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Arya - finally starting her redemption?


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We've seen Arya becoming a girl on a mission, a mission of vengeance to be exact.
After she left the Hound, she started training with the FM, left them and went back to Westeros to attain her revenge. She never forgot her night prayer (her list of people to kill).

After killing 3 Freys (Walder and is 2 sons) in S06e10, she now starts with killing off a sh*tload of Freys by using poisonous wine. Effective, brutal and clearly sending a message to anyone who has been killing off Starks in the last 6 seasons.

Her second scene of episode 1, she is on horseback, when she meets Lannister soldiers. She wants to just pass by and not give them any attention, but they notice her and invite her.
She checks out the surroundings, notices the swords lying in a corner, and you can see her mind going "Will I be able to kill this Lannister troup?" She's even refusing to eat or drink from them (you know guestright and such), but is persuaded to join them, because they are a friendly bunch. The scene continues and Arya is suddenly realising that not all the Lannisters are a bunch of violent pricks, who only care for slaughter and death, but that most of them are probably just as human as she is (or was before she went on a mission of vengeance).

Could this be the beginning of Arya realising that she doesn't need to kill all of her enemies and their soldiers? That maybe, there is another way for her to achieve her goals? Or, perhaps stop with her vengeance mission and reunite with the remaining Starks in the North and help them with the true danger that is headed South?

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Spoiler

Arya's going to reunite with Nymeria, leave a trail of Lannister blood from the river lands to Kings landing, find and wound Cersi, get ripped to shreds by Robert Strong (The Mountain), and The Hound, the new fire-sword weilding warrior (after being ressurected by Thoros when both he and Dondarrion fall b/c there was only time to save one...and Berric made Thoros pick Sandow b/c of fighting skill), will come back to avenge her. Clegane bowl. Battle of the undead brothers. One cold and icy. One burned and weilding fire. 

 

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@Justin Danford,

I agree that she will reunite with Nymeria, but I'm not sure about the trail of Lannister blood. This scene showed Arya that the Lannister soldiers are just regular humans with families and feelings, obeying orders from their (mad) leaders. At least I hope Arya will not go full vengeance mode. There's so much wrong with that....
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4 hours ago, Ser Walter of AShwood said:

We've seen Arya becoming a girl on a mission, a mission of vengeance to be exact.
After she left the Hound, she started training with the FM, left them and went back to Westeros to attain her revenge. She never forgot her night prayer (her list of people to kill).

After killing 3 Freys (Walder and is 2 sons) in S06e10, she now starts with killing off a sh*tload of Freys by using poisonous wine. Effective, brutal and clearly sending a message to anyone who has been killing off Starks in the last 6 seasons.

Her second scene of episode 1, she is on horseback, when she meets Lannister soldiers. She wants to just pass by and not give them any attention, but they notice her and invite her.
She checks out the surroundings, notices the swords lying in a corner, and you can see her mind going "Will I be able to kill this Lannister troup?" She's even refusing to eat or drink from them (you know guestright and such), but is persuaded to join them, because they are a friendly bunch. The scene continues and Arya is suddenly realising that not all the Lannisters are a bunch of violent pricks, who only care for slaughter and death, but that most of them are probably just as human as she is (or was before she went on a mission of vengeance).

Could this be the beginning of Arya realising that she doesn't need to kill all of her enemies and their soldiers? That maybe, there is another way for her to achieve her goals? Or, perhaps stop with her vengeance mission and reunite with the remaining Starks in the North and help them with the true danger that is headed South?

I think she'll finish up as one of those remorseless killers with dead mackerel eyes.

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Her redemption started last season when watching the play about her father and sister. She becomes Arya Stark again and retrieves Needle. She hadn't been Arya since becoming Ari when she fled King's Landing with Gendry & co.

The scene with the soldiers just shows that her humanity is re-asserting itself. She is not just a vengence demon out to kill any lannister soldier. It contrasts her previous two scenes where she was slaughtering Freys.

I think Arya's list is down to just one name, Cersei. I think the others have been forgotten or forgiven. Once Cersei is dead (whether Arya is the killer or not) she will go home to try and live in peace.

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4 minutes ago, RedShirt47 said:

Her redemption started last season when watching the play about her father and sister. She becomes Arya Stark again and retrieves Needle. She hadn't been Arya since becoming Ari when she fled King's Landing with Gendry & co.

Forgot about that when posting this. She is supposed to kill Lady Crane, but the play reminds her that she is Arya Stark and that she isn't no-one.
However, she did return to Westeros in full vengeance mode, and started with exterminating those ratty Freys. Why stop there, except when being faced with the reality that most of the enemies soldiers are just as human as she and her family are.

I agree with you, that Cersei is probably the only one really on her hitlist, that she wants to execute herself.
Which brings me to a bit of tinfoil.
Remember when Maester Aemon is told that Daenarys has hatched 3 dragons? He says, that everybody assumed it would be a man, but dragons don't really 'do gender' (so to speak).
Could it be that the Valyrian word Valonquar is also gender-neutral, and that it could mean little brother, but also little sister?
Arya is the youngest sister of the Starks....

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Just saying if she kills those people, who have been nothing but welcoming to her and who have been humanized in terms Arya understands and emphatically cares for (father-child relationships) then there's no way she can claim any moral high-ground anymore.

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2 hours ago, Ser Walter of AShwood said:

Could it be that the Valyrian word Valonquar is also gender-neutral, and that it could mean little brother, but also little sister?

Arya is the youngest sister of the Starks....

