Ned's words to Arya & Sansa about their futures (King/Lord) ?

[a black swan]

“Sweet one,” her father said gently, “listen to me. When you’re old enough, I will make you a match with a high lord who’s worthy of you, someone brave and gentle and strong. This match with Joffrey was a terrible mistake. That boy is no Prince Aemon, you must believe me.” - Sansa, AGoT

~◇~

“You,” Ned said, kissing her lightly on the brow, “will marry a king and rule his castle, and your sons will be knights and princes and lords and, yes, perhaps even a High Septon.” - Arya, AGoT

___

 

Ned understands Arya better than most, saw the wildness in her and indulged her greatly. So with that in mind, the way to "comfort" his daugher with a future such as this.... seems to make no sense. It's very jarring and deliberate by grrm's hand? The specificity of the roles her children may take only re-enforces this unsual line of dialogue. He saw her future in KL a place where she found little to be happy about. 

His talk with Sansa makes complete and total sense. Promising a Lord that was brave, gentle and strong. Something she really needed in that moment even if she wasn't happy about it. 

 

I think the question that prompts Ned about Bran's future highlights something very clear: None of the Stark children will end up with the future they wanted or wished for before the proverbial hit the fan. 

[Blue-Eyed Wolf]

44 minutes ago, DutchArya said:

Ned understands Arya better than most, saw the wildness in her and indulged her greatly. So with that in mind, the way to "comfort" his daugher with a future such as this.... seems to make no sense. It's very jarring and deliberate by grrm's hand? The specificity of the roles her children may take only re-enforces this unsual line of dialogue. He saw her future in KL a place where she found little to be happy about. 

His talk with Sansa makes complete and total sense. Promising a Lord that was brave, gentle and strong. Something she really needed in that moment even if she wasn't happy about it. 

 

I think the question that prompts Ned about Bran's future highlights something very clear: None of the Stark children will end up with the future they wanted or wished for before the proverbial hit the fan. 

I think what Ned says to Arya kinda makes sense if you consider what he knows of Lyanna and Rhaegar. I don't think it's so much foreshadowing, though it could be, but mainly as a projection of how much Arya reminds him of Lyanna.  What he says to Sansa makes sense because he's realizing too late he indulged this fantasy of a story book marriage and he never really talked about good qualities in a husband's character. To be fair, Ned didn't cancel this betrothal even though there were warning signs before and now the shit is about to hit the fan. He did make some assumptions about Bran too about his future role, but there's no way he could imagine he was a greenseer and warg. So I agree, if there is a hint of foreshadowing, it will most likely play out in unexpected ways. 

[Colonel Green]

2 hours ago, DutchArya said:

Ned understands Arya better than most, saw the wildness in her and indulged her greatly. So with that in mind, the way to "comfort" his daugher with a future such as this.... seems to make no sense. 

I'd say the opposite, that that line indicates that Ned, at that point in the story, doesn't really know Arya all that well, in that sense.  He's indulged her, assuming (hoping, probably) that it was a phase she'd grow out of and resume what he sees as the proper mold for a young lady.  Ned's interactions with Arya in AGOT are especially significant because these conversations are him, for the first time, really engaging with Arya and adjusting his parenting to begin to incorporate who she is as a person, and (while death intervenes at a certain point) begins to deal with her clear desire to be on a different trajectory. Hiring Syrio as a tutor is a big deal, as it's the first real attempt to provide her with an education regimen suited to her as an individual, rather than spending years trying to make her into Sansa.

I don't think Ned, when he went south, really knew either of his daughters' minds particularly well.  As the patriarch, he wasn't responsible for their day-to-day education.  I'm not saying he didn't love them or spend time with them, but his time with Arya in AGOT is him reckoning with Arya's distinctiveness in a way he hadn't at any point previously.  Conversely, his failure to do this with Sansa in the same span of time has ill consequences for all involved.

[Sophist]

I think the point of these comments is to contrast Ned's "predictions" with what actually happens. Ned's promises/predictions won't come true because he's poor at judging the future. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the exact opposite happened. In contrast, when Jon tells Arya that they'll find her frozen at the end of winter, we should take that very seriously indeed because Jon's the one with foresight.

