#unless you're me

[ride-thedragon]

NETTLES AND RHAENYRA, CHARACTER FOILS.

Because I'm not an English teacher

So the question is, How is Nettles Rhaenyra's foil?

1. Appearance .

Rhaenyra is a pretty standard Valyrian beauty. Silver locks, purple eyes, quite pretty, later on in life we get the change that she didn't lose the wait after giving birth to her kids and becùase of misogyny, her beauty has faded. Features like her long hair worn in the style of Visenya and so on are also mentioned. It's giving the Realm's delight in a real sense (not the weird sense).

Nettles, on the other hand, is juxtaposed as 'ugly'. She's brown, is skinny, has crooked teeth, a nose scar, and has short hair.

The maesters like to play to damn much, basically. But they are described as almost exact opposites. Short and long hair, skinny and fat, white and brown skin, purple and brown eyes, etc.

The narrative purpose is to ultimately show their different upbringing and places in this society.

2. Status

Rhaenyra is shown to be the princess, heir to the throne and queen throughout the book. No matter what happens with her, the security and privilege she has almost always goes over what other women have. Her only real threat is the men (and book Alicent) who have personal stake in her not ascending her throne. She's also entirely spoilt as princess and heir by her father and more so her uncle.

Nettles, on the other hand, is introduced to us as an orphan from Driftmark. We're told she could've been a thief and a sex worker by the time we met her. She has no name, lands, titles, or family that we are presented with in the narrative and her backstory for better or less is a patchwork of what her life was possibly like on Driftmark.

Unlike Rhaenyra, we don't follow every salacious rumour and really don't know much about her past.

3. Dragons

Rhaenyra’s dragon Syrax was a cradle egg hatched to her, a Targaryen custom. She's also the youngest dragonrider at 7 I believe.

Nettles claims her dragon at no older than 16 years old. He is a wild dragon (a distinction given to hatched Targaryen dragons that haven't been riden and live away from the keep) and slaughters many before she claims him.

4. Virtue

The notion of virtue in asoiaf is extremely complex, especially with these two women and the vastly different backgrounds. But virginity and speculation also develops both their characterizations in the narrative.

Rhaenyra allegedly "sleeps" with Daemon to practise what she wants to do with Criston (she's 15-). In the show, it becomes obvious that she almost sleeps with Daemon and officially sleeps with Criston. Either way, promiscuity and naivety are written into her character. The only point of conflict is who is involved with what happened in these instances less than what happened. Later on her promiscuity is brought up when Ser Harwin Strong is said to be the father of her first three children.

On the other hand, Nettles' sexual promiscuity is given to her in the narrative. The claims of her being a whore or sleeping around with shepherds are claims made by men who don't know what she was doing at that time. Men who made similar claims about Rhaenyra and their involvement in her loss of virtue as well. Where these stories differ is in Maidenpool, where the assumption of promiscuity is given a different voice.

This time, maids are alluding to an inappropriately close relationship between Daemon and Nettles (yet again, he finds himself here).

5. Daemon

Speak of the devil, and he will appear.

His dynamic is important to these women and their place in the narrative. Saving one dooms the other, leaving with one isolated the other. His decisions ultimately affect one while benefiting the other.

The cruellest example of this dynamic is him letting Nettles go after being the reason she is trapped in the narrative and ultimately dooming Rhaenyra by choosing to kill Aemond instead of going back to her.

His dynamic with both was also comparable with gift giving and quality time and even inappropriate relationship he developed with both of them, notably around similar ages. ( Both these relationships have significant power imbalances).

Between them both, his affection to one affects the other detrimentally.

6. Jace

Specifically in reference to his death, it's notable that within the narrative, while Nettles is described as crying by herself in response to his death, Rhaenyra is hardened by it.

Also, as symbols for legitimacy and legacy, Jace is the reason Nettles is recognised as a dragonseed, and Rhaenyra's line is secured as her first born, but in his absence, Nettles is delegitimised and said to be not a dragonseed. Around that time, Rhaenyra is beginning to be questioned by all the men around her as well, whereas before, Jace was a notable voice in decisions.

7. Dragons in the End.

They both meet their 'end' in the narrative with Dragons. Rhaenyra is killed by her brother's dragon Sunfyre burns and eats her, killing her in front of her son.

Nettles, however, escapes the narrative on dragonback, with the stories that follow explicitly explaining how dragon fire protects her and leads her to become a deity for the burned men.

8. Children

In the narrative, Nettles has no children. Children would explicitly be a burden in her described circumstances as a mouth to feed and someone else to care for. Effectively, children would trap Nettles in a cycle of poverty and inability to experience ethe freedom presented in the narrative.

Rhaenyra is expected to have children to secure her legacy and reign. Children, especially sons, would be her greatest benefit to ensure her ascension to the throne. They are her biggest strategy and losses throughout the war because of that reason.

This dynamic carries out to a head with the death decree for Nettles. The possibility that she would have a child by Daemon is a definitive reason that her 'treason' calls for her head. A child would give her a claimant but also be proof of infidelity by Daemon. It would be a slight to Rhaenyra’s pride and grief as she at this point has lost 4 children during the war.

