Will Arya be sent to kill Sansa?

[ARYa_Nym]

It hasn't come up at King's Landing yet. True, they have Qyburn as master of whispers instead of Varys, but Alayne's existence should be common background data by now.

And here lies the problem for the FM: as an intelligence organization, they probably care for Westeros as much as for the Summer Islands, or Volantis. Heck, probably they currently care more about Volantis thanks to the war in Slaver's Bay. So, do they have the analysts in place to wonder about Baelish's newly found daughter? How knowledgeable of Westeros are those analysts? How many hours per day they work? Would they know that Alayne is dying her hair? Would they even know what color is Alayne's hair before hand? Would they connect the dots and consider the hypothesis that Petyr Baelish newly found bastard appeared about a month or so after Sansa Stark went missing, that the bastard is only one year older, and that Baelish might be hiding Sansa Stark in plain sight for whatever purposes?

Or would the hitherto un-introduced Westerosi analyst write "Not enough information on Baelish bastard. Origins unverifiable. Something is likely to be odd" in some report to be stored somewhere before moving to more important matters? And, should anyone hire the FM to kill Alayne, that small piece of information will be given to the operative, trusting the FM in charge of killing her to fill in the blanks?

First of all there's no one there that wants her dead. Everyone around her wants to use her. Those who want her dead want Sansa Stark dead and would ask for such.

Second, they don't have to know everything about the hair dye and things like that. Her hair was auburn before but that is a shade of brown hair anyways. Just the basic information of LF's prior connection to Sansa's mother which would be well known and LF suddenly acquiring a daughter and it's already known that Sansa is missing is enough to suspect who she might be. I think people in the Vale already think she's Sansa. LF didn't do much of a disguise.

I don't think they'll send Arya alone to Westeros. So far her assignments were solo, but they were also in Braavos, where they could (and likely had) watch her.

Given that GRRM said it's an assumption that she's going to be an assassin and that she's not going to be as seasoned as she would have been with the gap she might not ever even get an assignment in Westeros but leaves before that. That would align with the foreshadowing which as I said points to Dany and Greyjoys who are not in the Vale. She may see it as her ticket to where she wants to go. GRRM did say that there hasn't been a contract on the dragons yet and Arya will see dragons but it's unlikely she would be the one who is told to kill them.

Jaqen got thrown into the black cells so, unless that was part of his plan, it doesn't look like his mission was flawless at all

We don't even know if he was on a mission then. It could have been between missions and GRRM said he didn't put thought into how Jaqen got into the black cells. I was talking about his mission as the Alchemist.

As for paying the price for Alayne, we could say the same for the insurance man. Besides, whatever the price is, it can very well be lower than the profits of marrying into the Lord of the Vale - which might require disposing of a bastard without anyone even knowing she was murdered.

We don't know what the price was but someone made a sacrifice. The FM aren't the Second Sons. They have religion to contend with too. Even actual FM have to pay a price and they're not talking about money. The price is all of you. Thinking on it even Euron had a personal sacrifice given that he wanted to fly since he was a child and had dreams of it. We know that he is dead set on having dragons. That could have been a life long dream of his and yet he gives away the egg because that was what he had to pay to kill Balon. It wasn't money or the treasures he got while living as a pirate. LF told Robert that the FM were expensive and they shouldn't hire one for Dany. Robert is someone who had Lannister money at his disposal. If it was simply a matter of funds it wouldn't make sense to tell someone with Lannister money that it's too much unless the price is actually going to be something else.

It wouldn't require that. Balon required it because it would be kinslaying and that would hurt Euron's chances at winning the kingsmoot. Cersei is the one who wants her dead and lets it known that she wants Sansa dead. This is not something she's been hiding. She announced it. She wants the Stark girl to pay and everyone to know about Lannister wrath.

Or maybe Jaqen send word. We don't really know - this world combines actual magic with trickery, as Melissandre demonstrates.

Jaqen hadn't seen her in a year or so. He couldn't have known when she was going to the FM or that she was even going since Arya never told him she would go to the FM. For all he knew she could have died or he could believe that she was found and was going to be married to Ramsay.

[Lord Freypie]

FMs aren't sent to kill people they know.

Arya may kill people she know, but only because she remains Arya Stark.

Sansa isn't on her list.

Only possibility I see is

1/ Petyr returning to Braavos (unlikely)

2/ Petyr recognizing Arya (very unlikely especially as she is very likely to have another face when they meet)

3/ Petyr telling Arya that Sansa revealed Eddard plans to Cersei and caused his fall (possible)

4/ Arya believing him and adding Sansa on her list (extremely unlikely)

5/ Arya abandonning the FM and succeeding to leave Braavos alive (not 100% likely)

Adding all that I'd say chances are small it will happen.

