Sidekick Snark
Nimona and Ballinger have an interesting relationship. The dynamic is villain/sidekick but as with everything else in the book, this dynamic is subverted. Such as when Nimona says to the supervillain, “You’re such a GRANNY.” Ballinger has been expressing a concern for Nimona’s condition following an arrow injury. That she already feels comfortable enough to turn to snarky metaphor for a lovingly intended commentary says much about how quickly their relative positions have been subverted from the norm.
Murder, She Didn’t Say
The Director uses figurative language to convey more darkly intended instructions to Ambrosius. She uses metaphor like a mob boss giving orders to underlings in language coded so that they fully understand the message without directly implicating themselves in any illegal activity. “You know what you have to do. Get rid of the sidekick by any means necessary.” Unfortunately, Ambrosius is a bit thick and though the message is being clearly sent, it is not being received, so more metaphorical avoidance of direct orders to kill are required. “Do I have to spell everything out for you? Dispose of the sidekick.” It is only with this last metaphor that Ambrosius is finally enlightened.
Speaking Her Language
Ballinger and the Director, on the other hand, can speak in metaphorical code and understand each other perfectly. When he finds out that the stockpiling of the dangerous jaderoot is just one of many tactics in an overall strategy to become more powerful, he conveys understanding by speaking the Director’s language of metaphor implication. “Then the jaderoot—that was just scratching the surface.” The answer he receives is not metaphorical, but it is equally indirect, which leads Ballinger straight to more metaphor: “These are ancient evils—not batteries for your vanity projects!” That the Director cannot hold such a coded conversation with the “heroic” Ambrosius as she can with the “evil” Ballinger subtly implies a connection to the sinister on her part.
Allusion
After breaking into the bank to steal the gold needed for their plan, much of the gold is made freely available to the citizens. Nimona calls out to Ballinger, “What, are you Robin Hood now?” The book is a subversion of the binary division of good/evil and hero/villain tropes associated with comic book superhero stories. One of the first purposeful attempts to create a literary character who was a combination of hero and villain was Robin Hood. This metaphorical allusion serves to explicitly acknowledge the inspiration and the connection even though Ballinger denies the allegation by insisting he is all supervillain.
Nimona
What Nimona actually is remains enigmatic. Especially for someone of limited capacity like Ambrosius. “She’s a monster disguised as a girl.” Of course, the moment that he is finally able to communicate with the Director using her coded language is also the moment that she decides to stop communication with him at all. The code fails as she becomes the arbiter of the rules and she has now decided to speak literally, telling him there are no excuses for his failure and that he is being replaced.
