Arya's starting to scare me...

[Forelver]

I love Arya and think she has done marvelously with all she's gone through, but I agree that the direction her life is going in is scary. I do NOT like this Faceless Men idea of giving up your identity but I think Arya is trying to fit in as this is the only place right now where she feels she has a chance of belonging. The fact that she refused to give up Needle gives me hope, I'm so hoping she survives and reunites with whoever of her family is still alive at the end.

[Shaggydog Stark]

I know she only had 3 chapters....but the last one especially left me kinda reeling. I think she needs to go back to Westeros before she completely loses it.

IMO the whole Dareon thing really wasn't her call to make...

As a matter of fact I think it was her duty to deal with Dareon, since she was the only Stark in Braavos and it is the duty of House Stark to deal with deserters from the Wall. She acted as Arya Stark and not as Cat of the Cannals.

[Mattyp]

GRRM better not kill of Arya, if he did it would make people question exactly what the point of Arya's chapters have really been. We see her survive this terrible world, only to find herself in a place where she is training to be an assassin. If she then snuffs it will seem like a big 'why bother following her?' moment. My biggest fear is that Arya's storyline lacks any direction. I personally hated her AFFC chapters and thought they had very little point to them, and far too much fish/clam selling.

[NanChan]

She's Arya Stark! Yes, in AFFC she's only The Cat In The Canals but that is not her true identity. Like many before me, I also believe Arya, in the end, will not emerge as an assassin for the Faceless Men, instead she, after her training, will embrace her identity as a Stark.

I've liked and eventually loved Arya from the very beginning. She has always wanted to forge her own destiny and that I found to be truly admirable. And the girl has been through more than enough. She's only 11, a little girl. If some choices she has made, is wrong, then also remember that she has made some other choices which has kept her alive, still.

Killing Dareon is what should've come naturally to her, as a Stark.

As for her chapters, till ASOS (i.e., all the while she was in Westeros), they were another instrument to keep the story moving ahead. But with AFFC, GRRM has made her enter into new dynamics and it is very much possible that she can be one of the most crucial characters in the finale of the saga. If GRRM kills her off now, then her travel to Braavos and her training and most of all her chapters will be futile and will have no reason what so ever to exist from AFFC onwards. If GRRM indeed has intentions to kill her off, then he should've done so at the end of ASOS (after which BTW I don't think I would've continued to read this series).

Arya has a long, long way to go. And we need her to stay alive and train well. After all, Winter is coming.

[trueWaif]

I love Arya! I was etremely frustrated GRRM ended her POV in AFFC like that!!!!!!

[Leto Atreides]

Whe she got naked and only kept Needle, I thought she was going to head back home and somehow try to claim Winterfell for herself. I was disappointed to see her going back to the temple.

[The Roaring Bear]

IMO the whole Dareon thing really wasn't her call to make...

She's a Stark, the Starks execute NW deserters.

[Payme]

Whe she got naked and only kept Needle, I thought she was going to head back home and somehow try to claim Winterfell for herself. I was disappointed to see her going back to the temple.

I actually found it encouraging that she kept Needle, which was the only thing she had left from Winterfell... Couple it with offing a Night's Watch deserter and it makes me feel that Arya Stark of Winterfell is still holding on...

We'll see where this whole blindness deal goes...

[Ser Dermett Corbray]

She's a Stark, the Starks execute NW deserters.

Can't help but think that her "master" at the temple wasn't too pleased with this choice. The way he chastised her for chewing her lip, because that is what Arya Stark would do. That moment stood out for me in particular. The chewing of the lip perhaps being a coded way of telling her that killing the deserter was something a Stark would do. I think that he's trying to cleanse her of her Starkness so she doesn't allow personal feelings or vengeance cloud her skills as an assassin. Which would also explain why he's so interested in the names she says aloud each night before she sleeps. Maybe addressing this list will be the next task for the master? (Not sure if Arya is in ADWD yet, still finishing off AFFC :P)

It would be apt if Arya lost her lust for vengeance, as many characters in the book have let their lust for vengeance become their downfall (most notably, Arya's mother). It would probably make Arya a much more dangerous person if she were to put aside her list. Yet her feisty nature and fearlessness are her most endearing traits, I hope she doesn't lose them. Worse than a dead Arya would be an Arya who I grew to dislike. She's most definitely my favourite character of the series.

[machineo]

Yes you could say she killed Dareon to fulfill her duty as a Stark.

Or you could say she was fulfilling the "will" of the faceless god. I put it in quotations because it's not really any god's will, but it does fall in with maxims like karma and balance, which are found even in fictional works. In the temple of black and white I could imagine that they'd view Dareon's oathbreaking and desertion as a negative act that needed balance. Do they care for the ways of westeros or the wall? Probably not, but they must take godsworn oaths seriously wherever they're made or whatever it's made about. So at least how I'm interpreting it is that she acted more as an instrument of the faceless god than as a Stark doing what her dad did.

