#nettles and sheepstealer

[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 🩷🤎

#hotd #house of the dragon #nettles #nettles asoiaf #netty #a song of ice and fire #rhaenyra targaryen #queen rhaenyra #rhaenyra x criston #rhaenyra x daemon #nettles and sheepstealer #sheepstealer #syrax #the mootons #character foils #stop the propaganda #why would George put a character in that could be taken out easily #thats not how writing works #unless you're me #yall are acting dense and ik yall know better #dont play with me #daemon and nettles #daemon x nettles #nettles x daemon

[venusintheblindspots-blog]

The Maiden, the Mother and the Crone: a study on Nettles

Nettles, the Maiden

In ASOIAF, the maiden represents innocence and chasity. Now, like all the other faces of the faith of the seven, the maiden is represented through various characters, with one of them being Nettles. With her upbringing being unknown, all that is known about Nettles’ childhood and sexual experience are speculations made based on her class, race and gender. She is not granted the privilege of innocence the noble women in Westeros are given.

Despite the authors of fire and blood, and the people in-universe accusing her of promiscuity, Nettles’ connection to the maiden has almost nothing to do with sex, but is rather an exploration of the war amongst the noble houses of Westeros, and the fault of legitimacy as it pertains to Targaryens.

The Claiming of Sheepstealer

According to the accounts in Fire and Blood, Nettles claims the wild-dragon Sheepstealer by feeding him freshly slaughtered sheep everyday until he came to accept her as his mount. In various cultures, religions and art pieces, sheep are used to represent innocence and purity. Sheep are also generally defenseless against harm, and are likely to die from panic if even frightened.

How this relates to Nettles and the maiden:

The account of the events we get in ASOIAF, always comes from nobility. We do not get the POV of anyone of low birth, but, we don’t need their POV to know that the smallfolk are always at the mercy of the people that rule over them. They are always the first and largest casualties in wars that are usually insignificant to them and their well-being. Nettles being of low birth means that she’s lived most of her life unprotected, and at risk of being a means to ends for the schemes of a lord or lady, or even a prince. Nettles being of low birth means that she’s a sheep in a realm ruled by dragons.

By becoming the rider of Sheepstealer, Nettles becomes exposed to life of the nobility in Westeros, in the most devastating way, war.

Nettles, the Mother

Motherhood in Westeros

The loss of innocence for the women of ASOIAF is usually synonymous with the loss of their virginity. Sex isn’t typically done for their pleasure, but rather the fulfilling of their marital duties by providing their husbands with an heir. Their value as women is based on their fertility, so a child sired in marriage is often the sole form of agency and protection women in Westeros get.

GRRM frequently uses metaphors to explore the loss of innocence, like Jaime being cut by Ser Arthur Dayne during his knighting, or Jaime witnessing the death of Brandon and Rickard Stark, or Sansa experiencing her first period, etc. For Nettles, her loss of innocence is written in a way that parallels the optics of motherhood in Westeros.

When Nettles claimed Sheepstealer, she was granted individuality. She is no longer a mere sheep in the field, she has an identity, the Unlikely Dragon-Rider. She is granted protection and value, much like the wives of the lords of Westeros are given, after providing their husbands with a son. When Rhaenyra calls for her head, Lord Mooton, Ser Florian, and Maester Norren all saw it as an unjustly request. If she hadn’t claimed Sheepstealer, if she still remained as a nameless, baseborn girl, she would’ve been killed, swiftly.

Nettles, the Crone

The Dance of the Dragons was the most deadly war fought in Westeros, as it was headlined by dragon-riders. Most of the participants wound up dead by the end of it, with their cause lost in grief. There are many events that led to the dance of the dragons, but at its core, it was a war fought over the legitimacy of House Targaryen. Nettles is one of the few people who survived it, and her dragon is one of the last to be seen or heard of before Daenerys Targaryen’s hatching of Rhaegal, Viserion and Drogon.

Masculinity and Legitimacy in Westeros

The conquest of Westeros by Aegon and his two sister-wives, Rhaenys and Visenya, was only possible with the dragons of Old Valyria. The legitimacy of the Targaryen dynasty relies on blood quantum,i.e.,having the blood of the dragon, and being able to ride one. All the Targaryen kings, from Aegon, straight down to Viserys, were dragon riders, and that played a part in their kingship.

