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Player Information
Name: Ari
Contact: AIM: FallenSun13
Characters: --
Character Information
Name: Arya Stark
Journal Name: dont_tell_sansa
Fandom / Series: A Song of Ice and Fire
From When: Near the end of Feast for Crows, after murdering Dareon and before returning to the House of Black and White.
Function: Arya could fit into a lot of categories, but I think to start off, spy.
Preferred Side: Militant. She's coming from the heels of a war sh traveled in, she's used to strict structures.
Abilities / Powers: Arya has shown signs of being a warg, also known as a skinchanger, someone who can slip their skin and enter the minds of animals, controlling their actions. She's only done this with Nymeria, her lost wolf, and she isn't aware that they're anything more than dreams at this point. With work, she could theoretically become as adapt at it as her younger brother Bran, who was once able to slip into another human's mind, however briefly.
Beyond that, she has become extremely adept with a knife and sword. She's quick, quiet, and was taught to see - as in, beyond the surface of a situation. Once, Queen Cersei had King's Landing men dress as Winterfell men, hoping to catch her when she disappeared in the city. Most nine-year-olds would have run right into the trap, but thanks to her teaching from Syrio Forel, Arya saw it and was able to get away.
Personality: Arya has often been compared to her Aunt Lyanna, a woman who, in a way, started the war that most of the shit Arya has been through can be dated back to. Though she never met Lyanna, Arya is very much like her, though more in personality than appearance (though they are, apparently, similar on that level too). Lyanna was said to be fiery and willful and outspoken, and Arya has been like a miniature Lyanna all her life. Though her parents clearly wanted her to be a lady, she couldn't imagine anything more dull; ladies sew and dance and since, and Arya is good at absolutely none of those things. In her mind, needlework is sword practice (her sword is called Needle), and dancing is the waterdancing of Braavos, a style of sword fighting. She can be blunt, and frequently says what's on her mind. When her father told her that she could not be lord of a castle, but could be mother to lords and knights and princes, she shook her head and refused. That was not the life she wanted, one of dresses and real needles and children: she wants adventure and exploration and new things, and even if the Starks had not fallen and the War of the Five Kings had not happened, her parents would have been hard pressed to talk their willful daughter into marrying.
Born during a summer that lasted ten years (long by even her world's standards), Arya was a child of summer, and winter is coming. The Stark motto was never more apt in describing Arya's life. Her earliest years were spent happily, playing with her brothers and tormenting (and occasionally hating) her sister. It was a good, if cold environment, and she took to her bastard brother Jon Snow very early on. They were both of them a little different, just enough to stand apart from the others. They had the Stark coloring, while the rest of their siblings inherited Arya's mother's Tully coloring. Something so small frequently has a profound affect on children: Arya never felt like a redheaded stepchild, but she was always a little different. She hated sitting still and learning to sew, though her sister Sansa did so wonderfully. She wanted to be in the practice yards, to learn the sword with Robb and Jon and Bran. When it was clear that wasn't going to happen, she did everything she could to avoid all those things she'd have to learn to be a lady.
That was where one of her earliest aliases came from: Arya Underfoot.
Arya has always been a curious girl. She wants to know how something works and why, if it interests her, and she has a tendency to look into things herself, prefering a first hand experience. Harwin, one of Winterfell's sworn guards, took to calling her Underfoot, along with his father Hullen, the Master of Horse: she was frequently in the stables when avoiding Septa Mordane's lessons. Many things are worth learning, after all, but some things are just really, really stupid.
Identity in general is a very big deal with Arya. She's gone by many names in the last few years: her given name, Arya of House Stark, is something she had to abandon during the fall of the Starks in King's Landing. Before that, while still living at Winterfell, she was called Arya Underfoot, as above, and Arya Horseface - something her sister's friend Jeyne called her whenever she was being particularly annoying. She was Arry when she pretended to be a boy heading to the Wall, Weasel when she was captured by the Mountain, the Ghost of Harrenhal, responsible for several deaths in that burned and dreary place, Nymeria an Nan when she acted as Roose Bolton's cupbearer, Salty on her journey from Saltpans to Braavos, Cat when she wandered the alleys and causeways of Braavos' ports, and most importantly, no one when she entered the House of Black and White, and the guild of the Faceless Men. She's very bad at being no one, because under the lies and false names she is still Arya Stark, a Stark of Winterfell, and member of a once proud pack.
