Arya / No One / and the Water Motif in Braavos

[evita mgfs]

Could the water motif be connected with her family like a weird reassurance she isn't getting as lost amongst the FM as we fear and that throughout all of Arya's travels she is learning to be strong and get in touch with her innerself? Water and swimming is linked with the Tully's and Riverrun. Also, what is ice but frozen water? I feel like she is following the advice given to her and both her parents family words are her purpose and motivating factor. Family, Duty, Honor are her priorities, and see is busy preparing for Winter is Coming.

:agree: Good ideas, MODBELLE. I definitely agree that Arya is learning to get in touch with her inner self, and look at how young she is? I am still struggling to find my inner self.

I do think, and have written in posts at great length, about the education Arya is getting with the Faceless Men - her teacher and the kindly man are filling her with knowledge of languages, caring for the dead, history, as in the fall of Valyria, how to tell a lie or deceive [now, my former teen students were very skilled at spinning yarns - much more elaborate excuses nowadays than 'the dog ate my homework, which actually happened to me! My big ole Moses dog at my lesson plans and he chomped the top portion of 25 themesI was setting to return. (The kids loved getting themes back with their names missing and teeth marks on the top). I accidentally set a set of themes on fire. I had lit a candle while grading papers, and a corner of a theme caught a spark and poof! All that was left was ashes. Thanks goodness they all were required to save their work on a thumb drive, yes?

Dah! good call on the Tully's and and Riverrun. Ice Turtle above said that Arya is fish - and how approproate that she is half Tully and half Stark! You have made the connection, my dear! That is what I needed to pull this together with the water images. I just had an epiphany after your post: she is half wolf and half fish, so well done, MODBELLE. Yippee. I hope ARYA NYM is reading - maybe she even cited a passage about this and I missed it, but I caught it now, and Ice Turtle opened my eyes as well.

I am too focused on the little details and the big picture sometimes goes over my head! :cheers:

You are invited to join a thread Florina Stark and The Pack Survives are getting together for a reread of ASoIaF. Our topic is going to be: Direwolves, Dragons, Mormont's Raven, and Cats. Doesn't that sound like fun? I will PM details as soon as I work out a schedule! :drool:

[evita mgfs]

Could there be something special about the 31 stumps at High Heart? If I remember right, in Harrenhal in the hall with the hearths she once counts 31 and once 33.. Since Harrenhal is so close to the Isle of Faces, it could be that there are 31 hearths there for a reason..

The moon and stars seems to play an important part in all the books as well, it might be worth a discussion on it's own, although I personally don't have a theory yet.

:bowdown: GOOD CALL! This could very well be, MANDERLY'S RAT COOK, but I was already "shown up" on my skill at interpreting numbers by one The Pack Survives, who wrote a brilliant, detailed post on the number 12. I do know that 3 and 7 as well as 12 are sacred numbers, from Christian myth - the holy trinity, the 7 deadly sins, the 12 Apostle of Christ, 13 is unluck to have for dinner because of Judah and the last supper - but the little She Wolf I am sure will come along in all her brilliance, waving that Needle over her head, and show me up again.

Now I do know that 33 is very significant because it is the age of Christ when he is crucified on the cross.

Also wood is associated with Christ, so I really think you are onto something here. And death is involved, maybe a death that involved a sacrifice? that is, a person givinfg his or life to save the souls of a dark realm, or humanity - as Christ does.

Does that help?

But I am sure the Pack will have more details when she visits my thread again.

:blushing: You are invited to join a thread Florina Stark and The Pack Survives are getting together for a reread of ASoIaF. Our topic is going to be: Direwolves, Dragons, Mormont's Raven, and Cats. Doesn't that sound like fun? :cheers:

[evita mgfs]

It hasn't. Yeah that could be another example.

I thought Arya's connection to water could compare to the COTF.

