Destined to Braavos

[Mithras]

I think Braavos will continue to be an important scene for a while longer and Arya will be our primary POV there. Izembaro is the King of Mummers and Arya will learn this art/sorcery.

The purpose of this topic is to collect the clues about the characters who are destined to Braavos and see what GRRM could make with them all once they got there.

1) Harys Swift and the Mountain's Men

“If that fails, you may well need to go to Braavos, to treat with the Iron Bank yourself.”

Ser Harys quailed. “Must I?”

“You are the master of coin,” Lord Randyll said sharply.

Ser Harys Swyft tugged at his chin beard. “I am in need of guards myself. These are perilous times.”

“Hire the Mountain’s men,” Ser Kevan suggested.

“I put no faith in these Myrish bankers,” Ser Kevan told his good-father. “You had best prepare to go to Braavos.”

Harys Swyft was already in need of guards and Kevan told him to hire Mountain's (remaining) men which probably includes Raff and Dunsen. After the murder of Kevan and Pycelle, Harys will surely hire these men and go to Braavos.

2) Marya (wife of Davos) and Davos' youngest two children

Davos sat beside his candle and looked at the letters he had scratched out word by word during the days of his confinement. I was a better smuggler than a knight, he had written to his wife, a better knight than a King’s Hand, a better King’s Hand than a husband. I am so sorry. Marya, I have loved you. Please forgive the wrongs I did you. Should Stannis lose his war, our lands will be lost as well. Take the boys across the narrow sea to Braavos and teach them to think kindly of me, if you would. Should Stannis gain the Iron Throne, House Seaworth will survive and Devan will remain at court. He will help you place the other boys with noble lords, where they can serve as pages and squires and win their knighthoods. It was the best counsel he had for her, though he wished it sounded wiser.

We know that Stannis is thinking of faking his death and when the news Stannis' fake death reach everywhere, And Marya should be aware of Davos's fake execution by Wyman by the then. Marya will flee to Braavos. There is also the GC landing and taking castles all over the Stormlands. It is certainly not safe there for them.

3) Justin Massey and Tycho Nestoris

"I want you [Justin Massey] gone before midday, ser. Lord Bolton could be on us any moment, and it is imperative that the banker [Tycho Nestoris] return to Braavos. You shall accompany him across the narrow sea."

Justin Massey is to escort Tycho back to Braavos and raise a sellsword army. They will first head back to CB and deliver fArya to Jon. Considering the shitstorm at the CB, they may well get Sleyse and Shireen to Braavos as well.

I will add more if I find other clues.

[Julian Rayne]

I like convergence storylines. Like Ba Sing Sae in AtLA. So I hope you're on to something.

[TheDornishKnight]

I'm rather curious if the Iron Bank's storyline and Arya's storyline are going to converge at all in Braavos.

Perhaps they are Arya's ticket back to Westeros

[ARYa_Nym]

I think Arya's going to converge with major characters in Pentos or to a lesser extent maybe Lys but she will perhaps meet some minor characters in Braavos.

[Victarion Chainbreaker]

I was really hoping that Izembaro would be Tobho Mott so Arya could go directly back to Westeros. I didn't catch that Gregor's men are going to Braavos. That kinda guarantees she'll stay in Braavos.

[Ser Thormond Greystark]

I think the iron bank may send Arya to eliminate Cersei disguised as the missing Lannister boy. Crackpot?

[Mithras]

I think the iron bank may send Arya to eliminate Cersei disguised as the missing Lannister boy. Crackpot?

This is very unlikely and even if they do such a thing, they would not assign that job to Arya. That makes the job very personal and we know the FM do not work that way.

[Tynned Lannistark]

The only reason in the world the mountain's men should get to Braavos other than to get killed by Arya is to make us think they will be killed by Arya.

It could be a red herring but in any case its not by chance that these are the guys who George chose to send to Braavos instead of some anonymous golden cloaks ......

[Fire Eater]

I think Arya may manipulate Massey and Stannis's men into fighting Swyft's party to get her revenge. She could tip off the Mountain's men of Massey's presence, and then inform Massey of the Mountain's men coming to kill them to guarantee that Raff the Sweetling and Dunsen don't survive to clash since they will be taken by surprise.

ETA: I don't know if that letter was sent given that Davos thought he was going to die, but he lived and possibly found it no longer necessary.

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

Interesting read. But the thing I'm most surprised about, is the fact that Davos is writing a letter to his wife. I didn't think of this on my first read or on my rereads, but when did she learn how to read? Or did their new lands come with a maester who can read the letter to her?

[WeirwoodTreeHugger]

Ser Thormond Greystark, on 04 Jan 2014 - 06:07 AM, said:

I think the iron bank may send Arya to eliminate Cersei disguised as the missing Lannister boy. Crackpot?

