Winds of Winter Predictions: Arya's Escape 

It's interesting that the most powerful thing Syrio taught Arya was self control and not sword fighting. Those skills have been important to her throughout the story much more than using swords.

That scene with Arya feeling her face being taken off and tasting that metallic taste of blood always, for me, reminds me and tells me that Bran ate Jojen paste. Arya and Bran use almost the same wording when they both taste blood.

This story quickly shaping up to be WAY different than the show.

The Faceless Men essentially use the most advanced glamours in the world. Melisandre emphasises how important it is for Mance to wear items that belonged to Rattleshirt to keep the glamour working, as if a residual imprint of the person remains in their belongings. Well what could be better in that sense than wearing someone else's face? I think they essentially combine blood magic and glamouring when it comes to wearing a face, and that's how it works.

I think we also need to talk about the fact that Arya has eaten human meat while in Nymeria. And she loved it. I always thought it was interesting how when she hotpie and gendry escaped, Nymeria and her pack ended up attacking the people who were pursuing them. I believe that is why the ghost of high heart was so disgusted and frightened of Arya is because she will warg Nymeria and eat her enemies. Which is one of the things that you're not supposed to do while in your animal's.

Arya's is definitely one of the darkest/most tragic character arcs in the series. A child destroyed by trauma and violence, becoming a cold assassin to survive and possibly enact revenge. There's nothing cool or awesome or badass about that, despite what the show tried to make of it. Book!Arya is one of my favourite characters to read about, but I ended up hating snarky, arrogant little b*tch Show!Arya lol.

"if you think you know how it ends" no, thank god. Season 8 was just a fevre dream..

Based on what you all are saying, I'm starting to wonder if any of Arya's 'mistakes' that she thinks she's making by killing people she's not asked to kill are 'mistakes' at all or if the FM are putting her in situations where they know she'll meet people she wants to kill in order to test her abilities and ruthlessness. Think about it, she's had her list since the Riverlands, and it wouldn't surprise me if Jaqen overheard it at some point, so he knows who is on it. She becomes Cat of the Canals and just so happens to run into a NW deserter? That's too tasty a kill for her to pass up, but the FM want to know if she's willing to go kill someone not on her list but out of a sense of Northern justice. Then, once she's killed Daeron, they upgrade her. And the next chance she gets to have an extra-judicial kill it's someone that Cersei sends to treat with the Iron Bank and Arya just so happens to have been apprenticed to the mummer's troop where he shows up? Seems like too much of a coincidence for the FM not to have orchestrated it to test her. I wonder how much of the 'no-one' ideology is real and how much is facade. Do they really want their assassins to be no one or do they specifically recruit people with that lust for revenge sometimes (perhaps not all the time) because, like magic, it's a useful tool they can exploit to accomplish their goals. Could Arya have been recruited because they expected (or were attempting to prepare for) the IT/Cersei to default on their loan?

I wish the skin changing for Arya was present in the adaptation. I love her so much in the books and didn't do her justice

I kinda think that Aria killing the nights watchman was her doing her brother jon a Stark duty. Perhaps it's Martin's way of telling us she is still Ned Starks daughter at heart.

On how the faceless men control animals. Arya learns from the waif while training, that the faceless men have access to a paste which, when spiced with basilisk blood, makes cooked meat smell savory but induces violent madness when consumed. This may have been how Jaqen manipulated the dog into killing Weese.

Technically that dude, Dareon, was a deserter from the Night's Watch so Arya killing him is in a sorta way just doing her duty as a Stark. Altough she wasn't with the boys when her father had to execute the deserter, but she surely must have heard of it. So she might be doing it in honor of her father, but especially for her brother, Jon Snow.

The cutting of Arya's face in the Hall of Faces was a blood magic ritual which bond her to the faces and allows her to magically use them, like the Wierwoods wear faces. Remember the Wierwood Door on the House of Black And White.

It's almost as if Syrio was screening her for warg abilities by having her catch cats in book one. Maybe he alerted jaqen and the other faceless about her as a potential candidate for training

The faceless men actually don’t have faces. When she saw the skull that was his face. That’s why she must become no one.

Masie did an amazing job with that role for any actor let alone a child. She learned all that choreo for sword play with her non dominant hand. Blows me away everytime i watch it.

