Nathan Riggs

Nathan Riggs is a cardiothoracic surgeon who worked with April Kepner during her time in Jordan. After bringing a patient to Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, he got a job working there.

Meeting Owen and Megan
Owen and Nathan became doctors together, including their field training. They became like brothers, and Nathan really trusted him. Through Owen, Nathan met Megan Hunt, with whom he fell in love. They started a relationship, but Nathan cheated on her. While they were serving in the army, Megan found out and called her brother, who urged her to get away from Nathan as soon as possible.

Megan's Disappearance
That same day, Nathan and Megan needed to transport a patient from the field, but there was only room for the chopper for one of them. It was going to be an ugly ride through an unprotected airspace, so he wanted to go. Megan objected as she wanted to get away from Nathan and pointed out it was her patient. After a fight, he let her go as he would've done the same thing had the patient been his. The helicopter never arrived at its destination and disappeared without a trace. Megan's disappearance started the feud between Owen and Nathan, as Owen blamed him for it. After her disappearance, Nathan stayed around for a while to look for her, while Owen returned to Seattle soon after her disappearance.

Work with April
While working with April, he and the other doctors called her The Machine because she worked through everything and made others want to work harder.

Coming to Seattle
Nathan came to Seattle with Kamal Aboud, who needed surgery to remove tumors from his hands. Jackson initially refused and Nathan started calling to around to find another surgeon. While doing so, he encountered Owen, who urged to him to leave. Since all other surgeons refused, Jackson decided to amputate, but changed his mind mid-procedure and saved Kamal's hands.

Feud with Owen
Nathan decided to stay in Seattle, and was hired as an attending cardiothoracic surgeon by Chief Bailey. Bailey neglected to consult with anyone before hiring Nathan, thus surprising Maggie and Owen to see him at work. At the end of his first day, he asked Meredith to go grab a drink together, but she declined, as she decided to hate Nathan because Owen did so. The news of the feud between Owen and Nathan spread quickly around the hospital, and rumors of possible causes soon followed. Nathan focused on his job and ignored Owen's constant attempts to thwart him. When Owen's mother showed up at the hospital for John, Nathan saw her and they hugged. Owen later told him to stay away from his family, to which Nathan responded he viewed Evelyn as his family, too. Owen then punched him and told him they were not his family. Afterwards, Nathan went to Joe's and bought Amelia a drink.

Owen continued to interfere with Nathan doing his job, even going as far as to throw him off a shared case. Nathan hung out with April at the bar and told her how he met Owen, and that he never hated him. However, when the patient was in distress, Owen specifically requested Nathan for help, and their colleagues witnessed how amazingly in sync they were able to work, anticipating each other's moves and knowing what to do without any conversation. While scrubbing out, the men began yelling at each other again. While working together with Meredith, she acted rather hostile when he tried to smoothen things with personal questions, but at the end of the day asked him about his deal with Owen. Since she only knew about Megan's helicopter disappearing, Nathan told her that he had wanted to board the chopper, but Megan insisted on going herself.

When Owen confronted him again about clashing opinions over a shared patient, Nathan flat-out told him to find someone else to hate in order to get over his guilt. He reminded Owen that while he stayed to look for Megan, Owen gave up and returned to Seattle. Not long after, Owen, Nathan, and Meredith got on an ambulance to retrieve a heart. Nathan learned that Amelia was an alcoholic and confessed he bought her a drink. Owen started to yell at him, but Meredith broke up the fight. Later that day, Owen told Nathan bad things happen around him, and he told Nathan he knew about the cheating. He told Nathan he couldn't come to the hospital and pretend to be a hero and fool everyone, as Owen would not let that happen. After Maggie became aware of the reason of Owen's severe disliking of Nathan, Nathan opened up to Maggie and told her that despite Owen telling everyone he's a liar, the only thing he did was leave pieces out of the story since he considered those to be just for him and Megan. He admitted to having made a big mistake, but he's paid for it ever since it happened.

Personality
When Nathan first came to the hospital with Kamal Aboud, he seemed like a very nice guy. He and April get along very well, and Kamal deeply cared about him. Owen, however, feels completely different about Nathan. He resents Nathan and doesn't even want to be near him. He passed on his hatred to Meredith, who began to notice that Nathan overstepped his boundaries and made rash decisions, like when he decided to pull a spike out of a man's chest.

Megan Hunt
Nathan was romantically involved with Megan Hunt, Owen's younger sister. One day, while working in a field unit, they had to transport a patient across unprotected airspace, with the chopper only having room for one of them. After some fighting, Nathan allowed Megan to step on board, as the patient was hers. The chopper, however, disappeared without a trace, which lead to Owen blaming him for her supposed death hence their current feud.

However, Owen revealed to Meredith that Nathan was never near the chopper with Megan. He revealed that Nathan cheated on Megan with another woman.

Owen Hunt
Nathan met Owen and Megan in med school and became friends with Owen, who became like a brother to him. They were torn apart, however, after Megan disappeared in the field with the helicopter she was on and Owen began blaming Nathan for having allowed her to step on board. They did not see each other for years until Nathan came to the hospital with April Kepner. When he was hired as a cardiothoracic surgeon, Owen quickly began to bad-mouthed him and punched him upon his notion that the two of them shared a family.

Evelyn Hunt
Nathan and Evelyn appear to be on good terms, with her hugging him warmly upon meeting him again after his arrival to Seattle, and him calling her "ma". It seems that she, unlike her son, has forgiven Nathan for whatever part he had to play in her daughter's fate.

April Kepner
During their time working together in Jordan, he became close with April Kepner. So far, she is his only friend at Grey Sloan, as seen when they were playing darts at Joe's and talking to each other about their personal problems.

Meredith Grey
Nathan and Meredith are currently at odds, with her disliking him out of loyalty for Owen. Due to Owen's stories, she began to notice he was prone to making rash medical decisions, and their opinions quite often differ. However, she has shown to be able to put her dislike aside so it won't affect patients, or when Nathan tells her his side of the story. When Meredith had a bad idea, he confronted her about it in the parking lot. They started arguing and ended up making out in her car.

Amelia Shepherd
Nathan and Amelia maintain a professional relationship. After he bought her a drink, he became aware of her romantic relationship with Owen and once offered to go talk to a patient's family without our so she could make her date with Owen. Nathan appears to keep a distance from her in his personal life since she's close to Owen, so he figured she'd have formed her conclusions about him already.

Maggie Pierce
Maggie was surprised to find out that Bailey hired someone for her department without consulting, but she soon came to realize Nathan was talented and not a bad guy. After the panel convened for Ben's actions on Gretchen McKay, Nathan noticed Maggie was acting differently and he figured she heard Owen's stories about him. He told her that everything he had told Meredith was true, but he admitted to leaving out some pieces that he considered just for him and Megan. Maggie understood and went back to treating him normally. Over time, Maggie developed a crush on him.

Career
Riggs is an attending cardiothoracic surgeon at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. He was a candidate for head of cardiothoracic surgery at Duke University Medical Center prior to Chief Bailey hiring him.

Notes and Trivia

 * As an attending, Riggs wears a personal scrub cap. It is red themed with subtle etchings of a darker shade.
 * Nathan has a habit of calling the morgue a "plumber", a habit he picked up on the field and is now trying to get rid of.
 * Nathan likes bacon, bringing it to work as a snack.

Notable Episodes
These episode are Nathan-centric or are otherwise very informative about his life:
 * The Me Nobody Knows
 * My Next Life
 * I Wear the Face
 * At Last

Memorable Quotes

 * Family can mess you up.