#where did he FIND syrio???

[winterprince601]

tired dad, ned stark: oh gee, bran's wolf saved him from an assassin. i should have let the girls keep the wolves... i suppose if it will keep her safe, arya can study the blade.

arya, immediately covered in cat scratches and suspicious bruises, balancing blindfolded at the top of the highest set of stairs she could possibly find in the red keep: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

[jackoshadows]

@nogoodsheepstealing-greatgrandma 

I didn’t want to derail or hijack your Dany post, so decided to make a separate post to what I think is an interesting discussion. 

As I have mentioned in some of my earlier posts, I find Sansa to be a confusing mess mainly because the character herself does not introspect, does not think, does not connect dots, does not proactively try to figure things out.

Which is why it’s doubly frustrating that the same hypocrites who are critiquing Daenerys and Jon for their leadership will write praises of Sansa’s intelligence and political acumen when she is the least political of her peers and hardly ever engages in critical thinking.

And honestly, there’s only so much that age can be used as an excuse considering these are characters in a fantasy world where a 10 year old has been elected Lord Commander, teenagers rule as Kings and Queens and marry young. Dany and Jon have decided that they want to be leaders and so I judge them based on their actions and, despite their age, they have done a far better job than the likes of Cersei, Jaime, Robert, Ned, Cat etc. IMO.

One of the opinions I very much disagree with is the notion that Ned’s warning to Sansa or what Maester Coleman tells Sansa is vague and not understandable when, for me as reader, they come across as pretty succinct and clear in their intention. There’s also the fact that these warnings do not happen in a vacuum, there is always context for a character to put 2 and 2 together to come up with 4.

Here's Ned telling Sansa that it's dangerous for the Starks in KL

Father’s mouth twitched strangely. “Sansa, I’m not sending you away for fighting, though the gods know I’m sick of you two squabbling. I want you back in Winterfell for your own safety. Three of my men were cut down like dogs not a league from where we sit, and what does Robert do? He goes hunting.”

“Sweet one,” her father said gently, “listen to me. When you’re old enough, I will make you a match with a high lord who’s worthy of you, someone brave and gentle and strong. This match with Joffrey was a terrible mistake. That boy is no Prince Aemon, you must believe me.”

“I am looking for a fast trading galley to take you home. These days, the sea is safer than the kingsroad. You will sail as soon as I can find a proper ship, with Septa Mordane and a complement of guards … and yes, with Syrio Forel, if he agrees to enter my service. But say nothing of this. It’s better if no one knows of our plans. We’ll talk again tomorrow.” - Eddard, AGoT

To then add context to everything Ned tells her, Sansa herself is witness to Cersei ordering her beloved pet wolf dead, Joffrey's sadistic mauling of Mycah and knowing what Jaime did to Stark men. It's clear to me that it's not that Sansa did not understand Ned's warning about the Lannisters, it’s that she preferred to ignore it in favor of wanting to stay in KL, marry Joffrey and become queen because she imagined herself to be in love with him. It's ignorant self interest, where she deliberately refuses to see the bigger picture of what is happening around her despite knowing all the facts.

Let us take the SweetRobin situation in book 5. Keep in mind that the Maester here is Westeros' version of a physician. So this is a doctor - an expert in someone’s health - talking to Sansa. Surely Sansa should start with the presumption that this man knows more about a person’s health than either she or Littlefinger does, right? When I go to a doctor, I don’t have to be a medical expert in order to take the doctor’s advice right? And we don’t get any of Sansa’s thoughts on Coleman’s competence as a doctor.

When Jon Snow as Lord Commander implements  Jeor Mormont’s defense strategy for rebuilding the Wall it’s because he trusts in Mormont’s experience and knowledge. As much as Jon was opposed to Bowen Marsh’s bigotry, he appreciated Marsh’s skillsets as a steward.

And while Maester Coleman is indeed incompetent and too scared of authority he does care about helping his patients. It’s a sad parallel that Coleman tried to save Jon Arryn in KL (from LF and Lysa’s poisoning ) and failed and now he will fail to save the son  as well. Recall that Pycelle was of the opinion that Coleman could have saved Jon Arryn and that’s why he kicked him out of KL

Tyrion tsked at him. “I saw the tears of Lys among your potions. And you sent away Lord Arryn’s own maester and tended him yourself, so you could make certain that he died.”    

“A falsehood! Yes,” he whimpered, “yes, Colemon was purging, so I sent him away. The queen needed Lord Arryn dead, she did not say so, could not, Varys was listening, always listening, but when I looked at her I knew. It was not me who gave him the poison, though, I swear it.”

The old man wept. “Varys will tell you, it was the boy, his squire, Hugh he was called, he must surely have done it, ask your sister, ask her” - Tyrion, ACoK

Coming back to Coleman and Sansa, from their conversation it's clear that Sansa ignores the doctor's warnings about SweetRobin's health because she trusts Littlefinger to know better that the politics of their situation is more important than SR's health. It’s a case of Sansa putting LF’s guidance and advice above the Maester’s.

Maester Colemon cares only for the boy, though. Father and I have larger concerns” - Alayne, AFfC

Now there can be an entire separate discussion on why Sansa is doing this given everything she knows about Petyr Baelish so far - Lysa’s confession about Jon Arryn’s death, LF being the last person she knows had Jeyne Poole, his role in the murder of Joffrey and framing Tyrion etc. Given that Sansa never introspects on all this we have to assume she is once again deliberately ignoring the truths right in front of her for whatever reason.

This is also why it’s mind boggling when this fandom takes away Arya’s critical thinking skills to prop Sansa up as the smart Stark. At 9, Arya is able to rightly guess that Cersei would harm Nymeria for what she did to Joffrey and drives her away.

Only she kept following, and finally we had to throw rocks. I hit her twice. She whined and looked at me and I felt so ’shamed, but it was right, wasn’t it? The queen would have killed her.” - Arya, AGoT 

When Jaqen has Weese mauled by his dog, Arya is able to connect the dots and deduct that the supernatural is involved. Again, remember she is only 9/10 here.

She had been avoiding the Lorathi since Weese’s death. Chiswyck had been easy,  anyone could push a man off the wallwalk, but Weese had raised that  ugly spotted dog from a pup, and only some dark magic could have turned  the animal against him. Yoren found Jaqen in a black cell, the same as Rorge and Biter, she remembered. Jaqen did something horrible and Yoren knew, that’s why he kept him in chains. If the Lorathi was a wizard, Rorge and Biter could be demons he called up from some hell, not men at all  - Arya, ACoK

So is Sansa gleefully and maliciously having SR poisoned? No. Does Sansa care for SR's wellbeing here? Also no.

I write about how SR is most probably suffering from epileptic seizures in this post and the Maester's solution for this is to keep him as calm as possible. Excitement leads to shaking and seizures, which requires the Maester to dose the child with more SweetSleep, dangerous in the long term. For Sansa however, it is important that SweetRobin show up in front of the lords looking normal - even though the boy has a disabling condition.

So the doctor tells Sansa that to keep SR calm, he would dose him with the less dangerous milk of poppy. Sansa refuses because appearances are more important.

“Good. That is good.” His chain clinked softly as he bobbed his head, atop a ridiculously long and skinny neck. “This descent… my lady, it might be safest if I mixed his lordship some milk of the poppy. Mya Stone could lash him over the back of her most surefooted mule whilst he slumbered.” “The Lord of the Eyrie cannot descend from his mountain tied up like a sack of barleycorn.” Of that Alayne was certain. They dare not let the full extent of Robert’s frailty and cowardice become too widely known, her father had warned her. I wish he were here. He would know what to do. - Alayne, AFfC

No doubt the Maester is scared of LF (And is most probably going to be framed for SR's death by LF), and yet he perseveres to make Sansa understand that it's these feasts/events that's making SR have seizures requiring the sweetsleep.

“Give his lordship a cup of sweetmilk,” she told the maester. “That will stop him from shaking on the journey down.”

“He had a cup not three days past,” Colemon objected.

“And wanted another last night, which you refused him.”

“It was too soon. My lady, you do not understand. As I’ve told the Lord Protector, a pinch of sweetsleep will prevent the shaking, but it does not leave the flesh, and in time . . .”

“Time will not matter if his lordship has a shaking fit and falls off the mountain. If my father were here, I know he would tell you to keep Lord Robert calm at all costs.”

I try, my lady, yet his fits grow ever more violent, and his blood is so thin I dare not leech him any more. Sweetsleep… you are certain he was not bleeding from the nose? I must speak to the Lord Protector. This feast… is that wise, I wonder, after the strain of the descent? Lord Robert mislikes strangers, you know that, and there will be drinking, noise… music. Music frightens him”

“Lord Nestor will have no singers at the feast, only flutes and fiddles for the dancing.” What would she do when the music began to play? It was a vexing question, to which her heart and head gave different answers. Sansa loved to dance, but Alayne… “Just give him a cup of the sweetmilk before we go, and another at the feast, and there should be no trouble.” - Alayne, AFfC

Does the Maester explain the science behind how the drug works to Sansa? No. However, I think he makes it clear enough that the drug stays in the flesh and is dangerous to a person’s health.

And again, we know that Sansa understands what the Maester is telling her regarding the SweetSleep -

“Very well.” They paused at the foot of the stairs. “But this must be the last. For half a year, or longer.”

“You had best take that up with the Lord Protector.” Maester Colemon cares only for the boy, though. Father and I have larger concerns” - Alayne, AFfC

Then at the end of this same chapter, Littlefinger has a monologue where he tells her why they are doing what they are doing.

He turned her hand over and lightly kissed her wrist. “So tell me, sweetling—why is Harry the Heir?”

Her eyes widened. “He is not Lady Waynwood’s heir. He’s Robert’s heir. If Robert were to die . . .”

Petyr arched an eyebrow. “When Robert dies. Our poor brave Sweetrobin is such a sickly boy, it is only a matter of time. When Robert dies, Harry the Heir becomes Lord Harrold, Defender of the Vale and Lord of the Eyrie. Jon Arryn’s bannermen will never love me, nor our silly, shaking Robert, but they will love their Young Falcon . . . and when they come together for his wedding, and you come out with your long auburn hair, clad in a maiden’s cloak of white and grey with a direwolf emblazoned on the back . . . why, every knight in the Vale will pledge his sword to win you back your birthright. So those are your gifts from me, my sweet Sansa . . . Harry, the Eyrie, and Winterfell. - Alayne, AFfC

This then leads to the sample TWoW chapter where Sansa as Alayne flirts with Harry the Heir so that they can get married.

