#all this nuance to make laena a strong black woman in the tv show

[ride-thedragon]

Nettles and Race.

George is great at both analysing and subverting genre tropes. We see this with his portrayal of the Targaryens as bad white blonde powerful elf like people. Or his understanding consistently in his works that beauty doesn't equal morality. This is surface level, and he does have his shortcomings (how he portrays the Dothraki in a lot of aspects, etc) but I find it really interesting the amount of tropes and conventions he addresses and subverts with Nettles specifically in such a short span of the book. George uses specific racial imagery with Nettles that we don't see often from him, in short. Here's a list:

Implementation and Subversion

1. The most unlikely is, the most unlikely:

Oftentimes, in fantasy stories, the least likely is a white disenfranchised person. The majority of the time, it's because they are poor or treated poorly. Nettles is a black girl who is poor, orphaned, and marked for thieving, and none of that hinders her own feat of claiming a dragon or the accepting initially that she does. She's unlikely, extremely unlikely, the most unlikely choice.

2. Black girls are allowed to feel:

Nettles cries and grieves. Of all the dragonseeds, she's the only one positioned to feel remorse and loss after the Battle of Driftmark. She is foul-mouthed (though not written into the narrative) and fearless. Often times their is a need for black women to be strong (not have access to their emotions) or angry (the only emotion they're allowed because they're "loud"). Nettles is crass and sensitive. She's multifaceted.

3. White people don't center black narratives:

Typically, black characters in fantasy are centred around white protagonists. Nettles distinctly isn't when you focus on her. This is different from being impacted. To be impacted means you're a part of the plot. To have someone be centred in your narrative would be for your existence in the narrative to entirely depend on your relationship with them. You don't exist outside of them. Nettles does. She has an entire life up until she claims Sheepstealer without any intervention from the Targs, and after she leaves the main narrative of Fire and Blood, she has a life. This is even in a Targaryen history book.

4. Black girls deserve to be protected and loved:

Nettles is protected by the men around her in the narrative. Oftentimes, this is something not afforded to black characters, far less for black women in fantasy narratives, but she is protected. Not just by Daemon, who is someone who has extreme emotional stakes with her but by the men of Maidenpool and Lord Corlys. All of whom are white in the books. Nettles is protected by men unquestioningly. They may decide how to do it or have a bigger motive, but protecting her is never a question.

5. Promiscuity questioned:

Nettles is never shown to be a promiscuous character through an unbiased lens. Every time a person brings up Nettles' sex, it's through the lens of necessity or heavily implied to be a dramatic assumption. The two biggest cases, "her raising her skirts for sheep" by Septon Eustace is counteracted by the fact that she's marked as a thief and claims a dragon called Sheepstealer who she's likened to in the narrative and by Rhaenyra who is disproven from her "she seduced the prince with spells" theory by both the men of Maidenpool who don't believe her and Daemon who let's Nettles go. Anytime her promiscuity is presented, it's immediately questioned by who we are told she is.

6. White women tears:

Historically and in fiction, the tears of a white woman are enough to derail any existence of a black character permanently or are at least meant to. Black people, fictional or real, are consistently tormented with the notion of white woman tears or emotional outbursts. Their actions cause a major consequence with white women. With Rhaenyra, this would be Nettle slowing her head for her suspicions. Nettles does not and gets away from. The narrative. This is unheard of. In fantasy doesn't occur because most times, the black woman would be punished, but in fandom, this idea is also reflected in the call for Nettles to be replaced.

7. Relationship with the lead man:

Daemon, for better or worse, is the lead man of the dance. Nettles finds herself attached to him in a relationship that seems, for lack of a better word loving. They seem comfortable, happy, and he's doting towards her. They spend all their time together, and it's paralleled with his other 'living' relationships as well. She's portrayed as his last great love and in the universe, the singers say as much. Issues aside, this is rare. (Martha Jones, I'm sorry I wasn't your writer)

8. Power and Worship:

Nettles is worshipped and seems to become a Goddess in her own right at the end of her narrative departure. Nettles is viewed as a deity because of the power she claimed by herself. Revolutionary. Also it isn't some blink and you can avoid it thing. It ties into the main story of Game of Thrones and her clan, the Burned men helping Tyrion Lannister.

9. Mammy, Sapphire Jezabel ext:

Mammy: Maternal black woman. Lives to serve white people and nothing else.

Sapphire: Rude, loud, stubborn, malicious, 'dumb' black women, nothing else.

Jezabel: raw, sexual, can barely restrain their sexuality and live to tempt (white) men. Nothing else.

Not once does Nettles tie into any of these tropes without it being questioned in the narrative or simply ignored in her story. So many representations of black women, especially in fantasy, fall into the first two or friend not lover trope, help mate trope, etc. anything that justifies their existence by tying them to white characters with no other outlook. Nettles subverts this.

