#nettles F&B

[bohemian-nights]

People really are missing the point of a character like Nettles. Being the a non-Valyrian dragonrider is what makes her different(in every positive definition of that word) and helps to serve a larger purpose in this story.

Valyrian blood is not special. It’s not needed to do great things. No one is special because of what family they happen to be born into.

A non-Valyrian Nettles shows that we are more than the circumstances which we are born into. Our birth, our names, and our very blood does not define us. Our actions are what do. We can overcome so much and rise to become absolutely extraordinary with a little bit of determination, patience, and a dash of help along the way. Nettles exemplifies that to the fullest extent.

She's more than a Black Valryian. She doesn’t have to be Valyrian. She shouldn’t have to be Valyrian.

She’s a survivor. She’s a final girl. She’s a Black low-born girl likely without a drop of dragons blood that tames a wild dragon with patience that killed countless others who had dragons blood. She survived the Dance where others high and low alike fell and perished to become a firewitch to the Burned Men.

Her legacy is immortalized in the history books(and by the Burned Men cause they still worship her) as one of the last(if not the last) dragonrider(s) before Dany all without having any known Valyrian ancestry.

[daemonxnettles]

Maester Norren writes that "the prince and his bastard girl" supped together every night, broke their fast together every morning, slept in adjoining bedchambers, that the prince "doted upon the brown girl as a man might dote upon his daughter," instructing her in "common courtesies" and how to dress and sit and brush her hair, that he made gifts to her of "an ivory-handled hairbrush, a silvered looking glass, a cloak of rich brown velvet bordered in satin, a pair of riding boots of leather soft as butter." The prince taught the girl to wash, Norren says, and the maidservants who fetched their bath water said he oft shared a tub with her, "soaping her back or washing the dragon stink from her hair, both of them as naked as their namedays."

Fire & Blood🔥

[venusintheblindspots-blog]

I think some of you are being dishonest about the “love” you have for Rhaena as a character, in order to dismiss Nettles, and it’s starting to look weird. Rhaena’s arc in HOTD is less fulfilling and quite frankly, boring, than her book counterpart because the writers cannot commit to writing her (and Baela) as full, rounded characters. Her story in Fire and Blood is very different from Nettles’, which is why her arc in the show is as drawn out and inconsistent as it is. They don’t know what to do with her.

[selkiewife]

FANCAST of THUSO MBEDU as NETTLES HOUSE OF THE DRAGON || FIRE AND BLOOD

[lady-phasma]

18+ MDNI

Targaryen bloodline ask ✧︎ His general appeal ✧︎ Short Alys ask ✧︎ Book Aemond ✧︎ Really long ask about PTSD ✧︎ His sexuality (written Jan 2023) ✧︎ Ticklish headcanon ask ✧︎ Tie-in ask about c*ckwarming fic

Anon ask about his depiction in the series as "grey" character

Breeding k!nk ✧︎ Sex scenes opinion ask ✧︎ His biggest fears

His love interests ask ✧︎ Episode 4 ask - did he spare Rhaenyra?

Another Ep 4 ask ✧︎ Random hair ask ✧︎ Short hair ask ✧︎ And another

Ridiculous boredom ask ✧︎ Age ask ✧︎ Rhea Royce ask

Season 2 ask ✧︎ Dettles ask ✧︎ Petty Daemon ✧︎ Age ask (very short) ✧︎ Anons are interesting ✧︎ The same anon ✧︎ They chilled out a little but it still makes me laugh ✧︎ What is not to like? ask

Rhaenyra, Alicent, and Helaena after the cut

Copy of other characters ask ✧︎ Stages of Love ask ✧︎ I need you Uncle ask ✧︎ Would she have been happier with Harwin ask ✧︎ General marriage ask

