Game Of Thrones: 10 Things We Learned From “Two Swords”

7. Arya Still Thirsts For Revenge

The last time we saw Arya, she had committed her first murder by killing a soldier who claimed to have desecrated Robb€™s body at the Red Wedding. She€™s held onto that anger in the season premiere as she€™s held captive by Sandor Clegane. She questions why he€™s still keeping her bound since she has nowhere to run to, and he tells her he€™s going to ransom her to her aunt Lysa. Passing by some corpses on the road, they come across a tavern being visited by several Lannister soldiers. Arya recognises one of the soldiers as Polliver, the man who killed her friend Lommy and stole her sword Needle. Running to the tavern to confront Polliver, Arya is stopped by Sandor, but not before they are seen by one of the soldiers. Arya and Sanor enter the tavern, and Polliver recognises the Hound. After conversing for a bit, Sandor€™s warm personality leads to him fighting the soldiers. In the chaos, Arya gets ahold of Needle and kills an injured Polliver the same way he killed Lommy. Impressed, Sandor allows Arya to ride on a stolen pony as they leave. Arya is clearly in a dark place with most of her family gone. Having killed two people, her innocence is dwindling, and having The Hound as her only adult role model certainly isn€™t helping things. However, more important to note is how the countryside is being affected by Lannister rule. Wearing the king€™s colours, these soldiers are using that as an excuse to do whatever they want, whether that€™s commandeering a tavern or robbing and killing random travellers. The royals and wealthy may be prospering due to the Lannisters bring in charge, but the common people are suffering as a result.