GRRM did AFFC so good actually. Flipped the male-centric series on its head with majorly female PoVs and then started the book with our resident paranoiapilled Cersei Lannister convinced that her killer is hiding in the walls of the Red Keep. He introduced the first true knight of the series, keeping an oath to a dead woman. No chance, no choice. Asha fighting centuries of patriarchy to fight for her throne. “Balon let her believe she was a man.” “Your father made the same mistake with you.” Sansa and the whole Vale arc? Arya’s Cat of the Canals arc?? Hello? We have been served female characters on a platter here and I for one am eating. it. up. He truly snapped here tbh.

Time to ramble. I’m thinking about the way Arya and Sansa fans seem to get into this debate about who was more lonely and neglected in Winterfell. Which is kind of funny because then the arguments get totally reversed when debating other aspects of the characters. But anyway. The general arguments seem to be:

1. Arya was clearly the neglected outcast. This is clear in the meta narrative because of her connection to Jon and the fact that she doesn’t look like her true born siblings. The more direct evidence comes from the way Sansa and Jeyne teased her, the harshness of Septa Mordane, and Catelyn’s exasperation. It can be inferred that Arya feels a sense of insecurity wrt to her family ties as she wonders if her own mother would want her back after everything that happened. It can be assumed that she was a bit of an outcast based on her disinterest in the things expected of her as a girl, and we see the way many characters look down upon non-conforming women and girls in-universe. Sansa, on the other hand, receives praise from her mother and the septa and has two named close friends in Winterfell. She happily conforms to what is expected of her as a highborn girl and we can assume she would fit in in Winterfell.

2. Sansa was clearly the neglected outcast. This is clear in the meta narrative because she is the only one to lose her direwolf, which is the family symbol. The more direct evidence comes from contrast with Arya, whom Sansa observes can “make friends with anybody,” seemingly in contrast to herself. Ned agreed to kill Lady despite knowing she was innocent and indulged Arya’s interest in swordplay whilst being unenthusiastic about indulging Sansa’s interest in tourneys. Arya is demonstrated to be beloved by Ned’s men in a way we do not observe with Sansa. We can assume that Sansa didn’t feel like she belonged because of her interest in sothron culture, something none of her siblings share. Arya, on the other hand, is extroverted, makes friends easily, is northern in appearance, and has no interest in sothron culture, so we can assume she fit in in Winterfell.

I actually don’t think a lot of the points in the two arguments is mutually exclusive. We also have to remember POV bias. Arya doesn’t reflect on Any friends her age she had at Winterfell (I am not including Mycah because I am under the impression they became friends on the way to King’s Landing), but Arya is not one to reflect and reminisce. Sansa notices that Arya can make friends with anyone, but she doesn’t experience Arya’s inner world. What does Sansa mean by making friends? Does she see Arya having fun and being at ease talking to anyone and feel envy, since she herself feels like is performing, always minding her manners, when she’s socializing with most people? Could it be that Arya is friendly but struggles to find long term close friends like Jeyne and Beth, attributing this disparity to Sansa’s “ladylike” interests? Could it be that being teased by Sansa and her friends and scolded by Catelyn and Mordane has made Arya assume that other girls wouldn’t be interested in close friendship with her, causing her to be friendly but keep a certain distance? (**please note I am not trying to make a case for nlog Arya. I think keeping a distance because you assume you’ll be rejected is different and does not require that she looks down upon other girls, because there is no evidence for that here**)

I don’t have a good conclusion I just think it’s interesting that this is something that gets debated because the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. We can’t know because we get very few flashbacks and the story picks up when their normal lives in Winterfell end. I can’t speak to George’s intentions but if we pretend they’re real people I’d speculate that both would have felt misplaced within Winterfell at times, envying certain traits about the other

George did not write Arya naming babies in Winterfell and taking care of a child in the middle of a WARZONE just for y'all to say she's not going to end up with kids/family because she's "not that type of character" 😒

Truthfully in the end the Night King does not let the dead rest he makes them undead zombies.

Which is against The faith of the many faced God.

Which definitely makes Arya being the one to kill him VERY POSSIBLE.

The Night King himself is eternal and does not give death respect at all.

He steals every soul from death.

So more then likely The Nights King's most angry advisory is The Faceless Men as their God is constantly insulted by taking his rights every single time.

Maybe I have that off a bit the night king isn't the leader it's Bloodraven.

Who controls The Night King and the dead now.

Furthermore, the fact that the Night King basically is said to get a Dragon that is what he wants and if he gets I'm assuming it will kill off R'hllor the Lord of Light because endless Night and undead life getting ahold of fire will do that.

