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Arya & Gendry


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In the books, Gendry hasnt been given much importance that he got in the TV series. There doesnt seem any flirty business between them

I would disagree. I was actually surprised when I read A Storm of Swords how suggestive their relationship was. I mean it is blatantly obvious that Gendry does feel for Arya, but is reluctant to advance any further because of their social status as well as their age difference. Plus Arya is completely oblivious to Gendry's feelings and love in 'general'. She also disregards anything ladylike, which I am sure she associates 'love' as.
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I don't agree. I haven't watched the HBO show and I still love the Arya/Gendry dynamics in the books. He is important in Arya's storyline and their relationship is intentionally ambiguous: it can be read as friendship, but there's something else in it, especially after the acorn dress incident :)

They did a similar twist what with Gendry rolling on the floor with Arya to prevent her from stabbing The Hound, but in the TV series Arya seems more responsive to him, which is consistent because the character herself is older on TV than she used to be when she met him on the books.

What I found interesting is that is not as anachronical as the quote suggests: while its normal for contemporary girls of Arya's age to have crushes in older boys the age of Gendry, its not Arya the one who has a crush during A Storm of Swords.

She likes Gendry just the way he is, he has her back and she enjoys his company but, no matter how many times she sees him naked and half-naked, she is not obessed by it the way he is over the acorn dress the first time she wears it.

For her, wrestling is still wrestling, Gendry is still Gendry and brothels are still 'taverns with girls', Arya doesn't understand the implication of sharing her bed with him under these circumstances. Gendry does, he's upset by the thought of someone else sharing his bed with her, but there's nothing he can do about it.

We see the first signs of an boy leaving pubescence behind, the awkward coming of age of a blacksmith who realizes what he has can't last, not because Arya wouldn't want to but because he doesn't have the right to ask.

In the books, Gendry hasnt been given much importance that he got in the TV series. There doesnt seem any flirty business between them

To be fair, neither Arya nor Gendry would know the first thing about flirting: he does have the jealousy thing covered and she understands that wrestling seems to help relieve the tension between them, but they don't know where the tension comes from or how to put an end to it so it just keeps building up whenever they are together.

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I would disagree. I was actually surprised when I read A Storm of Swords how suggestive their relationship was. I mean it is blatantly obvious that Gendry does feel for Arya, but is reluctant to advance any further because of their social status as well as their age difference. Plus Arya is completely oblivious to Gendry's feelings and love in 'general'. She also disregards anything ladylike, which I am sure she associates 'love' as.

If Arya would be a little more girly perhaps she would dare to experiment a little but, because the character refuses anything remotely Lady-like, she doesn't swoon just because Gendry touches her, or spends every waking hour analyzing why she doesn't want to leave him or trying to understand the nature of Gendry's resentment toward Edric Dayne, Jaqen H'ghar and the man at the Peach.

Gendry can't make a move on her because Arya is a Lady and, ironically for him, Arya can't make a move on Gendry because she doesn't see herself as a Lady.

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If anything, I feel their potential is what pushes them both to an anonymous life.

For all the havoc and mayhem in their young lives, they have never been happier than when it was just the two of them together. If they could only go back to being a smith boy and a servant girl, they would never endure the kind of problems that started when he joined the Brotherhood and she was ransomed to her family.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't agree. I haven't watched the HBO show and I still love the Arya/Gendry dynamics in the books. He is important in Arya's storyline and their relationship is intentionally ambiguous: it can be read as friendship, but there's something else in it, especially after the acorn dress incident :)

I love the acorn dress incident and the reaction of the Brotherhood men and Harwin's reaction made me laugh. I also think Gendry intentionally gets her angry and riled up, so she would hit him and hence him calling her m'lady which she hates and every time he gets angry he calls her that and then she in turn his hit and calls him stupid. I love these two characters. I was also thinking Gendry might forge a sword or reforge a sword. I was thinking he might forge LB, but not so sure. GRRM is keeping him around for some reason. I would love to have seen Robb's face if Arya was able to get to him and then she brought Gendry and of course big brother mode comes out that would have been awesome. Hey it could still happen when everyone is reunited at the Wall and Jon can take Gendry aside and do his big brother duty. I still laugh every time I re-read the chapter where Gendry learns her secret and he immediately says m'lady and bows and then starts thinking that he should have said or done a lot of things around her and he get flustered. I laugh and feel bad for him at the same time.

