Trying to make sense of parallels - Arya’s story repeats

[sweetsunray]

10 minutes ago, Lady Dacey said:

An instersting possibility! I shall look into it before starting to write a conclusion. Initially I had thief/stealing as a parallel between Arya V and The Ugly Little Girl, because:

 which ties to what the kindly man tells her in ADWD

 I ultimately decided agaist this particular parallel precisely because the stealing/thief shows up in other places of Arya's arc where they seem more significant. You've opened my eyes to a new possibility though, and I'm curious to see what I can find once I dive into Arya I in ACOK. I have read this chapter before, when I tried to find parallels either with the Mercy chapter or Arya I in AGOT and ADWD, but found nothing. Now I'll have a completely different outlook on it... I'm excited. Thank you for the insight. 

Yes, because it's in aCoK 1 that Hot Pie try to call her a thief and try to get Needle, while it's hers. She never stole it. And Mercy might line up much better perhaps with aCoK II, where she begins to befriend the boys with Yoren and is more seen as one of them, except for those 3 in the cages, with Rorge making vile comments etc. 

[Seams]

Nice work. Lots to think about here. 

I am still thinking of the parallel between Qhorin and Yoren, with your added insight that the singer, Dareon, took Yoren's recruiting job with the Night's Watch and that Arya eventually kills Dareon much the same way Jon Snow kills Qhorin Halfhand. I have another to add to the mix: in Jon Snow's arc, there is a mountain clan leader who is called The Norrey. (Bran also thinks about House Norrey.) I have always wondered if the name is wordplay on Yoren's name, but I also wonder whether there is wordplay on "North" hidden in the name, and whether he might somehow embody the region or its people. If Qhorin / Yoren / The Norrey are part of a related group of mentors for Arya and Jon, the fact that Yoren cuts Arya's hair might mean that, in spite of the transformation in her appearance and identity, she is still a northerner. 

The comparison of Arya changing her face with the beheading of Ned is inspired! Nice catch. It is reassuring (in retrospect) to know that Arya will recover from blindness and will get her regular face back, just as she will some day reclaim the sword Needle that is hidden in the steps by the canal. This makes me feel better about Ned, too. Perhaps he has already gotten his head back (Catelyn says the silent sisters attached his skull to his neck bones using silver wire) and will -- eventually, figuratively -- recover his missing Ice / eyes.

I'm also struck by your observations about the literal and figurative doors through which Arya passes at each transition. I've assumed that Bowls of Brown and the bowl of weirwood paste given to Bran are similar (along with the Sister Stew Davos eats in the Sister Isles). The tart potion given to Arya by the Kindly Man is clearly part of the same "transformation stew" that allows a character to enter a new realm of existence, or to change identities, or something. It's all a kind of "Alice in Wonderland" situation with little bottles that say "drink me" and cakes that say "eat me" leading to a new world for the character. In ASOIAF, I thought bowls of stew-like mixtures are the thing to look for, usually, but maybe they are part of a larger set of magical mixtures. (Jaime may also enter another plane of existence when he falls asleep against the bole of a tree.)

The detail about the salty taste reminds me of a different transition for Bran: when he passes through the Black Gate under the Wall, a drop of water falls on him and he notices that it tastes salty. I wonder whether Arya's observation about the salty flavor in the tart potion was GRRM's way of calling attention to a comparison of her transition and Bran's transition?

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In fact, lemons come up very scarcely in Arya’s whole story. She only thinks about the fruit in her inner monologues in Arya V and The Ugly Little Girl, both times prompted from external stimuli (there is the lemon tart she could not steal moments before she wishes for the lemon cake in AGOT, and the magical tart drink she is given in The Ugly Little Girl). The word comes up a handful of times in A Storm of Swords while Arya is in the company of Lem Lemoncloak, but that is all (link). 