Kings in Westeros are the ultimate male figures, followed by knights, maesters and lords. Looking at these archetypes and their specific roles,- kings and lords protect the realm, knights defend the innocent, maesters share their wisdom with youth-, Nettles fulfills all of them during the Dance.

The Black Ram

After the Dance, Nettles is worshipped as a fire witch by the mountain clans of the Vale. According to the accounts in fire and blood, the youths would bring her gifts and return as men with burns to show that they faced the dragon woman in her lair. Nettles in this instance is being used as a rite of passage and symbol of the loss of innocence, as well as wisdom, paralleling the relationship between her and Sheepstealer.

Through Sheepstealer she becomes a warrior and a protector of the realm, and she defends Rhaenyra’s claim like any knight would. Who best to act as a rite of passage but the woman who has played in every archetype they aspire to be?

Before her departure from Maidenpool, and one her last recorded appearances, Nettles feeds her dragon Sheepstealer, a black ram. She’d slit its throat herself, and the animal’s blood was said to have stained her leather clothing. The black ram is often associated with wisdom, discernment, sacrifice and guidance. In most cultures, it represents different gods and goddesses of war, fertility and royalty. She started her story as an innocent sheep, ignorant of the spoils of war, and ends as the black ram, the epitome of wisdom.

And to close: Nettles isn’t confirmed to be of royal blood, but she is embodiment of House Targaryen’s ideology of being gods amongst men.

#nettles f&b #asoiaf nettles #asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #nettles #nettles asoiaf #nettles and sheepstealer

[horizon-verizon]

Nettles’ Characterization and Gyldayn’s Writing

Some Quotes with Nettle’s Characterization Before Going to Maidenpool

In the end, the brown dragon was brought to heel by the cunning and persistence of a “small brown girl” of six-and-ten, who delivered him a freshly slaughtered sheep every morning, until Sheepstealer learned to accept and expect her. Munkun sets down the name of this unlikely dragonrider as Nettles. Mushroom tells us the girl was a bastard of uncertain birth called Netty, born to a dockside whore. By any name, she was black-haired, brown-eyed, brown-skinned, skinny, foul-mouthed, fearless…and the first and last rider of the dragon Sheepstealer.

(Fire and Blood; The Red Dragon and the Gold)

Mushroom [who was actually at Dragonstone at the time] tells us there were two men on Dragonstone that night who drank to the slaughter in a smoky tavern beneath the castle: the dragonriders Hugh the Hammer and Ulf the White, who had flown Vermithor and Silverwing into battle and lived to boast of it. “We are knights now, truly,” Hard Hugh declared. And Ulf laughed and said, “Fie on that. We should be lords.”

The girl Nettles did not share their celebrations. She had flown with the others, fought as bravely, burned and killed as they had, but her face was black with smoke and streaked with tears when she returned to Dragonstone. And Addam Velaryon, lately Addam of Hull, sought out the Sea Snake after the battle; what they spoke to each other even Mushroom does not say.

(Fire and Blood; The Red Dragon and the Gold)

Some Quotes with Nettle’s Characterization at Maidenpool

Prince Daemon himself would take Caraxes to the Trident, together with the girl Nettles and Sheepstealer, to find Prince Aemond and Vhagar and put an end to them. Ulf White and Hard Hugh Hammer would fly to Tumbleton, some fifty leagues southwest of King’s Landing, the last leal stronghold between Lord Hightower and the city, to assist in the defense of the town and castle and destroy Prince Daeron and Tessarion.

(Fire and Blood; “Rhaenyra Triumphant”)

Why? Because she is a dragonrider and fought bravely at the Battle in the Gullet, where Jacaerys died.

Mushroom [who was not at Maidenpool] would have us believe it was not. By the dwarf’s account, Daemon Targaryen had come to love the small brown bastard girl, and had taken her into his bed.

How much credence can we give the fool’s testimony? Nettles was no more than ten-and-seven, Prince Daemon nine-and-forty, yet the power young maidens exert over older men is well-known.

(Fire and Blood; Rhaenyra Triumphant)

And yet...

