@ThrillKillz said:

@CharlesTheBold said:

"What exactly are Sansa'a accomplishments?"

She started a project of storing food in case it grows scarce during the winter or the war against the zombies. No other ruler has apparently thought of it. She has kept a restive crowd of feudal noblemen under control via diplomacy while the king (Jon) is away -- something her father failed to do under King Robert. These are quiet, undramatic accomplishments, but they are important if her realm is to survive.

As for Arya, I think the operative word is "paranoid". Meeting the friendly soldiers, she glanced over at their weaponry in case things turned violent. When meeting an old friend (Hotpie) she dodged conversation until she realized that Hotpie had useful news. At Winterfell, Littlefinger was able to play on her suspicions of Sansa for a while.

I don't think Arya's story has come to a screeching halt. It can go two directions. Either her assassin skills prove useful in the upcoming war, or she can try to work free of her paranoia, wrestle with her conscience, and try to live a more normal life.

Nice post, her story and her biggest move is YET to come IMO(The Frey's massacre was nice revenge, but it had little overall story impact). Definitely no screeching halt to her story, that 's just nuts. Arya will do something big in our final season, something very memorable and something that I believe she will do with her OWN FACE just as she "dispatched" Littlefinger. Of course a face may still be very useful to get to her access to her target should she decide to pursue Cersei. The Mountain is on her list too I believe, I'd love to see that fight go down, then see her take his face and return to Cersei as him. That would be my perfect ending for Cersei.

So in 7 seasons worth of story Sana's checked off "stocked up on food" and "kept lords from leaving largely off screen"? Okay, I guess that's something.

As for Arya's "paranoia" with the Lannister soldiers, she was held prisoner by Lannister soldiers in season 2, one of which killed her friend and threatened to rape her. She's a young small woman traveling alone through a country at war. She'd be a bloody moron if she wasn't ready to defend herself at a moment's notice. But ultimately she doesn't kill them and has a nice scene with them

And the whole "getting played by Littlefinger" and the Winterfell story in general were easily the low points of season 7. As much as I thought I wanted to see Arya's reunion with her family, in retrospect I wish she had been the heartless killer people think she is and gone after Cersei.

@cswood said:

And the whole "getting played by Littlefinger" and the Winterfell story in general were easily the low points of season 7. As much as I thought I wanted to see Arya's reunion with her family, in retrospect I wish she had been the heartless killer people think she is and gone after Cersei.

I concur involving Winterfell, Winterfell in general has been a drag after the The Red Wedding for me imo. After that it seemed to become a pawn in a chess game moving it here and there, but will never be what it once was and that's not including the massive war coming.

The writers f'ed us about by diverting her journey to knock off Cersei, because that is what Arya is meant to do. They had to add that tidbit from Hot Pie and force her on to Winterfell for a very lackluster reunion, at least the two sisters came together at the end in a nice way, but I want to see Cersei's head removed by arya with her little "toothpick" sword as people who don't take her seriously often called it. One badass toothpick that's for sure, I wouldn't dare tangle with her and I'm 3X the size of her.

It sounds like you're talking about two writer teams, with B team ruining A team's story -- for example, B "forcing" and "diverting" the story from what A "meant". Isn't there just one team?

I think the writers knew what they were doing. Their dramatic problem was that Arya-as-avenger was getting old, and the only way they could keep it interesting was to up the violence levele each time. See Arya poke a guy's eyes out. See her arrange for her victims to be cannibalized. See her wipe out a whole family . They had to break the cycle, and they did it by creating suspense about Sansa -- would Arya's violent streak lead her to murder her sister, or would she become more discerning? Besides, they had to keep Cersei alive for a time because she's the only major villain left.

@CharlesTheBold said:

I think the writers knew what they were doing. Their dramatic problem was that Arya-as-avenger was getting old

But how? She's only killed like 2 people on her list not including all the Frey males she poisoned. Seeing Arya trying to infiltrate King's Landing to get to Cersei who is protected by Zombie Mountain sounds like good television to me.

Imagine Arya's cover is compromised and she has to swap faces, and then Qyburn finds the discarded face and is intrigued. He knows of the Faceless Men and realizes one is out to kill Cersei so they lock down the palace and everyone has to have their face stretched to make sure they're who they appear to be.

Just Arya trying to stay ahead of the manhunt would be cool as hell to watch.

I'm sure she will reach King's Landing in Season 8, possibly supported by Brienne and Sansa, and it'll be thrilling. But for the reasons I gave above, I think the writers thought a change-of-pace would be in order at this point, not just continual kill-kill-kill. A long story like this needs variations in tone.

I have a wierd idea.

The prophecy says that Cirsei will be killed by a "valonquar" or "little brother". But Melisande said that prophecies don't distinguish by gender, and so "valonquar" may mean "little sister". You could count Arya as Cirsei's sister-in-law through the marriage between Sansa and Tyrion, and of course Arya is a small girl . So Cirsei would be killed by her "little sister".