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Personal Thoughts on Malyen Oretsev

After I completely my re-read of King of Scars I plan to read the original Grisha trilogy again.

In part because I miss the series and also because I really want to see if my memory of who Mal is as a character matches up with who he actually is in text.

I’m publishing this because I guess I want to talk to someone about it lol

From what I’ve seen it’s pretty popular opinion to really dislike Mal.

I remember having pretty neutral feelings for him. I didn’t like him but I didn’t hate him either. My feelings ended up more negative leaning but they shifted a lot while I reading the book.

Because I read it twice, I remember him best in Shadow and Bone. First as the guy Alina liked then as the guy who came back and was mean to her for ‘no reason.’

I realized a little later that this child was traumatized, oops! But I liked him the second half the book and I was happy with the direction his and Alina’s relationship was going.

It’s the second two books where my memory gets hazy.

I continued to like him during the first part of Siege and Storm but then I slowly began to change my mind.

From what I remember, he starting acting out.

I think at some point he admitted to wanting things to go back to how it was when he was the center of attention and Alina was at his side and I understand that--wanting to go back to normal when things around you are terrible but at the same time, he didn’t take into account Alina’s feelings.

And it really felt like he just did not want her to be Grisha anymore (or rather he wished she wasn’t at all.)

This is a good time to say that I read Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom before the Shadow and Bone trilogy so I was already well aware of how bad treatment of Grisha could get.

It felt like was one of those people who’d date you but then when you talked about your oppression once says things like ‘...but do you have to talk about it all the time?’

I remember he apologized and tried to make it up later but me having read his character like that really soured my opinion of him.

I honestly do not have a great memory of Ruin and Rising and I do remember the foreshadowed scene where Baghra heard his voice and said he sounded familiar. That was pretty sweet.

In the end, I remember feelings let down because I felt like they could only be together after she lost her powers. I felt so weird about it.

BUT

Despite that, Mal is the best love interest for Alina.

I can’t exactly remember all of his growth but I know that he did grow so I’m looking forward to seeing that progress when I read the book again.

...

As for Nikolai and the Darkling...

I love dramatic characters and they’re both dramatic and great.

As characters I like them both more than Mal but they aren’t great matches for Alina.

Nikolai is a good guy and is fun and charming and cute but Alina didn’t want to have to play the political game all her life. Though he cared for her, it is a lot to expect someone to grow into love after you’ve already married.

He’s a great guy tho...I would have married him.

The Darkling is another character I like a lot but he’s the villain of the story for a reason.

As a character he’s compelling and cool and he is absolutely correct* about the way Grisha are treated. I like villains who are right. (Even better is a villain who is right and ends up changing the heart of the hero, like Killmonger in Black Panther.)

But I mean...you can’t love someone who tried to enslave you. No matter how much ‘free will’ she might have had, that collar gave him power over her. (and yes I know the influence goes both ways but like...that was not his intention when he gave her the amplifier we know that. Plus, that's a bad situation lol)

Come on...and then he like...attacked other Grisha! Blinded his Mom! Kids died!!!!

Villains do villainous things and his ‘no matter the cost’ attitude makes him a great character but...Alina could never seriously love him because she’s a fundamentally good person (even if she makes some...questionable choices.)

A good hero-villain flirtation can be really fun and interesting but that’s all they could ever have.

But I mean I like him tho...I like him a lot but this post is not about that!

What I’m saying is that even if he’s not my personal favorite he’s obviously the one Alina should be with.

And that’s the post. That wraps up my feelings.

When I read the books again I’m going to look back on this post and see if my memories of Mal are right or wrong.

*I typically have a love-hate relationship with villains who are right because often it’s used as a tactic to demonize the idealology their fighting for but I don’t get that vibe from Leigh Bardugo’s writing. It’s clear that the Darkling is wrong in his actions because HE’S unhinged, not because there’s no real oppression happening.

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