We define and study the existence of very stable Higgs bundles on Riemann surfaces, how it implies a precise formula for the multiplicity of the very stable components of the global nilpotent cone and its relationship to mirror symmetry. The main ingredients are the Bialynicki-Birula theory of ${mathbb C}^*$-actions on semiprojective varieties, ${mathbb C}^*$ characters of indices of ${mathbb C}^*$-equivariant coherent sheaves, Hecke transformation for Higgs bundles, relative Fourier-Mukai transform along the Hitchin fibration, hyperholomorphic structures on universal bundles and cominuscule Higgs bundles.