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Why Arya will not survive Winter


ruudsegers

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In one of the early chapters of book one, when Arya is messing up her needlework, Jon already tells Arya:



'When spring comes, people will find you dead with a needle in your hand'



The needle will obviously be her infamous swords so I assume she will die during the big battle to come...or won't she?



Since she will become a faceless person, it might as well be someone else with her identity or fArya from Winterfell who for one reason or another will have the sword.




.....GRRM needs to speed up his work, i am dying to get some closure :drool:


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In one of the early chapters of book one, when Arya is messing up her needlework, Jon already tells Arya:

'When spring comes, people will find you dead with a needle in your hand'

The needle will obviously be her infamous swords so I assume she will die during the big battle to come...or won't she?

Since she will become a faceless person, it might as well be someone else with her identity or fArya from Winterfell who for one reason or another will have the sword.

.....GRRM needs to speed up his work, i am dying to get some closure :drool:

That one has been discussed and while some of readers believe it is legit I believe it is just a joke.What business does she have in a big battle?Maybe she will go to the Wall to help Jon but other then that I don't see any reason for her to die.he has to serve some purpose because Arya has the most POVs in the books.I don't believe she will die if she dies it will be just another Lyanna incident.I think Arya will be maybe one of the few characters who will have a happy ending of course we have to define happy ending.

I think Arya will go to the Wall and she will see behind the glamour of Mel and it will horrify her, she will somehow cause the downfall of Mel that I am sure.

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Arya may infiltrate the Iron Bank as an intern debt collector trained by Tycho. A mission as a debt collector will certainly take Arya on travels in her pursuit of repayment.




ISSUES with “MERCY”



I have discerned a few problems with “Mercy” in regards to continuity.



EYE COLOR OF ARYA AND MERCY NOT MENTIONED



Martin has strategically avoided describing Arya’s “grey eyes” or attributing a color to Mercy’s eyes.



AN ABSENCE OF MIRRORS BACKSTAGE AND IN DRESSING ROOMS OF A THEATRE / NOT VERY LIKELY



In a theatre setting, mirrors are plentiful. Here and elsewhere, Martin does not have “Arya” examine herself in a mirror. (I assume this is because she will only see herself as “Arya”.)



DANGERS ASSOCIATED WITH TWILIT PERFORMANCES / MARTIN DOES NOT INDULGE IN DETAILS NEEDED FOR THESE OVERSIGHTS



The feasibility of illuminating a stage with firelight for a performance that begins at twilight is troublesome.



[Historically, theatre performances occurred in daylight hours to avoid such worries.]



Furthermore, the safety and convenience of the patrons are concerns as they will need light in the house and on the tiers to enter, to climb and to descend stairs, and to exit without hazards.



POSSIBLE RESOLUTIONS: Martin will address these ambiguities in POV’s to come as “flashback” scenarios most likely appearing in an ARYA POV.



DISPOSAL OF A CORPSE



After killing Raff the Sweetling, Arya regrets her lack of foresight. She thinks, “I should have helped him down the steps before I killed him. Now I’ll need to drag him all the way to the canal and roll him in”.



Not only does she need to transport the corpse to the canal to “roll him in”, she will need to carry, drag, or pull the dead weight of a full-grown man down five flights of “splintery” wooden steps WITHOUT attracting attention to herself. Martin’s choice of adjective to define the state of the steps is telling indeed:: the “splinters” on the treads of the wooden stairs will snag onto the clothing or the winding sheet if Arya chooses to drag dead Raff down the stairs.



Arya remains a ‘tween, a slip of a girl not yet endowed with womanly curves. The older guard accompanying Raff the Sweetling at the Gate says of “Mercy”, “this one is a child”.



Moving a corpse without assistance is a challenging task for an adult, and Mercy’s stature is child-like, intimating that she is vertically disadvantaged yet; but, Arya does not acknowledge any doubts in her ability to accomplish the deed.



After all, Arya has experience dealing with the dead in the HoB&W; however, Martin does not discuss the distance she is required to haul each body, and Martin certainly does not present Arya taking the earthly remains of full grown men down stairs in the temple.



On the other hand, Arya may avoid the steps altogether and instead push Raff from the fifth floor landing – a feat she must do without drawing attention to herself and her victim.