[ARYa_Nym]

We have another example of sacrifice:

"… but one day, the first of us heard a slave praying not for his own death but for his master's. So fervently did he desire this that he offered all he had, that his prayer might be answered."

Really I don't see any reason to believe the FM just ask for a bit of money like everyone else.

[Victarion Chainbreaker]

We have another example of sacrifice:

Really I don't see any reason to believe the FM just ask for a bit of money like everyone else.

And I don't see why the price for killing a bastard would be the life of the King of the 7K. And where did you get the idea that money is unimportant to the Faceless Men? Can you give me any example of the Faceless Men being adverse to taking money for a contract?

[SacredOrderOfGreenMen]

She can't be sent to kill Sansa cause she knows who Sansa is.

It's against the rules of the FM to kill someone you know.

[ARYa_Nym]

And I don't see why the price for killing a bastard would be the life of the King of the 7K. And where did you get the idea that money is unimportant to the Faceless Men? Can you give me any example of the Faceless Men being adverse to taking money for a contract?

Can you give an example where they only asked for money?

They wouldn't be adverse to it if that's what the person who was asking for the kill valued the most. Then they would have to pay all their wealth or most of it. Still even in a case where someone paid most of their wealth they had to give up a human being on top of that.

[Annara Snow]

There will be a reckoning between the sisters. I think Arya will be revolted and Sansa will be ashamed. I believe Arya will be tempted to whack her sister but she will stay her hand. Petyr though, he's a goner.

Of what? What would Arya have to be revolted about, and what would Sansa have to be ashamed about?

[juanml82]

First of all there's no one there that wants her dead. Everyone around her wants to use her. Those who want her dead want Sansa Stark dead and would ask for such.

None wants her dead yet. Someone might want Alayne dead during the events of TWOW

Second, they don't have to know everything about the hair dye and things like that. Her hair was auburn before but that is a shade of brown hair anyways. Just the basic information of LF's prior connection to Sansa's mother which would be well known and LF suddenly acquiring a daughter and it's already known that Sansa is missing is enough to suspect who she might be. I think people in the Vale already think she's Sansa. LF didn't do much of a disguise.

But our hypothetical analyst would also have access to the public information of the WOT5K, which includes LF doing all sort of things to undermine Catelyn's side, a chain of events which ultimately led to Catelyn's death. So our hypothetical analyst could write something like this "the Sunset Kingdoms former Master of Coin was raised along Lady Catelyn Stark and Lady Lysa Arryn, was in love with the former during his youth and actively conspired against her during their last barbaric war. As a result, the Sunset Kingdom's governance allowed him to marry his other foster sister, which seems to indicate some strange family dynamics in the Tully household when Petyr Baelish was young. Operatives assigned to the Vale of Arryn may need to look out for the Baelish and Tully connection. Also, Petyr Baelish has also revealed a bastard daughter born from an unknown and unverifiable mother during the years he was set apart from the warring sisters. Now, onto other matters, I need a cup of coffee"

Given that GRRM said it's an assumption that she's going to be an assassin and that she's not going to be as seasoned as she would have been with the gap she might not ever even get an assignment in Westeros but leaves before that. That would align with the foreshadowing which as I said points to Dany and Greyjoys who are not in the Vale. She may see it as her ticket to where she wants to go. GRRM did say that there hasn't been a contract on the dragons yet and Arya will see dragons but it's unlikely she would be the one who is told to kill them.

Or she deserts before "graduating", maybe during her final test - and contract. She has killed for an assignment already so, whatever GRRM wants to say, she is a professional hitman, even if she's still training.

We don't even know if he was on a mission then. It could have been between missions and GRRM said he didn't put thought into how Jaqen got into the black cells. I was talking about his mission as the Alchemist.

Which was probably the same mission.

We don't know what the price was but someone made a sacrifice. The FM aren't the Second Sons. They have religion to contend with too. Even actual FM have to pay a price and they're not talking about money. The price is all of you. Thinking on it even Euron had a personal sacrifice given that he wanted to fly since he was a child and had dreams of it. We know that he is dead set on having dragons. That could have been a life long dream of his and yet he gives away the egg because that was what he had to pay to kill Balon. It wasn't money or the treasures he got while living as a pirate. LF told Robert that the FM were expensive and they shouldn't hire one for Dany. Robert is someone who had Lannister money at his disposal. If it was simply a matter of funds it wouldn't make sense to tell someone with Lannister money that it's too much unless the price is actually going to be something else.

