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GRRM on Gendry and Arya (Allegedly)


Joan Jett

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I was surfing through some of the old romance threads and I repeatedly came across a rumor along the lines of "Gendry and Arya can't end up together because George said they have different destinies".
 
Since it was repeated by so many users, I assumed it was credible. However, I noticed that in each thread the statement was never sourced, so I wanted to find proof. I went through about 10 years worth of SSMs and hardly found any concerning Gendry, none mentioning a potential romantic relationship between Gendry and Arya. Then I typed part of the statement into google and came to this thread from 2012 which seemed to be the source of the rumor.
Here is the full quote from the thread:

His response was that Arya and Gendry have separate futures but whether they'll ever meet up again, you'll just have to keep reading.

The statement was thought by many to be too unusually definite to come from George whenever it was mentioned.  I though so as well.
 
I then back searched the entire statement and was led to a Gendry x Arya fanfiction called The Lost Wolf which was written in 2012.  At the end of Chapter 21 of this fanfiction was an author's note which turned out to be the real source. 
The Full Quote:

WARNING DO NOT READ THIS FOLLOWING NOTE, IF YOU DO NOT WANT A PART OF THE FUTURE SERIES (THAT HAS NOT BEEN PUBLISHED YET) TO BE SPOILED FOT YOU. BASICALLY GRRM CAME TO MY CITY SO MY FRIEND ASKED HIM A QUESTION AND THIS WAS HIS RESPONSE...
NOTE: Okay so GRRM, arrived in Toronto yesterday for a book signing and unfortunately because of an exam, I was unable to attend (BOO!) so I asked my friend to ask him about Gendry and Arya's "relationship" and if they would ever reunite again. His response was that Arya and Gendry have separate futures but whether they'll ever meet up again, you'll just have to keep reading. Okay I just DIED! My heart is full of grief and it seems the only way we can keep this pairing alive is through their fanfictions. I'm just so heart broken right now *weeps*
 

Due to the source I was immediately inclined to believe this claim.  Why would someone who ships Gendry/Arya and has written multiple fanfictions about the couple lie about such a thing? The author also seemed distraught about the information. I also found evidence to support George attending a book signing in Toronto that same year, here. It's a blog post made on March 4, 2012.  Chapter 21 of the fanfiction was probably released as early as March 14, 2012 indicated by the reviews of the chapter.  The first post in these forums mentioning the rumor was posted on May 24, 2012.  The dates make sense except for the "yesterday" part of the full quote. If the book signing happened the day before then why wasn't the chapter released around March 5th?  The Author has not updated since 2012, so I doubt that they would be available to answer such a question. 
 
But another question remains:  Why would George answer such a question so directly when he is usually very ambiguous about such things?  Well to be fair he was ambiguous about Gendry or Arya meeting again with the "you'll have to just keep reading" line; I think he only definitely denied a future romantic relationship.  So there is at least a little bit of classic George in the statement. 
 
Does anyone now accept this statement as they would an SSM?  Does anyone know any truly credible quotes where George has spoken on the Gendry/Arya relationship?
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The fact that Arya will probably be 13 years old at the end of the series makes me think any Arya-shipping, except maybe a mention in a RotK-style appendix, is kind of pointless in the first place...

Don't mistake me, I am not a Gendry/Arya shipper. I just wish to know George's true position on it. I find it hard to believe that he's never made a statement concerning it, due to the ship's popularity among the fans.
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Don't mistake me, I am not a Gendry/Arya shipper. I just wish to know George's true position on it. I find it hard to believe that he's never made a statement concerning it, due to the ship's popularity among the fans.

OK.

But I'm still thinking that GRRM's talking about their destiny over the year or two left in the story, and unless those destinies are death or marriage to someone else, they've still got their entire adult lives ahead of them after that destiny...
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How come no one is pointing out that there is no Gendry in the books? It's Edric Storm

Gendry is Robert's illegitimate son in the books, a former apprentice blacksmith in King's Landing that fled after Cersei's decree to kill King Bob's bastards. Edric Storm is the illegitimate child of Robert's and Selyse's cousin. In the books Edric was the one saved by Davos from Melisandre and Gendry never met any of them. 

 

To the OP: It's a relief that this romance won't happen.

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I was surfing through some of the old romance threads and I repeatedly came across a rumor along the lines of "Gendry and Arya can't end up together because George said they have different destinies".
 
