My Aleksander was always right

I invite you to a server dedicated to Aleksander, Darklina, and Ben Barnes. All are welcome. https://discord.gg/d4vFb74A

[lilu787788]

"Because I think the Darkling is thoughtful, he can't be completely psychotic, he has a reason for doing the things he's doing, and therefore in my eyes you have to make him potentially redeemable." Ben Barnes at Tampa Bay Comic Convention 2025.

Ben has put it beautifully. He sees Aleksander exactly as we do — not as some empty villain, but as a layered, thoughtful character whose choices always have meaning. What he said is everything we have been saying for years: Aleksander deserves redemption.

And still, antis cling to their shallow idea of him as a villain. They ignore the fact that Ben himself has said he does not enjoy playing one dimensional roles and even called villains boring. They ignore that Leigh herself has admitted more than once that she does not see Aleksander as a villain at all. Perhaps it is time for them to stop twisting the narrative and start listening to people far wiser than them — including the very actor who brought Aleksander to life.

Ewa @evejustlovebooks my dearest Friend, thank you for making this beautiful edit!!!!

[stromuprisahat]

LOL, I can't read, but I lie a lot!

or A TikTok anti-Darkling bully acting all surprised, when confronted by a person, who's familiar with the books: A saga

I've spent three days on the reaction to this "jewel" of misinterpretation/lies, so I've figured I earned the right to post it here too.

The original edit, the one where I dared to oppose the notion the Darkling spent his non-existent free time grooming (Yeah, one of their favourite words. No comprehention needed.) and abusing young girls...

I've replied to "Em", and got a new video full of crap in return. So... here's me, dismantling all those claims of what makes the Darkling "irredeemable" (Transcribed for a normal person to read.):

(Btw: "this is not my usual content...", my ass...)

First of all, whether a character is or isn't "redeemable" is a matter of personal opinion. Presenting is as an undisputable fact reeks of dogmatism.

The Darkling initiated sex with an underage girl.

The Darkling lied to and manipulated multiple young women.

The Darkling left a child to be raped for his own gain.

The Darkling sexually assaulted a minor.

The Darkling slaughtered the Grisha he claimed to protect because they no longer agreed with his methods.

The Darkling maimed a young woman to the point she became physically disabled, as a punishment for disobeying him.

The Darkling burned down an orphanage and murdered an old woman.

The Darkling threatened to maim a minor.

The Darkling kidnapped students (children under the age of 16).

The Darkling maimed a child, making him an amputee for the rest of his life.

The Darkling ripped apart a young man, despite that boy going to him for safety.

[lilu787788]

Lol is the biggest liar in the Grishaverse fandom. I'm glad people are finally starting to call her out more openly. She has a genuinely unhealthy obsession with Aleksander, and her theories are always pure headcanon.

[lilu787788]

I don't really have much to say, rather than to thank you for your arguments. I'm anti darkling myself, and most times when I find myself engaging in darkling fans media, it boils down to some form of "he's excusable because his intentions outweighed the consequences of his actions" or even more so, because he's hot. However, I've read through quite a few of your posts, and your arguments with others, and I think you have a very clear internal logic that allows you a certain tolerance I often don't see. Your arguments have structure, and are very thought out. You're not pretending his actions were fine and totally just, but you're arguing for the intention behind him. You're bringing awareness towards a way of thinking, of what truly motivates a person, and how easily everyone falls into the gray.

I also appreciate that you're bringing up other problems in the fandom. The Mary Sue female characters, how story depth doesn't equate to emotional depth, and how openly hateful this fandom can be just because you disagree with something.

Holy yap, I apologize. But I also saw your post about the negativity and harassment you receive, and I figured it was time you got something positive in your inbox.

I'm not sold on Aleksander, but I feel like I have a better understanding of him through you. So thank you for making me more open-minded, I guess.

Thank you, that's nice of you :)

[lilu787788]

Hatred and blatant homophobia on the "better" side of the Grishaverse.