Euron didn't give up on his dream of dragons. He, apparently, paid them with a dragon egg he had no means to hatch. And he certainly didn't pay all of himself, given that he's not a slave.

It wouldn't require that. Balon required it because it would be kinslaying and that would hurt Euron's chances at winning the kingsmoot. Cersei is the one who wants her dead and lets it known that she wants Sansa dead. This is not something she's been hiding. She announced it. She wants the Stark girl to pay and everyone to know about Lannister wrath.

I think you misunderstood me. What I meant was "Lady Whatshername wants to marry HtH to become Lady of the Vale. HtH is betrothed to that upstart's bastard. Lady Whatshername contacts the FM to get rid of the Upstart's bastard in a way that doesn't look like murder. The FM check their intelligence files on her and they ask her for half her fortune. Say, 100,000 gold dragons. Lady Whatshername accepts because she'll be able to recover that investment as Lady of the Vale"

The FM now have a contract on Alayne Stone and one of their full fledged assassins takes it. Considering all the issues Jaqen faced in Westeros, they decide to send a young trainee with him - a trainee with vast knowledge of the Sunset Kingdom's barbaric ways, and they also consider that a fifteen years old girl without a heavy guard could be a good enough target to continue that trainee's training. Should she feel the call of home and desert, her fully fledged companion can get rid of her and carry on the assignment. So, for Arya, it's a test on multiple levels: they test if her Westerosi uprising is useful, should the need come to kill more important Westerosi targets, they test their skills with on the job training and they test their loyalty by giving her the chance and the emotional connection to try to desert them. If she success in all three, she graduates.

Jaqen hadn't seen her in a year or so. He couldn't have known when she was going to the FM or that she was even going since Arya never told him she would go to the FM. For all he knew she could have died or he could believe that she was found and was going to be married to Ramsay.

Imagine the coins are numbered, or they have some sort of code. So Jaqen sends word that the coin with "57863" carved on the edge was given to Arya Stark of Winterfell. Arya gives the coin to the KM, who looks at the "57863" code engraved on the edge and knows the girl is Arya Stark.

She can't be sent to kill Sansa cause she knows who Sansa is.

It's against the rules of the FM to kill someone you know.

Only if the FM know Alayne is Sansa

[Lost Melnibonean]

Of what? What would Arya have to be revolted about, and what would Sansa have to be ashamed about?

They're not there yet.

[SacredOrderOfGreenMen]

Only if the FM know Alayne is Sansa

If they don't know that then they will have failed ultimately at being an Assassin's Guild.

Bronze Yohn nearly recognized Sansa on the spot, Miranda Royce has ferreted her out by baiting her with a reference to Jon.

Think about it: after the assassination of Joffrey, and the disappearance of Sansa Stark, who is wanted for regicide because she's exactly the person who want that fucker dead, just at that moment Petyr Baelish shows up at the doorstep of Sansa's last known living relative, with a beautiful daughter nobody's heard of before who's about Sansa's age, with hair that almost certainly look dyed. And then that aunt dies.

Everybody in the Vale and their grandmother knows that "Alayne" is Sansa.

[juanml82]

If they don't know that then they will have failed ultimately at being an Assassin's Guild.

Bronze Yohn nearly recognized Sansa on the spot, Miranda Royce has ferreted her out by baiting her with a reference to Jon.

Think about it: after the assassination of Joffrey, and the disappearance of Sansa Stark, who is wanted for regicide because she's exactly the person who want that fucker dead, just at that moment Petyr Baelish shows up at the doorstep of Sansa's last known living relative, with a beautiful daughter nobody's heard of before who's about Sansa's age, with hair that almost certainly look dyed. And then that aunt dies.

Everybody in the Vale and their grandmother knows that "Alayne" is Sansa.

The Bronze Yohn is a Westerosi lord who had met Sansa in the past. The FM are Braavosi, living in an age without Facebook, the NSA snooping communications, data mining, computers and, more importantly, seemingly without hundreds of analysts keeping track of everything that happens in the known world.

For the FM, who's more important in the Sunset Kingdoms' court? Littlefinger or Jalabar Xho? One is a minister, comparable in functions to whoever handles the finances of Ibben or Qarth, the other is an exiled prince of the Summer Islands, who might just happen to find the way to reconquer his lands and become the ruler of the Summer Islands.

