Becoming No One: Rereading Arya IV

[The Sleeper]

On Dareon, power and cats.

The subject on Dareon's murder and particularly whether Arya was justified to do or Dareon had it coming has been debated to exhaustion in this forum, by myself included. So I'm not going to get into that. I would like to mention however a couple of reasons that are not mentioned often about why she might have done it and what this means for Arya, her character development and her involvement with the FM.

A few short words on Dareon and his supposed rape. I do believe that he is innocent of the crime, because I very much doubt that any lord in Westeros would allow his daughter's rapist to live. The conclusion I draw, is that Mathis Rowan did not in fact believe his daughter when she claimed she was raped. Rowan has a reputation of being sensible, which makes me think that he wouldn't kill a man he believed to innocent to wash the stain from his daughter's honor.

That being said, this is Arya's first (and only, so far) direct kill that is not dictated by any form of neseccity or agenda, or personal grievance. He did not threaten her in any way, she had nothing to gain by is death, he had done nothing to her personally. It also signifies a transition form reaction to initiative. Arya wants to excersize the power she is learning at the hands of the FM. It is not enough for her to simply have it. She wants to use it to affect the world aroung her.

It is also interesting how she tells the FM herself, wihtout any prompting or questioning. She also tells that the murder was perpetrated by Arya of house Stark, while at the same time it was told in the third person. She also kept palying it in her head on her way, wondering about their reaction. In some way, I believe it is part of her ongoing ambivalence regarding the house of Black and White and ties in with her keeping Needle and other secrets from the FM. I also think that she was testing the FM to understand what they are really about, which she can't quite grasp the theory of, so she is trying to test them to see what they want from her and what are her limits within them.

It is also a sign of her growing dissociation, which in this chapter she is conscieously aiming for.

In this chapter she is associated with cats. She is called Cat, she gains a following of cats, she compares herself to them (thin and mean and hungry) and eventually wargs into one. Cats, like mice are ubiquitus and go largely unnoticed. Unlike mice they are devastating predators of great efficiency who often kill for sport. Domesticated cats, display a peculiar kind of behaviour. Returning of their outings, they occasionally bring home their kills, as some kind of offering to their keepers. I can't help wondering if this particualr Cat made a similar kind of tribute.

Cats are also agile, quick, gracefull, lightfooted, nocturnal, have exquisite balance and sharp senses. They also land on their feet and are attributed with having nine lives. All of which of course apply ot Arya.

[A wilding]

A few short words on Dareon and his supposed rape. I do believe that he is innocent of the crime, because I very much doubt that any lord in Westeros would allow his daughter's rapist to live. The conclusion I draw, is that Mathis Rowan did not in fact believe his daughter when she claimed she was raped. Rowan has a reputation of being sensible, which makes me think that he wouldn't kill a man he believed to innocent to wash the stain from his daughter's honor.

I would agree that she was willing and her father knew it. Nevertheless, in Westeros it was statutory rape, and Dareon knew that it was (or should have known). Therefore the punishment of being made to take the Black was just in Westeros terms, however much Dareon complains about it.

[Odon]

I would agree that she was willing and her father knew it. Nevertheless, in Westeros it was statutory rape, and Dareon knew that it was (or should have known). Therefore the punishment of being made to take the Black was just in Westeros terms, however much Dareon complains about it.

Does that crime even exist in this period? I think it was more for disrespecting a noble by seducing his daughter.

[Odon]

He is a man of the Night's Watch, she thought, as he sang about some stupid lady throwing herself off some

stupid tower because her stupid prince was dead. The lady should go kill the ones who killed her prince.

Something of an Elmar Frey moment here. Although the name of the lady isn't mentioned, the similarities to Ashara

Dayne are too obvious to miss, so the "ones who killed her prince" would be Howland Reed and Ned Stark.

[Lummel]

...It is also interesting how she tells the FM herself, wihtout any prompting or questioning. She also tells that the murder was perpetrated by Arya of house Stark, while at the same time it was told in the third person. She also kept palying it in her head on her way, wondering about their reaction. In some way, I believe it is part of her ongoing ambivalence regarding the house of Black and White and ties in with her keeping Needle and other secrets from the FM. I also think that she was testing the FM to understand what they are really about, which she can't quite grasp the theory of, so she is trying to test them to see what they want from her and what are her limits within them.

It is also a sign of her growing dissociation, which in this chapter she is conscieously aiming for.