Aromantic ask ✧︎ General opinion ask

Marriage to Jace ask ✧︎ Aemond's view of her "seer abilities" ask

I love it when anons want to learn! House Velaryon dragon ask

Bonus: Contextual Formalism as Film Theory

obviously I really like asks

Main masterlist

[kataraavatara]

i hate, hate, HATE when nettles “fans” say something along of “omg nettles got Daemon to leave his Valyrian wife for her 💅she’s just that girl” because IF (and I mean IF, because Daemon + Nettles is a highly contested claim within the text, so stop treating it as fact) IF Daemon and Nettles were together, this makes Nettles a victim, not some kind of girlboss. She is a teenager and he is an adult. “Haha she was so much better he left Rhaenyra for her” that is a tragedy, not a flex. How are you a “fan” of her character if you are cheering on something bad happening to her? The answer is you’re not, plain and simple. You do not care about her!!

[theothermaidoftarth]

My new moodboard for my as-yet unnamed Nettles x Cregan Fire and Blood au oneshot. The premise of which is basically, what if Rhaenyra sent Nettles north to ensure Cregan Stark’s support. And get her away from a certain someone who is a little too intrigued by her. Two birds, one stone. Or even, two dragons, one (very lucky) scorpion-shot.

[ride-thedragon]

Part 2: Why Black Equals Non Valyrian.

Part 1 here.

So, in the last part, I covered all the ways Nettles' story defies stereotypes and tropes about black people, specifically black women. I've done that before, at least two other times to my knowledge, but this part is tied to why Black in Nettles narrative means that she is Non Valyrian.

I do keep seeing this discussion pop up, and I really don't know why, but I want to give in world evidence as well as attach the general reason for Nettles' character in the story.

1. Nettles isn't anyone's bastard.

No one in the narrative claims her. Her bastardy on Driftmark isn't alluded to be by anyone we know, and she isn't a descendent of any Valyrian to our knowledge.

2. She doesn't look Valyrian

I know this one is the one that people have the issue with. Yes we do have Black Targaryen bastards in the books, but they all have some signifier that they are Targaryen, yes we do have non Valyrian looking Targaryens, but they are all from Valyrian parents, Alysanne, Rhaenys, Jace all have Valyrian parents.

Nettles does not have any evidence based on looks that she would be a Targaryen and saying that she is because it's meant to make Rhaenyra look bad leaves out the part where it is a purposeful narrative question.

The different way she claims a dragon

For example, the way Nettles claims a dragon is unlike any Targaryen we know of before. However, it is not unlike the dragonriders we know before. Because of her feeding him before they can form any type of bond, Nettles paralles the pre Valyrian sheep herders who first bonded with the dragons. And before I get the dragon keepers arguement of feeding a dragon alone wouldn't make her a dragon rider, Nettles goes out of her way to bond with Sheepstealer, not just feed him, unlike the dragon keepers.

3. Daemon Targaryen

Boooo.

On a serious note, the reason he is important in this is because him saving her and the specific way she redeems him hinges on her not being Valyrian.

Nettles not being Valyrian, not being a man to be knighted or someone who could assume her own power outside of a man all plays into why Daemon saving her works as a redemption.

She is a nobody. Daemon isn't choosing one Valyrian over the other his choosing the orphan black girl from Driftmark over his Targaryen wife queen. People act like that isn't important, but it is. Daemon, up till this point, has only willingly had Valyrian partners, but here he is, prioritising a non Valyrian over anyone.

She is also Rhaenyra’s foil, so it makes sense that the Targaryen Queen with the dragon ahtced to her is foiled with a dragon claiming non Valyrian.

4. Sheep

I'm gonna have my moots explain it so I'll leave the link but what we need to remember are that sheep are a symbol for three things, the small folk, sacrifice and innocence. The way sheep are tied to Nettles is the same way Targaryens are tied to Dragons. Basically, she doesn't have Targaryen imagery outside of the dragon she claims.