It's a matter of focus and manpower. They don't get a Linkedin listing of all members of all courts in the entire world. They can't have a bot tracking the Facebook status of the teenage girls at court. There is no IMF to publish economic statistics of every country in the world. There is no Google. Creating a Planetos version of the CIA Fact Book has to be done with actual people, everywhere. They will not know that Littlefinger boasts of deflowering both Tully girls by snooping some whatsapp chat. They would need someone well placed at the Red Keep to actually hear that. Do they have such an agent in place? Do they have more agents at the Summer Islands, Yi Ti, Ibben, Qarth, Asshai? How large are they? Remember, for the FM, Westeros is one of many foreign powers. Some analyst dedicated to Westeros, who is receiving a wealth of information, including the relevant information might arrive to the right conclusion, but what makes you think they are devoting manpower to track one finance minister of the war-torn Sunset Kingdoms, whose war don't really affect them, when there is an upcoming Sealord election and a Targaryen girl rebuilding Valyria sans slaves? Kevan Lannister, who isn't an idiot and has a vested interest in Westeros hasn't arrived to the right conclusion, and the FM, who don't give a damn about Petyr Baelish will?

[SacredOrderOfGreenMen]

The Bronze Yohn is a Westerosi lord who had met Sansa in the past. The FM are Braavosi, living in an age without Facebook, the NSA snooping communications, data mining, computers and, more importantly, seemingly without hundreds of analysts keeping track of everything that happens in the known world.

For the FM, who's more important in the Sunset Kingdoms' court? Littlefinger or Jalabar Xho? One is a minister, comparable in functions to whoever handles the finances of Ibben or Qarth, the other is an exiled prince of the Summer Islands, who might just happen to find the way to reconquer his lands and become the ruler of the Summer Islands.

It's a matter of focus and manpower. They don't get a Linkedin listing of all members of all courts in the entire world. They can't have a bot tracking the Facebook status of the teenage girls at court. There is no IMF to publish economic statistics of every country in the world. There is no Google. Creating a Planetos version of the CIA Fact Book has to be done with actual people, everywhere. They will not know that Littlefinger boasts of deflowering both Tully girls by snooping some whatsapp chat. They would need someone well placed at the Red Keep to actually hear that. Do they have such an agent in place? Do they have more agents at the Summer Islands, Yi Ti, Ibben, Qarth, Asshai? How large are they? Remember, for the FM, Westeros is one of many foreign powers. Some analyst dedicated to Westeros, who is receiving a wealth of information, including the relevant information might arrive to the right conclusion, but what makes you think they are devoting manpower to track one finance minister of the war-torn Sunset Kingdoms, whose war don't really affect them, when there is an upcoming Sealord election and a Targaryen girl rebuilding Valyria sans slaves? Kevan Lannister, who isn't an idiot and has a vested interest in Westeros hasn't arrived to the right conclusion, and the FM, who don't give a damn about Petyr Baelish will?

But they aren't going to send a newbie to kill the daughter of a powerful Westerosi lord, and before they send someone out there going to do some snooping around.

There's no way that the FM, who've killed Balon and had their man Jaqen passing throughout the Red Keep, haven't been keeping abreast of the political intrigues at court. They know who Petyr Baelish is, and they will make damn sure that they know who this Alayne is and where she came from before they send out a newbie to kill her, let alone a newbie with possible connections to the man.

They're the Faceless Men. They're magic fucking assassins.

They know shit.

[juanml82]

But they aren't going to send a newbie to kill the daughter of a powerful Westerosi lord, and before they send someone out there going to do some snooping around.

There's no way that the FM, who've killed Balon and had their man Jaqen passing throughout the Red Keep, haven't been keeping abreast of the political intrigues at court. They know who Petyr Baelish is, and they will make damn sure that they know who this Alayne is and where she came from before they send out a newbie to kill her, let alone a newbie with possible connections to the man.

They're the Faceless Men. They're magic fucking assassins.

They know shit.

The FM who takes the contract will have to do snooping around, what I mean is that they won't know beforehand. To do that, they'll likely have to send someone anyway, and that person might as well do he killing

[Annara Snow]

They're not there yet.

Oh, so it's fanfiction.

[ARYa_Nym]

None wants her dead yet. Someone might want Alayne dead during the events of TWOW

If they want her dead they can just do it themselves and hire someone else. There's no need to hire a FM. Since no one wants Alayne dead then this theory would be based on something that isn't in the text and there hasn't been any indication that it will be.

