Arya's Relationship with Death

[Elaena Targaryen]

I want to look at some things concerning Arya and her connection with death and to the dead. I need to thank all of those involved with the Arya reread project Becoming No One, of course Artemis for her posts in a few threads, and her Of the Stark Children and Parallel Journeys thread, for pointing out similarities and connections with Arya, Bran, Bloodraven and the Kindly Man, and I have read a little bit in evita mgfs’s thread about Arya’s water motif and ARYa_Nym who noticed a few things, so thank you all for inspiring me even if this goes nowhere.

We all know there is a lot of death symbolism in Arya’s story and it could be foreshadowing Arya’s murders or Arya ending up a servant for the Many Faced God but what if there is something more going on? Arya cares for the dead in the House of Black and White, washing them and preparing them for burial. Arya drinks from a river where dead bodies are floating, she eats an apple from a tree where dead men are hanging, then kisses the skull when she first meets the Kindly Man so we see Arya drink, eat and even kiss death. Arya feels things at times where she thinks someone is there but turns to find no one, for example, someone pulling her cloak at High Heart then when she turns to find no one she remembers High Heart is haunted. The Ghost of High Heart said Arya smells of death. Arya also feels a presence when she sees the dragon skulls; she feels their eyes watching her and can feel they do not love her. And when she came on the men in the cages some were dead and Arya thinks “Carrion crows had eaten out their eyes, yet the empty sockets seemed to follow her.” All of these things give an eerie quality to her story that I feel deserves to be explored more in depth, we may just glean a better understanding of Arya’s arc but we may even find new possibilities to where she is headed.

Arya is hearing voices so we need to puzzle out what’s going on, could it be the dead talking to Arya? There could be logical explanations like trauma but I think in this fantasy story it could be said the dead have a presence so I wonder if Arya is hearing and talking to the dead. If she is what can this mean for the story? There are three main times and the first voice Arya hears is Syrio in aGoT so this may well be proof that Syrio is dead. Arya also seems to know Syrio is dead, “Those words made her sad. Syrio used to say that too, Arya remembered. He said it all the time. Syrio Forel had taught her needlework and died for her.” To set up the quote it happens at King’s Landing when the Lannister guards are killing those from Winterfell and after Syrio tells Arya to run. Arya has killed the stable boy, she is scared and even tries using Syrio’s words to help calm her but she becomes so terrified that she is frozen.

She had to leave now, she told herself, but when the moment came, she was too frightened to move.

Calm as still water, a small voice whispered in her ear. Arya was so startled she almost dropped her bundle. She looked around wildly, but there was no one in the stable but her, and the horses, and the dead men.

Quiet as a shadow, she heard. Was it her own voice, or Syrio's? She could not tell, yet somehow it calmed her fears.

She stepped out of the stable.

This is not the last time Arya hears Syrio’s voice coming from outside of her and the other times she knows it is Syrio’s voice. There are times where she uses his words but you know she is saying them to herself inside and you know when his voice comes from outside. When I searched the word voice other characters heard a voice but it came from inside like with Jon reminding himself that he is a bastard. Next is in aCoK when Arya is with Yoren after the one armed women dies, the one they find with Weasel and the one armed woman only says please.

The one-armed woman died at evenfall. Gendry and Cutjack dug her grave on a hillside beneath a weeping willow. When the wind blew, Arya thought she could hear the long trailing branches whispering, "Please. Please. Please." The little hairs on the back of her neck rose, and she almost ran from the graveside.

Last is the infamous voice from aCoK in the godswood at Harrenhal and if we are seeing a trend then it would be the deceased Ned talking to his scared daughter who needs to make a decision to leave.

In the godswood she found her broomstick sword where she had left it, and carried it to the heart tree. There she knelt. Red leaves rustled. Red eyes peered inside her. The eyes of the gods. "Tell me what to do, you gods," she prayed.

For a long moment there was no sound but the wind and the water and the creak of leaf and limb. And then, far far off, beyond the godswood and the haunted towers and the immense stone walls of Harrenhal, from somewhere out in the world, came the long lonely howl of a wolf. Gooseprickles rose on Arya's skin, and for an instant she felt dizzy. Then, so faintly, it seemed as if she heard her father's voice. "When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives," he said.

"But there is no pack," she whispered to the weirwood. Bran and Rickon were dead, the Lannisters had Sansa, Jon had gone to the Wall. "I'm not even me now, I'm Nan."

"You are Arya of Winterfell, daughter of the north. You told me you could be strong. You have the wolf blood in you."

"The wolf blood." Arya remembered now. "I'll be as strong as Robb. I said I would." She took a deep breath, then lifted the broomstick in both hands and brought it down across her knee. It broke with a loud crack, and she threw the pieces aside. I am a direwolf, and done with wooden teeth.

Interestingly enough right after this Arya thinks about listening to the dead.

That night she lay in her narrow bed upon the scratchy straw, listening to the voices of the living and the dead whisper and argue as she waited for the moon to rise. They were the only voices she trusted anymore.