So if Sansa expects SweetRobin to live long enough to marry, then why is she seducing Harry for him to offer to marry her when that depends on SweetRobin’s death?!

Which is why the conversation between Robert and Sansa is all sorts of ridiculous because even a sickly little 8 year old SR knows that Harry’s importance in all this depends on his death, Littlefinger has explained to her very clearly that SweetRobin will die and yet Sansa is talking about how his future wife will like his hair?!

If SR is going to live long enough to marry, than why is Sansa trying to marry Harry?

“I hate that Harry,” Sweetrobin said when she was gone. “He calls me  cousin, but he’s just waiting for me to die so he can take the Eyrie. He  thinks I don’t know, but I do.”

“Your lordship should not believe such nonsense,” Alayne said. “I’m sure Ser Harrold loves you well.” And if the gods are good, he will love me too. Her tummy gave a little flutter.

“He doesn’t,” Lord Robert insisted. “He wants my father’s castle, that’s all, so he pretends.”

He does have pretty hair. If the gods are good and he lives long  enough to wed, his wife will admire his hair, surely. That much she will  love about him.- Alayne, TWoW

This is why context is important and the Maester’s conversation does not exist in a vacuum. LF has told Sansa that SR needs to die for their plan to work and WILL die, SweetRobin has told her that Harry is waiting for him to die to get the Vale and the Maester has warned her that giving SR high doses of the drug is dangerous. After all this, how is Sansa going to be surprised by his death? That would be like being surprised when told that 2+2=4.

Six books in and Sansa remains a character who continues to ignore the truths in front of her for selfish reasons. That’s been a consistent character trait for her, from book one to her first chapter in book 6.

So is Sansa actively colluding with LF’s gradual medical poisoning of her little cousin in order for Harry to become the Lord of the Vale? Surely, in the back of her mind she must be aware of what is happening? However, it’s an unpleasant truth, one she does not want to acknowledge and chooses to ignore because it’s more important for her that LF’s plans to get Winterfell for her succeeds.

Does she care for her little cousin’s well being? No. Despite the Maester repeatedly telling her that the drug is dangerous to his health, she thinks the politics are more important.  

Remember in Sansa’s very first POV chapter with Arya and Mycah playing at the Trident and Joffrey showcases himself to be a sadistic ass?

Sansa was shrieking, “No, no, stop it, stop it, both of you, you’re spoiling it,” - Sansa I, AGoT

That’s her primary character trait. She is written as a character who does not want the unpleasant truths to spoil her personal narratives of Joffrey being a good person or Arya being responsible for Lady’s death or Cersei knowing better than her father or that SweetRobin is going to live long enough to marry a wife who will love his hair.

So we can either read Sansa as someone who is incredibly dense, who despite being presented with all the facts before her, still does not understand SweetRobin’s fate - when even 8 year old SweetRobin knows that Harry is just waiting for him to die. Or we can read her as someone who selfishly ignores the truth in front of her because it’s so unsavory and ‘spoils’ her idea of what she thinks is good and right and moral. In that, she knows that SR has to die and will die and yet keeps pretending that he’s going to be fine.

And both of these interpretations are in stark contrast with how Sansa is generally viewed in this fandom as being the smartest, most intelligent, most compassionate, idealistic ‘embodiment of hope’. She’s none of these things.

[maester-cressen]

Arya's three names in ACOK

I'm doing a very slow reread of ASOIAF and now I've just reached Arya's Harrenhall arc in ACOK. From what I understand, a lot of people in the fandom criticize Arya for saying the names of "irrelevant" characters instead of aiming for bigger fish like Gregor or Cersei or whoever else. I never understood that complain. In fact, I think the names she chose are rather reasonable considering the situation she was in.

We need to remember that Arya wasn't in a position to think long-term: she was in a very dangerous place, with very dangerous people and very few allies. As such, when Jaqen comes to her and proposes something so drastic as killing three names but tells her to not think for too long, it's logical for her to think of names that would offer a small source of comfort.

I mean, this paragraph explains it all fairly well:

"The men all roared, none louder than Chiswyck himself, who laughed so hard at his own story that snot dribbled from his nose down into his scraggy grey beard. Arya stood in the shadows of the stairwell and watched him. She crept back down to the cellars without saying a word. When Weese found that she hadn’t asked about the clothes, he yanked down her breeches and caned her until blood ran down her thighs, but Arya closed her eyes and thought of all the sayings Syrio had taught her, so she scarcely felt it."

This is directly after Chiswyck confesses to the gang rape of Layna, a 13 year old girl who made the mistake of *check's notes* serving beer to a bunch of grown men that were sexually harassing her and Weese physically abused her to the point of drawing blood from her tights. You know, a place extremely dangerous to get bleedings from, due to the amount of thick veins in it?

Arya was in a situation where she:

1) Heard a man confess to a horrible crime against a woman, when Arya herself advocates for women's rights;

"The woman is important too!"

2) Suffered physical and emotional abuse at the hands of a second man;

3) Had little to no chance to actually plan out her medium- and long term life due to being on the run, away from her family, in a dangerous place filled with dangerous people, and generally unsafe.

Things were so bad for Arya that thinking about a bigger name didn't even occur to her at first. And it's understandable: getting rid of a large piece on the board was a gamble Arya couldn't afford to make. She couldn't guarantee that the death of Cersei, Joffrey, Gregor or other names would make her situation in Harrenhall better. She had to focus on surviving the day-to-day life of Weasel/Nan and finding whatever ways she could to make said life a little easier.

And this ties in my biggest takeaway from this complain: the fandom needs to pay closer attention to the context in which the characters are introduced in order to understand why they make such decisions. When reading a POV, it's very important to understand that the reader is not a part of this world. We have access to all the information we want about it, but the characters inside of the book have only the resources given to them by GRRM. And Arya did a good job with the resources she was given and the decisions she had to make.

[agentrouka-blog]

"First lesson," Jon said. "Stick them with the pointy end." Arya gave him a whap on the arm with the flat of her blade.'- Jon(AGOT II). "Stick them with the pointy end. When the third dagger took him between the shoulder blades, he gave a grunt and fell face-first into the snow."- Jon(ADWD XIII). Jon gave Arya this lesson in the beginning and she first hit him with sword. Only for him to remember the same lesson while being stabbed by his 'brothers'.

Let’s see if we can spot a touch of poetic justice in here, centered around the misguided move to hand a deadly weapon to a child who has had no training, but has poor impulse control and a violent streak when cornered. 

He meant well. He meant to give her something that the world would withhold from her. Something to make her feel strong and to pursue her own interests. But. It’s a deadly weapon. And she is a child, who has never been taught to approach the subject of combat with responsibility. 

The master-at-arms put a hand on Robb's shoulder to quiet him. "Live steel is too dangerous. I will permit you tourney swords, with blunted edges." (...)

"Are you training women here?" the burned man wanted to know. He was muscled like a bull.

"I am training knights," Ser Rodrik said pointedly. "They will have steel when they are ready. When they are of an age." (AGOT, Arya I)

Jon hands Arya live steel right away. It’s a gift and a curse. 

You'll be sewing all through winter. When the spring thaw comes, they will find your body with a needle still locked tight between your frozen fingers." (AGOT, Arya I)

Arya’s training with Syrio also involves only a wooden sword. It is heavy. It is meant to teach her the weight of fighting. 

"It's too heavy," Arya said."

It is heavy as it needs to be to make you strong, and for the balancing. A hollow inside is filled with lead, just so. One hand now is all that is needing." (AGOT, Arya II)

But all he teaches her is forgotten with live steel in her hand. And her first kill is a child like herself.

Everything Syrio Forel had ever taught her vanished in a heartbeat. In that instant of sudden terror, the only lesson Arya could remember was the one Jon Snow had given her, the very first.

She stuck him with the pointy end, driving the blade upward with a wild, hysterical strength.

Needle went through his leather jerkin and the white flesh of his belly and came out between his shoulder blades. The boy dropped the pitchfork and made a soft noise, something between a gasp and a sigh. His hands closed around the blade. "Oh, gods," he moaned, as his undertunic began to redden. "Take it out." 

When she took it out, he died.

The horses were screaming. Arya stood over the body, still and frightened in the face of death. Blood had gushed from the boy's mouth as he collapsed, and more was seeping from the slit in his belly, pooling beneath his body. His palms were cut where he'd grabbed at the blade. She backed away slowly, Needle red in her hand. She had to get away, someplace far from here, someplace safe away from the stableboy's accusing eyes. (AGOT, Arya IV)

His belly and his shoulder blades, is it?

This time she did not hesitate. "Dareon is dead. The black singer who was sleeping at the Happy Port. 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."  (AFFC, Cat of the Canals)

His throat, is it?

… away, he meant to say. When Wick Whittlestick slashed at his throat, the word turned into a grunt. Jon twisted from the knife, just enough so it barely grazed his skin. He cut me. When he put his hand to the side of his neck, blood welled between his fingers. "Why?" 

"For the Watch." Wick slashed at him again. This time Jon caught his wrist and bent his arm back until he dropped the dagger. The gangling steward backed away, his hands upraised as if to say, Not me, it was not me. Men were screaming. Jon reached for Longclaw, but his fingers had grown stiff and clumsy. Somehow he could not seem to get the sword free of its scabbard.

Then Bowen Marsh stood there before him, tears running down his cheeks. "For the Watch." He punched Jon in the belly. When he pulled his hand away, the dagger stayed where he had buried it.

Jon fell to his knees. He found the dagger's hilt and wrenched it free. In the cold night air the wound was smoking. "Ghost," he whispered. Pain washed over him. Stick them with the pointy end. When the third dagger took him between the shoulder blades, he gave a grunt and fell face-first into the snow. He never felt the fourth knife. Only the cold … (ADWD, Jon XIII)

Needle is an incredibly important object to Arya, it represents home to her, and her own identity. 

But at the same time, it is central in moments of intense trauma and the end of her childhood and fuel for significant moral ambiguity. None of the kills she makes with Needle are “clean”. 

