Can Arya and Sansa be reconciled?

[Sand Snake No. 9]

We know the wolves will come again, but will they make a happy pack?

The sisters were already on totally different paths and squabbling while Ned was alive. Now they're about as far apart, in terms of life experience and temperament, as two family members can be. They hardly think of each other (do they think of each other without external prompting?) Each has a reason or reasons to be angry at the other. Arya would be furious if she learned that Sansa revealed Ned's plans to Cersei, and Sansa would be appalled if she learned that Arya left her man Sandor to die in pain. (In fact, Sansa might learn something about Arya's travels with Sandor if Brienne ever catches up with her.) What would Sansa think about Arya's adventures with the Faceless Men? What would Arya think of Sansa's crush on Sandor, her tolerance of Tyrion, or her sympathy for the dying Joffrey.

Imagine their first meeting: Sansa, still the lady and dressed to the nines, coldly courteous, Arya wearing clothes taken off a corpse, with knives hidden in her boots, belt and sleeve, ready for a fight. The catfight of the century is only seconds away.

The only way I see them being civil to each other is (1) if they meet at a funeral, or (2) they're together in a battle to the death with a common foe.

Huh, maybe Dany has a function after all. (I jest!)

Anyway, if GRRM sets up a fortuitous meeting of the two at that Inn of the Miraculous and Convenient Meetings, and they fall into each other's arms frothing at the mouth with joy, I – just won't buy it.

How do you envision the reunion of the Opposite Sisters?

[Verboten]

When people are apart they conveniently forget about the others faults. I picture their reunion as being completely awkward and painful. Arya thinks her sister is dead and she knows how easy it is to fake appearances (Sansa has no physical reminders of her days at Winterfell afterall) and Sansa won't be able to recognize her little sister and will be incredibly saddened by it.

[brashcandy]

We know the wolves will come again, but will they make a happy pack?

The sisters were already on totally different paths and squabbling while Ned was alive. Now they're about as far apart, in terms of life experience and temperament, as two family members can be. They hardly think of each other (do they think of each other without external prompting?) Each has a reason or reasons to be angry at the other. Arya would be furious if she learned that Sansa revealed Ned's plans to Cersei, and Sansa would be appalled if she learned that Arya left her man Sandor to die in pain. (In fact, Sansa might learn something about Arya's travels with Sandor if Brienne ever catches up with her.) What would Sansa think about Arya's adventures with the Faceless Men? What would Arya think of Sansa's crush on Sandor, her tolerance of Tyrion, or her sympathy for the dying Joffrey.

Imagine their first meeting: Sansa, still the lady and dressed to the nines, coldly courteous, Arya wearing clothes taken off a corpse, with knives hidden in her boots, belt and sleeve, ready for a fight. The catfight of the century is only seconds away.

The only way I see them being civil to each other is (1) if they meet at a funeral, or (2) they're together in a battle to the death with a common foe.

Huh, maybe Dany has a function after all. (I jest!)

Anyway, if GRRM sets up a fortuitous meeting of the two at that Inn of the Miraculous and Convenient Meetings, and they fall into each other's arms frothing at the mouth with joy, I – just won't buy it.

How do you envision the reunion of the Opposite Sisters?

I think GRRM might create it in such a way where they're not so opposite anymore. We know that Sansa is becoming a lot stronger, maybe she'll even learn to be more ruthless when it comes to standing up for herself, (as well as Sweetrobin) and defeating Littlefinger. Arya, after her long immersion in cold, calculated killings, may begin to feel some empathy, some longing for a different life. So when they do meet again it may actually be a more equal one, where they can appreciate one another's strengths and sympathise with the weaknesses. In other words they'll both have grown up :)

[seanbean4lyfe]

I think the first time they see each other will be super awk. Like they won't know what to do with each other, but I don't think they will hold any grudges. They both have been through so much, that it's just the past.

I agree that they will be very different, but not in the way they were when the went their seperate ways.

I doubt it will be falling into each other arms, but i'm sure (or I hope) that they will grow to have a healthy/loving relationship later down the road once all this crazy shit is over.Or at least the hint that that's how it will be...

...becauseI swear to god, if GRRM pulls a Rowling Epilouge... :bang:

[Tyroshi Sellsword]

In A Clash of Kings, Arya thinks of Sansa several times. She says she misses Sansa (though it's Jon she misses most). Maybe I'm just an idealist, but I think, if they were somehow reunited, they would be overjoyed to see each other and very sad for the other's suffering. Sisters fight. It's normal, and given more time, I'm sure they would have gotten past it.

