Becoming No One: Rereading Arya IV

[blacken]

I really enjoy Arya's chapters in the HoBaW. After all the desolation and grief of the Riverlands it feels like such a place of respite, despite all the death.

With regards to her identity I think that even while she is focussing on the past and her Stark memories she is still avoiding dealing with the grief and loss she's experienced and I think that she just can't deal with that until she has undergone a bit of a restoration.

The fact that she is safe, well fed and treated kindly in this place is I think a very important step for Arya as she starts to have the opportunity re-learn the meaning of personal security and stability. On top of that she is also given the chance to explore, ask questions, help out in the kitchen, learn new skills, obtain new knowledge, learn a new language. You may say that if the KM had offered her a boat to Eastwatch she may not have been so ready to stay, but actually I'm not sure she would give up all of this right now for the Wall and more uncertainty, regardless of Jon. What she has the opportunity to do here is develop as a person; learning new skills is a great way to build self esteem and a sense of self and purpose - again things which Arya needs to build up again before she can deal with her grief and loss.

Obviously the KM has his own agenda, but I think there is more in choosing to stay for Arya than just learning how to fulfill her list. In fact her time with the FM gives me great hope that Arya will not in the end choose a path of vengeance but will be able to choose love and forgiveness.

[Old-Growth]

I do not think that the Faceless Men will become Arya's pack. She has found a home for the present, but she already has a pack via Nymeria, and, I suspect, will learn soon enough that Rickon is still alive, for information about Westeros does seem to reach Braavos, and does not seem to take forever to get there either. It may take longer to learn about Bran or maybe less time depending on how quickly Bran and Lord Brynden are able to figure out where she (and Sansa) are.

Near the end of the present chapter there is a hint of the emergence of her (re)connection to Nymeria: "Standing there with the flagon in her hands, she dreamed she was a wolf, running free through a moonlit forest with a great pack howling at her heels." Can she become no-one with that tie connecting her back to Westeros and her House?

Speaking of which here is some music for Arya and pack:

"When I was a boy I watched the wolves":

Paul Kantner and Grace Slick:

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=SXOe_rbN-nI

(Yes, this could also fit Bran, Summer, and pack as well.)

[Lummel]

I do not think that the Faceless Men will become Arya's pack...

Yes I agree, GRRM is careful to parallel Arya's decent and intitation into the Faceless Men with warging references. Something which along with Needle that she keeps secret from the Faceless Men - whether they know or not is another issue.

With teh warging there is also the possibility of connections to Bran, although even without that the wolf dreams are a connection to another life.

[The Sleeper]

Hm.... I prefer the simpler explanation that the KM does not know what alias this particular agent of the House had adopted. To be sure, it would seem that this sort of word play is not beyond our author.

It's hard to imagine the KOM does not understand who Arya is talking about, unless he has a multitude of FM running around in the riverlands. I see three possibilities

• His response is part of the lying game. He wants Arya to ask the right question.
  
• He wants to take her mind off the coin. He told her that the coin was only enough to gain her passage to the HoB&W. Arya thinking she has acquaintances, might give her the impression that she is entitled to faster advancement, priviliedges or that she is already is one of them.
  
• Jaqen has gone rogue and the KOM does not want to acknowledge him as one of their own.
  

Near the end of the present chapter there is a hint of the emergence of her (re)connection to Nymeria: "Standing there with the flagon in her hands, she dreamed she was a wolf, running free through a moonlit forest with a great pack howling at her heels." Can she become no-one with that tie connecting her back to Westeros and her House?

Arya's dreams have bee going on for quite a while now. I never assumed that they had stopped. The only thing I gleaned from the scene was that she was bored and fell half-asleep.

[The Sleeper]

Yes I agree, GRRM is careful to parallel Arya's decent and intitation into the Faceless Men with warging references. Something which along with Needle that she keeps secret from the Faceless Men - whether they know or not is another issue.

With teh warging there is also the possibility of connections to Bran, although even without that the wolf dreams are a connection to another life.