But our hypothetical analyst would also have access to the public information of the WOT5K, which includes LF doing all sort of things to undermine Catelyn's side, a chain of events which ultimately led to Catelyn's death. So our hypothetical analyst could write something like this "the Sunset Kingdoms former Master of Coin was raised along Lady Catelyn Stark and Lady Lysa Arryn, was in love with the former during his youth and actively conspired against her during their last barbaric war. As a result, the Sunset Kingdom's governance allowed him to marry his other foster sister, which seems to indicate some strange family dynamics in the Tully household when Petyr Baelish was young. Operatives assigned to the Vale of Arryn may need to look out for the Baelish and Tully connection. Also, Petyr Baelish has also revealed a bastard daughter born from an unknown and unverifiable mother during the years he was set apart from the warring sisters. Now, onto other matters, I need a cup of coffee"

LF's role in the Stark's downfall is not public knowledge or else Stark supporters would have noticed what a threat a he was and would have wanted him dead.Hell, Sansa is around him and still hasn't connected the dots. Publicly he was married to Lysa and she was cruelly taken away from him by a singer. LF now takes care of her son. No one knows about the Jon Arryn stuff or the dagger. If they do a little research they could find out that LF wanted to marry Sansa before so that furthers the belief that he would have wanted to save her.

Or she deserts before "graduating", maybe during her final test - and contract. She has killed for an assignment already so, whatever GRRM wants to say, she is a professional hitman, even if she's still training.

Well, it seems she's not going to be fully trained. She is still doing her training. She hasn't learned glamor which comes before face changing.Then there's the Iron Bank stuff. This all takes some time. She was also told to learn Pentoshi and Lyseni and I doubt she was told to learn that for no textual reason. She could be a window to the impending conflict in the Free Cities. There was a mention of scrawny cats being on Illyrio's home which could foreshadow Arya later going there. By the time all that is done since we don't even know how many chapters she'll get in TWoW Sansa could already be revealed. Alayne is only temporary. We were also told that there would be more marriages in the next book. She's one of the obvious candidates.

The training was mummer, glamor, then face changing. They've already started it so it makes sense to try and finish it instead of sending her off to Westeros. She might learn glamor then leave. I don't think she has time for the face changing since he said she wouldn't learn until years later. Why send her to Westeros with another face when she can't change the face on her own? If she abandons them she can't get back her face. From a narrative perspective I don't think it makes sense to happen so I don't think she'll be put in a scenario where her face would be lost to her. When she leaves them for good she needs to leave with her face so not on a mission.

Which was probably the same mission.

No, they are separate events. As I mentioned before we don't even know that he was on a mission before when he got into the cells. There's a year between that and when he becomes the Alchemist. The Alchemist is concerned with a dragon book not KL. We also see that he didn't just rush from the cells to the Citadel. He gives Arya 3 wishes. If we met him and Arya during that time it would be faulty to assume that he was on a mission then. He doesn't do missions 24/7.

Euron didn't give up on his dream of dragons. He, apparently, paid them with a dragon egg he had no means to hatch. And he certainly didn't pay all of himself, given that he's not a slave.

He gave up a chance to get dragons which was a dream of his. The sacrifice is relative. What matters to one person the most is not going to be the same for the next person. For him this was a sacrifice. Just because he had another chance after the fact doesn't mean it wasn't a sacrifice.

I think you misunderstood me. What I meant was "Lady Whatshername wants to marry HtH to become Lady of the Vale. HtH is betrothed to that upstart's bastard. Lady Whatshername contacts the FM to get rid of the Upstart's bastard in a way that doesn't look like murder. The FM check their intelligence files on her and they ask her for half her fortune. Say, 100,000 gold dragons. Lady Whatshername accepts because she'll be able to recover that investment as Lady of the Vale"

The FM now have a contract on Alayne Stone and one of their full fledged assassins takes it. Considering all the issues Jaqen faced in Westeros, they decide to send a young trainee with him - a trainee with vast knowledge of the Sunset Kingdom's barbaric ways, and they also consider that a fifteen years old girl without a heavy guard could be a good enough target to continue that trainee's training. Should she feel the call of home and desert, her fully fledged companion can get rid of her and carry on the assignment. So, for Arya, it's a test on multiple levels: they test if her Westerosi uprising is useful, should the need come to kill more important Westerosi targets, they test their skills with on the job training and they test their loyalty by giving her the chance and the emotional connection to try to desert them. If she success in all three, she graduates.