Old Nan told Bran:

They also have a connection to water and wanted to flood an area. Plus, when Bran saw Leaf he thought she was Arya from a distance. They had similar physical characteristics from afar with being scrawny, petite, and having wild hair.

There were areas in the Riverlands that used to be sacred to the COTF. Arya spent time there.

As for crannogs, Howland learned to control water.

Water is what keeps people alive in Winterfell during the winter.

Anyways, Syrio told Arya:

It was theorized that the Others' method of fighting could be like dancing whether wood or water.

:bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: Awesome catch, ARYA NYM, on Howland Reed [i have been wanting to connect him with the whole Arya / Water Motif as well, and now you have the proof]. I am insanely jealous :frown5: that you are so brilliant and so fast with your ideas, but I am tickled to death that you are posting here with such enthusiasm. Your are motivating me to keep on keeping on, although I am stuck in ACofK and have yet to advance, and I am finishing up my thesis on the symbolism of alcohol - when Arya has beer in her POV at the ivied inn, so please do not go there. I simply cannot zip things off as fast as you. Good Job and Way to go!

:blushing: You are invited to join a thread Florina Stark and The Pack Survives are getting together for a reread of ASoIaF. Our topic is going to be: Direwolves, Dragons, Mormont's Raven, and Cats. Doesn't that sound like funi? If you decide to join our group, I already know what special job you will have, if you agree - I hope you would link us to Tower of the Hand plot summaries for each chapter, starting with AGoT. That way people who work and do not have time to reread the POV's but still want to be apart can read the Tower summaries to stay abreast?

Do you like dragons? I am sure you might like something in our thread of pets in ASoIaF. Anyway, I will send out a PM as soon as I get a schedule together for all. Again, super fabulous job! :bowdown:

[Frey family reunion]

Good topic, it made me think about an image I had in my head when I reread GOT. The scene where Arya throws Joffrey's sword, Liontooth, into the trident made me think of the scene in Excalibur where Excalibur was thrown back into the lake and the Lady of the Lake's hand reached out and grabbed it.

King Robert, Queen Cersei and Jaime Lannister are kind of a distorted version of the King Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot love triangle. In addition King Arthur was thought to be a peasant boy but was actually a king. Joffrey on the other hand, thought he was a prince but was actually a bastard of Cersei and Jaime.

Arya could be the Lady of the lake in this scenario and instead of rising out of the lake to give Arthur his sword, she is taking Joffrey's sword away from him and throwing it back into the water.

[evita mgfs]

Arya is half wolf half fish....

:bowdown: :agree: :bowdown: ICE TURTLE: This is so right! I didn't even make the connection when I was writing up a comprehensive analysis of ideas thus far, so thank you and MODBELLE for leading me into the light, Dah! :bang:

:blushing: You are invited to join a thread Florina Stark and The Pack Survives are getting together for a reread of ASoIaF. Our topic is going to be: Direwolves, Dragons, Mormont's Raven, and Cats. Doesn't that sound like fun? I will PM more later.

Good call, again!

[evita mgfs]

Okay, this is from an article on a wolfish Slavic deity:

That the wolf is associated with the underworld as well reminds me of the weird connection/attraction some Starks have to the crypts. But then Theon also dreamed about them... hm...

:bowdown: LITTLE WING: I already addressed your post, I just wanted to make sure to invite you to our reread. We cannot do it without you, Little Wing. I may have missed a post from you because somewhere in my mind I thought I read that you were interested in being a part of the reread. Maybe it was in another thread. Sorry if I am a little daft. :blushing: I accidently sent FLORINA STARK 20 Pm's by accident because my computer froze, and impatient me! I hit the enter button 20 times! Dah! :bang:

You are invited to join a thread Florina Stark and The Pack Survives are getting together for a reread of ASoIaF. Our topic is going to be: Direwolves, Dragons, Mormont's Raven, and Cats. Doesn't that sound like fun? :drool: I will PM more later.

