#arya meta

[laurellerual]

Do you think adult Arya would grow her hair out or keep it short?? I can see her doing both TBH

My art speaks for me. I think she would grow her hair out.

Arya is forced to have her hair cut numerous times during the course of the story. The first to do it is Yoren, and it's a traumatic experience where she thinks he's going to kill her. Then it happens again in Harrenhal where she is shorn like an animal because of fleas. Then it's the Hound's turn after the red weddings and then the House of black and white. Every time the hair is cut it is because of someone else and corresponds to an external change, a violation, a loss of identity.

The only time we see her shave herself is at the beginning of the Mercy chapter, after she accepted her new role as "no one" (at least in words because if you've read the chapter you know how it ends). So once again a loss of identity, self-imposed this time.

For me, an Arya who can finally afford to let her hair grow is an Arya who is once again free to bear her name and not have to give up any part of herself, and this is what I hope for her future.

[queen-of-andor]

I've seen some people hold Arya responsible over what happened to her friend Mycah at the Trident incident because according to them "she should have known her place in society and the power a lady holds over commoners". I disagree with this notion on so many levels.

First of all, Arya is only nine years old during that incident . Even if you believe that she shouldn't befriend commoners (which in my opinion she's totally allowed to, and I'll express my thoughts on it later on) shouldn't you be less harsh on the judgement of such a little kid? Even if according to you "she doesn't know her place in society", she still have plenty of years before she reaches adulthood to find the so called place she is supposed to occupy as a lady in Westerosi society.

As I said earlier on, I do believe that Arya is totally justified in befriending people who belong in a different social class from her. That's isn't only my own personal belief as someone who is anti - classism and lives in 21st century, but this is also supported by the text.

From her first introduction we know that Arya likes to befriend all sort of people.

Arya had loved nothing better than to sit at her father's table and listen to them talk. She had loved listening to the men on the benches too; to freeriders tough as leather, courtly knights and bold young squires, grizzled old men-at-arms. She used to throw snowballs at them and help them steal pies from the kitchen. Their wives gave her scones and she invented names for their babies and played monsters-and-maidens and hide-the-treasure and come-into-my-castle with their children. Fat Tom used to call her "Arya Underfoot," because he said that was where she always was. She'd liked that a lot better than "Arya Horseface."

The above passage is from the second chapter of hers, before she left Winterfell. She loves Winterfell's small folk and is loved by them in return. She is even given the nickname " Arya Underfoot" because of that behavior of hers. So, it's no secret that she associates with commoners. It's impossible for her mother and her father not to know. And yet she's never scolded for that, and Arya is scolded over plenty things by her mother and the Septa but never about the people she chooses as her companions.

It makes sense that she's allowed to associate with these people, since Bran in his own POV also expresses fondness for people who belong to a lower class (and he's also never forbidden to associate with these people) and Ned, the Winterfell's own Lord, is known to dine with people who belong to a lower class. So, it's totally okay for Arya - and for any other child of his- to follow his example.

Also, post the Trident incident, Ned has a long and serious talk with Arya. If he believed that his daughter shouldn't befriend a boy from a below class, he would express this opinion of his to Arya. But he didn't, because he didn't find anything wrong with it

The only people who find wrong Arya associating with small folk are Sansa and the Lannisters/Baratheon. The first is the only person who actually shares her distaste for Arya's company in her own POV:

Sansa knew all about the sorts of people Arya liked to talk to: squires and grooms and serving girls, old men and naked children, rough-spoken freeriders of uncertain birth. Arya would make friends with anybody. This Mycah was the worst; a butcher's boy, thirteen and wild, he slept in the meat wagon and smelled of the slaughtering block. Just the sight of him was enough to make Sansa feel sick, but Arya seemed to prefer his company to hers.

But we shouldn't take Sansa's view as the norm for westerosi society and especially not for Winterfell's household since her own father is okay with associating with people that belong to a lower class than theirs.

