Who will Arya be sent to assasinate?

[Carter209]

How far ahead of everyone else is Arya now, in terms of the timeline? Is it something like 6-9 months in the future? Because if she is further ahead than everyone else, especially a time frame of at least half a year, then she's not going to be training with anybody else.

If the above is true, it almost makes it impossible to guess who she goes after. Hell, Izembaro could actually be Illyrio in Pentos, or the High Septon in King's Landing. Perhaps it's Jaqen's real name and she's sent to eliminate a rogue FM. Honestly, I don't know how we can guess. The Game could have changed greatly in a timeframe like that.

However, if she's not too far ahead of everyone else, I'm hitching my wagon to the train that says she kills Swyft when he goes to Braavos(not to mention the fact that a couple of people on her list will be with her).

[qixoticneurotic]

im betting on arya pretending to be jeyne pretending to be arya. being sent back by jeyne to kill ramsey. the price is that arya must wear the face of she who seeks the gift. ziembaro is just more training so that its believable ary can pull this feat off

[Tywinnin']

im betting on arya pretending to be jeyne pretending to be arya. being sent back by jeyne to kill ramsey. the price is that arya must wear the face of she who seeks the gift. ziembaro is just more training so that its believable ary can pull this feat off

Man oh man I wish that would happen.

I'd like to see Arya break off from the FM and start working on her on personal list.

[winteriscome]

i think she's going to be part of the team that kills the dragons ... the FM are at the Citadel acquiring knowledge about them no one else seems likely... Dany is presumed dead or missing ... Cersei keeps stumbling from one folly to the next and will be dealt with via Stannis same goes for Tommem ... LF i dont tink even the FM or the Bravosi Bank know what he's up to ... Mace Tyrell can be a target but to what end? I think the FM are against everything Valyrian and there's nothing that says Valyria like dragons and therefore they need to be taken out

[TheWhiteRabbit]

As someone as already stated it seems unlikely and counterintuitive for the faceless men to be against Danny. They trace their line to former slaves in Valyria, but Danny has smashed the slave trade and freed countless numbers of people. Why would they want to kill her?

I'm also in the boat that hopes she breaks away from the FM soon. Arya is way too independent of a person to follow a certain set of rules and be told what to do for the rest of her life.

[aryagonnakill]

I feel it is so hard to predict Arya's next kill because she is surely not a fully trained fm so an assignment will be her next kill, and I'm on board with the theory that a 100% success rate doesn't come from sending junior agents on missions to kill royalty or the like. Therefore I feel it is likely that her next kill will be someone we haven't met or someone more minor we have met briefly either in Pentos or Bravos.

[tyrion targ]

I think her first assassination will be tyrion. cersei will hire the fm after the battle by trial because she is the heir of the rock so she definitely has the money to hire the Fm and she already badly wanted tyrion dead before and now that varys made it look like tyrion killed kevan (by killing him with a crossbow) she will probably be even more paranoid and willing to do anything to have his head.

[Pinkie Baelish]

Here's my theory:

Arya gets given some high-profile figure in the North or in the Riverlands to assassinate. However when she reaches there and begins to pursue her target, she begins to hear tales of Ramsay Bolton and his marriage to Arya Stark. By this point, Ramsay's cruelty must already be well-known in the North. So far, Arya has been stripped of all identity to become a FM. She isn't Arya of House Stark, she isn't Arry, she isn't Weasel, she is no one. But learning of Ramsay's cruelty and his seat as Lord of Winterfell, her home, she becomes infuriated, and realises that she isn't no one, that she's actually a Stark. Arya Stark. Hence she renounces her position with the Faceless Men and abandons her target in order to pursue Ramsay and kill him. Arya uses another person's face as a disguise and somehow manages to sneak her way into meeting Ramsay alone. She reveals herself as the real Arya Stark and kills him savagely(like the way she killed The Tickler). However, leaving the FM without fulfilling her contract draws the ire of the Faceless Men.

[Twenty of House Goodmen]

I don't believe Arya will actually receive a high profile target to assassinate. It takes several years to become a true FM, and TWoW will most likely start off shortly where ADWD left off. If GRRM had used the time skip, she would probably be a fully trained FM.