[evita mgfs]

Good topic, it made me think about an image I had in my head when I reread GOT. The scene where Arya throws Joffrey's sword, Liontooth, into the trident made me think of the scene in Excalibur where Excalibur was thrown back into the lake and the Lady of the Lake's hand reached out and grabbed it.

King Robert, Queen Cersei and Jaime Lannister are kind of a distorted version of the King Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot love triangle. In addition King Arthur was thought to be a peasant boy but was actually a king. Joffrey on the other hand, thought he was a prince but was actually a bastard of Cersei and Jaime.

Arya could be the Lady of the lake in this scenario and instead of rising out of the lake to give Arthur his sword, she is taking Joffrey's sword away from him and throwing it back into the water.

:cheers: FREY Family Reunion: I really like this idea, and I am happy you made the connection. I love the Arthurian legend, and even read Morte D'Arthur, or something liKe that in college. I can see this.

I think Martin nods to many mythologies and hisrtories and literature, but that is IMO.

:frown5: Do you like the Freys? :bawl: I would not want to attend their reunion, but I will still invite you to join the new thread I will be starting, I hope, sometime next weekend, that's my goal. You seem to have a lot going on, and we love to reference mythology in this thread, so you may have found a home. :dunno:

Our topic is going to be: Direwolves, Dragons, Mormont's Raven, and Cats. Doesn't that sound like fun? :drool: I will PM more later.

[Manderly's Rat Cook]

:bowdown: GOOD CALL! This could very well be, MANDERLY'S RAT COOK, but I was already "shown up" on my skill at interpreting numbers by one The Pack Survives, who wrote a brilliant, detailed post on the number 12. I do know that 3 and 7 as well as 12 are sacred numbers, from Christian myth - the holy trinity, the 7 deadly sins, the 12 Apostle of Christ, 13 is unluck to have for dinner because of Judah and the last supper - but the little She Wolf I am sure will come along in all her brilliance, waving that Needle over her head, and show me up again.

Now I do know that 33 is very significant because it is the age of Christ when he is crucified on the cross.

Also wood is associated with Christ, so I really think you are onto something here. And death is involved, maybe a death that involved a sacrifice? that is, a person givinfg his or life to save the souls of a dark realm, or humanity - as Christ does.

Does that help?

But I am sure the Pack will have more details when she visits my thread again.

:blushing: You are invited to join a thread Florina Stark and The Pack Survives are getting together for a reread of ASoIaF. Our topic is going to be: Direwolves, Dragons, Mormont's Raven, and Cats. Doesn't that sound like fun? :cheers:

Cool! I will check out the thread later!

Does anyone know how many weirwoods there are on the isle of faces?

[Frey family reunion]

:frown5: Do you like the Freys? :bawl: I would not want to attend their reunion,

Ha, dont' really have an affinity for the Freys but I found the idea of a Frey family reunion amusing, and it reminded me of one of my favorite bands, Creedence Clearwater Revivial.

[evita mgfs]

Cool! I will check out the thread later!

Does anyone know how many weirwoods there are on the isle of faces?

I do not know, but I will be posting the new thread this next weekend. I will PM you! Glad to have you aboard!

[The Nite Wolf]

:agree: Yes! I met you in another thread, and I believe you asked me for evidence to support the fact that Arya could see through glamors because, and I am not sure - but someone from that thread was relying on the Wiki, which states that Arya leaves her face in the HoB&W.

I cannot remember which thread, but I remember you because you were so nice. Since then we I have uncovered another Wiki error regarding Robb's will, which the Wiki confirms was sent with Maege Mormont, but there is not concrete textual evidence to prove this, as Kiss'dByFire so finely proved in the Maege Mormont thread. She and ARYA NYM should write the Wiki because they can whip out quotes like mad.

I believe I also suggested the Tower of the Hand as a good, reliable source. They are accurate to a tee, but I have only been there a few times. I like the Wiki because it has illustrations, and I am a very colorful person!