There are also two other things with similarities to the quoted passages. First in aSoS is that Arya was so desperate to save her mother and then Nymeria was able to find Cat.

That night she went to sleep thinking of her mother, and wondering if she should kill the Hound in his sleep and rescue Lady Catelyn herself. When she closed her eyes she saw her mother's face against the back of her eyelids. She's so close I could almost smell her...

... and then she could smell her. The scent was faint beneath the other smells…

Next is how Arya knew of Praed in aCoK

One time Arya woke in the dark, frightened for no reason she could name. Above, the Red Sword shared the sky with half a thousand stars. The night seemed oddly quiet to her, though she could hear Yoren's muttered snores, the crackle of the fire, even the muffled stirrings of the donkeys. Yet somehow it felt as though the world were holding its breath, and the silence made her shiver. She went back to sleep clutching Needle.

Come morning, when Praed did not awaken, Arya realized that it had been his coughing she had missed.

Is Arya connected to the Dark Angel because of her path with the Faceless Men?

On the day that we are born the Many-Faced God sends each of us a dark angel to walk through life beside us. When our sins and our sufferings grow too great to be borne, the angel takes us by the hand to lead us to the nightlands, where the stars burn ever bright. Those who come to drink from the black cup are looking for their angels.

Or the Stranger leading the newly dead to the other world?

Joffrey's bier had been laid out beneath the Stranger, who led the newly dead to the other world.

Or the Silent Sisters who take care of the dead?

The silent sisters do not speak to the living, Catelyn remembered dully, but some say they can talk to the dead.

I think it would be more likely for Arya to have some connection to the North and being a Stark. Ned knew the dead are aware.

For a moment Eddard Stark was filled with a terrible sense of foreboding. This was his place, here in the north. He looked at the stone figures all around them, breathed deep in the chill silence of the crypt. He could feel the eyes of the dead. They were all listening, he knew. And winter was coming.

And Mormont tells Jon this

"The children of the forest could speak to the dead, it's said.”

The most important is that we know the dead can be called back from the grave because that is what Mirri Maz Duur did in the tent but when Bran sees Ned through the weirwood and whispers to him Leaf tells Bran this

“He is gone, boy. Do not seek to call him back from death.”

Not that Bran could not call him back but do not seek to call him back.

So what can all of this mean for Arya? Is she talking to the dead? If she is what impact will that have on the story? Will she talk to important characters that have died or even use glamors for them like how she might use Dareon’s boots or call them back from death, be able to speak to or control the wights or even the White Walkers, create her own Uns as in necromancy, or help Jon somehow now that he is “dead”? I know this is all crackpot territory but, with all of this symbolism of death, I feel we could be missing an important element with Arya’s story and examining this might give us some idea of her destiny.

[The Idiots Lantern]

Uh....maybe?

I find the possibility that Arya is somehow able to actually speak to the dead kind of farfetched. I can't disprove it, though.

Arya is, indeed, surrounded constantly by death but that might be symbolic of her impending transformation into a master Assassin, more then an undiscovered magical skill somehow connected to her warging. It's not impossible, considering how little we know about greenseers and their powers, but I would not count on it.

[Blue Moon]

Arya does seem to be very connected to death, from the Ghost of High Heart telling her that she smells of death to her

apprenticeship with the Faceless Men. Your theory that Arya can hear the dead is interesting, and something to think about,

or maybe she is just remembering good advice that she received from her father and Syrio when she needs it most.

[DogLover]

Interesting OP. Also, don't we first learn that Sandor's horse is named Stranger through Arya's POV? And when she's hesitant to go into the Crossroads Inn because of ghosts, I initially wrote it off as a childish superstition, but maybe there's much more to it.

[Pod The Impaler]

I am glad this topic was made, because the thought's been in my head for some time. I haven't had time to read the Arya / No One thread, so apologies if someone has already covered this idea: Arya is definitely connected to death in some supernatural way.

Arya is no soldier, she is a little girl; yet at her young age she has seen more death and horror than most will see in a lifetime. And she's already got the makings of a great warrior, again despite her very young age. Arya also seems naturally good at it - she has a lot of discipline, courage, ferocity, and nothing seems to panic her. She is also quite skilled, despite limited training.

However, I get the feeling that aside from all this, there is something supernatural going on. Too much of her experiences are death-related to be mere chance.

So, I like to say Arya is a harbinger of death - she does not just cause death directly or deal it out herself. Death seems to precede her, surround her, and follow her.

Perhaps this is the reason why Jaqen H'Ghar gave her the coin - either as a talent scout he recognized someone with incredble skill and discipline (a prodigy), or as a religious servant he recognized the Many Faced God had chosen her to work death's will. Arya is not an agent of the Many Faced God because she is with the Faceless Men; she is with the Faceless Men (for now) because she is an agent of the Many Faced God. This has been one of my views on why the FM are interested in her at all. They are religious - and as such, maybe know their own kind and they realize (or will soon) that Arya has been "blessed" or "chosen" by death, for great power or great purpose.

