Girls Gone Canon Cast - ASOIAF Episode 207 — ACOK Arya X

Episode Date: November 10, 2023

An important announcement from Girls Gone Canon: Our sincerest apologies --- Eliana's twitter: https://twitter.com/arhythmetric Eliana's reddit account: https://www.reddit.com/user/glass_table_girl Eliana's blog: https://themanyfacedblog.wordpress.com/ Chloe's twitter: https://twitter.com/liesandarbor Chloe's blog: liesandarborgold.com Intro by Anton Langhage

Hello! If you're listening to this, you are planning on listening to the episode Arya 10 in A Clash of Kings by Girls Gone Canon, but today I'm here because I regret to inform you the entire podcast has been cancelled. It's over. Eliana in the last episode unfortunately did not say, are you ready? This is a very key factor to every single one of these episodes. I have done what needed to be done behind the scenes. I've worked with everyone on what works for us, and we've decided to fire Eliana. It is official. So thank you very much for your five long years of listenership, of dedication. I know we were, oh, you know, long years of listenership, of dedication. I know we were, oh, you know, only five POVs away from the end, but you know, justice needed to be served for Elads, A Song of Ice and Fire, episode 207, Aria

10, In a Clash of Kings. I am the only one of your hosts, Chloe. No, I'm absolutely just kidding. I'm one of your hosts, Chloe. Okay, fine. And I'm another one of your hosts, Eliana. I would like to apologize for the lack of action last week, the lack of living up to responsibilities.

There was, I think my identity was stolen. It was a faceless man acting, posing as me. I was impersonated. Just like Pate in Feast who says that he hates being called like the pig boy and then says he's Pate like the pig boy. That's what happened to me but it's okay i killed whoever took my face and took my face back yeah i think uh the pro i don't know i think you're the problem is honestly it the problem it's me for real we did uh get several comments from fans and friends that noted that you did not say, are you ready? And you have been traditionally known to say it. I've saved you once before. She has.

You don't get to hear the magic behind the curtain, but I saved her once. This time I could not save her. She had to save herself. I did not. Yeah, you did not save yourself. But you were nervous. You were nervous. We had a really great guest. nervous you were nervous we had a really great i was nervous and therefore i was not ready i was not ready but hopefully this week you know this week i'm trying to be and i want to make sure for all of you are you ready to end this book of aria and for me to try to atone for my sins, I reread the meeting between Davos and Edric Storm for some fucking reason earlier, and he was like, yeah, he took off my fingers,

but he left me my thumb. And Edric, like, stops and thinks for a moment. He's like, I don't think he should have taken any of your fingers. But I understand if some of you would like to take some of my fingers for this crap wow um justice as chloe said justice must be served oh my god i'm stanis is the most just man that i know wow. I'm not gonna comment on that. I'm gonna gloss right over that one. It's good to have you back. Aliana,

negotiations were absolutely done behind the scene to rehire you after your misgivings because we believe in forgiveness here at this podcast. Wow. Ladies, gays, and days. We actually, we do. We really do. We're softer than we sound way deep down, right? Like soft like

Tootsie Roll Pop. That's a post-Halloween reference for all you out there celebrating Halloween recently. We're gonna hop right over to housekeeping real quick, cover a couple items before we jump into emails and tweets of note because we have tons of emails to talk about today comments from patreon actually we do but first if you haven't already and you're a patron in the five dollar and up stranger tier and above you should check out last month's patreon episode the house that went away all about house went in heron hall and this month episode, we're going to be finalizing that very soon. I think it's going to be a George R.R. Martin short story.

We'll let you know what to sharpen up on, what to read this month. And of course, we will be having our Discord brunch slash happy hour, brappy hour, as Eliana would say. I would not say it. That's going to be on November 19th Sunday at 3 p.m. ET for patrons in the Thunder tier above $10 and up this one does have a theme it has a theme this theme is bring your own meme because recently it came to my attention Eliana doesn't know as

many memes as I think or we think that she knows, everyone. This has become a very big theme in our life. So if you're a Discord patron over in that Thunder tier, get ready to come to brunch, bring your favorite meme. We're gonna educate the shit out of her. Yeah, I can't believe this. You know, not only was I just fired and rehired all these people are doing this thing for me after i have failed wow thank you everyone this is the new thing oh my god do you feel like a man right now i think so i think this is what it feels right men gone canon we're changing the podcast name. It's Men Gone Canon. Yeah, we haven't done like a potluck style brunch on Girls Gone Canon in a while. Sorry, Men Gone Canon in a while. And, you know, asking people to put together a presentation. This one, I mean, this one's, I think, much more low effort.

It's kind of fun. Maybe some people will bond over a shared meme yeah that would be very fun yeah we'll start giving out like sun moon rising based on your memes it could be really fun oh wait yeah people do do that on those accounts this is gonna be fun i'm excited we're having look at it and that's my favorite there's more fun like there's more fun to come. But first, you should head over to patreon.com slash girls gone canon and check out our Patreon C-A-N-O-N. Hey, we are patron ambassadors, creator ambassadors with Patreon. We take that role so seriously here on that podcast. So come join us on Patreon.

It's a very fun community. We have too much fun with these folks. Yeah. And you know what's fun? We've been getting some interesting Patreon comments lately, and I've been weaving them into our emails and tweets of note. So these two came in today. And so first of all, one of them, one of the people in this conversation, Thunderclap, thank you for pointing out my crimes against huge manatee you are right i should be punished you didn't say that at all but if you felt it it's true so anyways

emails and tweets of note patron paulus asked us in a in a recent episode at 46 10 what does chloe mean by don tussy and thunderclap explained don't dishollered is sansa's jock and hagar don tussy and we'll we'll get to this in a second but i will say you know jock and put his whole jock and haggussy this is how this is the proper usage of this i want to correct that ussy was way back in the early aughts slang yeah right lgbtqia slang so in the form bussy which means boy pussy that is what that stands for eliana's drinking a celsius right now sponsor us and i thought she was going to spit it out as i said boy pussy pussy. But that boy pussy, yeah. It's been popularized since then.

Late 2010s, early 2020s on social media, TikTok, etc, etc, Twitter. It's gotten out of hand. The ussies have gotten out of hand. Out of cunt. I don't know what you want to go with, but it's out of pocket for sure. It's a suffix. You could just add it to shit, right? Like dauntussieie, Jacussie.

We were definitely referring to Jacques and Hagar and Dantos Hollard's boy pussies. Their Jacussie and their Dantussie here. Yes, but it's not only limited to boy pussy, which now that I realize it, bussy, I think actually might not have any overlap with the term bussin, which is another popular

slang term in case you were curious we might not only know all the memes here but we do know some of the some of the language so yeah the lingo yeah bussing yeah and bussing like to be fair it really means taste like tasty right like something's really extremely great or it's tasty, but not to be outdone the act of transporting by bus or transferring children to school by bus in a residential area as a means of achieving balance. You know, busing. Yeah, busing. They're different, but the same.

But yeah, it does not only have to be about boy pussy. The suffix can be added on to other things. For example, what are some other examples of things you said? I don't know. Aswafussie. Aswafussie. That sounds like something we might have said at one point in our lives. Probably. Realistically, we're also talking about Aswaf's boy pussy there. Is that how that works? Okay, so yes, that that how that works okay so yes that's how that works i just i see yeah it's unfortunately one of those slang things that's reached popularity and can be used by assholes like us so you know it probably should be stopped maybe we should be canceled again next episode i don't know we're working on it guys but thank you for helping each other out in the patreon comments that was special to me as i saw these come in i was like are you

seeing this this camaraderie i saw thunderclap get in there to explain it and i was like bless his heart bless his heart but i will say in regards to slang chloe did in fact use out of pocket correctly thank you sometimes here people use the term out of pocket at work, and they are not using that slang term correctly. Let me tell you what Chloe did. Thank you. Thank you. I'm good at colloquialisms, idioms, you know, that's about it.

