Chapter 22: Arya AKA The Southpaw Wolf

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This chapter opens with Arya at dinner with her family and the house guards. Ned is arriving late and Arya can tell that he has been arguing with the other members of the council. While at dinner word of the tournament to celebrate the appointment of Ned as Hand of the King gets out. While Ned is not too pleased about it Sansa is excited and desperately wants to go. Initially her father doesn’t wish it, but Septa Mordane reminds Ned that as the other members of the court will be present, and as it is being held to honor Ned it would be wrong if the members of his house didn’t attend.

Ned agrees, much to Sansa’s delight, while Arya claims she doesn’t want to go. Sansa takes this opportunity to tell Arya that she won’t be missed if she doesn’t attend. So we see that there have been some bickering and some hard feelings between the two sisters from the events on the road to King’s Landing.

At this point Ned is sick of the two fighting and tells them enough is enough and that he wants them to behave and act like sisters, or else he will change his mind about. Both are quite after that.

Ned leaves and Arya is left feeling quite alone, even though she is among family and friends. Oddly this doesn’t doesn’t bother her. She likes listening to the men chat, tell tales and discussing the upcoming tourney. She also reflects that when they were back home in Winterfell that Ned would invite one of the men to dine with them every night as a way of getting to know them. So her enjoyment of good company really started back at home.

We also see that Arya quite hasn’t come to terms with what happened with Mycah on the road. She seems to be at odds with why nobody did anything about the whole situation and becomes upset. Rather than allowing anyone to see her cry she decides to leave. When Septa Mordane doesn’t excuse her from the table Arya flees to the only place in King’s Landing where she feels safe. Her bedroom.

Once there she closes and bolts the door, and then begins to cry. Arya also takes out her sword that Jon gave her and wishes that she was able to run away. While in her room we learn that not only her sister, Sansa blamed her for what happened, but also Sansa’s friend Jeyne Poole. This entire experience has left her dealing with feelings of guilt, sorrow, anger, frustration, loneliness, betrayal, sadness, and a sense of loss for both her friend Mycah as well as her direwolf Nymeria.

Neither Fat Tom nor Septa Mordane are able to convince Arya to open her door, and after a bit her father Ned knocks. This time she opens up. When her father comes in he notices she has her blade Needle in her hands. When he inspects the blade he realizes it was forged by his own blacksmith back in Winterfell. Arya doesn’t tell Ned who gave him the sword but  when he asks her what she was doing with it she confides in him that she was trying to learn swordplay and asked Mycah to help her learn. This ultimately lead to the incident with Joffrey and Arya admits she feels the  whole thing was her fault. She also tells her dad how much she hates the Lannisters and despises Joffrey and her sister for being a liars.

Ned takes the time here to explain to her that the blame rests squarely with the Hound and Cersei for the death of her friend. He also takes the time to sort out that Sansa has to take Joffrey’s side as they will one day be husband and wife.

Ned also lets Arya know he let her get away with lying about what happened to Nymeria. Arya at first thinks Jory told her father the truth about her direwolf, but Ned does let her know that he puzzled it out on his own and that Jory is a decent guy and kept his word. Here Arya reveals that she had to throw rocks at Nymeria to get her to run off, as she knew her wolf would be put down for what had happened.

Ned also delivers a pretty significant line in the book here:

“It was right,” her father said. “And even the lie was … not without honor.”

Ned then takes the time to explain the situation and that as times are getting tough and since King’s Landing is a far more dangerous place than Winterfell that they have to pull together for each other as a family. Arya promises her father that she will do better and at breakfast the next day seems to have taken her promise and her father's words to heart when she apologizes to Septa Mordane.

Ned allowed Arya to keep her blade Needle, and a few days after their discussion Arya is sent to the Small Hall and is introduced to her dancing master, Syrio Forel.

Syrio throws Arya a practice sword made of wood and Arya drops it. He tells her that tomorrow she will catch it. Syrio then begins to instruct Arya not in formal dancing but in what he calls the Braavos dance, the water dance with an emphasis on swift and sudden movements as opposed to the type of fighting done by the knights of Westeros that has a more of a focus on hacking and slashing.The chapter ends with Arya and Syrio practicing for hours until she is sore and bruised.

