The “Game of Thrones” reunion you had been waiting for finally happened. And it was bittersweet.
Spoilers alert! If you haven’t watched the most recent episode of Game of Thrones, then go watch it. And then come back, because we have so much to discuss.
Tonight’s episode of Game of Thrones, “Stormborn,” did not disappoint. Evil Uncle/Pirate Euron Greyjoy captures Yara and Ellaria, Jon Snow decides to go meet Daenerys after Tyrion invites him to Dragonstone (if only to get his hands on precious dragonglass), Missandei and Grey Worm see each other naked, and Cersei tries to make House Tarly pledge its allegiance to the Lannisters.
Oh, and Arya finds herself surrounded by wolves in the middle of the forest, only to reunite with her direwolf, Nymeria.
Seeming to pause her plan to go kill Queen Cersei after finding out Jon Snow is King of the North, Arya sets off with a horse to go back to her home. Huddled over a fire, Arya and her horse are suddenly ambushed by a pack of wolves. In a scary situation that no mask will save her from, Arya looks over to see that Nymeria is the pack leader.
If you recall, Arya had to force Nymeria to run away after she bit Joffrey. Knowing that King Baratheon would most certainly put the wolf down if Arya brought her back to Winterfell, Arya scared her off, ultimately saving her. Does Nymeria remember?
It seems so, because the direwolf doesn’t bite her or even growl as Arya reaches out to her with her hand, beckoning her to come back to Winterfell with her. It’s an emotional moment and maybe we started to cry a little — but it was short lived. Nymeria ultimately turns around and abandons Arya. “That’s not you,” Arya says, but it’s obvious that this is, in fact, her old pet.
Maybe Arya meant that the old Nymeria wouldn’t have left her. Or maybe “that’s not you” refers to Arya herself. According to Vox, Game of Thrones showrunner D.B. Weiss explains that those three words “are a reference to something she herself told her father back in season one.” Ned had told Arya that she’d one day become a lady and Arya responded, “That’s not me.” Nymeria, like Arya, went off to be her own person, er, wolf. And maybe that’s how it should be. Nymeria has her own pack, Arya has revenge to carry out.
Will Nymeria return? We hope so. Direwolves have always been considered a symbol of Stark strength, so the more of them returning, the better. At this point, we only have Ghost and Nymeria left. Does that mean Sansa’s in trouble? We’ll have to keep watching to find out, but fingers crossed for our remaining Stark siblings.