That's it. Colloquialism? Thank you for coming to Girls Gone Canon for your cultural studies. I think we're going to stick with the name girls gone canon men you know we started making too much money when we started going by men gone canon so we've changed it back uh all right we got an email we're getting serious now so get fucking serious buckle up stop the jokes stop laughing the fun over, we're back to serious time. We got an email from our friend Will, and he had a wild idea. This is actually interesting. If you've watched The Bad

Show, there was an ending for Arya Stark where she explores and sails away west, yada yada. It's been out for a long time. You should probably have read this on the internet by now, even if you haven't watched it, will propose that he sees Jarian, Jarian Lannister, as a mirror of Arya without that grounding in magic, right, that we know of. I'm serious, maybe we don't know. Both Jarian and Arya struggle with identity and attachment to their families, and eventually they sail away from Westeros. Naive and unprepared, Jarrion seems to die, where Arya we think will be a-okay. He notes that the pronunciations similar kind of Jarrion, Jarrion, Jarrion, Arya, fucking off mysteriously on a boat. Jarrion is kind of a young adult with no responsibilities, and he adds get a job, which I agree. Arya's a child, but after shenanigans of ice and fire go down

and the others are defeated, she might really be a young adult with no real responsibilities too. Independence from family. Jarrion's a lone wolf, the black sheep lion of the family, and Arya also has that strong lone wolf energy, but they do contrast, right? Jarrion seeks a way to secure connection with his family through bright roar, while Arya might go off empowered by a strong connection and security from her family. And ambiguity. Jirian's never

heard from again. Arya presumably leaves at the end of A Dream of Spring in TV show land and goes out to an unknown fate. Well, quote unquote. So there are differences. Magic, especially, is a big one for Arya, having had a little more training in magic and perceiving danger and skills. We can't presume she might be able to, like, go out and ship off to Asshai, but if she did, she'd probably have a better time of it than Jarrion. I could see that. I don't know. Just some interesting thoughts on Arya, Airy, and Jarrie. Will says, I love that, and very important, Will attached a photo of his dog, Billy, in a super ill-fitting jumper for us to look at. And it was super cute.

Thank you, Will. I really like this, though. I like the Jirian and Arya. I never would have put them together. Jirian is kind of the mysterious family member. And I can see where even he has some Rickon vibes, right? With the shaggy dog story. It is interesting.

And it kind of makes me think, like, is it also like a little bit of brendan blackfish as well right is there is this a thing that happens yeah throwing it out there in families bring in black sheep with multiple children right like there's one who's like a little bit different from the other siblings and like just goes off like they're still still theoretically would have had a good relationship with them, except for the part where Jerrion's, like, gone, gone. But, like, you know. And also, yes, very happy with this photo of Billy in a jumper, which tells me what country you are from, Will, that you said jumper. Right.

And Billy looks so dapper in this photo. Incredibly dapper. I wish you could all see it. I'm looking at it again, right? Yeah, thanks again. Well, I really like that. I like the Jerry in and Aria stuff. He has a lot in his character that we don't know about, which makes it loud for us. It's not said by anyone makes it louder for us. Yeah, it's almost like I don't know, because we know that the Lannisters and that that generation of Lannisters, I don't know, because we know that the Lannisters and that generation of Lannisters, they don't have any repressed trauma around loss. So the fact that we don't

hear about it much really says a lot to us. All right, Eliana, read us in. We got a hit email from our friend Warren. We had another email from our friend with proportionally sized ears who says massive kudos to beth who was excellent last week as jack and got some weasel soup then said goodbye to aria but not to pate i think i mean who knows could it have been me could it have been my face oh my god he changed his face to you and then fucked up the episode unsure unsure it was the intern on the social media who tweeted out the strange thing it was the intern on ted cruz's social media if anyone does anyone remember that does anyone remember that what a time um anyways warren talks about having sent some emails in the past especially during

brand's coverage about the loss of innocence and the role that plays in his arc and also how it it covers aria's storyline as well and it's a theme that's in many of the stark siblings that loss of innocence but also he really likes how this kind of idea gets explored differently through all these different povs aria of course oran points out it's sad to see her have to say bye to another mentor but posits that perhaps chloe is very excited about the next mentor that's going to show up for aria what her storyline and you know kind of he was wondering what lessons she's learning as well as the ones that she's not learning and then talks a little bit about the theory of aria ultimately killing lady stoneheart and wonders if one of the key lessons that aria is missing that is present

through all of her mentors so far is the value of life and he also talks about like where she would use needle for the purpose and and the impact that the bond she has with needle like would it permit george to let her wield dark sister later in the story and i think that is actually like a really interesting question but for now he signs off with looking forward to next week at the end of Arya's Harrenhal Sojourn. Ooh, yeah. That's a great thought. Like, will it let her wield Dark Sister? Like, will she be ready to part or use another sword? I do wonder that.

Maybe this is silly, but when you think of, like, dragons are mounts and they only accept certain people to ride them, that emotional connection. So with Arya with her sword, it's hard to let needle go. It's a similar emotional feeling in a way. And I don't know Valyrian steel especially takes a lot of commitment, confidence, you know, soul to be wielding it. It's a bigger sword. It's not like that big, but it's bigger. I don't mean in the size, it's small. It fits her it fits her i don't mean in the size it's small it fits her it fits her which is the point right and aging though like gracefully it would fit her she's described as

slender as she ages she'll probably be more vasanya shaped able to wield it properly but i don't know also like the zombies would be part of it right i think it would be powerful against zombies maybe it's actually interesting what you're saying in regards to her growing and dark sister right because needle is made for aria and for aria the size she is now and many people do not say the same size as they were when they were nine years old no mostly no mostly no i know you and i have not no i came out like this average we but like if she grows into a height that would maybe dark sister would be better accustomed to that and like needle plays a role right in helping her feel tied to that stark identity and going back home which which I know you have some thoughts on later this episode,

but would being able to let Needle go be a little bit about learning to let go of your childhood and the past and those hurts and then learning to come into who you are as an adult and then growing into someone who can wield Dark Sister because it might not be advantageous to wield a non-Valyrian steel sword against, as you said, the zombies.

Yeah, and I've written a little bit about this before, and I think Dark Sister is probably going to be Miro wielding it at first. You say that as well. And it's interesting, like this sword specifically is designed for Visenya, a lighter person, a smaller person, the dark sister, when you have Sansa's rainies, it feels like Arya's going to end up getting it. I'd be interested to see the show kind of gave her like the cat's paw dagger. And I think maybe that could happen. But I kind of doubt it. I imagine it's kind of an upgrade from childhood to womanhood for Arya.

Yeah. Last week, you know, Beth brought up Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman by Britney Spears. Which, you know, it's part of this arc, but also it could go the other way, right? Like maybe she uses Dark Sister in the fight against others and has to do something and loses the sword, goes back to Needle. Who fucking knows? Not me. I was going to say, what if the opposite? What if Needle breaks? Oh! What if Needle breaks? I mean- And then also what about the line of, after winter we'll find you with Needle. Or she leaves Needle with a body and plants it,

as that's Arya Stark. Peace out. Hell, give it to Jane, maybe. I could see needle breaking even in the cold, you know, last hero sense, so cold your sword shatters. Yeah, well, also, it could be literal as well in the Waymar Royce. Yeah. Tries to fight with normal fucking steel against the others. And they're like, Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Maybe it breaks in battle. Maybe she doesn't use dark sister at first

i don't know oh yeah she refuses to yeah she she doesn't want to grow up uses needle can't yeah interesting interesting ideas yeah lots to think about we should do a valyrian steel sword discussion sometimes i like it i like those little swords. Yeah, I want the Valyrian steel spoon. Oh. Okay. Alright. It's time to get into our giant lightning round as we're at the very end of a

storm of... or clash of kings. My bad. Wow. Speeding ahead. This is like a shit storm than a lightning round. There are so many chapters. We're gonna barrel through them. I'm gonna start us off with our lightning round. There are so many chapters. We're going to barrel through them. I'm going to start us off with our lightning round with Daenerys IV, where Daenerys enters the House of the Undying. What a banger.

I know. Someday. Someday. Yeah, in our five POVs left. Tyrion XI. Tyrion prepares the capital for Stannis' incoming siege. Theon IV. Theon loses the team Stark hostages and takes advice from Reek.