I think the Frodo leaving comparison seems likely, and very sad. Her dying seems very likely too..perhaps her spirit warging in Nymeria. I’m constantly reminded of how well GRRM writes his characters and Arya’s journey in the books is one of my favourites to read/witness. I hope she can find happiness in some form - if not for herself than for the ones she loves that are still left standing. Giving Lady Stoneheart the gift of mercy would be beautifully dark.

Love these conversations that catch us up with the main characters. TWOW baby!!

Arya in 15 years after all the books ending up some crazy ruthless pirate captain is *super* fanficy but also, at least, sounds super fun.

you say "the kindly man was caught off guard here", but with all the detail about learning to control their faces, maybe he was just feigning surprise.

It sounds to me like the Faceless Men know full well what Arya's game is, and they actually WANT her to go through with it because it plays perfectly into their own agenda.

Arya will probably die at the end. Her story is all about death, there will be no cheesy sail the world ending for her. She is too damaged and too far gone to come back. She may survive inside her wolf for a while though.

I think the faceless men have known about the stark children and their warging. I think The man in Winterfell who gave Bran the BlackBerry every day was Jaqen. The FM have wanted their warg skills and were working on Bran until his fall and switched to Arya and followed her to kingslanding.

10:36 you ask if Arya changing her face is magic or Qyburn's pseudo-science. and there is this part on the chapter you read that answers that: "To other eyes, your nose and jaw are broken," said the waif. "One side of your face is caved in where your cheekbone shattered, and half your teeth are missing." She probed around inside her mouth with her tongue, but found no holes or broken teeth. Sorcery, she thought. I have a new face. An ugly, broken face.

I always made a funny comment during Seasons 7 and 8 of show about Arya: "Wiped floors for a season and a half, then became an expert at everything". Cause every time we see her training at anything, she got her ass whooped . Also, i think you might have touched on this in a Dune video but one would think the Faceless Men are inspired from the Tleilaxu Face Dancers, right?

What is creeeeepy about this scene is not just the murder but the dual consciusness she (Arya) knows she is killing the man, but also she (Mercy) is shocked at all the blood. She's not acting - she's actually both Mercy and Arya at that moment.

16:52 I think Arya's twisted sense of justice might be a corruption of the notion that "the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword". Ned Stark was a very just man, perhaps to a fault, and Jon and Robb aspire to be much like him in this regard. For them, "the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword" means that you need to be considerate when passing judgement, as you yourself will need to enact it afterwards. For Arya, it means that she can kill whoever she pleases; She's sentencing people to death _and_ killing them as she pleases. Perhaps GRRM included this parallel intentionally.

I like how extrajudicial here means the faceless men are regular judicial 😁

One of the broad readings that can be made of the "ASoIF" story is the effect that war and violence has on people, especially women, and the things they do to try to cope. Although circumstances force their fates upon them to some extent, I think Arya and Sansa are contrasts in two opposite strategies women have traditionally used to ensure their own safety in dangerous times: the latter tries to work within the existing social structure to find trustworthy allies who can keep her safe, thereby using her femininity for the protection and indirect power it can command; the former rejects social convention and responds to the violence around her by learning to become proficient at it herself. That's not the common reaction for a lady from a noble house, but it has precedent in the real world in times and places where violence was endemic, such as the French countryside during the Hundred Years War, which I know was one of the historical events from which Mr. Martin drew inspiration. And credit to him for not letting readers off the hook, because it's easy for a modern person to think, why just passively try to survive when you could be actively fighting back. But there's a psychological cost to using violence, no matter how justified it may be, and we see in Arya's gradually increasing callousness and detachment one of the costs of using violence.

If Arya does go AWOL on the Faceless Men, her story will end not with her sailing west but with the Faceless Men catching up to her, perhaps it will even be Jaqen, and at that point she will accept her fate because she has achieved her goals of revenge and is ready to embrace death. This is the ending I've imagined for Arya, if indeed she goes rogue that is.

I think they going to give her identity back and maybe say; 'if cannot be no one, then be Arya of house Stark.' Then they'll give her a coin and send her on her way, thereby giving her a yearning to be no one. After all you can't be no one when everyone knows you.

the ideas of march, is a brilliant title.

I think... In the very process of training, Faceless Men learn to intuit the Will of thier God and carry out. After certain level, they are free to make their own missions as they have truly become No One - instrument of their God.... I think that's where Jaqen is. He is the embodiment of perfection as Faceless Man.. and may contact Braavos to keep them informed about his path.

