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Game Of Thrones Fans Fire Back At Claims That Arya Is A Mary Sue

The Internet has shut down claims that Arya Stark of HBO's Game of Thrones is suddenly a Mary Sue following the events of Battle of Winterfell.

Arya Game of Thrones

Arya Stark, Mary Sue? Not quite.

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Following the calamitous events of “The Long Night,” in which Winterfell crumbled in the face of certain death, a number of critics have dismissed Maisie Williams’ character as a Mary Sue, which is to say that Arya is so faultless she strains credulity. Let’s unpack this.

As of this writing, there are 70 episodes of HBO’s Game of Thrones, during which time Arya Stark has trained under the best swordsman in all of Westeros, studied the powerful politicking of Tywin Lannister, trained with the Hound, and literally enrolled as a would-be assassin under the watchful eye of Jaqen H’ghar, a faceless man of Braavos and one of the finest assassins in the land.

Is Arya faultless? Far from it. So why on Earth are people referring to her as a Mary Sue? We imagine it has something to do with her slaying the Night King, given that Jon Snow Aegon Targaryen was the bookie’s favorite to overcome death incarnate. Twitter certainly had a few interesting perspectives on the debate, some of which are included below:

And continued:

https://twitter.com/StarLord_Justin/status/1122932940562780160

So that’s that, then? Indeed, for those calling out Thrones‘ creative team, series showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were quick to point out that they chose Arya to kill the Night King months ago, as she was the perfect candidate – a battle-ready Stark who knows the many serpentine corridors of Winterfell like the back of her hand.

With just three episodes remaining, Game of Thrones is officially in the endgame. There is just one war that remains, and we’ll give you a clue: it involves a power-mongering queen, one wounded dragon (?), and those haggard warriors who fought in the Battle of Winterfell and lived to tell the tale.