:cheers: Good to hear from you again. You are invited to join a thread Florina Stark and The Pack Survives are getting together for a reread of ASoIaF. Our topic is going to be: Direwolves, Dragons, Mormont's Raven, and Cats. Doesn't that sound like fun? :dunno:

As a cat lover, it certainly does. ;)

And I think it was in the Arya's Destiny thread that you so helpfully mentioned her interactions with Cossomo, whose "magic" didn't fool her. Thanks for that!

You are invited to join a thread Florina Stark and The Pack Survives are getting together for a reread of ASoIaF. Our topic is going to be: Direwolves, Dragons, Mormont's Raven, and Cats. Doesn't that sound like fun? I will PM details as soon as I work out a schedule! :drool:

Be sure to add me to the list! Direwolves, dragons, and cats...oh my! :)

[ARYa_Nym]

Arya once said that the lake was calling to her.

"Arya felt as though the lake were calling her. She wanted to leap into those placid blue waters, to feel clean again, to swim and splash and bask in the sun. But she dare not take off her clothes where the others could see…she would often sit on a rock and dangle her feet in the cool water. "

She couldn't swim at the time because she was supposed to be Arry so she just put her feet in the water. She liked the feel of earth on her feet.

"The mud was nice between her toes, and she liked to feel the earth underfoot when she walked. "

I thought it was interesting that she wished to be a swan.

"Thirty yards from shore, three black swans were gliding over the water, so serene…Part of her wanted to be a swan. The other part wanted to eat one. "

Arya as a swan could lay credence to claims that the the Ugly Duckling story from Hans Christian Anderson is being done in her arc.

On research I read that swans are associated with the moon in their feminine form.

Zeus seduced Leda by taking the form of a swan which led to the conception of Helen from Troy.

In the Finnish tale Kalevala a swan lives in a river in the underworld of the dead.

In the Finnish epic Kalevala, a swan lives in the Tuoni river located in Tuonela, the underworld realm of the dead. According to the story, whoever killed a swan would perish as well.

There's also an Irish tale about sidhes being turned into swans.

The Wooing of Etain, the king of the Sidhe (subterranean-dwelling, supernatural beings) transforms himself and the most beautiful woman in Ireland, Etain, into swans to escape from the king of Ireland and Ireland's armies.

Since Arya was looking at black swans the most notable black swan is Odile from Swan Lake.

Swans are associated with the north. They are considered to mate for life which is often said of wolves. Black swans in particular:

There is a black swan (Australian) and it is more of a nocturnal symbol. It is also considered a symbol of something rare and/or nonexistent.

"A black swan, which species, though proverbially rare in other parts of the world, is here by no means uncommon ... a very noble bird, larger than the common swan, and equally beautiful in form ... its wings were edged with white: the bill was tinged with red."^[7]

Again with the red, black, and white colors that Arya is connected with.

Yeats also has a popular poem about wild swans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Swans_at_Coole

When Arya is fleeing Harrenhal she doesn't feel scared because:

She should be more frightened herself, she knew. She was only tell, a skinny girl on a stolen horse with a dark forest ahead of her and men behind her who would gladly cut off her feet. Yet somehow she felt calmer than she ever had in Harrenhal. The rain had washed the guard’s blood off her fingers, she wore a sword across her back, wolves were prowling through the dark like lean grey shadows, and Arya Stark was unafraid.

Other characters who like to swim or are good at it are Septa Lemore (who may or may not be Ashara Dayne), Osha, Asha, and the Blackfish.

Jon is a good swimmer too and Ghost went for a swim at Craster's place.

"Jon was a strong swimmer himself, having learned the art as a boy in Winterfell’s great moat. "

The first word in Braavos that Arya learned was stop but sea and stars were among the first.

"She had learned more Braavosi words since they left Saltpans, the words for please and thank you and sea and star and fire wine, but she came to them knowing that all men must die."

Oh, and thank you very much evita! :)

[evita mgfs]

Continuing with the water motif is me still stuck in ACoK with some interesting finds in the particular. I cannot keep up with ARYA NYM.

