Nymeria (direwolf)

"Nymeria, gloves."

- Arya Stark

Nymeria is one of six direwolf pups found by the children of House Stark. Nymeria is adopted and raised by Arya Stark.

Arya named her after Nymeria of Dorne, the warrior-queen of the Rhoynar who lived a thousand years ago.

Season 1
Nymeria was adopted as a pup along with the rest of her siblings when Eddard Stark and his entourage came upon the pups and their deceased mother. At the request of Jon Snow, the pups were spared a quick death and each Stark child adopted one as their own. Arya names her direwolf after a fearsome warrior-queen.



Arya trains her to help her pack for the journey south to King's Landing. In front of Jon, Arya demands Nymeria bring her her gloves, but she merely stares at Arya, obviously not understanding. She accompanies her as far as the Crossroads Inn.

During a fight between Arya and Prince Joffrey Baratheon in which Joffrey knocks Arya down and threatens to gut her, Nymeria protects Arya by biting Joffrey's arm. Arya, fearing for Nymeria's well-being, takes her away and forces her to leave. After the incident, Queen Cersei Lannister orders Nymeria's execution even though it was Joffrey who started the fight. However, as she is nowhere to be found, her sister, Lady is killed in her place despite her innocence and the protests of Arya and her sister, Sansa.

Nymeria is currently running loose somewhere in the Riverlands; her exact whereabouts are unknown. Her actions are shown to have left permanent bite marks on Joffrey's arm.

In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Nymeria is an exuberant and playful wolf, but is also fiercely defensive of Arya Stark. Arya names her for Nymeria, the warrior-queen of the Rhoynar who led her people to safety in Dorne, a thousand years before the events of the series.

Nymeria's fate is likewise not revealed in the books, although while in the House of Black and White, Arya frequently dreams that she is a direwolf leading a pack of grey wolves in the Riverlands.

After Brynden Tully escapes from Riverrun, Nymeria helps him indirectly by delaying his pursuers: Jaime sends Ser Addam Marbrand and Ser Dermot of the Rainwood to find Brynden; the next day, Ser Dermot returns and reports that his party was attacked by a pack of hunderds of wolves, led by an enormous female direwolf. The wolves killed two sentries and horses. Hearing that, Jaime wonders if the she-direwolf in question is the same one that mauled Joffrey.

According to the TV series official pronunciation guide developed for the cast and crew, "Nymeria" is pronounced "Nigh-MEER-ee-uh", as opposed to "Nih-MER-ee-uh".