I believe that since Sansa is introduced to us as a proper little lady, some people take her views as the absolute truth when it comes to westerosi etiquette But they forget that Sansa is also a little kid who doesn't fully understand or see eye to eye with her little sister and therefore it makes sense that she views Arya's actions in a more negative light than other characters do.

As for the Lannister-Baratheon loyal family, Cersei and Joffrey have a strong distain for small folk and believe in their own superiority - but they also believe in their superiority over their fellow noble people. I guess we could say that both suffer from superiority complex and have a distorted idea of the world, so I wouldn't hold their own views as the norm, either.

I'm not saying that there aren't other nobles who believe in their own superiority over commoners and would never befriend people from a lower class, because the books contain plenty of these type of characters. I'm just saying that this isn't the absolute truth to every single noble character, aside from Arya. The kids in Winterfell are allowed to befriend people from lower classes and so are the Martell kids in the Water Gardens.

And not every monarch values so little the life of their people that they would order a little boy to be killed just because their child and crown prince, threw a fit. Ask yourself the question: if Ned Stark was the King and Robb had terrorised a little boy who played with Arya/any other little noble kid, would Ned order Mycah's death? Or would he have a long talk with his heir on how he shouldn't treat his people as objects? Just because Cersei and Joffrey don't give a fuck for small folk ( and Robert could not be bothered to interfere) it doesn't mean that every monarch would react the same way they did.

Mycah died because of Cersei and Joffrey cruelty and Robert's indifference. Not because Arya befriended him.

[hello-nichya-here]

Stark Girls & Their Wolves - Why Arya Won’t Go West Of Westeros

While the ending of Game Of Thrones was deeply disappointing to almost everyone, one writting decision that I’ve seen some people talk about positively, or at least like something that can actually happen in the books, is Arya leaving the North so she can sail all over the world, going on dangerous adventures, exploring lands the people of Westeros don’t even know of.

At first, that can look like an ideal ending for her character. Arya was never the image of a perfect lady, or a lady at all, she is willful like her aunt Lyanna, she is already traveling from place to place, and, most important of all, she named her wolf Nymeria - the name of the warrior-queen that spent years at sea, never staying at the same place for to long.

However, it is exactly when we look at Arya’s wolf and the woman said wolf was named after, that we see exactly why this WON’T be her fate.

The warrior-queen was forced out of her home, and sailed with her people for her years - until finally settling in Dorne, burning all of her ships to demonstrate that she’d never leave again, and Dorne starts following her rules, making them very different from the rest of the seven kingdoms. She was no typical lady, but she was still known as the princess.

Arya’s wolf was forced to leave her so the Lannisters wouldn’t kill her. She is now the leader of a pack that is scaring the shit out of everyone as she travels through Westeros. It isn’t hard to imagine that a wolf that can’t stand the heat much will inevitably go to coldest region of the continent - the North. Her home.

From the beginning, Arya is shown missing her home, thinking of her siblings, of the guests her father would have for dinner to tell them stories about the North. She was forced to flee when the Lannisters killed her father. 

She constantly tries to go back to Winterfell, but isn’t able to (yet). She thinks of her siblings constantly, and even seems to miss Sansa at little, even though they weren’t on good terms. She recalls the saying of how the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives, and concludes that she needs to find her pack or else she’ll die (which we know won’t happen because Martin’s wife literally said she’d leave him if he killed Arya, and even in the original version of the story she was on his list of 5 characters that would 100% be alive in the end).

Even when she’s with the faceless men and is supposed to completely let go of her identity as Arya Stark, there’s still plenty suggesting this won’t happen. One of the fake names she uses for herself is Cat - which is often short for Catelyn, her mother. In a play that is literally talking about the war in Westeros, she is meant to play a role that combines Shae and Sansa - her sister. 

And, of course, she holds onto her sword, needle, because it represents her bond with Jon Snow, the sibling she was closest to - and when he gave the sword to her, as they were saying goodbye, he told her that different roads often lead to the same castle.