That's another thing that has kept her alive, the idea of having a pack. The sigil of House Stark is a direwolf, a giant species of wolf that has forever been tied to her family. Her father once taught her that when winter comes, the lone wolf dies while the pack survives. Though it's still autumn where she comes from, Arya's life has been in winter since the Starks fell at King's Landing. With her family scattered, then killed, she made her pack where she could: for a while, Hot Pie and Gendry and Lommy were good enough, but Lommy was killed, Hot Pie left them, and Gendry dissolved the pack completely when he chose to join Beric Dondarrion. She should have known not to make of them her pack: they weren't really wolves, not the way Starks are.
Letting her father's advice go has proven hard: she has been a wolf alone for many months, now, trying to be no one. She still aches for a pack, though she's found that if a lone wolf must die, no one can survive.
But Arya has always been very good at that: she's made do under terrible circumstances. When the Starks fell, she fled the Red Keep and survived in the most miserable part of King's Landing. She could have allowed herself to be taken captive and avoided much of the hardship she suffered, but it isn't in Arya to give in. When her safe ticket back home to Winterfell died in battle, she carried on with her substitute pack; when the Hound kidnapped her, she tolerated it because he was taking her to her mother. And when her mother and Robb died at the Red Wedding she found a way to carry on despite the hole in her heart. She has manage to take the absolute worst of every hand she's been dealt, and find a way to survive. She resourceful, and cunning, and observant: she does everything she needs to in order to survive, because she knows better than most that she can't control the people around her. Bad things happen, and they happen frequently, and all you can do is look and listen and look after yourself and your pack, for however long it's around.
And when it is around, she can be devoted. Arya will never be the type to fall over herself to help another, but when she cares for someone, she will protect them and move them toward safety to the best of her abilities. She frequently foun fault in traveling with Hot Pie and Gendry, and knew that she could make much better time, and be less likely to be spotted by others on the road without them, but despite considering abandoning them, she couldn't leave her pack until they'd left her. She knows what it is to protect your own - even though she never got on with Sansa, even though in many ways she hates her sister, Arya would defend her. She is pack, and nothing will change that. Arya also understands that sometimes protecting those you care about can hurt both of you. Before King Robert arrived in Winterfell, when all this began, her brothers found a litter of direwolf pups at their dead mother's teat. There were five, one for each Stark, and a sixth for Jon. Jon said they were meant to have them, that they were a sign from the old gods - but all Arya cared about was that she had a wolf pup that was all her own. All the children bonded with their wolves, but Arya was the first to lose hers. Nymeria was like Arya in too many ways to not believe that it was fated: but on the long trip south, when Nymeria defended her by biting Prince Joffrey, Arya knew that the king and queen would have her wolf killed. She did everything she could to save Nymeria: ultimately, she had to throw rocks, and struck the wolf twice before she ran. Arya has wolf dreams, sometimes, dreams that she is Nymeria, with a pack of southron wolves around her. She doesn't know they are true dreams, but they are her favorite.
Part of what allowed her to keep Hot Pie and Gendry safe was her wit, but even more so was the fact that she is as quick on her feet as she is to act. Shit has had a way of hitting the fan frequently in recent years, and Arya has survived it by thinking quickly and acting quicker. Staying a step ahead is out of the question for someone who can't control the people around her, but keeping apace is something she's more than familiar with. To escape the Red Keep, she did not run, which would have drawn the attention of the guards, but walked right out of the castle. She kept her head down and her eyes up. Later, she held a watch with her small pack, and did what she could to keep Hot Pie and Gendry from being found by the wrong people. Despite being the smallest, and the youngest, she was their leader: she could read, and she could guide, and she knew not to make a fire at night in the middle of the war ravaged riverlands. Arya is a very smart girl, and though she doesn't come off as a dominant personality, she takes to the role of leadership naturally.
