Arya Losin' It

[btfu806]

To me, the pre sex scene was really weird and just felt "wrong." But after sex scene with her obviously thinking about the battle to come and about everything. It was a good scene to see. That Arya is still human and not just a "super sexy assassin." It seems, maybe, that her whole "no-one" routine is a cover so she could suppress her feelings and do what has to be done. I could see that, makes some sense to me.

[tallTale]

It was strange for me because Maise Williams has such a young-looking face and is pretty short. Hard to put away the feeling of her as the little girl who saw her father murdered.

Plus there wasn't much romantic build up. It was mostly, "We got no one else, I don't want to die a virgin."

I want to add that now that she's banged, I could see her being killed off in some heroic fashion where she sacrifices herself to save another character.

 

 

[nymeria_2321]

6 minutes ago, tallTale said:

I want to add that now that she's banged, I could see her being killed off in some heroic fashion where she sacrifices herself to save another character.

 

 

So like slasher horror movie rules? If you have sex you’re definitely getting killed 

[Black Arya]

1 hour ago, Greenmonsterff said:

This is hilarious. Do all Europeans have no problem with sex and murder? And what does sex have to do with murder anyhow? They are about as far apart from one another as could be. Lol

I commented (or wondered why) the differences I see in (twitter's) reaction to Arya having sex and the normality when watching an even younger Arya murdering people. Then another person commented his opinion: the possible difference between Americans' and Europeans' approach to the fact or the fiction of teenagers having sex or/and using weapons. And it turned out that my question responds to the european's approach, which fits with his opinion. As I said, I do not see the problem in Arya's plot, I just wondered why some people are messing about her having sex but do not mess when she kills with cruelty and this is a sociological theory about why.

 

Therefore, I also wonder if parents who named girls after the adorable tommy boy she was, will still be happy with their choice

 

Obviously I am team arya so no bad intentions implied in my questions, just curiosity

[Cas Stark]

The scene was awkward, I can see what they were aiming for, but, we needed more buildup of Arya's human side, and/or better written scenes between Arya and Gendry to make this scene work.

[Greenmonsterff]

3 minutes ago, Cas Stark said:

The scene was awkward, I can see what they were aiming for, but, we needed more buildup of Arya's human side, and/or better written scenes between Arya and Gendry to make this scene work.

Yeah, agreed. It seems like the last two episodes have been just random endgame scenes thrown together haphazardly instead of any kind of coherent story telling. Just checking off boxes until we get to the big fight. 

[Red Dragon10]

I found the scene ridiculous in context with what we have been shown of Arya's character and priorities over the last few seasons.  If they had built it up better, it might have been fine.  But as it stands, the idea that Arya would want to spend her potentially last night on earth having sex is ridiculous and out of character to me.  Yes, loads of people would want to have sex their last night.  But Arya isn't everyone.  

What would have been in character and worth seeing, in my opinion, would be Arya opening up just a bit to Sansa or Jon, reminiscing about Ned, Catelyn, Robb, Rickon etc.  She still has a lot of love deep down that motivated so much of her revenge.  If it might be her last night, it would have been more worthwhile to have her remaining humanity revealed through her remembrance of those she loves and misses. 

[John Suburbs]

Are we certain that she is 18? Is it known that every season represents one year in Westeros?

[Forlong the Fat]

1 hour ago, Cas Stark said:

The scene was awkward, I can see what they were aiming for, but, we needed more buildup of Arya's human side, and/or better written scenes between Arya and Gendry to make this scene work.

It was supposed to be awkward.  They didn’t build up her “human” side because she is herself and she had sex as herself.  

I don’t know if the problem here is that people don’t realize that sex in real life is frequently awkward or they simply want their TV to have simplistic tropes such as purely romantic sex scenes. 

[Forlong the Fat]

34 minutes ago, John Suburbs said:

Are we certain that she is 18? Is it known that every season represents one year in Westeros?

