Why does everyone think Arya will die?

[jaimereborn]

So in general reading through the 'who will die' and 'what will happen next' threads - it seems the majority of people only see a very grim future awaiting Arya. Where is the evidence for this? And under what circumstances? Of course, she is a fan favourite, so if she DOES die I have a feeling George would only be able to do this towards the end of the series, and in massively game-changing circumstances.

[Horza]

"I see you, wolf child. Blood child. I thought it was the lord who smelled of death . . ." She began to sob, her little body shaking. "You are cruel to come to my hill, cruel. I gorged on grief at Summerhall, I need none of yours. Begone from here, dark heart. Begone!"

Doesn't sound like the prophecy of someone who ends well.

[Corvo Attano]

Because death has been such a major aspect of her storyline

[Qhorin Fivehands]

Arya just seems like a character who will definetly have more of an imapct on the series, but ultimately will die. I don't know why, her arc is heavily infused with death, maybe that's why.

[Golden Lion]

Because of the route she's headed down.

It isn't like she'll just be able to switch back to Arya of Winterfell after she's done with her kill list.

[jaimereborn]

I always felt all the references to death are her eventual affiliations with the house of black and white, and her obsession with death and taking life in penance for the lives that were taken from her. arya is one fucked up child, and this is largely to do with the fact that she is consumed by grief and anger - i feel that this is why people see 'death' and 'darkness' in her soul: it is what drives her.

[Kienn]

If by everyone you mean some people, it's because there're some people who believe any individual character will die and some people who believe they'll live.

Look around more.

[Lady Nastja]

Did GRRM not say that Arya was one of his favourite characters? Surely he wouldn't kill her off. That said, that may be all the more reason to kill her off. Hmm, this one's a toughie.

[jaimereborn]

^funny guy

[Andrea Darling]

I think Arya's story is the most wide open right now of all the surviving Starks. Who knows what will happen to her.

[stu1987]

Doesn't sound like the prophecy of someone who ends well.

I always thought that this didn't refer to Arya's death, but more that death will follow Arya wherever she goes. It has been proved so far, maybe in the end will be tragic and it will catch up with her, but somehow I believe Arya will survive it all. Also, nothing beats a Sunday on ASOIAF :)

[Sarosh]

This passage from book one:

"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 didn't think it was funny. "I hate needlework!"

i can believe it is not foreshadowing if i try hard enough

[Horza]

I always thought that this didn't refer to Arya's death, but more that death will follow Arya wherever she goes. It has been proved so far, maybe in the end will be tragic and it will catch up with her, but somehow I believe Arya will survive it all. Also, nothing beats a Sunday on ASOIAF :)

Don't think you can rack up a bodycount like hers, devote yourself to revenge and still be breathing at the end of A Dream of Spring.

I'm sure Martin's going to let a few murderous sorts through the net to remind us that life isn't fair, but I think that's all the more reason to suspect Arya won't be one of them.

This passage from book one:

"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 didn't think it was funny. "I hate needlework!"

i can believe it is not foreshadowing if i try hard enough

Nice catch!

Though if that's the case she will at least meet Jon Snow again, in another castle...

[mcb]

I have a hard time imagining "happily ever after" for any of the lead characters. Sansa? Arya? Bran? Jon? Jaime? Tyrion? Theon? They all are broken, damaged, fucked up to various degrees (from "seriously" to FUBAR).

Maybe Daenerys can have her "happily ever after", if someone opens the very first American high school in Westeros and appoints her head cheerleader.

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

This passage from book one:

"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 didn't think it was funny. "I hate needlework!"

i can believe it is not foreshadowing if i try hard enough

:agree: This is pretty much what I was going to say.

[jaimereborn]

even that foreshadowing passage doesn't explicitly point to death, though. prophecies like that are so ambiguous, her 'body' could be in a number of different states when found... with George you never know how he'll use the nuances of those words to craft an entirely different situation out of them.

[ARYa_Nym]

She has the most foreshadowing for it and the most specific.

Besides Jon's line he also has another where he dreams of Starks he can't get to. Everyone else in the dream is either dead or likely died (Benjen) and this is from AGoT before they all died.

Ned said that the lone wolf dies and Arya later called herself that. He said being like Lyanna and Brandon leads to an early grave. Cat of the Canals being a likely Molly Malone reference.

http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/82799-is-cat-of-the-canals-molly-malone/

Parts of her story also does seem like O'ren from Kill Bill who died and was the best character for me personally. Of course AGoT is from way before that and since he put the foreshadowing so early on I think he always planned for her to die if she does.

In the death thread it was discovered that Arya is a lot like Antigone who also dies. I doubt Arya will die in the same way though.

His supposed promise to Paris can't be taken as a guarantee.

2. George R. R. Martin Will Kill Anyone

Martin's wife Parris once told Weiss and Benioff that she knew a certain character would survive until the end. How? Her husband had promised not to kill her favorite character. When Weiss and Benioff later mentioned this to Martin, he impishly said, "Oh, I just told her that." The upshot: nobody's safe.

http://www.lamag.com/laculture/culturefilesblog/2013/05/06/5-things-i-learned-about-game-of-thrones-from-the-shows-writers

Of course the death could be symbolic but I think it leans more towards literal.

[Gendels Children]

for some time I was clinging to something a friend told me, she said GRRM has quoted or maybe it was his wife... that he wont be killing off Arya because his wife is too attached to the character.. but as GRRM says himself, "art is not a democracy"

EDIT; oh relevance to the post above ;P

[Florent Vixen]

Some people think pretty much everyone is

going to die. I don't really think she or any of

the remaining Stark kids will die.

[jaimereborn]

Tbh most people seem to think Sansa is the safest... that seems a sure bet for George to kill her off.