And as far as natural things go, killing has become second nature to Arya. Ever since leaving King's Landing, she has whispered a prayer to herself every night before sleeping, whether she was camping on the road, living in Harrenhal, traveling through the riverlands, or becoming no one in Bravos: "Ser Gregor," it goes, "Dunsen, Raff the Sweetling, Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn, Queen Cersei." It used to be longer, and should be somewhat shorter, but there's no such thing as instant communication or obituaries in Westeros or the Free Cities. These are the people who have harmed her or those she cares about. Gregor took her and Hot Pie and Gendry captive, and allowed his men to commit atrocities to the small folk. Dunsen was one of those men, as was Raff. Ser Ilyn beheaded her father, Ser Meryn killed her waterdancing instructor Syrio, and Cersei was responsible for the fall of the Starks. Arya managed to kill several of the people who had been on her hit list herself, in addition to others who had the misfortune of trying to take her to the queen, or of standing guard the night she escaped from Harrenhal.
She has not regretted these murders. She's rejoiced in some of them. The Tickler was one of Gregor's men, and interrogator who would torture one prisoner in front of the rest, before killing them. Arya watched him work many, many times, and when she killed him she stabbed him as many times as the questions he would ask of those he 'tickled.' He terrified her: killing him was a balm.
Once, before she knew her mother was dead, she wondered what Lady Catelyn would think of her if she knew, and worried that her mother would not want her back for many reasons - murder amongst them. Beyond that, however, Arya has allowed revenge to become her prayer, her salve, her replacement for her pack. She believes the majority of her family to be dead, her pack dispersed; she has no place to go, and no family to turn to. All that is left is revenge for what she lost.
History: Arya's history, and summations of: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and A Feast for Crows.
Arya was born and grew up during the long summer, in a noble house: she was the second daughter of the Warden of the North, a Stark of Winterfell. She never put much stock in birth stature, however; Arya was always happy to play with high and lowborn alike. It didn't matter, as long as the game was fun. She spent the majority of her earliest years causing mischief and getting into trouble, and dashing again and again her parents' hopes that she'd one day be a proper lady. She rarely showed up for Septa Mordane's lessons on needlework: watching her brothers in the practice yards was far more entertaining. When Jon and Robb and Bran brought back their direwolf pups, it got even worse: Nymeria was the perfect accomplice, and training a direwolf was, of course, far more important than learning to stitch a straight line.
When the king showed up, and asked her father to be his Hand, she saw it as an opportunity for adventure. The journey south back to King's Landing would take months, and Nymeria would be with her. So would her sister Sansa, whom Arya never really got on with, but she could ignore that. Before they left, her bastard half-brother Jon had a small, thin sword made for her, and helped her name it Needle. A lady must know her needlework, after all.
Until Prince Joffrey, her sister's prideful and cruel betrothed-to-be, decided to torment Arya's low born friend Mycah for playing at swords with her. When the prince saw fit to draw his real sword where Arya and Mycah had been using sticks, Arya interceded, and Joffrey turned on her. That was when Nymeria attacked, mauling the prince's arm before Arya called her off, and ran.
She had to throw stones at Nymeria to get the wolf to leave. It was the hardest thing she'd had to do up until that point, but she knew that if Nymeria stayed, the king and queen would have her killed.
It worked; Nymeria was spared. but Queen Cersei proved cruel, and had Lady - Sansa'a direwolf - killed instead. And the Hound, Sandor Clegane, Joffrey's sworn man, rode Mycah down and killed him.
After that, nothing could convince her that King's Landing was a place of adventure. She wanted to go back home, but more than that, she wanted to go back to that area of the Trident, and find Nymeria again. She could do neither, though, and eventually found something to love in the capital of the Seven Kingdoms: Syrio Forel, the Braavosi waterdancing teacher her father found. It wasn't dancing he taught her, but needlework - and the way a warrior sees.
