i’ve talked so much about arya and ladyship and predetermined roles, but we’re back at it again, everyone.
for me personally, i feel like arya was always meant for more than being a lady. i don’t think she sees anything wrong with being a lady, nor does she not respect women who do hold ladyship, you know? honestly, i think it’s really plain to see that arya has a great deal of respect for all types of women and girls, and that includes women who hold ladyships. she grew up in a noble family, she grew up around lords and ladies of all types. but she also knows what she wants, and what she likes, and what she doesn’t like. and a lot that comes with being a lady is on that list.
but here’s the thing, you can say there are ladies like lyanna mormont, dacey mormont, asha greyjoy, lyanna stark, brienne of tarth --- examples to arya that not all ladies are prim and proper like the kind of lady sansa wants to be. but i think that’s even greater proof that it’s MORE than just not wanting to be a lady. more than not wanting to rule alongside a lord. more than not wanting to be married. more than any of that. she’s DESTINED for more in her life. i’ve said it before, and i’ll say it again, her ambition FAR outweighs the expectations and duties of a lady. of a LORD, even.
like it’s not about being rough and tough, etc. like the fandom loves to portray her as, like an assassin, ruthless, a killer. it’s because she’s always been meant for more. i think in the books, it’s really alluded to that she’s going to be really important in the rebuilding of the north. i think it’s what she’s destined for, you know? the starks have always been the wardens of the north, the protectors of the north. it’s just why i’m so, so crazy about my canon divergent ending for her where she does become hand of the queen to sansa. it feels very full circle to me, it feels right, and it feels like what she was always meant for. to be there and helping to rule in the north, to be guarding the north, protecting it, protecting her family, being protected by her family.
ON ANOTHER NOTE, i’d still very much like to see, after all is said and done and the recovery process has begun, arya taking gendry around winterfell, taking him into the godswood, sharing about her father, about her home, letting him in. they deserve that intimacy. arya deserves to feel safe enough to create that intimacy.
au where arya and gendry spend their last hours before the battle of winterfell sitting in the quiet and talking/enjoying each other’s silent company instead of having sex
give me some meta on arya & catelyn bc I feel they are always so ignored by fandom !!!
arya and catelyn are actually never shown interacting with each other, but there are many instances of them talking or thinking about one another.
let me start out by saying that arya loved her mother so much. catelyn was such a good role model for arya, and even though she never wanted to be the kind of lady that her mother or sansa was, i don’t think arya’s respect for her mother could ever begin to be rivaled. and arya, for as much as she’s compared to the stark side of the family, has a great deal of her mother in her too. it can be seen in her sharp wits, in her intelligence, it can be seen in how arya is skilled with running a household. it can be seen in how fiercely she loves her family, how protective she can be. how brave and courageous she is.
and make no mistake, catelyn believed a woman could rule as well as a man. so this sort of woman? raising arya stark? you better believe it.
growing up, arya was made to feel insecure by her septa, by her sister. she wasn’t good at what she was meant to be good at, and even though she never wanted to be a lady, there was some part of her that wanted to be good at it. that wanted her mother to be proud. because catelyn did want arya to be good at those things. because catelyn did want arya to become a lady someday, and catelyn knew just how much arya’s skills in these arts were lacking.
these insecurities translate further into the story, when arya is trying to find her mother and robb. she begins to wonder if her mother would even want her anymore. she didn’t look like a lady, she had killed people, she was the furthest from what her mother would want. even after everything, she worries that her mother will be more concerned about her appearance than she would be about her being alive at all. that isn’t catelyn’s fault though, that’s arya’s insecurity speaking. arya constantly feeling as if she doesn’t fit the mold, and that this will make her less desirable, even to her own mother.
and that isn’t true at all, because while arya has these thoughts, catelyn is constantly thinking of her girls. constantly thinking of how there’s been no word of arya from the capital. constantly worried. constantly reminding robb that the girls were important too, and that he mustn’t forget about them.
catelyn acknowledges those things which she wishes she could change about arya, but not a single one of these affects the love she has for her daughter. not a single one of those things affects how badly she wants her daughter back. catelyn’s love for her children is so deep and pure. she just wants arya safe.