[Accio Direwolf]

I don't buy the idea that Arya will be sent to assassinate anyone important. There are a number of other FM that have more training and experience, and I just don't see the FM sending a not fully trained kid to kill an important figure.

In tWoW, I think she will be sent for further training with Izembaro, who I believe is the King of the Mummers, and Arya will get mummer training.

[ViserionsFire]

In my opinion this is the most open ended cliffhanger of ADWD. Who is the mark?

a couple more questions on this topic-

Is Izembaro a person or place? Who are the current suspects if it is a person?

My suspects for Izembaro (if indeed it turns out to be a person)

- Pate, the pig boy. aka Jaqen, the obvious choice

- Missendei, she joined up as a slave (good cover and appropriate to the history of the FM), her speech patterns follow the way the waif, the kindly man, and Jaqen talk. Plus i thought it was rather suspicious the ease in which she snuck up on Barristan in ADWD when he was thinking outloud about Dany leaving for Westeros. That cannot be an easy feat. I know he is old, but he is a legendary Kingsguard. Seems to me that job requires a great deal of observational skills, kind of like a secret service agent.

Who else could be Izembaro? Thoughts.......

I believe that Honcho is closest to the mark in his speculation of Missandei.

When Missandei accepts going into Dany's service, she realizes that Dany spoke to her in High Valyrian and returned with the phrase "Valar Morghulis" also in High Valyrian. Dany acknowledged and repeated "All men must die". The phrase "Valar Morghuis" in this epic story is only associated with the Faceless. Why would Missandei say it to Dany, especially at this time? Is Missande expecting Dany's answer to be " Valar Dohaeris"? If Varys and / or Illyrio think that Dany is a potential threat to Aegon, perhaps they put a FM close to her should she make the decision to go to Westeros. Messandei and Arya are close in age and Messandei could be a tutor that Arya could identify with. As Dany acquires more followers, and thus, more protection, should Messandei fail in her attempt, Arya could be a back-up plan.

[aryagonnakill]

I think her first assassination will be tyrion. cersei will hire the fm after the battle by trial because she is the heir of the rock so she definitely has the money to hire the Fm and she already badly wanted tyrion dead before and now that varys made it look like tyrion killed kevan (by killing him with a crossbow) she will probably be even more paranoid and willing to do anything to have his head.

The price for the fm is not set, its based on how much you have,Cersei would have to pay with Tommens life, or her own, or the title to the rock or something along those lines, it wouldn't be in gold.

I believe that Honcho is closest to the mark in his speculation of Missandei.

When Missandei accepts going into Dany's service, she realizes that Dany spoke to her in High Valyrian and returned with the phrase "Valar Morghulis" also in High Valyrian. Dany acknowledged and repeated "All men must die". The phrase "Valar Morghuis" in this epic story is only associated with the Faceless. Why would Missandei say it to Dany, especially at this time? Is Missande expecting Dany's answer to be " Valar Dohaeris"? If Varys and / or Illyrio think that Dany is a potential threat to Aegon, perhaps they put a FM close to her should she make the decision to go to Westeros. Messandei and Arya are close in age and Messandei could be a tutor that Arya could identify with. As Dany acquires more followers, and thus, more protection, should Messandei fail in her attempt, Arya could be a back-up plan.

Tho what your saying is entirely possible, I think the context of their conversation should be taken into account. A conversation in which your only talking about death, of slaves, slavers etc etc, saying all men must die isn't as far fetched as if they were talking about sailing.

[ViserionsFire]

Tho what your saying is entirely possible, I think the context of their conversation should be taken into account. A conversation in which your only talking about death, of slaves, slavers etc etc, saying all men must die isn't as far fetched as if they were talking about sailing.

I am probably misunderstanding your meaning, but this is my interpretation of the conversation and the context of it. Missandei has just been freed from being a slave by Dany. Dany offers Missendei the opportunity to serve her as one of her handmaids and to be an interpreter for her, but, should she want, Missandei can leave whenever she desires. Missandei says that she will stay and serve Dany. Dany tells her that she can give Missandei her freedom but by being around Dany, She cannot be guaranteed safety. That's when Missandei says "Valar Morghulis". It may be that everyone knows that terminology in Essos, but Missandei could have said a number of things back to Dany, without using that particular phrase.