But all that came to an end, too; the Lannisters orchestrated the fall of the Starks. Arya saw Stark men killed, and when a stableboy threatened to bring her to the king, she killed him. It was his life or her freedom: she didn't even think about it. After that, she spent days in Flea Bottom, the poorest part of King's Landing, where most people thought she was a boy, and no one thought she was Arya of House Stark. Eventually, her father was brought forward in front of Baelor's Sept, and there he was beheaded for treason. Arya was there, though Yoren, a man of the Night's Watch, kept her from seeing the deed.
She started a long journey north, then, with a band of boys and prisoners, all being taken to the Wall to take the black. Yoren was going to leave her at Winterfell, before continuing on with the other boys to the Wall. Those plans fell through when they were attacked by Ser Armory Loch. Yoren died, and the boys and men who lived scattered. But Hot Pie, Lommy, and Gendry stayed. They became her pack while they traveled, and they traveled far. Until Lommy was killed when Ser Gregor, the Mountain that Rides, captured them. She watched the Mountain's man, who she knew only as the Tickler, torture and kill many people, always wondering if she'd be next.
Eventually they reached Harrenhal, the cursed castle, and Arya entered a life of servitude. She labored under Weese, until Jaqen H'Ghar showed up. He was one of three men she'd saved in the attack that killed Yoren - and he promised her three lives in return. She became the Ghost at Harrenhal, killing with a whisper: at her bidding, Jaqen killed Chiswyck, one of the Mountain's men, and Weese. When she realized her choices had been selfish and petty, in terms of the war that was raging across Westeros, she conned Jaqen into helping her free the northmen who had been taken prisoner. Roose Bolton took charge of the castle, rousting most of the Lannister men who remained, and Arya stayed on to act as his cupbearer. When she learned that the castle was to be left to the Brave Companions, a group of mercenaries who were renowned for their cruelty, she convinced Hot Pie and Gendry to escape with her. They traveled for a long time, heading for Riverrun, her mother's House, but they never got there: Hot Pie left them at an inn, and just as the Mountain had taken them prisoner, so did Beric Dondarrion, a man who had did six times, and been brought back to life.
He was a kinder captor than the Mountain, but he was still a captor. Arya tried to escape, but it proved harder this time, and it wasn't until the Hound kidnapped her that she had hope of ever getting to her family. She fought him bitterly, until he told her where he was taking her: the Crossing, where her mother and brother Robb would be, for her uncle's wedding.
It would become known as the Red Wedding: they arrived just in time to see the Freys turn on her brother's people and kill Robb, the King in the north.
After that, she was listless. She traveled with the Hound, often saying nothing, not knowing where to go or who would have her or who to be. As far as she knew, all her family was dead. Eventually, she and the Hound happened upon an inn, where she met the Tickler and Polliver, another of the Mountain's men, who had stolen Needle. There was a squire with them as well, and when a fight broke out, she killed him, and the Tickler, stabbing him repeatedly. She had Needle back and she had shaken off some of her depression: but the Hound had been badly wounded. She helped him at first, but when he begged the gift of mercy - of death - she recalled what he'd done to Mycah, and refused. She left him to die, and traveled on alone, to a harbor called Saltpans. There she bought passage on a ship to Braavos, the home of Syrio Forel and Jaqen H'Ghar, who had taught her so much.
There, she entered the House of Black and White, and became no one.
Sample Journal Entry: [Electronics are magic as far as Arya is concerned, and she has no idea how to make it work. There are crackles along the network - bits of unintentional audio from a young sounding voice, a flash of video with someone's jaw, and at some point the whole screen turns purple and scrolls unendingly. It's like the Ring, but without bloody noses and creepy girls.
Eventually, she manages to hit the right buttons: reading seriously helps, though she'd rather just bang it against the ground a few times. The video pops on, but it's distorted, and aimed poorly.]
I'd rather use ravens. They're smarter than...what is this thing? Does everyone have one? A letter's easier to write.
[There's a long pause, and the screen goes black - the feed hasn't been cut, she's just holding the device against her leg, and her clothes aren't the best scenery. When she speaks again, she sounds a little stunned.]
Were all these buildings castles? There are so many.
((OOC: Aaand here are a few extras from dear_mun, with spoilery elements: Here, two, and c.))
Sample RP: Here is one set in her world. I can supply another set in the game world, if you'd like.
