For quite some time,I have had feelings of confusion,anger and displeasure towards Nephrite's death in the anime,especially when I consider how much better could have been written. Thanks to various fanfics,as well as my own version, those feelings have been eased somewhat. And I have come to the conclusion that the fault lies with the writer alone. Here I would like to give my theory on why the writer ended the story so tragically,as well as address a few other theories I have heard.

The plan was for the entire Dark Kingdom to be annihilated,and so, letting Nephrite live is obviously NOT necessary for that to happen Anotther possible reason is that maybe the writer thought that it would be a lot of work to write a happy Nephrite/Naru story (if Neph would appear again,that is) AND keep ut with Kunzite and Zoisite's story at the same time.

I partially agree with the fans who see it as inconsistant planning in the storyline. Come to think of it, the writer did not have either Nephrite or Naru show the good judgment in the "A Friend in Wolf's Clothing" episode, that they were capable of showing. For instancein the "Molly's Folly" episode, Naru had said that she didn't care what happened to her as long as Nephrite survived. She was willing to get turned into moon dust by the tiara, if it meant saving Nephrite. In that scene alone, she had shown how strongwilled and determined she can be, and that is how she comes across to me. However, in the "A Friend in Wolf's Clothing" episode, the writer wrote it so that Naru was NOT willing to tolerate the pain that pulling out the thorns would have caused her, if it was what it took for her to save Nephrite there. In that episode, she seemed like someone who was all talk, or that her words were just shallow empty words. I know she can do better than that, as proved in "Molly's Folly." I am sure that she thought Nephrite being hit by the tiara was a horrible sight as well, since she saw what it could do. But as courageous as she was in that scene, she stood in its trajectory.

I feel that Nephrite had shown poor judgment when he let the Plant Sisters escape, instead of killing them with the sword when he had the chance to. I am sure that better judgment would have told him to do that. Also, if he did not want Zoisite to have the kurozuishou, he could have destroyed it. Certainly Zoisite would have figured it out that Nephrite would not hand over the kurosuishou if he saw him destroy it........after all, the Dark Kingdom sees everything.

I totally disagree with the theory that Naru would have been upset by Nephrite destroying the Plant Sisters. First of all, if he were doing it to protect her, since the Plant Sisters were after her as well, why should that bother her? Secondly, she did not believe that the sisters had potential for good. And lastly, if Naru did not object to the senshi killing the Plant Sisters to save her, surely she would not object to Nephrite doing that to save her.

I somewhat understand the theory that perhaps Nephrite did not want to kill a member of his own race....since he IS honorable, and it would not be very honorable if he stooped down to their level. However, it was still poor judgment in the sense that he allowed them to escape when he could not guarantee that he would not see the last of them. Nephrite comes across to me as a character that is not to be made angry, because that might be the last thing that would ever be done. So, if the writer wished to show that Nephrite had changed, he could have just had Nephrite kill the Plant Sisters and other youma for the right reason--to protect the weak and innocent,just as the senshi do.

I mean no disrespect to those who felt that it was honorable of Nephrite to sacrifice his life for the one he loves,however. And aside all this, I am grateful to the writer for inspiring me to write a happier version.This will hopefully make a great topic of discussion. I am eager to hear your thoughts on this thesis.

Nephlite's Girl, September 2008

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