r/TheHandmaidsTale • u/Totoro1985 • 4d ago

Nichole's paternity Question

So Serena eventually gets pregnant by Fred, which means that somehow he was fertile as well in the end.

Just wondering, I presume that while June was regularly sleeping with Nick by choice, the monthly ceremony was also regularly performed.

Does this mean that there could be a slight chance that Nichole is Fred's and not Nick's after all?

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u/rapt2right 4d ago edited 4d ago

No. It's been confirmed repeatedly by the show's writers and producers that Nick is Nicole's father....and neither the Canadian government nor the international authorities would have held on to that diplomatic hand grenade without verifying June's claims about the baby's paternity. It's not spelled out that a DNA test was done but it would have been, politically, far easier to send Nicole back to Gilead but with the biological parents both wanting her to stay in Canada they had a duty to leave her in Luke's care. If Fred could have proven paternity, they'd have honored his parental rights. (Maybe after negotiating some conditions or concessions)

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u/Totoro1985 4d ago

Yes, as you say we can only assume that a DNA test had indeed been done, given that Serena was dead convinced that Nick was the father, I found it weird that Fred didn't request a DNA test himself on Nichole when he found out that Serena was pregnant. Imagine the political repercussions from that.

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u/rapt2right 4d ago

Yeah, but Fred's ego would never let him believe that Serena cheated and definitely would not want to risk putting it on record that it was him, not Serena, that wasn't fertile. Also, proving Serena was unfaithful would shatter the "perfect traditional marriage " image & the illusion that Gilead is a place of morals & old fashioned values that he was still trying to get Serena to help him project.