In its exploration of trauma and isolation, the second season of Netflix’s Spanish thriller, The Snow Girl, introduced a particularly deranged and diabolical individual in the form of Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Valdivia—whose broken psyche makes for an interesting character study, to say the least. [Spoilers Ahead] The mastermind behind a reinvented version of The Soul Game, Nacho had murdered Allison Hernandez and wreaked havoc in Miren’s life by forcing her to relive the darkest phase of her past. Initially presenting the apparently innocent teenager as a sympathetic character, the narrative provided several hints to indicate the psychopathic tendencies that were latent inside the dark recesses of Nacho’s subconscious. Additionally, through a distinct arc formed mostly through exposition and piecemeal information, viewers learn about the character; the story tries to convey what goes into the making of such an unhinged mind—which seeks to project its inner darkness onto the world.Â
Broken Childhood: Nacho’s Lonesome Existence
Losing his parents at a very early age in a horrible accident, Nacho was hopelessly dependent on his sister, Laura—the only family he had left. Sure, their guardians, Cristobal and Mercedes, were kind and caring, but quite obviously the boy shared a much stronger bond with his sister, who could relate to his predicament. Also, Laura had found comfort in faith, unlike Nacho, who couldn’t get himself to be involved with the intricacies of religious precepts. The only emotional outlet Nacho had was with Laura, and it can be said that the safe place, which Nacho later mentioned while speaking with Miren, existed with his sister. Understandably, when Laura went missing, his life was turned upside down all of a sudden, and there wasn’t a soul he could share his burdens with. Laura’s absence left an emotional void that couldn’t be filled by any means. Journalist Miren was associated with the case, and the eight-year-old boy had pinned all his hope on her—believing she would be able to find his sister. Miren failed to meet his expectations, which left a mark in the mind of the boy who was at an impressionable age back then.
Nacho still could have gotten a sense of closure had someone lied to him about Laura’s death—but not knowing anything only increased his misery and desperation. He couldn’t have hoped to find comfort by sharing his plight with his guardians either. Cristobal’s puritanical, staunch pro-life beliefs never sat well with Nacho. He couldn’t care less about the occasional argument between his uncle and aunt, but at the same time, he had nowhere to turn to. Caged with his dark thoughts, Nacho had turned to self-harm, actions that were a precursor to his idea of reinventing the age-old Soul Game.
Nacho wanted to project his suffering, hopeless, dark thoughts onto the world—and like moths to a flame, Borja and Allison found themselves morbidly attracted to the diabolical dare game – similar to real life Blue Whale challenge. For Borja, it was his loneliness that made him an easy first prey for Nacho to test the game. Allison was already on a downward spiral of her dwindling mental state—rejected by her family, fearing shame and prejudice from society, and her devotion to faith made her that much more susceptible to Nacho’s ploy. However, choosing Allison as a participant of the game was a well-calculated step taken by Nacho, given there was a degree of similarity between Laura’s and Allison’s cases, which Miren’s mind could have caught easily.
Why Did Nacho Target Miren?
Nacho’s disappointment with Miren turned to anger when she became a public face after saving Amaya Martin and sharing how that particular case helped her to process her trauma of being an abuse victim. From Nacho’s perspective, Miren could have found Laura as well had she gone to such lengths, like what she did with Amaya Martin’s case, and he felt wronged by her. After learning about Miren’s personal experiences from her book, Nacho’s anger increased further as he believed that having suffered and being put into the worst situation of her life, Miren could have or should have empathized with him and tried her level best to find Laura. Nacho needed a punching bag to vent out his inner frustration, and Miren appeared to be just that. Of course, he couldn’t have known that his sister had abandoned him; the case was covered up by people in power.
But in the end, it boiled down to the power equation, and Nacho proved to be every bit as despicable a person as Miren’s abusers were. He took advantage of Miren’s trauma, manipulated her in ways he could have after gaining her complete trust, and wanted to make her suffer to his heart’s content. Nacho was not a misguided teenager who could have fared well in better company and by finding positive emotional expression. He was a petty, shallow man whose inflated ego led him to consider everything about himself and preyed upon unsuspecting victims to feel that he wasn’t as pathetic and worthless like he used to believe himself to be. At the end, Nacho’s death was haphazardly put together in a chaotic scenario; he surely deserved a worse fate for all his past actions and got away easy—leaving poor Miren tormented all over again.