That's an interesting observation. For one thing this would be the trend of natural progression all the surviving Strak siblings who still have wolves demonstrate. Their gift is growing stronger. They as well are growing older and developing their respective skills and personalities. The parallel is there and in Arya's case it coincides with her progression as an FM. It might be an indicator of overall growth, though this is a part of her that she is keeping from the FM and that she is showing no signs of changing her attitude.

I wonder if there are some other parallels as well. The warging dreams were initially subconscieous and involuntary. In fact only Bran has so far exhibited any form of conscieous control. Jojen, however, told Bran once he had opened his thrid eye that he was in danger of falling through it. The one Stark sibling who is most in sync with his wolf is Rickon, the toddler who does not have a developed personality yet. Arya "losing" herself as she becomes an FM, might make her more open to the wolf and in fact facilitates her skinchanging.

There is also the fact that in the minds of most Westerosi skinchangers are shapeshifters. Arya is training to become an actual shapeshifter and she experienced some memories of the ugly girl when she donned her face, a side effect that was not exclusive to her, so there might be a further connection there.

[Where is Rickon]

Yes I agree, GRRM is careful to parallel Arya's decent and intitation into the Faceless Men with warging references. Something which along with Needle that she keeps secret from the Faceless Men - whether they know or not is another issue.

I highly doubt that they don't know about her "wolf dreams". In her next chapter Brusco's daughters tell Arya that she howls in her sleep. Whether Faceless Men know or not what it means is another issue.

[Blisscraft]

Yes I agree, GRRM is careful to parallel Arya's decent and intitation into the Faceless Men with warging references. Something which along with Needle that she keeps secret from the Faceless Men - whether they know or not is another issue.

Whether the FM know about her abilities or not is unimportant to Arya's character development. As noted above, Martin, from the beginning of Arya's time with the FM, constantly shows her inability to conform completely to their society. She always holds something back whether it is Needle, her wolf dreams or the "hole in her heart." She keeps things from them.

[Lummel]

...She keeps things from them.

Sadly this reminds me of Ramsey's favourite saying 'a naked man has few secrets, a flayed man none'. The kindly old man is satisfied (apparently) with knowing her true name but like you say there are other layers of secrets that Arya has beneath that. In that sense I would see the house of black and white as a continuation of her other experiences in the Riverlands. It is a process that she is going through, in dialectic with character development but not determining it.

[Blisscraft]

Half Way - There are a couple of times in this chapter where Arya goes half way and stops. The two most obvious and possibly important are first, after Arya disposes of almost all of her possessions on the stone steps returning to the HoBaW and the second, when she stops half way across the stone bridge at the very end of the chapter.

In the first instance, Arya goes to dispose of "her" possessions: "It is the first time she had been outside since entering the temple." She thinks about Braavos and its other name, The Secret City. While in the glow of the nightfires of the red priests, she gives up almost all of her sercret possessions. Each of these possessions are associated with her alternate identity, Salty, except for Needle. Naked, but for Needle, she ascends the stone steps. As noted above by Lummel, "a naked man has no secrets," however, this little naked girl needs one. "Half way up, one on the stone steps rocked beneath her feet." She hides it beneath the stone.

Steps are used to descend and to ascend; go up and down. Because steps have a vertical utility, they are a metaphor or symbol for spiritual ascention or descention. Here, Arya is half way up. This suggestions that she is at a midpoint in her spiritual journey, mostly because she thinks that the old gods want her to keep Needle. Needle seems to represent her soul or spirit, in addition to being a metaphor for her personality. She can certainly stick them with the pointly end whether she has a sword or not.

In the second instance, Arya has now assumed the role of "Cat." She is dressed as an "orphan," which she in fact is. She gets, "completely lost" as she moves through the "crooked" and "crookeder" ways through the city. As she starts to cross a stone bridge supported by four arches the rain falls on her. She stops at the stone bridge's center, lets the rain wash down her face. . . "so happy she could dance." She "chants" her "list" half way across and then says, valar morghulis, three times. (We can discuss the "damnable threes" in the next chapter).

