Becoming No One: Rereading Arya IV

[ShadowCat Rivers]

@Lyanna,

The Titan feeding on the juicy pink flesh of little highborn girls takes a creepy meaning, IMO. The Titan's Daughter passes beneath with a good ten yards to spare, so yes, she 'll go under the radar quite easily, it seems.

[The Sleeper]

One of the protagonists of this chapter is the city of Braaovs looming in the distance with the Titan greeting Arya, as part monument part fortification. One of its prominent characteristics is how alien it is to Arya. It is profaoundly different even from King's Landing, the only other big city Arya has ever known. It shows her that there is a world outside Westeros that continues to go on despite the devastation in home. It is also quite a profound confrontation with the fact that her home is not the center of the world.

Much like Harrenhal, the Titan's size makes it appear deceptively close and Arya tries to scale it down only to discover that she cannot. The Arsenal and the city itself reinforce that impression with its structures. Again like Harrenhal, though it starts with as a place of trepidation it evolves into a place she finds power. I think it is also noteworthy the consistency with which Braavos serves as a sanctuary. It served as one for the escaped slaves of Valyria, it did so for Dany and Myrcella and now it will be the place where Arya will find refuge.

I also noticed some similarity between the rows of statues of Sealords along the main canal and the array of tombs in the crypts of Winterfel.

We also have her first introduction to the Braavosi dialect which is much like building up a new foundation of knowledge. She is introduced to a few simple words, as it is normal for any beginner. The first foundation of this knowledge, however, is valar morghulis. She begins anew with mortality being the first concept she builds upon.

Her recounting of Old Nan's tale, Luwin's rebuttal and the realization that they are most likely dead, echoes Jon's emotions that all his memories are poisoned. There is no comfort in memories, only pain. By constrast Sansa enshrines Winterfel with snow and draws both comfort and strenght from it, though Arya herself touches Needle, her only keepsake from Winterfel, when she needs to.

Old Nan's tale that the Braavosi feed the Titan with little highborn girls sounds very much like an offering, a sacrifice to keep themselves safe. Yet Arya is not a little highborn girl anymore, or at least does not see herself that way. The conclusion is that she is safe, though she feels a little trepidation. We do, however see the Braavosi making actual offerings and it is Arya who is on the receiving end. It is not the Titan they make offerings to, it's death. Arya's concusion is wrong, I believe. Her childhood self, the little highborn girl that she was has already been sacrificed and she will be called to give up the rest.

The ship itself becomes a home in a remarkably short amount of time, one she is loathe to part, at least compared to the prospect of embarking on a completely unfamiliar city on her own, and Arya feels the need to expand on an identity that has been casually set upon her by others. She indicates her curiosity and her desire to be part of the crew as ooposed to a passenger with her willingness to learn to be useful on a ship and also expresses regret for not saying goodbye to the captain's son.

[Fire Eater]

Nice job, brash.

... and I 'll finish with an optimistic thought of possible Forshadowing in the Titan

Given that the Titan’s Daughter can be viewed as a reference to Sansa, the Titan himself is a symbol of her “father”. This depiction makes Old Nan’s story sound very, very fearsome and unsettling. The "juicy" sister had a good reason to “give a stupid squeak”, it seems.

But then,

I think I can feel safe about Sansa’s future… It’s crazy how many Sansa references are hidden in Arya’s chapters.

Good catch, this pretty much confirms my theory that LF will attempt to rape Sansa.

• ... a marble woman twelve feet tall. Real tears were trickling from her eyes, to fill the bowl she cradled in her arm.
  
• Beyond her was man with a lion's head seated on a throne, carved of ebony.
  
• On the other side of the doors, a huge horse of bronze and iron reared up on two great legs.
  
• Farther on she could make out a great stone face, a pale infant with a sword, a shaggy black goat the size of an aurochs, a hooded man leaning on a staff. The rest were only looming shapes to her, half-seen through the gloom.
  

I think the marble woman is Cat after she compared herself to Alyssa Arryn whom the waterfall, Alyssa's Tears, are named for. She kills in revenge to fill the empty bowl where her family once filled.

Ebony is dark wood, and the lion sitting on the dark throne would be Jaime sitting on the IT after having killed Aerys, or foreshadowing him sitting on the IT as the Hand.

The stallion is made of bronze and iron, the same metals used to make Robb's crown, and with the stallion being a Celtic symbol of war, the stallion rearing could mean the war for the North is on a hiatus. It has been used before.

The pale infant with a sword could be Aegon whose story is that he is the surviving infant prince coming to reclaim his throne.

A wild rain lashed down against his black brother as he tore at th flesh of an enormous goat

A shaggy black goat the size of an aurochs points to the black direwolf, Shaggydog, who killed a unicorn described as an "enormous goat."

The hooded man leaning on the staff is the hooded man who spoke to Theon. Theon tells death that the gods are not finished with him.

[Mladen]

First, congratulations to brashcandy for this wonderful analysis.

As Lummel, I also find a bit funny how sailors give Arya presents not because they like her, but to ensure she won`t kill them in the future. In this chapter, it looks like just the waste of space, but Martins proves yet again to be master of tangling the web. The thing is that this`ll be one of the most important rules for Arya, the one that will put a great choice in front of her.

