Arya's Next Target Will Be...

[protar]

...Malaquo Maegyr. He's one of the three triarchs of Volantis and currently in position to be reelected. From a narrative perspective this makes a lot of sense as Malaquo wants to oppose Dany, so this ties Arya in with the other plot lines and allows her to act as a POV for the coming slave revolt in Volantis.

He is presumably pro-slavery and we know that the FM are very much against slavery, giving them a motive to assassinate him. However I do not think that they would organise a hit on Malaquo alone, someone must have paid them surely and I think I know who: Benerro, High Priest of R'hllor and The Widow of the Waterfront. We know that Benerro and Malaquo are at odds because Malaquo tried to hire the Golden Company to take care of him. It is also hinted that Benerro and The Widow are in contact - Benerro had a vision of the Saelesori Qhoran never reaching it's destination and that doesn't seem like a vision you'd preach to the public, so it seems Benerro told the Widow personally. The Widow has many valuable treasures that people have given her, some of which may be valuable enough to act as payment for the FM.

I believe that Arya may be sent to train with the courtesans in TWOW, Izembaro may be the code name of Bellegere Otherys who I find most curious. Being Braavosi she is presumably anti-slavery and is also of Targaryen descent so she seems poised to support Dany.

TWOW spoiler:

I believe that after being assigned to assassinate Malaquo Arya will be tasked with getting her own passage to Volantis. She will meet with Justin Massey and with Bellegere's help persuade him that the men he seeks for Stannis can be found in Volantis. Arya can then deliberately spark off the slave revolt and in cover of the chaos kill Malaquo.

I haven't worked everything out yet, but thoughts?

[Stan the Man]

I don't get why people seem to think that a novice assassin would be sent to take out a very important figure, I guess she will at least have to do a few lesser assassinations first

[N/A]

I don't get why people seem to think that a novice assassin would be sent to take out a very important figure, I guess she will at least have to do a few lesser assassinations first

This

and i personally think she's probably gonna start having cold feet about this whole facelessmen thing it really isn't going anywhere useful

[Grand Moff Mithrandir]

Mayhaps her first target will be this Izembargo fellow.

[Stan the Man]

Mayhaps her first target will be this Izembargo fellow.

I thought Izembargo was the guy she was aprenticed to?

[protar]

Mayhaps her first target will be this Izembargo fellow.

Didn't the Kindly Man say that she was to be apprenticed to Izembaro. If they were just an assassination target why not just say so.

The unlikelyhood of Arya being sent to kill any important figure is a problem, but it's a problem pretty much wherever Arya's story is going to go. With the 5-year time gap she would by now be a fairly experienced FM, but as it is she's a novice. And yet she can't spend another book training. Nor can she get cold feet without something coming of her vocation. However going by my theory Otherys would be sent with her and would be in charge so it's not a problem.

[ARYa_Nym]

She's still going to be training.

From Elaena:

http://www.westeros....d_UK_August_4_8

Cteresa asked George if Harry the Heir was going to appear in AFfC. I later asked the same for the King of the Mummers. The names from this mail.

Harry would not appear, but would be mentioned. The King of the Mummers would not be appearing until A Dance with Dragons.

http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/1157 (this mail from above)

By the way I am rapidly heading for the privilege of a custom title on the aforementioned board you wouldn't have any ASOIAF related suggestions for a good title would you. I know I'm been cheeky but I had to ask since when am I going to get a chance to pick your brains.

I am not sure what you mean by a "custom title." A title from the books? There are a few in the volume I'm presently working on that readers haven't seen yet... a guy who calls himself King of the Mummers, frinstance... another one who is called Harry the Heir... these are informal titles, though, on a par with the Knight of Flowers or the Kingslayer, and so on...

“If it were easy all men would do it. You must walk before you run. Why use a spell, where mummer’s tricks will serve?”

“I don’t know any mummer’s tricks either.”

“Then practice making faces. Beneath your skin are muscles. Learn to use them. It is your face. Your cheeks,

your lips, your ears. Smiles and scowls should not come upon you like sudden squalls. A smile should be a servant,

and come only when you call it. Learn to rule your face.”

"Mummers change their faces with artifice,” the kindly man was saying, “and sorcerers use glamors, weaving light and shadow and desire to make illusions that trick the eye. These arts you shall learn,but what we do here goes deeper. Wise men can see through artifice, and glamors dissolve before sharp eyes, but the face you are about to don will be as true and solid as that face you were born with. Keep your eyes closed.”

