Arya Possibilities

[sisinaflower]

***Sort of Spoiler!***
Re: A Feast For Crows



I love arya and all the possibilities that go with her. Is she permanently blind? What was the purpose of this? Will she become an assassin? Will she ever see Jaquin Haqr (sp!?) again? Did she choose the name Cat knowing it was her mother's name, or just because it reminded her of the cat she chased in the red keep? Will she ever learn to use her feminine side? (We see the very beginning of Sansa maturing into a woman, and discovering a side that is more useful, less prissy...will we see a more feminine side emerge from Arya?) Because Needle has been hidden, but kept, does this suggest she will always be Arya, never 'no one'? What is her destiny? Will she join Daenerys?

Any ideas? I'd love to hear others' thoughts...

[the_faery_queen]

i hope she doesn't join danys, cos i hate her and that would bore me. i hope she does stay blind (tho its doubtful) but just because that would be an interesting twist on things.

but as i still haven't read the book, and am just going on what i have heard of it and what i would like generally, i am probably way off and sounding crazy!

but ayra as a young woman. i dunno, i dont think so. just cos you grow boobs you don't suddenly change your entire outlook on yourself, esp when you're off on your own without any pressure from outside sources to become feminine. and if she is off on her own, going all female and womanly might be very dangerous! besides, i like her as a tom boy type

[YOSSARIAN]

If Arya becomes a true Faceless Person she'll use whatever techniques she can to make the kill, although I hope she never has to go too far when using her feminine wiles. I keep thinking of O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill who avenges the murder of her parents by luring the pedophile yakuza and then shoving a sword through his heart. I hope Arya becomes a bad ass assassin, but fear that she will have to lose her identity to do so.

[Adasunshine]

I believe the blindness is part of her training.

There's a passage in AFFC:

Without a common language, Arya had no way of talking to the others. She listened to them, though, and repeated the words she heard to herself as she went about her work. Though the youngest acolyte was blind, he had charge of the candles. he would walk the temple in soft slippers, surrounded by the murmurings of the old women who came each day to pray. Even without eyes, he always knew which candles had gone out. "He has the scent to guide him," the kindly man explained, "and the air is warmer where a candle burns." He told Arya to close her eyes and try it for herself.

I'm of the belief that she's blind for a reason and it's all part of the bigger picture, I also believe she'll regain her sight but she needs to learn something and being blind will 'guide' her to that something.

The kindly man also says at some stage

"It would be best if you were blind and deaf as well. You may hear things, but you must let them pass in one ear and out the other. Do not listen."

Whatever Arya is to become, this is just part of the journey. However, having Needle hidden away I think is significant. I hope it means that Cat of the Canals, somewhere, will always be Arya, House of Stark because she is a great little character capable of many things.

Maybe the blindness will help her tune in with Nymeria, it has endless possibilities but unlike TFQ, I hope she regains her sight at some stage in the story.

As for Cat and why she chose that name, I hadn't thought about it before, I thought she chose that name because of all the cats she had seen in Braavos but I could be wrong.

xx

[sisinaflower]

I had forgotten about the other blind acolyte, this makes sense. The kindly man is taking Arya to the next stage.

I do hope we see her reuinited with Nymeria!

If Arya becomes an assasin and uses her feminine skills as part of this she will need a teacher for this as well...is this where the beautiful cortesans come in? Arya seems very good at discovering teachers at the right times in her development!

[Adasunshine]

Will be interesting to see where Arya goes. Not so sure she's being primed for a role as an asassin, although it is the most obvious route, her random connections to Nymeria may suggest otherwise.

Also there's another thread about the connections between the direwolves and their owners. Maybe Arya will gather her own following like Nymeria and either fight for or against Dany (I hope it's for - what a team!).

The thing I love about Arya is the countless possibilities out there for her character, she, probably more than any other character, has everyone guessing, the only character that doesn't seem to have a real purpose and is just drifting, meanwhile stumbling on all these hidden opportunities. She's young enough to be moulded but willful enough to follow her own path should she choose to. Arya can go anywhere and be anyone which as it goes, leads right back to her current training.

Just caught your post about Arya being a twin - completely missed that part of the book, could you guide me please? (thanks)

I hope the Starks (including Jon Snow) somehow learn to connect via their direwolves, Jon & Bran have done it already with a weirwood but it must be possible with the wolves! I would love for that to be just one of the paths GRRM takes for them, it would provide a very interesting read.

xx

[sisinaflower]

Originally Posted by Adasunshine

Just caught your post about Arya being a twin - completely missed that part of the book, could you guide me please? (thanks)

Not Arya Stark, but Arya Underfoot, one of the members in this forum!