[a black swan]

13 minutes ago, Colonel Green said:

I'd say the opposite, that that line indicates that Ned, at that point in the story, doesn't really know Arya all that well, in that sense.  He's indulged her, assuming (hoping, probably) that it was a phase she'd grow out of and resume what he sees as the proper mold for a young lady.  Ned's interactions with Arya in AGOT are especially significant because these conversations are him, for the first time, really engaging with Arya and adjusting his parenting to begin to incorporate who she is as a person, and (while death intervenes at a certain point) begins to deal with her clear desire to be on a different trajectory. Hiring Syrio as a tutor is a big deal, as it's the first real attempt to provide her with an education regimen suited to her as an individual, rather than spending years trying to make her into Sansa.

I don't think Ned, when he went south, really knew either of his daughters' minds particularly well.  As the patriarch, he wasn't responsible for their day-to-day education.  I'm not saying he didn't love them or spend time with them, but his time with Arya in AGOT is him reckoning with Arya's distinctiveness in a way he hadn't at any point previously.  Conversely, his failure to do this with Sansa in the same span of time has ill consequences for all involved.

Actually I think he knows her well enough not to suggest her future would be to marry a King. I'm sure even little Mycah must understand even something that obvious about Arya. So I wonder what kind of comfort he was hoping to impart, as most people here have suggested regarding this scene? It just makes no sense really except to pose as GRRM's AGoT foreshadowing. Even tied it off with Arya's denial cloaked with his customary "misdirection".

Your point about Ned understanding Arya's desire for a different trajectory was very interesting and just highlights how out of place his "You will marry a King" comment. So him trying to make Arya understand the ways of this world (the Lone Wolf speech) suggesting her future would be with a King is very interesting. Like @Blue-Eyed Wolf explained very nicely, these scenes certainly pose future hints/foreshadowing in unexpected way.

 

[a black swan]

29 minutes ago, Sophist said:

I think the point of these comments is to contrast Ned's "predictions" with what actually happens. Ned's promises/predictions won't come true because he's poor at judging the future. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the exact opposite happened. In contrast, when Jon tells Arya that they'll find her frozen at the end of winter, we should take that very seriously indeed because Jon's the one with foresight.

If GRRM wanted to hide some foreshadowing that will later make total and complete sense... Ned would be a perfect person to do that. Jon's foreshadowing of a frozen Arya is often read far too literally and I think maybe better discussed in another thread. Lots to say on that one!  

Also, I'd like to contrast that scene with Ned/Arya with Cersei/MaggyTheFrog:

Quote

 

“Three questions may you ask,” [Maggy the Frog] said, once she’d had her drink. “You will not like my answers. Ask, or begone with you.”

Go, the dreaming queen thought, hold your tongue, and flee. But the girl did not have sense enough to be afraid.

“When will I wed the prince?” she asked.

“Never. You will wed the king.”

Beneath her golden curls, the girl’s face wrinkled up in puzzlement. (Cersei, A Feast for Crows)

 

 

Arya asks three questions of things she wants in her future, that closely mirror the characteristics/acts of another famous Queen (Alysanne Targaryen) and Ned gives her an answer she doesn't understand or like.

Quote

 

Arya cocked her head to one side. “Can I be a king’s councillor and build castles and become the High Septon?”

“You,” Ned said, kissing her lightly on the brow, “will marry a king and rule his castle, and your sons will be knights and princes and lords and, yes, perhaps even a High Septon.

Arya screwed up her face. (Eddard, A Game of Thrones)

 

 

 

[Winter's Cold]

27 minutes ago, Sophist said:

I think the point of these comments is to contrast Ned's "predictions" with what actually happens. Ned's promises/predictions won't come true because he's poor at judging the future. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the exact opposite happened. In contrast, when Jon tells Arya that they'll find her frozen at the end of winter, we should take that very seriously indeed because Jon's the one with foresight.

Since when is Jon a seer?

[Philokles]

I'd say the Arya quote is primarily an R+L=J clue, but there is nothing to stop it having multiple meanings. Whilst I think Arya will have a bitter-sweet ending and finish the series in a position of authority, given that the focus of her arc is her irrepressible Northern identity, I feel it is more likely that she will end up back home in Winterfell.