[Tammy]

We know the wolves will come again, but will they make a happy pack?

The sisters were already on totally different paths and squabbling while Ned was alive. Now they're about as far apart, in terms of life experience and temperament, as two family members can be. They hardly think of each other (do they think of each other without external prompting?) Each has a reason or reasons to be angry at the other. Arya would be furious if she learned that Sansa revealed Ned's plans to Cersei, and Sansa would be appalled if she learned that Arya left her man Sandor to die in pain. (In fact, Sansa might learn something about Arya's travels with Sandor if Brienne ever catches up with her.) What would Sansa think about Arya's adventures with the Faceless Men? What would Arya think of Sansa's crush on Sandor, her tolerance of Tyrion, or her sympathy for the dying Joffrey.

Imagine their first meeting: Sansa, still the lady and dressed to the nines, coldly courteous, Arya wearing clothes taken off a corpse, with knives hidden in her boots, belt and sleeve, ready for a fight. The catfight of the century is only seconds away.

The only way I see them being civil to each other is (1) if they meet at a funeral, or (2) they're together in a battle to the death with a common foe.

Huh, maybe Dany has a function after all. (I jest!)

Anyway, if GRRM sets up a fortuitous meeting of the two at that Inn of the Miraculous and Convenient Meetings, and they fall into each other's arms frothing at the mouth with joy, I – just won't buy it.

How do you envision the reunion of the Opposite Sisters?

They're family who've both lost a lot. They both lost their mother, their father, their older brother and potentially their younger brothers - that's depending on what happens with Bran and Rickon. I imagine when they meet up again they'll be so happy the other one is still alive and that they have a piece of their family still intact that a great many things won't matter. They may never be best friends, and maybe they'll be able to help each balance out what they've lost and what they've tried to keep, but I think they'll get along much better than they did when we saw them together last time.

[headtrip_honey]

I think they will be so goddamned happy to see each other when they meet again that past arguments will be forgotten, if they haven't been already.

They've both learned through their separation that petty squabbles don't matter - family is FAMILY and you have to stick together.

ETA: Arya has mused many times on missing Sansa, and Sansa has, when envisioning children she might have, thought of having a girl who looked like Arya. Those aren't girls who are going to fight the minute they see each other.

[Jenny of Oldstones]

I'm a sentimental sucker. After all they've been through I think they would let bygones be bygones, especially since they've already lost so many other loved ones. I've always found the fact that the sisters wound up on such different roads very interesting. Everyone knows there's no way Sansa could have survived in Arya's shoes, but I don't think nearly enough attention is paid to the fact that Arya could never have survived in Sansa's shoes. She would have said or done something immediately to provoke the Lannisters' ire, or Ramsay's if she ever made it that far.

[brashcandy]

What I like to think about is how much Arya would have seen that Sansa has changed. Granted, Arya doesn't have some moral highground over Sansa, but there's no denying the fact that she sees Sansa as having been in love with the monster Joffrey and sticking up for the Lannisters. So, i'm actually excited to see how she would view Sansa's relationship with Sandor (if one should happen).

[Sand Snake No. 9]

Gee, so many optimistic people. Am I the only one on the board who grew up in a dysfunctional family, where grudges are held for 20 years and every Thanksgiving dinner is an ordeal? ;)

Arya left Sandor to die in agony, Sandor whose next to last thoughts were of Sansa (and how much he hated Tyrion).

Sansa "betrayed" Ned. Sansa is in love with the evil bastard who killed Arya's beloved Mycah, who didn't try to save Catelyn (Arya's perception).

There's a little more to argue about here than who got Grandma's silver tea service.

And think of all the opportunities for "I told you so." "I told you Joffrey was a douche!" being Number 1.

I'm still not seeing love and kisses. Maybe I should blame it on Mom.

[Alexia]

Trust me, Grandma's silver tea service is way more important. ;)

I see the girls reconciling right away. They miss each other, even if they wouldn't be friends of their own initiative they are still family.

[headtrip_honey]

I base my assumption that they will reconcile and probably cry tears of joy upon seeing each other (well, Sansa at least...) on the fact that the text tells us they miss each other. They think about each other - never with animosity.

