anyone else rant to themselves at night about the mischaracterizations by fans of both the darkling and mal and how it literally ruins the way people perceive the series...

darklinas want the darkling to be this misunderstood, traumatized boy (or father grisha) so bad that they overlook his true motives and legitimate actions and ultimately undermine him as a villain

like he’s a good villain IF you let him be the villain. if you let him take advantage of alina. if you understand their relationship was textbook manipulation, and that his “love” for alina came from a “love” for her power, the promise of her power, and the future it could bring.

and maybe he did feel something, but it was gone the minute he knew alina would never submit to him. alina would never bring him the future he wanted, regardless of her crazy power, because she thought ravka was worth more. alina too gets mischaracterized a lot and it’s not fair

just, sometimes i see darklinas talk and i’m like, don’t you want more from your favorite character? do you really care about the darkling or alina? because it’s better for BOTH of their characters that they aren’t endgame. it’s more interesting. it gives them both more depth