Needle is a small, slender sword owned by Arya Stark.[1]
Appearance
- See also: Images of Needle
Needle is a slender[2][3] sword with a deep blue sheen of steel[1] and a smooth pommel.[4] Mikken's mark is on the blade.[2][5] Its scabbard is soft grey leather.[1]
Needle is suitable to Arya Stark's slight build and the water dance style used by bravos of the Free Cities.[1][2]
Recent Events
A Game of Thrones
Before leaving for the Night's Watch, Jon Snow commissions Mikken to make the sword for his sister, Arya Stark. The girl names it Needle as an ironic reference to her hatred of needlework.[1]
In King's Landing, Lord Eddard Stark hires Syrio Forel, a water dancer from Braavos, to train Arya.[2]
When House Lannister purges the Red Keep of House Stark after Eddard's arrest, Arya kills a stableboy with Needle while fleeing.[3]
Arya uses Needle against a mob gathered at the Great Sept of Baelor to witness Eddard's public confession. She drops the sword when Yoren interrupts and grabs her, but the wandering crow returns the blade to her.[6]
A Clash of Kings
While travelling northward in Yoren's company of recruits for the Night's Watch, Hot Pie and Lommy make fun of Needle and attempt to take it from Arya, but she successfully defends herself with a wooden practice sword.[7] She offers to spar with Gendry, she with Needle and he with Praed's longsword, but they are interrupted by the arrival of gold cloaks who are searching for Gendry. When Arya enters a water dancer's pose wielding Needle, Broken Nose laughs at her.[8]
Arya's fingers become calloused from long hours of practicing with Needle,[9] and she always keeps the blade close at hand.[10] While standing watch at the Gods Eye town, she uses Yoren's whetstone to hone Needle. The town comes under attack by Ser Amory Lorch, and Arya cuts off the fingers of an attacking westerman with Needle.[11]
Arya loses Needle when she is captured by Ser Gregor Clegane and the Mountain's men in the riverlands;[12] Arya adds Polliver, the man-at-arms who took Needle, to her prayer kill list.[9]
Practicing with a broken broomstick while at Harrenhal, she refers to her swordplay as needlework.[13]
A Storm of Swords
Arya arrives at the inn at the crossroads in the custody of Sandor Clegane. There she spots Polliver carrying Needle, accompanied by the Tickler. Arya and the Hound cross these two names off her list, and Arya retrieves her sword. Arya uses Needle to kill the pimply squire from House Sarsfield.[14]
A Feast for Crows
Arya pats Needle's hilt for luck when she reaches the House of Black and White in Braavos,[4] where she begins training to become a servant of the Many-Faced God.[5] She secretly practices her swordplay, dueling with her shadow by the light of a blue candle, but is spotted by the waif one night. The kindly man tells Arya she must up all her possessions to train, so the girl drops her belongings into the lagoon outside the temple. Arya cannot bring herself to give up Needle, however, and she instead hides the sword and sheath in a crack in the stairs leading to the House of Black and White.[5]
Quotes
Arya: It's so skinny.
Jon: So are you. I had Mikken make this special. The bravos use swords like this in Pentos and Myr and the other Free Cities. It won't hack a man's head off, but it can poke him full of holes if you're fast enough.[1]—Arya Stark and Jon Snow
Jon: First lesson. Stick 'em with the pointy end.
Arya: I know which end to use.[1]—Jon Snow and Arya Stark
The slender blade seemed very small and the dragons very big, yet somehow Arya felt better with steel in her hand.[3]
—thoughts of Arya Stark
They took Needle. The shame of that hurt worse than the pain, and the pain hurt a lot. Jon had given her that sword. Syrio had taught her to use it.[12]
—thoughts of Arya Stark
I don't need any friends, so long as I have Needle.[4]
—thoughts of Arya Stark
Needle was Robb and Bran and Rickon, her mother and her father, even Sansa. Needle was Winterfell's grey walls, and the laughter of its people. Needle was the summer snows, Old Nan's stories, the heart tree with its red leaves and scary face, the warm earthy smell of the glass gardens, the sound of the north wind rattling the shutters of her room. Needle was Jon Snow's smile.[5]
—thoughts of Arya Stark
The gods wanted me to have it. Not the Seven, nor Him of Many Faces, but her father's gods, the old gods of the north. The Many-Faced God can have the rest, she thought, but he can't have this.[5]
—thoughts of Arya Stark
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 10, Jon II.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 22, Arya II.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 50, Arya IV.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 6, Arya I.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 A Feast for Crows, Chapter 22, Arya II.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 65, Arya V.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 1, Arya I.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 5, Arya II.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 26, Arya VI.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 9, Arya III.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 14, Arya IV.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 19, Arya V.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 64, Arya X.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 74, Arya XIII.