Stuff i Think Is Cool

(If you ship Darklina, this post is not for you)

It really struck me how when Mal is away from Alina he always calls her that-Alina. He refers to her by her own name. Meanwhile, when the Darkling is away from Alina he calls her “my sun summoner” which not only implies that he thinks of her as his possession but also only thinks of her as valuable in terms of her power. I think it was a nice touch by the show runners to emphasize the difference between the two

Malyen Orestev & Alina Starkov + Ship Dynamics

Artists: one, two, three, four, five, six

Mal and The Darkling Being Literal Dorks Over Alina.

1.05 | 1.07 | 1.08

Darkling: isn't it past your bedtime?

Mal: isn't it time you died?

I am not saying anything revolutionary with this, but I don’t mind—scratch that, I love that Mal Oretsev and Alina Starkov don’t fall in love at the same time. I heard people say that Mal has always been in love with her, he’s already in love with her at the beginning of shadow&bone and.. I almost disagree?

Alina has always loved Mal and has always know that, since she was a kid and she was so happy to see him come back she didn’t realise she had a cut on her hand. Mal has always cared and loved Alina as well, but he realises he has truly fallen in love with her/acts on his feelings later, when Alina is far away from him, when Alina is lost to him to another world of Grisha and power and politics.

It’s not selfish of him to realise he’s fallen in love with her because she’s not by his side anymore, it is human. It’s difficult to realise you love a friend —a childhood friend!— in a romantic way and do something about it unless something happens that changes the status quo, a catalyst. Yes, it takes Mal a bit more, but it’s not something you should blame him for it. Everyone goes at their pace.

Mal Oretsev doesn’t see Alina anymore and his heart aches, and from that moment on he does everything he can to help Alina (!). He deserts the army, he becomes a rebel, he leads a small group that combines grisha abilities with first army training, he lets her go when he thinks she is destined to something different than what he has to offer. People don’t always fall in love at the same time in real life. It’s a messy affair of timing, of finding the right person at the right time, of holding tight to your feelings and knowing when instead it is time to let go. What matters isn’t who loved first and for the longest time, who pined more, but how much you hold on tight when you realise there’s something worth fighting for. And this is basically who Mal is as a character

𝕾𝖍𝖆𝖉𝖔𝖜 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝕭𝖔𝖓𝖊 ꜱᴇᴀꜱᴏɴ 1 ʀᴇᴡᴀᴛᴄʜ #15 ↳𝟷.𝟶𝟷: 𝚊 𝚜𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚞𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝

Turn around right now. Orders are orders.

i made another thing

Malina + hands

just a couple things i loved about shadow and bone *SPOILERS*

prob forgetting some but i just finished the show so these are just initial reactions. can guarantee i will be rewatching this show many many more times

Malina + hands

“Alina, come back to me, please. Alina? Please wake up. Please come back. Please.”

You can have him.