[kephv]

If they ever meet again, I think they'd be pretty damn happy to see one another. Especially after all those years apart, and them being more grown up.

I'm looking forward the reunions the most. :)

[Raksha the Demon]

I don't see the sisters becoming extremely close if they do reunite; but I do see Sansa and Arya glad to see each other. There's one very important thing they have in common; and that is the shared experience of growing up in Winterfell, and the trauma of having their home and family destroyed. They also know what it is to live in hostile environments and have to fear for their lives on a daily basis with hardly anyone to trust. They both have assumed other identities and seemingly buried their Stark heritage, only to dream of wolves and make castles in the snow. And they each think that the other is dead - if they meet and recognize each other, I think Sansa and Arya will be glad. If Sansa is still running around as the brown-haired Alayne and Arya is wearing someone else's face, recognition will be harder.

Arya might get very angry and spoil their reunion if Sansa admits to telling Cersei that their father was going to send them away, though.

Arya and Sansa could be formidable allies; since they each have what the other one lacks. Arya is a ferocious fighter and killer; but wouldn't be able to exude great-lady charm the way Sansa does. Sansa can talk her way through some dangerous situations, and provide inspiration and comfort during a crisis, and she is getting a first-class political education, but she does not fight with swords or knives.

I do hope that the sisters meet again. There is so much unfinished business between them. I am not sure it can all be resolved, though...

[Sand Snake No. 9]

Trust me, Grandma's silver tea service is way more important.

I see the girls reconciling right away. They miss each other, even if they wouldn't be friends of their own initiative they are still family.

Because there are only happy families in Westeros and love is especially strong among the siblings? Like the love between Catelyn and Lysa? Family, Duty, Honor, right? In all Westeros, I think Oberyn's bastard daughters are the only siblings who get along.

I don't see the sisters becoming extremely close if they do reunite; but I do see Sansa and Arya glad to see each other. There's one very important thing they have in common; and that is the shared experience of growing up in Winterfell, and the trauma of having their home and family destroyed. They also know what it is to live in hostile environments and have to fear for their lives on a daily basis with hardly anyone to trust.

Arya turns to Sansa, points a finger, and yells: "It was all your fault, bitch!"* Clearly, if anything's going to be started, Arya will start it.

I'll concede that perhaps their first meeting will be a tear fest, but I also think that good relations will only be maintained if they don't learn what the other one was doing before the reunion.

*Of course I know it wasn't, but Arya isn't exactly a subtle thinker.

[Lord_Debaka]

I think I'm done trying to figure out how Martin will finish things off. I would like a good reunion to happen, but I'm not going to venture a guess one way or the other.

[St. Pelagius]

I don't really care for either character (but I do enjoy what's brewing in the Vale moreso then Braavos), but I really hope that Arya is the hot one when/if they reconnect.

[DaBillmann]

Their parents are either dead or undead.

Their eldest brother is dead.

They think their younger brothers are dead.

Idon't know who will live or die, but I think ALl the surviving Stark children will be happy to find each other again. Including Sansa and Arya and Sansa and Jon.

[Damar]

Despite their differences, they do care about each other, with both Arya and Sansa showing extreme worry about the other when they are seperated.

[Errant Bard]

They hardly think of each other (do they think of each other without external prompting?)

I beg to differ:

Arya

• Arya never looked back. She wished the Rush would rise and wash the whole city away, Flea Bottom and the Red Keep and the Great Sept and everything, and everyone too, especially Prince Joffrey and his mother. But she knew it wouldn't, and anyhow Sansa was still in the city and would wash away too. When she remembered that, Arya decided to wish for Winterfell instead.
  
  
• Arya sipped at her tankard cautiously, between spoonfuls of pie still warmfrom the oven. Her father sometimes let them have a cup of beer, she remembered. Sansa used to make a face at the taste and say that wine was ever so much finer, but Arya had liked it well enough. it made her sad to think of Sansa and her father.
  
  
• Suddenly Arya remembered the morning she had thrown the orange in Sansa's face and gotten juice all over her stupid ivory silk gown. There had been some southron lordling at the tourney, her sister's stupid friend Jeyne was in love with him. He had a lightning bolt on his shield and her father had sent him
  
  
• Arya had eaten a bug once when she was little, just to make Sansa screech, so she hadn't been afraid to eat another.
  
  
• Septa Mordane wouldn't even know me, I bet. Sansa might, but she'd pretend not to. "My mother's a lady, and my sister, but I never was."
  