This may be one great swerve with the whole No One storyline - maybe Arya is not truly negating herself, not bound to their order for life. Maybe the coming of Arya Stark was predicted or even prophesied to them, and after their training, when it is time for her to go back to being Arya, they will not stand in her way.

Others may see this also - such as the Ghost of High Heart, who was afraid of her. "I see you, wolf child, blood child. I thought it was the lord who smelled of death. ... You are cruel to come to my hill, cruel. ... Begone from here, dark heart, begone!"

The woods witch is afraid of Arya because she senses something about what comes with her - grief, horror, death. Arya doesn't know what she meant; if anything she probably thought it was about things which had already happened up to that point. It likely was that too, but there were also grim things in Arya's future too. The Red Wedding was obviously one, but here is another (possible crackpot theory) that perhaps gives an example of what ideas I mean:

"ARYA DESTROYED SALTPANS":

After Arya and the Hound have the fight at the Inn, and Polliver and the Tickler die, Arya leaves the Hound to die near Saltpans. She then goes to Saltpans, presents her "Valar Morghulis" coin to a Braavosi ship's captain, and is quickly taken across the narrow sea to Braavos.

A short time after that, the remaining Bloody Mummers come that same way, and the thriving, unsuspecting town of Saltpans is sacked and pretty much destroyed in one of the most infamous atrocities in the war.

The thing is, the Bloody Mummers came to Saltpans desperately seeking a ship to take them across the sea, and when they found none, that is when they decided to destroy the town. Maybe they had even heard such a ship was in port there, maybe the ship had been scheduled to stay a while longer. However, one look at Arya's coin and the ship's captain immediately gave her the VIP treatment and departed. Elsewise, it would have been there.

A girl is there, and needs a boat. A captain knows of her coin, obeys, and takes her to Braavos. "Valar dohaeris".

The will of the many Faced God is done. A town is given the gift - not by a girl's command or wish, but simply because fate brought her there. Valar Morghulis.

[Little Wing]

Is Arya connected to the Dark Angel because of her path with the Faceless Men?

At this point she is the dark angel that leads people to the nightlands, dark heart as the Ghost of High Heart calls her...

*patiently waits for Arya_Nym to post*

[Lion of Judah]

At this point she is the dark angel that leads people to the nightlands, dark heart as the Ghost of High Heart calls her...

*patiently waits for Arya_Nym to post*

:agree: When I re-read the scene with the ghost of high heart her reaction to Arya seemed to be a fearful one. To me it seemed as though she was seeing Arya's initiation into the FM and not her death. But I still don't know if that was a bad thing, a fearful thing yes, but was it a bad thing? I don't know.

[Larry of the Lawn]

I am glad this topic was made, because the thought's been in my head for some time. I haven't had time to read the Arya / No One thread, so apologies if someone has already covered this idea: Arya is definitely connected to death in some supernatural way.

Arya is no soldier, she is a little girl; yet at her young age she has seen more death and horror than most will see in a lifetime. And she's already got the makings of a great warrior, again despite her very young age. Arya also seems naturally good at it - she has a lot of discipline, courage, ferocity, and nothing seems to panic her. She is also quite skilled, despite limited training.

However, I get the feeling that aside from all this, there is something supernatural going on. Too much of her experiences are death-related to be mere chance.

So, I like to say Arya is a harbinger of death - she does not just cause death directly or deal it out herself. Death seems to precede her, surround her, and follow her.

Perhaps this is the reason why Jaqen H'Ghar gave her the coin - either as a talent scout he recognized someone with incredble skill and discipline (a prodigy), or as a religious servant he recognized the Many Faced God had chosen her to work death's will. Arya is not an agent of the Many Faced God because she is with the Faceless Men; she is with the Faceless Men (for now) because she is an agent of the Many Faced God. This has been one of my views on why the FM are interested in her at all. They are religious - and as such, maybe know their own kind and they realize (or will soon) that Arya has been "blessed" or "chosen" by death, for great power or great purpose.

This may be one great swerve with the whole No One storyline - maybe Arya is not truly negating herself, not bound to their order for life. Maybe the coming of Arya Stark was predicted or even prophesied to them, and after their training, when it is time for her to go back to being Arya, they will not stand in her way.

Others may see this also - such as the Ghost of High Heart, who was afraid of her. "I see you, wolf child, blood child. I thought it was the lord who smelled of death. ... You are cruel to come to my hill, cruel. ... Begone from here, dark heart, begone!"

The woods witch is afraid of Arya because she senses something about what comes with her - grief, horror, death. Arya doesn't know what she meant; if anything she probably thought it was about things which had already happened up to that point. It likely was that too, but there were also grim things in Arya's future too. The Red Wedding was obviously one, but here is another (possible crackpot theory) that perhaps gives an example of what ideas I mean:

"ARYA DESTROYED SALTPANS":

After Arya and the Hound have the fight at the Inn, and Polliver and the Tickler die, Arya leaves the Hound to die near Saltpans. She then goes to Saltpans, presents her "Valar Morghulis" coin to a Braavosi ship's captain, and is quickly taken across the narrow sea to Braavos.

