Where is Nettles in House of the Dragon?
Her story has seemingly been given to another character.
*Warning: Spoilers ahead for House of the Dragon season 2 episode 7 and Fire & Blood.*
As the Dance of Dragons heats up in House of the Dragon season 2 episode 7, it appears a fan-favourite character has been written out of the show.
The latest episode of the show sees Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) put out a call for dragonseeds or Targaryen bastards, who could claim the dragons of Dragonstone.
We've seen two of those dragonseeds, Hugh Hammer and Ulf White, succeed in claiming dragons (Vermithor and Silverwing), but there's one crucial character missing – Nettles.
Here's what we know so far.
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Where is Nettles in House of the Dragon?
It appears that Nettles's story is instead being written for Princess Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell).
In the book, at the age of 16, Nettles answered the call for dragonseeds, and was able to tame the wild dragon Sheepstealer by bringing it a freshly slaughtered sheep each morning and feeding it.
In the book, Nettles goes on to fight valiantly for Queen Rhaenyra.
If any of that sounds familiar, it's because it sounds a lot like Princess Rhaena's story in House of the Dragon season 2.
So far, Rhaena, who's been living with Lady Jeyne Arryn in the Vale, has discovered marks of Sheepstealer's presence and, in the latest episode, we saw her flee to find the dragon. It seems very likely that, in the season finale, Rhaena will tame Sheepstealer.
Fans have been divided over the decision to write Nettles out of the series, especially since the character is a fan-favourite from the books.
Who is Sheepstealer?
Sheepstealer is the wild dragon in the Vale. In recent episodes of House of the Dragon, Princess Rhaena has found evidence of the dragon and confronted Lady Jeyne Arryn (Amanda Collin) about it.
Sheepstealer would hunt between Driftmark and Wendwater before being tamed and, as his name suggests, has a taste for mutton.
He's described as being an ugly "mud brown" colour, and is meant to be over 50 years old when Nettles claimed him.
What happened to Nettles?
In Fire and Blood, after she claimed Sheepstealer, Nettles fought for Queen Rhaenyra and aided Daemon in hunting down Aemond (Ewan Mitchell).
According to Mushroom's testimony in the book, she becomes a paramour for Daemon.
After Hugh and Ulf defect to the Greens, Rhaenyra's distrust of Nettles grows – not helped by the rumours of her relationship with Daemon.
The last sighting of Nettles is when Ser Robert Rowan led a royal army to the Vale of Arryn to support Ser Joffrey Arryn. They encountered Nettles in a cave, with 16 of the men being slain.
While Rhaneyra orders Nettles to be killed, Daemon is warned of this and helps Nettles to flee with Sheepstealer. While she was never seen again in Westeros, legends of a "fire witch" who lived hidden in the mountains continued.
House of the Dragon season 2 airs on Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK – find out more about how to sign up for Sky TV.
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