[TWoW SPOILERS] March chapter mercy part ii

[ARYa_Nym]

I don't think it's out of nowhere. Maise Williams gave an interview a few days ago and while show and books are different canon, I think there are things that apply here. Basically, she said Arya shouldn't be anyone's favorite character anymore and that she doesn't really give a fuck (or something along those lines). And that's in character in the books. She's not completely empty (her regret from having to abandon Mercy and the mummers troupe shows this), but she barely cares for anything else than her vengeance. She's way too damaged.

She did. She also said Arya does not care about going back to her family anymore which should be interesting for those pro Arya leaving the FM and going back to the Starks. Maisie doesn't read the books though and may be only going off what the producers tell her.

"She gets herself into a lot of sticky situations, but they're really good situations for her. Old Arya would be nervous about it and wouldn't push things as far as new Arya pushes them," Williams tells Zap2it. "She doesn't keep her mouth shut. She says a lot of things that old Arya wouldn't. You thought Arya was kind of outgoing and blunt, but the new Arya is just a lot less aware of that, almost, and isn't trying to be cheeky; [she] just purely doesn't care. I think that's the one thing to take away from Arya this year: She feels nothing. She's not happy, she's not sad, she's not grieving, she's not vengeful. She's just nothing."

She's also given up on trying to reunite with her family. One of Arya's main goals after she escaped King's Landing following the death of her father, Ned Stark, was to find Catelyn and Robb, or make it to the Wall with her half-brother Jon Snow. But she's done looking out for the rest of her family.

"She's completely given up on [reuniting with her family], and it almost feels like they've given up on her because she's like, where were they?" Williams says. "She's angry. She feels like she's the only one who's been trying. Where's the search party looking out for her? Why did no one recognize her? She's angry at the fact that she's trying so hard -- she was angry at the fact that she was trying so hard -- and she can't see any of it coming back.

"I don't want people to like her anymore, almost. That sounds really, really bad," Williams admits. "I want people to realize that actually she's not the same anymore. You can't root for her forever, because she's not there to be your favorite character. That's not what she's there for. She's real. People go down bad paths and they make bad decisions, but it's always justified in their head. I want the audience to differentiate that and not just be like, 'Oh, it's Arya, we love her.' Because actually look at what Arya's doing. She's being eaten away from the inside out, and she's not stopping it."

[D_Richard]

georgerrmatin.com has been down for the last couple hours for me. Feeling really left out right now.

:(

[Moondancer]

Nooooo, that's fans' speculation. This --

But at Martin's publisher, HarperCollins, his publisher

Jane Johnson tells me this morning that there's no date lined up "until George delivers, and I have no idea when that will be. This is such a huge series and so convoluted and hard to structure as he approaches the end that it is going to take time to get exactly right."

Sorry for the off topic moment, mods.

[yolkboy]

Is it ever stated that Oberyn went to Braavos specifically?

“It is a secret pact,” Dany said, “made in Braavos when I was just a little girl. Ser Willem Darry signed for us, the man who spirited my brother and myself away from Dragonstone before the Usurper’s men could take us. Prince Oberyn Martell signed for Dorne, with the Sealord of Braavos as witness.”

DwD

[Grail King]

How would she know about Shae though? Did that become common knowledge?

She was a maid for Lolly ( setup by Varys), then for Sansa after Tyrions wedding.

[Lady Fevre Dream]

Why not call her Queen Stork, since she's playing a queen? Like I said, it seems from the later reference that when they talk of Lady Stork, they're talking of the actress. After all, why would Daena necessarily refer to the actress by the name of her role? It's Arya, and only Arya, who seems stuck with the Stranger thing... and that makes sense to me, to some degree, since she has a special affinity for the Stranger, one of the many faces of the Many-Faced God.

Not to mention if Lady Stork was the character, that would rule out......her also being a queen. A Sansa type character in this play wouldn't be queen, unless of course, Tyrion the evil demon monkey actually does crown himself somewhere along with way. That would put 3 kings in the story.

Also, I noticed on a reread, Mercy wasn't quoting her only lines in the play, just stating that most of them were along the lines of 'oh no, oh no, please, I'm a maiden' etc. It doesn't specify that those are Mercy's only lines, just that most of them are that type of dialogue.

[Vegeta_Greyjoy]

I can't remember all the possibilities that were discussed in the original thread on her "controversial" chapter, so I might have read this and it just got buried in my subconscious, but a truly horrible and (hopefully) crackpot possibility occurred to me while reading this chapter.

While her character in the play might not be based on Sansa, I think that "Mercy" herself may be based on her. Or at least based on Arya's conception of Sansa. There were a couple lines that made me think this:

A good girl, a happy soul who does what she's told and is prone to giggling. That sounds a bit like Sansa in the GOT era when Arya last saw her.

