Any predictions of Arya's fate?

[Ed Mike]

Ok, here's a possible twist, but evidence first:

"She took a breath to quiet the howling in her heart, trying to remember more of what she’d dreamt, but most of it had gone already. There had been blood in it, though, and a full moon overhead, and a tree that watched her as she ran."

A tree watched her while she was in a wolf dream? That strongly suggests Bran can monitor her via weirwood net, and since she realizes he's doing it she has a potential for making it a two way communication. My earlier guesses about her being an agent of Varys for most of the remainder of the story now have to compete with a possibility she will be Bran's agent instead. Not at all sure it will shake out that way, but all of a sudden she could become far more involved in the war against the Others.

I like it. Can't see how she will discover the tree is her brother, but i like your theory.

And yet... I have the feeling that Martin is going full depressive on Bran and the Reeds, and that he is going to vanish inside the weirwoods as a passive observer with a single someone-saving-last-line-said before loosing his individuality, no one EVER discovering his fate, his family oblivious to his "survival" and both Reeds frozen solid in that cave.

The saddest arc in the series, for me, if it comes to that.

[Facelesss Fan]

Here's a prediction: Arya will make her way to the Vale. Give the gift to Balish, escort Sansa to wed fAegon, then on to KL to replace Varys; who Cersi's has had killed.

:cool4:

[Littlefinger's dagger]

Here's a prediction: Arya will make her way to the Vale. Give the gift to Balish, escort Sansa to wed fAegon, then on to KL to replace Varys; who Cersi's has had killed.

:cool4:

And thereby Sansa's cliche is subverted by having her rescuer be the little sister she was embarassed by. It's satisfying in a way. Having Sansa wed fAegon i don't know about (for the moment I'm of the opinion Varys told the truth to Kevan).

Arya as Varys 2.0 as a prediction always had the problem of Arya's age, by the end of the books she's still implausibly young to sit on the small council, but to me "Arya's fate" can extend past what we are shown in the books Martin writes. I suspect licensing deals will eventually be struck for other writers to take up the storyline in a controlled way. Not fan fiction, but with full license and approval from Martin. Unless he ends the series like the final episode of "Six Feet Under" there will be plenty of room.

Now about Varys being killed by Cercei: how do you figure that? Varys is able to walk in and out of the castle and kill Kevan, so he can disguise himself when needed, and ghost around KL indefinitely. Given Cercei's demonstrated penchant for handing important jobs to incompetent lickspittles, how is she expected to pull that off? She can't even get Tyrion's head brought to her. I would think it would be Varys killing Cercei, except for the prophecy about a little brother, so it's either Tyrion or Jaime, or someone else's little brother.

[Littlefinger's dagger]

You're rude and condescending. Bored now.

Yeah, you can't present a convincing argument, and you were pretty inarticulate to start with. No loss.

if you are going to make stuff up about the books and swan it around as "inevitable" then as far as I'm concerned you have a target on you. If when called on it you can't back it up with facts or back down on unsupported claims, you deserve a little rudeness, you're insulting everyone's intelligence with what can only be self-serving BS.

[The Stags Man]

Would not shock me if she is kicked out for icing Raff. I don't think that they'll hunt her down over it.

They might even steer her to Varys, where she becomes his protege and personal assassin for most of the remainder. I think Arya's final fate will be as Master of Whisperers for whoever sits the throne at the end of the series, poised to be the scariest and best at it since Bloodraven. Her experiences were not planned as such (i hear a conspiracy theory already though) but they are in the process of shaping her to be a better Varys than Varys.

I don't get the comparison to Varys or everyones idea that he know everything going on with all the charaters. Arya is the wild card in westeros everyone thinks she is dead or if she is alive she will need protection. Her comeing back could mess up many peoples plans expesialy Varys who belives all the Starks are dead excepted Sansa, Arya killing major charaters or trying to take back the North will throw everyones plans to shambles. This is why i belive she will have a major impact in the next two books.

[Littlefinger's dagger]

I don't get the comparison to Varys or everyones idea that he know everything going on with all the charaters. Arya is the wild card in westeros everyone thinks she is dead or if she is alive she will need protection. Her comeing back could mess up many peoples plans expesialy Varys who belives all the Starks are dead excepted Sansa, Arya killing major charaters or trying to take back the North will throw everyones plans to shambles. This is why i belive she will have a major impact in the next two books.

Here's a quick version of the comparison:

Arya: effectively orphaned, forced to steal to live, currently apprenticed to a troupe of mummers, taught stealth and disguise and about poisons. Assumes other identities as needed to hide. FM trainee expected by many to wash out.

Varys: effectively orphaned, forced to steal to live, apprenticed to a troupe of mummers, established a network of thieves which he transitions into a network of spies. Assumes other identities as needed to hide. It's not unthinkable that Varys is a washout FM trainee.

