‘Game of Thrones’: Arya Stark’s Death May Have Been Spoiled Years Ago

Arya Stark has become one of Game of Thrones‘ most beloved characters, and hopefully fans will not have to see her die during Sunday’s epic Battle of Winterfell episode. However, one fan pointed out that George R.R. Martin might have planted a hint at Maisie Williams‘ character’s demise long before HBO brought Westeros to life.

Last week, a Reddit user began reading the first book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, A Game of Thrones, and noticed that Jon Snow made a curious comment to Arya in the first chapter, after Arya was sewing with Septa Mordane, Sansa and other girls. An argument breaks out, and Jon finds Ayra crying. Of course at that time, Jon was years away from learning that he is not really the bastard son of Arya’s father, Ned Stark.

“The show is done,” Jon told Arya in the scene. “You had best run back to your room, little sister. Septa Mordane will surely be lurking. The longer you hide, the sterner the penance. You’ll be sewing all through winter. When the spring thaw comes, they will find your body with a needle still locked tight between your frozen fingers.”

While the comment might have been Jon just trying to warn Arya against showing a sign of weakness, it is curious that Arya would later name the sword Jon gave her “needle.”

Over the course of the series, we have seen Arya grow into a woman dedicated to killing her enemies, and finding little time for anything else. In last week’s episode, she did finally take the time to do something for herself before the big battle with the White Walkers: she had sex with Gendry (Joe Dempsie).

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly published after the episode aired, Williams, 22, said she thought showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss were pranking her when she first saw the scene. They were serious about it, but made sure she felt comfortable during filming.

“David and Dan were like: ‘You can show as much or as little as you want,’” Williams explained. “So I kept myself pretty private. I don’t think it’s important for Arya to flash. This beat isn’t really about that. And everybody else has already done it on the show, so…”

Williams said she knew the scene was important for Arya, as it was one last chance for her to show an emotion fans had not seen from her on Game of Thrones.

“This may be is a moment where Arya accepts death tomorrow, which she never does — ‘Not Today,’” she told EW. “So it was that moment where she says, ‘We’re probably going to die tomorrow, I want to know what this feels like before that happens.’ It’s interesting to see Arya be a bit more human, speak more normally about things people are scared of.”

Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

Photo credit: Helen Sloan/HBO