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A Wolf In Stark's Clothing: 'Game Of Thrones' Creator Explains Arya's Big Reunion Scene

It didn't take a genius to work out that Arya Stark would be reunited with a very old friend during the time on "Stormborn."

By Tom ChapmanPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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'Game of Thrones' [Credit: HBO]

With the promo for Episode 2 of Game of Thrones Season 7 being a little more spoilerific than normal, it didn't take a genius to work out that Arya Stark would be reunited with a very old friend during the time on "Stormborn."

It was a case of every dog/wolf has its day, and after six seasons apart, a grown-up Arya finally crossed paths with her direwolf Nymeria. However, with some peculiar wording during their reconciliation, some thought that the overgrown wolf in the wood was just a doppelgänger for her missing companion.

Hungry like the wolf.

The scene in question saw Arya surrounded by a pack of wolves, only for a familiar looking face to confront the sword-swinging Stark. When Arya asked Nymeria to accompany her back to Winterfell, the direwolf opted to keep her new life in the Riverlands. Arya said to Nymeria, "No, that's not you," leading some viewers to think it was a case of mistaken identity. However, in typical Thrones style, it was a very clever callback to Season 1 and it seems that Nymeria is just as rebellious as her owner.

You may remember Sean Bean's Ned Stark telling a very young #MaisieWilliams about Arya's future as a lady and living a happy life wearing a dress. The defiant Stark girl ended it with "That's not me," something echoed all these years later in "Stormborn." It wasn't just previous episodes that got a nod though, Season 7 saw Nymeria follow her own path from the books. On the pages of #GeorgeRRMartin's novels, the absentee wolf roams the Riverlands and leads a hundred-strong pack of wolves who dismember Stark enemies. While Nymeria wasn't quite "Squad Goals AF," she seemed to be enjoying her new position of power.

Speaking in the HBO featurette after the latest #GameofThrones episode, showrunner D.B. Weiss said Nymeria's return was never going to be as easy as sticking a collar on the direwolf:

"Arya’s not domesticated and it makes total sense that her wolf wouldn’t be either. Once the wolf walks away, at first she’s heartbroken to have come this close, then she realizes that the wolf is doing exactly what she would do if she were that wolf."

A Stark Contrast

Interestingly, did Nymeria's reappearance also tie into this season's "lone wolf" prophecy? The phrase "the lone wolf dies while the pack survives" has seemingly foreshadowed a grim ending for one of our remaining Starks, but did this episode see Arya dodge that bullet? Just as Nymeria and her pack move on, we see Arya heading for home to reunite with her own "wolves" under the Stark sigil at Winterfell. Thankfully, Arya is no longer the lone wolf who is heading to kill the Queen at King's Landing — but that doesn't mean she won't.

As for the lack of a happy ending, Williams herself told Entertainment Weekly that Nymeria's new life was the right route for the story to take:

“It’s even nicer that they don’t live happily ever after. Nymeria has created her own world and created her own pack and isn’t ready to be Arya’s pet. To be someone’s pet would reverse everything she’s learned. So they almost just regard each other and go their separate ways.”

Alongside the return of Hot Pie at the Inn at the Crossroads, Nymeria's homecoming was a brilliant coming together of various storylines. To escape the wrath of Cersei Lannister, Arya shooed Nymeria away back in only the show's second episode. Patience is a virtue, and we don't know whether "Stormborn" really is the end of the road for Nymeria and Arya, but think of the poetic justice if they both take down Cersei together. With only Ghost and Nymeria left knocking around the North, let's hope that last of these direwolves won't find themselves in the dire straights that the rest of the litter ended up in.

(Source: Entertainment Weekly)

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About the Creator

Tom Chapman

Tom is a Manchester-based writer with square eyes and the love of a good pun. Raised on a diet of Jurassic Park, this ’90s boy has VHS flowing in his blood. No topic is too big for this freelancer by day, crime-fighting vigilante by night.

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