[ADWD SPOILERS] The Ugly Little Girl

[VarysTheSpider]

I'm kinda torn about this now. I do love Arya, don't remotely think she's a psychopath/sociopath, but I'm having a bit of trouble with the plausability of this storyline. It seems to me that GRRM is trying to have it both ways with Arya. On the one hand, she's embracing pretty much every task the kindly man/plague face give her and in so doing is apparently progressing with her training. But on the other hand, she still is for all intents and purposes Arya (and always will be as long as she has Needle, IMO), and as the conversation with plague face made clear, hasn't made any where near the required psychological change that faceless men need.

So for me, without that change not only does it kill any tension that might arise were she asked to do something that Arya doesn't want to do (like kill Jon), but on a more basic plot level I don't know why the kindly man/plague face think she's making progress when they even tell her to her face that they know that she isn't. I suppose you could argue that there's further transition to come, but shit, isn't that what these past two books have been for? Maybe Arya's story is one that would have worked a lot better with the 5 year gap, I dunno.

[Valar_Morghulis]

Also, am I the only one who thought by the title that it would be a Shireen POV?

The chapter title made me expect a Myrcella POV, since she's been recently maimed. I was actually feeling pretty smart for having "figured it out." :-\

[ZombieWife]

Ok, so NOW can we call her a psychopath and say she kills innocent people?

Or are you guys gonna tell me that all insurance agents are evil? :D

She is trying to justify it in her mind. He's evil. He's bad. He is rude to people.

[ZombieWife]

That is such a genius way of killing someone.

I remember seeing a similar ploy in a Merlin episode, too. Goblins or such loving to lick their gold....

[indiesque]

What I liked about this chapter was how Arya is clearly now using more than just impulsive violence to solve her problems. She's showing she can be clever too. Before, I always felt she was bold and a survivor, but still childish and impulsive. Even here, her first instinct was just to kill two people (an excess of one) as the easiest solution. Being told that the guard cannot receive the gift, but only the insurance broker, forced her to think and make a plan. Good job, Arya, you're growing up.

Oh and this is probably irrelevant to the story, but does anyone else think that Arya is starting to become pretty, growing into her looks? As a child she was told she was plain, but we've heard more than one character tell her now that she is pretty. (In this chapter, "A pretty one this time, I think. As pretty as your own.") And we know that she looked like Lyanna, and Lyanna was said to be attractive as a teenager, so I guess little Arya could be headed in the same direction..

On the one hand, she's embracing pretty much every task the kindly man/plague face give her and in so doing is apparently progressing with her training. But on the other hand, she still is for all intents and purposes Arya (and always will be as long as she has Needle, IMO), and as the conversation with plague face made clear, hasn't made any where near the required psychological change that faceless men need.

I wonder about that too. I do think that she must be improving - even though the Kindly Man and Plague Face know she isn't there yet, they think she shows promise. I don't know what will happen in the end, but it may be that Arya becomes so good at lying that it doesn't matter much that she's still really Arya inside? At least until some final test, perhaps.

Also, I think this is another way for them to test her. If they coddled her and only gave her soft words and encouragement that's not going to be much use to her. By constantly tell her she is lying and reminding her she still has a long way to go she could be discouraged and leave, if she proves weak. At this point, she can still turn back if she wants to, and if she can't handle the training and criticism, she will...

[Brewmaster]

does anyone else think that Arya is starting to become pretty, growing into her looks? As a child she was told she was plain, but we've heard more than one character tell her now that she is pretty. (In this chapter, "A pretty one this time, I think. As pretty as your own.") And we know that she looked like Lyanna, and Lyanna was said to be attractive as a teenager, so I guess little Arya could be headed in the same direction..

Why do people insist on taking Sansa's word on this?

Arya has CLEARLY always been a cute/pretty girl. Adults have told her that on multiple occasions since the beginning of the story. Sansa and Jeyne started people calling her horseface to tease her, and it worked.

But she's a pretty little girl. She's not growing into it. She has always been.

[Wolf Maid]

Why do people insist on taking Sansa's word on this?

Arya has CLEARLY always been a cute/pretty girl. Adults have told her that on multiple occasions since the beginning of the story. Sansa and Jeyne started people calling her horseface to tease her, and it worked.

But she's a pretty little girl. She's not growing into it. She has always been.

I don't think that Arya was ever really ugly, but I do think she was awkward looking. They always mention how scrawny she is and that she has a long face, maybe too long for her body. I think that is what she is growing out of. They keep going back to how alike Arya and Lyanna are, both in looks and temperament, so she'll probably grow to look like her.

[All-for-Joffrey]

Did anyone else notice that Arya thinks about how she had a fondness for lemon cakes in the past? In the previous books, I don't think there was ever a single mention of how Arya loved lemon cakes but we had multiple instances of how Sansa was fond of them. I'm assuming this was deliberate on GRRM's part? Is Arya making so much progress forgetting who she was that she's starting to blend character traits with her sister when thinking back on the past?

