Nikita (La Femme Nikita)

Character
Name:	Nikita Wirth
Occupation:	Spy
Relationships:	Romantically involved with Michael
Fandom:	La Femme Nikita
Other:
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Nikita is the title character of the show La Femme Nikita, played by Peta Wilson. Falsely convicted of murder, she is recruited into Section One and forced to become a part of this anti-terrorist organization. Her trainer, Michael Samuelle, eventually becomes her lover.

The revelation at the end of the fourth season that Nikita was working for the mysterious Mr. Jones threw most of the previous canon into disarray. It is a classic example of retcon, but it's also not entirely clear when Nikita became the mole and how that affects her relationship with the other characters.

Fan Response

Though Michael/Nikita is the predominant pairing in the fandom, fannish opinion on Nikita is split. Many fans identified with her strong sense of morality and her struggle to do good in an uncaring organization. Other fans are primarily interested in Michael and consider Nikita an unfit match for him. Still other fans disapproved of Nikita's naivete in the first few seasons. And some fans probably didn't care about Nikita at all, being more interested in the show's secondary characters.

Canon or Fanon

Many stories focus on Nikita's love of sunglasses and colorful wardrobe. It is true that in the first season, Nikita's apartment was decorated with several pairs of sunglasses, strung up and hung on a line. However, after the first season, they disappear (although they do make a cameo appearance in the first episode of season 2, as a visual signature in a pan across an unfamiliar room that this is Nikita's new space after escaping Section One). Nikita's wardrobe also becomes more monochromatic and business-like in later seasons, as she is assimilated into Section.

She is never called "'Kita" in canon, but it very commonly occurs in fanfic, usually used by Michael.