Lemons are a unique category, and the parallel between the paired chapters must be significant. Do they represent a longing for home? The last time I looked at lemons, I concluded that their primary function was to strengthen teeth (or so people believe in Westeros) and they are the opposite of honey, which rots teeth. It's interesting that Arya also craves a glass of milk along with the lemon cake. The Milkwater and the wet nurse brought to Castle Black by The Norrey could be Jon-Snow-parallels for Arya's craving for milk.

The other word, tart, is probably also significant, but not in a way that is exclusive to the chapter pair. 

Arya successfully steals some tarts in ACOK, when she goes to see Hot Pie in the kitchen at Harrenhal. He has baked some fruit tarts for Vargo Hoat and says Arya cannot have any because they are all for Hoat. I don't believe lemon is specified as a flavor, just fruit. She suggests that they spit on them but eventually steals some as she makes her way out of the kitchen.

Is this another food-related magical transition? Right after she leaves the kitchen, the "captured" northern bannermen are led into the court yard, marking the first step of a transition from Vargo Hoat/Lannister occupation to Roose Bolton/Stark (but actually still Lannister) occupation. The final step in the northern takeover is the use of the Weasel Soup - maybe that's the stew-like transitional food at that stage of Arya's story. (Interesting to note that Biter eats the fingers of the guards who died after the soup was thrown on them. Perhaps similar to the mystery meat that can be found in bowls of brown.) 

Another possible tart association would be the similarity to the name, The Maid of Tarth. (If Vargo Hoat tried to say the word "tart," would it sound like "Tarth"?) There are a number of similarities between Arya and Brienne. (Brienne's transitional foods occur when she gives stew to the dwarf septon; in the Stinking Goose while waiting for Nimble Dick to show up; with Septon Meribald's oranges and when Thoros of Myr feeds her after she recovers from her fight with Rorge and Biter.) 

[Dilekless]

@Lady Dacey Great, seriously great work. I like Arya and chapters are very fun to read/inspect.

 

I don’t feel like these parallels are random, the way GRRM wrote it feels like they were intentional. Arya had very few chapters in adwd/affc and George said 5 year gap would’ve worked perfectly for her. This adds value to her few chapters. He would’ve skipped those years but instead  he ended up parallelling her story with backwards. Which layered and richened her transformation.

 

So Mercy chapter might be a total resemblance of ACoK, instead of one chapter. She killed the guard to escape Harrenhal in the end, and fed him to the rains/ like Mercy feds Raff to eels. Also Harrenhal was a home to many Targaryens, including Daemon Targaryen, Rhaena Targaryen, who once were ghosts of Harrenhal. She mentions Dragons in Mercy chapter too.

I’ll try to contribute to this post as soon as I can. I’m curious of what’ll come out!!

[a black swan]

...

[a black swan]

This is one of the most brilliant threads on here. Great read! 

[Seams]

I'm so glad this thread has bubbled up for discussion again. As with the books themselves, one sees new things when re-reading this thread with fresh eyes.

For instance, a key to some very important symbolism:

On 6/27/2019 at 7:56 PM, Lady Dacey said:

Ghost, already larger than his litter mates, smelled her, gave her ear a careful nip, and settled back down.

 

On 6/27/2019 at 7:56 PM, Lady Dacey said:

The boat was ready before she was, and Yorko was at the oars. He was the captain's son as well, but older than Denyo and less friendly.

 

On 6/27/2019 at 7:56 PM, Lady Dacey said:

"The show is done," he said. He bent to scratch Ghost behind the ears.

GRRM makes strategic references to ears - Gared has lost his ears to frostbite, Myrcella loses an ear to the sword of Gerold Dayne - and I have wondered about their symbolic meaning. I had forgotten that the German word for "ear" is "Ohr." I'm quite sure that GRRM has used English-German wordplay in puns such as "Ei / eye" (the German word for egg and the English word eye) and "Wohl / howl" (the German word for well and the English word for the sound made by a wolf). So this elusive "ear" symbolism can finally start to click into place because you have identified the parallel between ears and oars.

I also highlighted the word "nip" in the first excerpt because I think it might be wordplay on the word "pin" and therefore relates to the sewing symbolism that is so strong in these chapters. We know that Jon will soon give Arya a needle; here we see the direwolf Ghost giving the direwolf Nymeria a "pin."