Bridges link opposing sides which are separated by some kind of void or dangerous area: a deep abyss or a fastmoving wide river. Bridges can be a means of safe passage along a journey or unsafe and may collapse or the be the site of suicide by hanging or leaping to one's death. Consequently, bridges are a symbol of crossing from the material to the spiritual world. Another example of Martin's use of a bridge as the way across a "spiritual" gap is found in GoT, Bran I. Jon and Rob race to a bridge. On the north side of it, Robb finds the direwolf mother and the five pups. After the group gathers up the pups and heads back south across the bridge, Jon Snow stops "halfway across" and returns to the north side and finds "his" albino pup, soon to be called Ghost.

At the halfway point on this stone bridge, lost, and happy, Arya seems to be facing her transition with joy. She is moving from the temple to the world. She has emerged from some training, but has not lost her identity. She can "lie better" about who she is, but she is lying nonetheless. Keeping her secret seems to give her great freedom as she crosses over. She must stop, it seems, to take it all in and fully enjoy it before she contunes her passage.

As for the "stone" aspect of the steps and the bridge, stone is seen as something enduring, hard and strong. Stone seems to defy death and decay and because it seems more "eternal" it represents the enduring power of God(s). Stones are associated with major religions such as the Black Stone in Mecca, or Peter, as "the Rock" upon which the Church was built. The fact that the steps and the bridge are stone, like much Braavos, suggests a durability, a hardness, a stength which may be beyond the power of mankind to destroy. Arya tells Needle, it will be "safe here" under that stone step. I believe she is absolutely right. As for the stone bridge, it too, seems to suggest a durability in her which, even half way through her journey, she will endure.

ETA: Speaking of enduring. . . I will post the next Arya chapter probably this upcoming Monday or Tuesday.

[Blisscraft]

Arya III – Cat of the Canals; A Feast for Crows; Chapter 34 Summary

“She woke before the sun came up in the little room beneath the eaves that she shared with Brusco’s daughters.”

Valar Dohaeris

Cat, a.k.a. Arya Stark, “always” awakes before her bedfellows: Talea and Brea, Brusco’s daughters. Cat awakens them and they dress and prepare for work. The three girls, once dressed, join Brusco and his sons on their boat. Cat’s first task of the day is to untie the boat and shove them off. After that little spot of work, she has “nothing to do but sit and yawn” while Brusco and his sons pole the boat to the fish market.

During this brief respite from work, Cat observes Braavos, the Long Canal and the rare but lovely weather: “crisp and clear and bright.” In this reverie, she thinks about her dreams, the “wolf dreams.” She thinks she “should not be dreaming these wolf dreams. . . I am a cat now, not a wolf. I am Cat of the Canals.” Although she has tried not to dream such dreams, they are unavoidable, regardless of where physically sleeps.

These wolf dreams are “the good ones” as opposed to “the other one,” the other dream she has. In the wolf dreams, she is “swift and strong, running down her prey with her pack at her heels.” In the other dream:

he is always looking for her mother, stumbling through a wasted land of mud and fire and blood. It was always raining in that dream and she could hear her mother screaming, but a monster with a dog’s head would not go and save her. In that dream, she was always weeping, like a frightened little girl.

They reach the fish market usually before Titan roars, waking up Braavos. Once there the work continues: Brusco’s selection of shellfish, Cat and the others carrying and loading the selections onto the boat. After loading the shellfish casks, they return by the pole boat to Brusco’s house. During the trip back to Brusco’s, Cat/Arya thinks about her time with the “Kindly Man” at the temple and that she must return to him and the temple that night.

Cat/Arya works in Braavos with Brusco and his family, but must return to the temple “three days of every thirty. Cat/Arya must return to the temple specifically when “the moon went black.” However, during the time outside of the temple she must learn “three new things” which she will tell the KM when she returns during the black of the moon to serve in the temple. At this point in the chapter, she has learned only one new thing to tell the KM, that Brea has a secret boyfriend. But Cat knows that she can easily learn two more new things before returning to the temple because “[t]here are always new things to learn, down by the ships.”