The girl Nettles was young, beyond a doubt (though perhaps not as young as those the prince had debauched in his youth), but it seems doubtful that she was a true maiden. Growing up homeless, motherless, and penniless on the streets of Spicetown and Hull, she would most likely have surrendered her innocence not long after her first flowering (if not before), in return for half a groat or a crust of bread. And the sheep she fed to Sheepstealer to bind him to her...how would she have come by those, if not by lifting her skirts for some shepherd? Nor could Netty truly be called pretty. “A skinny brown girl on a skinny brown dragon,” writes Munkun in his True Telling (though he never saw her). Septon Eustace says her teeth were crooked, her nose scarred where it had once been slit for thieving. Hardly a likely paramour for a prince, one would think.

(Fire and Blood; Rhaenyra Triumphant)

And right after, Gyldayn still asserts DaemonxNettles:

None of this constitutes proof that Daemon Targaryen had carnal knowledge of the bastard girl, but in light of what followed we must surely judge that more likely than most of Mushroom’s tales.

(Fire and Blood; Rhaenyra Triumphant)

And the Maester Norren, the miadservants saying Daemon bathed and bathed with Nettles, lord of Maidenpool, his guard captain, his champion Florian Greysteel, and his brother who were all actually at Maidenpool to see Daemon and Nettles together?

We, the readers, can have an understanding that these people and the entire castle knew that Daemon and Nettles had a close relationship and interacted more intimately than they would expect a famous lord and some random peasant girl with culturally-considered-unattractive features to interact.

Immediately, we have to suspect these people because of what I just said: “interacted more intimately than they would expect a famous lord and some random peasant girl”.

These people would not have liked or that Daemon would act out of his class character by even paying close, friendly, platonic attention to her. And they would already see Daemon as one whose past with seeking virgin sex workers proves that he looked to Nettles for sex and sexual intimacy. Or they could have been so surprised at his and Nettles’ “audacity” that they then find it easier to believe that Daemon would have sex with Nettles.

(Besides him liking and sticking with Mysaria, Laena, and Rhaneyra for an extended time with no mention of having extramarital sex with his marriages with the last two…and all of whom who would not have been virgins for different reasons).

Example: If Gyldayn/Norren don’t tell us or consider:

how many times the servant(s) actually saw Daemon bathe Nettles and be naked while doing it?

if Daemon were teaching Nettles to bathe herself properly once or twice and that was all, then when the servants/a servant came in witnessed him bathing Nettles -- is it not feasible to think that they would talk, gossip, and/or exaggerate? 

Was Daemon even naked, then, when he would bathe Nettles? 

How big was the tub they bathed in? How big was the bed? (the-king-andthe-lionheart​ )

How frequently does he actually bathe Nettles when only once or twice would get her to understand so she does it herself? Is this the case of a tall tale? Castles and the work servants do are monotonous and hard– what better topic of conversation and fun than a sex-perverse prince possibly sexing up a lowborn, brown-skinned girl?

Why not consider what @the-king-andthe-lionheart says?: “They may have been sharing a bed because one or both of them weren’t secure in their safety which is completely logical during a war.  It’s not that hard of a leap to think they would be targeted at their most vulnerable, as powerful dragonriders, in a situation where they weren’t close to their dragons, as in, in their rooms, resting.”

“These two are away from everyone else they know and they are in a drafty stone castle.  What is the weather like?  Is it cold?  Castles were very cold.  In days without heaters, it was common to sleep in the same bed as others to remain warm and just for companionship.  We even see this in ASOIAF.  The Tyrells are honestly probably the most historically accurate family in real life medieval and Renaissance times that are portrayed in the books.  Margaery has a lot of ladies-in-waiting and she shares her bed every night with them. [...] Nettles and Daemon are alone.  They don’t have their own households with them or any other companions.” (the-king-andthe-lionheart)

“In medieval and Renaissance times you were constantly around other people, which means, you are usually in the presence of other people routinely when even going to the bathroom and bathing.  Take the Groom of the Stool for instance” (the-king-andthe-lionheart)

Even Gyldayn gets into an investigation for how Daemon couldn’t have had an affair with Nettles…but he rests his argument on how he believes that she wasn’t “unattractive” because: her looks, how he believed she couldn’t possibly be a virgin (being a low classed girl who had to fend for herself) AND how Daemon refused to allow her to be executed despite Nettles (by Gyldayn’s own implication) not mattering.