I am only recently starting to think about the ways GRRM breaks and recombines syllables in the names of characters, but your parallel between ears and oars leads me to wonder whether characters such as Yoren and Qhorin and The Norey are linked to the oar / Ohr pun. These characters appear at key moments when one of our main characters needs to make a journey or get past an obstacle. This kind of association could also help to clarify the ear / oar symbolism and purpose in the books.

On 6/27/2019 at 7:56 PM, Lady Dacey said:

Septa Mordane raised her eyes. She had a bony face, sharp eyes, and a thin lipless mouth made for frowning. It was frowning now. "What are you talking about, children?"

 

On 6/27/2019 at 7:56 PM, Lady Dacey said:

The dock was shadowed, the steps steep. ... She patted Needle's hilt for luck and plunged into the shadows, taking the steps two at a time so no one could ever say she'd been afraid.

 

On 6/27/2019 at 7:56 PM, Lady Dacey said:

It was worse than Jon had thought. It wasn't Septa Mordane waiting in her room. It was Septa Mordane and her mother.

I had started to make some connections about "step / sept" wordplay, but it's always clearer to zero in on specific examples that show how GRRM applies the symbolism. It seems that climbing steep, scary, stone steps is similar in Arya's mind to dealing with the Septa. We know that Septa Mordane was her sewing instructor at Winterfell and that Arya, in Braavos, will hide the sword Needle behind the loose stone in some stone steps. Looking at additional steps in Arya's chapters and keeping in mind the parallels you have laid out for the Septa Mordane character could lead to additional insights about Mordane's purpose in the narrative, lost swords and Arya's growth as well as the sewing symbolism throughout the books.

I suspect we need to reexamine Septa Mordane and assign her a more benevolent role in Arya's story. I may be wrong but I think the Septa / steps are carefully helping Arya by hiding her sword (symbolic of Arya's true identity) while she does her undercover work, staying safe and learning to be an assassin. I mentioned in an earlier comment that Septa Mordane is the first character GRRM describes as having a rustling skirt and that this image is usually associated with a Queen Mother (Cersei, Catelyn, etc.) hiding her son behind her skirt. If the steps (Septa) are hiding Arya's sword / identity, then we should probably reexamine the skirt-hiding metaphor to see if these queen mothers hide more than princes.

The fact that steps are made of stone and that Arya finds Septa Mordane and Catelyn together is probably foreshadowing about Catelyn turning into Lady Stoneheart.

Arya spends a lot of her time at Harrenhal scrubbing the steps.

On 6/28/2019 at 5:30 PM, Lady Dacey said:

Septa Mordane is a tutor, but also a mother figure and protector to Sansa (but not to Arya)... Who desguises as Alayne, Baelish's daugther. There is the aparently small detail that they both frown at Arya, but I've come to the conclusion that this os very deliberate. I invite you to use the search engine at asearchoficeandfire for "frown" in Arya's POV in the entire series and see If you agree with me. How do you think what we know about Terys could inform us on Mordane? Any thoughts? I will try to dig this deeper.

As for Septa Mordane's frown, I think GRRM wants us to contrast this with Arya's thoughts about Jon Snow:

Quote

Needle was Robb and Bran and Rickon, her mother and her father, even Sansa. Needle was Winterfell's grey walls, and the laughter of its people. Needle was the summer snows, Old Nan's stories, the heart tree with its red leaves and scary face, the warm earthy smell of the glass gardens, the sound of the north wind rattling the shutters of her room. Needle was Jon Snow's smile. (AFfC, Chap. 22, Arya II)

The grim mentor frowns at Arya, but "she" instructs her in "needlework" and she protects the "smile" that is so important to Arya. I think this symbolism will not only help us to decode Arya's story, but will also help us to understand some hidden depths in the relationship of Catelyn (the other stone woman waiting in Arya's room) and Jon Snow.

