Tag: arya stark

gendrie:

insomniarama:

madaboutasoiaf:

gendrie:

nobody is gonna convince me nymeria uniting all the wolves in the riverlands into one single pack under her command isn’t foreshadowing for arya doing the same with the men tbh – the brotherhood, the houses loyal to the starks/tullys and the smallfolk alike. this entire region is a chaotic mess with a destructive zombie in the center of it all but they need to join forces and become organized before the white walkers tear down the wall. arya is the one who’s gonna do it. she has so much history here. shes fought and bled and cried. we’ve already seen her deliver mercy and justice to soldiers all over the riverlands. she saved an innocent baby and protected her friends. she’s been a hostage at the hands of monsters but she’s going to rise to power and save this entire region when she gives her mother mercy. then she’s going to become the new stark leader just like her brother. she’ll even have his crown. but more importantly she’ll have her fathers words: the lone wolf dies but the pack survives. this is what arya’s meant to do. 

#and its pretty clearly what the starks are being set up to do across westeros#jon in the north with the wildlings#and the northerners with robbs will#sansa is going to gain influence in the vale#when they all join forces eventually it’ll make them strong enough to fight the walkers (via @gendrie)

#arya’s arc is so much about abuse of privilege  #she sees knights and highborns abuse power over and over  #she’s going to use her highborn status for good  #she is a natural leader  #and her chapters are building towards her using all she has learned  #from ned syrio yoren and her time in the hobaw and braavos  #she named her wolf nymeria  #it means something  #she’s all about pack  #arya would make friends with anybody  #and she will and it will be vital for the war (via @madaboutasoiaf)

there’s a reason why ned tells arya and only arya ‘the lone wolf dies but the pack survives’ and this is it,it’s not a stark family motto like the show and fandom like to pretend,it only appears in arya’s chapters and is never said or even referenced anywhere else or by any other character before or after,and that’s because while it’s a powerful saying that looks great slapped on gifsets it’s a narrative imperative for arya specifically,she’s the only one that consistently thinks of ‘pack’ in terms of people – friends and allies – those she’s taken into her protection,and feels personally responsible for leading and providing for and defending even when it’s at a cost to her own person,and finally forming one large pack from all the disparate groups she found and lost over her journey is what her arc’s building to,just like her direwolf and the warrior queen she was named after did before her,arya’s the connecting thread between these factions crooked stitches and all,it’s yet another reason why she won’t remain in the hobaw – they want her isolated and to blindly follow when she’s meant to lead,(notice ‘valar dohaeris’ isn’t far from gregor’s ‘obey. serve. live.’ in harrenhal), (via @insomniarama )

aryajon:

Her lord father had taught her never to steal, but it was growing hard to remember why. The silver bracelet she had hoped to sell had been stolen her first night out of the castle, along with her bundle of good clothes, snatched while she slept. All they left her was the cloak she had been huddled in, the leathers on her back, her wooden practice sword and needle.

Often as not, she went to bed hungry.

gatehousejaime:

One thing that really annoys me when it comes to interpretations of Arya, is how people choose to disregard her gender at will. Arya Stark is a girl. She is very clear on that matter from book to book. Thus, you can’t read Arya Stark and just conveniently forget to look at her experiences from the perspective of being a woman, and a young girl with little defenses. Arya, from the moment she must try to survive outside of the Red Keep, must live in fear of assault, rape, and murder. Yoren didn’t just magically find her. She had to live on the streets with only Needle since most of her possessions were quickly stolen from her. All the while, she is leered at by men and attacked by others. I can’t imagine life in Flea Bottom is easy for any child, but it sure ain’t a picnic for a young girl because life in Westeros is pretty horrible for most women—-Arya included.

Just because Arya doesn’t fit some feminine ideals, and is a fan favorite, that doesn’t mean others can act like her experience as a girl is invalid, irrelevant, or pretend that ~she’s really just a dude character lol~ That’s so terrible for a myriad of reasons that other people can unpack better than I can, but I do know that it’s ridiculous to act like one type of womanhood is more authentic and mandatory to take into consideration in order to look at a woman character critically. Arya’s reactions to the world are from the perspective of a little girl who is forced into the most brutal of places where other nameless girls like her are constantly either abused and killed with no recourse or justice in return. Survival is a key theme in her tale as it tends to be in the lives of women.

Certainly, I’ve met other women readers who told me that they were also quite nervous for most of the Arya’s AcoK chapters because of how palpable the threat of rape felt in them. In fact, I’m pretty sure that all of her AcoK chapters include the threat of rape. And these threats are there because Arya’s sex isn’t forgotten—-and it shouldn’t be ignored by critics. If one puts themselves in Arya’s shoes, it becomes quite evident what tremendous odds she had/has to face because she is a girl.

If a critic chooses to ignore Arya’s gender because she’s not enough of what they think a girl should be like, then I’m inclined to think that the criticism and interpretation is sexist. Arya doesn’t cease to be a girl because she has personality traits that are associated with male characters. These personality traits definitely don’t save her from things like assault. This also true of other women characters in AsoIaF that defy gender stereotypes like Brienne of Tarth and Asha Greyjoy. Male privilege doesn’t extend to them in any real way else they wouldn’t have men assaulting them and denying basic rights because they’re women. Reframing all of Arya’s experiences to that of a man’s because apparently it’s impossible to reconcile a character being a woman while having personality traits often associated with men will create an incredibly flawed and thin interpretation.

ashara:

“Sansa was a lady at three, always so courteous and eager to please. She loved nothing so well as tales of knightly valor. Men would say she had my look, but she will grow into a woman far more beautiful than I ever was, you can see that. I often sent away her maid so I could brush her hair myself. She had auburn hair, lighter than mine, and so thick and soft … the red in it would catch the light of the torches and shine like copper.

And Arya, well … Ned’s visitors would oft mistake her for a stableboy if they rode into the yard unannounced. Arya was a trial, it must be said. Half a boy and half a wolf pup. Forbid her anything and it became her heart’s desire. She had Ned’s long face, and brown hair that always looked as though a bird had been nesting in it. I despaired of ever making a lady of her. She collected scabs as other girls collect dolls, and would say anything that came into her head. I think she must be dead too.“ — A Clash of Kings, Catelyn VII