“I was told Your Grace had need of me,” Ser Justin said, from one knee. “You will escort the Braavosi banker back to the Wall. Choose six good men and take twelve horses. Oh, and take the Stark girl with you, as well as Alysane Mormont. Lady Arya should have a female companion. Deliver her to Lord Commander Snow on your way to Eastwatch." Stannis tapped the parchment that lay before him. “A true king pays his debts.” - Theon I, Twow

"Speak the word, and we will send you to the Black Pearl or the Daughter of the Dusk." "I sold three cockles to a courtesan." "Which one was this, now? The Queen o' Cockles, was it?" "The Black Pearl. She said 'I'll take three cockles,' and 'Do you have some hot sauce, little one?" "And what did you say?" "I said, 'No, my lady,' and, 'Don't call me little one. My name is Cat.' "Look, the Sealord's box. That must be the Westerosi envoy. Have you ever seen such clothes on an old man? And look, he's brought the Black Pearl!" She was so lovely that the lamps seemed to burn brighter when she passed. - Arya, Affc, Adwd, Twow

He is a man of the Night's Watch, she thought, as he sang about some stupid lady throwing herself off some stupid tower because her stupid prince was dead. The lady should go kill the ones who killed her prince.

Making fanart of fanart lol

I think that’s more compelling to me idk.

Meereen's greatest export is enslaved people. There's no indication that the labor force usage of slavery constituted the majority use to the Meereenese slaveowning class, nor that Meereen's non-slavery industry leans on the structure of slavery in order to exist. It's textiles and minimal agriculture (in particular olives, which are only really labor intensive during the harvest period). There is no way to maintain the structure of an economy like Meereen's while ending the slave trade. The slave trade is the economy. There are no two ways about this.

Slave labor isn't free labor. It's actually incredibly expensive. Under plantation structures, the American South's greatest production was in pigs and corn, yet their greatest export was cotton. Why? Because maintaining a massive population of enslaved people requires an immense amount of resources that never enter the formal market. No profit can be had from those resources because those enslaved do not participate in the formal economy in their own right. If only a limited percentage of a population can participate in a economy, of course that will depress demand and profit.

Due to the limitations of slavery, Meereen's economy relies heavily on export without a thriving local market. Even prior to the abolitionist movement, this is a dangerous balance. What happens if, say, Volantis and Lys go to war with each other? Those are the largest slave markets in Essos. If demand suddenly drops, what happens? What if the currency inflates/deflates for any number of outside reasons? The Meereenese Masters will be fine due to their hoarded wealth but the average person in Meereen will suffer, and the average enslaved person will suffer worse.

...and trade depressions are an inevitability, not merely a risk. Prices fluctuate every day for a whole host of unforeseeable reasons. Total economic collapse happens to nation-states. Overreliance on one specific export/industry makes it happen faster.

Which leads me to a larger point: Slavery depresses progress and innovation. In addition to removing a whole host of people from the formal economy, slavery requires a middle class of "enforcers" who perform the violence necessary to maintain slavery and produce the resources used to feed/house/etc. enslaved people. This is a loss in productive value of not only the enslaved population but a significant portion of the free working class. As a result, Meereen's economy is highly contained, unable to grow wealth. The economies that historically remain successful over time are the ones that do not rely on one specific industry and are able to innovate themselves straight into the future. In fact, Daenerys runs into this very issue (stagnancy from those who benefitted from slavery in the most nominal sense) while herself focusing on future innovation (economically speaking the most correct position to take) by instituting irrigation ditches, opening the guilds to new artisans, and paying her soldiers who then stimulate the local economy with said wages, among other reforms.

Meereen is not in the situation it is merely because Daenerys stopped slavery. There's no 1:1 there. It's suffering because the olive groves were burned by the Masters, depriving the people of their profitable fruit and oil. It's suffering because it's under attack, inside and outside. It's suffering because there's a pandemic raging. Daenerys is attempting to regrow the olive trees, discourage a war, and send resources to the afflicted including through her own bodily services. She understands the position she's in.

Like this guy who you never liked (the Kingslayer, the man who has twisted Knighthood and made it a joke) he saves you from being raped, loses his hand, and confesses to you the truth about why he killed the mad king.