With that in mind, this is the line that was very disturbing:

When I read that, the possibility of LF dousing Sansa with Sweetsleep (through her Lemoncakes) and....you know....shot through my mind. :ack:

I can actually picture GRRM writing something as creepy and horrible as Sansa going groggy and blacking out, then waking up not really knowing what had happened. That way the rape isn't detailed, but only murkily alluded to. Sansa herself maybe never even suspects, and readers just feel a terrible sense of dread.

If Sansa actually does get married to someone and ends up pregnant shortly after we would never know if it was LF's kid or her husbands. I know Sansa and LF have been tied to the Bael the Bard story. Disturbingly, the girl in that story ended up with Bael's kid....

I'm just being paranoid. This will not happen. This will not happen. This will not happen.

That's how I read it as well.

[Waylin Stark]

Incredible chapter. Didn't expect it to be Arya's chapter.

The whole thing regarding Arya having to seduce, get groped, and be forcefully kissed was sickening. But it shows how much she has matured and she isn't scared about it.

And the dwarf's gag penis was TOO descriptive. It's going to go down with "Myrish Swamp" and "Pink fat mast".

I didn't realize the lord was Harys Swyft, had to come online to find out.

And as for the guard, I was wondering who it was, until it was revealed it was Raff. I jumped with joy when that was revealed.

And his death was so damn satisfactory.

[Newstar]

I was getting a Sansa vibe from Arya's conception of Mercy, or at least Sansa circa AGOT. There was so much emphasis in this chapter on Mercy being raped. Were it not for GRRM saying he won't do POV rapes, I would have assumed from this chapter that Sansa will be raped as well.

[alguien]

I sort of wondered if this bit:

The sad-eyed little man called Quill stood in the back, come to see what he could steal for one of his own plays.

was a little shout out to ole' Bill Shakespeare?

[ARYa_Nym]

I was getting a Sansa vibe from Arya's conception of Mercy, or at least Sansa circa AGOT. There was so much emphasis in this chapter on Mercy being raped. Were it not for GRRM saying he won't do POV rapes, I would have assumed from this chapter that Sansa will be raped as well.

I think Mercy may have been raped and Arya likely had those memories like she had of the ugly girl being beaten.

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

“It is a secret pact,” Dany said, “made in Braavos when I was just a little girl. Ser Willem Darry signed for us, the man who spirited my brother and myself away from Dragonstone before the Usurper’s men could take us. Prince Oberyn Martell signed for Dorne, with the Sealord of Braavos as witness.”

DwD

Ah yes, completely forgot about that for a moment :)

But looking at the timeline, Sarella would have been born by then. She would have been a few years old.

[Lady Fevre Dream]

I see above some are saying the GRRM site is down, I guess I'm lucky I left my page to Mercy open. Anyway, I was thinking about the implications with the FM, and what Arya's next move would be and noticed that when she first saw Raff she said, underlined, the gods have given me a gift, and even says a prayer to the Many Faced God as she starts to execute her Raff plan. I'm wondering, will she try to present it as a prayer answered, a gift given, to The Kindly Man. Will she try to wiggle out a technicality in the situation?

[Waylin Stark]

How did Arya decide to abandon Mercy's identity on her own. Isn't she supposed to use her identity to learn mummer's tricks?

Yet she kills Raff, compromising Mercy's identity, and proceeds to abandon it after the play.

Won't she face repercussions for abandoning her training?

[Chebyshov]

How did Arya decide to abandon Mercy's identity on her own. Isn't she supposed to use her identity to learn mummer's tricks?

Yet she kills Raff, compromising Mercy's identity, and proceeds to abandon it after the play.

Won't she face repercussions for abandoning her training?

It looks like she wasn't able to leave Ayra Stark behind. Maybe this puts an end to her training plotline and she'll soon make for Westeros to seek vengeance? Probably wishful thinking though. But very good question, indeed.

[Cas Stark]

So, Maise doesn't think people should root for Arya anymore, can this get any more depressing?

[the conquoring bastard25]

I want to know did anyone pay attention to the info dump that the lannister guards give us. TYWIN LANNISTER WAS IN LYS ON BEHALF OF KING AERYS SO THE QUESTION IS WHY?

[Suzanna Stormborn]

How would she know about Shae though? Did that become common knowledge?

its definitely Sansa, not Shae

[ARYa_Nym]

So, Maise doesn't think people should root for Arya anymore, can this get any more depressing?

I vaguely remember her saying she liked Bronn though who is a seasoned killer with little remorse so that's funny.

Sure Arya is not good anymore but a fan doesn't have to only root and like someone that's good. They can like her because she's bad or like her whether she's good or bad.

[Suzanna Stormborn]

I sort of wondered if this bit:

was a little shout out to ole' Bill Shakespeare?

Quill is the Forel writer right??