Jon handed her something she was not yet equipped to handle. The same way Bran has a power he is in no way equipped to handle. The same way Dany has a power she is not equipped to handle. There are degrees to this, of course, but in each of these cases, their source of comfort is also a source of moral degradation. 

This is probably not a popular take. But Arya got Needle too early, before she was ready to carry a blade, and it will be reflected in how her story with it will be resolved. It already is reflected in how her kills are mirrored in Jon’s own stabbing.

[theprophesiedprincess]

Hogwarts Legacy: The Prophesied Princess - Chapter 1 - Part 1

Hogwarts Legacy Fanfic: Female OC, takes place after events of the game. Fantasy/ destiny plot with a lot of romance later! I am hoping to post on A03 once I get an invite:

Next Part

On the last day of summer holiday before her sixth year at the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, Seraenya Maerose contemplated the nature of Vossgarian Whistle Birds. There were two types of Whistle Birds that inhabited the tropical lagoons of Vossgaria, where Seraenya had spent the entirety of her summer holiday. The Sitting Whistle Bird was a subtle type, luring its prey with bait and sharing small portions of fish with the other creatures of the lagoon. The Sitting Whistle Bird had no qualms with patience, so generously feeding the other inhabitants in the lagoon with carefully collected bait – sometimes doing so for weeks – until a larger, unsuspecting creature finds its way to the trap and becomes a target for the Sitting Whistle Bird's advance. The Flying Whistle Bird, though, was the unforgiving type. Circling high above the mossy lagoons, the Flying Whistle Bird advances only when provoked by the siren call of the Sitting Whistle Bird, diving down swiftly to steal the largest prey. Today, Seraenya Maerose lounged on the balcony of the manse observing the Sitting Whistle Birds luring below as she had so many times over the summer days. Seraenya enjoyed the smell of salt carried over by the warm ocean breeze. She enjoyed the way that the frosting on the lemon cakes that Syrio's handmaids served melted into a sweet glaze when she ate them out under the sun.

Syrio Tymasis had been very kind to Seraenya. He had taken the orphan girl into his lavish home and given her the most luxurious care, not only over the last three summer months, but for the entire year before she had been admitted into the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had never asked for anything in return. Still, Seraenya had her reservations. At sixteen, she was a girl no longer. She knew that the generosity of men like Syrio did not come without promises and manipulations; a lesson she learned far earlier than she should have. Seraenya sighed. These were worries for another day. Besides, only tomorrow she would be off on her way to Hogwarts, and she would be leaving Syrio and his lavish estate behind her for the next nine months. This thought excited Seraenya, as her first year at the school had been the most amazing of her life. She recalled the ancient and magical halls of the Hogwarts castle, the joy she felt as she uncovered new skills in magical lessons, and the love of friends that she had never felt before.

"The Majester Syrio has requested your presence in the gardens, my lady", said a young serving girl employed in Syrio's manse.

Next Part

[thelustybraavosimaid]

The kindly man came for her halfway through the night.

His voice was nothing but the song of silence when she had asked him where they were going. Look with your eyes, Syrio had told her, a thousand years ago, back when she was freely Arya Stark. Find the answer yourself. The words were a whisper in her ear, as if he had spoke them into existence from beyond the grave.

So she saw.

They were descending. Slowly had they begun approaching the staircase, and the darkness loomed and stretched into the hallway with arms of ominous promise. We're going into the third cellar, she thought in surprise, still listening to her bare feet slapping lightly against the cold stone floor. Only priests are allowed here. Arya shivered; whether from the chill that settled in the bones of the city or fear and anticipation, she could not say. Gooseprickles pimpled her pale arms.

As the two continued further down, Arya noticed the candlelight shining in some open rooms, throwing the silhouettes of acolytes still awake and reading from heavy tomes. Others were kneeling and praying in silence, lips moving as if they were giving a private service. One acolyte, their eyes crusted over with the thick white film of blindness, followed the scent of a burned out candle to relight it. The scuff of their soft slippers was noisy in the silence. She tore her gaze away to focus.

Arya surmised that this was to be a test of some sort, but it was hard to prepare when she was not sure of the assignment. She asked what she was to do as the kindly man led her to a room she hadn't seen before, dark even before she felt the slip of silk fold over her eyes. He did not respond, only gently tied the strip around her face and thrust a heavy cup into her hands. Whatever was in it smelled worse than rotting flesh and she found it hard not to retch.

"Drink," he finally said. She did.

The taste of the viscous liquid was horrendous, even worse than bitter milk or the drink that burned her tongue. This tasted of...something else. This was bitter, but as quickly as it came, the bitterness was replaced with honey and tart lemon and cream, heart's blood and raw meat the night wolf supped every night, suckled snowmelt and life. It tasted of home and hearth and comfort, and before she knew it the drink was gone. The cup fell to the floor with a hearty clack, a great echo in the darkness.

"What now?" Arya asked, but the kindly man did not deign to answer.

The heavy click of the door signified his desertion, the sound reverberating in the vast room.

She felt around for something, anything. Air awaited her touch. She crept forward still.

"Who are you, child?" The voice was not the kindly man's, at least not as she remembered. She stood straight as she replied, "no one." That was not who she was, not truly. She knew this deep in her hole-heart, but the answer she wanted to give was certainly not one he wanted to hear.

He caught her deception anyway, as he always had. A burst of whispers erupted at the reply, a cacaphony that cut.

You lie, Arya of House Stark, the voices said, buzzing in her head, in her ears, against her skin. Lie, lie, lie, lie, lie.

They were said in Braavosi, in High Valyrian, in Pentoshi and Lysene, before switching to Common. Only then had she heard them in familiar voices, each more disappointed than the last: with Lommy and Gendry and Hot Pie, Old Nan and Robb and her lady mother and lord father. She chewed her lip until she tore a thin layer of skin away, thankful that the kindly man was not in the room to slap her for the act.

Arya continued forward, straining to block out the words. The further she progressed, the deeper her toes sunk into soft material, and the smell of decay was stronger in her nose. Old, hollow bones cracked beneath her weight, and the mush of rotting plant leaves cushioned her steps, absorbing the sound of her gait. The smell was familiar now, earthen deterioration like the godswood at Winterfell.

She reached out, feeling, until her digits brushed against a material that felt suspiciously like bark. Taking a deep breath, she spread her fingers and passed her hand on the wood. There's something... familiar about this, she thought, still touching. It felt alive like it had a pair of eyes of its own, and she saw. It didn't matter that the slip of silk felt as if it tried to join itself with her flesh, she saw.

She saw herself as if she were looking through a glass, teaching herself how to steel her face. She looked silly, with her puffed and pinkened cheeks and eyebrows lifted high, her nostrils flared.

See how long you can hold that, she remembered the kindly man telling her. Eyes, nostrils, cheeks, ears, lips, learn to rule them all.

He appeared like a wraith when he stood beside her, cowled in his black-and-white robes. Then he asked, "and who are you, girl child?"

"No one," she replied with a stubborn tilt as she relaxed her face. Grey met grey, liquid silver in the light of fire. This time he seemed half-satisfied, even when he sighed and told her the eater of grave worms was still an abysmal liar.

The reflection began to warble until she faded to a whisper of nothing and something—no, someone—appeared. As the figure began to come into focus, Arya realised it was a man. He was dressed shoulder to toe in black, kneeling. He was holding a torch, blood-red leaves falling around him like thick snowflakes. The wind blew through the copse of trees, threading invisible fingers through the man's hair. Dark, like hers, though his was long and streaming behind his shoulders.

Then he rose his head, and stood unbent until his gaze found hers. Time slowed to a crawl, and longing coiled in her chest, stole the very breath from her lungs.

Opposite her stood Jon Snow, and so began the test.

[waitingforwinterwinds]

Game of Thrones - 65 ARYA V (pages 692-704)

Arya continues to do her best on the streets of King's Landing, until Joffrey feels he absolutely has to prove he is Westeros's Biggest Dickhead, by executing her father.

-

A man was pushing a load of tarts by on a two-wheeled cart; the smells sang of blueberries and lemons and apricots. Her stomach made a hollow rumbly noise. "Could I have one?" she heard herself say. "A lemon, or... or any kind."

🍋=🥛 Also, the cart description made me think of New York Street Vendors, so the Tart Vendor now has a New York accent in my head. Just inexplicably despite everything, he has an accent. ... "-theiving little gutter rats, that they do." Okay well now he's some kind of cockney.

One thing all the stories agreed on: King Robert was dead. The bells in the seven towers of the Great Sept of Baelor had tolled for a day and a night, the thunder of their grief rolling across the city in a bronze tide. They only rang the bells like that for the death of a king, a tanner's boy told Arya.

ooohhh, now that's some imagery. It's all about the metaphor~

Arya would have given anything for a cup of milk and a lemon cake, but the brown wasn't so bad.

🍋=🥛 *whispers* You're doing amazing sweetie

She is though, even if she's getting sick of pigeons, or sick from (raw) pigeons, she's found a source of food, (and tradable food,) and she's managing to find places to sleep and avoid the guards.

The wooden sword she carried in her left hand, out where everybody could see it, to scare off robbers, but there were men in the pot-shops who wouldn't have been scared off if she'd had a battle-axe. It was enough to make her lose her taste for pigeon and stale bread. Often as not, she went to bed hungry rather than risk the stares.

Mmm, a tricky situation. Food or safety. Not an easy choice, but if she's not in direct danger of starving to death, safety is obviously the more important choice.

When she saw the guardsmen on the third pier, in grey woolen cloaks trimmed with white satin, her heart almost stopped in her chest. The sight of Winterfell's colors brought tears to her eye. ... Her eyes her eyes her eyes, why did...? Look with your eyes, she heard Syrio's whisper. Arya looked. She knew all of her father's men. The three in the grey cloaks were strangers. ... It was all Arya could do not to bolt and run, but she knew that if she did, they would be after her at once. She made herself walk closer. They were looking for a girl, but he thought she was a boy. She'd be a boy then. "Want to buy a pigeon?" She showed them the dead bird.

Nat 20 on Perception and Deception!!! YAS!!

"Make way!" someone shouted from the cross street. "Make way for my lords of Redwyne!" It was all Arya could do to get out of the way before they ran her down, four guardsmen on huge horses, pounding past at a gallop.