[Bear Claw]

5 hours ago, DutchArya said:

“Sweet one,” her father said gently, “listen to me. When you’re old enough, I will make you a match with a high lord who’s worthy of you, someone brave and gentle and strong. This match with Joffrey was a terrible mistake. That boy is no Prince Aemon, you must believe me.” - Sansa, AGoT

~◇~

“You,” Ned said, kissing her lightly on the brow, “will marry a king and rule his castle, and your sons will be knights and princes and lords and, yes, perhaps even a High Septon.” - Arya, AGoT

___

 

Ned understands Arya better than most, saw the wildness in her and indulged her greatly. So with that in mind, the way to "comfort" his daugher with a future such as this.... seems to make no sense. It's very jarring and deliberate by grrm's hand? The specificity of the roles her children may take only re-enforces this unsual line of dialogue. He saw her future in KL a place where she found little to be happy about. 

His talk with Sansa makes complete and total sense. Promising a Lord that was brave, gentle and strong. Something she really needed in that moment even if she wasn't happy about it. 

 

I think the question that prompts Ned about Bran's future highlights something very clear: None of the Stark children will end up with the future they wanted or wished for before the proverbial hit the fan. 

I don't know. I could see Bran becoming a king's guard by

Spoiler

skin changing (warging) Ser Robert Strong.

 

[a black swan]

1 hour ago, Horse of Kent said:

I'd say the Arya quote is primarily an R+L=J clue, but there is nothing to stop it having multiple meanings. Whilst I think Arya will have a bitter-sweet ending and finish the series in a position of authority, given that the focus of her arc is her irrepressible Northern identity, I feel it is more likely that she will end up back home in Winterfell.

R+L=J clue, in what way? Lyanna never married a King. Most think she never married at all. 

I think that might be a part of her sacrifice and GRRM denying his Starks what they want/expected the most. In AGOT all Arya wants is to go home. Yet in contrast, you see her father placate with an idea of a future ending married to a King. It wasn't just a throwaway comment either. Back in Winterfell, Ned spoke of raising Queens. The idea that Sansa would marry Joffrey and become Queen is easily explained thought process in his head. But how does Arya fit into that? A girl who doesn't want to marry full stop. GRRM continues the thread by having this same girl name her direwolf after a Queen and draw many parrallels with another famous Targaryen Queen. 

 

[sweetsunray]

2 hours ago, Sophist said:

when Jon tells Arya that they'll find her frozen at the end of winter, we should take that very seriously indeed because Jon's the one with foresight.

Is he? I thought "he knows nothing".

[Sophist]

2 hours ago, Winter's Cold said:

Since when is Jon a seer?

Not a seer, just one who understands people and what they're likely to do.

[Philokles]

4 minutes ago, DutchArya said:

R+L=J clue, in what way? Lyanna never married a King. Most think she never married at all. 

I think that might be a part of her sacrifice and GRRM denying his Starks what they want/expected the most. In AGOT all Arya wants is to go home. Yet in contrast, you see her father placate with an idea of a future ending married to a King. It wasn't just a throwaway comment either. Back in Winterfell, Ned spoke of raising Queens. The idea that Sansa would marry Joffrey and become Queen is easily explained thought process in his head. But how does Arya fit into that? A girl who doesn't want to marry full stop. GRRM continues the thread by having this same girl name her direwolf after a Queen and drain many parrallels with another famous Targaryen Queen. 

 

As in Ned already has experienced a wilful woman in his family, who opposed a marriage arranged for her, fall in love, so he feels it may be a viable future for Arya too. One of the only logical in-universe explanations for what Ned says is that it has happened once to him so thinks it can happen again. The choice of a King as the individual who she'll be marrying, as opposed to a Prince, to precisely match Rhaegar, or a Lord, supports your argument though.

I'd say that what Arya wants most of all is her family back, and there is no need to go south for that not to happen. Nor, in my opinion, is Arya's main problem with the institution of marriage, but the suggestion that it will be her husband's and her sons' achievements that will come to define her, rather than what she does herself. So she could be happily married, Queen/Queen Regent at home in Winterfell but still be without what she desires most - the loving family of her childhood.

[a black swan]

1 hour ago, Horse of Kent said:

As in Ned already has experienced a wilful woman in his family, who opposed a marriage arranged for her, fall in love, so he feels it may be a viable future for Arya too. One of the only logical in-universe explanations for what Ned says is that it has happened once to him so thinks it can happen again. The choice of a King as the individual who she'll be marrying, as opposed to a Prince, to precisely match Rhaegar, or a Lord, supports your argument though.