Everything that has happened to Arya has been part of the Faceless Men's plan to defeat the abomination of the Army of the Dead. Arya will play a major part in brining the Gift to the Army of the Dead. Maybe even using her warg abilities to short circuit the hive mind that animates them.

15:20 So this whole segment makes me think of something a skinchanger said his master told him in a prologue, about what taking the skins of various animals does to the skinchanger. Cat skin changers turn vain and cruel and vicious according to that guy, so I'm curious to see how that corresponds to Arya's character development around this time when she first skinchanges a cat.

Arya's chapters always make me sad. I worry for her more than i do for most people in the real world.

I suspect the slice to Arya that causes blood to run down her face has a blood magic connection. Arya's blood runs over her face, then mingles with the face applied to her, giving both the realism the symbolism of her and the mask becoming one - it being her blood now running through the face giving it life. and the blood magic lets the residual personality and knowledge from the person now become a part of Arya. On Arya killing the Oath breaking Watchman, Arya's sense of honor and justice is only matched by that of her father. Arya breaking from the Faceless Men has been something I've pondered. GRRM writes about choices characters make and the consequences that result from that choice. We know that Azor Ahai seems directed at both Daenerys and Jon Snow (Aegon Stark Targaryen). But Is there a prophecy directed at Arya? There are clues that there is a Weirwood tree deep in the bowels of the temple of the faceless, similar to the one within Casterly Rock. She will travel West of Westeros either for the reason LML says, or to evade the Faceless Men. But I think she could destroy them if she had to with her warging.

You guys don't think The Faceless Men , a worldwide assassin organization ,would teach fighting skills? I think George just didn't cover too much of that simply because it's too obvious. I think they would teach her every combat technique outside of the Knightly Art's. Lots of unarmed and light weapon martial techniques. Love and respect Quinn and LmL. Well done guys

I hope Arya learns more about the history of the Faceless Men. We don't need to learn the details of the Doom of Valyria, but going out of the mines and spreading to Braavos would be good to know.

These Winds of Winter conversations are lit!! Keep it up Quinn and Lucifer!!

Ill start watching in a few minutes but (and i dont know if this is coincidence or deliberate) i appreciate how the order of the videos fits with Danaerys prophecy about "going East to end up West"

It was pretty much confirmed in a Arya POV that Jaqen used Basilisk Venom to turn Weese's dog against him. It's likely what will happen to Ramsay in the books as it makes more sense for Arya to kill him to get justice for her family and Jeyne. And Nymeria wasn't an explorer. She was the leader of thousands of refugees. She was looking for a safe haven for her people. I'm not sure how that even translates to being similar to Arya's ending on the show. Nymeria didn't go sailing for the hell of it. Now if Arya's ending does involve getting on a ship, I don't believe for a second it will be anything like the show gave us - which was basically her suicide wrapped in a faux-happy bow after Arya choosing life. It didn't make sense in any context. And as for Arya choosing life, that right there is one of two things in Arya's arc in S8, I believe comes directly from GRRM - the other being Gendrya. I believe Arya's arc after the HOBAW is about her reclaiming her identity, and how her identity this time around will give her power and agency and give her the option of deciding to embrace life. She's going to choose life which entails actually living in it and doing her duty to the people. She's going to continue to struggle because she's been traumatized - beaten, abused, sexually assaulted, and forced to watch unimaginable torment all while being a slave, a child soldier - but that doesn't mean she's going to be too broken to function. She's going to have an important role in the end, because she won't be too broken to function.

Nice video thx. Just one thought to add: Arya might be the one carrying the Sword Dawn to Winterfell as her father once remarked that, if left to her own device, she would find a morning star.

Awesome video!! It was very cool seeing you two together in the same room in the previous vids, but there is something great about this format as well for collaborative conversation.

I'd argue donning someone else's face is blood magic, not surgery. The kindly man says it'll hurt, yet Arya describes no pain. Arya says the blood is flowing over her eyes. She definitely would have felt (and thought about) the pain of such a cut. She certainly doesn't say anything that would imply the kindly man removed Arya's face! It seems to me the pain the kindly man spoke of is that of living the Ugly Girl's memories. Arya specifically says she expected the knife to be cold, but it was warm- this again doesn't seem consistent with her face being cut. "Salt and copper" definitely refers to blood, so blood is needed for this procedure. So, I land on blood magic. Remember, the FM originated in Valryia so it's more than possible.

