#Arya the adventurer

[saltywinteradult]

i cannot put into words how badly i need arya to end up as the northern version of oberyn martell (minus the gruesome death). i want my girl to travel and see as much of the world as she can, to meet as many people as she can, to experience love and loss and adventure and freedom. to return home to winterfell whenever she wants to spend time with her family, and bring lovely gifts and incredible stories from all over the world. please george, for the love of god. my girl has been through enough. let her live.

[ladybugsimblr]

💍😭🥰

[aprill-99]

I love the characters whose perceptions of their own powers and abilities and personalities are all completely fucked by their own context.

Prince Zuko for example: The guy goes around like “wow is me. I am such a failure of a Fire Bender” for three whole seasons of television.

Babe, no. It’s just that the only 3 people on the entire planet who are better at it than you all live in your house.

Obi-Wan Kenobi only thinks he’s a less powerful Jedi because his constant companions are essentially the demigod descendants of an Eldritch Horror running the galaxy. Everyone knows else, including the Eldritch Horror Spawn, think you’re in the top 10 to ever live.

I could go on, but the main point is that I live for the moments when a character who is constantly down on themselves off-handed mentions something the other characters know to be near impossible and have their Elle Woods moment when questioned.

“What, like it’s hard?”

Yes, yes my guys, gals, and non-binary folk. Yes it is hard.

You’ve just trained yourself to think that you had to succeed at everything right up to the lines of the impossible and perfect because you spent a lifetime watching very particular people calmly go skipping right over it.

You are now hyper-competent and should maybe look in to getting some therapy before we all inevitably turn to you to survive the on-coming End of Days.

[atopvisenyashill]

hey! i’ve been sort of lurking on your blog for a while, lol, but seeing you answer one of your recent asks abt some of your main theories got me curious enough to finally start a convo. so for the record, i was kind of ambivalent about sansa before reading some of your metas, and i’m still not really a jonsa believer, but a lot of things you’ve catalogued on ur blog did a lot to solidify sansa being lady of winterfell as a new member of my ASOIAF Endgame PredictionsTM, and seeing u answer that recent ask w all your separate bits of evidence collected together really sold it for me! quick question, though: i tend to skim-read long posts, so maybe i missed something, but did you say anything about why sansa would specifically end up as QiTN, rather than just lady of winterfell (still under whoever the next major ruler of westeros is)? i mean, especially if we do go ahead and assume that bran will end up as king in harrenhal, i don’t quite get why sansa would want to establish the north as a separate kingdom by seceding from her own brother? i suppose there’s the angle of wanting to honor what robb fought for, which certainly isn’t a bad motivator… but i think the remaining starklings, of all people, would be more likely to recognize (and focus on the fact) that robb’s main motivation in participating in the Wot5K was mostly just to avenge ned and secure the safety of the rest of his family. and even if the idea of finishing what robb started is a motivating factor, considering that asoiaf’s endgame is almost certainly going to be post-apocalyptic in some senses, i feel like whoever’s making these big decisions (even if that group does include some of the starklings, though it definitely will) would be more likely to prioritize trying to kind of return the world of westeros to something most resembling the previous status quo, which committing to splitting the kingdoms would maybe not really help with?

interested to hear your thoughts on all of this, thanks for reading :D <3

First - thank you for the compliment!!! I love to spread the gospel of Sansa As Ruling Lady In Winterfell lol, and it's nice to know I've convinced some people about some aspects of it! I have got to get better about adding a tldr at the ending though bc I too will sometimes just skim a post and queue it alsdjfla. (also validating each other on "the ending is going to be post apocalyptic" - YES that's what I've BEEN saying omg I do sometimes feel like some of the endgame predictions leave out that imo the last half of ados is going to feel very much like a post-apocalyptic type rebuilding!). Also sorry if this is kind of meandering, I wanted to organize it a bit more but that didn't work out lol.

