The latest episode of Game of Thrones Season 7 – episode 2 – was filled with a boat-load of information, #girlpower, foreshadows and the return of the Red Woman (ugh, why).
While we saw a lot of heartbreak durning the episode – Arya’s emotional realization that her brother is still alive and Theon Greyjoy literally abandoning ship – there was one moment during the episode that absolutely destroyed us all.
Arya was on the way to King’s Landing to kill Cersei, when she runs into an old friend – Hot Pie. She then learns that her brother – Jon Snow – is very much alive and is the new King of the North, meaning, her family is finally back in power. While this is an emotional moment for Arya within itself – it gets even more crushing.
Arya decided to postpone her trip to King’s Landing to reunite with her brother back home – at Winterfell – when she meets an old friend in the woods.
Now – true Game of Thrones fans would realize right away who Nymeria is, but some may have forgotten. The Starks had direwolves as individual pets and companions in Winterfell – Arya’s being Nymeria. In the very first season of Game of Thrones, Nymeria hurts Cersei and Robert Baratheon’s (aka, wrong, it’s really her incest love-child with Jamie, but we ain’t even there yet) son – Joffrey protecting Arya and her friend. Rather than see her companion and best friend get hurt, she forces Nymeria to run away into the woods – saving her.
But, in this episode of Season 7 – Arya is reunited with her old friend and it’s a heartwarming moment.
The point that is truly tear-jerking is that Nymeria turns to leave Arya in the woods – deciding not to come back to Winterfell with her. After Nymeria turns away, Arya mutters three very important words –
On the post-episode discussion that the directors and writers provide to us fans, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss explain how the moment was a significant metaphor and flashback to a conversation that Arya had with her late father – Ned Stark – in Season 1 of the show.
In the moment, Ned Stark tells Arya that one day she will be a “lady” and marry a high lord and rule his castle, instead of wanting to learn how to combat with swords. Arya simply tells her father – “No. That’s not me.”
#YasSis
The moment is not only heartbreaking for Arya to lose her best friend yet again – but, also a heartbreaking memory of her father who is no longer alive.
The writers further explain –
“Arya’s not domesticated and it makes total sense her wolf wouldn’t be either. Once the wolf walks away, at first she’s heartbroken to have come this close. Then she realizes the wolf is doing exactly what she would do if she were that wolf.”
Me when Arya and Nymeria were reunited and she walked away:#GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/dfcy1vfA5W
— arya's #1 fan (@xiaoku) July 24, 2017
Same.