Arya Stark is one of the most beloved characters in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books and HBO’s Game of Thrones adaptation. She’s changed a lot over the course of the story and nearly everyone is rooting for her. Both on page on screen, Arya is driven by her need for vengeance against the people who hurt her family. But there are differences, too. The books go into more detail on Arya’s inner struggle, while the show has told more of her story.
In both mediums, Arya is tomboyish. She’s inept at things woman of her station are expected to do, like sewing and making herself presentable, but is enthusiastic about things usually reserved for men in Westeros, like archery and sword-fighting. She is left-handed, is good with sums and has some basic High Valyrian.
So the books and the show start at the same place, but there are some key differences. For example, in the novels, Arya is a warg, meaning she can possess animals, like Bran. As discussed in this article, in the books, it’s heavily implied that all the Stark children are wargs to a certain extent, and Arya travels further down that path than most of her siblings. She has regular dreams where she sees through the eyes of her lost direwolf Nymeria, who on one occasion kills members of the Brave Companions mercenary company. Arya also dreams of Nymeria dragging the body of Catelyn Stark out of the river; Catelyn is then shortly resurrected as Lady Stoneheart. And later, while in Braavos, Arya gets around her blindness by warging into a cat and seeing through its eyes. Indeed, this is what convinces her handlers at the House of the Black and White to lift her blindness. On the show, Arya trains and manages to become proficient at fighting despite her not being able to see.
Arya’s adventures in Braavos are where the show and the book diverge to the greatest degree. On Game of Thrones, Arya spends only a little time wandering the street in the guise of a merchant girl selling oysters, clams and cockles. On the page, her adventures among the everyday Braavosi are more extensive; she lives among them a time, getting to know people and learning to lie, as well as learning when she’s being lied to.
Then there’s the Kindly Man. A priest of the Many-Faced God living in the House of Black and White, he takes charge of Arya’s training in the novels. On the show, his character is replaced by Jaqen H’ghar, who has not shown up again in the books after he and Arya parted outside Harrenhal. (Although there are theories as to his whereabouts.)
On the show, Arya is distracted from her first assassination assignment by the arrival of Meryn Trant, who she brutally murders in a brothel. In the books, she carries out that same assignment, although she does commit a murder not sanctioned by the Faceless Men, killing a man of the Night’s Watch for dereliction of duty.
In both mediums, Arya’s time in Braavos finds her in flux. If the final two Song of Ice and Fire books come out, perhaps we’ll get to see Arya more like she is on the show: calculating and deadly, but still compassionate towards her family.
Most of the show’s deviations are likely due to the time constraints of TV; there were only 10 per season when Arya was in Braavos, so we weren’t going to see Arya embed herself in Braavosi society as she does in the books. The show does circle back to the Arya’s connection with Nymeria when they briefly reunited in season 7, when Arya is on her way back to Winterfell.
Many fans were moved by this scene, and some interpreted Arya and Nymberia’s final farewell as an expression of how each character had changed during their time apart; neither were who they were when they were together, and no longer belonged with one another. That lines up with how the showrunners themselves see the scene. Arya’s final words to Nymeria — “That’s not you” — are meant to mirror what Arya herself said to her father in season 1, about marriage and raising children not being for her.
Personally, I thought the reunion was too brief and wish the show had preserved the warging aspect, maintaining a link between human and direwolf over the course of the show. Who knows? Maybe the scene would have gone differently then. How badass would it have been to watch Arya lead a pack of wolves through the snow?
That said, I still love Arya Stark and I can’t wait to see who she crosses off her list next!
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