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Mamby-pamby Wapo writer damns Arya
Posted on 7/17/17 at 10:38 pm
Posted on 7/17/17 at 10:38 pm
quote:
Speaking of Arya, it’s lovely to have her free of Braavos, and not just because I was going to stick someone with the pointy end of something if she stayed there. Arya’s experience in the House of Black and White was flattening, and now that she’s back in Westeros and returning to her own dimensions, we can see just how much she was crumpled and damaged along the way.
Arya used to be one of the characters whose face we looked to in order to understand the cost of the struggle for power. When Yoren (Francis Magee) covered her eyes so she wouldn’t see her father’s (Sean Bean) execution, it was because he and we understood that she was still innocent, despite her fight with Joffrey, despite her dreams of learning to fight with a sword rather than curtsy like a lady. But now that cost is counted out in the faces of the serving women Arya spares as witnesses to her massacre at the Twins. Her own smiling face as she walks out of Walder Frey’s (David Bradley) hall, having poisoned the men who killed her mother, brother and sister-in-law is the visage of someone who has become blind to anything but her shrinking list of names. That sequence is highly effective, and it’s heightened by the later scene where Arya comes across a small group of Lannister soldiers looking to undo the chaos she unleashed at the Twins. They offer her the first bite of rabbit and share their blackberry wine because, as one baby-faced young man in armor tells her, “My mother always told me to be kind to strangers and strangers’ll be kind to you.” They miss their fathers and their wives and their newborn babies. They laugh when Arya tells them she’s going South to kill the queen.
Arya’s own face, with its round cheeks and its wide eyes, has become a false testament to her innocence. Sansa may share Cersei’s experiences and exalted position, but Arya shares the Lannister queen’s obsessions. If the question for Sansa is whether the older Stark woman can be wiser than the woman who molded her, for Arya it’s whether she can learn to see something other than vengeance. I know plenty of “Game of Thrones” watchers and readers of George R.R. Martin’s novels believe that Arya will be the “little brother” who is prophesied to kill Cersei. If that is in fact Arya’s destiny, it won’t be a glorious victory for Arya, but a dreadful damnation....
Also unlike Arya, who has regained her vision but lost her ability to see the world,...
LINK
Posted on 7/17/17 at 10:41 pm to prplhze2000
You need to put SPOILERS into the title.
Posted on 7/17/17 at 10:55 pm to prplhze2000
She's become a Punisher-like anti-hero who has lost the ability to see right from wrong. All she sees is vengeance. She may be killing people who are far worse than her and who deserve it, but I feel as if she's on the verge of losing her soul.
This post was edited on 7/17/17 at 10:56 pm
Posted on 7/17/17 at 11:02 pm to prplhze2000
***Mamby-pamby Wapo writer thanks you for spreading her clickbait***
Posted on 7/18/17 at 7:17 am to prplhze2000
Don't really disagree with much of that review. Arya, of all the characters on the show, has probably the cleanest motivations: pure vengeance. That doesn't take away her complexity, because you see in the Ed Sheeran scene the conflict she feels when deciding who to kill and who to spare.
She has been our eyes to some of the most tragic events to befall the Starks, but despite her badassery, her development from innocent girl into this ruthless killer may be the most tragic arc of all.
She has been our eyes to some of the most tragic events to befall the Starks, but despite her badassery, her development from innocent girl into this ruthless killer may be the most tragic arc of all.
Posted on 7/18/17 at 7:31 am to gulfcoasttiger5
She lives in a world where being strictly good gets you killed. She has spared lives where she could've killed or was supposed to kill. Look at what happened to those peacenicks. Slaughtered. Man has an Inn. Fodder for getting robbed and his daughter raped. This is a cruel world.
She learned that lesson early on and hadto fend for herself with nothing but her wits and spine. She has a moral code and follows it pretty much but has learned to be ruthless when required. Everyone she killed had it coming big time.
As for the Grey's, what was wrong wih what she did? They wiped out her whole family and Lannisters put a bounty on the rest.
She learned that lesson early on and hadto fend for herself with nothing but her wits and spine. She has a moral code and follows it pretty much but has learned to be ruthless when required. Everyone she killed had it coming big time.
As for the Grey's, what was wrong wih what she did? They wiped out her whole family and Lannisters put a bounty on the rest.
