Nile Freeman

Nile Freeman is a character from The Old Guard. She was played by American actor KiKi Layne in the Netflix adaptation.
==Canon Overview==
At the beginning of the graphic novel/film, Nile is a US Marine stationed in Afghanistan. After being mortally wounded in action, she has a dream of the other immortals and wakes up unscathed, drawing suspicion and distrust from her fellow soldiers. She is soon found by Andromache of Scythia, who tells her that Nile is one of them, unable to die, and promising questions and protection. 
Promotional posters from Thailand give Nile's birthdate as 1994. She mentions growing up on the South Side of Chicago and is religious. 
Nile appears to have an interest in, or at least some knowledge of art history, since she recognizes a Rodin sculpture in one of their safehouses. 
==Fandom==
Nile as the youngest Immortal is sometimes referred to as the baby of the Old Guard. In canon, this term appeared once. Andy said, "she's only a baby", upon seeing a picture of Nile, before she'd met the newest Immortal. This has led some fans to headcanon that other members of the team would act as surrogate parents to Nile, within the found family dynamic of the Old Guard. There are also fans who view any pairing of Nile with another Immortal as problematic, due to the perceived age difference. There has been some push back to these ideas, from other fans, who point out that Nile is in her late twenties and an adult, and fandom's tendency to infantilize her is itself problematic.
Further, there are some fans who are calling for nuance in the discussion around Nile's age and experience relative to the other members of the Old Guard: 
Some fans have expressed appreciation for the way that Nile’s portrayal in the film and the way that other characters respond to her is a subversion of the Strong Black Woman stereotype: 
Some fans noted the difficulty of finding fics about Nile on Ao3 where she was the focus, especially when Joe/Nicky appeared as a tagged pairing within the fic. As of August 2020, there was a canon tag created for 'Nile Freeman-centric' fics, which can be applied as an additional tag to works and filtered for by readers. 
===Common Tropes===
* Nile learning to cope with immortality 
* Nile choosing to reach out to her family (or not) 
===Pairings===
Immediately after the film's release, the femslash pairing Andy/Nile Freeman was the primary romantic pairing for Nile. Nile/Booker is a pairing that began gaining traction in some parts of the fandom during August 2020. 
Based on works posted to Ao3, by 25 September 2020, the romantic pairing of Nile/Booker, also known as Book of Nile, had become the most popular relationship for Nile, overtaking the femslash pairing Andy/Nile Freeman.Archived page of Nile Freeman works on Ao3 as of 25 September 2020. It remains the most popular pairing for Nile and the third most popular pairing in the fandom. The gen pairing of Nile & Booker is also very popular.
===Fandom Practices===
Events & Challengers
* Nile Freeman Week (September 2020)
==Notable Fanworks==
===Fanart===
* by Tumblr user thesunwillart, August 2020.
===Meta===
* by Tumblr user lukcskywalkcrs, July 2020.
* by Tumblr user fuckyeahisawthat, July 2020.
* by Tumblr user nicolodigenovas, August 2020.
* The Book of Nile Manifesto by spectral-seiros
* by sindirimba
==Archives & Links==
* Nile Freeman works on Ao3
* Nile Freeman-centric works on Ao3
==References==
Category:The Old Guard Characters