Even when we look at the concept of the Game Of Thrones - Martin always has someone mention that, while the nobles are busy with that, the common folk just care about being alive. Arya spend 80% of her story with ordinary people in terrible conditions and she has seen some shit. It would make sense for her to end up at Winterfell, rulling it with her family, since the Starks were so beloved for so long due always being genuinely good rulers to the people of the North.

The message is very clear: Arya will go back to Winterfell to be with her family, and once she’s there she’ll never be forced to leave and find another home again.

[wolfsneedles]

rich to say arya is not romantic when she has her tiny cute personal set of morals affection and way of loving someone not based on stories songs or physical feature but more like the way she spends time with someone opens up and gets to know them and vice versa. arya didn't have female friends or someone so close only to her which could share with her stories of knights in armour to save her. she made her own way and is her own knight in armour which really finishes the need for someone to find her only if she can too. arya's love for her father ned to rather bring him flowers and ruin her dress rather than wait for someone to bring her flower and tuck it behind her ear... is so unique and different. she also being bullied or made fun of her facial features given names, would never resort to do the same or like someone purely of their face. she likes outcasts and different people. gendry and jon snow are again good examples. she sees interacts and changes opinions about anyone so she isn't fixated or stubborn. she forgets and let goes too. also if someone like arya who has more ample suitable personality which fulfills the "family duty honor" mantra of her house, more than catelyn, or any other starks, she has more dedication loyalty nobility and love for her people and even her friends like hotpie & weasel, SO how can we or should i say arya antis conclude the same arya would or can not love someone in romantic passionate all loving way or manner too if she does....same for just some friends? arya is also young so this leaves large space to cover and see how grrm steers her story in future but she is the most unique female character bent away from traditionally feminine roles of love and duty. she carves her own path. her gesture of bringing flowers for ned and keeping jon's gift of needle so close to her shows she also finds stability and security and protection in material or physical comforts. arya also has drastically diff love language if we overall notice. she spends time with ppl and doing acts of service or physical work is more of her way to tell someone she is fine with them then just relying on verbal sweet affirmations. love and romance are so broad. and arya strives to like and protect any animal individual or hobby of hers. hard to believe she CANNOT love or find love.

[iheartbookbran]

Hey, asoiaf fandom, quick question here but am I the only one who gets deeply uncomfortable by the tone of the discussions surrounding Arya and her relationship with traditional gender roles/feminity? Not only because of the wrong assumptions a lot of people have about Arya looking down on traditional feminine activities like sewing, which she most definitely doesn’t, but also because there’s very glaring inherent classism in those claims.

Not only has Arya (that is, book Arya) never looked down on other women or the work that historically has been associated with them, but she has also partaked in said work herself.

Several times, in fact, and across numerous of her POV chapters:

Whatever names Harren the Black had meant to give his towers were long forgotten. (...) Arya slept in a shallow niche in the cavernous vaults beneath the Wailing Tower, on a bed of straw. She had water to wash in whenever she liked, a chunk of soap. The work was hard, but no harder than walking miles every day. Weasel did not need to find worms and bugs to eat, as Arry had; there was bread every day, and barley stews with bits of carrot and turnip, and once a fortnight even a bite of meat.—aCoK, Arya VII.

Weese used Arya to run messages, draw water, and fetch food, and sometimes to serve at table in the Barracks Hall above the armory, where the men-at-arms took their meals. But most of her work was cleaning. The ground floor of the Wailing Tower was given over to storerooms and granaries, and two floors above housed part of the garrison, but the upper stories had not been occupied for eighty years. Now Lord Tywin had commanded that they be made fit for habitation again. There were floors to be scrubbed, grime to be washed off windows, broken chairs and rotted beds to be carried off. The topmost story was infested with nests of the huge black bats that House Whent had used for its sigil, and there were rats in the cellars as well . . . and ghosts, some said, the spirits of Harren the Black and his sons.—aCoK, Arya VII.