Shadowcat Rivers, I love your Sansa comparison to Titan`s daughter. I would add just a small detail. A maiden with a bowl of fruit is another clear reference to Sansa. This wonderfully depicts Sansa`s refusal to accept LF`s pomegranate. Maid and fruits are symbols of maturation, and passing below Titan`s radar with that bowl of fruit, clearly indicates Sansa plotting behind LF`s back and passing untouched through his grasp.

Now as for description of Braavos as Venice of Essos, I would just add one thing. The protector of Venice is St. Mark, one of four evangelists, and his symbol is a lion (winged lion). This can symbolize Arya`s possible connection with Tyrion and through him with Daenerys.

Lyanna, brilliant catch about weirwood doors. HotU, HoBaW, GotM... I think that all three has some sort of mystical relevance for the three characters, which again can be used as foreshadowing for Sansa. Dany found her strength, past and future in the HotU, Arya has found new identity and philosophy in HoBaW, and Sansa will most likely find herself again. Moon is the great symbol for the wolves, and wolves are very active during winter nights, when they play with snow on moolight. This can foreshadow Sansa`s return to her roots, introduction of the expression of her warging abilities, and her reclaiming her name and position.

[liberal teapot]

SALTY

The choice of the name Salty is interesting, and what she sheds when she loses that name. Salty was her sixth name and with it she loses home.

There are several very apposite ways in which the Salty moniker suits Arya.

1. Salty dog

A person who is bad tempered, combative and stubborn.

2. Salty language and humour.

In this context salty is used to refer to down-to-earth, common and coarse.

3. Salt of the earth

Someone who is of great worth as well as reliable, cf 'worth their salt.'

4. Matthew 5:13

"Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men."

This brings to mind Arya underfoot, as well as the many times that she has been cast off. ALso to arya the Stark name has lost it's protection, she has seen as stark soldiers were trampled underfoot.

[Blisscraft]

I think the marble woman is Cat after she compared herself to Alyssa Arryn whom the waterfall, Alyssa's Tears, are named for. She kills in revenge to fill the empty bowl where her family once filled.

The stallion is made of bronze and iron, the same metals used to make Robb's crown, and with the stallion being a Celtic symbol of war, the stallion rearing could mean the war for the North is on a hiatus. It has been used before.

The pale infant with a sword could be Aegon whose story is that he is the surviving infant prince coming to reclaim his throne.

The hooded man leaning on the staff is the hooded man who spoke to Theon. Theon tells death that the gods are not finished with him.

Your interpretations are great FE! I like these best.

Also, Wonderful Brash!

The Star of Home - For some reason, this reference got me thinking about Pinnochio and his sidekick, Jiminy Cricket crooning When You Wish A Upon a Star. Maybe Arya's experience will turn her into a "real girl. Although, I confess, I love her as she is.

Juicy Pink Flesh of Highborn Girls - Sounds like the name of a punk band. Anyway, we return to the color pink with this reference. It's first mentioned in the chapter that begins with the sentence Brash noted above, "She could feel the hole inside her every morning when she woke." Arya and the Hound find a "survivor of the The Twins." He has pink tears in his beard and cries for mercy; Arya's memory of Pinkeye from Harrenhall and the dagger with the pink stone in the hilt. As noted before, pink flesh is living flesh. It's a color of sensuality and emotion. All of these qualities of the color pink seem to echo in Nan story of the Titan, especially Arya's memory of Sansa's reaction to it: SQUEAK!

Moonsingers/Moon - Picking up on the relationship with Arya's memory of Sansa, this most important Braavosi temple is another connection to Sansa in the Vale. As FE noted above it appears as well in the "crying woman" statue, as well as the Moon door. The Moon is a standard symbol of feminine energy. The Moon governs the tides, water, as well as a woman's cycle. It's associated with fertility.

According to James Fraser, Darwin and Krabbe suggested the Moons phases are the inspiration for the dismemberment myth most commonly found in the story of Dionysus or the Corn King. The myth essentially recalls a time when there was a struggle between new partiarchal and the older matriachal religions. The Moon in the old religion, like the "old gods," were based upon seasons and the cycle of change, not only of the earth, but also of the ages of mankind. Finally, the Moon is associated with the number three, as the Moon "disappears" for three days and reappears on the fourth. The Moon's duration of time between the invisible phase to visible phase has been the source of the idea of death (the darkness) and rebirth (the light).

This image of death and rebirth, the old making way for the new is also a part of the FM temple. The white weirwood in opposition to the black ebony is more than some oblique reference to Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney's Ebony and Ivory. It is like the symbol of the Tao, the Yin/Yang symbol. I could go on and on about all of this but I'll spare you.

Lists - Arya can make a list better than Santa Clause, especially when it involves the naughty and the nice. From the beginning of the chapter she lists her dead family members, the "nice." She lists those who promised to take her somewhere, but didn't, which includes, but is not limited to Yoren and the Hound. She lists her "treasures." She lists the words she's learned in Braavosi, her "death" list and finally, and most importantly, her former "names;" she lists to the Man in reponse to his request, "Tell me your name." This is another repetition of the theme of "Who are you?" we discussed previously. It is as Brash noted, a part of her becoming, her identity.

