The Book of Nile Manifesto

Meta
Title:	The Book of Nile Manifesto
Creator:	spectral-seirios
Date(s):	24 August 2020
Medium:	Tumblr post
Fandom:	The Old Guard
Topic:	Nile Freeman, Lack of characters of color in fanworks, Misogynoir
External Links:	Original Post (archived link)
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The Book of Nile Manifesto is a Nile/Booker manifesto written by spectral-seirios.

Inspired by the lack of Nile-centric fics on Ao3 and the lack of romantic pairings for Nile, spectral-seirios's manifesto is more about promoting positive depictions of this female character of colour, than about highlighting the author's love for this ship. In fact, the author freely admits, Booker would not be her first choice of character to ship with Nile, but he is the only available Immortal that can be shipped with Nile exclusively. All other Immortals have pre-established relationships, that are popular ships within fandom.

The Manifesto

well congratulations guys. you’ve done it. I’m making a Book of Nile (nilexbooker) manifesto. long gone are the days when I was ashamed of this ship. I’m going to spread this truth like it’s fucking gospel and you’re all going to hear about it.

TLDR: shipping Book of Nile is an act of warfare against misogynoir and you are all legally required to do so.

a strong thesis no? you might be thinking “jester, how on earth did you come to this conclusion?” well. luckily for you I have time to spare (I actually don’t) and I will explain it to you.

a) Nile Freeman is the lead of the film but you all seem to have forgotten.

the old guard has two leads and contrary to what the ao3 tag might tell you neither of their names are joe or nicky. shocking I know. as of 7.10pm CST on the 24th of August 2020, less than 50% of TOG fics contain nile freeman as a character. of those 901 fics there’s no guarantee that she is the central character of the narrative. full offence but this is a shitty effort. the entire film is centred around nile and how she handles being thrown into this new world and somehow few of you seem to care enough to write fic about it. nile does not come across my dash as frequently as joe and nicky do and whilst I dearly love them, I as a black woman am very concerned that the lack of focus on nile (who is a very interesting, loveable character) is less a matter of ‘preference’ and more a matter of racism. she’s literally the main character, friends!! GIVE HER ATTENTION PLEASE.

the Book of Nile ship conveniently solves this problem. it is extremely nile-centric. after all she is half of the pairing.

b) Nile is deserving of love and on GOD I will give it to her. so. we’ve established that there needs to be more nile centric content out there. great!! we have completed step one. but we can (and should) do more. you see, anyone who’s been in fandom for more than 5 minutes knows that we all love a bit of romance. shipping is one of (if not THE) favourite things to do. so as such it’s a little bit suspect to me that there’s so little content that features nile in a romantic relationship. now, I’m not saying that a woman has to be in a relationship to be happy or worth reading about. BUT! I am very aware that fandom has a habit of conveniently leaving black women out of romantic situations for whatever random reasons they can come up with. and don’t tell me there aren’t grounds for a romantic relationship when it comes to nile because people have been more passionate about shipping for less screentime. I ship Arthur/Eames from inception and those two have like TWO MINUTES OF INTERACTION (currently there are 7706 fics for them on ao3 so imagine how much more we can do for nile who has the majority of the screentime).

“ok, fine!” you say to me, “nile does deserve love and happiness. but does it have to be booker?” well, no. it doesn’t have to be booker. but he is the most viable candidate out of all the existing characters. I know, I know! I hated to think of it too. if it’s any consolation the second rule of the ship is that you have to express how much you hate it here. let me convince you (these are in no particular order):

• we have andy/quynh and joe/nicky, it isn’t too far fetched to think that booker/nile could be a thing

• they both care a lot about their respective biological families and that’s a thread that binds them throughout the film (see: booker sharing his deepest hurts with nile so that she doesn’t make the same mistakes he did and nile telling booker first about how copley will deal with things so that it looks like she’s dead)

• THOSE LOOKS BOOKER GIVES NILE WHEN HE FIRST SEES HER IN THE WAREHOUSE HELLOOOOOOOO

• “I thought you were the brains of this outfit” HES ACTUALLY DUMB AS ROCKS SO I GUESS YOU MUST THINK HE’S HOT AND ITS CLOUDING YOUR JUDGEMENT

• the fact that booker felt nile die and then tried as much as possible to keep her out of the mess he just created

• the sheer bisexuality of it all

• “nile millennial gallows humor meets booker actual gallows humor” (courtesy of @h-yb)

• they’re the two newest immortals

• unless you make an OC there are no other immortals who are single and I refuse to let nile form a relationship with someone who’s going to die and have her suffer. we are about her happiness here!

c) we have a very compelling narrative here!

