior than your villain” (kaz brekker & six of crows stans, I’m looking at u)
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darklinaforever · 4 months
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When people try to claim that the Darkling committed genocide :
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