In other words, Gyldayn is thinking like a classist and a misogynist and his bias is putting more into a situation than needs be. And these sort of readings really do not tend to reveal real truths but a heavily biased interpretation of events.

Consider this post/reblog by @poorshadowspaintedqueens detailing how credible medieval historians like Gyldayn wrote.

#nettles' characterization #asoiaf quotes #fire and blood quotes #Fire and Blood #asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #nettles #sheepstealer #nettles and sheepstealer #dragonriders #the sowing of the seeds #the red sowing #maester gyldayn #gyldayn #medieval historians #westerosi history #westerosi historians #really just wanted to again emphasize that daemonxnettles has so much reason to not exist #because this is truly ridiculous and sometimes a way for people to express anti-Rhaenyra or anti Targness #westerosi books #daemon and nettles

[wyattabernathyus]

Nettles & Sheepstealer

#hotd #house of the dragon #fire and blood #nettles asoiaf #out of character costume #sheepstealer #my art

[ironlily1413]

Nettles and Sheepstealer

I think Nettles is Daemon's daughter. What do you think?

#fire and blood #house of the dragon #iron throne #art #dragon dance #house targaryen #nettles #sheepstealer #artwork #team black

[tragedy-peanut-gallery]

“The girl Nettles did not share their celebrations. She had flown with the others, fought as bravely, burned and killed as they had, but her face was black with smoke and streaked with tears when she returned to Dragonstone” -Fire and Blood

Nettles and Sheepstealer post Battle of the Gullet…… They’re not having a good time right now

#nettles #sheepstealer #asoiaf fanart #lines like this keep reminding me that a lot of the dragonriders during the dance were teenagers…. and it hits me like a damn truck

[ariavar]

I need Tyrion to become a dragonrider in TWOW through horse girl hijinks just so I can repost this a thousand times

#“Tyrion will tame a dragon...” YESS #“...because he is Aerys' bastard” NOOOO #tyrion lannister #nettles #asoiaf #why do you think F&B dedicates like three paragraphs describing how cunning won over blood when it came to claiming Sheepstealer #if Nettles is supposed to be just another dragonseed #and why people don't think that is foreshadowing for another cunning character that will do the same in the main series #the point is to refute Targaryen ideals about being the only ones in the world capable to do it

[bohemian-nights]

Nettles Week-Day 3: Favorite Platonic Character Dynamic 🐑

Nettles & Sheepstealer

In the end, the brown dragon was brought to heel by the cunning and persistence of a "small brown girl" of six-and-ten, who delivered him a freshly slaughtered sheep every morning, until Sheepstealer learned to accept and expect her. Munkun sets down the name of this unlikely dragonrider as Nettles. Mushroom tells us the girl was a bastard of uncertain birth called Netty, born to a dockside whore. By any name, she was black-haired, brown-eyed, brown-skinned, skinny, foul-mouthed, fearless...and the first and last rider of the dragon Sheepstealer.

#netty and her bestest boy #👩🏾🐑🐉 #or second bestest boy #nettles week #nettles #sheepstealer #valyrianscrolls #nettles asoiaf #nettles F&B #bnedit #nettles fancast: Sophie Wilde #lyrics are my beloved monster by the eels #bnmoodboard #nettles week 2024

[acewithapencil]

The fall of King’s Landing to Queen Rhaenyra and her dragons (text from Fire & Blood)

#asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #fire & blood #fan art #my art #vermithor #silverwing #Sheepstealer #seasmoke #caraxes #syrax #hugh hammer #Ulf white #nettles #addam velaryon #daemon Targaryen #rhaenyra targaryen

[wlwocprincess]

Nettles

“In the end, the brown dragon was brought to heel by the cunning and persistence of a “small brown girl” of six-and-ten, named Netty, who delivered him a freshly slaughtered sheep every morning, until Sheepstealer learned to accept and expect her. She was black-haired, brown-eyed, brown-skinned, skinny, foul-mouthed, filthy, and fearless … and the first and last rider of the dragon Sheepstealer.”

moodboard for Nettles week by @richardsthirdnipple!

#none of the pics r mine btw #nettles #ASOIAF #hotd #house of the dragon #fire and blood #fire & blood #sheepstealer #nettlesedit #hotdedit #asoiafedit

[ride-thedragon]

THE POSSIBILITY OF NETTLES NOT BEING IN HOTD.

