Becoming No One: Re-reading Arya

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BrashCandy, Lyanna Stark and I would like to welcome you to the Arya re-read.Like the other re-read threads we will be going through Ayra’s journey chapter by chapter (picking up other places she is mentioned on route) in order to get a full and rounded view of this fascinating character.Arya is one of the most beloved characters in the series. She is at once realistic in her time setting and yet also a very modern character. She is a child and yet perceptive beyond her years. She calmly and cautiously observes but also rushes to action without forethought..

She is a dichotomy.With this in mind we are going to be analysing each chapter looking at character development, foreshadowing, and gender issues within the context of a Medieval setting.Like the other re-read threads this is not a place to flame, raise spuriously crackpot ideas or pose theories based on feeling. The purpose of this thread is not to stick to preconceived ideas but to look at the character afresh.We will be covering two chapters a week and would ask that those contributing to the thread try to read those chapters and not discuss future chapters unless it pertains to the discussion at hand (especially in terms of foreshadowing).We would ask that those contributing to back up their interpretations with textual examples.

Most of all we would ask that everyone is courteous to each other and enjoys the thread.

AGOT

AGOT Arya Chapter 1 : Summary and Analysis

AGOT Arya Chapter 1: Discussion Overview

AGOT Arya Inbetween Chapter 1 and Chapter 2: Summary and Analysis: Summary and Analysis

AGOT Arya Chapter 2: Summary and Analysis

Arya Chapter 3: Summary and Analysis

Arya Chapter 4: Summary and Analysis

AGOT Arya Chapter 5: Summary and Analysis

AGOT Arya Overview: Summary and Analysis

ACOK

ACOK Arya 1: Summary and Analysis

ACOK Arya 2: Summary and Analysis

ACOK Arya 3: Summary and Analysis

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AGOT – Arya 1 (Chapter 7)

Chapter Summary

“Arya’s Stiches were crooked again”

Arya is sitting sewing with her sister, Jeyne, Beth, Princess Myrcella and Septa Mordane. She is dismayed that her work is not as accomplished as her sisters and laments that Sansa’s work is better than hers. Her Septa praises her sister’s delicate hands yet says

“Arya has the hands of a blacksmith”

She worries that she might come under Septa Mordane’s critical gaze, but the Septa is too engaged talking to Princess Myrcella. Arya notes that the Princess’ stitches are also crooked but that Septa Mordane does not seem to chastise her. She rests her sewing and notices Jeyne whispering to her sister. She asks what they are talking about. When they don’t tell her, she asks again. Making sure they are not heard by Septa Mordane, Sansa says they are talking about Prince Joffrey. They ask Arya what she thinks of Joff, and Arya states

“Jon says he looks like a girl”

Sansa then comments that Jon is jealous because he is a bastard.

“He’s our brother,” Arya said, much too loudly. Her voice cut through the afternoon quiet of the tower room.

This attracts the attention of Septa Mordane who asks why Arya isn’t working. Arya gives her sewing to the Septa to inspect. The Septa publically lambasts Arya’s work, humiliating her in front of everyone. Arya’s feels herself begin to cry and runs for the door. The Septa scolds her and tells her that she is shaming them all.

Arya stopped at the door and turned back, biting her lip. The tears were running down her cheeks now. She managed a stiff little bow to Myrcella. “By your leave, my lady. ”Myrcella blinked at her and looked to her ladies for guidance. But if she was uncertain, Septa Mordane was not. “Just where do you think you are going, Arya?” the septa demanded. Arya glared at her. “I have to go shoe a horse,” she said sweetly, taking a brief satisfaction in the shock on the septa’s face. Then she whirled and made her exit, running down the steps as fast as her feet would take her.

As she is running she thinks how unfair it is that her sister can sew, dance, sing, write poetry, play the high harp, bells and be beautiful, while Arya looked like their father with a long and solemn face. She thinks how

Jeyne used to call her Arya Horseface, and neigh whenever she came near. It hurt that the one thing Arya could do better than her sister was ride a horse. Well, that and manage a household.

As she reaches the bottom of the stairs she finds her Direwolf Nymeria waiting for her. Nymeria bounds over to her as soon as she sees her.

Arya grinned. The wolf pup loved her, even if no one else did. They went everywhere together, and Nymeria slept in her room, at the foot o her bed. If Mother had not forbidden it, Arya would gladly have taken the wolf with her to needlework. Let Septa Mordane complain about her stitches then.

Nymeria nips at her hand.

