Arya is a leader not just a fighter
Arya cocked her head to one side. “Can I be a king’s councillor and build castles and become the High Septon?”
“You,” Ned said, kissing her lightly on the brow, “will marry a king and rule his castle, and your sons will be knights and princes and lords and, yes, perhaps even a High Septon.”
Arya screwed up her face. “No,” she said, “that’s Sansa.” She folded up her right leg and resumed her balancing. Ned sighed and left her there.
This quote is often used as evidence against Arya ever becoming a queen or holding a ruling position because it supposedly shows that it’s not something she wants. This perspective also goes hand in hand with reducing Arya just to physicality and saying she’s just a physical fighter, which disregards the bulk of her character. While I don’t expect her to become queen in the series, I can definitely see foreshadowing for it (x, x, x, x).
What’s going on in this scene isn’t Arya rejecting leadership or even the position of queen regnant. She’s rejecting her father’s sexist views that she can’t hold a position of power in her own right. From Ned’s perspective, the only worth and power a woman can claim are through her husband and sons. Arya wants more. Just look at her question:
“Can I be a king’s councillor and build castles and become the High Septon?”
Two of these positions, king’s councillor and High Septon, involve wielding a great deal of power. Building castles isn’t at all insignificant either. So it’s safe to say that Arya has a strong interest in ruling. She’s shown signs of skill in leadership already, as has been pointed out and analyzed multiple times (x, x, x, x). Plus, between her ability to make friends with anyone regardless of class and the fact that the North is already rallying in her name, it’s also safe to say that she has the ability to gain political support.
So does Arya show interest in ruling? Yes. Does she reject the notion of holding her position through her husband and only getting to see her sons hold the positions she wants for herself? Yes.
Where this quote is concerned, it’s also important to note that Ned isn’t just reducing a woman’s worth to the men in her life, he’s also saying that Arya will marry a king even though the current king is married and old enough to be her father, while his heir is engaged to Sansa. So when she says, “No, that’s Sansa” she’s right. That was the path Sansa was slated for at that time. It was an odd choice of words for Ned, to be honest.
Regardless of whether Arya becomes a queen or holds a position of power in Bran or Jonerys’ new government, she would be an excellent ruler who has internalized many of her father’s best lessons and has shown that she cares about the common people. Arya has seen first hand how poor ruling effects the common people. She lived among them and suffered from poor political decisions right alongside them. She would be a great advocate for them.
TL; DR: Reducing Arya to just a fighter is disregarding the majority of her character. Her skill set goes far beyond physicality.
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