Arya Stark

Arya Stark is a major character in Game of Thrones. She is played by starring cast member Maisie Williams and débuts in the first episode of the first season. Arya is a daughter of House Stark who has been separated from her family. She is fiercely independent and is often mistaken for a boy. She wields a sword named Needle, a gift from her half-brother Jon Snow, and has been trained in the Braavosi style of swordfighting. She adopted the direwolf Nymeria but they have since been separated.

Background
Arya Stark is the youngest daughter of Eddard and Catelyn. She is the sister of Robb, Sansa, Bran and Rickon and half-sister of Jon Snow. Her father Eddard is the Head of House Stark, Warden of the North, Lord of Winterfell and Lord paramount of the North. She lives with her family in Winterfell.

Arya rejects the notion that she must become a lady and marry for influence and power, feeling she can forge her own destiny. She is fascinated by warfare and bored by the pursuits of ladies. She has a quarrelsome relationship with her sister Sansa. She is close to her half brother Jon who is also something of an outcast.

Season 1
Arya is being taught how to sew by Septa Mordane, but tires of the lesson when she hears Bran, Jon and Robb practising archery in the courtyard. She grabs a bow and annoys Bran by out-shooting him.

On King Robert's visit to Winterfell, Arya rushes out to see the arrival of his entourage. She is scolded when she finally joins the receiving line in the courtyard. She tests her mother's patience by misbehaving and teasing her sister, Sansa in the feast that evening. Robert names Arya's father Eddard Stark as his Hand of the King and Eddard decides to take his daughters with him to King's Landing to experience the court. Before leaving Arya receives a pet direwolf, one of several cubs found by her brothers outside the castle, and names her Nymeria, after a great warrior-queen of Essos. She also receives a sword as a gift from Jon. She names it Needle.

While journeying south on the Kingsroad, she practices her swordwork with Mycah, the son of the butcher in the King's retinue. When Sansa and her betrothed, Prince Joffrey Baratheon, spot them fighting Joffrey intervenes. He accuses Mycah of pretending to be a knight and threatens to kill him for striking Arya. Ignoring their protests, he cuts Mycah and threatens Arya. Nymeria bites his arm, allowing Mycah to flee and Arya to throw Joffrey's sword in the river. Arya runs away and drives Nymeria off with rocks so that she won't be punished. Arya is eventually found and questioned. Arya is truthful but Sansa lies about the incident, supporting Joffrey's falsified version of events. Queen Cersei has Sansa's direwolf Lady executed in place of Nymeria. Mycah is murdered by Joffrey's bodyguard The Hound.



After reaching King's Landing, Arya argues incessantly with Sansa over the incident, to her father's despair. Eddard tries to make Arya understand that Sansa could not contradict her future husband. Arya is disgusted that Eddard thinks such an excuse is acceptable. Eddard discovers Needle amongst Arya's belongings and decides to hire Syrio Forel, a master sword-fighter from Braavos, to train Arya in the art of combat. Eddard is bemused to find that Syrio's training regime includes having Arya balance on her tiptoes for hours at a time and chasing cats around their new residence in the Red Keep. When Eddard tells Arya that her duty is to marry a powerful lord and have children, she calmly replies that isn't her destiny at all.



Arya watches the Hand's tournament along with Septa Mordane and Sansa. She asks Littlefinger how he got his nickname, to his amusement. Arya later resumes her cat-chasing training exercise and finds her way into the dungeons under the Red Keep. She overhears Varys and Illyrio Mopatis plotting, but cannot identify them and has forgotten most of the details by the time she gets back to her father. Eddard introduces her to Yoren, a recruiter for the Night's Watch. Whilst dishevelled and unclean, Arya is constantly mistaken for a boy, to her annoyance. Arya is distracted from her training exercises by news of Jory's death and her father's injury while fighting Jaime Lannister. Syrio teaches her how to ignore her troubles to focus on fighting. Later, Sansa and Arya have an argument triggered by Sansa calling Joffrey a lion, Arya asserts that he will be a stag like his father. Sansa replies that Joffrey is nothing like Robert. This prompts Eddard's realization that Joffrey is not Robert's son and thus not the heir to the throne.

Eddard warns Cersei that he is going to expose her infidelity. Robert is wounded by a boar while hunting and dies shortly afterwards. Cersei and Joffrey have Eddard arrested and send guards to take Arya into custody. Syrio defends Arya, disarming several Lannister guards and holding off one of the Kingsguard, Ser Meryn Trant. Arya flees the castle, stabbing and killing a stableboy who tries to stop her. War breaks out between the forces of House Lannister and the forces loyal to House Stark, now under the leadership of Robb.

Arya lives on the streets of King's Landing, catching wild birds to feed herself. While trying to bargain for something to eat at a baker's stand, Arya notices crowds of people running to the city's center. She discovers that they are assembling to witness the trial of the Hand of the King. Arya runs to the crowded square and climbs on a statue to gain a better view. Eddard spots Arya and manages to surreptitiously warn Yoren. When Ned is made to confess his treason and Joffrey orders Ned's execution, Arya dashes forward in an attempt to save her father. Yoren manages to grab her. Holding Arya against his chest, he tells her not to look. Upon seeing the frightened birds taking flight, Arya knows that her father is dead.

Yoren cuts her hair to make her look more like a boy and vows to get her home. She will pose as a fresh recruit for the Night's Watch. When Arya joins the group of other recruits for the Wall, she is bullied by two boys, Hot Pie and Lommy Greenhands, but she defends herself and scares them off with Needle. Gendry, another recruit, also steps up to defend her. The entire group departs King's Landing, facing a journey of hundreds of miles through a warzone in order to get back to Winterfell.

In the books
In the Song of Ice and Fire novels Arya is nine years old when King Robert Baratheon arrives at Winterfell. She is a tomboy who wants to learn how to fight with a sword and ride in tourneys, to the horror of her more demure older sister, Sansa, but she is encouraged by her half-brother Jon.

In the novels, Arya is left-handed. Maisie Williams is right-handed, but plays Arya as left-handed to be true to the books, including learning how to fight with a sword in her left hand.