She had yellow eyes. When they caught the sunlight, they gleamed like two golden coins.

Arya had named her after the fable Rhonye Queen, which had been a scandal . She notes her sister had named her pup Lady and then made a face and hugs her wolf. Nymeria licks her ear and she giggles.

She thinks that Septa Mordane and her Mother will be waiting for her in her room and knows if she goes there she will be found.

Arya did not care to be found.

She goes to see the boys fighting in the yard in the hopes of seeing Robb best Joff. She goes to the covered bridge that overlooks the training yard where she finds her brother Jon also watching the fight. At first he is too absorbed with the fight to notice her. It is Ghost who that brings his attention to her and Nymeria.

Jon looks at her curiously and wonders why she is not sewing. Arya says she wants to see them fight. Jon beckons her over and she watches the scene below. To her disappointment it is Bran and Tommen fighting. The spectators are calling out encouragement. She hears Robb’s voice loudest of all and Theon Greyjoy looking contemptuously at them.

“A shade more exhausting than needlework,” Jon observed. “A shade more fun than needlework,” Arya gave back at him. Jon grinned, reached over, and messed up her hair. Arya flushed. They had always been close. Jon had their father’s face, as she did. They were the only ones.

She thinks that all her other siblings look like her Mother’s side of the family, the Tullys, with easy smiles and auburn hair. She remembers that when she was little she thought that meant she was a bastard too.

It been Jon she had gone to in her fear, and Jon who had reassured her.

She asks why he isn’t down in the yard and Jon says that Bastards are not allowed to damage princes. Arya feels abashed and thinks for the second time that day that life isn’t fair. She watches Bran and Tommen and thinks that she can do better than Bran and she’s 9 whereas he is only 7.

Jon looks at her and tells her, she is too skinny and doubts she could lift a long sword. Arya snatches her arm away and glares at him for this.

Jon asks if she sees Prince Joff. She notes she hadn’t at first, but then spots him. Jon points out that his arms are split between that of his Mother and his Father’s house. Jon notes

He makes his mother’s House equal in honor to the king’s.” “The woman is important too!” Arya protested. Jon chuckled. “Perhaps you should do the same thing, little sister. Wed Tully to Stark in your arms.”

“A wolf with a fish in its mouth?” It made her laugh. “That would look silly. Besides, if a girl can’t fight, why should she have a coat of arms?”

Jon shrugged. “Girls get the arms but not the swords. Bastards get the swords but not the arms. I did not make the rules, little sister.”

The are interrupted as Bran finally beats Tommen. Ser Rodrik calls the boys fight to a halt and asks Robb and Joff if they wish to fight again. Robb agrees, but Joff says the game is for children. Theon laughs and says they are children. Joff wants real swords, and mocks Rob. Jon notes that Joff is truly a little shit. Joff wants to fight with live steel. Robb is eager to fight but Ser Rodrik says that Live steel is too dangerous.

Joff says nothing but Sandor Clegane challenges Ser Rodrik and asks him who he is to challenge the Prince’s order. Sandor Clegane asks Robb how old he is and after Robb says 14, he says that he killed his first man at twelve and not with a blunt sword. Joff mocks Robb more and the Lannister men leave. Jon watches them go and Arya watches Jon. He tells Arya that she best go as Septa Mordane will surely be lurking.

The longer you hide, the sterner the penance. You’ll be sewing all through winter. When the spring thaw comes, they will find your body with a needle still locked tight between your frozen fingers.”

Arya says she hates Needlework and that life isn’t fair. Jon tells her nothing is fair. He musses up her hair and walks away from her along with Ghost. Nymeria begins to follow them and then when she realises Arya is not coming returns to her. Arya returns to her room and finds it is worse than she had thought, as it was Septa Mordane and her Mother waiting for her.

Analysis

A: Character Development

We see in this first chapter that Arya very much feels herself to be an outsider in her family. Her siblings all resemble her Mother and as far as she is concerned have the superior looks, whereas she looks like her father and her bastard brother. While Arya passionately notes that “He’s our brother,” it is also apparent that she had also been afraid that her looks denoted her to be a bastard like him and she was afraid of that, highlighting that the distinction was very clear even to a small child in Winterfell. Arya’s relationship with Jon is highlighted in this chapter. Her immediate defense of Jon as “He’s our brother,” highlights the difference in attitude towards Jon from Arya and her sister. Arya very much regards him similarly to her other full brothers (even if she had been afraid of being a bastard herself). You can see in their actions that they are close

Jon grinned, reached over, and messed up her hair. Arya flushed. They had always been close. Jon had their father’s face, as she did. They were the only ones.

