Will Arya leave the Faceless Men or will she become an assassin?

[Archmaester Drew]

Will Arya leave the Faceless Men or will she become an assassin?

If she remains, then she must be 'no one', with no agenda of her own. Do you think Arya will surrender her autonomy to become an instrument of death?

:)

[King of Vaes Tolorro]

I hope she doesn't remain. Assassins are terrible, if you are going to kill someone, make sure it is personal. And that stupid Ia am no one thing.

[Archmaester Drew]

I think she will leave too, she has her own journey to contend with and it would require her to suborn everything that drives her to stay. :)

[BRANDON GREYSTARK]

No she is going to be either the new lord or lady of the North or the next spymaster .

[Pod The Impaler]

I think something big will happen with them first. I would not call it a "showdown" exactly, but things will come to a head between Arya and them.

She is in too deep with them to be of no importance; her motives and theirs will clash again, unless their motives are not what they seem. We do not know their ultimate purposes, but I suspect we'll find out.

The anger in her has not abated, only come under her control, and her identity stays strong with ger desire for vengeance. Why did the Many Faced God, or the Old Gods, send her on this path? We must know.

[Ser Greg of House House]

TWOW spoilers:

From what we've read from 'Mercy'... she's pretty much out. IMO she can't be killing people willy nilly and still be with the FM. How much has she learned though?

[Pod The Impaler]

TWOW spoilers:

From what we've read from 'Mercy'... she's pretty much out. IMO she can't be killing people willy nilly and still be with the FM. How much has she learned though?

If Raff was willy-nilly at all. Perhaps she earned that one on credit for something else? Perhaps the MFG answers her prayers, and they know it?

[Fisch]

She didn't keep Needle for nothing. I'd predict she reaches a breaking point in her tutelage.

[lomiller]

Faceless men are not assassins, they are priests and she seems to be converting to their religion.

I don't think she just stays with them, I think she becomes whatever it is they have for a leader. There is a lot of Norse mythology in the books and a lot of things that suggest Arya = Hel.

Hel has a body that is half pale bloodless flesh and half black with decay. (I.E. white and black)

Arya currently resides in the house of white and black

Hel is driven out of Asgard and made into the ruler of Niflheim

Arya is driven out of Westeros to Braavos

Niflheim is a land of perpetual mist and fog and is the source of the source of 11 icy cold rivers

Braavos is also know for it's near permanent fog and Arya is frequently associated with rivers.

Hel receives the souls of those who do not die gloriously in battle. I.E. those that die from sickness, accidents, old age essentially the common people.

Arya's story is tied to the common people rather than the knights and nobility who make up the warrior class in Westeros. The Faceless Men kill via accident and natural causes and explicitly do not kill face to face in combat.

the entrance to Hel's realm of the dead is protected by a giant hound named Garm

Arya is by Sandor AKA the hound, who is now likely a grave digger. A grave is also the entrance to the realm of the dead.

Hel has a dragon Nidhug

Ayra? maybe...

If you really want to look for parallels and possibilities...

In Norse mythology Ragnarok follows a an extraordinarily long winter lasting several years during which there will be wars betrayal and strife. After the armies of ice and fire assemble for a final battle with the gods. Loki, the shape-shifter (Bran?) summons his children the giant wolf Fenrir the wolf (Jon?), the Midgard serpent (dragon?) Jormungandr (Dany?) and Hel (Arya?) to the final battle with the Gods (others?). Jormungandr (Dany?) will return from the ocean where it was cast into as a child having grown powerful and so enormous it circles the whole world. Fenrir (Jon?) will break free of his bonds and spread death and destruction. Hel (Arya?) will set sail from Niflheim (Braavos?) with the armies of the dead. Surtr (Milisanre? Stannis?) Will lead the armies of fire fighting with a flaming sword. Surtr will kill Freyr (Freys?), The hound Garm (The Hound?) and the one handed swordsman Tyr (Jaime?) will kill each other. At the end only a few humans survive the to begin repopulating the world

[Pod The Impaler]

This approach has been mentioned before.

I have also often thaought that as it applies to the FM / HOBAW and their religion, Arya is way too connected with death to be a common sort of recruit. She may end up leading them, or in some way changing them.

They seem to know the secrets of the Doom of Valyria, and although they state they are aloof from ideas of judgement and people deserving their "gift", their cult's origins might suggest otherwise.

[Skoros morghot vestri?]

I think she rides the FM wave for at least a little bit... But I feel like her memories and dreams are too strong an indicator that she wont let go of her past.

My question is, if & when she parts, will she be able to leave without conflict?

[PrinceHenryris]

Both! I don't see her staying with the FM, but I think she'll end up assassinating a whole bunch of people.

[Dorne in the USA]

Her story will allow her to return to Westeros, but I don't expect a happy ending. Needle is everything about her past that she is unable to let go of, she knows John is still on the wall. The looming threat of the others will bring her back to the west or a contract on Cercei because of the debt owed to the crown to the iron bank.

[JRose1989]

She still has her list, and if she stays with the FM there is no way she will get to finish it off.

I say she leaves about half way through WoW, maybe trying to run away from the FM? I doubt theirs is the kind of order you can just up and leave whenever you want. There will be a price for leaving the priesthood, just hope it's not too steep.

[ARYa_Nym]

I'm thinking even if she leaves she's not going to be an assassin.

So when you had first introduced Arya, you knew she was going to become an assassin?

Well she's not an assassin yet. You are assuming she is going to become one. She's an apprentice.

But she's already going around killing people and she's learned a lot of the secrets.

Not only in Ice and Fire — we also did this bit in the Wild Cards series, the whole thing of the child solider is a fascinating construct. We have this picture of children [as] so sweet and innocent. I think some of the recent history in Africa and some of the longer history have shown that under the right circumstances, they can become just as dangerous as men, and in some ways more dangerous. On some level, it’s almost a game to them.

http://observationdeck.io9.com/george-r-r-martin-the-complete-unedited-interview-886117845

Anyways, she has learned languages. There are 3 she should have down by this point. Trade language, Braavosi, and High Valyrian. She was just recently told to learn Pentoshi and Lyseni so she would need more time for those 2. She knows potions and poisons. She has learned mummery.She learned to use fingerblades and how to help with cooking. She has not learned the thing that make the FM who they are. The ability to change her face. She will likely not have time to learn that. Maybe she'll learn glamor which comes before that but maybe not.

[Sword of the Morgan]

I think she's either going to leave or get kicked out, because they wouldn't task her with killing someone that Arya Stark would have known, so what would be the point? If you've read the Mercy chapter from TWoW, then you can see that she may be about to get kicked out.

[Hand to King Davos]

Arya is going to leave. To become a true FM you must abandon yourself, which Arya will not do (see Needle, wolf dreams, her prayer). Also, she must at some point be reintroduced into the main storyline. So she must return to Westeros in some fashion, and it makes far more sense for her to go there than for the FM to send her.

[How I Met Your Hodor]

:agree: the need for a faceless man to abandon all that they were before they entered the house of black and white won't happen to Arya, she will always remember who she was through her connection with Nymeria