Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Yeah, looking at the Springhole article again, Nabu was definitely a canon Relationship Sue:

• “…created for the sole purpose [of] putting into a relationship with another character…” Obviously. He was created to be Aisha’s boyfriend.
• “In the case of a Relationship Sue, canon characters will begin acting very out-of-character.” Aisha definitely acted out of character while she dated Nabu. She became clingy and babyish (Stella even called her a baby); she used flowery, over-the-top language (“Nabu, my sweet!”); and she fangirled over him every time he did things with magic that she could probably do herself (“Oh, Nabu, you’re so great!”). Also, in the comics, she threw a full-on temper tantrum when he admitted he loved another girl named Helisia. (I hate that name because it’s way too close to “Helia”.)
• “Any flaws or vices that the Intended Relationship Partner had that might put xir and the Sue at odds with each other will magically vanish.” All her frustrations with guys — and being forced to conform to a marriage tradition she didn’t agree with — completely disappeared. Also, neither of them had been in a relationship before, and Aisha struggled with social awkwardness, trust issues, and separation anxiety. Did any of this complicate their relationship? Nope! Everything was perfect because Nabu was Just That Speshul!
• ”Characters involved with a Relationship Sue will be way too willing to neglect or give up anything and everything from friends to hobbies to jobs.” This was literally a conflict in an episode of season four (episode 11, I think). Aisha neglected her friends and the Winx’s mission to spend time with Nabu. Stella called her out on it, but the others defended Aisha and said Stella was just jealous.
• ”Meanwhile, the Sue xirself won’t have any family, friends, or obligations that could in any way interfere with or complicate the relationship – or if xe does, xe will be willing to drop them all for the love interest.” Since Aisha and Nabu’s relationship was an arranged marriage, they were the only couple who didn’t have to worry about what each other’s parents would think of them. That killed one possible source of conflict and development right away. Also, remember how Nabu supposedly wanted to make his own life decisions? Screw that! He let his parents choose not only his wife, but also where he would live (Andros Palace) and what his occupation would be (co-ruler of Andros). So much for personal freedom!
• ”The characters may realize they are Meant To Be or something similar in a ridiculously short amount of time, or realize they are truly in love just days or even moments after meeting each other.” Two days. It took about two days in universe (about three episodes of interaction) for Aisha to go from being annoyed with him to agreeing to marry him one day.
• ”That the characters are clearly just infatuated with each other is never addressed, as for a Relationship Sue infatuation is confused and conflated with true love.” Rainbow definitely went out of their way to treat Aisha and Nabu’s limerence like true love. The other couples held their relationship up as the ideal. Riven even asked Nabu for advice. And Nabu was able to give perfect relationship advice…even though this was his first relationship, and it was an arranged marriage!

Wow. You’re braver than me. ?

I mean…he was. A site called Springhole.net talked about the subtype Relationship Sue, basically a Mary Sue-style love interest. Nabu fits almost all the criteria:

http://www.springhole.net/writing/mary-sue-subtypes.htm#relationship-sue.

But let’s face it: the Winx fandom cannot and will not criticize Nabu for anything. It’s been 10 years since his death episode premiered, yet they’re still too upset to take the blinders off. Nothing will change until Winx Club ends, and everyone has gone their separate ways. They’ll be able to come back later with fresh eyes.

Right now while everyone still feeds the Nabu obsession, they won’t listen to you unless you’re obsessed with him, too.