Arya centric blog @gotitonmysoul - Tumblr Blog

Arya isn't close to losing her identity. The training with the FM is designed to make that happen, but Arya is still firmly connected to who she really is. That has nothing to do with her list, but everything to do with: 1. Keeping Needle which symbolizes her family and home, 2. her continued belief in Northern values, 3. her connection to Nymeria. The FM even point out that while she takes on other names, her true identity as Arya is always beneath them.

I think that her remaining character development is going to revolve around her losing all of those things. I follow the “Sansa will rebuild House Stark” theory, so my predictions for Bran, Rickon, Arya, and Jon involve them not surviving (not as Starks, at least).

As of now, Arya definitely has a fair amount of Stark in her. But we have a good 2000 pages for her to change.

gotitonmysoul

Great ask, dumb reply.

#arya meta #fandom arya hate

athousandtales

She studied her own work again, looking for some way to salvage it, then sighed and put down the needle.

#arya gif

aryastarkart

Arya Stark by millsartx

#arya in braavos

dornish-she-wolf

Ned • Rya

After hearing Lady StoneHeart was dead, Ned returned to the Riverlands, hearing tales about a queen of wolves, someone who unified the riverlands, and gave it back to the Tully family. He didn't expect that this mythical being now leading not only the Brotherhood, but also an army, was a long lost friend.

#hypothetical match #edric dayne

aryastarkart

Arya Stark and Nymeria by dqykdesign

#arya and nymeria

melrosing

Arya on the first of many miserable roadtrips

#arya art

nooooooooooooooooooooone

She had to look straight up to see the Titan's head. "The Braavosi feed him on the juicy pink flesh of little highborn girls," she heard Old Nan say again, but she was not a little girl, and she would not be frightened of a stupid statue.

Even so, she kept one hand on Needle as they slipped between his legs.

Arya I, A Feast for Crows

#arya in braavos #old nan #book quote

the-king-andthe-lionheart

I just want to take a little time and appreciate this quote by Arya:

Thereafter she and the waif spent their time together touching things and pointing, as each tried to teach the other a few words of her own tongue. Simple words at first, cup and candle and shoe; the harder words; then sentences. Once Syrio Forel used to make Arya stand on one leg until she was trembling. Later he sent her chasing after cats. She had danced the water dance on the limbs of trees, a stick sword in her hand. Those things had all been hard, but this was harder.

Even sewing was more fun than tongues, she told herself, after a night when she had forgotten half the words she thought she knew, and pronounced the other half so badly that the waif had laughed at her. My sentences are as crooked as my stitches used to be. If the girl had not been so small and starved, Arya would have smashed her stupid face. Instead she gnawed her lip. Too stupid to learn and too stupid to give up. - Arya II AFFC

Here we see Arya’s perseverance and it’s so admirable. She is comparing the difficulty to learning languages with sewing (and we know sewing is incredibly difficult for her, most likely because she’s left handed) and we see in the books that she accomplishes this difficult task of languages. In TWOW, we see Arya, playing the role of Mercy who is a native Braavosi, who doesn’t even know the common tongue, meaning Arya was completely fluent by this time. So we see Arya really struggling to learn Braavosi to someone who is completely fluent in the language in a span of probably 6 to 9 months. That is incredible! And not only does she know the common tongue and Braavosi, but she’s brushing up her High Valyrian - it’s likely she’s already completely brushed up on it by the time Mercy takes place - and she’s also learning the tongues of Lys and Pentos too.

A lot of people don’t acknowledge how intelligent Arya is but when someone presents her with a goal and the means to achieving said goal, Arya can usually accomplish it, be it physically or mentally. Of course like everyone Arya has her limits and like everyone Arya isn’t good at everything, but she has perseverance and smarts. Arya may think she’s too stupid to learn and too stupid to give up, but she does learn and not giving something up is a good thing, especially in this case. The fact that the HOBAW is furthering Arya’s education and skills (most of what she is learning has nothing to do with killing and even her education around poisons and potions could lead to knowledge in healing and medicine) is going to play the biggest role in Arya’s future. Arya is naturally extroverted and charismatic and compassionate. She also knows how to rule her face, adapt, detect lies, and manipulate. The fact that she is all those things and more, that she’s a polyglot, are all good things to have when it comes to politics. Basically everything she is learning is going to make her an excellent leader and/or Mistress of Whispers and/or Ambassador.

