[TWOW Spoilers] March 2014 Chapter Part III

[The Lord of the Waters]

Lord Varys

I think what you are saying is quite reasonable and seems to be in line with my own beliefs on this. for me the key thing is that the technique of the FM (whatever it may be) clearly involves some deeper form of magic; far deeper than any kind of glamour (as the kindly man states).
To me if this technique involves this kind of magic, then surely there is the possibility for change of size/weight/height/gender/appearance etc. as you say. I also wish to state that I don't believe Arya has yet reached the ability to use the technique and so she is having 'Faces' applied by the KM, as she was with the 'Ugly girl' face. Which is possibly why she has only so far become characters of a similar structure to herself.

booknerd2

I think some of what you are saying sounds right to me. I think Arya will be incapable of giving up her identity for good, she will always be Arya etc. To be honest I think if she ever does completely give up her identity, then her story will be a sad one overall; Arya is to me someone who has lost almost everything accept herself. So yeah, based on her behaviour so far I find it difficult to believe she will lose herself completely.

As I say I believe she will leave the FM, one way or another. I don't really think they will 'kick her out' for some reason though, I feel she will leave of her own accord eventually.

[Lord Varys]

Oh, I forgot to add a few additional things:

As of yet (if nothing important has happened between ADwD and 'Mercy') Arya is not able to wear a face all by herself, nor can she remove a face from a corpse. But both must be techniques full-blown Faceless Men have mastered:

1. Jaqen impersonates Pate now, which means that he must have removed his face from his body after he had killed him.

2. Jaqen could change his face on a whim in ACoK, which very heavily implies that a full-blown Faceless Man can wear multiple faces at the same time. He just switched between the 'Jaqen face' and the 'Alchemist face' in ACoK when he changed faces.

I'm pretty sure Arya will have to master these abilities before we can think about her leaving the House of Black and White/Braavos.

But as I've said earlier it's very likely that she won't go to Westeros but to Meereen/Volantis to assassinate Daenerys. That would cause a lot of tension, and she may not want to return to Westeros again if she was to learn fro Stannis' envoys - perhaps even from Shireen/Selyse - that Jon Snow is dead.

Arya could regain shreds of her former self and/or another view on life and the world on that mission to kill Dany.

[boojam]

Arya could regain shreds of her former self and/or another view on life and the world on that mission to kill Dany.

I never have understood where this Dany stuff comes from , she's the only person who might claim the IT who IB of Braavos could actually trust.

She is the totally reformed Valyrian , abolitionist , who the FM must be flabbergasted by, but I am sure who would favor.

[FittleLinger]

Oh, I forgot to add a few additional things:

As of yet (if nothing important has happened between ADwD and 'Mercy') Arya is not able to wear a face all by herself, nor can she remove a face from a corpse. But both must be techniques full-blown Faceless Men have mastered:

1. Jaqen impersonates Pate now, which means that he must have removed his face from his body after he had killed him.

2. Jaqen could change his face on a whim in ACoK, which very heavily implies that a full-blown Faceless Man can wear multiple faces at the same time. He just switched between the 'Jaqen face' and the 'Alchemist face' in ACoK when he changed faces.

I'm pretty sure Arya will have to master these abilities before we can think about her leaving the House of Black and White/Braavos.

But as I've said earlier it's very likely that she won't go to Westeros but to Meereen/Volantis to assassinate Daenerys. That would cause a lot of tension, and she may not want to return to Westeros again if she was to learn fro Stannis' envoys - perhaps even from Shireen/Selyse - that Jon Snow is dead.

Arya could regain shreds of her former self and/or another view on life and the world on that mission to kill Dany.

As you say, Jaqen also changed body type with his face transformation, no? Of course it can be mummery, (stuffing cloth, etc) but it seems really inconvenient.

Arya's arc can really be going towards Daenerys, as we know she is compassionate with children and trusts them. The FM make a big point about women not being a common asset with them, and a young girl would seem perfect for the job, methinks.

ETA: Also, if they see that she is not completely "clean" off her Arya Stark identity, they could try to use that with Dany - Arya's father was a main figure in removing the Targ dynasty.

[Jehanne]

But the Iron Bank looks like it's going to support Stannis at this time, so if Dany's a threat to him, they might decide to take her out.

[DrunkSister]

Yeah, he uses WordStar which IIRC doesn't have italics, only underline.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!!!

[boojam]

But the Iron Bank looks like it's going to support Stannis at this time, so if Dany's a threat to him, they might decide to take her out.

Considering his situation and resources , even with the IB's help, I give him a much lower chance of succeeding , or even surviving than I don Dany.