She's already started to learn from them:

The mummers off the Ship showed her how a hero stands, and taught her speeches from The Song of the Rhoyne, The

Conqueror’s Two Wives, and The Merchant’s Lusty Lady.

On her way across the city Arya had wondered what the kindly man would say when she told him about Dareon.

Maybe he would be angry with her, or maybe he would be pleased that she had given the singer the gift of the Many-

Faced God. She had played this talk out in her head half a hundred times, like a mummer in a show.

Learning from the mummers is one step of learning the complete art of transformation. She has to learn how to pretend to be anybody or assume a role and not just the ones who are in likeness to her.

Shakespeare is filled with disguisings. His use of them for wicked or destructive ends is shown by the coup in Thomas of Woodstock (aka Richard II Part One), in which young King Richard and his cronies pretend to be actors, only to kidnap and later assassinate Richard’s uncle, the Duke of Gloucester.

[protar]

Thanks for the quotes Arya-Nym, however they are not mutually exclusive with my idea. This King of the Mummers could be Izembaro, but that still doesn't mean Otherys can't be working under him, or that Arya won't be sent to Volantis to kill Malaquo or anyone else as part of her training. Arya simply cannot be training in the same manner as she was in AFFC and ADWD, in TWOW. Her plot needs to move forwards and assassinating somebody important, or helping a more experienced FM to do this is the logical step forwards.

And at the end of Arya's last ADWD chapter the Kindly Man says she will have - to paraphrase: "a new face, a face as pretty as your own." which hints at her being a courtesan.

[ARYa_Nym]

She might have more chapters. I think she needs some time because she needs to improve her High Valyrian and learn Pentoshi and Lyseni.

She can train and have assignments like it was in ADWD.

[Hodor knows]

I doubt anyone we've heard of, and certainly not one of the players, at least not yet ;)

[protar]

She might have more chapters. I think she needs some time because she needs to improve her High Valyrian and learn Pentoshi and Lyseni.

She can train and have assignments like it was in ADWD.

And wouldn't a perfect time for that be a stay in Volantis?. I just don't see her spending the entirety of another book assigned to killing people with no significance beyond training her up. TWOW is the penultimate book and hopefully Essos should be all wrapped up by the end of it.

In any case, if her trip is waiting on Justin Massey she'll need a chapter or two before his arrival so training like in ADWD can take place then. Surely you agree that she must be doing something that contributes to the main plot though, or at least is different to her story in AFFC/ADWD?

And Arya aside, thoughts on a possible hit on Malaquo, and/or on Bellegere Otherys as a potential Dany supporter?

[Burn-the-7]

How are we so sure she will be given an assignment at all? How do we know that she will do as she is told? Since she has not forgotten herself and is still a bit "Arya" then she might not even do what the FM tell her to do anyway. This is the girl that has basically made up her own rules for 5 books now.

[ARYa_Nym]

And wouldn't a perfect time for that be a stay in Volantis?. I just don't see her spending the entirety of another book assigned to killing people with no significance beyond training her up. TWOW is the penultimate book and hopefully Essos should be all wrapped up by the end of it.

In any case, if her trip is waiting on Justin Massey she'll need a chapter or two before his arrival so training like in ADWD can take place then. Surely you agree that she must be doing something that contributes to the main plot though, or at least is different to her story in AFFC/ADWD?

And Arya aside, thoughts on a possible hit on Malaquo, and/or on Bellegere Otherys as a potential Dany supporter?

Well my theory was that she was going to kill Illyrio in Pentos (there's info on it in Arya's Destiny 2 thread) and that's where she meets up with Dany. I think Justin Massey is something that looks like it will happen but it won't similar to Sam revealing to Jon that Bran is alive but never does. I also don't think going to the Wall immediately makes sense because her FM chapters are rendered useless. The skills she learned doesn't have much use there.

For the Pentos theory she would need to learn the language first. Training as a mummer first then going to Pentos would make it plausible when she starts to use the language.

It makes no sense for her to learn these languages without textual significance.

[protar]

How are we so sure she will be given an assignment at all? How do we know that she will do as she is told? Since she has not forgotten herself and is still a bit "Arya" then she might not even do what the FM tell her to do anyway. This is the girl that has basically made up her own rules for 5 books now.