Why do you care? Are you worried Gendry will be charged with statutory rape?

[John Suburbs]

4 minutes ago, Forlong the Fat said:

Why do you care? Are you worried Gendry will be charged with statutory rape?

No, I was just curious considering that multiple posters are certain she is 18 because she was 11 at the start and we've gone through seven seasons. I didn't know it was one year per season. She might be older than 18.

[Vuron]

1 hour ago, Red Dragon10 said:

I found the scene ridiculous in context with what we have been shown of Arya's character and priorities over the last few seasons.  If they had built it up better, it might have been fine.  But as it stands, the idea that Arya would want to spend her potentially last night on earth having sex is ridiculous and out of character to me.  Yes, loads of people would want to have sex their last night.  But Arya isn't everyone.  

What would have been in character and worth seeing, in my opinion, would be Arya opening up just a bit to Sansa or Jon, reminiscing about Ned, Catelyn, Robb, Rickon etc.  She still has a lot of love deep down that motivated so much of her revenge.  If it might be her last night, it would have been more worthwhile to have her remaining humanity revealed through her remembrance of those she loves and misses. 

I dont feel like the scene was out of context, at all.  Yes, Arya has priorities and motivations, but just as in the real world, these don't come at the exclusion of everything else.  If she was only a 1 dimensional character singularly focused on this, than she would appear robotic like someone mentioned above.

She didn't go searching for Gendry with the sole purpose of having sex.  She was walking the castle and ran into Sandor.  She began to open up a bit emotionally during that scene, even though it wasn't fully expressed in words.  She then went to practice by herself because she did still feel different and somewhat alone even when surrounded by her family.

I believe it was the combination of sex being mentioned and finding out her old crush wasn't just a blacksmith's apprentice to push her to take the last step.  Her flirty way of playing the game of faces to make Gendry uncomfortable and her taking control clearly demonstrated her dominant and controlling personality.

 

[Kajjo]

1 hour ago, btfu806 said:

To me, the pre sex scene was really weird and just felt "wrong."

Well, it was weird, but didn't feel wrong to me. It was somehow in sync with her somehow weird general behaviour. She's certainly different.

1 hour ago, btfu806 said:

But after sex scene with her obviously thinking about the battle to come and about everything. It was a good scene to see. That Arya is still human

Yes, the short post-coital scene was very reasonable. It's what you would expect. The battle looming ahead. That must burden everyone. And yes, she is very much human and always was, even if sometimes hate, revenge and hardship took its toll.

1 hour ago, tallTale said:

Hard to put away the feeling of her as the little girl who saw her father murdered.

Of course, yes. She was so cute a tomboy and we all remember her as sweet girl. But, alas, the is seven years older now, in-show she is 18. Time to experience desire, lust and maybe, sometime, even love.

A well-trained assassin-tomboy does not need to limit herself to masturbation all the time. It's normal for 18-year-old girls to feel the lust growing inside. 

1 hour ago, tallTale said:

Plus there wasn't much romantic build up. It was mostly, "We got no one else, I don't want to die a virgin."

Well, there was some flirting in E1 and some kind of bond between them back in S3. 

 But yes, this was not about romance or even love, this was about curiosity, desire and the likelihood of the last day in life. It was about sex. Simply as that. Fair enough. 

[Kajjo]

5 minutes ago, John Suburbs said:

I was just curious considering that multiple posters are certain she is 18 because she was 11 at the start and we've gone through seven seasons. I didn't know it was one year per season.

Yes, this is the accepted counting. She clearly stated she was 11 in S1 and all the dates sum up one year per season. Arya is 18 now and Gendry is five years older.

[MinscS2]

Yes, one season equals to one year, even if it doesn't always feel that way.

 

[John Suburbs]

2 hours ago, Kajjo said:

Yes, this is the accepted counting. She clearly stated she was 11 in S1 and all the dates sum up one year per season. Arya is 18 now and Gendry is five years older.