In this chapter she is associated with cats. She is called Cat, she gains a following of cats, she compares herself to them (thin and mean and hungry) and eventually wargs into one. Cats, like mice are ubiquitus and go largely unnoticed. Unlike mice they are devastating predators of great efficiency who often kill for sport. Domesticated cats, display a peculiar kind of behaviour. Returning of their outings, they occasionally bring home their kills, as some kind of offering to their keepers. I can't help wondering if this particualr Cat made a similar kind of tribute...

Hmm, this reminded me of the ADWD prologue""Some skins you never want to wear, boy. You won't like what you'd become." and a few lines earlier ""Other beasts were best left alone, the hunter declared. Vats were vain and cruel, always ready to turn on you." p10

[A wilding]

Does that crime even exist in this period? I think it was more for disrespecting a noble by seducing his daughter.

Yes, perhaps "statutory rape" is over formalising it. Nonetheless the point is that Dareon knew what to expect if he was caught.

[The Sleeper]

Hmm, this reminded me of the ADWD prologue""Some skins you never want to wear, boy. You won't like what you'd become." and a few lines earlier ""Other beasts were best left alone, the hunter declared. Vats were vain and cruel, always ready to turn on you." p10

Yes, it occured to me as well. I wonder if it is meant as a sign of a bastardization of her nature. Cats may be predators like wolves, but they are solitary for one thing and are stalkers. Wolves, while using stealth whenever possible, are built for running their prey down. Cats are also felines like Arya's arch rivals' sigil which could indicate that she is becoming more like her enemies. And even though Cat is exactly like Arya in character and personallity it is still a personna that she casts aside.

On the other hand the wolf dreams keep getting stronger and Arya likes them more and more. There is quite a bit of back and forth going on in Arya's chapters with the FM. There are two clear conflicting agendas with Arya Stark wanting power and No-one wanting to let go of the past, yet both are pushing Arya to be more determined, ruthless, stronger and colder, with the question hanging of what she is going to do with herself once she is done. There are also reccuring refferences to her growing physical strength which combined with some of her repsonses and thoughts in later chapters may point ot her becoming more animal like. After all, instinct, while often taking the opposite meaning in every day speech, is innate behaviour that is entirely utilitarian in purpose.

On that segway, I'd like to go a bit on her training. The three new things to be learned made quite an impression to me. It might serve as a way for the FM to gain information. The vast majority of the things learned however, as they are gleaned through observation of everyday circumstances would help someone blend in and survive in an unfamiliar envirionment. It has quite a few more apsects to it. The requirement to learn new things forces the trainee to pay attention and retain all the information they receive. The distinction of knowing versus thinking promotes critical consideration of input in order to be proccessed into usefull information. This combined with exersize of controlling facial expressions, the most involantary of reactions, cultivates a state of constant awareness, alertness and self-control. In many ways they seem to build on and be the next step to Syrio's lessons.

[Lyanna Stark]

Great stuff people. Making some notes tonight, but just one small comment.

Arya "smelling of fish"? Well, she is a trout in a wolf's mouth? :lol: And she goes by Catelyn Tully's nickname which her father Hoster gave her, so yes, she smells of "fish" alright!

[brashcandy]

Brilliant discussion folks. Bliss, I really loved your analysis on the significance of the number three.

It seems that out of all the guises Arya has adopted throughout her journey Cat of the Canals is the one that is closest to the original Arya Stark that was introduced in the start of the series. There's the joy of exploration. Her favorite place is the Ragman's Harbor, there are always new sights, sounds and smells to experience. There is a wide assortment of characters she interacts with and respond to her. She reciprocates by sending customers in the way of Happy Port and trying to find a place for little Narbo. Other aspects of her personality emerge as well. She is insolent with the Black Pearl ("Don't call me little one, my name is Cat), overtuns the other peddlers barrow when he tried to run her off and gets Sam out of his tight spot. I also think that one reason she killed Dareon was because she didn't like his attitude towards the whores.

Good observation. Arya has quite a sympathetic view of the whores in this chapter, and gets to know them as real people, with their own backstories, characteristics and quirks. She makes note that Dareon says the same thing to different whores, and this undoubtedly helps to shape her full appreciation of him - "fair of face and foul of heart" - adding to the fact that he's a deserter from the Night's Watch. Right before she kills him, Dareon brags that:

"Yesterday I ate herring with the whores, but within the year I’ll be having emperor crab with courtesans."

This contrast is important, because in addition to the whores, the courtesans of Braavos are another group of women whom Arya seems to regard with some implicit admiration or at least neutral understanding. There is a strong sense of matriarchal potential in this chapter, vested in these kinds of non-traditional, "aberrant" occupations, and reinforced by the founding of Braavos itself:

"The Nine Free Cities are the daughters of Valyria that was," the kindly man taught her, "but Braavos is the bastard child who ran away from home. We are a mongrel folk, the sons of slaves and whores and thieves. Our forebears came from half a hundred lands to this place of refuge, to escape the dragonlords who had enslaved them.

