Arya's mental illness

[Brynden"Bloodraven" Rivers]

22 hours ago, Rondo said:

Unfamiliar with Ciri.  Arya is not a leaf floating on the currents of society.  She has taken active steps to become a murderer.  She chose violence.  There were choices but her hate is too strong.  

No, not really. Arya was thrust into that position. It’s very understandable why she continues that Faceless Man training though. Arya has had her whole family killed off by people who, in her eyes, have escaped justice. It’s not even in warfare though. Ned was betrayed and executed even though he was Lord Regent and lord Protector of the Realm. Robb and Catelyn got their throats opened by their own allies or people who they perceived to be their allies. Bran and Rickon have been supposedly skinned and executed by Theon Greyjoy, a family friend and ward. None of them have received justice in Arya’s opinion.

[Jaenara Belarys]

1 hour ago, Lord Lannister said:

The confusion for me in that comment was when you called it racist. 

Same here. Guess I should've been a bit more specific. 

1 hour ago, Lilac & Gooseberries said:

Associating depression or any mental disorder in general with madness and evilness is, for me at least, very disrespectful and an example of sanism. This is how the mental disorder stigma perpetuates throughout our society.

Agreed, but racism has nothing to do with it...besides, that's what Dumb and Dumber did with Dany. Which makes it very amusing, for @Daenerysthegreat. 

[Rondo]

9 hours ago, John Suburbs said:

Insanity is just a sane mind overtaxed.

But all the signs are pointing to a bad end for Arya. But maybe this will be subverted, perhaps by Arya getting on a different path. As to who or what will do her in, I don't see any way to determine that now. Arya vs. Jaqen might be an interesting showdown, however.

Just sane minds overtaxed.  In that case, those like Aerion, Joffrey, and Aerys were also overtaxed.  PTSD might be the cause.  If so, we should extend the same doubt to these fellows.  Arya will surely surpass them in depravity.

Where Arya is now is a place she cannot get out.  Her mind is not just in a dark place.  Her mind is a dark place.   She herself is dark.  Call it what you will, but she is nuts.  

[Rondo]

6 hours ago, Lord Lannister said:

I think we're all trying way too hard to mentally diagnose a fictional character here. It's fair to say Arya is on a dark path and has been through more and worse things than most of us have in their lives. It's only natural that she's inclined to lash back. Her core identity has always been challenged even before the Faceless Men started brainwashing her, when she had to consistently hide who she was and pretend to be someone else. The path she's walking is as thin as her sword and one misstep will spell an ugly end for her. 

That thin path of sanity has broken.  The path was already thin in Westeros.  It broke completely at the House of Black and White.  

[Daenerysthegreat]

11 hours ago, Lilac & Gooseberries said:

This is a profoundly disrespectful and racist comment! 

Excuse me how is that racist. I'm not even white 

[Nevets]

Arya is NOT insane.  She is in full control of her faculties and actions.  While she may have anger-management and impulse-control issues, she is capable of overriding them if needed.  She knows what she is doing, and has a sense of right and wrong (mostly).  This doesn't mean that is free of serious mental issues.  She is too willing to resort to violence, especially against those she considers wrongdoers, and the Faceless Men aren't helping.  But I think if she can remove herself from their influence, other influences could result in improvement of her state.  GRRM seems to like her which is also encouraging

[Lilac & Gooseberries]

7 hours ago, Lord Lannister said:

Alright, I get the point you're trying to make I believe and agree with it being disrespectful like you say. The racist label just doesn't seem applicable and is what threw me off.

And I mean mine came from google. 

Maybe I should had used only the sanism term but I am not sure how the abjective of sanism would be. Sanistic?

7 hours ago, Jaenara Belarys said:

Same here. Guess I should've been a bit more specific. 

Agreed, but racism has nothing to do with it...besides, that's what Dumb and Dumber did with Dany. Which makes it very amusing, for @Daenerysthegreat. 

Maybe racistic was a wrong word. Sanistic? 

[Daenerysthegreat]

39 minutes ago, Lilac & Gooseberries said:

Maybe I should had used only the sanism term but I am not sure how the abjective of sanism would be. Sanistic?

Maybe racistic was a wrong word. Sanistic? 

You called me racist. I am not even American 

[SeanF]

On 9/30/2021 at 1:20 AM, Rondo said:

Unfamiliar with Ciri.  Arya is not a leaf floating on the currents of society.  She has taken active steps to become a murderer.  She chose violence.  There were choices but her hate is too strong.  

There were no good choices.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of a ten year old whose mother, father, and brother were murdered;  who has been captured by monsters, threatened with rape and torture, and has travelled through a war zone.

Absolutely none of us would emerge unscathed from that.

[Lilac & Gooseberries]

12 minutes ago, Daenerysthegreat said:

You called me racist. I am not even American 

Racism has nothing to do with nationality and I never called you racist. I clearly said that the comment is disrespectful and racistic. But I should had used the term sanism instead.