[The_North_Remembers]

I had a totally different take on how she had killed him. I thought she had just slipped one of the special tokens similar to the one jaqen gave her, and the guy simply had a heart attack when he recognized it.

I guess both ways work :smoking:

Yeah I thought the same thing too. The man was clearly paranoid, and living in Bravos I'm sure he knew of the Faceless Men. Afterwards, when she was talking to the Kindly Man about it, did she specify whether he actually put it in his mouth or not, or that he just saw the coin?

[TippsBlackandWhite]

Oh and this is probably irrelevant to the story, but does anyone else think that Arya is starting to become pretty, growing into her looks? As a child she was told she was plain, but we've heard more than one character tell her now that she is pretty. (In this chapter, "A pretty one this time, I think. As pretty as your own.") And we know that she looked like Lyanna, and Lyanna was said to be attractive as a teenager, so I guess little Arya could be headed in the same direction..

Not irrelevant. Arya mentions that no one ever called her pretty but her father and Jon. Her mother only ever mentioned that she could be pretty. It definitely has had an affect on how she views herself, and seeing as how the Kindly Man is honest about her, she may see herself in a different light now. Time will tell how this configures into her arc as she grows older.

[Wolf Maid]

Yeah I thought the same thing too. The man was clearly paranoid, and living in Bravos I'm sure he knew of the Faceless Men. Afterwards, when she was talking to the Kindly Man about it, did she specify whether he actually put it in his mouth or not, or that he just saw the coin?

They made a point in saying how he bites every coin to test it. Also, IIRC, Arya mentions getting some help from the waif, who specializes in poisons, for a certain part. I'm pretty sure she used poison to kill him. Counting on him having a heart attack, just by looking at the coin, would not be a very reliable method.

[NW Deserter]

As with every Arya chapter, I loved this chapter. But we're pretty close to end of this novel and there's still not even a hint as to how her story will converge with that of any other character that we've met...I know we've got two books left but damnit I want Arya to do something! :worried:

Also, the room full of faces creeped me the fuck out. :wideeyed:

[Ivy Snow]

makes me think that the Jaquen H'gar = Syrio could be possible. The face Arya wore still had some of her memories and ARya felt it. Maybe Syrio, the real one is really dead and a faceless man used his face and memory to get there.. Just some thought when I came through the room with many faces... it seems creepy thought to wear some dead person's face.. O_O

edit: typo on Jaquens name

[Tall Tyrion Lannister!]

How did they put the face on Arya? Did they just like cut her face up and sew the new on? was pretty creeped out by that tbh.

[Vavavoom]

Did anyone else notice that Arya thinks about how she had a fondness for lemon cakes in the past? In the previous books, I don't think there was ever a single mention of how Arya loved lemon cakes but we had multiple instances of how Sansa was fond of them. I'm assuming this was deliberate on GRRM's part? Is Arya making so much progress forgetting who she was that she's starting to blend character traits with her sister when thinking back on the past?

I picked up on this, too. I was thinking "Arya doesn't love lemon cakes...Sansa does"! What is the meaning behind this? Anyone?

[Rat Cook]

I picked up on this, too. I was thinking "Arya doesn't love lemon cakes...Sansa does"! What is the meaning behind this? Anyone?

The phrase was "A thousand years ago, she had known a girl who loved lemon cakes." I think it's just to say Arya knew Sansa.

[Septonmage]

The changing of faces was very interesting. It may be an ancient form of Valyrian sorcery. Fire and blood...

[A Redeemed Hound]

Such a murderous little troll, our Arya.

She is not a good girl. She is going to become quite the assassin.

:ninja:

[ThinPaperWings]

I did not catch the poison coin thing at all. I was thinking the insurance guy would find it and know he was marked or something like that, perhaps end up coming to the temple? Poison makes much more sense.

As far as the masks go, yeah that room was creepy. I thought as I was reading that they were going to peel the skin off of Arya's face and put the dead face in place of it. But it seems that the cutting/blood was just something of the cost of the magic. I got the idea that the person's real face 'absorbs' the dead face. You then assume any faces you have 'absorbed.' So Jacquen will pulled a bit of a Ramsay on Pate's corpse.

Great chapter overall. Shame we have to wait years to figure out the payoff of it.

[FuliginEyes]

This chapter was of course very well written and interesting, but I found the scene with the replacing/wearing of the new face so disturbing. I found it harder to read than even the descriptions of flaying at the hands of Ramsay Bolton. Something about what she was doing – and for all I knew, this was going to be permanent – and how young she is, terrified me. It seemed like permanent damage to her face. I could barely read it without feeling nauseous.

Anyway, it didn’t turn out to be permanent, but still. I do love anything she is in though. She is such a wonderful character. And Braavos as a city is captivating in itself. The different temples/sects, the different people, the smells… seems quite ancient in some ways, very Venetian in others. Vividly depicted.

Was anyone else creeped out by the description of the room with all the faces? I got chills.

I also loved this line: "I have no heart. I only have a hole. I've killed lots of people. I could kill you if I wanted." Poor little girl. :(

I know; heartbreaking.