So an number of things to review in this chapter, first we will note that Ned can see that in certain circumstances deceptive acts like lying can be considered honorable. This is one of the reasons for support of the R+L=J theory.

In this situation it seems Ned is finding it an honorable act of deception in order to protect an innocent or a loved one. This is one of the themes that seem to constantly follow Ned in the tale, but the question does arise is how far can a deception be taken before it’s no longer honorable?

Another thing that Syrio noted is that Arya is left handed. Syrio even states it will give her an advantage against her opponents. I actually looked around to see if this is true and it turns out it is.

Apparently left handed people for whatever reason seem to enjoy an advantage in sports. Phil Mickelsn, Rafael Nadal and Oscar de la Hoya are all lefties and dominated in their sports. Author Rick Smits of the book “The Puzzle of Left-Handedness” believes that southpaw athletes have an advantage as they are fewer in number and thus right handed athletes are thrown off by them.  Inversely as there are so many more right handed athletes the left handed competitors are just used to facing off against them.

So Arya being left handed may be throwing off the game of an opponent as they are more than likely not used to squaring off against someone who attacks from the other side, while she will not be disadvantaged as she will be used to facing right handed foes.

Aside from the sporting world there are a number of unusual things in regards to left handed people. One is that they may be more prone to negative emotions and this can lead to issues with processing them.. This certainly seems to be the case with Arya in this chapter as she was still struggling with what happened until her father spoke with her and helped her sort it out by assuring her that things weren’t her fault.

Some studies have even suggested that lefties are more talented in spatial awareness, mathematics, while the right handed counterparts seem more talented verbally.

This appears to be true of both Arya and her right handed sister Sansa. Sansa seems to be more courtly in her speech, while Arya is superior to her when it comes to numbers.

From Chapter 7 we have the following passage:

It hurt that the one thing Arya could do better than her sister was ride a horse. Well, that and manage a household. Sansa had never had much of a head for figures. If she did marry Prince Joff, Arya hoped for his sake that he had a good steward.

Finally we have Arya’s new instructor Syrio, who was the First Sword to the Sea Lord of Braavos. Essentially the First Sword is the champion and protector of the Sea Lord in a similar way to how the King’s Guard works for King Robert. Syrio held that title for nine years. Now we don’t know if Syrio failed, quit or if the Sealord he served died of old age.

But that he held the position for nine years is significant. and he should be considered one of the more elite swordsmen alive. His training of Arya is really the start of her character evolution into what she will become.

“The steel must be part of your arm,” the bald man told her. “Can you drop part of your arm? No. Nine years Syrio Forel was first sword to the Sealord of Braavos, he knows these things. Listen to him, boy.”

It was the third time he had called her “boy.” “I’m a girl,” Arya objected. “Boy, girl,” Syrio Forel said. “You are a sword, that is all.”

Ironically it seems that Syrio is trying to instil to Arya that gender is irrelevant when the steel comes out. Boy, girl, man, or woman it doesn’t matter anyone can kill you.

Syrio calling Arya “boy” may have not only a purpose for her training but also a literary purpose as well.

In her training he is trying to get her to forget the gender bias that exists in Westeros and also get her to understand that she is a sword and should focus on her craft. Taunting also can help focus her mind as an upset or angry foe may be prone to making mistakes that can be taken advantage of..

From the literary perspective it may be a subtle clue foreshadowing Arya traveling back North as well as the guards of the castle not recognizing her when she accidentally makes her way out of the Red Keep. But these are thing for future chapters and future blog posts.

Game of Thrones: Chapter 16: Eddard AKA Truth & Justice?

This chapter opens with Eddard being told that Arya has been found by Jory after being missing for the last four days. Turns out both she and Mycah ran off after what happened at the Trident with Joffrey.