Over the past few weeks, or even months, our Discord server has been repeatedly targeted by antis who not only behave like clowns, believing they're trolling us, but, more importantly, continue to reveal who they really are: homophobes and deeply intolerant people. Ironically, these are the very same individuals who constantly lecture everyone else about how evil the Darkling was and how much harm he caused. That doesn't stop them from insulting his fans, mocking them, humiliating them, or posting slanderous edits with ragebait captions in the hope of starting arguments in the comments.

A little side note: this is probably why you rarely see posts celebrating your favorite characters like Alina, Zoya, Genya, or anyone else. The people who could be making that content seem far more interested in creating slander about the Darkling and stalking his fans.

Personally, I don't think it's normal to join a fan community with the apparent intention of disrupting it.

It started with new accounts joining our server, pretending to participate, only to quickly reveal that their goal wasn't discussion but provocation. When our members questioned their behavior, they responded with personal insults. One of them even called our admin a "faggot" after she asked him to apologize for telling another member that she looked like "an anorexic pile of bones." These are members of a fandom that constantly prides itself on being accepting and inclusive.

After the ban, the accounts disappeared. Days later, new ones appeared, displaying remarkably similar patterns of behavior.

Since then, we've watched them comb through old conversations in an apparent attempt to find absolutely anything they could weaponize against us. One of my older comments was taken completely out of context and presented as "proof" that our community is hateful, while years of harassment directed at us were conveniently ignored. They had no problem overlooking conversations about Darkling fans receiving death threats, being mocked, harassed, and constantly ridiculed by people who proudly call themselves tolerant.

Accusations of transphobia followed because I misgendered an editor whose inflammatory ragebait captions I'd only ever seen in screenshots shared by others. Not knowing what pronouns were listed in their bio, I made an honest mistake. Somehow, that mistake became more important than years of targeted harassment directed at our community….

According to this person, "harmless things" include posting slander about Aleksander and openly mocking, belittling, and insulting his fans in the comments.

Around the same time, I also started receiving anonymous messages on Tumblr. Whether every incident came from the same individuals or not, the pattern has become impossible to ignore.

I'm including a screenshot below. It contains a vulgar sexual insult that was clearly intended to mock and humiliate me.

Our server has a private channel dedicated to documenting anti behavior, where we simply archive public posts, edits, captions, and comments directed at Aleksander fans. We don't organize harassment campaigns. We don't encourage anyone to attack people. We simply document the hostility our community experiences. Apparently, even discussing publicly available content in a private space is enough to provoke repeated attempts to infiltrate our server.

What makes this even harder to take seriously is the constant moral grandstanding. Some of the same people who eagerly accuse others of bigotry have absolutely no problem creating or defending genuinely offensive content themselves, including edits built around racist jokes and stereotypes. Somehow, those never seem to receive the same outrage.

One of the loudest self-proclaimed Aleksander haters – lol- constantly spreads lies about him, insults people, and has repeatedly targeted fans simply for posting content about Aleksander or Darklina. As a reminder, I'm also including one of her edits built around a racist "joke", an edit that was enthusiastically praised by the very same people who love presenting themselves as the moral authority of this fandom.

At this point, it's difficult to see this as anything other than an unhealthy obsession.

If you truly hate a fictional character, why spend months creating new accounts, infiltrating fan spaces, digging through old messages, provoking strangers, and trying to manufacture scandals? As I said before, all of that time could have been spent making appreciation posts for Genya, Alina, Zoya, or any of the characters you claim to love. But somehow, even when those characters appear, they're pushed into the background. Guess who always ends up being the main focus? Guess whose name dominates the captions and comment sections? It almost seems as though those characters matter less to you than the one you supposedly despise.

Author is a Zoya fan, yet there's no caption about Zoya, the character she claims to love. Instead, it's about the Darkling, the character she hates. The edit is supposedly about Zoya...

We're not sharing this because we're looking for sympathy. We're sharing it because this is the reality our community has been dealing with for months. We'll continue moderating our server, banning trolls, and protecting the people who came here simply to enjoy a fictional character and a story they love.

