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Explore“A girl is Arya Stark of Winterfell, and I’m going home.”
- Warning: Season 6 of ‘Game of Thrones’ spoilers ahead!
Season 6 of ‘Game of Thrones’ was an undeniably fantastic season for the Starks. Even if Rickon is dead, Sansa and Jon are now safe at home in Winterfell. The Stark banners are flying yet again atop the keep’s walls, Ramsay Bolton is dead, and Arya has finally joined the fight back in Westeros. She’s got the stabbies, too, if how she dealt with Ser Meryn Trant, the Waif, and Walder Frey are any example to go by. Our favorite tiny assassin will be making her way back to Winterfell…finally.
G.R.R.M. has a way of developing every single character we come across, but it’s pretty much a given that Arya Stark is one of the best and most fascinating characters in A Song of Ice and Fire and its accompanying television series.
Arya began as nothing more than an adorably feisty tomboy at her home of Winterfell, lovably bad at everything ladies ought to be good at, playing pranks on her older sister, and playing with her brothers in the snow. Even while her parents try to guide her toward more ladylike pursuits, her bastard-brother, Jon Snow, gave her the sword she’d carry with her for the rest of the series: needle, an appropriately small castle-forged steel sword. Needle was small and skinny, light and agile, just like the girl who would wield it.
As the series wore on, Arya would indeed learn to “stick ’em with the pointy end”. Eventually, her father, Ned, would have to give in and let her take lessons in the art of swordplay. When war came to Westeros, Arya would be left to fend for herself on her own, traveling with many companions – all of whom she would leave eventually. She went by many names – Arry, Arya Underfoot, Nan, Cat of the Canals, and took a trip to Braavos to study under the Faceless Men to be an assassin.
Now Arya Stark has risen to be one of the most kickass, dangerous, and truly unpredictable characters in ‘Game of Thrones’. Honestly, I can’t wait to see what the rest of the series has in store for her. She’s going to have a huge part to play in the coming war with the Night King, I’ve no doubt. How exactly that part will manifest…well…only time will tell.
Written by Elizabeth
Elizabeth is a Portland-based freelance writer, who spends her time playing with her cat, blogging, working on the three-billion writing projects she has bouncing around in her brain, tutoring kids in writing and reading, and perusing the streets of Portland, looking for the best coffee shops and book shops.