Their bond is close but their similar looks also create a bond between them: to some extent they are both outsiders because of their Stark looks.

Arya however is also aware of the unfairness of Jon’s treatment because of his birth and that of women as second class citizens (although not in a conscience feminist way, but in the personal frustrations of her own treatment). As she protests “The woman is important too!”

She is envious of her brothers getting to learn to sword fight while she must learn needle work which she does not like. It is apparent from her comments about her sister that although she may not enjoy the lessons, she is frustrated that her sister is better than her at so many things and that she holds some undeserved resentment towards her sister for this. It is clear that this goes beyond frustration and borders on anxiety for Arya, because of the horrific favouritism and poor teaching skills of Septa Mordane. As Arya notes, Myrcella’s stitches are as crooked as hers and yet Septa Mordane humiliates her for not for disobedience but for her inability.

“Arya, Arya, Arya,” she said. “This will not do. This will not do at all.” Everyone was looking at her. It was too much. Sansa was too well bred to smile at her sister’s disgrace, but Jeyne was smirking on her behalf. Even Princess Myrcella looked sorry for her. Arya felt tears filling her eyes.

This scolding is not only unnecessary, but it seems it is almost bullying as she is the only girl being singled out. She is also now being laughed at by others. The Septa makes an example of her to the point that she bursts into tears and yet is surprised when she runs out.

The other comment

the septa had sniffed. “Arya has the hands of a blacksmith.”

is equally unkind, especially as it was said in front of Arya. It could be suggested from the text that much of the rivalry and friction between Arya and Sansa is not just down to their different personalities but through the differing treatment of the Septa. Certainly when an authority figure mocks someone, other children will see that person as fairgame. It is terribly sad to see that she ends up running from the room in tears and yet at the end of the chapter she is in trouble from her Septa and Mother.

We also see that Arya is apart from the other girls, she is not part of their conversation and that Jeyne Poole is fairly unpleasant to her, calling her Horseface and smirking at her being humiliated. Though when her sister does try and include her, Arya is hostile to the topic of the conversation, which is her sister and Joffrey. Arya is certainly jealous of her sister’s abilities and yet at the same time, does not seem interested in those subjects. Even the subject she is better at, Horse riding, is painful as it connects to a nasty nickname. Jeyne Poole really doesn’t seem like a terribly nice little girl at times.

The bond between Arya and Nymeria is very evident and it could be theorized that her wish for Nymeria to be with her while sewing because Septa Mordane wouldn’t then dare reproach her, that Arya feels like she needs extra support and a defender. Arya is already drawing strength from the bond she has with Nymeria.

B. Foreshadowing and symbolism

GRRM has stated that he uses foreshadowing and symbolism in the series. Certainly there seem to be a lot of phrases that stick out as foreshadowing in this chapter.

A possible symbolic note (which maybe over reading) are Nymeria’s eyes

When they caught the sunlight, they gleamed like two golden coins.

Given the importance that coins will come to play in Arya’s story and in relation to the FM storyline it struck me as interesting that her wolf’s eyes are described as such, especially given the link between the children and what their wolves symbolize about them.

The description of Arya as having the hands of a Blacksmith are also of note as she ends up spending so much time with Genry who is a blacksmith. While not foreshadowing per say it could certainly be seen as a symbol that is associated with her. It also note that her hands are not suited for sewing but for a different type of Needle work.

There is foreshadowing of Cat’s death and being found in the river by Nymeria when Jon and Arya talk about Arya wearing Tully and Stark colours:

“Perhaps you should do the same thing, little sister. Wed Tully to Stark in your arms.”

“A wolf with a fish in its mouth?” It made her laugh. “That would look silly.

This is one of the few elements of foreshadowing that has now come to pass.

Another possible bit of foreshadowing potentially relates to Jon. Should R+L=J be true then due to Tommen and Joff actually being bastards, the phrase that

“Bastards are not allowed to damage young princes,” he said.

will actually be quite ironic as Jon as the Prince is the one who is not allowed to be hit by bastards.

The most worrying bit of foreshadowing is Jon’s warning to Arya that

The longer you hide, the sterner the penance. You’ll be sewing all through winter. When the spring thaw comes, they will find your body with a needle still locked tight between your frozen fingers.”

This could and has been seen as foreshadowing of Arya’s death.