[Lady Dacey]

Long time no see lovely folks. It's nice to see this thread getting some attention again. I have put a lot of thought and time to writting all that and every time I reread I find my effots lacking, but there is no mending it, only going fowards right? @a black swan you made my day by calling the thread brilliant! Amazing posters have contributed to this thread with insights on the rich and complex world Martin has crafted for us. 

I have been rereading Arya's chapters in ACOK and ASOS with the hope to continue to scratch the surface of this story. Some symbolic or metaphorical layers have become more clear  to me recentely. There are so many details to explore, I have been dedicated to unsterstanding the role of weapons as stand ins for different people and situations, taking the hint from Needle representing Jon. What does it mean that Gendry gives Arya a stolen sword? What does it mean that she wants to learn how shoot a bow? What about the dirk Sandor gives her? I really hope to do a write up on that sooner or later. Also, windows and doors! I am cataloging every time Arya goes through a window in the story and it's really impressive, I'm absolutely positive this means something (or a few things). There is much and more to explore. I'm glad to be back!

[Lady Dacey]

I never did write the conclusion I promised for this series of essays. I don't know if I have it in me to go back to those ten chapters and work on a "summary of evidence" kind of write up, but maybe? Would that be interesting? I don't know. 

[Lady Dacey]

On 7/17/2019 at 6:14 AM, Dilekless said:

Arya had very few chapters in adwd/affc and George said 5 year gap would’ve worked perfectly for her. This adds value to her few chapters. He would’ve skipped those years but instead  he ended up parallelling her story with backwards. Which layered and richened her transformation.

Hi Dilekless, sorry for being almost a year late to respond. I really like this take of yours and believe it adds to the significance of the parallels we agree axiste between Arya's chapters in the first and the last two books.

On 7/17/2019 at 6:14 AM, Dilekless said:

So Mercy chapter might be a total resemblance of ACoK, instead of one chapter. She killed the guard to escape Harrenhal in the end, and fed him to the rains/ like Mercy feds Raff to eels.

Oh, I like this very much! It makes sense. I have just reread Arya's chapters from ACOK taking notes, but I haven't read Mercy in ages, so nothing spring to mind immediately, but it's worth exploring.

[Lady Dacey]

On 5/8/2020 at 12:28 PM, Seams said:

Arya, in Braavos, will hide the sword Needle behind the loose stone in some stone steps.

Ah, @Seams, your input is always lovely. I believe you will like what I have been thinking about weapons in Arya's story if I ever get that organized and writen and posted. But I quoted this part of your post because when I read it Stoney Sept just sprung to my mind, and how Robert hid in the town, recovering from wounds, only to come out when the battle was being fought. When is Needle going to come out of hiding? This has to be a really important moment. And if Needle is a stand in for Jon Snow, what does it mean that it is in a similar position to Robert, then a rebel who would become king? 

 

On 5/8/2020 at 12:28 PM, Seams said:

So this elusive "ear" symbolism can finally start to click into place because you have identified the parallel between ears and oars.

Oarsmen are also well known for taking information from here to there, which I think maybe adds to this possible parallel? Sailor's tales aren't a reliable source of information, but they travel distances and reach many ears. 

 

On 5/8/2020 at 12:28 PM, Seams said:

As for Septa Mordane's frown, I think GRRM wants us to contrast this with Arya's thoughts about Jon Snow: ... "Needle was Jon Snow's smile. "

This obervation of your actually had me thinking of Gendry and his constant frowning... Gendry makes Arya think of Jon sometimes, but he is definitely "not her brother". How can these two young men in Arya's life be compared or act as foil for each other? Oh, there is so much to think about...

[Lady Dacey]

On 6/27/2019 at 8:56 PM, Lady Dacey said:

In AGOT, Arya I, Jon dismisses Arya’s wishes to practice with the boys saying she is too skinny to wield a sword. In AFFC, Arya I, Arya dismisses staying on the ship because Salty is too small to man an oar.

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"I could do just as good as Bran," she said. "He's only seven. I'm nine."

