Has Arya’s death been foreshadowed for Season 7?

After the Season 7 trailers and the season premiere it could be argued that the fate of Arya Stark is looking very bleak because: “When the cold winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives.” Could we be about to lose one of Game of Thrones’ most popular characters?

Season 7’s trailer two ends with Sansa Stark saying: “When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives.”

Ned Stark says this to Arya in the books and it is a line she paraphrases twice in ‘A Feast For Crows’. Sansa may say the line but it is Arya we need to fear for, this lines are all about her. In the book and the television series Arya has shown herself to be the lone wolf repeatedly, gaining companions and then leaving them again and again.

Sansa on the other hand never leaves a pack. She is the character most capable of switching packs having been a Stark, Lannister, Tyrell (nearly), Arryn, Bolton and finally a Stark again. Sansa is never happier than when cosseted at the center of a pack and that is why she will survive.  Her ability to transition from one great house to another shows the hallmarks of a great survivor.

Arya is the opposite and she has transitioned between companions whilst always remaining apart – the Night’s Watch recruits, as a worker at Harrenhal, her travels with Gendry and Hot Pie, the Brotherhood without Banners, the Hound and finally the Faceless Men of Braavos. Arya has learnt new skills and lessons from all her companions but is truly the lone wolf.

The prominent role for Arya in the Season 7 premiere is also a bad sign. By killing all the Freys and with her intent to kill Cersei (travelling south) Arya is bound to come unstuck. GoT likes nothing more than killing our favourite Starks when they seem set to survive – Ned, Robb and Catelyn.

We also need to remember that Cersei is to die at the hands of the valonquar (little brother) be that Jamie, Tyrion, the Hound or Theon only GRR Martin can know.

Season 7 had the potential for many reunions for our favourite she-wolf: Nymeria, the Hound, her siblings and possibly Gendry. The episode 2 trailer seems to suggest that a reunion with Nymeria is about to happen.

Nymeria was last seen in Season 1 as Arya was forced to throw rocks at the direwolf to run her off and prevent Cersei from having the direwolf captured and killed. In the books Nymeria now leads a huge pack of normal wolves and Arya wargs into Nymeria in her dreams.

If Arya reunites with Nymeria and this pack then maybe the foreshadowing is a form of misdirection and the Needle wielding wolf may survive for Season 8. A popular plot would see Arya finding and coupling with Robert Baratheon’s bastard Gendry who is returning for Season 7.

A popular theory is that Gendry will be legitimized by Daenerys and become the Lord of Storm’s End, making him a suitable partner for a daughter of Winterfell. Another theory suggests Gendry may be the legitimate son of Cersei and Robert whose was stolen by Varys as a baby.

The final candidate for lone wolf is Jon Snow. In the books Ghost is not considered part of the direwolf family, much like the bastard Jon Snow was separate from the legitimate Stark family. Ghost’s otherness was explored by Bran in the mind of Summer. When the Stark direwolves are alone they often form packs with other wolves – Nymeria and Summer are both known to have done this but never Ghost.

Jon Snow is not a solitary character though, in fact he is known for bonding deeply with his companions: the Starks, the brothers of the Night’s Watch, the Wildlings and most recently the northern lords.

GRR Martin loves to take away our favourtite characters and Benioff and Weiss have developed the taste too.

Brace yourself and mentally prepare to lose our favourite she-wolf too soon.