With the army of the dead fast approaching, many have wondered how the warriors of Westeros are going to defeat such an overwhelming force. Luckily, Winterfell is home to one of the most ruthless and crafty assassins in all the lands: No One, better known as Arya Stark.
In the season 8 premiere, Arya was reunited with her first onscreen crush, the blacksmith Gendry. At the time, Gendry was shown making a dragonglass for the Hound. Dragonglass, as we know, is one of only two materials known to be able to kill White Walkers, the other being Valyrian steel. Gendry is likely making as many weapons out of dragonglass as he can, but there isn’t an inexhaustible supply. He and the other smiths in Winterfell will have to use it wisely, which is why we see Gendry upgrading an axe for the seemingly unkillable Clegane.
And if there’s anyone in Winterfell more deadly than the Hound, it may be Arya Stark, trained by Syrio Forel, the Faceless Men of Braavos and the Hound himself. And as cute as Arya and Gendry’s reunion was, she came to him with a request: she wants him to make her a weapon:
So what kind of weapon are we looking at? It looks like some kind of spear, but it’s more complicated than that. The writing on the side of Arya’s sketch is pretty blurry, but when you look closely, it clearly shows the pointy end is meant to be made out of Dragonglass. That seems pretty simple. We’ve seen her practicing with a staff in the past, so wielding a spear seems right up her alley. Also we see her wielding a spear in the season 8 trailer. It’s probably safe to guess that this is that spear.
The peculiar thing about this spear is that Arya’s design shows two pieces. Most spears are just one long rod with a blade on the end. Removing the sharp part just makes it a pole. Also, why would director David Nutter make the effort to show us her sketch? I think it’s because he wants us to get the idea that this weapon will be special.
Speaking to Vanity Fair about season 8, Game of Thrones weapon master Tommy Dunne said that he and his team created a mechanism that was “able to be reverse-engineered and made into two different items.” Dunne didn’t confirm what he was referring to, but based on the design I’m guessing that the “showstopper” he was so excited about will be wielded by the crafty little wolf.
Arya is a very creative character, and war is not a game to her. She isn’t making a toy to play with. Whatever this is will be practical, with a purpose. Perhaps it’ll have two pointy ends, with dragonglass on one end and her Valerian dagger on the other. Or maybe she just wants to pull it apart and duel wield her dragonglass blade with the dagger.
Whatever Arya’s plan is, when she puts it into action, the last thing you want to be is a White Walker.
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