I know, I know, Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) is one of the most beloved characters on Game of Thrones, but I’ve always had a problem with her: her sociopathy. I supported her in her quest for revenge, but when she turned into a killing machine she made me think of Bran (Isaac Hempstead-Wright), who at some point stopped acting with empathy, impacting my connection with them.

If Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) had an annoying but heroic rebuilding arc, Bran and Arya went in opposite directions. They were pure love and rebellion when we met him, but they ended up cold, robotic, distant. There was a meme circulating around the time of the final season that was perfect for summing up the destruction of the Starks, showing Sansa terrified of Jon Snow (Kit Harington), who had risen from the dead, not knowing what to say about Bran proclaiming himself Three-Eyed-Raven and stunned by Arya saying she’s nobody. In this scenario, she was the only one less crazy. And of the Starks, Arya was the most consistent with her personality, one who never accepted her restricted role away from adventures. But still, I have problems with Arya Stark from the last few seasons, even if I am alone in my rejection.

Arya was just like Lyanna Stark

Arya Stark is the third daughter of Lord Eddard “Ned” Stark (Sean Bean) and his wife, Lady Catelyn Stark (Michele Farley), one who somehow gave them a headache from an early age. She was the opposite of Sansa, who loved the restricted feminine universe and dreamed of marriage and princes. Arya preferred to play with her brothers, learn to fight, study the History of Westeros, idolize the Targaryen Queens, and want to know the world.

Arya and Bran, even more than the other Starks, were in love and very attached to Jon Snow, their bastard brother and the target of Catelyn’s open hatred, who was jealous of him. In the original project, George R. R. Martin already had Jon as the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen, making him the Starks’ cousin and thus freeing him for a possible romance with Arya, albeit incestuously as he was a 1st cousin. The writer changed his mind later (on the romantic pairing), but maintained their connection, something that touches all fans throughout the series.

The rivalry between her and her sister is also made clear from the first second, both so different that they barely tolerate each other in a relationship so tortuous that if it weren’t for Ned’s interference, Sansa could have easily joined Arya’s ‘list’.

Ned’s favorite, far from Catelyn

Like everyone in House Stark, Arya was greatly loved by her parents, which makes her trajectory even more devastating. There is no interaction between her and Catelyn in season 1, in fact, Catelyn had two favorites: Robb (Richard Madden) and Bran. Neither Sansa, Arya, or Rickon (Art Parkinson) has half the maternal dedication, something that brings them even closer to Ned, the idolized big daddy of their offspring.

From an early age, to be fair to her, Arya rejects the idea that she must become a lady and marry for influence and power, and is fixated on creating her own destiny. The sincere type, Arya is honest and doesn’t understand politics, she says what she thinks and demands justice if she witnesses abuse. For Catelyn, the girl’s ‘masculinity’ is worrying and this weighs on the decision to send her to King’s Landing with Sansa and Ned when the firstborn is promised to Joffrey Baratheon and Ned is called upon to be Hand of the King. Arya hates the idea of leaving Winterfell, but she is obedient to her father, the only one who listens to her and to whom she opens her heart.

For Ned, as the story goes on it becomes clearer, that Arya is the incarnation of his deceased sister, Lyanna, whom he loved deeply. Lyanna’s true story has never been explored in depth, something that remains a wish as she changed the course of History in Westeros, only Ned Stark knew how much.

Hatred for the Lannisters

Long before arriving in the capital, we see that Arya creates a lot of problems for Ned even on the road, attacking the cowardly and cruel Joffrey to defend a defenseless friend, facing Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), and promising to take revenge on her and her son before the worst happens.

When it becomes clear that it is better to help her, Ned hires a fencing teacher for Arya to learn how to fight and it is this decision that saves her, even if indirectly. In yet another fight between Sansa and Arya, Ned finds a clue that is proof of the Queen’s adultery. Arya jokes that Joffrey, blonde like the Lannisters, doesn’t look like his father. From then on, Ned makes one mistake after another (he tells Littlefinger the truth and warns Cersei too). He is arrested and sentenced to death, but Arya manages to escape.

