The meaning of Valyrian's dagger of Arya, explained

As unexpected as the big turning point that came to an end Game of thrones & # 39; "Long Night" was designed to trace the movement of the dagger ending the Great Arya War until season 1.

Exploring the history of Valyrian's dagger on the show only adds layer upon layer of thematic significance to Arya's moment of glory. And that could also prefigure Arya's next target: Cersei Lannister.

In the episode Inside the Episode, David Benioff said that they had known for three years that Arya would be killing the king of the night. And it's clear now, they planted a lot of seeds during this time.

The Catspaw dagger (as the fans called it) was first introduced in episode 2, season 1, during the attempted assassination of a comatose Bran after his almost fatal fall of the tower. Fortunately, Summer and Catelyn were still there at the time to prevent the future Three-Eyed Raven from getting Night Kinged. But that's one of the Game of thrones Classic and complete reminders so that the weapon that almost killed Bran returns several seasons later, only to save him – and the whole world.

It's also the perfect way to honor Catelyn, who would be so proud to know that her daughter took on the role of protecting Stark children from all threats, no matter the price.

Later in season 1, the dagger became the main piece of evidence that Catelyn had used to accuse and arrest Tyrion for the murder of Bran. That's because Littlefinger told him that the rare dagger was his once, before he lost it in a bet against the Imp. We do not know if Littlefinger was lying there, because at the time, he had planned to cause a war of troubles between the Lannister and the Starks. But we know that Tyrion was do not behind her (the attempt at assassination was probably actually Joffrey's gesture.)

But what is most important is that the dagger that unleashed the first major war of the series – the Starks-versus-Lannister conflict that led to the Five Kings War – was finally used to end the Great War .

But it goes even further than that. The next time we saw the dagger, Littlefinger drove him back to Bran in Season 7 while trying to pamper himself for the Stark kids who were suspicious of him.

The dagger that launched the first great war of the series … was finally used to end the Great War.

"In a way that dagger did you what you are today," Littlefinger told Bran. "Forced from home, hunted in wild lands Beyond the wall … To cross all this and go home only to find such chaos in the world, I can only imagine-"

"Chaos is a ladder," said Bran, interrupting it by recalling Littlefinger's reasoning for Sansa's plans to destabilize Westerosi's policy. In fact, it seems that Bran used the chaos of the Battle of Winterfell (like Theon charging the king of the night) as a distraction to give Arya the scale she needed to launch her insane sneak attack.

Oddly enough, Littlefinger proved to be right, however: this dagger caused a domino effect that caused Bran to become the three-eyed crow, just like his fall from the tower. And that is also true for Arya. The dagger played an important role in the realization of the war of the five kings, which led to the red marriage. And the red marriage is what motivated Arya to become an unstoppable assassin who could kill the Night King.

Later in season 7, Bran gives Arya the dagger with a lack of suspicious explanation. Now we know it's because he saw what she would do with it. And we also know why the series took the time to dispute Arya duel Brienne, when she wins by shooting the dagger with her left hand exactly as she did with Night King in season 8.

It's even more impressive when you realize that, despite being right-handed in real life, Maisie Williams has made it a point to describe Arya as a left-handed person. And looking back, we can assume that she was probably engaged in this little detail so that there is a precedent for the coup du truccher thing that saves the world.

But Arya's stealth attack has been postponed to season 8 also. And not just because of the prophecy, Melisandre reminds Arya earlier in episode 3.

When Jon and Arya met at Godswood in Episode 1, he was surprised by his sudden appearance. "How could you sneak me?" He asked him. Well, she'll sneak up against another King of Winter in exactly the same place two episodes later.

All this shows that on Game of thrones, the decline is still 20/20. Someone might have linked all the tricks to predict this unpredictable turn, but the foreshadowing only becomes really clear after the fact. And the exchange between Bran and Arya when he gave him the dagger of season 7 might have hinted at another twist that went through our head at that time.

"I saw you at the crossroads … I thought you would go to King's Landing," Bran told Ayra after their meeting.

"Me too," she said. And when Sansa asks why Arya would go there, Bran explains, "Cersei is on his list of names."

At this point, we should take all Bran's unexplained actions, reactions, and frightening looks as an indication of what will happen. So now, we can not stop reading this exchange as announcing that Arya will go to King's Landing in the last three episodes to finally wipe Cersei off his list.

Because at the time, Bran had said that his visions were a confused, fragmented mess. He seems to have understood them better in Season 8. But at that point, it is quite possible that he confused the idea that Arya kills Cersei in King's. Landing during season 8 with his choice for season 7 to go to Winterfell rather than King's Landing.

What is true is that – like Littlefinger's poetic justice executed by Arya with the weapon he tried to use to manipulate Bran – the Catspaw Dagger became a symbol of Arya in as an angel of death for Starks. Since her reintroduction in season 7, she has now killed two of her family's biggest enemies.

And as we have seen in the excerpts of the next episode 4, the series does not only return to King's Landing, but also seems to return to the Stark feud against Lannister who sparked everything. It is also interesting to note that in Melisandre's prophecy, she says that Arya will close many eyes forever, "brown eyes, blue eyes, green eyes". Walder Frey had brown eyes. The king of the night was blue. And Cersei has green eyes.

Arya killing Cersei with the dagger could ruin Jaime's popular theory as a valonqar. But do not forget that Arya can wear anyone's face, including the "little brother" of Cersei, Tyrion or Jaime.

In the end, however, Arya does not need to kill Cersei to complete the character arc represented by his list of names. Because to deal with the deaths in her family, Arya clung to this list as if her life depended on it. But after examining the many facets of death with faceless men and returning home, she chose life, love, and family instead of taking revenge again and again.

The last enemy was death. And Arya has conquered death without even needing his list.