Hell yea, loving the content guys this is the kind of content i can listen to over an over again while im workn

The faceless men sent her though knowing Raff would be there. They knew and wanted her to kill him. He was there on Lannister orders to do something (I forget) and so she messes up the Lannisters plans as well.

You guys, this is the best ASOIAF content I have seen in years. You make me remember the time when I binge read all the novels back in 2013. There is nothing like a chili cooking on the wood stove, a bottle of wine and these books.

Thank You guys! You are awesome!

The idea of Arya warging the BAD CAT in KL is my current favorite theory for killing Cersei.

Thanks for bringing the story to life Quinn and LmL. This series is so much fun. Can you guys tackle Fire and Blood next. Perhaps the politics of “The Dance” ?

When Jaqen & Arya first met, she gave him the names to be killed. When they meet again, he will give her a name to be killed...

i missed you guys for a few days taking care of some family stuff. now i'm snuggling under a blanket, with the rain on the roof, listening to y'all. thanks for being a part of my relaxing time!🌌

Loving the new videos, guys. There's so much story left to tell. You guys keep me excited for what's to hopefully come from GRRM.

Loving this series. Great work!!

I don't think she's going to be so damaged. She has positive relationships and people she cares about and who care about her, she considers Gendry and Hot Pie her friends, she experiences remorse like a healthy person, I mean sure, there's some trauma but in her pov chapters she experiences lots of healthy, normal feelings. Boys and men are expected to kill people to survive or simply to do their day job in this world. Arya kills people for practical reasons, to take out who she considers "bad people" and in the case of the deserter probably also to reafirm her identity as a Stark, as Ned's daughter, Ned kills deserters. I think she's going to divert from becoming a mere revenge bot, maybe after being confronted with Lady Stoneheart. Why would she be so much more damaged than a squire who's going into the killing business very young? Because she's a girl?

I love these videos Quinn! Just puttin it out there

Loving these collaborations Quinn and Dave! Thanks for looking ahead at TWOW!

It's been probably 6 weeks since I finished ADWD for the first time and these vids are keeping my internal asoiaf flame burning. Now that I've caught up on all the main and side books, I feel more and more like the show let us down. I recognize how obvious that is to long time book readers, but I basically watched 70 eps in 15 days to catch the last three eps live, so I was somewhat blinded by my enthusiasm at the time. I had plenty of issues with it but didn't quite get the hate. I totally do now.

I’m totally digging these vids!!! Thanks guys!!!

When Arya is learning about poisons in Bravos she learns about the poison that makes someone go crazy and attack anything around. She even thinks about the dog.

Thank you Quinn for this wonderful video. It's like therapy for me. I always enjoy watching you or Lady Gray from Gray Area videos.

Thanks for making these videos. This content has rekindled my love for ASOIAF after the disaster of GoT season 8.

I don't think physical science verses magic is the right way to analyze the masks or anything else in ASOIAF. ASOIAF is what happens when a *Science Fiction* writer writes magic. Magic isn't hand wavy in ASOIAF, it has a "real" element + "unknown" element formula. Almost all functioning magic in the series has blood involved, plus the addition of the unknown usually provided from the various religions. So it's deliberately unclear where the "power" really lies in the blood or the gods, and if it's the blood we still know there is some unknown X-factor because we know blood isn't magic in our world. GRRM is inspired by pre-scientific creation mythology that at gave gods the credit to explain real aspects of the world (sun rise, seasons, eclipses, earthquakes, thunder, etc.). GRRM does the same but in a fantasy world we don't know if he's saying the gods of his world are real, or if the people of ASOIAF just haven't discovered the "science" behind the "magic" of their world. It's deliberately open enough so you can fill it with your imagination

In depth look at a book series that I feel in love with through a show and have my own thoughts on now books wise

Love the connection between Arya and the Bene Gesserit. I never picked up on that! Im always thinking about where George might be referencing Dune. Ive always wondered if were ever going to see some form of sand worm. Maybe Dorne threatened Aegon with some kind of sand worm threat in the beginning?

15:30... Its also a symbolism that Starks kill deserters of the Night's Watch.

