Top 10 Most Kickass Arya Stark Moments

After the execution of her father, Arya secretly leaves King’s Landing with the help of the Night’s Watch recruiter, Yoren. Among the recruits is a man in a caged wagon, whom Arya helps, giving him water, despite her wariness. Later on in the series, howver, the audience comes to know him as Jaqen H'ghar, one of the many assumed identities of a Faceless Man of Braavos, and a skilled assassin and shapeshifter. But to Arya here, he is just a man of mystery and a possible ally. When the Night’s Watch train is attacked, she goes out of her way to save him, and unwittingly opens many new doors on her path to revenge.

Once again brought to the edge of reunion with members of her family, hope is snatched away from Arya when she and the Hound arrive too late to The Twins. Having witnessed some of the horrific aftermath of Walder Frey’s treachery at the Red Wedding, Arya is justifiably traumatized, with no more effs to give. Leaving with the Hound, the duo comes across a group of Frey men, bragging about their recent participation at the very wedding that left her brother, mother, future sister-in-law, and niece or nephew dead. Tricking one of the men, she then viciously stabs him over and over, quickly dispatching the rest. Valar Morghulis, indeed.

As the duo was so unexpectedly entertaining, it is easy to forget that Sandor Clegane, better known as The Hound, was on Arya’s hit list. After being bested by Brienne of Tarth in a heated battle, the Hound is left broken and bloodied. Arya runs away from Brienne and finds him dying at the bottom of the cliff he fell from. For a moment, it seems like she will kill him, thereby knocking a name of her list and granting mercy to someone who seems like a grudging friend in one stroke. But in a cold twist, she leaves him to die.

After everything she went through, it was perhaps no surprise that Arya Stark just wanted to disappear and become a faceless avatar of death. But despite all her training with the Faceless Men on Braavos, a girl still had a name and a personal mission to fulfill. When Arya realizes that as a Faceless Man she will be assassinating innocent people for petty reasons, she decides that killing without justice is not for her. In a moment of clarity, she retrieves Needle. As Arya learns, turning your back on a guild of assassins is no easy task, and with her choice she made some powerful enemies.

From Daenerys to Cersei, Lady Olenna to Yara Greyjoy, Westeros has had a lot of ladies in charge. That’s why it was so awesome to see two of the most skilled swordswomen in the Seven Kingdoms come together. Having met briefly – and under much more edgy circumstances – there is some tension when the two square off. However, very quickly they recognize the other’s skills, and a mutual respect is born. Both Brienne and Arya have endured their fair share of humiliation when it comes to their size, but these ladies are still able to best every man in their path. Brienne and Arya have more in common than they know.

When the War of the Five Kings began, Arya found herself captured, had her sword stolen, and then witnessed the brutal murders of many of her fellow captives. All of this violence left an indelible mark on the youngest Stark girl. Two seasons later, Arya and the Hound cross paths with Polliver and his crew, the same men responsible for the torture of the captives. Except now, Polliver is decked out in the King’s colors. After the Hound makes his opinion on the King clear, a fight breaks out, and Arya jumps in. Relishing in the wounded Polliver’s situation, she throws his words back at him, before slowly and methodically stabbing him with the sword he stole from her.

In case you need a little reminder, Meryn Trant was one of Joffrey’s men, a sexual predator who (allegedly) killed her fencing teacher Syrio Forel, and frequently brutalized and humiliated her sister, Sansa, on King Joffrey’s orders. In one of her most graphic kills, Arya posed as a young prostitute in order to get Trant alone. She blinds and tortures him before slitting his throat, all with a blank and utterly unfeeling look on her face. The brutality of the scene demonstrates just how far Arya has gone, how ruthless she has become, and to what lengths she is willing to go to exact her revenge.

Joining the House of Black and White meant giving up everything she ever was, but to most viewers it was clear from the start that Arya of Winterfell was not cut out to be Faceless. When Arya abruptly leaves the guild, she brings their wrath upon her head. Her one-time mentor, Jaqen, sends his acolyte, the Waif, after her so that she can pay the price. After a chaotic chase through Braavos, Arya challenges the Faceless Girl in a pitch-dark battle – a skill the Waif herself taught her. Afterward, Arya confronts Jaqen and rejects his assertion that she is now No One. She is Arya mother flippin’ Stark, baby.


Before we reveal our number one pick, here are a few honorable mentions:

Upstaging Bran
“Winter is Coming”


“I'm Going to Kill the Queen”
“Dragonstone”


Standing Up to Hot Pie
“Fire and Blood”

Sitting down to his dinner, the ornery old man and orchestrator of the Red Wedding antagonizes the young serving wench as he calls for his sons. When the wench replies that they are already there, he discovers that they have been baked into the pie he has been eating. Removing her borrowed face, Arya smiles as she slits his throat – just like he had done to her mother. She would later pull the same trick in reverse, posing as the Elder Frey to kill off his sons, and all of the remaining members of House Frey. Who said revenge is a dish best served cold? When Arya Stark is cooking up vengeance, it can be so much more.