Nandi/Mal/Inara

So, I've been having a conversation in emails about this recently, and I thought I'd bring it up.

I actually think that the issue here isn't about which of the women is "a better match" for Mal. I think the two women both have a spirited sassy side which ultimately is what attracts Mal to them. Really I think the only difference between Nandi and Inara is where they are in life, what they did with their lives, and how open they are. I also think that Nandi's openness is a direction that Inara could evolve - and we'd all like to see more of Inara's spirited side, I think.

So with Nandi, her openness gives her time with Mal, while for Inara, openness is an obstacle.

But I also don't really see indications that Nandi and Mal thought anything long term could come out of their interactions. Mal gets to play the hero for Nandi, but after that, then what? At the time, Inara is at least traveling on Serenity, so they're on a parallel lifetrack. And then Mal and Inara have a lot of emotional investment that Mal and Nandi don't have, however similar Nandi's ideology is to Mal.

I never considered this an either/or scenario, or a triangle focused on Mal, really. Like "Objects in Space" and "Out of Gas" the episode struck me as more of a highly deliberate, sophisticatedly composed, symbolic exploration of Mal as a lost soul rather than a plot-focused case of forward momentum. I have a very specific personal head canon about these three that developed pretty instantly while I viewed the episode, which I had expected to hate but ended up not. That makes it very difficult for me to wrap my head around scenarios that disregard my head canon.

To keep it neutral: Mal and Nandi are incredibly similar. A long-term relationship would seem like a form of mutual stasis to me. Two people going nowhere in their lives, never changing, never being braver than they were the day they met. There could be comfort there, even amusement, but I don't really see passion. Or growth. Or challenge. Or anything else interesting to me.

Mal/Saffron, if we're veering away from Inara, while kinda toxic, would at least be very interesting. Nandi basically IS Mal. Down to the unrequited Inara love.



Man, it's all coming back to me... It's ages ago that I spewed all this stuff onto livejournal. Heh.

>I never considered this an either/or scenario, or a triangle focused on Mal, really.

Oh yeah. One of the things that kind of bothers me sometimes is how people think that in fiction one instance of intimacy somehow constitutes a final choice. As if in real life someone ends up with the first person they kiss, and that friends of the other love interest have to suddenly hate the winning love interest or vice versa.

Neither Nandi or Inara are terrible people undeserving of Mal's attention. That they have his attention should be obvious evidence disproving this. Nor does their friendship have to be ruined (if Nandi happens to survive in an AU scenario).

I could see unrequited Inara love, I mean I've half-seriously written Nandi/Inara ending up together over any pairing with Mal.

Two people going nowhere in their lives, never changing, never being braver than they were the day they met. There could be comfort there, even amusement, but I don't really see passion. Or growth. Or challenge. Or anything else interesting to me.

I think this is getting at an argument that I've tried to make before, but was not very clear. With Mal and Inara, both their similarities and differences are provoking, it kicks them out of their comfort zone, and they either fight or find ground to stand on with each other. It creates a lot of emotional complexity and depth. There's always something for them both to explore and try to understand about each other. With Mal and Nandi I don't quite see that possibility. I think they get each other, then they part ways.

Mal even said it in HoG: "Lady, you're *my* kind of stupid!" Mal and Nandi connect because they "get" each other -- each of them is doing the same basic thing, building a family for themselves and making a living, even if they have to break a few rules and go up against the powers that be to do so. They're very similar. That's probably why Nandi understands so easily what (or shall we say who) Mal wants, and why she chooses to give him the fantasy of that. Because who was Mal kidding when he tried to tell Nandi that he wasn't looking to her as an Inara stand-in? Absolutely nobody. Nandi understood from the get-go that Mal's heart belonged to Inara, even to the point of deprecating what she could offer him: "I ain't her." The connection they had was never meant to develop into a "relationship" and they both knew that going in. Had they both survived the siege, Mal would have left, thinking, "That Nandi is a damn fine woman" and wishing her success with her endeavor, and Nandi would have done the same regarding him.

Yeah. That. that's totally what would happen as they parted ways. Only there might be some lingering awkwardness about Inara's feelings being hurt and Mal's guilt and Nandi feeling sorry for both of them. Kinda like In AR's story, since we mention it.

Yes. I didn't address the issue of Mal's feelings of guilt, but he'd definitely have them. My view is that HoG was designed to highlight the fact that feelings of guilt are part of Mal's character -- so we have them show up in various forms and various ways, all in regards to Inara -- when he runs into her coming out of Nandi's room, and is totally busted; and at the final scene, when Mal is wracked by feelings of guilt about Nandi's death.

HE IS JUST A BIG BUNDLE OF HURT-GUILT-REGRET. ALWAYS.

Capitalized for truth.

It's nice sometimes to take Mal out of his endless self-recriminations and give him some contentment or entertainment. Which my stories don't often do.

Bytemite wrote:It's nice sometimes to take Mal out of his endless self-recriminations and give him some contentment or entertainment. Which my stories don't often do.

Cuz you write that guilt-ridden Mal angst so very, very well, Byte.

Actually it's too bad they did kill Nandi, apart from the obvious sads. I mean, they already had Mal going with the guilt and regret, so if they wanted to maintain the status quo it wasn't like she needed to die except just to torture Mal a little bit.

Mal, none of it's really your fault. There's this guy, named Joss Whedon. It's his fault. He's why you're so angry at god.