Arya’s first major trauma is witnessing the execution of her father, who sees her in the crowd before he dies. The girl disguises herself as a man and is about to be taken to Castle Black where she will meet Jon Snow, but the journey she begins from there changes her personality and destiny forever. Arya Stark died along with Ned in that episode

The partnership with Sandor Clegane

On the trip from King’s Landing, Arya becomes friends with Gendry (Joe Dempsie), who she doesn’t know is Robert Baratheon’s bastard son. Between the two there is companionship and friendship, both aware that they are pretending to be other people and trying to escape the fury of the Lannisters. Arya here discovers that the only way she can sleep is to recite to herself the list of people she wants to kill, which is already long.

In Game of Thrones, dangers are constant and divert good people from their paths. Arya is no exception. The journey to the Wall is interrupted by the usual conflicts of Westeros: robberies, attacks, and cruelty. Surviving is difficult, ending up more than once a prisoner of her enemies, including Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance), who doesn’t recognize her and adores Arya.

On the long journey, Arya meets Jaqen H’ghar (Tom Wlaschiha), a precise assassin from Braavos trained by the Faceless Men. Arya is interested in learning these skills and promises to go find him one day.

The young woman tries to help her brother, Robb, who is at war with the Lannisters to recover her and avenge Ned but is unable to do so. To make matters worse, she ends up ‘kidnapped’ by Sandor Clegane (Rory McCann), the Dog, who is on her kill list. Their relationship is one of mutual distrust and hard learning, but in his tortuous and cynical way, what he is really doing is protecting Arya. While in Westeros, having the Hound’s protection is essential for her survival, but she does not recognize this and eventually manages to go to Braavos alone.

In two seasons, although exposed to violence and often at risk, Arya is still sympathetic to Stark fans, with the unshakable spirit of seeking revenge for her family, without ever losing that focus. Here, she is more of Catelyn’s daughter than Ned’s, with hatred overcoming any trace of integrity.

Arya only gives up on finding Jon and going to Braavos because she learned from Sandor that until she was an assassin, she wouldn’t be safe or able to protect the Starks. If she was already a new Arya, she embarks on a personality reset, which is where I see her main problem.

Blinded by hatred, Arya’s vision literally changes in Braavos

Arya is a young woman with ‘no manners’, but still a reflection of a cradle of gold when she thinks that upon arriving in Braavos, she will be welcomed by Jaqen H’ghar, trained and released to be able to reduce his ever-growing list of names. But the transformation process is sometimes slow, often violent, and Arya is always being tested. And making mistakes. The Faceless Ones worship the God of Death and have a strange doctrine, which has a philanthropic edge when it comes only to murders for money.

One of the simplest moments in the series is when Arya has to get rid of everything she brought, including the sword Needle, which she got from Jon before they left Winterfell. The goal was to stop being Arya Stark and become Nobody, but she can’t do it. She hides the sword and goes through whatever she has to go through until, instead of serving, she eliminates one of her tormentors from King’s Landing on her own, losing her sight as a result.

Not seeing and having to turn around still turns Arya into a kind of lethal immortal. She can be stabbed, but she jumps out of windows, runs through the streets, and still survives. At the end of it all, Arya decides that she is ready and that she is going to Winterfell.

She had high hopes for this turn of events, but like many, it was a bit of a disappointment.

Reunions at Winterfell, the Starks’ revenge

Upon returning to Westeros, Arya is in no rush to go North. At this point, Joffrey is dropped from her list because he was killed by someone else, but there are still Cersei and Tywin on it; the destination is King’s Landing. Upon learning of Sansa’s escape and Jon’s fame as a leader in the North, Arya changes her mind and goes home. It would be a tender moment, but there are the Freys to cross off the list, and at this point, Arya may not have fit in in Braavos, but she doesn’t feel right in Westeros either.

Reunions with brothers are strange. There is unrestricted emotion with Jon, some affection with Bran, but many feet behind with Sansa, who has Littlefinger as her great mentor. The coldness that Arya was supposed to convey, as a good observer, as a calculating and skilled killer, left her as emotionless as Bran after she fried her brain traveling through time. A disappointment.

The plot causes the Starks, who no longer had intimacy when they were little, to find themselves broken, traumatized, and suffering. Sansa is more of a strategist as she learned from Littlefinger, Bran is Bran with his travels as the Three-Eyed Raven, and Arya, well, Arya became scary as a woman who changes her face to achieve her revenge.

The only person she has traces of who she once was is Jon, but when Arya opposes Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), supporting Sansa, she distances herself from her half-brother. The traumas she experienced provide context for her personality change, but even so, she expected Aryato be a more empathetic heroine, less obsessed with Death.

