Game Of Thrones Season 7 Implications: What "Stormborn" Really Means

3. Nymeria's Lesson

Two major things happened to Arya this episode that completely changed the trajectory of her arc: first, she met Hot Pie, and then she met Nymeria too. In both cases, the familiar faces led to a revelation that she needs to return to Winterfell and turn her back on her quest for immediate vengeance.

Hot Pie revealed that Jon Snow is in Winterfell ruling the North (which he's not any more), and then Nymeria's rejection of Arya's offer to return home with her made her realise that she is living to an image of herself that isn't the real one. That "that's not you" line reflects what she said in season one when Ned Stark painted a picture of her as a future lady married to a lord in a frilly dress.

This wasn't her realising that domestication wasn't her true path, it was more a realisation that the very definite transition into a sort of mini-Hound (hence demanding ale from Hot Pie) wasn't how she should be living. She's not just going home in person, she's going home in spirit, and won't become the monster we saw flashes of when she killed the Freys coldly.

In other words, we will see a more typical, softer version of Arya turn up with her pack very soon, instead of going to King's Landing to kill Cersei.