A follow up to my other question; if we had a sun summoner (basically an entirely different person than Alina) that really was the strong-willed person who wanted to stand by his side and take part in his fight for the Grisha, what do you think he would have wanted that to look like? (And i mean beyond the fold-plot part of the show because we know the plot of s&b and how she messed everything up.) Do you think he would’ve ever allowed the sun summoner to act as a soldier as he had? I think I have a hard time imagining an Aleksander that would allow the sun summoner to go out and be in any possible danger without him present which sounds incredibly limiting to what they’d actually be able to do. I can’t imagine them being allowed to make very many political moves if he got his ruler/queen without his say so and approval, (especially not alina because every political move or even thought she had was actively stupid or the opposite of helpful) so I struggled to understand what he would’ve wanted and expected from them post-expanding the fold. Would a sun summoner with military experience or political experience like himself be able to ever convince him to let them go on military missions by themselves without him? I’m basically trying to understand what we could’ve had he would’ve been like. What would he actually be like if he had gotten the strong-willed, empathetic, political savvy with a functioning brain kind of sun summoner and what Aleksander wanted…and deserved. So much of the character we saw with Aleksander was who he had to be when dealing with someone like Alina, who just couldn’t think for herself, didn’t want to, had no political understanding on the most basic of levels, and didn’t have a spine for practically anything. This isn’t an anti-alina ask, i’m just wondering what type of Aleksander we could’ve gotten with the type of person i described above and what he would’ve wanted from them and allowed them to do. I’m really curious as to what he could’ve been like and truthfully what he had in mind because I struggle to picture what he actually wanted or what he would’ve done had he gotten the type of summoner he deserved
Okay, let's pretend that he got the Sun Summoner that he truly wanted and dreamed of (as you said).
First of all, he would take his time to figure her out. Her views and opinion about him and the Grisha persecution (just like he did with Alina in S&B). Let's say that she passed the test here. Let's say that he found her logical, strong, determined and fierce.
The next stop would be for Aleksander to trust her. He doesn't trust someone easily and he would have to make sure that this girl is worthy of his own thoughts and plans. That would take some time and it would depend on how trustworthy and honest that Sun Summoner would be. Let's say that in time she passed this test too.
The next problem we have is that Aleksander is a controlling person. He wants to have the upper hand on things like ruling, taking military decisions etc. In the beginning, I imagine her taking her with him wherever he would go. Both because he would want to keep her close and out of his desire to teach her things. Like "Look how I'm handling things. Look what needs to be done. Observe and learn". Because I kinda doubt he would ever find a Sun Summoner all ready and knowledgeable about matters of the state like he is.
That's why trust is important for him. Because he would have to make sure that she can be counted on for important things and she wouldn't turn against him or usurp him.
I don't believe that in the beginning he would let her take full control of the kingdom or even an equal stand with him, but! If he saw her ready to fight and take part in wars he would take her with him in the battlefield and, in time after seeing her getting stronger and stronger, he would let her go by herself. Like "We've got a situation on the northern borders. Take one hundred men with you, finish them off and come back." And that's because it would be impossible for him to be everywhere at once. He couldn't be both in the battlefield with the Sun Summoner AND stay on the throne and deal with other, ruling matters. Sooner or later they would have to split and he would be forced to let her go and let her do something by herself. It's inevitable and Aleksander would know that. Sometimes they would need to share the responsibilities. Sometimes Aleksander would have to go to Fjerda to deal with some drüskelle while his Sun Summoner would have to stay in Os Alta because an important meeting with some Kerch ambassadors must take place and other things like that.
Now, about the ruling matter. Yes, he would make her his Queen but for how much liberty and freedom he would allow her to have in making decisions by herself is a debatable matter in this fandom.
Here's my own opinion of it:
In the beginning, if she would try to make a decision by herself, he wouldn't like it. Because he's not used to have others take major decisions (having the King rule him in S&B doesn't count here because in that occasion Aleksander had no other option but to obey him). So, in the first years, it would be kinda difficult for him to get used to it. He would probably not let her decisions be put into action. Like "don't overreach yourself, okay. I'm in charge here".
But! (and this is important)
I don't find Aleksander to be that kind of person who gets crazy feral if his Queen disagrees with a decision of his. If his Sun Summoner spoke reasonably about her disagreement, if she was calm and logical with her own reasons of why she finds his verdict wrong, he would listen to her.
Alina in R&R had said to him that "We would be equals until I disagreed with you. Then you would do to me what you did to Genya."