Arya killed those we didn’t expect, but owed the promised revenge

It’s not the actress’s fault, but the writers’ fault that they wanted to maintain Game of Thrones’ reputation for unpredictability at all costs. We spent six years listening to Arya’s promise to kill Cersei and just two episodes finding out about the Night King. Why did they give Arya the duel that belonged to Jon Snow and leave Cersei in a sad ending, but as she wanted? (in Jaime’s arms). Why?

The final season of Game of Thrones is the biggest disappointment for fans even six years later still hurts. Arya was one of the most skilled warriors in the fight against the Night Walkers, and it was fascinating to see her in action, but I think seeing her kill the supposedly worst villain in history because she knew how to deal with Death was a cheap trick to subvert expectations just for the surprise. It made no sense and was even anticlimactic.

To make matters worse, we wanted to see her fulfill her promise to kill Cersei; everyone knew she would have to kill Jaime too to get his face and fool the queen. It would be incredible, it would be perfect for us to see Cersei’s surprise that she would never have imagined meeting the girl alive so many years later. They owed us this one. Irreparable.

What will happen to Arya Stark?

Returning home and still feeling foreign is further proof that Arya Stark ceased to exist at some point. She is just waiting for the decision for Jon’s life, who is exiled after killing Daenerys, to leave for her next adventure: discovering what is west of Westeros.

We bid farewell to her, leading a small fleet, sailing into the unknown, like one of her idols, Nymeria Targaryen. Many expected that with this open ending, there would be a spin-off with Arya and her adventures, but HBO never considered the idea. They even worked on a prequel, Bloodmoon, which only had one pilot and was shelved. They are showing House of the Dragon, which could have four seasons, and there is the sequel, Snow, which has not yet come to fruition. Before we return with Jon Snow, we will have The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, scheduled to record in 2024 and air in a year, as well as the series about Corlys Velaryon, Nine Voyages, with no forecast.

Instead of following Arya Stark, we could get to know Nymeria because one of the projects, A Thousand Ships, is exactly the same destination as the young assassin’s vessel.

The saga of Nymeria takes place around 1000 years before Game of Thrones and around 700 years before House of Dragons. After the defeat in Essos, the Targaryen princess commandeered all the available vessels on the River Rhoyne – ten thousand – and filled them with survivors, mostly women and children, and commanded their escape.

In the search for a new land, the refugees tried to survive in a few places before heading to Dorne, south of Westeros, where Nymeria made a marriage alliance with King Mors Martell, setting fire to the entire fleet to prevent deserters. She therefore takes Targaryen’s blood to House Martell (Prince Oberyn (Pedro Pascal) is a descendant of hers). This chapter was also used in the opening and closing episodes of House of the Dragon, in a conversation between Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) and Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), thus being another link with Game of Thrones. Would it be better to bet on seeing Arya again?

The Full List of Arya Stark

Do you think you remember all the names that came across Arya Stark’s list? See her enemies here:

• Cersei Lannister
• The Mountain
• Walder Frey
• Lame Lothar
• Black Walder Rivers
• Polliver
• Joffrey Baratheon
• Rorge
• The Hound (she will remove it from the list at some point)
• Tywin Lannister
• Meryn Trant
• Melisandre
• Beric Dondarrion (she removed from the list when she removed The Hound)
• Thoros of Myr (idem)
• Ilyn Payne
  
  Incomplete, right? Four names were missing:

• Littlefinger. Arya distrusted him but was unsure of his involvement in Ned’s death until Bran revealed it, and then killed him at Sansa’s request.
• Roose Bolton: Although she saw Robb’s body, Arya only knew of the Freys’ participation in her brother’s death; otherwise, Roose would be on the list, without a doubt.
• Ramsay Bolton: Arya didn’t know she existed until she returned to Winterfell. It would be another one we would love to see her eliminate, but it was great to be fed to the dogs by Sansa.
• Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen): Arya didn’t know that Theon betrayed Robb, and for a while, he was reputed to have killed Bran and Rickon. Lucky him!
  Would you have made a longer list? Would you like to see Arya again?

For me, she was one of the problems because of her sadism, and when she met Jon again, she supported Sansa instead of him and Daenerys. Just like everyone else, we can argue that no one is perfect, but I expected more from Arya Stark!

Pesquisar

Pesquisar