Nora Reid

Nora Reid is one of the main characters in The Wilds. She is portrayed by Helena Howard.

She is a quiet, autistic savant who’s had a hard time fitting in among her peers. She may seem meeker and more reserved than her fraternal twin Rachel, but she’s the secret strength in their relationship ^[1].

Early Life[]

In a flashback of her and her sister's younger selves, Nora is shown to be considered the smarter of the twins. This created some simmering tension from Rachel's side that neither might've realized until they were teenagers.

Throughout the Series[]

Season 1[]

Nora is in the plane crash and gets stranded on a remote island with the others. Nora swam out to the plane wreckage in an attempt to find more supplies.

Flashbacks show Nora dating a boy named Quinn over the summer, but breaking up with him because Rachel dislikes him. In the fall, Nora discovers Quinn was killed in a hazing accident. She meets Gretchen and discovers Quinn was killed by her son; Gretchen then recruits Nora into her study.

Later in the season, Nora is found out to be talking to Gretchen's team. She is the surviving informant. She betrays Leah. However, when Rachel is attacked by a shark, Nora runs into the water to save her.

Season 2[]

Nora is swept out to sea trying to rescue Rachel and presumed dead. The girls hold a funeral for her.

Personality[]

Nora is shown to be quiet and not overly well at interacting with others. This makes it hard for her to fit in among her classmates and peers. Despite this, she is very intelligent and loves reading, stating in Day One that considering she had a star athlete for a sister, she spent a lot of time spectating at her games.

Physical Appearance[]

Nora has loose curly hair, that seems to be lightened on the bottom, and almost always wears it down. In all of the scenes from her teen years, she is seen with a nose ring in her left nostril.

Relationships[]

Quinn[]

Nora meets Quinn while taking some summer courses at a college. She likes his French navy peacoat and that he's odd like her. They date and eventually have sex. Nora introduces Quinn to Rachel, but Rachel doesn't seem to like him. When Quinn tries to ask Nora to continue being his girlfriend after the summer ends, Nora tells him no, citing a flaw that Rachel listed. Later, Nora is going through Quinn's socials when she sees comments on his picture that concern her. She finds out that Quinn died during a hazing and cries.

Rachel Reid[]

Rachel is Nora's fraternal twin. Nora seems to be the favored twin because she is smart like her parents, where Rachel is athletic. Nora worries over Rachel a lot, especially after she develops an eating disorder. Rachel hates that Nora is always hovering over her and blames Nora for them being on that plane.

On the island, there are still conflicts in their relationship with how Rachel dismisses Nora and refuses to let her help. This soon changes when Rachel climbs the mountain along with Shelby and Leah on their second day stranded on the island. They talk it out later at night, and for the next few days they seem to be on good terms, however they still break out into a brutal fight in Day Fifteen. They make up eventually seeing as the two of them engage in light and gleeful conversations during Day Twenty-Three, implying that their relationship seems to be in a good place.

Gretchen Klein[]

Nora meets Gretchen when she goes to visit one of the frat boys whose hazing killed Quinn, which Gretchen soon admits is her son, Devon Klein. Gretchen invites Nora for pancakes, where she gives Nora an opportunity to participate in the project she's planning on, the project being implied to be the Dawn of Eve.

In another meetup, Nora agrees to Gretchen's offer, as long as her sister comes along with her.

Jeanette Dao[]

Jeanette is paired with Nora for the icebreaker Shelby sets up on the plane. Jeanette asks if Nora has heard a word she said because she seems like she's not paying attention, but Nora is able to rattle off a summary of everything Jeanette talked about. When Leah begins to sing P!nk, Nora confirms that Jeanette liked her and they all sing "Raise Your Glass" as they bury her in a shallow grave on the beach.

While the rest of the girls are asleep, Nora watches from the shelter they built as Alex, along with other members of the extraction team, remove Jeanette's body and bring her to the facility.

Leah Rilke[]

Nora and Leah form a connection due to their similar qualities of not really being sociable people, but instead being observant. Nora offers to be someone Leah can talk to when her head's getting crowded, giving her journal as a way to help empty her thoughts.

At the night of their 22nd day on the island, Leah stumbles upon Nora talking to a camera, finding out that she's the second confederate. Nora calms Leah down and tells her that she's just dreaming, then escorts her back to camp and watches over her even as she wakes up the next morning. She leads Leah to a deep pit and says to her that she'll be safe there, but Leah eventually gets out. It seems Leah was about to question Nora, but gets interrupted when Nora rushes over to Rachel to save her from the shark.

Quotes[]

Season 1

Jeanette: "Who do you keep looking at?"

Nora: "My sister."

Jeanette: "So have you been listening to me at all?"

Nora: "You're from San Francisco, you hate being homeschooled, you work at your family's restaurant, you collect erasers, you have two pugs named Coco and Jax, and you're existentially prepared to admit that you like P!nk."

-- in Day One

Dot: "You're smart, huh?"

Nora: "I just read a lot."

Dot: "Books, man. Can't get into them."

Nora: "Try having an elite athlete as your sibling. You do a lot of sitting. On planes, in gyms, in the stands. Reading will happen."

-- in Day One

Shelby: "You know what my daddy always says when he thinks I'm looking at my phone too much? He says, 'You'll never spot a rainbow if you're looking down.'"

Nora: "Uh, except that people are always posting rainbow pics on Instagram."

-- in Day Six

Fatin: "Time for a quick whore bath."

Shelby: "Excuse me, what is a whore bath?"

Nora: "Just the pits, tits and slits."

-- in Day Six

Nora (to Leah): "Question. Why doesn't Santa Claus have any children? Because he only comes once a year and it's not in your chimney."

-- in Day Twelve

Nora (in an attempt to cheer up Rachel): "You know, in some cultures, a woman's at the height of her spiritual power when she gets her period. Do you feel your spirit transcending?"

Rachel: "I did when that gummy was hitting. Now, not so much."

-- in Day Sixteen

Gretchen (about Quinn): "Would you call it a romance, what the two of you had?"

Nora: "No. I don't think I would call it anything. Naming it would make it small. It was sort of... infinite."

-- in Day Twenty-Three

Nora (to Gretchen): "I want to tell you what I want. I want to help my sister. I don't want to be afraid anymore. I don't want to be afraid to be in love, or to love who I want. Freely, fully, without reservation. I want to find my people, whoever they are. I want to find my strength. I want to make a life where we're not always doing and trying and fighting. I want a life where we can just be."

-- in Day Twenty-Three

Appearances[]

Season One
Episode	Appearance Status
Day One	Appears
Day Two	Appears
Day Three	Appears
Day Six	Appears
Day Seven	Appears
Day Twelve	Appears
Day Fifteen	Appears
Day Sixteen	Appears
Day Twenty-Two	Appears
Day Twenty-Three	Appears

Notes and Trivia[]

Some viewers are upset with Amazon and the showrunners for having Nora be an autistic-coded character but not casting an autistic actress for the role.
She was born in New York City but now lives on Long Island.
The book she was reading in Day One is The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds - Eastern Region.
Nora is 18 minutes younger than her twin sister, Rachel.