Arya Stark has come a long way from a sweet kid we met in the very first season of "Game of Thrones" to the vicious assassin she is now. In the meantime, she has lost everything. Her family, friends, and even a sense of self. Her journey so far has been the one followed by death and the loss of identity. And no matter how tough, and adaptable Arya seems to be, she is still a very young, traumatized girl.

In her point of view chapters in George R. R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" books, Arya tells us about the hole inside her where her heart had been.

The hole that will "never feel any better." So we sympathize with her. We want her to have a happy ending, marry Gendry, sail west of Westeros, and what not. But the truth is: Arya can barely function like a normal person, let alone become the noble lady she never wanted to be in the first place. So we wonder, what will happen to Arya Stark? How will her story end? Bear with us as we go over some clues and foreshadowing from the text that point towards the idea that Arya Stark might actually die in "Game of Thrones" Season 8.

Why do people think Arya will survive the entire series?

"Game of Thrones" fans often like to emphasize that Arya can't die simply because she is George R. R. Martin's wife's favorite character and that he made a promise not to kill her, which is kind of true.

Except George only promised that he wouldn't kill Arya off, before the last book.

There's also George R. R. Martin's original outline where he stated that five characters would survive the whole thing. Jon, Daenerys, Bran, Tyrion, and Arya. But this doesn't prove anything as this outline also predicted that Jaime would kill everyone and become king, not to mention the weirdest love triangle of all time between Jon, Arya, and Tyrion.

The point is that a lot has changed since then, and this outline is no longer relevant to the story.

Now with this out of the way, let's talk about the foreshadowing of Arya's death in the first book "A Game of Thrones."

Arya's death foreshadowed?

George R. R. Martin originally intended "A Game of Thrones" to be the first book of a three-part series, so it stands the reason to believe that he put clues in there that tell us how things might end up taking place.

With that in mind, let's talk about the two instances where Arya's death was heavily foreshadowed.

At the very end of Arya's first ever chapter in the books, Jon told her this: "You had best run to your room little sister, Septa Mordane will surely be lurking" he joked. "The longer you hide, the sterner the penance," Jon Snow continued before finishing with what at first seemed as a joke, but what could be some heavy foreshadowing: "You'll be sewing all through winter, and when the spring thaw comes, they will find your body with a needle still locked tight between your frozen fingers."

This could mean that Arya will be found dead in the snow with her sword Needle between her frozen fingers. And Jon Snow could very well be the one to discover her body.

Now, let's talk about the other instance where Arya's death was heavily implied.

In the next Arya chapter from "A Game of Thrones," Ned told her how much she reminded him of his sister Lyanna. "You even look like her," Ned told Arya, "She was beautiful, wilful, and dead before her time." And then again when he talked about her having a wildness in her, the wolf blood "Lyanna had a touch of it, my brother, Brandon more than a touch, and it brought them both to an early grave."

Now that we saw all the signs that may point towards Arya's early death let's talk about how she could die.

How will Arya die?

To understand how Arya will die we must go back to that first quote: "You had best run to your room little sister" could actually be the reference to her coming back home to Winterfell and that the longer she hides (beneath other people's faces) the sterner will be the penance (her eventual death.) And according to this theory, that could mean that Arya will be killed by a Faceless Man.

To recall, Arya was only allowed to leave the cult of the Faceless Men after the debt of life she owed to the Many-Faced God was paid with the death of the Waif instead of Lady Crane. But it was because of what happened next that the Faceless Men want her dead. She stole from the Many-Faced God by slaughtering the entire Frey family.

According to Reddit user MrSilenceT, Arya abused the magic of the Faceless Men by going straight back to her list of names and killing everyone who stands in her way. As Jaqen H'ghar himself would put: "The faces are for no one, you are still someone, and to someone, faces are as good as poison." So it stands the reason to believe that Faceless Men will come to Winterfell to take Arya's life in exchange for those she stole from the Many-Faced God.

MrSilenceT thinks that Arya will be killed by a Faceless Girl who will be played by the young actress (around Arya's age) they cast in November. There's also a set leak that may prove Arya's death. Spoiler alert: Don't proceed with the article if you don't want to know anything about the filming of "Game of Thrones" Season 8.

Take a look at the tweet below.

As you can see this picture alone doesn't prove very much, especially not a theory as wild and controversial as this one.

But this could very well be Arya's body in the snow with Needle locked tight between her frozen fingers, just as it was foreshadowed in her first chapter from the books.

Arya's second life

Arya's death would be tragic. There's no doubt about that. But she could still have a bittersweet ending. How?

According to YouTube user Alt Shift X, Arya could live a second life inside her direwolf Nymeria. To recall, when wargs die, they may live a second life by having their spirit leave their body and become one with an animal. And George R. R. Martin confirmed that all of the Stark children are wargs, except for Sansa because her direwolf was killed early on.

There's no denying that Arya is a killer, but she wants a pack just as much as she wants blood.

And by living a second life inside Nymeria, she could have both. Not to mention the fact that she would also fulfill her father's words: "When snows fall and white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives."

Sure, this girl could have a family, be a lady, and live happily ever after. But to quote Arya: "That's not me." And she is right. Her story is about the loss of identity and death. So Arya dying and living her second life inside of Nymeria surrounded by the giant pack of wolves, just like she always wanted, wouldn't be all that bad. It would be bittersweet, just like we expect this story to end.

Check out Alt Shift X's video to find out more about Arya's journey.
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