But honestly okay - I go back and forth a LOT on whether Sansa is ruling lady of Winterfell or straight up Queen on the North. I’m still very undecided on it! I think it makes sense, narratively and just like logically that if Rickon is found he’s Bran’s heir in the South (both as a parallel to the Aegon/Viserys ending of the Dance and as a kind of neat bow tie on their story as brothers - they start the series being left behind in Winterfell and end the series choosing to stay behind but together in Harrenhal), then the girls are in the North as the Starks in Winterfell. Again, I think this is a parallel to Sansa/Serena & a play on the she-wolves of winterfell, but also, being the two oldest Starks, makes sense that Sansa is ruling lady and Arya is a sort of Hand (and like Rickon, potentially the one their line descends from but again - call me Sokka because I love to waffle!) But Queen in the North specifically? I think that's less clear than Sansa being ruling lady of Winterfell (which imo isn't just clear, it's the obvious answer for her story arc) though I still think there's a high probability of it.

First, let me get into the more conjecture side of it. Basically, I think part of the reason the kingdoms are going to split is because there will be some population and geographic changes after the Long Night/second war for the throne - I think I've mentioned it before I believe the Neck is going to "break" ie become flooded the same way the arm of dorne was "broken" and flooded and became the stepstones. This would make the North a lot harder to get to, geographically, which could further isolate them and want them to have their own monarch who is In The North and can make more snap decisions as they rebuild than Bran could all the way passed the Neck in Harrenhal.

I also think the Iron Islands are going to get fucked and Asha will lead a lot of her people to the mainland to settle, probably in the North due to them needing more population because they also got fucked - and two groups of people who are notoriously kind of isolationist coming together might prefer to stay partially disconnected from the main kingdoms. Which isn't to say they won't have contact with each other - I guess I was picturing like....idk a sort of EU thing lmao, or maybe a Narnia thing of like, open borders between the 2-3 kingdoms who are all allies and work together due to being on the same continent.

Of course, the breaking of the Neck (which is something I'm a lot more confident on - I think it's a guarantee tbh) could also drive the North back into the arms of the other kingdoms, as they need more help recovering from the Long Night and can perhaps offer help to the South as the South recovers from their wars. But anyways that's my geographic/logistical reason why I think the North might stay separated from the rest of the Kingdoms, even with a Stark King on the throne.

Now, in the previous ask, I mentioned her parallels to other Queens and some of the Queen imagery surrounding her - there's the abundant Naerys/Sansa parallels, and the Cersei/Sansa antiparallels. There's a bit of talk about how ~Sansa is good at queenly things~ and ~Joffrey was foolish to set her aside that feels (to me) like setup for her being a ruling Queen - no one can set her aside or disrespect her then, like Naerys and Cersei go through. Of course just paralleling a few Queens doesn't inherently mean she'll be Queen but I do think the emphasis on comparing her to queens is pointed - then again, imo there's also a lot of parallels between her and Princess Rhaena Targaryen of Dragon Twins fame, and Rhaena does not wind up a queen!

(there is also some parallels to historical queens there, most notably to Elizabeth of York, Queen of England and wife to Henry VII. Notably their marriage ended the War of the Roses, but I don't claim to be an expert there but I have reblogged some meta on that here and I'm sure there's others floating around).

There's also these two little bits here-

Ahead he glimpsed a pale white trunk that could only be a weirwood, crowned with a head of dark red leaves.

In their midst was a pale stranger; a slender young weirwood with a trunk as white as a cloistered maid. Dark red leaves sprouted from its reaching branches.

The first is from a Jon chapter and I think it could point to Bran or Sansa - dark red hair, pale skin, and a crown. The second one is what makes me think it points to either just sansa or both of them - that comes in a Brienne chapter. Again you have the pale skin (white as a cloistered maid) and dark red leaves acting as hair almost. To be honest, there's a lot with the Tully-Starklings having the coloring of a weirwood that's sort of fascinating in what it implies - perhaps that their roots are leading them back North, perhaps something more sinister re: Bran being eaten by a tree. I digress lol.

