A new theory about Arya's story arc in Game of Thrones season 6 has been presented by Charlie Jane Anders on Wired. The 'Arya is dead' theory is fascinating and some way brilliant; you may think that it's crazy, but wait to read what we discovered rewatching GOT 6x08before judging.
The 'Arya is dead' theory
This new theory explains the super-weird scene in which Arya faces Jaqen at the end of GOT 6x08. According to the theory, Arya died in thedark room where she fought the Waif, and the girl we saw in the Faceless Men's temple is actually the Waif wearing Arya's face.
In this scene Jaqen tells Arya: "Finally, a girl is no one." Why would Jaqen say that? Arya totally failed in becoming no one: she killed the Waif in self-defense, she messed up her first assignment and then she refused to kill Lady Crane, failing her second assignment, not to mention that immediately after she proudly stated: "I'm Arya of Winterfell."
Jaqen is not speaking to the young Stark?
According to the theory, Jaqen's behavior make sense if Arya is actually the Waif: the Waif became "no one" killing Arya and taking her place. And this is the reason why Jaqen gives "Arya" a little smile when she says that she will go home (Jaqen is pleased since the Waif is now able to accomplish some mysterious mission using Arya's face).
The face on the wall.
Charlie Jane Anders defines her fascinating theory "admittedly crazy pants," but we discovered a few new hints in Game of Thrones 6x08 that couldconfirm her theory. Whose faceis it that Arya pinned to the wall in the Faceless Men's temple? Look carefully atthe picture above (or click it to enlarge the picture): it doesn't look like the Waif's face.
Look at the eyebrows: they're different from the Waif's eyebrows, they look much more similar to Lady Crane's eyebrows.
The blood
We noticed anotherinterestingdetail in the last scene: the blood in the hall is apparently related to the bloody face Arya pinned to the wall, not to Arya's body (and, moreover, when she walks away from Jaqen in the very last frames she's clearly not bleeding).
But Arya was severely injured, so how is it possible that after she fought the Waif she isn't bleeding anymore? Excluding sloppy writing, the only explanation is that she's not Arya. The girl looks so healthy because she's actually the Waif wearing Arya's face.
A possible explanation to Jaqen's words
The Waif in the final scene is not only wearing Arya's face, she's pretending to be her. She says “You told her to kill me." "Yes, but here you are," Jaqen responds, accepting that the Waif has already acquired Arya's identity. "And there she is," meaning that the Waif also recovered Lady Crane's face, fully accomplishing her mission.
Nonetheless, we have to point out that almost every incongruence in Arya's storyline can be explained with this theory.
This hypothesis explains why:
- Arya looks healthy in the temple;
- Jaqen tells her she finally became "no one."
- the face on the wall looks similar to Lady Crane's face than to the Waif's face
- Jaqen looks pleased when she says that she's going home.
A more plausible theory
We can also speculate that Arya is the one who put Lady Crane's face on the wall and this is the reason why Jaqen tells her that she's "finally no one."She survived the Waif's assault and pinned Lady Crane's face to the wall as requested. This theory looks less creative and more credible than the "Arya is dead' one, but what this theory doesn't explain (why Arya isn't bleeding, for example) can only be explained considering the episode as a sloppily written one.