ETA:

The Gilded Figurehead - The gilded figurehead, a maiden with a bowl of fruit seems to be a reference to Persephone, Demeter's daughter and another myth regarding seasonal change. Most of you are familiar with her story. Persephone is abducted by Hades and taken to the Underworld. Persephone's mother, Demeter, mourns her loss to the point where the earth becomes fallow. Demeter is assisted by the goddess Hecate, a goddess associated with the moon. Eventually, Demeter and Persephone are reunited for limited part of each year. During the time of Persephone's return to above ground and to her mother, Demeter, the world becomes ripe and produces abundantly.

Arya has her hand upon the figurehead. Which hand and exactly at what part of the figurehead it's resting upon is not specified. It may be Arya's left hand, as that is her dominant one. Perhaps this is a suggestion that Arya will have a hand in Sansa's return to the world.

[brashcandy]

Great comments everyone!

The Sansa and Arya parallels are really intriguing in their opening chapters of AFFC. For those interested, here's the summary and analysis of Sansa I for the re-read that was completed last year. The discussion that follows raises some interesting points. The following is a brief excerpt from Sansa's chapter where she recalls asking the gods to bring a singer back to Winterfell:

They hadn't though, not for a year or more. Sansa had prayed to the Seven in their sept and the old gods of the heart tree, asking them to bring the old man back, or better still to send another singer, young and handsome. But the gods never answered, and the halls of Winterfell stayed silent.

But that was when she was a little girl, and foolish. She was a maiden now, three-and-ten and flowered. All her nights were full of song, and by day she prayed for silence.

[Wisenan69]

These lines called my attention:

1. In brashcandy's quote of Arya VIII of ASOS: ... the gusts were blowing so strongly that it felt like someone was behind her, yanking at her cloak. Only when she turned, NO ONE was there.

2. It seems that a weirwood door keeps showing up with some of the most important characters: Bran, Arya, Dany (?), Sansa (?). Are the old gods witnessing all these events?

3. The KM and his grotesque face with the worm coming out of his eye reminded me of BR. More connections to the North, not just the door?

[odin1981]

Cool to see this started. I'll have to reread and post my thoughts on this chapter later. Kinda off topic but why do people always assume that arya is the "lone wolf" of the starks? I believe that it could be someone else, don't wanna go off on a tangent but I figured this being a arya reread quite a few people would be able to explain this.

[fantasmas]

This connection to Sansa is interesting. It made me think of one of Bran's dreams.

He saw his father pleading with the king, his face etched with grief. He saw Sansa crying herself to sleep at night, and he saw Arya watching in silence and holding her secrets hard in her heart. There were shadows all around them. One shadow was as dark as ash, with the terrible face of a hound. Another was armoured like the sun, golden and beautiful. Over them both loomed a giant in armour made of stone, but when he opened his visor, there was nothing inside but darkness and thick black blood.

The giant for Sansa being Petyr since she is Alayne Stone, the Titan's Daughter. Arya, too, is a Titan's Daughter as she is being raised in Braavos. I believe GRRM has described her time in Braavos as something of coming of age. The parallels are very interesting. Both girls are learning an educations that could be valuable in time like disguises, reading lies, and collecting secrets. They're also working with poisons, though Alayne is not aware.

The darkness and thick black blood in Bran's dream sounds very ominous, however. Perhaps the true darkness and danger of these 'giants' will be revealed of time.

[Lyanna Stark]

Checking my notes on this chapter (don't laugh Lummel, some of us have a bad memory!) there seems to be a circular pattern to Arya's longing in this chapter. It starts out with the Star of Home, and he strong longing for home, family, to belong. She wants to stay on the Titan's Daughter because it has become a sanctuary and somewhere she feels she could belong, but it's not meant to be. At the end of the chapter, she pleads with the doors to the House of Black and White to open for her and when the Kindly Man asks her if she is hungry, she thinks "Yes but not for food". So what is she hungry for? The first thing that comes into mind is revenge, but with the longing theme so strong and Arya's strong wish to belong, I think a case can be made for her being hungry for just that: belonging, home, hope.

Instead, "The star of home" has brought her to the proverbial underworld and not at all to home.

In fact, the Star of Home reminded me of the Tolkien Silmarillion story of Eärendil, Elwing and the Silmaril, of their quest to cross the sea into the West on the ship Vingilótë to plead with the Valar to save their homeland, and Eärendil was transformed into a star**, Gil-Estel, the Star of High Hope.

However, GRRM is not JRRT and in Tolkien's world, celestial bodies are obviously more benign, (despite Westeros and Westernesse being so similar names ;) ) and here the magical star turns out to be a rather threatening looking copper statue and Braavos is certainly not the shores of Valinor. The other celestial body in GRRM's world also takes on a rather more ominous tinge than anything Tolkien focused on, I think, with the red comet. Just because it can be found in the heavens doesn't automatically make it good in GRRM-land (perhaps something to consider wrt dragons as sky-creatures?)