I'm still not buying it. I don't think they'll go out of their way to cast Silver Denys who's most notable feat is dying because of Sheepstealer and the Cannibal, Alyn of Hull, who's purpose in the narrative at this point is to be burned by Sheepstealer and not include Nettles.

I know a lot of people are trying to say that maybe Baela has taken her place, but I don't think so. They are sending Rhaena away to the Vale for her storyline. Baela has a bigger part in the fighting, but I don't think that after House Velayron loses Rhaenys, Corlys will allow Baela to fight. I think she'll be placed on Driftmark to pacify Corlys and allow for some sort of representation of his loyalty to Rhaenyra to be at her side. At that point, they would have three new dragon riders so she could sit it out. I think that Baela would be a better person to introduce the idea of Addam (and Alyn) as Heirs to house Velayron because she's more politically savvy in this adaptation.

This is also the season where they set up the Battle Nettles participates in, and she was always the last Dragonseed to claim her dragon, and her process seemed to take the longest.

Basically I'm not worried until we know that Jace is gonna die.

Also, if they choose to bring her in season 3, I genuinely believe it's because they are not going to let her be a Dragonseed in the actual sense. She will not be of Valyrian descent because thematically, she'd be removed from the sowing.

Don't get sad if you're anticipating her, and don't get happy if you want her to be removed. It seems very deliberate that she hasn't been announced, but the feat she achieves is being set up.

STAN THE DRAGON AND RIDER MARKED AND NAMED THIEVES FOR CLEAR SKIN.

#hotd #house of the dragon #nettles #nettles asoiaf #netty #a song of ice and fire #are yall okay? #we lost the plot again #its okay #nettles and sheepstealer #sheepstealer #the cannibal #body stealing ghost fans we're so back #if she isn't there next season ill wave my white flag and ride at dawn #but until then #we are so endgame #daemon will burn

[venusintheblindspots-blog]

There are a few things/ideas about Nettles that I’m obsessed with.

- Nettles as a subversion of the Faith of the Seven, (I’ve already made a post on her as the mother, the maiden and the crone, but someone pointed out that she’s also the subversion of the Stranger)

- The black ram she feeds Sheepstealer before her last recorded appearance, in contrast to sheep she fed him in her first appearance. Why this matters: sheep represent innocence and purity, and the ram represents royalty and wisdom. (Gonna make a longer post about this)

- The Hanged Man tarot card in relation to her and Daemon. The Upright Hanged Man symbolizes pause, surrender and letting go, and the Reversed Hanged Msn symbolizes delays, resistance, stalling, and indecision. All of these ideas are apart of Nettles and Daemon’s relationship.

- The way she is worshipped by the mountain clans as a measure of masculinity, (which is a big deal because Westeros is misogynistic)

#will make longer posts about each of these #but im posting this for my mutuals #asoiaf nettles #nettles asoiaf #nettles and sheepstealer #asoiaf #a song of ice and fire

[horizon-verizon]

https://www.tumblr.com/richardsthridnipple/715813180306227200/now-unlike-the-betrayers-what-reason-was-nettles?source=share

I stumbled upon this today and now I’m really puzzled, I don’t think anyone could’ve answered this question better than you so, can you please clarify why Nettles didn’t get any rewards from Rhaenyra like the other dragon seeds? Is it just the timeline of events that made rhaenyra promise Hugh and Ulf castles and marriages but not Nettles, is it accomplishments or is it because she’s a female bastard or something else?

It has much less to do with accomplishments (Ulf and Hugh are not told to be the ones who brought Rocby and Stokeworth in, after all) and more to do with Nettles being a brown bastard girl of 17 AND Rhaenyra losing two kids before, her mourning further made the room for her wanting the easier path/path of least resistance--which is the blood purist, conservative one.

Rosby-Stokeworth Account ("Rhaenyra Triumphant")

Account about the Red sowing and Jace's Promises ("The Red Dragon and the Gold"):

A) Thinking from Rhaenyra/Jace's Perspectives

Yes because she was female. That, overlappingly and inextricably tying that to:

1.

