#darkolai

[kathrahender]

When I say "no villain is free from me shipping him with another male character", I really mean it.

[wiwiurikawa]

"That relationship is toxic and they done unspokeble things to each other!"

Darling that's the exact reason why I ship them.

[siriuslyobsessedwithfiction]

"Siege and Storm is boring, nothing happened there.", "I only remember Nikolai showing up". LIES. That's propaganda, actually. That's Grishaverse fans not wanting to reread the trilogy and especially that book because they've crafted a fanfic in their heads they're trying to pass as canon with encouragement from the author, actually.

Because rereading Siege and Storm would raise quite a few unsavory questions. For example:

Why is Mal drinking, gambling and fighting Grisha 24/7 instead of performing his duty as Alina's captain of the guard? (And don't give me "he was a stressed boy" bullshit, it was war, everyone was stressed. And everyone was coddling Mal. He was going hunting with nobles, living in luxury and insulting the prince).

Why did Mal fail his duty as Alina's protector and fell asleep on his watch, drunk, and didn't notice someone going in and out Alina's chamber?

Why did Alina run away in her pajamas aimlessly in the city, and when the crowd of worshippers started tearing her apart alive, she let them. Why did she attempt suicide? (Hint: she and Mal had a big fight earlier because Mal was being a drunk shithead. Alina still blamed herself).

Why did Mal slut-shame Alina one second and virgin-shame her the next? All while bragging about being with many women and kissing Zoya.

Why did the Darkling not manipulate Alina even though he visited her a lot through the tether? Why did he settle for petty little smirks and winks and silently kept her company through the long nights? Why did he admit he was lonely and stayed with her because she was lonely too? Where was loverboy Mal?

Why were the Bataar twins (especially Tolya) acting so weird towards Alina? Why were they brainwashed worshipers and viewed her only as a saint? Why is Tolya on his knees, shivering when Alina just pats his shoulder?

Oh, Nikolai is just an ambitious, conniving cunt who wants the throne, not a selfless fairytale prince? And he's only an improvement from his father and brother because the bar is so low it's in the seventh circle of hell? (Still the best character in that book).

Why is everyone so okay with murdering the Darkling's Grisha as if they aren't the same Grisha who they lived and fought alongside for years? Why is no one protesting that while the Lantsov prince is eager to engage in a civil war because he has big guns from his pirate privateer adventures , it's the oppressed minority (Grisha) who are dying the most?

Why isn't Alina more concerned that everyone turned on Grisha the second the times of trouble started, as if everyone was merely expecting an excuse? An absence of strong leader, so they could start sham trials and execute Grisha left and right.

[stromuprisahat]

Ruin and Rising- Chapter 7 (Leigh Bardugo)

I hate agreeing with Baghra.

This might also serve as a basis for assumption Sashka would be equally practical, when dealing with new technology. I've often seen him portrayed as a conservative, a man avoiding, even fearing new tech, but his weariness in Shadow and Bone can be easily explained by his worry for future position of Grisha in Ravkan society. Not his own personal dislike of machines.

[galeancunin]

Zoya: You don't think I can fight because of my gender! Aleksander: I don't think you can fight because you're in a wedding dress. For what it's worth, I don't think Nikolai can fight in that dress either. Nikolai: Perhaps not. But I would make a radiant bride.

[justaneedle]

Oh, it just dawned on me why I prefer to think about darkolai more than about darklina — well, besides the fact that Nikolai seems like a deliberate hypocrite, whereas Alina has an aura of absolute ignorance — I prefer foil parallels rather than "opposites", which in theory should complement each other, but nope.

[vorbarrsultana]

one of things that drive me insane about the grisha trilogy is the fact that nikolai consistently is a non-factor in the political calculations of both, the darkling and his father. even genya, whose job is to spy on the tsar's inner circle, is like "it's just nikolai, they call him puppy, he surprised everyone by joining the army and then left to study in kerch or something, who cares".

meanwhile nikolai in question:

was a major of the first army. a senior officer one rank away from colonel, and two ranks away from major-general!

was person no. 2 in his regiment, the one in charge of 2000+ men daily. and, considering how much colonel raevsky and his soldiers seem to love him, managed them well.

was a decorated war hero of the struggling nation perpetually at war with its neighbours.

what i mean is that there absolutely should have been the party of grand duke nikolai aleksandrovich at the court (re: the succession), opposing the party of tsarevich vasily, the official heir. the people who want him to be ravka's next tsar, bastardy allegations be damned for the good of the country.

it could have been such an easy way to explain why nikolai was exiled sent to study abroad — his military record would have made him too popular compared to his brother. and it could have explained why nikolai is so sure of himself in siege & storm: he already has his own political party, and alina throwing her support behind him simply completes the puzzle.

also, when tatiana called nikolai "puppy" in ruin &rising, i was like. m'am, hate to break the news to you, but your cute puppy hasn't been that for the last five or so years. by now he is actually a wolfhound with very long and very sharp teeth.

(very much not the point of that post, but when i find time to work on my pre-canon!darkolai fic series, i usually imagine the ravkan political landscape before alina as "the army party" (nikolai, the darkling, senior officers of both armies + probably some diplomats, who also see what's going on with shu-han and fjerda) vs "the court party". by the shadow & bone events, the first splits into nikolai's moderates & aleksander's radicals, and the latter became irrelevant after vasily's death.)

[rchrdgrysn]

The only kind of russian civil war au i accept is nikolai being the lost prince and Aleksander being a bolshevik (who doesn’t give up his ideology bc he’s thinking with his cock cause PET PEEVE). They met somewhere, get drunk and fuck and them being enemies starts afterwards