I don't think the show is doing Valonquar, Maggie's prophesy on the show mentioned the younger more beautiful queen which will take away all she held dear. This was to build the rivalry between Cersei and Margaery (Cersei assumed it was her). So now the candidates for this are Sansa and Dany. Most likely Dany at the moment.

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20 hours ago, Horse of Kent said:

There won't be a redemption for Arya as D&D (and most casual viewers) don't view the psychopath version of her as being anything wrong. 

^This.

To their defense, Arya did only kill when she "wanted" to. She didn't kill the insurance-man (or did she later I'm not even sure, but well he was portrayed as a dick aswell), she didn't kill Lady Crayn. She did kill Meryn Trant (who killed Syrio Forel, was a Lannister-man, helped betray Ned and cause it wasn't enough is a childabuser), she killed the other girl of the HoBaW (but well it was a life or die fight) , she killed the Frey's (who killed Robb, Cait, lot of northern friends). But even in the Frey scene she safes the wive who wasn't involved in this.

So Arya only killed people who "deserved" to die (espiecally from her point of view). Maybe some deaths (Trant) were a bit over the top but we never got the feeling she killed without thinking, or forgot what it means to kill someone.

The problem with her Story ark in my opinion is that the training in the HoBaW makes no sense at all, she fails all her test and still receives the gift (which comes with no disadvantage) to change her appearance in a perfect way. (Changing from a girl to another girl (Trant) when the watcher(Trant) is likely aroused and drunk is one thing but changing to Lord Frey an old dude when the "close" family member probably suspect something could be wrong since u give them a free feast should be another.)

So Arya at this point is extremly "overpowered" , nothing should or could stop her from killing anyone she wants tbh. But since the show showed us that she still has a "human heart" by having mercy (not killing Frey's women and probably not killing the Lannister Soldiers cause they are nice people) she seems quite normal, not traumatized or psycho. (They may say she is, but her actions don't show it <- this is another thing im having problems with, the show frankly tells us what is happening, but not acting the way to show it but whatever).

So for me it would be more interesting if the next episode starts with the Lannister's dead and Arya not even carying about their stories afterwards showing more of an a psychopath she should be at this point.

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There is no redemption in the story of Arya, the scene with the lannister soldiers was made to put Ed Sheeran in the show, the scene have no significance, at this point, Arya's story is a typical punisher-style vengeance story, D&D are making fan service because they know that her fans love watching arya kill left and right, that story is lacking depth of character just to fill the show 

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On 18/07/2017 at 9:08 PM, RedShirt47 said:

Her redemption started last season when watching the play about her father and sister. She becomes Arya Stark again and retrieves Needle. She hadn't been Arya since becoming Ari when she fled King's Landing with Gendry & co.

The scene with the soldiers just shows that her humanity is re-asserting itself. She is not just a vengence demon out to kill any lannister soldier. It contrasts her previous two scenes where she was slaughtering Freys.

I think Arya's list is down to just one name, Cersei. I think the others have been forgotten or forgiven. Once Cersei is dead (whether Arya is the killer or not) she will go home to try and live in peace.

I would actually go further back and say Arya's redemption started when her feelings toward Sandor changed.  I'm actually surprised at all the people who go on about Arya being a psychopathic killer when we have seen many examples that prove otherwise (eg. not poisoning Lady Crane and building a relationship with her, not killing the Frey women and children, realising she could never turn her back on her roots, etc).

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1 hour ago, storm.131 said:

I would actually go further back and say Arya's redemption started when her feelings toward Sandor changed.  I'm actually surprised at all the people who go on about Arya being a psychopathic killer when we have seen many examples that prove otherwise (eg. not poisoning Lady Crane and building a relationship with her, not killing the Frey women and children, realising she could never turn her back on her roots, etc).

Those people are so selective and one dimensional with their views on Arya. Or overly critical on certain aspects just because. It's frustrating but it will be satisfying seeing her continue to defy their poor reading of her character.

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There are glimpses of the real book Arya in the show, but merging her character with Lady Stoneheart has left her a contradictory mess. Though Arya should want justice for the atrocities committed during the war, it is not the only aspect of her character; on the other hand, LS wants vengeance and only vengeance.

D&D do not see LS' approach of killing the Freys en masse without ascertaining individual guilt as being problematic. Therefore they believed her role in the plot could be made Arya's without any issues. Unfortunately that is incorrect, as fastidiously making sure that the right person pays for wrong doing is a central part of her morality (e.g. she cannot bring herself to kill Sandor when she realises that he would have despised having to obey orders to hunt down Mycah).

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Contrary to the general opinion, I really liked and enjoyed the scene. My first thought was not about Sheeran whom I did not recognize :D but about how nicely Arya's psychology is depicted - first she does not want to get involved, then she considers killing the men for being Lannister soldiers and for her own safety, and finally she learns they are just ordinary guys in war. Redemption is imho a good way how to understand it. I only thought about guestright during the scene - I think the tension there was obvious, she really does not want to eat and drink with them, until she does. It felt so straightforward that I am actually surprised that some people read the scene completely differently. I would be even very much surprised if the soldiers make an appearance in Episode 2 or any other episode - it was really just 5 minutes of screentime for Sheeran.

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Arya is turned into maniac. she also killed an unknown servant just for the face. i love the parallel between Sandor and Arya. all this time everyone pointed Sandor as monster but now we can rly see whos the beauty and whos the beast. 2 tormented childrens, 2 paths. one on redemption and one on compassion. awasome episode.

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