Oh my gosh, do you all realise that Arya very nearly died on that street, unknown, unknowable. She could have died and no one would have ever known what had happened. The guardsmen wouldn't have stopped, why would they, it was just some street urchin, so no one to worry about (in their opinion), and who from the streets would have recognised her, or cared to, while they were stripping her corpse/mangled remains?

"- the King's Hand, Lord Stark. They're carrying him up to Baelor's Sept." ... "Fool! They ain't neither going to lop him. Since when do they knick traitors on the steps of the Great Sept?"

Joffrey!? Profane a holy place with murder? *scoffs* Of course he would.

Her broken thumbnail left smears of blood on the painted marble, but she made it up, and wedged herself in between the king's feet. That was when she saw her father. Lord Eddard stood on the High Septon's pulpit outside the doors of the sept, supported by two of the gold cloaks.

Oh that's an interesting choice. In the show, Ned saw Arya on the statue and got word to Yoren before he was taken up to the 'stage,' but OG timeline, he never would have had the chance. That kind of takes Yoren's actions and initiative in helping Arya and gives them to Ned's total tally points.

...Is that on my list of drinking game things? One person's advice or actions being taken and given to a 'main character'? I think it is? *shrugs* 🥛

Also, the eleventh hour foreshadow of Arya's blood on the statue of the 'septon king' right before her father's blood on the sept stairs. Ooph.

Arya scowled, wondering what her sister was doing here, why she was looking so happy.

Because she thinks she's managed to save your father's life and has a plan to get him home in the future, completely unaware that a dickhead is about to flex his newfound supreme ruler powers with a surprise beheading.

The plaza was beginning to empty. The press dissolved around them as people drifted back to their lives. But Arya's life was gone. Numb, she trailed along beside... Yoren, yes, his name is Yoren. She did not recall him finding Needle, until he handed the sword back to her.

Yoren is the chapter MVP, and Arya is almost certainly in shock right now. Alas, there is apparently very little time for that, but seriously Yoren? There was time to warn her before the surprise haircut.

[fireismine]

ARYA STARK APPRECIATION MONTH 2022

Day 7: Personality Traits and Underrated Qualities

PROTECTIVE

She would make much better time on her own, Arya knew, but she could not leave them. They were her pack, her friends, the only living friends that remained to her, and if not for her they would still be safe at Harrenhal, Gendry sweating at his forge and Hot Pie in the kitchens. If the Mummers catch us, I'll tell them that I'm Ned Stark's daughter and sister to the King in the North. I'll command them to take me to my brother, and to do no harm to Hot Pie and Gendry. They might not believe her, though, and even if they did . . . Lord Bolton was her brother's bannerman, but he frightened her all the same. I won't let them take us, she vowed silently, reaching back over her shoulder to touch the hilt of the sword that Gendry had stolen for her. I won't. - Arya I, A Storm of Swords

CUNNING

"Speak the name, and death will come. On the morrow, at the turn of the moon, a year from this day, it will come. A man does not fly like a bird, but one foot moves and then another and one day a man is there, and a king dies." He knelt beside her, so they were face-to-face. "A girl whispers if she fears to speak aloud. Whisper it now. Is it Joffrey?" Arya put her lips to his ear. "It's Jaqen H'ghar." Even in the burning barn, with walls of flame towering all around and him in chains, he had not seemed so distraught as he did now. "A girl . . . she makes a jest." - Arya IX, A Clash of Kings

OBSERVANT

Look with your eyes, she heard Syrio whisper. Arya looked. She knew all of her father's men. The three in the grey cloaks were strangers. "You," the one walking rounds called out. "What do you want here, boy?" The other two looked up from their dice. - Arya V, A Game of Thrones

OUTGOING

Sansa knew all about the sorts of people Arya liked to talk to: squires and grooms and serving girls, old men and naked children, rough-spoken freeriders of uncertain birth. Arya would make friends with anybody. This Mycah was the worst; a butcher's boy, thirteen and wild, he slept in the meat wagon and smelled of the slaughtering block. Just the sight of him was enough to make Sansa feel sick, but Arya seemed to prefer his company to hers. - Sansa I, A Game of Thrones

HARD-WORKING

Cat always stank of brine and fish by the time they pushed off for home again. She had grown so used to it that she hardly even smelled it anymore. She did not mind the work. When her muscles ached from lifting, or her back got sore from the weight of a cask, she told herself that she was getting stronger. - Cat of the Canals, A Feast for Crows

ASTUTE

Polliver was not so bad as some of the others, even though he'd stolen Needle. The night she was caught, the Lannister men had been nameless strangers with faces as alike as their nasal helms, but she'd come to know them all. You had to know who was lazy and who was cruel, who was smart and who was stupid. You had to learn that even though the one they called Shitmouth had the foulest tongue she'd ever heard, he'd give you an extra piece of bread if you asked, while jolly old Chiswyck and soft-spoken Raff would just give you the back of their hand. - Arya VI, A Clash of Kings

ADEPT

Her knuckles brushed the steel the first time she filled the cup, burning her so badly she got blisters. Arya had to bite her lip to keep from screaming. The Hound used the stick for the same purpose, clamping it between his teeth as she poured. She did the gash in his thigh first, then the shallower cut on the back of his neck. Sandor coiled his right hand into a fist and beat against the ground when she did his leg. When it came to his neck, he bit the stick so hard it broke, and she had to find him a new one. She could see the terror in his eyes. "Turn your head." She trickled the wine down over the raw red flesh where his ear had been, and fingers of brown blood and red wine crept over his jaw. He did scream then, despite the stick. Then he passed out from the pain. Arya figured the rest out by herself. She fished the strips they'd made of the squire's cloak out of the bottom of the helm and used them to bind the cuts. When she came to his ear, she had to wrap up half his head to stop the bleeding. By then dusk was settling over the Trident. She let the horses graze, then hobbled them for the night and made herself as comfortable as she could in a niche between two rocks. The fire burned a while and died. Arya watched the moon through the branches overhead. - Arya XIII, A Storm of Swords

NATURAL LEADER

Gendry and Hot Pie did not question her choice. She had the map, after all, and Hot Pie seemed almost as terrified of her as of the men who might be coming after them. He had seen the guard she'd killed. It's better if he's scared of me, she told herself. That way he'll do like I say, instead of something stupid. - Arya I, A Storm of Swords

PERSEVERING

"Puff up your cheeks." She did. "Lift your eyebrows. No, higher." She did that too. "Good. See how long you can hold that. It will not be long. Try it again on the morrow. You will find a Myrish mirror in the vaults. Train before it for an hour every day. Eyes, nostrils, cheeks, ears, lips, learn to rule them all." He cupped her chin. "Who are you?" "No one." "A lie. A sad little lie, child." She found the Myrish mirror the next day, and every morn and every night she sat before it with a candle on each side of her, making faces. Rule your face, she told herself, and you can lie. - Arya II, A Feast for Crows

GENEROUS

Arya was a skilled climber and a fast picker, and she liked to go off by herself. One day she came across a rabbit, purely by happenstance. It was brown and fat, with long ears and a twitchy nose. Rabbits ran faster than cats, but they couldn't climb trees half so well. She whacked it with her stick and grabbed it by its ears, and Yoren stewed it with some mushrooms and wild onions. Arya was given a whole leg, since it was her rabbit. She shared it with Gendry. The rest of them each got a spoonful, even the three in manacles. Jaqen H'ghar thanked her politely for the treat, and Biter licked the grease off his dirty fingers with a blissful look, but Rorge, the noseless one, only laughed and said, "There's a hunter now. Lumpyface Lumpyhead Rabbitkiller." - Arya III, A Clash of Kings

[silverflameataraxia]

One little Arya section and these are all the parts that break my heart.

Whatever names Harren the Black had meant to give his towers were long forgotten. They were called the Tower of Dread, the Widow's Tower, the Wailing Tower, the Tower of Ghosts, and Kingspyre Tower. Arya slept in a shallow niche in the cavernous vaults beneath the Wailing Tower, on a bed of straw. She had water to wash in whenever she liked, a chunk of soap. The work was hard, but no harder than walking miles every day. Weasel did not need to find worms and bugs to eat, as Arry had; there was bread every day, and barley stews with bits of carrot and turnip, and once a fortnight even a bite of meat.

Gendry had been sent to the forge; Arya seldom saw him. As for those she served with, she did not even want to know their names. That only made it hurt worse when they died. Most of them were older than she was and content to let her alone.

Arya had not known her brother was so near. Riverrun was much closer than Winterfell, though she was not certain where it lay in relation to Harrenhal. I could find out somehow, I know I could, if only I could get away. When she thought of seeing Robb's face again Arya had to bite her lip. And I want to see Jon too, and Bran and Rickon, and Mother. Even Sansa...I'll kiss her and beg her pardons like a proper lady, she'll like that.

She spent the rest of the day scrubbing steps inside the Wailing Tower. By evenfall her hands were raw and bleeding and her arms so sore they trembled when she lugged the pail back to the cellar. Too tired even for food, Arya begged Weese's pardons and crawled into her straw to sleep. "Weese," she yawned. "Dunsen,  Chiswyck, Polliver, Raff the Sweetling. The Tickler and the Hound. Ser Gregor, Ser Amory, Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn, King Joffrey, Queen Cersei." She thought she might add three more names to her prayer, but she was too tired to decide tonight.

She thought of him again the next morning, when lack of sleep made her yawn. "Weasel," Weese purred, "next time I see that mouth droop open, I'll pull out your tongue and feed it to my bitch." He twisted her ear between his fingers to make certain she'd heard, and told her to get back to those steps, he wanted them clean down to the third landing by nightfall.

The men all roared, none louder than Chiswyck himself, who laughed so hard at his own story that snot dribbled from his nose down into his scraggy grey beard. Arya stood in the shadows of the stairwell and watched him. She crept back down to the cellars without saying a word. When Weese found that she hadn't asked about the clothes, he yanked down her breeches and caned her until blood ran down her thighs, but Arya closed her eyes and thought of all the sayings Syrio had taught her, so she scarcely felt it.

It wasn't Harren, Arya wanted to say, it was me. She had killed Chiswyck with a whisper, and she would kill two more before she was through. I'm the ghost in Harrenhal, she thought. And that night, there was one less name to hate.