There's a few comments from Ned as well that feel like they might be foreshadowing-

“Brandon. Yes. Brandon would know what to do. He always did. It was all meant for Brandon. You, Winterfell, everything. He was born to be a King’s Hand and a father to queens. I never asked for this cup to pass to me.”

"Yet someday he may be the lord of a great holdfast and sit on the king's council. He might raise castles like Brandon the Builder, or sail a ship across the Sunset Sea, or enter your mother's Faith and become the High Septon." But he will never run beside his wolf again, he thought with a sadness too deep for words, or lie with a woman, or hold his own son in his arms. Arya cocked her head to one side. "Can I be a king's councillor and build castles and become the High Septon?" “You,” Ned said, kissing her lightly on the brow, “will marry a king and rule his castle, and your sons will be knights and princes and lords and, yes, perhaps even a High Septon.” Arya screwed up her face. "No," she said, "that's Sansa."

There's a lot made of that last one, about how Ned potentially lays out his kids endgames right there to Arya -

Lord of a Great Holdfast and sit on a King's Council - Jon Snow

Raise Castles Like Brandon the Builder - Bran

Sail a Ship Across the Sunset Sea - Arya

Enter the Faith and Become High Septon - Rickon

Marry a King, Rule His Castle, Sons will be {etc} - no, that's Sansa

Those comments stick out to me because imo Sansa & Arya's endgames will be a sort of mirror to Ned & Lyanna so it seems natural to me that some of Sansa's endgame would be foreshadowed in the chapters of her father the same as Arya's endgame is sort of anti-foreshadowed (idk how you would phrase that one lol) in Lyanna.

tldr i am much more confident in the idea that Sansa will rule Winterfell than I am in what title she will have while ruling. I do think there is some Sansa-as-Queen foreshadowing, in her comparisons to other Queens like Naerys, Cersei, and Elizabeth of York, and the way characters like Ned & Tyrion talk about how ~queenly~ she acts and how naturally leading under stress comes to her.

[rohanneofcoldmoat]

I've always loved the little throughline of nature, and the earth and mud in particular, being this spiritually cleansing constant for Arya during ACOK

The water lapped softly around her legs. A few lantern bugs were coming out, their little lights blinking on and off. The green water was warm as tears, but there was no salt in it. It tasted of summer and mud and growing things. Arya plunged her face down into it to wash off the dust and dirt and sweat of the day. When she leaned back the trickles ran down the back of her neck and under her collar. They felt good. She wished she could take off her clothes and swim, gliding through the warm water like an skinny pink otter

She got dirt in her mouth but she didn't care, the taste was fine, the taste was mud and water and worms and life. Under the earth the air was cool and dark. Above was nothing but blood and roaring red and choking smoke and the screams of dying horses. She moved her belt around so Needle would not be in her way, and began to crawl. A dozen feet down the tunnel she heard the sound, like the roar of some monstrous beast, and a cloud of hot smoke and black dust came billowing up behind her, smelling of hell. Arya held her breath and kissed the mud on the floor of the tunnel and cried.

She had finally thrown away her cracked and rotted shoes. Walking barefoot was hard at first, but the blisters had finally broken, the cuts had healed, and her soles had turned to leather. The mud was nice between her toes, and she liked to feel the earth underfoot when she walked.

[fromtheseventhhell]

[George] said that he LOVES to write about Arya's adventures in Braavos. He said he could write whole novels about it. That received a huge applause until he joked that maybe he could put off Winds to do so. [x]

--

...But he is really enjoying writing Arya's story. He could write an entire novel of it. He could write an entire YA novel about her…(at this point the audience starting clapping and calling out YES! DO IT!) [x]

George is taking so long writing TWOW because he keeps having to refocus and remember that he isn't writing "The Adventures of Arya Stark" 🤭

[renatogpadilla]

You know? I never watched Adventure Time as much as I should have, but MutliVersus being back made me realize that, while he would try to be respectful, Finn's princess-kink having ass would take ONE look at Wonder Woman, scream "GYAAAAATT!!!" at the top of his lungs, and explode on the spot. Like, straight up spontaneously combust.