5. As a deity.

The diety status she claims in the Vale is also different from Targaryens and the way their power comes to them. Targaryens are inherently powerful because of their dragons but also because of the magic they have that bound them so interconnectedly. The way their babies can be malformed, the distinct look, the dreams, etc, are all tied to the blood tie they have towards the dragons, the sacrifices of human beings they made for the blood magic.

Nettles sacrifices sheep. But when it comes to the burned men, they don't sacrifice themselves. They burn a part of their bodies for a coming of age ceremony. Unlike the Targaryens, when Nettles has her own influence, she never calls for blood.

6 .The other seeds

This one is a bit more obvious, but she is surrounded by Targaryens and Velayrons who are naturally born but still look the way we are told they should. The closest we come to the difference that Nettles has is Jace, but him and his brothers have a Valyrian mother who makes sure eggs hatch to them from her dragon. Sheepstealer is the only wild dragon ever claimed.

7. The point of Nettles' story (Daenerys time)

Idk how many times I'll bring this up again but I this case I jsut want to focus on the fact that Nettles part in Dany's identity is specifically someone living under the myth of Targaryens, something they are really removed from as an individual. With Dany that comes easily with the war and Baratheon take over, but for Nettles, it plays out in the way that she can claim a dragon and be killed by the rightful heir all the same.

8. She belongs nowhere

Nettles really just doesn't belong. She does break the magic of the world as we know it, but she is also set up to exist in it. Targaryens are special and unique. Being Valyrian doesn't make you Targaryen. They are a very distinct group of people, and Nettles just adds to the grounding of that. Who knows if she could claim a dragon who wasn't wild, or whether or not she could hatch one. She's another aspect of the magic. Not all Targaryens are Daenerys, and not all dragon riders were Targaryens, but there was a time when they were normal and Nettles can be an ode to either concept.

All of this to say, I won't definitively say that she isn't Valyrian. That's not my place. What I will say is that George went out of his way to use parallels and tropes to ensure we never saw anyone like her before and again. It matters more to her arc and what she does to be non Valyrian. Do with that what you will.

[the-queen-who-should-have-been]

Nettles

Hardly a likely paramour for a prince, one would think.

[bohemian-nights]

-Fire & Blood 🐑🐉

[daemonxnettles]

Daemon Targaryen x Nettles 🐑🐉

[venusintheblindspots-blog]

More on the dynamic between Rhaenyra and Nettles…

One of my biggest qualms of ASOIAF, is the inherent racism displayed in the text, and the fandom, when discussing characters like Nettles, Elia, Baela, Laena and Rhaena.

My introduction to ASOIAF was House of the Dragon, and after watching, I was an avid team black supporter ( still am, Rhaenyra was Viserys’ heir).

After finishing the main series, and watching half of Game of Thrones, I reread Fire and Blood, focusing mainly of the Dance of Dragons.

Of all the interesting characters during the Dance of the Dragons, the one that caught my eye was Nettles, the first and last rider of Sheepstealer.

Her introduction alone was enough for me to fall in love with her :

“Unlikely dragon rider”, “the first and last rider of the dragon Sheepstealer”, “fearless”, “cunning”

Very little is known of Nettles’ upbringing, as the accounts of Eustace, Munkun and Mushroom are biased with racism, classism, misogyny and second hand information.

I’m not particularly sure if it was George’s intention, but the language used by Gyldayn and the a portion of the fandom is a prime example of how black girls are robbed of innocence and agency when being accused of ‘wrong’.

Going back to her relationship with Rhaenyra, the two women are not on equal footing. Rhaenyra was awarded privileges even other noble women in the realm could only dream of,(not that she lived without suffering, she still faced misogyny & sexual abuse), as opposed to Nettles, who lived as a commoner with nothing to do but survive.

Coming around to the Dance of Dragons, Nettles fights for Rhaenyra’s claim as the rider of Sheepstealer. She grieves Rhaenyra’s children, and the loss felt in war.

Daemon and Rhaenyra’s are implied to have an open marriage in Fire and Blood.