- ACoK, Arya VII

[goodqueenaly]

Follow up on the Jaehaerys/Saera question: how would you have written the scenario more sympathetically for both points of view? I mean was there a way for Jaehaerys to say "sleeping with three different men was wrong and I'm going to punish you for it" without going all "You're a whore and you're dead to me"? What kind of punishment would Saera receive? Can Jaehaerys' paternalistic-conservative point of view even be presented sympathetically to a modern audience?

I think the question had to come down to what GRRM wanted out of the characters and this storyline.

Westeros is a patriarchal, sexist society; that's no surprise to any reader of the books. That societal context means that virtually any father, even one who otherwise appears to love his daughter, is subject to the accompanying biases and prejudices about the lives of Westerosi women. Ned Stark hired Syrio Forel to train Arya for her sake and literally put his own neck on the line to save Sansa's life, and also told his younger daughter that her future was limited to marrying an aristocratic man and having his children. Selwyn Tarth allowed the highly unorthodox choice of Brienne to train as a warrior with his own master-at-arms, and also arranged a betrothal for her to a man almost 50 years older than she was when she was 16 (which was broken by Brienne's actions, not Selwyn's). Oberyn Martell raised his daughters to be strong-willed warriors, and also casually smacked the mother of his eldest child for the nerve to have talked back to him for his wanting to take her own child from her. It's not that GRRM can't write a father figure to be likable, sympathetic, or even just complicated in the context of this universe; any reader can acknowledge that Westeros is a different world from our own where loving parenting is inherently subject to these prejudices.

And it's not that Jaehaerys necessarily had to be a sympathetic character in this drama, either. I don't think I'm alone in saying that Randyll Tarly is not a sympathetic character, and based on the same problems we see Jaehaerys facing with Saera. Randyll vehemently, violently believes, and makes sure everyone knows he believes, that women are weaker than men, belong in the home as dutiful daughters or obedient wives and mothers under the watchful eyes of fathers or husbands, and deserve no less than rape if they choose to live outside that expectation. Consequently, interactions with Randyll are not about making Tarly look sympathetic but rather exploring how those beliefs - which, importantly, are almost never pushed back on or even commented upon by those around him - negatively affect people like Brienne. We see, through being in Brienne's head as she interacts with Tarly, how truly abusive and damaging this kind of attitude is toward women. GRRM can (in terms of both ability and narrative interest) write unsympathetic characters who embody negative values of their societies; the question is what those characters bring to the story.

However, I don't think GRRM succeeded at either portrayal with Jaehaerys. Did Jaehaerys love Saera? Well, while he might have been amused by her as a child, indulging virtually any whim she had, he also ignored blatant problems about her in childhood; more to the point, his extremely violent reaction to finding out about her sexual experiences - denouncing her multiple times as a "whore", murdering her most prominent lover in front of her prison window while she was forced to watch, ordering her subjected to years of “harsh discipline” and silence with the silent sisters - for me argues against the idea that this is a father who had any love for his child. (Indeed, when even the hypocritical asshole Merrett Frey had a less extreme reaction to learning his own daughter had had sex with multiple men, Jaehaerys comes off as quite the terrible father.) Yet are we supposed to see Jaehaerys as a hatable Randyll Tarly-esque violent misogynist? Well, the narrative makes sure to consistently depict Saera as a negative character - manipulative, demanding, eager to use her charm and cleverness to get what she wanted, with no one truly liking her - so Jaehaerys' punishment is portrayed more like Saera got what was coming to her for a lifetime of bad behavior instead of Jaehaerys damning Saera for simply having sex. Jaehaerys is the author's favorite, the best of the Targaryen kings, who even has his own birthday; in turn, it's very difficult for me to believe that GRRM wants me to see him as a bad person, even when GRRM clearly depicts him doing something so terrible.

I don't love the idea of centering the story of yet another female character in F&B on sex. I would rather that not have been the case with Saera. But if GRRM were so very determined to do his own version of I, Claudius here, then I wish he had actually had an idea of what he was trying to get at (other than simply repeating the beats of that story). If this drama had been depicted like Cersei's story in ADWD, I think that might have been interesting. If Jaehaerys had been portrayed as a loving father wrestling with the heavy question of what to do with his daughter in the context of Westerosi patriarchy, I think that might have been interesting. If this book (or even part of this book) were, say, the secret memoirs of Princess Maegelle aiming to depict her father not as the great and lauded patriarch of Westeros but as a sexist, thin-skinned man (and so portrayed this drama - from which she would of course have been physically distant, but if GRRM could have Gyldayn know about it I think he could have had Maegelle know about it too - in that context), I think that could have been interesting. I'm just spitballing ideas here (and obviously GRRM is laughing all the way to the bank with the success of F&B as written), but I think there were other ways to write this story.

[chispas-and-broken-bindings]

Taking another look at Tyrion and Arya’s first encounters with the dragon skulls in the Red Keep. 

Tyrion: 

Tyrion had a morbid fascination with dragons. When he had first come to King's Landing for his sister's wedding to Robert Baratheon, he had made it a point to seek out the dragon skulls that had hung on the walls of Targaryen's throne room. King Robert had replaced them with banners and tapestries, but Tyrion had persisted until he found the skulls in the dank cellar where they had been stored.

He had expected to find them impressive, perhaps even frightening. He had not thought to find them beautiful. Yet they were. As black as onyx, polished smooth, so the bone seemed to shimmer in the light of his torch. They liked the fire, he sensed. He'd thrust the torch into the mouth of one of the larger skulls and made the shadows leap and dance on the wall behind him. The teeth were long, curving knives of black diamond. The flame of the torch was nothing to them; they had bathed in the heat of far greater fires. When he had moved away, Tyrion could have sworn that the beast's empty eye sockets had watched him go.

---

Tyrion stood in that dank cellar for a long time, staring at Balerion's huge, empty-eyed skull until his torch burned low, trying to grasp the size of the living animal, to imagine how it must have looked when it spread its great black wings and swept across the skies, breathing fire.

Arya: 

By the time she had reached eighty-seven, the room had begun to lighten as her eyes adjusted to the blackness. Slowly the shapes around her took on form. Huge empty eyes stared at her hungrily through the gloom, and dimly she saw the jagged shadows of long teeth. She had lost the count. She closed her eyes and bit her lip and sent the fear away. When she looked again, the monsters would be gone. Would never have been. She pretended that Syrio was beside her in the dark, whispering in her ear. Calm as still water, she told herself. Strong as a bear. Fierce as a wolverine. She opened her eyes again.

The monsters were still there, but the fear was gone.

Arya got to her feet, moving warily. The heads were all around her. She touched one, curious, wondering if it was real. Her fingertips brushed a massive jaw. It felt real enough. The bone was smooth beneath her hand, cold and hard to the touch. She ran her fingers down a tooth, black and sharp, a dagger made of darkness. It made her shiver.

"It's dead," she said aloud. "It's just a skull, it can't hurt me." Yet somehow the monster seemed to know she was there. She could feel its empty eyes watching her through the gloom, and there was something in that dim, cavernous room that did not love her. She edged away from the skull and backed into a second, larger than the first. For an instant she could feel its teeth digging into her shoulder, as if it wanted a bite of her flesh. Arya whirled, felt leather catch and tear as a huge fang nipped at her jerkin, and then she was running. Another skull loomed ahead, the biggest monster of all, but Arya did not even slow. She leapt over a ridge of black teeth as tall as swords, dashed through hungry jaws, and threw herself against the door.

bonus (Arya’s second encounter): 

"Dragons," she whispered. She slid Needle out from under her cloak. The slender blade seemed very small and the dragons very big, yet somehow Arya felt better with steel in her hand.

But, please go on...tell me again, how Arya and Dany are going to be besties. 

[the-king-andthe-lionheart]

Arya Stark Also Loves Lemons?

"Bring me the face," said the kindly man. The waif made no answer, but she could hear her slippers whispering over the stone floor. To the girl he said, "Drink this," and pressed a cup into her hand. She drank it down at once. It was very tart, like biting into a lemon. A thousand years ago, she had known a girl who loved lemon cakes. No, that was not me, that was only Arya. – The Ugly Little Girl ADWD

This is a largely misinterpreted quote of Arya’s in this fandom.  I’ve quickly addressed this before, but I think I need to make a proper post about this to prove that this quote is not about Sansa, it’s about ARYA, as in Arya is referring to herself, just like the last sentence of that quote explicitly tells us.  

First off, no character has a monopoly on liking or loving lemons in this story, and secondly, just because Arya has never said “I love lemons/lemoncakes!” doesn’t mean she doesn’t.  And when you pay attention you’ll notice that Arya does seem to have a preference for lemon.  Here I’ll provide the quotes:

She tied the pigeon to her belt and started down the street. A man was pushing a load of tarts by on a two-wheeled cart; the smells sang of blueberries and lemons and apricots. Her stomach made a hollow rumbly noise. "Could I have one?" she heard herself say. "A lemon, or … or any kind." – Arya V AGOT

Here we see that Arya’s first choice is that of lemon, not blueberry, not apricot, but lemon, which subtextually tells us this is her preference.  

Arya would have given anything for a cup of milk and a lemon cake. – Arya V AGOT

So here Arya is living out on the streets for weeks and she longs for a cup of milk and a lemon cake?  To me this also shows a preference for lemons, considering she could have wished and longed for any food she wanted.  

Then we have Sansa trying to entice Arya to join her and the queen with lemon cakes:

"There's going to be lemon cakes and tea," Sansa went on, all adult and reasonable. Lady brushed against her leg. Sansa scratched her ears the way she liked, and Lady sat beside her on her haunches, watching Arya chase Nymeria. "Why would you want to ride a smelly old horse and get all sore and sweaty when you could recline on feather pillows and eat cakes with the queen?" – Sansa I AGOT

"Gods be true, Arya, sometimes you act like such a child," Sansa said. "I'll go by myself then. It will be ever so much nicer that way. Lady and I will eat all the lemon cakes and just have the best time without you." – Sansa I AGOT

Now granted Arya doesn’t mention wanting anything that is lemon after AGOT, but I think we have to remember that Arya was never in a situation or place where she could have indulged on the same type of food she was used to eating in AGOT and pre-series, especially when said food is expensive.  Arya is also practical and she’s not the type to continually sit around wishing for one specific type of food when she is periodically being starved and has to rely on acorn paste and bugs to survive.