9. Loyalty of men

This is one of the most interesting for me because the disloyalty of men for Rhaenyra meant the loyalty of men to Nettles. When the Mootons decide not to kill her, they are traitors to Rhaenyra. When Daemon lets her leave, he's a traitor to Rhaenyra. When Corlys stands up for both her and Addam, he's treated like a traitor. Furthermore, the Mootons turn to Aegon’s side directly after because they did not obey her for two reasons, Nettles being accused and sentenced without trial, and Rhaenyra wanting them to break guest right.

Within the narrative, at that point, loyalty to Rhaenyra was a sentence on Nettles' life, and loyalty to Nettles was treason to Rhaenyra.

Conclusion.

In other ways, like the impact of their legacy, the symbols of their identity (dragons), other ways that their narratives with Daemon (the stories) play out and so on juxtapose these women against each other in the narrative. Age and innocence in both a meta and narrative sense also play into Nettles being a foil for Rhaenyra’s character. Personally I think the reason ts written that way is for Nettles to cause a Stark difference in behaviour with men like Daemon and the Mootons as well as to show the contrast of what is expected and what is to be done and what actually happens.

Hope this helps 🩷🤎

[heretherebedork]

I tried to fix a very minor problem with my toilet but made it worse instead. Uh. Send help. Damn. I have many talents but fine motor skills ain't one.

[grimsplash]

Happy 420 guys, I'm getting fucking blasted tonight bro

[arcadekitten]

Do you have any specific thoughts about cults of personality?

I mean. Typically this kind of term is reserved for like. Political figures and even dictators?

If you're trying to say something about the parasocial relationships that people form with those they admire, I think it's important to remember that literally every person on this Earth is literally just some guy. Every celebrity, political figure, public figure, whoever--is just some guy.

No one is ever going to be the most important person in the world. We're all just some guy.

[deathbypufferfish]

Feeling incredibly unhinged as the wizard tonight send an ask and I'll cast a spell and assign you a My Singing Monsters game from the award-winning mobile app game My Singing Monsters

I'm gandalf y'all are the hobbits

[catcatb0y]

Bro trans or not, kids are going to ID as animals. We always have. We always will.

I used to hiss at kids on the playground, and guess what? I grew out of it. Being more 'cat' than 'boy' has always come naturally to me. It doesn't harm anyone.

Whether it's for fun or for serious.

Find a group of kids not casting spells to make them vampires or werewolves or cats or whatever- it might be pawsible now, but most everyone I know either had or knew someone at their school that had an otherkin/furry/animal phase.

It's a part of growing up.

u can become fully immune to a lot of scaremongering transphobic headlines simply by being chill about otherkin stuff. 'what's next? children identifying as CATS and DOGS??' why not! i hope they have a lovely time doing it.

[bulliness]

Love when people make posts like "lmk wen I interact wit a freak.....so I can suck them silly lol!" Because it's a toss up if they're talking about people calling trans women sex pests, or they condone like.......rape fantasy porn. You never know 🤨

[triflesandparsnips]

Just saw someone ask for someone's irl age in their bio for "safety" or some shit and--

Friends, I'm telling you: this is the internet. There should be no expectation of access to your personal information.

Say nothing! Or if that doesn't work for you, fucking lie. Use a pseud! Say you live in a snail's shell off the coast of New Brunswick! Answer every info-gathering question asked of you with a different, less comprehensible answer! Tell anyone who says you've got to put your real age in your bio that you're 85, ta ever so, and they're very rude to bother you with this!

But your first step to internet safety is to say nothing.

Make it harder for bad actors to find you, manipulate you, or steal all your shit.

The good actors won't fucking ask.

[tstimacstumblinfuntime]

Got to witness a truly beautiful moment in today's RP: One of the players experienced his first ever character death. What a privilege. What an honor.

[bloodywolfwings]

Agreed, I don't care if it's stereotypical, they deserve it

love how everyone agrees n and uzi should get married, settle down, and have kids /srs

[bloggingboutburgers]

This gig is doing wonders for my self-esteem related to my age tbh

[gothixm00nz]

i just found a site that'll help me write slightly better so when i send my drafts to my editor, he won't be so disappointed with my yeehaw ass writing

[elsecrytt]

okay but jjk somnophilia is like

gojo "please please pleaaaaase let me put it in while you're sleeping PLEASE i swear i'll make you cum i proooomise please let's try it once pleeaaase. YOU can put it in ME whenever you want!!! any time any place anything you want in any of my holes!! wake me up with it!! it'll be soooo hot" satoru

vs

nanami "i have kink charts for both of us and they have sliding scales and notes section for each one. we can mark hard boundaries for what state of consciousness we want for ourselves or our partners, giving or receiving, what sex acts, etc. we'll set up a safe word and a safe gesture and then we can start trying things out" kento

vs

geto "sorry i fell asleep while eating you out, it will happen again. no, i won't stop eating you out when i fall unconscious. just tear me off your pussy if you don't like it" suguru

[pr0cyon-lotor]

Shen Yuan is the type of guy to get proposed to and brush it off with a "yeah sure. if you don't change your mind when you're older I guess lmao"

Little does he know but he has a husband because that little former street rat isn't letting go

[manofbeskar]

"found out my colleague is sleeping with my brother"

[erinwantstowrite]

wait guys i forgot to make this joke earlier but i saw Moana 2 (spoilers???? if anyone cares??) and the fact that Moana got struck by lightning TWICE and also there were multiple mentions to fanfic... felt targeted...