The “Game of Thrones” director explains THAT Arya scene we can’t stop talking about
This post contains spoilers about the latest episodes of Game of Thrones. And what do we say to reading spoilers if you’re not yet caught up on Season 6? Not today.
When Arya Stark was stabbed in the gut by a shape-shifting Waif, fans of the show everywhere held their breath (and in solidarity for her brave water escape). It was terrifying to think that the beloved character we’ve watched grow from a young tomboy into a fierce warrior onscreen could meet such an untimely end.
The director Mark Mylod who filmed the both episodes (“The Broken Man” and “No One”) which followed Arya’s dramatic storyline recently spoke to Tech Insider about everything that went into that intense showdown. Ever since her father’s demise, we’ve seen Arya on guard at all times. During every encounter, she’s had to hide parts of her identity — culminating in her entry into world of the Faceless Men, where she attempted to eradicate her identity completely. And in a quiet moment after she rejected the Girl With No Name, she allowed herself to again be a human with feelings (and flaws).
Just after she’s secured her passage out of Braavos, she exhales for a brief moment. Mylod explains, “When she stops to look over the city and has a that moment of reflection … and she looks towards the great statue in the harbor, she just drops her guard for a moment in a very human way and it almost costs her her life.”
It’s true that so far Arya has been able to out run, out wit, and now even out fight (sorry, Waif) everyone who has come to harm her. So it’s a nice reminder that, despite her seemingly superhuman abilities, she’s really just a human trying to survive. Mylod adds, “Nobody is perfect, we all make mistakes all the time, and Arya nearly pays dearly for it. Thankfully her determination to survive is such that she is able to come through it. But it is a really close call.”
Too close for comfort for most Arya fans. Though, to be fair, her triumphant victory over Waif and the Faceless Men did feel a lot sweeter knowing all that she had been through to achieve it.