After unloading the shellfish the three girls are each given a barrow full and sent off to sell with the admonition to “Come back when all is sold.” Arya goes to sell her barrowful of shellfish at the Ragman’s Harbor.

Crying the Catch

The Ragman’s Harbor is “a poorer, dirtier, port.” It is the everyman’s port, unlike the Purple Harbor which may only be used by the Braavosi. Cat/Arya “likes it best of any place in Braavos.” The world is represented in Ragman’s Harbor and Cat/Arya enjoys its variety. Cat/Arya has learned the tricks of selling her wares which includes but is not limited to certain rude hand gestures and insults. As Cat of the Canals, she has made friends including mummers and madams, courtesans and, of course, because she smells of shellfish, the alley cats of Braavos.

As she cries her catch, she learns some other things which she may use to tell the KM later in the evening. She meets the crew of a Westerosi ship, Brazen Monkey. She talks to Tagganaro, a cutpurse who has a trained seal, Casso, the King of Seals. From him, she learns his partner in crime, Narbo; his hand injured by the Drunken Daughter’s knife, a whore from the Happy Port, and now must perhaps pull and oar instead of cutting purses. After learning about Narbo, she heads to the Happy Port which is across from the Ship where the mummers perform. She finds some of the mummers drinking wine, and they tell her that they have lost a mummer. Now they can no longer perform the Seven Drunken Oarsmen, their number reduced to six. She suggests Narbo. Finally, she enters the Happy Port to sell oysters to Merry, the madam, and her girls.

While at the Happy Port, she sees Dareon, “the Black Singer,” entertaining the girls with his music. Although Merry’s “girls” have given him the nickname, Cat/Arya sees that “the only thing black about him now was his boots.” She knows him as a man of the Nights Watch. She knows that he has boasted that he is a deserter with his declaration: “I am done with darkness.”

She thinks about the other man of Nights Watch, the fat one, and she thinks: “I wish I had been here when the fat one hit him.” She remembers saving the fat boy from a couple of bravos later that same night.

Cat/Arya thinks about the Sailor’s Wife, who will only bed men who “marry” her and that Dareon had been one of her “husbands.” Merry, the madam, always provided some kind of priest to perform the “nuptials,” (often as many as three ceremonies per night): the wine soaked red priest; or Eustace, the septon from the Sept-Beyond-the-Sea; or best of all, according to Merry, a mummer from the Oarsmen, especially the mummer, Myrmello. In preparation for the bedding, the Sailor’s Wife insisted upon purchasing Cat/Arya’s oysters for her new groom, to “stiffen him for the consummation.”

Dareon finishes his song and Cat sells Merry and her girls some oysters. As the sun begins to set, Cat/Arya leaves the Happy Port. Dareon leaves at the same time and walks with her, boasting about his increasing fame and success. Cat/Arya asks him about his brother, “the fat one,” and whether he had made it to his ship for Oldtown. Dareon says that they were all to sail to Oldtown upon Lord Snow’s orders:

“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.”

Cat/Arya replies, “Just so” and proceeds with Dareon, “into the gloom of a twisty little alley.”

She returns to Brusco’s house as the fog gathers, puts away her barrow and gives him the full purse as well as a pair of black boots. She reminds him that she must return to the temple tonight, as “the moon will be black.” Brusco shoves the boots aside counts the money and tells her, “Valar dohaeris.” Arya thinks to herself, “Valar morghulis.”

The Temple

Arya returns to the temple through the fog and chill. After she enters through the Black and White door, she notices that there are only a few candles burning: “In the darkness all the gods were strangers.”

She changes and washes and transforms back to acolyte. “Cat was gone.” She eats and then goes to assist the Waif with her potions.

The Waif teaches her about Sweetsleep, a poison, that in small doses is helpful to produce sleep, but three pinches of it and it “will produce a sleep that will not end.” Next, the Waif shows her the Tears of Lys, a crueler poison. Finally, the Waif shows Arya a paste “spiced” with basilisk blood.

Arya asks if the basilisk blood paste will work on dogs as she chews her lip. The Waif slaps Arya in the face. Arya asks why and the Waif answers:

It is Arya of House Stark who chews on her lip whenever she is thinking. Are you Arya of House Stark?