A short time after that, the remaining Bloody Mummers come that same way, and the thriving, unsuspecting town of Saltpans is sacked and pretty much destroyed in one of the most infamous atrocities in the war.

The thing is, the Bloody Mummers came to Saltpans desperately seeking a ship to take them across the sea, and when they found none, that is when they decided to destroy the town. Maybe they had even heard such a ship was in port there, maybe the ship had been scheduled to stay a while longer. However, one look at Arya's coin and the ship's captain immediately gave her the VIP treatment and departed. Elsewise, it would have been there.

A girl is there, and needs a boat. A captain knows of her coin, obeys, and takes her to Braavos. "Valar dohaeris".

The will of the many Faced God is done. A town is given the gift - not by a girl's command or wish, but simply because fate brought her there. Valar Morghulis.

Did the boat actually leave any faster because of Arya? I was under the impression that the boat was ready to leave and she barely got there in time to catch it.

[ARYa_Nym]

Thanks Elaena and Little Wing. :)

Elaena I was wondering if you were going to post in the water thread since some of it intertwined with your moon thread.

On topic, as for hearing voices I mentioned this in an Arya/Bran reread a while back.

“Tell me what you meant, about hearing the gods.” Osha studied him.”You asked them and they’re answering. Open your ears, listen, you’ll hear.” Bran listened. “It’s only the wind…”

“Who do you think sends the wind, if not the gods?” “They see you, boy. They hear you talking. That rustling, that’s them talking back.”

^Osha believes that it's the gods that are cause. The hearing voices plus wind is reminiscent of the scene where Ned is speaking to her. Not that he himself is a god or anything.

On ghosts Arya said that she used to play with the old kings of winter.

"…ghosts did not frighten her. She used to hide in the crypts of Winterfell when she was little, and play games of come-into-my-castle and monsters and maidens amongst the stone kings on their thrones."

Evita found this quote:

The echoes had a life of their own, so every footfall became the tread of a ghostly army, and every distant voice a ghostly feast (679). [iMO, Arya may be foreshadowing the rising of the dead from the Winterfell crypts. Moreover, the ghostly feast reminds me of Jon’s dream where he sees his father Ned and feasting at the table of the dead (679].

Another mention:

“Ayra withdrew a little deeper into the shadows, and watched . . .” (667). [With all the watching Arya does, she again reminds me of the Night’s Watch. Her shrinking into shadows intimates her service to Him of Many faces. Arya is the dark shadow that gifts men their passage to the shadowlands. Also, in Greek mythology, a “shade” or “shadow” is the term Homer employs to depict the dead in the Halls of Hades. So Arya shirking in the shadows literally and figuratively suggests death].

http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/75854-aryas-destiny/page__st__520#entry3772733

When Arya is at High Heart where the ghosts of the COTF are said to dwell:

"From up here she could see a storm raging to the north, but High Heart stood above the rain. It wasn't above the wind, though; the gusts were blowing so strongly that it felt like someone was behind her, yanking on her cloak. Only when she turned, no one was there. Ghosts, she remembered. High Heart is haunted."

Arya's wolf also has a death/underworld connection.

There's a river Styx connection for both. Arya searches the dead for coins while working with dead bodies for the FM while Nymeria has eyes like golden coins.

The ferryman Charon is believed to have transported the souls of the newly dead across this river into the underworld, though in the original Greek and Roman sources, as well as in Dante, it was the river Acheron that Charon plied. Dante put Phlegyas over the Styx and made it the fifth circle of Hell, where the wrathful and sullen are punished by being drowned in the muddy waters for eternity, with the wrathful fighting each other.

Nymeria was also called a hellbitch and a bitch from the seventh hell.

Nymeria's pack was linked to demons.

“Some will tell you that they are demons. They say the pack is led by a monstrous she-wolf, a stalking shadow grim and grey and huge.

In ADWD Arya says that she spends more time with the dead than with the living.

And she is much more relaxed around the dead from her activities:

“She had washed and stripped a hundred corpses, dead things did not frighten her… She was the night wolf, no craps of skin could frighten her.”

Underworld and the FM.

Arya asked Jaqen if he had brought up men from hell.

"If the Lorathi was a wizard, Rorge and Biter could be demons he called up from some hell, not men at all."

I also thought that her kissing the KM who is the only man she has kissed in the story is like a kiss of death. She also lets Jaqen kiss her who is an agent of death as well. She kisses Balerion who I assume is presumed to be dead and belonged to a long dead Rhaenys.

Syrio also calls her dead girl and Arya being compared to Lyanna and Brandon has been used to further link her to death as well as Ned's lone wolf speech.

I've thought that this Patti Smith quote could apply to her.

Don’t be surprised if death comes from within.

~ Patti Smith

I think she is definitely like a dark angel. Dark Heart mentioned in either the destiny thread or the water thread (perhaps both) of strangers dying soon after Arya interacts with them.