As Arya as Arry travels with Yoren and company, they move off the King’s Road to one less traveled, and in Arya’s POV, she observes less people moving towards King’s Landing, leaving their holdings behind but trucking their possessions with them. [This parallels the wildling’s crossing the Wall under the watchful eye of Jon Snow and Tormund].

“They walked south, to the city, and only one in a hundred spared so much as a word for Yoren and his charges, traveling north. She wondered why no one else was going the same way as them” (ACoK 82).

• Note the wording: only one hundred speaks to BR and Bran.
  
• No one speaks to one of Arya’s future identities.
  

A merchant on a grey mare offers to buy their wagons. The “mare” is part of the Olympian godhood, the horse is sacred to Poseidon, god of the sea, and the moon goddess, for the crescent moon resembles the horse’s hoof and the moon’s cycle is associated with the control of the Tides, part of the water force.

After seeing the first grave and many after, Arya is uneasy. Lommy wants to steal a crystal on a child’s grave, but Gendry warns, “better leave the dead alone” (82).

Gendry speaks with unconscious irony in Arya’s presence, and she is unaware as well that “she” will not be leaving the dead alone when she becomes a servant of Him of Many Faces. One of her jobs is to clean the dead in preparation for interment in the vaults below the HoB&W.

The night the sellsword dies, Arya wakes in the dark frightened. She feels “as though the world were holding its breath, and the silence made her shiver” (82).

When one goes underwater, one must hold his or her breath or risk a mouth and nose filled with water. IMO, this is just a happy coincidence as part of the water motif. It does not seem as deliberate as others.

Next – Alcohol as Water Motif – it is a refreshment, but stay tuned.

[Ice Turtle]

Arya once said that the lake was calling to her.

The lake was God's Eye and I always wondered if it weren't "old gods" aka dead greenseers calling her. Or maybe Bloodraven.

[idler]

Im looking at that map of Braavos and i noticed that the House of Black And White is right on the water. Arya feels pretty at home there (doesnt she even equate the place as similar to the Winterfell Crypts? Or am i misremembering again?). She also loves the Purple Harbor because of the different sorts of people who go in and out of there.

Afraid you are lost. Take a second look at that map of Braavos. The Purple Harbor ist restricted to Braavosi ships; usually it's Brea's area. Cat of the Canals only goes there if Brea has her red flower or if she has to observe a certain insurance agent.

Trust me, I served in the German Navy for several years and know how to find the places of interest in foreign sea ports. To meet Cat of the Canals, you have to go in the opposite direction to the Ragman's Harbor.

If Petyr Baelish were really foresighted, he'd own a brothel in this area. :idea: The man is clearly overrated.

[Dr. Pepper]

...on Howland Reed [i have been wanting to connect him with the whole Arya / Water Motif as well, <snip>

There's a bit of a connection that I don't think has been brought up before. Howland visits the Isle of Faces, Arya is in Braavos at the HoB&W on the Isle of the Gods. There may be some similarities to be taken from Arya's journey and Howland's journey as told in the story of the Knight of the Laughing Tree.

As a side note, this from the Knight of the Laughing Tree Story...Meera is cut off at "Neck". Old Nan was cut off at a story that seemed rather important. Wonder what Meera was going to say before Bran urged her on.

but before he slept he knelt on the lakeshore, looking across the water to where the Isle of Faces would be, and said a prayer to the old gods of north and Neck . . .”

[evita mgfs]

ALCOHOL AND ARYA in ACoK [ALCOHOL AS A SYMBOL OF THE WATER MOTIF]

While Arya, along with Yoren and company, stop in a village at an ivy covered inn, Yoren allows Lommy to serve tankards of beer to all, even the three dangerous men chained and caged.

Now the “beer” is associated with water because alcohol is a liquid and a refreshment, a water-based beverage.