Jaqen is off doing something else. He's getting info on dragons and as I mentioned GRRM said that the FM haven't been contracted for dragons yet which seems to indicate they will so they need to be concerned now with getting the info. We don't have any example of FM working in pairs. They always worked alone. Not even the other acolytes work together. Arya is separate from them and barely knows them and still hasn't seen all the actual FM.

They wouldn't need her. I doubt she'd be the only one who would have information and she did poorly in her noble studies growing up. For example, if a FM wants to know who is who that FM is more likely to know than Arya is. A girl without a heavy guard also furthers the idea that they won't need her since the target wouldn't be difficult at all.

They already have a recent example of the personal interfering and should they find out about the latest kill that only reinforces the notion that she has already failed the test. She can't even set aside personal feelings for someone she is not related to.

Imagine the coins are numbered, or they have some sort of code. So Jaqen sends word that the coin with "57863" carved on the edge was given to Arya Stark of Winterfell. Arya gives the coin to the KM, who looks at the "57863" code engraved on the edge and knows the girl is Arya Stark.

Arya made no mention of that when she observed the coin.

[SacredOrderOfGreenMen]

The FM who takes the contract will have to do snooping around, what I mean is that they won't know beforehand. To do that, they'll likely have to send someone anyway, and that person might as well do he killing

Really, will they?

I mean, but seriously, think about it: They know who Petyr Baelish is. They're not sending a newbie to handle any contracts connected to him. So far her sanctioned assassination has been an insurance man. Petyr and Alayne would be outta her league.

[juanml82]

If they want her dead they can just do it themselves and hire someone else. There's no need to hire a FM. Since no one wants Alayne dead then this theory would be based on something that isn't in the text and there hasn't been any indication that it will be.

And that may be said for any FM hit, yet the FM to get contracts

LF's role in the Stark's downfall is not public knowledge or else Stark supporters would have noticed what a threat a he was and would have wanted him dead.Hell, Sansa is around him and still hasn't connected the dots. Publicly he was married to Lysa and she was cruelly taken away from him by a singer. LF now takes care of her son. No one knows about the Jon Arryn stuff or the dagger. If they do a little research they could find out that LF wanted to marry Sansa before so that furthers the belief that he would have wanted to save her.

LF was rewarded by the Iron Throne. You want the FM to be unaware of this while at the same time being fully aware of Alayne's true identity? And how are they going to find out about LF wanting to marry Sansa? Cersei, Tyrion, Littlefinger and just maybe Varys are the only ones likely to know. They can't find out without magic (which is better employed for better purposes, should they have it) or omniscience.

The training was mummer, glamor, then face changing. They've already started it so it makes sense to try and finish it instead of sending her off to Westeros. She might learn glamor then leave. I don't think she has time for the face changing since he said she wouldn't learn until years later. Why send her to Westeros with another face when she can't change the face on her own? If she abandons them she can't get back her face. From a narrative perspective I don't think it makes sense to happen so I don't think she'll be put in a scenario where her face would be lost to her. When she leaves them for good she needs to leave with her face so not on a mission.

You've just written a way for the FM to send her to Westeros while dissuading her to desert. And I don't see why she needs to leave with her face when she leaves them for good. Maybe Arya will never recover her original face?

No, they are separate events. As I mentioned before we don't even know that he was on a mission before when he got into the cells. There's a year between that and when he becomes the Alchemist. The Alchemist is concerned with a dragon book not KL. We also see that he didn't just rush from the cells to the Citadel. He gives Arya 3 wishes. If we met him and Arya during that time it would be faulty to assume that he was on a mission then. He doesn't do missions 24/7.

So Jaqen was caught by either the Gold or White Cloaks while doing an unknown mission, went with Yoren, stayed at Harrenhall and then went back to Braavos only to be sent back to Westeros? It's possible, but it's more likely that he was caught during the early stages of whatever task now has him at the Citadel.

He gave up a chance to get dragons which was a dream of his. The sacrifice is relative. What matters to one person the most is not going to be the same for the next person. For him this was a sacrifice. Just because he had another chance after the fact doesn't mean it wasn't a sacrifice.

Wut? He had no chance to hatch that egg. If he was going to give up that chance, the FM should have asked for the dragonhorn. He gave them a valuable stone, and nothing else, since only Daenerys was able to hatch dragon eggs and she might not be able or willing to repeat that feat.

Jaqen is off doing something else. He's getting info on dragons and as I mentioned GRRM said that the FM haven't been contracted for dragons yet which seems to indicate they will so they need to be concerned now with getting the info. We don't have any example of FM working in pairs. They always worked alone. Not even the other acolytes work together. Arya is separate from them and barely knows them and still hasn't seen all the actual FM.

