Arya and the Hound on the Road Again

TheoryBox: The Hound And Arya Volition Run across Again In Flavor Seven

Welcome to TheoryBox, a Looper series focused on original TV and moving picture theories. From Game of Thrones to the upcoming Nighttime Tower movie and beyond, join me on a trip down the rabbit pigsty with my ain slightly crazy theories every calendar week. Even though I am personally of the /r/freefolk mindset that spoiler tags are for the weak, I'll offering this disclaimer: Beneath the cut, this article contains multitudinous untagged spoilers from the unabridged Game of Thrones TV serial as well as the A Song of Water ice and Burn down books. You've been warned!

In "The Broken Human" (Season 6, Episode 7), Game of Thrones fans were treated to an awesome surprise when the starting time common cold open since the season five premiere revealed a fan-favorite character presumed to exist dead—Sandor Clegane. I'll admit, the 2nd I saw the Hound on screen carrying that gigantic wooden beam, I let out a piddling squeal of excitement. (You did as well. Don't lie.) His appearance (and the episode title) validated a long-held fan theory: that the Hound survived afterward Arya abandoned him. Now Arya is dorsum in Westeros, and I think she and the Hound are on a collision form that will bring them together again. Information technology's 255 leagues to King's Landing, nosotros've got a full butt of ale, half a dozen chickens, it's wintertime, and we're wearing sunglasses. Hit it.

Come across you at the crossroads

As of the season 6 finale, both Arya and the Hound are in the Riverlands. Arya is at the Twins, the hold of House Frey. While we don't know exactly where the Hound is located, he's definitely in the Riverlands as well, and probably close to the Twins. I personally think that based on the cliff seen ascent behind the church building being congenital in "The Broken Homo," the settlement was probably due east of the Kingsroad and north of the Trident, in the foothills of the Mountains of the Moon. Interestingly, this geography and the storyline (people building a settlement) is similar to a location from the books that Arya and the Hound visit in A Storm of Swords—Palisade Village.

When Sandor leaves the settlement and pursues the attackers, he'due south likely moving westward or northwest, into the wooded areas closer to the Kingsroad and the Green Fork. He encounters the Brotherhood Without Banners, who permit him to hang the murderers before asking him to join them against a worse enemy to the north. Nosotros also know the Alliance has been attacking the camps and supply trains of the Freys all throughout the Riverlands. Information technology seems likely that Sandor will caput north presently, correct towards Arya. If Arya goes Southward from the Twins to Male monarch's Landing, their paths will likely intersect soon.

Start, a little jailbreaking

Arya's been hanging around the Twins for at to the lowest degree a couple of days—long plenty to impale a serving girl and accept her face, then serve at the tabular array for the feast, kill Lothar and Black Walder, and carve them up and bake them into a meat pie, which she serves later to Lord Walder before slitting his throat. Nosotros don't know if her murder of Lord Frey is the next day or a week later; timelines are very fluid on the testify. Even if she's only been at the Twins for a few days, it's very likely she'southward heard of her Uncle Edmure's captivity in a cell there, too as the Alliance's operations against the Freys nearby.

Although she can't hang around for long before Lord Frey's trunk is discovered, I would be a picayune surprised—and very disappointed—if Arya didn't assistance her uncle in escaping. He may not want to go out his wife and baby behind, and and so Arya may soon be saddled with getting 3 people to safety. Riverrun is lost, Lord Baelish rules the Eyrie, and Winterfell is hundreds of miles away. The only safety harbors to be found nearby are the rebels confronting the Freys: House Mallister of Seagard and the Brotherhood Without Banners. In my listen, the simplest way to save her Uncle would exist for Arya to hide Lord Frey'due south body and have his face up, or that of one of his sons. She could use this charade to get past any guards watching Edmure and get him (and perhaps his wife and kid) out of the castle. Later their escape, Edmure would most likely become to Seagard and attempt to rally the rebellion from there. This would free Arya up to go on her journey towards King's Landing.