Finally we see that Nymeria wants to go with Jon and Ghost, but it is Arya that does not follow. This could foreshadow the later separation of Ghost and Jon at the Wall, Nymeria nearer to them in the Riverlands and Arya in Braavos.

C. Gender

GRRM is stated as saying that he does not like bad fantasy “He objects to bad fantasy practice which adopts a time setting without accepting the culture - imposing 20th century values like the cheeky stableboy telling off the princess (in reality cheeky stableboy would lose his tongue - look what happened to Micah); the class system was not just and ornament and these people truly believed in blood, and the rank and privilege that came with "good" blood. He discussed the role of women - in bad fantasy where the princess refuses to marry the old ugly fart - women were raised to accept this as their fate (ie Sansa and Tyrion); he castigated the warrior princess in a chainmail bikini, who in that reality would get chopped in two with a longsword. You needed brute strength to fight a la middle ages (voila Brienne); but women could fight with other weapons (sand snakes), it was just very very rare.”

The above statement is very interesting in relation to Arya as at a cursory glance she is the stereotypical Tomboy. Yet even within this first chapter, Jon is the first to point out to her that she is not strong enough to wield a sword. She may point out that women are important too and see the unfairness of having to do things she does not want too, but she is still being brought up to be a Lady and no one is giving her an alternate option. Yet Arya is a fascinating character because she is remarkably modern in her outlook and yet in keeping with a medieval setting, because she does fit the rare mold of women who wanted to do something different. There were medieval women who fought: Isabel of Conches, Emma de Guader, Black Agnes (whose story has a lot of similarity to the siege of Riverrun) etc. It was common for women to defend their Castles and Lands when men were absent. The conflict of Arya’s desire for more active pursuits and the pressures of her increasingly domestic education is becoming evident in this initial chapter. This also seems to be consistent with Medieval society where girls and boys did play together fairly equally: “Although gender differentiation had some place in childhood roles and identities, the distinction of sexes was far less important than later in life. This can be glimpsed through the educational practice for elite groups, where boys were separated from girls around seven.” * This ties in well with the ages of Arya and Bran in this chapter. Arya’s education and the way she is encouraged to spend her time is being focused towards becoming a Lady, while her younger brother is now beginning to be trained towards Knighthood. The unfairness of this is evident to Arya as she prefers swords to needle work, but it does not go beyond the medieval setting by Arya seeing womens’ roles as restrictive but just the unfairness in why she has to have a different education to her brothers as it is not one she enjoys.

* Medieval Maidens: Young Women and gender in England 1270-1540, Kim Phillips

[brashcandy]

Nice analysis Rapsie! And let me take the chance to welcome those who will join us for the journey.

You mentioned in the OP that Arya is one of the most beloved characters in the fandom, and from this opening chapter it's not hard to see why. Martin works hard here to establish her as an outsider in the world and familial setting she occupies, thereby ensuring that she's an "insider" when it comes to the modern values of readers who do not share the same preoccupations and prejudices at work in this medieval setting. The dynamics in this chapter revolve around sibling rivalry (with Sansa) and sibling harmony (with Jon), and it's via those two relationships that Arya's personality is presented to readers at this initial point.

The opening line of the chapter: "Arya's stitches were crooked again," takes us directly into the frustration and sense of futility Arya feels over her inability to perfect this traditionally feminine pursuit. The "again" underscores that this is a regular occurrence and it isn't helped by Arya's look over to her sister where she notes that:

Sansa's needlework was exquisite. Everyone said so.

Arya's sense of inadequacy around her sister is evident, but Septa Mordane is arguably responsible for exacerbating those feelings by comparing Arya's hands to those of a blacksmith. More on the Septa later.

I thought your point on how Arya is at once curious of what Sansa is discussing with her friends, but also dismissive of those interests to be quite salient. She twice requests to be told what they're talking about, but upon learning that's Joffrey, makes the comment that Jon thinks he looks like a girl. What I found interesting was that in Arya's own thoughts before she speaks, she thinks of Joffrey as tall and handsome, and resents that she was made to sit with Tommen, "the little fat one." Again, she attributes this as a personal slight, a reflection of her own flaws in comparison to Sansa.

More later....

[Little Wing]

Oh, my! This is wonderful... And I have to go to bed now :( Coming back tomorrow!

[butterbumps!]

Yay, it's finally come! I've been really looking forward to this- I'm so glad you three are doing it. Great summary, Rapsie. Will come back once I finish the essay for PtP (which is proving to be alarmingly difficult, lol).

