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tushanshu
Player Information:
Name: JC
Age/18+?: Aye
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hellblazing
Other Characters Played: Erskine Ravel |![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
edgeoftheknife
Most Recent AC Link: Voila!
Character Information:
Name: Arya Stark
Canon: A Song of Ice and Fire
Canon Point: A Dance With Dragons, while still taking the blinding agent at the House of Black and White
Age: 11
Type of Character: Canon
Reference Links: Westeros | Winterfell | House Stark | Arya Stark | Braavos | The Faceless Men
Setting Concepts:
Houses - The nobility of Westeros all belong to "houses," the great families that rule and shape the kingdom and the lesser families that oversee the lands and support the great houses. There are supposedly 370 houses in total. The houses all have a sigil (heraldry) and "words" (a motto). Knights and soldiers sworn to the houses wear the markings of their house. The Great Houses of Westeros include Stark, Tyrell, Lannister, Martell, Baratheon, and Arryn.
The Seven Kingdoms - Another name for the continent of Westeros, one of the two main continents in the known world. The name is a bit of a misnomer: at the beginning of the series there is only one king ruling Westeros, though each "kingdom" was once independent. For much of recent history the king of Westeros has ruled from the city called King's Landing. The "kingdoms" include the North, the Vale, the Stormlands, the Reach, Dorne, the Rock, and the Riverlands. Though they're not always a beacon of morality, the Seven Kingdoms forbid slavery. Most of Westeros worships the new gods, while the North largely remains true to the old.
Seasons - Seasons do not last for a set time period, but vary and can last for years at a time. Summer could last for ten years, meaning children may not experience their first winter until they're nearly teenagers. Likewise winter may last for years at a time, and winters are known to be brutal. Especially in the North snow can fall up to forty feet deep, with tales of snows covering entire castles, and women that smother their own children so they don't have to starve when there's nothing left of the food stores. (When the Starks say "Winter is Coming" there's a damn good reason.)
Warg - A person able to take the shape of an animal. A supernatural ability rarely seen, wargs are found predominantly in the North and beyond the Wall. Though wargs seem to usually have a sort of familiar, a specific animal they inhabit frequently, they are capable of inhabiting many more animals than just the one (though this may take a good deal of practice). The warg will often slip into the familiar's body in their dreams, living as the animal while their human body sleeps. Wargs can consciously "see" through the eyes of nearby animals, but to fully inhabit an animal while waking, their body falls into a kind of trance when they leave it.
The Night's Watch - A group of exclusively men, usually exiles, rapists and thieves, sworn to defend the realms of men from the threats beyond the Wall. The Watch guards against wildlings (the free people who do not bow to the southern king) and older, darker threats, though few in the Seven Kingdoms pay much heed to the stories of the things beyond the Wall and most dismiss the importance of the Watch's work; because of this, the Watch's numbers are dwindling dangerously. It is considered treason to desert the Watch, a crime punishable by death every time.
The Wall - At the extreme northern border of the Northern kingdom, the Wall is a colossal wall of ice hundreds of feet tall and miles long. It divides the Seven Kingdoms from the lands of the wildlings. The Night's Watch man the Wall, using lifts to raise themselves up to walk the top and tunnels to travel through.
The Seven - The Faith of the Seven is the predominant religion of Westeros. The seven gods of the Faith are sometimes called the "new gods" to set them apart from the "old gods" of the older religions. The Seven are "The Seven Who Are One," seven different aspects of a single deity. The aspects are the Mother, the Father, the Warrior, the Maiden, the Smith, the Crone, and the Stranger. A priest of the Seven is known as a Septon, and a priestess is known as a Septa. The Faith is heavily integrated into the laws and customs of Westeros. Children of nobility are often taught by Septas.
The Free Cities - ("They fight with coins instead of swords.") A collection of nine independent city-states on the continent of Essos. The cities vary in size/wealth/reputation, but all of them save Braavos share a common history as having once been colonies of Valyria before its destruction. The cities are almost all heavily involved in trade (many in Westeros view them disdainfully as "spice lords and cheese kings") and all except Braavos allow slavery. Braavos, notably, was founded by refugees, disallows slavery, and is home to the Iron Bank of Braavos, which is rich enough to bankroll entire kingdoms. You don't piss off the Iron Bank and live long to brag about it.