Jon looked her over with all his fourteen-year-old wisdom. "You're too skinny," he said. He took her arm to feel her muscle. Then he sighed and shook his head. "I doubt you could even lift a longsword, little sister, never mind swing one."

Arya snatched back her arm and glared at him.

She glares at him, she is angry because she feels devalued, but says nothing because she knows he is right, and they simply go back to watching the training below. On the other hand, when we get to AFFC, even though Arya is aware she could not man an oar, she realizes she has other qualities that could be of use. That is not enough for her to stay on the ship though, and she knows it. In AFFC, she again says nothing, only nods, because she is not strong enough to do what she truly wants.

Quote

Ashore. Arya bit her lip. She had crossed the narrow sea to get here, but if the captain had asked she would have told him she wanted to stay aboard the Titan's Daughter. Salty was too small to man an oar, she knew that now, but she could learn to splice ropes and reef the sails and steer a course across the great salt seas.  (…) Besides, she had only to look at the captain's face to know how anxious he was to be rid of her. So Arya only nodded.

@Seams your interest in oars made me think of this parallel again. Arya is too skinny to "even lift" a longsword, but she is given Needle a few chapters later. Will she have to "man an oar" at some point? She never wielded a longsword (though she did lift one against Anguy, Tom and Lem) but she did get a sword all to herself. Maybe similarly she will never be oaring on a bravoosi galley, but a rowboat may feature significantly in her story? In Braavos most vessels are poled through the canals, so my mind goes to the riverlands... 

[Darksnider05]

13 hours ago, Lady Dacey said:

@Seams your interest in oars made me think of this parallel again. Arya is to skinny to even lift a longsword, but she is given Needle a few chapters later. Will she have to "man an oar" at some point? She never wielded a longsword (though she did lift one against Anguy, Tom and Lem) but she did get a sword all to herself. Maybe similarly she will never be oaring on a bravoosi galley, but a tow boat may feature significantly in her story? In Braavos most vessels are poled through the canals, so my mind goes to the riverlands... 

That doesn't make any sense Long Swords do not weigh a lot they are like 2 or 3lbs.

[Lady Dacey]

1 hour ago, Darksnider05 said:

That doesn't make any sense Long Swords do not weigh a lot they are like 2 or 3lbs.

Say that to Jon Snow, not to me 

[Lady Dacey]

Finally, I try to present a long-time-promised but little-prepared wrap up for this thread. A synopsis of sorts, I hope, or maybe just bullet points in guise of a conclusion.

Here I will be looking at Arya’s five chapters from AGOT coupled with her five chapters in AFFC and ADWD to summarize the evidence that back my belief George R. R. Marting has drawn two mirroring arcs for my most beloved character. I’ll be looking at places where the plot itself parallels, to similar imagery, sentences and scenes, and recurring themes.

Each title links back to the post where the pair was first explored. 

