Why are so many interested in Arya having a love interest

[Tianzi]

5 minutes ago, Nevets said:

I agree that she is unlikely to have any romance prior to leaving Braavos.  Btu I also think she will leave Braavos at roughly the halfway point of TWOW.  And once she lands in Westeros, anything is possible.  Speaking of Braavos, though, I have see speculation that Tyrek Lannister might be hiding there...

Arya falling for a Lannister would be golden

2 minutes ago, JonisHenryTudor said:

Yes and no. I agree that much will change and many will die. From a political context based on what we have now, one can make a reasonable assumption/points about what would make sense...

 

But...this is a fictional story, and what might make political sense doesn't matter because Martin is the omnipotent being in this story. If he wants, Arya will marry the realm...or stay "nobody" or forsake love/romance, and so forth. She may decide the world sucks and warg Nymeria and fall in love with Ghost, because she might find it impossible to love the real Jon...Martin is Lord in this regards, so...yes in a sense it does not make sense to put money on this sort of thing.  

 

I agree, but my point is that within the story itself many neatly tailored plans about what marriage would be nice politically tend to bomb spectacularly (Arianne/Viserys, Sansa/Joff, Quentyn/Dany, Robb/a Frey, Cat/Brandon, and so on - we even had a king's son deciding to marry a peasant). And new candidates - and the old ones in new roles - are showing constantly. We are used to it now, but I bet that at the time it was first published, Sansa/Tyrion was a huge surprise.

[Florina Laufeyson]

Do people literally think Arya's problems would go away if she had a love interest?

 

Really?

You gotta be pretty thick to think so, sorry. This girl has a disassociation issue and all sorts of psychological "goodies" that wont go away with twoo luv. GRRM wouldnt do that to her anyway. To have her fall in love and have all her problems melt away would be the biggest disservice to her character i can even think of. Just freaking no.

[Nevets]

39 minutes ago, Florina Laufeyson said:

Do people literally think Arya's problems would go away if she had a love interest?

 

Really?

You gotta be pretty thick to think so, sorry. This girl has a disassociation issue and all sorts of psychological "goodies" that wont go away with twoo luv. GRRM wouldnt do that to her anyway. To have her fall in love and have all her problems melt away would be the biggest disservice to her character i can even think of. Just freaking no.

I'm thinking the other direction.  That her having some sort of romantic interest would be a sign that she is managing to deal with her problems and is able to move forward with her life.  OK, so call me an optimist!

[JonisHenryTudor]

1 hour ago, Florina Laufeyson said:

Do people literally think Arya's problems would go away if she had a love interest?

 

Really?

You gotta be pretty thick to think so, sorry. This girl has a disassociation issue and all sorts of psychological "goodies" that wont go away with twoo luv. GRRM wouldnt do that to her anyway. To have her fall in love and have all her problems melt away would be the biggest disservice to her character i can even think of. Just freaking no.

Yep!

 

19 minutes ago, Nevets said:

I'm thinking the other direction.  That her having some sort of romantic interest would be a sign that she is managing to deal with her problems and is able to move forward with her life.  OK, so call me an optimist!

Why does she need a love interest for that? Besides this isn't a story where characters are going to sit down and just be happy. That would be pretty boring. 

[Nevets]

So everyone is hoping for her to continue down the path of revenge and loneliness.  Good to know.

[JonisHenryTudor]

5 minutes ago, Nevets said:

So everyone is hoping for her to continue down the path of revenge and loneliness.  Good to know.

She won't though. She will continue to fight, and revenge will likely transform to duty, and I also believe that she will reunite with her family.  

Show in spoiler tag

Spoiler

It is clear in the show that she is preparing to head back to Westeros. It was love of her family (the play) that caused her to question the FM, although it is indirectly the case. She will most likely head back home. In other words, she will not be lonely anymore. 

 

[the trees have eyes]

6 minutes ago, Nevets said:

So everyone is hoping for her to continue down the path of revenge and loneliness.  Good to know.

Nah, there is plenty of love for the idea of Arya stepping back from the brink earlier in the thread.  Not eveyone wants her to morph into Beatrix Kiddo for real.