Very good point. The parallels with Lyanna shows an older Arya is completely capable of getting attached and feeling deeply for someone else - despite how wilful and wild she may be. You see Cat of the Canals was Arya's favorite identity and it also happens to be her most "normal life" with the people she bonded with, being what she missed the most, after she let Cat go. She was sort of part of a "family" as Cat. You see her appreciation for Mercy's life as well: simple and surrounded with people and hard work. Speaking of Mercy, GRRM also has her growing more graceful both mentally and physically.-- A nod to her Water Dancing as well. She told Ned she wanted to be a King's Councillor. Do you think she'd do well in that role? She can speak multiple languages plus all her other FM/TrueSeeing training coming in very useful. 

Quote

I'd say that what Arya wants most of all is her family back, and there is no need to go south for that not to happen. Nor, in my opinion, is Arya's main problem with the institution of marriage, but the suggestion that it will be her husband's and her sons' achievements that will come to define her, rather than what she does herself. So she could be happily married, Queen/Queen Regent at home in Winterfell but still be without what she desires most - the loving family of her childhood.

Family & Home are the two most important things to Arya. But I think, struggling with who she is and her identity throughout her story arc, will end bitter-sweetly, with her ultimately assuming a role she never wanted and sacrificing what she truly wants (home, family).

I agree she wouldn't want to be defined by the babies she produces or the just the achievements of her husband...etc. I think maybe she opposes the current construct of what Westerosi society sees a Queen/Lady amount to. Yet GRRM has her threading commonalities with Queens that sort of break that mould?

 

[Nevets]

4 hours ago, DutchArya said:

If GRRM wanted to hide some foreshadowing that will later make total and complete sense... Ned would be a perfect person to do that. Jon's foreshadowing of a frozen Arya is often read far too literally and I think maybe better discussed in another thread. Lots to say on that one!  

Also, I'd like to contrast that scene with Ned/Arya with Cersei/MaggyTheFrog:

 

Arya asks three questions of things she wants in her future, that closely mirror the characteristics/acts of another famous Queen (Alysanne Targaryen) and Ned gives her an answer she doesn't understand or like.

 

 

Nice catch on the parallel between Ned's answer to Arya and Maggy's to Cersei.  It's exactly the kind of thing Martin likes to do.  I think that if Arya survives the series, it will be in a position of power.  Possibly as a queen consort in name, but effectively as a partner to the King.  Perhaps Queen of the North?  And I've always thought people take Jon's comment too seriously and are too quick to dismiss Ned's.

[Sophist]

50 minutes ago, DutchArya said:

Yet GRRM has her threading commonalities with Queens that sort of break that mould?

And she named her wolf Nymeria.

[a black swan]

1 hour ago, Nevets said:

Nice catch on the parallel between Ned's answer to Arya and Maggy's to Cersei.  It's exactly the kind of thing Martin likes to do.  I think that if Arya survives the series, it will be in a position of power.  Possibly as a queen consort in name, but effectively as a partner to the King.  Perhaps Queen of the North?  And I've always thought people take Jon's comment too seriously and are too quick to dismiss Ned's.

This is so nice. I agree. It's all interesting because if she were to become a Queen, it would be bittersweet in the sense that it would take away her freedom and she would have to play a role for the rest of her life.

But she's kinda good at that, don't you think?

"You play at being a servant, but in your heart you are a lord's daughter. You have taken other names, but you wore them as lightly as you might wear a gown. Under them was always Arya." - The Kindly Man 

On the outside, she would play the Good Queen and protect her King, her family and her subjects... and you never know, maybe even build some Castles like she told her father she would.  

 

[The Fattest Leech]

First, we should look at the entire scene to be able to make any discernible predictions to what it may or may not elude to.

Then we need to remember that Ned had to be convinced, a lot, to even take the job of Hand and to leave Winterfell. Leaving Winterfell was not something he wanted to do and it did not feel "right" to him. Cat laid the "it's the honorable thing to do," weight on his shoulders pretty heavily then.
And Ned thinks that Brandon was the one cut out to be great, to raise queens and was originally set to be with Catelyn.