Uh-oh. Jon VI. Jon shows mercy to Ygritte. Yeah, he does. Sansa IV. Surrounded by drunk men, Sansa goes to bed and wakes up with what feels like a death sentence. Her first period. So real. Jon VII.

Jon rejoins Corrin Halfhand and wargs in his dreams. Tyrion XII. News of Bran and Rickon's death reaches King's Landing. Cersei seeks retribution and to intimidate Tyrion. That could be, like, any chapter. Yeah, that really could, actually. Catelyn 7. Catelyn calls.

Sword. Theon 5. Theon continues making mistakes in Winterfell. Again, could be any chapter. Do-do-do-do-do-do. Yeah, exactly. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do. Sansa 5. In the royal set, the ladies are guarded by Illyn Payne.

Davos 3. The chain falls on Blackwater Bay. This could be also a good example. Tyrion put his whole chain-assi into the Blackwater. Grammar studies here in Girls Gone Canon. Tyrion 13. Tyrion must be brave for the men of king's landing sansa 6 cersei gives sansa very maternal and very drunken advice

yes tyrian 14 sir mandan moore fucks tyrian's face up sansa 7 aggressively playing the hit song and then he kissed me performed by the crystals yes I did not know the name the unkiss the smoocharoo or not Daenerys 5

new members join Daenerys' party Daenerys plans to leave Qarth which leads us into Arya 10 in a clash of kings. Escape from Harrenhal. We open the chapter with Arya passing beneath

tarred heads daily in Harrenhal. Wow. Are we in King's Landing suddenly? Damn. She can't see the faces, but she pretends at least one of them is Joffrey's, imagining it. The crows surround the gatehouse, causing general issues,

and sometimes the dead maester's ravens do as well. Arya wonders if they remember Tothmir, who was killed for sending birds to King's Landing on Casterly Rock, Lucan the Armorer for making weaponry for Lannisters, or good wife Herarah for telling the household they should serve them and the steward who gave tywin the keys to the treasure vault so there's this line here that really struck me where aria wonders perhaps the dead could speak

to them in some secret tongue the living could not hear and it really speaks to Arya's, like, unprocessed grief regarding A, the death of her father, B, the earlier on death of her friend, Micah, C, the death of her mentor, Syrio, and then her other mentor, Yoren, also Lami, and now Jaqen has left her. So, you know, there's a lot that's been left unsaid and i think grief is a lot of you know the things that you want to say to people who aren't there and i think it is kind of funny though she wonders if the dead can speak in a secret tongue that the living could not hear around these crows and ravens that are flying around these heads because i mean who knows some of these crows and ravens might have someone having like their second life inside this boar one of these children of the forest and this idea of of the dead still being able to speak to us i think really intertwines with brand's story and blood raven stories

which besides the ability to yes see into the past and hear our loved ones who have passed away as we hear in the way that blood raven speaks to bran like a lot of it is just shit that he's not actually processed blood raven also has not processed his grief he just like hangs out watches home movies all the time of the past which makes a lot of sense that's i think how a lot of people would deal with that but he clearly has not moved on because he has nothing else to do because he's tied to a tree whereas you know brian brian you are you are young you have your whole life ahead of you please learn to process your grief and move on hopefully we see that but you know even even their own dad right like ned with his ghost he still was in a way trying to commune with the dead in his chapters you know thinking

of those promises to liana and his ghosts and you know we we even like have that idea of the ghost the dead speaking through with like people like the ghost of high heart and who loved someone like jenny who would dance with her ghosts yeah so yes grief i think it was what like last episode or before last where we talked about there's a lot with the ghost and heron hall idea that reminds me of jenny dancing with her ghosts in the hall of the kings who had passed you know all the history aria doesn't even really know on her own about this place interesting who is i mean jenny jenny obviously also yeah yeah something was making that girl sad yeah a girl it's clinical depression that girl was sad she was out here listening to meetski to phoebe bridgerton phoebe bridgers phoebe bridgerton we need you so bad phoebe bridgerton phoebe bridgers phoebe bridgers we need you so bad phoebe bridgers

well good news the cook is spared probably because of weasel soup which reminds you know this is all this was for aria this is kind of a shell shock. King's Landing was one thing. It was Lannisters, dastardly evil Lannisters that did it. But these are Northmen and it really starts to make you, I don't know, understand the broken man. This is the beginning of an army breaking from its King's wishes right here. Breaking rank, doing what they want, and it starts to get a little nasty. Like, you go out to the courtyard, Pia and 469 other women who are raped by Lannister soldiers are now stripped, shaved, and left beside the bear pit to be raped by Northmen soldiers. Right? Who should do so.

There's no difference here. It's actually kind of worse, in a way. Yeah, it's mean. of worse in a way yeah it's mean it's cool the bear have the chance to like get away or at least like you know assert anything they can't stand up for one another in that and like they're doing this under under north men banners even though like i guess theoretically some might say they're not but like, like, they are. They are, yeah. And it makes me think of, granted, they're not executed, but it makes me think of Odysseus returning to Ithaca, right? Killing all the traitors who were in his house trying to take over Ithaca, trying to take his wife and shit. serving women many of whom were just slaves or like all of whom were just slaves in penelope's household for the crimes of having lain with the traitors and therefore being traitors themselves

i'm like which makes no fucking sense right because a lot of them they were like they were raped right and we know that's the case here with the women at heron hall a lot of them like did they have a choice and even if they did like you don't fucking this is not a punish punishable thing and not something that you would this punishment makes sense for whatsoever it's like the women we meet in brienne's chapters or come across i should say they lay with lions exactly exactly someone else's crimes they don't get to commit their own crimes. They're punished and treated as objects for choosing, quote unquote, choosing the wrong owner. Which not really, again, quote unquote. Well, these three frame men are raping women when Aria goes to the well and she hears them laughing. Good wife Amabelle seizes her on the way back. We have this quote.

The water went sloshing over the side onto Amabelle's legs. You did that on purpose! The woman screeched. What do you want? Arya squirmed in her grasp. Amabelle had been half crazed since they'd cut Hera's head off. Aww. Yeah.

I feel like we've seen a lot of that in the main books and in pre-Song of Ice and Fire, right? Like Fire and Blood. Some of these stories of people who have watched something terrible and become half-crazed. Even Sansa gets described as hysterical after seeing Ned's head fall off.

Arya didn't see the head cut off. She experienced a lot of pain and sadness but she didn't actually see that head come off of her father so it's terrible to think about the contrast that obviously Amabelle is acting a little crazy towards Arya but hopefully Arya understands that this woman's got some issues she's in her soul sad about it i mean aria would probably be acting this way too her mother does right like upon the death of rob and when brand even just straight up falls down she not sleeping and eating for like days and then what she says to john and then also like

her being like yeah i'm about to fucking just take this knife in my hands. That's some fucking half-crazed shit. Yeah. That's what grief does to you, right? When you experience a lot of it. Trauma. Amabelle played by the fucking rules. When Arya showed up, she was like, this is how the castle runs. And

Arya gave the castle to Northmen because she didn't like how the castle was run. And it turns out maybe giving the Northmen the castle wasn't good. War doesn't really take sides when it comes to people that are affected by it, right? Like, yeah, war kills anybody and everybody that comes through it. Yeah, absolutely. I don't know if like Arya truly, she's still kind of like internalizing that, but doesn't really, we don't see her reflect on that yet, right? Because she's nine.