The beauty of it, like in most GRRM conflicts, is the ambiguity along with the ambiguity of whether her blindness is a punishment or test. Evidence for either explanation can be pretty extensive and aren't just shots in the dark.

[Faceless Frog Eater]

I don't think the blindness is punishment or a test I think it's the next part of her training. Or then it could be all three. Who knows if the FM really let go of their past or if they have to train that way to see clearly. Seeing your life without emotion ...maybe the only way to keep a clear head.

[addie]

I am confused about Arya.

As much as I love her arc, I can't help to remember that Arya is just about 10 by now, and that she already killed several men.

At this point, she has to be considered as a child soldier, and this is serious issue to deal with to construct yourself as a personn. Actually, I don"t think her character has any credibility now.

But still, she is one of my favourite character, I just try to forget she is supposed to be a little girl.

[Lan the Clever]

I am confused about Arya.

As much as I love her arc, I can't help to remember that Arya is just about 10 by now, and that she already killed several men.

At this point, she has to be considered as a child soldier, and this is serious issue to deal with to construct yourself as a personn. Actually, I don"t think her character has any credibility now.

But still, she is one of my favourite character, I just try to forget she is supposed to be a little girl.

Little girls are so as much by social construct as by natural condition.

[pinksand]

I don't think the blindness is punishment or a test I think it's the next part of her training.

Agreed. I think it's an Obi-Wan Kenobi "Your eyes can deceive you, don't trust them" kinda thing. At least I hope so.

I'm concerned about her as well - she's killing and training to do more killing and at times consumed by anger and vengeance. These things don't lead to a well-adjusted adulthood, but she has a strong character. I forget she's only 10 or something too - it does seem like she should be about 16 years old, by now, doesn't it?

[Errant Bard]

As much as I love her arc, I can't help to remember that Arya is just about 10 by now, and that she already killed several men.

12. She was 11 before boarding the Titan's Daughter. And I think that's the point, to have her being damaged, bloodthirsty and murdering. It makes for a kid hero who, for once, suffers psychological consequences for what he went through, and those consequences have an actual effect on his behaviour, it's not just cosmetic like it often is.

So she kills, and it's fine: she has always had the personality for it (individualist, violent, angry, holding grudges, with a comparative lack of empathy), and the circumstances have shaped her convincingly (empowering her, showing her she can do it, desensitizing her by showing her day after day, making her hate powerlessness and contrasting what an assassin can do, then crushing her heart and the last reasons she could cling to morality, at the same time as severing her last ties with the society of her childhood). It's cool, it's a great character if Martin follows through.

[addie]

So she kills, and it's fine:

That's never fine for anybody.

she has always had the personality for it (individualist, violent, angry, holding grudges, with a comparative lack of empathy), and the circumstances have shaped her convincingly (empowering her, showing her she can do it, desensitizing her by showing her day after day, making her hate powerlessness and contrasting what an assassin can do, then crushing her heart and the last reasons she could cling to morality, at the same time as severing her last ties with the society of her childhood). It's cool, it's a great character if Martin follows through.

I agree her personnality is destroyed, and I would add she has no *real* chance to ever live a *normal* war after the end of the war. I read here and there around the forum that some would like to see her Hand of the King, Queen in the North and so on.

Any kid confronted to this level of violence is psychologicaly destroyed, and this is waht scares me about Arya. Realistically she would be able to raise up from her ashes and go fight for her family and country.

[Errant Bard]

That's never fine for anybody.

For a character in a story, it makes for nice possibilities. It's fine as a narrative development. So yeah, it's fine: it's consistent, it makes for a good character, it gives slightly original story development opportunities, and it's also good drama.

This being said, regarding your argument about kids being destroyed, though: this is fiction, Arya is not a real kid, and I very much doubt Martin is going to go all the way with crippling mental disorders.

Still, I would like to see a villainous Arya. Or at least an Arya who acted consistently with her development so far, and who would make Sandor look balanced in comparison. It's an interesting narrative endeavour, having the genesis and the reasons of a ruthless, murdering, cold, manipulative, lying character, a young Tywin squared. Doubly so because we got to see the reaction of the readership and know how it would have reacted to the same actions without the backstory. (Indeed, if the story began with AFFC, I'm not sure how people would have reacted)

[addie]

For a character in a story, it makes for nice possibilities. It's fine as a narrative development. So yeah, it's fine: it's consistent, it makes for a good character, it gives slightly original story development opportunities, and it's also good drama.

Personnaly I think it is a bit of a cliché.

