Westerosi Body Count: Arya Stark

Arya will roam wild and free like Nymeria — if she survives.

Photo: Michael Mazzone

Arya Stark

Arya is the most over-the-top and non-traditional character in Game of Thrones. That is, unlike Jon Snow who is the Hero with a Thousand Faces, Arya is an anti-hero who happens to have a thousand faces who is running around kicking ass and taking names and then crossing those names off her list by killing them, sometimes by the score. She is the High Priestess of the God of Death and she seems to enjoy her job. As such, I really have no idea what is going to happen to her.

If she can bring the world back to some sort of karmic balance by reducing her list to length zero, I see a couple of possibilities. One would be she gets whacked by Jaqen H'ghar or goes back to Jaqen H'ghar and is finally able to renounce her ego. Or, maybe killing Jaqen H'ghar and taking his place e.g., becoming Jaqen H'ghar. I just don't know how satisfying any of those would be, and it's not all that interesting. Another would be to take over Winterfell if Sansa were to die (which I think is unlikely) or move elsewhere like to Casterly Rock or King's Landing. She's a Stark and the only Stark left that both has the Stark name and her estranged but still living direwolf Nymeria. You know the Arya-Nymeria reunion at Winterfell would be a tear-jerker, although Nymeria has already turned Arya down in their last encounter. The one ending that would be satisfying and in character would have her into the sunset with Nymeria, Bronn, and Yara Greyjoy looking for fun and adventure. But that's not going to happen.

To date, Arya has really only been about learning to fight, perfecting her skills, and exacting retribution from her enemies by assassination. It would be disappointing if that's all there was to her, but I don't think we'll be disappointed on that point: she's going to be put on a quest to take out someone formidable. She's got some big names on her list — including the Mountain and Cersei Lannister — but I'm thinking even bigger: the Night King or maybe a dragon?

Once her task is done, however, she'll be expendable. As my favorite character, it pains me to make this prediction: Arya is going to die. It's likely to be Cersei and by some treachery. If Brienne can't beat Arya, she's not going to be beat in single combat, but maybe she goes down swinging like Syrio Forel? Well, the Syrio Forel exit was kind of bogus, how about like Benjen Stark? I'll be watching Arya with particular attention and hoping this prediction is off base.

A summary of all original and current predictions with pointers can be found at the WBC Prediction Status page.