Arya 1 AGOT / Arya 1 AFFC

• A setting removed from the other four chapters. In AGOT this is Arya’s only Winterfell chapter, her other four are set in King’s Landing, while in AFFC this is Arya’s chapter in the Titan’s Daughter and her other chapters are all set in Braavos.
• Wishing for someone else’s place. In AGOT Arya resents that Sansa, two years older, got all the talents and nothing was left for Arya. In AFFC Arya wishes she could be in Denyo’s place. She let’s us know that Denyo is two years older than her and that her hopes could never be fulfilled since a ship has no need for two cabin boys.
• An adult who does not want her around. Both septa Mordane and Tradesman-Captain Ternesio Terys aren’t particularly happy with having Arya under their charge. They are both described as stern-looking and associated with the color gray, and Arya notices them frowning at her. In fact, they are both “frowning now” as the story is told, and the phrasing only shows up in these two instances in the entire series.
• Not fitting in. While (not)belonging is a recurrent theme all through Arya’s story, this is made very concrete in these two chapters, with the sewing circle where Arya is sitting somewhat removed from the other girls and only partially listening to their conversation, and in the ship where she doesn’t speak the language the sailor use to communicate.  
• “Too…” Arya is too skinny to lift a longsword in AGOT and too small to man an oar in AFFC.
• An older sibling figure showing the ways of the world. Arya spends sometime with Jon Snow in AGOT and Yorko in AFFC. Yorko is Denyo’s older brother and “not friendly” (is brooding Jon ever friendly at a first glance?). Small beats make the situations feel similar to the reader, like Jon being already seated at the window sill when Arya arrives at the covered bridge, and Yorko’s boat being ready for Arya before she is. The talks Arya has with these young men and the things she witnesses in their company are quite important.
• When the chapter is almost at an end, Arya watches as Jon Snow goes away after having sent her to her room in AGOT, while in AFFC she watches Yorko “until he vanished in the shadows of the bridge” after having left her at the temple.
• Arya finishes her first AGOT chapter going into her room where she finds two authority figures, the septa and her mother. She finishes her first chapter in AFFC going into the temple of the many-faced god and finding two new authority figures, the kindly man and the waif.
• “All but Jon”. In her first chapter in AGOT, Arya stablishes all her siblings have taken after Catelyn when it comes to looks, all but Jon. In AFFC, she narrates how all of her brothers have been slain but for Jon Snow. The phrasing used is similar.

Arya 2 AGOT / Arya 2 AFFC

• A long time has elapsed since Arya 1 both in AGOT and AFFC.
• (Lack of) communication and isolation features heavily in the first half of each of the second chapters. In AGOT Arya eats among Stark men but speaks to no one and wishes she could be on her own. “No one talked to Arya” is the statement we get. In AFFC Arya takes the men serving in the temple for mutes until she hears them praying. “Without a common language, Arya had no way of talking to the others” is what is said at that point.
• Needle! A father and a father-figure become aware Arya haw a sword of her own in both second chapters. Ned finds Needle in Arya’s hand in AGOT, the waif sees Arya doing needlework and the next day the kindly man comes to have a chat with Arya about it. In both chapters this is a turning point in the chapter, initiating a very important conversation.
• Lying. The subject of such conversations revolves around lies. “We all lie,” Ned tells his daughter in AGOT. “All men lie when they are afraid” the kindly man tells Arya in AFFC.
• Womanhood. “I don’t want to be a lady!” Arya responds to Ned telling her septa Mordane has been charged with such task. “She wanted none of that” the narrator tells us after the kindly man has offered Arya some very feminine-coded destinies, like becoming courtesan or marrying and having children.
• Beauty. In AGOT 2 Ned says Arya reminds him of Lyanna and Arya retorts that her aunt was beautiful. “It was not a thing that was ever said of Arya” the narration goes on. The word doesn’t really come up again in the second and third books. The first time anyone refers to Arya’s beauty is in AFFC 2, when the kindly man asks if Arya would like to be a courtesan and “have songs sung of her beauty”.
• Obedience. In AGOT, Ned tells Arya her disobedience must stop, because it’s time to begin growing up. “I will”, she vows. This is connected to the place they’ve come to: King’s Landing, a dark and dangerous place in her father’s words. In AFFC the kindly man tells Arya “know that we shall require your obedience. At all times and in all things. If you cannot obey, you must depart.” To which she answers “I can obey.”
• Strength. In AGOT Arya tells her dad she can be strong. “I can be as strong as Robb" are her exact words. "I'm strong. As strong as you. I'm hard." Arya tells the kindly man in her second chapter in AFFC.
• Heart. Heart-related imagery comes up in both chapters to signify Arya’s identity as a Stark.
• A new master. At the end of Arya’s second chapter in AGOT, after promising her father she would obey and then apologizing to septa Mordane in front of him, Arya is introduced to Syrio Forel, who introduces himself as her dancing master. In AFFC Arya 2, after getting rid of (almost) all her belongings, Arya begins training languages with the waif and actively compares her learning at this point with the lessons she had from Syrio.
• Stones. This is the moment Arya confesses to Ned that she threw rocks at Nymeria to force her into the woods, which saved her life. In AFFC, arya uses a lose rock on the steps to keep Needle safe while she serves at the HoBaW.
• On giving up Needle: in AGOT, Arya hands her sword over to her father: “Reluctantly Arya surrendered her sword, wondering if she would ever hold it again.” Is the exact phrasing. In AFFC Arya throws everything she owns in the canal, but can’t bring herself to surrender Needle. As readers, we are left wondering when she’ll hold it again.
• Structurally, both chapters start and end on the same “place”, only at first Arya is sad and angry and, in the end, Arya is dancing. AGOT Arya 2 starts with a meal in the small hall and ends in the small hall again, now with the trestle tables against the wall to make room for “dancing” lessons. AFFC Arya 2 opens with Arya’s list being recited, and ends with Arya wandering through a rainy Braavos reciting her list feeling “so happy she could dance”.
• These are sad chapters with “happy” endings.
• Both chapters include detailed description of rich foods, something quite uncommon in Arya’s storyline.

