#emi asks

The first piece of advice I’d give is to relax. You don’t have to write the perfect Niki Nihachu fic. Niki’s character develops and changes so much throughout the entire series, that it one person’s Niki can be different from another person’s Niki and both will still be accurate to her character.

I’ve made a few posts where I have analyzed Niki in the past, so you can also check them out if you want some extra meta stuff on her.

The most interesting thing about Niki (and the thing that can make her character difficult to nail down) is that she’s an interesting case of being a very contradictory character, but in a way that makes complete sense. Common themes of her character and character arcs are loyalty and defiance, hope and despair, forgiveness and revenge, healing and destruction.

Not helping that is the fact that her character changes a lot throughout the series. L'manburg era Niki is going to be a lot more naive and idealistic compared to villain era Niki who is more jaded and vindictive than Syndicate era Niki. And if you're writing an AU, then you have to pick which era of Niki it would make more sense to draw on.

There are a few things I would focus on when writing Niki that might make it easier though.

Her establishing character moment set up which of those contradictions are the most important ones to her character. When Niki was shown around L’manburg for the first time, she declared her loyalty completely to Wilbur. However, when Wilbur told her not to trust Eret because Eret was a traitor, Niki politely but firmly stoof her ground that she would come to her own conclusions about Eret. This set up that despite her gentle and kind first impressions, she was no push over. Loyalty and Defiance and the balance between the two are the most defining character traits.

Loyalty. Niki is an incredibly loyal character, and I’ve said it many times but loyalty is her defining character trait. This is not only her greatest strength, but also her greatest weakness. Her kindness and generosity comes from her loyalty, her willingness to fight in almost every conflict on the server or to protect Tommy’s cows comes from this. But her loyalty can blind her, like when she saw the stacks of TNT under L’manburg and kept it quiet from everyone because she trusted Wilbur only intended to use it if he had to. It also is the source of her stubbornness.

Niki Quotes Related To Loyalty:

“You know I'm loyal to you, Will. You know I'm loyal to you.” “We will figure something out. As long as we stick together.” “Henry, I will do everything to protect you, okay? We have each other. We're– I don't know who's on our side. I don't know who is on our side right now, but– don't turn away from me. Tommy is fine, Tommy is okay, and you will get back with him soon– very soon, okay, Henry?”

Defiance. Niki is also an incredibly defiant character, to the point where she will ignore more strategic and safer options because of her disdain for someone causing her to need to make it clear how much she hates them. While her loyalty will have her screaming “Sperm whales can't cum!” at Badboyhalo and Skeppy because Tommy needed a distraction, her defiance keeps her from crossing certain lines. This was what kept her from refusing to interact with Eret. This was what kept her from playing a spy in Manberg, despite the obvious threats to her safety.

Niki Quotes Related to Defiance:

“You already took everything from us. Now, you're going to take my freedom?” “I hope you starve.” “You have no right to do that, Schlatt!”

“But I will not stand and I will not fall for a selfish leader who does not care for his people and who can only see revenge and hatred. And will do anything to just stay in power. I will not stand and I will not fall for a nation who forgot where they came from. I will not stand and I will not fall for the tyrannist that has taken everything I love. All I know is that Mr Jschlatt is putting way to much on his plate and it is time someone takes it from him.”

Keeping the concept of her character being the balance between loyalty and defiance is a pretty key part to writing her, considering they’re the traits that follow her throughout the series and get touched on pretty regularly.

When it comes to writing female characters, the biggest thing you want to avoid is locking them into a box. ‘Girlboss’, ‘Mother-figure’, ‘Sister-figure’ are common terms you get thrown around. There are different reasons for these all being issues. On one hand, the ‘I’m not like other girls’ thing suggests that women have to be exceptional in order to be worth anyone’s time. On the other hand, portraying women as being nurturing and caring while the male characters get to do all the cool stuff implies that a woman’s place is to serve men and nothing else.

This doesn’t mean you can’t write Niki being badass. It doesn’t mean you can’t write Niki as a sister or mother, figure or not. It just means that you need to avoid reducing her to nothing but those labels. She’s got more to offer.

Niki is a very kind and generous character towards her friends, so it’s not bad to include her being kind, generous and nice. Just keep in mind that’s not all she is. For example, she is not above teasing her friends. Niki’s sense of humor is extremely underrated, though I think it might just be people being unable to pick up on her tone to realize she’s being funny (at least, I hope its that and not that people just don’t accept that women can be funny). So don’t be afraid to sneak in some teasing and bantering. She’s got some snark!