We're not going anywhere. This community will continue to exist. If you want to keep creating new accounts, embarrassing yourselves, and proving everything we've been saying about this behavior, then by all means, keep going.

If your hobby is spending your free time trying to ruin the experience of people enjoying fiction, maybe it's time to ask yourself who the truly toxic side of this fandom really is?

Bonus, which my friend just reminded me of in the comments, thank you love! lol, the biggest hater who shows up under practically every edit, whether it's Sasha slander or a pro-Darkling post, screaming about how evil he was, also follows Neil Gaiman, a real-life creep. Beautiful. What a stunning display of double standards.

[stromuprisahat]

U guys love to act really woke and ban people for using slurs when you’re sitting here misgendering an editor (Honest mistake. We judge their work, not read their bio.) while making fun of him for something completely harmless. A gay person (Who never mentioned being that.) can’t say faggot but you can be transphobic (To people you have no knowledge of, when it comes to their personal life.) . got it.

For the sake of completeness. ↑

[lilu787788]

We're under no obligation whatsoever to look through someone's profile. And we're not stalkers who dig through everything they can find in the other side's camp. They clearly have an obsession, because ever since then they've been combing through all of our social media.

[lilu787788]

Hatred and blatant homophobia on the "better" side of the Grishaverse.

Over the past few weeks, or even months, our Discord server has been repeatedly targeted by antis who not only behave like clowns, believing they're trolling us, but, more importantly, continue to reveal who they really are: homophobes and deeply intolerant people. Ironically, these are the very same individuals who constantly lecture everyone else about how evil the Darkling was and how much harm he caused. That doesn't stop them from insulting his fans, mocking them, humiliating them, or posting slanderous edits with ragebait captions in the hope of starting arguments in the comments.

A little side note: this is probably why you rarely see posts celebrating your favorite characters like Alina, Zoya, Genya, or anyone else. The people who could be making that content seem far more interested in creating slander about the Darkling and stalking his fans.

Personally, I don't think it's normal to join a fan community with the apparent intention of disrupting it.

It started with new accounts joining our server, pretending to participate, only to quickly reveal that their goal wasn't discussion but provocation. When our members questioned their behavior, they responded with personal insults. One of them even called our admin a "faggot" after she asked him to apologize for telling another member that she looked like "an anorexic pile of bones." These are members of a fandom that constantly prides itself on being accepting and inclusive.

After the ban, the accounts disappeared. Days later, new ones appeared, displaying remarkably similar patterns of behavior.

Since then, we've watched them comb through old conversations in an apparent attempt to find absolutely anything they could weaponize against us. One of my older comments was taken completely out of context and presented as "proof" that our community is hateful, while years of harassment directed at us were conveniently ignored. They had no problem overlooking conversations about Darkling fans receiving death threats, being mocked, harassed, and constantly ridiculed by people who proudly call themselves tolerant.

Accusations of transphobia followed because I misgendered an editor whose inflammatory ragebait captions I'd only ever seen in screenshots shared by others. Not knowing what pronouns were listed in their bio, I made an honest mistake. Somehow, that mistake became more important than years of targeted harassment directed at our community….

According to this person, "harmless things" include posting slander about Aleksander and openly mocking, belittling, and insulting his fans in the comments.

Around the same time, I also started receiving anonymous messages on Tumblr. Whether every incident came from the same individuals or not, the pattern has become impossible to ignore.

I'm including a screenshot below. It contains a vulgar sexual insult that was clearly intended to mock and humiliate me.

Our server has a private channel dedicated to documenting anti behavior, where we simply archive public posts, edits, captions, and comments directed at Aleksander fans. We don't organize harassment campaigns. We don't encourage anyone to attack people. We simply document the hostility our community experiences. Apparently, even discussing publicly available content in a private space is enough to provoke repeated attempts to infiltrate our server.

