Maybe the gods had sent him in answer to her prayers. “I need
you to help me get those men out of the dungeons. That Glover and
those others, all of them. We have to kill the guards and open the
cell somehow——”
“A girl forgets,” he said quietly. “Two she has had, three were
owed. If a guard must die, she needs only speak his name.”
“But one guard won’t be enough, we need to kill them all to open
the cell.” Arya bit her lip hard to stop from crying. “I want you to save
the northmen like I saved you.”
He looked down at her pitilessly. “Three lives were snatched
from a god. Three lives must be repaid. The gods are not mocked.”
His voice was silk and steel.
“I never mocked.” She thought for a moment. “The name… can I
name anyone? And you’ll kill him?”
Jaqen H’ghar inclined his head. “A man has said.”
“Anyone?” she repeated. “A man, a woman, a little baby, or Lord
Tywin, or the High Septon, or your father?”
“A man’s sire is long dead, but did he live, and did you know his
name, he would die at your command.”
“Swear it,” Arya said. “Swear it by the gods.”
“By all the gods of sea and air, and even him of fire, I swear it.”
He placed a hand in the mouth of the weirwood.
“By the seven new
gods and the old gods beyond count, I swear it.”
He has sworn. “Even if I named the king…”
“Speak the name, and death will come. On the morrow, at the
turn of the moon, a year from this day, it will come. A man does not
fly like a bird, but one foot moves and then another and one day a
man is there, and a king dies.”
He knelt beside her, so they were
face-to-face, “A girl whispers if she fears to speak aloud. Whisper it
now. Is it Joffrey?”
Arya put her lips to his ear. “It’s Jaqen H’ghar.”
Even in the burning barn, with walls of flame towering all around
and him in chains, he had not seemed so distraught as he did now.
For your attention: Jaqen H’ghar wearing the face of Daario Naharis, who forgot that he was Jaqen H’ghar (a little confusing, but I wanted to depict it).
This is an illustration for the amazing fanfic «The Gray Daughter», the second part of «The Assassins Trilogy».
Daario's portrait is a mix of the book description and the actor cast. Blue hair and beard sound beautiful, although the golden mustache seems a little silly to me.
I also tried to preserve some elements of Jaqen's facial expression. I don't know if I managed to do justice to his internal struggle.
Next, his oath to Arya. These words are a powerful symbol of this story for me, + the fact that Daario is Daenerys's lover creates many parallels in the story.
Also, with my love for the tale of Bluebeard, somehow everything just... fell into place. My respect and gratitude to the author, this is an incredible story <3
It helped me relax a little during the merciless shelling of my country.
I haven't read the books yet. What is Arya and Jaqen relationship like ? I don't mind spoilers
Hello Anon!
First of all, I apologize for the delay.
Arya's relationship with Jaqen is quite different in the books. For starters, Jaqen is a lot younger, only a few years older than Gendry, And he is not teaching Arya in Braavos. He leaves her in Harrenhal to pursue his own goal which is getting a dragon's egg and learning the secrets of hatching dragons in the Citadel. There is also a strong connection between Jaqen and Arya pairing and weirwood magic.
Jaqen first noticed Arya when she beat up Hot Pie on the way to Harrenhal. They were going to the Watch with Yoren, like in the show. Jaqen tried to make friends with Arya after the fight. I suspect he wanted to trick her into freeing him from the cage but it also looked as if he wanted to offer her protection because he saw that she was lonely and afraid. Arya was charmed by him from the start. She loved how handsome Jaqen was and noted his good manners.
They were attacked near the God's Eye lake like in the show. However, in the books the attack was much worse and the fire that the Lannisters's men started was horrific. The show didn't give the impression that rescuing Jaqen from the burning cage was that hard. In the books, Arya admitted to herself that it was the hardest thing she had ever done. She killed a man and risked her own life to save Jaqen. During the attack Jaqen also told Arya that he wanted to fight in the red war. The red war is the war of R'hllor, the same war Melisandre is preaching about - the battle for the Dawn. So, book!Jaqen is familiar with the prophecy and has been prepared to fight that battle.