[Milady of York]

Good to see the Arya re-read has started, Rapsie. I had just started my first re-read of the entire ASOIAF saga, and I hopefully can contribute a tiny bit.

We see in this first chapter that Arya very much feels herself to be an outsider in her family. Her siblings all resemble her Mother and as far as she is concerned have the superior looks, whereas she looks like her father and her bastard brother. While Arya passionately notes that “He’s our brother,” it is also apparent that she had also been afraid that her looks denoted her to be a bastard like him and she was afraid of that, highlighting that the distinction was very clear even to a small child in Winterfell. Arya’s relationship with Jon is highlighted in this chapter. Her immediate defense of Jon as “He’s our brother,” highlights the difference in attitude towards Jon from Arya and her sister. Arya very much regards him similarly to her other full brothers (even if she had been afraid of being a bastard herself). You can see in their actions that they are close

Quote

Jon grinned, reached over, and messed up her hair. Arya flushed. They had always been close. Jon had their father’s face, as she did. They were the only ones.

Their bond is close but their similar looks also create a bond between them: to some extent they are both outsiders because of their Stark looks.

It's interesting to note that it's not Sansa who first thinks of Jon Snow as her half-sibling. It's Bran, in his first POV:

Bran’s bastard brother Jon Snow moved closer.

Note that he uses a harsher-sounding denomination: bastard, not "half-brother." He does it twice, the second time, when they discovered the direwolf pups, he notes: "He had included the girls, included even Rickon, the baby, but not the bastard who bore the surname Snow"

And Jon is the first to think of both Arya and Sansa as "half-sisters," also in his first POV:

His half sisters escorted the royal princes.

Though he later calls both "sisters":

His sisters Arya and Sansa would marry the heirs of other great houses and go south as mistress of castles of their own.

But then, speaking with Tyrion, Jon does the same thing Sansa is criticised for, unfairly in my opinion, he corrects another person for calling Robb, Bran and Rickon his "brothers."

Lannister studied his face. “Yes,” he said. “I can see it. You have more of the north in you than your brothers.” “Half brothers,” Jon corrected. He was pleased by the dwarf’s comment, but he tried not to let it show.

Therefore, Sansa is only stating a true fact, not being unpleasant just because, and she's not alone in this, nor is her attitude toward Jon one-sided. It goes both ways. And Jon is also stating the truth when he thinks of Arya, the same one who defends him when he's being called half-brother by Sansa, as his half-sister, which is soon forgotten when he calls her little sister. I do find that to dwell in this contrast between the sisters in regards to Jon, forgetting the other cases, leads to an unfavourable opinion of the elder sister.

[Manderly's Rat Cook]

Count me in!

Great analysis Rapsy and brashcandy. WOW very impressive!

So here's a little thing I've noticed, which would make Arya feel even more sad:

She frowned down at them with dismay and glanced over to where her sister Sansa sat among the other girls. Sansa's needlework was exquisite. Everyone said so. "Sansa's work is as pretty as she is," Septa Mordane told their lady mother once. "She has such fine, delicate hands." When Lady Catelyn had asked about Arya, the septa had sniffed. "Arya has the hands of a blacksmith."

This really is a painful thing to say, because it indirectly suggests that where Sansa's needlework is as pretty as she is, Arya's needlework is as ugly as she is..

[Ragnorak]

Wonderful write up, Rapsie!

I came to the conclusion after rereading Bran's chapter where they find the direwolves that the warg bond already existed. From Bran's POV:

The little thing squirmed against him, as if it heard and understood. “No!” Bran cried out fiercely. “It’s mine.”

Bran nodded eagerly. The pup squirmed in his grasp, licked at his face with a warm tongue.

“What is it, Jon?” their lord father asked.

“Can’t you hear it?”

Bran could hear the wind in the trees, the clatter of their hooves on the ironwood planks, the whimpering of his hungry pup, but Jon was listening to something else.

“There,” Jon said. He swung his horse around and galloped back across the bridge. They watched him dismount where the direwolf lay dead in the snow, watched him kneel. A moment later he was riding back to them, smiling.

The wolf pup seems to react in sync with Bran and since Ghost is a mute and there was a clatter of hooves on ironwood planks what is it exactly that Jon heard? I think we can read shared feelings into the direwolf reactions even this early. For example, when Nymeria started to follow Jon we can assume that's where Arya wanted to go rather than back to her room.