Arya was taken directly to the King once Jorry and her arrived. We also learn that they entire group has moved to the castle of Ser Raymun Darry who had actually fought against Robert in the rebellion. Tensions are running high as it’s just an unusual and uncomfortable situation.

But before going on lets take a closer look at House Darry and why tensions are so high.

First the Darrys were Targaryen loyalists and did very well under the old regime. As said before during Robert’s Rebellion they fought on the side of the king and against the Rebels who included House Tully the liege lords of the Riverlands.  

Being on the wrong side of History cost the Darry’s greatly. Ser Raymun lost three of his older brothers at the battle of the Trident where Robert famously slew Rhaegar Targaryen. In addition to this it was Ser Willem Darry who also smuggled Viserys and Daenerys Targaryen from Dragonstone to Braavos effectively keeping them out of the reach of King Robert.

The loss of family wasn’t the only thing House Darry suffered as a result of Robert winning his Rebellion. They also lost half of the lands they held, a great deal of their wealth and nearly all of their power.

House Darry was so loyal to the Targaryens that Viserys names them specifically as one of the houses he can count on to support him upon his return to Westeros.

So things are pretty tense as there is a lot of bad blood between the hosts and clearly the uninvited guests.

Regardless Ned finds Arya with Robert and the rest of the court in the Darry audience hall. Arya is in the center of the room with Jorry when Ned enters. Fortunately she isn’t hurt and we learn she was just living off wild berries for the last few days.

Robert asked that Arya be brought before him immediately as he wanted to get things taken care of as quickly as possible. Most likely this is born of the uncomfortable situation of being hosted under House Darry that was his foe just a few years prior.

Here we learn that Joffrey lied about what happened days prior. He is present and his arm is in a bandage from the wound inflicted by Nymeria. Joffrey claims that Arya and the butcher's boy attacked him with sticks while Nymeria was set upon him. This is of course different from Arya’s version of the events.

Renley actually laughs when Arya relates that Joffrey was disarmed. He gets kicked out by his older brother Robert but on his way out he bows to Joffrey and does manage to deliver a really good line before departing.

Renley: “Perchance you’ll tell me how a nine-year-old girl the size of a wet rat managed to disarm you with a broom handle and throw your sword into the river.”

The only other person who was present and is brought forth is Sansa. Ned knows the truth of what happened as Sansa told him prior. Sansa however says she doesn't know what happened as it all happened so quickly and she didn’t see.

This ticks off Arya who calls Sansa a liar and attacks her. Arya is quickly pulled off and Robert decides he had enough of this and decides that no real lasting harm was done and chalks it up to children just being children. He decides that Ned should discipline Arya and he will do the same with his son.

Cersei is not happy and asks about the dire wolf that attacked Joffrey. Jory says that he found no trace of Nymeria, which seems to satisfy Robert. Cersei offers a reward to whomever brings her the pelt of Nymeria and Robert doesn’t feel like paying for it and tells her she can pay for it herself.

Cersei shows how her influence over Robert works in this scene. She not only calls him cheap but also says the though the king she married would have laid the wolf's pelt before her by sundown. When Robert says he doesn’t have a wolf Cersei knows she has him and points out they do have a wolf. She of course is referring to Lady.

After a bit more of discussion and argument it is decided that they will put Lady down as punishment. This is of course upsetting to all the Starks who feel this is an injustice as Lady wasn't even present.

King Robert: “Enough, Ned, I will hear no more. A direwolf is a savage beast. Sooner or later it would have turned on your girl as the other did on my son. Get her a dog, she’ll be happier for it.”

This actually brings a smile to Joffrey’s face. He is described as “beaming” at the decision. In the end Ned does the deed himself, but he denies Cersei her prize by instructing Jory to have four of the Stark men to take the body of Lady back to the north and bury her at Winterfell.

The chapter ends with Ned coming across Sandor Clegane as he returns with the body of Mycha wrapped up and slung over the back of his horse. Ned looks at the body and notes that Sandor rode the boy down nearly cutting him in half.

