Nikolai's Demon Acts Like An Overgrown Cat Around The Darkling, Because It Came From His Power And Like

ben and jessie were literally the most searched cast members after s1 dropped. just because the fandom favors the crows doesn't mean the GA feels the same.

!!

Why are these people pretending that season 1 didn't have a huge number of non-book readers watching the show and being the most invested in alina and "kirigan's" story?

Ben Barnes is popular and pulled a lot of people who are not into YA fiction to SaB (I'm one of those people lol). Jessie and Ben had insane chemistry and their relationship was the most talked about part of season 1.

Sure in the book community crows have lots of dedicated fans but for a show to work you need GA too which they lost with season 2.

Also, are these people pretending the darkling hasn't been carrying the fandom since 2012?? He's literally leigh's cash cow. Her most popular character who has been featured in multiple different books of gregverse. DITW is still winning her awards lol.

Oh fuck it's just occurred to me that like

1) The Little Palace was designed by a very old, very paranoid Grisha who's spent his entire life being hunted and persecuted for existing

2) The Little Palace was built with at least one secret passageway Alina didn't know about, which brings her out into the grounds somewhere. There are most likely dozens of these hidden tunnels - they're escape routes for when the otkazat'sya inevitably turn on the Grisha and Kirigan finds himself with a school full of kids to evacuate.

3) In S2 at the Spinning Wheel, Nadia says that the First Army raided the Little Palace, and Nikolai is sheltering the survivors. There's a decent number of them, by the looks of it. More than a handful. Probably all those who were close enough to an exit passageway.

4) Kirigan wasn't there to open up the tunnels and lead everyone out, and neither was Baghra. So the tunnels can't be truly secret. Enough Grisha knew about them to vanish under the First Army's noses and escape. I'm picturing that one scene from Ye Olde X-Men 2: most of them got out through tunnels that weren't on any of our schematics.

5) This means it's likely that the Little Palace has its own version of those fucked-up shooter drills they have to do in America. The procedure for something like that would have to be drummed into these kids from as early as possible, just like they train you to respond to the fire bell, because otherwise in the rush and the noise and the confusion, they'd just panic, and that would cause chaos. They all need to know where their closest emergency exit is, how to open it, where it leads, how to check for nearby soldiers before emerging, where to go next. So that when they need that knowledge, it's become second nature. Instinct. Like young prey animals - just as Baghra taught him.

And this is the kind of fear and constant hypervigilance Kirigan and Baghra have been living with their entire lives, without even the benefit of a relatively secure, long-term home literally built to protect them. It's no wonder the pre-Little Palace Grisha are so messed up.

And he's probably had older Little Palace Grisha over the years, people like Fedyor, questioning whether it's really necessary to still be making these kids think they're at risk like that. The Grisha have been at peace with the crown for over a century! This is a relic from a crueller time, surely. And he brushes it off every time, because at some point in his history, he learned better. He's learned from his failures.

6) After Anastas put a bounty on his ambitious General's head and named him heretic, the guards say, "Thought you [and Luda] could quietly train witches under our noses, did you?"

So he's already helping teach other Grisha, even then, and we know from Luda that the king is now having said Grisha rounded up. And there's nothing he can do. If he goes back, the king will have his head. So when he next aligns himself with the crown as his own descendant, he's learned that unless he puts safeguards in place, it will be the Grisha he's protecting who will suffer whenever he butts heads with the monarchy.

And he turns out to be right. Pyotr and Vasily have neither the balls nor the strength to meet him on the battlefield, so instead they target whatever Grisha they can get hold of - the half-trained students, the researchers, servants like Genya - and blame them for whatever treason they're accusing him of this time. The escape routes were still necessary. They've always been necessary.

It just? Really hit home how fucked up this world is for them, like. Even within the 'safety' of the Little Palace, the Grisha kids would never truly be able to avoid or forget the fear and hatred the world at large has for their kind, or the danger being Grisha might place them in if their protector falls out of favour with the royals. Ravka might not experiment on them or burn them alive, but they're not safe. They never really were. They've only ever been used.

Convenient weapons, or convenient scapegoats, and with no say in any of it.

Я так хотела увидеть Штурмхонда, но видимо нам заранее дали привыкнуть к хорошему личику Падди или я не могу придумать другой причины, почему они не стали заморачиваться.

the sturmhond we deserved

А вы думали это одноразовая акция? Я всё жду более "интересных" взаимодействий между дарколаями в "Восемь тактов" от @vorbarrsultana, хехехе. А пока развлекаюсь тем, что рисую свои любимые сцены из глав. Вот например мне запомнилось важное стратегическое собрание детишек на крыше XD. Что-то в этот раз мне не понравилась жесткость грифеля, надо попривыкнуть наверное.

What in the darknikolina is this.

"Oops careless 😏😜" his ass is not sorry!

After they make decently-working state out of Ravka:

Nikolai: “We could wrap it all up here, you’ll leave Ivan in charge for few weeks… When was the last time you went on vacation?”

Aleksander: “Generals of the Second Army don’t do vacations.”

Nikolai: “I miss the sea… We could travel from port to port. Just a couple of ordinary sailors, although sinfully good-looking. I can teach you how to sail. Show you the world…”

Aleksander: “I’ve travelled the world as a young man.”

Nikolai: “See! Ancient history!”

there’s just some fics... they never leave u bro. i’ll be sitting on the toilet four years later thinking about the 94k enemies to lovers fic that captured my soul

Ben and Jessie are Nikolai's fans now

I can definitely understand them.

ВОТ ИМЕННО

и при всём при этом практически общеизвестно, что все святые когда-то были реальными людьми (религия предполагает веру в сверхъестественные силы, но в мире, где есть гриши уже мало чему можно удивиться). То есть не совсем понятно, кто и за что наградил их святостью, а не, скажем, орденом героя?

И плюс у меня возникло ощущение, что абсолютно ВСЕ святые при жизни были гришами, за что многие оказались убиты. Опять же смысл поклоняться тем, к кому в лучшем случае народ относится с пренебрежением?

И отсутствие бога. Кто главный в этом пантеоне? Есть последователи святые, но нет того, за кем вообще нужно следовать.

Как в таком случае относятся к друг другу последователи разных святых? Уважают друг друга, верят и в того, и в другого или крутят пальцем у виска при каждой встрече, пытаясь доказать, что его святой самый святой из святых?

чем больше размышляю над религией в гришаверсе, тем больше хочется стучаться головой об стенку, потому что ЭТО ЧТО ВООБЩЕ

Nikolai: *bursts through the door*

Nikolai: "Aleksander Ilyich Morozov! We need to talk!"

Aleksander: ???

Nikolai: "Have you been lying to me about YOUR AGE?!"

Aleksander: "You have to understand, Grisha in my position..."

Nikolai: "I knew I'm dating an older man, but I didn't know I'm dating EVEN OLDER ~OLDER~ MAN!"

later that night:

Aleksander: *crying into a pillow*

Aleksander, wailing: "I'm OLD!"

Nikolai: "Awww... there there, babe... I didn't mean it."