07/26/15 - Chapter 7: Arya 1

[Dani, Stormborn, the Unburnt, Khaleesi and queen]

Today we will discuss the first Arya chapter.

[R]

First of all, we get to see a bunch of little ladies together in one scene. Realizing it, kind of created a big impact on me, knowing, of course, that every single one of them has their own story to develop in the future. It's amazing that you get to see Beth Cassel, Jeyne Poole, Princess Myrcella, Sansa and Arya in one place, and that place, of course, none other than Winterfell.

I read in one of the many interviews of GRRM that he kind of wanted his story to be developed the way Tolkien's The Lord Of The Ring was, having a large group of people in one place, then having the members of the group taking different paths and then coming back together in the end. I don't see how he's doing that with everything that's happened so far but... maybe we'll have a chance to have a glipse of these ladies reunited in the end, who knows?

I'm always thinking like that when reading these first chapters of the series.

[Clara]

Arya is one of my favourite characters and was my number one ever for a long time.

I really like that you can tell what a strong character she has, even if she is 9. Maybe that's why I liked her so much since her first chapter.

I forgot most of the things the boys tell each other when they are practicing in the yard, and what Jon said about Joffrey. What I do remember is that I hated him from the beggining.

And the relationship between Jon and Arya is so sweet, I really enjoyed re-reading about it!

[R]

wouldn't you say Joffrey's first appearance made him look like a two dimensional character? surely, we never know too much about him, but it kind of looks like the classic high school bully to me in that scene.

[Clara]

Mmm maybe. He started this whole thing because he wanted to practice with real swords, but it kinda feels like he wishes it won't happend, and maybe he says all those things to prove he is not afraid, but knowing they won't practice with swords?

I never really liked him at all, I never thought he has a good side. And I always find him annoying, with that "I am a prince and do what I want attitude".

[R]

I wouldn't say Joffrey doesn't have a good side, he's more like a sociopath, it's in his nature to be like he is and in the end, that's natural.

[Antonella]

Here's what I found in the chapter:

1. Arya thought she was a bastard for her similarities to Jon.

2. The prince Joffrey seems to be violent.

3. This particular quote: "The longer you hide, the sterner the penance. You'll be sewing all through winter. When the spring that comes, they will find your body with a needle still locked tight between your frozen fingers". *SPOILERS FROM A GAME OF THRONES, BOOK 1* (view spoiler)[When I read that, I thought that maybe the "needle" word refers to the sword that Jon gave to Arya. (hide spoiler)]

[Vicki]

Okay, the coffee shop will be closing in an hour or so, so I have to type really fast:

1. The septa said of Arya, "Arya has the hands of a blacksmith." Whereas Sansa "...has such fine delicate hands." and "Sansa's work is as pretty as she is." Right away we see the difference between the two sisters, and I love it! And lol at this: "Arya thought that Myrcella's stitched looked a little crooked too, but you would never know it from the way Septa Mordane was cooing." Kiss-a$$.

2. I forgot all about Beth Cassel, Ser Rodrik's little girl.

3. "Jon says he looks like a girl," Arya said. (In response to Sansa asking her sister what she thought of Joffrey, funny). And when Sansa sighs and says, "Poor Jon. He gets jealous because he's a bastard." And how Arya defends Jon. She takes pains to include him like Ned does. They are true Starks. Sansa seems way more Tully at this point.

4. "Even Princess Myrcella looked sorry for her." I don't know, but I really seem to like Myrcella here. She seems very kind and genuine, not "insipid" like Jon said in his previous chapter.

5. And now Arya's crying. My second most favorite character, another Stark, cries in their first chapter. I hadn't noticed this before. I must be sappy or something.

6. "Well, that and manage a household. Sansa had never had much of a head for figures." I missed this my first reading. I think it means mathematics, finances, and/or business. Not sure if it's important to note in the future. I just didn't realize Arya was good with numbers.

7. I love how Arya named her direwolf after a female warrior. :) She apparently was a warrior queen of the Rhoyne (I thought she was from Dorne, another Nym then) "who had led her people across the narrow sea." That almost sounds like someone else we know!

8. Once again Jon is in another person's chapter. I just love all of their interactions together!

9. Didn't realize Ghost is bigger than Nymeria (and the others) and he made his sister pup wary. But when he smells Nymeria, he gave her a "careful nip, and settled back down." :)

10. I love how Jon calls her "little sister" all the time. :) Jon doesn't often smile. He loves his sister like how Ned loved his little sister Lyanna. And also how he messes up her hair. So cute! Makes me wish I had a big brother.

11. Theon has a "look of wry contempt on his face." Why? It's just Bran and Tommen sparring, from what I have read so far.

12. Only Jon and Arya look like Starks. When she worried she was a bastard because of that, it was Jon she turned to and Jon who reassured her, awe. I had forgotten that. I thought it was her mom she turned to for reassurance.

13. Jon notes how odd it is for Joff's arms to be half stag, half lion - "The Lannisters are proud." And I love how Arya responds with, "The woman is important too!" And his response, "You should wed Tully to Stark in your arms."

"A wolf with a fish in its mouth?" This made me laugh.

14. Jon says, "Girls get the arms but not the swords. Bastards get the swords but not the arms. I did not make the rules, little sister." That's interesting to note, a cross dilemma for both of them.

15. It makes me laugh when Joffrey says, "This is a game for children, Ser Rodrik." You are only twelve, fighting a 14-year-old!!! For the first time I agree with Theon when he calls him out on it.

16. Also laughed when Jon says to Arya, "Joffrey is truly a little shit."

17. "You'll be sewing all through winter," says Jon of Arya in her punishment for running out on her needlepoint lessons. *SPOILER FOR A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE*(view spoiler)[Someone once suggested this was an omen, that Arya will be practicing her "Needle-work" with her sword all winter, hinting she'll be a real bad-a$$ by the time Spring comes around. I kind of like this thought. (hide spoiler)]

18. Interesting that Nymeria started to follow Jon and Ghost but stopped only when she saw that Arya had stayed put. *SPOILER FOR A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE*(view spoiler)[Maybe it's just because Arya truly wanted to follow them in her heart, as the Stark's direwolves tend to behave the way their masters feel inside, but after reading it a second time I took it as an omen that Jon/Ghost is the leader/alpha of the pack. And perhaps Nymeria is the beta, with all her wolves in the riverlands. (hide spoiler)]

19. I had another thought: *SPOILER FOR A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE*(view spoiler)[Ghost's fur is all white and his eyes are red (the color for hot). Rhaegar's hair was white and he's a Targaryen: hot. Because Jon looks so much like a Stark, taking no Targaryen resemblence whatsoever, if R+L=J theory is correct (which I totally believe, too, by the way), maybe Ghost represents his father's characteristics, or even IS his father. Ghost is silent, after all. Isn't it said of Rhaegar that he was a quiet man? Pensive, at least. There is a possibility that he could literally be Jon's "ghost," watching over his son. Jon's got a fighter spirit like his mom and a burning desire to save the world like his dad, and he happens to make a great leader, even without trying. Something Rhaegar probably was. (hide spoiler)] I just like that small possibility. :)