Amabelle and Hera showed her more or less some form of kindness. And Arya, to them, they feel like Arya repaid that. Them accepting her with, here's a terrible fucking regime and you're gonna get killed and raped for it terrible amabel points at pia telling aria that will be her when the north men fall that heron hall kills them all in the end real and tywin will return to punish the disloyal she threatens she may even rape aria with an old broom and aria swings the bucket at her telling her never touch her again or she'll kill her sopping good wife amabel jabbed a thin finger at the flayed man on the front of Arya's tunic. You think you're safe with that little bloody man on your teat, but you're not. The Lannisters are

coming. See what happens when they get here. You should have done the first Amabelle, that was amazing. Thank you. Going for the EGOT this year, by the way. Wow. Wow. So Arya refills her bucket, thinking if she told Lord Bolton about this, Amabelle's head would roll and goes back to working. She does not do this, but she thinks about it. And I do think it's interesting that amabel uses threats of

gendered and sexual violence against aria here right the raping with the broom and i think that aria's storyline is among the more obvious amongst the povs when it in how it discusses gender and also how it discusses class but it is i would say like much more subtle and maybe even too subtle and how the two intersect and much of the early part of her story of course like i don't think like it takes a genius to see like it revolves around her rejecting gender expectations especially for high-born girls in wester also, I mean, to an extent in our own real world, right? Things are changing. It's 2023 in case, you know, for the historians listening to our podcast, it's 2023. And she does seem more interested, right, in those masculine coded activities

or things that are more physical, such as sword fighting. And as earlier mentors have questioned in her story, like why does she need live steel in swordfighting? Especially if it's just for practice. They question this amongst like the boys too when they're practicing because they're like, you don't need live steel. Live steel is for killing. It's for violence. And that connection to violence in swordfighting is I think how Arya becomes perceived as a character who transcends gender or is less feminine again because of that connection with with that there's obviously a lot of other things too right there's how she dresses um that she doesn't want to participate in

expected activities of course but the sword fighting i think plays a really big part of it and it's a good reminder that using violence as a means to power does not necessarily lead to gender liberation nor equality and justice among the sexes. Violence as power is what patriarchy is built upon and only reinforces those shackles. And we see that here with what happens when the northmen take over harrenhal and like i'm not saying that aria shouldn't have freed the northmen but just more of like extrapolating yeah the story is showing us that about the relationship between power violence and biological sex i'm not saying aria is wrong for doing that just you know yeah i mean you put that really well right like she's doing what she has to to survive she flipped the castle because she couldn't live under Whis. But she didn't really understand that delicate balance of the castle. It's very delicate. All of it was about to fall apart at any moment if one thing went wrong. ship as we see and we discussed last week that after tywin took everyone and left it all fell

apart and ruse doesn't really give a shit either as we're seeing about any of that it's an interesting crossroads ha ha close to she did what she thought would keep her safe and you start to see kind of that resentment in this chapter from her friends like we're about to come into that there's heavy resentment because it turns out what she did messed everyone else's lives up a little bit that's a that's that's a great point like for her she enjoyed the stark regime in general overall because she was in a place of privilege in it and that's why she thinks it was so fucking good and i mean as amabel points out though like well you're talking about the resentment people are feeling and i think amabelle makes another like great point as well like that again i think it might be maybe it's not that subtle but i think it is well taken in regards to again gender like

she points out and aria's next thought reinforces like you think you're safe with that man and like whether it's jack in or she means the sigil that amabel is pointing to or even ruse bolton as aria thinks if i told ruse that amabel said this she'd be executed right but at this point the any power that aria has right in her holding on to that last name last chapter like power in its explicit form for her still has to flow from men she only has power if it's coming from men and not implicitly from herself. And that leads to whatever the fuck is happening in Harrenhal right now. Yeah.

Systems built on that. She's now a middle manager. That's great. That's true. She's a middle manager. I didn't even think about that. Yeah. She has a lot more power in this chapter.

You see her coming to confidence. The way she's able to escape is literally because of the power she had she leverages it and she leverages the belief that people have in her as lord bolton's corporate assistant right she's a pa that's that's that's a great point she is like it is absolutely power resides where people believe it resides yeah well gendry blames her for Lucan's death and for her weasel soup, and Arya's like, it's not fair. You hated Amory Lorch

and those other men. But Gendry's like, these men are worse, and he has a point. Kyver and Biter, they're bad. She put some bad people in power here, and she knows he's right. Ruth sent Vargo and his team out in four different groups to hunt

lannisters and it turns out vargo's methods are very bad they're cruel very bad so true bestie he's gonna find one too soon enough right honestly you know i love that genji points this out and also gonna throw it out there it's amazing how great like robert's kids really just end up becoming without his presence in their lives yeah like truly the apple can fall far from the tree like joffrey right the worst 24 7 around robert always horrible gendry saw robert's shadow once perfect perfect boy we love we love gendry picture of positive masculinity honestly kind of anyways um though you know it is very rude of gendry to complain about biter's taste and cuisine he's like oh he eats people and i'm like so what if he eats people and gnaws on hands in the middle of combat am i right right? Like, hoops. I mean, they were gonna die anyway.

Normal shit. Normal shit from Biter. Natural causes. Weasel soup. Yeah, and Biter and Roarge are gross. Like, they dine with Bolton in his garrison, which is kind of crazy. They're actually welcome guests.

They've moved up on the rinks. And Biter smells like cheese so bolton makes him sit very far away from them which honestly from the description it kind of makes me think that he has a bacterial infection of some sort on his skin that actually makes a lot of sense yeah i've been thinking about it way too much i wasn't sure if it was that or if he has whatever like the original recap but it said it smells like cheese and not like rotting. I don't know. I think that might be a bacterial infection, honestly.

Yeah. Or a fungal. Skin fungal. I had a horrible thought about this one thing that I learned once called smegma, but let's go. Oh my god. Anyway. Roarge is scariest, though, sitting by Erzwick, and Rorge is also always watching her. Very creepy, especially with that threat that he had last time.

It makes her wish she had gone across the sea with Jaqen, and she often touches his coin wondering, is this valuable or not? She's interrupted from her coin troubles when Elmar Frey, Ruse's squire, asks her to help him roll a barrel of sand across the yard. ruse the squire ask her to help him roll a barrel of sand across the yard when they reach his destination she opens the barrel revealing armor and asks if he did an okay job and aria shows him the spots that he needs to go over and is like these are still rusty you should do it again and he's like you fucking do it and he's being actually a huge dick right now and he would often boast that he was a true-born son of the crossing said to marry a princess which lol i lol i do hope they cross paths again this is what we call dramatic irony george put his whole iron ussy oh my god i'm gonna drum ususs you across the head. Jesus. It would be

interesting if they crossed paths again because I don't know, maybe she'll murder him. Oh, that'd be interesting. Which is funny considering what we talked about. Right, but Arya doesn't really care. She hates being commanded by him. She fucking hates that. And she tells him so. She says, no, I have to go bring water to Bruce for his leechings.

His very big leechings. Because it turns out Elmer is afraid of leeches. So we have this passage. Elmer's eyes got as big as boiled eggs. Leeches terrified him, especially the big pale ones that look like jelly till they're filled up with blood. Oh, I forgot. You're too skinny to push such a heavy barrel.

I forgot. You're stupid. Arya picked up the pail. Maybe you should get leeched too. There's leeches in the neck. to push such a heavy barrel. I forgot, you're stupid! Arya picked up the pail. Maybe you should get leech too. There's leeches in the neck, as big as pigs. I'm like, oh, the neck is just Blighttown in Dark Souls.

I love that she's a little more herself, right? She's posing, she could be a Northman, she poses herself because she's talking about the neck so casually to him. That Bolton sigilil protects her but how do you know about the neck aria you know the phrase live right there but how does aria know yeah that's a great point yeah she's very bad at this she's young she'll learn back in ruse's chamber it's quite the party everyone from kyburn to Steelshanks

to a dozen Freys are chillin' while Roose is nakedly lying there, leeches all over, discussing war plans and how to defend themselves from being trapped here at Harrenhal. It's kind of an open position. Aenys Frey, stooped, watery-eyed, had brought 1500 Frey swords to heron hall but he sucks at commanding and he's whining that the castle's too big to hold true and feed sufficient people for and to bring in supplies it's way too big yeah i first of all i'm wondering is the roost thing and him being naked while doing this fucking meeting is this like a linden was it linden johnson linden b johnson who used to like fucking take meetings from like while pooping yeah i'm I'm it is I'm googling for you. It was a US President Johnson do that. Yeah. It was Lyndon

Johnson. I remember because he's, you know, Johnson on the Johnson. Oh, my God. He held meetings in the bathroom. Oh, my God. He would legitimately expose his genitals, urinate in the sink, sit on the toilet, but it never caused an embarrassment to him whatsoever. He just wanted to show his power. It's a power move. It's absolutely like meant to be a power, wielding power over other people. So I'm reading a book right now, The New Zoe Ash, where there's a character that straight up shows up naked to a first meeting like this. And he's creepy just like this. Like, the girl's like, put your clothes on.

