*Spoilers.*
I love the heck out of both of these characters, and they’re at their absolute best when they’re together. Nimona has so much great stuff going for it, but for me, the dynamic between these two is what takes it from a great movie to a phenomenal movie.
Ballister is at his lowest when Nimona breezes into his hideout/”lair” (he would dispute that terminology.) He’s been falsely accused of murdering the queen, which is horrible enough in itself because now the whole kingdom hates him and is after him. But the queen was someone who believed in him when a lot of others didn’t and threw her support behind him becoming a knight, so to see her murdered in front of him is awful, and to have him appear to have been responsible for it is even worse. He’s obsessed with clearing his name and has been spinning theories by his lonesome.
Enter Nimona, a bundle of punk chaos and energy. In her mind, they’re just the same, and a “villain” like Ballister will be just as eager as she is to tear down the system that surrounds the kingdom with high walls and upholds the knights as its greatest citizens. She volunteers for sidekick duty, eagerly painting a picture of all the enemies they can skewer/maim/eviscerate together. Ballister, naturally, reacts in horror, both to the vivid imagery and to the notion that he’s a villain.
Labels and stances are important to Ballister. He’s a good guy, so he always strives to do right. He at first completely rejects Nimona’s bloodthirsty offers of help, only begrudgingly allowing her to assist when his straight-and-narrow approach to clearing his name immediately gets him thrown in the dungeon. From there, he makes it plain that he only wants Nimona’s help on very specific terms: no violence, no mayhem. He’s dipping the barest toe over the line and doesn’t want to go any further.
When it’s revealed that Nimona is a “monster” who shapeshifts joyously and with reckless abandon, their partnership almost ends there and then. Not just because Ballister, trained as a knight, was taught that monsters are the kingdom’s greatest enemies and he freaks out to realize he was unwittingly fraternizing with one. But also because Nimona doesn’t appreciate the fear and judgment that bubbles up in him after she shows him who she is.
But against all odds, they stick with it, playing a societal and moral tug-of-war as they search for the exonerating evidence Ballister is so desperate for. He’s anxious for Nimona not to hurt or terrify anyone, understandably, but it goes beyond that. It bothers him that she’s loud, that she’s overt, that she doesn’t disguise her shapeshifting. He squirms at the natural attention she attracts, and he not-so-subtly suggests that she’d be more “comfortable” if she maintained a human form to fit in better.
Meanwhile, Nimona enjoys poking holes in Ballister’s unshakable faith in the system (you know, the one that now thinks he’s a ruthless killer.) She pushes back against his naivete; at every turn, as he wants to take things to the proper channels, she points out how shortsighted that is. But when they do it his way and, time and again, his system lets him down, she’s there to grin wickedly as he realizes the only way out is for them to “break stuff.”
Somewhere along the way, their arguments start to morph into understanding. When Nimona is struck by an arrow, Ballister is concerned and takes him to bandage her leg. And even though Nimona’s physiology means she can’t really feel the pain, she’s shaken by the care he takes in tending to her. Prior to this scene, she’s been flippant about his smallminded questions, but now, when he asks her what shapeshifting feels like, she opens up to him. Still, she tells him what he needs to know rather than what he asks, explaining that the longer she goes without shapeshifting, the more physical discomfort she feels, with pressure building inside her until she does what she was born to do.
In the final act of the movie, Ballister is drawn back into his old prejudices when he learns that Nimona is the original monster at the heart of the kingdom’s 1000-year-old rhetoric. And though he almost immediately regrets his kneejerk distrust, the damage is done: Nimona has been rejected yet again, and her pain and anger flares out in every direction. To the kingdom, she appears to be every bit the terrifying monster that they fear, but really, she’s a girl who’s badly hurting and isn’t sure she can carry on at all. She finds herself pushed to the brink, but on the precipice, Ballister is there, holding out a hand to stop her and apologizing for his stupid ignorance.
For someone who’s placed a lot of value on his reputation and is very concerned with who’s good and who’s bad, it’s a big deal that Ballister publicly aligns himself with a “monster” like this. He comes, not to convince her not to be so terrifying or to insist that everything will be fine if she just tries to fit in better. No, he comes to say he’s sorry for treating her like a thing, to admit that everything he’s ever believed in was wrong, to beg her not to hurt herself.
I love this: the bravery in Ballister’s humility and the revelation it is for Nimona to see someone who wants to stand with her. Beautiful.
Obviously, this last part is pretty heavy, but these two are also so funny. I mean, Nimona “causing a diversion” by shapeshifting into Ballister and cackling about how evil he is? Ballister frantically stealing a car while Nimona terrorizes an important witness by shapeshifting into a little demon boy? Nimona and Ballister dancing on a table together (Nimona as a shark!) at a high moment in their mission? All objectively fantastic. Get you an onscreen duo who can do both, seriously.
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