[TWOW Spoilers] NEW Chapter Discussion - "Mercy"

[WiDMNDBAMMD]

But she is going back to the play, so they'll know Raff never came back but she did.

Can the guards even see the play or are they guarding the box looking away from the stage?

Either way the other guard might suspect that Raff is still back stage waiting for her scene to end. He can't get too worried until the play is over, which gives her plenty of time to disappear

but yeah this is way more sloppy than her other kill. I suppose getting to cross someone off her list was just too tempting for her not to do.

[Ser Not Appearing]

Except for the fact that she's returned to do the play, and he can't return to his post due to an unexpected case of knife-in-the-throat.

A definite fly in the ointment. I can think of ways that is resolvable but they're all far less clean than they should be. I'll have to think on this.

[jarl the climber]

Just as (more) likely - she is missing after being with a foreigner guard, there's blood at her apartment, he isn't identifiable as referenced by her comments about leeches or eels or whatever and he is seen as the murderer... not her, sweet little Mercy.

I'm not sure they would ever even find his body, ecspecially if she weighed it down somehow.

[Dicer]

Reading this chapter makes me want to see Arya reunite with Jon desperately. Before she loses herself completely. It was creepy the way she kept talking about being later to her rape.

I can't imagine how the Jon/Arya meeting will go. Skinny Arya with her bald head and calloused feet. I think it will be like Asha and Reek meeting, only it will have more of an emotional impact considering how much they love each other.

[Cas Stark]

Even if they don't find Raff's body and Mercy "disappears" it seems almost certain this is NOT what she was there for, as Mercy...so it will mean she's blown her FM assignment..and is still going to create a firestorm of publicity with Raff disappearing. All bad. This Arya's impulsive tendencies at their very worst. It will be for the good if she leaves the FM, but since she appears to be close to an emotionless revenge murder re enacting maniac, it may not matter that much.

[ARYa_Nym]

The cats being grey remind me of Harrenhal.

"No one saw her, and she saw no one, only a grey and white cat creeping along atop the godswood wall. It stopped and spit at her, waking memories of the Red Keep and her father and Syrio Forel. "I could catch you if I wanted," she called to it softly., "but I have to go, cat." The cat hissed again and ran off. "

Grey is one of the House Stark colors. Plus, she said Braavos. the streets, alleys, and canals were crooked which reminded me of her very first line in the series where she said her stitches were crooked again.

[Slayer of Lies]

Okay, I'll say it.

It seems this quote...

"My noble sire he made of purest gold, and gold he made my siblings, boy and girl. But I am formed of darker stuff, of bones and blood and clay..."

...could be seen to play into T=T/A+J=T alternate parentage theories.

Snipe away! :hat:

[laguna80]

Not if Mercy vanishes after the play is over. ;)

That is true and I'm really just playing devils advocate here, because this whole chapter is about Arya, so I highly doubt that we're gonna hear some huge investigation is going on, BUT if a wrench is going to be thrown into Arya's training, it will be because that extra guard will be like "Where they fuck is Raff? He was only supposed to be gone 5 minutes and it's been 20. And oh look, that little girl he went with is back, so where the hell is he?"

[Pod The Rod]

Reading this chapter makes me want to see Arya reunite with Jon desperately. Before she loses herself completely. It was creepy the way she kept talking about being later to her rape.

I can't imagine how the Jon/Arya meeting will go. Skinny Arya with her bald head and calloused feet. I think it will be like Asha and Reek meeting, only it will have more of an emotional impact considering how much they love each other.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I believe that seeing Jon is going to be the trigger that drags Arya out of the abyss, so to speak, and gives her a way to reclaim some of what she's lost. She had the closest relationship with him of any human being, and we see him missing her in DwD. She kept Needle because Jon gave it to her. This relationship is very important, and I think we're going to see that come into play.

[jarl the climber]

Even if they don't find Raff's body and Mercy "disappears" it seems almost certain this is NOT what she was there for, as Mercy...so it will mean she's blown her FM assignment..and is still going to create a firestorm of publicity with Raff disappearing. All bad. This Arya's impulsive tendencies at their very worst. It will be for the good if she leaves the FM, but since she appears to be close to an emotionless revenge murder re enacting maniac, it may not matter that much.