The Faceless Men - A widely known and feared group of assassins. If you want someone dead, and you can afford it, these are the guys you call to make sure the job gets done right. Not many people outside of Braavos know, however, that the Faceless Men serve the God of Many Faces, a god of merciful death. Those wishing a peaceful or merciful end visit the temple in Braavos, known as the House of Black and White, where they can die in comfort, possibly even with visions of happier times to ease them through the passage. The Faceless Men of course take contracts to kill others, using mummer's tricks, minor glamours, and a special technique wherein they literally take the face of another person for a time, all to ensure that they are not caught and the contract is completed. Few women have ever been part of the Faceless.
The War of Five Kings - A large-scale war encompassing the majority of the Seven Kingdoms for two years. The war began shortly after King Robert Baratheon's death, with the execution of Lord Eddard Stark. Stark's son Robb tried to secede from the Seven Kingdoms and proclaimed himself King in the North. Meanwhile, Joffrey Baratheon, Stannis Baratheon, and Renly Baratheon all tried to claim the Iron Throne as Robert's successor. As kings died and the war stretched on, the common folk of Westeros paid a heavy price. Lands were razed and food was scarce. People were victimized and butchered by bandits and armies alike. Few areas of Westeros escaped the atrocities of the war.
Personality:
Arya Stark has experienced more in her eleven years than many people ever will. She has been through a war, seen countless people dead, and has witnessed people being tortured. She has been abused, hunted, and believes the vast majority of her family to be dead. Enormously strong-willed, she is a survivor through and through.
It's important to remember, however, that life didn't start out this way for Arya. She grew up for the first nine years of her life as a privileged daughter of House Stark, one of the Great Houses of Westeros. She lived in a castle, learned her lessons from a maester (the order of scholars) and a septa (a priestess of the Seven, as her mother worshipped the newer gods of the South), and except for hating the things she had to do as a lady, such as needlework, generally had everything she could have wanted. That being said, she has never put much stock in her nobility. She mingles with peasants more readily than with the highborn. It was during this time that she was known as Arya Underfoot, because she was always in everyone's way at Winterfell. She has always been a tomboy, something her half-brother Jon only encouraged by giving her Needle as a gift. While she was particularly close to Jon, Arya was usually at odds with her sister Sansa for one reason or another--it never helped that she was interested in riding and fighting while Sansa tried very hard to be the perfect little lady. She often felt that Sansa had been given everything, grace, talent and beauty, to name a few things, while there had been nothing left for her. Failed lessons in the ways of "womanhood" (ie sewing and such things) could and sometimes did bring her to tears.
Despite those old spats with Sansa, Arya still loves her family deeply. She even feels the urge to cry at one point while remembering Sansa, well after they've been split up. She misses Jon Snow particularly, as they were always close. To this day she still has dreams about her mother.
Though Nymeria is gone, driven away by Arya's own hand to save her, the wolf still means a great deal to her. While Nymeria was still around they were constant companions, as most of the direwolves were with the Stark children. It is noted by Sansa at one point that someone had mentioned animals taking after their masters, and Nymeria/Arya are no exception. Nymeria was wild and wouldn't even listen to Arya half the time (albeit in a good natured way), just as Arya was a wild child who would hardly listen to anyone. To this day she dreams about her wolf, dreams about being her wolf, though to a certain extent she still believes these are just dreams as she doesn't quite have the knowledge base about wargs that Jon or Bran now have. Earlier in her travels through the war in Westeros she thought to herself that she wasn't a child, she was a wolf. Nowadays she thinks of herself as the "night wolf" due to her dreams. In her dreams she is strong and fearless, and because of this she has grown to enjoy the night and the dark more than her waking hours.
When she begins her training with Syrio is when we start to see just how dedicated and stubborn Arya can be. Syrio is a strict master and Arya frequently sports large bruises from her training but she loves it nonetheless, throwing herself into the training with gusto and even beginning to repeat Syrio's lessons to herself and others. In training with the sword she finally gets what she really wants instead of having to spend all of her time pretending to be a lady like Sansa, and it also gives her a bit of a thrill that she and her father share this secret. As far as Sansa or anyone else know she is taking "dancing" lessons.
Syrio's impact on Arya cannot be overstated, and goes well beyond her training with the sword. As they train he instructs her not only how to fight but how to master her own fear, through a series of phrases that have stuck with Arya to this day. Never do what they expect. Swift as a deer. Smooth as summer silk. Fear cuts deeper than swords. In addition he teaches her about balance, coordination and speed, lessons that have served her well in the intervening years. The impression Syrio left on her was magnified when he sacrificed his life in order to buy her the time to escape the Red Keep.
