IF GOD WON’T SAVE YOU I WILL

[THE BASTARD OF THE BARREL]

rumours of zoya being soft over animals greatly exaggerated

INEJ GHAFA (Shadow and Bone 1.02 “We’re All Someone’s Monster”)

autumn crows !

actually you know what wldve been funny. kaz pretending he was pekka’s long lost bastard son and pulling a heist thats kinda the reverse of what pekka did to them.

wait reverse mamma mia au where kaz tries to convince 3 men (pekka, van eck, and per haskell) that he’s their illegitimate child

GRISHAVERSE BOOKS by LEIGH BARDUGO ↣ Shadow and Bone, Six of Crows and King of Scars covers by AI app DREAM.

A concept: Jesper tosses Inej a pistol in the middle of a fight only to watch her throw it at an opponent like it's a knife.

The worst part about this is that she hits him in the head hard enough that it works. Jesper can't let it go.

the rest of the gang: where the hell is kaz he’s supposed to be at the incinerator now

kaz, checking all the cells for pekka:

you’re my flag. you’re my nation. alina, i see you now. i’ll find my way back to you. she’s worth it, sir. to hell with it—i miss your scowl. saints help me, alina, i want to live forever. i won’t let him hurt you. we’ll find a way out of this, alina. we always do. i’ll meet you in the meadow. i don’t think you’re ugly. i know if you were safe and whole you would write. i’ve risked my life for you. i’ve walked half the length of ravka for you. and I’d do it again, and again and again just to be with you. this once, let me carry you. i’ve been staring at your name for almost an hour. don’t touch her. hey, i worry. i feel how flimsy i am, how all the things i thought were strong and whole were just held together by you. she’s the thing that made this all okay. no matter what it takes, i’ll see you safe again. i wrote to you nearly every single day. alina, i remember everything. she’s everything, you dumb son of a bitch. i’ll always find you. you are the whole of my heart. beauty, beloved, cherished, my heart. you are my true north. and i can see my way to you now. it’s a vow that if i can’t be anything else to you, at least i can be a weapon in your hand. don’t tell me we don’t belong together. i want her back. please, alina. please, this can’t be how it ends. you are a brat. you can’t ask that of me. i won’t kill you, alina. she’s worth it. and one day maybe she’ll let me chase her into a chapel. i couldn’t eat. i couldn’t sleep. i kept seeing you walk away, seeing you disappear. you belonged with me. do you know how much i want that? to be with you without rank or walls or anything between us? what am i? am i your guardian? you friend? your servant? tell me what i am. bodyguard to a saint. just you and me. it’s always been just you and me, alina. we found our way back to each other, alina. hey, look, you don’t owe me an explanation. i’m sorry it took me so long to see you, alina. moi soverenyi. i miss you. i stay away to protect you, alina. i wanted you to ask me to stay. come back to me. going to miss this. the way you taste. the way you smell. the way you feel. i just want to keep you safe. you were meant for more than me, and i’ll die fighting to give it to you. this is all i have to offer. i won’t fail you again. i can’t do this. not if you make me laugh, not if you touch me like that. i wasn’t afraid of you, alina. i was afraid of losing you. you’re being a brat. i would have been different too, without you. weaker, reckless. afraid of the dark. i love every part of you, even the part of you that loved him. you know i’d be lost without you. you’re all i ever wanted. i’m going to marry alina. you say you need the firebird. i’ll find a way to get it for you. but when this is all over, alina, i wonder if you’ll still want me. i won’t let him hurt you. you look beautiful. i save my faith for the saints. for all my talk of vows and honor, what i really want is to put you up against the wall and kiss you until you forget you ever knew another man’s name. i wanted more for you. a white veil in your hair. vows we could keep. deserve her. i have to spend the rest of my life finding ways to deserve a certain white-haired girl. i’ll stay by your side as long as you let me. whatever there is between us? we forged it. it belongs to us. i would have noticed you. i missed you every hour. always. no matter who or what i was, i would’ve been yours. i love you, alina.

Six of crows has one of the most fascinating and complex depictions of religion in any fantasy series, ever, especially one that is not speciticaly about religion. Instead it presents multiple religious traditions and even different concepts of what religion is and has characters with boldly different relations to it: characters who don’t mention it at all (wylan), characters who seem broadly “secular“ (to use a messy term) but still recognise cultural aspects like reliquaries and saints (Nina), characters who have a changing relationship to traditions and customs and for whom reanalysis/reconnection is key to growth and evolution (Jesper’s incredibly important scene where he thinks of himself as Zowa/Blessed), characters for whom religion is a central justification of a violent and oppressive world view but whom also have to grapple and change their understanding of it even if they don’t reject it completely (Matthias), characters who reject it completely, including for the hypocrisy of organised religion in their own society after personal experience (Kaz), and characters for whom religion is a KEY aspect of personal connection to an oppressed minority culture and an important act of selfhood and liberation (Inej).

A liar, a thief, and utterly without conscience. But he’ll keep to any deal you strike with him.

More scenes from Hand in Hand in Unloveable Hand:

Jesper: Where’s Kaz?

Inej: Somewhere disappointing the saints.

Pekka Rollins looking at the crows: death penalty for all of them.

Colm Fahey looking at the crows: these children are in desperate need of some decent fucking parenting.

Morning Doodle: King Nikolai Lantsov and General Nazyalensky

Artist Notes: Don't mind me, just testing workflows and programs.

NATACHA Shadow & Bone “A Searing Burst of Light”