[The Real Summer Islander]

Cersei. Iron Bank is somehow associated with the FM or they can afford The Price. So, Iron Bank "hires" FM. Since Arya is Westerosi and knows King's Landing, they send her on her first major hit mission. Arya is the valonquor (sp?). Valyrian (like dragons) is sexless (speculation), so little brother could mean little sister....

im pretty sure that the FM know that arya knows the queen and a lot of people in the royal court. because of this i dont think they will let her assasinate anybody she knows, especially if they know she knows them..

[aryagonnakill]

I am probably misunderstanding your meaning, but this is my interpretation of the conversation and the context of it. Missandei has just been freed from being a slave by Dany. Dany offers Missendei the opportunity to serve her as one of her handmaids and to be an interpreter for her, but, should she want, Missandei can leave whenever she desires. Missandei says that she will stay and serve Dany. Dany tells her that she can give Missandei her freedom but by being around Dany, She cannot be guaranteed safety. That's when Missandei says "Valar Morghulis". It may be that everyone knows that terminology in Essos, but Missandei could have said a number of things back to Dany, without using that particular phrase.

Didn't Dany also ask her if the Unsullied would kill their former masters if their new master told them to? Admittedly I didn't reread the conversation to get the order of it but what you just wrote there still makes it seem like a reasonable response, I just feel the likelihood of Misandei being a faceless woman very unlikely. The sheer odds against a child or a woman being a faceless man, and then there having to be a reason for her being there. I don't know how the fm could have predicted that if they sent Missandei to Astapor as a slave at the latest while Dany was in Qarth, that she would have ended up with Dany.

Edit: before Astapor she wasn't freeing slaves everywhere and she was suppose to be heading to Pentos.

[ViserionsFire]

Didn't Dany also ask her if the Unsullied would kill their former masters if their new master told them to? Admittedly I didn't reread the conversation to get the order of it but what you just wrote there still makes it seem like a reasonable response, I just feel the likelihood of Misandei being a faceless woman very unlikely. The sheer odds against a child or a woman being a faceless man, and then there having to be a reason for her being there. I don't know how the fm could have predicted that if they sent Missandei to Astapor as a slave at the latest while Dany was in Qarth, that she would have ended up with Dany.

Edit: before Astapor she wasn't freeing slaves everywhere and she was suppose to be heading to Pentos.

Almost all any of know of FM comes from Arya's POV. Your question of why it was that Missandei was in Astapor as a Kraznys' slave if she is a FM, well we don't know why Jaqen was in the Black Cells. Perhaps FM are responsible for a region and conveniently position themselves in situations that garner little threat waiting each assignment. Also, as Arya is still a novice in training, perhaps she hasn't learned, as Missandei most likely has, the Jedhi and Bene Gesserit power of Voice techniques to influence the decisions of others. As far as women being a FM, well there is the Waif that has been tutoring Arya to this point and obviously what the Kindly Man is doing to Arya is not turning her into a helpless debutante. He is overseeing the training of a child assassin, something that he's most likely been done before.

[Montey14]

I don't think the Faceleess men would send a novice to kill such a high value target like the king of westeros....I know Arya would be least conspicuous as a little girl ....but they are not going to send someone with such little experience for such a high profile job. Plus we don't really know who exactly the kindly man is.....as for Missendei.....it just doesn't make sense for her to be an assassin...if she was sent to kill Dany ...she had more than one opportunity kill her as they slept in the same bed togeterh and Danyhad full faith in her....why didn't she kill her when she had the chance.....

[ViserionsFire]

Dany isn't a threat until she is no longer in Essos and is taking an army to conquer Westeros. Should Missandei be a FM, it would be prudent to be an advisor, showing her value and building trust in order to have access to Dany. Basically, Dany was on the way to Westeros, but still in Essos, when Joreh convinced her to go to Astapor, Yunkai and Meereen in order to gain a larger army. Now Dany is bogged down with an enemy army trying to take her down. She isn't at this time a threat to Illyrio's plans for Aegon. Should Dany win the battle for Meereen and take a massive army to Westeros, then I'd start watching her back.

