Is Arya a realistic character?

[Tessarion]

The title sums it up. While I could imagine Sansa as a person of this world, Arya is IMHO much more "storylike".

[Kienn]

I think she's pretty realistic for someone who can control the body and minds of animals yes.

[Bright Blue Eyes]

Yes, book Arya is pretty realistic. Fan Arya isn't. A lot of of deeds or skills attributed to Arya don't exist in the books but are an invention of the fandom.

[Tessarion]

I think she's pretty realistic for someone who can control the body and minds of animals yes.

So is Sansa. I'm talking about her ability to fight, assassinate and live in the wilderness.

[Brightstar_]

She has never shown a particular prowess in combat, the people she's killed have all either been boys, people she's caught of guard, or through poison. She's as good as a skinny 11 year old girl will get though. As for surviving in the wild, she's never been alone, first with Yoren, then a few days with Gendry untill they were captured, then a prisoner at Harrenhall, Berric Dondarrion, The Hound, on that Braavosi boat, the HOBAK, all of whom fed her. And her latest ability to assassinate is what she's being trained for.

[Lady Beyond the Wall]

The title sums it up. While I could imagine Sansa as a person of this world, Arya is IMHO much more "storylike".

Well this is a story so.....

[Sansa_Stark]

When you consider the whole FM thing,no.

[The Weirwoods Eyes]

Indeed I think people do imagine attributes for Arya that she does not actually display.

She has killed an untrained un armed stable boy while in possession of a castle forged sword after several weeks of rudimentary training, she survives barely in KL along side hoards of other vagrant children. She is taken by yoren who feeds her and then when she finds herself alone with Hot Pie Gendry and Lomy they almost starve and have to eat all manor of stuff just to scrape by, harrenhall well she's fed at least. She has jaquen who helps her she would never have pulled off weasel soup alone. Then teh guard is an oportunistic killing she gambles that he will bend to pick up the coin and that will give her time to hopefully slit his throat, it could have so very easily gone wrong. After that again she is struggling on the rd until the BWB find them and again ensure they are safe, warm & fed at least. Then the hound and the killings in the inn are not something she would have managed without the Hound. She is ripped off over the horse and boards a boat only due to the coin. She is cared for on that boat again only because of the coin and then has been cared for by the HOBAW. She is a tough little nut but she'd have cracked long ago without all the help and fortune she experienced along the way.

I love Arya BTW I just don't see her as this hard as nails assassin that some do.

[David Selig]

Realistic in personality? Yes.

Her plotline though is full of contrived and implausible moments.

[Sullen]

Realistic in personality? Yes.

Her plotline though is full of contrived and implausible moments.

:agree: Pretty much this.

[Jon Snow the Omniscient]

As a character, she's realistic. Her storyline on the other hand is not. The main complaint I have is that she seems to always survive through pure dumb luck, which gets annoying. Wow, I just got Ninja'd.

[Bright Blue Eyes]

So is Sansa. I'm talking about her ability to fight, assassinate and live in the wilderness.

And that is exactly the fandom Arya I'm talking about.

Arya can't fight. She could fight Hot Pie or Lommy, but never in the entire series did she participate in an at least somewhat fair fight. She hacked on hands with the owner being helpless hanging from a wall, she slit some unsuspecting guard's throat while he was totally helpless, she stabbed an unsuspecting squire her own age. But she never fought. She can't.

Arya is no assassin (yet). She was taken by the hand almost the entire way. Good teaching, but the teacher was always there to correct mistakes.

Arya can't live in the wilderness. She can't successfully navigate the countryside. She can't gather enough food. Between her long, long periods with adults caring for that need, Arya, Gendry and Hot Pie are lost and starving.

[Mourneblade]

And that is exactly the fandom Arya I'm talking about.

Arya can't fight. She could fight Hot Pie or Lommy, but never in the entire series did she participate in an at least somewhat fair fight. She hacked on hands with the owner being helpless hanging from a wall, she slit some unsuspecting guard's throat while he was totally helpless, she stabbed an unsuspecting squire her own age. But she never fought. She can't.