I’ve shared some of the thoughts that we Book of Nile enthusiasts have above but WE HAVE MORE!! many of us enthusiasts have come up with thesis statements that encapsulate how we feel about these two together.

mine is: nile is like the invisible force that turns the earth on its axis and reveals the glimmer of hope that is the warmer seasons

@h-yb: nile is like a candle flame and loses nothing of her substance by sharing her light and he cannot bear witness to her kindness and bravery without wanting to live in a way that would make her proud, that would make him worthy of the faith she extends him

@chrisevanv: Book of Nile simply makes sense because of their shared grief (which can be explored to not only heal but grow both characters), their shared connection in death and life (similar deaths and similar interests in their first lives), and because unlike the rest of the guard, Booker and Nile are able to challenge each other’s perspectives in ways the others cant.

@danielederossi: #Nile as the Beloved #nile as someone he is proud to have in his life #not in some toxic possessive way but in a way #for all that i have done for all i have lost and rightfully punished with #destiny gave me also the gift of meeting you #and you gave me the gift of knowing you #LET HIM EXPRESS LOVE #let him drink his respecting woman juice even if he is french and likely has no taste #nile not as an object but a fully complicated & realized person who booker finds even more breathtaking in moments like this #because he has seen her on the days when her grief balloons and steals her breath #and he knows what it took to get here

@themoonwheniamlost: The fact that such a huge part of their identities was their family roles. And without them they both are a bit unsteady, they still have their main identity but a huge part of the way they orient themselves was around those roles. So now they get to shift that orbit around each other.

@particolored-socks: #fellas ….. i suffer #as soon as this man figures out how to lay down his grief for his dead family and focus on the new one #it will be OVER for me #because this man is full of love like - always and in every way #and when he figures out where to direct it #(at nile. because who WOULDN’T fall in love with nile. who COULDN’T!!!) #when he figures that out? GOD #anyway i am metaphysically lying on the floor in a heap #because i just imagined booker calling nile ma'amzelle in the softest voice ever #YEAH I GUESS I JUST LIVE HERE NOW!!

@bookernile: booker/nile is like the textbook case of “you met me at the worst time, but I want this with you” instead of like normal things like I just got fired, my parent died, I just relapsed, its “I’m suicidal and I betrayed by forever family for the possibility of a way out” And instead of them being like “Maybe we can be friends, or acquaintances, until I feel the ground solid underneath me again” its “maybe we can’t talk, just keep tabs on each other for a decade or two where I realize how much I needed you in my life, and we bump into each other at a coffeeshop and learn we take our drink the same way, and then start talking again and never stop”

@frogenthusiastt: #they build a home out of each other #booker needs to do a lot of work to make that home a solid ground #but he can get there and they can build something worthwhile out of it together #crafting something tender by the hard work of your own hands so that it will be a welcoming place to store your love in #love is a choice thesis babey !!

at its heart Book of Nile is about booker choosing to become a better person because nile helps him to realise that there are things in the world worth living for again, and it’s about nile having a place of refuge in someone who has no expectations of her and doesn’t need her to be put together to enjoy her company. nile is not fragile but she certainly is going to go through a lot in the first 80 years or so of her immortality and I think booker can help her with that, even if it’s by just sitting with her in silence. it’s a very beautiful ship when you give it the consideration it needs and deserves. and if you’ve been paying attention you’ll notice that not one of us enthusiasts have nile doing any fixing of booker!! he does all the work and she reaps the benefits!!

I will leave you with the Book of Nile server constitution (written by yours truly, although it was decreed by god, I am just the messenger):

rule 1: booker must be good in bed so that nile gets amazing sex for the rest of her life

rule 2: you must express how much you hate it here and that you were forced to ship it without consent

Reactions & Responses

The Book of Nile Manifesto was widely shared within The Old Guard fandom, and the initial response to this meta was overwhelmingly positive. In the months following spectral-seirios's post, Nile/Booker went from a rarepair to the third most popular pairing in the fandom. It is the most popular pairing for both Nile and Booker.