Of course there have been times when Syrio's wisdom has led Arya to do things that might be otherwise considered downright stupid. She approaches the cart containing the Night's Watch prisoners (including two that are violent and murderous) in the name of conquering her fear, though it is remarked afterward that she has more courage than sense.
Another important person to Arya has been Gendry, the smith's apprentice who was taken to join the Night's Watch at the same time Yoren was spiriting Arya away. At first they didn't get along at all, and Arya thought of him simply as "the Bull" due to his bull shaped helmet. Though Gendry is a few years older than her, they slowly form a solid connection as everything around them goes to hell. They survive the massacre of the Night's Watch group together, and they survive Harrenhal together. Gendry apologizes when he realizes that she's a highborn "lady," though of course that doesn't mean much to her. It definitely seems to mean something to Gendry however, as he throws it back in her face every time they have a spat. It hurts Arya more than she realizes--it's pretty obvious to readers that she cares deeply for Gendry, and might even be sporting her first real crush. Gendry eventually decides to settle with the Brotherhood Without Banners and leaves Arya. One more person to add to the list of those she's lost.
One of the most defining tidbits about Arya is her kill list. Every time she is wronged, every time someone she cares for is hurt or killed, she remembers the culprit and adds their name to a list of people she hopes to kill. The list includes such luminaries as Queen Cersei, Prince Joffrey, and the Hound. She repeats the list to herself under her breath every night for a long stretch, saying it as a sort of lullaby before she can rest. Part of this again has to do with her fierce determination, and part is also that she's still only ten years old when she drafts her list. She is a child who has been hurt, and who wants to hurt those people in return.
Having been smack in the middle of a war and having to grow up much faster than she should have, she is understandably wary of people. For a long time anyone who knew her true identity wanted to use her, to ransom her back to her family for the gold. And of those who didn't know her? Well, war is a pretty bad time to be a youngster without a guardian. With Syrio's continuing guidance (thanks to those sayings she keeps repeating to herself) she's worked hard to master her own fear, but being afraid of strangers and not trusting them are two different things. She's seen some of the worst behavior humanity has to offer, including women being locked up in stocks and "used" by men whenever they felt like it. Even an eleven year old can get pretty jaded seeing things like that.
When Yoren sneaks Arya out of King's Landing by disguising her as a boy she gets her first taste of becoming someone else, taking a new name, a practice that she has continued and has actually turned into something of a vocation as she trains at the House of Black and White. At first she took new names only to keep her own a secret, as anyone opposed to Starks and the North would seek to either harm or use her. By the time she reached Braavos she had already taken something like six different names. Now as she trains with the Faceless Men she is taught that she must eschew her own identity, leaving her whole self behind. She tries, though initially it's difficult to distance herself from thoughts of her family and those she seeks revenge against. Every time the kindly man asks her who she is she tells him "no one," and every time he tells her that she's a terrible liar. It's getting easier as time passes, however. It's easier to not be Arya when she reminds herself that everyone from Winterfell (with the exception of Jon Snow) is dead. She even adds "Arya" to that list. The kindly man requires that she discard all of her personal belongings in order to dispose of her former identity, which she does with the single exception of Needle. Needle she hides under a loose stone in the city. Again, she's almost rid herself of Arya, but not completely.
Her training at the House of Black and White includes other things beyond how to take new identities and faces. She has learned how to mix poisons with the waif and has spent a great deal of time learning how to lie and how to detect lies. Canonically she has become so good at detecting lies that she can now hear a lie as it is spoken by the way a person moves their face. (She's still not that great at lying herself, but she's getting better.) Part of her training involved being blinded in order to increase her awareness of her surroundings and sharpen her other senses. Total darkness no longer frightens her (due also to her wolf dreams), and she's able to pick up smells so well that she can detect whether a person is a man or woman by their scent alone.
Along the same lines as sharpening her senses, she has become quite good at observation and eavesdropping. Each time she goes out into the city she's expected to learn three new facts that she can report back to the kindly man. As a beggar she overhears things from all sorts of people, though she doesn't always know what everything means.
Her learning hasn't all been serious and solemn. While in Braavos she has taken a couple of different identities that have allowed her free run of the city to mingle with different sorts of people and acquire fun new skills. As Cat of the canals she knows where the best whores in Braavos are, has learned to swear with sailors (she is amazing at swearing, don't even get her started), and knows some really raunchy songs.