Anyway, this thinking is pure fantasy and off the top of my head. When I realized that Missandei had said Valar Morghulis to Dany along with my suspicion of Illyrio and that Dany has thwarted many of Illyrio's plans for her, first by being able to tame Drogo, then miraculously hatching the Dragons, then her abandoning the plan to sail to Pentos from Qarth. Each time that she eludes Illyio, Dany's retinue becomes stronger. So, it's an assumption that within the little girl that can speak multiple languages and is more intelligent than all the other advisors in the room, is a stone cold killer.

[aryagonnakill]

Dany isn't a threat until she is no longer in Essos and is taking an army to conquer Westeros. Should Missandei be a FM, it would be prudent to be an advisor, showing her value and building trust in order to have access to Dany. Basically, Dany was on the way to Westeros, but still in Essos, when Joreh convinced her to go to Astapor, Yunkai and Meereen in order to gain a larger army. Now Dany is bogged down with an enemy army trying to take her down. She isn't at this time a threat to Illyrio's plans for Aegon. Should Dany win the battle for Meereen and take a massive army to Westeros, then I'd start watching her back.

Anyway, this thinking is pure fantasy and off the top of my head. When I realized that Missandei had said Valar Morghulis to Dany along with my suspicion of Illyrio and that Dany has thwarted many of Illyrio's plans for her, first by being able to tame Drogo, then miraculously hatching the Dragons, then her abandoning the plan to sail to Pentos from Qarth. Each time that she eludes Illyio, Dany's retinue becomes stronger. So, it's an assumption that within the little girl that can speak multiple languages and is more intelligent than all the other advisors in the room, is a stone cold killer.

So your saying you think that Ilyrio will hire the fm to kill her, not that the fm want her dead bc of dragons? And I'll give it to you that it's possible missandei is a fw, it's all possible, but pointing out the waif and arya doesn't make fw more common. We were explicitly told that its more common for men, and they are after all called the fm not the fw, add to that being a young child and the odds are simply mind boggling thats really my only point

How far ahead of everyone else is Arya now, in terms of the timeline? Is it something like 6-9 months in the future? Because if she is further ahead than everyone else, especially a time frame of at least half a year, then she's not going to be training with anybody else.

If the above is true, it almost makes it impossible to guess who she goes after. Hell, Izembaro could actually be Illyrio in Pentos, or the High Septon in King's Landing. Perhaps it's Jaqen's real name and she's sent to eliminate a rogue FM. Honestly, I don't know how we can guess. The Game could have changed greatly in a timeframe like that.

However, if she's not too far ahead of everyone else, I'm hitching my wagon to the train that says she kills Swyft when he goes to Braavos(not to mention the fact that a couple of people on her list will be with her).

Arya says that she was blind for a full year, and she was blinded at about the same time Sam left Bravos for Oldtown. Thats the only time frame I can really find, though you have given me a very interesting thought, how long in between the time Sam is sent to Oldtown via Bravos, and the time Stannis sends Justin Massey there, surely it has not been a year. Add to that the fact that the year Arya was blind was not started until Sam and Dareon had been in Bravos for a little while, so that the trip and their time in Bravos was not included and even more time for Stannis' plot line to continue on. Now you have me wanting to re-read the Arya chapters and I don't have my books, damn.

Or was she blind for half a year, one of the two, damn I really gotta get my books.

[Bizono]

Cersei. Iron Bank is somehow associated with the FM or they can afford The Price. So, Iron Bank "hires" FM. Since Arya is Westerosi and knows King's Landing, they send her on her first major hit mission. Arya is the valonquor (sp?). Valyrian (like dragons) is sexless (speculation), so little brother could mean little sister....

The Iron Bank is much more likely to throw their money behind Stannis, Aegon... whoever they think stands the best chance at overthrowing Tommen, claiming the throne, and then repaying the crown's debts.