[Book Spoilers] Preview is up on HBO's site.

[modehead]

What ever happened to that scene from one of the early trailers that had Ned with a rope around his neck in front of the Iron Throne? And people were speculating that maybe it was supposed to be Brandon and they were showing his murder, or that maybe Ned was dreaming of that incident with himself in Brandon's place.

Did that footage get clipped? Or is that going to work its way into one of these next episodes somehow?

Good question. I always assumed it was a flashback to the Mad King killing Brandon. But, it would've made sense for them to show that scene earlier, right? Build up the Mad King a bit more, raising the stakes of everything following it. We'll see...

[modehead]

I'm assuming, given the title, that this is the episode where Arya makes her first kill. Anyone else see that coming?

[madking]

In the begining of the trailer you hear someone say "kill the girl" anyone know who says it and who its in reference too?

[Huan]

In the begining of the trailer you hear someone say "kill the girl" anyone know who says it and who its in reference too?

I'm guessing it's Ser Meryn Trant, but it sounds like some nifty preview editing changed the line from "DON'T kill the girl" to "Kill the girl." The intonation of "kill" doesn't sound like it's from the beginning of a sentence. That's my theory, anyway.

[NW Deserter]

First sneak-peek clip is up!

Gotta love the Tyrion/Bronn banter. I'm excited to see Shagga's casting!

[Popgun]

I'm assuming, given the title, that this is the episode where Arya makes her first kill. Anyone else see that coming?

I hope so. It was a great scene from the book. She stabs a boy/squire and he looks down and goes "oh...". It'll be great to see Arya's thirst for murder finally emerge.

[Axon]

I hope so. It was a great scene from the book. She stabs a boy/squire and he looks down and goes "oh...". It'll be great to see Arya's thirst for murder finally emerge.

She's a good actress too. When she has Joffrey's sword to his throat in episode 2, her expression was excellent. It seemed like she wanted to kill the little prick but knew better.

[Steel_Wind]

I hope so. It was a great scene from the book. She stabs a boy/squire and he looks down and goes "oh...". It'll be great to see Arya's thirst for murder finally emerge.

Thirst for murder? WTF? Arya was emotionally devastated by killing the stable boy and went through wracking guilt over the deed for well over a year within the books. Arya feared that the deed would cause her father, and later mother and Robb, in particular, to quite possibly eject her from the Stark family and disown her. She never really gets over this guilt, as it happens.

Arya has been directly responsible for the deaths of five people in the novels to date. This obviously does not incude:

(1) Ser Amory Lorch's men if any were harmed when they were ATTACKING ARYA and Yoren & Co in the holdfast; (2) Jaqen's victims (Chyswick and Weese) and Vargo Hoat's guards w/ "Weasel Soup"; (3) Anybody killed while in the guise of Nymeria as Arya really does not have control or understand her "wolf dreams" at all and does not know she is a warg; (4) Anybody who she has assisted in their own suicide at the Temple of Black and White (clearly, not murder).

We are left with:

• Stableboy - killed to escape, (positively wracked with guilt)
  
• Bolton's guardsman at Harrenhall - killed to escape, (some guilt)
  
• The Tickler - fight statrted by Polliver and the Tickler, Arya stabs in back. Definitely meant to kill him. She would been tortured, mained and raped had she let him live, NO GUILT (nor was any required).
  
• The "Sarsfield squire" with P&T at the Inn - Arya was attacked by the teen and stabbed him in self-defence, later killing him with the gift of mercy to spare him an agonizing death, (felt guilty about his death).
  
• Daeron - Slain for breaking his vow to the Night's Watch in accordance with the Common Law of the Seven Kingdoms -- passed judgment and carried out sentence as "Arya of House Stark" as she had seen her father do. Zero guilt. "Good boots are hard to find". This one is a touch problematic in therms of what she feels does not feel -- but if that is first for murder, it didn't start in the Red Keep.
  

Arya's sanity is a little shaken by what she has experienced, but for all that, she is remarkably resilient and I reject her being characterized as a sociopath. Arya obviously has empathy with others and understands that they feel both emotional and physical pain. The only death Arya took real satisfaction in was the Tickler's. To put it mildly, if taking satisfaciton in his death was wrong and sociopathic -- then almost every reader of A Storm of Swords is a sociapath in the making by that definition. Worse, unlike Arya, we happen to be REAL PEOPLE feeling real emotions and exulting in the (pretend) death of an imaginary villain!

[Été]

I'd argue that she does get rather bloodthirsty from KL onwards, but she only kills when no other option presents itself, and is remorseful about the deaths that were collateral damage, e.g. stableboy, Harrenhal guard. She does fantasise a lot about murdering the people on her list.

[Trinket]

First sneak-peek clip is up!