He's like, why? I have nothing to hide. It's just like this. Very creepy. Yeah. Melisandre does that every now and then, too. But it's different when women do it. Yeah. Hers is, it's more of an enticing, right?

It's more of a, shall you ally me nakedly? I will say this thing that Aenys is saying about Harrenhal, it is like they don't have enough men to hold it on all sides. I feel like it is very insightful and they don't know how, but it seems like something that could come into play at some point. Yeah, the problem is like Tywin has burnt down the Riverlands. There's no food in store. You're out. look at where we are

right now in a dance with dragons right you have the veil with food i mean the reach obviously the reach and the veil everyone's kind of out of food the reach comes to king's landing marries in at the end of this book right where we are and what fucks the riverlands even more if you marry the baratheons the quote-unquote barannisters all they can really do is forage here and the lannisters are staged everywhere trying to shoot them down they're kind of between a rock and a hard place i will say we talked about this with brienne and jamie you can see why ruse is interesting And you see why Walter Frey's like, interesting. Maybe we all flip sides, because they're fucked. When you're hungry

and you're besot, there's really not much you can do. Things are grim in the Riverlands. Yeah, it also, I mean, things are grim in the Riverlands. Things are grim for the Northern camp in general. Thanks a lot, Theon. It's also why we see some of these people look at Harrenhal as such a temporary holding place.

Roose doesn't want to be trapped here. And Freyja, this time Jared the Liar, is like, What do you mean? Is Edmure going to battle Tywin? And Arya starts thinking, he'll beat him, just like he did on the Red Fork. She stands quietly near Qyburn and roost tells them all tywin's too busy to march on harrenhal but anis doesn't understand how they mean to defend themselves when tywin does come back for his castle because they don't really have the numbers with highgarden joining the lions as said and hasteem the rest agreeing they don't want to

be prisoners again of the lannisters the fr Freys also agree, Rob has lost the North, his brothers, and the war. This is bad news for Arya. Yeah, everyone's like, meh. But Arya specifically, this is very bad. We have a passage. For a moment, Arya forgot to breathe. Dead? Brandon Rickon dead? What does he mean? What does he mean about Winterfell? Joffrey could never take Winterfell, never. Robb would never let him. Then she remembered that Robb was not at Winterfell. He was away in the west, and Bran was crippled, and Rickon only four. It took all her strength to remain still and silent the way Syrio Forel had taught her, to stand there like a stick of furniture.

She felt tears gathering in her eyes and build them away. It's not true. It can't be true. It's just some Lannister lie. It is a Greyjoy lie, in fact. Yeah. A Greyjoy slash Snowlie, if you will.

And a Bolton lie, actually, now that I think about it. A Snowlie. He's not a bolton lie actually now that i think about a snow lie he's not a bolton yeah sorry sorry i heard no he's got he's got bolton energy for shirzees though yeah it's kind of horrible the way her and sansa have to learn about it and hold themselves together in front of an audience right big sad i know big sad for aria big sad for sansa yeah sansa's looked at as like if she cries it's weakness and betrayal yeah and if aria does then it's a betrayal for who she is or that she cares right it's like an instant wait a second didn't the starks have a very small girl that looked like

her yeah bummer for all don't fear they're alive it'd just be like weird right why is the cupbearer suddenly crying what are you doing yeah it would start you know getting the math to math is all i'm saying you know someone figured it out pretty quick there and as beth pointed out last last chapter like honestly remarkable that they did not piece it together but that would have definitely clicked it for real yeah she doesn't really it's kind of harder for her to get like you know more info where sansa can at least you know people are willing to be explicit about maybe too explicit about that she's living inside the propaganda machine yeah ronnell rivers ronnell rivers one of walder's bastards says had stannis won it would have been different which is probably true meanwhile ruse is just smiling he dismisses the bleating phrase and

asks nan to remove his leeches i love all those little foreshadowings going on ruse isn't here to make friends first of all he's not here to support rob's cause that's very loud he doesn't care about keeping harrenhal or defending those lands and it continues after this with tallheart's letter yeah i'm not here to make friends i'm imagining ruse doing his little like interview in section in the reality TV show. Yeah, real lords of Westeros. He would absolutely be out there. So I don't know that he's for Tywin yet, because I think George just said that even in early ASOS, Roose was still deciding his loyalties.

But I'm sure that the phrase complaints and you know his own like feelings of like but what can i do for ruse it probably all makes a pretty enticing case for him to like not be pro stark right now yeah i will also say side note regarding aria removing the leeches really goes to show her dexterity though like they are indeed probably i've never held a leech i have no intentions of doing so but probably fragile little creatures and i likely have to be kind of like coaxed off you know delicately off of like any person including ruse without harming either him or squishing the leech so yeah i imagine they're decent size. It depends on the type.

They can be really big. They can go anywhere from like, yeah, from skinny and wormy to like caterpillar to even bigger than that. Who knows? I don't know. Like a pencil, a little thicker than a pencil,

maybe half the size. I don't know. A quarter of the size of the length of a pencil and chubby and thick. You can Google it it you can absolutely google it okay they're creepy and weird and when they're full of blood they're gonna be fatty is another thing because they've been sucking down blood so like if you squish them blood comes out yeah delicious i've had a mommy before i don't actually think that they don't sound delicious that's disgusting eliana um and have the mommy before i don't like them. That's disgusting. Eliana. I've had them on me before. I don't like them.

Lake Life as a kid. I feel like it's very painless, but you know. Yeah, they're not painful. But I don't know. You tell me. They're more like annoying. Like, ew, what's that on my leg? Something's stuck to you and you go to swat it off and you're like, what the fuck?

What is that? What is this slimy ass thing on me you know it's more like creepy and annoying than anything but ruse is a creepy guy and so is kyburn who remains declaring that ruse bolton has a letter from alda and then ruse asks him to read it we get that little necromancy tip off here also regarding kyburn being like yeah speaking of necromancy tip off here, also regarding Qyburn. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Speaking of necromancy, Arya notes he's not wearing a chain. Yes. That might be one of the first times we notice it before we meet him with Jaime.

Interesting. Interesting. I love the note from Walda. Ahem. Yeah. The Lady Walda wrote from the twins almost every day, but all the letters were the same. I pray for you more noon and night, my sweet lord, she wrote, and count the days until you share my bed again. Return to me soon, and I will give you many true-born sons to take the place of your dear Dom Eric and rule the dreadfort after you.

Arya pictured a plump pink baby in a cradle covered with plump pink leeches. Aw, adorable. My God. Arya has no clue how lucky she is escaping this. I'm like, Arya girl, you're about to become part of that family without wanting it. You don't know it.

So many bullets. You are about to be engaged to that pale pink baby girlfriend yeah that's true either that one or the other the other horrifying one and i don't know like what if what if this child would have been like normal you know it turns out like dameric was like a nice dude yeah not like dad and maybe russ is good dad, going back to what we said earlier with Robert, right? What if he is, like when he's actually there? He didn't parent Ramsay. And then he did parent Dameric, and Dameric turned out great.

Wow, what if? Wow. Maybe Rus is good. Just like Bael and Greyjoy was a great dad to one kid. One. So was Rus. That's a great dad to one kid. One. So was Roose. That's kind of wild to think about. It's entirely possible.

Yeah. Walda put her whole... Nope. Anyways. Just straight up pussy. Roose writes a letter back, but to Tallheart, not Walda, telling him, put the captives to the sword and the castle to the torch by command of the king. Then he's to join forces with the Glover and strike east to Duskendale.