I've also thought maybe the Ghost's words to her and the mention of Summerhal could imply that everyone or almost everyone she cares for or gets close to dies. I'm not sure if the Ghost calling her dark heart, blood child, and someone who smells of death means that she will do something destructive in the future though.

This is a good find Elaena:

"The children of the forest could speak to the dead, it's said.”

Arya is already likened to their qualities but perhaps since she's not directly related to the COTF any powers she has would be diluted.

& thinking on what the KM told her about women bringing life and the FM can only bring death I've thought she could be like the anti-mother figure to contrast with the other female characters in the story.

When Catelyn prayed to the Seven the Stranger made her feel uneasy and she chose not to pray to it. Arya has been linked to the Stranger often.

She feels comfort in an area where most wouldn't. Darkness can be your friend as said by Syrio is like Bran being told not to fear the darkness.

But I've also thought that her being shrouded in darkness and the shadows could somewhat relate to this:

For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.

Virginia Woolf

As Arry Arya has to pretend to be a boy. Although it's not in terms of hiding ones female identity in order to enter a male dominated profession but that the darkness, shadows, and aliases are her protection or cloak to give her more freedom.

To link this to the topic she's in a death cult where she must be anonymous and they don't really like that she's a female. She must give up her ability to create life and solely be a harbringer of death.

[jarl the climber]

Did the boat actually leave any faster because of Arya? I was under the impression that the boat was ready to leave and she barely got there in time to catch it.

Thats the impression I was under. Rorge and his men questioned the Innkeeper and knew that Arya Stark was with the Hound, Shagwell explains this to Brienne in AFFC. So one of the reasons Saltpans got torn apart was because they were looking for her as well as a ship. So her presence did play a direct role in what happened at Saltpans.

[Ice Turtle]

Thats the impression I was under. Rorge and his men questioned the Innkeeper and knew that Arya Stark was with the Hound, Shagwell explains this to Brienne in AFFC. So one of the reasons Saltpans got torn apart was because they were looking for her as well as a ship. So her presence did play a direct role in what happened at Saltpans.

I wonder it they knew Arry was Arya or were just searching for noble girl worth a good ransom.

[jarl the climber]

I wonder it they knew Arry was Arya or were just searching for noble girl worth a good ransom.

They actually found out that Arya was with the Hound because they captured some men Beric had searching for them. Rorge was at Harrenhal when Arry/Weasel escaped, it was well known among the Brotherhood that Arya had been at Harrenhal,and showed up with a bakers boy and a smiths apprentice. I'm almost sure they figured it out as have some of the Mountians Men like Raff and Shitmouth.

[ARYa_Nym]

In the water thread I mentioned how Queen Nymeria had been called a witch queen but Arya will really be the witch.

The KM said that she will learn about sorcery. She now is learning potions and is associated with cats and more specifically a black cat. There's also the moon connection.

But anyways...

The historical Judeo-Christian view of a "witch" was a person who literally makes a Deal with the Devil in exchange for magic powers, often defined as becoming Satan's concubine.

Witches were believed to make deals with the devil. Jaqen and Nymeria are associated with hell which is where the devil resides.

Perhaps either the Many Faced God or the Stranger could take the devil's role.

I compared her to Tybalt here. Romeo and Juliet also has a theme of death. Poison being a corrupting force which Arya uses in asoiaf. & the nature leading to many deaths which goes back to Ned's convo to Arya on when he advised her to not be like Brandon and Lyanna. Instead of wolf's blood it's the feline or tomcat nature.

http://asoiaf.wester...20#entry3808684

Oh, and Dark Heart also said that oaks are gateways to the underworld in many myths. Arya called herself an oak tree and the oak and iron door was the only thing she liked in KL. The wolfswood near WF is full of oak too.

The KM referred to Arya as a goddess in a joking way but I thought that she could be like a goddess of the underworld.

Diana as just one example:

Diana's nature was as varied as her many associations. As goddess of forests and hunting, she was considered to be pure and virginal. Yet she could also be arrogant and vengeful. As goddess of the moon, she had a changeable, unpredictable nature. As goddess of the dark world of the dead, she was unforgiving and bloodthirsty.

If not the dark angel is another option.

ETA: Also, in that thread because of her swan comment I compared her to Swan Lake which is a story that does lead to tragic deaths but it I mentioned that it's inspired by The Dying Swan so it could be said that there is a death link.

[Le Cygne]

Spooky topic, I love it.

This one you quoted stands out for me, Elaena Targaryen:

"The children of the forest could speak to the dead, it's said.”

[Pod The Impaler]

Thats the impression I was under. Rorge and his men questioned the Innkeeper and knew that Arya Stark was with the Hound, Shagwell explains this to Brienne in AFFC. So one of the reasons Saltpans got torn apart was because they were looking for her as well as a ship. So her presence did play a direct role in what happened at Saltpans.

The text doesn't really say for certain - the chapter ends before we really get a sense of how much they hurried to fulfill the promise of the coin.

