Pushed by her love for others and for life itself, Nausicaä studies the ecology of her world to understand the Sea of Corruption, a system of monstrous flora and fauna which came into being after the Seven Days of Fire.

[a] Finding Corben's princess "bland", Miyazaki imagined "a young girl with character, brimming with sensitivity, to contrast her with an incapable father".

[citation needed] Miyazaki has written that he identified particularly with Bernard Evslin's description of the character in Gods, Demigods and Demons, translated into Japanese by Minoru Kobayashi.

[f] Miyazaki expressed disappointment about not finding the same splendor in the character he had found in Evlin's book when he read Homer's original poem.

[g] Another inspiration is the main character from The Lady who Loved Insects, a Japanese tale from the Heian period, one of the short stories collected in the Tsutsumi Chūnagon Monogatari.

It tells the story of a young princess who is considered to be rather eccentric by her peers because, although of marriageable age, she prefers to spend her time outdoors studying insects, rather than grooming herself in accordance with the rules and expectations of the society of her era.

"[20] When asked about Nausicaä's "vision and intellect far greater than other people's", her "distinguished fighting skills", as well as her leadership, including taking "the role of legendary savior", Miyazaki said that he wanted to create a heroine who was not a "consummately normal" person, "just like you or everyone else around you".

Mills were described in these books as being used for "pushing sand dunes or grinding grain", which left an impression on Miyazaki.

"[n] The kana Miyazaki chose to write Nausicaä's name in, ナウシカ (na-u-shi-ka), follows the spelling used by Kobayashi for the translations of Evslin's work.

[22] The story of the manga, refined by Miyazaki over 13 years between February 1982 and March 1994, was published in the magazine Animage and collected into seven volumes.

At the beginning of the manga, Nausicaä, the princess of the Valley of the Wind, is set to succeed her ill father, who can no longer go to war to honour an old alliance.

Under the command of the princess of Tolmekia, Kushana, Nausicaä needs to go to war against the Dorok Empire in a suicide mission across the Sea of Corruption.

[p] Delayed in the forest by the attack of Asbel, where she saves the insects, she encounters a tribe of Dorok and learns of their plans to destroy the Tolmekian army.

She helps the baby Ohmu which was tortured by the Dorok to attract the insects to the Tolmekian army and her dress is stained blue with its blood.

Having awakened the old heretical legends, Nausicaä becomes a mortal enemy of Miralupa, the younger of the two brothers who rule the Dorok Empire, who uses his mental powers to try to infiltrate her mind when she is weak.

When Namulith decided to forcefully marry Kushana to form a single empire under his rule she initially feigns acceptance but later rejects him and his proposal.

Not knowing what to do with this immeasurably dangerous and uncontrollable creature who takes her for its mother, found at Pejite, then stolen by the Tolmekians and finally by the Dorok, Nausicaä names the god-warrior Ohma.

Hidden within these ruins Nausicaä discovers the Garden of Shuwa, a repository of seeds, animals, as well as cultural knowledge from previous ages.

Upon returning to the Valley of the Wind, Obaba tells the legend of the Blue Clad One, who will walk in a field of gold and renew the lost link with the Earth.

Nausicaä rescues a mortally wounded survivor Lastelle, a princess of Pejite who pleads for the ship's cargo to be destroyed.

Nausicaä is voiced in Japanese by Sumi Shimamoto, who won the role after impressing Hayao Miyazaki with her performance of Clarisse in Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro.

[r] Patrick Drazen praised Shimamoto's acting in a scene where Nausicaä stops an insect from diving into an acidic pool by getting in its way.

For Ogita, it is most important that the heroines of Miyazaki are pure and asexual, to emphasise themes of purity and strength;[20] who "takes charge" of her own life.

[30] When she avenges her father's death, the scene is "ambivalent" in its message, suggesting both "a masculine rite-of-passage" and "a moral object lesson", which makes Nausicaä afraid of her own power.

[36] Thomas Zoth regards Nausicaä as "Miyazaki's archetypal heroine" and notes shades of her in Ashitaka, San and Lady Eboshi of Princess Mononoke.

Lucy Wright believes that Nausicaä's world-view reflects a Shinto worldview, as expressed by Motoori Norinaga: "this heaven and earth and all things therein are without exception strange and marvelous when examined carefully".

Wright believes that Nausicaä is presented as a "healing deity", as she is concerned with the space between purity and corruption, as well as atones for the wrongs of other people.

Marc Hairston considers this to be a recurring theme throughout the manga: Nausicaä is given power and is told to make difficult decisions.

[46] Frederik L. Schodt believes that in the film, Nausicaä's character became "slightly sweeter, almost sappy" and suggests that her "high voice" and the low camera angles which show the bottom of her skirt to be due to "an emphasis on 'prepubescent female cuteness' in commercial animation".

[48] Raphaël Colson and Gaël Régner feel that Nausicaä had "to grow up faster than her age" because of her responsibilities, but that she acts with maturity, diplomacy, attention and resolve.