Well it's kind of guaranteed that she'll be given an assignment seeing as that's what the FM do, and they have already given her assignments.

You're right Arya does is not necessarily going to do what she's told, but I say again - something has to come from her time with the FM. If her arc in TWOW is training some more and then getting cold feet how will her time as a FM have contributed to the narrative. There's also no reason why Arya wouldn't follow her assignment, as she's clearly getting more and more comfortable being a FM. She needs something to jolt her out of it. Justin returning to Westeros may do that towards the end of TWOW.

[Vuron]

Has it ever been proven that Izembaro is a person and not a place? The exact quote from the text is "On the morrow you will go to Izembaro to begin your first apprenticeship"

Arya has never been told anyone's name at the temple, including the Kindly Man or the Waif. Why would they suddenly start dropping names, now?

[Burn-the-7]

Well it's kind of guaranteed that she'll be given an assignment seeing as that's what the FM do, and they have already given her assignments.

You're right Arya does is not necessarily going to do what she's told, but I say again - something has to come from her time with the FM. If her arc in TWOW is training some more and then getting cold feet how will her time as a FM have contributed to the narrative. There's also no reason why Arya wouldn't follow her assignment, as she's clearly getting more and more comfortable being a FM. She needs something to jolt her out of it. Justin returning to Westeros may do that towards the end of TWOW.

Maybe she is just going to take the training and then go on an assignment of her own. She has been thinking about killing people on her list for ages now. Maybe she decides that she has learned enough to go and take revenge on those she feels deserves it. Remember the witch lady that basically called her death. Maybe the FM were just a step in her evolution into becoming a vehicle of revenge.

[protar]

Well my theory was that she was going to kill Illyrio in Pentos (there's info on it in Arya's Destiny 2 thread) and that's where she meets up with Dany. I think Justin Massey is something that looks like it will happen but it won't similar to Sam revealing to Jon that Bran is alive but never does. I also don't think going to the Wall immediately makes sense because her FM chapters are rendered useless. The skills she learned doesn't have much use there.

For the Pentos theory she would need to learn the language first. Training as a mummer first then going to Pentos would make it plausible when she starts to use the language.

It makes no sense for her to learn these languages without textual significance.

I never suggested that Arya go to the Wall. She hitches a ride from Justin to Volantis (convincing him men can be found there.) and then towards the end of TWOW possibly uses him to return to Westeros to do whatever she's going to do in ADOS.

Your point about the languages is true for Volantis as well, she'd need high valyrian wouldn't she?

EDIT: I must say there's a distinctive lack of conversation on Malaquo here :P

[protar]

Has it ever been proven that Izembaro is a person and not a place? The exact quote from the text is "On the morrow you will go to Izembaro to begin your first apprenticeship"

Arya has never been told anyone's name at the temple, including the Kindly Man or the Waif. Why would they suddenly start dropping names, now?

It hasn't been proven and I can see it being either. As to why the Kindly Man would start dropping names:

1.) Who says Izembaro is a real name?

2.) Maybe Arya has simply built up enough trust to know the names of her colleagues?

[ARYa_Nym]

I never suggested that Arya go to the Wall. She hitches a ride from Justin to Volantis (convincing him men can be found there.) and then towards the end of TWOW possibly uses him to return to Westeros to do whatever she's going to do in ADOS.

Your point about the languages is true for Volantis as well, she'd need high valyrian wouldn't she?

EDIT: I must say there's a distinctive lack of conversation on Malaquo here :P

I think she will hitch a ride with Dany but I suppose she can make a pit stop to Volantis as well. I don't think she has to kill just one person/target in the next book.

As for High Valyrian she still has to improve so the time she takes training she can improve her language skills during this time.

[Burn-the-7]

Also....to add to my assumptions (i.e...crackpot).....for Arya's circle to be completed...doesn't her story have to head back to Sansa? Her story starts with Sansa, shouldn't it end with Sansa and some sort of reunion of sisters that when our story began did not like each other. But now having been through many things come to the realization that their is value in Family?

Maybe Arya will be the one to save Sansa.

I am just throwing ideas out here. No textual evidence. I am spitballin!

To me it just seems to make sense that she must end where she started only with a different perspective....and Sansa's perspective will have changed too.