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The message Arya was trying to send is that the Hound doesnt deserve a clean, merciful death.
In my opinion, this action foreshadows Aryas future path in Braavos:
In Chapter 74 of A Storm of Swords Arya tells him
There may be more to it, but reasons she gives at the time are
I have only watched the show, but to me it is clear that she is conflicted in many ways about killing the hound at this point.
Firstly, she wants him to suffer, he killed the butchers boy as well as the farmer (who he nicked the silver coins from) and therefore she hates him. However, he has also been her protector to a degree and she likely knows that she owes him her life to some degree while at the same time being his captive. Lastly, I think she is still a young girl and while she has killed a few folks here and there, she has never killed someone who she has a relationship with.
In the end, I think she chose the easiest way out for herself, letting him die in the wilderness by lack of action on her behalf.
I agree it was clearly established that the Hound was part of Aryas list, which is why NOT killing him was the only way to convey with certainty that she had removed him from it. Whether she feels he doesnt deserve her mercy or whether she simply cant bring herself to kill someone to whom she has grown close is far less evident. I personally believe she posses the strength of character to deliver mercy, therefore I suspect that, while she has developed an affinity for the Hound, she still harbors resentment about his past cruelty and is unwilling to intervene.
Arya developed a conflicted relationship with Sandor. He taught her how to survive on her own. He gave her the common sense and necessary evils she needed to stay alive but she still had a heart. As did the Hound. I think she left him, took his silver, etc to make a point.
When they left the farmer, they were arguing… the Hound was convinced that he would die.
By leaving him, she KNEW he wouldnt die. But by taking his silver, she sent a poignant message.
That just because he is gravely wounded and “weak”… he wont necessarily die. Which is why the Hound broke his own “code” and took the farmers silver. Arya knows that Sandor has good in him. And thats the reason he “will never be a real killer”.
When his silver was about to be taken by Arya, he tried to take it back. He had said in a previous episode that “dead men dont need silver”. When Arya saw this, she knew that the Hound still has hope that he will still live. She decided to just leave him there without taking away that hope.
This is just what I think. Ive only seen the TV show and I dont think TV show Arya can resist caring for the Hound even just for a little bit.
I think its both. On the surface (and what she shows to him in her behavior and words), Arya is leaving The Hound to suffer and bleed prefusely, and die on her terms – devoid of mercy, similiar to how he treated his victims. A part of her despises him, his previous malicious actions and what he stands for. He killed her friend, served the Lannisters, failed to save Catelyn and Robb at the Red Wedding, he had her captive and up for sale – and he is an early name on her “To Kill List”.
On the other hand, deep inside she has developed feelings of friendship and gratitude towards him as well, knowing he saved Sansa from rape, he despises Joffrey and the Lannisters, he basically saved her from her mother and brothers fate at the Red Wedding, he was her companion and some kind of a guide to her (teaching her mostly violence, naturally for Game of Thrones), and in a way she now owes him a debt which is problematic because hes on her list.
In my opinion, its not that she couldnt do it morally… Its that she didnt want to. And she was convinced he was dying in agonizing pain anyway. Watch Season 6 knowing all this…
I definitely feel like she didnt kill him because they grew close. Hes one of the first people to be on her list, and she has plenty of opportunities to kill him. Everyone else she comes across who happens to be on her list meets their demise. But she wont kill The Hound because hes not on her list anymore. Although, she doesnt feel like she needs to help him either.
By not killing him Arya is conveying that she has forgiven him for his past crimes. Killing him would have crossed him off her list and thus the forgiveness would have been hard to show. Yes she could have said it with words but that would have been weak and the Hound would have felt shame by doing it.
In the TV show, she takes his silver. I think this parallels what the Hound did with the farmer, the Hound said “Dead men dont need silver”. Someone mentioned above the farmer was still alive. I dont remember that, but it would make sense if these scenes were meant to be related.
Not true. Don’t tell lies. Why even make that up. She left I’m coz she felt a sense of duty as he had looked after her all that time. Even tho he’s on her list she relished he wasn’t so bad. So instead of killing him she left him also didn’t help and left it up to gods to decide. He was the only person that looked after her in years. To be fair he was a dad to her. Yes m watching for 3rd the and see diff things. Pure love hound now lol
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There are a few interpretations of this scene.
She may have bonded with him more, but he was still a monster to her. He was one of the names she recited at night, ensuring she never forgot him or his atrocious crimes. He killed the little butchers boy she played with all the way back in Season 1. By being so close to Joffrey, he was also “part” of what brought her father Ned to his death. So despite becoming closer to him, she wasnt going to do him any favours and grant him mercy. She was going to leave him to his slow, painful death as retribution for all his actions.