10. Season of the Witch:

Black witches and their history save me. Black witches and their history save. This aligns itself with African spiritually and the otherness assigned to enslaved women who practised both 'witchcraft' and medicinal herbology for lack of a better word.

Witchcraft is also often tied to the imagery of the irresistible black woman as it's almost inhuman to be that attracted to black women when white women are available.

So when it's said that Nettles is a witch, imagery similar to the justifications of white women during slavery are being invoked but not followed through because no one believes her.

11. Disposable Black Love interest

This is also a big issue across genres with black chapters. It happens with Laena in the show as well. When the plot calls for it (or in a lot of cases fans) you dispose of the black love interest in place of a white one. Nettles removal from the narrative immediately calls for both Daemon's and Aemond's removal from the narrative. She isn't disposable. She's a linchpin. Also, Daemon does not go back to Rhaenyra after Nettles leaves. He just dies.

12. Nothing Special:

Magical black negros that helps the protagonist, welcome to your tape.

The magical black negros trope is this convention within fantasy where a black character will appear only to be an aid to a white character by their use of magic. They don't exist or have a life outside this purpose. Nettles could've fallen into this trap.

The idea that she isn't Valyrian could have easily been tied with the spells angle outside Rhaenyra’s bias. Instead of that, however, we get the idea that Nettles is just smart and interesting. She's allowed to be smart and interesting. The narrative defends her being smart and interesting.

She might not be Valyrian. She might not be a witch or seductress. She might be just a really clever girl who defies the odds and conventions.

Conclusion

I think Nettles was both an active effort on George's part to defy conventions and subevert stereotypes and tropes as well as a way to question his reader's bias. Nettles is often reduced to trivial, replaceable, and minor when she's not. You just have to want to pay attention to her.

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Watch House of the Dragon 1x08 Season 1 Episode 8 full

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In the House of the Dragon episode 8 trailer, it was also made clear that Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine) will not be able to rule Westeros for some time due to a health condition. The Iron Throne will be taken by Otto Hightower (Rhys Ivans), who will run the affairs of the kingdom while Viserys is away. This turn of events will alarm the heir to the Iron Throne, Rainier (Emma D'Arcy) and her allies. Still, Otto is interested in the fact that Prince Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) - the son of his daughter, Queen Alicente (Olivia Cooke) - eventually became the successor of Viserys.

Rhaneyra Targaryen is mostly passive and quiet in "The Princess and the Queen" as she spends most of the episode recovering from the birth of her third child. The scene that opens the episode is both realistic and heartbreaking, and there's a clear attempt to visually center Rhaenyra's perspective on a moment that belongs to her and no one else's. Likewise, Laena Velaryon gains her free will in a far worse birth. This episode finds a way to center women's action with very different results, emphasizing the important characters while adding nuance to their stories. Episode 6 features new actors who manage to capture the spirit of Rhaenyra and Alicent and brings the narrative closer to the war. This is the calm before the storm for both of them, and the story gets to a point where the only thing that makes sense is for them to unite, a united front against Alicent Hightower and her children: the princess against the queen . In the past it would have been avoidable. The decisions made by the Queen and those around her in this episode now make it a certainty. The ball is now in the princess' court, and if there's one thing to say about Rhaenyra, it's that she knows how to react.

It's only halfway through the first season and our two protagonists have finally turned up for work. Emma D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke are now taking on the roles of Rhaenyra and Alicent respectively, and it's a testament to the strong work of Milly Alcock and Emily Carey that it takes a part of this episode to adjust to the switch. Usefully, the ten-year time jump signaled by the cast change saw only a continuation of established patterns: the two have settled into their rivalry and established a minor tournament routine that deforms the entire court.

We open up to a woman complaining, and for once I'm not complaining again about the show's obsession with women as dynastic tools. Well, that too. Rhaenyra of D'Arcy gives birth to their third child, a baby whom her husband Laenor (John Macmillan) is naming Joffrey after their long-lost love. The umbilical cord is being cut when the queen begs to see the baby: Rhaenyra, stubborn to the core, insists on carrying the baby herself as a form of passive resistance. If his plan is to embarrass Alicent, it fails: while a moment of genuine concern crosses Alicent's eyes, he's quickly replaced with the usual sniper. What becomes clear - and this is one of the many benefits of choosing these black actors for the Velaryons - is that none of Rhaenyra's children are from Laenor and that she did in fact have an affair with Ser Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr). Alicent obviously knows, but no one will publicly press charges for fear of treason - and Viserys (Paddy Considine) is willingly blind to the whole thing. He encourages his children and grandchildren to play together, happy knowing that he can bind them as allies to all support Rhaenyra's government. Interestingly, however, the mild-mannered former Alicent is now confident enough to question her welcoming worldview quite sharply.

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