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I don't understand WHY Bardugo wrote Alina's ending the way she did. Did she think it would make for a bittersweet, satisfactory ending? (It did not.) Did she think it would be sharp and realistic? (It unfortunately was a bit.) Did she think she'd be subverting expectations?? Did she love Mal so much she went insane?? I just don't get it. I just don't get it. If by the end of the series she forgot to add in more love interest for Alina (because she obviously didn't want to consider the other two despite being fascinated with Aleksander) she could just have. Let poor Alina be alone. Why condemn her to such a fate? I think everyone I've talked about this has unanimously agreed they'd cease to exist if they were in her place. It's so. So strange

It’s all a consequence of the underlying conservatism and misogyny of the series. This is best illustrated through the fact that even in Alina’s “happily ever after” she is still regarded as a weird outsider while Mal is beloved by their new community. It isolates Alina in a way that the Darkling never could, it’s representative of Alina’s permanent dependence on Mal as a consequence of their marriage. Mal is allowed to have a life outside of his marriage, while Alina has to depend on him for emotional connection. She can only find fulfillment in her husband while Mal is afforded the freedom (and means) to seek fulfillment from other places.

What I imagine Bardugo thought, was that it would be heartwarming and pleasant for the “boy and the girl” to return to simplicity and live happily ever after. Hence the line: “They had an ordinary life, full of ordinary things—if love can ever be called that.” In isolation, it’s certainly a sweet sentiment that one might smile at in a different story. However, in this story, it’s a clear attempt to romanticize the dire (and downright depressing) circumstances of Alina’s so-called “happily ever after”. It looks like a happily ever after, but readers with a critical eye can see it for what it truly is. They are able to see the way Alina is disempowered at nearly every level, that she had been relegated to this role because she dared to want more out of life.

This gestures towards the fundamental reason why Malina is far more disturbing than the likes of Darklina. It’s disturbing because it reflects the ways women are pushed to settle down and sacrifice themselves for their man and glorifies that sacrifice as the healthy alternative to “greed”. Sure, the Darkling is villainous, but his actions are so beyond the normal scope of everyday relationships that they fail to land the same impact as Mal’s mundane assholery. Alina is considered greedy for wanting to excercise her power and influence for a noble cause, but somehow Mal isn’t greedy for wanting Alina’s full undivided attention despite her many other responsibilities? The narrative validates his unreasonable requests by presenting the ending as something wholesome and heartwarming. Mal’s selfishness and greed is validated by the text because it is societally acceptable and encouraged men to have those traits. He has to be the more powerful one in the relationship for this traditional happy ending to work.

Bardugo condemned Alina to a depressing fate because she was so fixated on the image of a fairy tale happily ever after that she ignored how Alina would be impacted by it. I think this reveals Bardugo’s strange affection for Mal, but it also shows how she failed to see how the realistic mundanity of Malina would not work in her favour. Because…yeah it’s realistic all right, realistically misogynistic that is.

#shadow and bone #the darkling #alina starkov #lb critical #darklina #anti mal oretsev #anti Malina #s&b critical #anti leigh bardugo #aleksander morovoza #grishaverse

Nikolai the clever fox

Every time I come across a post praising Nikolai for his cleverness, I think about his brilliant plans in S&S.

His first bright idea was to influence the army. He thought he did something spectacular by joining the army that people will remember him forever- even after many years. Let's not forget that he f-ed off after a couple of years of service, leaving the rest to rot. He was not within the country trying to form alliances or doing something tangiable for the betterment of the said army and yet he expected them to be waiting for him with their ears perked up and tails wagging. It is not the 21st century british monarchy. His title wasn't some decoration. He had powers that came with it. He was literally a Duke and did jacksquat with his given power and yet he was expecting a hero's welcome from them. How much self absorbed one has to be to think, just his coming back to Ravka is enough to create ripple in the army.

His next brilliant strategy was essentially to wait for Vasily to grow tired of his responsibilities and toss over the crown to Nikolai. Such brilliant idea! Vasily maybe a drunk but he is not a fool. He knew since birth what sort of power comes with the crown and he knows enough to not to toss it over to his bastard brother like a play toy he got bored off. Let us assume Nikolai really was powerless based on the sob story he gave to Alina about second prince not able to do much. So what was he planning to accomplish while waiting for Vasiliy?? The country was starving, Aleksander was at large but boy wonder had no care about it. His amazing plans was to wait and see if someone would notice him and give him the crown.

Such a brilliantly gifted clever fox👏👏👏

#grishaverse #nikolai lantsov #anti nikolai lantsov #lb critical #clever fox is actually very very dumb #my meme

di di di i have a leigh bardugo opinion

i kind of dont like the fact that the suli are a mishmash of roma, indian and middle-eastern cultures. like there are 2 fully fleshed out european countries but only a mish mash of asia which is Shu Han and a weird fusion of different cultures which is Suli. so despite loving inej im just a lil disappointed

Oh yes I quite agree with this. I think someone made a post about it too. I guess it's classical American ignorance again—to look at Asia as one monolith. People tend to think it's limited to Japan, Korea and China when Asia is literally the largest continent in the world :///

Inej is a strong female lead but she isn't good representation because she is a mashup of Romani, South Asian and Middle Eastern cultures. Romani and South Asian aesthetics and middle eastern name. No wonder artists can't decide if she's desi or MENA or Romani :///

Her quiet strength has also sparked off this woke stereotype of making brown girls all quiet and kind—and taking it to another level is sexualizing them and making them therapists for all other characters which neglects their arcs. Laila of TGW and Cordelia from TSC are prime examples (yes, I'm still not over those disgusting fanarts). Funny because we are already therapists for our traumatized parents who believe mental health is a hoax :)

