Natali

Natali is the princess of the human kingdom and the bright, open heart of The Mystery Love of Dragon. She is the King's daughter, raised in a castle with blue banners and a golden griffin above its gates — and yet the place where she seems most at home is a muddy village street with a wicker basket on her arm.

Who is Natali?

Natali is a young woman with long, wavy dark-brown hair and a straight fringe, warm brown eyes, slightly heavy lids that give her a dreamy, thoughtful look, and a soft, closed-lipped smile. A small beauty mark sits on her right cheek. As a princess she wears a light-blue ball gown embroidered with silver, blue slippers and a delicate tiara. As a commoner she becomes almost invisible: a dark-green hooded cloak thrown over her gown, the hood pulled low, a simple basket in her hand.

The series' own description of her is short and telling: the King's daughter, who secretly dresses as a commoner to bring food and medicine to the villagers. Everything we learn about her in her first appearance confirms it.

Her first appearance: the secret gate

Natali steps into the story in Part 2: The Poisoned Roses. In the morning light she ties the strings of her green cloak, glances guiltily towards the door and whispers an apology to her father. It is a revealing moment. She loves him and does not want to disobey him — but she has already decided that the people outside the castle walls need her more than the court does.

She slips out through a small wooden side gate and walks to the village. There, an old peasant woman takes a round loaf of fresh bread and a remedy for her cough from Natali's hands, and the villagers greet the hooded stranger warmly, like one of their own. Nobody bows, nobody calls her "Your Highness". That is exactly how she likes it.

Personality: kindness without an audience

• Generous in secret. Natali does not help people to be admired. She hides her title precisely so that her kindness cannot be mistaken for royal charity.
• Dutiful, but with her own conscience. She asks her father's forgiveness even as she goes against his wishes — she respects him, but she listens to her heart.
• Trusting. When a friend offers her a gift, she accepts it with genuine delight. She does not look for poison in other people, which is both her greatest strength and her greatest vulnerability.
• Practical. She brings what people actually need — bread and medicine — not jewels or speeches.

Natali and Christabel

Natali counts Christabel as a friend. Viewers, however, see what she does not: from under a stone arch in the village, Christabel watches the villagers welcome Natali, and her smile turns sour with envy. Later, in the castle garden among the rose bushes, Christabel offers Natali a bouquet of white roses, calling them the finest in the kingdom. Natali is touched and thanks her with real joy.

The audience already knows more than she does. Part 2 opened with a woman's hand tipping three dark drops from a tiny vial onto a white petal. In the final shot, Natali closes her eyes, raises the bouquet to her face and breathes in with a trusting smile. What those roses will do to her is the cliffhanger the series leaves us with.

A guardian among the roses

As Natali breathes in the scent, something small flickers deep in the rose bushes behind her: a soft, pale-blue glow, as if someone or something is watching over her. The series has not yet explained it. Natali has a guardian waiting in the wings of the story — the Unicorn, a gift from her godmother, which sees magic and dispels poison. Whether that light belongs to it is one of the questions Part 3 is set up to answer.

Her family and the dragon

Natali is the daughter of the King, ruler of the human kingdom. Her godmother is Allaryx — though Natali has no idea that her godmother lives in the dragon's palace. Far away, on a cliff in a stormy sea, Baudraen, the Dragon King, is searching for a kind girl who once freed him from the forest vines and ran away without telling her name. The series describes Natali's future in a single line: a royal debt is about to bind her to the dragon she fears.

The mystery around her

The title of the series is a promise, and Natali stands in the middle of it. Attentive viewers will notice small echoes: a girl in a pale-blue dress who helped a stranger and slipped away; a princess in light blue who helps strangers and slips away. The story has not said what, if anything, connects them — and it is in no hurry to. For now, Natali is simply who she chooses to be: a princess who would rather carry bread than sit on a throne.

Explore the rest of the cast on the series page, or start with the viewer's guide.