If Dany succeeds in all things Meereen, she could take care of the IT's debt with chump change.

We have yet to know what the IB think of her, that I know of.

[Lord Varys]

Getting the job to kill Dany could really be the cause for Arya to rethink the Faceless Men thing. Especially if her lessons in the history of the organization reveals that the FM should actually support Dany, but refuse to do so because they have struck a deal with Stannis first.

And we still don't know how relations were between the dragon-riding Targaryens after the Conquest and Braavos...

And, by the way, the fact that GRRM has revealed that this Arya chapter was supposed to be the first chapter after the five-year-gap strongly suggests that we are still volumes away from the conclusion of the series. ADwD after the gap would have been the novel preparing the second Dance of the Dragons and the War for the Dawn. AFfC/ADwD also did that - at least sort of - but they were depicting stuff that could have bee skipped/only hinted at if there had been a gap (i.e. Dany/Jon learning to rule, Cersei sucking at ruling, Arya/Bran/Sansa's lessons, Brienne/Tyrion/Quentyn/Victarion's travels).

The actual conflict and the actual story lines of the major characters are still beyond the horizon.

[liknar]

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!!!

No he has often said he uses word star in interviews b/c no auto correct, connection to internet, and it is more stable/no viruses.

[Veltigar]

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!!!

Nope, IIRC his publisher even has specially designed software to transfer WordtStar to Word.

[The Lord of the Waters]

I don't envisage Arya being sent to assasinate Dany, I just don't think it will get that far for Arya. I think she will at some point abandon her position with the FM and return to Westeros for some (yet to be determined) reason.

I think that Arya will become quite cold/vengeful as we have seen already and it's possible that maybe a reunion with Jon (if he is still alive) might cause her to find herself again.

I am starting to wonder whether or not the TV series will effect the way George writes/sees factors of the story going forward. For example this developed more grown-up Arya (as people have pointed out) might be influenced by the way the character can be portrayed in the show by the actress who is getting older also. Just a thought.

[liknar]

Is Mercy going to get "murdered" on stage or off?

My arguments for off stage:

• She thinks about needing to go to the Gate to get raped, not raped and murdered.
  
• All the characters talk about her impending rape, but not murder.
  
• She thinks about needing to return for her first and last lines.
  
• Her thinking that she would miss "Mercy" and her theater friends
  

Arguments for on stage:

• Checking the trick dagger, a high priority for someone about to be stabbed
  
• They could be her last lines due to having killed Raff
  
• the way she refers to raped and murdered as though they were related and of no consequence
  

[The Lord of the Waters]

Is Mercy going to get "murdered" on stage or off?

My arguments for off stage:

• She thinks about needing to go to the Gate to get raped, not raped and murdered.
• All the characters talk about her impending rape, but not murder.
• She thinks about needing to return for her first and last lines.
• Her thinking that she would miss "Mercy" and her theater friends

Arguments for on stage:

• Checking the trick dagger, a high priority for someone about to be stabbed
• They could be her last lines due to having killed Raff
• the way she refers to raped and murdered as though they were related and of no consequence

The 'rape' and any mentions of it, in my mind refer only to the rape in her performance on the stage.

Whereas it seems to me that Mercy's 'murder' is Arya's plan to abandon the character of Mercy. As Mercy is a character/person know by the other mummers, it would be strange for Mercy to just disappear one day, therefore Arya needs a way to abandon the character; therefore the character of Mercy will die/be murdered.

I don't necessarily think people will actually witness Mercy being murdered, but I suspect a body will be found/evidence of her death, merely to explain the disappearance of the character without her just vanishing into thin air.

[liknar]

I think that it needs to be more than just her disappearing. Cat of the Canals disappeared and reappeared many months later with no-one batting an eye. She is still concerned about appearing for her "rape" so I don't think she is deserting the FM. Are they more concerned with Izembaro cover so not wanting his actors to just go missing. That doesn't make much sense, Arya believed that Izembaro would kill the dwarf if he messed up his lines again. That doesn't sound like a person who overly cares about a person who would care overly much about a missing stage hand/ extra.

IMO I think she was told to give someone the gift from the envoy so she could fake her death. Give her face to them and take his to infiltrate the envoy.

[Hardstone]

Do we know if Brusco and Big Brusco are the same character?

[The Sleeper]

Reading fresh Arya material after three and a half. Wow, that was quite the treat. So much to comment on ...

