When it comes to all these discussions about Nathalie, in my opinion, people ignore some very important aspects of her writing.
Nathalie is not a good (adult) person, was in fact A VILLAIN BY CHOICE, has morally disregarded or justified hurting people (including kids) for probably all her life, and has presumably lived and been raised in a life that has barely taught her anything on being an actually good person. Her father is apparently the boss of the Council of evil rich people who control society.
This woman isnt a good person and she knows that. She tries to do good or at least better, but most of what she knows is deeply rooted in amorality. She literally LOVED Gabriel for being Hawkmoth as long as she thought he did it "as a family man" (ngl, this makes a lot more sense now, after the father revelation and why Gabriel failing as a father was what turned her against him). Even the tomb raider job we know that she did in the past is beyond morally questionable.
My point is, in all of that, Nathalie's entire redemption and motivation to do and be genuinely good is now rooted in Adrien. HE is the core of the redemption of this person who very much felt like she was and is beyond true redemption. She barely considered herself worth the consideration of hoping to be GOOD for 5 whole seasons, but tried the last one to do as much as she can to help Adrien in the situation she participated in causing, as her self-risked death kept creeping closer and closer til it eventually came before she could stop Gabriel from hurting Adrien and from winning.
Nathalie, too, has hurt Adrien A LOT. By having insisted on her right as Gabriel's assistant to keep her professional distance from Adrien (emotionally and responsibility-wise) in favor of running away from her feelings and disregarding her own self-worth and morality for Gabriel's goal and needs which he promised would end in him giving all of them a happy ending.
Nathalie caused so much harm. To Adrien as well. And she already died for it, but now she's back thanks to Gabriel's wish and there is still so much more to make up for. And again, in Nathalie's opinion, to ADRIEN more than to anyone else. She failed the boy she loves like a son so much to the point where she didn't think her going to jail would make any difference for him, and she didn't even dare hoping in Werepapas that she could be worth being Adrien's legal guardian, much less his MOTHER. That's one of the things we know Nathalie has been running away from. Her fear of not being worth or good enough for the chance to properly fill the role of being Adrien's mother.
So yeah, Nathalie IS taking this seriously now. We can already see her developing A LOT regarding this from 6x05 Werepapas, 6x07 El Toro del Piedra, and 6x09 Mister Agreste. And mind you, the episodes in between haven't aired yet. There genuinely might be more here.
And people just forget about that when they complain about why Nathalie isnt treating Marinette like Adrien. Why she's harsher on her, less understanding, and less motivated to help Marinette take care of managing HER significantly smaller side of this whole mess (That the writing is purposely going out of their way to have Marinette handle as badly as possible to create the illusion that her side is a lot less manageable as it actually is)
I would have liked to ask why you all where expecting that in the first place, but you have been transparent about it for quite a long time. Like during season 5, when Marinette fans/ stans were going on about how Nathalie is an Adrinette supporter, even going so far as saying that if Adrien broke up with Marinette over hurting him, Nathalie would take MARINETTE'S side and would try to "get him to see reason and get Marinette back" (lmao)
You guys, Nathalie has been an Adrinette stan since s5 because that's what ADRIEN decided he wanted for himself.
If Adrien were to break up with Marinette and told Nathalie to remove her from the mansion, Marinette's ass would be out of that mansion in the next 10 seconds. The end.
Nathalie is ADRIEN'S parent and her redemption is rooted in parenting HIM. Not Marinette. So her actions and behavior towards Maribug being much more grey is not the factor to judge Nathalie's "goodness" by. At the end of the day, for Nathalie, Marinette is Adrien's love interest and has consistently treated her as such.
Remember in the London special where Nathalie said that her ending up in jail wouldnt be a problem because Adrien has MARINETTE? And then Nathalie judged Marinette's worthiness of her love to Adrien by asking "what would you be willing to sacrifice for him?" and was pleased when the girl answered "myself"?
Yeah, news flash, Marinette is still just the love interest and Adrien's parent(s) isn't as WRONG for treating her that way as you all claim Nathalie is. Marinette has her own parents and grandparents who prioritize HER in return. That's how it works.
And no, Marinette being Ladybug doesnt mean anything here beyond Nathalie wanting to see that Maribug isnt like Gabriel when it comes to being the person to say they will take care of Adrien while simultaneously being the secret Miraculous leader of the current situation and who's actions and involvement could cause him A LOT of harm. All while having decided to keep EVERYTHING a secret from him, no matter how much it involves him or straight up is ABOUT him.
Or in other words: Nathalie is judging Maribug by how different from GABRIEL she is. And if Marinette fails to be that, Nathalie will act accordingly. Cry me a fucking river about how that's supposedly "too high" of a standard.
So no. Marinette aint getting any special treatment just cause she's Ladybug. Nathalie has lost all patience for that pile of excuses thanks to Gabriel.
Plus, Nathalie is absolutely not "morally obligated" to give Adrien to Maribug as a reward for being a secret hero. Neither as her Prince Charming reward, nor as care-taking suffer puppet. It's actually a very important morality check against Marinette after seasons upon seasons of barely any morality being asked of her in the love square.
If Marinette wants to be Adrien's girlfriend then she has to fucking behave accordingly. And that means that Nathalie absolutely has the right to put Marinette in her place whenever Nathalie feels like she is not doing what's best for Adrien or even straight up prioritizes her own feelings and benefit over Adrien's well-being. Kind reminder here that Marinette should be grateful that Nathalie wasnt around her/ them for most of the other episodes of s6, especially Illustrhater, The Ruler, Daddycop, but most importantly that horrific stunt Marinette pulled in Werepapas, playing Russian roulette with Adrien's amoks.
If Nathalie finds out about the latter, none of you can possibly make an argument to convince me that Nathalie isnt fully justified in whooping Marinette's ass, telling Adrien the truth, and then helping and advising him to cut her out of his life as drastically as he pleases. Cause Marinette has already by ep 5 established herself as enough of a threat to Adrien's well-being and LIFE that it would totally and 1000% justify telling Adrien the truth just to potentially keep him save from MARINETTE.
"Nathalie is too harsh!!!" You all cry. When in reality, Nathalie isnt harsh enough yet and even that's just because Marinette keeps her mistreatment (and endangerment) of Adrien a secret from her.
And yeah, makes sense doesnt it? At the end of the day, Nathalie's redemption literally requires of her to be ADRIEN'S supporter and care taker number 1. MARINETTE is, by all means, tolerated here as love interest and her position as Ladybug isnt getting her any special treatment from Nathalie. That's, like, the ONE good thing that came out of Gabriel's abuse. Nathalie is now not tolerating any nonsense from Marinette. As she fucking SHOULD!
