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How does Arya get through the Mud Gate?


Maester Mando

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I am just on a re read of AGOT, and noticed that in one arya chapter, it is said that through the mud gate one can only enter the city at this time, not leave it. However later in the same chapter arya just goes through the mud gate to the port....

How is this posssible?

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Knowing GRRM's taste for details, it looks like a mistake, but we can find a way around. I like to think the fishmarket had to stay available, so a postern gate allowed to access it, and guards were posted on its borders to prevent people to leave. We already know there were guards on the ships at the piers.

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If its an error its a big one, since its contradictory in one single chapter. We know that arya checked the gates every day, so when we are told that via the mud gate one can only enter the city she hadnt already checked this gate this day. Maybe they just opened it. I also wondered why the book says that the harbor is on the way to the gate. That makes absolutely no sense. I mean we have maps and where shoukd the gate be? At the other side of the blackwater? Im confused.

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We know there are postern gates that are not on the map, like the sally port Tyrion uses to lead the sortie near the King's Gate in the Battle at the Blackwater. It doesn't seem improbable to think there's a postern gate that leads to the fishmarket, between the King's Gate and the Mud Gate.

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Here's what the mudgate in question

looks like apparently.

http://www.fantasticmaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/mud_gate_from_kings_landing.png

Yeah, and the harbor is definiteky outside the walls. Even on the earliest maps of kl, its outside, so it cant be that he changedbhis mind about the location later. And where should the gate be if the harbor was inside the walls? Wouldnt make sense. I want to believe that arya got outside by some other way or that the fishmarket and harbor arent fully closed, because it wouldnt make sense economically.

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Yeah, and the harbor is definiteky outside the walls. Even on the earliest maps of kl, its outside, so it cant be that he changedbhis mind about the location later. And where should the gate be if the harbor was inside the walls? Wouldnt make sense. I want to believe that arya got outside by some other way or that the fishmarket and harbor arent fully closed, because it wouldnt make sense economically.

Well, the text seems to indicate that the Blackwater is inside the city walls:

Every day since her escape from the Red Keep, Arya had visited each of the seven city gates in turn. The Dragon Gate, the Lion Gate, and the Old Gate were closed and barred. The Mud Gate and the Gate of the Gods were open, but only to those who wanted to enter the city; the guards let no one out. Those who were allowed to leave left by the King's Gate or the Iron Gate, but Lannister men-at-arms in crimson cloaks and lion-crested helms manned the guard posts there. Spying down from the roof of an inn by the King's Gate, Arya saw them searching wagons and carriages, forcing riders to open their saddlebags, and questioning everyone who tried to pass on foot.

Sometimes she thought about swimming the river, but the Blackwater Rush was wide and deep, and everyone agreed that its currents were wicked and treacherous. She had no coin to pay a ferryman or take passage on a ship.

So, Arya comments that there is no way out of the city on foot. Next, she looks to her river options. They are poor as the current is strong and she has no coin to pay a ferryman or for a ship.

And, later:

A gull wheeled overhead as she made her way down the hill toward Flea Bottom. Arya glanced at it thoughtfully, but it was well beyond the reach of her stick. It made her think of the sea. Maybe that was the way out. Old Nan used to tell stories of boys who stowed away on trading galleys and sailed off into all kinds of adventures. Maybe Arya could do that too. She decided to visit the riverfront. It was on the way to the Mud Gate anyway, and she hadn't checked that one today.

Now, this is little weird as Arya already thought of the sea, so I'm not sure I understand the point of the gull reminding her of the sea. Nonetheless, now she's thinking about stowing away. Again, the riverfront is on the way to the Mud Gate and, therefore, inside the city.

That said, all maps show the river outside the gates.

It seems to be a mistake.

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