So a few things in this.. First the demand for a wolf pelt from Cersei seems to harken back to the first Tyrion Chapter:

“The queen shuddered. “There is something unnatural about those animals,” she said. “They are dangerous. I will not have any of them coming south with us.”

So it seems Cersei has been looking for a chance to be rid of the Direwolves and certainly took this opportunity as it presented itself. This again continues to show that the Queen and Joffrey are more interested in flexing and abusing their power than they are in justice.

Perhaps Cersei sees this as asserting dominance over the Starks. The notion being that perhaps if she sets the expectation that they are there to serve her and the rest of the royal family without question things will go easier. That this is the first real disagreement that wasn’t handled between Ned and Robert is of some significance and maybe Cersei just wants to make sure the Starks understand that message. She could have been counting on Sansa to not be truthful as it may put her betrothal to Joffrey at risk. In such a case the only one who would have been able to prove Joffrey a liar would have been Mycah who we know was killed by the Hound.

In the prior chapter we have the following quote:

Joffrey: “He’s my mother’s dog, in truth. She has set him to guard me, and so he does.”

So perhaps The Hound was sent out with orders to kill Mycah instead of bringing him back.

Also Roberts words of “Get her a dog, she'll be happier for it.” is a bit of foreshadowing to Sandor’s interactions with Sansa in the future as he becomes her protector in some instances.

Lastly what I think most readers miss is what Jory did for Arya.

The king stopped, turned back and frowned. “I’d forgotten about the damned wolf.”

Ned could see Arya tense in Jory’s arms. Jory spoke up quickly “We found no trace of the direwolf your grace.”

Robert did not look unhappy “No? So be it.”

Now all of the Stark children are rarely ever mentioned in the book without the direwolves near by at this point in the story. Hence the reason for Arya becoming tense as Nymeria is still free. It seems Jory has lied about Nymeria.

Game of Thrones: Chapter 15: Sansa AKA Awkward 1st Date

This chapter opens up with Sansa having breakfast with Septa Mordane. She is all set to spend the day traveling the King’s Road south to the capital riding in style with Queen Cersei and Princess Marcella in the royal wheelhouse.  Notably absent is Arya who was also invited. Early on it’s clear that Sansa is already smitten with her betrothed Joffrey. She is a bit worried that Arya might spoil the occasion as she tends to be less of a lady and more of a tomboyish sort. After finishing her breakfast she eventually finds Arya by the banks of the Trident with her direwolf dressed in leathers. Sansa tells her sister she is expected to travel with the queen today and Arya flat out refuses. She says her and a friend Mycah are going to spend the day looking for rubies that were knocked off the armor of Rhaegar Targaryen when King Robert killed him during the rebellion.

Here we see a lot of the differences in the mentalities of the two Stark girls. While Sansa is concerned about appearances, decorum and possibly the opportunity to spend a bit of time with the prince she is to wed and somewhat head over heels for, Araya has no interest in any of that.

Arya by comparison seem to have a much better working knowledge of recent history. Sansa had no idea what rubies Arya was referring to when she told her older sister what her plans for the day were. Arya is also not concerned about offending the queen by not showing up as expected. She has more of a free will and is less likely to worry about what others may think as opposed to Sansa who is very much into keeping up appearances.

I think even more telling is that Sansa doesn’t take the time to look upon the land and get to know it as Arya has. To her it’s just one field, farm and holdfast after another. She doesn’t really see the nuances of the land like Arya appreciates. Arya points out that she found 36 types of flowers she never had seen prior as well as relating she had seen wild horse herds as well as a haunted watchtower and she and her friend also found a lizard-lion.

Another difference in the two is the way in which they react to their father's instructions to stay with the column. Sansa dutifully obeys while Arya reasons that as they dont travel very far and has her direwolf Nymeria to protect her.

Sansa also by admission hates riding and even more hates the situation as the journey through the swampy area known as the Neck was unpleasant to her. Arya on the other hand enjoyed it and even seems to be relishing the opportunity to explore and discover more of the world she lives in.