Who's on the listing?

At the terminate of flavour 6, it's articulate that Arya is on a mission to check off the remaining names on her list. She could take taken a ship to White Harbor or Eastwatch and gone directly to the Wall or Winterfell; instead she went to the Twins. She is focused on finishing that listing before trying to reunite with any of her family. So who exactly remains on her list? Well, that's upward for some debate. In "Start of His Name" (Season 4, Episode v), Arya tells the Hound about her list. It'southward interesting to note that the Hound replies, "If we come beyond my blood brother, peradventure we tin can both cross a proper name off our list." Here are the names that appeared on information technology at that time:

- Cersei Lannister, for having her male parent arrested (Alive)

- Joffrey Baratheon, for ordering her male parent's execution (Dead, poisoned past Lady Olenna and Littlefinger)

- Ser Meryn Trant, for killing Syrio Forel (Dead, killed by Arya in the brothel)

- Tywin Lannister, for orchestrating the Blood-red Wedding (Dead, killed past Tyrion)

- Walder Frey, for killing Catelyn and Robb (Dead, killed by Arya)

- Polliver, for killing Lommy and taking Needle (Expressionless, killed by Arya)

- The Mountain, for torturing people at Harrenhal (Alive, sorta?)

- Melisandre, for taking Gendry (Alive)

- Ser Ilyn Payne, for beheading her male parent (Condition unknown)

- Beric Dondarrion & Thoros of Myr, for selling Gendry to Melisandre (Both alive)

- The Hound, for killing Mycah (Alive)

Didn't she shorten the list?

Afterward, in season 6, episode 3, Arya tells the Waif that the Hound is dead, and that she had taken him off her listing earlier he died. The Waif asks "Who else was on Arya Stark'due south funny little list?" Arya only gives her three names at that signal: Cersei Lannister, Gregor Clegane, and Walder Frey. The Waif remarks that the list is short, and asks if Arya isn't forgetting someone. At this point, I think that Arya'south response—"Which name would y'all like a daughter to speak?"—is just Arya testing her ability to lie. The previous part of the scene shows the Waif catching Arya in lies about Jon and the Hound.

I remember Arya'south list isn't actually shortened, but that she purposefully left out names to test the ability of the Waif to catch her in a third lie. Coupled with the montage showing Arya improving her other skills, it seems obvious that the signal of the scene is to show she can effectively lie now, likewise. To back this up, Entertainment Weekly asked actress Maisie Williams to prioritize the remaining names on Arya'southward list. She told them, "Arya still has a medium-length list of people she wants dead, if I had to put them in order...it would probably go: Cersei, Melisandre, and then the Mount, or Ilyn Payne."

Manifestly, the names she gave the Waif were non her full list, and I seriously doubt that Beric Dondarrion or Thoros of Myr accept earned a reprieve. Information technology'south interesting that Maisie Williams mentioned Ser Ilyn, because many take speculated that the royal headsman was quietly removed from the list after Wilko Johnson—the player who played him—was diagnosed with late-stage pancreatic cancer. Just in 2014, Johnson was given a miraculous reprieve when doctors were able to perform radical surgery and remove the malignant tumor. Now cancer-free, Payne may yet render to the show—at least long enough for Arya to kill him.

We're on a mission from God (the Many-Faced ane)

After leaving the Twins, Arya will likely caput south in search of the Alliance. She knows they're nearby harassing the Freys, and she probably knows the approximate area of their hideout, where she was held in flavor three. Since the Hound is with the Alliance, this is probable where they'll meet again. When Thoros and Beric sold Gendry to Melisandre, all 3 of them ended upwardly on Arya'due south listing. Melisandre herself prophesied that she and Arya would run across once more. With Melisandre an outcast from Jon Snow'due south service and exiled from the kingdom of the Northward, she will need to ride south of the bogs of the Neck in lodge to avoid execution. This will put her close to the Twins and the Riverlands in the near future. Melisandre may also seek out the Alliance, in lodge to get advice from the only other cherry priest in Westeros—Thoros of Myr.