She was 17 with no family to claim her and join her to protect whatever Rhaenyra would give her, or assure that her husband would not take adan=vanrtage and assume authority over properties the blacks themselves would want assurance of control through Nettles if they were to marry her immediately off during the war. Let's say they really thought this far ahead: I don't think they had the confidence that she'd be able to keep total control over said bestowment and keep it, thus, under their own influence.

While both Addam and Alyn were in their teens, they also had the Velaryons at their backs. Not only are the Velaryons the blacks and their supporters, Corlsy specifically asked Rhaenyra to legitimize him, as with Laenor's death there was no male heir from Corlys himself.

And since Addam and Alyn were both males, so they wouldn't have as much trouble keeping said privileges and control or be as challenged (after being legitimized) as a female bastard.

But Nettles was alone. Once again, Rhaenyra and Jace both are trying to bolster/support their own overall claims and military-dragon line to succeed, and advertising that men would still get to acquire these sorts of things works to convince as many as possible men to join. They are not, however, going to turn away the unexpected claimer/dragon rider when that just adds to what they need and when she has already succeeded and can't be left floating around when they themselves need riders.

What would these lords and Corlys (though he shouldn't talk, look at Addam!, who is his kid and NOT a Targ/descended from a dragon riding Valyrian family) think of Rhaenyra making Nettles a lady in her own right of a castle? What was already told in F&B.

Now marriage, there might have been some offers since Westerosi lords want dragons themselves, even if Nettles was considered "ugly" by them simultaneously. Marriage =/= autonomous authority over a castle, and would have been an alternative way to reward Nettles, considering that Jace promises to wed the successful "men" with their daughters marrying into noble houses, as OP mentions. But the protest against Nettles having a castle, I think, would have been stronger than those against Rosby and Stokeworth's daughters inheriting those domains and seats, because Nettles, compared to them, is the "outsider".

2.

From the jump, Jace meant any male dragon seeds, and in action he accepted Nettles. This is foreshadowing/preclude to the Rosby-Stokeworth conundrum.

There's the expectation that the female dragon seed pool is not likely going to try as Nettles did anyway because this is a patriarchal world that discourages girls in households and families (which Nettles doesn't have) from having any militaristic expectations for themselves. The ones that do are either closer to the Valyrian customs as they were actively practiced (Visenya) or in special cases where they are noble, rich, and have no available male heir who can also perform those militaristic duties. So more likely, you will have girls and women not try to claim a dragon even without said proclamation being specific to men. That itself creates the expectation in Jacaerys to say "men" specifically.

Nettles was comparatively, to this whole plan/intention, expendable why still in a way needed.

B) Nettles' Role and Position in the Black Faction

It's also because she, by being darker-skinned and not having those typical Targ physical features in any way puts into question (but doesn't really blast away) the determination of "only Targs" can ride dragons. I have a Twitter post about it HERE. Perhaps if she had at least ONE typical Targ physical trait ("The Red Dragon and the Gold"):

perhaps she would have married into a house of Rhaenyra/Jace's choosing. But because she's an "anomaly" they perceive, they probably wished to put more thought and consider her AFTER winning the war, use her for what they can for the war, and focus on the war while it's happening. They have not decided, really, how she would fit into their overall claims to power, because her looks (rather what the Andal lords around make of them) would always create questions.

I really recommend reading the Twitter thread, it explains what I named the "Targ-Andal paradigm", the complex of the blood purity there, and Nettles' position in it that further contextualizes Jace/Rhaenyra's motives, which would make this post longer than I need.

I have said it before HERE, that Rhaenyra didn't--morally and one consideration going out of Westerosi politics and ethics--deserve to rule after Nettles, that she was even actively working against the sociopolitical needs of furthering woman's ability to hold and inherit power in how she treated Nettles, and was, in that case, was self-contradictory, self-defeating, etc., pertaining to anti-misogyny and setting stronger precedents for female leaders while also strengthening the perceived legitimacy of her own rule/authority and rights. In the same post, I say, too, that

In other words, they didn't think it prudent and also didn't know what to do with her, she occupied a pendulous position...until she was finally only perceived as a threat. So, OP is pretty right.