Honestly, it just kind of fucked up that Ruse responded with like, no, to Helman Tallheart. Like that was supposed to be obvious, right? You say I will write a letter of my own, like right after the other letter. That's going to be confusing. You can't just hit reply on a message and expect it to be a completely different person in the fucking two field ruse yeah it's it kind of connects right because he tells aria to take care of the letter in a moment and aria puts it in the fire and i'm like oh that's what you meant by take care of interesting he's not like

a great guy not very communicative but he doesn't even tell nan to like forge a letter back yeah he but apparently perhaps a very good parent he did he did show some some grace to ariel later this chapter maybe that's what he's like you get some mistakes maybe too many there's really great language there he says command of the king no specific king just command of the king no specific king just command of the king which is a nice hint at what's to come good call good call yeah by command of the king which king it comes back to play next chapter when they come back to when they meet the brotherhood you know they also use the language of we're king's men without saying which king yeah

this is a great war strategy though send your men out on a goose chase create internal conflict and strife waste your king's levies and make the campaign look really bad yeah it is and that's like definitely he does a lot of suspicious stuff definitely some hints here that he's not fully in support of Rob. He's, as you said, not here to make friends. Oh my god. Or help Rob. Arya, though. Arya is super happy about the Derry Castle being burned.

She's like, yeah, that's where the Queen condemns Sansa's wolf. But she wishes that Glover and Tallheart would come back to Harrenhal because she hadn't been able to reveal herself to them yet. Yeah, in regards to the Derry's Castle, Arya's like, it deserves to burn because of those bad memories and that bad thing happening there. I'm like, Arya? I don't know about that. I mean, does it though?

Does Derry's Castle deserve to burn? They were just an Airbnb for all of you. It's not their fault. Poor judgment. being nine, you know, learning a lot. So silly. What a silly time. Learning tons at age nine. Maybe not. Maybe not great. Roost decides to go hunting. Qyburn warns him there are wolves afoot and Bolton's like, yes, that's what I'm hoping to hunt wolves uh-oh they discuss how

it's kind of weird to see common wolves of the south acting so bold and Qyburn says oh it must be because of the terrible times we're in and Bolton's like are these times actually that terrible one king's bad but four that's not so bad oh yeah we've got an abundance look at that economy's up look at all these jobs we're making and there's this hilarious line where ruse like makes an expression expression they're like i think it was like a they're like this might have been a smile that he was making maybe so fascinating i mean that line though when he says one king is bad but four is not i think that's foreshadowing too right tell tele goes this is a time of opportunity four kings means anything could happen if the lannisters anything could happen chaos is a lover he calls for his fur cloak from nan and asks her to tend to waldo's letter

and cleaning his chambers and so aria as you said earlier takes the letter to the hearth and then we have her having another another really emotional thought if the lannisters hurt brandon rickon rob will kill them everyone he'll never bend the knee never never never he's not afraid of any of them curls of ash floated up the chimney aria squatted beside the fire watching them rise through a veil of hot tears. If Winterfell's truly gone, is this my home now? Am I still Arya or only Nan, the serving girl for forever and forever and forever? I love how this kind of mirrors Sansa's, is it all lies forever and ever, right? There's a lot of great mirroring in their storylines. And it is an interesting question right like

if you are still who you are when you're not in your home or even if your home is straight up gone especially probably if you tied your identity to a name like aria of winterfell right not everyone has of blank at the end of their names and i mean speaking of her being nine years old right it absolutely shows that like lack of the development of the self when it comes to you know child brain development yeah she's not even really getting an option to develop right like she's not yeah to choose her development they're just like what if you went to murder school? Mm-hmm. Here's your tuition, this valuable coin. She spends her next hours doing chores. No valuable coins to be had there.

And later goes up to the Great Solar, a spare drafty room, and changes out the candles and cleans up the books. However, a very large piece of sheepskin with colored shapes on it lakes rivers red dots to show castles catches her eye the lands of the riverlands it's titled and she notes that river runs actually pretty close to here oh yeah yeah i mean i don't think it's as close as she thinks i'm like this is not a proportional map aria but yeah she'll learn she'll learn the hard way yeah it takes her quite on a journey to get there and after like two days she learns she's like we should be there are we there yet uh no it's you don't have cars okay you don't have cars she if she had a car i think she could have done it when she's finished cleaning she

heads to the godswood her duties under r Rus were easier than under Whis or Pink Eye, but she had to make appearances more. Wow, you're right. She has a middle miniature, which left her with little time to practice her needlework. The hunt would be gone for a while, so she recants her prayer, stabbing at birch leaves with her broomstick.

This is kind of an interesting shift, right? Arya got a promotion, as we talked about, that class conversation with Gendry and Hot Pie, and now Arya's in corporate. She's not a grunt anymore. She's not working class, really. She's in corporate. Her job's no longer about the grunt work

and more about showing face for appearances, serving Bolton, being ready at his beck and call. She has a corporate job now, and while corporate jobs do come with some stressors most people agree they're a step up from grunt work they're better to manage they have very different stressors involved but this could be a little bit maybe where some of that resentment is coming from from her friends yeah absolutely she has to i mean they see that she's got a cushy job now she has free time she's out here playing

needlework and the gods would and the boys are like busting their asses to physical labor not to be confused with bossen oh my god yeah not that she's not but we got to contextualize it girlfriend aria your job's different i think that's that i didn't quite realize until you said it earlier this chapter but yeah that's absolutely like what her station is like now yeah she didn't like ask for this job but they all think she did turn the job down yeah i mean that's kind of they're all thinking you got a bunch of people slaughtered so you could work for bolton it sure does seem that way right you killed all of these people and then got a bunch of the people

that we care about killed and now you're living large. Well, we have this this lines from Arya's free time. Arya's recreational time. She has work-life balance now. The bowl of an oak loomed before her and she

lunged to drive her point through it, grunting, Joffrey! Joffrey! Joffrey! Her arms and legs were dappled by sunlight and the shadows of leaves. A sheen of sweat covered her skin by the time she paused. The heel of her right foot was bloody where she'd skinned it, so she stood

one-legged before the heart tree and raised her sword in salute. Valar Morghulis, she told the old gods of the north. She liked how the words sounded when she said them. Hilarious. Her first time, you know, playing around with it on her own. Do you think George knew what those words meant when he first wrote them? Yeah.

And had her say them? I think so. I wasn't sure. Sometimes, I mean mean he could have gardened and been like yeah let's throw some words there it'll be fun well i especially think he started this crafting right these languages maybe not all valyrian not all the high valyrian but as we see with what happens with bravo says it all unravels he might not have known the scope but i think he had an idea because i mean look at danny three right with missandei in a storm of swords right daenerys says it back

and forth at missandei missandei says it to her in high valyrian so i think it was coming i think he i think he mostly knew he wanted to use it this way but maybe not the rest of the language right oh right that's a good point especially because what books two and three were actually they actually were written within very close succession yeah yes ouch thank you those were the days aria heads toward the bathhouse and sees a raven circling from the rookery wondering if it has news about bran and ricken or if it's come from rob she thinks if she had wings she'd fly to winterfell and seeon, or if it's come from Rob, she thinks if she had wings, she'd fly to Winterfell and see for herself. And if it was true, she'd fly into the stars, see all the things

from Nan's stories, dragons, sea monsters, the Titan of Braavos, and never come back unless she wanted to. I really like this. I think there's something going on with the imagery. There was skin changing, right? Bran can skin change into birds. He can go live in old Nan's stories. He's literally living there with the others around him. And Arya's probably going to return to face off with the others, with her family. So it's likely she'll live out old Nan's stories as well. But here she says, the Titan of Braavos.

She is going to go see that very soon. It's happening. And she's, you know, never come back unless she wanted to. That's interesting. It stands out a lot to me with the trauma she's going to face and coming back to her family and what it's like to stay in Winterfell with her family and maybe leaving will be easier. Her going off on her own might be easier. Her having that choice of when she comes back in the future. I don't know. Interesting. It is, and I like what you said there about the ties

it has to skin changing. It definitely has that vibe. And it makes a lot of sense what you said, right? It does very much tie again to Bran's storyline. I actually took that at first as like maybe she really will go, I guess, see what's west of Westeros with that wanderlust of hers but i think what you've said like definitely makes sense it's a little bit of foreshadowing and also like the doesn't have to come back unless she wanted to

it does also stand out to me and you know i think part of it is also like being her being able to be ready to see home again even though she knows it's not gonna look the same as when you left it because you know of all the death yeah it all changes all of it yeah at evenfall the hunting party returns with nine dead wolves seven adults two only pups bolton orders their skins to be sewn into a blanket and one of his men suggests that the pups be sewn into warm winter gloves which is this even like is that even like i don't know a good fur for that anyways r, Roose likes that, though. He's like, it's reminiscent of the Starks motto. Dick.