Arya's most oft quoted line is "valar morghulis," "all men must die." The companion saying to this is "all men must serve," which she is learning to do as well. At the House of Black and White she searches the nooks of the temple for the dead, and after the bodies are taken below she strips them of their belongings, sorts the items, and washes the bodies. The dead hold no terror for her anymore, she deals with them all the time. As for the real work of the Faceless Men, assassination, Arya has had to convince the kindly man and the others in the House that she's ready. At one point the kindly man asks her what she hopes to gain by learning with them--if she wants to learn to kill only so that she can use the skills to take revenge on those she hates. Arya doesn't know the "right" answer to the question and responds with "maybe." The kindly man tells her that those who serve the God of Many Faces don't choose their own targets, that it's for the god to do so, and that if revenge is all she seeks she's in the wrong place.
A large part of the reason Arya ends up at the House is simple desperation, at least initially. With no family she has nowhere else to go, and as an eleven year old girl this is still a pretty terrifying proposition. Jaqen's coin represents her last real connection, her last real hope for someplace to belong. This is partially why she tries so hard to do well at the House, to learn and to excel. The other part is her determination and stubbornness. The kindly man even tells her at one point that if she feels like she has nowhere else to go that he can find her somewhere to go, but Arya is determined that she's going to stick out her training and succeed. She will not be bested. Somewhere deep inside she still hopes to someday finish the rest of her kill list, but that's been pushed down so far that it's no longer her main goal in life.
And yes, Arya is a killer. She has killed multiple people by this point in canon, though she is not wantonly murderous. She kills if someone is directly impeding her progress, such as a guard who might stand between her and freedom or a boy who might alert someone to her presence as she tries to flee. Those on her kill list, such as the Tickler, are of course fair game. She is not a cold blooded killer, however. Her inherent sense of right and wrong is too finely tuned, Eddard's morality too well ingrained, for her to become some crazed murderess. She does what she has to do to survive, and she seeks to right the wrongs done to her.
For all her training and her kills, Arya is still only an eleven year old girl. She hasn't even hit puberty yet. She lacks the long life experience to really know people for what they are sometimes, no matter how clever she can be. Her training in observation makes her good at spotting details, but she often needs someone else to help her interpret these details. Petulance is still pretty common for her. And like a child, one of the most common words in her vocabulary is "stupid." She is clever, make no mistake about that, and she's been through some terrible things, but she still has a good deal of growing up to do.
Appearance:
Abilities:
» Agility - Arya is small and quick and has trained with a master swordsman; thanks to her build and training she is light on her feet and has a remarkable sense of balance.
» Swordsmanship - Though her training never progressed as far as she would have liked, Arya has in fact trained with a Braavosi swordsman and does indeed know the first thing about swinging a sword. It's going to take a lot more practice and guidance, but she has a good foundation to work from.
» Pickpocketing/Sleight of Hand - Training with the House of Black and White has left Arya able to pick pockets skillfully, usually by employing a finger blade to cut purses. She can throw knives and palm objects.
» Poisons - Another aspect of training at the House, Arya has extensive training with mixing poisons
» Lie Detecting - Arya often played "the lying game" with the waif and the kindly man at the House, a game designed not only to teach her to lie more convincingly but also to help her tell when the other person was lying. Canonically Arya is a good enough lie detector to tell when someone's lying just by the sound of their voice and how their face moves.
» Warg - Arya is a warg, which means she can inhabit and control animals. Though she's not as practiced with her power as her brother Bran, she has had wolf dreams nightly for quite some time now (not an active thing, but a sort of precursor), and she is consciously able to use small animals around her (usually cats) to "see" through their eyes, thereby getting around the false blindness imposed on her by the kindly man. She needs practice, but she will eventually be capable of consciously throwing her mind into nearby animals and taking control of them.
Inventory:
Beggar's rags (albeit warm and clean rags)
A tall stick, slightly taller than herself, for finding her way around
A beggar's bowl
3 small knives hidden in her clothing
Soul Gem:
In-Character Samples:
Third Person (Prose):
A couple of TDM threads
Network:
Is everyone leaving the city--Keeliai--now? I heard someone talking about a new land we've washed up on?
What if... what if I don't want to go to this new place? I've had enough of new places. I was starting to feel at home in Braavos, and then I came here, and now I have to leave again?
I'm staying here. I don't care if everyone else leaves. That just means more of everything for me.
