***Warning: Spoilers for Game Of Thrones’ Battle Of Winterfell/The Long Night episode ahead***
It’s official – Arya Stark is the MVP of the Battle Of Winterfell with one almighty shocking ending that brought the whole fight to its knees.
Flying through the air after appearing out of nowhere, the youngest girl of the Stark clan used years of battle preparation to complete her destiny – to defeat the Night King and his entire army.
It was a pretty incredible moment, considering the entire time she was hung up by her throat.
But there was a number of throwbacks going all the way back to the first episode that proved she was getting ready for this, and not a single day of her training went unacknowledged as she became the secret weapon of the Winterfell army.
Starting in episode one, Arya has been obsessed with battle and acting like ‘one of the boys’. Brother Jon later gets her a sword – her beloved needle – and tells her the first rule is to ‘hit them with the pointy end.’
This is called back to in the Long Night fight at Winterfell, as she instructs Sansa Stark the same thing when her sister admits she’s never needed to use a knife before.
Thrusting her a blade for protection, she echoes exactly what Jon told her: ‘Hit them with the pointy end.’
From that moment on, it was a complete rundown of Arya’s time on the show so far.
Her time among the Faceless Men as No One would’ve also come in extremely useful in the dark of the crypt as the undead tried to take her down.
Arya and The Hound’s close bond is also called upon when she’s in trouble, with the warrior only jumping into battle when he sees her begin to struggle.
Their bitter relationship/kidnap scenario that turned to friendship didn’t hinder her quest for vengeance, but their connection on a friendship level was undeniable, with the warrior training her and Arya looking at him as a mentor in return.
Shame she had to try and kill him, but we’re pretty sure he was even OK with that.
A lot of Arya’s tricks in battle come from learning from the best, and The Hound himself (aka Sandor Clegane) was definitely a good source for this.
However, both their weaknesses in war is their ability to be sentimental – and it was something that they managed to turn into strength in the War of Winterfell.
Coming full circle, The Hound dove in to rescue the lagging Arya, even though others died in the process.
Finally, as she appears out of odds and held up by her throat by the Night King – a quick flip of her knife in the air sent it from hand to the other, and gave her the give she needed to smite down the ruler forever.
It was the same move she learned from Brienne of Tarth during their playful fight back in season 7 – sparring in the courtyard with Littlefinger’s dagger.
That Valyrian steel dagger is the same knife she uses to kill the Night King (and is the same dagger that almost killed brother Bran in season one.)
Now if this isn’t the most mega collection of throwbacks ever, then we don’t know what is.
Game Of Thrones continues Sundays on HBO and Sky Atlantic.
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