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The True Fate of Arya in “A Song of Ice and Fire” vs. “Game of Thrones”
Were the Showrunners Afraid to Tell Us Something?
**Warning — Possible Spoilers for A Song of Ice and Fire*** As we revisit Game of Thrones final season one more time with the release of the season and series on Blue Ray this month, I have some sad news to convey. News of such import and impact the showrunners of Game of Thrones, the television adaptation, didn’t want to convey it themselves. So they hinted at it, while backing away from one of George R.R. Martin’s actual plot points.
Are you ready? Brace yourself.
Arya Stark is Dead.
Likely killed by Daenerys incidentally as Daenerys wrecked King’s Landing — or perhaps directly.
Behold A Pale Horse
Although she lives on in the TV series into the final episode after the destruction of King’s Landing, our first hint she does not live in the books comes at the end of The Bells, Episode Five. Showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss wrote the episode themselves, and perhaps could not bear to “kill” her.
Instead, we’re treated to the incongruous and jarring appearance of a white horse. Arya, merely knocked unconscious, awakens, sees the horse, mounts it, and rides off.
