Angel

I've spent a lot of hours doing this, but I love Nettles and I adore this brush I've used for the sheep. It looks so soft!💙

Rhaena’s story is about waiting. She’s born into the most privileged family in the world when it comes to dragons, yet she’s the only one around her without one. She struggles to hatch her egg, and when Morning finally hatches after the Dance, it symbolizes hope, renewal, and the survival of House Targaryen.

But there’s also a bittersweet irony: by the time she gets her dragon, the war is already over. She can’t use Morning to save her father, protect her brothers, or change history. Instead, her strength comes through diplomacy and working alongside to protect her brother Aegon III and preserve her family’s future. Even when she lacked a dragon, she still had something Nettles never did: the privilege of knowing she had access to dragon eggs simply because of who she was.

Nettles’ story couldn’t be more different. She’s a lowborn teenage girl who’s spent her life on the margins. Her class, her skin, and her gender all shape how the world sees her. That’s why her bond with Sheepstealer is so important to the story because the nobles’ fear/shock isn’t that a girl claims a dragon it’s that someone like Nettles does. What’s even more important is HOW she bonds with Sheepstealer. Nearly everyone during the Sowing tries to claim a dragon through force, entitlement, or bravado but Nettles does the opposite. She patiently brings Sheepstealer a fresh sheep every day, earning the dragon’s trust over time. She doesn’t demand loyalty she offers care first. The relationship is built before the bond exists. That’s a fundamentally different approach from almost every other dragonrider we see.

And no, that doesn’t mean “anyone” can ride dragons. The text strongly suggests dragons still choose their riders, and Valyrian ancestry remains relevant but still… Nettles challenges the social mythology surrounding dragonriding. She exposes that dragonriding isn’t reserved for white skin/silver-haired nobles raised in castles. Someone poor/marginalized and excluded from privileged society can still be chosen.

The Velaryons are black, which I would have no problem with, apart from the fact that they diminished their roles significantly and used laena and laenor as no more than plot devices when they are also people on their own right.

Criston Cole is made dornish, which would have been so interesting to explore, but no one takes into account the racism he faces, especially in a time when 'dornishman's courage' is a common insult.

Gwayne Hightower acts explicitly racist and classist towards Criston, and looks down on him for his birth. Instead of being treated as an instance of discrimination, it is made into a joke.

They played the 'disposable black girlfriend' trope with laena.

Baela and Rhaena are only there to make Rhaenyra look better, they don't get the same development they had in the books.

Nettles, one of the only canonically black characters in ASOIAF is removed, just so they don't have to present Rhaenyra as racist. They removed an incredibly important and interesting character, and yet again push women of colour to the side in favour of glorifying white women.