[Florina Laufeyson]

58 minutes ago, Nevets said:

So everyone is hoping for her to continue down the path of revenge and loneliness.  Good to know.

And you honestly think that twoo wuv is the way she would do this? Please. How come familial love of her family and realization couldnt steer her away from being a killing machine? How come it must always be some kind of ridiculous idea of romantic love? How come THIS will be the thing to literally erase Arya's pain?

Its truly naive to think true love  heals a broken heart and mind. Its a tired and quite frankly, an awful trope. 

[kimim]

48 minutes ago, Florina Laufeyson said:

And you honestly think that twoo wuv is the way she would do this? Please. How come familial love of her family and realization couldnt steer her away from being a killing machine? How come it must always be some kind of ridiculous idea of romantic love? How come THIS will be the thing to literally erase Arya's pain?

Its truly naive to think true love  heals a broken heart and mind. Its a tired and quite frankly, an awful trope. 

This. I hope the Starks reform their pack. I hope that Arya eventually heals, but the fact is, she's been through hell, has good reasons for wanting revenge, and what's coming at her family and Westeros is unlikely to lead to peaceful, happy times for her or for anyone. Romance, under these circumstances, is unnecessary.

Here's to hoping she survives.

[JonisHenryTudor]

3 hours ago, Florina Laufeyson said:

And you honestly think that twoo wuv is the way she would do this? Please. How come familial love of her family and realization couldnt steer her away from being a killing machine? How come it must always be some kind of ridiculous idea of romantic love? How come THIS will be the thing to literally erase Arya's pain?

Its truly naive to think true love  heals a broken heart and mind. Its a tired and quite frankly, an awful trope. 

 

2 hours ago, kimim said:

This. I hope the Starks reform their pack. I hope that Arya eventually heals, but the fact is, she's been through hell, has good reasons for wanting revenge, and what's coming at her family and Westeros is unlikely to lead to peaceful, happy times for her or for anyone. Romance, under these circumstances, is unnecessary.

Here's to hoping she survives.

 

Reuniting with her family will change her stance from revenge to something more organized or dutiful. At least that is what I think. But that's natural since they share a  common understanding of their losses. She doesn't need a lover; she has her pack. It is just a matter of her reuniting with them. I think Ned's comments to her in GoT was a direct hint that eventually they would come together again.  

 

The idea that "OOOOo gendry...I am soooo happy....let's bury needle (mind out of the gutter people) and flee to dorne and sip wine and forget our struggles..." is a little bizarre. It won't make her forget what has happened, and it won't bring her family back. Arya needs her family, not a lover. 

 

 

[Lord of Raventree Hall]

On 5/31/2016 at 10:05 AM, Dawn of Fyre said:

It's not that love for Arya doesn't make sense, it's that it doesn't make sense for you... But it makes sense for me, insofar as the possibilities are concerned. Have an open mind. Love could set Arya free from the darkness of revenge. You never know.

To be quite honest, the darkness of revenge is what makes her character interesting. She has never shown any interest in love in the books at all. I'm not saying she couldn't find love, just that I don't think it should be a major plot point of the books

[Dolorous22]

It has meaning. For too long she's had to wear somebody else's face so it would be really good for her to have someone who would embrace her true identity as Arya, daughter to Ned and Cat; Winterfell. For a lot of us, meeting the right person and forming a relationship with them is a massive deal. It molds our lives and identities further, we grow not as individuals but as groups forming a wider, more encompassing identity - if we accept it. We still maintain our exclusive traits, they just cease to be a secret. 

I understand that it's of little interest to others. I feel the same way about romances shoe-horned in to movies just to get more people to go see them. I don't think anything is being 'forced' with regards to Arya. And I don't think there's an unreasonable imposition of heterosexuality. 

As for romance, I'm positive that's not Arya's thing. Love need not be romantic. She could just have a special someone who wants to be near her. 

[Northernmonkey]

I completely agree. Arya's storyline is about many things, but romance isn't one of them. It would be completely pointless to through in a love interest just for the hell of it. This isn't a bloody Disney film.

