Relationship Spotlight: Nakia & T’Challa (Black Panther)

I really enjoy the relationship between T’Challa and Nakia in Black Panther.  Comrades, confidantes, and (ex?) ex-lovers, these two are the whole package (some T’Challa-Nakia-related spoilers.)

We know from the jump how much Nakia means to T’Challa.  On a mission to extract Nakia from an undercover operation, Okoye warns T’Challa, “Don’t free when you see her,” but the second he lays eyes on her, that’s exactly what he does (there’s something sweet about a superhero/king getting so lovestruck.)  Althought we’re told early on that they’re exes and other characters comment on that apprehensively – such as Shuri asking T’Challa if it’s really a good idea to bring his ex on a mission – it’s clear that there’s no love lost between them.  As soon as Nakia is back in Wakanda, she and T’Challa start spending time together, and when he’s troubled, she’s usually the first person he turns to and she’s all too happy to provide support and comfort.

So if they still care so much about each other, why are they not together?  The force keeping them apart seems to be more logistical than anything else.  Despite knowing she’d make a great queen, that isn’t a life Nakia wants for herself.  Her work as a spy has taken her into other countries, and having seen how people suffer outside Wakanda, she can’t forget about them.  She wants to get out there and help, and if Wakanda’s isolationist policies keep T’Challa from doing that from the throne, Nakia can’t stay.  It’s obvious that she still loves T’Challa, but until he decides to open Wakanda’s resources up to the world (allowing Nakia to accomplish her goals from home,) she doesn’t seriously entertain the possibility of getting back together.

I like that.  I like that her ideals come before her desires and that, while T’Challa plainly wishes otherwise, he respects her decision and doesn’t resent her for it.  As exes, there’s no bitterness between them, no jealousy or sniping.  They challenge one another, debating what’s best for Wakanda, and even when they’re not “together,” they’re still on each other’s side.

That’s the really big takeaway with these two.  Together or apart, they trust one another absolutely, listen to each other’s ideas/strategies, and rely on the other to back them up in dangerous situations.  They work seamlessly as a team, and we never see them approaching each other as anything but equals.  Even considering the fact that T’Challa is Nakia’s king, he doesn’t order – they collaborate.  That’s something I feel you almost never see in fictional relationships, a truly equal partnership between a man and a woman, one where they come at issues from different perspectives but still work together as a cohesive unit.  It’s about what they bring out in each other, how each bolsters the other, and what they can build together, and that’s beautiful.