Yeah, I think she was there to learn Mummer tricks for disguising herself. As far as her being a homicidal maniac who has impulsive tendencies, I'm not sure what the FM policy is on that exactly. They know who she really is and that she might have her own agenda for training with them. So it might or might not spell the end of her days with them but we will see.

[aryagonnakill#2]

That is true and I'm really just playing devils advocate here, because this whole chapter is about Arya, so I highly doubt that we're gonna hear some huge investigation is going on, BUT if a wrench is going to be thrown into Arya's training, it will be because that extra guard will be like "Where they fuck is Raff? He was only supposed to be gone 5 minutes and it's been 20. And oh look, that little girl he went with is back, so where the hell is he?"

From my reading of the chapter, that guard cannot do anything until Harys Swift decides to leave, in which case the older guard has to go "I tried to stop him, but he went off with some girl mummer who said the king of mummers sent her to please us." In that even Harys would be like "we were sworn safe conduct this is most irregular" and the Bravosi leadership would be like "we will find him and this mummer girl" But what would really happen, a whole lot of questions with no answers. What is Arya's assignment was the key she already had at the beginning of the chapter, and she had decided her character needed to be murdered and this just fit the plan she already had.

[Lady of Dragonstone]

This chapter read like something akin to a mixture of Stephen King and Shakespeare, with GRRM's classic foreshadowing and hidden references everywhere. I am so excited about TWOW! Very impressive.

So it is basically confirmed that the FM are working against the ruling family of Westeros, and I am going to make the jump and say the IB is funding this. So they did make true on their promise to support Stannis's cause.

The language and sexual overtones in this excerpt did kinda shock me as well. Arya is maturing though, and it is nice to see, but I didn't really care for the rape talk.... It makes me wonder how far LF is going to try to go with Sansa.

"In the fog all cats are grey.. In the fog all men are killers." I loved this line.

I'm really interested to know why the Black Pearl is treating with Lannister supporters. I'd say that she has a choice when it comes to lovers due to her high status. Naturally I'd say she'd be on the side of Aegon or Daenerys, so this one is a head scratcher, but it comes off as ominous to me. I also LOVED the bit about the lack of fruit-bearing trees in Braavos. "There's no Lemon Trees in Bravos" ftw!

"My name is Mercy. Can you say it?" Arya the stone cold killer! Killing, for Arya, connects her old life with her old one, IMO. It is a way for her to have some control over something; "As I cannot be the hero, let me be the monster."

[Cas Stark]

Yeah, I think she was there to learn Mummer tricks for disguising herself. As far as her being a homicidal maniac who has impulsive tendencies, I'm not sure what the FM policy is on that exactly. They know who she really is and that she might have her own agenda for training with them. So it might or might not spell the end of her days with them but we will see.

She gets due credit for the ability to exactly re stage Lommy's death down to the exact wording and the wounds he suffered, using "credit" in the most disturbing, creepy possible application...so, I guess a gold star for persistence and flawless execution of her 'plan'....but, damn, that is really some crazy stuff she threw down there.

[Florina Laufeyson]

Okay, I'll say it.

It seems this quote...

...could be seen to play into T=T/A+J=T alternate parentage theories.

Snipe away! :hat:

No. Stop that.

That is true and I'm really just playing devils advocate here, because this whole chapter is about Arya, so I highly doubt that we're gonna hear some huge investigation is going on, BUT if a wrench is going to be thrown into Arya's training, it will be because that extra guard will be like "Where they fuck is Raff? He was only supposed to be gone 5 minutes and it's been 20. And oh look, that little girl he went with is back, so where the hell is he?"

More like "No, Mercy didnt do anything! She played her part in the Bloody Hand like a good girl and even helped Bobono with his floppy cock. That guard, she was seen with a guard? He probably killed poor little Mercy! She didnt come back after the play. He must have done it! Look at all this blood. He threw her body in the canals, the dastard!"

Where is he? Well theres the spanner, but i dont think its going to get back on Izembaro and thats what she was worried about.

[Lors]

I understand the shock about the sexualization of her character, I was shocked myself when I read it, but in the end, I think it was going to happen sooner or later. By this point she must be twelve years, so she is definitely in puberty, or very close to it.