Does anyone remember the film Gangs of New York? Leonardo Di Caprio's character is trying to avenge the death of his father, but Scorcese decided to throw in a terrible romantic storyline with Cameron Diaz and it almost ruined the whole film. It was completely pointless! The same thing goes with Arya - she's on a mission to avenge her family and throwing in a love interest just for the hell of it could ruin the whole story.

[Nevets]

8 hours ago, northernmonkey said:

I completely agree. Arya's storyline is about many things, but romance isn't one of them. It would be completely pointless to through in a love interest just for the hell of it. This isn't a bloody Disney film.

Does anyone remember the film Gangs of New York? Leonardo Di Caprio's character is trying to avenge the death of his father, but Scorcese decided to throw in a terrible romantic storyline with Cameron Diaz and it almost ruined the whole film. It was completely pointless! The same thing goes with Arya - she's on a mission to avenge her family and throwing in a love interest just for the hell of it could ruin the whole story.

She may be interested in avenging her family, but there aren't a whole lot of targets remaining

Lannisters - Cersei has more enemies than she knows what to do with right now.  Tyrells, Sand Snakes, the Faith, Varys and Aegon, and possibly her remaining chidlren are or could easily be working against her.  Arya's presence would be superfluous. The rest of the Lannisters?  Tywin is dead.  Joffrey is dead.  She has no quarrel with Jaime or Tyrion

Freys - It is quite clearly foreshadowed that the moment Lord Walder dies, the Freys will tear themselves apart in internecine conflict.  All Arya or any other of their enemies need do is sit back and watch as the Freys kill each other.

Littlefinger - Littlefinger is probably the one person most responsible for the Starks' destruction, but Arya is as yet unaware of this fact.  Even if she does become aware, Ltitlefinger is pretty clearly presented as being Sansa's responsibility, a responsibility I expect her to rise to the challenge of.

Boltons - While not on her list, The Boltons have a great responsibility for the Starks' troubles.  I would love to see her do something about them.

Her list - Other than Cersei, the only name that matters is UnGregor, and I seriously doubt that she will be the one to take him out.  Otherwise it is a bunch of nobodies and/or guys who don't really belong on it because they haven't really done anything wrong (Ser Ilyn, for example)

If her remaining story consists of taking out random Freys and the Boltons, along with the likes of Ser Meryn, count me out.  I think she has a more important role to play in the remaining story.  Romance may play a part, or it may not.  However, if it does, it won't be shoehorned into a vengeance plot, because that train has pretty much left the station.  I do expect her to have sex in the next book, even if it isn't exactly part of a romance.  And I don't really see her having any romantic relationship with Gendry.  

[the trees have eyes]

Arya is 11, Sansa 13.  Though GRRM writes the children older than we would picture them and Sansa is clearly a teenager, Arya is still very young.  I do hope she will have someone to act as an emotional anchor but I would raise an eyebrow at GRRM throwing her into a sex scene.

I want her to turn away from the dark path she is on but that doesn't mean a romance which would be more of a complication for her given how difficult her experiences have been and how messed up she is.  IMO she needs someone to trust and some stability in her life not the confusion of an adult relationship or some one night stand.

[Jaime4Brienne]

On 6/1/2016 at 3:22 AM, Florina Laufeyson said:

And you honestly think that twoo wuv is the way she would do this? Please. How come familial love of her family and realization couldnt steer her away from being a killing machine? How come it must always be some kind of ridiculous idea of romantic love? How come THIS will be the thing to literally erase Arya's pain?

Its truly naive to think true love  heals a broken heart and mind. Its a tired and quite frankly, an awful trope. 

I said something a few months ago about her being too broken to ever be able to heal and was completely attacked.(really  makes people want to post when that happens and it happens all of the time) I think all the people that think she's going to be all better and have a husband and kids are completely delusional. (wanted to add, I don't dislike Arya...in fact she's the only Stark I DO like). I just don't ever see her settling down to a "normal" life.

[Stormourne]

22 hours ago, Jaime4Brienne said:

I said something a few months ago about her being too broken to ever be able to heal and was completely attacked.(really  makes people want to post when that happens and it happens all of the time) I think all the people that think she's going to be all better and have a husband and kids are completely delusional. (wanted to add, I don't dislike Arya...in fact she's the only Stark I DO like). I just don't ever see her settling down to a "normal" life.