Arya volition endeavour to kill her three Riverlands targets, just I suspect she won't be completely successful. In particular, I think Melisandre still may take a part to play in the state of war with the White Walkers. Arya may impale Thoros or Dondarrion, but be defenseless by Melisandre or the rest of the Brotherhood. I think that Thoros is virtually likely to die, because if she fails to kill him, he can merely perform his Lord of Calorie-free mojo-jojo and bring back Dondarrion, which would devalue the kill for viewers. If Arya is captured, the Hound may have to decide where his loyalties lie—with the grouping of outlaws who once captured him, put him on trial, so stole his coin, or with the wild wolf-girl who was his traveling companion and erstwhile sidekick for months. It will be interesting to see how Sandor reacts to seeing the girl who left him for dead, and how Arya reacts to seeing the Hound alive and well.

Getting the ring back together

One time Arya and Sandor reunite, they'll take to decide what to do next. Will they head Due north to face the White Walkers (who probably won't be impressed by Arya's Faceless Homo skills), or get to King'due south Landing on a mission of expiry? Given the Hound's skeptical eye-rolling during Beric'due south speech most fighting for a greater cause, I don't think he's particularly attached or defended to the Brotherhood's new mission. While his partnership with Arya has had its ups and downs, I recall he feels some loyalty to her and will get with her to King's Landing. Until the Hound sees the new skills that Arya has caused in Braavos, he may experience that he needs to protect her from getting killed past the Mountain.

So while I recollect the team-up of Arya and Sandor is all but inevitable at this point, there'south no reason that they will remain just a duo. There are two loose ends from Arya's past which the show has never tied up to viewers' satisfaction: the fates of Nymeria, Arya's direwolf, and of Gendry, who has supposedly been rowing a boat away from Dragonstone ever since season 3. Nymeria was set free past Arya in the Riverlands, almost the Crossroads Inn at the Trident.

If Gendry took the closest crossing to the mainland from Dragonstone, he probably made landfall somewhere forth Crackclaw Indicate, a peninsula to the east of the Riverlands. Given his history in King's Landing, Gendry may make his way further into the Riverlands to effort and make some sort of peaceful life for himself. While this is just wild speculation on my role, I know that I (and legions of Game of Thrones fans) would dear to see some sort of reunion between Arya and Nymeria, and/or Arya and Gendry.

Nosotros traded Cleganebowl for this?

Presuming that Ilyn Payne returns to the show, I think he will probably be the start to fall to Arya once they accomplish King'south Landing. This would be a good warm-upwards human activity for what'due south to follow. Even though I'd love Arya to have out Cersei, I think Jaime is going to rob her of that hazard when he kills Cersei himself. If you lot desire more details on that theory, see my TheoryBox article about why Jaime will be the one to impale Cersei. That leaves the Mountain—the one person both Arya and the Hound hate securely.

Fans were heartbroken when Tommen outlawed trial past combat, thinking it meant an end to Cleganebowl. However, I'chiliad confident that a variation of Cleganebowl is nonetheless happening, but with Arya and the Hound as a tag team vs. the Mountain that Rides. Mayhap nosotros can call it #Caninebowl, or #Murderbowl. Fifty-fifty with all her Faceless Men grooming, I don't know if Arya is capable of taking down Gregor Clegane lone, peculiarly at present that he'due south a freakish reanimated golem. Hell, I don't even call back Sandor could take him alone anymore. How do you impale a monster that doesn't feel pain and may not really even be alive? I'm non sure, but I retrieve it is going to take the combined powers of Arya and the Hound to bring him downwardly once and for all. When it happens, I'll be gear up and waiting—with 4 fried chickens and a Coke to celebrate.

everetthaloved.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.looper.com/22682/theorybox-hound-arya-will-meet-season-seven/

Share this post