Arya's Future?

[Arya Targaryen]

Arya will be the Queen. Of what? I have no idea. But Ned told her so: she will marry a King (and they even included that line in the show!)

[AryaNymeriaVisenya]

Arya will be the Queen. Of what? I have no idea. But Ned told her so: she will marry a King (and they even included that line in the show!)

Well he says High Lord on the show because in the book it seems like a clearly obvious lie...so far.

[BalerionTheCat]

I like the idea of Arya putting her mother at peace and taking control of the BWB, stopping them from being a mindless body. I think she will go after the Freys and will be the God's and King Jon justice. She is very close to him in AGOT, finishing each other sentences.

I don't think she will die. She will be Jon Master of Justice and the BWB and Nymeria's pack will be her aids.

[Ice Turtle]

She will die at the end of the winter, that is true, but this winter is going to last decades.

It was said , that she is too wild for civilised world, I am not entirely sure about that, but it doesn't matter anyway. Westeros is at the brink of zombie/climatic apocalypse, Arya is just the right person for that world.

Anyway I like to think that these two quotes are related:

You’ll be sewing all through winter. When the spring thaw comes, they will find your body with a needle still locked tight between your frozen fingers.

The First Flints, they call themselves. They say the other Flints are the blood of younger sons, who had to leave the mountains to find food and land and wives. It has always been a harsh life up there. When the snows fall and food grows scarce, their young must travel to the winter town or take service at one castle or the other. The old men gather up what strength remains in them and announce that they are going hunting. Some are found come spring. More are never seen again.

Arya even thinks about it

She remembered a tale she had heard from Old Nan, about how sometimes during a long winter men who’d lived beyond their years would announce that they were going hunting. And their daughters would weep and their sons would turn their faces to the fire, she could hear Old Nan saying, but no one would stop them, or ask what game they meant to hunt, with the snows so deep and the cold wind howling. She wondered what the old Braavosi told their sons and daughters, before they set off for the House of Black and White.

[TheReal_Rebel]

"An aria is a song for one voice in an opera. " As one wikki entry describes.

In ASOIAF, our Arya is many things. I think those who see her as merely a damaged child taught to be no more than an assassin; doomed to no more solace than death and Warging into her Wolf are ignoring:

1) Arya is not going to be a little girl by the end of the books.

2) The fact that she is likely to be a teen will put her at odds with her training as an FM, as other desires and goals will naturally assert themselves.

3) She is resilient, resourceful, multi-skilled, a Warg, a Stark and at some point will be old enough to realise she can make her own choices about what she wants to do,regardless of whatever errand the FM might send her on . i.e. kill Dany and her Dragons or not.

4) Bran is keeping an eye on her and is clearly trying to find a way to communicate her and other of his remaining family members as he becomes aware of them.

5) Many people are still looking for her: LS, Brienne, and Jon. In fact, one of the reasons Jon wants lead members an assault on Winterfell is to rescue Arya.

6) Why would GRRM bring back LS if not to serve some purpose, either to unite her with her daughters; and or serve as a warning to them or and or to resuscitate Jon Snow?

7) Why would GRRM keep the Hound alive near were Arya was last seen, in the general area of where Brienne, Jaime, LS and the BwoB, Edmure Tully, the BF are all likely to converge?

[BalerionTheCat]

Anyway I like to think that these two quotes are related:

You’ll be sewing all through winter. When the spring thaw comes, they will find your body with a needle still locked tight between your frozen fingers.

I don't think all predictions are to be taken seriously, sometimes it is just the opposite.

Not everyone are prophets ... You Know nothing Jon Snow.

[Hand to King Davos]

I think Arya will kill Stoneheart. It will be the first time she gives the gift of Mercy, and it will be to someone who needs it. The creature that was once Catelyn Stark has been consumed by her desire for revenge, and in the process become something that can barely be recognized. Arya knows this. Beric told her what it was like:

"I held a castle on the Marches once, and there was a woman I was pledged to marry, but I could not find that castle today, nor tell you the color of that woman's hair. Who knighted me, old friend? What were my favorite foods? It all fades. Sometimes I think I was born on the bloody grass in that grove of ash, with the taste of fire in my mouth and a hole in my chest. Are you my mother, Thoros?"

Beric has lost everything that he was, and Stoneheart is the same way. Arya will give her the gift of Mercy, and she will see what happens when someone lives only for revenge. This will be the beinning of a redemption arc for her, as she slowly comes around. She is still 11, just a young girl. She isn't done growing yet, she isn't done learning yet. Seeing her mother, who was so full of love in life, become this creature that is so filled with hatred in undeath will make her realize that revenge is a corrupting force, and her list will finally be put away.

[TheReal_Rebel]

I think Arya will kill Stoneheart. It will be the first time she gives the gift of Mercy, and it will be to someone who needs it. The creature that was once Catelyn Stark has been consumed by her desire for revenge, and in the process become something that can barely be recognized. Arya knows this. Beric told her what it was like:

"I held a castle on the Marches once, and there was a woman I was pledged to marry, but I could not find that castle today, nor tell you the color of that woman's hair. Who knighted me, old friend? What were my favorite foods? It all fades. Sometimes I think I was born on the bloody grass in that grove of ash, with the taste of fire in my mouth and a hole in my chest. Are you my mother, Thoros?"

Beric has lost everything that he was, and Stoneheart is the same way. Arya will give her the gift of Mercy, and she will see what happens when someone lives only for revenge. This will be the beinning of a redemption arc for her, as she slowly comes around. She is still 11, just a young girl. She isn't done growing yet, she isn't done learning yet. Seeing her mother, who was so full of love in life, become this creature that is so filled with hatred in undeath will make her realize that revenge is a corrupting force, and her list will finally be put away.