When I was looking at the symbolism for Snow Winterfell, I considered this meeting on the covered bridge.

Arya GoT

There was a window in the covered bridge between the armory and the Great Keep where you had a view of the whole yard. That was where they headed.

Bran GoT

It taught him Winterfell’s secrets too. The builders had not even leveled the earth; there were hills and valleys behind the walls of Winterfell. There was a covered bridge that went from the fourth floor of the bell tower across to the second floor of the rookery.

Jon GoT

“Then I haven’t seen you,” Robb replied. Jon left him standing there in the snow, surrounded by wagons and wolves and horses. It was a short walk to the armory. He picked up his package and took the covered bridge across to the Keep.

Sansa SoS

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

Her bridges kept falling down. There was a covered bridge between the armory and the main keep, and another that went from the fourth floor of the bell tower to the second floor of the rookery, but no matter how carefully she shaped them, they would not hold together. The third time one collapsed on her, she cursed aloud and sat back in helpless frustration.

There seem to be very meaningful exchanges between the Stark children on or around these bridges and they are a specific focus of Sansa's symbolic rebuilding of Winterfell. I think this serves to highlight the importance of the exchange between Arya and Jon here.

Septa Mordane had this great redeeming death scene in the HBO series that takes a quality of character she never really manifests in the books. She really embodies almost all of the negative characteristics in a Bloody Southron Fool that came up in the Dany/Jon reread. Arya shows promise in a number of admirable Northern characteristics that we see in Alys Karstark, the Mormonts, and Lyanna-- even the Wildlings yet she gets no acknowledgement from her primary teacher. She is the daughter of a Northern lord and the Septa should respect that reality. One interesting point about the blacksmith comment is that Sansa is often compared to the Maiden and the Mother, but not the Crone. Arya is compared to the Smith here and the Warrior later by Cat in the Sept but not the Father.

[Fire Eater]

Nice one Rapsie as always.

When they caught the sunlight, they gleamed like two golden coins.

This is foreshadowing as mentioned, the ancient Greeks would place two golden coins on the eyes of their dead as a funeral rite. The coins were to pay Charon who ferried the dead across the River Styx to the underworld.

It was Septa Mordane and her mother.

Both Septa Mordane and her mother die later in the series.

Jon and Arya get along very well, because both are outcasts as described, hence the old adage: Misery loves company.

[Lady Lea]

Aw, fantastic, everyone! Really great job, Rapsie!

Septa Mordane had this great redeeming death scene in the HBO series that takes a quality of character she never really manifests in the books. She really embodies almost all of the negative characteristics in a Bloody Southron Fool that came up in the Dany/Jon reread. Arya shows promise in a number of admirable Northern characteristics that we see in Alys Karstark, the Mormonts, and Lyanna-- even the Wildlings yet she gets no acknowledgement from her primary teacher. She is the daughter of a Northern lord and the Septa should respect that reality. One interesting point about the blacksmith comment is that Sansa is often compared to the Maiden and the Mother, but not the Crone. Arya is compared to the Smith here and the Warrior later by Cat in the Sept but not the Father.

We do get a quote from Jon that he believed Arya and Sansa would "go south" when they married (seen above in Milady's post), so perhaps Cat and Ned had already decided they would marry the girls to southern lords? And so, they would have to be trained in southron ways. As much as I like the Northern ladies, someone like Maege Mormont would be seen as almost a savage if put next to say, Margaery Tyrell. So maybe they didn't want to encourage this "northerness".

Do we know if the Septa realised that Arya was left-handed? It seems a major oversight from a tutor, if she did not know. I'm sure Arya's stitches would have been at least acceptable if she could have done it with her left hand. Although perhaps the Septa did know and wanted to "correct" it.

[Le Cygne]

Nice, Rapsie!

About the half-brother/sister matter, Jon (who is very sensitive to being a bastard) does seem to feel Sansa sees him differently than Arya:

He missed the girls too, even Sansa, who never called him anything but “my half brother” since she was old enough to understand what bastard meant.

Arya and Jon are very close and each makes a point to say they miss each other most of all (I always think of Dorothy with the Scarecrow :)):

Jon on Arya:

And Arya … he missed her even more than Robb... He would give anything to be with her now, to muss up her hair once more and watch her make a face, to hear her finish a sentence with him.

Arya on Jon:

He said it with me, like Jon used to do, back in Winterfell. She missed Jon Snow the most of all her brothers.

