U Know What I Don't Get? How Arya Feels Like Such An Anomaly When A Lot Of The Northern Women We Meet

U know what I don't get? How Arya feels like such an anomaly when a lot of the Northern women we meet are obvious Arya stand-in's or Arya-esque in their interests and behaviour. Do u think Arya's an anomaly to the South and conforms to Northern culture (Hence internalizing the southern Septa Mordane and southern-influenced Sansa's critiques)?

Yes! I absolutely do think this!

Here’s the thing: Catelyn is Southern, so, as the mother would be more in charge of her daughter’s upbringing, she filled Winterfell with Southern influences to bring her daughters up the way she wanted/ the same way she was brought up. They built a sept, got in a septa for their education, etc. So Arya was rarely, if ever, exposed to Northern women and their values, which made Cat’s Winterfell an anomaly in the North. This meant Arya, who is a proper Northern woman, felt out of place, and I’m betting she would have had an easier childhood if she was able to have her own friends like Alys Karstark or the Mormont women. And I think this is all set up for Arya to return to the North and find women she gets on with, understands, and who understand her. So she left Winterfell insecure and unsure and has this huge identity storyline, to find catharsis amongst these women who truly get her.

I mean, just look at this:

"You're not scared?" The girl (Alys) smiled in a way that reminded Jon so much of his little sister that it almost broke his heart. "Let him be scared of me." The snowflakes were melting on her cheeks, but her hair was wrapped in a swirl of lace that Satin had found somewhere, and the snow had begun to collect there, giving her a frosty crown. Her cheeks were flushed and red, and her eyes sparkled. "Winter's lady." Jon squeezed her hand.

"Hush, child," said Lady Leona. "You heard your lord grandfather. Hush! You know nothing." "I know about the promise," insisted the girl. "Maester Theomore, tell them! A thousand years before the Conquest, a promise was made, and oaths were sworn in the Wolf's Den before the old gods and the new. When we were sore beset and friendless, hounded from our homes and in peril of our lives, the wolves took us in and nourished us and protected us against our enemies. The city is built upon the land they gave us. In return we swore that we should always be their men. Stark men!"

"Wylla." Lord Wyman smiled. "Did you see how brave she was? Even when I threatened to have her tongue out, she reminded me of the debt White Harbor owes to the Starks of Winterfell, a debt that can never be repaid. Wylla spoke from the heart, as did Lady Leona. Forgive her if you can, my lord. She is a foolish, frightened woman, and Wylis is her life. Not every man has it in him to be Prince Aemon the Dragonknight or Symeon Star-Eyes, and not every woman can be as brave as my Wylla and her sister Wynafryd … who did know, yet played her own part fearlessly.

"She-bears, aye," said Lady Maege. "We have needed to be. In olden days the ironmen would come raiding in their longboats, or wildlings from the Frozen Shore. The men would be off fishing, like as not. The wives they left behind had to defend themselves and their children, or else be carried off." "There's a carving on our gate," said Dacey. "A woman in a bearskin, with a child in one arm suckling at her breast. In the other hand she holds a battleaxe. She's no proper lady, that one, but I always loved her."

And Robb was leading Dacey Mormont in a dance. When she wore a dress in place of a hauberk, Lady Maege's eldest daughter was quite pretty; tall and willowy, with a shy smile that made her long face light up. It was pleasant to see that she could be as graceful on the dance floor as in the training yard.

Look up “Northern lady” in the dictionary and apparently it’s just a picture of Arya. Can’t wait for all these wonderful ladies (besides Dacey obvs) to interact in Winds!

Arya is the Night Wolf, the Wolf of the Night, the Wolf of the LONG Night, GRRM has said that the biggest Chekhov’s gun in ASOIAF is Arya’s wolf pack, Arya is the Night Wolf who will lead the wolves during the Long Night

Arya Stark ° Princess of the North

POV characters: aSoS

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[AGoT]

[ACoK]

Tyrion: do you remember when we were married

Sansa: I hate your queen

Tyrion: good times, good times

Sansa: you were my favorite husband

Tyrion: …

Sansa: …

Tyrion: I cannot even begin to tell you how sad that is

Bran giving Arya the Valyrian Steel dagger in season seven