5. Nandi
Played by Melinda Clarke, Nandi appears in the thirteenth episode, Heart Of Gold, asking for the crew's help through her friend Inara. A powerful man named Rance Burgess (Fredric Lehne) plans to take his baby from one of Nandi's girls, Petaline, for he is the father. Nandi is a brothel madam, having found the companion's life too restrictive. She refuses to run from Burgess and leave behind that which she has built, and Mal, admiring her stubbornness, agrees to help her. Nandi is as brave as Mal, even making the ultimate sacrifice in an effort to protect her friends. Throughout the episode she shows her gusto, unlike many she does not fold under the pressure of an antagonist - this trait makes her rememberable and formidable during the episode. What makes her such a great character is that she embodies the honour equivalent to any of Serenity's crew. Melinda Clarke draws the audience with her emphatic display of both strength and an underlying fragility that makes her human, believable and compassionate. She is a fantastic character who seems to embody traits that have been used, consciously or not, in later programmes think Long Susan (MyAnna Buring) in Ripper Street. Ninda formed a protective family whom she would give everything for, and in the end she did.