The entertainment universe is filled with heroes who saved the world in their respective shows/movies time after time. Game of Thrones has Arya Stark, Star Wars had Luke Skywalker, and so on. However, the path that these heroes would take would never have been possible without the guidance of their respective teachers. Miltos Yerolemou, who rose to fame after playing Arya’s sword instructor Syrio Forel on Game of Thrones, recently talked to Collider in an interview. He believes Syrio is Arya’s Obi-Wan Kenobi, in more ways than one.
Miltos talked about the ultimate fate of his character, “So, there was ambiguity there. But ultimately, each time I answered that question, I would formulate a clearer idea of really what happened. And to me, it makes a lot of sense because I remember asking George, who wrote the episode — Episode 8 in the first season — I remember asking him, “Why don’t you answer the question that everyone has asked since you wrote that chapter in the book? Why don’t you do that?” And he said, “That isn’t what I want to do. That doesn’t serve my narrative purpose.” And that’s all he would say. I understood it.”
“And yet, now I really understand it because to me, it makes a lot of sense that you don’t get the traumatic ending of Syrio, because in the books Arya remembers his words. It’s like the training is kept alive, in the same way … I keep going back to Star Wars. The presence of Obi-Wan Kenobi is still there because he’s kind of still there. No one really ever dies. That kind of thing.”
“It’s not mystical in the same way as Star Wars. But the resonance and the echo of the words, the mantra, the training is alive in her head. And I think the ambiguity allows that to exist. And if she’d seen him cut down, I think it wouldn’t have the same effect on her, or it would be too traumatic for it to live on in her head in the same way. So, as a narrative device, I think it’s brilliant. And I think that is the reason why George did it. I think that is the reason why, ultimately, Syrio Forel sacrifices himself to save this girl he barely knows. And that’s also very poetic. And also, there aren’t that many good guys in Game of Thrones, so you got to have at least a couple.”
For many Game of Thrones fans worldwide, Syrio was in a class of his own. He became a fan-favourite, even though he did not have much screen presence. What do you think of Miltos Yerolemou’s Syrio Forel? Tell us in the comments below!