Mysaria is Rhaenyra’s Mistress of Whisperers during the Dance of the Dragons, with no implications of animosity between the two. Yet, upon the hearing of Daemon and Nettle’s rumored romance, Rhaenyra is angered?

Rhaenyra’s disdain for Nettles reminds me of another harmful dynamic in real world history,- a jealous white woman, and a young black girl being cut by the blade of her vengeance. Rhaenyra dehumanizes Nettles, going as far as to call her a creature and demanding a brutal death for Nettles, so that Daemon could be free from her ‘sorcery’. She cannot conceptualize how Daemon could be attracted to Nettles, so she accuses her of using magic to bound him to her.

Their dynamic reminds me of the relationships between wives of white slaver owners and the enslaved women that their husbands would abuse sexually. The blame is never casted on the husband. Whether or not Nettles and Daemon had a romantic relationship or a father-daughter one, she did not deserve the treatment Rhaenyra gave her.

To close this, I still like Rhaenyra as a character. She’s interesting in a sense where, regardless of what she’s done, she was the better option for the Iron Throne, especially if we are going off of her character in the show. However, she still reads to me as the epitome of white feminism. Her fight is for no one else but herself.

[selkiewife]

Sorry for the quality of this. This is from the trailer for the next episode, Season 2, Episode 7. I STILL don’t think they have cut Nettles. They never named the Dragon in the Vale “Sheepstealer” they just said the dragon was wild. The dragon burned some sheep. So did Drogon. And the actor we all thought was Nettles will be in the next episode. I don’t see why we can’t have both Rhaena claiming a wild dragon AND Nettles claiming a wild dragon as well? 

[lady-phasma]

Auntie, I held out so much hope. But they really are cutting nettles, and giving her storyline to Rhaena, aren’t they? I’m so disappointed.

Hi anon! I took my time with this ask because I needed to think. I have watched every frame of this trailer while making gifs and I don't know that I'm convinced one way or the other. I was with you 100% when I first saw your ask in my inbox. Disappointed. But we didn't think Nettles would be introduced in season two. So I don't want to be that quick to write her off as lost (despite my lack of confidence in some of the show's creators).

I'm not going to try and comfort us by saying we don't have conclusive evidence. But I do have to remind myself (and everyone else has to hear it): we may get four seasons and this is the trailer for the second season (all 8 episodes). They only have about 200 pages of source material for four season, they need every bit of it.

But I'm curious if this is your source:

I'm with OP - it better be! And I think it is. So, the image on the left is fan art. That dragon, or one like, it isn't in the trailer. I think all of the dragons in the trailer have been identified and Sheepstealer isn't among them.

I edited two parts of the trailer together for this gif and Rhaena isn't connected to the shot over the forest. However, that doesn't mean that she's connected to the shot over the battlefield either. Just because they edited the trailer to have her appear to look up at this particular dragon doesn't mean it was this one. I am convinced that is Baela on Moondancer.

Am I trying to give you (and myself and anyone who reads this) false hope? Of course not. We also don't know how Morning will fit in. If Rhaena eventually ends up riding Morning, then why give Sheepstealer away? Maybe if she never got her own dragon I could understand the plot device lazy writers could use by giving her Sheepstealer.

Every last Nettles stan wants her on screen. Even if we disagree with ships or characterizations, one thing I love about the Nettles community is how much we support her. She will be an asset to this series if they include her. If they don't, they will lose a lot of respect. I am going to keep an open mind, enjoy my dragon soap opera, and hope we see her in season three or four. I'm dubious but four season is a long time, anon.

[tessarionbestgirl]

Do you think Daemyra had an open marriage? I can't see Rhaenyra being ok with him sleeping with Myseria if she wasn't also straying from the marriage bed.

Going back to Nettles, I think Rhaenyra's anger was linked more to the fact he chose a black girl over his white wife rather than him cheating on her. Myseria's white in the books and she had no problem with him sleeping with her.