AGOT Arya 3 / AFFC Cat of the Canals

• In AGOT Arya 3, Arya assumes a “fake identity” for the first time ever: when Tommen and Myrcella mistake her for a peasant boy she acts the part. In the third chapter in AFFC this is taken to the next level by the changing of names in the chapter title.
• Cats. Of course, Arya 3 in AGOT is that one chapter that is all about cats, when that relationship is first stablished. She becomes Cat in her third chapter in AFFC, and reminisces about chasing cats in the Red Keep. 
• There is a sense of expanding horizons in both these chapters. Arya leaves the Red Keep for the first time in Arya 3, and walks back from the Blackwater all the way to the castle. In her third AFFC chapter, Arya is exploring the city of Braavos after having finally been allowed out of the temple.
• Nightmares. Arya experiences vivid, terrible nightmares in both these third chapters (and in her third chapter in ASOS). In AGOT she hears her father’s voice becoming fainter and fainter in her dreams, which some have interpreted as foreshadowing for Ned’s death and as a sign that Arya may have precognitive abilities. In AFFC it’s her mother she hears screaming, in what is clearly a reenactment of her experience outside the Twins during the Red Wedding but may also be foreshadowing to an encounter with Stoneheart.
• Setting. Both these chapters explore and detail the place Arya inhabits. In AGOT the Red Keep is heavily featured in Arya 3, and it’s described as an “endless stone maze”. In AFFC Cat takes us all around Braavos, which of course is a “crooked city” with all its buildings made out of stone.
• Daenerys is mentioned. Illyrio and Varys discuss the princess with child in AGOT, and tales of dragons hatching reach Cat in AFFC. Daenerys isn’t mentioned in any other Arya chapters.
• Retelling. Arya tries to convey to Ned what she overheard and is casually dismissed. In Cat of the Canals, Arya is learning to actively overhear conversations and gather information.
• Bathing. Arya usually doesn’t really enjoy bathing in ACOK and ASOS. In AGOT 3 and Cat of the Canals, on the other hands, we witness Arya disrobing and cleaning her body of her own volition, getting rid of bad smells in almost ritualized cleansing.
• Being cheeky. Arya interacting with the guards of the Red Keep is hilarious, and very similar to how she acts when being her Cat persona.
• Dareon/Yoren. Arya interacts with the black brothers of the Night’s Watch in these two chapters. It feels like no coincidence that Dareon was sent out by Jon Snow specifically to stand in for Yoren as a recruiter. These two brothers are opposites in almost every way, with Yoren being described as “stooped and ugly, with an unkempt beard and unwashed clothes” while Arya thinks Dareon is “fair of face and foul of heart”. Of course, we know the size of Yoren’s heart.
• “She was blind.” That sentence shows up exactly like that, word for word, in both chapters. Of course in AFFC she actually becomes blind, while in AGOT she is only in a really really dark room. But still. The wording!
• Structurally speaking, both these chapters start with a more light-hearted tone to then plunge into really dark territory, literally and metaphorically, as Arya hears the threats to her family whispered in the dark in AGOT and kills Dareon to then go blind in AFFC.