Arya trusts him and that was a big step for her to not only trust him to reveal she was a girl in ACOK, but also to reveal her true name to him. I just hope somebody finally tells him who his father is and surprise no one aside a few people so far in the book have figured it out.

I still think Gendry will be at the Wall at some point and be an armorer. Anyone else notice that Jon has come into contact with or interacted with people that have important to past people or events? Maester Aemon is a Targ and all his background, family etc., Donal Noyle forged Robert's War Hammer and described each Baretheon as a different type of metal there are others but these two are the most notable.

Same can be said for Arya except she makes contact with people who know Jon, interacted with him, but also meets people who have a connection to the past events (ex: Edric Dayne)

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I've always thought it was a shocker to discover Arya was able to trust anybody after her household was slaughtered the day her father was apprehended.

Although she was wary of the Brotherhood, never really trust Jaqen and tried to classify Yoren as a liar not to deal with his death, Arya always trusted Gendry since the day they met.

Considering she barely knew him, on top of what they had been through up until that point, it was huge for her.

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  • 1 month later...

Gendry may have some feelings for Arya that he can't quite understand or deal with, but there's nothing romantic from her end - naturally. since Arya was 9 and not a romantic type of girl, she hasn't had those types of feelings for anyone yet... But it's plausible that something may happen between them in the future, when Arya grows up and develops sexually and emotionally, if they meet again. I don't think that the series will end with Arya being 12 and Sansa 14. GRRM had even planned a 5-year old gap at one point; all the kids will probably be adults by the time the series is finished.






Besides the age issue, I don't think that would really work. Gendry and Arya are too much alike. Plus, Gendry just really wants to be left alone to do smithing while Arya is more open to adventure. I can't imagine anyone really capturing Arya's heart. She's not meant to be a sap in love.





I don't think they are that similar. You pointed it out yourself - Gendry wants to be left alone to do work, he's the down-to-earth, stable type, the Smith, while Arya is the one who wants to be the Warrior, who dreams of adventures, of being the new queen Nymeria. (People single out Sansa as the one who's all about songs and dreams about knights etc. but Arya was always as much into songs and dreams, only she was into another type of fantasy - instead of marrying handsome princes,she wanted to be the great warrior hero from the songs.) Arya is full of rage and trauma and wants to kill bad people on her list... Gendry is a lot more laid-back.


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When you think about it, Gendry and Arya are the very definition of a pre-marital relationship according to Westerosi standards:



- They were betrothed in front of the Gods by their parents (Robert and Ned just didn't know it would end up being this son and this daughter),


- They are both being hunted down by the Lannister,


- Neither one wished to be anything other than commoners (if only because its safer that way)


- They reach an uncanny form of intimacy for betrothed people,


- Each would rather grow up with the other than to give up on what they have,



As marriage Gendry and Arya would be as solid as they have been as partners, separated are as miserable as Robert was without Lyanna or Catleyn has been without Ned.



The Gods are not to me mocked, they probably set them up the moment Robert said he had a son and Ned a daughter.


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In the show I could see the chemistry between Arya & Gendry, but then HBO has a habit of making everything rosy & nice. But I felt nothing of the sort while reading. All that tumbling about & fighting & arguing & protecting which many think of as romance, I feel children do it all the time. That need not mean anything. And to be honest I find Arya a lot more accomplished than Gendry. That girl has learnt water dancing, has survived outlaws, the gold cloaks, the Hound, her father's beheading & her family's brutal murder, has killed, has travelled across the sea, reached Braavos, is training to be a faceless man....she has done so much at such a little age & can do much more! I want someone better for her, someone even better than her & that sets the bar pretty high :) I actually wouldn't mind seeing her with someone a little older than her.



I really don't want any romance between them. They are wonderful as friends, they should remain friends.


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Arya is too young, and preoccupied, to be interested in romance or have sexual feelings, and I think their relationship in ASOS is very brotherly/sisterly. I think there is a potential for that to develop into romantic feelings though.