The captain does suddenly treat Arya like her journey is of utmost importance. I don't know if this resulted in them leaving sooner, only that they might have.

As Jarl points out though, the alternate issue is that if they knew it was Arya Stark and not just some young follower of the Hound, they'd have gone after her as a valuable hostage and perhaps sacked Saltpans just for losing that.

In any case, they take their frustrations out on the town, and I should also point out that her role in not killing the Hound (as mercy) led to the accursed Hound Helmet falling into their hands.

[Pod The Impaler]

Diana as just one example

I have thought that Arya does seem like an Artemis figure in the story, but also with elements of Hecate.

[ARYa_Nym]

I had mentioned in the animal thread that when Arya proudly tells the KM that she killed Dareon she is like a cat in that instance.

Our cats like to leave us offerings of dead mice, birds, or frogs. Often these are ceremoniously left on the mat in front of the door. Whilst we appreciate the gesture and the effort that went into it, we are none too pleased with the actual blood sacrifice, and don't enjoy cleaning it up. The cats, however, may have reason to believe that their well-intended offerings are gratefully accepted by their humans, as we always take them away.

She doesn't leave his body but does have his boots.

On the dragon skulls from AGoT she thinks it's dead and it can't hurt her.

“It’s dead,” she said aloud. “It just a skull, it can’t hurt me.” Yet somehow the monster seemed to know she was there. She could feel its empty eyes watching her through the gloom, and there was something in that dim, cavernous room that did not love her. For an instant she could feel its teeth digging into her shoulder, as if it wanted a bite of her flesh.”

When she next sees them they are like old friends so it could be said that she's friends with the dead.

This time the monsters did not frighten her. They seemed almost like old friends…With each step she took, the shadows moved against the walls, as if they were turning to watch her pass. “Dragons,” she whispered. She slid Needle out from under her cloak. The slender blade seemed very small and the dragons very big, yet somehow Arya felt better with steel in her hand.”

Patchface did have a prophecy about the shadows coming to dance. He may be referring to the dead. Arya has been "dancing" with death.

“…she slid from shadow to shadow. She pretended she was chasing cats…except she was the cat now, and if they caught her, they would kill her.”

Shadow and death are mentioned when she kisses the KM.

“Kiss me, child,” he croaked, in a voice as dry and husky as a death rattle. Does he think to scare me? Arya kissed him where his nose should be and plucked the grave worm from his eye to eat it, but it melted like a shadow in her hand.

& when they are looking for the dead.

She had other tasks besides helping Umma. She swept the temple floors; she served and poured at meals; she sorted piles of dead men’s clothing, emptied their purses, and counted out stacks of queer coins. Every morning she walked beside the kindly man as he made his circuit of the temple to find the dead. Silent as a shadow, she would tell herself, remembering Syrio. She carried a lantern with thick iron shutters. At each alcove, she would open the shutter a crack, to look for corpses.

As a cat:

That night she dreamed she was a wolf again, but it was different from the other dreams. In this dream she had no pack. She prowled alone, bounding over rooftops and padding silently beside the banks of a canal, stalking shadows through the fog.

In a Jon chapter it was said that shadowcats are enticed by the smell of the dead.

“It’s the dead they’ve come for. Cats can smell blood six miles off.”

Catelyn's description of the Stranger:

…the Stranger was neither male nor female, yet both, ever the outcast, the wanderer from far places, less and more than human, unknown and unknowable. Here the face was a black oval, a shadow with stars for eyes. It made Catelyn uneasy. She would get scant comfort there.

Some critics read the poem as told from three perspectives, each representing a phase of the passing of a soul into one of death's kingdoms ("death's dream kingdom", "death's twilight kingdom", and "death's other kingdom"). Eliot describes how we, the living, will be seen by "Those who have crossed/With direct eyes [...] not as lost/Violent souls, but only/As the hollow men/The stuffed men." The image of eyes figures prominently in the poem, notably in one of Eliot's most famous lines "Eyes I dare not meet in dreams". Such eyes are also generally accepted to be in reference to Dante's Beatrice (see below).

The poet depicts figures "Gathered on this beach of the tumid river" – drawing considerable influence from Dante's third and fourth cantos of the Inferno which describes Limbo, the first circle of Hell – showing man in his inability to cross into Hell itself or to even beg redemption, unable to speak with God. Dancing "round the prickly pear," the figures worship false gods, recalling children and reflecting Eliot's interpretation of Western culture after World War I.

The final stanza may be the most quoted of all of Eliot's poetry; This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper.

She was told to be as quiet as a shadow so death would be quiet to link it to the above paragraph.

“…swift as a deer, quick as a snake, quiet as a shadow, light as a feather."

Nymeria was also called the monstrous stalking shadow.

She was compared to hellhounds or the like before on this board whether Cerberus or Gamr.

They are often assigned to guard the entrances to the world of the dead, such as graveyards and burial grounds, or undertake other duties related to the afterlife or the supernatural, such as hunting lost souls or guarding a supernatural treasure. In European legends, seeing a hellhound or hearing it howl may be either an omen of death or even a cause of death.