Arya sips her beer cautiously while eating, and Arya reveals that she likes the taste of beer, but she grows sad as she remembers her sister Sansa, who hated beer and preferred wine. The alcohol seemingly makes Arya maudlin for a moment.

Moreover, Arya drinking the cold beer from the tankard intimates Arya drinking from the cold cup of Him of Many Faces as a secret agent working for the Faceless Men of Braavos.

According to the Online Symbolism Dictionary, ALCOHOL, or BEER, in this instance, represents “FIRE AND WATER, the conjunction of opposites, male and female, both active and passive, both in the state of creation and destruction” ((http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/symbolismproject/symbolism.html/).

The effect of alcohol on the body, in general, releases inhibitions, the unconscious, and for some alcohol frees the creative spirit.

Arya “sips” her beer; she does not guzzle, even though she likes the taste of fire and water. However, she is young and small of frame, so the effects of even sips of alcohol may prove to be more profound in her than in someone older and larger.

In regards to alcohol as a symbol, Arya fits the “conjunction of opposites,” for she as “female” has a womb to create and to carry life. On the other hand, Arya is a servant of Him of Many Faces, so she delivers death and destruction as a hired assassin.

This killing Arya does is paradoxical as well. After all, she kills her first target, an individual deemed worthy to receive the “gift”, a decision made by the society of Faceless Men, but in the name of a god – Him of Many Faces. IMO, one does not defy a god, especially one who is the escort of the dead to their final resting place.

Alcohol as part of the water motif symbolizes “opposites” or male and female:

• Arya is a girl pretending to be a boy.
  
• Arya is a girl among 30+ male recruits of the Watch and Yoren.
  

Arya’s alcohol consumption, even though minimal, seemingly “releases her inhibitions”; for she becomes so bold that she takes unnecessary risks.

The discussion Arya overhears at the inn moves to the topic of a wolf pack around the Gods Eye.

Arya eavesdrops on the men talking just as she will eavesdrop as a hit man for Him of Many Faces.

But Arya has not yet learned to be NO ONE, and possibly because of drinking alcohol, Arya asserts herself into the conversation.

“A she-wolf. Arya sloshed her beer, wondering” (85). Arya connects the she-wolf to her own long lost direwolf Nymeria, but Arya forces herself to change her thoughts when she remembers how she threw stones at Nymeria to send her away. Arya is full of regret and guilt, and she even reflects that “she [Nymeria] probably wouldn’t even know me now, Arya thought. Or if she did, she’d hate me” (ACoK 85).

Arya hears a man in a green cloak say, “ . . . this hellbitch walked into a village one day . . . a market day, people everywhere, and she walks in as bold as you please and tears a baby from his mother’s arms” (85).

The man says Lord Mooton tracked the wolf to her lair with a pack of wolf-hounds, and barely escaped with their skins. Not one of those dogs came back, not one” (85).

Arya, losing her self-control, possibly due to the beer, protests, “Wolves don’t eat babies!” (85).

Yoren immediately responds, excusing Arya’s outburst as “greensickness” because of the beer, and he orders her gone, telling her to make sure the horses are watered.

Arya boldly defends Nymeria to the inn guests who tell exaggerated stories about her beloved direwolf.

Next, Arya dares to confront the three dangerous men that Yoren keeps chained and caged.

[This confrontation also relates to a similar boldness in Arya’s direwolf Nymeria, who walks into town on Market day and supposedly steals a newborn babe from its mother’s breast.]

Arya approaches the men in the cage despite warnings from Yoren to the contrary. Jaqen says, “A man could use another taste of beer. A man has a thirst . . . A man could use a bath too . . . a boy could make a friend” (87).

Martin describes Arya’s approach to Jaqen, Biter, and Rorge as assured, but she still recalls to herself the words of Syrio Forrel: “Calm as still water (87), which so happens to fit the water motif quite well.

Jaqen says, “A man must have some name, is that not so?”

