#this is general because there's a difference when she's hc as Rhoynish for me

[ride-thedragon]

My Characterization of Nettles.

I saw it come up that she's often mischaracterised, and rather than thinking about it throughly, I decide to take it as a criticism of the people who go out of their way to write her with broken English (I speak in my dialect so it's especially strange seeing some form of it written) and entirely childish, ignoring the fact that she's, smart and lived alone in a classist society, surviving so long by herself.

I also want to justify my own characterization because I think it's a bit different.

So the way I think about her is a smart, mouthy girl. She speaks well enough. She picks up different cultural slang and languages from around Driftmark, and her naiveté only shows itself with her actual age. She's at the age where most people question the systems that harm them, and as a brown skin, poor person in this world, she'd be in a unique position. She overcompensates for it, though. She doesn't let it show as much.

I think she's a quick thinker and fast learner as well. She observed the way Sheepstealer was interacting with people and saw the only thing he'd bend for, using it to her advantage. So, while Daemon is teaching her these things, she's actually responding to it.

She's a bit inquisitive as well. She cares to understand what she has to do before she does it.

Now, the mouthy part comes into how I think she earned the foul-mouthed reputation. She doesn't code switch while interacting with anyone. Say how she'd talk to Jace and a bar maid it doesn't change. She knows she can, but she doesn't want to. She speaks with the common tongue well enough, but she doesn't speak in the manner of someone who's talking to a prince and ladies.

It's genuinely vile things that shouldn't be said as well as just cursing.

Now, the next part is tied to her alleged love interest, Daemon. But I think she can be a very disagreeable person when she wants to be. It's not something that has helped her, but it is the reason why she doesn't have a lot of people around her early on. Daemon tends to like strong personalities.

She doesn't deal with authority well. That's just based on the fact that she's been alone for so long, with no one going out of their way to treat her like her age.

The innocence of her character is something I tend to disagree with a lot as well. She would hurt a fly, she'd kill a sheep, and she was raised on the streets of Driftmark. The moral pillar of innocence, like being overly trusting and caring, is a strange thing to apply to her.

She isn't a pious person. I know this part is strange, but in a world like Westeros, where sex is a form of currency, especially for non royal/rich women, I think she's had a few sexual encounters. Now I love the avoiding brothel work characterization, but I don't think commodifying sex is such an out of place thing for a girl in her position, it was a learning curve for figuring her way in the world without a big concequence like a kid. ( A small headcanon is that she fell for a bard from essos once, like a crush a young girl typically has).

I think her grief over Jace came from a place of bonding and putting her trust in someone for the first time and losing them so violently. Most people, unless they are victims of propaganda like Mr Jamie Lannister, don't want to fight in a war. During the fight, bodies are burned and piled, and entire ports are left burned and filled with ash. We see the Driftmark Characters have a distinct reaction for participating in the war that burned the place they were raised. Nettles has a lot of blood on her hands.

She has no one to confide that in.

I think after that, she gets a lot more agreeable because no one is looking out for her. It's a dangerous place to occupy, Rhaneyra is hardened by Jace’s death,and is killing people left and right for treason, that's terrifying.

Thankfully, she's sent away with a stranger who's dealing with the same shared grief that she has. She's been at the brunt of them losing two more kids and has just lost her home.

She's also sent away in a very similar situation to what had her crying on Driftmark. She has to see what Aemond is doing to the Riverlands after the Battle of the Gullet. She has someone to lean on, though, seeing as she gets really close to Daemon.

Close enough that her life being called for by the ruler of the seven kingdoms is put at the same risk factor as killing her and him finding out.

I genuinely think she becomes very similar to the person she was before which is why......

Lastly, she doesn't willingly leave. This is attributed to the tears, but I think Daemon lied and said he'd return to his family. That he wouldn't fight Vhagar. I don't think she'd allow him to sacrifice himself in that way.

All of this is speculation based on a character we don't know, so if it seems strange, that's fair.