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This article is about Ambrosius Goldenloin from The Webcomic/The Graphic Novel. You may be looking for The Movie Character.

Things were simpler. We were together. It was good.
—Ambrosius Goldenloin

Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin is the hero of the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics and the saviour of the kingdom. He is often instructed by The Director to foil his former childhood friend/ex secret(ish) boyfriend Lord Ballister Blackheart's evil schemes.

Appearance[]

Ambrosius is pale-skinned and has long, flowing blonde hair, most often resting on and around his shoulders. His ears are also a little pointed. He is often seen wearing golden armor, complete with a prominent codpiece and a green cape.

After the battle with Nimona's black dragon form, the cuts Nimona made on Ambrosius' face seem to turn into three diagonal scars, and he walks with the help of a crutch, though it is unclear if this is a permanent limp or he is just still healing in the epilogue.[1]

Personality[]

Ambrosius is seemingly always a bit over-dramatic, starting from when he is a child and still calls other children who bully him, "You villain!"[2] According to Ballister, Ambrosius makes up a story about how his father is rich and powerful and lives in a far away castle. Ambrosius says that his father would have the bullies locked up. He is also be very hopeful, and believes in Father Christmas. He is quite sweet in his own way, and enjoys playing with Ballister.

According to Ballister, Ambrosius "hates to lose", to the point of shooting and physically disabling Ballister during the joust.[3] During their later rivalry, Ambrosius is overly dramatic, playful, pompous, and treats it all like a game. He seemingly enjoys their banter during combat. But he also ensures that they both escape exploding buildings safely, and that Ballister escapes before the guards can capture him, since he also cares for Ballister.

During most of the story, he is very loyal to the Institution, which is helped by his naivete that allows him to ignore the Institution's actions (e.g., taking orphans as payment for debts, sabotaging a match to injure Ballister, keeping up a propaganda campaign that Ballister is evil). He is also proud and easily led to anger, such as when Nimona makes remarks about his codpiece, which make him make mistakes while on missions.[4]

He dislikes killing, and outright refuses to kill "a little girl" when the Director orders him to kill Nimona.[5] Ambrosius also genuinely cares about protecting people, to some extent, and the Director implies and later confirms that Ambrosius largely only followed her orders as a way to keep Ballister out of jail/alive.[6]

Ambrosius sometimes misremembers old memories, but also has a somewhat selective memory, which is part of why he remembers the joust differently than Ballister.[7][8] He regrets destroying Ballister's arm.[9]

Life[]

Ballister is raised at the Institution alongside Ambrosius.[2] Ambrosius is often bullied by other children, and Ballister looks after him, and they are friends and dating for some time.[10] Together they become heroes-in-training.[3] One day they are opponents at the joust, and the Director gives Ambrosius a "weaponized" lance (which can fire projectiles on top of being just a melee weapon).[11] After Ballister knocks Ambrosius off his horse, Ambrosius loses track of things, and fires the lance at Ballister, destroying Ballister's right arm and winning Ambrosius the joust.[3] Ballister and Ambrosius became enemies, and Ambrosius is often sent by the Institution to foil Ballister's schemes. Ballister swears to kill him.[12]

When Nimona and Ballister break into the Institution's laboratory, Ambrosius arrives on the scene to stop them.[13] The three argue a bit, and then Nimona runs off to kill guards, then disappears deeper into the facility. Ambrosius holds Ballister back during a playful swordfight, until the self-destruct sequence is activated, and Ambrosius pulls Ballister out of the facility with him.

When Ballister and Nimona share documents that the Institution is hoarding jaderoot, Ambrosius goes to the Director to demand answers.[14] When the "Anchorwoman" announcing the story begins mocking Ambrosius, he grows enraged and goes to Channel Six News Station to deal with her. He spots a red mouse, believes it's Nimona, and chases after it, but upon catching it discovers it's simply a mouse painted red. Nimona, shapeshifted into a guard, mocks him, and then disappears.

When Ballister and Nimona rob His Majesty's Royal Treasury, Ambrosius goes to confront them.[15] After Ballister demonstrates he has greater strength of arms, Ambrosius demands Ballister fight him, which Ballister refuses. Ambrosius pursues them with his soldiers to no avail.

The Director calls Ambrosius in to blame him for allowing Ballister and Nimona to continue their activities. When Ambrosius refuses "to kill a little girl", the Director threatens to kill Ballister.[5]

Ambrosius calls Ballister, asking to meet at The Antlered Snake to talk.[16] At the tavern, they argue, as Ballister is angry that Ambrosius refuses to admit the incident at the joust wasn't an accident. When Ambrosius says that everyone knew Ballister would go bad, Ballister punches him, and they begin fighting. Ballister knocks Ambrosius' head against a stone wall, making him collapse, and leaves him on the ground.

As Ballister and Nimona's epidemic progresses, the Director calls in Ambrosius to finally deal with Ballister. Ambrosius pleads Ballister's case - that he could be useful - and the Director points out that Ambrosius' fixation on Ballister has interfered with Ambrosius' duties.[17] Ambrosius promises to kill Nimona so long as he won't have to kill Ballister, and the Director gives him a new set of armor.