Yeah. Two wolf pups. Right? Just like Bran and Rickon. Right. Sad. True. So sad.

It is sad. Especially for those kids who did die. Jesus, yeah. Roose orders a flagon of hot spiced wine from nan barley bread butter and boar to dine alone on she rings the order in with hot pie who's acting distant from her as we've mentioned she tries to help him with the spices and the wine but he's sullen and he's like i don't need your help she backs away more sad than angry oh that's terrible my poor daughter uh hot pie is of course very mad she pulled a weasel soup coup which is way more fun on paper because it rhymes right weasel soup coop uh just wanted to put that

out there he liked his job before right he learning. He actually really did like his job before. Yeah, so both he and Gendry, they were having like a pretty okay time, all things considered, before they were going to get pork. And yeah, unfortunately, you know, I mean, it makes sense why her friends are pretty, pretty upset and making these very pointed jokes about her yeah i mean obviously it also would have made friends you know if they were really good friends they would have helped her commit lots of murder who knows maybe they'd have great jobs too no that that was a joke that was a joke um there's this line here that kind of stood out to me on the walls the crows muttered around the heads like courtiers around a king it just kind of reminded me a little of like the imagery reminds me a little bit of bran becoming king that's it yeah i like that a court yeah yeah because he is

like you know maybe a future king with crows as his courtiers right now. Yeah, I see you, George. After she brings Ruth his food, he dismisses her for the night, but she waits and asks him if he'll take her with him when he leaves the castle. He chides her for speaking out of turn, questioning him, but he's kind of abused, too. He's like, you will stay with Vargo. And if you continue to question me, I will have your tongue out as is my right. Yeah. So he, you know, burns his book, right? And I don't know, it gives me the sense of like, is Bruce Bolton also someone who's like not an outfit repeater? Does he not only burn books, but also outfits? He just feels like it.

Oh my God. You know, Bruce Bolton, fashion and skincare influencer, as we're seeing this chapter. LMAO. I know, um, I know the book burning is like a big deal, right? Like it's up for debate over the years. What did he burn? What did it mean? And it's curious to me what book he was reading when he gets the

letter post wolf hunt but i think it's more indicative of him himself right he doesn't mind burning something valuable he doesn't mind destroying a book which we learn are pretty valuable in westeros just like he plans to burn a very specific bridge, possibly, with the north, with the Starks and half the north. There's this great line. He watched the flames consume it, pale eyes shining with reflected light. The old dry leather went up with a whoosh, and the yellow pages stirred as they burned, as if some ghosts were reading them. I think even though George said he was still toying with it in Storm, I don't know. Bruce's decision seems like it's being made

bit by bit in this chapter. Especially here as he burns the book. Oh yeah, absolutely. And yeah, true. Books are very valuable. It makes sense, right? In a society in which few people are literate and some of the ones who are

they have to like fucking handwrite an entire book it's all manuscripts so Arya leaves, passing the Wailing Tower, hearing arguing Elmar Frey, I don't know, I just think of Elmar's glue when I see his name, is outside

and she asks him what's wrong he blubbers that they've been dishonored according to a bird from the twins and he'll never marry his princess now. We have this little exchange between them. My brothers might be dead, she confided. Elmer gave her a scornful look. No one cares about us serving girls' brothers.

It was hard not to hit him when he said that. I hope your princess dies, she said and ran off before he could grab her i love that big jack and vibes by the way right like when she told jack in to kill himself oh true i'm like girl you're telling him to kill yourself here or yourself you're telling yourself to kill yourself oh my god she's the princess and his princess does die aria dies and becomes someone else yes absolutely absolutely um there's as you said dramatic irony in this and again i i truly hope that they meet again not because like just just because I want Elmar Frey to eat his words, that's it. That's all.

And her to be like, Arya Stark of Winterfell, go fucking shine my armor and do it well. No, I'm joking. She doesn't have to do all that. Sucker. But just at the very least, in the same way that, like, the one thing that I truly, truly want is for Alistair Thorne to find out that Jon is Rhaegar's son. Yes, it would be so good. It would just feel so good. Feel good. For me.

For you specifically, agreed. I just want to see the reaction, you know? Anyway. At the Godswood, she prays with her broomstick sword, asking the red leaves what to do. Praying to the old gods. For a while, there's nothing but sounds of the godswood, but then she hears a long, lonely wolf howl. Goose prickles rose on Arya's skin, and for an instant, she felt dizzy. Then, so faintly,

it seemed as if she heard her father's voice. When the snows fall, and the white winds blow, heard her father's voice. When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives, survives, survives, survives. But there is no pack, she whispered to the weirwood. Bran and Rickon were dead. The Lannisters had Zanza. Jon had gone to the wall. I'm not even me now. I'm Nan. You are Arya of Winterfell, daughter of the North. You told me you could be strong. You have the wolf blood in you, in you, in you, in you. The wolf blood, Arya remembered. Now I'll be as strong as Rob. I said I would. She took a deep breath, then lifted the broomstick in both hands and brought it down across her knee it broke with a loud crack and she threw the pieces aside i am a dire wolf and done with

wooden teeth woo get a maria i love that line so much that's um that's the name of my aria start playlist on spotify by the way b BT dubs, a swath. I am a dire wolf and done with wooden teeth. So if you want to go stalk me, get on Spotify, Google it up. I do love that line, though. She's taking strength from Rob. Real Eliana hours in the house. We know what she loves.

She likes that, folks. That's what she's all about. She's taking strength from her dad, from the Weirwood, and she knows that this corporate job with Roos, it's not for her. She can't let her new pack suffer. Yeah, she does, and she realizes, I do have a pack now, right? Like, I gotta get everyone out of this fucking mess that I've made, but by everyone I mean only us three. My bad. fucking mess that i've made but by everyone i mean only us three my bad she listens to the voices of the living and dead whisper and argue that night she can hear her own breath and the wolves too and there's like a great pack of them closer than the gods would calling to her she

slips from her blanket and sneaks out of a narrow cellar window out to the yard where the wind blows through the wailing tower aria heads to the, creeping into a window where Gendry shares a mattress with two other apprentice smiths. She puts a hand over his mouth and pinches him awake and whispers for him to please follow her. At least she's polite. First of all. Second of all. This is what Jaqen did to her in the middle of the night. So she's taking out of his moves and everything here a lot in this whole chapter she begs gendry

for a sword and he tells her they're all locked up why did ruse ask for it she's like no she tells him that heron hall is going to the mummers and that when vargo's the lord he's going to cut the feet off the servants and smiths to keep them from running away she says she definitely heard him say that which is a lie she tells him to go wake hot pie and that they'll need bread or oat cakes and for gendry to get the swords a Arya's gonna go get the horses. I thought it was kind of cute that she says that they should meet behind the Tower of Ghosts because I feel like this chapter is very much about Arya's own ghosts. Yeah, Tower of Ghosts.

I like that. I didn't think about that. Yeah, and she's leaving that a little behind right now because she's about to go, you know, repress shit. Normal, normal. She enters Kingspire the same way she left it, stripping to her skin and redressing carefully in Lord Bolton's livery. On the breast of his sigil, she slips back out under the stairs,

pausing at the Lord Soler and stealing the Sheepskin Riverlands map and Bolton's dagger too. She prods one of the grooms awake at the lord solar and stealing the sheepskin riverlands map and bolton's dagger too she prods one of the grooms awake at the stables telling him that lord bolton needs three fast hunting horses saddled bridled and done asap and you have this line she hoped they would not hurt him afterward but she knew they probably would bummer bummer yeah gotta get out i guess it sucks it does suck but like what you said earlier really she knows yeah that's what you said earlier right she's she's doing what she needs to do for her own survival it's self-preservation yeah i mean and that's that's kind of the lesson she's learning that's one of her biggest skills that's true her and sansa both the siblings all

have like a skill that i think they're very strong at sansa and her are both strong with self-preservation sansa's also strong at adapting aria is great at self-preservation and a lot of those intrigue skills we've talked about. Being quiet as a shadow. Those are their special skills. Good job, girls. Yeah, you know who's not good at self-preservation? Jon Snow.