Varys can not skin change that we know of, but Arya can. Bloodraven had that talent in his day. With some tutelage in politics from Varys, Arya could not only run a spy network but render parts of it redundant by being able to drop into cats and birds and gather her own intel without leaving the keep. Her training allows her to interrogate without needing to torture and detect lies presented to her.

Varys does not presumably know of Arya's location, in order to put them together we have to speculate on something that may or may not happen. Her presumed death would make her an even more valuable dagger for Varys, should he become aware of her current situation.

Arya is not a wild card, she's more of a face card that's been played. To most, Ramsay's bride is Arya, and she's harmless. The only person looking for her to speak of is Brienne. Arya is now far more skilled in disguise than she was before, while having Varys watching her back while she finishes her list in KL would be nice, she could potentially do without it. In the long run, she is more effective with some assistance and tutelage from him, and even without that she'd be doing things Varys would benefit from anyway, like picking off Cercei's court and making her even crazier

Agreed she'll have an impact, unless there's a storm on the way from Braavos or some other deus ex machina takes her out of the game unexpectedly.

[Faceless Man Friday]

I think Arya will be around for the end game. She is too good a character not to be. She is so malleable, GRRM can take her character anywhere in the story. Whether she lives or dies at the end is too early to say. Arthur died. Why not Arya? Up to this point she is well on her way to what is considered the classical Hero's journey, She is currently heading to her low point from which she may arise if she continues on this journey. That is why I don't buy all this damaged goods stuff. All true heros are damaged goods. I never read a good story where the hero wasn't damaged and then rehabilitated. I think it is too early in the story to know if Arya will be a hero or not but my bet is that she will play a hero. After all when GRRM dropped the 5 year gap he was quoted as saying, "If a 12 year old has to conquer the world so be it." Arya will be 12 soon. I don't say that to mean he told us how the story end but to emphaize the importance of her character to the story. But who knows maybe she will conquer the world? :dunno:

[Cas Stark]

I somehow don't see her in KL, it seems most likely she would go back to Westeros w/Justin Massey, which would put her in the North...maybe able to reunite w/Jon, and possibly head down to the Riverlands to get the Freys and reunite w/Nymeria. But, I guess it could go the other way as well, she starts in KL and then goes to north.

[Littlefinger's dagger]

I like it. Can't see how she will discover the tree is her brother, but i like your theory.

And yet... I have the feeling that Martin is going full depressive on Bran and the Reeds, and that he is going to vanish inside the weirwoods as a passive observer with a single someone-saving-last-line-said before loosing his individuality, no one EVER discovering his fate, his family oblivious to his "survival" and both Reeds frozen solid in that cave.

The saddest arc in the series, for me, if it comes to that.

If they can establish communication through the tree, he can tell her. Or choose not to. The trick will be upgrading an awareness that there is another consciousness in the tree to exchanging messages that are mutually understood. That she knew the tree was more than just a tree is itself pretty amazing.

Agreed that if Bran's fate is to save the world at the cost of being merged with a tree like BR, it would be both heroic and very sad. Not at all sure things will play out that way, but they certainly could.

[Mourneblade]

People considering her evil are missing a lot of her motive and what drives her especially the influence of the wolf.

Is a wolf evil when it kills? No and neither is Arya. She is not a sociopath either, as what she does is a means to an end. Not saying she won't become one, but she is not one now.

[Littlefinger's dagger]

I somehow don't see her in KL, it seems most likely she would go back to Westeros w/Justin Massey, which would put her in the North...maybe able to reunite w/Jon, and possibly head down to the Riverlands to get the Freys and reunite w/Nymeria. But, I guess it could go the other way as well, she starts in KL and then goes to north.

At least now you're admitting it's an open question.

The Justin Massey idea for Arya's return doesn't quite wash with me. How is he supposed to verify her story, even if she meets him and tries to tell him? It's a long string of coincidences and things that are out of character for her to return in the company of Massey. The only real reason he keeps getting trotted out as a ticket home is that he'd be returning north and eventually she'll want to go there too. But only eventually, if Arya has a hand in deciding her next station, she'd pick KL as she has no way of knowing where Dunsen is (other than somewhere in the riverlands), but Cercei, Trant, and Payne she'd expect to find in KL.

The FM could give her one last try by sending her to Tobho Mott in KL, knowing that if she goes feral again, at least she'll be where most of her death list people are, and where she'd be likely to ask to be sent upon washout anyway. Or they could send her there with no further tries to stay in the order. An additional possibility (and there are more than these) is they already know of Varys, and can immediately see these two might help each other, and offer to pack her off to him in KL. Everyone wins, and she's that much closer both to finishing her list and getting the training from Varys that might give her a sense of purpose after the list is empty.