Gotta love the Tyrion/Bronn banter. I'm excited to see Shagga's casting!

Love it!

I'm really looking forward to Tyrion and Bronn meeting the hill tribes. This episode will be awesome.

[Morrigan]

Good post, Steel_Wind. I am very annoyed also by people who mischaracterize Arya as a sociopath. These people are completely clueless about what sociopaths really are, and well, seems to have completely missed Arya as a whole really.

[Nihilist]

Thirst for murder? WTF? Arya was emotionally devastated by killing the stable boy and went through wracking guilt over the deed for well over a year within the books. Arya feared that the deed would cause her father, and later mother and Robb, in particular, to quite possibly eject her from the Stark family and disown her. She never really gets over this guilt, as it happens.

Arya has been directly responsible for the deaths of five people in the novels to date. This obviously does not incude:

(1) Ser Amory Lorch's men if any were harmed when they were ATTACKING ARYA and Yoren & Co in the holdfast; (2) Jaqen's victims (Chyswick and Weese) and Vargo Hoat's guards w/ "Weasel Soup"; (3) Anybody killed while in the guise of Nymeria as Arya really does not have control or understand her "wolf dreams" at all and does not know she is a warg; (4) Anybody who she has assisted in their own suicide at the Temple of Black and White (clearly, not murder).

We are left with:

• Stableboy - killed to escape, (positively wracked with guilt)
  
• Bolton's guardsman at Harrenhall - killed to escape, (some guilt)
  
• The Tickler - fight statrted by Polliver and the Tickler, Arya stabs in back. Definitely meant to kill him. She would been tortured, mained and raped had she let him live, NO GUILT (nor was any required).
  
• The "Sarsfield squire" with P&T at the Inn - Arya was attacked by the teen and stabbed him in self-defence, later killing him with the gift of mercy to spare him an agonizing death, (felt guilty about his death).
  
• Daeron - Slain for breaking his vow to the Night's Watch in accordance with the Common Law of the Seven Kingdoms -- passed judgment and carried out sentence as "Arya of House Stark" as she had seen her father do. Zero guilt. "Good boots are hard to find". This one is a touch problematic in therms of what she feels does not feel -- but if that is first for murder, it didn't start in the Red Keep.
  

Arya's sanity is a little shaken by what she has experienced, but for all that, she is remarkably resilient and I reject her being characterized as a sociopath. Arya obviously has empathy with others and understands that they feel both emotional and physical pain. The only death Arya took real satisfaction in was the Tickler's. To put it mildly, if taking satisfaciton in his death was wrong and sociopathic -- then almost every reader of A Storm of Swords is a sociapath in the making by that definition. Worse, unlike Arya, we happen to be REAL PEOPLE feeling real emotions and exulting in the (pretend) death of an imaginary villain!

She is the only character in the entire book that keeps a list of people she wants to kill. Not to mention, she chants this list before going to bed each night. She is a mass murder who feels VERY little remorse. The only remorse she does feel is for HERSELF. Not her victims. She is scared of what her family will think of her, not of the pain and suffering of those she kills. And it was the Hound that suggested giving the gift of mercy, the same gift she DENIES the Hound because he "doesn't deserve it". Ya real nice girl you support here.

[The Warmth of Winter]

• Bolton's guardsman at Harrenhall - killed to escape, (some guilt)
  

I would say no guilt at all.

The last lines go:

"Valar Morghulis," she whispered as he died. When he stopped moving she picked up the coin.

Outside the wall of Harrenhall, a wolf howled long and loud. She lifted the bar, set it aside and pulled open the heavy oak door. By the time Hot Pie and Gendry came up with the horses, the rain was falling hard. "You killed him!" Hot Pie gasped.

"What did you think I would do?" Her fingers were sticky with blood, and the smell was making her mare skittish. It's no matter, she thought, swinging up into the saddle. The rain will wash them clean again.

Arya doesn't feel bad for the guard one bit and not before the quoted piece above either.

She is the only character in the entire book that keeps a list of people she wants to kill. Not to mention, she chants this list before going to bed each night. She is a mass murder who feels VERY little remorse. The only remorse she does feel is for HERSELF. Not her victims. She is scared of what her family will think of her, not of the pain and suffering of those she kills. And it was the Hound that suggested giving the gift of mercy, the same gift she DENIES the Hound because he "doesn't deserve it". Ya real nice girl you support here.

I'm not really sure how much the "Arya is a sociopath" debate makes sense. We wouldn't have thought twice about if it had been any other male character in the series (except maybe Rickon) doing the "murders". It's hard to debate morals in a fictional world were death and killing people is normal, since I consider taking the life of another human being (in real life), to be an absolutely horrible and unthinkable act, while I can think; "Yeah, stab that son of a b*tch!", when reading a battle scene.