And then he leaves.

He leaves you to go home and you’re stuck with the same horrible men who maimed this guy that has began to weasel his way into your psyche. But it’s fine because he’s gone now and you don’t have to deal with it.

And then he just freaking falls out of the sky and saves you from the bear. A knight saving the damsel. (And for once him the knight and you the damsel.) And when you ask him why he came all the way back just to save you he says, “I dreamed of you.”

Caisson Gardens

The vast difference in how Jon Snow deals with the marriages of Arya and Sansa Stark has already been mentioned. However, I noticed there are also other differences in the overall narrative as well.

First, two Kings - Robb Stark and Stannis Baratheon - refer to and use Sansa’s marriage to Tyrion to affirm that Sansa will never get Winterfell while positing that Jon Snow should be Lord of Winterfell.

“Young, and a king,” he said. “A king must have an heir.  If I should die in my next battle, the kingdom must not die with me. By law Sansa is next in line of succession, so Winterfell and the north  would pass to her.” His mouth tightened. “To her, and her lord husband. Tyrion Lannister. I cannot allow that. I will not allow that. That dwarf must never have the north.” - Robb Stark, ASoS

“By right Winterfell should go to my sister Sansa.”

“Lady Lannister, you mean? Are you so eager to see the Imp perched on your father’s seat? I promise you, that will not happen whilst I live, Lord Snow.” - Stannis Baratheon, ADwD

In contrast, two Kings - Mance Rayder and Stannis Baratheon - are trying to save Arya Stark from her marriage to Ramsay Bolton for Jon Snow.

He glanced at the letter again. I will save your sister if I can. A surprisingly tender sentiment from Stannis - Jon, ADwD

Bring her home, Mance. I saved your son from Melisandre, and now I am about to save four thousand of your free folk. You owe me this one little girl. - Jon, ADwD

It’s interesting that Stannis has this ‘tender sentiment’ while vowing that Sansa will never get Winterfell considering that Arya too is married to his enemy Ramsay Bolton. Maybe he intends for Ramsay Bolton to be dead soon which would free Arya to make other alliances. Or maybe he hates the Lannisters more than the Boltons.

Additionally there is no other mention of the Sansa/Tyrion marriage in the Northern context, no Northern houses or lords who bring it up, no secret plotting that revolves around this marriage. In contrast Arya’s marriage to Ramsay is mentioned in the four corners of the North, from the Wall to Winterfell, from Deepwood Motte to White Harbor and is a driving force for many of the characters’ actions and plotting. It’s more important in terms of ‘The North Remembers’ and Northern uprising against the Lannisters in King’s Landing, the Freys and the Boltons considering it revolves around Lady Arya Stark present in Winterfell.

This is why - as GRRM has pointed out in interviews - Arya’s marriage to Ramsay is a necessary and important book plot.

Unintentionally. A little change in a long narrative can have big changes further on. You know, when we remove Jeyne Poole from season one, then you don’t have Jeyne Poole to be the fake Arya, as happens in the book. So what do you do then? The butterfly effect has done that.

It’s not Jeyne Poole’s marriage to Ramsay Bolton that is driving all these mini subplots in the North.Yes, it’s sad that no one would care if Ramsay married Jeyne just like no one cared that Jeyne got send off to the brothels while Sansa was a high value hostage of the Lannisters. Just like no one cared about Jeyne’s story in the books until the show replaced her with Sansa and suddenly there were discussions about rape in the series.

GRRM: I was trying to set up Jeyne for her future role as the false Arya.   The real Arya has escaped and is presumed dead.  But this girl has been in Littlefinger’s control for years, and he’s been training her.  She knows Winterfell, has the proper northern accent, and can pose as Arya. Who the hell knows what a little girl you met two years ago looks like?  When your a lord visiting Winterfell, are you going to pay attention to the little kids running around?  So she can pull off the impersonation.  Not having Jeyne, they used Sansa for that.  Is that better or worse?  You can make your decision there.  Oddly, I never got pushback for that in the book because nobody cared about Jeyne Poole that much.  They care about Sansa.

— Sansa & Arya Parallels 🐺