Cool to see this started. I'll have to reread and post my thoughts on this chapter later. Kinda off topic but why do people always assume that arya is the "lone wolf" of the starks? I believe that it could be someone else, don't wanna go off on a tangent but I figured this being a arya reread quite a few people would be able to explain this.

I think if you go back to the first Arya re-read thread, you'll find some stuff written on Arya's and Ned's conversation that "The lone wolf dies but the pack survives". Throughout the novels, Arya reflects on this and here in AFFC Arya I she comes to the conclusion that Ned has it all wrong; it's the lone wolf that survives. As Arya is the only Stark alive that she herself knows of, she looks at herself as the lone wolf.

** ok he was not literally transformed into a star, but he "got the job" so to speak, of driving around in his improved now magically flying ship with a silmarill tied to his forehead like a magical mining helmet to light the way for the people of Middle Earth.

[Lummel]

Cool to see this started. I'll have to reread and post my thoughts on this chapter later. Kinda off topic but why do people always assume that arya is the "lone wolf" of the starks? I believe that it could be someone else, don't wanna go off on a tangent but I figured this being a arya reread quite a few people would be able to explain this.

you want us to explain why other people think differently to you ;)

really all of the starks are currently lone wolfs. If GRRM wants that The Ned be correct in saying that in winter the lone wolf dies but the pack survives then the revival and survival of the starks requires them to come to together in the remaining books. Arya at least is in a responable position to be able to move to the Vale or the Wall, unlike Bran who is not in much of a position to go anywhere.

My guess would be that a reader might associate her with being the lone wolf because the lone wolf dies was said to her which gives it the function of a warning which one could assume is specific to her and secondly she remembers The Ned saying that. :dunno:

Checking my notes on this chapter (don't laugh Lummel, some of us have a bad memory!) there seems to be a circular pattern to Arya's longing in this chapter. It starts out with the Star of Home, and he strong longing for home, family, to belong. She wants to stay on the Titan's Daughter because it has become a sanctuary and somewhere she feels she could belong, but it's not meant to be. At the end of the chapter, she pleads with the doors to the House of Black and White to open for her and when the Kindly Man asks her if she is hungry, she thinks "Yes but not for food". So what is she hungry for? The first thing that comes into mind is revenge, but with the longing theme so strong and Arya's strong wish to belong, I think a case can be made for her being hungry for just that: belonging, home, hope...

good point. Home would also tie into the candle scents.

There's a pattern too to Arya's opening chapters. ACOK starting on the road to Winterfell. ASOS starting on the road to Riverrun. Here though she's arriving at Braavos but this is the start of her journey through the underworld. The underworld is a place where values might be the reverse of what they are on the surface or where a person can achieve spiritual growth/renewal or gain some secret/useful knowledge.

Being underground, moon based time, the explicit presence or involvement of magic are paralleled in Bran's chapters in ADWD. But that is still largely to come.

[Elba the Intoner]

... and I 'll finish with an optimistic thought of possible Forshadowing in the Titan

Given that the Titan’s Daughter can be viewed as a reference to Sansa, the Titan himself is a symbol of her “father”. This depiction makes Old Nan’s story sound very, very fearsome and unsettling. The "juicy" sister had a good reason to “give a stupid squeak”, it seems.

But then,

I think I can feel safe about Sansa’s future… It’s crazy how many Sansa references are hidden in Arya’s chapters.

Great observations Shadowcat. A parallel symbolism can be found in Sansa's snow Winterfell chapter, which I believe takes place at a very similar point in time to this chapter. LF whose ancestors are originally from Braavos, steps right over the walls of the snow Winterfell Sansa has just built and here Arya sees the Titan and thinks it is so huge it could step right over the walls of Winterfell.

[Blisscraft]

Checking my notes on this chapter (don't laugh Lummel, some of us have a bad memory!) there seems to be a circular pattern to Arya's longing in this chapter. It starts out with the Star of Home, and he strong longing for home, family, to belong. She wants to stay on the Titan's Daughter because it has become a sanctuary and somewhere she feels she could belong, but it's not meant to be. At the end of the chapter, she pleads with the doors to the House of Black and White to open for her and when the Kindly Man asks her if she is hungry, she thinks "Yes but not for food". So what is she hungry for? The first thing that comes into mind is revenge, but with the longing theme so strong and Arya's strong wish to belong, I think a case can be made for her being hungry for just that: belonging, home, hope.

Instead, "The star of home" has brought her to the proverbial underworld and not at all to home.

In fact, the Star of Home reminded me of the Tolkien Silmarillion story of Eärendil, Elwing and the Silmaril, of their quest to cross the sea into the West on the ship Vingilótë to plead with the Valar to save their homeland, and Eärendil was transformed into a star**, Gil-Estel, the Star of High Hope.

However, GRRM is not JRRT and in Tolkien's world, celestial bodies are obviously more benign, (despite Westeros and Westernesse being so similar names ;) ) and here the magical star turns out to be a rather threatening looking copper statue and Braavos is certainly not the shores of Valinor. The other celestial body in GRRM's world also takes on a rather more ominous tinge than anything Tolkien focused on, I think, with the red comet. Just because it can be found in the heavens doesn't automatically make it good in GRRM-land (perhaps something to consider wrt dragons as sky-creatures?)

