NANCY WHEELER

                                       YEAH. SCREW THAT! 

independent, selective, private nancy wheeler from netflix’s STRANGER THINGS. FANDOM & CROSSOVER FRIENDLY ( IF I HAVE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OF SAID FANDOM, OF COURSE. ) 

begonia :   how cautious is your muse ?   are they prone to noticing red flags ,   or paranoid to the point of untrusting most everyone ?   why or why not ?  

generally, it doesn’t seem to take much for nancy to give someone the benefit of the doubt. it didn’t take very long for her to team up with jonathan or even hopper towards the end of season one. murray bauman isn’t much of an exception, in fact, she chooses to approach him first for his help exposing the lab. i don’t think she demonstrates much caution towards herself, which could be seen in how willing she is to throw herself into situations that could be incredibly dangerous. if anything, she exercises more caution on the behalf of others. a good example of this is when she leaves steve out of the loop after her breakthrough about what exactly might have happened to barb. she’s quiet about what she and jonathan discovered in the last photo of barb, and she doesn’t make any effort to even let steve know that she’s continuing to investigate and get to the bottom of her best friend’s disappearance.  another case of this is when she expresses great worry after finding out just how involved mike and the party were in the entire situation with the demogorgon and the disappearances. she and jonathan leave the kids at the school while they try to put an end to the demogorgon’s terror once and for all. 

when it comes to red flags, nancy seems to be pretty good at picking up on things that seem off. some prime examples include barb’s disappearance, the rabid rat’s, and fertilizer. she isn’t shy when it comes to following her gut - the only exception to this seems to be when barb disappears while she’s busy with steve. for a moment, nancy seems to pause, warning bells going off in her head and leading steve to worry and think that they’re taking things too far. i think this in itself is a good indicator of how intuitive she actually is, even though she didn’t exactly know why she suddenly felt like something was wrong. 

rhododendron :   is your muse receptive to warnings   &   advice given by others ? 

when given warnings, nancy seems to view them more as suggestions instead of concrete things that she should actually keep in mind. in early season one, barb seems to warn nancy about getting too close with steve out of fear that she’ll get hurt. while nancy overall has a better judgment of steve than barb seems to have, it’s clear that she doesn’t particularly take much consideration for her best friend’s words over her own. while this warning is rather trivial in comparison to the warnings and advice nancy receives over the rest of the show, i think it sets the stage for how she handles advice that she’s given. 

season two and season three dive into this a little bit more than season one, mainly because this time, she’s receiving warnings for things that could actually put her, and others, in danger. when considering the hollands, steve advises against nancy telling them the truth about what happened to barb, mainly because the lab specifically asked them to use discretion regarding the events of season one. in the moment, she seems to listen to him, but it’s clear that following this advice is actually eating her from the inside out, ultimately leading her to go against it. with this in mind, i think she is receptive, but not nearly as much as people would like her to be. season three is another example of this - jonathan gets angry with nancy for continuing to pursue the case of the fertilizer and the rabid rats when he tried to warn her beforehand. obviously, she didn’t listen, still opting to visit mrs. driscoll to investigate what’s going on. 

mint :   does your muse view themself as virtuous   &   moral ?  what do these words mean to them ?

absolutely. while she wouldn’t exactly argue that the way she’s done things to be perfectly moral, i do think that nancy genuinely believes that she’s investing herself into causes that are righteous and require action. especially if we analyze her choice to go into journalism specifically with her job at hawkins post, i think the more virtuous side of her happens to manifest itself through her hunt for the truth in season three. journalism is a field that heavily prioritizes the good of people and society, regardless of how hard the truth could be. with this in mind, i think it reflects nancy’s own moral code and virtuous nature - after all, she chose to spend her summer going against the wishes of her boss for the sake of finding the truth and searching for a story that she believes that the people might need to know. 

this aspect of nancy also shows itself in season 2, when she makes a point to go after hawkins’ lab because they tried to stifle her (along with the byers, the party, and steve) into remaining silent, thus remaining complicit in the actions the lab continues to make. especially during the dinner party with the hollands in the beginning of season 2, it’s clear that practicing discretion for the sake of the lab and at the expense of people like the hollands is taking a toll on her. not being able to tell the truth and give them the closure that they need is eating away at her, giving us an insight to the type of person she is. when she finally snaps and seeks vengeance against the lab, i think it perfectly demonstrates how much she values the truth over her own safety - even though nancy puts herself in more danger by going against a lab with so much power over her and their government, she continues to do so for the sake of her best friend and her best friend’s family.