#darkles

I don’t love you

But I always will

What do we know about him from s1?

1. He’s a general and a grisha

2. He’s super old

3. He’s a shadow summoner

4. He seems scary but is secretly a softie

5. He has a great smile

6. He has adorable puppy eyes and always on the verge of tears

7. He’s a fantastic kisser

8. He has feelings for Alina

9. He did some questionable things but it’s either kill or be killed. In war the only crime is to lose. He spent his whole life trying to protect his people. Sometimes leaders have to make the tough decisions and bear all the blame

10. He knows to ask for consent

11. He’s so tall and handsome as hell

So on a scale of puppy to Voldemort, how evil does that sound to you guys?

I can't shake off the feeling that, if the Darkling had been younger at the time of using the Fold as a weapon, he'd have done things differently.

Let me explain. Firstly, using the Fold as a weapon is a good idea. Strategically speaking. And in a war, what is strategy if not the foundation of survival?

Secondly, Aleksander loves Ravka. He could have flee, keep hiding, start a war on otkazast'ya (hopefully i spelled it right) ages before and turn the tables around. But he doesn't care just for Grisha. He cares about ravkans, all of them.

Years of suffering and futile attempts to have his dream of peace and happiness fulfilled, however, made him prone to drastic measures. Had he been younger, that hopeful boy/young man from early life, I'm sure he would have cleaned the town of civilians. He didn't want to kill those people: in the books he needed to show off to those messangers from Shu and Fjerda and Kerch etc..., in the show, his only target was Zlatan (not sure of the name, the separatist leader) and his suppoerters.

Darkles is having a hard time that his number one heartrender keeps prioritizing his boyfriend instead of blindly following orders.

I was trying to channel this gif, but i will never be this funny.

These are Nikolai’s rules, but the Darkling seems to follow them all without talking about them

1) The less you say the more your words will carry- Aleks doesn’t talk much, he only ever has real conversations with Alina

2) Don’t argue, never deign to deny- he lets every rumour add to his reputation

3) Weakness is a guise- he pretends to be weaker than he is to stay close to the king for all those centuries

4) Use whatever or whoever is in front of you- isn’t that basically what he did with Genya?

5) Being a leader means that someone is always watching you- cold, unreadable and emotionless unless he’s only with Alina (and sometimes not even then)

6) Get them to follow the little orders and they’ll follow the big ones- we see the start of this with Alina when she refuses to wear black and then wears his kefta; she becomes dependent on his visits later

7) It’s okay to flout expectations, but never to disappoint them- he is strict with his soldiers to ensure their safety, but he also expects only the best of himself as their leader

The Darkling purposefully slaughtered a city of innocent civilians.

You might agree with the Darkling, and think it was a necessary part of securing his power and protecting the Grisha/Ravka and that the ends justified his means. I don’t agree, but that’s fine, we all have our own perspectives!

However, I think it’s important to remember that it was an intentional choice on his part, that he did it in order to show ambassadors and world leaders what could happen to *their* cities if they didn’t fall in line.