Game Of Thrones Ending: Predicting What The Books Will (& Won't) Change

2. Arya Leaves Westeros

At the end of it all, Arya Stark decides to leave Westeros behind, sailing off across the Sunset Sea to discover what lies to the west. For a character who has already left Westeros once - the only Stark to do so - and has never quite fitted into traditional expectations of someone of her nobility, it's a logical standpoint even without the explicit callback to her conversation with Lady Crane in Season 6.

In the books, Arya's path is a little less clear. Lady Crane forms an important part of her decision on the show, but the character is yet to be introduced in the books proper, although she does appear - by the name of Lady Stork - in one of the preview chapters of The Winds of Winter, where Arya is going by the name Mercy. It's unclear what kind of relationship they'll strike up at this point.

There's still a lot of Arya's storyline left to get through before we get to this point, and another big wrinkle in the books will be Lady Stoneheart. Arya, through her direwolf Nymeria, dragged her mother's body from the river. It'd be a big shock if Arya then didn't meet Lady Stoneheart, and likely learn the same lessons about vengeance from her that she does the Hound in the show. That coming from her mother, though, gives it even more weight and could have a greater impact upon the character.

It's definitely possible that Arya does leave Westeros behind at the end of Martin's story. She has a wildness in her like Nymeria (both her direwolf and the Warrior Queen she named her after), so it fits with that, and it does serve as a strong ending for her character in the show, but there's a lot of ground to cover before we can get there in the books, and right now it's just as plausible she stays at Winterfell with Sansa, or heads back to Braavos/to travel around Essos.