Arya is no assassin (yet). She was taken by the hand almost the entire way. Good teaching, but the teacher was always there to correct mistakes.

Arya can't live in the wilderness. She can't successfully navigate the countryside. She can't gather enough food. Between her long, long periods with adults caring for that need, Arya, Gendry and Hot Pie are lost and starving.

But she did to all those things.

As a ten year old girl she has remarkable will and has survived by making her own choices. Some of them good and some of them bad. She is very situationally aware. She would not have starved, but there are many times where the luck of the draw was in her favor. She could have been picked by the mountain to have a conversation with the tickler. She would have died at the twins if not for the hound. The list goes on. But these should not be used to diminish her.

[Lady Sharya]

Personally, I find Arya's reactions to her circumstances (anger, vengance, longing for her family) to be far more realistic for a 9-11yr old than Sansa's ability at 11-13yrs to remain polite, calm & keep up pretence of not being affected by her's. Children do tend to behave on a more emotional level so Arya's coping abilities seem natural to me. I like both characters but I do struggle more understanding Sansa than I do Arya, so maybe it's personality differences between readers that make some able to relate to Sansa more.

Also, I must be missing a lot of threads because I don't even see many Arya threads let alone the overrating of Arya mentioned above.

[Bright Blue Eyes]

But she did to all those things.

As a ten year old girl she has remarkable will and has survived by making her own choices. Some of them good and some of them bad. She is very situationally aware. She would not have starved, but there are many times where the luck of the draw was in her favor. She could have been picked by the mountain to have a conversation with the tickler. She would have died at the twins if not for the hound. The list goes on. But these should not be used to diminish her.

Wait what? I don't understand what you say. Do you say that Arya fought a fair fight against a grown-up? Or that she successfully planned an assassination on her own? Or that Arya, Gendry, Hot Pie and Lommy were not three-quarter starved when picked up by the Mountain or later the BWB?

[Mourneblade]

Wait what? I don't understand what you say. Do you say that Arya fought a fair fight against a grown-up? Or that she successfully planned an assassination on her own? Or that Arya, Gendry, Hot Pie and Lommy were not three-quarter starved when picked up by the Mountain or later the BWB?

It is not black and white.

She has fought, not as some gallant swordsman, but in the only way she can.

She assassinated Daeron all by herself.

She was hungry for sure, but Arya is adaptable, she does not have issues about eating worms and acorn paste etc. Hot pie and Lommy were the helpless ones.

Again for good or bad she has made her choices, but she has grown up much more independent than Sansa. The manor in which she has survived or the help she has received does not diminish the things she has done on her own.

[DJIM]

I think as a character she is realistic. Her thoughts and actions make sense in terms of who she is. As for her story, it was never meant to be realistic.

[Masha's apron]

I think her story is quite realistic: her path so far could be seen as a patchwork made from the early life of Joan of Arc and Charlotte Corday.

[Cas Stark]

I'll echo what others have said, Arya as a character is realistic, other than the general issue that all of the young characters intellects are a couple of years older than their calendar years. She's a smart, resourceful, brash girl, her emotional life and reactions are realistic.

Her plot armor, that's another thing, she goes through ultimately a few too many adventures with too little harm. And for my taste she's spent too long already at the House of Black and White.

[ARYa_Nym]

I think fans and nonfans/haters have the tendency to classify Arya wrongly. She gets called a warrior woman character when she is not. She actually isn't that skilled with a sword. Being a knight was always Bran's dream never hers. It's often said that her dream or when it's all said and done she should join a KG/QG but that's actually a very quick way to kill her off. She would die.

It's the same thing with Lyanna. She gets compared to Visenya when Visenya was an actual warrior but put Lyanna in a battle and she's going to be killed quickly. She's not good with a sword. Beating a boy under 10 doesn't count.

The FM also falsely get called ninjas when they are not. As for the age thing it was either in the Leopard Brigade or Baby Brigade faction of the Tamil Tigers that had assassins as young as 8 so younger than Arya is killing for them. No they did not rely on physical prowess but many miss the fact that the FM don't either. Having to fight is a sign a mission is going wrong. As the KM said it's best for the target not to notice you at all.