"I saw you looking at me." Weese wiped his fingers on the front of her shift. Then he grabbed her throat with one hand and slapped her with the other. "What did I tell you?" He slapped her again, backhand. "Keep those eyes to yourself, or next time I'll spoon one out and feed it to my bitch." A shove sent her stumbling to the floor. Her hem caught on a loose nail in the splintered wooden bench and ripped as she fell. "You'll mend that before you sleep," Weese announced as he pulled the last bit of meat off the capon. When he was finished he sucked his fingers noisily, and threw the bones to his ugly spotted dog.

"Weese," Arya whispered that night as she bent over the tear in her shift. "Dunsen, Polliver, Raff the Sweetling," she said, calling a name every time she pushed the bone needle through the undyed wool. "The Tickler and the Hound. Ser Gregor, Ser Amory, Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn, King Joffrey, Queen Cersei."—aCoK, Arya VII.

This last quote is interesting, because given Arya’s circumstances in which she has to hide her own identity, she’s not warranted the protection a high-born lady would usually receive, and her punishments are often not only related to physical abuse, but through forced labor as well.

She spent the next few hours tending to the lord's chambers. She swept out the old rushes and scattered fresh sweet-smelling ones, laid a fresh fire in the hearth, changed the linens and fluffed the featherbed, emptied the chamber pots down the privy shaft and scrubbed them out, carried an armload of soiled clothing to the washerwomen, and brought up a bowl of crisp autumn pears from the kitchen. When she was done with the bedchamber, she went down half a flight of stairs to do the same in the great solar, a spare drafty room as large as the halls of many a smaller castle. The candles were down to stubs, so Arya changed them out.

(...)

The afternoon was still young by the time she was done, so Arya took herself off to the godswood.—aCoK, Arya VX.

She got along well enough with the cook. Umma would slap a knife into her hand and point at an onion, and Arya would chop it. Umma would shove her toward a mound of dough, and Arya would knead it until the cook said stop (stop was the first Braavosi word she learned). Umma would hand her a fish, and Arya would bone it and fillet it and roll it in the nuts the cook was crushing. (..) Some nights Umma spiced the fish with sea salt and cracked peppercorns, or cooked the eels with chopped garlic. Once in a great while the cook would even use some saffron. Hot Pie would have liked it here, Arya thought.—aFoC, Arya II.

She had other tasks besides helping Umma. She swept the temple floors; she served and poured at meals; she sorted piles of dead men's clothing, emptied their purses, and counted out stacks of queer coins.—aFoC, Arya II.

And the reason this—hugely important, imo—part of her narrative is so often ignored by fandom discourse is very obvious to me. It is because unlike the activities traditionally performed by upper-class, rich women, which are very frequently glorified by fans (alongside other aspects of the feudalist system that honestly would take way too much time and effort to unpack, but I digress), lower class feminity is simply not as pretty, the hard labor these women would be subjected to is not aesthetically pleasing. Don’t get me wrong, they were abused by the patriarchy the same way upper-class women were, but their suffering was never romanticized or immortalized in a song, their victimhood wouldn’t be cause for outrage, and more often than not, their work and existence would be completely erased.

Arya’s feminity doesn’t cease to exist just because she has to do hard work associated with lower-class women, or because she expresses interests that differ from what is usually expected of rich women. Her experiences as a girl, being exposed to all kinds of abuse perpetrated by men can’t be simply swept under the rug. A great deal of her journey is related to how much the plight of the lower classes matters, that children like Mycah, like Layna, like Gendry and Lommy and Hot Pie and Jeyne Poole, they all matter. And yes, sometimes Arya’s Stark name has given her protection, but other times, the majority of the time, she’s not been in a position in which she can use it as shield, and she’s had to work with her hands and fight for her life and has seen and done horrible things, or else the only other option for her was to end dead on a ditch, like countless other women and children the world has deemed too unimportant to mourn.

[princessaryathevaliant]

For some reason, this stupid discussion keeps popping back up again and again, let me just freaking clear this up right now. Now read very carefully, as i know some of you find it very hard to do.