That, or he'd INSTANTLY crush on Arya and get DEMOLISHED before he can get a word out.

I'd also find it funny if they actually do hit it off and become friends because Arya doesn't really get to be goofy anymore and then he introduces her to Jake (who she refers to as "Gloopy Dog" still) and explains how he's more a brother than a pet.

Arya then mentions she had a pet too, but that she had to send her away to save her life, and they only saw each other once afterwards. Shame too, she was a WONDERFUL and adorable little puppy and she loved her very much. The sweetest thing, really...

Finn is IMMEDIATELY distraught, and, Finn and Jake being Finn and Jake, propose that "Hey! Where in the Multiverse! Maybe she's around! Try calling her!" and Arya waves it off at first, but then the doubt sets in and she takes a deep breath, faces the nearest Rift, and yells her puppy's name as loud as she can... Only to get jumped the the most terrifying feral abomination of a Direwolf with red eyes and pure evil in it's veins, borderline rabid and foaming at the mouth...

Then she scratches her behind the ear and Nymeria domesticates on the spot. She tells her that Finn and Jake are friends and she gets that big derpy look a bunch of dogs get when they're happy.

Camera cuts to Finn and Jake and they're absolutely MORTIFIED that this MONSTER of a hound is what Arya considers "a cute little puppy".

I just think it'd be funny! (Wish I could draw...)

[tiny-brain]

Some funny Arya art

Experimenting with a slightly different hairstyle based on some fanart @mystic-warriors gave me once (thankyouthankyouthankyou), and my brother gave me the idea to make this design a later-seasons thing, if I ever make Arya’s world into a real show at some point in the future, or whatever this ends up being.

[ladyaryawolf]

Praying that in 2025/2026 WoW will be released.

I don't care with A Dream of Spring. I only want to read Winds. And that's it.

[dontaskchaosandco]

drawing poll: Multiversus edition

[sayonaramidnight]

Ship watching.

[thedestinysunknown]

[ladybugsimblr]

One more surprise that night. Not only did Nalu change the dinner reservation time, but he also changed the location. He and Arya enjoyed a romantic evening at the local winery discussing all that their future wedding could be. They ended the special occasion with a Brindleton Bay lovers special 😉🥰.

[mzannthropy]

It is more fascinating as an actor, I think, to empathize with someone deeply faulted and wrong, to try and find your way into why they are doing these things. [Playing] a guy who is doing all the right things and is driven by being good, it’s harder to do that. And I think people who do it successfully, who play classically heroic roles, are very talented actors. But at the moment, I just find it more interesting looking for the fucked-up people.

Good on Kit! I hope he gets to play all sorts of interesting characters. Any actor worth his/her salt should be able to play a villain.

[kataratargaryen]

when u stop seeing the ghosts of leadership arcs everywhere, make peace with the idea that the shows ending is most likely the book ending for a character, and begin to enjoy the character in the present

[swordsandarms]

One obnoxiously wrong Stark fans opinion is how where you grew up is all you're worth and worthy of and contributes to "fandom wars" of who gets to rule the North based on small details. I get that within this society that's empowering for women and disabled people hence the wish for so called "success" but it's often forced.

I roll my eyes at all "Winterfell is important to these kids because they are the most connected and future kings/queens" shit because Bran, Arya, Sansa for one (Jon just didn't have a choice) dream of Winterfell because of trauma, not some fucking predestination. All these three for one dreamed to leave home behind and see the world, within various ways of seeing what that meant. And that was normal. Winterfell is a reper of safety and love for reasons that have nothing to do with Winterfell being oh so special and not replaceable but these kids being dropped in circumstances that were not normal to leaving one's childhood home to makes one's own independent life. And that's normal.

Part of it it's maybe that Westerosi timeline travel is more difficult and longer, but it's so fucking weird to see people getting so protective of being born and dying in the same small social circle. It sounds conservative.