Name: Ari
Contact: AIM: FallenSun13
Characters: --
Character Information
Name: Arya Stark
Journal Name: dont_tell_sansa
Fandom / Series: A Song of Ice and Fire
From When: Near the end of Feast for Crows, after murdering Dareon and before returning to the House of Black and White.
Function: Arya could fit into a lot of categories, but I think to start off, spy.
Preferred Side: Militant. She's coming from the heels of a war sh traveled in, she's used to strict structures.
Abilities / Powers: Arya has shown signs of being a warg, also known as a skinchanger, someone who can slip their skin and enter the minds of animals, controlling their actions. She's only done this with Nymeria, her lost wolf, and she isn't aware that they're anything more than dreams at this point. With work, she could theoretically become as adapt at it as her younger brother Bran, who was once able to slip into another human's mind, however briefly.
Beyond that, she has become extremely adept with a knife and sword. She's quick, quiet, and was taught to see - as in, beyond the surface of a situation. Once, Queen Cersei had King's Landing men dress as Winterfell men, hoping to catch her when she disappeared in the city. Most nine-year-olds would have run right into the trap, but thanks to her teaching from Syrio Forel, Arya saw it and was able to get away.
Personality: Arya has often been compared to her Aunt Lyanna, a woman who, in a way, started the war that most of the shit Arya has been through can be dated back to. Though she never met Lyanna, Arya is very much like her, though more in personality than appearance (though they are, apparently, similar on that level too). Lyanna was said to be fiery and willful and outspoken, and Arya has been like a miniature Lyanna all her life. Though her parents clearly wanted her to be a lady, she couldn't imagine anything more dull; ladies sew and dance and since, and Arya is good at absolutely none of those things. In her mind, needlework is sword practice (her sword is called Needle), and dancing is the waterdancing of Braavos, a style of sword fighting. She can be blunt, and frequently says what's on her mind. When her father told her that she could not be lord of a castle, but could be mother to lords and knights and princes, she shook her head and refused. That was not the life she wanted, one of dresses and real needles and children: she wants adventure and exploration and new things, and even if the Starks had not fallen and the War of the Five Kings had not happened, her parents would have been hard pressed to talk their willful daughter into marrying.
Born during a summer that lasted ten years (long by even her world's standards), Arya was a child of summer, and winter is coming. The Stark motto was never more apt in describing Arya's life. Her earliest years were spent happily, playing with her brothers and tormenting (and occasionally hating) her sister. It was a good, if cold environment, and she took to her bastard brother Jon Snow very early on. They were both of them a little different, just enough to stand apart from the others. They had the Stark coloring, while the rest of their siblings inherited Arya's mother's Tully coloring. Something so small frequently has a profound affect on children: Arya never felt like a redheaded stepchild, but she was always a little different. She hated sitting still and learning to sew, though her sister Sansa did so wonderfully. She wanted to be in the practice yards, to learn the sword with Robb and Jon and Bran. When it was clear that wasn't going to happen, she did everything she could to avoid all those things she'd have to learn to be a lady.
That was where one of her earliest aliases came from: Arya Underfoot.
Arya has always been a curious girl. She wants to know how something works and why, if it interests her, and she has a tendency to look into things herself, prefering a first hand experience. Harwin, one of Winterfell's sworn guards, took to calling her Underfoot, along with his father Hullen, the Master of Horse: she was frequently in the stables when avoiding Septa Mordane's lessons. Many things are worth learning, after all, but some things are just really, really stupid.
Identity in general is a very big deal with Arya. She's gone by many names in the last few years: her given name, Arya of House Stark, is something she had to abandon during the fall of the Starks in King's Landing. Before that, while still living at Winterfell, she was called Arya Underfoot, as above, and Arya Horseface - something her sister's friend Jeyne called her whenever she was being particularly annoying. She was Arry when she pretended to be a boy heading to the Wall, Weasel when she was captured by the Mountain, the Ghost of Harrenhal, responsible for several deaths in that burned and dreary place, Nymeria an Nan when she acted as Roose Bolton's cupbearer, Salty on her journey from Saltpans to Braavos, Cat when she wandered the alleys and causeways of Braavos' ports, and most importantly, no one when she entered the House of Black and White, and the guild of the Faceless Men. She's very bad at being no one, because under the lies and false names she is still Arya Stark, a Stark of Winterfell, and member of a once proud pack.
