The Iron Bank - bang for your buck

[ab aeterno]

I always thought that this rule was more tied to the notion that the Faceless Men really do count loss of personal identity as a part of initiation and to a lesser extent, to insure that the identities they assume when preforming assassinations could in no way be linked to the target.

If it was a logical rule, which it may be, my guess is that it would be concerned with ensuring that FM don't remember their old identities... They are supposed to be no-one, or whichever identity they're given. If they have to kill someone they know, they might drop their shroud, as it were. That is how it would probably work in real life though, I think.

[Shabadoo]

If it was a logical rule, which it may be, my guess is that it would be concerned with ensuring that FM don't remember their old identities... They are supposed to be no-one, or whichever identity they're given. If they have to kill someone they know, they might drop their shroud, as it were. That is how it would probably work in real life though, I think.

Up to this point I've also been under the impression that the people who join the Faceless Men and in turn lose their identities are doing so willingly. At least, so far we haven't seen anything that the Faceless Men have done to Arya which suggests that she is being forced into some sort of removal or reconstruction of identity. I would even go as far as to speculate that the assassination of some one the person knows (or "knew") could very well be paramount to their joining of the Faceless Men. If Arya suddenly was sent out to kill someone who she knew and liked from Westeros and she went through with it that would probably go a long way to convince people that she is no longer "Arya of Winterfell." Of course, this is all just speculation based on a patchwork of musings.