(8/21/23):

THIS is a great post by @mononijikayu about medieval queens, female rulers, the history of how women in leadership positions were made and seen as threats to the very structure of social “order”, and contextualizing Rhaenyra thru Empress Matilda. I didn’t even know about Matilda’s husband being comparable to Rhaneyra’s Daemon! PLZ READ!!!!

Excerpt:

just as much, along with these fictitious portrayals, more lies are depicted. these women are considered vixens that cause havoc to men by shifting them into desires and danger. through the written word, we see how women are cast in roles of villains in men’s lives. it is because by their conclusive thoughts, women are the only creatures that are able to turn ‘good honorable men’ into despicable creatures who do shameful, deplorable acts for the sake of women’s pleasures.   [...] itis within this narrative that ancient chroniclers declare that women were in fact the doom of men. if they were not able to control the dangers posed by the wiles of women, then the foundations of the mighty society they had built would be up in flames.  [...] as i mentioned, these factors of community are written down and preserved. and with that, the example of the ancients were the foundations by which medieval society built itself. the same concepts continued to cause the same issue within society and that was the exclusion of women from participating in the bigger picture of community and state, much so with governing states in their own right—without judgment or disapproval. 

#asoiaf asks to me #the red sowing #the sowing of the seeds #jacaerys velaryon #nettles #sheepstealer #nettles and sheepstealer #asoiaf dragonriders #rhaenyra's characterization #jacaerys velaryon's characterization #fire and blood characters #nettles' characterization #rosby and stokeworth #asoiaf

[witchthewriter]

𝑫𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒐𝒏 𝑫𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚

𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐲 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭

An untamed, wild dragon that lived on Dragonstone during the reign of Viserys I. He had made his lair in a smoking vent high on the desolate eastern side of the volcano called Dragonmont. There were two other wild dragons; The Cannibal and Sheepstealer, the latter was later claimed by a dragonseed called Nettles. 

  Grey Ghost was said to be the colour of morning mist; a pale grey-silver. He was shy, and stayed away from humans. Feasting on fish, he was often seen diving in the sea for food. He never harmed any of the villagers on the island, nor did he seek out any company. Grey Ghost seemed to be happy in his solitude. 

 During the Dance of the Dragons, Jacaerys called for every possible rider and dragonseed to claim a dragon for the Blacks, but Grey Ghost was an elusive creature. He was never claimed as he avoided human contact. 

  However, he was later slain by Sunfyre, and partially eaten upon Aegon’s return to Dragonstone. 

gif credit: @gameofthronesdaily.

#witch the writer's moodboards #dragon dictionary #dragon directory #house of the dragon dictionary #house of the dragon directory #hotd #grey ghost #the cannibal #grey ghost dragon #grey ghost profiles #sheepstealer #nettles #sunfyre #sunfyre the golden #dragonseeds #dance of the dragons #jacaerys velaryon #prince jacaerys #aegon II #vhagar #balerion #meraxes #meleys #syrax #tyraxes #arrax #vermax #seasmoke #terrax #quicksilver

[lavenderinoz]

Sheepstealer - Art by ertacaltinoz from "The Rise Of The Dragon: An Illustrated History of the Targaryen Dynasty, Volume One"

High in the mountains, the unthinkable happened one night as Lord Robert and his men haddled about their campfires. In the slopes above, a cave mouth was visible from the road, and a dozen men climbed up to see if it might offer them shelter from the wind. The bones scattered about the mouth of the cave might have given them pause, yet they pressed on… and roused a dragon. Sixteen men perished in the fight that followed, and threescore more suffered burns before the angry brown wyrm took wing and fled deep into the mountains with "a ragged woman clinging to its back". That was the last known sighting of Sheepstealer and his rider, Nettles, recorded in the annals of Westeros, though the wildlings of the mountain still tell tales of a "fire witch" who once dwelled in a hidden vale far from any road or village.

#asoiaf art #nettles #sheepstealer #ertacaltinoz

[sare11aa11eras]

Nettles and Sheepstealer say “Happy First Day of Spring!”

Alternatively: Achievement Unlocked🔓- you made a fire-breathing dragon your best friend!

#asoiaf #valyrianscrolls #my art #nettles #sheepstealer #fire&blood #the dance of the dragons #dragons #the dragons #asoiaf fashion hour #pls forgive all my anatomy/proportion/shading sins on sheepstealer I promise I know what I did wrong 🙏🙏🙏