White people tout it as great representation, but for me the bar is down to the earth's core because we're either kind and quiet or sexy comodities in YA books and people just gobble it up without any sort of critical thinking :/

The only good thing I liked in the rep was how hard she fought to keep remembering her religion and culture. Even Indian-American authors don't give us that bare minimum decency

Oh my gosh this got too long I'm sorryyy

#asks #div answers #thepanipurisimp #mutuals #lb critical #leigh bardugo critical #inej ghafa #laila tgw #cordelia carstairs #white people are not allowed to comment on this #diversity #poc representation

I will SAY it, I do not think Leigh Bardugo is a good writer nor a good storyteller. Her ideas and inspiration are brilliant and I love the grishaverse as a concept, but she fails in executing a lot of the themes of the overall stories, cannot stay consistent, and moves character motivations around willy-nilly, as well as falling into the bad side of the stereotypes and archetypes she uses.

#leigh bardugo #the grishaverse #the grisha series #the grisha trilogy #shadow and bone #six of crows #ruin and rising #lb critical

We’re going through this phase of fandom right now where people willfully ignore the sexist implications of female characters being shafted into housewife/mother roles or disempowered by the end of their stories. If you dare to criticize such writing decisions, you will be accused of sexism and be hounded for not “respecting their choices” as though these characters are actual people and not tools of storytelling. As if the cliche of female characters “sacrificing” their powers or having them stripped away exists in a vacuum and isn’t influenced by any larger cultural factors.

They’ll say: “Not every character has to be a girlboss!!” Or “Let women be soft and traditional!!” As if that’s some revolutionary way of thinking and not the norm. It’s an extension of choice feminism, dismissing any dissent about the quality of the narrative to make it make sense and avoid the uncomfortable truth. Diminishing the agency of female characters and cramming them into traditional roles is a common occurrence in many stories, and we should be allowed to criticize them without being silenced.

#you already know what I’m talking about #shadow and bone #alina starkov #lb critical #anti leigh bardugo #katara deserved better #pro katara #nesta archeron #anti sjm #acosf #choice feminism #anti bryke #anti Kataang #s&b critical #pro Nesta

Alina’s reluctance to power didn’t make her humble or virtuous, it just made her cowardly. For Alina, rejecting power doesn’t mean rejecting corruption, it means rejecting a fundamental part of herself. It would have been good for Alina to accept responsibility and rise to the occasion as a hero and leader instead of remaining passive. Trying to generalize all forms of power as inherently corrupting ignores the context of Alina’s reluctance and frames her meekness and passivity as a good thing.

#Just because the text frames her self-centered nature as good doesn’t mean that it’s good.#I’m so bored of readers who try to ameliorate the ending by appealing to the virtue of humility when that same quality was the thing that #was harming Alina in the first place. It wasn’t a good thing that Alina *never wanted power* TOO BAD! That came from Alina’s fear and #insecurity! It was something she should’ve had to overcome instead of yielding to it in the end.#It’s Bardugo’s fault that she linked Alina’s growing sense of self (in the form of her powers) with her relationship with Aleksander.#Demonizing him (and darklina) ultimately demonizes Alina’s personal growth and empowerment #the darkling #shadow and bone #alina starkov #lb critical #grishaverse #s&b critical #anti leigh bardugo #aleksander morovoza #darklina #siege and storm #ruin and rising

What truly drives me up the wall is people calling Darkling manipulative. Like, toxic, abusive, violent, evil – fine. But manipulative? Girl, where😭? I wish he was. But he couldn’t even manipulate 1 (one) dumb teenage girl!

The fandom really overstates how much manipulation he actually engages in. Not only that, they also overstate how successful he was when it came to manipulating Alina. It took her exactly five minutes to turn on him when Baghra revealed his true identity to her (without much evidence mind you).

I just think that if the Darkling’s manipulation was as powerful as people say, then he would at least be able to influence a naive and insecure young woman who has no familial support system. We’re told that he’s a master manipulator, but we’re shown that he’s making decisions that don’t completely align with the goal of grooming Alina. For example, letting Baghra teach Alina is a huge risk because not only does she spend more time with Alina, she also openly disagrees with his strategies and is the only person who knows about his true identity. If he was the great manipulator people say he is, wouldn’t he just train Alina himself? So he could keep her close and control what information she absorbs?

Honestly, I think “abusive” is a bit more of a stretch than “manipulator” considering that Alina and the Darkling never enter a relationship. Evidence for his supposed abuse of Alina is either typical enemy behavior or his lies of omission from the first book.

#shadow and bone #the darkling #alina starkov #grishaverse #lb critical #s&b critical #aleksander morovoza #shadow and bone season 1 #shadow and bone fandom #shadow and bone meta

Re-reading Shadow and Bone is crazy because it makes you realize that Alina really didn’t GAF about the Darkling. I mean that in the sense that Alina doesn’t really come off as the kind of person who was eager to please, or seek validation from the Darkling in a substantial way. The sincere want wasn’t really there, and it’s made worse by the fact that the Darkling doesn’t make a concentrated effort to play on her insecurities. We’re told that he did do that, but the evidence is not very compelling. Alina was attracted to him, but that’s not enough to imply that she truly trusted or found safety in him.

Contrast this with a series like Chainsaw Man. Makima instantly recognized what Denji wanted (e.g. love, intimacy) and incentivized him with things that resembled it. She had his complete trust, and Denji acted like it. I’m of the mind that this is what made their dynamic so compelling. Unlike the Darkling, Makima was shown to be just as competent as her reputation suggested and as a result, she was quite an intimidating figure. Denji really cared about Makima and chased the intimacy that he thought she could offer him, and from that, you can really believe that Makima took full advantage of his youth and inexperience to achieve her goals.