What are you going on about!? This is not as a big of a deal as you think.
Nothing changed. Nothing. Chandra is still Bisexual. Nissa is still uncomfortable with the idea of having friends. Chandra still expressed her feelings. I can’t see what the big deal is. Nothing changed!
The extra wordiness of “...about the limit of what you feel comfortable with right now?” Is not in Chandra’s character. It isn’t like her to phrase herself so particularly or with so much elaboration. Her asking: “Friendship?” is exactly the same. Why?
Because I have done the same thing in my own dating life. Having a deep conversation about where we stand among our friends and our peers. I would turn to the woman I’m interested in, look her in the eyes, and emphasize that one word. “Friends?” My posture. My tone. My gaze. The inflection of a question. The woman I was interested in knew exactly what I was asking. I didn’t have to outright ask her to be my girlfriend. The way that I said what I did was enough for her to hear the question and the disappointment and anxiety that I was meaning.
When they answered with “Yes, friends.” That told me pretty clearly that she wasn’t interested in going anywhere past friendship.
Listen people. Nothing. Happened. The stealth edit did nothing. Chandra is still Bisexual. Nissa is still barely able to grasp the idea of friendship, much less romance. Chandra still expressed her desires and affection for Nissa. Nothing changed.
Just because this isn’t the way you would ask a woman to be your girlfriend doesn’t mean it isn’t a valid way. I’ve done it myself and seen it done several times. More importantly, it is entirely within Chandra’s character to ask in this shortened way. The wordiness simply didn’t match her and was unnecessary. I know when I used to ask women out (before I found my current girlfriend) I was too nervous to formulate more than a few words coherently- much less in the specific way the old version of her asked.
Please people. Stop trying to start fires where there is nothing to burn.
Reblog this please. I don’t wanna see the fandom rioting against Wizards when Wizards did nothing wrong. Take out your discrimination paranoia against someone else. Not Wizards.
A subject of great conversation among the Tumblr community- among the Magic Fanbase in general. For the purposes of conversation and this article, let us work off the assumption that Chandra willing, able, and desirous to enter in a romantic relationship with a member of the Gatewatch. Who would she end up with? Nissa? Gideon? Note that I’m not saying “Who would she choose”, “I’m saying “Who would she end up with”. There is a difference. After a deep look at their personalities and their histories and where they are right now, I’ve come to a conclusion. Using my skills as a natural storyteller and psychology student, I’ve come to a conclusion.
Wanna know who I think it will be? Let’s find out!
Gather `Round. It’s Story Telling Time!
Before We Begin...
I’ve written personality assessments of all three characters involved. Reading those articles would go a long way in understanding my reasoning behind the things I’m gonna be talking about.
Read Chandra’s Personality Article --> Here! <--
Read Nissa’s Personality Article --> Here! <--
Read Gideon’s Personality Article --> Here! <--
The Magic Story on the Wizards Website related to this article are here.
Read “Homesick” --> Here! <--
Read “Burn” --> Here! <--
And if you REALLY wanna deep deep, read “The Purifying Fire” by Laura Resnick.
I will write this article as if you’ve not read any of this. Now. Let’s proceed to talk about her options.
Why These Two?
In “Homesick” we see Chandra melt in her boots at the very thought of Nissa. I get flashbacks to my teenage years just thinking about it. Because I’m sure many of us were the exact same way back then. Heart pounding. Speaking before you think. Getting clumsy. Beating yourself into the ground for even the simplest mistake- mistake only YOU probably noticed. Classic teenage crush.
In “Burn” we see Chandra have the same erratic spontaneous thought-to-words behavior she exhibited with Nissa in “Homesick”. It is possible that you could argue that this can be applied to Chandra in general, but I don’t buy it. She isn’t as erratic with Liliana or with Jace as she is with those two. Or with anyone she’s interacted with on Kaladesh for that matter. Just with those two.
We could see even the start of these feelings toward Nissa way back in the BFZ block. It just got a lot more brilliant towards Kaladesh.
Her feelings toward Gideon have been around since "The Purifying Fire”. (Which they summarize in “Burn”). While those died down for a little bit, it’s not been entirely extinguished. She still gets tingly and warm whenever she’s near. And she’s made it more than just a little clear what she thinks of his appearance.
