Okay, so I reread Siege and Storm, and then rewatched the show and I LOVE the Darkling’s immortality. I love that he is vastly older than Alina, in a society that’s not actually used to that type of age distinction, because it REALLY gets the problem with age gaps in YA.
The Darkling is old. He knows this, uses this. The fact that he is so aware of how much older and wiser he is than everyone really just solidified how GREAT he is as a character. His age isn’t sexy or alluring...it’s scary. It’s portrayed that way. Alina’s emotions when dealing with him really stick, because he won’t let her go — and that’s scary. She’s constantly looking over her shoulder scared for her life, and LB really drives that home. It really feels like something we see in real life abusive relationships.
It really hones in on the way he manipulates Alina — and the other women around him. One of the thing Alina begins to think about after the events of the first book is how she isn’t useful. Her narration is full of doubt after she flees with Mal, because the Darkling preyed on her invisibility. When he captures her again he makes constant remarks like this:
Back to pretending to be less than you are, I see. The sham doesn’t suit you.”
And this thought is an echo of what she’d she’d just thought about herself. He’s preying on that childish want of wanting to understand your place in the world. But his want of Alina fulfilling her “potential” is again — tied to him. He immediately follows that thought with words like this
He let his fingers trail over the collar. “It’s mine as much as yours, Alina.”
And the reality is...he needs her. So he binds the power around Alina’s neck. But he needs her to believe she’s less without him — that she’s nothing without the power he gave her.
On of the more interesting portions of Alina mastering her power is forgetting who she is. And that rhetoric is supposed to reiterate that Alina was nothing before the power. Because now, Alina grows weak because she isn’t using that power — which again is another manipulative tactic. Alina was someone, before the Grisha. She had skills, and someone who did care for her — but the Darkling makes it a mission to tie Alina’s usefulness to her power — his power. I think that’s the case for the main women he manipulates and abuses (Zoya, Genya) they’re made up by him...and then tore down. He preyed on their individual invisibility and I liked that his abuse towards each women manifested in so many forms. It was extremely realistic to me.
And while I think it’s a valid criticism to think Alina is naive and lacks perspective— I think that’s the point. She is young. The Darkling is literally centuries old. Of course she’s unknowing, scared. Why wouldn’t she be? I think the same can be said for Mal. He gets a lot of flack for just...being a kid. Because both of them are children. The Darkling is a man, an old man — yet he’s given room for error while the two children being abused and manipulated by him are not. Again, I can’t say I honestly “ship” Malina, but I think Mal and the Darkling are two very different types of relationship that get compared when there’s nothing really there.
All that to say, I’m falling back in love with S&B and even harder to villain Darkling because it really is a great story. I don’t even think I dislike Alina anymore. I feel like she gets a lot of flack for being a survivor, for not wanting to be all-powerful or evil. I like to think that girls can be strong without having to have all the power (esp: since she’s always wanted to kind of just belong — not be all powerful). As far as where she ends up — I think it fits perfectly. I think where Alina is concerned power was never really her goal. If it were another story — maybe. But giving up the power — that seems right on par with her arc. Because she’d always have to be the Sun Summoner, always needing to cling to power to stay healthy. It just fits imo
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