The inn at the crossroads: Willow and Jeyne as Arya/Sansa parallels

[Seams]

In a recent thread, @MissM expressed interest in a reference to Willow and Jeyne Heddle as symbolic versions of Arya and Sansa - with an emphasis on Arya. Instead of pursuing this topic within that other thread, I offered to create this new discussion.

A summary of the evidence offered to back up the comparison:

1) Arya hiding "in a willow." She does this after praying to the Old Gods to hide her.

2) Brienne suspecting that Willow Heddle could be Arya. 

This was the fuller post, with excerpts:

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As Arya, Hot Pie and Gendry encounter the Brotherhood Without Banners, GRRM shows us Arya using her map to follow the Little Willow and Big Willow Rivers. When she and her traveling companions have to hide, she chooses to hide behind a big willow:

Hot Pie opened his arms. The cabbages fell to the ground with soft thumps. "We have to hide." ... 

Where? The burned cottage and its overgrown garden stood hard beside the banks of the Trident. There were a few willows growing along the river's edge and reed beds in the muddy shallows beyond...

Lightfoot, she moved to the big old willow that grew beside the bend in the road and went to one knee in the grass and mud, within the veil of trailing branches. You old gods, she prayed as the singer's voice grew louder, you tree gods, hide me, and make him go past. Then a horse whickered, and the song broke off suddenly. He's heard, she knew, but maybe he's alone, or if he's not, maybe they'll be as scared of us as we are of them. (ASoS, Arya II)

When a Stark prays to the old gods, trees listen. Technically, even though Anguy and Lem find Arya, I suspect she is "hidden" within the willow at this moment. There are more layers of meaning in Arya's sojourn with Gendry and Hot Pie and the BWB, but being "in" a willow is part of it.

This passage may be the strongest direct evidence that GRRM wants us to compare the Heddle sisters to Sansa and Arya:

Gendry was the closest thing to a man grown, but it was Willow shouting all the orders, as if she were a queen in her castle and the other children were no more than servants.

If she were highborn, command would come naturally to her, and deference to them. Brienne wondered whether Willow might be more than she appeared. The girl was too young and too plain to be Sansa Stark, but she was of the right age to be the younger sister, and even Lady Catelyn had said that Arya lacked her sister's beauty. Brown hair, brown eyes, skinny . . . could it be? Arya Stark's hair was brown, she recalled, but Brienne was not sure of the color of her eyes. Brown and brown, was that it? Could it be that she did not die at Saltpans after all?

The inn at the crossroads is important in Catelyn's arc as the place she encounters Tyrion and takes him hostage. She also asserts her power as the daughter of Hoster Tully, calling on his bannermen to obey her orders. Inns in ASOIAF are entrances and exits for the underworld or otherworld, where characters can enter a new reality. Also, a "heddle" is apparently a tool used in weaving. Sewing and weaving symbolism are closely linked to Sansa and Arya from their early lessons with Septa Mordane. I think Brienne is meeting alternate versions of Catelyn's daughters when she meets Willow and Jeyne Heddle.

Of course, Jeyne Poole at Winterfell was a constant companion for Sansa who is impersonating Arya. Another hint about the way that GRRM uses that name to create an archetype and then shows us a comparison to Arya and Sansa. 

MissM followed up to ask

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What insight do we get from this comparison do you think? Does it inform our understanding of the Stark girls relationship or personalities or events to come? 

My answer would be that I think the Catelyn associations are important here. 

Catelyn was raised to be the heir of House Tully and, therefore, ruler of the Riverlands. When she leaves Harrenhal with a map, Arya is in her mother's realm, following the Big Willow and Little Willow rivers. 

As mentioned, above, the inn at the Crossroads is an important location at a turning point in Catelyn's story and in Westeros history: taking Tyrion hostage has been cited as the catalyst for the War of the Five Kings. We know that Arya will also end up there with The Hound just before she begins her journey to the House of Black and White. I believe GRRM uses inns as nodes for crossing from one reality to another - there are other crossing points such as wells, walls, bridges and islands. But they are also metaphors for the Westeros monarchy (see the link about nodes). 

If the inn at the crossroads enters a new phase when it passes from Masha Heddle to Willow and Jeyne Heddle, and if the inn is a metaphor for the monarchy, I think we are seeing symbolic versions of Arya and Sansa stepping up to become players in the Game of Thrones. In the course of Brienne's POV at the inn, we learn many names of the orphans there. I bet they are parallel to the names of the Brotherhood without Banners, the group that Catelyn will command after she becomes Lady Stoneheart. But both the orphans and the BwB people may have deeper meanings: Willow's overriding concern is to feed the children. Lady Stoneheart does not seem focused on feeding the BwB. 

