#NYMERIS IS SO DONE

[arabian-bloodstream]

The Two Queens?

It was a quote from Kit Harrington that first led my mind wandering down this path. Game of Thrones had ended. Massive backlash had started from so many corners. Me? I was mostly satisfied (although, I would have liked to have seen the secret wedding that I’m convinced took place… this is an idea for another post). Still, that quote from Harrington did send my brain a'whirring. It was in the Entertainment Weekly post-series finale cover story. He said about Daenerys' turn to madness:

"One of my worries with this is we have Cersei and Dany, two leading women, who fall," he says. "The justification is: Just because they're women, why should they be the goodies? They're the most interesting characters in the show. And that's what Thrones has always done. You can't just say the strong women are going to end up the good people."

One particular aspect of that quote really stuck out to me. In George R.R. Martin's books, Cersei is *not* a leading character. Coincidentally, that is why we saw so little of Cersei in the final season (yes, that's another post coming too) because the final season of GOT–more than any season since season 04–followed the main plot points of GRRM's ending of his A Song of Ice and Fire series (as far as we know) overall as much as it could with what changes D&D had made.

So, tick, tick, tick went my brain and I started thinking of exactly who the lead characters *were* in season 08. Who were the characters that drove the plot, who were the ones that were focused upon? Who were the ones that we saw the most of and held the most relevance throughout the season?  Daenerys, Jon, Tyrion, Arya, Bran: The five main characters of GRRM’s book. Yes, other characters had big moments, but they were in support of what *those* five characters did, the moves they made.

If Cersei isn't one of the leading women, then who is Dany's counterpoint because there does have to be a counterpoint at this stage of the game. So… who is Dany's leading counterpoint? Sansa? No. Why not? Because she was a supporting character in the final season. [...] So, if it wasn't Cersei or Sansa that was Daenerys' counterpoint that leaves Arya...

And this is where I had my (maybe?) Aha! moment. I went back and looked at seasons 01 and 02, mapping out both Daenerys and Arya's arcs, alongside their arcs in season 08.  What I found was very interesting, especially when you take into account seven things:

I. Season 01 and season 02 are the seasons that most closely hewed to the source material.

II. There were four very important aspects of Arya's story that weren't included in the show.

III. The significance of Arya's direwolf, Nymeri

IV. Book 05, A Dance of Dragons, likely set up the endgame for GRRM's designated five main characters.

V. The final season (by all accounts) included many of the main plot points that were necessary to get to certain key elements of GRRM's endgame.

VI. The “No Featherbed For Me” song written for chapter 'Arya IV' in A Sword of Storms (Book 04).

I'm going to break down each of these.

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And I did... in a very, very long post which I’m going to link to here. The post is mainly about Arya, but I also touch upon Dany quite a bit and Gendrya a bit (I touch on Sansa too). It is not anti-Arya, or anti-Dany, or anti-Sansa. I love all three characters (in fact, I’m working on my thoughts on her different endgame right now). I loved all three characters on Game of Thrones. I just feel that there is a better story that possibly is in store for Arya’s (and Sansa’s) endgame in GRRM’s novels.

Possibly. This is my take.

The Mirroring and Splintering of Two Queens

#arya stark #daenerys targaryen #asoiaf #game of thrones #gendrya #arya x gendry #nymeria #gendry baratheon #gendry

[kieraembers]

Night Wolf

AU where Arya Runs away with Nymeria at the Red Fork.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/6288298/chapters/14409559

Night Wolf

Chapter 1

Arya ran as fast as her legs could carry her, yet still she heard her sister.

"Oh look what they did, look what they did. My poor prince..."

Sansa didn't care that only a few moments ago her precious prince had tried to gut her from cunt to throat, that he had hurt Mycah. Hot tears pricked at her eyes as she remembered how Sansa had stood by and done nothing while Joffrey had attacked her, Sansa even told Arya to leave him alone. Did she not deserve her sister's protection? Arya stumbled a bit but caught herself. Now was not the time for tears, she remembered a hunter who had visited Winterfell years ago. He had gone on about a fox he believed to be a skin changer, it ran such a complex serpentine path that he and his hounds had actually lost themselves within the forest.

The tears dried and Arya crossed over her own path several times before making her way back to the river. Nymeria seemed to enjoy the game and panted happily besides her. They walked along the shallows of the river to avoid leaving tracks and Arya kept looking back fearing that they were followed. Arya decided to leave the river's edge when she noticed that the sun had moved too far.

Nymeria whined and Arya scratched her behind the ears with a sad smile. "What are we going to do?"  she asked and Nymeria leaned her head to the side in confusion.

"They'll kill you for what you did to Joffrey" Desperation leaked into her voice and Arya hated herself for it. Nymeria gently licked her face and Arya broke.

"She didn't care." Arya said with a choked sob.

"He tried to kill me and she didn't care, she didn't even try to stop him. She acted like it was my fault! All because he's her precious prince and I'm just Arya horse-face." She clutched onto Nymeria's fur and wailed. She didn't want to leave Nymeria, the only one who truly cared.

Arya furiously wiped the tears away and steadied her breathing. "Just a little longer." Arya murmured as she rose wiping the dirt off her knees. "I'm not ready to say goodbye."

Arya went towards the bushes to make water and chuckled when she thought of what Septa Mordane would say. She cleaned herself in a nearby stream and continued along a game trail. Nymeria plopped down by a fallen tree and rested her head on the ground, Arya sat beside her rubbing her sore feet. Arya leaned against Nymeri and rested her eyes.

When she woke the sun had disappeared and the moon was high. Arya saw lights in the distance and quietly moved as far from them as possible.

Arya tried to get Nymeria to run away, but she would not budge. Suddenly Arya heard a voice that was familiar to her, Jory. Jory would help, he was her father's man and always kind. Yet before she could call out to him she heard another voice that stilled her completely.

"You find your lords wolf bitch?!" The Hound called out

"That is none of your business Clegane, and what do you have on your saddle?" Jory placed his hand on the hilt of his blade.

"Dead butcher boy." The Hound answered with a shrug and Arya felt nothing but horror when she noticed the bundle on the back of his saddle was dripping blood onto the ground. Mycah was dead, the Lannisters had set their Hound upon her friend and it was all her fault.

"Gods! He is just a child."

"Was." The Hound corrected with a grunt as his horse trotted away. The men continued to search and Arya retreated further under the fallen tree. What was left for her? Winterfell was so far away and she knew that Septa would try to make her into a lady once they reached South. She'd be married off to some lord in a few years and would never see Winterfell again. It was better to leave on her own terms and live like Wenda the White fawn. Arya would not go to Kings Landing, she would not kneel to Joffrey, the King or the Lannisters. She would never become a simpering lady who valued the life of a cruel prince over her own blood.

Arya waited until the light from the torches had disappeared and she could not longer hear the men shouting her name. She slunk away further into the forest with Nymeria happily at her heels. She would become the Night Wolf, stalking the forest and forever free.

#Arya Stark #Au #nymeria #asoiaf #fanfiction #fanfic