The Lannisters's men took the recruits to Harrenhal. Jaqen followed to pay his debt to Arya. One night he found her sleeping in the cellar and woke her up to tell her he was willing to kill three men for her because she saved his life and the lives of Rorge and Biter. Arya wanted them to run away together but Jaqen refused and insisted on the killings. Arya was disappointed so he kissed her hair to comfort her. Such a charmer he is in the books :)
The killings were a bit different too. But they had the same effect on Arya like in the show. She felt stronger and brave again.
Arya's time with Jaqen in Harrenhal was different too because each of their meetings was more private and symbolic. In the show, Arya simply caught Jaqen in the courtyard when he was with other soldiers. In the books, there was intimacy to their first conversation in the cellar when she got her first kiss ever from the boy, all proper for her age of course. Then, she served wine to Jaqen at dinner and whispered the name to his ear. She gave him another name while he was bathing and finally they met in godswood. The godswood meeting showed their connection to weirwood magic. Arya was training with a wooden sword hiding in the weirwood leaves and thinking that she was happiest in that weirwood kingdom. It is very important to know that in the books weirwood magic means immortality to the chosen ones. There are many spirits living in weirwoods unlike in the show where we only saw Bloodraven and Bran. When Arya finally noticed Jaqen, he seemed to her like the tree. Of course in the books he looks like a slender weirwood with his pale skin and red and white hair. It was then when Arya gave Jaqen his name. Jaqen then made an oath to Arya taking the gods as his witnesses and in return she promised him to obey.
After that the two of them made a ruse to free the prisoners from the North. It's called weasel soup in the books. I won't go into details but you must know that during the fight, Jaqen protected Arya and killed a man. Then, he wiped his bloodied sword in her shift to make her his partner in crime because he killed the man for her. It was yet another very intimate detail of their Harrenhal adventure.
Then, they parted ways. Jaqen offered Arya a journey to Braavos but she declined saying that she needed to find her family first. Then, he said he had his promises to keep as well and gave her the coin. That scene was more intense than their good bye in the show. They were talking surrounded by fighting and dying men and Jaqen knelt before Arya to be closer to her. He left Harrenhal and went to Pyke to kill Balon Greyjoy and earn a dragon's egg from Euron. His next stop is Oldtown where he is posing as Pate the novice. "Pate" is a roommate of Sam Tarly. As you can see this plot was entirely cut from the show.
Arya and Jaqen haven't seen each other since then but their future reunion is hinted at a few times in the books. Most notably, I think, in the Prologue to A Feast for Crows where the novice of the Citadel, Pate, is a foil for Jaqen and Rosey, his beloved, is a foil for Arya.
Unfortunately, GRRM didn't plan the books too well. The author intended on making Arya older in A Feast for Crows so she would be fifteen/sixteen. The time jump didn't work for other characters though so he abandoned the idea. That's why now we have an awkwardly young Arya and the storyline meant for an older character.
I would encourage you to read the books to get into all the meaningful details regarding Arya, Jaqen and other characters. The story is very different from what the show offered. However, the books are still incomplete and we don't know if GRRM is going to finish them at all. So you are reading them at your own risk.
Some thoughts about Alys Rivers and her visions in HOTD/Fire and Blood. Alys said that weirwoods in Harrenhal induced dreams. She said she saw the future. Do you think that she saw what Arya and Jaqen did too? Jaqen is a magic user like Alys. Could Alys sense him? What do you think?
While in Harrenhal, did Alys Rivers see Arya Stark and Jaqen H'ghar in her visions?
Yes, she saw the whole thing.
No, she never learn about them.
She might have seen their work only, deaths of Weese, Chiswyck and the guards.
She saw them exchanging oaths under the weirwood tree.
She saw them in Harrenhal and their whole future together.
Jaqarya Netflix romcom AU where Jaqen is the gruff vineyard's keeper born and raised in the mountains and Arya is the exhuberant city girl who inherits the vineyard and goes to claim it. What in the Seven hells could ever happen when they meet-not-so-cute? XD
