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Arya's Return from Braavos


khalstark

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This is my first post so please bear with me. I've read all the books up to DwD twice already and am on my third re-read when I came across something interesting in CoK. On pp36-37 in American paperback Arya thinks about going home.

"When she at last slept,she dreamed of home.The kingsroad wound its way past Winterfell on its way to the Wall, ans Yoren had promised he'd leave her there with no one any wiser about who she had been. She yearned to see her mother again, and Robb and Bran and Rickon...but it was Jon Snow she thought of most. she wished somehow they could come to the Wall
before
Winterfell, so Jon could muss up her hair and call her 'little sister.' She'd tell him, 'I missed you,' and he'd say it too at the very same moment, the way they always used to say things together. She would have liked that. She would have liked that better than anything."

Now, I know she's tried to reach Cat and Robb at Riverrun, and her interactions with the Hound brought her to Braavos, via the Saltpans. She has asked about ships going to Eastwatch, and (to her knowledge) Jon is in a position as Lord Commander to help her. Also, I know that a representative of Stannis (who still has soldiers, his wife and daughter, and Melisandre at the wall) is headed to Braavos as well as a representative of the Iron Bank of Braavos.

Finally, I can ask my question. Is this a foreshadowing and are these people her "twisted road to the Wall and then Winterfell"? Or am I following a red herring and am on my way to crackpottery?

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Don't trip on the new posts, I'm very new too soo, mutual welcomes!

I go through the audiobooks, listen to them everyday, I've probably been through the story just as much as you have. That being said, I think that if Arya were to return to Westeros it would be as a stone cold assassin, Maybe on one of the kindly man's missions or something. Remember Melisandre did fortell her coming and I'm not totally convinced that she got it wrong with the Jayne Pool prediction.

I think Arya has been so hardened by her journey thus far, that those feelings she had about seeing Jon Snow and winterfell have long faded. If we see her again it will be in the form of a faceless man.

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I think Arya has been so hardened by her journey thus far, that those feelings she had about seeing Jon Snow and winterfell have long faded. If we see her again it will be in the form of a faceless man.

Here here! Arya will definitely return as an assassin. It will be interesting if she ever meets a member of her family, especially if she gets an order to kill them.

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When Arya arrives at the Temple of the Many Faces, and the kindly man offers to take her wherever she wants to go if she doesn't want to stay, I kept thinking, "She'll ask to go to the wall, she'll ask to be taken to Castle Black!" Even once she went blind and was given the offer to leave every day, it was killing me that she didn't ask to get taken to Jon. Up until that point she'd still been trying to reach him, and when she got the opportunity to I couldn't believe that she didn't.

I think Arya will head to the wall seeking revenge once she hears about Jon Snow's death. That's my assumption for what will get her there, it's the how that's the question. Maybe she'll ask the kindly man to send her, but I also wonder if Dany or Jorah will be involved. Once Jorah hears his father's dying wish, I figure he'll go to the wall, and Braavos could be a stop on the way. If Dany decides to assist the Night's Watch (only possible if she learns everything that's happening, which is unlikely, but let me hope!) and goes through Braavos in some way there's the potential for Ser Barristan or Tyrion (if he ever reaches Dany) to recognize her.

I lot of hopeful thinking on my part, I know, and highly unlikely, but this is my ideal situation!

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When Arya arrives at the Temple of the Many Faces, and the kindly man offers to take her wherever she wants to go if she doesn't want to stay, I kept thinking, "She'll ask to go to the wall, she'll ask to be taken to Castle Black!" Even once she went blind and was given the offer to leave every day, it was killing me that she didn't ask to get taken to Jon. Up until that point she'd still been trying to reach him, and when she got the opportunity to I couldn't believe that she didn't.

I think Arya will head to the wall seeking revenge once she hears about Jon Snow's death. That's my assumption for what will get her there, it's the how that's the question. Maybe she'll ask the kindly man to send her, but I also wonder if Dany or Jorah will be involved. Once Jorah hears his father's dying wish, I figure he'll go to the wall, and Braavos could be a stop on the way. If Dany decides to assist the Night's Watch (only possible if she learns everything that's happening, which is unlikely, but let me hope!) and goes through Braavos in some way there's the potential for Ser Barristan or Tyrion (if he ever reaches Dany) to recognize her.

I lot of hopeful thinking on my part, I know, and highly unlikely, but this is my ideal situation!

If Dany hits the wall?! Now THAT would be a song of ice and fire! But Arya is not some.... Butcher of the battlefield...... slaying every foe in her way, lol. I don't see her taking action on behalf of Jon Snow. Personally, I never really saw Arya at the wall, even though she can hold her own, I always thought it wouldve looked bad on the Night's Watch to employ the use of a 10yr old girl, even if the 999th Lord commander commissioned it.

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I don't see her taking action on behalf of Jon Snow. Personally, I never really saw Arya at the wall, even though she can hold her own, I always thought it wouldve looked bad on the Night's Watch to employ the use of a 10yr old girl, even if the 999th Lord commander commissioned it.

I don't think she'll do it expecting to work with the Night's Watch, I think she'll just go there intending to kill anyone she deems responsible for Jon's death. I think she'll go rouge, or she'll at least plan on it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think she'll go rogue too. It's interesting because Jaqen h'ghar tells her that if she joins the Faceless men like him she can kill all the people she wants to kill. But when she gets there her teachers keep insisting that she must only kill who she's been hired to and to kill for one's own needs is taboo. And she doesn't completely give up her own identity. She hides Needle. Maybe Jaqen H'ghar will find her again and help her? Maybe he'll be the one to bring her to the Wall?

Not sure of the details, only on my second read and I'm following POV. Finished Dany's chapters and nearly finished Jon's :(

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It's interesting because Jaqen h'ghar tells her that if she joins the Faceless men like him she can kill all the people she wants to kill.

You're getting mixed up with the TV adaptation- on there, Jaqen tells Arya she can kill the people on her list. In the book, he only tells her that she can learn to change her face. It's heavily implied in the books that the FM can't kill people they personally know. Arya sees he meeting of the FM leaders and when they are discussing a target, people say, "I know him." Also, when Arya's on the boat to Braavos, every person on the ship, from the captain and his sons to the oarsmen, make sure that she knows their name, likely out of protection for themselves.

And another thing, I can't believe that the short distance between Braavos and the Wall is a coincidence. I truly believe that Arya made her way to Braavos so that she could eventually end up at the Wall via Eastwatch.

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You're getting mixed up with the TV adaptation- on there, Jaqen tells Arya she can kill the people on her list. In the book, he only tells her that she can learn to change her face.

Whoops, sorry about that. About to re read Arya's chapters, nearly finished with Jon's. Might have been wishful thinking, I feel like since she went through the red door, we've slowly been losing Arya a bit. She's my favourite character, I don't want her to become no one. :(

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have a new theory on this- Arya is regularly warging Nymeria (is it still warging if you're not controlling the animal? Idk). Nymeria is in or close to the Riverlands, along with Lady Stoneheart and the BwB. What if Nymeria and Lady Stoneheart see each other while Arya's having a wolf dream? I think her mother's reanimated corpse would be something that would get Arya back to Westeros in quite a rush.

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I have a new theory on this- Arya is regularly warging Nymeria (is it still warging if you're not controlling the animal? Idk). Nymeria is in or close to the Riverlands, along with Lady Stoneheart and the BwB. What if Nymeria and Lady Stoneheart see each other while Arya's having a wolf dream? I think her mother's reanimated corpse would be something that would get Arya back to Westeros in quite a rush.

I love it! Anything that stops Arya becoming "no one." But this would bring her back via warging which I really like!

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