  
• Suddenly Arya knew where she had seen those dogs before. The night of the tourney at King's Landing, all the knight had hung their shields outside their pavilions. "That one belongs to the Hound's brother," Sansa had confided when they passed the black dogs on the yellow field. "He's even bigger than Hodor, you'll see. They call him the Mountain That Rides."
  
  
• She hated Ser Amory Lorch for Yoren, and she hated Ser Meryn Trant for Syrio, the Hound for killing the butcher's boy Mycah, and Ser Ilyn and Prince Joffrey and the queen for the sake of her father and Fat Tom and Desmond and the rest, and even for Lady, Sansa's wolf.
  
  
• I could find out somehow, I know I could, if only I could get away. When she thought of seeing Robb's face again Arya had to bite her lip. And I want to see Jon too, and Bran and Rickon, and Mother. Even Sansa... I'll kiss her and beg her pardons like a proper lady, she'll like that.
  
  
• [...] had been taken by some hedge knight who meant to get rich off him. Sansa would have known who he was, and the fat one too, but Arya had never taken much interest in titles and sigils.
  
  
• She bit her lip, groping for another name. Lommy had called her Lumpyhead, Sansa used Horseface, and her father's men once dubbed her Arya Underfoot, but she did not think any of those were the sort of name he wanted.
  
  
• Arya was glad to hear that the castle of the Darrys would be burned. That was where they'd brought her when she'd been caught after her fight with Joffrey, and where the queen had made her father kill Sansa's wolf. It deserves to burn.
  
  
• "But there is no pack," she whispered to the weirwood. Bran and Rickon were dead, the Lannisters had Sansa, Jon had gone to the Wall. "I'm not even me now, I'm Nan."
  
  
• So the singer played for her, so soft and sad that Arya only heard snatches of the words, though the tune was half-familiar. Sansa would know it, I bet. Her sister had known all the songs, and she could even play a little, and sing so sweetly. All I could ever do was shout the words.
  
  
• Then they stole all the clothes that Lady Smallwood had given her and dressed her up like one of Sansa's dolls in linen and lace.
  
  
• "Her?" The Hound snorted. "Is she your mother, Dondarrion? Or your whore? "
  Dondarrion? Beric Dondarrion had been handsome; Sansa's friend Jeyne had fallen in love with him.
  
  
• "Well," Arya said, "my hair's messy and my nails are dirty and my feet are all hard." Robb wouldn't care about that, probably, but her mother would. Lady Catelyn always wanted her to be like Sansa, to sing and dance and sew and mind her courtesies. just thinking of it made Arya try to comb her hair with her fingers, but it was all tangles and mats, and all she did was tear some out.
  
  
• Sansa would have sighed and shed a tear for true love, but Arya just thought it was stupid. She couldn't say that to Ned, though, not about his own aunt.
  
  
• It wasn't the first time he had talked of killing the Mountain. "But he's your brother," Arya said dubiously.
  "Didn't you ever have a brother you wanted to kill?" He laughed again. "Or maybe a sister?" He must have seen something in her face then, for he leaned closer. "Sansa. That's it, isn't it? The wolf bitch wants to kill the pretty bird."
  "No," Arya spat back at him. "Id like to kill you."
  
  
• Beric would find her there. Anguy would teach her to use a bow, and she could ride with Gendry and be an outlaw, like Wenda the White Fawn in the songs.
  But that was just stupid, like something Sansa might dream.
  
  
• I know this inn. There hadn't been a gibbet outside the door when she had slept here with her sister Sansa under the watchful eye of Septa Mordane, though. "We don't want to go in," Arya decided suddenly, "there might be ghosts."
  
  
• That's stupid, Arya thought. Sansa only knows songs, not spells, and she'd never marry the Imp.
  
  
• If Sansa was gone too, there were no more Starks but her. Jon was on the Wall a thousand leagues away, but he was a Snow, and these different aunts and uncles the Hound wanted to sell her to, they weren't Starks either. They weren't wolves.
  
  
• "Sansa's just a liar," Arya said, furious at her sister all over again. "It wasn't like she said. It wasn't."
  
  
• "Needle was Robb and Bran and Rickon, her mother and her father, even Sansa. "
  

Sansa

• She tried not to think of them too often, yet sometimes the memories came unbidden, and then it was hard to hold back the tears. Once in a while, Sansa even missed her sister. By now Arya was safe back in Winterfell, dancing and sewing, playing with Bran and baby Rickon, even riding through the winter town if she liked.
  
