Nate Archibald (Gossip Girl)

Nate Archibald
Gossip Girl character
First appearance	Book Series: Gossip Girl TV Series: Pilot
Last appearance	Book Series: Don't You Forget About Me
Created by	Cecily von Ziegesar
Portrayed by	Chace Crawford
In-universe information
Alias	N
Nickname	Nate Book Series: Natie (by Serena and sometimes Blair )
Gender	Male
Occupation	Book Series: Sailor Lacrosse Captain TV Series: High School Student
Family	Captain Archibald (father) Mrs. Archibald (mother)
Spouse	Book Series: Blair Waldorf (dated/lovers) Serena van der Woodsen (dated/lovers) Jenny Humphrey (dated) Georgina Sparks (dated) Lexie (fling) Tawny (fling) L'wren (fling) TV Series: Blair Waldorf {dated} Serena van der Woodsen (one night stand) Vanessa Abrams (dating)
Relatives	Book Series: Unnamed Aunt in Provence, France

Nathaniel Fitzwilliam Archibald, known as Nate Archibald, is a character in the best selling Gossip Girl book series. He is portrayed by Chace Crawford in the television series of the same name.

The Golden Boy

— Gossip Girl

Book Series Background

Nathaniel Archibald is a "Waspoid", good-looking lacrosse player at the elite St. Jude's School for Boys. His mother, Mrs. Archibald, is a French socialite, and his father, Captain Archibald, is a former Navy captain and a wealthy banker. He smokes copious amounts of marijuana and was once caught and sent to rehab for buying a dime bag in the park. Nate's buddies are Anthony Avuldsen, Charlie Dern, and Jeremy Scott Tompkinson. Throughout the series he is a very close, if on-again, off-again, friend and boyfriend of both Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen.

Nate's family resides in a gracious townhouse right off Park Avenue on the exclusive Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, and his mother's French socialite family owns a summer chateau in Nice. He is a fan of sailing like his father, and wished to do that instead of attending Yale with then-girlfriend Blair, although he expressed interest in attending Brown University, and in the end of the series he sails around the world with a friend of his father's, Captain Chips White, not ever getting in Blair's and Serena's friendship again.

TV Series Background

Nathaniel Archibald was born to Howard Archibald, a successful business magnate, and Anne Archibald. Nate is close friends with Chuck Bass, with whom he attends the prestigious St. Jude's School for boys. His girlfriend Blair Waldorf, but he secretly harbors love for her best friend Serena Van der Woodsen with whom he had a passionate one night stand.

Season 1

Nate grew up with his two best friends- the girl who becomes his girlfriend, Blair Waldorf, and Chuck Bass. After Serena departs for boarding school after their one-night-stand, Nate continues to date Blair. When Serena returns, however, tensions are stirred up. He confesses to Blair about his affair, but she does not end their relationship. He confesses to Jenny (who he mistakenly thinks is Serena) that he is not over Serena. This is the final straw for Blair.

While Nate wants to attend a college out West (with a preference for University of Southern California), his father pressures him to attend Dartmouth College. Nate soon learns that his dad is struggling with a cocaine addiction and confronts his father about it, only to be violently attacked. Blair watches from the window and later breaks up with him when she realizes that her love wasn't returned. He grills his best friend, Chuck Bass, for information about Blair, after Blair distance herself from him, which made him more attracted to her again. He receives a false impression that Blair is dating Carter Baizen, a sworn enemy of Nate.

After going to Monaco with Chuck over winter vacation, Nate returns and Blair gives him the cold shoulder. However, after he attempts to save her from expulsion and gets suspended in the process, the two begin dating again until he learns about the secret relationship between Blair and Chuck. After the last episode produced prior to the writers' strike, he is left without a girlfriend and a best friend, and is shown to have hit rock bottom.

After the Writer's strike, the series continue on as Nate sees Serena and Blair avoiding the students looking at her. After Jenny drops yogurt on Blair's hair as a joke, Nate warns Jenny about her new "friends", that they can turn on her at any moment as they did to Blair. He then receives a call from Jenny, a request for $8000. He comes to talk to Dan on why Jenny needed $8000, but Dan did not understand it either. After Blair succeeded in embarassing Jenny, she goes to Nate after talking to Dan, and asks Nate to go with her to the restaurant where Blair and the rest of the group of girls were at, eventually causing a full-fledged war between Jenny and Blair.

Nate gives Dan his SAT books to help him along for the upcoming SAT weekend, and meets Dan's best friend, Vanessa. Vanessa admires one of the reports he wrote, and calls him up to meet for coffee. They're attracted to one another, and Dan and Blair both see them kissing each other after the SAT.

Differences between the novels and TV series

• Nate's two best friends in the books are Serena and Blair, while also hanging out with boys named Anthony, Charlie and Jeremy. He also couldn't stand Chuck. In the TV series, Chuck is Nate's best friend.
• Nate struggles with drugs in the book, even being sent to rehab, but in the show Nate's father has the addiction. Although, Nate's drug of choice is marijuana while his father's is cocaine.
• In the books, Blair pressures Nate to attend Yale while he is interested in sailing and not attending school, or going to Brown. In the TV series, Nate's dad pressures him to attend Dartmouth while he would rather attend schools on the West Coast, including the University of Southern California (USC).
• Nate has brilliant green eyes in the books, but in the tv series has blue eyes.
• Nate met Georgina at rehab and they both dated, whereas in the series they have nothing to do with each other.

Family

Book Series

• Captain Archibald (father)
• Ms. Archibald (mother)

TV Series

• Howard Archibald (father)
• Anne Archibald (mother)

Flings and romantic relationships

Book Series

• Blair Waldorf (ex-girlfriend)
• Serena van der Woodsen (ex-lover)
• Jenny Humphrey (ex-girlfriend)
• Georgina Sparks (ex-girlfriend)
• Lexie (fling)
• Tawny (fling)
• L'Wren (fling)

TV Series

• Blair Waldorf
  • First Relationship:
    • Start Up: Before Pilot (101) (They are said to have been dating since kindergarten.)
    • Broke Up: Victor, Victrola (107)
      • Reason: Blair confronts Nate about his confession to 'Serena'.
  • Second Relationship:
    • Start Up: Hi, Society (110)
    • Broke Up: School Lies (112)
      • Reason: Chuck threatens to tell Nate about their relationship if Blair continues seeing him.
  • Third Relationship:
    • Start Up: School Lies (112)
    • Broke Up: The Thin Line Between Chuck and Nate (113)
      • Reason: Nate learns about Blair's secret relationship with Chuck.

• Serena van der Woodsen
  • Start Up: Before Pilot (101)
    • Broke Up: Had One Night Stand Behind Blair's Back

• Vanessa Abrams
  • Start Up: Desperately Seeking Serena (115)