For Arya, who is currently using her mother's name as her alternate identity, the significance is clear. Dareon is unable to see these women as anything other than objects, and a means for advancement. It's interesting therefore to examine how his new "crime" in Braavos may illuminate the accusation that sent him to the Wall back in Westeros. Dareon may truly not have raped the Lord's daughter, but what he is guilty of, then and now, is a concerted selfishness and arrogance, and an exploitative gaze towards women, which whilst not crimes in themselves, have led him into unfortunate situations.

As the daughter of Ned Stark, Arya can appreciate that what Dareon is doing is wrong from the institutional, political level, but this alone isn't enough to condemn him to death. It's her identity as Cat of the Canals that completes the judgement, as Dareon's character is laid bare during his time in the brothels. What he wants is an easy life, away from his duty as brother of the NW, but to Cat of the Canals who rises every morning to begin a long day of work, and to "No one" who lives by the words "Valar dohaeris", this is an alien, unacceptable disposition.

[liberal teapot]

Arya as Cat.

In addition to the applications already mentioned, I've been wondering about Arya being a catspaw. Arya can be seen to be used as a tool, a weapon to serve the ends of the person who hired the FM or indeed the FM themselves. She stll hasn't escaped this. Aside from Ned, and maybe Yoren, no one has sought to help her, but used her as a means to an end.

The phrase itself comes from the tale of the Monkey and the Cat, In the tale, a monkey wishes to obtain some roasting chestnuts from the fire but cannot. He promises the cat a share if he gets them from the fire. However as the cat takes the chestnuts from the fire he takes eats them all, they are caught by a maid and the cat gets only a burnt paw. In some versions of the tale it is in fact a puppy and not a cat. The story has been used to how the powerful use the helpless to furthur their own ends. Geoffrey Whitney in the Choice of Emblemes drew the widely taken lesson:

"Which shewes, when as ambition fowle doth prick The hartes of kinges, then there is no remorce, But oftentimes, to aunswere theire desire, The subjectes feele both famine, sworde and fire"

A catspaw is also a nautical knot used to connect a rope to an object, or a light breeze that creates ripples on a small area. Arya has always created waves in a localised area, Her three deaths could have created chaos, but instead she caused a few waves in the riverlands. Now in Braavos she ahs caused a stir, though nothing that would be spoken of outside the city itself.

[Mladen]

Blisscraft, wonderful analysis, but I wouldn't expect anything less from you...

I will deal with animals, especially cats/wolves in this chapter and I will add a thought about the moons... Since I have just written a post about this subject, I hope you wouldn't mind quoting myself.

Dog/cat contrast in Arya

Dogs are usually perceived as man's best friends, and not mentioning how social wolves are. And then we have cats, who are so alienated from each other, who dwell alone and fight alone and aren't accustomed to have one master. Unlike dogs, cats are almost untrainable and their loyalty as pets is always questionable. This is what makes very interesting Arya's staying with FM. From wolf she was, loyaly animal to Starks, she has become Cat, most likely symbolizing that her time with FM isn't whole-heartedly as we think. She is conflicted in a way. Wild social wolf during nights, and solitary cat during days. But unlike FM, her family in her has anchor in her wolf dreams.

Symbolism of crescent moon and wolves

The crescent moon originates from Ancient Greece and Rome(Artemis/Diana), but in medieval ages, it transformed into part of iconography of Ottoman Empire and Islam. If we look at crescent moon as recurring symbol of Arya's hunting story, we could use it to connect her storyarc in Braavos with Islamic ideology of wolves. And it basically fits perfectly with dreams Arya have. Wolves in Islamic symbolism represent scavanger, bloodthirsty predators, and were used sometimes to describe Balkan nations (due to common use of the wolf in names and surnames). So, crescent moon of Artemis is connected with both imagery of Arya as huntress, and islamic version for vicious predator.

When the moon was black she was no one, a servant of the Many-Faced God in a robe of black and white.

This is something quite interesting for me. It's basically like death of a Stak in Arya. Moon has always been associated with wolves and therefore with Starks. We had powerful moonlight imagery in the chapter when Jon abandoned NW when Ned was killed, we have Gates of the Moon in Sansa's storyarc, howling at moon... It' all very powerful imagery and I think this black moon talks a lot about Arya stepping out from Stark personna. Basically, no moon element, "no one" in Arya arises.

edit: the quote

[ShadowCat Rivers]

Very interesting analysis and comments by everyone. Just a few observations to add:

stumbling through a wasted land of mud and fire and blood

I wonder if there is a connection to the Targaryen "fire and blood" and to Ser Barristan's thoughts on the contrast between mud and fire. In this context, all three of these elements are connected to war and destruction...