Additional details to examine:

• Hyle Hunt and Brienne say that the inn could be called the crossbow inn or the orphan inn. The inn has had many names over the years, each reflecting a change in the monarchy. What could Hyle and Brienne's suggestions mean about the future of the monarchy? Tyrion kills Tywin with a crossbow. Jon Snow is one of many orphans in the books. Do these names refer to them as contenders for the throne?
• The river has changed course and no longer runs close to the inn. In the riverlands, what does it mean that the river has moved away from a place? Will it meander back toward the inn at some point?
• Willow threatens Brienne and her companions with a crossbow and later tries to defend the inn against the Brave Companions (Bloody Mummers) who show up. Brienne fights others of the Brave Companions at the end of her quest on Crackclaw Point (where she is seeking Arya). Brienne defends Willow and then members of the Brotherhood without Banners end up saving Willow at the inn. They also save Brienne but then nearly hang her to death. 
• I suspect that Brienne is a symbolic "third sister" for Arya and Sansa. It is significant if something is uttered three times in ASOIAF and we hear Brienne reiterate her story about seeking her sister, a highborn maid of three and ten, at least three times. Davos visits the islands called the three sisters and he eats sister stew. (Which may tie back into Brienne's quest at Crackclaw Point as well as the lobstered gauntlets mentioned in the story.) Because of Brienne's oath to Catelyn but lack of any relationship with Ned, I suspect that Brienne becomes an equivalent of Jon Snow, who is Ned's "son" but who has no blood relationship at all with Catelyn. 
• Gendry. We know that he is a natural son of King Robert. Brienne sees him as the spitting image of Renly. At a key moment after their escape from Harrenhal, Gendry is described as "thinking." I think this identifies him as a "thin king." (There is a pattern of words ending with -king used in association with heirs of kings - Jon Snow appears with the word "walking," for instance - "wall king.") Gendry has chosen to stay at the inn, has chosen to become a follower of the Red God, accept a knighthood from Beric Dondarrion and forge a sword for himself. Is Gendry a contender for the Iron Throne? Or will he remain at the Hollow Hill? 
• Willow and Jeyne Heddle are not the only symbolic versions of Arya and Sansa. I think Lyanna Mormont and Wylla Manderly are also part of this archetype GRRM has created for the series. And that reminds us that Arya is often compared to Ned's sister, Lyanna. deciphering the hints in these other characters can help us to predict the future roles we might expect for Arya, Sansa and their "sister" Brienne.

 

[chrisdaw]

I agree that they're being used as parallels but couldn't find anything useful to pull out of them and apply to Arya and Sansa, though I'm sure it's there.

I do think it's going to play a practical part in the Arya and Gendry love story. At some point Gendry/Arya are going to consider (or at least dream they could, like Jon and Ygritte) abandoning their lives to go live anonymously together. This episode with Willow is putting the possibility in Gendry's head of a life he could have with Arya.

[Jay21]

Pretty cool. Lots of ties between Cat and Masha (especially in death) as well so we it appears that we see the whole female side of the Stark family represented at the crossroads at various times. 

[Springwatch]

On 4/15/2021 at 6:57 PM, Seams said:

• Hyle Hunt and Brienne say that the inn could be called the crossbow inn or the orphan inn. The inn has had many names over the years, each reflecting a change in the monarchy. What could Hyle and Brienne's suggestions mean about the future of the monarchy? Tyrion kills Tywin with a crossbow. Jon Snow is one of many orphans in the books. Do these names refer to them as contenders for the throne?

I like the idea. Maybe it's not just monarchs, but people with the power to choose the future, as suggested by the location at a crossroads (and maybe also by crossbows - the connection you make with Tyrion seems a good one, because he chose for all Westeros when he shot Tywin).

On 4/15/2021 at 6:57 PM, Seams said:

• Willow threatens Brienne and her companions with a crossbow and later tries to defend the inn against the Brave Companions (Bloody Mummers) who show up. Brienne fights others of the Brave Companions at the end of her quest on Crackclaw Point (where she is seeking Arya). Brienne defends Willow and then members of the Brotherhood without Banners end up saving Willow at the inn. They also save Brienne but then nearly hang her to death. 

Brienne was hanged from a willow. Wish I knew what GRRM was doing with trees. He loves them - the most animated trees in literature since the ents.

[TheSamsa]

On 4/17/2021 at 10:49 PM, Springwatch said:

I like the idea. Maybe it's not just monarchs, but people with the power to choose the future, as suggested by the location at a crossroads (and maybe also by crossbows - the connection you make with Tyrion seems a good one, because he chose for all Westeros when he shot Tywin).

Also Kevan was killed by Varys with a crossbow. And Joffrey liked his crossbows, so all ruling Lannisters had something to do with crossbows.
Sidenote: interestingly Jamie does not like crossbows, maybe he does not want to rule?

And fAegon is an orphan too, it might hint his ascent to the iron throne, rather than Jons.