Arya as Varys 2.0 has problems, but it just seems too much in the characters' interests for them to ally, and for her succeeding him eventually.

[Littlefinger's dagger]

People considering her evil are missing a lot of her motive and what drives her especially the influence of the wolf.

Is a wolf evil when it kills? No and neither is Arya. She is not a sociopath either, as what she does is a means to an end. Not saying she won't become one, but she is not one now.

Yeah, I don't get the evil thing either. She has a good reason for going after her list. If as a character her anger and desire for vengeance can be tempered down to a desire to defend her family (what can be salvaged anyway) and/or a genuine desire for justice, she has potential to redeem into someone as noble as Brienne. She never wanted to be a lord's wife, so no loss if that never happens.

[DeepBlueSky]

Well, I think Arya has considerable plot armor and that George is unlikely to kill her off. At least for awhile. It seems that Arya has more to do. She is finally crossing names off her list. One of the names on her list is one of the biggest bads in the series. Contrary to all the character analysis and talk of grey characters, Cersei is bad. And someone needs to get Cersei by the end. I mean come on... she and Petyr Baelish are Stark Enemies One and Two from the very beginning. There is no way they're escaping unscathed and if they do I think most readers will be very unsatisfied.

I can't read that new chapter and not think at the end that justice, not just vengeance, has been served for Lommy Greenhands. And very, very clever that such poetic justice was served up in a chapter involving play acting (for what was Shakespeare if not a poet?)!

I loved, loved, loved this new chapter. So many hints at so many things, such great pacing, and a killer ending. I have a sense that now we are really in for a fantastic end to this story, that George has been trying to get to this stuff for a long time now (he does say this is an old piece) and the end will be awesome. (I am excited!)

I am speculating wildly here... but my prediction is that Arya will be the one to unravel Varys' secrets. They are foils in a way. Varys is like but unlike Arya. Varys and Arya are both skilled at being sneaky and at playing a part/role when they must. They are both survivors(Varys directly says he is a survivor when he remarks on how he keeps paddling). But Varys' character is ice where Arya's is fire. Varys is cold and calculating, Arya is hotheaded and rash. Yet this scene in this new chapter shows Arya becoming more calculating, becoming colder, if you will. I think this and the rest of the implications of Arya training as a mummer underscores the idea that Arya is following in Varys' footsteps, as she has been since the beginning in GoT when she was literally following in his footsteps under the red keep.

Consider that what Arya overheard there greatly concerned her about her father's well being. She is not likely to forget that, or any other part of that conversation.

My other wild speculation is now that Arya will be part of the fulfillment of the valonquar prophecy. I think this may also involve Ser Meryn, Ser Ilyn, Jaime, and Brienne in some fashion.

Are there going to be repercussions for not being able to dedicate herself to serve the FM? I can't imagine there wouldn't be as secret assassin guilds can't just let trainees leave with their secrets... sort of defeats the purpose of being a secret assassin guild. However, Arya is a survivor... and maybe she can survive that too.

I think Arya will be around for the end game. She is too good a character not to be. She is so malleable, GRRM can take her character anywhere in the story. Whether she lives or dies at the end is too early to say. Arthur died. Why not Arya? Up to this point she is well on her way to what is considered the classical Hero's journey, She is currently heading to her low point from which she may arise if she continues on this journey. That is why I don't buy all this damaged goods stuff. All true heros are damaged goods. I never read a good story where the hero wasn't damaged and then rehabilitated. I think it is too early in the story to know if Arya will be a hero or not but my bet is that she will play a hero. After all when GRRM dropped the 5 year gap he was quoted as saying, "If a 12 year old has to conquer the world so be it." Arya will be 12 soon. I don't say that to mean he told us how the story end but to emphaize the importance of her character to the story. But who knows maybe she will conquer the world? :dunno:

I agree with you both. Arya may die in the end, but she isn't dying until near or at the end. Few characters have plot armor as thick as hers right now. And it doesn't hurt that GRRM has said that Arya, along with Tyrion, are his favorite characters.

[Ahri Adaran]

As people have pointed out Arya has plot armor a mile thick now since, as Martin himself says on his blog, this chapter sets up the beginning of a plot arc, it doesn't end a plot arc. And while Martin kills his share of important characters his willingness to do so is often exaggerated and he always does so at a dramatic point at the end of a plot arc after that's character's purpose has been served. Having the FM say "bad Arya, don't kill random people, so die now" and succeed would be ridiculously anti-climactic so it won't happen. Arya has to do something, and do something big before she dies otherwise we'll have had a whole lot of set-up for nothing.

After she does something big though, all bets are off. The doom bells are certainly tolling loud especially knowing what Martin thinks of characters who give themselves over to violence and vengeance. She's still got a lot of lines to say but there's a very good chance of either live by the sword, die by the sword for her.