I am loving these, guys. Always excited to check my subs every day.

Arya can 't kill Cercei because she knows her name! Or am i wrong?

I do think I know how the story ends: with us debating how it ends and no DoS to tell us we’re right or wrong lol. First book series in history where the internet fandom collectively decides on alternate endings and decides which ones they like best?

mad appreciation for the sound design in this episode.

Best of the best storylines awaiting in Books further... ✨👌

Arya’s hidden blade is similar to the sand snake Nymeria (Lady Nym), and what’s Arya’s dire wolf’s name? NYMERIA

Arya is very powerful and I believe the loss of her eyesight was key to unlocking her magical abilities, like Bran's fall and coma, Jojen's bout with greywater fever, or even Patchface drowning. So IMO her blindness was both a reward and punishment; the FM punished her to show her she needs to curb her inner identity as Arya by blinding her earlier than she would have been normally. However, she is rewarded for carrying out justice to the deserter by being bound closer to her first men heritage/ Stark lineage and becoming a full blown skinchanger vs. just a warg. She has always had some kinship to cats ever since AGOT so it makes sense she ends up skinchanging into one. I wonder if Varamyr's teacher's words are any sort of foreshadowing for Arya, "Other beasts were best left alone, the hunter had declared. Cats were vain and cruel, always ready to turn on you." Quinn's comment about Arya being manipulative to achieve her kills could be hinted at with her affinity to cruel cats. I hope though that Arya remembers her empathy and strong sense of justice, no matter what happens. I think she will leave Westeros but would love to see her act as a Visenya figure to Sansa's Rhaenys as they help Bran rule.

Loving the new content !

Great series love ya both , thank you both so much

in the last 6000 years only one RU-vidr has internalised the difference between "to use" and "to utilise", that they are not always interchangable.

It sounds a bit like the Tleilaxu Face Dancers...

I'd argue Arya would actually be the third strongest warg of the bunch. Behind Bran and - surprisingly - Rickon. In fact it's hinted in the text that Rickon may have even more natural affinity for warging than Bran, though he's too young for anyone to realize it.

Great video!

Arya the Vigilante... I suspect that the Kindly Man knew that the punishment for desertion is death, so she was technically just doing her job as a FM; however, it is unclear whether or not the FM do jobs without payment (which is what the Daeron and Raff jobs were) so it could be that either it was wrong to do a "job" without payment, or it could be that the God(s) instructions override the need for payment.

"The Melly Pranksters" just earned you a sub.

Nymeria wasn’t an explorer she was looking for a home. I don’t think she will take to the seas.

So when arya got the new face on... why did she feel no difference when she touched it? That’s not a mistake in the books since it isn’t in GOT lol. That may have been a glamour

Can we all just pretend that GoT ended after season 4?

They were pissed when she murdered Daeron. They’re strict about idea that they only CARRY OUT condemnation, they don’t judge who has to get killed

Hell yea keep these coming fellas

God your videos are amazing I mean for real I don't normally watch a 30min RU-vid video but you guys make it easy😂👏👏👏

Been watching this every morning lol

I think GRRM is doing a great job at setting Arya up for a harsh realization of "Eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind"...

“Powshins and poders” was a glorious mishap by LML 👌

Honestly, I believe that Rickon is the strongest warg in the family. That kid probably started learning since the first book.

Hey Quinn- i would totally pay money to listen to you narrate the next book. Maybe a patron idea? I don't know who will be the reader since Roy decrease died.

You should really do a video with Preston Jacobs. Especially with his Jon Snow predictions and theories.

I guess we can't be *too* surprised that Arya took it upon herself to be Daeron's judge, jury and executioner, when Ned beheading a Night's Watch deserter is basically the first chapter in the entire story (or the second, if you discount the prologue as a prologue). At least she's sticking to her Northern roots, but I do find it very irritating when she kills him, as irritating as *he* is.

Haven’t watched the full video yet so not sure if they mentioned it, but just had a thought that she might be able to use her warg abilities to help her perform the face attaching surgery/spell without needing to rely on her own eyes.

The most beloved serial killer in all of fiction

Love these collabos

"and the Melly pranksters" Gold.

A ship from Hardhomme was brought to Bravos. So, it seems likely that whatever stories they start telling will make their way to the Faceless Men.