• A Game of Thrones - Catelyn II

  "And in yours?"
  "And in mine," she blazed, angry now. Why couldn't he see? "He offers his own son in marriage to our daughter, what else would you call that? Sansa might someday be queen. Her sons could rule from the Wall to the mountains of Dorne. What is so wrong with that?"
  "Gods, Catelyn, Sansa is only eleven," Ned said. "And Joffrey … Joffrey is …"

  She finished for him. "… crown prince, and heir to the Iron Throne. And I was only twelve when my father promised me to your brother Brandon."

  That brought a bitter twist to Ned's mouth. "Brandon. Yes. Brandon would know what to do. He always did. It was all meant for Brandon. You, Winterfell, everything. He was born to be a King's Hand and a father to queens. I never asked for this cup to pass to me."

  "Perhaps not," Catelyn said, "but Brandon is dead, and the cup has passed, and you must drink from it, like it or not."

  • note the death symbolism in this exchange.

And when we look back on Ned and his misjudging the occurrences and people in KL, well, he is not that great of a prophesier. He was trying to convince his girls of great things because he was not happy where he was at the time (even having physical, almost allergic reactions against KL)

If anything, this scene shows that Arya is more correct than her father three times; first with Bran because there is plenty of evidence he will be some type of warrior, then with Sansa, and then in regards to herself when she says, "no," and then goes on to waterdance = doing what she wants to do, not what others decide for her.

Here is a look at the whole scene. The last lines are very important and I am not sure why they were cut from the op because it summarizes the point of the conversation. Arya just didn't screw up her face and say, "no," she had a moment of clarity. Arya, Sansa and Ned are under a heart tree and George did tell us the the Stark kids have the warg magic in them.

• A Game of Thrones - Eddard V

  Ned knelt beside her. "He has years to find that answer, Arya. For now, it is enough to know that he will live." The night the bird had come from Winterfell, Eddard Stark had taken the girls to the castle godswood, an acre of elm and alder and black cottonwood overlooking the river. The heart tree there was a great oak, its ancient limbs overgrown with smokeberry vines; they knelt before it to offer their thanksgiving, as if it had been a weirwood. Sansa drifted to sleep as the moon rose, Arya several hours later, curling up in the grass under Ned's cloak. All through the dark hours he kept his vigil alone. When dawn broke over the city, the dark red blooms of dragon's breath surrounded the girls where they lay. "I dreamed of Bran," Sansa had whispered to him. "I saw him smiling."

  "He was going to be a knight," Arya was saying now. "A knight of the Kingsguard. Can he still be a knight?"

  "No," Ned said. He saw no use in lying to her. "Yet someday he may be the lord of a great holdfast and sit on the king's council. He might raise castles like Brandon the Builder, or sail a ship across the Sunset Sea, or enter your mother's Faith and become the High Septon." But he will never run beside his wolf again, he thought with a sadness too deep for words, or lie with a woman, or hold his own son in his arms.

  Arya cocked her head to one side. "Can I be a king's councillor and build castles and become the High Septon?"
  "You," Ned said, kissing her lightly on the brow, "will marry a king and rule his castle, and your sons will be knights and princes and lords and, yes, perhaps even a High Septon."
  Arya screwed up her face. "No," she said, "that's Sansa." She folded up her right leg and resumed her balancing. Ned sighed and left her there.

Now what does this mean for Arya and Sansa? Arya is carving her own path and being a queen is most likely not part of it (not sure about any on page marriage for Arya yet). Sansa will most likely take the marriage and religion role because we see her doing that now when she prays with the smallfolk and to the gods so often, as well as her own foreshadowing of marriages actually in the works now (may or maynot be HtH ).

[a black swan]

1 hour ago, The Fattest Leech said:

Now what does this mean for Arya and Sansa? Arya is carving her own path and being a queen is most likely not part of it (not sure about any on page marriage for Arya yet). Sansa will most likely take the marriage and religion role because we see her doing that now when she prays with the smallfolk and to the gods so often, as well as her own foreshadowing of marriages actually in the works now (may or maynot be HtH ).

 

I was reading through @Arya-Jon thread about this similar topic earlier and she made an excellent comparison that is worth mentioning again. Your question about Arya's supposed "clarity" in particular. Who btw, she thought Bran would be a "Knight of the King's Guard" and not a "warrior". Clarity.