Since it was repeated by so many users, I assumed it was credible. However, I noticed that in each thread the statement was never sourced, so I wanted to find proof. I went through about 10 years worth of SSMs and hardly found any concerning Gendry, none mentioning a potential romantic relationship between Gendry and Arya. Then I typed part of the statement into google and came to this thread from 2012 which seemed to be the source of the rumor.
Here is the full quote from the thread: The statement was thought by many to be too unusually definite to come from George whenever it was mentioned.  I though so as well.
 
I then back searched the entire statement and was led to a Gendry x Arya fanfiction called The Lost Wolf which was written in 2012.  At the end of Chapter 21 of this fanfiction was an author's note which turned out to be the real source. 
The Full Quote: Due to the source I was immediately inclined to believe this claim.  Why would someone who ships Gendry/Arya and has written multiple fanfictions about the couple lie about such a thing? The author also seemed distraught about the information. I also found evidence to support George attending a book signing in Toronto that same year, here. It's a blog post made on March 4, 2012.  Chapter 21 of the fanfiction was probably released as early as March 14, 2012 indicated by the reviews of the chapter.  The first post in these forums mentioning the rumor was posted on May 24, 2012.  The dates make sense except for the "yesterday" part of the full quote. If the book signing happened the day before then why wasn't the chapter released around March 5th?  The Author has not updated since 2012, so I doubt that they would be available to answer such a question. 
 
But another question remains:  Why would George answer such a question so directly when he is usually very ambiguous about such things?  Well to be fair he was ambiguous about Gendry or Arya meeting again with the "you'll have to just keep reading" line; I think he only definitely denied a future romantic relationship.  So there is at least a little bit of classic George in the statement. 
 
Does anyone now accept this statement as they would an SSM?  Does anyone know any truly credible quotes where George has spoken on the Gendry/Arya relationship?

 

I believe the original plan was to have Jon and Arya fall in love.  Which would make for an excellent plot.  If Jon is AA, then Arya is his Nissa Nissa.  That would be awesome.

 

However, it is my belief that Jon is not AA, unless he comes back to life from his stabbing.  I think the story is much better if Jon stays dead.  George set his death up perfectly that I think it made sense to end his arc when it did.

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I believe the original plan was to have Jon and Arya fall in love.  Which would make for an excellent plot.  If Jon is AA, then Arya is his Nissa Nissa.  That would be awesome.

Maybe if the story took place over a decade in the originally-planned trilogy. Jon confessing his love to a 20-year-old who he hasn't seen in years and has long known is his cousin, OK; Jon confessing his love to a 13-year-old who he hasn't seen in months and has thought of as his sister until last week, that's a little creepy, and the fact that we've just spent the last two decades seeing her as a preteen doesn't help.
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that's a little creepy, and the fact that we've just spent the last two decades seeing her as a preteen doesn't help.

 

 

You know, one of the great things about George Martin is his willingness to do things in the plot that many readers will not like. 

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"but whether they'll ever meet up again, you'll just have to keep reading."

 

What's definite about that?!

 

Why do you keep saying he said something will never happen, when he said the exact opposite - that you have to keep reading to see what happens?

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"but whether they'll ever meet up again, you'll just have to keep reading."
 
What's definite about that?!
 
Why do you keep saying he said something will never happen, when he said the exact opposite - that you have to keep reading to see what happens?

I never said that that part was definite, in fact I agreed with you and said it was ambiguous. One part of the statement is definite and one part is ambiguous. I assumed that he was definitely denying a future romantic relationship forming between them. I cannot prove this though because I do not know the exact question he was asked.
My takeaway was that they might meet again as friends, they will not be together romantically.
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Lots of things in the series are much grosser than that. Who the fuck cares? 

There are quite a few people who care actually. Though it may not seem like it, the age gap between Arya and Gendry is five years. Knowing this while re-reading the chapter where they are wrestling together can be quite unnerving for some. But on the other hand, whether or not fans are concerned about age has never been a large influence on George's writing.
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It seems that the answer covers "will they end together" and the answer is No.

And "meet again": answer, Possibly (but the way it is said it seems that the odds are in favour, because if he was too direct in the first part, he could have been also direct in the second part).

 

Despite of the fact that the source is possibly reliable, we don't know the exact question, and it may change a lot the meaning of the answer, and it was his/her friend's question (not first source), and the "yesterday" part is a bit strange (but of course maybe he/she wrote that the day after the book signing)...

 

I like using percentages, and I always thought that Arya's chances of finding romance are about 30% (with Gendry as the most likely option, and Jon the second). I  haven't changed my mind after this.

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