Jaqen’s reference to a name intimates Arya’s future as a Faceless Man, for ironically, she will take no name and be called “No One”. Moreover, when Arya prepares to and does make a hit, the kindly man disguises her face and gives her a new identity and a new background story.

Jaqen holds his tankard upside down and says. “A man must weep” (87). Both Jaqen’s supposed tears and the empty vessel represent the water motif. Arya does not refill Jaqen’s cup and has no regard for his fake tears.

Let me deviate from the alcohol as symbol representing Arya’s inhibition to mention her significant observances of Rorge and Biter:

• Rorge looks like an APE: “An ape is a “universally negative image in Western culture. In Christian symbology, apes represent malice and physical ugliness. They stand for uninhibited, filthy humans” (Online Symbolism Dictionary).
  
• All of these explanations fit Rorge for he is physically ugly, so much so that he is difficult to look at, for he has no nose, which even gives him the physical appearance of an ape.
  
• Rorge is a filthy human, for he has not bathed, and he is full malice.
  
• Biter is the LIZARD, a symbol that represents “death, destruction, evil, and poison” (Online Symbolism Dictionary).
  
• These explanations are played out in the novels; moreover, Biter resembles a Lizard, or Serpent, with his filed teeth and his stump of a tongue, which he sticks out at Arya to torment her.
  

NOW BACK TO ALCOHOL AND ARYA’S LOSS OF INHIBITION:

So audacious is Arya after her sips of beer that she whacks Biter in the nose with her wooden sword.

Arya also challenges Gendry to one-on-one combat with their swords, but this is interrupted by the arrival of the gold cloaks, and this scene also shows Arya’s nerve.

When the Broken Nose gold cloak invites any of Yoren’s lot to fight him, Arya is one of many others who rise to the occasion, and she assumes the stance of the water dancer, ready to sword fight with Needle drawn.

“Put the blade away, little girl, no one wants to hurt you,” says Broken Nose.

“I’m not a girl!” she yelled, furious.

Arya denies her feminine side in defense, which is ironic for she says the opposite of what is true. She also misses the fact that BN calls all of Yoren’s recruits “girls”:

BN said, “You girls put away them rocks and sticks before you get spanked. None of you knows what end of a sword to hold” (90).

“I do!” Arya impudently announces.

Thus, Arya dislikes being called a girl every bit as much as the boys do.

In conclusion, the alcohol Arya sips seemingly causes her to lose her inhibitions even more than usual, and Arya speaks out at the inn to defend Nymeria; Arya confronts the three dangerous criminals in the wagon; Arya challenges Gendry to a sword fight; and Arya meets the challenge of BN of the gold cloaks.

[Dark Heart]

The water is connected to death but also to life.

Here's what Arya thinks :

Arya rolled headfirst into the tunnel and dropped five feet. She got dirt in her mouth but she didn’t care, the taste was fine, the taste was mud and water and worms and life. Under the earth the air was cool and dark. Above was nothing but blood and roaring red and choking smoke and the screams of dying horses. She moved her belt around so Needle would not be in her way, and began to crawl. A dozen feet down the tunnel she heard the sound, like the roar of some monstrous beast, and a cloud of hot smoke and black dust came billowing up behind her, smelling of hell. Arya held her breath and kissed the mud on the floor of the tunnel and cried. For whom, she could not say.

Mud and water and worms (they can signify both life and death) and life.

Arya saves people from, and escapes from, death (soldiers trying to kill them and fire) by going in the muddy tunnel and toward water.

And when it's over she cried. Tears are water too.

It's ininteresting that Jaqen is connected to water too.

Rorge halted. Something in his eyes . . . could it be that he was scared of Jaqen H’ghar? "The bathhouse. Get out of my way."

Arya whirled and ran, swift as a deer, her feet flying over the cobbles all the way to the bathhouse, She found Jaqen soaking in a tub, steam rising around him as a serving girl sluiced hot water over his head. His long hair, red on one side and white on the other, fell down across his shoulders, wet and heavy.