OK, thanks, because it is most certainly not that way in the original print version. Barely four years have passed from the beginning of the story to Jon Snow's knifing.

I still think the whole scene in the show was rather forced and clunky, though. It left me wondering exactly when Arya started to fret over the idea of dying a virgin. Was she thinking about that when she came up on the Hound on the ramparts? When she left both the Hound and Dondarrion saying she wasn't going to spend the last night of her life with these losers? If so, then why did she head down to the forge (?) for more target practice instead of seeking Gendry out directly?

It also seemed like a sudden break from Arya's characterization built up over the past five seasons at least. She's been single-focused on her list and killing all of these enemies, and now it seems she has only one "person" on that list, and now, all of a sudden, she starts thinking about her womanhood? I'm not saying she wouldn't do that, but it should not have been a spur of the moment thing like it played out in the scene.

Much better, IMO, if she had had some sort of leading conversation with Gendry earlier in E2 or even in E1. That way, he wouldn't have been taken by surprise and it could have been a more mutual decision on both their parts rather than have Arya throw herself at him like that. Just seemed very out of character for her.

And then later, of course, a young maid on her first deflowering is not going to ride a man so hard that he falls asleep exhausted afterward, particularly when he too is contemplating his possible last night on earth.

So in the end, the whole scene just came across as very manipulative to me. But this certainly would not be the first time the show has left me with that feeling.

[Kajjo]

5 minutes ago, John Suburbs said:

when Arya started to fret over the idea of dying a virgin

Well, "fretting over dying as a virgin" is different from "wanting to know how it feels, before you die". Arya didn't so much think about virginity as about experiences. She doesn't want to miss out on it. She wants to try it before it is too late.

Again, I warn against black-and-white. She wants to try it. For experience, maybe lust. It is not about sudden love or fretting.

13 minutes ago, John Suburbs said:

I still think the whole scene in the show was rather forced and clunky,

Well, I had preferred a little bit more flirting and foreplay, too. But considering the last night on Earth, the imminent batle, the long history of the two.

7 minutes ago, John Suburbs said:

She's been single-focused on her list and killing all of these enemies

Not anymore so much since arriving in Winterfell. That was a significant change.

She was after Cersei, then Hot Pie broke the news that Winterfell belongs to the Starks again and that her sister lives and she instantly stops eating, turns her horse and heads towards Winterfell. This is clearly conveying the message: Family is more important then her killing list. Before that she simply thought she had no family left and Winterfell would belong to the Boltons. 

After arriving in Winterfell she needed some time coming to terms with Sansa, but after all "the pack survives", the sisters become close. Arya turns more and more to y young woman defending her family, not working on a kill list, that is pretty short anyway.

14 minutes ago, John Suburbs said:

seeking Gendry out directly

Maybe she wanted him in her chambers? Maybe she is a bit unsure how to do it? She expected Gendry to prepare her weapon after all.

15 minutes ago, John Suburbs said:

That way, he wouldn't have been taken by surprise and it could have been a more mutual decision on both their parts rather than have Arya throw herself at him like that. Just seemed very out of character for her.

It doesn't seem out of character for me. She knows what she wants. She took him by surprise. Maybe because she was afraid Gendry would turn her down again like back then "you would be my lady". So she rushed it. Happens in real life quite lot, by the way. That one rushes the other.

[Charlie Hustle]

4 hours ago, nymeria_2321 said:

So like slasher horror movie rules? If you have sex you’re definitely getting killed 

Then Greyworm is safe by default?

[Kajjo]

2 minutes ago, Charlie Hustle said:

Then Greyworm is safe by default?

Ha-ha. I guess no, cunnilingus counts to sex, too.

[Charlie Hustle]

The scene was "cute" to me. She's a teenager in the books by then. Many teens were smashing in the books, consummating marriages and all. So Arya was just another of them. Maisie is an adult now. Didnt bother me one bit.