When I read the chapter I did not get the feeling that she had any intention to truly have sex with Raff, or that she wanted it in any way, I perceived it like something she was doing in a very mechanical way in order to get what she wanted, that is, to kill him. It was the only way she knew would make him follow her somewhere else. How did she know this? because since she was 9 years old, and was traveling in the roads with Yoren and was caught by the Lannisters, she, a 9 years old, has witnessed torture, murder, raping... its not new to her, and in order to survive in that world she developed certain indifference towards that... its exactly the same about she killing so cold bloodlees-ly, she has seen so much of it that it has obviously transformed her, children learn from what they see.

Besides, in Braavos she has been surrounded also by prostitutes all the time and by men, so its only natural that the way she thinks of solving problems is that...

I don't think she was thinking as Mercy, I think she is still Arya, its only that she is learning how to manage her identities... its like Sansa/Alayne... by the end, Sansa thinks AS Alayne, however I didn't get that impression with her, she was thinking ABOUT Mercy, and trying to think like her... like when she recognizes someone in the crowd and she thinks "but Mercy wouldn't know them, and they wouldn't know Mercy".

About who she is playing and her apparent not caring about her sisters´s fate, I think this is her trying not to think of that, not that she doesn't care... Remember that chapter in AFFC when she killed Dareon? she hardly thinks of that, we readers don't get to see what she is thinking because we are reading "Cat of the Canals" however she, ARYA hates him for betraying Jon and kills him for that, its just that we don't see it. I think the same is here... she is learning to get rid of herself, but the wolf dreams wont just let her do it... part of her original self is in that wolf, its her anger and desperation, that's why Nymeria is so wild...

About her becoming a murderer, well.. again, those are her tools, she wouldn´t have survived a day in KL the same way Sansa wouldn't have done it in the road. Arya always had a stronger personality. that and everything she has lost, and seen, and lived, and her training... well, there you have it.

I don´t think she is going back to King´s Landing now.... I think she first has to know about Jon´s stabbing and that will make her leave. And she is studying mummery, so all that thing with Raff, well... its part of her using what she has learned...

That's all I think... loved the chapter, love Arya.

[Pod The Rod]

I just realized. She keeps trying to get him to say her name, "Mercy". If she had succeeded, couldn't that be taken as a prayer for a gift of mercy? And wouldn't that make him a legitimate target, giving her an excuse for the Kindly Man? "But sir, I DID act in accordance with the wishes of He of Many Faces. I was answering a prayer for His Gift."

[Newstar]

Reading this chapter makes me want to see Arya reunite with Jon desperately. Before she loses herself completely. It was creepy the way she kept talking about being later to her rape.

I can't imagine how the Jon/Arya meeting will go. Skinny Arya with her bald head and calloused feet. I think it will be like Asha and Reek meeting, only it will have more of an emotional impact considering how much they love each other.

Eh, I don't think Arya would be physically much the worse for the wear: she's always been skinny, hair grows back (as Cersei reminded us), and calloused feet could be covered by shoes (and would be a mark of pride for Arya anyway). She's apparently growing up to be quite pretty, since Mercy is as pretty as Arya, and Mercy attracts a good deal of attention (baldness and skinniness notwithstanding). Jon's the one with the facial scars, and if he gets some sort of magical resurrection, God only knows what he'll look like afterwards.

...The more I think about it, the less convinced I am that Arya was playing Sansa. Bummer. I thought that was awesome, in a horrible kind of way. So dark! But nope, I got ahead of myself. Oh, well.

...could be seen to play into T=T/A+J=T alternate parentage theories.

"Clay" could also suggest greyscale, no?

[JonCon's Red Beard]

Yeah, I think she was there to learn Mummer tricks for disguising herself.

That's exactly what I thought and my mind went immediately to Varys. The chapter was Arya, but there was some Varys presence all over. The way Raff dies, lured away by a kid, it's practically the same way Kevan died.

[The Wolves]

It seemed like Arya grew up really fast in this chapter because her sexuality was really focused on and she used that for a kill and I don't think she's ever done that before.

Arya was mature in this chapter more than any of her other ones.

And I'm glad somebody voiced how the sexual attraction to children was disgusting

[Frances Bean Corbray]

On one hand, "Edd Fetch Me A Block" just got some SERIOUS COMPETITION. :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:

On the other hand wow was that a lot of casual rape talk and I realize how much I've been dreading Arya being "old enough" for her arc to have this more mature theme and, moreso the sort of fanchat this is going to foster going forward.

I suppose being uncomfortable is part of the point and it's very good writing and of course I love the callback at the very end but. Yeah.