Posted on 7/18/17 at 8:10 am to prplhze2000
quote:
She lives in a world where being strictly good gets you killed.
Exactly this. Her arc is tragic viewed through the lens of our times/world, but in her world, at this point in time, alone with no family (she knows of) left, becoming a ruthless, stealthy, bad-arse assassin is about the best possible thing she could do. Otherwise, she'd be food for crows by now. Name one other tween/young teen alone in this show/book who could survive her circumstances. Even with all she can do now, I still had trepidation during the Lannister soldier scene, wondering the whole time if those guys were planning to attack her, get her drunk, etc. I was pleasantly surprised at the end of the scene when everyone was laughing and she got away safe and without having to kill anyone. If my 12 year old were forced to kill or be killed, that would be awful. But in GRRM's world, every time she strikes a blow to avenge her family, I want to stand up and cheer.
Posted on 7/18/17 at 8:41 am to RollTide1987
quote:
She's become a Punisher-like anti-hero who has lost the ability to see right from wrong. All she sees is vengeance. She may be killing people who are far worse than her and who deserve it, but I feel as if she's on the verge of losing her soul.
So you missed the Ed Sheeran scene?
Posted on 7/18/17 at 9:20 am to prplhze2000
I think a part of the purpose of the scene with the Lannister solders was as a small adjustment in the direction of her arc.
It seems like a lot of people missed this because 1) it was indeed just the beginnings of a turn. It would have been incongruous if it didn't start small; 2) The turn itself is likely not to be very large. She is still gonna be someone who kills and seeks vengeance to an extent; and 3) a lot of viewers were seemingly distracted by the fact that a popular singer was in the scene.
It seems like a lot of people missed this because 1) it was indeed just the beginnings of a turn. It would have been incongruous if it didn't start small; 2) The turn itself is likely not to be very large. She is still gonna be someone who kills and seeks vengeance to an extent; and 3) a lot of viewers were seemingly distracted by the fact that a popular singer was in the scene.
Posted on 7/18/17 at 10:39 am to Methuselah
Yes, she is not a soul less, indiscriminate killer. She is capable of understanding that even lannister soldiers can be good people. Her vengeance is directed toward people that have shown themselves to be enemies/evil by their actions.
Posted on 7/18/17 at 10:41 am to prplhze2000
She's been making a list and checking it twice since the 2nd season.
She's the Santa Clause of vengeance and it is glorious.
She's the Santa Clause of vengeance and it is glorious.
Posted on 7/18/17 at 10:57 am to prplhze2000
quote:
If the question for Sansa is whether the older Stark woman can be wiser than the woman who molded her, for Arya it’s whether she can learn to see something other than vengeance
Which is why the Ed Sheeran scene that oodles of people are bitching about ( ) is important. You catch a glimpse that she is still able to discern between killing everything in her path.
She's still one of my favorite characters.
Posted on 7/18/17 at 11:08 am to Bigtime92
The Arya storyline in the TV show really is worthless.
Posted on 7/18/17 at 11:25 am to prplhze2000
If we can talk book Ayra for a second.
She has been running around the river land via warging and eating frays. Don't start none; won't be none, Walder.
She has been running around the river land via warging and eating frays. Don't start none; won't be none, Walder.
Posted on 7/18/17 at 11:25 am to BluegrassBelle
quote:I don't understand why this is so hard for people to understand. She is taking revenge on the people that have wronged her, that's it.
Which is why the Ed Sheeran scene that oodles of people are bitching about ( ) is important. You catch a glimpse that she is still able to discern between killing everything in her path.
She's still one of my favorite characters.
Posted on 7/18/17 at 11:28 am to MontyFranklyn
quote:
I don't understand why this is so hard for people to understand. She is taking revenge on the people that have wronged her, that's it.
I can see where people might think she's crossed a line or could cross a line into some recklessness with lives. But at this point she's pretty well killed out of revenge or necessity/survival.
I think people tend to mistaken her increased ability of killing with ease with recklessness because of the swath of people she's had to take out.
This post was edited on 7/18/17 at 11:30 am
Posted on 7/18/17 at 1:37 pm to Dire Wolf
Not true. Books ended with Arya training under The Kindly Man and making her first kill.
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