That's another thing that has kept her alive, the idea of having a pack. The sigil of House Stark is a direwolf, a giant species of wolf that has forever been tied to her family. Her father once taught her that when winter comes, the lone wolf dies while the pack survives. Though it's still autumn where she comes from, Arya's life has been in winter since the Starks fell at King's Landing. With her family scattered, then killed, she made her pack where she could: for a while, Hot Pie and Gendry and Lommy were good enough, but Lommy was killed, Hot Pie left them, and Gendry dissolved the pack completely when he chose to join Beric Dondarrion. She should have known not to make of them her pack: they weren't really wolves, not the way Starks are.
Letting her father's advice go has proven hard: she has been a wolf alone for many months, now, trying to be no one. She still aches for a pack, though she's found that if a lone wolf must die, no one can survive.
But Arya has always been very good at that: she's made do under terrible circumstances. When the Starks fell, she fled the Red Keep and survived in the most miserable part of King's Landing. She could have allowed herself to be taken captive and avoided much of the hardship she suffered, but it isn't in Arya to give in. When her safe ticket back home to Winterfell died in battle, she carried on with her substitute pack; when the Hound kidnapped her, she tolerated it because he was taking her to her mother. And when her mother and Robb died at the Red Wedding she found a way to carry on despite the hole in her heart. She has manage to take the absolute worst of every hand she's been dealt, and find a way to survive. She resourceful, and cunning, and observant: she does everything she needs to in order to survive, because she knows better than most that she can't control the people around her. Bad things happen, and they happen frequently, and all you can do is look and listen and look after yourself and your pack, for however long it's around.
And when it is around, she can be devoted. Arya will never be the type to fall over herself to help another, but when she cares for someone, she will protect them and move them toward safety to the best of her abilities. She frequently foun fault in traveling with Hot Pie and Gendry, and knew that she could make much better time, and be less likely to be spotted by others on the road without them, but despite considering abandoning them, she couldn't leave her pack until they'd left her. She knows what it is to protect your own - even though she never got on with Sansa, even though in many ways she hates her sister, Arya would defend her. She is pack, and nothing will change that. Arya also understands that sometimes protecting those you care about can hurt both of you. Before King Robert arrived in Winterfell, when all this began, her brothers found a litter of direwolf pups at their dead mother's teat. There were five, one for each Stark, and a sixth for Jon. Jon said they were meant to have them, that they were a sign from the old gods - but all Arya cared about was that she had a wolf pup that was all her own. All the children bonded with their wolves, but Arya was the first to lose hers. Nymeria was like Arya in too many ways to not believe that it was fated: but on the long trip south, when Nymeria defended her by biting Prince Joffrey, Arya knew that the king and queen would have her wolf killed. She did everything she could to save Nymeria: ultimately, she had to throw rocks, and struck the wolf twice before she ran. Arya has wolf dreams, sometimes, dreams that she is Nymeria, with a pack of southron wolves around her. She doesn't know they are true dreams, but they are her favorite.
Part of what allowed her to keep Hot Pie and Gendry safe was her wit, but even more so was the fact that she is as quick on her feet as she is to act. Shit has had a way of hitting the fan frequently in recent years, and Arya has survived it by thinking quickly and acting quicker. Staying a step ahead is out of the question for someone who can't control the people around her, but keeping apace is something she's more than familiar with. To escape the Red Keep, she did not run, which would have drawn the attention of the guards, but walked right out of the castle. She kept her head down and her eyes up. Later, she held a watch with her small pack, and did what she could to keep Hot Pie and Gendry from being found by the wrong people. Despite being the smallest, and the youngest, she was their leader: she could read, and she could guide, and she knew not to make a fire at night in the middle of the war ravaged riverlands. Arya is a very smart girl, and though she doesn't come off as a dominant personality, she takes to the role of leadership naturally.
