Gwen Nettles

Artistic interpretation by @spiritintheinkwell on tumblr

### Known Physical Features

grey eyes, small nose, brown hair (cut short at some point, dyed red at some point), defined cheekbones

## Voice

### First Heard

Season 5, Episode #1: March 2008

**Gwen** is a secondary narrator that appears at the end of each episode of Season 5, as well as the season's subject under the alias **Nan**. She was a field agent for the Internal Investigations Division.

> "*It’s disheartening to know that insurgent rhetoric is spreading in Brighton. Anti-Society sentiment is a virus. It spreads. Sometimes there are outbreaks, sometimes chaos is contained. It can be difficult to tell just how far the ideas put forth by dissidents have spread, of course. And ideas without action are just thoughts. But predicting which thoughts could spiral into violence is our job, and therefore if violence occurs, we are at fault."* **--Gwen in *Episode #3: March 2002***
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## Biography

Gwen attended an academy in Essex that trained cadets into IID agents, and she made several good friends there. She wrote her thesis on an incident involving a small theatre company called Punk's Opera in 1983, which apparently demonstrated the dangers of treating "performative angst" as a legitimate insurgent threat.

After graduating from the academy, Gwen was assigned to the Birmingham branch of the IID. She found it lonely there, feeling that her fellow agents were uptight and unapproachable, and it was hard to befriend people outside the agency because of the secrecy necessary to the job. In March 1997, Gwen was assigned to investigate the allegedly subversive performances of Gorgeous Watkins, a small theatre group who she subsequently reported was too small to spent IID resources on. She and Horatio, her field partner, assumed the names Nancy and David for their covers, which they then shortened to Nan and Dave. After the show, Gwen remained behind to talk to Indra, one of the players, who took an immediate liking to her and later sent her a series of long, drunk voicemails talking about how into her she was. They began dating, which the other members of Gorgeous Watkins, particularly Chunhua, objected to on the basis of her working for the government. On an outing to the Goat's Knackers pub, Chunhua and Nan had an altercation which resulted in Gwen's suede jacket being ruined.

In July 1997, Gwen suggested to Director Torres that the agency consider tapping targeted phones, rather than covering the home phones of every agent, claiming to be worried about the efficiency of the latter approach. Later in the year in October, she had to chase up replacement espionage equipment as her gear had apparently been water-damaged or become otherwise unusable. This request happened to come at the same time as Indra was having trouble with equipment at the theatre company, close to performance dates, and scrambling for replacements, so it is possible Gwen was repurposing IID equipment to help Indra out.

In July 1999, Indra had recently moved into a flat with "Nan" and the two were getting used to living with each other. They preferred different handsoaps, and Indra often substituted items on their shopping list for things that caught her eye, frustrating Gwen's cooking plans. Gwen called Torres to arrange a private meeting in order to discuss agency policy and conduct regarding cohabiting with subjects, even in closed cases. She claimed there had been some concerns about the subject in the Birmingham office and wanted to bring it to him before other members of her team.

One night in 2000 or 2001, Indra, "Nan", Liv (another member of Gorgeous Watkins), and her girlfriend Trish Geddings went out to a pub and proceeded to get very drunk. Liv attempted to steal a motorbike with Society flags adorning it. When the owner became confrontational, Gwen attempted to de-escalate the situation, and when he didn't lower his aggression, she threatened to call his superior. This won Gwen a great deal of admiration from Indra.

In September 2001, Gwen took her new-ish colleague Jonathan (who she introduced as Dave) to a play put on by Gorgeous Watkins. Indra later said she had seen him in the audience metaphorically/literally picking his nose, and asked Nan why she had brought him. In a voicemail to Jonathan, Gwen told him not to worry about Director Torres' questions and that she would deal with him. She also expressed that she hoped he had enjoyed the play. Shortly after, Gwen was involved in a two-week operation in London which involved undercover or semi-undercover operatives forming friendships with individuals who harboured anti-Society beliefs. It resulted in the detainment of two suspected dissidents, one of which was let go and the other of which was transferred to "facility 12F" although Gwen thought this was unnecessary. She mentioned to Director Torres a similar case in Birmingham where individuals expressed anti-Society beliefs, but did not meaningfully organise and were a waste of IID resources to deal with.

In January of 2002, Indra, starting to feel suspicious of Nan after finding a letter addressed to Gwen Nettles, took a trip to Bath which was apparently on invitation from a local theatre company but actually was sought out specifically to get away, on Indra's later admission. By March 2002, Indra had broken up with Nan after she accused her of surveilling Gorgeous Watkins for the IID. Despite her own intense anger, Indra believed that "Nan" would get over the breakup quickly, and was offended at her failure to attempt to defend herself or explain her actions. Around the same time, Gwen received a report from a Ms. Hollis that insurgent sentiment was spreading in Brighton. She suggested using interpersonal relationships between semi-undercover agents and regular citizens to undermine dissent and anti-Society sentiment. She told Ms. Hollis she would have her assistant, Geoff, set up a meeting to address any questions she had.

In 2003, she worked with an agent named Mark to implement a no-smoking policy while agents were on duty, and emphasised practical reasons for the policy to do with the effectiveness of the agents' performance, rather than any potential health benefits of giving up cigarettes. She asked him to come by her office to talk more about the policy.

Gwen left the IID's Birmingham office and moved near Stratford in 2005, retiring from being a field agent. She took an interest in working with former canine units, and in 2008 received information from Director Torres that Marcy Robotham was having trouble with training new units. Gwen offered her support to help rehabilitate the dogs to avoid them being put down. She also noted that Marcy was a seasoned investigator and that she even solved a cold case involving an artist which Gwen was interested in, apparently for a novel she was writing. Thus, either voluntarily or by chance, Gwen seems to have adopted a way of life foreseen by Indra immediately after the two first met: "You should be writing mystery novels surrounded by dogs."

## Additional info

* The name "Gwen" comes from the Welsh for "white, fair, blessed"
* At some point before 2002, Indra convinced Gwen to cut her hair short because she said it would accentuate her cheekbones. Another time, Gwen dyed her hair red, possibly again to appeal to Indra.
* The cold case Gwen mentions in 2008 could refer to the mysterious death of Claudia Atieno, or the IID's pursuit of Hester after her escape from the Institute.
* Through Indra, Gwen mentions having a favourite mystery writer, Ngaio Marsh, who was a real mystery author and theatre director from New Zealand.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Season 5, Episode #9: May 1997
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Season 5, Episode #10: March 1997
3. ↑ Season 5, Episode #8: July 1997
4. ↑ Season 5, Episode #7: October 1997
5. ↑ Season 5, Episode #6: July 1999
6. ↑ Season 5, Episode #5: September 2001
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Season 5, Episode #3: March 2002
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Season 5, Episode #4: January 2002
9. ↑ Season 5, Episode #2: September 2003
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Season 5, Episode #1: March 2008
11. ↑ Ngaio Marsh - Wikipedia