Another great difference between the two is that Arya seems to be making friends and getting to know the people she is traveling with. Sansa can’t understand this mentality and even notes that Arya’s friend Mycah, the son of a butcher, is terrible as he stinks of meat from the chopping block and can hardly stand the sight of him. Yet Arya has a genuine friendship and enjoys his company.

One thing that Sansa noted at bedtime is that Arya has bruises and welts on her arms, shoulders. This suggests she either has had some rough times exploring or has found someone to practice her swordsmanship with.

The two end in a sort of typical fashion of Arya saying she is gonna go off and do her own thing while Sansa tries to make her jealous by saying that they are gonna have a wonderful time relaxing, and traveling in style and luxury.

While Arya seems to be fine with this Sansa is a bit hurt as she doesn't understand why Arya can’t do what is expected of her and act like a proper lady. To Sansa where decorum and etiquette as well as appearances are things that matter a great deal, Arya’s complete disregard for such things and even outright rude manner on occasion reflects badly upon her. After all the Starks are the the nobility of the North and Arya seems to act like a commoner as opposed to someone who is highborn.

As she returns to camp she notices a crowd has gathered and as she gets closer she sees Cersei greeting a group of knights who had been sent by the council. We learn that King Robert has gone off hunting and thus the queen is there to welcome them. One of the knights is older and dressed in white while the younger one has a helm with decorative antlers upon it. The third knight's appearance Sansa finds scary and she actually physically shakes when he feels her looking at her and turns his gaze upon her.

The Hound Sandor Clegane sets his hands upon her shoulders and Sansa mistakes it for the reassuring touch of her father. So when she turns and sees Sandors burned face she momentarily loses composure.

The two new knights notice Lady and are quite taken back. Sandor makes a rather crude joke about the Starks using them for wet nurses which gets a few chuckles from the starring members of the crowd.

Cersei at this moment prompts Joffrey to go to the aid of his betrothed. It’s noteworthy that Joffrey didn’t actually think to go himself but needed to be told to go show some compassion and assist his wife to be. Joffrey sends the Hound away and Sansa says it was one of the other knights and not the Hound who unnerved her.

As it turns out that knight is Ser Ilyn Payne who is the royal executioner. Sansa quips they got the right man for the job after Cersei says people should fear the man appointed as the King’s Justice. This actually gets laughs from the crowd and Sansa seems to regain her composure.

The elder knight introduces himself as Ser Barristan Selmy of the Kingsguard. Sansa having regained her composure, is able to carry herself as would be expected and replies that she is honored to meet the living legend Barristan the Bold. The younger knight makes a joke at Selmy’s expense calling him “Barristan the Old”  and tests Sansa to guess who he is.

Sansa correctly deduces that the man before him is Renly Baratheon as he bears a stag upon his sigil, golden antlers on his helmet and notes his “extreme youth”. Barristan takes this chance to return the good natured joking by saying by Renly’s extreme youth he’s a prancing jackanapes. Again this gets a good laugh out of those gathered including Renly who takes the jest in stride as Barristan did.  

So with a bit of composure and humor the almost disastrous situation for Sansa is averted. Sansa even apologizes to Ser Ilyn who doesn’t reply. Joffrey lets her know that he had his tongue ripped out by the former king. Sansa also then learns that plans to travel with the queen and princess will have to wait as the queen will have to tend to matters of state.

The queen does however ask Prince Joffrey to entertain Sansa for the day and Joffrey replies he would be happy to. This is almost a dream come true for Sansa. She is absolutely over the moon with this turn of events. She even starts thinking that Joffrey came to her rescue a few moments ago like some fanciful tale of legends where a hero saves a damsel in distress.

Joffrey suggests going riding and Sansa says she loves to go riding. This of course is the absolute opposite of what she said to Arya, but the chance to spend time with Joffrey is worth it to her.

They leave Lady and Sandor behind and Joffrey assures her that he can protect her with his blade Lion’s Tooth if it comes to it. The two of them go out and explore some caves, track a shadowcat and end up finding a holdfast where the prince makes the residents provide them with food and wine. As they continue on Joffrey leads them towards where the battle of the Trident was fought and recounts the tale of how his father became king.

