Arya Stark is unequivocally my favourite Game of Thrones character. In fact, Arya and Katniss Everdeen (from The Hunger Games) are my two favourite fictional characters of all time, literary or otherwise. The bibliophile in me geeks the fuck out to the fact that they both stem from works of literature. Also, please do not ask me to pick my favourite between the two as that is next to impossibility.
Today’s post was meant to be G Is For Girls With Tattoos Who Like Getting In Trouble but I am still reeling from Sunday’s GOT episode, so here we are with a pseudo love letter to Arya Stark instead.
This post was written three hours after watching The Long Night (S08E03) so:
- Obviously spoilers abound.
- I (hopefully) have calmed down since but I will keep the emotions and timing as per when I wrote the post on Monday morning.
For the past seven/eight years I have been saying I will name one of my daughters Arya but after The Long Night one of my future twin girls will be named Arya Stark Wanjiku {insert my future husband’s name}. My mum was quite the badass ergo the twin named after her is the one I will call Arya Stark.
Fun fact, Arya is one of George R.R. Martin’s wife’s favourite characters too. She apparently told him that if he kills off Arya she will leave him. Same Mrs. Martin. Same. (You get the point).
I am writing this pseudo love letter at my desk in the office because try as I might I cannot concentrate on anything else. I cannot help it, I am on such a high from The Long Night. One of my client’s has written an email with instructions in red (sweardown) but I could not care less. Lol. Also, I hope none of my bosses reads this but if they do just know I got around to that email eventually. Lol?
From the minute the episode wrapped my body has been coursing with so much energy mpaka I feel like I should be going to the club. I feel like I have pre-gamed adequately and I am ready to make some bad decisions, preferably at Brew Bistro Westy. But alas it is only midday on a Monday so I am in the office and the best I can do is channel this energy at the gym after work. It is times like this though that make me feel like I need a man. Or at least an FWB. Getting naked with someone would be a sexier way to burn off this fire Arya has ignited within me.
I think my love for Arya stems from my obsession with assassins. Ever since I watched Wanted (the Angelina Jolie movie) I have wanted to be an assassin sooo bad. In fact, I recently joined a gym and one of the trainers asked what my fitness goals are. I obviously could not say “I want to be assassin level fit” so instead I just gave some vague rubbish of how I will know when I get there.
I had planned to do a post on The Women of GOT for International Women’s Day this year, but that would have been my mum’s 60th birthday and I did not have the heart to write anything. That being said, GOT has a shitload of powerful women and no two women have appealed to fans all eight seasons more than, IMO, Arya and Daenerys Targaryen.
I like Dany well enough but she has this über entitled vibe that puts me the fuck off. Yes I know all her life the only goal she has ever known is the Iron Throne but there is something in the way she demands it that irks me. I could not quite articulate it before but Sam did so for me in the season eight premiere episode. His first meeting with the Dragon Queen had him learning that she executed his father and brother for refusing to bend the knee. As Sam struggled to control his tears (how heart-breaking was his reaction to his brother’s death) Dany simply looked at him like “and not a single fuck was given that day.”
Sam later drops the bomb on Jon w.r.t. his parentage and asks him “you gave up your title to save your people. Would she (Dany) do the same?” The answer, IMO, is a resounding no.
Arya, on the other hand, can do no wrong in my eyes even when she goes HAM on that murderess vibe. I see her growth in the show as a classic example of hard work pays, even when that hard work is learning how to kill people. Lol. All that tough AF training in Braavos came to fruition when she killed the Night King, thus ending the long night. Who would have guessed that this wee little lass would grow up to be the Night King slayer?
As the battle bore on, The Hound reached a point he was done with it all. You cannot really blame him as fire is his kryptonite, what with having his face shoved into a fire as a child by his brother. Beric Dondarrion (RIP for real this time) tells The Hound to put his back into it and The Hound replies that there is no point as they are all going to die anyway. To which Beric points at Arya fighting with all her might and says to the Hound “tell her that.” And somehow that was all Sandor Clegane needed to get his groove back.
Quick asides:
- Am I the only one who thinks Beric Dondarrion is sexy? My sister thinks I am nuts, but there is something about his eye patch, his beard and his flaming sword that makes me want to get naked with him.
- On a scale of one to the-top-of-the-highest-mountain, how ready are you for Clegane bowl?
3. Did you catch the look Ser Davos gave Arya when he saw her take down all those wights with the weapon Gendry bae made for her? To say he was shook is a major understatement.
4. Speaking of Gendry:
A girl kicked major ass as she slayed all those wights, but it was Melisandre’s conversation with Arya that was most instrumental in her defeating the Night King.
Melisandre: What do we say to the god of death?
Arya: Not today.
The choice of words initially said by her water dancing instructor Syrio Forel must have instilled in Arya the conviction that she had been preparing for this moment from the day she dropped the wooden sword Syrio tossed to her during their first meeting.
Yaani Arya got laid and saved all of humanity in a night yet I can barely find a decent FWB. Lol. Jk. Kinda.
All jokes aside, I recently learnt that my highly empathic nature is the reason I am deeply affected by fictional deaths.
Now I also know that I am equally affected by fictional triumphs. As a woman, seeing Arya slay the Night King with that hand switch move has me feeling empowered AF. Fun fact, Maisie Williams is right-handed but upon learning that Arya is left-handed she has been training using her left hand and now she is an ambidextrous bad bitch.
Another fun fact, for three or so years the executive producers of GOT knew that Arya would be the one to kill the Night King as it did not feel right giving Jon that honour.
“Jon Snow has always been the hero, the one who’s been the saviour, but it just didn’t seem right to us for this moment,” explained executive producer and writer David Benioff.
The feminist I am stans that sentiment so hard such that I can barely explain how empowered I feel at the moment. Interestingly empowered was one of my mum’s favourite words, I think because she was anything but. All my life she pushed me to work hard at school and get a good job so that if a man ever gives me headfuck I can leave him without a moment’s hesitation, something she was unable to do.
Arya has ignited a fire in me to continue working hard to achieve all the goals on my list (see what I did there). Going forward on those days I feel tired, bored, jaded etc. etc. I will give myself a pep talk using two simple words:
Not today.
Lwile the Leo 