I know the above quotes aren’t technically proof, but don’t worry I have more quotes that should convince you.  First I want to bring attention to the fact that once Arya is in Braavos at the HOBAW, specifically in her Cat of the Canal’s chapter, she begins referring to herself as “a/the girl” and not her name:

Braavos was a city made for secrets, a city of fogs and masks and whispers.  It’s very existence had been a secret for a century, the girl had learned […] – Cat of the Canals AFFC

“She said ‘I’ll take three cockles,’ and ‘Do you have some hot sauce, little one?’” the girl had answered. – Cat of the Canals AFFC

“No one beat me.” The girl crawled on all fours until she found her stick, then sprang back to her feet, bruised and dirty. – The Blind Girl ADWD

But mainly my real, concrete evidence comes in here, because if you pay attention to Arya’s chapters you find a pattern to how she speaks and refers to herself and her past self in AFFC and ADWD.  She refers to Arya separately from herself and in past tense. Now when I first read the books I was already an Arya fan, so I inevitably paid more attention to her POV’s, so when I came across the “A thousand years ago, she had known a girl who loved lemon cakes. No, that was not me, that was only Arya” quote, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was about Arya, that Arya was referring to herself.  So imagine my surprise when the vast majority of online fandom links this quote to Sansa.  If you still aren’t convinced, just read these quotes:

Cats liked the smell of Cat.  Some days she would have a dozen trailing after her before the sun went down.  From time to time the girl would throw an oyster at them and watch to see who came away with it.  The bigger toms would seldom win, she noticed; oft as not, the prize went to some smaller, quicker animal, thin and mean and hungry.  Like me, she told herself.  Her favorite was a scrawny old tom with a chewed ear who reminded her of a cat that she’d once chased all around the Red Keep. No, that was some other girl, not me. – Cat of the Canals AFFC

Once she almost fell headlong down the steps, but Syrio Forel had taught her balance in another lifetime, when she was the girl called Arya, and somehow she recovered and caught herself in time. – The Blind Girl ADWD

Sleep did not come easily that night.  Tangled in her blankets, she twisted this way and that in the cold dark room, but whichever way she turned, she saw the faces.  They have no eyes, but they can see me.  She saw her father’s face upon the wall.  Beside him hung her lady mother, and below them her three brothers all in a row.  No. That was some other girl.  I am no one, and my only brothers wear robes of black and white. – The Ugly Little Girl ADWD

So after reading these quotes and seeing how similar they are to the quote this meta is about, you can’t honestly believe that that quote is about Sansa?  And this isn’t anything against Sansa, this is just me trying to set the record straight that Arya was talking about herself.  

[istumpysk]

Operation Stumpy Re-Read

AGOT: Arya III (Chapter 32)

The one-eared black tom arched his back and hissed at her.    

They keep telling me this is foreshadowing a future relationship with someone, and I keep laughing.

+.+

Catching cats was hard. Her hands were covered with half-healed scratches, and both knees were scabbed over where she had scraped them raw in tumbles. At first even the cook's huge fat kitchen cat had been able to elude her, but Syrio had kept her at it day and night. When she'd run to him with her hands bleeding, he had said, "So slow? Be quicker, girl. Your enemies will give you more than scratches." He had dabbed her wounds with Myrish fire, which burned so bad she had had to bite her lip to keep from screaming. Then he sent her out after more cats.    

I’m sure this has been observed a thousand times before, but it just occurred to me that “catching cats” is potentially alluding to Arya catching / stopping Cat (Lady S).

+.+

The Red Keep was full of cats: lazy old cats dozing in the sun, cold-eyed mousers twitching their tails, quick little kittens with claws like needles, ladies' cats all combed and trusting, ragged shadows prowling the midden heaps. One by one Arya had chased them down and snatched them up and brought them proudly to Syrio Forel … all but this one, this one-eared black devil of a tomcat.

I’m sure each of those represents a specific enemy, but I’m too lazy to figure out which ones. 

“Black devil” brings someone to mind.

+.+

They don't know me, Arya realized. They don't even know I'm a girl.

x

Quickly she lowered her head and dropped to one knee. Maybe they wouldn't recognize her.

Arya already embracing being no one.

+.+

"Who do you belong to, boy?" the septa demanded. "Answer me. What's wrong with you, are you mute?"    

A mute child, roaming the Red Keep. Arya’s a little bird!

+.+

When they had first come to King's Landing, she used to have bad dreams about getting lost in the castle. Father said the Red Keep was smaller than Winterfell, but in her dreams it had been immense, an endless stone maze with walls that seemed to shift and change behind her. She would find herself wandering down gloomy halls past faded tapestries, descending endless circular stairs, darting through courtyards or over bridges, her shouts echoing unanswered. In some of the rooms the red stone walls would seem to drip blood, and nowhere could she find a window. Sometimes she would hear her father's voice, but always from a long way off, and no matter how hard she ran after it, it would grow fainter and fainter, until it faded to nothing and Arya was alone in the dark.

Similar to Jon’s nightmare.

+.+

Yet somehow the monster seemed to know she was there. She could feel its empty eyes watching her through the gloom, and there was something in that dim, cavernous room that did not love her. She edged away from the skull and backed into a second, larger than the first. For an instant she could feel its teeth digging into her shoulder, as if it wanted a bite of her flesh. Arya whirled, felt leather catch and tear as a huge fang nipped at her jerkin, and then she was running. Another skull loomed ahead, the biggest monster of all, but Arya did not even slow. She leapt over a ridge of black teeth as tall as swords, dashed through hungry jaws, and threw herself against the door.    

Are you going to kill a dragon, Arya? Pls?

+.+

She wiggled her fingers in front of her face, felt the air move, saw nothing. She was blind.

+.+

She could hear their voices, echoing up the shaft.                

 "… found one bastard," one said. "The rest will come soon. A day, two days, a fortnight …"

Ha! Varys being spied on by a little kid. You got to love it.

+.+

"The gods alone know," the first voice said. Arya could see a wisp of grey smoke drifting up off the torch, writhing like a snake as it rose. 

Spider, snake -- same thing.

+.+

"If one Hand can die, why not a second?" replied the man with the accent and the forked yellow beard. 

(...)

"Before is not now, and this Hand is not the other," the scarred man said as they stepped out into the hall. 

I shudder at the prospect of Jon Arryn being more incompetent than Ned.

+.+

"Perhaps so," the forked beard replied, pausing to catch his breath after the long climb. "Nonetheless, we must have time. The princess is with child. The khal will not bestir himself until his son is born. You know how they are, these savages."   

(...)

"If he does not bestir himself soon, it may be too late," the stout man in the steel cap said. "This is no longer a game for two players, if ever it was. Stannis Baratheon and Lysa Arryn have fled beyond my reach, and the whispers say they are gathering swords around them. The Knight of Flowers writes Highgarden, urging his lord father to send his sister to court. The girl is a maid of fourteen, sweet and beautiful and tractable, and Lord Renly and Ser Loras intend that Robert should bed her, wed her, and make a new queen. Littlefinger … the gods only know what game Littlefinger is playing. Yet Lord Stark's the one who troubles my sleep. He has the bastard, he has the book, and soon enough he'll have the truth. And now his wife has abducted Tyrion Lannister, thanks to Littlefinger's meddling. Lord Tywin will take that for an outrage, and Jaime has a queer affection for the Imp. If the Lannisters move north, that will bring the Tullys in as well. Delay, you say. Make haste, I reply. Even the finest of jugglers cannot keep a hundred balls in the air forever."     

Lots to dig through here, but I’m stuck on a game for two players. Who were the original two players?

I find it hard to believe Renly is dumb enough to think Cersei Lannister would ever be put aside for a new queen. Tywin Lannister would burn the entire realm down.

+.+

"As well bid me stop time. Do you take me for a wizard?"     

x

"You are more than a juggler, old friend. You are a true sorcerer. All I ask is that you work your magic awhile longer." 

I’m sure Varys loves being called a sorcerer, who works magic.

+.+

"So many?" The voices were fainter as the light dwindled ahead of her. "The ones you need are hard to find … so young, to know their letters … perhaps older … not die so easy …"                 

"No. The younger are safer … treat them gently …" 

"… if they kept their tongues …"                 

"… the risk …" 

Ugh.

Did George really email Conleth to let him know Varys is a good person? I swear that guy better work overtime trying to bring down Daenerys, because that assessment does not work for me.

+.+

She found the wall again and followed, blind and lost, pretending that Nymeria was padding along beside her in the darkness. At the end she was knee-deep in foul-smelling water, wishing she could dance upon it as Syrio might have, and wondering if she'd ever see light again. 

You will little one.

+.+

She found herself standing at the mouth of a sewer where it emptied into the river. She stank so badly that she stripped right there, dropping her soiled clothing on the riverbank as she dove into the deep black waters. She swam until she felt clean, and crawled out shivering. Some riders went past along the river road as Arya was washing her clothes, but if they saw the scrawny naked girl scrubbing her rags in the moonlight, they took no notice.     

She starts the adventure catching cats, and ends it by stripping herself, and bathing clean in a river. Interesting.

+.+

"Perchance later you'll tell me how a nine-year-old girl the size of a wet rat managed to disarm you with a broom handle and throw your sword in the river." - Eddard III

x

"You can't keep this sort out," one of the red cloaks said. "Like trying to keep out rats."    

x

The older scowled. "Who's this father of yours, boy, the city ratcatcher?"   

It’s not lost on me that Arya keeps being called a rat. 

+.+

"You realize I had half my guard out searching for you?" Eddard Stark said when they were alone. "Septa Mordane is beside herself with fear. She's in the sept praying for your safe return. Arya, you know you are never to go beyond the castle gates without my leave."     

It’s almost as if not correcting bad behaviour will ensure it keeps happening.

+.+

"I didn't go out the gates," she blurted. "Well, I didn't mean to. I was down in the dungeons, only they turned into this tunnel. It was all dark, and I didn't have a torch or a candle to see by, so I had to follow. I couldn't go back the way I came on account of the monsters. Father, they were talking about killing you! Not the monsters, the two men. They didn't see me, I was being still as stone and quiet as a shadow, but I heard them. They said you had a book and a bastard and if one Hand could die, why not a second? Is that the book? Jon's the bastard, I bet."                 

"Jon? Arya, what are you talking about? Who said this?" 

(...)