I think if you go back to the first Arya re-read thread, you'll find some stuff written on Arya's and Ned's conversation that "The lone wolf dies but the pack survives". Throughout the novels, Arya reflects on this and here in AFFC Arya I she comes to the conclusion that Ned has it all wrong; it's the lone wolf that survives. As Arya is the only Stark alive that she herself knows of, she looks at herself as the lone wolf.

** ok he was not literally transformed into a star, but he "got the job" so to speak, of driving around in his improved now magically flying ship with a silmarill tied to his forehead like a magical mining helmet to light the way for the people of Middle Earth.

Lyanna - Don't worry about the note-taking. Moms are constantly interrupted. Notes are VITAL to one's daily survival.

The transition from "star" to big scary Titan is wonderful. It's another example of how Marin uses changing perspective-- in this case distance-- to illustrate a change in a character's perception. From a distance the "star" is solo and celestial, and then gradually, the closer Arya gets to it, the more it changes from a thing of benign beauty to horrifying and extremely LOUD creature, nicely equipped with its very own "murder holes."

[ShadowCat Rivers]

Salty...

Just an idea, but it seems that each one of the 5 Braavos chapters has one prominent taste, except maybe Cat of the Canals. Salty, Spicy, Sweet?, Bitter, Sour, in that order. I don't know if it could mean anything. Any opinions?

[Ragnorak]

Finally caught up. Very nice work everyone.

Brash mentioned the wind tugging at Arya's cloak. We get Osha's opinion that the wind is the Old Gods back in a GoT.

“No, stay,” Bran commanded her. “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,” he said after a moment, uncertain. “The leaves are rustling.”

“Who do you think sends the wind, if not the gods?”

Aside from the wind tugging at the cloak we seem to have a Bloodraven nod on one of the bridges.

They passed under the arches of a carved stone bridge, decorated with half a hundred kinds of fish and crabs and squids. A second bridge appeared ahead, this one carved in lacy leafy vines, and beyond that a third, gazing down on them from a thousand painted eyes.

The "fish" on the first bridge is common enough in Arya though I'm not sure what to make of the crabs and squids. The lacy leafy vines recall Lady Smallwood's dress.

I've always gotten a sense that there was a connection between the North and Braavos on some level. There are a number of references to bronze and iron mostly, but not exclusively, around the Titan's bronze armor and the Faceless Men's iron coin. Bronze and iron seem to be a First Men associated thing especially reinforced by Jojen and Meera's vow. There's also the connection between the door to the temple and the Winterfell heart tree which seems very significant. In Jon's reread we just ran across him sensing that the huge heart tree in the wildling village was powerful. Arya seems to have a similar intuitive feeling regarding this door. The door is another bit of magic at play in the chapter as Lummel has pointed out.

[1234567]

AFFC – Arya 2

Each night before she sleeps Arya repeats her death prayer of names.

She would have whispered the names of the Freys of the Crossing too, if she had known them. One day I’ll know, she told herself, and then I’ll kill them all.

Despite whispering them into her pillow, the Kindly Man knows about it and questions her about them. Upon explaining, he tells her if she hopes the FM will teach her the skills to kill them, she is mistaken.

It is not for you to say who shall live and who shall die. That gift belongs to Him of Many Faces.

She asks which of the statues is Him of Many Faces and the Kindly Man says they are all of them. The House of Black and White has few resident members, the Kindly Man, the Waif , the cook, a couple of servants and three acolytes, one her father’s age and the other two she thinks are about Sansa’s age and wear robes with the black and white reversed to the one the Kindly Man wears. Arya is given servants clothing. Only the Kindly Man speaks Westerosi.

The Kindly Man asks her who she is every day and although she says “no one”, and has had many names, in her heart she is

Arya of Winterfell, the daughter of Lord Eddard Stark and LadyCatelyn, who had once had brothers named Robb and Bran and Rickon, a sister named Sansa, a direwolf called Nymeria, a half brother named Jon Snow. In there she was someone…. but that was not the answer that he wanted.

She can’t speak to the others but listens to them and repeats words she hears. She notes that one of the Acolytes is blind and looks after the candles. The Kindly Man explains that the acolyte can feel the warmer air round the candles, smell their scent and that is how he is able to replace them though blind.

They pray every morning in front of the black pool. As Arya doesn’t know their prayer, she silently thinks her own death prayer. Days were filled with a few people coming in and lighting candles to various statues, some were upset, some drank the waters, and a few asked to see priests. There are 30 gods of death and Arya notes each one is visited by types different individuals, though the Stranger one ever has one candle in front of him.

Arya is free to explore the building apart from the 3rd level where only priests can go. There are roomfuls of weapons, clothing etc. Arya also imagines treasure chambers.

Her experience of people in the House of Black and White contrasts with her time in Harrenhal. When she disappoints the Kindly Man or Cook, she is not physically punished and she realises they only use violence if they intend to kill. She often works with the cook and learns her first Braavosi words from her. The first being “stop”. While working with the cook, she thinks Hotpie would have enjoyed working in the kitchen. Her favourite time of the day was supper time as she finally gets to eat a proper meal again.

