- “I'm going to find the bastards who killed my sisters. I'm going to find Angel. And then I am going to kill them all.”
- ―Nadira[src]
Nadira was a Slayer based in London. While a member of the Slayer Organization, she was based in the Azores, but most of her squad were killed during the Twilight apocalypse; Nadira subsequently dedicated herself to avenging her fellow Slayers. After being affected by a magical plague, Nadira became a guardian of the supernatural ghetto known as "Magic Town".
Biography
Slayer Organization
Nadira was a part of the Slayer Organization and a member of a Slayer squad based in the Azores. Many of the other Slayers in Nadira's squad, whom she loved like sisters, were slaughtered by Pearl and Nash, two powerful half-demons and members of the terrorist Twilight Group. Nadira received substantial injuries but was healed by the witch Willow Rosenberg.
World Without Magic
Senior Slayer Faith Lehane took Nadira under her wing and guidance while also hiding the fact that she was harboring Angel, leader of the Twilight Group, who Nadira wanted to kill for the death of her "sisters". However, unlike most other members of the Slayer Organization, Nadira harbored mixed feelings toward Buffy Summers after the destruction of the Seed of Wonder, believing that Buffy had been punished enough. Nadira's anger at her past prompted her to assume an self-destructive attitude, pushing others away by focusing on her Slayer side, holding on to the pain of her failure as she believed that she has nothing else. During this time, she met Willow again during her quest to reverse the end of magic; Willow comforted her and managed to allieviate much of Nadira's pain and hostility, but she was unable to talk Nadira out of her vendetta with Angel.[1]
Nadira is comforted by Willow.
When Nadira learned that Faith had been working with Angel, she was disgusted at this apparent betrayal, confronting the two of them about their attempt to resurrect Rupert Giles and demanding that Angel instead resurrect Marianne, one of her Slayers who had recently been killed by Drusilla after she escaped a recent battle with Angel and Faith. Although Angel protested that his method of resurrecting Giles was only possible due to Giles's long contact with magic, Nadira refused to accept this, storming away from Angel and Faith to talk to someone else about the possibility of resurrecting her fellow Slayer, unaware that the person she was meeting was apparently Giles himself.[2]
Though Giles successfully managed to resurrect Marianne by painting mysterious symbols on her body, Nadira soon realized something was wrong when Marianne could not even remember her own last name, and discovered that she had been tricked when she saw that Marianne still retained the vampire bite mark that killed her. While her Slayers fought a legion of zombies, Nadira made her way to the basement to discover the ringleader, Eyghon the Sleepwalker.
Nadira and the others were soon overwhelmed by Eyghon's forces, but Angel and Faith arrived just in time to save them. Though Nadira was still upset with Faith over Angel, she was quickly silenced when Faith scolded her over her reckless actions and endangering the others, and she agreed to work with them to stop Eyghon.
In response, Angel called in Spike for further aid, as their mutual status as vampires with souls rendered them immune to Eyghon's ability to possess the dead or unconscious. They ultimately emerged victorious, with Angel claiming the final fragment of Giles' soul with his Tooth of Ammuk, though the conflict between the two human souls and the demon within drove him into a coma. Though Nadira was ready to take her revenge on Angel right then and there, Faith stopped her and insisted that Angel had earned their forgiveness. Nadira accepted her reasoning, but made it clear that she was still upset with Faith.
Nash zaps Nadira with his eye beams
When Angel and Faith fought Whistler, Pearl and Nash on a rooftop in Hackney, London, Nadira joined the fight; though she made it clear that she still did not forgive Angel and probably never would, she nonetheless acknowledged that he was not the "true" bad guy. Blinded by her desire for revenge, Nadira attacked Nash only for him to overpower her and burn her severely with his heat vision.[3] Thought dead, a few minutes later she got up and found the strength to plunge a dagger into Nash's back, which Faith helped to drive in the rest of the way, exacting her revenge on her killer. Faith then cradled Nadira in her arms, desperately hoping that Whistler's orb of pure magic could heal her. Giles and Alasdair, however, expressed sincere doubts.[4]
A severely injured Nadira finally exacts her revenge.
Against all odds, Nadira was confirmed to still be alive, albeit severely wounded. Faith was by her side and encouraged her by saying she had her revenge, only for Nadira to reply that none of it was worth it to begin with. After the battle with Whistler, Faith and Giles tended to her. Both of them noted that while Nadira was alive, she was turning into some unknown creature because of the plague orb.[5]
Return of Magic
A mutated Nadira greets Angel.
Nadira resurfaced months later in the affected district of London now known as "Magic Town". She was now the guardian of a refuge for others, mutated humans like her, victims of discrimination. She helped Angel by locking the fairy criminal Corky Smallwood in a magical bottle, demonstrating that she had obtained a bit of knowledge about magic since the plague ball, certainly enough to be a practicing witch. She had also made peace with Angel, helping him deal with the renegade Amy Madison using her natural affinity for the magic of Magic Town and assessing Winifred Burkle after her return to life despite being consumed by Illyria. Later, she allows herself to be kidnapped by Drusilla and brought before Archaeus, in a plan to use the mystical energy from Magic Town. Archaeus proposes an alliance to her. However, Nadira explains that she don't control the magic and was only servant of it, before futily trying to attack him.
Personality and traits
Though most of Nadira's personality prior to the Twilight crisis is unknown, the pain of her failure and survivor guilt over the deaths of her squad caused her to become incredibly violent, short-tempered, and self-destructive, reminiscent of Faith herself during her early years as a Slayer. While fighting, she charged into battle with no plan, and frequently went to deliberately seek a fight out with humans and non-humans alike, putting several normal humans in the hospital and even went so far as to attack her own allies when they attempted to stop her. However, she acknowledged that she had a problem and wondered what was wrong with her.
In the end, however, after being severely injured by Nash and killing him in return, Nadira had an epiphany and declared that getting revenge was never worth it to begin with.
Months later, when investigating Magic Town, Angel finds a Nadira, becoming the magic leader. She seems avoid all physical conflicts, preferring to use magic. However, she will use her slaying skills and powers when she has to.
Gallery
Appearances
- "Live Through This, Part One"
- "Live Through This, Part Two"
- "Live Through This, Part Three"
- "Live Through This, Part Four"
- "Daddy Issues, Part One"
- "Daddy Issues, Part Three"
- "Family Reunion, Part One"
- "Family Reunion, Part Four"
- "Death and Consequences, Part One"
- "Death and Consequences, Part Two"
- "Death and Consequences, Part Three"
- "Death and Consequences, Part Four"
- "What You Want, Not What You Need, Part Two"
- "What You Want, Not What You Need, Part Three"
- "What You Want, Not What You Need, Part Four"
- "What You Want, Not What You Need, Part Five"
- "Where The River Meets The Sea, Part One"
- "Where The River Meets The Sea, Part Two"
- "Where The River Meets The Sea, Part Three"
- "Where The River Meets The Sea, Part Four"
- "Lost and Found, Part Two"
- "Lost and Found, Part Five"
- "Day Off (or Harmony In My Head)" (cameo)
- "United, Part One"
- "United, Part Two"
- "United, Part Three"
- "United, Part Four"
- "A Little More than Kin, Part One"
- "A Little More than Kin, Part Two"
- "A Tale of Two Families, Part One"
- "A Tale of Two Families, Part Two"
- "A Tale of Two Families, Part Three"
- "A Tale of Two Families, Part Four"
- "A Tale of Two Families, Part Five"