What makes this even harder to take seriously is the constant moral grandstanding. Some of the same people who eagerly accuse others of bigotry have absolutely no problem creating or defending genuinely offensive content themselves, including edits built around racist jokes and stereotypes. Somehow, those never seem to receive the same outrage.

One of the loudest self-proclaimed Aleksander haters – lol- constantly spreads lies about him, insults people, and has repeatedly targeted fans simply for posting content about Aleksander or Darklina. As a reminder, I'm also including one of her edits built around a racist "joke", an edit that was enthusiastically praised by the very same people who love presenting themselves as the moral authority of this fandom.

At this point, it's difficult to see this as anything other than an unhealthy obsession.

If you truly hate a fictional character, why spend months creating new accounts, infiltrating fan spaces, digging through old messages, provoking strangers, and trying to manufacture scandals? As I said before, all of that time could have been spent making appreciation posts for Genya, Alina, Zoya, or any of the characters you claim to love. But somehow, even when those characters appear, they're pushed into the background. Guess who always ends up being the main focus? Guess whose name dominates the captions and comment sections? It almost seems as though those characters matter less to you than the one you supposedly despise.

Author is a Zoya fan, yet there's no caption about Zoya, the character she claims to love. Instead, it's about the Darkling, the character she hates. The edit is supposedly about Zoya...

We're not sharing this because we're looking for sympathy. We're sharing it because this is the reality our community has been dealing with for months. We'll continue moderating our server, banning trolls, and protecting the people who came here simply to enjoy a fictional character and a story they love.

We're not going anywhere. This community will continue to exist. If you want to keep creating new accounts, embarrassing yourselves, and proving everything we've been saying about this behavior, then by all means, keep going.

If your hobby is spending your free time trying to ruin the experience of people enjoying fiction, maybe it's time to ask yourself who the truly toxic side of this fandom really is?

Bonus, which my friend just reminded me of in the comments, thank you love! lol, the biggest hater who shows up under practically every edit, whether it's Sasha slander or a pro-Darkling post, screaming about how evil he was, also follows Neil Gaiman, a real-life creep. Beautiful. What a stunning display of double standards.

[hauntedvulcan]

Netflix is pissing me off cause we could've had 3 seasons of lore accurate shadow and bone and a spin off six of crows show with this top tier casting of the crows but instead we get 2 seasons of rushed, mismatched, timeline inaccurate television.

[stromuprisahat]

Don't blame the source of money, that made it outright clear they're not interested in starting with the Crows, blame the idiot in charge and his hateful, heavily biased minions, who did their best to ruin the original trilogy and drive away its new fans for the sake of performative moralism and stroking their own egos.

[lilu787788]

The viewership numbers made it clear that the Crows couldn't carry the franchise. They dominated season 2, yet the viewership kept dropping. In the first week, only 37% of viewers finished it, and after three months that number had only reached 56%. Netflix made the only decision that made business sense. If something isn't making them money, they don't keep throwing resources at it. Kaz didn't pay their bills.

[starrfettii]

Hate him or love him, grishaverse content revolves entirely around the Darkling. Every time. Genya edit? Gotta add some Darkling in. Alina edit? Oh look, there’s the Darkling. Mal post? More Darkling than Mal. Nikolai? You guessed it, there’s the Darkling. Zoya? Yep, there’s the Darkling. You guys simply can’t help yourself from talking about him. He is the main character.

[lilu787788]

The funniest part is that the fandom then complains there's no content about their favorite characters. How could there be, when even the self-proclaimed biggest fans of Nikolai, Matthias, Genya, or Alina will make an edit about the Darkling before they make one about the characters they supposedly love? They keep trying to start wars in the comments by coming up with increasingly ridiculous captions, but nobody's falling for it anymore. They're just textbook rage baiters. He's in their heads 24/7, completely rent-free. He's in ours too, but we love him and want him there. They supposedly hate him, yet they're the ones with the biggest obsession with him, and it's so fvcking hilarious that they're providing free entertainment without even realizing it. The circus of the 21st century.