Arya replies that she is “no one” and then asks, “Who are you?”

The Waif, unexpectedly answers Arya. She tells her who she was and how she came to be at the temple. Upon hearing the Waif’s story, Arya asks if it is true. The Waif relies: “There is truth in it.” This becomes the “lying game.” Arya attempts to guess which part of the story is true and which part is a lie and which part is an exaggeration. However, before they conclude their game, the Kindly Man enters and interrupts.

He asks Arya which three new things she has learned while away from the temple. She tells him about Narbo’s three fingers. Then about the loss of one of the mummers and that she thinks the one missing will return to them. He confronts her with whether she knows this or thinks this. She admits that she only thinks this. Finally, she tells him that Dareon, the singer, is dead:

He was really a deserter from the Night’s Watch. Someone slit his throat and pushed him into a canal, but they kept his boots.

After a pause he asks her who could have done such a thing. She tells him “Arya of House Stark.”

After inquiring again as to whom she is and her obligatory answer, “no one,” He claims that she is lying. He then tells her he’s thirsty and asks the Waif for a cup of wine for himself and a glass of warm milk for “Arya”. Arya is surprised by the offer of warm milk, assuming that he would have perhaps been angry with her or something. She drinks the milk and detects that it has a “bitter aftertaste.” He then sends her off to bed.

Arya dreams that night that she is a wolf. In this dream, however, she is no longer a part of a pack. She is alone and prowling through what seems to be Braavos. When she wakes the next morning, she is blind.

[Blisscraft]

Arya – Cat of the Canals Analysis

The Number Three

As Lummel noted earlier in the thread, there are “damnable threes.” This chapter is full of threes. The number three is significant, not only in this chapter but also throughout Martin’s books. It is a number that is not only associated with Arya, but also with Tyrion and Daenerys. For example, Tyrion, Daenerys, and Arya are the third child in their respective families’ birth order.

Before the specific examples in this chapter, perhaps it is necessary to consider the broader significance and importance of the number three. Symbolically, the number three represents the resolution of the conflict within the principle of dualism. Three is the number that surpasses balance, (represented by the number two, an example of which symbolically is the Tao), and becomes stability. The number three is a metaphor for resolution and unification.

As such, the number three is associated with many spiritual principles. Its association includes but is not limited to the “Holy Trinity,” in Christianity; the “Three Jewels” in Buddhism, the Trimurti in Hinduism, the number of Patriarchs in Judaism, and the number of the “Holy Cities” in Islam.

More generally, the number three is associated with luck, as in the “three wishes” one might get from releasing a genie imprisoned in a lamp. It’s also the “important” number in fairy tales like The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and The Three Billy Goats Gruff. In baseball (and in the penal code of many US states), three strikes and “you’re out.”

As for this particular book, A Feast for Crows, and this particular chapter, Cat of the Canals, the number three is well represented. For example, the present chapter is the third “Arya” chapter in this book. Also, there are only three Arya chapters in this book. Finally, the chapter is easily divided into thirds: Brusco and his family’s early morning routine; Cat/Arya crying her catch in Ragman’s Harbor; and Arya’s return to the House of Black and White. One explanation for this is that the number three is associated with transformation, synthesis, and spiritual renewal. Martin uses the number three in this chapter as a signal to show Arya’s upcoming spiritual transformation.

In the first part of the chapter, the number three appears right up front: Arya shares a bed with Brusco’s two daughters, Brea and Talea. Three girls sleep in the same bed. Once aboard the pole boat, Cat/Arya notes that there are three kinds of weather in Braavos, fog, rain and freezing rain. Arya has been instructed by the Kindly Man to learn three new things during her time with Brusco and his family. She must return to the temple during the three nights when the moon is black. Narbo has lost the use of three of his fingers in his fight with the Drunken Daughter. Cat has three “magic words” when she cries her catch: “oysters, clams, cockles.” Cat sells three cockles to a courtesan.