Arya's the only person keeping a list of the people she wants dead that we know of. Keeping a list of people you hate isn't that unusual for a child that's been abused, really. That she happens to also want them dead can be attributed to growing up in the midst of a war watching people die, left and right.

[L’Age d’or]

She is the only character in the entire book that keeps a list of people she wants to kill. Not to mention, she chants this list before going to bed each night. She is a mass murder who feels VERY little remorse. The only remorse she does feel is for HERSELF. Not her victims. She is scared of what her family will think of her, not of the pain and suffering of those she kills. And it was the Hound that suggested giving the gift of mercy, the same gift she DENIES the Hound because he "doesn't deserve it". Ya real nice girl you support here.

Arya>>Every other female character in the book. Deal with it and stop hatin.

[Edda van Heefmstra Ruston]

What, did the "Arya is a psychopath" thread get closed? (I figure it's safe to mention, since this is a book spoilers thread anyway.)

[The Scabbard Of the Morning]

I'm not really sure how much the "Arya is a sociopath" debate makes sense. We wouldn't have thought twice about if it had been any other male character in the series (except maybe Rickon) doing the "murders".

Exactly, Bronn is much more of a sociopath than Arya yet all I hear is the fanboys talking about how much a "bad ass" Bronn is.

Arya is great. Love her and hope she gets to personally kill everyone on her list.

[taal]

I think (and hope) that this episode will include Arya's first kill, too, judging by the title. She's my favourite character and I have been impressed with just about every scene I have seen Maisie do so far. Especially considering her age, I think she's done a brilliant job. It really gives me faith in her ability to portray Arya's full character arc and all that she goes through with real depth and empathy.

I am also looking forward to the San/San scene, because I'm not really sure how they'll pursue that particular relationship in the series.

I doubt we'll see any ToJ flashbacks, but perhaps Ned will have a little monologue with Varys when he gives the letter to him?

Also looking forward to seeing more of Robb- it's about time! I wonder if the line about family from Cat is directed at him, or at his aunt.

It's going to be a good episode, but then they've all been shaping up excellent. Can't believe we've only a few left! I very much hope they extend season 2, though I don't suppose they will.

[Morrigan]

I'm guessing it's Ser Meryn Trant, but it sounds like some nifty preview editing changed the line from "DON'T kill the girl" to "Kill the girl." The intonation of "kill" doesn't sound like it's from the beginning of a sentence. That's my theory, anyway.

Yeah, it sounds weird, and they certainly would not want to kill such a precious hostage. So either it's a weird edit, or they're referring to another girl but I'm not sure who it could be.

She is the only character in the entire book that keeps a list of people she wants to kill.

For vengeance. That's pretty much anti-sociopath since it's based entirely on feelings.

She is a mass murder [sic]

:rolleyes: Not even close. Robb Stark is more a mass-murderer than she is.

who feels VERY little remorse.

Why should she feel remorse towards the Tickler, Polliver, Weese, Chiswyck etc? If anything, she should probably be happier at their deaths than she really is. When she learns that Joffrey is dead, she thinks that she should be happy about this, but for some reason she just feels empty. She thinks, "what does it matter if Joffrey is dead, if Robb is dead too?". A sociopath wouldn't remotely have this train of thought.

[zippypoodle]

She is the only character in the entire book that keeps a list of people she wants to kill. Not to mention, she chants this list before going to bed each night. She is a mass murder who feels VERY little remorse. The only remorse she does feel is for HERSELF. Not her victims. She is scared of what her family will think of her, not of the pain and suffering of those she kills. And it was the Hound that suggested giving the gift of mercy, the same gift she DENIES the Hound because he "doesn't deserve it". Ya real nice girl you support here.

She is the only character in the entire book who keeps a list of people whose actions show that they deserve death (and whom the world of ASOIAF would be better off without). Not to mention, she reminds herself of their names every night to be certain that justice falls upon them. She is a selective killer who feels only as much remorse as she should--very little. She is a little girl who wants the love and respect of her family. And she chooses not to kill the Hound, giving Hound fans some hope for his survival. What a nice girl!

(There, I translated your post for you, since my translation is clearly what you meant to say.)

[TheEvilKing]

Can't wait to see Arya get her murder on! Finally!!!!!! :fencing:

Also looking forward to seeing more of Robb- it's about time! I wonder if the line about family from Cat is directed at him, or at his aunt.

Fairly sure it's at Robb. His family is being held hostage. Cat wants him to bend the knee so she gets her daughters back. Robb stubbornly refuses, because it's his duty to bring the wrath of the North down on the Lannisters.

At least, I'm guessing that's what it is. She could also be saying it about Sansa, maybe.