#arya underfoot

[allovesthings]

Arya Stark is the canonical extrovert of the Stark family and the only time she isolate herself is when she is dealing with trauma and that isolation in King's Landing really allowed her to get out of the red keep.

She loves people and is a people person regardless of class.

That and she'll see someone she thinks is more vulnerable than her and says: is anyone going to protect that person ? And not wait for the answer..

That's why she is Arya underfoot and this is genuinely one of my favorite things about her.i love Arya Stark so much.

[grey-joys]

Not me crying when Arya and Harwin reunite every time

[dipperscavern]

watching the show: oh she’s cute

reading the books: arya stark my lord and savior

also freaking the hurt she felt when she realized she was harwins captive, & that he wasn’t one of robb’s men :( my sweet precious angel

[asoiafreadthru]

A Game of Thrones, Arya II

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-and-maidens and hide-the-treasure and come-into-my-castle with their children.

Fat Tom used to call her “Arya Underfoot,” because he said that was where she always was. She’d liked that a lot better than “Arya Horseface.”

[dreamfaerye]

3 years old. 🥰🎉🎂

[fromtheseventhhell]

Lady of Winterfell Arya, my beloved. It's canon in my heart until I'm proven otherwise

[myimaginationplain]

in my mind Arya's adult height caps at like 5'3, meanwhile all of her siblings are like close to 6 feet or over lol

[unluckytoleavetown]

The Farwynds there were even queerer than the rest. Some said they were skinchangers, unholy creatures who could take on the forms of sea lions, walruses, even spotted whales, the wolves of the wild sea.

Lord Gylbert began to speak. He told of a wondrous land beyond the Sunset Sea, a land without winter or want, where death had no dominion. "Make me your king, and I shall lead you there," he cried. "We will build ten thousand ships as Nymeria once did and take sail with all our people to the land beyond the sunset. There every man shall be a king and every wife a queen."

[arte072]

ARYA STARK APPRECIATION WEEK:

DAY 1 : FAVORITE CHAPTER: CAT OF THE CANALS

It's really hard to choose a favorite Arya chapter but Cat of the Canals is really up there for me.

One of my favorite things about this chapter specifically is that we get to see Arya (who "Cat" basically is in all but name) interact with other people without the constant pain and stresses of war. I love that George decided that it was important to show the readers how Arya acts within a community and what we see is a girl who is kind, friendly, curious, helpful, confident, funny, and cared for by others.

Through Cat of the Canals, we get to see Arya Underfoot. She's everywhere with everyone and is so so so loved!

[the-key-five]

arya stark appreciation week → day 1: quote

Only the kindly man knew the Common Tongue. "Who are you?" he would ask her every day. "No one," she would answer, she who had been Arya of House Stark, Arya Underfoot, Arya Horseface. She had been Arry and Weasel too, and Squab and Salty, Nan the cupbearer, a grey mouse, a sheep, the ghost of Harrenhal . . . but not for true, not in her heart of hearts. In there she was Arya of Winterfell, the daughter of Lord Eddard Stark and Lady Catelyn, 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.

A Feast for Crows, Arya II

[jackoshadows]

I think we don't talk enough about how Jon Snow secretly had a sword made for Arya at Winterfell - without anyone knowing! And that this was something he was planning on for a while, with the intention to teach Arya some fundamental sword skills - without anyone knowing!!

It reminds me about how much Arya must have poured out her heart and soul to Jon Snow about EVERYTHING, considering how much Jon knows about her. The very best of confidantes who guarded their secrets with each other and are the most loyal of siblings.

It was to Jon Snow that Arya goes, after being bullied for her looks, worried that she too was a bastard and Jon who consoled her (ignoring his own pain at being one). It's Jon who praises her as pretty and clever and understands that deep curiosity and ambition in her.

It's Jon who understands that Arya is interested in something different and that this is also deserving of attention. The ONLY person in the whole of Winterfell - not her parents, her other siblings, her teacher. Only Jon Snow.

I can imagine Jon and Arya just hanging out in a quiet corner of the Godswood, under the weirwood, with Arya pouring out her frustrations and chatting about playing with the serving girls and Jon talking about his day practicing the sword. They know each other so well, that they are famous for finishing each other's thoughts. They share such a singular bond that he even got her sword name right!!

