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Catelyn Stark
Arya is Ned and Catelyn’s daughter and Robb, Sansa, Bran, and Rickon’s sister. She is also Jon Snow’s half-sister. Arya is portrayed as fiercely independent. She finds the gender norms of Westeros frustratingly restrictive. She and her sister Sansa are foils to each other. Instead of enjoying needlework and dresses, like Sansa, Arya wants to explore with friends and learn how to fight with swords. Ned and Jon Snow both encourage Arya, and Jon gives her the sword, Needle, which leads Arya to pursue sword fighting with her teacher, Syrio Forel. In contrast to Ned and Jon, Sansa finds Arya’s lack of desire to conform maddening. Arya not only spurns Westeros’s gender norms but also its strict socioeconomic hierarchy. She befriends people like her friend Mycah, the son of a butcher, and casually dismisses people like Cersei and Myrcella. With that in mind, Arya is also similar to characters like Tyrion and Jon Snow, whose lack of ability to fit into established hierarchies and norms leads them to be suspicious of those hierarchies and to embrace their own sense of who they are.
Arya Stark Quotes in A Game of Thrones
The A Game of Thrones quotes below are all either spoken by Arya Stark or refer to Arya Stark. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 5: Jon
Quotes
“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.”
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Chapter 22: Arya
Quotes
“Your mother and I have charged [Septa Mordane] with the impossible task of making you a lady.”
“I don’t want to be a lady!” Arya flared.
“Let me tell you something about wolves, child. When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. Summer is the time for squabbles. In winter, we must protect one another, keep each other warm, share our strengths.”
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Arya Stark Quotes in A Game of Thrones
The A Game of Thrones quotes below are all either spoken by Arya Stark or refer to Arya Stark. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 5: Jon
Quotes
“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armor yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22: Arya
Quotes
“Your mother and I have charged [Septa Mordane] with the impossible task of making you a lady.”
“I don’t want to be a lady!” Arya flared.
“Let me tell you something about wolves, child. When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. Summer is the time for squabbles. In winter, we must protect one another, keep each other warm, share our strengths.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
