#darkling edit

This is going on my TikTok but I’ll also be putting it here

-Why won’t you leave me alone...

Tell me this isn’t fitting

Song: Savage by Bahari

Disclaimer before I begin: I’m aware some might disagree with me on this, and that is 100% okay. This is all just my personal opinion. And no, I do not ship Leigh Bardugo’s version of Darklina.

I’ve seen more and more people tell Darkling fans they shouldn’t like the Darkling because of his behavior. First of all, he’s a fictional character, and his actions are not condoned by the people who like him. He’s not real. I like the Darkling for lots of reasons. He’s a very complex character with a tragic backstory and everything he does is explained, not excused or justified. The man has lived for hundreds of years, acquired many names, and never truly had a home. I genuinely grew to like him more when I read his childhood story, “The Demon in the Wood.” Just when he finally thought he could trust someone. When he thought he finally, at last, had a friend, betrayal came for him once more.

What he sees in Alina is nothing but hope. Hope that he would be alone no longer. He was so desperate to win Alina, so anxious, that he went to extreme and irrational lengths to gain her trust. I personally don’t ship Darklina, seeing as how toxic it eventually became, but I honestly understand the Darkling and I felt his emotions and motives. There had never been anyone like him, except for Alina. Do people really expect a man who has lived life for so long and experienced countless tragedies to remain sane? To be cool and collected when a girl is his final and only hope to escape his pit of loneliness and despair? He went about everything the wrong way, but I understood his story. More than I understood any other villain.