#( like the magic and teachings of avalon have just corrupted to a point that they've lost their true core which included teachings

[nimueries]

REGARDING: NIMUE + THE FOURTH FACE

In Mists, we are introduced to the concept of ‘The Fourth Face’ and its existence within their lore by Viviane. The reference is actually made in regards to Morgause, who Viviane (the current Lady of the Lake and Morgause’s older sister in this variation) pointedly ignores when accounting for the figures who make up The Goddess at that time.

 "[Baby Morgaine] is not yet a maiden, and I not yet a wise-woman," [Viviane] said, "but we are the Three, Igraine. Together we make up the Goddess, and she is here present among us." 

Igraine wondered why she had not named their sister Morgause, and they were so open to one another that Viviane heard the words as if Igraine had spoken them aloud. 

She said in a whisper, and Igraine saw her shiver, "The Goddess has a fourth face, which is secret, and you should pray to her, as I do, Igraine that Morgause will never wear that face."

I could probably write a novel on how shitty Morgause is treated by the writing of this book but I don’t have the time. What’s important to understand is that at this time, Viviane is both Father Griffin and Morgaine to a pre-teen Morgause. She has magic but apparently she uses it frivolously and for selfish purposes? She’s too ambitious and willful and so she cannot serve the Goddess as she had originally wanted to. So, she pursues the only avenue that is left to her, which is to pursue her magic in private and marry and plot to marry as high up as she can. Obviously, this makes her the big bad. 

Now that we understand the concept of The Fourth Face existing in Mists canon, we can talk about how it pertains to Nimue. If we go with the notion of The Fourth Face embodying both Birth and Reckoning - what comes before The Maiden but after The Crone - we can tie it all the way to the circumstances of her conception. Nim’s birth is the product of deception and manipulation, a birth born from the destruction of Elaine’s purity and actual innocence. Beyond this, she is ultimately ignored and disregarded by mother, father, and priest. When she is acknowledged it is usually for the purpose of punishment and blame. 

During her formative years in Avalon, she is further isolated and placed in the shadows of all the other women on the Isles. During this time the roles of the Maiden, Mother, and Crone are played by Niniane, Morgaine, and Raven even if the fit isn’t quite right. Niniane even goes on to corrupt the role of maiden by participating in the Rites with Gwydion/Mordred, knowing that she wasn’t a virgin. Meanwhile, Nim is not given leave to speak with or interact with anyone save for these three personifications of The Triple Moon. Her virginity (which in itself is a squicky subject and deserving of its own meta entirely) is guarded and her growth as a maiden is stunted.

Of course, this all brings us to the reason that she’s been safeguarded for so many years. Which, is to ultimately punish the Merlin for his offenses against Avalon. (Which, again, I could write novels about how bullshit this entire plot is, but I digress. We hate MZB in this house and will continue to hate her long after our deaths.) This is where Nim’s ties to The Fourth Face begin to manifest in a more ‘on the nose’ sort of way.

First of all, she’s forced to hide herself while in Camelot. She’s physically present but every true thing about her is still plunged deep into the shadows. The magic that she’s working on the Merlin is ancient and dark, performed in the dead of night where no one else can see. The power that she is invoking is both ancient and largely forgotten, ripe with life and death. The most telling indication that Nimue has had to invoke The Fourth Face is that her spell will not come to full fruition until ‘the moon-dark.’ The night of The Fourth Face.

"When the moon is dark-" [The Merlin] flinched, and she knew that here was the moment of danger, the moment when the carefully played fish might slip off the hook and out of the net and be free. In Avalon the priestesses secluded themselves at moon-dark, and all magic was suspended ... but he knew not that she was of Avalon.

Not only is this an exceptional example of Morgaine and Niniane forcing Nimue to overlook her own training and betray the tenets that she had been taught, but it’s an exceptional example of where Nimue actually, ultimately, draws her power from. She has tapped into a force that even Morgaine has shied away from, and - through her own cowardice and thirst for petty revenge - left Nimue to drown in.

Nimue once against embodies the Birth and Reckoning/Destruction aspect of The Fourth Face on this night. Due to the dark sorcery of the event, Nimue is denied the ability to transition from maiden to mother through this act. She quite literally rejects the Merlin’s seed but through the blood she has enslaved him and ultimately destroyed him, birthing a new era for the Druids in the process since they have lost their corrupted leader. For herself, although she doesn’t realize it at first, this act is also a birth and reckoning. Nimue realizes that her faith has been betrayed by Morgaine and with the completion of this task there is the birth of a new woman in Nim.

Which, ultimately takes us to her suicide. This is by far the most ridiculous part of her arc and piss poor writing on MZB’s part, but I digress. I’ve ranted about it a million times and have since adapted it into something that makes more sense to my characterization of Nimue. Death is the ultimate sacrifice, the only pure thing that she still has left to give to her faith after Morgaine has defiled everything else. Through this death, through this sacrifice, Nimue is reborn because her faith is answered by the one goddess who has been beside her all this time. The Fourth Face. She is reborn so she can become reckoning. Avalon is corrupted. Camelot is corrupted. They must be devastated so that they can be restored.

After that first moon dark night, Nimue becomes that instrument of both devastation and restoration. An immortal entity that stands outside of the human coil. What was created by Morgaine will also be her ruin.

She was a charged vessel of power, like the Holy Regalia which it was death to touch unprepared, and all this power of her long preparation would be hers to bind the Merlin to her...but she must wait for the tide to slacken and fill again; at the dark moon she must take the other tide which came of the other side of the moon[...]not of life at all but of dark magic older than human life....