Arya seemed puzzled at first. Then it came to her. She was that quick. They said it together: "Needle!" The memory of her laughter warmed him on the long ride north. - Jon, AGoT

Making Needle wouldn't have been easy considering it had to be done secretly. Clearly Jon thought that both his father and Catelyn wouldn't have been happy if they knew that the bastard was having swords made for their daughter.

"Give it to me." Reluctantly Arya surrendered her sword, wondering if she would ever hold it again. Her father turned it in the light, examining both sides of the blade. He tested the point with his thumb. "A bravo's blade," he said. "Yet it seems to me that I know this maker's mark. This is Mikken's work." Lord Eddard Stark sighed. "My nine-year-old daughter is being armed from my own forge, and I know nothing of it. The Hand of the King is expected to rule the Seven Kingdoms, yet it seems I cannot even rule my own household. How is it that you come to own a sword, Arya? Where did you get this?" - Arya, AGoT

Jon Snow took the time to research swords that Arya could hold and handle. He must have been up in Maester Luwin's turret looking through books for the design and asked questions of the Winterfell master-at-arms Rodrik Cassel about Braavosi swords.

She giggled at him. "It's so skinny." "So are you," Jon told her. "I had Mikken make this special. The bravos use swords like this in Pentos and Myr and the other Free Cities. It won't hack a man's head off, but it can poke him full of holes if you're fast enough." - Jon, AGoT

He'd had Mikken make a sword for Arya once, a bravo's blade, made small to fit her hand. Needle. He wondered if she still had it. Stick them with the pointy end, he'd told her, but if she tried to stick the Bastard, it could mean her life. - Jon, ADwD

It had been so long since he had last seen Arya. What would she look like now? Would he even know her? Arya Underfoot. Her face was always dirty. Would she still have that little sword he'd had Mikken forge for her? Stick them with the pointy end, he'd told her. Wisdom for her wedding night if half of what he heard of Ramsay Snow was true. Bring her home, Mance. I saved your son from Melisandre, and now I am about to save four thousand of your free folk. You owe me this one little girl. - Jon, ADwD

After getting the idea of what kind of sword works for Arya's small hands, Jon then goes to Mikken, requesting that he make a small Bravo's blade. I feel certain that Mikken had no idea that he was secretly having a sword made for the Lord of Winterfell's daughter. I wonder what Mikken's thoughts were on Jon Snow wanting that specific blade made. He clearly did not think it important to mention to Ned. And no one knew - not Robb or Theon or even the Winterfell master-at-arms!

Given how sudden the whole deal was with Ned leaving for King's Landing, IMO, it's clear that Jon was planning on secret rendezvous with Arya where he could show her the basics of using a sword. Jon is certainly no Syrio Forel and Arya certainly learned more from an actual Bravo master fencer than from Jon Snow.

And yet just knowing that Jon had Needle secretly made and was planning on secret lessons for Arya because he knew just how desperate she was to learn something different, something unacceptable for Winterfell's daughter and that he did so at the great risk of displeasing a father he looked up to and the Lady Catelyn Stark who already wanted him gone.

He truly is Lyanna's son in every way that mattered.

[allovesthings]

Also the fact that she decided to take Needle out for comfort because it made her think of home and Jon even though she is already homesick and sad is so heartwarming (Also incredibly sad at the same time because she is grieving both Micah and her home at the same time, the two are not mutually exclusive)

[grey-joys]

Arya calling Gendry and Hot Pie her pack and thinking “Jon and I used to do that” when she and Gendry said something at the same time will always make me feel like dying

[atopvisenyashill]

Harwin being sent by his liege lord on what was always meant to be a quick if difficult task, just stop the Mountain from reaving on the King's justice, that turns into this nightmare of a life where he spends years away from home, away from civilization, away from safety and stability and sanity, to watch everyone die around him, to watch magic he barely understands bring the man he's sworn to serve back to life again and again, because there's nothing else to do but keep fighting and hope you're making a difference and not fucking everything up and making it worse-

and then Arya shows up and she's just as precocious and wild and underfoot as she's always been, and she's alive and mostly safe and traumatized sure but she's in one piece, she's fared not that badly compared to some of the little girls he's seen, and I imagine it felt like a small miracle to have her there, just for a moment, proof that he can do what he was tasked with and keep people safe BUT

then Arya escapes and barely any time later, he's coming across Catelyn's naked, water logged body on the Trident and there's a direwolf guarding the body so it's not nibbled on that leaves the moment it hears them coming, and he's begging Thoros to bring her back, bring his liege's lady back, bring Arya's poor mother back, but all he can do is cry and watch as Beric kneels besides her, kisses her awake like something out of a fairy tale, then falls to the side, dead at last, as something much worse that wears Catelyn's face rises in his place. What can Harwin do?