I disagree. I don't see him that way. Just like I said, if her own argument is spoken in a calm, reasonable manner and in a respectable, honest way, he would actually listen to her. He wouldn't be "OH MY GOD YOU ARGUE AGAINST ME!! DUNGEONS NOW!!"
It's all about the way she'll say it and what is the reason of their argument.
With Alina it was different because she spoke out against him for a matter of high importance: his fight against the Grisha persecution and, of course, Alina's character didn't know shit about politics, wars and what needed to be done.
So, in conclusion, in matters of warfare he would allow her to go by herself if he deemed her powerful and capable to go by herself without getting killed or captured easily and having the right knowledge in fights and strategy.
And in matter of ruling, it would be strange for him if she started and taking decisions by herself from the first week and he probably wouldn't like it. But as the years would go by, I think that not only he would allow her to have a saying but also he would ask for her advice (YES YOU HEARD ME RIGHT).
(oh and about your question if he would allow her to become a soldier: yes. Mainly because all Grisha become soldiers and the Darkling is a man that believes in having fighting skills. Let's not forget how he was teaching Grisha to learn hand-in-hand combat apart from developing their Grisha powers. Plus, I don't imagine him wanting someone that sits on the couch everyday. As much as he would fear for her life sometimes, he would want her to be a fighter)
I just finished watching Shadow and Bone (finally!), which was fun and interesting as expected, but I am now back in Petty STEM Major Mode and it’s still because of how the Darkling describes his and Alina’s powers.
(see my previous book-based complaints here)
I think this quote was what really set me off:
“It’s not magic. It’s science. Or rather, Small Science. We do not conjure from nothing. We manipulate that which already exists around us” (S1:E3, 11:53-12:04).
My first reaction was “oh shit, if the Darkling is applying this to light then he has no fucking idea about how photons work, huh.” Not that I expect people in real life to know how photons work off the top of their heads, but I don’t like the Darkling or his methods, so I’m allowing myself to hold him to unreasonable standards in retaliation. Anyway.
I was getting confused because as far as I have been taught, photons (which make up light) are massless, and Grisha power seems to depend on having something to manipulate - which... implies mass??? I think??? Since Alina at least has some kind of particle to theoretically manipulate as a Sun Summoner, even if it is massless, I was willing to give her a pass, but the Darkling doesn’t get that because a) I personally think he’s annoying and b) shadows aren’t tangible and they don’t have a corresponding particle, so what the fuck is he manipulating?
In my last post about this, I figured maybe he was banishing photons, but the more I think about it the more I think that doesn’t really work. Darkness can be defined as an absence of light, and the most logical way to achieve darkness in physics terms is to absorb photons.
I’m starting to wonder if “shadow summoning” is just the in-universe rationalization for the Darkling’s ability to manipulate some unknown substance that completely absorbs photons. But then the question becomes... what is it? It can’t be darkness itself because there is no matter to an absence of light, but what the hell is this perfectly photon-absorbent, easily accessible substance?
The Darkling’s summoned shadows appear almost completely dark and sort of fluid, which almost makes me wonder if it’s just really dense air? Like how planets with thick, dense atmospheres will block a lot of the light trying to travel to the surface? I feel like this doesn’t work and the reason is probably because of something I haven’t learned yet, but it would be incredibly funny if the Darkling was just a really specialized Squaller and just let everyone think his bloodline was entirely unique.
Or maybe the darkness comes from ash or something, maybe a byproduct of Inferni’s combustion? They have to summon combustible material to set on fire, so something is burning, and they never tell us what the initial combustible materials or byproducts are. If there were a byproduct, it would be readily available in places where a lot of Inferni used their powers. The problem with that is that I think Inferni tend to use combustible gases in the atmosphere, since we never see anything visible, and that wouldn’t produce ash.
I guess a third option could be that he’s manipulating light/photons at frequencies that humans can’t see and therefore they appear dark, but that doesn’t explain how they would absorb other photons. Plus, I’m basing that off of two physics classes and some Wikipedia skimming, so who knows if that even makes sense. It probably doesn’t.
Basically, I have concluded that I have no fucking idea what the Darkling’s “shadows” are actually made of, especially since in this gif they seem a little bit iridescent? Which means they might be reflecting some light instead of absorbing it all?? And the Fold looks grey in some light, not black??? I have so many questions.
Anyway I’m sure Leigh Bardugo was not getting this pedantic about how the Darkling’s powers work when she wrote the books, which is honestly probably the wiser decision, but the fun part of fandom is that we get to be pedantic and overly detail-oriented, so if anyone has any theories PLEASE tell me, I want to think about it more.