I agree that meeting LS and seeing al the bodies hanging from trees, might give Arya a much needed epiphany about her own desire for revenge.

[Balerion's Whiskers]

Arya's 'dark arc' started earlier than most of the other POV characters (except Jamie) and I do think she'll have a redemption path.

[Faceless Man Friday]

The passage about finding Arya's body with her needle in her hand is often quoted to support the theory that she will die. However, the passage does not say she is dead. It says they will find her body. This leaves the possibility open that as a warg she can live on in anothers body, human or animal or that when they find her she is in the catatonic warg state. There are many possibilities.

[ShadowCat Rivers]

Whatever Arya does, she won't kill Stoneheart. "Rise and eat and run with us", remember? Arya engineered Stoneheart's "rise", as far back as asking Thoros to wake her father.

On topic, I have some reasons to believe that her arc might roughly follow the story of Odysseus.

[TheReal_Rebel]

In "the Mercy" Chapter we see Arya once again violate FM's orders and follow the dictates of her own sense of "Justice."

I'm predicting this time, she has become so skilled in compartmentalising her many guises--Arya, Mercy, Cat--that she is never asked about Sweetling's death and never tells and is sent on a mission to Westeros in WoW and that chapter we find out who she truly is.

Whatever Arya does, she won't kill Stoneheart. "Rise and eat and run with us", remember? Arya engineered Stoneheart's "rise", as far back as asking Thoros to wake her father.

On topic, I have some reasons to believe that her arc might roughly follow the story of Odysseus.

Excellent point re: LS.

I also thought this was a very thoughtful post, describing the many of complexities of Arya's narrative, and why she can't be reduced to merely "a damaged child, who will die and Warg into a wolf."

[~No One~]

Gonna break form a bit here and quote the show:

I think she'll die before the end of ADoS and live on in Nymeria. Arya's lost everything that's important to her. I don't see her walking away from the Faceless Men free and clear and traveling Westeros with her giant wolf righting wrongs and helping the needy. Nor do I see her taking out everyone with the last name Frey or Lannister in a bloody storm of vengeance.

Arya's spirit is too wild for the civilized world. I would be happy with her living on as an actual she-wolf, leading a giant pack of other wolves. That, to me, would be more satisfying than seeing her actually become No One (which I believe is the other likely scenario).

Re: bolded part...Arya only thinks she's lost her family. She'll find out soon enough ;)

Wow, I didn't know every offhand comment by Jon was a definitive statement of the future of the series. I better go reread all his chapters so I can find out the series ending!

:cheers: Cheers to that. Not everything's a clue. Sometimes it's just stuff that happens.

Arya's 'dark arc' started earlier than most of the other POV characters (except Jamie) and I do think she'll have a redemption path.

Redemption from what? She's got PTSD. She doesn't need redeeming. She needs counseling.

[Ser Brandon Badwater]

Redemption from what? She's got PTSD. She doesn't need redeeming. She needs counseling.

:cheers: Redemption arc is officially my number one irritating phrase. To use it for Arya when there`s no guilt anguish in her POV`s is downright silly

[KingSean00VII]

Unless she is sent to Winterfell to assassinate someone where she knows the way around better than anyone else, I doubt she will be sent to kill anyone important because she isn't experienced enough yet. So I think she will eventually leave the Faceless Men. Maybe because she hears about Jaqen in Oldtown and wants to help him, or maybe she'll take the face of Raff after the Mercy chapter and go to Kings Landing to get revenge on Cersei and Meryn Trant. She could also go back with Justin Massey when she learns he's heading to Winterfell to meet up with Stannis.

[Maid So Fair]

People take that Jon's comment way too seriously - it could as well mean she will be fighting through the winter, which I very much expect. GRRM has hinted that that wolf pack will play a role and that means Arya. I also believe that she will play an huge role, and just assassinating someone doesn't really funfil that. She's the character with most POV chapters after Jon, Dany and Tyrion and her chapters do not center on other characters - it's all about Arya and her experiences and character development. That's way too much buildup only for her to show up briefly to off someone who could have died in a number of other ways. I can see her as Queen, due to Ned's comment in AGOT (why do people pick up on Jon and not this?), possibly to the Night King, or possibly a dragonrider (Nettles parallel, her association with dragons) but I will be happy with any other major role she ends up playing. And if she decides to live a life of adventure when all is said and done, why not.

She's definitely coming back to Westeros in TWOW.

[Monctonvike]

She is a trained little girl assassin able to hide in plain sight. I think she kills many people, things are looking up for her....meh what can go wrong? :)

[Monctonvike]

ps I think she meets fake Arya in Essos, perhaps thing go wonky at the wall and Massey brings her with him??? Who know though

[The Fresh PtwP]

It' ll probably be dark and full of terrors.

/thread

[Maid So Fair]

ps I think she meets fake Arya in Essos, perhaps thing go wonky at the wall and Massey brings her with him??? Who know though

Her development in Braavos so far has included learning the ways of the city, making contacts in the harbour and learning how to make money. I think she'll find out about Jon/Rickon and decide to go help them and with few ships venturing North these days Massey (or Tycho Nestoris) seem like the only viable options. Unless she goes to the Riverlands first, which is also an option because the author has spent way too much time setting up Arya's connection to the Riverlands (Nymeria, BWB, Gendry, Harrenhal etc) for it to play no role.