She crept up quiet as a shadow, but he opened his eyes all the same. "She steals in on little mice feet, but a man hears," he said. How could he hear me? she wondered, and it seemed as if he heard that as well. "The scuff of leather on stone sings loud as warhorns to a man with open ears. Clever girls go barefoot."

"I have a message." Arya eyed the serving girl uncertainly. When she did not seem likely to go away, she leaned in until her mouth was almost touching his ear. "Weese," she whispered.

Jaqen H’ghar closed his eyes again, floating languid, half-asleep. "Tell his lordship a man shall attend him at his leisure." His hand moved suddenly, splashing hot water at her, and Arya had to leap back to keep from getting drenched.

A lot of water related words (soaking, floating, splashing, drenched) and Jaqen is languid and half-asleep in the water (although, to me that sounds like a crocodile description. All, wet, half-asleep, and slow looking. But come close and it'll strike fast and sudden).

Two things that "jumped" at me;

- Jaqen attempted to "drench" Arya with water.

Now considering FM's pool this could be foreshadowing of Jaqen wanting her to Join the FM, or we can take it ad an attempt to drench her in death.

- It may just be me but Arya takes a lot of time describing how he looks wet. :leer:

Also, in this part we have swift as a deer and quite as a mouse.

Not a perfect echo of things Syrio taught her but close.

"By all the gods of sea and air, and even him of fire, I swear it." He placed a hand in the mouth of the weirwood. "By the seven new gods and the old gods beyond count, I swear it."

Interesting that he begins with the gods of sea and ends with the old gods.

Weasel's soup is also Jaqen idea.

Jaqen danced away from his slash, drew his own sword, drove the man back into a corner with a flurry of blows, and killed him with a thrust to the heart. The Lorathi brought the blade to Arya still red with heart's blood and wiped it clean on the front of her shift. "A girl should be bloody too. This is her work."

Jaqen danced. Almost like water dancing.

And the part with the "heart's blood" almost sounds like a ritual.

[evita mgfs]

The water is connected to death but also to life.

Here's what Arya thinks :

Mud and water and worms (they can signify both life and death) and life.

Arya saves people from, and escapes from, death (soldiers trying to kill them and fire) by going in the muddy tunnel and toward water.

And when it's over she cried. Tears are water too.

It's ininteresting that Jaqen is connected to water too.

A lot of water related words (soaking, floating, splashing, drenched) and Jaqen is languid and half-asleep in the water (although, to me that sounds like a crocodile description. All, wet, half-asleep, and slow looking. But come close and it'll strike fast and sudden).

Two things that "jumped" at me;

- Jaqen attempted to "drench" Arya with water.

Now considering FM's pool this could be foreshadowing of Jaqen wanting her to Join the FM, or we can take it ad an attempt to drench her in death.

- It may just be me but Arya takes a lot of time describing how he looks wet. :leer:

Also, in this part we have swift as a deer and quite as a mouse.

Not a perfect echo of things Syrio taught her but close.

Interesting that he begins with the gods of sea and ends with the old gods.

Weasel's soup is also Jaqen idea.

Jaqen danced. Almost like water dancing.

And the part with the "heart's blood" almost sounds like a ritual.

:bowdown: :bowdown: Exellent post, Dark Heart. I love how you connected Jaqen to water. I did as well in my post on alcohol - and Jaqen also says a man will "weep", a reference to tears again. I really think we are proving that this water motif is not just a crack pot theory. It is really going somewhere, and some of it has to be intentional on Martin's part. :dunno:

[Dr. Pepper]

The water is connected to death but also to life.

Here's what Arya thinks :

Sorry, I'm still sort of on this Howland connection kick. We've already seen Arya dancing in trees which recalls the crannogmen running on leaves. But both Howland and Meera are said to breathe mud. Now we have this where hot air and smoke are coming through the tunnel, Arya holds her breath but she's also kissing the mud and crying...two things which usually require breathing. Can she breathe mud?