When Ballister uses the Royal Tournament to sneak into the Institution headquarters and call on the citizenry to rise up, the Director sends Ambrosius after him. Ambrosius captures Ballister and takes him to a reinforced steel room, which locks down after Nimona's arrival. Ballister and Nimona fight Ambrosius and his guards, which leads to Nimona's head being cut off. Nimona comes back as the great black dragon, and blows fire on Ambrosius and the soldiers. Ambrosius is heavily injured, only surviving due to the protection of his shield. When Ambrosius reports to the Director from his sickbed, he says that Nimona is "a monster disguised as a girl", and the Director dismisses him.[18] He is demoted.[19]

After Ballister is arrested, Ambrosius is assigned guard duty for him. After they talk about their past, Ambrosius explains about the lance, and apologizes for what he did.

When the Director tortures Nimona and Ballister, Ambrosius protests, saying it's barbaric, and not how they treat prisoners. When the guards attack Ballister again, Ambrosius fights them. When Nimona's blood turns into the black dragon and destroys the facility, Ambrosius takes Ballister and runs to safety.

Beyond the destruction, Ambrosius prepares to fight Nimona in order to save the Kingdom, noting, "I never did anything good my whole life. Maybe I can't defeat her, but I have to TRY."[20] Ballister tells him to get citizens out of the city, and to fetch his armor.[19]

Ballister brings Ambrosius the Anomalous Energy Enhancer from Dr. Meredith Blitzmeyer, and tells him to hide it while he fights Nimona, and tells Ambrosius not to get himself killed.[21] After the Director dies, Ambrosius arrives and fights the black dragon. The fight is fierce, with both of them badly injuring each other. As Ambrosius raises his sword to kill her, Nimona strikes him in the face, and knocks him out. Ballister arrives with child Nimona and begs black dragon Nimona to let Ambrosius go. After Ballister knocks Nimona out, he rescues Ambrosius and flees the purge.

Ambrosius is taken to His Majesty's Hospital, in critical condition. He eventually wakes up. Afterward, Ambrosius and Ballister seem to still be together.[1]

Skills[]

Ambrosius has strong combat skills with a sword, certain guns, shields, and a lance, and is also skilled in unarmed combat.

Relationships[]

Lord Ballister Blackheart[]

Ballister is Ambrosius' love interest. They grow up together in the orphanage at the Institution,[10] where they are close friends and secret(ish) boyfriends.[7] After the joust, they become nemeses, with Ambrosius often foiling Ballister's plans against the Institution, and Blackheart seething over Ambrosius' betrayal. The Director uses their relationship and Ambrosius' continued affection for Ballister to make Ambrosius toe the line.[6] In the epilogue, they appear to be close again, and perhaps in a relationship once more.[1]

The Director[]

The Director is Ambrosius' boss, and she steers his career over the years.[19] She often criticizes his performance, and although she disapproves of Ambrosius' more than platonic relationship with Ballister, she exploits it in order to make Ambrosius comply.[6]

Nimona[]

At Ambrosius and Nimona's first meeting, Nimona threatened him, and Ambrosius shrugs it off by calling Nimona "spunky". Although Ambrosius cares about saving people to some extent, when the building self-destructs, he tries to assure Ballister that Nimona would be safe by shapeshifting into some animal that would be protected, rather than ensuring her safety. Nimona targets him during her propaganda run, angering him, and leading him to make mistakes during missions. After Nimona assumes the enormous black dragon form the first time and demonstrates her power, nearly killing Ambrosius, Ambrosius seems to gain some respect for her abilities, but insists she is controlling Ballister, and that she is a monster.[6] Before making the final blow to kill Nimona's black dragon form near the end of the story, he pauses to say, "I'm sorry". Nimona shortly slashes his face and tosses him against a column, knocking him partially or fully unconscious.

Quotations[]

  • "Halt, you villains! Unhand that science!"[13]
  • "YOU WERE NEVER BETTER THAN ME!"[22]
  • "We assumed she was a girl disguised as a monster, but she's not. She's a monster disguised as a girl."[6]
  • "I never did anything good in my whole life. I can't defeater her but I have to TRY."[6]
  • "Ballister, wait-if I don't make it out, I need to tell you-"[21]

Trivia[]