In the second part of the chapter, Cat enters the Happy Port. As Cat enters, she sees three women: Merry, Lana and Ina. Ina is braiding Lana’s hair; a process that usually, though not specified here, involves weaving together three strands of hair. Cat remembers that according to Merry, Lana is worth three times as much as the other prostitutes because of her age. As Dareon sings the love song, Arya thinks it is “stupid” three times:

He’s a man of the Night’s Watch, she thought as he sang about some stupid lady throwing herself of some stupid tower because her stupid prince was dead. (Emphasis added).

In the third and final part of the chapter, Cat/Arya’ returns to the House of Black and White. The Waif instructs Arya that three pinches of Sweetsleep is the dose to kill. Also, at this time, Arya learns the properties of three poisons: Sweetsleep, Tears of Lys, and paste with Basilisk blood. Later when they play the “lying game” the Waif’s “exaggeration” is that: “The many faced god took two thirds of her father’s wealth.”

When the Kindly Man joins Arya and the Waif, he asks Arya to tell him the three new things she has learned. After drinking the “milk” the Kindly Man gives her, she has a “third” dream. The first “two” dreams are always the same: the “wolf dreams” and the “mother” dreams. This third dream, although also a wolf dream, is new. It is now a lone wolf in what appears to be Braavos.

What is the point of all of these threes? Because the number three represents conflict resolution and spiritual transcendence, Martin uses the number three as a signal of Arya’s coming transformation at the end of the chapter: Arya awakes blind. Arya is physically changed, but the fact that the change is blindness indicates that the change is internal and/or spiritual.

Blindness is a metaphor for such internal/spiritual change. The loss of one’s eyesight is often a metaphor for inner healing, insight and possibly clairvoyance. The blinding of one’s two eyes may open one’s “third eye.” In Arya’s case, as shown in the next book, A Dance with Dragons, her physical senses strengthened by the blinding. But most importantly, her psychic/warging abilities are substantially enhanced. In this chapter, we see the beginning of her inner enhancement in her final “wolf” dream. She is no longer part of a pack. She is no longer looking for her mother. She now has a new vision, a new place, a new world and she is alone in it. She can only become stronger.

Final thoughts

I hope that someone will discuss Dareon and Samwell in relation to Arya. Arya “saves” Sam from the bravos in chapter, Samwell III and thinks about him in the present chapter.

Moon symbolism is also prevalent in this chapter. Any ideas beyond how the moon is tied to the number three?

More references to the Red god and priests in this chapter, what does it all mean?

So many cats and now Cats – Do you have any thoughts about cats?

“Good boots are hard to find,” yet the boots may not fit everyone.

[Elba the Intoner]

Arya – Cat of the Canals Analysis

The Number Three

As Lummel noted earlier in the thread, there are “damnable threes.” This chapter is full of threes. The number three is significant, not only in this chapter but also throughout Martin’s books. It is a number that is not only associated with Arya, but also with Tyrion and Daenerys. For example, Tyrion, Daenerys, and Arya are the third child in their respective families’ birth order.

Hey Blisscraft fantastic analysis! I haven't read the chapter yet but I wanted to touch on what you mentioned above about the number 3. Assuming R + L = J, then Jon is also a third child.

[Mini Ghost]

And Lyanna was a third child after Brandon and Ned.

[Wisenan69]

Just this:

Bran also opened his third eye while hiding for a few days in the crypts, in "total darkness".

[Odon]

Samwell III - Chapter 26

Gilly and the baby, Maester Aemon, Samwell Tarly and Dareon are in Braavos, having missed the ship to Oldtown because of Aemon's illness. Dareon has told Sam about the rumors of Daenerys and her dragons, so despite the fact that he's dying Aemon insists that Sam find out more. Sam is searching various wretched hives for Dareon when he gets picked on by two bravos because he's dressed in black, a sign of nobility in Braavos.

Sam thinks he's in trouble until a voice chimes in, insolently informing the bravos that he's actually in the Nights Watch, in Westeros. A girl comes out of the shadows pushing a barrow full of seaweed, "a scruffy, skinny creature in big boots, with ragged unwashed hair". The girl's name is not mentioned, but it soon becomes obvious that this is Arya. She warns Sam against handing over his cloak when the bravos try to scare him into doing so, as they'll end up taking everything he has. Not happy about her interference, one of the bravos makes a threat.