Name: JC
Age/18+?: Aye
Contact:
Other Characters Played: Erskine Ravel |
edgeoftheknifeMost Recent AC Link: Voila!
Character Information:
Name: Arya Stark
Canon: A Song of Ice and Fire
Canon Point: A Dance With Dragons, while still taking the blinding agent at the House of Black and White
Age: 11
Type of Character: Canon
Reference Links: Westeros | Winterfell | House Stark | Arya Stark | Braavos | The Faceless Men
Setting Concepts:
Houses - The nobility of Westeros all belong to "houses," the great families that rule and shape the kingdom and the lesser families that oversee the lands and support the great houses. There are supposedly 370 houses in total. The houses all have a sigil (heraldry) and "words" (a motto). Knights and soldiers sworn to the houses wear the markings of their house. The Great Houses of Westeros include Stark, Tyrell, Lannister, Martell, Baratheon, and Arryn.
The Seven Kingdoms - Another name for the continent of Westeros, one of the two main continents in the known world. The name is a bit of a misnomer: at the beginning of the series there is only one king ruling Westeros, though each "kingdom" was once independent. For much of recent history the king of Westeros has ruled from the city called King's Landing. The "kingdoms" include the North, the Vale, the Stormlands, the Reach, Dorne, the Rock, and the Riverlands. Though they're not always a beacon of morality, the Seven Kingdoms forbid slavery. Most of Westeros worships the new gods, while the North largely remains true to the old.
Seasons - Seasons do not last for a set time period, but vary and can last for years at a time. Summer could last for ten years, meaning children may not experience their first winter until they're nearly teenagers. Likewise winter may last for years at a time, and winters are known to be brutal. Especially in the North snow can fall up to forty feet deep, with tales of snows covering entire castles, and women that smother their own children so they don't have to starve when there's nothing left of the food stores. (When the Starks say "Winter is Coming" there's a damn good reason.)
Warg - A person able to take the shape of an animal. A supernatural ability rarely seen, wargs are found predominantly in the North and beyond the Wall. Though wargs seem to usually have a sort of familiar, a specific animal they inhabit frequently, they are capable of inhabiting many more animals than just the one (though this may take a good deal of practice). The warg will often slip into the familiar's body in their dreams, living as the animal while their human body sleeps. Wargs can consciously "see" through the eyes of nearby animals, but to fully inhabit an animal while waking, their body falls into a kind of trance when they leave it.
The Night's Watch - A group of exclusively men, usually exiles, rapists and thieves, sworn to defend the realms of men from the threats beyond the Wall. The Watch guards against wildlings (the free people who do not bow to the southern king) and older, darker threats, though few in the Seven Kingdoms pay much heed to the stories of the things beyond the Wall and most dismiss the importance of the Watch's work; because of this, the Watch's numbers are dwindling dangerously. It is considered treason to desert the Watch, a crime punishable by death every time.
The Wall - At the extreme northern border of the Northern kingdom, the Wall is a colossal wall of ice hundreds of feet tall and miles long. It divides the Seven Kingdoms from the lands of the wildlings. The Night's Watch man the Wall, using lifts to raise themselves up to walk the top and tunnels to travel through.
The Seven - The Faith of the Seven is the predominant religion of Westeros. The seven gods of the Faith are sometimes called the "new gods" to set them apart from the "old gods" of the older religions. The Seven are "The Seven Who Are One," seven different aspects of a single deity. The aspects are the Mother, the Father, the Warrior, the Maiden, the Smith, the Crone, and the Stranger. A priest of the Seven is known as a Septon, and a priestess is known as a Septa. The Faith is heavily integrated into the laws and customs of Westeros. Children of nobility are often taught by Septas.
The Free Cities - ("They fight with coins instead of swords.") A collection of nine independent city-states on the continent of Essos. The cities vary in size/wealth/reputation, but all of them save Braavos share a common history as having once been colonies of Valyria before its destruction. The cities are almost all heavily involved in trade (many in Westeros view them disdainfully as "spice lords and cheese kings") and all except Braavos allow slavery. Braavos, notably, was founded by refugees, disallows slavery, and is home to the Iron Bank of Braavos, which is rich enough to bankroll entire kingdoms. You don't piss off the Iron Bank and live long to brag about it.
