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| Photo cred: wendyoghurt |
I've been there before. Back when I first read Twilight, just like every other fourteen year old girl. I ended up being Team Jacob. But at first, I was, without a doubt, Team Edward. It was sexy how he told her forcefully that he loved her, and that he wanted to keep her safe at all times. Stalked her, watched her at night. Followed her down a dark alley only to miraculously save her from the rapists. I mean, we all know it's a contemporary paranormal romance, so rationally, we all realize that's actually unbelievably creepy in real life. Right?
Maybe.
But the whole, bad boy who loves you theme is maybe not so easy to shake. Think of the Vampire Diaries, where girls had to decide between Stefan and Damon Salvatore, one of whom enjoys killing his victims.
Or in The 100, when tons of fans ship Bellarke, despite the fact that Bellamy is a morally gray ant/protagonist who frequently treats people as dispensable. (I'm only on the first season, but the shipping is a little mind-blowing right now. He's truly horrible.)
But I think the worst one is The Darkling. And yes, I get the appeal. He's dark, he's mysterious, he's obviously into Alina, who seems more than willing to accept his attention. (Mind you, it's been about three months since I read the books and I don't have them in front of me, so apologies for anything that isn't perfectly accurate.) And, there's the fact that he seems to really, truly understand Alina, the way that no one else does. Never mind the fact that he willingly murders multiple people to further his plans. Never mind the fact that he slaughters her friends and refuses to see reason. None of that matters. Because he's the sexy, dark bad boy, and he's the one who taps into the passion that Alina never knew she had.
I won't deny it's a little bit sexy, the way he speaks to her. In an emotionally fraught moment he actually says to her "Fine, make me your villain", and that is easily one of the sexiest lines I've heard in all of literature. Taken out of context, that is. In context I'm pretty sure he's just a zealot for his cause who believes that Alina is his perfect, powerful, counterpart.
I know that Mal might be a little bit boring at times. And he's also the guy who "holds her back", for lack of better phrase here. But he's the guy who's known her since they were kids. The guy who was forced to grow over the course of the books. The guy who saw that she had to sacrifice him for a cause he wasn't completely sure of himself, and walked into that fire for her. Meanwhile, The Darkling is a brooding, angry, murderous man-child who literally uses every power he has to manipulate her. The Darkling makes her selfish and manipulative, and power-hungry, while Mal makes her a better, calmer, kinder person.
If we're being real here, the man who was most perfect for Alina was Nikolai, but only because her personality took a nose-dive when she got so powerful.
And if we're digging into the text even more, Alina was clearly not supposed to end up with The Darkling, because he is representative of the seduction of power. He's not really a person here. He's Alina's desire to take the power that is being presented to her, and using it to her own advantage, just the way The Darkling does. And by eventually choosing Mal, she's not really choosing Mal. She's choosing to be a hero, a normal person who sacrifices everything she loves for what she knows is right, even if it means giving up the power that has taken such a strong hold on her.
The truth is, I won't judge you angrily for shipping a main character with a murderous psychopath, or a stalker. I actually don't really care who you ship, or which characters you like. That's up to you. And I sometimes do it too. We all do! So, friends, keep on shipping, keep on reading, and don't date murderous psychopaths in real life.
Love,
Sarai
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