The Valonqar

Exactly this. Now, I am going to go on record to say I do not believe Arya kills Cersei in the books. I really, truly do not. But in the HBO show? I almost think she has to - because if she doesn't, what was all of her training/her entire character arc for?

To kill a weak, lecherous old man and his heirs?

As bad as the Red Wedding was, you don't place 2+ years of valuable screentime and plot on avenging that event an endgame for anyone.

It's already pretty much a given that Farmboy Jon gets to be the 'hero of the day' and kill the Night King, so even if Arya kicks a lot of ass in the war against the wights there's no huge payoff there (unless Jon can only kill him with her assistance - which could happen, but it won't because D&D want to give him all of the great panning Leading Man shots). So, really, looking at the large scale narrative.. what is left for Arya to do, to make her story worthwhile?



And you have a very valid point.

People make a huge mistake when writing Euron off. The reality is, if Euron wasn't completely integral to the endgame plot in some way, he wouldn't have even been written into the series (he'd suffer the same fate as 'Book Aegon'). For Dumb and Dumber to put in the effort to rope him in, even late in the game, there has to be -some purpose- he has that no other existing character could accomplish. And it will be more than just him jabbing his finger up Cersei's bum.

Sad but true when it comes to Arya's HBO storyline and character arc. 

Although, truth be told, she wouldnt even need faceless man training at this point to kill Cersei. Up until she returned to Winterfell, the only people who knew she was alive were Gendry, Hotpie (But it had been what? 4/5 years since they had seen 'Arry'?) and The Hound and Brienne - and those two hadnt seen her in 2+ years either. Everyone believes her to be long dead. That chances are, even if she managed to make it out of King's Landing when her father was executed, she would have died in a ditch some where in the Riverlands because she was eleven fucking years old at the time. 

Hotpie wasnt going to tell anyone that he knew the younger daughter of House Stark. Hell, chances are, there were some days Hotpie thought he dreamed her up, like a imaginary friend. - Gendry wasnt telling about the scrappy 'not a lady' he knew years before, not when he himself had his own secrets that could get him killed. 

The Hound wasnt telling anyone. After all, when he was being honest with himself, the she-bitch was the closest thing he had ever had to a daughter, and of course he wasnt going to rat out her continued existence. 

And Brienne? The only person Brienne might have told would have been Sansa. And that is only "I met your sister once. But couldnt convince her to come with me" And Brienne, though ever honest, wouldnt want to give her new Lady false hope in case Arya was now dead. 

So the four people who knew she was still alive werent going to tell a soul. To everyone else, she was long dead. Arya could have walked right into the Red Keep, gotten a job as a maid or something, and slit Cersei's throat while the bitch was drunk on wine. And do it while wearing her own face. Because no one would recognize her as everyone thinks shes dead, and its been at least seven years and Arya grew up. 

- - - 

As for writing Euron off... I personally write him off because I dont want to deal with his brand of mother fucking bat shit insane. But as far as HBO canon goes, I'm not writing him off yet. Hes too bat shit insane to not have a greater role to play other then, as you said, sticking a finger up Cersei's bum, and taking pot shots at Jamie. 

So I just rewatched the HBO scene and they skipped everything after gold crowns/shrouds, so clearly the nuances got thrown out with that particular flavor of bathwater.

But as for the probably never be written bits, Revan's (or Revan/Starky, I didn't copy/paste far enough back) probably right about the drowned god and the Ironborn surrounding King's Landing, but I feel like the emphasis on 'pale white throat' is a little bit specific for just plain old strangulation when 'seas go dry' plays out as Dothraki ghost grass.

When there's white walkers coming through from the North, unchecked aspects of what the hell is going on in the great white Eyerie towers and with Young Griff/Aegon taking Storm's End, an exodus to White Harbor might feasibly be Cersei's only means of escape after she finishes royally fucking things up in King's Landing.

but they skipped strangulation prophecies in the HBO show so....

Exactly, they didnt even give us the word valonqar to work with.

Well damn. I was hoping to stir up some House interaction and theorizing here - seems like things did get lively.

((Lurkers, come join the conversation!))