Why would Nettles love Daemon?
I don’t think it gets stated enough, or at all, why Nettles might love Daemon. I mean most people(myself included) focus on how or why Daemon loves Nettles. This emphasis is for good reason given how you have to practically pull teeth to get people to acknowledge that he even loves her, but Nettles own feelings for him are lost in the shuffle.
I will not sugarcoat things, Daemon is a pretty problematic character who titters on the very edge of being morally gray.
Basically his only redeeming moments in the books are during his marriage with Laena(where he’s behaving normal for once) :
And his time with Nettles at Maidenpool(where he is acting in a completely altruistic fashion, going so far as being willing to give his life so she can escape and live):
Any other time and he’s behaving the way you’d expect someone with the moniker the Rogue Prince to behave. He’s a murderer. He’s committed Kinslaying(several times over). He is a groomer. He’s a rapist(those young maidens he deflowered couldn’t exactly consent).
He’s pretty awful, though entertaining in my humble opinion, and one of my faves, for most of the books. So why would a character like Nettles, who despite everything she has gone through in life is described, from the little that we do get on her character, as being an empathetic person(see her crying over Jace a boy she barely knew as well as the home she lost during the Battle of the Gullet)?
Well, Nettles can see past what is there. What is beyond the surface. She’s more observant than most(She’s had to be living on the street). We see those deduction skills at work when she claims Sheepstealer:
She’s the only one to use Sheepstealer’s love for sheep to successfully tame and claim him where even those with certain Valyrian blood died in the process of trying to claim him. She can see something more. Even where others can’t or rather won’t look.
So with Daemon, who is a hot-tempered man, she as well sees past the bravado. Past the rebellious younger brother of Viserys Targaryen. Sees past the Rogue Prince label. She sees Daemon Targaryen. She can see something more in people. She sees a yearning.
Daemon Targaryen is at the end of the day just a man. He yearns for acceptance. He wants to be recognized. You have to keep in mind that Daemon is a second son. He will never inherit the throne. He will never be king, but he still has will and passion. He wants to make a name for himself. He wants his brother's love. He wants to be recognized.
He wants to be his brother's heir, but he’s never accepted as such by his brother or his brothers court:
As a result of this partial rejection by this man who he loves, he’s always yearning to prove himself. He’s yearning for love, acceptance, and recognition.
Now with Nettles, she’s someone who lives on the very margins of society. She’s a bastard girl born to a whore. She doesn’t know who her father is. She has no place to call home. She grew up on the streets of Driftmark. She’s an unlikely dragonrider.
She’s had to fend for herself because of the circumstances which she was born into. She hardly ever can get a kind word said about her. Compliments are riddled with snide comments, and yet oddly enough, Nettles sees a kindred spirit in Daemon Targaryen.
Yes, he’s a Targaryen prince and she’s a lowborn bastard girl, but they have a commonality at their cores. They are both outsiders in a way.
They’ve both never had someone accept them for what they are. Loving and truly caring for them. They’ve had anyone see the actual person within. Past the title of being the Rogue Prince. Past the “stench” of being a brown-skinned bastard girl. They’ve never had that except with each other. Out of everyone they see each other.
Nettles isn’t this dirty unworthy lowborn girl who used her wiles or a spell to claim something she shouldn’t have been able to. She’s not a whore or a common thief. She’s just Netty to Daemon.
She’s an incredibly brilliant and courageous young woman. She’s ingenious. She’s someone who despite it all manages to show compassion to others. She hasn’t let the world break her. She’s learned how to live without love, but she's a still a girl. She’s a girl who is young with so much life in her. Who is deserving of love and affection just as much as any other
Nettles loves Daemon for Daemon. Not because he is a Targaryen, a charming prince, or the Royal consort of a queen. He’s not just a murderer or a rapist who only takes pleasure in chaos. He is Daemon Targaryen and he is just a man.
A man who is capable of great cruelty, but also acts of great kindness. He can be patient and benevolent. He can be loving, generous, and he can be gentle:
He also a man of rage. Of great intensity and passion. Of fire and blood. He would kill for those he loves:
Daemon Targaryen is a man of duality and Nettles sees the good and the bad. She sees the impatient man. The rogue. The man who wants to be loved. To love in return. She recognizes that longing because she longs to.
She longs for something more and she finds that in Daemon. Their souls find a place with each other despite their stations. They see past the surface because that is what love is.
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Hi! What do you think Alex Karev’s love languages are?
my inbox is open for more head cannons and fiction ideas (X)
Alex’s love language is acts of service for sure. He always does little things for Jo like giving her a trash can in her car for her little tissues, rubbing her feet while they watch a movie, or making her favorite mac and cheese for her after she says she's had a rough day. Jo begins to anticipate certain things he does like, how he makes her coffee every morning, hands her little bags of chips while they walk down to get lunch in the cafeteria, and he puts her towel in the dryer so it’s warm for her when she gets out of the shower.
One day she texts him saying that she lost twins after a c-section and all she wants to do is cry and go to bed. Alex thinks that she should at least eat something so he makes her a box of mac and cheese and adds some extra cheddar to it. Then he warms up her favorite blanket in the dryer, gets out her favorite pajamas, and makes her a cup of tea.
When Jo gets home, she's already got tears streaming down her face. Alex takes her bag and her coat and hangs both of them up as Jo goes to the bathroom. She sees that he's left out all her skin care products laid out in order and her pajamas are sitting there next to them. When she comes back out he presents her with her warm blanket. She just falls apart and cries as he wraps her up and holds her. Alex picks her up and carries her to bed as she cries in his arms. He holds her and rubs her back as she cries.
Once the tears have dried up, he presents her with the mac and cheese and she eats a whole bowl of it and sips on the tea as well before she crawls into his arms and falls asleep. The next morning, Jo wakes up in his arms as he presents her with her coffee and tells her she has the day off. Jo just looks at him and thanks him for everything before kissing him.
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