"Little cats who howl too loud get drowned in the canals," warned the fair-haired bravo.

"Not if they have claws." And suddenly there was a knife in the girl's left hand, a blade as skinny as she was.

The bravos walk away laughing and the girl tells off Sam for wearing a sword, which allows the bravos to legally challenge him to a duel. She offers him her remaining clams for free, as it's dark so there'll be no more customers, and asks if he's sailing to the Wall.

"Who are you?"

"No one." She stank of fish. "I used to be someone, but now I'm not. You can call me Cat, if you like. Who are you?"

"Samwell, of House Tarly. You speak the Common Tongue."

"My father was the oarmaster on Nymeria. A bravo killed him for saying that my mother was more beautiful than the Nightingale. Not one of those camel cunts you met, a real bravo. Someday I'll slit his throat. The captain said Nymeria had no need of little girls, so he put me off. Brusco took me in and gave me a barrow."

When Sam tells her they're meant to be sailing for Oldtown on the Lady Ushanora, Cat is suspicious as the ship has left days ago. Sam knows this, and recall how he pleaded with its captain to stay until Aemon was better. The captain, knowing that Aemon is dying, refused to take him on board or even return their money. Sam notes sourly that Dareon was unusually quiet during this conversation; it's clear the singer welcomes an excuse to stay in Braavos.

Cat tells Sam there's a Nights Watch singer at the Happy Port about to marry the Sailor's Wife, a whore who'll only bed a client if they marry her for the night. This alarms Sam as it means Dareon has violated his NW oath not to take a wife, and he rushes off.

The money Dareon earned from singing was supposed to buy food and firewood for Maester Aemon, but instead Sam finds him drunk and carousing with his new bride. He tries to get Sam to join in the revelry, offering to buy wine and one of the other girls. Sam tries to plead with Dareon to return and tell Aemon what he'd heard about the dragons. Dareon says Aemon is dying and refuses as it's his wedding night. When Sam reminds him of his NW oath, Dareon throws his black cloak in Sam's face and says he's done with black, provoking Sam into an uncharacteristic burst of temper which gets him thrown into the canal by the brothel staff. He's only saved from drowning by a sailor from the Summer Islands who dives in and saves him, ruining his feathered cloak. Xhondo is a mate on the Cinnamon Wind, whose captain met Daenerys in Quath and told her of King Robert's death, so he knows all about the dragons.

[Lummel]

There is a similar boots motif in The Sworn Sword, a soldier brings back a pair of boots as loot from the Blackfyre Rebellion - they don't fit him so he hangs them up on the wall instead. The useless boots is something that GRRM likes, it puts me in mind of that film which I think Lyanna mentioned

[Odon]

Thoughts on Samwell III:

This is the cover story Arya works out with the KM, before she's sent forth into the streets to become Cat.

Your father was oarmaster on a galley. When your mother died, he took you off to sea with him. Then he died as well, and his captain had no use for you, so he put you off the ship in Braavos.

There's no mention of a father being killed by a bravo; it's an embellishment Cat has added on her own, along with her determination to slit the throat of the man responsible. Regardless of whether she's Arya, Cat or "no-one", her passion to avenge herself on those who killed her father hasn't diminished. She's insolent to the bravos and even produces a blade, despite warning Sam against even carrying a sword. This seems rather reckless compared to the Mouse of Harrenhall; while the threat makes the bravos back off, one can't help wondering if Cat is so wrapped up in her new identity that she's regarding a bravo as equivalent to a Lannister or a Frey soldier.

"No one." She stank of fish.

Is GRR saying that Arya's claim to be no-one is a bit fishy? The KM certainly thinks so. ;)

The writing devices used to make Dareon an unsympathetic victim of Arya's black-and-white morality are rather obvious. Dareon was sent to the Wall for rape, though he claims the girl was willing and only said this after her nobleman father caught them in bed together. Why not have him sent to the Wall for stealing food? But our politically correct times throw instant doubt on this story, especially as we've already met a rapist singer in Marillion (the fact that Marillion has been framed for a crime he didn't commit also muddies the water).