A bravo killed him for saying that my mother was more beautiful than the Nightingale

I think this is a follow up of the conversation she had with Edric Dayne about Ned and Ashara. She is still hurt by this story, and with the one she invents she tries to negate it.

Also, on valar morghulis / valar dohaeris, I was thinking about the huge difference between these two statements.

Valar morghulis represents the one and only certainty in life. Eventually, all living creatures will die. It is one of the rare declarations, where "it is known" is the most fitting answer.

On the contrary, valar dohaeris can be interpreted in hundrends of ways. You know nothing... What does it mean "to serve"? And whom?

Mance Rayder would reply with the "Dornishman's wife", opposing a life of pleasure to a life of service. Once again, Ygritte knows best: "All men must die, Jon Snow. But first we’ll live.”

[Alberich]

Excellent analysis and observations from everyone. Just two thoughts about Arya, Sam and Dareon.

1. In medieval Germany existed a punishment named “Reichsacht”. This punishment had been used against criminals, who had done a serious crime and escaped the justice. Was the Reichsacht spoken against a person, this person lost all rights and everyone, not only officials, was allowed to kill this person (and to plunder the corpse). I ever imagined Nightwatch deserters like persons, to that was called the Reichsacht. So in Westeros (not necessary in Bravos) Arya’s deed had been legal.
   
2. The following idea perhaps is crackpot, but… Arya in my opinion saves Sam’s life, when she deescalate the situation between Sam and the two Bravos. We all know what an excellent fencer Sam is. :cool4: So she has cheated the many faced god for Sam’s life. Jaquen teaches Arya that only dead can pay for life. So she searches for the most worthless person she can find and sacrifices him as compensation for Sam’s life. The life of the disloyal Nightwatch man for the life of the loyal Nightwatch man.
   

Sorry for my bad English.

[brashcandy]

Welcome to the thread Alberich, and that's an interesting idea to ponder :)

[Alberich]

Welcome to the thread Alberich, and that's an interesting idea to ponder :)

Thank you very much for the welcome. :drunk:

[Lummel]

Excellent analysis and observations from everyone. Just two thoughts about Arya, Sam and Dareon.

1. In medieval Germany existed a punishment named “Reichsacht”. This punishment had been used against criminals, who had done a serious crime and escaped the justice. Was the Reichsacht spoken against a person, this person lost all rights and everyone, not only officials, was allowed to kill this person (and to plunder the corpse). I ever imagined Nightwatch deserters like persons, to that was called the Reichsacht. So in Westeros (not necessary in Bravos) Arya’s deed had been legal.
   
   
2. The following idea perhaps is crackpot, but… Arya in my opinion saves Sam’s life, when she deescalate the situation between Sam and the two Bravos. We all know what an excellent fencer Sam is. :cool4: So she has cheated the many faced god for Sam’s life. Jaquen teaches Arya that only dead can pay for life. So she searches for the most worthless person she can find and sacrifices him as compensation for Sam’s life. The life of the disloyal Nightwatch man for the life of the loyal Nightwatch man...
   

I think you are right that she saves Sam's life. Does she think that only a life can pay for a life? She doesn't think this in her POV nor does she mention Sam to the Kindly Old Man, rather there is a keenness in telling the kindly old man and seeing what he would do :dunno:

With regard to Reichsacht that would be outlawry in English - that certainly doesn't seem to be the case in Westeros - see Bran I AGOT, the people who catch Gared don't kill him, they keep him prisoner and send word the The Ned. Similarly Jorah Mormont who is able to flee Westeros with wife when he hears the news that The Ned has pronounced sentence on him and is coming to decapitate him. Arya then is used to The Stark in Winterfell executing the law, not just anybody dwelling in Westeros. Does she sees herself as the legal heir to Winterfell and its authority? I don't see anything else to support that idea other than the murder of the night's watch deserter :dunno:

I think this is perhaps best seen in the light of the failed attempt to kill Sandor. Arya is searching to find the boundaries in her relationships with authority figures - she's testing the Kindly old man out, she knows that the Faceless Men only kill for large amounts of money/equivalent valuables in response to an appropriate prayer, she knows that she is not supposed to be Arya of House Stark, yet she pushes both in the Kindly Old Man's face and "had wondered what the kindly man would say when she told him about Dareon".