She’s bisexual. There’s really no doubt about that. She’s attracted to both men and women. Which is cool that Wizards is doing that. A major protagonist being bisexual speaks volumes of their attempt at inclusivity.
Nissa
(Art by Wesley Burt)
Chandra’s Thoughts About Nissa
Chandra hasn’t exactly had close and intimate relationships with anyone. I go so far as to venture to say that she’s never even had a best friend. Friends, sure. But a best friend is something else entirely. And I don’t think she’s ever had that. She’s had Mother Luti and the Abbot of Keral Keep, but those were authority figures/ parental figures. They weren’t friends. Chandra has always been surrounded by people, but she’s she’s always felt alone.
That all changed when the fire nation attacked Chandra and Nissa touched each other in their special place. Their very souls, so to speak. The essence of their beings were merged together when they burned Kozilek and Ulamog to death after bringing them into the 3rd dimension. That kind of connection is something that can’t really be described. It’s a level of intimacy without restriction or barriers. During those moments, they were almost a single entity. Chandra, who has never had any kind of relationship with actual depth, was introduced to something she was not prepared for.
(Art by Chris Rallis)
I’m not talking about love here. I’m talking about intimacy. Between one person and another. Not sexual intimacy, but personal. In the blink of an eye, Nissa and Chandra went from total-strangers to almost-soul-merging. Its must have been overwhelming. Extremely overwhelming.
I don’t think Chandra understands what she feels about Nissa. We, as an audience, may interpret her behavior as attraction or desire. But I argue that we might be misunderstanding Chandra’s behavior entirely. Consider this: Maybe what Chandra is feeling isn’t love in the sense of relationship-parter to relationship-parter, but rather a love in the sense of intimately-close-best-friend to intimately-close-best-friend.
Chandra has never experienced what it means to have someone that close, a friend of that kind of depth. But she has experienced romantic and sexual attraction with Gideon. It is possible that we, as an audience, are assigning emotions to Chandra based on the behavior we see. But the cause of the behaviors may be something entirely different. We should ALSO consider the idea that Chandra’s is misinterpreting her own feelings. She might be confusing the love one has for a best friend with the love one has for a significant other. She’s only ever known the latter, so it is quite understandable that she might have trouble differentiating the two.
I am NOT discounting the idea that it might actually be love or attraction she is experiencing. I am saying that we should consider the multiple other options it could be.
Nissa’s Thoughts About Chandra
If Chandra has difficulty being social and intimate with someone, Nissa is in far deeper waters. Chandra is the first person Nissa has managed to make any kind of relationship with anyone. To Nissa, Chandra is real, she’s human, she’s true to herself. These things make Chandra the best introduction to the social realm for Nissa. Our elven friend needs Chandra to help ease her into the world of people. imagine what it would be like for Nissa if her only examples of social interactions are Liliana and Jace... She’d probably just go back to Zendikar.
Nissa needs Chandra. She needs her. Because outside of that, Nissa can’t even human. But what does Nissa feel about Chandra? She has no clue. She’s even more lost than Chandra when it comes to interpreting her feelings.
Gideon
(Art by Wesley Burt)
Chandra’s Thoughts About Gideon
On Diraden, Chandra developed feelings for Gideon. We’re talking romantic feelings. Sexual, mental, emotional, personal- all of it. It didn’t fully develop or blossom into something special. But these feeling developed to the point that Chandra is capable of recognizing those feelings as romantic even today. That has a lot of ramifications about where they were and where they were going.
What does she think about him today? We’ve seen her constantly mention how much she finds him attractive. (Honestly, who doesn’t find him attractive? The man is beautiful.)
But what does she think about him now? She doesn’t know. Chandra has been way too busy trying to figure out what her feelings for Nissa are and what it means to be back home and back with her mom. Gideon just hasn’t been a thing she’s had time to consider.
Gideon’s Thoughts About Chandra
He’s hopelessly in love. There is just no way to argue against that. He really really loves her. To quote “Burn” by Chris L`Etoile.
“He bolted up the stairs, and tried not to think about the fleeting heartbeats when he'd been privileged to hold a tiny, maddening, precious sun against his chest.”
I’ve been there. It’s beautiful and, as he says, maddening.
Honestly, I don’t know what else to add. This is the most straightforward response I can give.
So Who Will She Give Her Heart To?
(Promotional Art for Battle For Zendikar)
Let’s talk about why.