Yeah. Not amongst his skills. That bitch is dead. It's really not. He is a dead motherfucker. What a dead bitch. There's that bitch is dead it's really not dead motherfucker what a dead bitch there's a cat aria sees on the way to go do all this stuff and the line is like no one saw her she saw no one only a gray and white cat creeping along atop the god's wood wall it stopped and spit at her waking memories of the red keep and her father and cereal pharrell i could catch you if i wanted she called to it softly but i have to go interesting it kind of reminds me of her mom right gray and white the cat in a way is her mom in the riverlands like i could catch up to you

i could get to you but yeah yeah but right now safety is more important yeah yeah and again like she's saying bye to those memories here too yeah well spoiler alert she does not get to her mom yet um damn aria leads the horses across the castle staying in shadow hoping she can avoid the sentries making the rounds she waits for gentry and hot pie at the ruins of the tower of ghosts sharpening the dagger the way that sirio taught her in order to stay calm and here's gendry and hot pie before she sees them gendry is prepared all right he's an oiled chain mail he's got a blacksmith's hammer on his back and hot pie not as prepared but in a different way prepared he's wearing a hood so we've got that at least he's got a sack of bread on his arm and then like

a whole like half a wheel of cheese under the other which is honestly hot pie you are welcome anytime with a wheel of cheese gendry points out that there's a guard at the poster and just like he told her that there would be and she And she says she'll take care of it. She'll get rid of him, telling him to come quick when she calls. And Hot Pie tells her to hoot like an owl. And she's like, I'm not going to hoot like an owl. That's for losers. I'm going to howl because I'm a wolf.

And that she'll howl when she's ready. I love it. Taking control and confidence for identity again. But we do get, you know, that kind of impossible kind of situation going on because she can't be no one and aria stark and that starts to show through here she's like i'm gonna be a stark again i'm gonna be a stark again not for long that's a great point because actually that is a lot of what happens in storm right she's going around telling people i'm aria stark yeah and then she throws it all away again because she says, I'm going east.

Yeah. Hell yeah. I'm going to murder school. Goodbye. Goodbye boarding school. It is actually a boarding school. There's this line. She walked fast to keep ahead of her fear, and it felt as though Syrio Forel walked beside her.

And Yoren and Jaqen H'ghar and Jon Snow. Because he's dead. She had not taken the sword Gendry had beside her, and Yoren, and Jaqen H'ghar, and Jon Snow. Because he's dead. She had not taken the sword Gendry had brought her, not yet. For this, the dagger would be better. It was good and sharp. She's preparing. She's scared. Raindrops begin to fall.

She makes no effort to hide. She just approaches the guard normally, openly, as if Roose had sent her. And when she gets closer, she realizes he's a northman dreadfort men had served bolton their whole life and they knew ruse better than she did she thinks about revealing who she is but she thinks the better of it he's not a winterfell man he's ruse's man she thinks she tells him bolton sent her she sees he's wearing chain mail and realizes fuck i have to stab him in the throat? Life's so hard. It is hard. It is so hard.

It's very high up for her. She tells him Bolton asked her to give the guards a silver piece for their good service. Okay. And hands him the coin and lets it drop to the ground before sliding the dagger across his throat. Yeah, normal.

And, yeah. Good move, honestly. he does bend to pick it up and then earlier you're talking about how the way that Arya woke Gendry up is the same as how Jaqen woke her up and he's implementing she's implementing the things that she's seen him do in this chapter which is yeah i mean i think that the way she drops the coin is kind of similar to the way that jackan in a way like disarmed uh on on a like not on a literal level but was disarming around the guards but right before weasel soup right he's like i have a thing that you all want which is food enticing them and and then spills the soup all over him and that's what she does with the coin and i think learning how to get people in the position that she wants them to be slash what is advantageous for her is among the lessons that she's learning and sansa i think learns the same

thing but hers manifests in a more political sense in Feast and might be used more for a like bartering kind of like blackmailing kind of thing whereas Arya learns to do it in a more assassiny way right like use what people want to get them in a position to stabby stab and I think it's an important skill in her assassin toolbox that we see come up again in Wins. That's so great. When Sansa does it, she does it in like a political way. Arya can kind of do it in a physical way. And Arya here is making up for her stature, literally.

It goes back to that idea of people see what they want to see. I mean, if Sansa did get into that stuff, you know, Sophie Turner's real tall. She could have reached that throat. Yeah, she'd have already been there, for sure. For sure. Well, we close out the chapter with a passage

between Arya, Hot Pie. Do you want to be Arya or Hot Pie? I want to be Hot Pie or hot i want to be hot pie of course you do okay valar mogulis she whispered as he died when he stopped moving she picked up the coin outside the walls of harrenhal a wolf howled long and loud she lifted the bar set it aside and pulled open the heavy oak door by the time hot pie and Gendry came up with the horses, the rain was falling hard.

You killed him! Hot Pie gasped. What did you think I would do? Her fingers were sticky with blood, and smell was making her mare skittish. It's no matter, she thought, swinging up into the saddle. The rain will wash them clean again. Oh, Arya, you're so

practical. It's okay that we're bloody. Come and clean! Oh, come and clean! Let the rain fall! Let the rain fall! We came full circle on that one. Yeah, let's go back. Back to the beginning. Oh my god. Back to... the rain will cover

their escape actually like their tracks their everything yeah i mean it's actually very fortunate for them that it's raining right now yeah yeah it's gonna cover the sound i don't know honestly they got pretty lucky right it would also make it more difficult for other people to pursue them not that anyone gives a shit like no one's gonna fucking pursue the smith that wasn't fully trained one of the cooks and the cup bearer yeah next chapter we'll obviously go into it next week but it's interesting that she's very afraid they're being followed which to be fair after like one day they'd figure out who stole all the stuff and left they left together they stole horses they stole food they stole weaponry but they don't immediately get chased by them funnily enough and maybe maybe we don't know that we know of but i mean i feel yeah i feel

like they've all got like bigger things to worry about like i don't know the war and other resources maybe yeah that's yeah maybe they've got to get ready for a wedding that's coming soon yeah i guess we don't know whether or not they were actually like chased or if anyone hunted them but aa keeps them going. We'll talk about it next week. It's pretty hard. Yeah. I mean, like, I think it's better to be safe than sorry.

Oh, yeah. For sure. Yeah, because if they're captured. You know, don't take any risks of getting captured. Yeah. Because if they are captured, yeah, like, they'll get their skin flayed off. I think under this leadership cut cut parts off yeah i guess it just it depends on who they get given to right whether it's kyburn or vargo

or a whole limb really anything could happen to you it's anyone's game of thrones anyone's game of thrones uh well i'm glad they're out of there. I'm glad that the Harrenhal era is ending. I love Harrenhal. Love talking about it with you. Yeah, the Aries tuber is moving on. Yes, yes. It actually is.

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i think is probably the most important channel of all respectful thirsting because there's a channel for that come by join the community it's a lot of fun and you won't regret it hell of an episode hell of a time as always with you eliana i'm glad you're back on the podcast i'm glad we didn't let cancel culture get you thanks for listening everyone and we'll be back next week with aria one in a storm of swords i have been one of your hosts chloe and i have been another one of your hosts eliana thank you everyone for letting me back i'm sorry for the hurt that i have caused by not saying are you ready but are you ready for the next storm don't don't ever change my god please do not ever change

then how will we know that I have reformed injustice? How will we know that my fingers have been cut off? We'll be back next week. You'll find out then. Goodbye. Goodbye.