I've had this thought before too. I'm not sure why everybody takes the FMs don't kill people they know rule as irrefutable fact. I don't really trust them or take anything they say at face value. We only know what they choose to tell Arya so our knowledge of the organization is very incomplete. I'm keeping an open mind on the matter.

It's pure speculation that Arya will act as a KL mole wearing Tyrek's face but can't be ruled out IMO.

[Mithras]

ETA: I don't know if that letter was sent given that Davos thought he was going to die, but he lived and possibly found it no longer necessary.

Davos did not know that he was officially dead while writing the letter. So even if such a letter is sent, it must be done in secrecy, well away from that maester in White Harbour. Still I think Davos wants to send this letter because he is going to a dangerous mission. He knows that Stannis is fighting on the field. They might lose everything.

[evita mgfs]

Bran and Arya share similar journeys. Which leads me to believe that Bran too will be able to reanimate the dead.

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

Bran and Arya share similar journeys. Which leads me to believe that Bran too will be able to reanimate the dead.

Too? When did Arya reanimate the death?

[evita mgfs]

She wears the face of one who is dead after drinking from the cold cup and undergoing a surgery. She even has memories of the dead girl. Of course, she is changing her face - but she "becomes" a girl who has died, yes?

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

She wears the face of one who is dead after drinking from the cold cup and undergoing a surgery. She even has memories of the dead girl. Of course, she is changing her face - but she "becomes" a girl who has died, yes?

No, she stays herself, though she looks like the dead girl, with the occasional memory belonging to that girl flashing by. Arya keeps her own memories and all that.

I'd hardly call that reanimating the death though.

[Pod The Impaler]

Too? When did Arya reanimate the death?

Perhaps the reference is to when (as Nymeria) she pulled her dead mother from the river, and exhorted her to "rise, run, and eat with us" (well, owrds to that effect) - and then cam Lady Stoneheart.

This could be the magic of the Old Gods working through her prayer / wish / warg whisperings. Of course the BWB finding her there by her mother, and Beric doing the re-animation was the actual thing that took place, but as we've seen in some instances, magic incantations and the gods seem to work indirectly, to the degree where one can debate whether it was coincidence or not. If she had not been warged into Nymeria at that time and place, pulled her mother's corpse from the river, if she had not expressed her deep desire for her mother to rise despite being dead and protected the corpse from being eaten, would Lady Stoneheart have risen at all ? So was it the will of the Old Gods, or R'Hillor (or something else) that all this took place?

[evita mgfs]

Rhaenys_Targaryen:

Actually, I do know that. However, I have been reading some weird things on the boards today. This affected me in a fanciful way. With Martin’s ambiguities, vague references, and deliberate blinds, I contemplated the role of “syntax” in the parallel journeys of the Starks, specifically Arya and Bran.

Bran has a vocabulary as a frame of reference for his skills. Arya does not. However, we do learn “theatrical vocabulary” in regards to Arya’s feats of magic.

In plain English, Arya has a face surgically stitched atop of her own, and she identifies with the essence of the pain the girl had suffered prior to her death. Technically, the disguise Arya wears is the visage of a girl who had died. To others untrained in the arts of warging, skinchanging, and facial manipulation, Arya IS for all intents and purposes the dead girl. Yes? WE know she is Arya Stark wearing a mask.

This is where the FM theories muddle my mind, unless I analyze them in theatrical terms. Does Arya’s face change ONLY? When Jaqen becomes Pate, he assumes his physical features as well as his facial features. Or is he Jaqen wearing the face of Pate and Pate’s clothing ONLY? Those who knew Pate might spot such a pretense.

Evidently, there are other ways of face-changing if Jaqen kills Pate and assumes his “face”. No surgery? No magic drink?

Forgive me for speculating out loud – it seems not beyond the realm of possibility for the magic governing Bran and Arya may allow for animating the dead in the same way that the wights are animated – or articulated and moved.

Like I said, I am merely speculating. In theatre and film, Arya and Jaqen are method actors – and Arya has much still to learn if she hopes to achieve a believable performance. A mask and a costume do not by themselves make an actor good. They are merely “tools” available to the artist in achieving his role.

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

But then, when did Bran reanimate a death person? I can't remember that either, or I am forgetting something big here.

[Veltigar]

Don't forget the upcomming struggle to decide who's going to be the next Sea Lord of Braavos. It's stated several times that the current Sea Lord is sick and dying, so we'll probably get some involvement from Arya in the strive that will ensue after his death.

We know from Syrio that the knives come out, even when it's just a regular election. But this time, with Dany rampaging in the east and Westeros in turmoil, there is a lot more at stake than during a normal election. Which will probably equate to a lot more casualties than usual.