She queries the Kindly Man about why those who come to the temple were not afraid as those she had experience such as the stable boy and Amory Lorch were afraid to die. The Kindly Man explains that everyone has a dark angel that follows them until life get too much to bear, when they lead them to the afterlife and that unlike elsewhere death is always gentle in the temple of black and white. He then mentions that the candles help sooth them and asks Arya what the candles remind her of: she thinks of Winterfell, snow, smoke, pine needles, memories of childhood, the crypts and her wolf. However she tells the Kindly Man that she smells nothing, to which he says “you lie”. He tells her that “Arya of House Stark” may keep her secrets,

He only called her that when she displeased him. “You know that you may leave this place. You are not one of us, not yet. You may go home anytime you wish.”

She knows if she leaves, she can’t come back. So she says she doesn’t want to and the Kindly Man says she can stay but to remember this is not a place for Orphans to be taken care of and she must serve absolutely the god of many faces. She says she can and the Kindly Man say “We’ll see”.

Her days involve helping the cook, helping the Kindly man check those who have drunk from the pool and sorting the effects of the deceased. The bodies are taken to the third level. Arya doesn’t know what happens to them, although one night at supper, she gets the horrible suspicion that they are eating the dead. The Kindly Man tells her this is not so. She also has her own room where she keeps her few belongings. She practices with needle when she has the time.

Eventually she is spotted by the Waif and the Kindly Man decides to have a chat with her. He tells her that she needs to dispose of her things, this upsets Arya, and they have a long talk about how if she is “no one” then none of her belongs belong to her and that she must dispose of them. Arya is upset by this demand and mentions the Iron Coin, but the Kindly Man goads/tricks her into disposing of them by saying that to join them the price is not gold but everything she is. He tells her that she thinks this is her only option, but she is wrong, and offers her alternatives, including going back to Westeros, none of which Arya wants. She then thinks he is trying to scare her away and eventually says she can give away her things.

Before she goes to sleep, she says her death prayer and then after a restless time not sleeping takes all her possessions and goes to the covered dock outside the temple, the first time she has exited the temple since arriving there. One by one, she gets rid of all her belongings until she is left with only Needle. As she stands there she thinks of Jon, and then thinks Needle is little more than a toy sword, and says it’s “just a sword” but then thinks that

Needle was Robb and Bran and Rickon, her mother and her father, even Sansa. Needle was Winterfell’s grey walls, and the laughter of its people. Needle was summer snows, Old Nan’s stories, the heart tree with its red leaves and scary face, the warm earthy smell of the glass gardens, the sound of the north wind rattling the shutters of her room. Needle was Jon Snow’s smile. He used to mess my hair and call me “little sister” and suddenly there were tears in her eyes.

She remembers that Needle was lost and then found again.

The gods wanted me to have it. Not the Seven, nor Him of Many Faces, but her father’s gods, the old gods of the north. The Many-Faced God can have the rest, she thought, but he can’t have this.

She begins to return to the temple, but upon discovering a loose stone, decides to hide Needle there.

The next day the Kindly Man knows what she has done, and tells her how the FM started as Valyrian slaves who in desperation prayed for death and one realised he was the instruments of the god of death. He tells her that the slave who prayed for death was granted it, but Arya says it was the masters should be killed. The Kindly Man tells her that they were, but that is a tale for another day.

He asks her who she is and she says “no one” he tells her that’s a lie and she asks if he knows by magic. The Kindly Man tells her no; that the muscles in a face can give away if someone is lying. She asks if he can teach her and he says that the Waif will teach her. The two of them shall learn each other’s tongue.

“Yes,” she said, and from that moment she was a novice in the House of Black and White. Her servant’s garb was taken away, and she was given a robe to wear, a robe of black and white as buttery soft as the old red blanket she’d once had at Winterfell. Beneath it she wore smallclothes of fine white linen, and a black under tunic that hung down past her knees.

She and the Waif then learn the names of objects, then try to form sentences. She thinks back to Syrio and that even the lessons with him were easier than this. She even thinks sewing was more fun, although she thinks her “sentences are as crooked as my stitches used to be” She us angry when the Waif laughs at her and wants to smash her head in. She and the Waif, when they can communicate enough, begin the lying game: working out when each other is lying. After a few games, Arya questions the Kindly man, after the Waif says she is 36. He confirms it and explains her work with poisons makes her look a young as she does.

Occasionally other Priests of the FM come to visit and Arya serves at the table. She must stand stock still when she is not pouring (she thinks on Syrio’s lessons and how he told her to remain still) and must not hear what is said. She hears a lot, but it is mostly in Braavosi, so she doesn’t understand it. It is very tiring however and eventually she is asleep n her feet. That is when she dreams of being a wolf.

Arya asks the Kindly Man about Jaqen H’ghar the next day, but the Kindly Man doesn’t know him. She then asks again about changing her face. Her tells her that glamours take years, but shows her the basics about training her facial muscles and tells her to learn to control her muscles.