Wepwawet originally was seen as a wolf deity, thus the Greek name of Lycopolis, meaning city of wolves, and it is likely the case that Wepwawet was originally just a symbol of the pharaoh, seeking to associate with wolf-like attributes, that later became deified as a mascot to accompany the pharaoh. Likewise, Wepwawet was said to accompany the pharaoh on hunts, in which capacity he was titled (one with) sharp arrow more powerful than the gods.

Over time, the connection to war, and thus to death, led to Wepwawet also being seen as one who opened the ways to, and through, Duat, for the spirits of the dead. Through this, and the similarity of the jackal to the wolf, Wepwawet became associated with Anubis, a deity that was worshiped in Asyut, eventually being considered his son.

In the later Egyptian funerary context, Wepwawet assists at the Opening of the mouth ceremony and guides the deceased into the netherworld.^[2]

So there's a wolf god who was seen as a way for the spirits of the dead to get to the underworld. Nymeria does allow Catelyn to reach the afterlife by getting her body out of the water but Uncat resides in the realm of the living.

If the deceased successfully passed these unpleasant demons, he or she would reach the Weighing of the Heart. In this ritual, the heart of the deceased was weighed by Anubis, using a feather, representing Ma'at, the goddess of truth and justice. The heart would become out of balance because of failure to follow Ma'at and any hearts heavier or lighter than her feather were rejected and eaten by the Ammit, the Devourer of Souls. Those souls that passed the test would be allowed to travel toward the paradise of Aaru.

Rejected hearts are eaten by Ammit. Arya says that she doesn't have a heart. She only has a hole but at the same time the Ghost of High Heart called her dark heart.

ETA: I forgot to add this quote:

Sometimes if the corpse was big or fat she would struggle with the weight, but most of the dead were old dry bones in wrinkled skins. Arya would look at them as she washed them, wondering what brought them to the black pool. She remembered a tale she had heard from Old Nan, about how sometimes during a long winter men who’d lived beyond their years would announce that they were going hunting. And their daughters would weep and their sons would turn their faces to the fire, she could hear Old Nan saying, but no one would stop them, or ask what game they meant to hunt, with the snows so deep and the cold wind howling. She wondered what the old Braavosi told their sons and daughters, before they set off for the House of Black and White.

[ARYa_Nym]

I forgot to mention The Fates.

THE MOIRAI (or Moirae) were the goddesses of fate who personified the inescapable destiny of man. They assigned to every person his or her fate or share in the scheme of things. Their name means "Parts." "Shares" or "Alottted Portions." Zeus Moiragetes, the god of fate, was their leader,.

Klotho, whose name means "Spinner," spinned the thread of life. Lakhesis, whose name means "Apportioner of Lots"--being derived from a word meaning to receive by lot--, measured the thread of life. Atropos (or Aisa), whose name means "She who cannot be turned," cut the thread of life.

At the birth of a man, the Moirai spinned out the thread of his future life, followed his steps, and directed the consequences of his actions according to the counsel of the gods. It was not an inflexible fate; Zeus, if he chose, had the power of saving even those who were already on the point of being seized by their fate. The Fates did not abruptly interfere in human affairs but availed themselves of intermediate causes, and determined the lot of mortals not absolutely, but only conditionally, even man himself, in his freedom was allowed to exercise a certain influence upon them. As man's fate terminated at his death, the goddesses of fate become the goddesses of death, Moirai Thanatoio.

IMO, this sounds like the FM.

“I have no heart. I only have a hole. I’ve killed lots of people. I could kill you if I wanted.” “Would that taste sweet to you?” She did not know the right answer. “Maybe.” “Then you do not belong here. Death holds no sweetness in this house. We are not warriors, nor soldiers, nor swaggering bravos puffed up with pride. We do not kill to serve some lord, to fatten our purses, to stroke our vanity. We never give the gift to please ourselves. Nor do we choose the ones we kill. We are but servants of the God of Many Faces.” “Valar dohaeris.” All men must serve. “You know the words, but you are too proud to serve. A servant must be humble and obedient.”

MOIRAE IN THE UNDERWORLD

The Moirai assigned to each man at birth his allotted portion of life. When the portion expired they cut the thread of life. As such they were sometimes described as goddesses of death, attendant upon the throne of Haides.

http://www.theoi.com/Daimon/Moirai.html

They are the dark angels who act on The Many Faced God's decision on whose thread of life gets cut.

Upthread the mention of the deal with the Devil the MFG would probably be more accurate than the Stranger given the KM telling Arya about the price she would have to pay.

[ARYa_Nym]

Bump. I found more stuff.

I've been holding on to the Poe stuff for evita's reread when she gets to Arya and cats but here's some.

FM philosophy:

Valar Morghulis-All Men Must Die.

Upthread I said that Arya has been dancing with death.