but of course, catelyn doesn’t make it. killed at the red wedding. this leaves arya in something of a state of depression. the book talks about how she has a hole in her chest, a place where her mother (and ned and her brothers) had once lived. but it was empty, and she didn’t think it would ever feel better again. she didn’t think she would ever be whole again.
and she begs the hound to take her back to the twins, because she believes her mother has to be alive, that they can save her. they have to be able to save her. arya spends so long missing her mother and wanting to see her again, only for her to be killed, and of course she’s in disbelief. of course she believes she can still be saved, because she can’t have lost her mother too. she can’t have lost her mother too.
i don’t think it’s any sort of coincidence that nymeria had been at the stream her mother had been in. i don’t think it’s any sort of coincidence that arya would have warged into her in her dreams while she’d been there. only to see her mother’s dead corpse, to pull her from the river.
as heartbreaking as this is, and as apathetic as arya seems the day after she wakes, when she tells the hound she knows her mother is dead, i think this gives her some sort of closure. the sort of closure she had needed, or she might have gone on begging and begging to go back, to wish she had been there with her mother and robb, for a long time past.
her mother will always be a part of her. she will always love her. always wish to find justice for her.
all in all, arya and catelyn loved each other deeply, despite any differences. each loves with all their heart. nothing could ever change that.
there’s a gentle breeze bristling through the red leaves of the weirwood tree. it’s comforting almost. at times she thinks she can hear the voices of all of those she’d lost. of her mother and father. robb. rickon. their voices carried by the cool northern winds of spring.
eyes closed, a deep breath is taken and she finds herself in the closest thing to peace she’s felt since the day she had left winterfell. since the day she had said goodbye to all she knew forever. fateful and bittersweet. tragic and terrible.
when grey eyes open, they find hair as burning red as the leaves of the tree above them, eyes as blue as their mother’s looking back at her, and the smallest smile sneaks its way upon her lips. so far they had come since childish days of bickering and bullying. they were now one. as different as the sun and moon, but they needed each other. just as their father had once said.
i love you. words so abrupt they nearly take her by surprise, though she finds her heart warming, her own deep love for her sister overtaking her emotions. that gentle smile upon her features grows, nearly toothy. it had been a lifetime since they had been children. those parts of them had died long ago, alongside their father, their mother, their brothers. but times like these almost made it feel as if those days were not so distant after all.
he was just truly so important to her. up until affc, really, mostly everything she knew, whether about swords or defending herself and others or being attentive and observant had come from syrio. he had taught her everything she knew. he had exemplified to her what courage and bravery were. plus, there’s a quote in acok that’s like “jon snow had given her needle, but syrio forel had taught her how to use it.”
and like, when she’s going to kill that guard as they’re all escaping harrenhal, she thinks of several people that had given her the bravery to push forward, jon snow, jaqen h’gar, but syrio’s name was listed first. it was syrio that she named walking alongside her first. and that means something you know?
syrio gave her a foundation that she would build upon throughout the entire series. and she has, and continues to do so tbh.
i feel like syrio’s importance to arya and her story isn’t talked about nearly enough?? his teachings stick with her throughout the entire series. she remembers how he taught her to see what was there in front of her, to look past everything and really see. he gave her words of comfort and bravery that have helped her through so much in her journey. quick as a snake. calm as still water. fear cuts deeper than swords. he gave her bravery. just the thought of him, the thought of his own bravery and willingness to fight for others, gave her the courage to do the same.
“Arya tried to think what Syrio would have done.”
“Syrio would not have been afraid.”
“There were three, she saw. Only three. Syrio could fight more than three.”
“Arya remembered what Syrio Forel had told her, the trick of looking and seeing what was there.”
“It took all her strength to remain still and silent, the way Syrio Forel had taught her, to stand there like a stick of furniture.”
it isn’t even just the physical that he helps her through. it’s with his lessons that she’s able to find it in herself to keep her composure, to not break down, no matter how badly something may hurt her.
he holds a lot of importance for her, a lot of importance within her journey and the places that she ends up and the things that she’s able to do. and i’m just emotional tbh.
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