This being said, regarding your argument about kids being destroyed, though: this is fiction, Arya is not a real kid, and I very much doubt Martin is going to go all the way with crippling mental disorders.

then what is point of writing a little girl, when you can perfectly decid to write Robb's and Sansa's big sister ?

Still, I would like to see a villainous Arya. Or at least an Arya who acted consistently with her development so far, and who would make Sandor look balanced in comparison. It's an interesting narrative endeavour, having the genesis and the reasons of a ruthless, murdering, cold, manipulative, lying character, a young Tywin squared. Doubly so because we got to see the reaction of the readership and know how it would have reacted to the same actions without the backstory. (Indeed, if the story began with AFFC, I'm not sure how people would have reacted)

This character would be interesting, but I don't think it would fit à 10/11/12 years old girl, even an Arya Stark. Again, I wish Arya act consistently with her age, and if she does, I think we may get worried about her mental development.

However I hope Martin is more subtle in his writing than what we think, and will get a more balanced character.

Arya is ressourceful, so I hope somehow she'll cope and leave the path she is on.

[Errant Bard]

Personnaly I think it is a bit of a cliché.

It's a cliche to have the "edgy" member of the kid heroes band who saves the world not be cosmetically edgy but an actual murderer with the mindset to match? I don't think so.

then what is point of writing a little girl, when you can perfectly decid to write Robb's and Sansa's big sister ?

I don't know, but why not write a little girl? I don't understand the objection. It's not like Martin is writing ordinary characters. Makes as much sense to me as asking why marvel made X-23 a little girl.

This character would be interesting, but I don't think it would fit à 10/11/12 years old girl, even an Arya Stark. Again, I wish Arya act consistently with her age, and if she does, I think we may get worried about her mental development.

Martin intended her to be 16 when the second half of the story started, he had to compress what he had planned when he scrapped the timeskip.

This being said, what mental development? She's a character, what Martin decides goes, and he clearly makes her act older than her age and slightly psychotic, but not dumb. He likewise will not decide to suddenly break the momentum he established in her development.

[JDNight]

That's never fine for anybody.

I agree her personnality is destroyed, and I would add she has no *real* chance to ever live a *normal* war after the end of the war. I read here and there around the forum that some would like to see her Hand of the King, Queen in the North and so on.

Any kid confronted to this level of violence is psychologicaly destroyed, and this is waht scares me about Arya. Realistically she would be able to raise up from her ashes and go fight for her family and country.

Arya has started to concern me greatly. Although I do not agree that killing and witnessing death will ruin a person, it will cause the person to become very comfortable with it. If a person is brought up in a butcher shop, watching an animal be slaughtered would not affect them much at all. However, you take some kid from the suburbs and make them view the same thing it could scar them for years. Trauma like this often comes from expectations kids have. Arya was brought up with death all around her. I am certain she heard about the men her father had killed.

For a character in a story, it makes for nice possibilities. It's fine as a narrative development. So yeah, it's fine: it's consistent, it makes for a good character, it gives slightly original story development opportunities, and it's also good drama.

This being said, regarding your argument about kids being destroyed, though: this is fiction, Arya is not a real kid, and I very much doubt Martin is going to go all the way with crippling mental disorders.

Still, I would like to see a villainous Arya. Or at least an Arya who acted consistently with her development so far, and who would make Sandor look balanced in comparison. It's an interesting narrative endeavour, having the genesis and the reasons of a ruthless, murdering, cold, manipulative, lying character, a young Tywin squared. Doubly so because we got to see the reaction of the readership and know how it would have reacted to the same actions without the backstory. (Indeed, if the story began with AFFC, I'm not sure how people would have reacted)

This is almost a foregone conclusion for me.

Personnaly I think it is a bit of a cliché.

then what is point of writing a little girl, when you can perfectly decid to write Robb's and Sansa's big sister ?

This character would be interesting, but I don't think it would fit à 10/11/12 years old girl, even an Arya Stark. Again, I wish Arya act consistently with her age, and if she does, I think we may get worried about her mental development.

However I hope Martin is more subtle in his writing than what we think, and will get a more balanced character.

Arya is ressourceful, so I hope somehow she'll cope and leave the path she is on.

My wife and I fell in love with Arya from the start. We almost named our Daughter after her! That said, the course that Arya is on has left us very disappointed. Not disappointed in Arya herself, just in the fact she will never be what we had hoped.

We always hoped she would become a leader, killing Lannisters and saving the North. We hoped she would become a soldier-killer type who would lead men. Maybe like Bronn, only more responsible. Instead she is becoming a vigilante-assassin. Unfortunately, her original personality and the one she is now adopting are almost the opposite of what she would need to be a good leader. If she joins the faceless men, this will only pull her further from a leadership role.

Leaders are responsible, not vigilantes.