Martin may revisit the events in “Mercy” through a flashback in a future POV narrated with Arya’s voice. Arya will undoubtedly return to the House of Black and White, where she will face an interrogation courtesy of the kindly man during which she may provide details about her internship in general and about the performance of The Bloody Hand specifically.


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What sort of ending would be a happy ending for Arya?


Becoming a successful killer? leaving the FM and marrying some idiot with a castle?


No.



Arya doesn't have a happy ending. What was done to her cannot be undone, and she is a character that has low potential for a happy ending to being with.


She's my favorite character and it breaks my heart to know she will die, but I am quite positive she will. Unless GRRM manages to fix some sort of hound like ending for her....



Sansa is the one with the happy ending.


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No! These are red herrings, not because I want them to be but I believe that we are too easily let in to believeing that there is no hope for her to survive the winter.


Marrying a hig lord? THAT would not be an happy endong for Arya, and more like and Harry Potter finale (Hermione-like).


There could be plenty of possibility for Arya to settle or not to settle, in Westeros or more probably not, once her arc is compete.sh'e's defintely not going into battle nor falling in love with some lordling.


All the abilities and knowledge she's been acquiring will lead her somewhere, according to me in the Citadel.


The Citadel will be one of TWOW protagonists according to me...


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The guy who does the graphic novels said there was one line in one of the first issues that he had to go back and add because Martin told him it was important foreshadowing. Many of us are sure that was the line. It doesn't really bother me so long as she dies at the end. Once the series is over all the characters are effectively dead anyhow.


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In one of the early chapters of book one, when Arya is messing up her needlework, Jon already tells Arya:

'When spring comes, people will find you dead with a needle in your hand'

The needle will obviously be her infamous swords so I assume she will die during the big battle to come...or won't she?

Since she will become a faceless person, it might as well be someone else with her identity or fArya from Winterfell who for one reason or another will have the sword.

.....GRRM needs to speed up his work, i am dying to get some closure :drool:

I don't think that Arya will survive the series, though some of her newly acquired skills seem to suggest that she will be active during the upcoming long-night... I don't really see her being involved with a 'big battle', and if I had to guess I would wager that she is sent to kill Jon Snow...

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I doubt it, Hopefully the fact she stashed needle away and has her wolf dreams etc she comes back to being a stark.... maybe I just have wishful thinking

It your avatar from Telltale's The Walking Dead?

Anyways, Anya is pretty impervious for now. We need her to survive so that her storyline can actually mean something. But latter on? I agree. I think at least one (and maybe two) of the Stark children will bite the dust.

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The guy who does the graphic novels said there was one line in one of the first issues that he had to go back and add because Martin told him it was important foreshadowing. Many of us are sure that was the line. It doesn't really bother me so long as she dies at the end. Once the series is over all the characters are effectively dead anyhow.

And it's not remotely possible that it was another line, about one of the other myriad characters?

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Arya may infiltrate the Iron Bank as an intern debt collector trained by Tycho. A mission as a debt collector will certainly take Arya on travels in her pursuit of repayment.

ISSUES with “MERCY”

I have discerned a few problems with “Mercy” in regards to continuity.

EYE COLOR OF ARYA AND MERCY NOT MENTIONED

Martin has strategically avoided describing Arya’s “grey eyes” or attributing a color to Mercy’s eyes.

AN ABSENCE OF MIRRORS BACKSTAGE AND IN DRESSING ROOMS OF A THEATRE / NOT VERY LIKELY

In a theatre setting, mirrors are plentiful. Here and elsewhere, Martin does not have “Arya” examine herself in a mirror. (I assume this is because she will only see herself as “Arya”.)

DANGERS ASSOCIATED WITH TWILIT PERFORMANCES / MARTIN DOES NOT INDULGE IN DETAILS NEEDED FOR THESE OVERSIGHTS

The feasibility of illuminating a stage with firelight for a performance that begins at twilight is troublesome.

[Historically, theatre performances occurred in daylight hours to avoid such worries.]

Furthermore, the safety and convenience of the patrons are concerns as they will need light in the house and on the tiers to enter, to climb and to descend stairs, and to exit without hazards.

POSSIBLE RESOLUTIONS: Martin will address these ambiguities in POV’s to come as “flashback” scenarios most likely appearing in an ARYA POV.

