'Game of Thrones': The Arya-Gendry scene in episode 3 was a teachable moment for all young girls
'Game of Thrones' aired one of its more boring episodes of the season this week with season 8 episode 3 'The Last of the Starks.' However, in its notable moments, the show continued to be gripping and poignant.
Despite winning the war, the people at Winterfell aren't all that happy or feeling peaceful as they fear someone more cunning than the Night King — Cersei Lannister. One woman who has definitely not forgotten this is the Night King slayer herself — Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) — who was seen bettering her archery even as others partied.
She may have decided to lose her virginity before the Battle of Winterfell but she sure has not let those moments of passion deter her from the goal, aka her kill list. She came back to the North to help her siblings and fight for the living, just so that she could go back to King's Landing and murder the woman on top of her list — Cersei. Arya, in fact, had a decision to make, a tough one, many would say, but she made it without blinking an eye.
A bastard no more, Gendry Baratheon (Joe Dempsie) was named Lord of Storm's End by Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), and he wasted not a second to share the happy news with the woman he loves and with whom he wants to spend the rest of his life. He even gets down on his knees and asks her to be the Lady of Storm's End by his side, but in the simplest of ways, she told him she was no lady and that she did not plan on being one — even for him.
The scene was, in fact, a teachable moment for all young girls on how to be firm and direct without feeling apologetic about your choices.
She did not say sorry for not reciprocating his feelings or not taking up his offer. She instead chose to state a plain no. She did not wait for him to emotionally blackmail or sweet talk her into changing her decision. Most importantly, though, it was her attitude following the conversation that inspired most adult women to be proud of their choices.
Arya, who was practicing her archery, wasted no time in returning to what she was doing after she basically told Gendry "Thank you, next".
Unlike most televised scenes, or even real-life situations, where you turn down someone's proposal and walk away from the awkwardness as soon as you can, she stood her ground as if to say, "You came to my space and interrupted me. I am not going anywhere."
As subtle as these messages may be, there is a huge teachable moment in them, and we are so glad that Arya was here to teach this to us.
This will be one of the many ways in which she showed us what it means to be a woman.