The Faceless Men - A widely known and feared group of assassins. If you want someone dead, and you can afford it, these are the guys you call to make sure the job gets done right. Not many people outside of Braavos know, however, that the Faceless Men serve the God of Many Faces, a god of merciful death. Those wishing a peaceful or merciful end visit the temple in Braavos, known as the House of Black and White, where they can die in comfort, possibly even with visions of happier times to ease them through the passage. The Faceless Men of course take contracts to kill others, using mummer's tricks, minor glamours, and a special technique wherein they literally take the face of another person for a time, all to ensure that they are not caught and the contract is completed. Few women have ever been part of the Faceless.
The War of Five Kings - A large-scale war encompassing the majority of the Seven Kingdoms for two years. The war began shortly after King Robert Baratheon's death, with the execution of Lord Eddard Stark. Stark's son Robb tried to secede from the Seven Kingdoms and proclaimed himself King in the North. Meanwhile, Joffrey Baratheon, Stannis Baratheon, and Renly Baratheon all tried to claim the Iron Throne as Robert's successor. As kings died and the war stretched on, the common folk of Westeros paid a heavy price. Lands were razed and food was scarce. People were victimized and butchered by bandits and armies alike. Few areas of Westeros escaped the atrocities of the war.
Personality:
Arya Stark has experienced more in her eleven years than many people ever will. She has been through a war, seen countless people dead, and has witnessed people being tortured. She has been abused, hunted, and believes the vast majority of her family to be dead. Enormously strong-willed, she is a survivor through and through.
It's important to remember, however, that life didn't start out this way for Arya. She grew up for the first nine years of her life as a privileged daughter of House Stark, one of the Great Houses of Westeros. She lived in a castle, learned her lessons from a maester (the order of scholars) and a septa (a priestess of the Seven, as her mother worshipped the newer gods of the South), and except for hating the things she had to do as a lady, such as needlework, generally had everything she could have wanted. That being said, she has never put much stock in her nobility. She mingles with peasants more readily than with the highborn. It was during this time that she was known as Arya Underfoot, because she was always in everyone's way at Winterfell. She has always been a tomboy, something her half-brother Jon only encouraged by giving her Needle as a gift. While she was particularly close to Jon, Arya was usually at odds with her sister Sansa for one reason or another--it never helped that she was interested in riding and fighting while Sansa tried very hard to be the perfect little lady. She often felt that Sansa had been given everything, grace, talent and beauty, to name a few things, while there had been nothing left for her. Failed lessons in the ways of "womanhood" (ie sewing and such things) could and sometimes did bring her to tears.
Despite those old spats with Sansa, Arya still loves her family deeply. She even feels the urge to cry at one point while remembering Sansa, well after they've been split up. She misses Jon Snow particularly, as they were always close. To this day she still has dreams about her mother.
Though Nymeria is gone, driven away by Arya's own hand to save her, the wolf still means a great deal to her. While Nymeria was still around they were constant companions, as most of the direwolves were with the Stark children. It is noted by Sansa at one point that someone had mentioned animals taking after their masters, and Nymeria/Arya are no exception. Nymeria was wild and wouldn't even listen to Arya half the time (albeit in a good natured way), just as Arya was a wild child who would hardly listen to anyone. To this day she dreams about her wolf, dreams about being her wolf, though to a certain extent she still believes these are just dreams as she doesn't quite have the knowledge base about wargs that Jon or Bran now have. Earlier in her travels through the war in Westeros she thought to herself that she wasn't a child, she was a wolf. Nowadays she thinks of herself as the "night wolf" due to her dreams. In her dreams she is strong and fearless, and because of this she has grown to enjoy the night and the dark more than her waking hours.
When she begins her training with Syrio is when we start to see just how dedicated and stubborn Arya can be. Syrio is a strict master and Arya frequently sports large bruises from her training but she loves it nonetheless, throwing herself into the training with gusto and even beginning to repeat Syrio's lessons to herself and others. In training with the sword she finally gets what she really wants instead of having to spend all of her time pretending to be a lady like Sansa, and it also gives her a bit of a thrill that she and her father share this secret. As far as Sansa or anyone else know she is taking "dancing" lessons.
Syrio's impact on Arya cannot be overstated, and goes well beyond her training with the sword. As they train he instructs her not only how to fight but how to master her own fear, through a series of phrases that have stuck with Arya to this day. Never do what they expect. Swift as a deer. Smooth as summer silk. Fear cuts deeper than swords. In addition he teaches her about balance, coordination and speed, lessons that have served her well in the intervening years. The impression Syrio left on her was magnified when he sacrificed his life in order to buy her the time to escape the Red Keep.
