This is a character list for the webcomic/comicbook NIMONA. See here for the characters as they appear in the animated film.
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Nimona
Nimona
The eponymous young shapeshifter who aspires to be a supervillain and has convinced Lord Ballister Blackheart to take her on as his squire. While quick-thinking and innovative with her powers, she is disturbingly destructive and impulsive.- Action Girl: She is definetly one, considering she loves getting into all types of trouble.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Seemingly meets her end in the book’s final pages, only for it to be revealed that she survived.
- Ambiguously Human: Big time. The webcomic gives out a lot of suggestions that she's not what she appears to be, with a big theory being that she's possibly a legendary beast or an evolution of the same species. When talking to the Director, she specifically refers to them as humans, suggesting she's not. The fact that her human form is the one we see her most in does make it seem like she's more comfortable in that form, but that could just be a long con.
- Ascended Fangirl: Of Ballister. It's why she joined his cause in the first place. Also why she's trying to make him king.
- Berserk Button: She reacts very badly to the suggestion that she could be examined to find how her power works. We find out later this is justified.
- Blood Knight: She really enjoys killing and just causing general chaos, to the point that she's intensely disappointed when Ballister orders her not to do either.
- Boyish Short Hair: Wears sidetails and bangs while keeping the rest of her head shaved.
- Changeling Tale: Possibly. After the weak, frail baby Nimona got extremely sick and nearly died, she suddenly became healthy, and later started developing powers. Her parents feared the real child might have died and been replaced.
- Character Title: The show is named after them and she more than earns her place there.
- Decoy Backstory: The first time Nimona tells Ballister her backstory, she claims she was once an ordinary girl who was gifted magical transforming powers by a witch after she helped the witch. It's pretty obvious that at least some parts of it are false, as it makes no real sense that the witch would have needed her help or could have bestowed shapeshifting abilities as powerful as Nimona's. Ballister even points out some of the holes in the story. Much later it's confirmed that pretty much the entire story was a lie. Nimona's true origin is never fully revealed. What little we know was that she was captured and experimented on after killing dozens of raiders with her powers, and it's theorized she may be some sort of ancient shapeshifting parasite that either killed and replaced or merged with a young girl.
- Face–Heel Turn: She allows the Institution to extract some of her blood knowing from past experience that she can 'split' her power off from her body and thus grow a new, purely destructive form that they'll be unable to stop. This monstrous form is totally without mercy, and turns on Ballister when he tries to keep her from attacking Goldenloin.
- Fiery Redhead: Not that it's her original form.
- Gender Bender: Regularly transforms into burly men when she needs extra muscle or a disguise.
- The Gloves Come Off: When the Director threatens to kill Ballister, Nimona seemingly plays along and lets the woman take a blood sample. But it turns out to be a trick by Nimona which allows her to bypass the nigh-unbreakable containment cell she's trapped in and fully unleash her Person of Mass Destruction powers.
- Healing Factor: Goes along with her shapeshifter abilities.
- Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: She likes causing carnage just a little too much for Ballister's taste, and becomes increasingly indifferent to the lives her actions endanger. She doesn't fully jump off until Ballister attempts to defend himself against her unfettered purely monstrous form.
- The Needless: Averted; despite being a shapeshifter who regrows her entire body cell by cell, she by all accounts still needs to eat, sleep, and do everything else a normal body would need.
- Objectshifting: Averted, Nimona basically says she can only turn into inanimate objects if she wants to get stuck like it. Cyborgs and various adornments don’t pose an issue though.
- Only One Name: She never mentions her surname.
- Overzealous Underling: Nimona is actively murdering mooks by the third chapter; it's recognized by the Goldenloin and the Director that she's the one making Blackheart into a genuine threat.
- Partial Transformation: Does this a few times here and there, most notably transforming muscular spiky versions of her normal limbs.
- Perky Female Minion: She's usually extremely cheerful and upbeat, much to the far more reserved Ballister's annoyance.
- Perpetually Protean: Pretty much, she'll transform for a laugh or anything really. She changes the color and style of her hair for a while, presumably by shapeshifting.
- Plucky Girl: A rather dark example. She's willing (and eager) to help her boss/friend Ballister with his villainous schemes...but quickly goes farther than he intended.
- Raised in a Lab: If the flashbacks she goes through are any indication she was raised by the Institute. Worse she was subjected to They Would Cut You Up, repeatedly and at length.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Lots of energy and exuberant attitude to everyone, Ballister often has to rein her in.
- Shapeshifting Heals Wounds: Doubly Subverted, she gets roughed up in her various forms but nothing seems to stick until she takes an arrow in the bank heist. Then that wound sticks and she has to heal for a bit, only it turns out this is only for a few days as she allegedly heals fast. She doesn't even have to keep the wounds only as a smokescreen for how powerful she really is.
