Difference between revisions of "A Game of Thrones-Chapter 50"

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==References and Notes==     
 
==References and Notes==     
 
[[Category: A Song of Ice And Fire chapters|A Game of Thrones: Chapter 50]]
 
[[Category: A Song of Ice And Fire chapters|A Game of Thrones: Chapter 50]]
[[Category: A Song of Ice And Fire chapters--POV Arya Stark]][[ru:Игра престолов, Арья IV]]
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[[Category: A Song of Ice And Fire chapters--POV Arya Stark]]
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[[Category:Chapters which take place in King's Landing]]
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[[ru:Игра престолов, Арья IV]]

Revision as of 07:37, 5 February 2013

Arya IV
A Game of Thrones chapter
AGameOfThrones.jpg
POV Arya
Place King's Landing
Page 443 US HC (Other versions)
Chapter chronology (All)
Arya III
Eddard XIV  ← Arya IV →  Sansa IV

Arya V

Arya’s training with Syrio Forel is interrupted by Ser Meryn Trant and a party of Lannister guardsmen. When Ser Meryn demands Arya come with him, Syrio senses something odd and fights the guards, giving Arya time to escape. At the stables Arya finds her sword Needle and kills a stable boy who attempts to capture her before escaping via the dungeons of the Red Keep.

Synopsis

Arya is training with Syrio Forel before they are due to board ship for Winterfell. She is sore from a blow at her breast, and Syrio tells her she is dead. She complains that Syrio cheated by telling her one direction and then striking from the other direction. He tells her his words lied but not his eyes or his arm. Syrio tells her that it is now time to listen; he will tell her the story of how he became the First Sword of Braavos.

When he became First Sword there were many who were stronger, faster, or younger. Syrio explains that he became First Sword because he can see the truth. The ships of Braavos sail to the faraway lands and bring strange animals for the Sealord’s menagerie. After the death of the previous First Sword many were called to the Sealord and many had been sent away. Finally Syrio had been called before the Sealord who had a fat yellow cat on his lap. The Sealord had told him that the animal was brought to him from a faraway land by one of his captains. Then the Sealord had asked Syrio if he has ever seen its like, but Syrio had told him that he had seen its like at night in the city. That day Syrio had been named the First Sword. Arya says she does not understand and Syrio explains that the other men all expected a marvelous beast, and so that is what they saw; see with your eyes and ears before you think. Then Syrio tells her that when they get to Winterfell it will be time to put this “Needle” in her hand.

It is then that the great wooden doors fly open to reveal five Lannister guardsmen and Ser Meryn Trant of the Kingsguard. Ser Meryn orders Arya to come with him to see her father. Arya is about to follow when Syrio stops her and asks why Lord Eddard would send Lannister men instead of his own. Arya immediately realizes the truth of Syrio’s statement and grabs her stick sword. When Ser Meryn insists he is trustworthy as a member of the Kingsguard, she replies that so is the Kingslayer.

When a guard approaches Arya, Syrio stands before her and tells him to speak to him with respect. The guard goes for his sword but Syrio is faster and breaks the man’s fingers with his wooden sword. Then Ser Meryn orders the Lannister guards to attack and Syrio instructs Arya to go to her father. As the guards attack Syrio, Arya can see that Syrio was only toying with her during their practices; by the time Arya reaches the far end of the hall, Syrio surrounded by five dead or dying men. Then Ser Meryn, in his heavy plate armor draws his sword. Syrio tells Arya to go, but she watches as the First Sword lands many blows onto Ser Meryn’s armor before Ser Meryn breaks Syrio’s wooden sword. Arya turns and runs through the kitchen, crying.

As she runs, Arya thinks of everything Syrio has told her: “Swift as a deer. Quiet as a shadow. Quick as a snake. Calm as still water. Fear cuts deeper than swords. Strong as a bear. Fierce as a wolverine. Fear cuts deeper than swords. The man who fears losing has already lost. Fear cuts deeper than swords…”

Her sword grip is slick with sweat when she reaches the tower. She wonders if she should go up or down. She then remembers Syrio telling her to do the unexpected, so she goes down to a cavernous cellar, but she knows it is a dead end. She climbs up to a window. Outside the window she can see the stout door to the Tower of the Hand is splintered and the corpse of one of her father’s guards is on the ground and she can hear fighting. She thinks about when she had heard a man state that if one hand can die, so can another. As she moves, Arya pretends that she is catching cats but the thought comes that she is the cat and is dead if they catch her.

Outside the stable she finds Hullen on the ground looking dead. When she approaches him he opens his eyes and tells her to warn her father before dying. Inside, Arya finds more dead men including Desmond, who had told her he would protect her father. There is only a single Lannister body, and Arya remembers Desmond’s claim that every northerner was worth 10 southerners.

As Arya collects horse tack, she finds her broken chest on the ground. She gropes around inside the chest for Needle, hidden under her clothes. A stable boy appears behind her with a pitchfork and she asks him to help her saddle a horse, saying her father will reward him. The boy responds that her father is dead and that the queen will reward him. When he grabs her arm, Arya forgets all Syrio’s lessons, only remembering the lesson that Jon Snow taught her. She sticks the pointy end through the boy’s belly, killing him.

As she saddles her mare, Arya realizes that the gates will be closed and the guards will let no one out; she has to go another way. Immediately she wonders if she can find the room with the monsters again. The walls are crowded with more Gold Cloaks and soldiers than she has ever seen. Reciting Syrio’s words to herself, she walks slowly across the yard to the empty Royal Sept, hiding Needle under the cloak she has put on; it is the scariest thing she has ever done. Taking two of the candles in the sept, she crawls out a back window.

It takes Arya more than an hour to find the room: crawling through windows, over walls, and through cellars. She goes back to light her candle and returns. Now the monsters do not frighten her; there are rats in the dungeons but they do not scare her either. The crypts of Winterfell had been scarier than here; she and her brothers had been taken there by Robb and to visit their own waiting tombs. Jon had suddenly appeared covered in flour, pretending to be a ghost, but that had not scared her. The memory of her safe home at Winterfell makes Arya smile as she plunges deeper into the darkness of the tunnel.

External links

References and Notes