True, we've never seen FM working in pairs. I don't think they'll send Arya away from Braavos on her own, though.

They wouldn't need her. I doubt she'd be the only one who would have information and she did poorly in her noble studies growing up. For example, if a FM wants to know who is who that FM is more likely to know than Arya is. A girl without a heavy guard also furthers the idea that they won't need her since the target wouldn't be difficult at all.

Jaqen getting caught indicates they can benefit from local help

They already have a recent example of the personal interfering and should they find out about the latest kill that only reinforces the notion that she has already failed the test. She can't even set aside personal feelings for someone she is not related to.

We don't know what the consequences (or the setup) of the Mercy chapter will be

Arya made no mention of that when she observed the coin.

So? I wrote numbers because it's easy to describe than "horizontal slash, square, 20° vertical slash" and so on. A code in the coin could be anything and, unless the person with the coin already knows it or has several coins at hand, the person will just think it's part of the coin's design.

Really, will they?

I mean, but seriously, think about it: They know who Petyr Baelish is. They're not sending a newbie to handle any contracts connected to him. So far her sanctioned assassination has been an insurance man. Petyr and Alayne would be outta her league.

They haven't read the books. They know he's the former finance minister of the Sunset Kingdoms, and they may have public information on him stored somewhere.

[Lost Melnibonean]

Oh, so it's fanfiction.

Could be.

[ARYa_Nym]

And that may be said for any FM hit, yet the FM to get contracts

No. I've gone over why a FM was needed to kill Balon as opposed to someone else. That scenario called for it. Alayne doesn't

LF was rewarded by the Iron Throne. You want the FM to be unaware of this while at the same time being fully aware of Alayne's true identity? And how are they going to find out about LF wanting to marry Sansa? Cersei, Tyrion, Littlefinger and just maybe Varys are the only ones likely to know. They can't find out without magic (which is better employed for better purposes, should they have it) or omniscience.

LF was already in the Iron Throne's favor. Being rewarded doesn't automatically mean he did anything to Starks specifically and he went off to marry Cat's sister. Aurane Waters was rewarded and he has no connection to the Starks. No one has made the connection yet unlike there being clues in the text that Alayne isn't much of a secret identity. If it's so obvious then Northmen should be crying for LF's death and Sansa wouldn't be needed to uncover LF's crimes.

You've just written a way for the FM to send her to Westeros while dissuading her to desert. And I don't see why she needs to leave with her face when she leaves them for good. Maybe Arya will never recover her original face?

Jon's line about her end indicates she will be identified.

. We know she's going to be going to where Dany and Greyjoys are which is in the other direction and there are lines that indicate they are the key to her getting where she wants to go so I don't think she gets to Westeros in a scenario where they send her to the Vale and hold her face over her. She has to go back to Braavos again to get her face back. That wastes too much time since we know how long it takes her to get to places and she wouldn't be accomplishing anything during it.

Anyways, as I said she still has several things to do in the Free Cities that will take time and by that time Sansa might be revealed. If she is one of the people he was talking about when he said there will be marriages in the next book then LF's plans will go on at least to that point.

So Jaqen was caught by either the Gold or White Cloaks while doing an unknown mission, went with Yoren, stayed at Harrenhall and then went back to Braavos only to be sent back to Westeros? It's possible, but it's more likely that he was caught during the early stages of whatever task now has him at the Citadel.

Again we don't know that he was on a mission when he was caught. GRRM doesn't know why he was in the cells. He didn't say he was on a mission but it went bad and he got caught or that he was in there intentionally because of a mission.His mission at the Citadel is about getting a specific book on dragons. That is not located in KL. As I also said there's an entire year between these two events.

Wut? He had no chance to hatch that egg. If he was going to give up that chance, the FM should have asked for the dragonhorn. He gave them a valuable stone, and nothing else, since only Daenerys was able to hatch dragon eggs and she might not be able or willing to repeat that feat.

Having no chance doesn't mean he wouldn't have wanted to. We have instances of people trying or wanting to hatch eggs when they have no chance. People have died over it. He's a little mad anyways so he could have believed that just finding a way would get it hatched eventually.

ETA: & looking it up he did in fact want to hatch the egg.

"I once held a dragon's egg in this hand, brother. This Myrish wizard swore he could hatch if I gave him a year and all the gold that he required. When I grew bored with his excuses, I slew him."

^He spent a lot of money and time on this egg. & he sounds marveled when talks about holding it so it's fact that it's something that had tremendous value to him.

