#arya**

One reason, as I suspected early on when I saw Hardhome, was the need individualize and narrow down the threat to a classic Protagonist VS Antagonist formula, for dramatic purposes. Instead of facing an impersonal evil, Jon, the champion of the Night’s Watch (and by extension humanity) is directly antagonised by the Night King---the champion of darkness. A bit of a Evil Wizard archetype, a bit of a demigod à la Sauron---the NK is someone who, albeit silent, has a degree of characterization, a personality (we can easily infer he’s smug, he’s ambitious, he’s single-minded, he toys with our heroes in a mocking way, he used to be a human being until the CotF turned him into a magical creature with unlimited powers; he even has flaws that we can conceptualize as human). It’s the bare minimum of characterization but it’s still a characterization, and it’s both a positive and a negative thing. Positive because it gives the audience something to latch on, a Villain With A Face and, to a degree, even a motivation---negative because it undermines the sheer eldritch horror of the Others being quintessentially inhuman in every possible way.

The other reason is probably because d&d needed to give the White Walkers an Achilles’ Heel so that our heroes could defeat them---all of them. I think the Others will have an Achilles’ Heel in the books too (maybe whatever lies beyond the Curtain of Light?), but perhaps either GRRM still didn’t know what it would be when he sat down and talked about the endgame with the showrunners, or GRRM’s version of it is something d&d couldn’t do on the show for budget and/or time limitations, so they had to come up with an alternative or a shorthand for it. Either way, it’s food for speculation.

I’ve already talked in favor of Arya, and not Jon, being the one who killed the NK. While I’ve seen people warm up to the fact that this totally makes sense for Arya’s arc, many still resist the idea for what it supposedly does to Jon’s arc. What about the Azor Ahai prophecy? What is the significance of his arc now? What was the point of building up this one-on-one antagonism between him and the NK if Jon didn’t actually defeat him? Well, imo the idea behind this decision wasn’t shock value for shock value’s sake, but rather an attempt---I won’t argue if successful or not---to subvert the Chosen One trope, almost Tolkien-style, in the sense that the chosen one gets so, so close to complete his mission yet ultimately, tragically, fails. But the... small metallic object... is still delivered in the right place to destroy the Evil Overlord and his entire army, and the person who does is an unexpected one, in an unexpected way. So the bittersweetness of this anticlimax, the way it feels both right and wrong, is probably intentional---because the Chosen One(s) both won and failed. Jon and Dany will likely be remembered as the heroes, the Azor Ahai’s, the great commanders, the princes that were promised, but they know deep in their hearts that, had it been for them, humanity would have been destroyed.

speaking of Tolkien, and looking at it from another angle, the last moments of the battle did remind me a bit of RotK in the way Bran (and according to some interpretations of the scene, Jon too) kept *the eye of Sauron* distracted so Arya/Frodo could get close enough without being noticed. Not only them---the entire battle can be seen as a giant distraction game to blindside the NK and take him off guard.

No. She inherited the typically Stark “long, solemn face” instead of the impossibly gorgeous Tully coloring and sculpted facial features, she’s scrawny and her hair is a bit tangled. But none of this is a real mark of /unattractiveness/, if there’s even such a thing, especially not on a nine years old child who is still in the process of growing into her adult shape. And we’re certainly not supposed to take the mean stuff other kids her age tell her at face value.

She already looks like Lyanna a lot and she’s getting prettier and prettier, despite the lack of hair care and fashionable dresses in her mostly on-the-road storyline.People who aren’t comparing her to Sansa all the goddamn time notice it. Lady Smallwood calls her pretty (“I’m sorry I tore the acorn dress too. It was pretty.” “Yes, child. And so are you.”), so does the Kindly Man (…“best you have a new face as well.“He cupped her chin, turned her head this way and that, nodded. “A pretty one this time, I think. As pretty as your own”) and it’s clear in her Mercy chapter that men are starting to see her as desirable (which is extra yikesy due to her age—barely eleven—but that’s another issue).

Yes, it’s definitely possible (more likely Arya acquires it before the war ends so she has a Valyrian blade to fight the WWs with, other than Littlefinger’s dagger, which is handy, but requires getting very close to your target. Also she and Brienne together in battle? They would be deadly). I don’t recall any instances of renamed swords in the books but I don’t remember anything against it either, so… possible! I certainly don’t see Arya keeping a name that was originally given by Joffrey. (now that I think of it, if this scenario happens, would Arya’s taking Lion’s Tooth away from Joff count as foreshadowing?)

Another viable option in the books is that Arya gets Dark Sister (which is probably in Bloodraven’s cave, come on) via Bran. Dark Sister has a fitting name but is a Targaryen sword (might end up being Jon’s if he gives Long Claw back to house Mormont), but Widow’s Wail was born of Ned Stark’s steel, so it makes sense that it ends up being in Stark hands.