[John Suburbs]

20 hours ago, Moiraine Sedai said:

How about a young swords woman from Bravos against Arya Stark from Winterfell. The same age and size.  

Not sure I follow. Arya vs. Arya? Suicide?

[John Suburbs]

12 hours ago, Rondo said:

Just sane minds overtaxed.  In that case, those like Aerion, Joffrey, and Aerys were also overtaxed.  PTSD might be the cause.  If so, we should extend the same doubt to these fellows.  Arya will surely surpass them in depravity.

Where Arya is now is a place she cannot get out.  Her mind is not just in a dark place.  Her mind is a dark place.   She herself is dark.  Call it what you will, but she is nuts.  

Yeah, everybody has a backstory and no one is born evil. If there is some congenital defect of the mind, then we still can't blame the person for something beyond their control.

I choose to believe that no one is beyond redemption, but comme tu le feras.

[Jaenara Belarys]

16 hours ago, Lilac & Gooseberries said:

Racism has nothing to do with nationality and I never called you racist. I clearly said that the comment is disrespectful and racistic. But I should had used the term sanism instead.

You did say it was racist, though I now understand what you meant. 

[James West]

On 9/26/2021 at 5:16 PM, Rondo said:

Arya Stark is on track to murder a lot of people who opposed her family.  She composed a list of her future knife targets.  She joins a cult of murderers in order to learn their work.  Part of the initiation into this gang involved the murder of an old, insurance vendor.  Which she carried out in cold blood.  She killed a Nightswatch bard named Dareon with her rapier.  Arya is on track to become insane, if she isn't already.  She suffers from a serious mental disorder and kills with little to no guilt.  

Arya and Lyanna are compared by Ned as having the same wolf's blood.  This temperament, being hypersensitive and having quick tempers made them biologically vulnerable to mental illness.  The trauma endured is the catalyst that drove Arya to her mental illness.  The teachings of a cult of people who worshiped the god of death and who delivers death without passion is as unhealthy an education as a person can get.  

Mr. Martin is crafting entertainment.  I have to admit, it would not interest me to read about a ten year old happy child playing with Lego blocks.  We already have that in Tommen.  Arya Stark is his extreme version of a crazed little girl who is suffering from mental illness and insanity.  Ofcourse she is not going to count the hairs on a mule's ass kind of insane.  No way.  That's comedy and not extreme enough.  I do not root for Arya Stark.  I am not a fan of Arya Stark.  But I will admit that I find her chapters a little more interesting now because of her madness.  You don't even get to watch a 10 year old this mentally ill on the television.  

I do not expect a change of character direction for Arya Stark.  She had a chance to pick a different way of living before killing the old insurance vendor.  She instead chose revenge.  Jon's last thoughts before dying was sending her a telepathic message to "stick em with the pointy end." He is telling her to murder Bowen Marsh and the leaders of the Nightswatch.  That can't be good.  She will murder a lot of people when she hears Jon's message and finds him dead.  Karma will come back and put an end to Arya but not until she has killed many.

Some of her future victims do deserve punishment.  Ramsay is without good and deserve punishment.  But there are those who were forced to play the game of power who do not deserve her wrath.  They were just on the opposite side of the playing field.  The ghost of HH saw a bloody future for Arya.  It's clear to me that there will be collateral damage and many innocents will die while Arya goes through with her murderous plan.  

How and who will stop Arya?  Somebody will.  

 

Arya is terminally insane.  I can't see what other life is open to one such as her. 

[Moiraine Sedai]

23 hours ago, John Suburbs said:

Not sure I follow. Arya vs. Arya? Suicide?

No silly. I meant a fight between another fencer. Another girl of the same age and size versus Arya.

[Darth Sidious]

Jon’s death will shatter an already broken Arya. What’s left of her mind will go. 

[Moiraine Sedai]

Arya has the savage blood of Brandon, Lyanna, Jon, and Rickon. She was born on the edge of sanity and control. Her experience with trauma knocked her over the edge. 

[Rondo]

On 10/1/2021 at 3:23 AM, SeanF said:

There were no good choices.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of a ten year old whose mother, father, and brother were murdered;  who has been captured by monsters, threatened with rape and torture, and has travelled through a war zone.

Absolutely none of us would emerge unscathed from that.

There were more moral choices.  She could live quietly and put all of that behind her.  She had a choice.  She has choices.  She chose to become a killer.  

[Moiraine Sedai]

Arya had a lot of identities after being freed from the boundaries of being high born. She could have lived as Nan. She'd rather be a killer. She's very bad.

[Lord Lannister]

I mean, yes Arya has issues. Yes she's made some questionable choices, yes she's potentially on a very dark path. But come on. I think some people are trying way too hard to paint Arya as a villain.