"Arya, they were mummers," her father told her. "There must be a dozen troupes in King's Landing right now, come to make some coin off the tourney crowds. I'm not certain what these two were doing in the castle, but perhaps the king has asked for a show."     

Ned, I swear to god.

They said you had a book, and a bastard, and if one Hand could die? That is not remotely unclear.

Take his head, I don’t care.

+.+

"Yoren, as it please m'lord. My pardons for the hour." He bowed to Arya. "And this must be your son. He has your look."         

"I'm a girl," Arya said, exasperated. 

Not for long.

+.+

Quiet as a shadow, light as a feather, quick as a snake, calm as still water, smooth as summer silk, swift as a deer, slippery as an eel, strong as a bear, fierce as a wolverine, still as stone.

I studied this for a minute or two trying to decipher a deeper message, and I’ve concluded it’s pretty straightforward: Arya has a lot of identities.

Final thoughts:

What the hell is this chapter? Every paragraph feels like a coded message.

-> return to menu <-

[agentrouka-blog]

I agree that Ned treated his daughters as more "child like" than his sons. Even then he had a scene with Arya, where he warned her of the danger they were in, winter is coming and the pack survives, all that. He bonded with Arya better than with Sansa. Among all his children, Sansa was the most sheltered one. No wonder, she was so naive!

One of my side-theories is that Sansa’s insistent preoccupation with love and songs, her escapism into fiction and her desire to trust in ideals, is related to Ned’s “bastard” son. 

She is naturally romantically inclined, and she grew up witnessing her parents sharing a loving relationship. And at some point this happened:

He missed the girls too, even Sansa, who never called him anything but "my half brother" since she was old enough to understand what bastard meant. (AGOT, Jon III)

So Sansa, somewhat sheltered, learned about the meaning of bastard in a way that may have been similarly traumatizing to her as it was to Jon. 

That morning he called it first. "I'm Lord of Winterfell!" he cried, as he had a hundred times before. Only this time, this time, Robb had answered, "You can't be Lord of Winterfell, you're bastard-born. My lady mother says you can't ever be the Lord of Winterfell."

I thought I had forgotten that. Jon could taste blood in his mouth, from the blow he'd taken. (ASOS, Jon XII)

Not on the same scale and not for the same reasons, of course.

But the realization that there was a chink in that love, and a very vicious power imbalance between her parents, would have been traumatizing for a Girl who knows her Destiny is to follow in her mother’s footsteps.

THIS is the mindset Cat grew up with:

Many men fathered bastards. Catelyn had grown up with that knowledge. It came as no surprise to her, in the first year of her marriage, to learn that Ned had fathered a child on some girl chance met on campaign. He had a man's needs, after all, and they had spent that year apart, Ned off at war in the south while she remained safe in her father's castle at Riverrun. Her thoughts were more of Robb, the infant at her breast, than of the husband she scarcely knew. He was welcome to whatever solace he might find between battles. And if his seed quickened, she expected he would see to the child's needs. (…) She had come to love her husband with all her heart, but she had never found it in her to love Jon. She might have overlooked a dozen bastards for Ned's sake, so long as they were out of sight. (AGOT, Catelyn II)

The mindset of duty, of sexism, of pragmatism. It is an ugly mindset for romance. There is a contradiction there that cannot be resolved between them because Ned never gives Catelyn a resolution on Jon. He refuses to share information and he refuses to spare her the sight of the son of the “woman he loved” and apparently cannot let go of. So his mother remains and shadow and Jon remains a thorn in her side. Catelyn can not do anything about it. Ned has all the power. This power Imbalance, and Ned’s willingness to take Advantage of it, is anathema to romance. Cat blocks it out, most of the time, because it is how she was taught to live.

But the expectation of infidelity and pragmatism is not the marriage Sansa and Arya witness, the idea of marriage they are shown by their parents. 

He looked at her uncomfortably. “My aunt Allyria says Lady Ashara and your Father fell in love at Harrenhal—” “That’s not so. He loved my lady mother.” “I’m sure he did, my lady, but—” “She was the only one he loved.” “He must have found that bastard under a cabbage leaf, then,” Gendry said behind them. Arya wished she had another crabapple to bounce off his face. “My father had honor,” she said angrily. “And we weren’t talking to you anyway. Why don’t you go back to Stoney Sept and ring that girl’s stupid bells?” (ASOS, Arya VIII)

Arya deflects, she cannot resolve the contradiction there, either. Because it shadowed the marriage of their parents. 

So, Sansa - and this is another beautifully wrought example of trauma shared in the family and wreaking havoc on everyone - grows up with the necessity of accepting and blocking out contradictions. Her father is a good man, so his absolute power and his use of it cannot a bad thing. But Jon clearly causes her mother emotional pain, so this contradiction must be blocked out. Arya does the same, never ever having dwelled on where Jon came from, while still deeply aware of how bastardy is a bad thing.

When Arya had been little, she had been afraid that meant that she was a bastard too. It had been Jon she had gone to in her fear, and Jon who had reassured her.  (AGOT, Arya I)

“Half-brother”, Sansa will always insist on calling Jon, never bastard and never full brother, a compromise, but that is the extent of what we see on that subject. There is zero textual evidence of any animosity between them.

And yet we have Sansa dreaming of romance, of Jonquil and Florian, of Aemon and Naerys, of knightly valor, of true knights. 

She pulled a chair close to the hearth, took down one of her favorite books, and lost herself in the stories of Florian and Jonquil, of Lady Shella and the Rainbow Knight, of valiant Prince Aemon and his doomed love for his brother's queen.  (AGOT, Sansa IV)

This is her coping mechanism with trauma.

Learning about the power imbalance between men and women, between her parents, about her potential future of having to bear humiliations and infidelity from her husband with no recourse, that may well be one of the roots of her “head in the clouds” insistence on romance and songs. It may be one of the roots of her somewhat distant relationship with Ned, too. 

If her life is a song, then her future husband will be a source of truth and of love without abusing the power he is legally bestowed on her.

Of course, starting in his first chapter, Ned proceeds to arrange the opposite for her:

"Gods, Catelyn, Sansa is only eleven," Ned said. "And Joffrey … Joffrey is …"  (…) "Sansa must wed Joffrey, that is clear now, we must give them no grounds to suspect our devotion.” (AGOT, Catelyn II)

He outright hands her over to a family he distrusts, to a future husband he knows is not kind, for pragmatic reasons. He uses his absolute power over her in a very careless way.

I think it is pretty reasonable to assume that Arya’s rejection of the entire Concept may be rooted in the exact same traumatic realization. Unlike Sansa, her Coping mechanism is to back away from the female social role altogether. Ned is equally unhelpful with that until he at last grants her lessons with Syrio Forel. He never has the Chance to make up for his mistakes with Sansa.

Ned and Cat’s marriage, and Sansa and Arya’s reaction to the visible power imbalance is such a big aspect of GRRM’s feminist message in the books. Jon unlearning at least parts of his sexism, his relationship with Arya, his respect for different facets of feminine power, his appreciation of soft power and his failure as an “absolute monarch” when he “kills the boy” as Lord Commander at the Watch, as well as Sansa’s journey examining the feminine social role and power abuse in general, all of that is a dismantling of the Hero and the Lady in oldschool romances. Deconstructing and reconstructing.

They are all being reforged, like Ice, pared down. Oathkeeper goes to Brienne, the true Knight. Widow’s Wail stays behind. 

[she-wolf-of-highgarden]

As someone that likes both Sansa and Arya, what’s your take on Ned’s parenting? I feel like Ned really needed to sit them down together after the trident and explain to them the dangers of the Lannisters as well as drawing a line for acceptable behavior. Say to Sansa: you cannot tell Arya you wish she was dead. Say to Arya: it doesn’t matter what Sansa says, you cannot beat her up. Ned never talks to Sansa after he kills Lady and his talks with Arya aren’t enough. (Sorry for sending all the asks

Oh my gosh don’t worry about it. I love asks…I’m just sometimes slow with them. Fair warning, this got...long

At his core Ned loves his children; he really does. He also doesn’t know them super well or at least isn’t super in touch with them and he is not in charge of raising them. Which is pretty on par with the Westerosi fathers we see. He’s still a heck of a lot better than Bobby B and Roose Bolton over there. There’s still some distance there. Which again considering the universe Martin has made and the social standing it makes sense.

Ned does kinda sorta address the don’t-hit-your-sister thing with Arya when he finds Needle. But, admittedly, it is kind of a joke.

“For true." He smiled. "If I took it away, no doubt I'd find a morningstar hidden under your pillow within the fortnight. Try not to stab your sister, whatever the provocation.” – Arya II, AgoT

But I think part of the reason he isn’t that worried is that even Sansa is surprised when Arya hits her.

“Arya, stop it!" Ned shouted. Jory pulled her off her sister, kicking. Sansa was pale and shaking as Ned lifted her back to her feet. "Are you hurt?" he asked, but she was staring at Arya, and she did not seem to hear.” – Eddard III, AGoT

After that the worst Arya does to her is throw a piece of orange at her and while it was unkind and Arya needed to be reprimanded for it, it wasn’t like it was unprovoked. This isn’t like the show where Arya sheep-shifted Sansa’s bed (that still annoys me) and threw fruit at her at the feast for the king for fun. When Arya does it, they are arguing about Mycah…the same subject that had Arya kicking her sister.

“Arya screwed up her face in a scowl. "Jaime Lannister murdered Jory and Heward and Wyl, and the Hound murdered Mycah. Somebody should have beheaded them."

"It's not the same," Sansa said. "The Hound is Joffrey's sworn shield. Your butcher's boy attacked the prince.” – Sansa III, AGoT

Feels like the adult sitting right there should have ended that conversation.

It doesn’t matter if Sansa is in the right not to be mad at the royal family or that she can’t. The issue is that Arya is 9 and has a thing about lying and is traumatized. Remember even though it is never brought up again, Arya is hiding in the woods for three days. A 9-year-old little girl. In the woods. In Westeros. The fact Ned didn’t turn around or send at least Arya back is honestly one of the times I wish I could shake a fiction character and demand answers. Why Arya was in the south in the first place still boggles me, but I’ll get back to that.

