Why Nettles isn’t in 'House of the Dragon': Rhaena claims Sheepstealer

Season three opens with Rhaena Targaryen facing the wild dragon Sheepstealer and, to the shock of her family, climbing onto his back and becoming a dragonrider. In the show, Rhaenyra had once warned that Rhaena nearly died when she tried to claim a dragon, so this sudden bond marks a major departure from expectations and from the book.

George R. R. Martin's Fire & Blood gives Sheepstealer to a different character: Nettles. After Jacaerys calls for dragonseeds to bolster Rhaenyra's cause, older dragons are claimed by Addam of Hull, Hugh Hammer, and Ulf the White, while the feral Sheepstealer kills many hopefuls.

Nettles wins his trust by bringing a fresh sheep each morning until Sheepstealer accepts her; a bastard of uncertain birth raised on the streets, she becomes his first and last rider. Nettles pledges her dragon to Rhaenyra and fights at the Battle of the Gullet, returning soot-streaked and tearful rather than triumphant.

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