  
• And what will they do to me? Sansa found herself thinking of Lady again. She could smell out falsehood, she could, but she was dead, Father had killed her, on account of Arya. She drew the knife and held it before her with both hands.
  
  
• Meekly, Sansa dropped her eyes and retreated back inside. She realized suddenly why this place seemed so familiar. They've put me in Arya's old bedchamber, from when Father was the Hand of the King. All her things are gone and the furnishings have been moved around, but it's the same . . .
  
  
• She sang with those inside the castle walls and those without, sang with all the city. She sang for mercy, for the living and the dead alike, for Bran and Rickon and Robb, for her sister Arya and her bastard brother Jon Snow, away off on the Wall. She sang for her mother and her father, for her grandfather Lord Hoster and her uncle Edmure Tully, for her friend Jeyne Poole, for old drunken King Robert, for Septa Mordane and Ser Dontos and Jory Cassel and Maester Luwin, for all the brave knights and soldiers who would die today, and for the children and the wives who would mourn them, and finally, toward the end, she even sang for Tyrion the Imp and for the Hound. He is no true knight but he saved me all the same, she told the Mother. Save him if you can, and gentle the rage inside him.
  
  
• Her ladies welcomed Sansa as well. It had been so long since she had enjoyed the company of other women, she had almost forgotten how pleasant it could be.
  Lady Leonette gave her lessons on the high harp, and Lady Janna shared all the choice gossip. Merry Crane always had an amusing story, and little Lady Bulwer reminded her of Arya, though not so fierce.
  
  
• [...]And to hate Lannisters, too. In Sansa's dreams, her children looked just like the brothers she had lost. Sometimes there was even a girl who looked like Arya.
  
  
• She threw back the coverlets. I must be brave. Her torments would soon be ended, one way or the other. If Lady was here, I would not be afraid. Lady was dead, though; Robb, Bran, Rickon, Arya, her father, her mother, even Septa Mordane. All of them are dead but me. She was alone in the world now.
  
  
• Sansa remembered Lion's Tooth, the sword Arya had flung into the Trident, and Hearteater, the one he'd made her kiss before the battle. She wondered if he'd want Margaery to kiss this one.
  
  
• She awoke all at once, every nerve atingle. For a moment she did not remember where she was. She had dreamt that she was little, still sharing a bedchamber with her sister Arya.
  
  
• She had last seen snow the day she'd left Winterfell. That was a lighter fall than this, she remembered. Robb had melting flakes in his hair when he hugged me, and the snowball Arya tried to make kept coming apart in her hands. It hurt to remember how happy she had been that morning. Hullen had helped her mount, and she'd ridden out with the snowflakes swirling around her, off to see the great wide world. I thought my song was beginning that day, but it was almost done.
  
  
• She scooped up a handful of snow and squeezed it between her fingers. Heavy and wet, the snow packed easily. Sansa began to make snowballs, shaping and smoothing them until they were round and white and perfect. She remembered a summer's snow in Winterfell when Arya and Bran had ambushed her as she emerged from the keep one morning. They'd each had a dozen snowballs to hand, and she'd had none. Bran had been perched on the roof of the covered bridge, out of reach, but Sansa had chased Arya through the stables and around the kitchen until both of them were breathless. She might even have caught her, but she'd slipped on some ice. Her sister came back to see if she was hurt. When she said she wasn't, Arya hit her in the face with another snowball, but Sansa grabbed her leg and pulled her down and was rubbing snow in her hair when Jory came along and pulled them apart, laughing.

If they meet, it will depend on the time they spent apart, but they don't actually want to harm each other, in any case. They think of each others more than they think of any other member of their family (yeah, even Jon for Arya), and they love each other more than they "hate" each other.

Considering Martin wanted to have that 5 years timeskip, if they ever meet, they will have grown into near strangers, despite the shared memories. Childish grudges will have disappeared or dimmed (who holds a grudge at a sibling for something done when you were 9?) It would be awkward, but I believe they would be happy to see each other. Then as in any other family, they would want to murder each other if they spend more than 48 hours together, but heh, that's how it works. They're family, they are wolves... as Arya points out, and noone else, not even Jon Snow has that bond (funny, btw to remember that Arya actually does draw as sharp a distinction between the Starks and Jon as Sansa does)