They hear sounds coming from nearby and while Sansa wants to go back Joffrey wants to go and see what it is. As it turns out it’s Arya and Mycah playing with broomstick handles pretending they are dueling swords. Joffrey laughs when Arya gets struck on the hand and drops her stick, and this gets the two of them noticed.

Joffrey taunts Mycah while holding his steel blade and challenges him. Mycah is obviously scared and protests he doesn't have a ‘real sword’ and that Arya asked him to practice. Joffrey takes this chance to bully the boy and sets the tip of his blade to Mycah’s face and draws blood.

Arya yells for Joffrey to stop, and Joffrey says he won’t hurt the butcher's boy, and then adds the word “much” rather menacingly.

Again the differences between the two Stark girls is highlighted. Sansa who was using her words and calling for Arya to stay out of it is ignored as Arya decides she isn’t going to allow her helpless friend be hurt by the prince who is wielding a steel blade. Arya cracks Joffrey in the back of the head which gives Mycah a chance to flee the situation.

Joffrey turns his blade on Arya, disarms her and backs her up to a tree. Again Sansa is somewhat helpless in this situation and just yells for the two of them to stop, but her words aren’t heeded. Arya doesn’t have much of a choice in the matter and Joffrey is enraged and yelling curses at Arya.

Fortunately Nymeria comes to the rescue of Arya before anything bad happens. She knocks Joffrey to the ground, disarming him. Again Sansa is unsure what to do and is somewhat helpless as an onlooker, but Arya who is showing she is a person who takes action spares Joffrey by calling Nymeria to her.

While Joffrey is on the ground bleeding from his arm Arya goes and picks up his sword, she stands over him and delivers what I think is one of the best lines from any character in the book to this point..

Arya “She didn’t hurt you… much.”

This reduces the prince to whimpering and he begs for her not to hurt him and that he will tell his mother. Sansa screams for Arya to leave Joffrey alone and for once Arya listens. Prior to getting on her horse and riding off with her direwolf Arya tosses the princes blade into the river.

Sansa runs to her betrothed and tries to comfort him saying she will ride to the holdfast and get help for him. Joffrey looks at her with loathing and contempt and yells at her to go and not to touch him.

This is the first chapter we see through the point of view of Sansa. Prior we got her in chapters but mostly the interaction was from the point of view of her little sister Arya. We now get the full view.

Even here we still see that while they are vastly different they both have some things in common. Sansa and Arya are both with their wolves seemingly constantly, and both the wolves seem to be direct reflections of the Stark girls. Sansa’s direwolf Lady is just that and quite domesticated, while Arya’s wolf Nymeria is first seen in this chapter all muddy and not enjoying being brushed out in a very similar way to how Sansa views Arya who had been wearing the same riding leathers for the past few days. Both wolves are there and seem to come to the defense of the owners in times of need. Sansa when she grew fearful of Ser Payne and Arya when Joffrey was attacking her.

This is also the first situation where we see Joffrey having a truly cruel nature as opposed to just being a bit of an ass. It’s noticeable that he had to be prompted by the queen to go to the aid of Sansa when she lost her composure. Further Joffrey demonstrates his lack of maturity when he whimpers before Arya threatening to tell his mother. This is all in direct contrast to his behavior prior when he was boasting about carrying a real blade instead of a practice blade as he mocked Sasna’s brother Robb back at Winterfell.

From a storytelling perspective this sets up Sansa to look somewhat helpless and to be little more than a young girl with a crush on prince Joffrey. Indeed she does project things on him that simply aren’t true. This again is understandable as Sansa has grown up as a noble and really judging things from appearances as opposed to looking deeper to see things as they really are.

Her assumptions regarding the lands they travel through, the common folk as well as her negative opinion of Mycah based on his station in life all point to her not really having a good understanding of the world and the people in it. Yet ironically enough she is remarkably perceptive in determining who Renly is and recalls the history, titles and offices of Barristan the Bold. So this suggests she does have a good head on her shoulders but is just focused in an entirely different area than her sister is.