Arya will never really be 'normal' again, in a sense. The reason I want her to be reunited with her family (and to reconnect with her familial bonds) is so that she can find some semblance of happiness in the future. And why I firmly believe that a Jon/Arya relationship could develop towards the end of the novels is purely because they are damaged. How could they not be? Under normal circumstances, had the war that destroyed their family not happened, they would never transgress is the way I envision. It is because of the horrific experiences they've endured (Jon deaths and obvious resurrection) that once they do reunite (here's hoping) that what they once felt for each other (pure sibling love), could become that much more stronger, romantic.

I want people to just think beyond the incest for a moment, and really understand the complexities of such a situation. They will obviously know that such relationship is... wrong? Disgusting? And that's the point. Once someone feels more than just familial feelings for another person, where do they go from there? And it's that exploration of their narrative that will be interesting to read. Counterarguments about how "yuck" that would be is not helpful, nor a justifiable excuse for why it would never happen.

Before Asoiaf, I had never really thought about incest in fiction. When I first started reading the novels, Jon and Arya's relationship really stood out to me; there was just something about their sibling relationship that peaked my interest. Once the 1993 manuscript was leaked, and I found out George had started developing Asoiaf (he most likely wrote many chapters with such an outcome in mind) with the intention of having them fall in love, and more importantly, become tormented because they know it is wrong, really cemented such a possible relationship for me. Could he have scrapped it? Sure, most likely. But, the foundation is there if he ever decides to go down that route and have them 'transgress' Westerosi norms. All of Jon's and Arya's interactions at the start of Asoiaf were written with them (falling in love) in mind. So it makes sense that he would include some foreshadowing, no?

What I just said, is why I firmly believe she could never form a relationship with Gendry. People who ship them just don't understand why they could never work. Arya is damaged inside, and Gendry is not. How could he truly understand her? How could they ever work when there will be this distance between them? Not to mention he abandoned her for the brotherhood. She felt betrayed by that...

No, if Arya Stark is ever to fall in love (and when I say love, I mean in a warped sense. She has buried her feelings so deep - just read the Mercy chapter and you'll know - that it will take someone with similar tragic experiences to dig those feelings back up). And if someone asks me... 'but how will Jon come to have romantic feelings for someone who he believes is his little sister?' It's simple, my theory is that because he was murdered for breaking his oath and gathering men to march south against the Boltons, in order to kill the bastard and save who he thinks is Arya Stark, that when he wakes up, his need to protect her and destroyed his enemies will become amplified. Similar to how Lady Stoneheart is hatred personified. I would argue that when he does find the real Arya, the feelings he has for her will start to become warped, multiplied, to the extent that his familial love turns romantic. In order for their relationship to work, it has to be realistic. Not some fairy tale, guy meets girl bullshit that people seem to think will happen if Arya and Gendry meet again. *Rolls eyes*

Two damaged souls, finding comfort in each others presence can turn romantic, or sexual t. No one said that their relationship has to be one that is healthy.

--

I have no idea why I am so intent on Jon and Arya falling in love... something about their characterization really got me addicted. I blame George.

Thank you for reading, now you may go bake yourself a cooky and eat it. <3

[Ser Arthur Hightower]

On 30 May 2016 at 1:57 AM, Florina Laufeyson said:

Because apparently female characters cant function without a man. 

Its so dumb. Arya doesnt need a love interest.

This is literally the stupidest thing I've read on the forums this year.

Are the people who are interested in Jon having a love interest of the belief that male characters cannot function without a woman?

 

On 30 May 2016 at 4:28 AM, Let's Get Kraken said:

Because romance and sexuality are a tremendous part of our identities as human beings ignoring that makes a character less believable.

QFT

 

Obviously it's fine if the series ends without Arya ever having a love interest, she can still have a full and interesting character arc without that, but many people would enjoy it if she did as it is usually considered an important part of young characters maturing.

 

EDIT: That being said I'm not in favour of a romance being thrown in for the hell of it, obviously it should be of some value to her character, but remember Martin does not write completely asexual characters, even characters in which that aspect could often be ignored (such as Barristan) Martin does include thoughts and feelings related to sex and romance, because generally that's how real people are.