Okay, it seems that Arya is well in the stint of her apprenticeship as a mummer or probably at its conclusion. She has well familiarized herself with her fellow mummers and their habits as well as the menial tasks an apprenitce would help with and is ready to perform for the first time. This affrded her the opportunity to learn about the props and aritifice neccesary for effective disguises and to train as an actress while herself is pretending to be someone else. The play within a play theme extends to Arya herself and has some extra layers as she plays her own role with the FM as she jumps to the opportunity to off Rafford, while pretending to be a naive girl shyly pursuing an attraction. All these have been well forshadowed if not explicitely stated by Martin in previous chapters. The KM straight forwardly stated that she was to be trained as a mummer, her dedication in performing her kills has long been established and Raff had been set up to head for Braavos.

- Mercy

Loved the choice of name for the new personna, both for the allusion to the gift of mercy as well as for the irony that she is usually quite merciless herself. The fact that this new a adopted personna is a departure from her own personality is the logical next step in her progression from Cat of the canals who was very much like the original Arya. She appears to draw a very clear line form herself and form Mercy, speaking about herself in the third person thinking about what would Mercy do and what and whom she would know. She pretends not to understand what the sailors are saying to her and to be a bit naive about their attention, she underlines which things do not belong to Mercy, she pretends not to know what sigils are. (I am fairly sure she knows who Swyft is; he was part of Tywin's retinue in Harrenhal and had noted him as someone the cooks despised sufficiently to spit in his food). Whlie she sympathizes with Mercy she doesn't seem to have a very high opinion of her.

I don't think she is wearing a face. The possiblity cannot be discounted, but everything in the chapter is consistent with Arya being as she is. She is skinny and gets favorable reactions with a smile, something she noted as being Cat. Apparently now it is enough for her to get reduced rent. Glamors in order to be effective would need to account for differences in physicallity. Mance was able to pose as a smaller man and appeared taller and broader when the glamor was compromised by removing Rattleshirt's bone armor and Jaqen could not pretend to be Pate among people who have known him for years and hang around with him if there were any differences in size. So either the supposed dead Mercy was very similar to Arya physically, or she is not wearing a face. The personality discrepancies that are supposed to support the theory seem to me consistent with the act she puts on whille her internal thoughts are very much like Arya, they seep out with Bobono. She is snappy with him in order to draw the line.

- Raff

I was torn between cheering for her dispatcing the bastard and being distrurbed of how far she was willing to go to do it. It generates the same vibe with Tickler, or rather the next step in that thread. Richly deserved and her recreating the instances of Lommy's murder felt like comeuppance. Her thought that he knew his line and so did she, was delicious and disturbing at the same time, like when she was reciting Tickler's questions while reducing him to a bloody pulp. Worse, those two kills put together make the beginnings of a pattern. The first was an outbreak in a life or death situation, the second was performed with assessment and calculation. The first was against her better judgement. Her instincts told her that she should have run away, but she stuck it out. In the second occasion she was perfectly aware that there would be consequences both personal and greater, as well as that this was her only likely opportunity to get to him. She prioritized killing Raff.

- Sexuality

It seems to me that this is something imposed on Arya by her environment. She has seen all sorts of sexual violence and sex being a commodity and as it was mostly not directed at her, it reamined outside her immediate experience. She also witnessed all these things while being a child outside of the guidance of adults or any kind of social structure that would place these things in context for her while she herself considered the premables as the province of her elder sister. As matters of attraction become relevent to her personally, it seems almost natural that she would consider sex in the same light she has been forced to consider everything else: from a practical and pragmatic point of view. At the same time it seems to me that sexuality is enroaching at the edges of her awareness with puberty creeping on. She is far more conscieous of what a driving force sex constitutes in adults and I can't help but hear distaste both in her judjement of Wendeyene's(?) behavior, at her description of Rafford's tongue, at Bobono's banter and even at Mercy's own attitude.

I think there are some interesting points about her attitude towards both Bobono and Wendeyene. I think a girl like Mercy who is giggly and does what she is told would either be distressed by his behavior and try to avoid him or possibly be flattered by the attention. Arya does not act like that, she acts like herself. If one focuses solely on the dialogue it might seem that she is participating in the banter. Observing her motions, gives an entirely different message. She both grabs his nose and stands to tower over him, asserting her physical advantage. She is teeling him that he is out of line and that she can take him if he continues along those lines. It seems to me obvious that she considers Raff repulsive, even if she did not intend to kill him. Her attitude towards her colleague who traded sexual favors for privildges with Izembaro presents an apparent contrast with the prostitutes that were her friends as Cat. The language ( .. she sucks his cock) she uses and the eventual outcome of that chosen path makes me think of rejection and condemnation rather than consideration. She thinks Wendeyene is being foolish and her winding up at the ship where she is going to be pimped out probably against her will is to be avoided. In contrast her prostitute friends have at least some control over how they dispose of their bodies.