  • ND Stevenson stated on tumblr that Ambrosius is an orphan.[23]
  • Ambrosius is a little younger than Ballister.[24]
  • According to ND Stevenson, about Ambrosius choosing his last name of "Goldenloin": "All of the knights choose their own last names. Goldenloin is not so good at spelling. By the time he figured out what he did he was too embarrassed to admit it and started wearing a golden codpiece to pretend it was intentional."[25]
  • According to ND Stevenson, Ambrosius is left-handed.[26]
  • According to ND Stevenson, Ballister begins as the big spoon in his relationship with Ambrosius, but would roll away, and then wake up with Ambrosius latched onto him.[27]
  • There is at least one statue of Ambrosius in the Kingdom.[28]
  • ND Stevenson noted that Ambrosius was intentionally created as a white man "as the embodiment of white privilege. “It’s convenient to cast him in the role of the hero because he’s a white man with blond hair and classic good looks, and ‘You have everything we need for us to make this pitch — to sell this propaganda — of who the good guy is and who the bad guy is . . . He’s a deeply flawed person who is clinging to his version of the world that he wants to be true, shutting everything out to the point of behaving villainously, whether he thinks that or not.”[29]
  • Eugene Lee Yang noted in an interview that Aidan Sugano (Production Design for the Nimona movie adaptation) suggested Eugene as the primary reference for when they modeled Ambrosius for the movie, because they really wanted to take him in a more East Asian design direction, which is how Eugene's name was brought up as a suggestion for casting Ambrosius.[30]
  • While Ambrosius is shorter than Ballister in the webcomic/graphic novel, he appears to be taller than Ballister in the movie adaptation.

Image Gallery[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Stevenson, ND. Nimona. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015. Epilogue.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Stevenson, ND. Nimona. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015. Christmas Special 2013.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Stevenson, ND. Nimona. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015. Chapter 2, p. 5.
  4. Stevenson, ND. Nimona. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015. Chapter 5.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Stevenson, ND. Nimona. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015. Chapter 6, p. 87.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Stevenson, ND. Nimona. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015. Chapter 9.
  7. 7.0 7.1 gingerhaze. "Nimona Q&A" How Are You I'm Fine Thanks, 14 Oct 2014, 4:23 PM, https://gingerhaze.tumblr.com/post/100017892553/nimona-qa.
  8. Stevenson, ND. Nimona. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015. Chapter 7, 95.
  9. Stevenson, ND. Nimona. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015. Chapter 10, p. 183.
  10. 10.0 10.1 gingerhaze. "I said I would post some Baby Knights pictures so here we go..." How Are You I'm Fine Thanks, 22 Aug 2013, 8:10 PM, https://gingerhaze.tumblr.com/post/59054754394/i-said-i-would-post-some-baby-knights-pictures-so.
  11. Stevenson, ND. Nimona. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015. Chapter 10, p. 183.
  12. Stevenson, ND. Nimona. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015. Chapter 2, p. 4.
  13. 13.0 13.1 Stevenson, ND. Nimona. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015. Chapter 3.
  14. Stevenson, ND. Nimona. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015. Chapter 5.
  15. Stevenson, ND. Nimona. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015. Chapter 6.
  16. Stevenson, ND. Nimona. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015. Chapter 7.
  17. Stevenson, ND. Nimona. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015. Chapter 9.
  18. Stevenson, ND. Nimona. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015. Chapter 9, p. 162.
  19. 19.0 19.1 19.2 Stevenson, ND. Nimona. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015. Chapter 10.
  20. Stevenson, ND. Nimona. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015. Chapter 10, p. 208.
  21. 21.0 21.1 Stevenson, ND. Nimona. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015. Chapter 11.
  22. Stevenson, ND. Nimona. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015. Chapter 7, p. 95.
  23. gingerhaze. "I said I would post some Baby Knights pictures so here we go . . . " How Are You I'm Fine Thanks, 22 Aug. 2013, 8:10 PM, https://gingerhaze.tumblr.com/post/59054754394/i-said-i-would-post-some-baby-knights-pictures-so.
  24. gingerhaze. "ive been wondering for a while..." How Are You I'm Fine Thanks, 27 July 2015, 1:34 AM, https://gingerhaze.tumblr.com/post/125147459618/ive-been-wondering-for-a-while-are-blackheart-and.
  25. gingerhaze. "Gotta ask. "Goldenloin". Intentional?" How Are You I'm Fine Thanks, 30 July 2013, 2:14 PM, https://gingerhaze.tumblr.com/post/56892678640/gotta-ask-goldenloin-intentional.
  26. gingerhaze. "I am really sorry to intrude, . . . " How Are You I'm Fine Thanks, 30 July 2013, 5:22 PM, https://gingerhaze.tumblr.com/post/75085548832/i-am-really-sorry-to-intrude-i-love-nimona-and-i.
  27. Netflix. "inphront asked: oh also— which of the knights is the little spoon? i must know for science." Netflix, 25 July 2023, 7:06 PM, https://netflix.tumblr.com/post/723859680291586048/oh-also-which-of-the-knights-is-the-little-spoon. (Recorded on 12 July 2023).
  28. Stevenson, ND. Nimona. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015. Chapter 4, p. 19.
  29. White, Abbey. “How ND Stevenson Created the Healing, “Punk-Rock” Tale of Netflix’s ‘Nimona’: The film’s co-producer and award-winning webcomic creator on his journey with the animated feature from the original story, which "has always had this transness and gender fluidity at its heart."” The Hollywood Reporter, 16 June 2023, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/nimona-nd-stevenson-netflix-film-inclusive-themes-1235506138/. Accessed 16 June 2023.
  30. “NIMONA - EUGENE LEE YANG INTERVIEW ( 2023).” Bonnie Laufer, YouTube, 24 June 2023, https://youtu.be/HheqERr4q1M.
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