“Arya would have never survived the Lannisters-”

- “Now she was fled, and the small household she’d left could not begin to tend the needs of all the knights, lords, and highborn prisoners Lord Tywin had brought, so the Lannisters must forage for servants as well as for plunder and provender. The talk was that Lord Tywin planned to restore Harrenhal to glory, and make it his new seat once the war was done.

Weese used Arya to run messages, draw water, and fetch food, and sometimes to serve at table in the Barracks Hall above the armory, where the men-at-arms took their meals. But most of her work was cleaning. ”

- “If there were ghosts in Harrenhal, they never troubled her. It was the living men she feared, Weese and Ser Gregor Clegane and Lord Tywin Lannister himself, who kept his apartments in Kingspyre Tower. ”

-  “Though ravens came and went every day, Lord Tywin himself spent most of his days behind closed doors with his war council. Arya caught glimpses of him, but always from afar—once walking the walls in the company of three maesters and the fat captive with the bushy mustache, once riding out with his lords bannermen to visit the encampments, but most often standing in an arch of the covered gallery watching men at practice in the yard below. ”

- “In his own small strutting way, Weese was nearly as scary as Ser Gregor. The Mountain swatted men like flies, but most of the time he did not even seem to know the fly was there. Weesealways knew you were there, and what you were doing, and sometimes what you were thinking. He would hit at the slightest provocation, and he had a dog who was near as bad as he was, an ugly spotted bitch that smelled worse than any dog Arya had ever known. Once she saw him set the dog on a latrine boy who’d annoyed him. She tore a big chunk out of the boy’s calf while Weese laughed.”

“Or the Boltons.”

- “Let go,” Arya said, wriggling out of his grasp.

The lord regarded her. Only his eyes moved; they were very pale, the color of ice. “How old are you, child?”

She had to think for a moment to remember. “Ten.”

“Ten, my lord,” he reminded her. “Are you fond of animals?”

“Some kinds. My lord.”

A thin smile twitched across his lips. “But not lions, it would seem. Nor manticores.”

She did not know what to say to that, so she said nothing.

“They tell me you are called Weasel. That will not serve. What name did your mother give you?”

She bit her lip, groping for another name. Lommy had called her Lumpyhead, Sansa used Horseface, and her father’s men once dubbed her Arya Underfoot, but she did not think any of those were the sort of name he wanted.

“Nymeria,” she said. “Only she called me Nan for short.”

“You will call me my lord when you speak to me, Nan,” the lord said mildly. “You are too young to be a Brave Companion, I think, and of the wrong sex. Are you afraid of leeches, child?”

“They’re only leeches. My lord.”

“My squire could take a lesson from you, it would seem. Frequent leechings are the secret of a long life. A man must purge himself of bad blood. You will do, I think. For so long as I remain at Harrenhal, Nan, you shall be my cupbearer, and serve me at table and in chambers.”

-  “Roose Bolton was seated by the hearth reading from a thick leatherbound book when she entered. “Light some candles,” he commanded her as he turned a page. “It grows gloomy in here.”

She placed the food at his elbow and did as he bid her, filling the room with flickering light and the scent of cloves. Bolton turned a few more pages with his finger, then closed the book and placed it carefully in the fire. He watched the flames consume it, pale eyes shining with reflected light. The old dry leather went up with a whoosh, and the yellow pages stirred as they burned, as if some ghost were reading them. “I will have no further need of you tonight,” he said, never looking at her.

She should have gone, silent as a mouse, but something had hold of her. “My lord,” she asked, “will you take me with you when you leave Harrenhal?”

He turned to stare at her, and from the look in his eyes it was as if his supper had just spoken to him. “Did I give you leave to question me, Nan?”

“No, my lord.” She lowered her eyes.

“You should not have spoken, then. Should you?”

“No. My lord.”

For a moment he looked amused. “I will answer you, just this once. I mean to give Harrenhal to Lord Vargo when I return to the north. You will remain here, with him.”