DISPOSAL OF A CORPSE

After killing Raff the Sweetling, Arya regrets her lack of foresight. She thinks, “I should have helped him down the steps before I killed him. Now I’ll need to drag him all the way to the canal and roll him in”.

Not only does she need to transport the corpse to the canal to “roll him in”, she will need to carry, drag, or pull the dead weight of a full-grown man down five flights of “splintery” wooden steps WITHOUT attracting attention to herself. Martin’s choice of adjective to define the state of the steps is telling indeed:: the “splinters” on the treads of the wooden stairs will snag onto the clothing or the winding sheet if Arya chooses to drag dead Raff down the stairs.

Arya remains a ‘tween, a slip of a girl not yet endowed with womanly curves. The older guard accompanying Raff the Sweetling at the Gate says of “Mercy”, “this one is a child”.

Moving a corpse without assistance is a challenging task for an adult, and Mercy’s stature is child-like, intimating that she is vertically disadvantaged yet; but, Arya does not acknowledge any doubts in her ability to accomplish the deed.

After all, Arya has experience dealing with the dead in the HoB&W; however, Martin does not discuss the distance she is required to haul each body, and Martin certainly does not present Arya taking the earthly remains of full grown men down stairs in the temple.

On the other hand, Arya may avoid the steps altogether and instead push Raff from the fifth floor landing – a feat she must do without drawing attention to herself and her victim.

Martin may revisit the events in “Mercy” through a flashback in a future POV narrated with Arya’s voice. Arya will undoubtedly return to the House of Black and White, where she will face an interrogation courtesy of the kindly man during which she may provide details about her internship in general and about the performance of The Bloody Hand specifically.

First of all, anything including information from TWoW is supposed to be in Spoiler tags.

Second you are over-thinking and forgetting that the POV character not including something in the narrative doesn't mean it's not there (mirrors, etc).

Third, feasibility of using fire? They didn't have a lot of options. And yes, medieval theaters did hold after dark performances with fire lighting the stage. One consequence of this was that a lot of theaters ended up burning down. That's one of the reasons why it's not funny to yell "fire" in a theater. ETA: you can however yell "theater" in a fire station and no one will bat an eye.

Fourth, not mentioning eye color is not an issue. He didn't mention Septa Lemore's eye color either.

Fifth,

you're not giving Arya credit for much creativity with regard to moving the body. She has a couple other options. Not good ones, and at least one creates an accessory to the crime, but they exist nonetheless.

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I think Arya will go to the Wall and she will see behind the glamour of Mel and it will horrify her, she will somehow cause the downfall of Mel that I am sure.

Then I would guess Arya is one of your favorite character and Mel is one of those you dislike the most.

I can't imagine anything more behind that rather random prediction!

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I suspect that she will break with the House of Black and White and return to Westeros, but as Ned himself stated. "In Winter the Lone Direwolf dies, the Pack survives."



Arya thinks that he got this reversed, but I think that these words will come back to haunt her in the end when the Faceless men come for her due to her betrayal.


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And it's not remotely possible that it was another line, about one of the other myriad characters?

It's possible, there's a thread where we discussed the possibilities. I think second place was a line about Tyrion. I think they Arya line is by far the most likely. I can't find the thread right now, but if I do I'll link it here.

Edit: Here it is http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/111491-the-quest-for-daniel-abrahams-particular-line-of-dialog/

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I see Arya as one of the stark's most likely to live in the end for a variety of reasons, starting with she is Martin's wife's favorite character :P



Besides that, Arya's lone wolf death (as many, who use this quote believe) would add nothing to the narrative, and make allot of her story pointless. Ned died to start a war. Robb to end one, and sow the seeds of Northern turmoil. Tywin, to ***** up the Lannister legacy. Arya dying in the middle of no where clutching needle would add nothing to this universe, as most of Westeros thinks she is dead in a ditch already.



Arya has gone through a series of teachers over the series, and it would be a waste to have those lessons lead to nothing(along with our time reading said lessons). Even Quintine's death, a much much more minor character, had larger political repercussions(dragons are free & Dorne tensions over death).



As for if she will have a happy ending or not, I'm unsure, but lean towards grey.


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