Arya may own a sword, may know the basics of Water Dancing, may have had to fight and kill with that sword, but that doesn’t mean that that is all she is. Arya is a complex character who has many other skills, which means she’s not going to end the story as some warrior or kingsguard. She’s not going to randomly sail away an a suicidal adventure, unless like Queen Nymeria, she is sailing away with ships of refugees to find a new home.

No, if GRRM only intended for Arya to just be a “sword” or to die in the end or to just leave everything behind, he wouldn’t be wasting his time writing about Arya’s time witnessing the horrors of the War for the Five Kings. He wouldn’t be showing us Arya protecting and developing friendships with the Smallfolk. He wouldn’t be teaching her how to survive and how to grant justice and mercy. He wouldn’t be teaching her valuable potentially political tools in the HOBAW either. No, Arya’s endgame is going to be important. Maybe not the most important, and that’s fine, I’ve never thought Arya needed to end up as queen (even though she has a lot of queen foreshadowing) or “winning” in order for her to remain relevant to me or important to the narrative, but I do think she’s going to be a part of Bran’s King’s Council and she’s going to help change the face of Westeros.

#arya meta #TWoW Mercy

aryastarksource

In the godswood she found her broomstick sword where she had left it, and carried it to the heart tree. There she knelt. Red leaves rustled. Red eyes peered inside her. The eyes of the gods. “Tell me what to do, you gods,” she prayed.

For a long moment there was no sound but the wind and the water and the creak of leaf and limb. And then, far far off, beyond the godswood and the haunted towers and the immense stone walls of Harrenhal, from somewhere out in the world, came the long lonely howl of a wolf. Gooseprickles rose on Arya’s skin, and for an instant she felt dizzy. Then, so faintly, it seemed as if she heard her father’s voice. “When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives,” he said.

“But there is no pack,” she whispered to the weirwood. Bran and Rickon were dead, the Lannisters had Sansa, Jon had gone to the Wall. “I’m not even me now, I’m Nan.”

“You are Arya of Winterfell, daughter of the north. You told me you could be strong. You have the wolf blood in you.”

“The wolf blood.” Arya remembered now. “I’ll be as strong as Robb. I said I would.” She took a deep breath, then lifted the broomstick in both hands and brought it down across her knee. It broke with a loud crack, and she threw the pieces aside. I am a direwolf, and done with wooden teeth. – A Clash of Kings

#arya gif #arya in harrenhal

maisiestyle

FORESHADOWING Arya’s return/reveal during an upcoming battle.

Renly had a pretender too:

“Tell me, ser. Who was wearing Renly’s armor?”

For a moment Loras Tyrell looked as though he might refuse, but in the end [redacted]. “My brother,” he said sullenly. “Renly was taller than me, and broader in the chest. His armor was too loose on me, but it suited Garlan well.”

“Was the masquerade your notion, or his?”

“Lord Littlefinger suggested it. He said it would frighten Stannis’s ignorant men-at-arms.”

~*~

A girl pretending to be Arya layer pops up in Winterfell thanks to Littlefinger.

Roose Bolton becomes Warden of the North and takes home Arya Stark.“

"Arya Stark?” Tyrion cocked his head. “And Bolton? I might have known Frey would not have the stomach to act alone. But Arya … Varys and Ser Jacelyn searched for her for more than half a year. Arya Stark is surely dead.”

“So was Renly, until the Blackwater.” - Tyrion, ASOS

#arya meta #renly baratheon

winnifredburkle

Arya Stark and Daenerys Targaryen are Superheroes Masterpost

So I wrote a lot of meta about these two girls, and why they are superheroes, and I’ve divided it up into seven sections to make for easier reading. I recommend reading all of them in order, but of course, you don’t have to.

Part One: Arya Stark is a Good Person

Part Two: Arya and Violence

Part Three: Arya and Femininity

Part Four: Dany, Violence, and the Double-Standard

Part Five: Dany Gives a Shit

Part Six: Arya and Dany are Feminists

Part Seven: The Real World Application ™ (Conclusion)

(special shout out to nenesauriorex and donewithwoodenteeth for all their help)

#arya meta #arya and daenerys