“But I don’t—” she started.

He cut her off. “I am not in the habit of being questioned by servants, Nan. Must I have your tongue out?”

He would do it as easily as another man might cuff a dog, she knew. “No, my lord.”

“Then I’ll hear no more from you?”

“No, my lord.”

“Go, then. I shall forget this insolence.”

- “Someone must have the courage to say it,” Ser Hosteen said. “The war is lost. King Robb must be made to see that.”

Roose Bolton studied him with pale eyes. “His Grace has defeated the Lannisters every time he has faced them in battle.”

“He has lost the north,” insisted Hosteen Frey. “He has lostWinterfell! His brothers are dead . . .”

For a moment Arya forgot to breathe. Dead? Bran and Rickon, dead? What does he mean? What does he mean about Winterfell, Joffrey could never take Winterfell, never, Robb would never let him. Then she remembered that Robb was not at Winterfell. He was away in the west, and Bran was crippled, and Rickon only four. 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. She felt tears gathering in her eyes, and willed them away. It’s not true, it can’t be true, it’s just some Lannister lie.

“Had Stannis won, all might have been different,” Ronel Rivers said wistfully. He was one of Lord Walder’s bastards.

“Stannis lost,” Ser Hosteen said bluntly. “Wishing it were otherwise will not make it so. King Robb must make his peace with the Lannisters. He must put off his crown and bend the knee, little as he may like it.”

“And who will tell him so?” Roose Bolton smiled. “It is a fine thing to have so many valiant brothers in such troubled times. I shall think on all you’ve said.”

His smile was dismissal. The Freys made their courtesies and shuffled out, leaving only Qyburn, Steelshanks Walton, and Arya. Lord Bolton beckoned her closer. “I am bled sufficiently. Nan, you may remove the leeches.”

“At once, my lord.” It was best never to make Roose Bolton ask twice. ”

“She would have never been able to survive the abuse”

-  “The old man dragged her well off the road into a tangle of trees, cursing and muttering all the while. “If I had a thimble o’ sense, I would’ve left you in King’s Landing. You hear me,boy?” He always snarled that word, putting a bite in it so she would be certain to hear. “Unlace your breeches and pull ’em down. Go on, there’s no one here to see. Do it.” Sullenly, Arya did as he said. “Over there, against the oak. Yes, like that.” She wrapped her arms around the trunk and pressed her face to the rough wood. “You scream now. You scream loud.”

I won’t, Arya thought stubbornly, but when Yoren laid the wood against the back of her bare thighs, the shriek burst out of her anyway. “Think that hurt?” he said. “Try this one.” The stick came whistling. Arya shrieked again, clutching the tree to keep from falling. “One more.” She held on tight, chewing her lip, flinching when she heard it coming. The stroke made her jump and howl. I won’t cry, she thought, I won’t do that. I’m a Stark of Winterfell, our sigil is the direwolf, direwolves don’t cry. She could feel a thin trickle of blood running down her left leg. Her thighs and cheeks were ablaze with pain. “Might be I got your attention now,” Yoren said. “Next time you take that stick to one of your brothers, you’ll get twice what you give, you hear me? Now cover yourself.”

They’re not my brothers, Arya thought as she bent to yank up her breeches, but she knew better than to say so. Her hands fumbled with her belt and laces.”

-  “I’d sooner tend the horses.” Arya liked horses, and maybe if she was in the stables she’d be able to steal one and escape.

Goodwife Harra slapped her so hard that her swollen lip broke open all over again. “And keep that tongue to yourself or you’ll get worse. No one asked your views.”

The blood in her mouth had a salty metal tang to it. Arya dropped her gaze and said nothing. If I still had Needle, she wouldn’t dare hit me, she thought sullenly.”

-  “Weasel.” Weese’s voice cracked like a whip. She never saw where he came from, but suddenly he was right in front of her. “Give me that. Took you long enough.” He snatched the sword from her fingers, and dealt her a stinging slap with the back of his hand. “Next time be quicker about it.”