[coldplums8]

Whaaa, thank yous to Rapsie, Lyanna Stark, and brashcandy and everyone else here. Such great stuff, especially about the Sansa/Arya/Septa Mordane dynamic. And with Jon.

Since I'm a noob and currently don't have the books with me, I'll just humbly beg your sympathetic answers: I did always get the feeling that Arya was very close to Jon with all their sentence-finishing, secrets (Needle, other stuff they don't tell Sansa, etc.), and inside jokes, and I even felt that Arya and Sansa's relationship was very complex due to all their squabbles, grudges, and reconciliations in King's Landing.

But for some reason I never got the feeling that Arya was ever that close with Robb. She doesn't think about him much except in terms of the new Stark patriarch as King in the North...for that matter, do they even have any dialogue together, ever? I forget, shamefully. I get the same distant-y feeling with her and Bran and Rickon...do any of them ever talk with Arya at all throughout the books?

[brashcandy]

What really stood out to me in the chapter was Arya's deep seated sense of insecurity, something which can be obscured by her otherwise "vocal" performance - supporting Jon Snow and running away from the Septa. As I noted upthread, she's defined both in opposition to Sansa and in similarity to Jon. Her loud defense of him in the schoolroom prepares us for the camaraderie we witness when they meet on the covered bridge, just as we're led into thinking that his relationship with Sansa by contrast is not as close or meaningful. When Arya is in the schoolroom, she notices Sansa "gently stroking" the hair of Beth Cassel, an image that recurs when she meets up with Jon later on, but instead he "messes" up her hair. Arya relationship with Sansa is mediated and constrained by the presence of the other girls around her sister and her own sense of inferiority; with Jon there's a change in both personal and spatial dynamics as they can now "look down" on those in the yard below.

I think this is Arya's first glimpse of the real Joffrey - smug, and conceited - images which it should be noted Sansa is not privy to. There's also Jon's confirmation: "Joffrey is truly a little shit."

When I was looking at the symbolism for Snow Winterfell, I considered this meeting on the covered bridge.

There seem to be very meaningful exchanges between the Stark children on or around these bridges and they are a specific focus of Sansa's symbolic rebuilding of Winterfell. I think this serves to highlight the importance of the exchange between Arya and Jon here.

Good points, Rag. The bridge being covered seems to connote a sense of protection for the children - perhaps symbolic of them ultimately overcoming their trials and reconnecting as a family.

[Ragnorak]

@Lady Lea - My Uncle, who was in Martin's generation, was left handed but was forced to do everything right handed in school. It was apparently the normal practice then. I think it had to do with most things being designed for right handed people. If you were in the army and tried to shoot a gun left haned the shells popped out in your face. I can't think of any examples that would apply to this time period though. It isn't like a sword a blacksmith hammer is specific to a particular handedness. Maybe jousting and a shield but that's all I can come up with. I seem to recal certain stigmas being associated with left handedness but I don't recall any specifics.

I got the impression Ned intended to marry his children in the North but Milady's quote that you pointed out makes me wonder now. Recent history certainly gives him a bit of a negative view on going South, but Cat obviously would feel differently. Lady Dustin and Karstark thought the Starks would marry in the North which probably reinforced my impression.

@coldplums8 - I think all of the Stark children look up to Robb. I recall Arya, Bran and Sansa all thinking they need to be as brave as Robb. They all seemed to find it easy to view him as a surrogate father figure in their heads after Ned was imprisoned and died.

@brashcandy - Bran is most associated with the covered bridge between the rookery and the bell tower. The rookery makes perfect sense for him and the bell tower is about sounding alarms. We have Bran using ravens to send out alarms. The covered bridge Arya and Jon talk on is between the Keep and the armory. It connects war and home. They witness Bran beating Tommen and Robb and Joffrey "at war" but not fighting. Theon holds Robb back from engaging Joffrey, Sansa is inside the castle, and Arya and Jon can only watch between war and home. It is a bit of a metaphor for how the whole story plays out. I like the sense of protection image and it fits well combined with a bridge given the rite of passage nature of their stories.

A bit off topic, how much does Ser Roderick being a knight and claiming to train knights influence Sandor here? He is backing up Joffrey in a similar way to how he backs up Sansa's nameday lie. Is it loyalty to Joffrey, the knighthood issue or a bit of both that makes him act up here? This petty word banter seems uncharacteristic compared to his later behaviour.