Of course there have been times when Syrio's wisdom has led Arya to do things that might be otherwise considered downright stupid. She approaches the cart containing the Night's Watch prisoners (including two that are violent and murderous) in the name of conquering her fear, though it is remarked afterward that she has more courage than sense.
Another important person to Arya has been Gendry, the smith's apprentice who was taken to join the Night's Watch at the same time Yoren was spiriting Arya away. At first they didn't get along at all, and Arya thought of him simply as "the Bull" due to his bull shaped helmet. Though Gendry is a few years older than her, they slowly form a solid connection as everything around them goes to hell. They survive the massacre of the Night's Watch group together, and they survive Harrenhal together. Gendry apologizes when he realizes that she's a highborn "lady," though of course that doesn't mean much to her. It definitely seems to mean something to Gendry however, as he throws it back in her face every time they have a spat. It hurts Arya more than she realizes--it's pretty obvious to readers that she cares deeply for Gendry, and might even be sporting her first real crush. Gendry eventually decides to settle with the Brotherhood Without Banners and leaves Arya. One more person to add to the list of those she's lost.
One of the most defining tidbits about Arya is her kill list. Every time she is wronged, every time someone she cares for is hurt or killed, she remembers the culprit and adds their name to a list of people she hopes to kill. The list includes such luminaries as Queen Cersei, Prince Joffrey, and the Hound. She repeats the list to herself under her breath every night for a long stretch, saying it as a sort of lullaby before she can rest. Part of this again has to do with her fierce determination, and part is also that she's still only ten years old when she drafts her list. She is a child who has been hurt, and who wants to hurt those people in return.
Having been smack in the middle of a war and having to grow up much faster than she should have, she is understandably wary of people. For a long time anyone who knew her true identity wanted to use her, to ransom her back to her family for the gold. And of those who didn't know her? Well, war is a pretty bad time to be a youngster without a guardian. With Syrio's continuing guidance (thanks to those sayings she keeps repeating to herself) she's worked hard to master her own fear, but being afraid of strangers and not trusting them are two different things. She's seen some of the worst behavior humanity has to offer, including women being locked up in stocks and "used" by men whenever they felt like it. Even an eleven year old can get pretty jaded seeing things like that.
When Yoren sneaks Arya out of King's Landing by disguising her as a boy she gets her first taste of becoming someone else, taking a new name, a practice that she has continued and has actually turned into something of a vocation as she trains at the House of Black and White. At first she took new names only to keep her own a secret, as anyone opposed to Starks and the North would seek to either harm or use her. By the time she reached Braavos she had already taken something like six different names. Now as she trains with the Faceless Men she is taught that she must eschew her own identity, leaving her whole self behind. She tries, though initially it's difficult to distance herself from thoughts of her family and those she seeks revenge against. Every time the kindly man asks her who she is she tells him "no one," and every time he tells her that she's a terrible liar. It's getting easier as time passes, however. It's easier to not be Arya when she reminds herself that everyone from Winterfell (with the exception of Jon Snow) is dead. She even adds "Arya" to that list. The kindly man requires that she discard all of her personal belongings in order to dispose of her former identity, which she does with the single exception of Needle. Needle she hides under a loose stone in the city. Again, she's almost rid herself of Arya, but not completely.
Her training at the House of Black and White includes other things beyond how to take new identities and faces. She has learned how to mix poisons with the waif and has spent a great deal of time learning how to lie and how to detect lies. Canonically she has become so good at detecting lies that she can now hear a lie as it is spoken by the way a person moves their face. (She's still not that great at lying herself, but she's getting better.) Part of her training involved being blinded in order to increase her awareness of her surroundings and sharpen her other senses. Total darkness no longer frightens her (due also to her wolf dreams), and she's able to pick up smells so well that she can detect whether a person is a man or woman by their scent alone.
Along the same lines as sharpening her senses, she has become quite good at observation and eavesdropping. Each time she goes out into the city she's expected to learn three new facts that she can report back to the kindly man. As a beggar she overhears things from all sorts of people, though she doesn't always know what everything means.
Her learning hasn't all been serious and solemn. While in Braavos she has taken a couple of different identities that have allowed her free run of the city to mingle with different sorts of people and acquire fun new skills. As Cat of the canals she knows where the best whores in Braavos are, has learned to swear with sailors (she is amazing at swearing, don't even get her started), and knows some really raunchy songs.