- Slasher Smile: Busts out a genuinely chilling example (with pointed teeth for an added bonus) when her power regenerates itself from a blood sample that isn't bound by the Institution's containment field.
- There Was a Door: Repeatedly and constantly as befits a Running Gag, almost every time she returns to base she'll knock down a door.
- They Would Cut You Up: Was seemingly subjected to this as a young girl after her powers manifested.
- Toxic Friend Influence: To Blackheart. She keeps trying to get him to be eviler, but while he is a villain, he's very set in the Institution's ways of what a villain should be.
- 24-Hour Armor: It's not clear whether she just morphs into it or has to put it on.
- Unreliable Expositor: Her backstory is apparently fabricated, although it's implied that even she doesn't know the true origin of her power.
- Voluntary Shapeshifter: Nimona's superpower is an incredibly unrestricted version of this ability to go from as small as a mouse to a huge dragon.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: It's implied that a lot of the time, she's causing all manner of destruction while still holding back from using the full extent of her powers, and when she manages to trick the Director into taking some of her blood (thus allowing her power to 'split off' from her body), she easily levels the Institution and any buildings associated with it. However, underneath it all, it seems that she really was just a normal girl who one day developed incredible abilities, only to be turned over to the authorities by her parents and subjected to imprisonment and human experimentation as they tried to figure out what she was.
Lord Ballister Blackheart
Ballister
Formerly a knight, now a Mad Scientist, Ballister is the Villain Protagonist of the story.- Alliterative Name: Ballister Blackheart.
- Apologetic Attacker: Says "I'm so sorry" believing he had killed Nimona.
- Artificial Limbs: Has a robot right arm.
- Badass Cape: He is a knight, after all.
- Beard of Evil: Sports a goatee, though he isn't really strictly all that "evil" since he's only fighting against the oppressive Institution.
- Big Brother Instinct: Towards Goldenloin when they were kids. His relationship with Nimona is more of a father-daughter sort of thing.
- Deuteragonist: A major viewpoint character and the one the readers get introduced to the world through.
- Forehead of Doom: Oh yes, emphasises his intelligence if nothing else, he's had it since childhood.
- Good Prosthetic, Evil Prosthetic: Supposedly villainous skeletal/puppet style limb to replace the one that got blasted off by Goldenloin in their joust. The Audio Adaptation confirms that he designed it himself.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has an Anti-Heroic vertical scar over one eye which seems to share a source with his "villainous" prosthetic arm help to sell that he's really more of an Anti-Villain Villain Protagonist sort of dude.
- Harmless Villain: Deconstructed. He really wants to humiliate and subvert the Institution without really hurting anyone, but his poison plan ends up killing people, and he has a near-Villainous Breakdown after killing some soldiers to protect Nimona.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Arguable, as he says when addressing the people of the kingdom, he never worked against them - only against the Institution to try to reveal their schemes for the betterment of the kingdom.
- Maker of Monsters: Ballister has a project that involves making genetically-modified dragons even having an embryo of one in his fridge, yet nothing comes of it.
- Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple: Was formerly this with Goldenloin before their falling out, being the "masculine" Straight Gay side to Goldenloin's effeminate Camp Gay.
- Morality Pet: Inverted As he's the actual supervillain but he's the one controlling and restricting Nimona's behavior.
- Never Hurt an Innocent: He's really not into killing, unlike Nimona.
- Noble Demon: Reconstructed. He still follows the ideals of the system despite now actively opposing it. His display of actual nobility despite being the villain leads the public to eventually realize just how not evil he actually is.
- Perpetual Frowner: The only other expression we see is that of shock.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: The Institution cast him as a villain, and he embraced the role. Subverted in that the only people he actually opposes are the already-evil Institution.
- Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: With Nimona, he's the experienced villain who's been operating for years while she, for all appearances, is some kid who strolled in one day.
- Straight Gay: Used to be in a relationship with Goldenloin and has recently conceded to still having feelings for him, albeit very begrudgingly at first.
- 24-Hour Armor: Only takes it off to sleep, seems to be part of the training.
Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin
Goldenloin
A knight in (literal) shining golden armor, Goldenloin is the kingdom's darling and the figurehead of the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics. He is Ballister's nemesis and former best friend more than that, actually, and the person responsible for Ballister's lack of right arm.- Agent Peacock: He's a flamboyant Pretty Boy who is a skilled knight.
- Anti-Villain: He's the chief enforcer for the oppressive Institution, but he displays qualities of a genuinely heroic knight. He's just too naïve to realize he's being manipulated by terrible people.
- Badass Cape: Fittingly for a knight, it appears to have its own dramatic wind as needed.