It takes Ned until Sansa III to actually talk to the girls together. This should have been like Eddard IV or Sansa II or something. Sansa III is a bit too late and we can see that because Sansa is just plain mean in this chapter, the girl has reached a breaking point. Arya ruins her dress. Which is bad, no argument here. The issue is that she gets an apology. She gets one in front of Ned and refuses to accept it.

“Enough, Sansa." Lord Eddard's voice was sharp with impatience.

Arya raised her eyes. "I'm sorry, Father. I was wrong and I beg my sweet sister's forgiveness."

Sansa was so startled that for a moment she was speechless. Finally she found her voice. "What about my dress?” – Sansa III, AGoT

This conversation between the girls goes on for a pretty minute in front of Ned. Instead of just standing there he could have given some Stark speech about forgiveness or something. Instead he just lets it go until he tells them that they are leaving and just kind of does his best to comfort Sansa about not being queen and dips. That’s it. He doesn’t mention that fact that Arya came up with two different ways to make it up to Sansa. What he should have done was tell Arya she had to mend the dress or clean it or whatever because she messed it up and tell Sansa that that was the way her dress is getting fixed. You don’t let it just go on like that. They are 11 and 9, they don’t know when enough is enough it why some voice of reason is needed. 

Part of the issue is, as mentioned above, Westerosi highborns parents aren’t how we think of parents. They are pretty hands off. Martin doesn’t even let us see Arya and Cat together. Ned bit off more than he could chew. To be honest, I’m still unsure why he brought Arya along. He never really tells us and even Cat just chalks it up to her needing refinement.  

“You must," he said. "Sansa must wed Joffrey, that is clear now, we must give them no grounds to suspect our devotion. And it is past time that Arya learned the ways of a southron court. In a few years she will be of an age to marry too.” - Cat II, AGoT 

I guess the plan was to marry Arya off to a Southern lord? He didn’t need her to go to keep Sansa company, Jeyne was already going. It was just a bad plan. And then you add the incident at the Trident (aka Joff “kitten killer” Baratheon is left unsupervised and adults suck at the Trident) and the depression and trauma that both girls face and it gets worse. 

At least he gets Arya Syrio. What does Sansa get? She wanted high harp lessons, find a harpist or whatever. If you can find the first sword of Bravos just wandering around you can find someone who plays the harp. It would have given Sansa an outlet that she needed as well as maybe putting a balance in her life. A different perspective or something. 

Ned should have talked to both girls about going to KL. He should have had joint and separate conversations. Contrary to fandom belief 11 and 9 are different ages. Sansa can take a little bit more information because she is older. Why he doesn’t give it to her is a different question. I think he relies on the Septa to do it. If Arya hadn’t spiraled and had a weapon, I dont think he’d have a big sit-down with her.  The issue with letting the septa take charge instead is that the septa doesn’t really get the political intrigue either because that just isnt her job. 

I think Ned is a man who loves his children and got way in over his head. In different universe where the incident at the Trident doesn’t happen and the court is a bit more stable (IDK Baelish gets lost at sea or something), then i think it might be kinda okay. There would still be problems, but they might seem less severe. 

[thelustybraavosimaid]

What's interesting about Jon and Arya's relationship isn't just they are each other's favourite sibling - they are one another's favourite person. This is why Jon thinks of her with just about everyone, has a specific type that she is a reference to (as was confirmed by George):

It's a reference to a certain physical type, and a certain indication of what Jon finds admirable.

Jon, also, misses her more than Robb, his best friend and constant companion:

He missed his true brothers: little Rickon, bright eyes shining as he begged for a sweet; Robb, his rival and best friend and constant companion; Bran, stubborn and curious, always wanting to follow and join in whatever Jon and Robb were doing. He missed the girls too, even Sansa, who never called him anything but "my half brother" since she was old enough to understand what bastard meant. And Arya…he missed her even more than Robb, skinny little thing that she was, all scraped knees and tangled hair and torn clothes, so fierce and willful. Arya never seemed to fit, no more than he had…yet she could always make Jon smile. He would give anything to be with her now, to muss up her hair once more and watch her make a face, to hear her finish a sentence with him. (Jon III, AGoT)

It hits me how Jon's thoughts about Arya alone take up half of the passage!

Jon, on the way to Castle Black:

The memory of her laughter warmed him on the long ride north. (Jon II, AGoT)

Arya does the same thing, being reminded of Jon in other people:

"NO!" Arya and Gendry both said, at the exact same instant. Hot Pie quailed a little. Arya gave Gendry a sideways look. He said it with me, like Jon used to do, back in Winterfell. She missed Jon Snow the most of all her brothers. (Arya I, ASoS)

And with the Ghost of High Heart:

Ned, Gendry, and many of the others were fast asleep when Arya spied the small pale shape creeping behind the horses, thin white hair flying wild as she leaned upon a gnarled cane. The woman could not have been more than three feet tall. The firelight made her eyes gleam as red as the eyes of Jon's wolf. He was a ghost too. Arya stole closer, and knelt to watch. (Arya VIII, ASoS)

Despite not interacting since the very beginning of AGoT, the two of them have interconnected narratives, to boot. Arya interacting with Yoren, being dressed up as a boy to join the Night's Watch, her desperation to get to Jon and desire to go to the Wall to be with him is mentioned repeatedly throughout the whole of the series.

This is just one example:

But that was stupid. Her home was gone, her parents dead, and all her brothers slain but Jon Snow on the Wall. That was where she had wanted to go. She told the captain as much, but even the iron coin did not sway him. Arya never seemed to find the places she set out to reach. (Arya I, AFfC)

Despite Arya being a continent away from Jon, George still has her interact with members of the Night's Watch (with Dareon, and defending Sam). And for Jon, George has him settling on a loan with Tycho Nestoris of the Iron Bank, which is connected to the Faceless Men. Arya already has a hand in the Iron Bank's politics - in the form of her ruining their negotiations with the Lannisters in the Mercy chapter.

She is so steadfast in Jon's love for her that she thinks:

"I know where we could go," Arya said. She still had one brother left. Jon will want me, even if no one else does. He'll call me "little sister" and muss my hair. It was a long way, though, and she didn't think she could get there by herself. She hadn't even been able to reach Riverrun. "We could go to the Wall." (Arya XII, ASoS)

He is among those she imagines walking alongside her to quell her fear:

Alone, she slid through the shadow of the Tower of Ghosts. She walked fast, to keep ahead of her fear, and it felt as though Syrio Forel walked beside her, and Yoren, and Jaqen H'ghar, and Jon Snow. (Arya X, ACoK)

How far are you willing to go to prove your love?

They both have relatively shaky vows to their respective institutions because of one another. Arya stows away Needle, a representation of her family but also specifically referred to as Jon Snow's smile in the HoBaW. She will give up every other thing but that. And because of this anchor - which includes Nymeria and her wolf dreams, but especially Needle and, by association, Jon - is what prevents her from becoming No One completely.

The marriage letter Ramsay sends to Jon is what well and truly tests Jon's vows - and it's what caused the intense anguish that culminates in his death in ADwD.

Jon loves her so dearly that she is his heart:

"The heart is all that matters. Do not despair, Lord Snow. Despair is a weapon of the enemy, whose name may not be spoken. Your sister is not lost to you."

"I have no sister." The words were knives. What do you know of my heart, priestess? What do you know of my sister?

Melisandre seemed amused. "What is her name, this little sister that you do not have?"

"Arya." His voice was hoarse. "My half-sister, truly..." (Jon VI, ADwD)

And that Winterfell, where she supposedly "is," is not her home, her true home is with him:

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 XI, ADwD)

Arya feels a huge amount of shame when Needle is taken from her:

They talked over her as she lay hurting, but Arya could not seem to understand the words. Her ears rang. When she tried to crawl off, the earth moved beneath her. They took Needle. The shame of that hurt worse than the pain, and the pain hurt a lot. Jon had given her that sword. Syrio had taught her to use it. (Arya V, ACoK)

And she gets particularly upset when accused of having stolen Needle:

"I did not!" she shouted. Jon Snow had given her Needle. Maybe she had to let them call her Lumpyhead, but she wasn't going to let them call Jon a thief. (Arya I, ACoK)

Call me whatever you want, just don't call Jon a thief.

There is a bit of irony in this, since Jon is accused by Ramsay in ADwD of sending Mance south in order to steal Arya.

Your false king's friends are dead. Their heads upon the walls of Winterfell. Come see them, bastard. Your false king lied, and so did you. You told the world you burned the King-Beyond-the-Wall. Instead you sent him to Winterfell to steal my bride from me. (Jon XIII, ADwD)

She has a very deep-rooted sense of justice and loyalty, but she wouldn't even tell her own father - who she loved enough to bypass snakes and lizard-lions and pools of quicksand to retrieve some flowers for, mind you - who gifted her the sword.

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 chewed her lip and said nothing. She would not betray Jon, not even to their father. (Arya II, AGoT)

George is heavy-handed in the way he includes how much they miss + love each other, and what they mean for - and to - one another. George wrote them as inseparable, as true soulmates, as people who would break any vows to be with one another again, and that's the most beautiful aspect of the series there is.

Home is a person to Jon and Arya and it's one another. They are each other's safe havens and hearts and homes.

He would give anything to be with her now, to muss up her hair once more and watch her make a face, to hear her finish a sentence with him.

And he did. He gave his life. And the very first lesson he gave to her was the one that he thought of.

Jon fell to his knees. He found the dagger's hilt and wrenched it free. In the cold night air the wound was smoking. "Ghost," he whispered. Pain washed over him. Stick them with the pointy end. When the third dagger took him between the shoulder blades, he gave a grunt and fell face-first into the snow. He never felt the fourth knife. Only the cold… (Jon XIII, ADwD)

That makes me think of this:

He is a man of the Night's Watch, she thought, as he sang about some stupid lady throwing herself off some stupid tower because her stupid prince was dead. The lady should go kill the ones who killed her prince. (Cat of the Canals, AFfC)

Because of the proximity of the Wall to Braavos, Arya does hear about him:

But they were all dead now, even Arya, everyone but her half-brother, Jon. Some nights she heard talk of him, in the taverns and brothels of the Ragman's Harbor. The Black Bastard of the Wall, one man had called him. Even Jon would never know Blind Beth, I bet. That made her sad. (The Blind Girl, ADwD)

Undoubtedly she will hear of his death. And she will break her vows to go to him. And she'll finally go to the place she had struggled to reach before.