That is a interesting question.

I believe in In the book, while they didn't have a open relationship, like show!Laenor and her where you have a very modern set of rules and boundaries. I think they are aware of each other behaviour or at least Rhaenyra was and didn't mind, because, to her what matters was that his heart was loyal to her, and that what she probably told herself. I think, also, she didn't mind Daemon fucking Mysaria because she also was fucking her too. Is the whole Laena thing going on but inverse, with Rhaenyra being his wife. She probably liked even more because, she was the one holding the power, or at least is what she believed.

My interpretation is that Rhaenyra always believe Daemon love her because of the years of grooming, so when Daemon fell in love with someone else, and treated her in away that remembered the way he used to treat her (but more genuine) is really made her jealous and come to the conclusion, that he doesn't love her or even loved her and that truly hurt her and pushed her to the edge. And then of course, as you said, there is the layer of the racial/social issue, because now her pride also is hurt, and that is even worse for Book!Rhaenyra, because of who he fall for, a bastard girl with no Valyrian characteristic that could not be more opposite to her.

It was pure humiliation for her. So the jealous becomes anger, and she tried to get revenge on the weakest part, and that was Nettles. And that is the thing that pissed of Daemon the most.

Because see, when we analyse Daemyra for the political aspect of their relationship you have a better understanding why they also fall apart. Rhaenyra and Daemon marriage was always a representation of how monarchy and royalty are closed in their own bubble. And while Rhaenyra never cared about small folk and their relationship was always fed on the Valyrian traditional. Rhaenyra was always delusional of her own greatness and she died that way.

Daemon was always more complicated, is like Martin says he has equal good and bad inside of him. And he is someone that is more aware of the problems of small folk and in Daemon way he tried to make better. And we saw that in the show multiple times.

First when he make Kingslanding more safe.

There is even cut scenes of the tournament that some people show love to him. And there is really good scene of young Rhaenyra talking to her problems and the problems of being a lady and he clap back saying there is worse fates than that. You can watch here:

And season 2 is also a very big exemple of that. Daemon wants to be king, but also, he only starts to go against Rhaenyra when he sees weakness on her in the same way he saw in his brother.

So of course in the book for him is even worse because Rhaenyra is punishing the very personification of small folk for what they do to each other.

The show, they don't have a open relationship, is not even nearly implied that in any point. Actually there is almost romantic aspect of their relationship.What makes even worse Rhaenyra fucking with Mysaria. Because Daemon comes out as more loyal to her. Heck Daemon in the show was a faithful husband to Laena and Rhaenyra.

[theothermaidoftarth]

World on Fire

Chapter 1 (of 3)

M/16+ | Nettles x Cregan Stark

Full list of cw on ao3

Excerpt:

One of the Northmen closest to her breaks her concentration, hefting a broad two-headed axe with ease in his large hand. “What was that!”

She leaves the cocoon of the roots to stand before the man, her back to where Sheepstealer shall appear. “I wouldn’t if I were you.” He’d take it as a threat to her, since she can’t turn him away.

The grizzled old lord scowls at Nettles speaking to him as if he were a boy reaching out to touch a hot pot. “And who are you?”

She circles closer slowly, near enough so his horse sidles away from her, away from the smell of dragon. For every step forward she takes, the horse trots back. A wicked amusement tickles her at the flash of unease upon the rider’s craggly face. Such a rush this power is, potent as mead on an empty stomach. And her stomach has been empty more oft than not. “You ain’t heard o’ me?” She locks eyes with the quiet lord she can now see wears a pale cloak trimmed with grey. Ah, of course. He is still; watchful… Almost as if — “He knows who I am.” She tips her head to him in ironic imitation of a bow. “Lord Stark.” This had not been how Nettles planned on making the Lord of Winterfell’s acquaintance but the gods did so laugh at the plans of mortals. She might as well laugh with them.

Read on ao3

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