Which makes me think what happens is Daenerys dies because Jon is dead already and now not the same. If he kills her he kills fire itself. He possibly also gives unknowingly the night king a dragon which also could kill Dany because Dany represents R'hllor in fire made flesh. In a human. Therefore now the Winter that will never end begins. Without the song of ice and fire because if the night kings gets fire it's over the world stops moving forward.

I'm just theorizing here but maybe the acts that correspond the gods are made as action to their appointed humanic representatives. In this case a dragon is made undead. Dany will immediately die as R'hllor dies. The fire God. Dies.

This is just a silly fandom poll but I’m interested in seeing the results!

A Song of Ice and Fire: Character Evolution

Arya Stark

Bran Stark

Jaime Lannister

Jon Snow

Sansa Stark

Theon Greyjoy

Tyrion Lannister

By GabKT

streamonmax: Best mates, best sisters.

Thinking about how Arya parallels Odysseus, using her wits to defy physically monstrous captors, repeated separation from her allies, sailing across the sea, isolated occultists who rely on transformation and poison luring them in and using a combination of coercion and magic to keep them under control, long, arduous journeys often misinterpreted as lighthearted adventures when the entire point is that our hero(ine) is desperate to get home to their family and loved ones after suffering through a war like none before.

Which got me thinking about connections between Arya and Jon, and Odysseus and Penelope, obviously... like, I'm thinking of Penelope putting off her duty to remarry until Odysseus, the only husband she wants, returns and Jon denying his duty to claim Winterfell until it's Arya, the only bride or blood he ultimately can't deny, on the line.

Once, people who knew Lyanna Stark said that her niece, Arya, resembled her. Now, people who know Arya Stark say that her niece, Lyanna, resembles her. Princess Lyanna Targaryen might have the traditional Targaryen coloring but she definitely has wolf blood. And she also has all these traits that makes her famous aunt Arya so loved by small folk.

the "stark sisters uwu" crowd loves to project themselves into this fictional sibling dynamic so much. every post they make is "my sibling and i used to hate each other but now we love each other... so that's why arya and sansa would do the same... so totally normal sibling behavior" (sorry not sorry, but nobody cares about your own relationship with your siblings)

Arya was one of the first characters created. Sansa came about as a total opposite b/c too many of the Stark family members were getting along and familes aren't like that. Thus, Sansa was created; he ended by saying they have deep issues to work out. (source)

that's what grrm said about their sibling relationship, what part of d e e p i s s u e s is so difficult to understand?

Pre-AGOT Arya doodles!

Close-ups under the cut

The way that Sansa treats Arya at the start is so horrible, and before anyone says anything, I love Sansa, she’s my favourite POV and one of my favourite characters in the series. But that doesn’t excuse her actions.

I do believe that the way that adults treated the two girls definitely had impact on this, though.

Sansa is always praised and liked for her behaviour, as she acts like the perfect lady. Arya faces the opposite behaviour.

When the girls arrive in Kingslanding, the way that Sansa feels towards Arya is strengthened.

She says „It will be a splendid event. You shan’t be wanted.” To Arya when their father says that they both shall go to the tourney, which makes Arya’s eyes watering. „She could feel tears stinging her eyes. She rubbed them angrily, determined not to cry.”

If this was just a one off comment that Sansa made, Arya would of probably brushed it off, but she didn’t, she started to nearly cry. This just shows that Sansa speaks to her in this way constantly.

During the same scene Arya starts talking about how she missed her brothers and wants to see them. „She had no one left but Sansa, and Sansa wouldn’t even talk to her unless father made her.”

I love Sansa, specifically her development, but I would never ignore the way that she treated Arya. And I think it’s quite concerning that some people are saying that they have a normal sibling relationship, they do not. I have siblings, two younger ones and I would never treat or speak to them they would Sansa treated Arya.

Every time I see people talk about Sansa and Arya's relationship as "just sisters being sisters" I think about that one girl on TikTok who was basically stalking her sister who went no-contact and kept responding to comments criticizing her with "it's just a sister thing, you wouldn't get it". Like! Being shitty to someone isn't okay just cause you're related to them. Personally thinking a certain behavior is normal/harmless does not mean the person affected by it feels the same way! Arya being mocked and having self-esteem issues is referenced often throughout the story, all the way into ADwD. How people read that (jk I know you guys don't actually read her chapters) and think their issues will magically disappear is beyond me. "Stark sisters lover" but the only time you talk about them is when you're centering Sansa and her feelings 🤨

none of these make sense. send help. i’ve gone woke…..

please i don’t understand why there’s so much jonsa and jonrya on my feed 😭😭 please get out u scare me

chat that is incest. “but the targaryens!” alright. argument immediately lost