#unbreakable is such a strong word nandor

[paperlignes]

This why we’ve been brought together. Not for me to make you a fucking vampire. Fuck all that shit. But for us to create an unbreakable alliance.

[leporidaecervinae]

I just want to add that I'm going to be analysing their relationship through Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love here. Puts my psychology nerd glasses on.

There's this huge conflation between passionate love, companionate love and consummate love that I'm seeing. Which is frustrating because queer love can look a million different ways (aromantic, asexual and a-spec people don't need to be in relationships nor have sex, but they are not any less queer!)

The writers never had a responsibility to make good on a 'canonisation' that looked a highly specific way or ordain their relationship in a way that fed into what shippers specifically wanted (which I am starting to feel based on what 'nandermover' posts I have seen is the Big Climactic Kiss moment that you would traditionally find in a romance). This kind of confirmation is in line with the characterisation of Guillermo and Nandor and it is in line with the tone of the show.

Passionate love is what we saw with the Guide, with Freddie. Intense, explosive affection, wanting to be around these people all the time, great preoccupation with the other person, great distress with the relationship doesn't seem to be going their way. It is infatuation. Obsession.

Companionate love is the kind of deep affection that does not need sex to be true. It is the result of having a long-term partnership with someone wherein you aren't necessarily all over each other all the time, but still retain an incredibly deep affection for your partner. It is Intimacy + Commitment.

The writers couldn't well go out and make Guillermo and Nandor consummate their love like they would have with Freddie + Nandor because that is not in line with the tone of the show and it does not make sense for the type of love and respect that Guillermo and Nandor clearly learned to hold for each other. However, the second to last episode to me proved a type of consummate love because the three boxes are ticked!

Intimacy? Check. They held hands. They clasped arms as warriors. Hands have been a recurring motif throughout their relationship. And we already know that Nandor is a warrior before almost anything else. It is the thing he values the most.

Passion? Check. Nandor 'felt alive' after taking down Jordan. He has been nothing but as deliciousnecks said: "a depressed potato" for most of the season. His entire reason for going off to assemble his army was because Guillermo rejected him. That is immense passion, and even Laszlo has commentary on that: "I'm not emotionally flamboyant as Nandor is" in Pine Barrens.

Commitment? Check. They declared with full intent an 'unbreakable alliance'. That's a pretty strong word. Stronger, even than marriage, or eternity, or whatever else you want to substitute for it. They have known each other and killed for each other and protected each other for fifteen years. That is half of Guillermo's life. A long time. And for Nandor? A drop in the bucket... But what a wave Guillermo has made!

The writers were working with two subsects of the fandom; the shippers, and the normies. They found a way to satisfy both. Just because it didn't have the two main characters sucking face doesn't mean it wasn't romantic, (especially because even Laszlo and Nadja do not kiss like that) and it does not invalidate all of the other textual evidence that Nandor and Guillermo's relationship IS queer at the heart of it WHETHER IT IS PLATONIC OR NOT.

The thing I'm taking most of my joy from at this moment is that I now get to decide what kind of relationship they will have post-canon. That's a ripe and fertile ground for planting many seeds, and the writers tried to do the shipper fans a service by leaving it as open as possible. They could well have pulled a Supernatural out of sheer spite for the fans who wanted to see them together. But they didn't.

Their relationship is queer. Period. It's up to you to decide whether it's platonic, or intimate, or unhinged, or toxic, or fluffy. To me, that is the greatest gift of all.

I understand if you felt let down because your expectations were high. And that disappointment is understandable. It is also normal to feel grief over a story line not playing out the way you expected. I'm sorry that the show didn't conclude the story like you wanted. That sucks.

But Nandor and Guillermo's relationship, in whatever way it persists, will always be queer. It is canonical that they care deeply about each other. It is not begging for scraps or delusional to recognise that there is more than one way to see how that relationship is important to them. It is not the writers being cowards to find a middle ground that satisfies everyone, sorry. (I'm saying this as someone who was resolutely sure that the writers would not canonise nandermo in a satisfying way and did not trust the showrunners not to fuck it up).

Ok, let me start with this by saying that I'm not writing to change anyone's point of view, because honestly? don't care and I'm tired. I just want to share my opinion over this matter. everyone sees and experiences things differently, so with that out of the way...

Like I knew before the season started that there was going to be issues with people if nandor & guillermo went canon, because it wasn't going to happen how they wanted it, if the characters didn't ended up kissing or fucking or the usual, and here we are now..

Anyway! people saying that "we're settling for scraps" let me tell you that we're not. You want a explit love confession, but this is Nandor, that was not going to happen. Now, people say "oh, but he confessed his love to the guide, to all those other people" he didn't, because he was not in love to begin with, he said all those words but there was no feeling or real meaning to them, it was only a rehearsed speech that at this point he has repeated more than 1300+ times. what he feels for guillermo is love, selfless, caring, genuine, love, and this is why this relationship between them feels so different to the other relationships he have with those around. Him giving Guillermo another one of those "I love you" confessions would have made him just another one in the list, but he's not.

This "Unbreakable alliance" speech, has more meaning than any other "I love you" that this dude has been parroting and saying to the first stranger that crosses his way and decided to be nice to him. Also, I know that some people were like "but there's no kiss so it doesn't count" I'm sorry, but like... I'm gonna be honest with you, i think that would have been a bit OOC for both characters to all of a sudden kiss, in front of everyone and the cameras and all that shit. I have always imagined these two having their first kiss in a more private setting and perhaps away from fucking cameras, but hey! that's me.

Let's also not forget in all this, that we have never seen Nandor like this. Nandor all this time has been nothing buy a depressed sad potato even when he was been "in love" with all those others, but finally after so many years, he's feeling alive, because being with Guillermo, having this bond with him, having him as his equal and in his life forever, has given his entire existence a new purpose and a new meaning. He can't see himself living without guillermo now. Guillermo has brought meaning to his life after who knows how many centuries, and he's willing to become a better person for him.

Also! a bonus here! people saying that all the progress of the season was lost and we're back to s1 just because Nandor told Guillermo to let go of his hand, like... are you fucking kidding me? are we for real here? that's just nandor being nandor, that's his personality. what? did you think that just because the guy found the meaning of his life in guillermo (the love of his life. yes. i said it it) he's about to change his entire personality within seconds? it doesn't work like that, no relationship works like that.

so, no, we're not settling for scraps, we're not being delusional. if you're not happy with this, that's ok, but don't assume that everyone is going to feel the same way you do.

For those that are happy with this moment, this was more deep and meaningful and intense than a simple "i love you" or a "simple hand clasp". These are two characters that have realized that they want each other in each other's life, and not because it's a MUST, but because they have chosen for this to be this way, because they want it to be this way, and no one or anything can break this, not even all these difference they have going on between them, one being a vampire, the other being a human & slayer. nandor literally said "fuck that" and let's be together forever.