An innocent man condemned for the rest of his life to the Seven Kingdom's version of Siberia; one could excuse Dareon for going a little crazy when presented with wine, women and song again. One could also excuse him for deciding to escape a life of hardship that he never volunteered for, not to mention the grisly fate that seems to await all singers in ASOIAF. But "no-one" has no sympathy and neither is the reader meant to; we're meant to cheer the badass return of Arya Stark, so Dareon's indifference to Aemon's fate is contrasted with Sam's selfless loyalty and Xhondo's willingness to save a stranger from drowning.

[brashcandy]

Thanks for that review Odon! :)

[Odon]

Dareon says that they were all to sail to Oldtown upon Lord Snow’s orders.

I can't help wondering if it was these words more than anything else that condemned Dareon to death. He's not just deserting the Night's Watch, he disobeyed Arya's favourite brother!

[The Sleeper]

Martin does a nice little trick with this chapter, concurrently describing a (the final day) of Arya's life as Cat of the canals and her whole time in that personna, the purpose of her training, the city of Braavos, a dizzying Arya of characters she comes across and interacts with, while giving us a bit of information about Arya's state and a little bit more about the FM. The other thing that stands out is that Arya appears for once to be happy.

"My father was the oarmaster on Nymeria. A bravo killed him for saying that my mother was more beautiful than the Nightingale. Not one of those camel cunts you met, a real bravo. Someday I'll slit his throat. The captain said Nymeria had no need of little girls, so he put me off. Brusco took me in and gave me a barrow."

Arya's embellishements to Cat's backstory certainly speak of Arya herself and her own backstory. Cat's father was murdered, in defense of her mother's name to whom he displays unwavering devotion, by someone acually dangerous. And Cat pledges to avenge.

Sansa knew all about the sorts of people Arya liked to talk to: squires and grooms and serving girls, old men and naked children, roughspoken freeriders of uncertain birth. Arya would make friends with anybody.

Arya was still going on, brushing out Nymeria’s tangles and chattering about things she’d seen on the trek south. “Last week we found this haunted watchtower, and the day before we chased a herd of wild horses. You should have seen them run when they caught a scent of Nymeria.”

Arya had loved nothing better than to sit at her father’s table and listen to them talk. She had loved listening to the men on the benches too; to freeriders tough as leather, courtly knights and bold young squires, grizzled old men-at-arms. She used to throw snowballs at them and help them steal pies from the kitchen. Their wives gave her scones and she invented names for their babies and played monsters-andmaidens and hide-the-treasure and come-into-my-castle with their children. Fat Tom used to call her “Arya Underfoot,”

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, shere 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. I suppose none of those really went away, but hs feels safe enough to act like herself and find enjoyment in her activities. Something to point out, is that she forms the closest relationships and appears most comfortable among the outcasts, the thieves, the whores and the mummers.

She simultaneously tries to supress any thoughts about her former life. Even though she tinks the wolf dreams are the good ones, she thinks she should have them anymore, she thinks to herself that had no aunt in the Vale and that the memory of the black tom belonged to another girl. The reason is made obvious by the other dream she has where she was trying to get to her mother, throough a land of blood and mud and fire.

In some way adopting a new personna has a therapeutic effect of Arya. By casting aside the trauma, loss and restrictions of her past she emerges as herself again. Arya still lurks beneath the surface and reemerges with the cost of Dareon's life, her sight and the happy little life she enjoyed for a while.

Taking a step back, this picture is far from idyllic. Brusco's little business borders on child expliotation, the comment about his back not allowing him to lift anything heavier than a tankard seemed to me rather ironic and poignant. He has his daughters and Arya start their day with heavy manual labor and cuts them loose in a rather dangerous environment, which includes among other things some potential pedophiles.

ETA Interstingly enough, Arya finds people to look out for her. The image of Tagganaro smacking the mummer with a codfish is ridiculously funny.