True, we've never seen FM working in pairs. I don't think they'll send Arya away from Braavos on her own, though.

If they send her to another Free City which is possible since she was told to learn specific languages like with Izembaro she'll likely be sent to a specific person but be on her own.

We don't know what the consequences (or the setup) of the Mercy chapter will be

We don't but what we do know is that the possibility is there and that she has already given them reason to question her loyalty. They already know the answer to the question of how loyal she is so it makes sense to keep her away from places like the Vale.

So? I wrote numbers because it's easy to describe than "horizontal slash, square, 20° vertical slash" and so on. A code in the coin could be anything and, unless the person with the coin already knows it or has several coins at hand, the person will just think it's part of the coin's design.

She didn't mention anything that could be interpreted as something else but part of the design only she just didn't realize it.

[juanml82]

No. I've gone over why a FM was needed to kill Balon as opposed to someone else. That scenario called for it. Alayne doesn't

It depends on who wants her death, for which reasons, what skills that person has, which people he knows... if GRRM wants to write about Arya being send to unknowingly kill her sister, he'll find a way.

LF was already in the Iron Throne's favor. Being rewarded doesn't automatically mean he did anything to Starks specifically and he went off to marry Cat's sister. Aurane Waters was rewarded and he has no connection to the Starks. No one has made the connection yet unlike there being clues in the text that Alayne isn't much of a secret identity. If it's so obvious then Northmen should be crying for LF's death and Sansa wouldn't be needed to uncover LF's crimes.

Not, it doesn't mean he didn't anything to the Starks. The Blackfish might think in such a fashion (or then again, he may not). But, to an outside observer, Littlefinger is a Lannister loyalist. So any intelligence analysis will go on the line of "fell in love with Catelyn Tully, the war of the five kings put him against her, married Catelyn Tully' sister, current Lord of the Vale, technically Lord of the Riverlands. Hitherto unknown bastard daughter revealed. Involvement in Catelyn Tully and Robb Stark's deaths, unknown" Which is a far cry from "currently hiding Sansa Stark"

Jon's line about her end indicates she will be identified.. We know she's going to be going to where Dany and Greyjoys are which is in the other direction and there are lines that indicate they are the key to her getting where she wants to go so I don't think she gets to Westeros in a scenario where they send her to the Vale and hold her face over her. She has to go back to Braavos again to get her face back. That wastes too much time since we know how long it takes her to get to places and she wouldn't be accomplishing anything during it.

Or it's a red herring to make readers fear she'll die. Or she'll be identified by something else. Or the magic she'll use will fade when she dies. Until ADOS is published, we can not tell for sure what's Arya's endgame

Anyways, as I said she still has several things to do in the Free Cities that will take time and by that time Sansa might be revealed. If she is one of the people he was talking about when he said there will be marriages in the next book then LF's plans will go on at least to that point.

Maybe, maybe not.

Again we don't know that he was on a mission when he was caught. GRRM doesn't know why he was in the cells. He didn't say he was on a mission but it went bad and he got caught or that he was in there intentionally because of a mission.His mission at the Citadel is about getting a specific book on dragons. That is not located in KL. As I also said there's an entire year between these two events.

Well, he wasn't doing tourism.

Having no chance doesn't mean he wouldn't have wanted to. We have instances of people trying or wanting to hatch eggs when they have no chance. People have died over it. He's a little mad anyways so he could have believed that just finding a way could get it hatched eventually.

ETA: & looking it up he did in fact want to hatch the egg.

^He spent a lot of money and time on this egg. & he sounds marveled when talks about holding it.

Sigh... Euron hired the FM to kill his brother so he could send Victarion to Daenerys with the Dragonhorn. How does that mean he's sacrificing his wish to ride a dragon?

If they send her to another Free City which is possible since she was told to learn specific languages like with Izembaro she'll likely be sent to a specific person but be on her own.

In story, we don't know about FM being able to see the future. They plan to send her to other Free Cities for whatever reasons, which doesn't mean their plans aren't subject to change - something that's rather common in this series in which the most intricate plans always fall to pieces.

We don't but what we do know is that the possibility is there and that she has already given them reason to question her loyalty. They already know the answer to the question of how loyal she is so it makes sense to keep her away from places like the Vale.

Or it makes sense to test her for good and erase all doubts. Either she'll desert, or she will not.

She didn't mention anything that could be interpreted as something else but part of the design only she just didn't realize it.

No, of course she didn't. Because if it's a feature only those in the know will recognize as a code, Arya who isn't in the know, won't even realize it's important.