Where’s Nettles?

She isn’t Nettles. Or maybe she is? Photo: Theo Whiteman/HBO

Warning: This post covers things that happen in House of the Dragon’s source material, though I’ll try not to spoil anything past the events that should occur in season two of the show.

A few times per episode, season two of House of the Dragon takes a break from its main narrative to be with some new faces. In Driftmark, we meet the stew-loving brothers Alyn and Addam, who are heavily implied to be the bastard sons of Corlys Velaryon. In King’s Landing, there’s the hardworking blacksmith, Hugh, and the slightly less hardworking barfly, Ulf. At the moment, these guys don’t not feel like video-game NPCs come to life, but you don’t have to be Jaehaerys the Wise to figure we’re getting to know them because they’ll be important later.

If you’re watching these bits alongside someone who has read the books, you might have learned one character is missing. With the Dance of the Dragons now well underway, many readers are screaming in panic: Where’s Nettles?!

After Sunday’s episode, House of the Dragon has just about reached the point where the new characters will finally get something to do. After the death of Princess Rhaenys in the Battle of Rook’s Rest, Prince Jacaerys makes a calculation. The Blacks have far more dragons at their disposal than the Greens, but they’re running low on dragonriders. So he puts out a call: Anyone with Valyrian blood who can tame a dragon — there are three whose riders have died or otherwise departed, plus three wild ones milling about Dragonstone — will be amply rewarded. Many people die in the process, but eventually, the reason HOTD is giving so much screen time to these four randos will be revealed: Three of them are destined to succeed and become dragonriders. They become known as the dragonseeds and play pivotal roles in the conflict to come. (The one who isn’t a dragonseed also does stuff.)

However, the book version of these events includes a fourth dragonseed. Her name is Nettles, and for many reasons, she’s a Song of Ice and Fire fan favorite. First, she’s an underdog: a homeless teen who lives by her wits, Aladdin-style. And unlike the guys, who tame their dragons through feats of bravado, Nettles gets hers by being smart. She befriends a wild dragon called Sheepstealer by feeding it a sheep a day until it gets comfortable in her presence. She’s the only female dragonseed and, in the books at least, the only canonically Black dragonrider, with no trace of Valyrian heritage. (The wiki calls her “a small, skinny, brown-skinned girl, with black hair and brown eyes.�) If you want to get a sense of her vibe, here is some Nettles fan art:

Like the other dragonseeds, Nettles fights on the side of the Blacks, and she’s an important figure in Daemon’s arc as well as Rhaenyra’s. Despite this, there’s mounting evidence to suggest HOTD could leave Nettles out completely. While the other dragonseeds have all appeared in multiple episodes by this point, she has been conspicuously absent, and by all accounts the role hasn’t been cast. There is a chance the show could wait until season three to introduce her, as appears to be the plan for Daeron, Alicent’s third son. But while HOTD has taken care to remind viewers that another Green prince and his dragon are chilling at Oldtown, there has been nary a peep about Nettles. This silence extends to the very top: When asked point-blank about her, showrunner Ryan Condal refused to comment.

The working theory among the fandom is that Nettles will likely be cut and her plotline given to Rhaena Targaryen, last seen departing for the Vale with her half-siblings and a clutch of dragon eggs. This theory emerged from preseason leaks, and nothing onscreen has yet contradicted it. Putting aside the fandom’s feelings for Nettles, the change makes a certain amount of sense. Unlike books, in which characters can dip in and out with no issues, once you cast someone on a TV show, you’ve got to give them scenes to play — and in the books, Rhaena doesn’t have much to do until the end of the Dance. Plus, there’s a certain elegance to condensing them. In Mysaria and Alys Rivers, the show already has two lowborn women who are destined to move up in this world. Having race-shifted the Velaryons, there are now multiple Black dragonriders, and in Rhaena and Baela, the show already has two dragon-adjacent teenage girls fighting for Rhaenyra.

Without spoiling too much, I can say there’s an element to Nettles’s story line in the books that might give viewers the ick if she were replaced with Rhaena. However, I’ll note that thanks to the historiographical nature of Fire & Blood, this element is not 100 percent canon; it sits alongside a more innocent interpretation that would certainly work with Rhaena instead. Other aspects of Nettles’s story line would have to be altered as well, especially its end. But House of the Dragon has never been shy about editing or adding to the lore. In the books, Nettles is a refreshing ray of sunshine among a cast of tyrants and murderers. (For her few haters, she’s disturbingly close to being a Mary Sue.) In the show, where every character is more sympathetic, perhaps there’s less need for her.

Still, if Nettles is indeed a casualty of the adaptation process, House of the Dragon won’t just be losing a fan-favorite character. In ditching her story, the show also loses the idea that anyone can be a dragonrider, no matter their genes. Doesn’t that sting?