He continues to serve.

[helenofsparta2]

One thing I’ll never be able to forgive Game of Thrones, especially the later seasons, is the way they warped the conception of so many characters, and completely dumped down their complexity.

Jon Snow is not my favourite character because he is this perfect, always noble hero, who is a great, badass swordfighter.

He is my favourite character because, while he is more morally righteous than a lot of other characters, he can be bitter, and sarcastic and ruthless. Because he used to be arrogant and thought of himself as better than his brothers at the nights watch because of his upbringing but learned to overcome his prejudices again and again and again, first towards the men at the watch, then later towards the wildlings. Because he has always been jealous of Rob and secretly dreamed of being lord of Winterfell, but still refuses Stannis’ offer to get legitimized because of his oaths and because he defends Sansa’s and Arya’s claims. Because he has a strong inner conflict between his intense, often romanticized, desire to someday have a wife and children, he could name after Robb, and his position as a bastard and as Lord Commander of the Night’s watch. Because he tries so hard to be a son Ned Stark would be proud of and tries to be as honorable as he has always been taught, but would still drop his oaths to save his family any day.

Because he makes mistakes as Lord Commander, which cost him his life in the end, but is one of the only characters who sees the big picture and whose efforts will be vital in defeating the Others. Because he is hunted by the ghosts of teh dead. Because he is a Warg, and deeply involved in the magical side of a song of ice and fire, but most of the time acts as pragmatic as possible. Because he is able to win the respect of Stannis, of Aemon, of Lord Commander Mormont, of many brothers of the night’s watch, in spite of his parentage. Because in a world, where bastards are mostly seen as deceitful and dangerous, and their existence has often caused rebellions and wars, especially within the Targaryen dynasty, he loves his family more than anything and is seen as a symbol of safety and home by Arya, Sansa and Bran. Because while Catelyn Stark feared he would someday endanger her children’s birth rights, he is the one, that defends it the most.

Daenerys Targaryen is not one of my favourite characters because she is a Targaryen queen who has dragons and burns slavers, but because she is a young girl who has gone through immense suffering, but still tries desperately to be a good queen.

She makes mistakes, she can be hypocritical and ruthless, she lacks wisdom and experience. She is the mother of dragons, and has close to no idea how to raise and train them. She is disillusioned about Viserys and her father, and is the antithesis to the entire Targaryen dynasty, but still clings to every new piece of information about her brother Rhaegar. She desires to have a home and a family, and wants power not for the sake of power, but because she wants the ability to make the lives of other people better and protect those who can not protect themselves. She wants her kingdom to be beautiful, full of fat men, and pretty maids and laughing children. She is one of the most powerful characters in the books, the one who brought dragons back, and will break the system, but often does not know how to do that and sometimes does not know how to deal with the consequences of her actions. She listens to the smallfolk and nobility alike. She is barely 16 years old in a dance with dragons but acts as an older sister figure to Missandei and a mother figure to her people.

Arya Stark is not one of my favourite characters because she is a cold assassin, and “not like other girls”, but because Arya “underfoot” gets along with soldiers and smallfolk alike and finds friends wherever she goes.

Because she has the wildness of the north in her, and is tomboyish, but doesn’t look down on feminine women and girls. She uses her list as a coping mechanism after seeing her father die. She tries to become this strong assassin, but clings to the memories of her family, especially Jon, and her home. She is (probably) the second strongest Warg in the Stark family. She thirsts for revenge, and doesn’t hesitate to kill, but still has a strong sense of justice, and doesn’t lose her ability to socialize.

I could go on and on and on. I could talk about how Cersei is no cold, calculating player of the game, but a delusional, unpredictable, but very entertaining narcissist, or how Tyrion is becoming a revenge-obsessed, bitter villain. I could talk about Sansa, or the entirety of Dorne or about Stannis Baratheon, or so amny other characters.

George R. R. Martin has crafted so many complex, and fascinating characters in this rich wolrd and narrative, and their treatment in the later seasons of the Tv-show adaptation really make my soul bleed.

[dreamfaerye]

Heat is not working (AGAIN) and here she is stealing what little I can create. 🙄