The Book of Nile Manifesto is considered a formative piece of work in this pairing and "official reading material for this ship!" Many comments on the original post were from fans who had not seen the potential for Nile/Booker before reading this meta. There were also reblogs from existing fans of the ship, and fans who were already struggling to abide by Rule 2.

Just walkin’ along, then this fell on my head. Now I’m spreadin’ the Gospel of The Book of Nile.

This broke me in the best possible way. Is there a word or phrase for “ship you didn’t see on your own but then someone points it out and it becomes your whole heart” because Book of Nile, Eddis × Sophos, and Costis x Kamet are that for me

I’m going to blatantly disregard rule #2, because I do not hate it here and not only do I ship it……I have my own tag for them: LivFree!!

I don’t hate it here, but yes all of this

In the notes of the original post, Tumblr users were posting their Book of Nile headcanons, and identifying similarities between the two characters.

IM NOT HERE BUT

• the contrast of nile, a soldier, a warrior, forced to leave the army vs booker a deserter who hung for it
• nile who loves art vs booker, a forger, a conman
• please do not look at me
• also if it does happen it needs to be much much later! same as andy x nile like they both still think of her as a kid
• but he does say ‘just give her some time’ in a way that makes me think he sees her and the fullness of what she can be and what she already is
• when andy says 'have a little faith, book’ HELLO what better place to learn how necessary that is than from nile. nile who is so unwavering and brave
• the fact that booker’s betrayal is the catalyst for nile to join the group properly, to accept that they are her new family, this is her new life
• essentially booker’s betrayal forced nile’s hand - either abandon these people to whatever suffering they are in, or symbolically abandonher own family
• and still! still she wants to let him apologise and then move on
• im still not here.
• you didn’t see shit

I shipped it almost immediately despite myself. Cuz Booker’s an alcoholic asshole BUT the main reason for that is he’s got traumatic grief and is very lonely and is shitty at coping. So probably he can improve if properly motivated. And I can’t see Nile putting up with any unnecessary bullshit for very long. So he’d have to.

Oh, I ship it. I ship it hard. I noticed how those two gravitate towards each other on the movie (their similarities in death and grief over family), how Booker actually looks out for her (maybe because he’s a big brother now and is knees deep in the shit choices he made).

And it was on a JoeXNicky fic I managed to fell in love completely, when it dawned on me that they are both the younger ones. That they have thousands of years ahead of them to form and grow and nurture that love bond that we see on the others.

And I’m hooked.

The Book of Nile Manifesto has inspired much discussion in fandom about the treatment of POC, and in particular black women, by fanfiction writers.

[anon]

the book of nile antiblackness thing was, iirc, pointing out how Black characters and especially Black women rarely get to have love stories and often aren't included in fic (true, bc nile is the main character and she's not in half the fic!) i'm a poc, so i kinda get it, but like you, i also,, don't REALLY get it? but i think thats what the post was trying to say? idk

[eurythmix]

oh no I absolutely agree! and for the most part I agree with the original op of the book of nile manifesto (I can’t find a current link but here’s an archived version); what I take issue with is the line about how shipping b/n is “an act of warfare against misogynoir”. imo shipping is not an inherently political thing - someone shipping x/y instead x/z doesn’t necessarily make that person more socially conscious - and implying that u should ship booker/nile for Social Justice Reasons just doesn’t sit right with me? like yeah actively including Black characters, especially Black women, in fandom stuff will have a domino effect in positive representation, but only shipping booker/nile because u have a Black character and u don’t know what to do with her other than put her in a relationship is……yeah

#i suppose it kind points to a wider issue in fandom where the shipping aspect takes over the entire conversation#where characters lack worth if they aren't in a ship/are shippable#it's a fascinating and rly fucking weird phenomenon that overlaps with fandom racism/misogyny/ableism/etc#and kinda deserves a whole separate post#ANYWAY my point here is that i don't vibe with the Ship This Thing If You Want To Be a Good Person schtick

Several fanworks on Ao3 featuring this pairing, have referenced the Manifesto in their tags and/or authors' notes.

I know, I know, the sad white boy??? For Nile??? But I read Jester the Pink’s Book of Nile Manifesto and you know what, it adds up. However, I will say that “Rule 2: Admit that you hate it here and were forced to ship it without consent” does apply here.

Author's Note by Survivah on The Last Man on Earth

The Book of Nile Manifesto is referenced and quoted in Episode #14 ("It's Like Watching A Fanfiction") of I Met You On LJ podcast.