Another scene where "King" is misdirected to LC Mormont in a very subtle way similarly to Arya deflecting to Sansa. The raven was possibly being warged at the time by Bloodraven. The intended foreshadowing by GRRM was likely for Jon but you have the writer's on-page character deflecting to someone else... so as to not appear too obvious - hence the foreshadowing. (Which again makes the literal reading of Jon's "frozen with needle" statement so inaccurate, but digress)

Quote

 

"King," croaked the raven. The bird flapped across the solar to land on Mormont's shoulder. "King," it said again, strutting back and forth.

"He likes that word," Jon said, smiling.

"An easy word to say. An easy word to like."

"King," the bird said again.

"I think he means for you to have a crown, my lord."

 

Jon Snow knows nothing.

GRRM has "Arya Stark" married with her name being used to usurp power and rule over Winterfell. He has Northmen marching in her name. You speak of praying for smallfolk as a marker for Queenship? Arya has lived, slept and bled among the smallfolk, and those even less than them. Even while isolated in WInterfell, she saw people as equals and treated those less than her station, with kindness and genuine interest. A trait she carries with her all the way to Braavos. It's interesting that GRRM wrote that fantastic piece of dialogue from Varys on what a just ruler could and should be. Another example of GRRM possibly misdirecting once again, as these listed traits can be easily applied to several key characters, one of them being Arya. 

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“Aegon has been shaped for rule since before he could walk. He has been trained in arms, as befits a knight to be, but that was not the end of his education. He reads and writes, he speaks several tongues, he has studied history and law and poetry. A septa has instructed him in the mysteries of the Faith since he was old enough to understand them. He has lived with fisherfolk, worked with his hands, swum in rivers and mended nets and learned to wash his own clothes at need. He can fish and cook and bind up a wound, he knows what it is like to be hungry, to be hunted, to be afraid. Tommen has been taught that kingship is his right. Aegon knows that kingship is his duty, that a king must put his people first, and live and rule for them.” - (Varys, Kevan, A Dance with Dragons)

 

Do you give no merit to Arya's experiences in recalling and applying some of the things Ned was teaching Robb or just simply taking her father's example as he ruled Winterfell and the North as Warden? Arya Underfoot was genuinely entertained and enjoyed being around her father's men and the people of Winterfell.  

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Arya had loved nothing better than to sit at her father’s table and listen to them talk. She had loved listening to the men on the benches too; to freeriders tough as leather, courtly knights and bold young squires, grizzled old men-at-arms. She used to throw snowballs at them and help them steal pies from the kitchen. Their wives gave her scones and she invented names for their babies and played monsters-and-maidens and hide-the-treasure and come-into-my-castle with their children. (Arya, A Game of Thrones)

 

Arya is all about protecting people - her pack - lessons imparted on Robb, who was being groomed to rule, are remembered through Arya: 

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Her father used to say that a lord needed to eat with his men, if he hoped to keep them. “Know the men who follow you,” she heard him tell Robb once, “and let them know you. Don’t ask your men to die for a stranger.“ (Arya, A Game of Thrones)

 

The lessons she has learned from Syrio, beyond just the physical fighting, "the true seeing" is more valuable for a person in power and influence. As a King's Councillor (a role I think Arya would excel at) she would be a powerful tool; to do what her father and other Starks have failed at when facing enemies who scheme and plot and kill. 

There are other posters far more well versed in interesting and extremely detailed arguments that can hopefully open your mind to the possibility of Arya returning to Westeros with a different purpose/fate that is far less rigid towards more feminine qualities. Her ability to "carve her own path" would actually make becoming Queen something she could use to achieve the justice she is currently misplacing with vengeance. 

So yeah, the entire scene as you quoted from the books, leave me with the impression that GRRM foreshadowed a future where Arya would be Queen of some Kingdom. And he has successfully confused or deflected suspicion with Arya's own deflecting  so some readers can easily discount any further possibility - until much later on when the black swan in Arya's story is revealed. 

 

Wow, I could continue but you'll have to excuse me. Maisie and GRRM are taking pictures together at the BAFTA teaparty Pre-Emmy party right at this moment and it's too awesome.

[Kienn]

I think it goes with Robert's declaration from GoT.

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If Lyanna had lived, we should have been brothers, bound by blood as well as affection. Well, it is not too late. I have a son. You have a daughter. My Joff and your Sansa shall join our houses, as Lyanna and I might once have done.

Since Joff isn't actually his son, this offer will actually be fulfilled by Arya and either Gendry or Edric.