[brashcandy]

@brashcandy - Bran is most associated with the covered bridge between the rookery and the bell tower. The rookery makes perfect sense for him and the bell tower is about sounding alarms. We have Bran using ravens to send out alarms. The covered bridge Arya and Jon talk on is between the Keep and the armory. It connects war and home. They witness Bran beating Tommen and Robb and Joffrey "at war" but not fighting. Theon holds Robb back from engaging Joffrey, Sansa is inside the castle, and Arya and Jon can only watch between war and home. It is a bit of a metaphor for how the whole story plays out. I like the sense of protection image and it fits well combined with a bridge given the rite of passage nature of their stories.

That makes ... perfect sense :) Thank you.

A bit off topic, how much does Ser Roderick being a knight and claiming to train knights influence Sandor here? He is backing up Joffrey in a similar way to how he backs up Sansa's nameday lie. Is it loyalty to Joffrey, the knighthood issue or a bit of both that makes him act up here? This petty word banter seems uncharacteristic compared to his later behaviour.

Yeah, I agree. Sandor was pretty much in performance mode as Joff's no nonsense bodyguard at Winterfell, but I do think there's a deeper undercurrent in play concerning his derision of knighthood. Arya naturally thinks he's a knight, but Ser Rodrik makes the jab when he stresses that he's "training knights". Also, might this have been foreshadowing of Sandor's eventual career:

"Maester-at-arms of Winterfell, Clegane, and you would do well not to forget it."

[MikeL]

Wow. I'll be following this one with interest. Yes, I always thought that Arya's trouble with the stitching was that she was forced to do it right handed. When she got to train with Syrio, he clearly was much more liberal and allowed her to work to her strength by using her left hand.

[Lyanna Stark]

Brilliant start Rapsie. :)

A short note as I am short on time: what stood out here is Arya wishing she looked more like her mother. We see later that Arya worries about Cat not wanting her and in other ways having a difficult time relating to her mother, but at the same time I think we can sense that there are deep feelings there. It's also interesting with regards to her feelings wrt Cat that she defends Joffrey's decision to display his mother's arms along with his father's. Arya also stands up for that the woman, in this case a person's mother, is important too. Perhaps this reflects her deeper feelings for her own mother, that despite having a bit of a troubled relationship, there is a deep and meaningful connection between Arya and Cat, and Arya stands up here not only for herself or for women in general, but for Cat's importance.

It may be something to keep in mind and explore later since I believe we concluded, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, that Sansa seems to take after Ned more, and even as early as Arya I there are some hints that Arya may, despite it all, take after Cat more in some ways. Or at least that she is "tied" to Cat in a similar way that Sansa is tied to Ned, when it comes to emotional response and interaction with people.

[King Jonboy]

Which one is arya again?

[Winter's Knight]

Re: Septa Mordane and Southern ways.

I don't think the North and the South differ that much in terms of educating their daughters. Rickard Stark would not allow Lyanna a sword for example and the only example we have of fighting women are the Mormonts-who live in a much more hostile environment, constantly under threat of the Ironborn and with their menfolk away for long periods.

[Lummel]

Coming back to this chapter for the first time in a long while (and thank you three ladies for committing to this reread - what took you all so long? ;) ) what sticks out is the theme of education with the contrast between the two classrooms and the two teachers.

Rodrick Castel is the more supportive encouraging type of teacher "well fought" he says to the boys, but what he is teaching is more pointed. Arya's needlework leads her to think that the stitching on Joffrey's surcoat is probably straight while Sandor is dogging it up telling everyone how he killed a man when he was twelve. The purpose of the boys education is to be able to kill people.

Sansa's behaviour in the other classroom reminds me that 'courtesy is a woman's armour' so we have arms and armour established too, but as we see in the needlework lesson the weapons of war in westeros aren't just swords but also marriage. If Sansa marries Joffrey then doesn't she 'win' the game of thrones by becoming Queen.

As a model that's balanced by Nymeria the warrior queen - although we later learn that she wins through marriage too. Marriages sow the realm together in a way that swords can't. Swords cut, divide and threaten the social fabric instead.

But doesn't Arya come across as really anxious and stressed? Poor lamb! From her POV she tells us that calling her direwolf Nymeria was a scandal, which rings a bit strange. I can see that it might be a scandal that Bran hasn't named his direwolf yet, but Nymeria sticks out more like something that would make the adults laugh - let's spot the odd one out: Grey Wind, Ghost, Lady and Nymeria! Typical Arya, the only one to name her pet after a historical person. There - education again.