Gideon’s Heart Would Do Chandra Good
Nissa isn’t ready for a relationship. Honestly, some could argue that Chandra might not be ready-but that’s not what this article is about. But in my opinion, Nissa isn’t ready for romance. She’s barely ready for friendship. She barely comprehends friendship. Her entire current character arc is her learning what it is to have friends. And it’s gonna be a while before she’s able to.
But Gideon is patient. The man knows how to roll with the punches that hit him beyond his indestructible barriers. Even if it hurts. What’s best is that he isn’t going to push for anything she’s not ready for. Sure, he might express his feelings. But he won’t want her to do anything or say anything she isn’t ready to do yet. Even if he knows he must wait a while before she is able to return his love.
A lot of what draws Chandra to Nissa is Nissa’s ability to calm her, to ground her. But we’ve seen Gideon do that same with to Chandra. When she was afraid and stressed all Gideon needed to do was wrap her up in his warm, muscly, embrace to ease her fears. Even if only for a moment.
(Art by Chris Rallis)
Chandra’s needs discipline. Before you start making lewd comments, take a moment and think about that. She needs someone solid, someone patient, to help her discover herself. Chandra at a point in her life where she is learning who she is and what that means- who exactly is Chandra and why is a good thing to be her? Those are the questions she needs answering. And now that she’s gone back home and faced the troubles there, I think Chandra is ready to start looking in.
I believe that Gideon is the person that can best help her through that. Allow me to defend myself before some of you lash out for thinking that she needs someone to help her through that. My relationship with my girlfriend has been beautiful and loving. Dreamlike. Plenty of troubles and difficulties and trials, but it remains to be one of the greatest gifts I can think of. My relationship with her has lasted for several years. My entire college career in fact. This age, between 19 and 23, is where many people start to discover themselves. I can claim with absolute certainty that my relationship with my girlfriend has made me a better man. I could sit here for hours writing about all the flaws she has helped me find about myself and how she has encouraged me and inspired me to work hard to overcome them. Flaws I never would have seen, or identified as weaknesses, without her.
Some people can discover themselves without the help of a loved one. But sometimes the presence of another is exactly what one needs to become who they are meant to be.
I believe that Gideon is that man. Gideon knows who he is. He’s got a lot of issues to work through, lots of self-loathing to overcome, self-forgiveness to experience. But he’s not in an identity crisis/turmoil like Nissa is. For Chandra, Gideon would be a lighthouse, a railing, a shoulder to lean on as she goes through that difficult time of self-identification.
Nissa just isn’t in a place to help her with that.
Chandra’s Heart Would Do Gideon A World Of Good
(Art by Dan Scott)
Gideon needs her. The man is a soldier and has been his entire life. Gideon has no idea how to be a normal person. His identity has been thoroughly colored by the fact that he’s always been either part of the rank-and-file or part of the leadership. He’s never had another option. Chandra is, to him, the spark of life. A breath away from his regimented world. She is freedom. She is the purity of life itself. She is everything he isn’t. That’s part of what makes her so special to him. With her, I think his world would relax, ease off from what it is now. He needs to escape from leadership-Gideon and become friend-Gideon. But he cannot do that without her. He simply can’t. Jace and Liliana are perfect for each other far too manipulative to help Gideon learn to be a normal guy. And Nissa is only just learning what being a friend means. Gideon knows what a friend is supposed to look like, he just sucks at it.
Chandra’s Heart Would Do Nissa No Good
Nissa doesn’t need Chandra’s love to get to where she needs to be as she discovers herself. Just being friends with Chandra will be enough for Nissa to learn by example. Being romantically involved with Chandra would throw everything Nissa knows about social interactions out the window.
She must first learn to walk before she can run. And romantic feelings right now are not what Nissa needs to develop as a character.
There You Have It
There were 3 ways to end this article. With Nissa, with Gideon, or with no one. It didn’t matter who I said I thought she might end up with. People would be unhappy with me. Argue away, if you feel that you should. I merely presented my opinion and addressed it with my understanding of story telling and psychology.
That’s all the time we have for today. Thanks for reading, everyone. If you liked what you read, please hit the “reblog” button below. For more Story Telling Time, hit “Follow”. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to message me or reblog with your comments. Always happy to chat. This has been @the-foxwolf . Until next time!