[The Sleeper]

With regard to Reichsacht that would be outlawry in English - that certainly doesn't seem to be the case in Westeros - see Bran I AGOT, the people who catch Gared don't kill him, they keep him prisoner and send word the The Ned. Similarly Jorah Mormont who is able to flee Westeros with wife when he hears the news that The Ned has pronounced sentence on him and is coming to decapitate him. Arya then is used to The Stark in Winterfell executing the law, not just anybody dwelling in Westeros. Does she sees herself as the legal heir to Winterfell and its authority? I don't see anything else to support that idea other than the murder of the night's watch deserter :dunno:

As you yourself mentioned it is immediate family members that she sees performing and preparing for this task and it is her perennial desire to be included fully wherever she is. And in her mind Ned is a just individual. Arya's dealings with autority are very narrow. She has spent her formative childhood years being at the top and the greatest part on the fringe and being actually hunted by the authorities. Nevermind the fact that she has witnessed the authorities commit atrocities and grave injusticies. The one authority she respected (and which she was part of) has been destroyed. So, on one hand there is the vague and limited conception of authority and legitimacy an eleven-year old can have against immediate experiences and ideas of right and wrong she has been brought up with.

She does not claim herself the authority of the representative of house Stark. It is not even a consideration in her case. The pertinent question that arises for me, is if she would have been justified in her action had she claimed authority of a scion of house Stark. Other than acting in any official capacity, she did everything else by the book. Is it legitimacy, ceremony and station that justify an action?

[Alberich]

I think you are right that she saves Sam's life. Does she think that only a life can pay for a life? She doesn't think this in her POV nor does she mention Sam to the Kindly Old Man, rather there is a keenness in telling the kindly old man and seeing what he would do :dunno:

With regard to Reichsacht that would be outlawry in English - that certainly doesn't seem to be the case in Westeros - see Bran I AGOT, the people who catch Gared don't kill him, they keep him prisoner and send word the The Ned. Similarly Jorah Mormont who is able to flee Westeros with wife when he hears the news that The Ned has pronounced sentence on him and is coming to decapitate him. Arya then is used to The Stark in Winterfell executing the law, not just anybody dwelling in Westeros. Does she sees herself as the legal heir to Winterfell and its authority? I don't see anything else to support that idea other than the murder of the night's watch deserter :dunno:

I think this is perhaps best seen in the light of the failed attempt to kill Sandor. Arya is searching to find the boundaries in her relationships with authority figures - she's testing the Kindly old man out, she knows that the Faceless Men only kill for large amounts of money/equivalent valuables in response to an appropriate prayer, she knows that she is not supposed to be Arya of House Stark, yet she pushes both in the Kindly Old Man's face and "had wondered what the kindly man would say when she told him about Dareon".

This are strong arguments, and I agree with you that she doesn't think at the sacrifice for the Many Faced God in her POV. Okay, the sacrifice was crackpot. The point goes to you.

But I respectfully disagreeing your argumentation regarding the Reichsacht/outlawry. The people who catch Gared don't kill him because they are Soldiers and it is a normal behavior for Soldiers to bring a prisoner to their commander or, in this case, to their Lord. The point of the Reichsacht/outlawry is to bring the lawbreaker punishment, if the lawbreaker is outside of the reach of the normal way of justice. The Reichsacht/outlawry does not replace the normal way of justice, if this normal way is possible to go.

And that Jorah Mormont is able to flee Westeros with wife primary is possible because news in Westeros travel as quick as a horseman travels.

[Odon]

She does not claim herself the authority of the representative of house Stark. It is not even a consideration in her case. The pertinent question that arises for me, is if she would have been justified in her action had she claimed authority of a scion of house Stark. Other than acting in any official capacity, she did everything else by the book. Is it legitimacy, ceremony and station that justify action?

Just in this context, she does kill Dareon shortly after he reveals that he disobeyed Lord Snow's orders.

"What happened to your brother?" Cat asked. "The fat one. Did he ever find a ship to Oldtown? He said he was supposed to sail on the Lady Ushanora."

"We all were. Lord Snow's command. I told Sam, leave the old man, but the fat fool would not listen." The last light of the setting sun shone in his hair. "Well, it's too late now."

"Just so," said Cat as they stepped into the gloom of a twisty little alley.

It's too late all right, as Arya of House Stark has already made her judgement.

[The Sleeper]

Just in this context, she does kill Dareon shortly after he reveals that he disobeyed Lord Snow's orders.

It's too late all right, as Arya of House Stark has already made her judgement.

I wasn't refering to why she did it, but in what capacity.