Nimona summary and ending explained

In Nimona, a rebellious shapeshifting creature attempts to help a knight who has been framed for the murder of the queen. The movie is now streaming on Netflix.

Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers

Plot summary

A thousand years ago, a warrior named Gloreth rose up and saved her town’s people from the wrath of a monster. Gloreth vowed that her people will never be vulnerable again.

To safeguard her kingdom, she trained an elite force of knights and decreed that their descendants will forever protect the realm. In the present, the queen breaks years of tradition by giving a street kid named Ballister a chance to become a knight.

Ballister doesn’t come from a noble family, but he has dreamed of becoming a knight and protecting his kingdom since he was a kid. When he received this chance, he worked his way up and graduated at the top of his class.

Even after coming this far, he doubts whether the people of his realm want to see him protect them. The other knights often bully him and call him a charity case. Only the queen and Ballister’s boyfriend, Ambrosius Goldenloin, who is a champion knight and Gloreth’s descendant, believe in him.

During the knighting ceremony, Ballister’s sword changes shape and shoots the queen down, just when she is officially making him the knight. The sword continues to destroy the place. Goldenloin is forced to cut Ballister’s arm off.

Ballister runs away into hiding and makes use of an artificial arm. At his hideout, while he is busy thinking about who has conspired against him, a girl named Nimona shows up, wanting to be his sidekick.

Nimona sees Ballister as a villain who is going to take the Institute that runs the kingdom down. However, Ballister clarifies that he is not going to do such a thing and that he is not the villain.

Nimona is disappointed, but she still decides to stick with Ballister, knowing that people hate him just like how they have been hating her her whole life.

Ballister aims to clear his name alone and gets caught. Nimona comes to his rescue. She is different; she can shapeshift into whoever she wants. Ballister is freaked out at first, but he starts understanding her after she breaks him out of prison and opens up about how she relates to him.

Ballister and Nimona plan to interrogate the squire who gave Ballister his sword. After being chased by the knights, Ballister and Nimona manage to get their hands on the squire.

The squire reveals a video that shows the Director of the Institute switching Ballister’s sword. While Nimona wants to question the whole Institute, Ballister thinks they just need to address the Director because people will lose faith in the Institute if it is to be questioned.

Ballister and Nimona fail to show this video to Goldenloin as the knights destroy the phone Ballister has. Ballister and Nimona barely escape the knights, and Ballister, after seeing his boyfriend stand up against him, realizes that no matter what they do, they can’t change people’s perceptions of them.

Nimona reminds Ballister that he changed the way he looks at her. They can’t let the Director get away with this. Nimona poses as Goldenloin and confronts the Director. They finally capture her confessing her crimes on a video.

The Director believes that the queen made a mistake by going against Gloreth’s word and letting a commoner be the knight, and mistakes like these will bring them closer to their realm’s end.

The Director’s video goes viral, and she changes the narrative by telling the world that Nimona is posing as her in this video. More videos of Nimona shapeshifting are broadcast on television. The Director also shows the knights a scroll, which suggests that Nimona is the monster Gloreth fought.

Goldenloin shows Ballister the scroll. Back at their hideout, Ballister questions Nimona about who she is. Nimona is shocked to see Ballister trying to get his hands on his sword when she gets angry.

Nimona realizes that she is once again dubbed a monster, even after being there for Ballister. The knights circle the place, leaving Nimona no choice but to run away.

Nimona ending explained in detail:

What had happened to Nimona?

All alone, Nimona reminisces about her past. When she was a child, she shapeshifted into different animals to find a friend and fit in. Unfortunately, she failed every time. She soon found a friend in the form of a young Gloreth.

Gloreth accepted her even after learning about Nimona’s powers. Nimona played with Gloreth as different kinds of animals until Gloreth’s parents and the humans saw them together.

Even when Gloreth turned into a little girl, the humans freaked out. Gloreth tried to defend Nimona, but her parents told her that Nimona is a monster.

Nimona turned into different kinds of animals to defend herself from humans. A piece of wood on fire is thrown at her, which accidentally sets the village on fire.

People start running away from Nimona, who once again tries to show Gloreth that she is not a monster. By this time, Gloreth had been brainwashed. She picked up a wooden sword and stood up against Nimona.

Does Ballister stop Nimona?

A depressed Nimona finally turns into a monster everyone will fear. She enters the kingdom not with the intention of hurting anyone but to kill herself by pushing herself into Gloreth’s statue’s sword.

Nimona doesn’t understand what is scarier: the fact that everyone in the kingdom wants to push their sword into her heart or the fact that she wants to let them do it.

Before Nimona can kill herself, Ballister, who climbed Gloreth’s statue, stops her. Everyone watches this moment on television. Ballister drops his sword and apologizes to Nimona.

Ballister assures Nimona that he sees her and tells her that she is not alone. Nimona comes back to her original form, and Ballister holds her tight.

Does Nimona die?

Even after seeing all of this, the Director orders the canon on the wall that protects the kingdom to be fired at Nimona. Goldenloin tries to convince the Director that they can actually be wrong, but the Director sticks to her decision.

The Director knocks Goldenloin and the knights down and takes charge of the canon that will kill everyone in the realm. Nimona turns into a bigger monster and sacrifices herself to stop the canon.

Nimona becomes a hero, something she never thought she will ever be. People changed the way they looked at her. Furthermore, the realm sees a world beyond the wall that protects them.

Ballister visits his and Nimona’s hideout, and when someone knocks on the door, he hopes to see Nimona. He finds no one outside, but from behind someone calls him boss. It is hinted that it is Nimona as Ballister loses his mind.


Also Read: Nimona review: Absolutely hilarious and heart-warming

Rahul Shinde
Rahul Shinde
Rahul is an editor on The Envoy Web who is working from Mumbai. You will find him obsessing over the genres of horror, thriller, sitcoms, and musicals—a weird combination right there. It's either something spooky or a comfort watch.

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