And as far as natural things go, killing has become second nature to Arya. Ever since leaving King's Landing, she has whispered a prayer to herself every night before sleeping, whether she was camping on the road, living in Harrenhal, traveling through the riverlands, or becoming no one in Bravos: "Ser Gregor," it goes, "Dunsen, Raff the Sweetling, Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn, Queen Cersei." It used to be longer, and should be somewhat shorter, but there's no such thing as instant communication or obituaries in Westeros or the Free Cities. These are the people who have harmed her or those she cares about. Gregor took her and Hot Pie and Gendry captive, and allowed his men to commit atrocities to the small folk. Dunsen was one of those men, as was Raff. Ser Ilyn beheaded her father, Ser Meryn killed her waterdancing instructor Syrio, and Cersei was responsible for the fall of the Starks. Arya managed to kill several of the people who had been on her hit list herself, in addition to others who had the misfortune of trying to take her to the queen, or of standing guard the night she escaped from Harrenhal.
She has not regretted these murders. She's rejoiced in some of them. The Tickler was one of Gregor's men, and interrogator who would torture one prisoner in front of the rest, before killing them. Arya watched him work many, many times, and when she killed him she stabbed him as many times as the questions he would ask of those he 'tickled.' He terrified her: killing him was a balm.
Once, before she knew her mother was dead, she wondered what Lady Catelyn would think of her if she knew, and worried that her mother would not want her back for many reasons - murder amongst them. Beyond that, however, Arya has allowed revenge to become her prayer, her salve, her replacement for her pack. She believes the majority of her family to be dead, her pack dispersed; she has no place to go, and no family to turn to. All that is left is revenge for what she lost.
History: Arya's history, and summations of: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and A Feast for Crows.
Arya was born and grew up during the long summer, in a noble house: she was the second daughter of the Warden of the North, a Stark of Winterfell. She never put much stock in birth stature, however; Arya was always happy to play with high and lowborn alike. It didn't matter, as long as the game was fun. She spent the majority of her earliest years causing mischief and getting into trouble, and dashing again and again her parents' hopes that she'd one day be a proper lady. She rarely showed up for Septa Mordane's lessons on needlework: watching her brothers in the practice yards was far more entertaining. When Jon and Robb and Bran brought back their direwolf pups, it got even worse: Nymeria was the perfect accomplice, and training a direwolf was, of course, far more important than learning to stitch a straight line.
When the king showed up, and asked her father to be his Hand, she saw it as an opportunity for adventure. The journey south back to King's Landing would take months, and Nymeria would be with her. So would her sister Sansa, whom Arya never really got on with, but she could ignore that. Before they left, her bastard half-brother Jon had a small, thin sword made for her, and helped her name it Needle. A lady must know her needlework, after all.
Until Prince Joffrey, her sister's prideful and cruel betrothed-to-be, decided to torment Arya's low born friend Mycah for playing at swords with her. When the prince saw fit to draw his real sword where Arya and Mycah had been using sticks, Arya interceded, and Joffrey turned on her. That was when Nymeria attacked, mauling the prince's arm before Arya called her off, and ran.
She had to throw stones at Nymeria to get the wolf to leave. It was the hardest thing she'd had to do up until that point, but she knew that if Nymeria stayed, the king and queen would have her killed.
It worked; Nymeria was spared. but Queen Cersei proved cruel, and had Lady - Sansa'a direwolf - killed instead. And the Hound, Sandor Clegane, Joffrey's sworn man, rode Mycah down and killed him.
After that, nothing could convince her that King's Landing was a place of adventure. She wanted to go back home, but more than that, she wanted to go back to that area of the Trident, and find Nymeria again. She could do neither, though, and eventually found something to love in the capital of the Seven Kingdoms: Syrio Forel, the Braavosi waterdancing teacher her father found. It wasn't dancing he taught her, but needlework - and the way a warrior sees.