This can relate to:

Dance of Death, also variously called Danse Macabre (French), Danza de la Muerte (Spanish), Danza Macabra (Italian), Dança da Morte (Portuguese), Totentanz (German), Dodendans (Dutch), Surmatants (Estonian), Dansa de la Mort (Catalan) is an artistic genre of late-medieval allegory on the universality of death: no matter one's station in life, the Dance of Death unites all. The Danse Macabre consists of the dead or personified Death summoning representatives from all walks of life to dance along to the grave, typically with a pope, emperor, king, child, and labourer. They were produced to remind people of the fragility of their lives and how vain were the glories of earthly life.^[1

I think it really illustrates the philosophy of the FM and what the KM told her about them not seeking glory.

On to Edgar Allan Poe. I had already looked up some stuff but recently was watching a show and he was mentioned and it was said that to him the eyes are part of our identity. They are the windows to the soul. The duality of man. The light and the dark. The mirror image.

In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator fixates on the idea that an old man is looking at him with the Evil Eye and transmitting a curse on him. At the same time that the narrator obsesses over the eye, he wants to separate the old man from the Evil Eye in order to spare the old man from his violent reaction to the eye. The narrator reveals his inability to recognize that the “eye” is the “I,” or identity, of the old man. The eyes symbolize the essence of human identity, which cannot be separated from the body. The eye cannot be killed without causing the man to die. Similarly, in “Ligeia,” the narrator is unable to see behind Ligeia’s dark and mysterious eyes. Because the eyes symbolize her Gothic identity, they conceal Ligeia’s mysterious knowledge, a knowledge that both guides and haunts the narrator

The eyes represent ones identity. To lose it means death. The KM said that the MFG would take her eyes among other things and she was blinded but only for a time. Of course she was blind so that she could open up other senses to see. It's something to think about though.

The heart also has symbolic meaning.

The beating heart could be thought of as everybody's clock inside them. When it stops beating you die.' The beating heart could symbolize the narrator's guilt or his own fear.

Tell-Tale Heart-The eye also seems to have a bodyguard, the heart. When the narrator trains the beam on the open eye, it causes the heart to beat an alert.

The heart is what keeps one going. I think this ties into my quote about death coming from within. Arya says she has no heart but a hole so she can already be dead inside in a sense.

Poe also has a poem called the Mask of the Red Death.

The second symbol is the masquerade. A masquerade is generally held and participated in by those who wish to hide their true identities. Yet, in this instance, they are not hiding from each other. They are hiding from death. Poe is trying to portray an image of a group of people who are carefree and jubilant on the outside, but fearful and wary on the inside. He does this successfully. However, there seems to be a greater meaning behind this revelry. Poe is establishing the main theme of the story here. One cannot escape death, no matter what they try to do. The masquerade symbolizes a fear of dying. Hiding behind masks, the revelers feel they can cheat death.

...

When Prospero enters the last room, the black room, he tries to defeat death and looses. Soon all the others follow Prospero to the ground in an agonizing and painful death. The event symbolizes that no matter what one does to avoid death, he will come for you and cannot be stopped.

This can tie into the longer you hide the sterner the penance. & of course Valar Morghulis.

I love Anne Sexton and to tie this into the KM telling her that women bring life into the world and they only bring death and water being an element of life or destruction I thought this could relate:

Giving Life

A quotation from Saul Bellow serves as an epigraph to Live or Die: ‘‘Live or die, but don’t prison everything. . . . ’’ As Sexton explains, ‘‘Saul Bellow had given me a message about my whole life. That I didn’t want to poison the world, that I didn’t want to be the killer; I wanted to be the one who gave birth, who encouraged things to grow and to flower, not the poisoner.’’ Sexton’s determination not to poison becomes the resolve to escape the ‘‘menacing flat accent of life-in-death.’’

Arya right now is the poisoner and the killer.

I thought this was very interesting because the KM associates motherhood with life and says she can't do that as a FM. Here Anne also relates motherhood and simply existing to death.

Motherhood and death

One is born with one’s death inside oneself, like an egg, or a baby. Through the process of living one transforms oneself into one’s own death, through a process of hardening, stiffening, freezing. Each birth only hastens the process, so one grows from baby to child to daughter to mother: in the last act of birth, a mother gives birth to her own death, a death baby. . .. I give birth to my own death. I am my mother’s baby; I am my mother’s death; I am my mother; I am my baby; I am my death.

http://www.mannmuseum.com/live-or-die-and-sexton-chooses-life-in-the-volume-that-includes-self-in-1958/

[kephv]

I don't think she was really talking to the dead, no. When she's talking to the tree, I just thought she was remembering what her father said and hearing what she wanted to hear or what she thought he'd say. As for the singers, we know Bran can hear those in the past, so that's what I'm thinking that's what they meant when saying they could speak to the dead. However, it does seem like being a FM and acquiring new faces gives them a connection to those whose face they're wearing (see Arya's reaction when she gets hers). Basically, it seems like the dead person's life bleeds into their own, which probably helps them eventually take on the person's identity more completely as they acquire the person's desires and personality traits. For instance, I wouldn't be surprised if Jaqen is just a more successful version of Pate.