Nina the Starry Bride ‒ Episode 8

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It sometimes feels like stories that rely on love triangles aren’t being fair. Or maybe that’s just my take on the plot device; I admit that I much prefer a story where everyone can end up happy with or without the person of their choice. But it’s hard to argue with the way Nina the Starry Bride is handling its romantic geometry this week – just as Nina is starting to get at least a little comfortable with the idea of staying in Galgada and marrying Sett (who seems infinitely preferable to his three brothers), just when she’s learning about what has made him into the cold man he is today, who should show up but Azure.

It’s hard not to think that Az’s arrival in Galgada isn’t for the express purpose of bringing Nina home. Even if he didn’t decide to stage a coup and become king based on his false father’s speedy dismissal of the girl he loves, there’s pretty much no other reason for him to travel to a de facto enemy nation to announce his new position. In fact, it would be smarter for him not to leave Fortna, because we all know there’s no love lost between him and the queen dowager, and she absolutely could use his absence as an excuse to put Muhulum on the throne. And for plot purposes, it naturally needs to be right now – when Nina is on the verge of being married off to one of four men – only one of whom she originally contracted to.

Can Fortna cry breach of promise if “Alisha” is married to Toat, Bidoh, or Yor? Probably not, because if that happens, that’ll mean that one of those princes will be the crown prince, and Alisha will still be Queen of Galgada. But something tells me that Azure isn’t going to be willing to let things get that far, and neither, for that matter, is Sett. And frankly, even with all of his (honestly come by) issues, Sett still seems like the better bargain than any of his brothers. Not that Toat (who I keep calling “stoat” in my head) or Bidoh have done anything overtly awful, but there’s just something about them that I don’t trust. And, oddly, I get the feeling that Yor, like Sett, may have some very good reasons for being the way he is. His methods feel a lot like Sett’s, relying on a show of strength and power that he doesn’t entirely believe in. In fact, Yor may be a little better than Sett, if only because he doesn’t actually touch Nina. He balks at her idea that this is because he wants her to be his beard, but if he’s not attracted to men (or only to men), there’s a good chance that he, like Sett, is dealing with some childhood trauma. Whatever else it may be, “nurturing” doesn’t appear to be a defining trait of Galgadan culture.

Nothing shows this better than Sett’s story about his early childhood in the temple. It’s interesting to think that he and Alisha were both raised in religious institutions, albeit for different reasons. Sett was hidden away there while Alisha was sent, but I would guess that her upbringing may not have been as wonderful as Nina assumes. Sett was certainly abused, culminating in his de facto dad’s suicide in front of him. Nina surviving the exact same sort of carriage crash that killed Alisha already raised the narrative specter of the princess being alive, and Sett’s childhood may offer us insight into why she’d pretend otherwise.

Nothing is certain in this series. What Az’s motives are, how Sett will react, and what game the king of Galgada is playing are all up in the air right now, and Nina’s in the unenviable position of trying to sort it all out. Maybe she ought to stick to her “I have to take care of my animals” line and spend the rest of the season holed up with Meva.

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