Life carries on. She practices controlling her face. She cleans the corpses and wonders what brought the there. She then remembers Old Nan’s stories about Old Hunters in the Depths of Winters going out to hunt and effectively committing euthanasia. She is curious about what the Old Braavosi tell their families.

The moon turned and turned again, though Arya never saw it. She served, washed the dead, made faces at the mirrors, learned the Braavosi tongue, and tried to remember that she was no one.

Then the Kindly Man tells her she needs to go out into Braavos to improve her accent. He asks her if she has learnt the various Braavosi terms for Shellfish, which she has.Between them they concoct an identity for her and she becomes a Werserosi Sailor’s daughter abandoned in bravos after her father dies. When asked what name she wants, she say “Cat” and the ship’s name was “Nymeria”. That night she leaves the temple with a new persona and says her death prayer as she walks through the streets.

Analysis

So we reach the final “Arya” chapter. All chapters from here are under different names, be it Cat of the Canals or the Ugly little Girl However both titles are still personal to the identity of Arya Stark. Cat connects to her mother and the Canals, although suggested by the Kindly Man, hints to the Tully heritage and Riverrun, while the Ugly Little Girl, is reminiscent to her nicknames of Horseface and the fact she thought she was Ugly. The Chapter that names her as the Blind girl is the only one that is different, but even there, there is a link to Arya seeing what is immediately in front of her, yet missing the bigger picture: never seeing the wood for the trees.

The House of Black and White

On re-reads the Kindly man and the House of Black and White has a particularly sinister edge. In many ways they are the subversion of the trope, where the young apprentice finds the wise old master to teach them skills to enact their revenge, normally through the sanitised vehicle of saving others at the same time or learning a higher lesson about morality, but Mr Miyagi, the Kindly Man is not.

From the first comments in Arya’s chapter, it is obvious that she is being closely observed. They hear her whispers into her pillow at night,

No whisper was too faint to be heard in the House of Black and White.

and they are watching her movements. It’s as if they are slowly grooming her towards becoming an FM. They know she is an Orphan and has no one to go to and in Arya’s thoughts there is a constant fear that they will send her away,

Tell me, or we will turn you out.

“You lie,” he said, “but you may keep your secrets if you wish, Arya of House Stark.” He only called her that when she displeased him. “You know that you may leave this place. You are not one of us, not yet. You may go home anytime you wish.” “You told me that if I left, I couldn’t come back.” “Just so.”

yet despite their offers they do not seems to really want her to leave. As astute observers they should be aware of what she would desire, and yet when the Kindly Man offers her the chance to go, the options he presents are exactly the opposite of what Arya wants and needs: he offers her

“You believe this is the only place for you.” It was as if he’d heard her thoughts. “You are wrong in that. You would find softer service in the household of some merchant. Or would you sooner be a courtesan, and have songs sung of your beauty? Speak the word, and we will send you to the Black Pearl or the Daughter of the Dusk. You will sleep on rose petals and wear silken skirts that rustle when you walk, and great lords will beggar themselves for your maiden’s blood. Or if it is marriage and children you desire, tell me, and we shall find a husband for you. Some honest apprentice boy, a rich old man, a seafarer, whatever you desire.”

She wanted none of that.

He then offers her to return to Westeros, but notably to unsafe destinations and not the Wall where her last known living relative is, and dearest brother Jon Snow. Likewise she is not offered Bravo training so that she can learn the skills she desires. She is only offered worse choices to staying with them so that in many ways their offer is a falsehood that is drawing her closer to them. He offers that she can go home and yet he knows she no longer has a home as it has been destroyed. Indeed it is evident through out the chapter that this is the place where she has felt the safest, been the best fed etc, since leaving KL. They are offering her undesirable alternatives to being with them, which only makes her want to stay more. In a very gentle way, they have made her afraid of being cast out, so she clings to them all the more.

There is also a sinister element to the idea that she is free to leave at the beginning of the chapter, as there are the makings of a turning point after she throws away her belongings:

“Yes,” she said, and from that moment she was a novice in the House of Black and White.

Being a novice in other places in the books denotes that one can still change one’s mind, however it is a step further down a path which has a point of no return.

It maybe that I have just finished reading the series, but this chapter and the FM and the House of Black and White seems to have a strong influence of Gene Wolfe’s “Book of the New Sun” and in particular the Guild of Torturers, who occupy the Matachin Tower. The outfit worn by the acolytes and priests is similar, as is the emphasis not on personal wants and judgments but upon dispensing court appointed punishments (or in the case of the FM, divine appointed deaths). The rules about not hearing when Arya is at the table, echo the apprentice torturers being told not to hear their “clients”. Even the euphemisms such as “clients” resonates with the idea of giving the “gift”. Similarly the apprentices are given the choice to leave before final vows, but have no where else to go, so that the choice is almost null and void. Even characters like Umma, sounds like Hunna who ends up in the Matachin Tower and has her leg flayed. Once a certain level is reached, leaving is not an option, without serious repercussions.

Yet this chapter very strongly seems to reassert that she is Arya of House Stark. She realizes that despite all the names she went by, she was always Arya. Her strongly recalls her mother and father and siblings. She evens thinks of Hot Pie. She is not and never truly can be “no one”. Even when she hears the story of the slave, she is indignity that it should have been the masters that were killed. Her sense of social justice is immediately present. Indeed Arya is a very judgmental character and yet the FM are without judgment, they do as they are willed to irrespective of morality.