I think Gendry's jealousy and anger at the Peach is a realisation that when they get to Riverrun, they won't be friends any more, they are on different paths, and I think it's anger about the lack of social mobility in society. I liked that they got that across in the show with the 'You'd be m'lady' part.



If they meet again in a romantic capacity I'd be pleasantly surprised. Surprised because I'm not sure that is GRRM's style. I hope Gendry has a bigger role, even if it is not part of Arya's journey.


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We cannot know what the state of Westeros will be at the end of all the chaos. It may be that there are so few good matches, that Gendry (half a Baratheon) is good enough. But, If not, it could be part of the bittersweet ending that Gendry becomes the smith at Winterfell.


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the age gap is like pretty much pedophilla by modern standards, but I suppose you cant hold that against them because in that day age didnt matter that much, and in any cause once their both adults it doesn't make a difference at all really. whats the difference like 5 or 6 years? thats not an issue for adults in todays world and it certainty wouldn't be in that world.



i was always kinda confused by gendrys like weird fluctuating moods towards arya. was it like, he resented the fact that she was a nobel lady, and he assumed that meant they couldnt be together or anything.


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  • 2 weeks later...

i was always kinda confused by gendrys like weird fluctuating moods towards arya. was it like, he resented the fact that she was a nobel lady, and he assumed that meant they couldnt be together or anything.

I don't think he resented the fact that her being noble meant they couldn't be together in a romantic sense. He clearly resents nobles somewhat any way, shown through Ned Dayne (which can be interpreted as jealousy), but he's also wary of Ned Stark when he meets him. As an apprentice he must have encountered many nobles who treated him like dirt, or who just came to ask questions about his mother (Stannis/Jon Arryn).

He knows Arya is high- born, but until ASOS he hasn't had to really deal with it. Now with the Brotherhood, she has become a high value hostage, there is a lot of mention of her family and her position as a lady, and it is likely that she will be reunited with her family again, and therefore start to be treated as a noble. There is no place for Gendry in this version of her life.

She is his friend first and foremost; the one constant in his life since King's Landing, and that's about to change. Romantic feelings aside, they have a bond, but he realises that they will not be friends or equals when she reunites with her family, something she does not consider. Arya treats everyone the same which is shown throughout the novels, but Gendry understands his position and what happens to baseborn boys who are friends with noble girls (look at Mycah).

i was always kinda confused by gendrys like weird fluctuating moods towards arya. was it like, he resented the fact that she was a nobel lady, and he assumed that meant they couldnt be together or anything.

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  • 3 weeks later...

We cannot know what the state of Westeros will be at the end of all the chaos. It may be that there are so few good matches, that Gendry (half a Baratheon) is good enough. But, If not, it could be part of the bittersweet ending that Gendry becomes the smith at Winterfell.

For one, Gods are not mocked and Robert himself promised his son to Ned's daughter.

Since Gendry is the only available son and Arya was the only available daughter, the Gods will see it through. One way or another.

i was always kinda confused by gendrys like weird fluctuating moods towards arya. was it like, he resented the fact that she was a nobel lady, and he assumed that meant they couldnt be together or anything.

The books hint to me that Gendry rejected the fact he was attracted to her and, because of her age, Arya was completely clueless about it. Made him act awkward in more ways than one.

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For one, Gods are not mocked and Robert himself promised his son to Ned's daughter.

Since Gendry is the only available son and Arya was the only available daughter, the Gods will see it through. One way or another.

I don't think the gods would give a damn about what Robert promised Ned. :) There are reasons why Arya and Gendry is a popular pairing and looks likely to happen one day, but that's not one of them.

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I'm not talking about what makes them popular among the readers, but what actually binds the characters throughout the story.

Gendry's father promised his son to the daughter of Arya's father, the characters have been bound together ever since the first book.

No, he promised Joffrey to Sansa. And that didn't work out so well. :D

Robert didn't even know who was or wasn't his child, and he knew even less about relationships. What Robert wanted is not exactly the best argument in favor of a pairing. And neither Arya nor Gendry would give a damn about that. Arya wouldn't have even cared if her father made a match himself, she's compared to Lyanna for a reason.

I do think Arya may end up with Gendry, but it sure won't be because of something Robert wanted.

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