[the-sweet-hibiscus]

On the Topic of Christina Strain & SaB

So while browsing the hellscape that is Twitter today, the first thing you see in the Shadow & Bone Fandom, is this exchange between Christina Strain (a producer/writer on the show) and a fan.

And I didn't think this would be necessary to say, but this is EXTREMELY unprofessional on the part of Christina.

But I do want to take the time to look and explain WHY from the perspective of someone who is a professional creative by job description. Christina, openly, speaks about her time as a writer on Shadow and Bone. Which is well within her right, as a creative, many times the appeal of following is for behind the scenes takes, more insight into writing decisions, and generally furthering the interest in a show / property after it has concluded. Especially if the conclusion was incomplete and/or canceled before the full story was told.

So here we have a situation.

The Question:

So the question Merel (the fan) asked was about the obvious sidelining of Alina Starkov, our main character. It's not an opinion that Alina was sidelined, it's been observed numerous times, most recently in this collider article talking about / reviewing the blatant reduction of character for Alina.

'Shadow and Bone' Season 2 Was Never About Alina, and That's the Problem

The protagonist of the show was never at the center of her own story.

Merel's question, originally was about S3. Specifically, where was Alina, was there ever a plan for her? Originally, Christina just said, there was nothing written for Alina, and she had a vague idea of a separate storyline.

To which, Merel responded with the wide-spread rumor that Six of Crows, had been rejected by Netflix three times. For reasons not relevant — that rumor isn't true. But she also expressed frustration, as since the announcement of the show's cancelation, Christina specifically has given an overwhelming amount of attention and care to Six of Crows, while not seeming to have any real passion for the Shadow and Bone property or it's characters. Christina's response starts out professional. She clarifies, Six of Crows was not rejected (aka the rumor wasn't true) and that she didn't have control over that decision, which is true.

Where Christina stops being professional, is the other half of her response.

The Response

Here is where so many people take offense, and find issue. Christina, openly shames the Darklina ship. Which isn't inherently bad, no one is forced to like a ship, however. It had NOTHING to do with the question at hand. Just because a fan likes a certain dynamic, of a ship that at one point was canon, and likes to explore that, doesn't mean that they don't know what they're talking about when they're just asking about the future of a character. Merel didn't ask "Oh, how are you going to make this darklina?" She didn't even mention the ship. The only reason Christina even knew about Merel's shipping preference is because she either went on Merel's page or looked at the "Relevant People" column on Twitter for Desktop.

And now we venture into a much worse territory.

Bullying

Let's take a look at the power dynamic in this exchange.

Christina has 9.58K Followers on Twitter. Merel has 114.

Christina is a producer/writer on the show. Merel is a fan.

Christina has a self-appointed responsibility to promote the petition to bring her show back. Merel is a part of the larger community who supported the show. Christina is 42 years old. Merel is 19.

Instead of, ignoring the second response. Or even just clarifying the rumor and moving on, Christina decides that it'd be best to expose this account to harassment from her much larger base. Who responded in kind.

What was the reason? Truly?

Fans are supposed to only engage with a show if it matches how you specifically view it? They can't have questions, or criticisms, or thoughts? Because what was so mean about Merel's statement? What was insulting that Christina had to bring in shit that had nothing to do with the conversation? The rumor accusation? Is that worth getting attacked over? Is that worth attacking over?

The Correct Response

Move on.

No one would have an issue if the conversation ended a tweet earlier. Christina has over 9K followers, anyone could reasonably assume she was simply inundated with responses and couldn't/wouldn't respond further. Her first statement, was fine. To book fans, it may be frustrating, especially if they believed the rumor, but it was still a calm-ish response.

Merel could've been frustrated and that would've been the end of it. Instead, Christina decided her best course of action was to attack a fan, just because she enjoyed the same ship dynamic as people who were rude to her before. Decided to belittle that fan's interest in her show, bc she didn't like the way that fan interacted with them.

It's childish. It's gross. It's lashing out at someone b/c they want to know why the main character wasn't paid attention to in their show.