Of course Sansa is absolutely out of her element when swords are drawn. Fighting and violence are things Sansa was never expected to engage in let alone be able to put a stop to.

Lastly I'd like to point out one final thing that will become a greater theme as the story progresses which was introduced by Renly and that is ageism. While it was just a jest about Ser Barristan calling him Barristan the Old this is something that will show up again with some level of significance.

Game of Thrones: Chapter 7: Arya & Middle Child Syndrome

This chapter starts off with Sansa and Arya doing needlework with Septa Mordane,Princess Myrcella, and a few others. Right from the beginning we start to see the differences between Arya and her older sister Sansa.

Sansa’s needlework was exquisite. Everyone said so. “Sansa’s work is as pretty as she is.” Septa Mordane told their lady mother once. “She has such fine, delicate hands.” When the Lady Catelyn asked about Arya, the septa had sniffed “Arya has the hands of a blacksmith.”

This not only serves to show some differences between the two, but also set the tone as well and foreshadow the fate of each of the Stark daughters. Sansa is destined to have more of a life in the royal court Arya is going to have a life that is more related to hard work and adventure. The differences become even more apparent when conversation moves to Jon and how Arya says he is their brother, and Sansa corrects her in that he is only a half brother. It shows Arya thinks of Jon as an equal while Sansa may not. It also shows that Sansa takes care to separate herself from those who would socially be considered beneath her station. While she isn’t outwardly mean about it she is adhering to the social norm.

This is also the first time we are introduced to Jayne Poole who will have a role that is also closely related to Sansa and Arya. More pointedly this is the first time we see Sansa and her social graces. Sansa carries herself well and deftly handles septa Mordane with words and tact while Arya becomes frustrated and runs from the room.

Arya being two years younger than Sansa notes that her older sister is better at her at nearly everything. In addition to being better she also notes that Sansa is very beautiful and takes after her mother's side with more classic Tully features, while Arya looks far more like the Stark side of the family. Arya notes that the only things she is more capable at is managing a household and riding a horse.

Perhaps the differences between the two are no more apparent than in the naming of the direwolves. Sansa named hers “Lady” while Arya named hers Nymeria. Funny enough this is a sort of foreshadowing in the names. Clearly Sansa has a more proper lady like destiny while Arya will end up traveling the world encountering trouble and dangers wherever she goes in much the same way Nymeria did when she lead her people away from Essos in search of a new home and eventually ended up in Westeros.

Eventually she finds Jon watching her brother and Prince Tommen spar in the practice yard. One thing she notes when speaking to Jon is that he is not allowed to practice against the Princes as he’s a bastard and not welcome. Perhaps it’s due to her closeness with Jon that she feels the world is unfair. In many ways Arya has a sense of progressiveness to her, that her sister seems to be lacking. She even argues that women are as important as men when Jon notes that Joffrey’s Coat of Arms has both the Stag of House Baratheon and the Lion of Lannister prominently displayed equally.

Jon suggests Arya should combine the sigils of Stark and Tully for her Coat of Arms and Arya says:

“A wolf with a fish in it’s mouth?”

Looks like it would be a cool Coat of Arms to me!

Funny enough later on in the story this actually happens as Nymeria pulls Catelyn from the River after the Red Wedding.

The scene continues with Bran defeating Tommen in the yard and Joffrey hurling insults at Robb in regards to not being able to use life steel blades in practice. While Robb is game the Master at Arms of Winterfell Ser Rodrik forbids it and Joffrey leaves while hurling a couple of insults at Robb and bruising his pride/ego. Notably this is also the first time we see Sandor Clegane and learn that he killed someone at the age of twelve.

This sets up the notion that Joffrey is not only spoiled but an ass. Jon even calls him a little shit.

The chapter ends with Arya returning to her quarters and finding not only Septa Mordane and her mother waiting for her.

I do like the way the chapter ended as I think most any reader can relate that sense of dread knowing you are in trouble when you were a kid and having to go home or to the principals office and face the music so to speak and having to see your parents.