Death Prayer:

The Inclusion of all the Freys on the death Prayer list, makes me think that the Freys may indeed come to a very sticky end….all of them.

Again there are many analogies to the moon and the passing of the moon as a measure of time.

The FM and Valyria

We also get the story of how the Fm were the slaves of the Dragon Lords and the hint that they may have brought about the doom of Valyria. This could have repercussions for Dany and (F)Aegon.

Arya and Catlyn and Sansa

In this chapter, similar to earlier Sansa ones, we see both girls wanting to take their mother’s names when they require aliases.

Other Discussion Points:

Arya is being watched, so did the FM witness her hiding Needle?

Arya ties the KM’s wonders into words that Syrio said. Does this fuel or disprove Syrio’s existence?

As she disposes of her belongings, she watches the night fires at the temple of R’hllor, could there be a meaning behind this?

There are vivid descriptions of food and treasure chambers (Ragnorak may enlighten us)

Does she warg Nymeria for the first time outside of sleep?

There is one candle burning for the Stranger in the House of Black and White, what signifigance does this have for Arya?

The Acolytes are compared to her father and her sister.

[Old-Growth]

For the umpteenth time: the point about bringing the gift to the masters has nothing to do with the doom: it means merely that as the original FM brought the gift to a slave, so later did he kill one or more masters. That a small band of assassins had the means to cause a cataclysm on the scale of the doom of Valyria is a piece of stupidity beyond the merely absurd. How anyone in this forum could persuade themselves to the contrary is to me a mystery that defies explanation.

[Old-Growth]

Now for something completely different. Now that Arya has reached the House of Black and White it is, perchance, time for this:

I'm Nobody! Who are you?

Are you — Nobody — Too?

Then there's a pair of us!

Don't tell! they'd advertise* — you know!

How dreary — to be — Somebody!

How public — like a Frog —

To tell your name — the livelong June —

To an admiring Bog!

Emily Dickinson

*This is a variant reading for "banish us" which you will often see. I prefer "advertise" in this context since publicity is the last thing a faceless man or woman would want.There are settings of this poem by lesser known American composers from the last (20th) century, but I could not find a one on You Tube. I did find a nice spoken reading of the poem:

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=RQ0Ybaa-QQ4

Yay! I just found a performance of the setting by the American composer Arthur Farwell:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2k3jAQJVqQg

This is a group of four songs and the one in question is the last of the group, so if you prefer, tap the image and move the bar about two thirds of the way along. Or just listen to the whole group: the other songs are nice as well.

[Ragnorak]

Nice write up, Rapsie.

I don't have any food insights at the moment. Every time I pondered the food I just got a wicked craving for seafood accompanied by fond memories of eating here.

I was struck by the Sansa/Alayne parallels to Arya becoming No One in her heart. I also noticed this:

Arya saw; rich men preferred the Lion of Night, poor men the Hooded Wayfarer. Soldiers lit candles to Bakkalon, the Pale Child, sailors to the Moon-Pale Maiden and the Merling King. The Stranger had his shrine as well, though hardly anyone ever came to him.

So apparently LF's Braavosi ship is named for a sailor's god of death.

There has been a good deal of speculation over when Arya will reach the point of no return with the Faceless Men. The Kindly Man says:

He sighed. “Before you drink from the cold cup, you must offer up all you are to Him of Many Faces. Your body. Your soul. Yourself.

It sounds like this cold cup is the final stage. She may be committed prior to this but this is the closest to an answer that I think we have.

This part also makes me wonder.

“It may be that the Many-Faced God has led you here to be His instrument, but when I look at you I see a child... and worse, a girl child. Many have served Him of Many Faces through the centuries, but only a few of His servants have been women. Women bring life into the world. We bring the gift of death. No one can do both.”

...

Can you do that?” He cupped her chin and gazed deep into her eyes, so deep it made her shiver. “No,” he said, “I do not think you can.”

In this I think the KM is sincere. The difference between giving the gift of life and the gift of death seems like something central to this faith. His concerns about Arya choosing as a child echo Ned's concern (and Benjen's) about Jon choosing the NW while still so young. If he is being truthful about not thinking Arya can make the sacrifices needed that raises the question of why he let's her stay and continue to progress in her training. He says the iron coin paid for her passage but I doubt that's all it means. There has to be an explicit endorsement that accompanies the coin beyond an invitation to a job fair. Is it the coin that lets her continue? Is the free choice involved in the future sacrifices she must make so important that they'll abide by any free choice until a potential fails or chooses otherwise? Jumping ahead for a moment I imagine many would never pass the blindness test or successfully pull of their first hit so there's inherent filters along the way.

On previous reads I got much more of the manipulative sense Rapsie refers to with his offering Arya choices she doesn't really want. But Arya doesn't ask for anything either. She could have asked for passage to the Wall to go to Jon or asked to be an apprentice to someone like Syrio. So I'm less sure about the degree of the manipulative element this reread.

I'll take a fresh look tomorrow.