Anyway, it's clear Christina has a definitive disdain for the darklina fans of Shadow and Bone. It's clear she doesn't respect the people who support her show — unless they just unconditionally praise it. So that's it then. A disappointing end to Shadow and Bone, and an even more disappointing showing of character from the producers/writers.

[lilu787788]

I'll just add that since the cancellation in 2023, Eric Heisserer hasn't had a single new project. Ms. Strain had one small project that was canceled after just 1 season, and she has nothing else in the works. If karma exists, then...

[lilu787788]

I will never forgive the writers for the way they humiliated Aleksander and his Grisha. They fought for their own freedom and for the freedom of others, yet none of the "heroes" could understand that. Blinded by their own self-righteousness, they killed them as if their lives meant nothing. It's a terrible message, one I refuse to accept, and I genuinely believe it's one of the worst messages I've ever seen in film or television. They were so determined to prove that Sasha was evil, that his Grisha were nothing, and in the end they were the ones who fell and paid the ultimate price. The show was canceled, and hardly anyone even finished season 2. It's no surprise. People were expecting an epic battle against a real enemy, but instead they got a pitiful message straight out of the unhealthy fantasies of a grown man obsessed with a group of teenage criminals.

Fvck you, Alina, Zoya, Nina, and all the other traitors, for abandoning your own people in the real fight against Fjerda and Shu.

Thank you, Ewa @evejustlovebooks , for this important edit. At least you care about the fate of the other Grisha, because in this fandom, you'd think Genya and Alina were the only ones who ever suffered.

Once again, it proves Aleksander was right all along. The moment Grisha stop serving the "right" people, they stop being seen as people at all.

[lilu787788]

@evejustlovebooks Thank you, love, for making such wonderful GIFs with Sasha!!

[stromuprisahat]

[Part 1] The Darkling/Aleksander Morozova - "Am I Okay" 🌒🖤 [General Kiri...

[wordsoftheravenwitch]

Many boys will bring you flowers. But someday you'll meet a boy who will learn your favorite flower, your favorite song, your favorite sweet. And even if he is too poor to give you any of them, it won't matter because he will have taken the time to know you as no one else does. Only that boy earns your heart. Leigh Bardugo

[stromuprisahat]

[luzelms]

SHADOW AND BONE 2.04 "Every Monstrous Thing"

[lilu787788]

"lol" you hateful little racist

Okay, so lol, the Darkling fandom's biggest hater just posted a "great" edit in which she not only slandered Alina and Zoya (which she supposedly loves), but also revealed her true colors as a xenophobe and a racist.

"One Mexican down," with Zoya knocking Alina back with her wind just moments earlier. Looks great, doesn't it? It's nice to know you enjoy spreading such wonderful values while also attacking people for what they like, destroying everything around you, you hateful little racist.

I've seen your lovely hateful comments directed at real people simply because they like the Darkling more than once, and I usually ignored them. But now? Now we all know exactly who you are.

I don't care if you'll try to hide behind "it's just a joke," because this is a very serious matter, and it really shows what kind of values some people in the Grishaverse fandom have.

Some time ago, I wrote that Goebbels, who was a master of propaganda and manipulation in Nazi Germany and lived by the principle that a lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth, would be proud of the lies the Grishaverse fandom spreads about the Darkling. Now he'd have yet another reason to be proud of the people here.

Oh, and Kat, thanks for admitting that Zoya slept with Mal. That's another thing the Grishaverse fandom doesn't like to acknowledge.

Lol, you racist and xenophobe, thanks for showing your true colors!

[lilu787788]

Jesus Christ, I've never seen such a badly written character. Zoya is the second Joffrey from GoT, an infuriating character whose greatest achievement is making you want to throw your TV out the window.

[lilu787788]

@evejustlovebooks you are amazing! Thank you for this amazing gif!!!!

[lilu787788]

Ewa @evejustlovebooks my love, thank you so much for another beautiful GIF of our babies!!! Forever with them, because no one will ever be better than they are.