Niki Quotes Related to Snark:

“That sounds like someone with empty promises… was it Wilbur?” “I'm sorry, Tommy, but what muscles are we talking about?”

Speaking of Niki dialogue, Niki speaking pretty eloquently – not as full of prose as someone like Wilbur would, but she’s clever and isn’t afraid to showcase that in dialogue. She does swear, but more for emphasis than just to curse. She has a habit of saying thank you twice when thanking someone. She often doesn’t get the chance to speak, she gets talked over a lot unless someone goes out of their way to shut down the other’s talking over her. This can obviously make it hard to pick up on some dialogue.

Various Niki Quotes for Examples:

“I love L'Manberg. I love my home, and I wish… I wish it was… L'Manberg was what I thought it was. But I realize that it is not, so I want L'Manberg gone.” “Oh, they should care, because this is just the beginning. And they should know that... They should know that. First their flag burns... and then they burn.” “I'm not going to blame it on other people again because I always did that! I always blamed your mistakes and your betrayal and you hurting me on other people. And look where it got me…look where it got me! It got me nowhere!” “I don't know if you listened to me yesterday. People tend to not do that. People tend to, you know… talk over me and not listen to me, but I believe that if L'Manburg gets blown up, people are finally going to realize that it's a vicious cycle! Fighting over the same and same place all the time. It's being blown up again. And again. And again. You know what I call that? Insanity.” “It was never meant to be… Goodbye, L'Manburg. You were a true friend, you were a home. You were everything that we had. And now the last thing, the last thing that kept us from freedom, it's gone. It's beyond being repaired. Bye, L'Manburg.” "Please remember that I've gotten everything taken away from me. And you know what they say about a woman that has nothing to lose." "Jack, I'm not sure I want to kill Tommy. Tommy has gone through a lot too and it's not his fault Wilbur left."

I often like to compare Niki to the element of fire, and I think this is something that helps to keep in mind while writing her. Fire is an element that can be associated with life and warmth just as much as destruction and power. She’s charismatic, warm, kind, passionate and confident… but she’s also impulsive, stubborn, hotheaded and proud.

In terms of Myers-Briggs personalities (which I am bringing up just because it can help as a starting point), I’d say she’s one of the Diplomats, mainly I think she’s The Protagonist, specifically ENFJ-A. Though I could see her easily fitting as The Mediator (INFP-A) or The Campaigner (ENFP-A). Either way, I think she’s mainly very Intuitive, Feeling and Assertive.

I don’t really know what else to put here. I’ve never really had to give advice on writing a specific character before, but I also don’t want to take forever getting to this ask. If you’re someone who uses music to get into character headspaces, I have a Niki playlist?

For me, Niki is a character that is fire incarnate. She was the heart of L’Manburg, and when she declared that L’Manburg was dead, that was when L’Manburg truly died.

Niki has a warm heart. She’s generous, willing to give out food she baked herself to her friends, willing to give out resources even when she has so few of her own. She’s compassionate and empathetic, she heard all of L’Manburg telling her not to trust Eret, but she was willing to give Eret a chance. She’s got a charm to her that makes most trust her, a warm to her presence that has people wanting to be close to her.

Niki has the patience of a short fuse. She’s impulsive and passionate, which can lead to her not entirely thinking things through. You think Niki has the only brain cell of whatever group she’s in? Wrong! She’s not a moron, but she can do silly and even stupid stuff, simply because she got too excited.

Niki is a wildfire. When told not to do something, she makes it clear that she will still do it if she believes that it’s the right thing, and she doesn’t back down even if pushed. She burns hot and bright and furious when angered. She’s vindictive when crossed, she will not allow anyone to hurt her and get away with it. Beneath the kindness and gentleness, she’s hothead and reckless when angered. Vengeance is a calling she will always answer.

But to me, her main defining character trait is her loyalty. The kindness and generosity she showcased? That was because she was loyal to her friends, and that was a way of proving it. She was willing to fight in so many wars, more than most characters, all because she was loyal to someone in the conflict. She will not allow even the cruelest of punishments to stop her from remaining loyal. Even her vindictiveness and anger is often fueled by feelings of being betrayed and used.