I think this is a fairly healthy foundation to encounter puberty and become acquainted with her own awakening sexuality. The problem lies with her willingness to do pretty much anything to get the job done as demonstrated by her willingness to endure Rafford in order to kill him. The other problem is that she will become aware of the dominance and power issues that are entangled with sex. I think that she will be highly suspicious of even well intentioned advances and that she will turn extremely violent if she feels her imposed boundaries threatened.

To be continued.

[ladyinblack]

The FM--I think they operate more like the CIA

[Elaena Targaryen]

I truly don't see how some feel that the Mercy chapter shows or proves certain opinions like; "Arya is a sexualized sociopathic killer with no empathy who does not even think of her family when surrounded by all of the imagery - which this chapter proves all of the above" I see many contradictions here.

I think it would be impossible for Arya, being/playing Mercy or not, not be reminded of her family here and I don't need a specific 'thought' from her to tell me so. They are there with us and Mercy the entire time, Sansa is invoked so strongly in this chapter it's almost oppressive - to he point many think Mercy must be acting as Sansa in the play and/or Arya models Mercy after Sansa. Have some of you forgotten who's perspective this chapter is written in since she spends her time forcing herself to be Mercy? Martin wrote the chapter as Arya so Arya is the one invoking these intense feelings, it may not be very specific 'thoughts' like some of you want however I was no less emotionally effected but probably more so.

I felt that is why Arya becomes so passionate about needing to kill Raff that it seems sexualized "She wanted him so bad" and all that. Arya has been having wolf dreams with Bran watching and probably attempting to communicate with her - she has been working on and practicing a play that probably has a Sansa character in it telling her story in an unflattering light I'm sure - Arya's character is to be raped by her sister's vile twisted husband - this play has the people who beheaded her father in it, who are on her all important "Prayer List", and most likely cast as heroes - and so on, and some of you feel that Arya is just running around carefree and giggling? So carefree that when she sees that one from the envoy's group, sent by the evil Lannister crew that has destroyed her family, just so happens to be another from her all important "Prayer List" that Arya thinks "the gods have given me a gift" that she is insincere and lacks empathy?

No I bet Arya has been so tortured by all of the reminders of her family that it truly was a gift from the gods offering her a release before she did crack. The desire to kill Raff is so much beyond anything as blasé as vengeance, it is something beyond choice or reason, she has no control as it has become breath and life at this point. Arya needs to kill him, Arya can not wait to kill him, Arya can not lose her chance... it has to happen and can not be stopped anymore than an avalanche could be stopped. The fact that Arya also needed it to be played out in such a ritualistic fashion, reenacting Lommy's death exactly, just highlights her desperation for her family to me - no simple slash and run would or could appease the demons that have been haunting her.

Yes, the whole chapter is sexualized but it all is done in a disturbing way, you are supposed to be disturbed left, right, up, down and sideways - it's intended to show another haunting layer of torture that Arya is enduring. Does that mean this is the Arya we will see from now on? Fat chance of that, sure if it's efficient in the moment we might see the femme fatale again but this was just the certain circumstances, done in the quickest way, utilizing her character against the specific target - because it just had to happen to ease Arya's emotional battles, cut the girl just a little slack people. I'll dig it up if you want but I've read an interview where Martin compares Arya with Theon/Reek in the emotional crisis department...

[Rhaenys_Targaryen]

Do we know if Brusco and Big Brusco are the same character?

That is never stated, but seeing as how part of the name is slightly different (Brusco from Cat of the Canals was called Brusco only; Brusco from Mecry is specifically Big Brusco) plus they seem to have completely different jobs, I think they are a different person.

There are always multiple people with the same first name in Westeros, why would that be any different in Braavos?

[DrunkSister]

No he has often said he uses word star in interviews b/c no auto correct, connection to internet, and it is more stable/no viruses.

Oh dear, I'll have to let whoever made this know. :D

I don't think she is wearing a face. The possiblity cannot be discounted, but everything in the chapter is consistent with Arya being as she is.

That night they gave her back the face of Arya Stark.

They brought a robe for her as well, the soft thick robe of an acolyte, black upon one side and white upon the other. “Wear this when you are here,” the priest said, “but know that you shall have little need of it for the present. On the morrow you will go to Izembaro to begin your first apprenticeship. Take what clothes you will from the vaults below. The city watch is looking for a certain ugly girl, known to frequent the Purple Harbor, so best you have a new face as well.” He cupped her chin, turned her head this way and that,nodded. “A pretty one this time, I think. As pretty as your own. Who are you, child?”

“No one,” she replied.

In that little detail you are wrong.

I am looking forward to the rest of your impressions. :)