Arya's most oft quoted line is "valar morghulis," "all men must die." The companion saying to this is "all men must serve," which she is learning to do as well. At the House of Black and White she searches the nooks of the temple for the dead, and after the bodies are taken below she strips them of their belongings, sorts the items, and washes the bodies. The dead hold no terror for her anymore, she deals with them all the time. As for the real work of the Faceless Men, assassination, Arya has had to convince the kindly man and the others in the House that she's ready. At one point the kindly man asks her what she hopes to gain by learning with them--if she wants to learn to kill only so that she can use the skills to take revenge on those she hates. Arya doesn't know the "right" answer to the question and responds with "maybe." The kindly man tells her that those who serve the God of Many Faces don't choose their own targets, that it's for the god to do so, and that if revenge is all she seeks she's in the wrong place.
A large part of the reason Arya ends up at the House is simple desperation, at least initially. With no family she has nowhere else to go, and as an eleven year old girl this is still a pretty terrifying proposition. Jaqen's coin represents her last real connection, her last real hope for someplace to belong. This is partially why she tries so hard to do well at the House, to learn and to excel. The other part is her determination and stubbornness. The kindly man even tells her at one point that if she feels like she has nowhere else to go that he can find her somewhere to go, but Arya is determined that she's going to stick out her training and succeed. She will not be bested. Somewhere deep inside she still hopes to someday finish the rest of her kill list, but that's been pushed down so far that it's no longer her main goal in life.
And yes, Arya is a killer. She has killed multiple people by this point in canon, though she is not wantonly murderous. She kills if someone is directly impeding her progress, such as a guard who might stand between her and freedom or a boy who might alert someone to her presence as she tries to flee. Those on her kill list, such as the Tickler, are of course fair game. She is not a cold blooded killer, however. Her inherent sense of right and wrong is too finely tuned, Eddard's morality too well ingrained, for her to become some crazed murderess. She does what she has to do to survive, and she seeks to right the wrongs done to her.
For all her training and her kills, Arya is still only an eleven year old girl. She hasn't even hit puberty yet. She lacks the long life experience to really know people for what they are sometimes, no matter how clever she can be. Her training in observation makes her good at spotting details, but she often needs someone else to help her interpret these details. Petulance is still pretty common for her. And like a child, one of the most common words in her vocabulary is "stupid." She is clever, make no mistake about that, and she's been through some terrible things, but she still has a good deal of growing up to do.
Appearance:
Abilities:
» Agility - Arya is small and quick and has trained with a master swordsman; thanks to her build and training she is light on her feet and has a remarkable sense of balance.
» Swordsmanship - Though her training never progressed as far as she would have liked, Arya has in fact trained with a Braavosi swordsman and does indeed know the first thing about swinging a sword. It's going to take a lot more practice and guidance, but she has a good foundation to work from.
» Pickpocketing/Sleight of Hand - Training with the House of Black and White has left Arya able to pick pockets skillfully, usually by employing a finger blade to cut purses. She can throw knives and palm objects.
» Poisons - Another aspect of training at the House, Arya has extensive training with mixing poisons
» Lie Detecting - Arya often played "the lying game" with the waif and the kindly man at the House, a game designed not only to teach her to lie more convincingly but also to help her tell when the other person was lying. Canonically Arya is a good enough lie detector to tell when someone's lying just by the sound of their voice and how their face moves.
» Warg - Arya is a warg, which means she can inhabit and control animals. Though she's not as practiced with her power as her brother Bran, she has had wolf dreams nightly for quite some time now (not an active thing, but a sort of precursor), and she is consciously able to use small animals around her (usually cats) to "see" through their eyes, thereby getting around the false blindness imposed on her by the kindly man. She needs practice, but she will eventually be capable of consciously throwing her mind into nearby animals and taking control of them.
Inventory:
Beggar's rags (albeit warm and clean rags)
A tall stick, slightly taller than herself, for finding her way around
A beggar's bowl
3 small knives hidden in her clothing
Soul Gem:
In-Character Samples:
Third Person (Prose):
A couple of TDM threads
Network:
Is everyone leaving the city--Keeliai--now? I heard someone talking about a new land we've washed up on?
What if... what if I don't want to go to this new place? I've had enough of new places. I was starting to feel at home in Braavos, and then I came here, and now I have to leave again?
I'm staying here. I don't care if everyone else leaves. That just means more of everything for me.