For a moment she had been a wolf again, but Weese’s slap took it all away and left her with nothing but the taste of her own blood in her mouth. She’d bitten her tongue when he hit her. She hated him for that.”

“When he saw her, he stopped and grinned, showing a mouthful of crooked brown teeth under the leather flap he wore sometimes to cover the hole in his face. “Yoren’s little cunt,” he called her. “Guess we know why that black bastard wanted youon the Wall, don’t we?” He laughed again, and the others laughed with him. “Where’s your stick now?” Rorge demanded suddenly, the smile gone as quick as it had come. “Seems to me I promised to fuck you with it.” He took a step toward her. Arya edged backward. “Not so brave now that I’m not in chains, are you?”

“I saved you.” She kept a good yard between them, ready to run quick as a snake if he made a grab for her.

“Owe you another fucking for that, seems like. Did Yoren pump your cunny, or did he like that tight little ass better?

“I’m looking for Jaqen,” she said. “There’s a message.”

- “She thought of him again the next morning, when lack of sleep made her yawn. “Weasel,” Weese purred, “next time I see that mouth droop open, I’ll pull out your tongue and feed it to my bitch.” He twisted her ear between his fingers to make certain she’d heard, and told her to get back to those steps, he wanted them clean down to the third landing by nightfall.”

- She spent the rest of that day scrubbing steps inside the Wailing Tower. By evenfall her hands were raw and bleeding and her arms so sore they trembled when she lugged the pail back to the cellar. Too tired even for food, Arya begged Weese’s pardons and crawled into her straw to sleep. ”

- “Arya chewed her lip. “Would it work on dogs?”

“On any animal with warm blood.” The waif slapped her.

She raised her hand to her cheek, more surprised than hurt. “Why did you do that?”

“It is Arya of House Stark who chews on her lip whenever she is thinking. Are you Arya of House Stark?”

“I am no one.” She was angry. “Who are you?”

- “First change your heart. The gift of the Many-Faced God is not a child’s plaything. You would kill for your own purposes, for your own pleasures. Do you deny it?”

She bit her lip. “I—”

He slapped her.

The blow left her cheek stinging, but she knew that she had earned it. “Thank you.” Enough slaps, and she might stop chewing on her lip. Arya did that, not the night wolf. “I do deny it.”

And this doesn't even include half of the mental and physical trauma, manual labor, and the weeks on weeks of starvation she had to go through until the poor kid had to resort to eating bugs and worms, just to keep the pain at bay. 

Its all well and good when you ignore all the stuff she had go through while you skip through the books to the parts you like best, and that dont make you as uncomfortable, due to the sheer amount of war horror and violence that Arya had to be a victim of and a witness to through out the books.  But it’s another when you start crapping on how she isn't enough of a victim, or the right kind of victim to have her pain and suffering acknowledged, and not dismissed, while you sing praises to your favorites. 

Now get your damn facts straight, and keep on stepping. 

[goodmeowningcols]

Canon Source written by GRRM:

The mere idea of Arya as a prisoner and bride of the Bolton bastard Ramsay prompts Jon to send two kings to her rescue, Mance Rayder the King-Beyond-the-Wall and Stannis the presumptive King of the Seven Kingdoms. The entire North is also ready to take up arms and rally to save Valiant Ned’s daughter Arya because they loved Ned. Eventually, Jon, who is Robb’s heir and the future King in the North, breaks his vows choosing love over duty for Arya, something he didn’t do for Ned or Robb. He is murdered by his black brothers and the last thought in his mind is his last memory of Arya. Stick them with the pointy end.