- Camp Gay: Camp from the get-go with his almost absurdly polished appearance of the Pretty Boy Knight in Shining Armor with long flowing golden locks, and then there's his rather unfortunate name... And the fact that he used to be in a relationship with Ballister.
- Dumb Blonde: Or at least extremely naïve and stubborn. In spite of all the growing evidence to the contrary, he believes that the Institution is a force for good.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's actually a good guy deep down, if susceptible to the Institution's way of thinking.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Subverted the Hero Antagonist doesn't have a single scratch the man is ''perfect''! Goldenloin gets some giant scars on his face after the finale fight with Nimona, averting Beauty Is Never Tarnished but by that fight and afterward he's just a regular old good guy.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Believes himself to be a hero and largely is, even if he's being used by the Institution.
- Horrible Judge of Character: He honestly should have realized something was wrong with the Institution after they ordered him to kill his lover.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: He has delicate handsome features and long, wavy golden hair.
- Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple: Was formerly the "feminine" Camp Gay side of this dynamic with Ballister before their falling out.
- Meaningful Name: He wears a golden codpiece, perfectly acceptable as a knight but it does draw your attention to it.
- Rouge Angles of Satin: Knights choose their own names, and Goldenloin originally wanted to be Goldenlion. But either he wrote it down wrong, or someone responsible for officiating it misspelled it down the line.
- The Paladin: Goldenloin is an interesting take on this trope. He appears to be this on the surface, but he's really only a "hero" because the Institution wants him to be, not because he actually is one. And he indirectly enables the Institution's corruption. Ultimately, though, he's a good person who's fallen prey to manipulation.
- Sore Loser: Ballister believes that Goldenloin is this, because Goldenloin shot his arm off after losing in a joust. Goldenloin insists that it was an accident. It wasn't, but the Institution made him do it.
- 24-Hour Armor: Same as Ballister, he's rarely shown without it. It seems to be his work uniform.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: He initially refuses to kill Nimona when ordered to for this reason.
The Director
The Director
The shadowy figure at the heart of the kingdom's inner workings, and the hand behind many of its darkest dealings. No one knows much about her, and no one really likes her, but it's not her job to be liked.- Alto Villainess: The audio adaption gives her this range.
- Ambiguously Human: Until eventually it's revealed that she's probably not human after all.
- Asshole Victim: After her manipulations of Ballister, Ambrosius, Nimona and the whole kingdom none of the readers felt sorry for her.
- Bald of Evil: Has this in silhouette thanks to her cap, it's revealed that she's actually bald late in the story.
- Batman Gambit: She seems to like these, especially after she decides that Ballister and Nimona are too dangerous to be Punch-Clock Villains.
- Big Bad: Leads the organization that is behind pretty much all of what's bad in the story. What's more when things come down to it she's well able to arm herself with a jade-root rifle-cannon and defend herself.
- Emperor Scientist: She holds the real power in the kingdom, administering the institute that is the main military and scientific power in the kingdom.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": From the character page: "As far as anyone can tell her name is actually Director".
- Kill It with Fire: Her fate is being burned to death by the bestial half of Nimona.
- Our Goblins Are Different: If that's indeed what she is, tall humanoid woman with pointy ears and no hair.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Even before pushing for Ballister's execution, she strongly disapproved of his and Ambrosius' relationship.
- Villainous Valour: While it's true that she caused the whole mess in the first place, she earns at least some pity by choosing to go down fighting Nimona during her climactic rampage.
Dr. Meredith Blitzmeyer
Blitzmeyer
A very enthusiastic scientist.- Absent-Minded Professor: She's a tad out of it, even when the kingdom is getting destroyed around her.
- Ambiguously Brown: She’s the most prominent person of color in the story though her ethnicity is indeterminate.
- Books That Bite: Her "field notebook" might bite you if you're not careful, why this would be is never addressed.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: She has a terrible memory, is awful at reading a situation, and is very gullible. But she is a genuinely brilliant scientist on a level with Ballister, and when Ballister comes to her for help when Nimona is destroying the kingdom, she is willing to aid him and shows that she can get serious and focused when the time calls for it.
- Magitek: Her specialty is in creating technology that runs on magic, or rather the aether field permeating all things that powers magic.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: Her character profile seems adamant that she is not a witch.
Minor characters
Rudy
The Director's personal assistant.
- Ascended Extra: Serves as a character for the Director to talk to in several of her scenes, he tries to guide her to safety in the Finale confrontation but fails.
- Mission Control: Serves as this in the Audiobook adaption for the Institute in general.
- Number Two: The audiobook has him in this position whenever the Director is talking to Institution personnel it will always be Rudy and not some other member.