But all that came to an end, too; the Lannisters orchestrated the fall of the Starks. Arya saw Stark men killed, and when a stableboy threatened to bring her to the king, she killed him. It was his life or her freedom: she didn't even think about it. After that, she spent days in Flea Bottom, the poorest part of King's Landing, where most people thought she was a boy, and no one thought she was Arya of House Stark. Eventually, her father was brought forward in front of Baelor's Sept, and there he was beheaded for treason. Arya was there, though Yoren, a man of the Night's Watch, kept her from seeing the deed.
She started a long journey north, then, with a band of boys and prisoners, all being taken to the Wall to take the black. Yoren was going to leave her at Winterfell, before continuing on with the other boys to the Wall. Those plans fell through when they were attacked by Ser Armory Loch. Yoren died, and the boys and men who lived scattered. But Hot Pie, Lommy, and Gendry stayed. They became her pack while they traveled, and they traveled far. Until Lommy was killed when Ser Gregor, the Mountain that Rides, captured them. She watched the Mountain's man, who she knew only as the Tickler, torture and kill many people, always wondering if she'd be next.
Eventually they reached Harrenhal, the cursed castle, and Arya entered a life of servitude. She labored under Weese, until Jaqen H'Ghar showed up. He was one of three men she'd saved in the attack that killed Yoren - and he promised her three lives in return. She became the Ghost at Harrenhal, killing with a whisper: at her bidding, Jaqen killed Chiswyck, one of the Mountain's men, and Weese. When she realized her choices had been selfish and petty, in terms of the war that was raging across Westeros, she conned Jaqen into helping her free the northmen who had been taken prisoner. Roose Bolton took charge of the castle, rousting most of the Lannister men who remained, and Arya stayed on to act as his cupbearer. When she learned that the castle was to be left to the Brave Companions, a group of mercenaries who were renowned for their cruelty, she convinced Hot Pie and Gendry to escape with her. They traveled for a long time, heading for Riverrun, her mother's House, but they never got there: Hot Pie left them at an inn, and just as the Mountain had taken them prisoner, so did Beric Dondarrion, a man who had did six times, and been brought back to life.
He was a kinder captor than the Mountain, but he was still a captor. Arya tried to escape, but it proved harder this time, and it wasn't until the Hound kidnapped her that she had hope of ever getting to her family. She fought him bitterly, until he told her where he was taking her: the Crossing, where her mother and brother Robb would be, for her uncle's wedding.
It would become known as the Red Wedding: they arrived just in time to see the Freys turn on her brother's people and kill Robb, the King in the north.
After that, she was listless. She traveled with the Hound, often saying nothing, not knowing where to go or who would have her or who to be. As far as she knew, all her family was dead. Eventually, she and the Hound happened upon an inn, where she met the Tickler and Polliver, another of the Mountain's men, who had stolen Needle. There was a squire with them as well, and when a fight broke out, she killed him, and the Tickler, stabbing him repeatedly. She had Needle back and she had shaken off some of her depression: but the Hound had been badly wounded. She helped him at first, but when he begged the gift of mercy - of death - she recalled what he'd done to Mycah, and refused. She left him to die, and traveled on alone, to a harbor called Saltpans. There she bought passage on a ship to Braavos, the home of Syrio Forel and Jaqen H'Ghar, who had taught her so much.
There, she entered the House of Black and White, and became no one.
Sample Journal Entry: [Electronics are magic as far as Arya is concerned, and she has no idea how to make it work. There are crackles along the network - bits of unintentional audio from a young sounding voice, a flash of video with someone's jaw, and at some point the whole screen turns purple and scrolls unendingly. It's like the Ring, but without bloody noses and creepy girls.
Eventually, she manages to hit the right buttons: reading seriously helps, though she'd rather just bang it against the ground a few times. The video pops on, but it's distorted, and aimed poorly.]
I'd rather use ravens. They're smarter than...what is this thing? Does everyone have one? A letter's easier to write.
[There's a long pause, and the screen goes black - the feed hasn't been cut, she's just holding the device against her leg, and her clothes aren't the best scenery. When she speaks again, she sounds a little stunned.]
Were all these buildings castles? There are so many.
((OOC: Aaand here are a few extras from dear_mun, with spoilery elements: Here, two, and c.))
Sample RP: Here is one set in her world. I can supply another set in the game world, if you'd like.