Another interpretation is that it truly was mercy. She may have left him there, but unless you see someone die in Game of Thrones, you never truly know how they end up. She may have felt that after everything he did for her, killing him was a step too far and was too difficult.
Finally, you might be interested in what Maisie Williams, the actress who plays Arya, had to say about the event:
Ive emboldened part of her comments, to make it clearer.
On a final note, here is some additional, spoilerific book information:
Now, whilst the above is what happens in the books, the following is also interesting to note:
In this scene, the following is said:
As a result of this scene:
What? Kill him and let him off the hook so easily!
Arya has spent most, if not all her waking moments repeating and thinking of the names who have wronged her and the people she knew. Her family as she knows is dead. The only reason she lives and trains herself is so that she can make those people answer for their sins.
The Hound is one of those she hates. Aye, they have been on the road together for quite a while now but they are together mostly because one wants something from the other. The Hound is looking for somebody who would pay him a handsome ransom for Arya, and she is tagging along for safety. Theres absolutely no love lost between the two.
Arya does not kill him because he wants to end this suffering, whereas she, wants him to suffer. She sees this as her retribution. He is finally answering for his sins. Killing him would let him escape this agony. It would be an act of mercy, something she belives the Hound does not deserve. As a final and parting kick to the teeth, she takes his gold. An act endorsed by the Hound, in which he now ironically finds himself at the receiving end.
Based on events in Season 5 episode 6, “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken”, Id argue that part of why she didnt kill him is that she really cares for him as a role model.
When shes playing the “Game of Faces” with Jaqen where she must tell the truth or lie convincingly (the latter of which shes not capable of), Jaquen asks her repeatedly if she hates the Hound and she says that she does but he tells her that shes lying repeatedly, giving us the insight that shes also lying to herself because she believes that she hates him.
Her actions now become clear to some point. Deep inside, much as she doesnt want to give up her identity and become “No One”, she also likes The Hound.
Heres a synopsis of the conversation from an episode recap on EW.
According to season 6 episode 3 Arya confessed that a part of her did not want the Hound to die. She had taken him off her list.
In Season 5, while playing the faceless game with Jaqen Hghar, Arya says she hated The Hound and left him to die. He punishes her because he thinks she is lying. She was.
Over the time she journeyed with The Hound, we got to listen to his side and we start to sympathise with him along with her…Remember, She even rejected the help of Brienne of Tarth.
GoT characters make decisions that make us see a different light of that character. During the Journey to Eyrie with The Hound, she killed men, making us question, maybe she is becoming more of a monster…more like the Hound. But what we fail to notice is she didnt kill him because she is NOT a killer. She just wants to avenge her family. And to her he no longer needed to be in the list.
To many leaving him there can be perceived as cruel but to her it was letting him live, it was giving him mercy because killing him is no longer her goal.
Lets not forget Arya is Cats daughter. Look how horribly Cat treated Jon Snow even though he was completely blameless. And Tyrion – he saved Cats life but she still stuck to her conviction that hed tried to kill her son. I actually think theres a fairly strong theme in GOT of women making stupid decisions based on their emotions instead of logic. Daenerys is another example – raising hell about her husbands soldiers attacking a town to get ships and crew (she knew perfectly well how they did things), then insisting on some strange woman treating her husband, against all her tribes advice. Even Shae, refusing to pay attention when told she was in danger. Of course, theres no lack of bad decisions in GOT, but the really incomprehensibly bad decisions seem to be made by women.
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Now, Arya and The Hound are in the same place once more, and she seems to accept the fact that the God of Death isnt ready for him just yet. Although she warns him away from Gendry, she sees that he appears to be genuinely happy to see her, even if he expresses it by telling her shes always been “a cold b*tch.” Its not exactly a warm embrace, but its just enough of a mutual understanding to make the idea of these two former enemies being somewhat reluctant allies seem plausible. At the very least, The Hounds place on Aryas list appears to be erased, at least for the time being. Source:
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In the season eight premiere of the show, Arya spots The Hound as hes riding into Winterfell with the rest of Jon Snow and Daeneryss army. At first, she seems slightly shocked and maybe not entirely happy that hes alive. After all, the former Lannister soldier is on her list for killing her friend Mycah, the butchers boy, way back in season one. However, since then, the duo has been through a lot.
At long last, one of the Game of Thrones reunions we had all been waiting for happened: the Hound and Arya have reunited, and it all went down just as we had hoped it would — with zero bloodshed and a dash of begrudging respect.