As for Arya, the girl is deliberately and willingly seeking employment as a professional assassin! No matter what mendacious tale of mercy or justice the Faceless Men use to dilute the unsavory truth of their occupation, they commit murder for money. Arya knows this, she was raised to hold proper values, and she still pursues a career with the Faceless Men in spite of that. You can make all sorts of arguments about how her losses and harsh experience is driving her to that, but the reasons why a person's character are formed in a certain way have nothing to do with whethr or not they are good or evil. They are good or evil based on their actions and intentions, not on what experience causes them to see evil deeds as an acceptable means. And, too, she murdered Daeron or Dareon or whoever the singer from the Night's Watch was. She was not in the Seven Kingdoms, so their laws do not apply. She is not a bannerman or titled noble with a responsibility or right to uphold the laws of the Seven Kingdoms, no matter what she claims in her assertion that Arya Stark did the deed. Plain and simple, she committed cold-blooded murder, for no genuine reason. He was no threat to anyone, least of all Arya herself, and there is simply no excuse for killing him. This proves that Arya is not simply in denial about the reality or actions of the Faceless Men - she is perfectly willing to commit murder and take lives for which she has no good cause.
On the contrary, I think her murdering the Nightwatchman shows that her values haven't changed as far as we've originally thought. Sure, she murders people, and more importantly, she has murdered a couple of people that harmed her personally, even though she had the option of killing much more politically viable targets. However, she is a 9 or 10 year old girl, given over to fits of frivolity, though much less than most 9 or 10 year old children. But the Nightwatchman was a defender of the North, and he violated his oath. She, as the representative of the Starks of the Kingdom in the North, felt it was her duty to administer justice. Arya is a law unto herself. I am glad that she is holding on to some of her ideals.
ASoI&F Quickpoll: Evil characters
18/03/2010 02:04:24 PM
- 1304 Views
Re: ASoI&F Quickpoll: Evil characters
18/03/2010 02:32:48 PM
- 745 Views
Confusing likability with goodness
18/03/2010 08:59:40 PM
- 764 Views
Arya may not be "good"...
18/03/2010 09:15:46 PM
- 817 Views
Do you think a child can be evil? *NM*
18/03/2010 09:18:06 PM
- 319 Views
We sometimes hear about kids doing horrible things
18/03/2010 09:41:30 PM
- 650 Views
Is that because they may not understand the consequences of their actions?
18/03/2010 09:45:33 PM
- 714 Views
Most likely, yes. Plus their reasons for doing bad things lack deeper inferior motives.
18/03/2010 10:09:25 PM
- 750 Views
Arya is old enough to understand cause and effect...
18/03/2010 11:04:31 PM
- 837 Views
Soldiers do the same thing.
19/03/2010 03:23:35 AM
- 693 Views
Just what I was about to say, yeah *NM*
19/03/2010 07:55:47 AM
- 293 Views
Soldiers kill for the sake of their country, their cause, or their hope...
19/03/2010 11:24:16 PM
- 1068 Views
Re: Soldiers kill for the sake of their country, their cause, or their hope...
20/03/2010 12:29:55 AM
- 706 Views
Arya is not a soldier. Soldiers are not individually responsible for the results of war.
20/03/2010 11:22:43 PM
- 863 Views
Arya is legitimately the most evil...
18/03/2010 09:45:04 PM
- 1018 Views
No, she's not
18/03/2010 11:45:23 PM
- 696 Views
Cersei doesn't have true justification
18/03/2010 11:47:44 PM
- 821 Views
what he said! especially about Cersei being seriously mentally ill *NM*
19/03/2010 04:38:19 AM
- 275 Views
Re: Arya is legitimately the most evil...
19/03/2010 10:50:56 PM
- 689 Views
I was looking forward to his response as well.
19/03/2010 11:13:35 PM
- 795 Views
to be accurate, the child was not yet disabled when he was pushed from the tower
20/03/2010 10:52:42 PM
- 811 Views
Evil is such a limiting term to use.
20/03/2010 12:18:24 PM
- 666 Views
Try reading the books
20/03/2010 10:50:01 PM
- 875 Views
I've read them a few times.
21/03/2010 01:47:52 PM
- 755 Views
Just a "few" times?
21/03/2010 06:07:14 PM
- 832 Views
Only three times.
21/03/2010 11:20:12 PM
- 715 Views
Jon Connington- Hand to Aerys. Lost to Hoster, Eddard and Robert. Exiled. *NM*
22/03/2010 04:09:59 AM
- 337 Views
people seem to be forgetting
21/03/2010 09:11:04 PM
- 813 Views
ROFLMAO. Most people complain that my values are medieval & out of touch with the modern world!
23/03/2010 01:54:58 AM
- 1088 Views
To clarify, "evil" means VERY, VERY BAD.
23/03/2010 01:12:39 AM
- 920 Views