AGOT Arya 4 / ADWD The Blind Girl

• Considering AFFC and ADWD as one long long book, Blind Girl is Arya’s fourth chapter.
• Resilience is an important theme overall for Arya’s arc, but in this pair of chapters it is really fleshed out.
• The five senses. Arya’s fourth chapter in AGOT is the one in which she gets that all-important lesson when Syrio Forel tells her to “look with her eyes”. He also touches upon her other senses though: “The heart lies and the head plays tricks with us, but the eyes see true. Look with your eyes. Hear with your ears. Taste with your mouth. Smell with your nose. Feel with your skin. Then comes the thinking, afterward, and in that way knowing the truth." Arya “looks with her eyes” in several moments of the story and it literally saves her life more than once, but she never does explore her other senses that much until she goes blind in ADWD. “Hear, smell, taste, feel, she reminded herself. There are many ways to know the world for those who cannot see.” Is one way Arya references that. "You have five senses, learn to use the other four, you will have fewer cuts and scrapes and scabs" the kindly man tells her.
• Stick fights. Both chapters feature scenes where Arya in engaged in training with someone else to improve her martial skills. While she practiced her needlework on her own all throughout ASOS, this is the first time she does so with someone else since Syrio in AGOT Arya 4. The way the fighting is described is incredibly similar, with the descriptions of rights and lefts, the clacking sound of wood, her opponent “cheating”, a “sudden stinging” cut catching her by surprise…
• Becoming a cat. In Arya’s fourth chapter in AGOT, Arya is helpless after witnessing the horrors at the Tower of the Hand. The narration tells us “she was only a little girl with a wooden stick, alone and afraid” (the wooden stick here is her practice sword). To escape, she pretends she is chasing cats… “except she was the cat now”. This is the exact wording used. She is the cat now, and that is what empowers her to keep going. In ADWD, when Arya is most definitely just a little blind girl with a wooden stick, she skinchanges into a cat for the first time, what that is what finally empowers her against her mentor/abuser.
• The dying Sealord and the Mermaid. In my original post about this pair, a make a case for the Sealord standing in for Robert Baratheon and the Mermaid attending the Merling Queen standing in for Jayne Poole.

AGOT Arya 5 / ADWD Ugly Little Girl

• The way the waif says people will react to the face Arya comes to wear in her fifth chapter in the AFFC/ADWD arc is a near-perfect description of the way the people o King’s Landing treated Arya Stark back in her fifth AGOT chapter.
• Lemons. Arya contemplates stealing a lemon tart in AGOT Arya 5. In Ugly Little Girl she is given a tart drink that she describes as “biting into a lemon”, which reminds her of a girl who loved lemon cakes. Lemons don’t come up in Arya’s story in any other instances, unless it’s related to Lem in the brotherhood.
• The man Arya targets for the faceless men in ADWD is described in a way that calls back to Petyr Baelish (pointed beard, thin lips) and Yoren (a hard face, mean eyes, crooked shoulders), both of which Arya encounters in her fifth chapter in AGOT.
• Eddard Starks beheading is a moment full of similarities to Arya’s “defacing” by the kindly man.
• In both chapters Arya is told directly to close her eyes.
• Yoren uses his blade to cut away Arya’s hair and transform her into Arry the orphan boy in AGOT, the kindly man’s blade is described in ADWD is strikingly similar manner.
• After the blade is used against her in each of these chapters, Arya tastes salt (from tears/blood).
• They share a common tone. These are both very sad and grim chapters, probably the darkest in each set of five we are looking at here.

Now that this beast has been laid in front of me, I see this is no conclusion at all, just a still very long tl;dr version of the five main posts I occupied this thread with. I’m still hoping to work on a conclusion though… I’m quite convinced and need not argue if the parallels are intentional or not – I’m sure they are – but I make only tentative attempts to attribute any specific meaning to them. Care to join in?