What If—And Hear Me Out—Arya Steals The Face Of A White Walker In ‘Game of Thrones’?

Arya Stark does not fear death, and as we learned in Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 2, she is prepared to die in the final battle against the Night King and his army of White Walkers.

But exactly *how* is Arya planning to attack?

We know that Gendry is building her a double-sided spear made of dragonglass—a close-quarter combat weapon designed to harm within arm’s reach.

Recall also how in Season 7, Episode 4, Bran Stark (now completely transformed into the mysterious Three-eyed Raven) gave his sister a Valyrian steel dagger originally gifted to him by Littlefinger.

At the time, Bran had said the blade would be “wasted on a cripple,” but, as winteriscoming.net points out, “Bran isn’t willing to taketime from his greensight reveries to hand out presents just because; he knows Arya is going to need a blade that can defeat White Walkers.”

But on a more strategic note, Arya has a weapon unique only to her: the ability to steal faces.

We saw Arya grilling Gendry about the White Walkers’ last episode (S8E2). “What do they look like? What do they smell like, how do they move, how hard are they to kill?”

As Vox‘s Aja Romano noted, “these could be your generic ‘know your opponent’ sorts of queries, but Arya’s particular line of questioning implies that she “is thinking about them not as prey to be hunted, but as an enemy to be infiltrated.”

When Jon Snow killed a White Walker leader last season, all the wights under his control crumbled. Theoretically, if the Night King falls, then so does his entire undead army.

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Let us also recall Jaqen H’gar.

“We all saw Jaqen H’gar’s small, enigmatic smile when Arya abandoned the cult of the Faceless Men,” Preston wrote on winteriscoming.net. “Do we really think this man, if that’s what he is, plugged into this world’s deepest and darkest secrets, did all that work to train Arya simply to let her walk away?”

More likely, H’gar—whose best interest also rests in surviving the coming war—relied on Arya’s unparalleled loyalty to her family and unique skillset leading her into killing a White Walker, donning his face, and getting close enough to the Night King to destroy him.

(And, from the Game of Thrones showrunners and writers’ perspectives, Arya’s Faceless Men skillset must be addressed in some way before the end of the season.)

Let’s also not forget Arya’s close relationship to—and with—death. It’s referenced constantly in relation to her, and always has been.

In the first season of Thrones, Arya’s swordfighting teacher Syrio Forel taught her to, above all, always have a response to death (“Not today!”)

In Season 3, Arya told Faceless Man Jaqen H’ghar that death was the only god she recognized, after which he invited her to train as an assassin serving “the many-faced god.” (Death.)

In an earlier scene in Season 8, Episode 2, Arya shames Gendry when he tells her to stay away from the White Walker battle, adding “I know death. He’s got many faces. I look forward to seeing this one,” before casually flinging three dragonglass daggers at a wooden post.

I mean, the theory certainly makes sense. George R.R. Martin loves an unexpected hero.

Unless…Arya is still the Waif?

Just kidding.

I hope.

h/t Vox, winteriscoming.net




Masha Fante

Masha is a freelance writer and editorial director of agency content as well as a contributor to the Daily Dot.