[A Bastard Snow]

If I remember Yoren told her about the name thing but she missed the message.I think she will survive but she is going to have to pay a price for her survival.Also the hound survived so I think she may survive by forgiving someone (Jamie perhaps?)

[KingSlayer510]

I believe that Arya will never fully commit to being a Faceless Man, that some part of her will always be Stark. In this new "mercy" chapter she was Arya again at the end, if only for a second. And she was unable to throw Away Needle. I think she will be sent on assignment to Westeros and while there will revert back to Arya, I do kinda think her dying would be a more fitting ending than just getting married and/or settling down

[Harold II]

I'd just like to echo the sentiment some have that Arya will ride a dragon. I think Sansa will also, with Jon rounding out the trio.
A time for wolves. Bran is tree god/dragon warg, Rickon is the young lord of Winterfel.

There are some serious parallels between these three and the original 3 Targaryen dragon riders. I don't think there is a place for the mother of the dragons.

I am just imagining Faceless Man Arya wielding Dark Sister, while riding Viserion.... with Nymeria's wolf pack running along in tow.

Scary.

Then there is also her unresolved relationships with Jon, Sansa and Gendry. And her kill list.

EDIT: oh, and there is the small issue of the new plot arc she is supposedly starting down.

So in all, I do not see her dying in the story, except maybe at the climax/

[Amris1]

If we assume the Faceless Men are closely associated with the Iron Bank - which seems likely though admittedly is unproven - then I have a hard time imagining the FM will kill off Arya at this point.

Reason: The Iron Bank has just put itself behind Stannis, supporting the enemies of the current management in King's Landing. Thus the IB would want to get their hands on any resource helping them in that cause.

Arya Stark of Winterfell is an extremely valuable resource in the game about the north and against the Lannisters. Killing her off would be wasting a very valuable chess piece.

Especially now, that the fake Arya is circling and the Boltons' claim to the north largely rests on Jeyne.

[Faceless Man Friday]

I have been reading a lot of predications for Arya on this tread and others. It has changed my opinion somewhat, at least to a point I am willing to make a guess. I believe that the FM are fully aware that Arya will never be “no one” and they are alright with that. It fits into their plans whatever they may be. Arya needs the training provided by the FM to play her role in the “end game” of the series. She is going to do something big. I don’t know what that is going to be yet but it may be something like what Maisie Williams described at a recent comic-con Q&A. When asked about Arya’s death on the show she jokingly said it should be an entire episode where Arya is snatched up by one of the dragons thrown into the air and cooked by dragon flame. On her way down while still clutching needle she stabs Cersei and is then eaten by Nymeria but continues to live on somehow through Nymeria. She is not the only one who thinks Arya may live on through Nymeria. I have read it several times on this board. In the past I rejected it as I thought she has to make it to the end but I am now thinking that maybe she will but this will be her final destination. There is precedent in other stories. Arthur goes to Avalon. Frodo goes with the Elves. Maybe at the end of the story Arya does something heroic but “dies” only to live on running free with Nymeria and her pack. :dunno:

[Mayura]

It's actually interesting to re-read Arya's chapters in ADWD after reading her new TWOW one :)

The kindly man mentions, when he learns that Arya of House Stark killed the deserter of the NW, that the prize one of the valyrian slaves had to pay to have another man killed was to devote his own life to Him of Many Faces, as the slave owned nothing that could be given as a compensation for his prayer being answered. So he had to pay by becoming a faceless man himself and serving the God.

I understood this as meaning that as Arya has killed, she has to pledge her life to the God for the lives she has taken.

On the other hand, I found some details to be quite strange:

- Arya kills the NW deserter as Cat of the Canals, outside any assignment. But still, instead of being punished for doing so, she is allowed to go forward in her training: she is blinded 6 months before it was originally planned (from "the little blind girl ADWD"). Which means that Arya doesn't seem to have received any punishment for killing (and judging) a man outside of any assignment, instead she was "rewarded" by an advanced practice.

- Blind Beth advances in her training by developing her warging abilities (an ability belonging to Arya Stark).

- The Ugly Girl advances in her training by performing the killing she has been assessed.

- Mercy seems to think she will advance in her training by killing Raff the Sweetling and therefore answering to Arya Stark's prayer.

This leads me to several reflexions in relation with Arya's fate:

1. Does the KM and FM truly want her to become no one? Because it seems that whenever she acts as/like Arya Stark, her training advances all the same.

2. Or does it simply mean that by killing these men, she, the FM in training, is answering the prayers of Arya Stark and thus Arya Stark will one day have to pay for having had her prayers answered? If so, then either Arya will be a FM for life or she will have to die to pay thr price with her own life imo