Across the Narrow Sea, Arya struggles with her true identity in contrast to how powerful her name has gotten in the North. Ultimately she keeps Needle which represents Winterfell, family, but most of all the person who gifted it to her, Jon. At night, she wargs Nymeria, the Queen of the Wolves who is amassing a great wolf army which is confirmed to play a great role later on - a direwolf is also the symbol of her house. The Old Gods of the North guide her by actually speaking to her. Every Northerner has her name on their lips as they get ready for war so as to take back Winterfell and her. She thinks she is a wolf and strongly prescribes to pack mentality. She can make friends with anyone no matter where she goes. She has a strong sense of justice, not revenge. And all she’s ever wanted is to go home, to either Winterfell or the Wall.

D&D and their fans:

sHe’s jUsT pAsSiNg tHroUgH sHe’s NoT rEaLly a StArK! rEmOvE aLl hEr wOlF & StArK iMaGeRy, nO StArK cLoThEs! ActUaLly nO cOstUmE chaNgE! TAkE aWaY NyMeRiA tHaT’s NoT hER! PaRt HeR fRoM HoMe AnD JoN 4EvaH! YEET HeR aCrOSS ThE SuNsEt SeA whErE evErYonE dIEs! ArYA wHo? ShE’s No oNe!!!

[luchibelle]

Arya and Lyanna -unusual parallels-

We are always talking about how Arya looks physically like Lyanna, how they both love ridding and their mutual love for swords. It has come to my attention that we often forget that she is like Lyanna in other ways such as the way they talk.

The only time we have heard Lyanna actually talking was in Bran III, ADWD. And this fragment speaks volumes.

If the girl was Arya, the boy was Bran himself, and he had never worn his hair so long. And Arya never beat me playing swords, the way that girl is beating him. She slashed the boy across his thigh, so hard that his leg went out from under him and he fell into the pool and began to splash and shout. “You be quiet, stupid,” the girl said, tossing her own branch aside. “It’s just water. Do you want Old Nan to hear and run tell Father?” She knelt and pulled her brother from the pool, but before she got him out again, the two of them were gone.

How many times have we heard Arya calling people stupid just like Lyanna does here? A lot of times.

Let's take A Clash of Kings for example.

She straight up tells it to people,

To Lommy and Hot Pie: It's castle-forged steel, you stupid

To Elmar Frey: “I forgot, you’re stupid.”

To Weasel (fondly, she is worried about her): “What are you doing up here? Run and hide someplace, you stupid.” She shoved the girl away.

To Gendry: "That's stupid. If I need help, I'll shout help."

To Lommy again: "You are stupid, Lommy."

but Arya also says it a lot in her inner thoughts:

Lommy and Hot Pie took her silence to mean she was scared, or stupid, or deaf

even though she thought go to hell was a stupid thing to yell

he never bothered to seal the messages he gave her. Arya peeked at them all, but they were never anything good, just stupid stuff sending this cart to the granary and that one to the armory

Yes, Arya thought. Yes, it’s you who ought to run, you and Lord Tywin and the Mountain and Ser Addam and Ser Amory and stupid Ser Lyonel whoever he is

When they find who he is and cut off his stupid mulehead, he’ll be sorry he didn’t help

She thought of the little boy who’d been hit in the face with the mace, of stupid old All-forJoffrey, of Lommy Greenhands.

and then Shagwell and his stupid talking heads started in about the weasel soup.

If I was a crow I could fly down and peck off his stupid fat pouty lips.

She still had the stupid coin he’d given her

A stupid princess, she thought, that’s nothing to cry over.

all she could think was how stupid she’d been

Arya remembered the morning she had thrown the orange in Sansa’s face and gotten juice all over her stupid ivory silk gown.

her sister’s stupid friend Jeyne was in love with him

Arya just knew he was going to be stupid now.

when Arya saw the horns she knew it was Gendry. You stupid stupid stupid STUPID! she thought.

Even if he was stubborn and stupid, she had to get him out.

They had even taken her stupid secret. (The secret is that she is a girl.)

You had to know who was lazy and who was cruel, who was smart and who was stupid.

Arya thought that was stupid.

He couldn’t even help himself, you stupid mouse.

There might be more but you get my point. It goes beyond the physical aspect, it's the mannerims too.