In that thread ('Jaime!' I think) she and faery_queen were disagreeing on the attractiveness of twincest between Cersei and Jaime...

[Adasunshine]

Gotcha - wondered how I could have missed a plot like that, I'm normally so attentive (hmmmm well, I like to think so)

As for the twin thing though, I think everyone who isn't a twin has some sort of fascination and interest in the subject, incest not good though, no matter what you say!

Still, I digress, back to Arya, House of Stark...

xx

[sisinaflower]

Incest not good to us, no! But what I was trying to say was that in the culture described in the book, incest isnt as bad as it is in our world. A whole dynasty thrived on it, and the worse crime for Jaime and Cersei is treason of sleeping with the Queen, not sleeping with thy twin.

Its important to remember how different the culture is to our own, but perhaps thats where Martin has failed, in not helping us understand and accept the difference and that it is ok (-ish) in that culture. Im ok with the idea as a literary device and as a totally different culture, but I see a lot of people cant move beyond their wn personal disgust and read it for what it is. I notice no one is commenting on wild, public sex displayed by Dany with her husband while she is only...what 14? Its just a story... and a great one at that!

And back to Arya...as another poster said elsewhere, I think, the thing thats so exciting about Arya is all the possibilities open to her, more so than any other character. Its fun to see what everyone is considering!

[Adasunshine]

Good point. I completely get that incest is a part of this medieval/modern/very upper class world and I can understand how it's trying to show two sides of the same coin in Jaime & Cersei, it's not even that I find it disgusting, it's just ewww! (sorry for use of word, not good with vocabulary on the whole).

As for Dany, this is also part of that world, but also years ago, 14 was the ideal age for women to be married off and start families - in any history or culture. Apparently between the ages of 13 & 21 is when the female of the species are at their most fertile.

But yes, it's a story, albeit a fantastic one, still, not to be taken too seriously.

And as for Arya, I think you refer to my post as well as your first, cannot wait to see how she fares!

xx

[sisinaflower]

I know it seems clear to some that Dany is going to return as the rightful queen etc etc, and I do think she's getting more and more interesting, but Ary is the one who is going through the most training and preparation. The most effort is being expended on her development and none of it is superficial. When Arya gets trained, or when Arya has experiences, they are full on, really deep experiences. She is growing up to be a super ninja! As she is becoming so highly trained as a swordswoman (Syrio), learning to be secretive, observant, and now even more of the above (kindly man) I think it is only inevitible that she will eventually learn to use all her talents, ie courtesan skills.

Is Arya still thinking about avenging her father's death? The books start with the Starks, the direwolves are with them from almost the beginning, will the books come full circle to Arya completing the story? How will the direwolves play thier part?

Arya could never become simply a faceless assassin, it would be a waste of her character. She will rise to the top of all this and become something unstopable, lets hope she learns to be just and good along the way as well. (And who will that teacher be?)

Im intrigued as to how she will become incorporated back into the lives of the other main characters again.

[Adasunshine]

Hmmm, Arya, House of Stark, Queen of the Seven Kingdoms with her much loved brother as Lord Commander of the Night's Watch? Hmmm, not sure but maybe we have our first female hand???

I should think she'd want to avenge Ned's death still. The direwolves - I hope - will prove to be very significant. Like I said before, I hope the Stark children (Jon included) will somehow learn to communicate through their wolves - would be very interesting to see how the Seven Kingdoms ends up if that happens. Have a feeling the Starks could rule.

You have Bran who is a Warg - a clever one at that, and one of those hasn't been around in many years so he's powerful,
Jon who is silent, fair, thoughtful, clever and has good leadership skills, he also has a - potentially - very powerful position.
Arya, independent, clever, feisty, albeit a little reckless at times, her new found skills will provide power
Sansa, she's learning and will be a good politician if trained well by Littlefinger
and Rickon, I have a feeling he'll learn a lot from Osha who seemed to have her head screwed on.

They'll all have very different and very valuable skills if the book carries on in this direction and therefore could become the most powerful famliy in all the Seven Kingdoms.

The book has endless possibilities, I love to speculate and truly hope the remaining Stark children (I always include Jon in this group) get their deserved and happy ending.

xx

[Tyranus]

You know you could sort of think of the Starks as the Pheonix, there family has been torn apart (with several members dead or believed dead and the rest missing) and there home burned. Perhaps they will rise up from the ashes to become great once again.

[Adasunshine]

Love the analogy Tyranus - let's hope so eh?

xx

[Tyranus]

Yeah, not really keen for the thread, but I had to throw it in there.