Nat's relationship with the Wilderness is so fascinating to me. She is clearly playing the role of the group's skeptic—she resists the rituals, challenges Lottie’s authority, and often positions herself as the rational voice amid rising hysteria. But underneath it all, she does believe in the Wilderness, perhaps even more deeply and purely than many of the others.
Nat's skepticism is a defense mechanism. No matter how much she denies it, even to herself, there is some part of Nat that knows the Wilderness is real. But unlike those who romanticize the idea of the Wilderness as a source of self-preservation, salvation, or hope, Natalie sees it for what it truly is: something wild, hungry, dangerous, and intimately tied to their worst impulses. Nat and Lottie possess a unique understanding of the Wilderness as something that lives inside of them all, rather than an external force. I think it's very possible Nat has felt it from the beginning, some darkness within all of them, and it terrifies her. Her resistance is a form of self-protection, a way to maintain some sense of autonomy in the face of something she instinctively knows could consume her. Rather than give herself over to it like the others, she fights it tooth and nail, perhaps knowing better than anyone what it is capable of.
