Game of Thrones season 8 episode 4's 'No.That's not me' moment between Arya and Gendry takes us back to season 1
SPOILER ALERT FOR EPISODE 4
In an iconic moment on 'Game of Thrones' and something we never thought we'd ever witness, Gendry pulls one over and goes down on one knee and asks Arya Stark to marry him. But, as one would expect from the Girl With No Name and the little Stark assassin, she rejects the proposal with a hard no. "You'll be a wonderful lord, and any lady will be lucky to have you. But I'm not a lady," she tells him. "I never have been. That's not me." And that's it - just like that Gendry Baratheon, the newly minted Lord of Storm's End finds his heart shattered on the ground. But, what you may not have noticed is that Arya's refusal was actually a callback to season 1, season 2 and season 7.
Back when Ned Stark was alive and we thought the worst thing ever was a child being flung from a tower, Arya had repeated these iconic lines to her father when he had told her that she had a great future ahead. "You'll marry a high lord and rule his castle," he told her when she seemed hell-bent on learning how to fight, "No. That's not me," she had said. A character defining moment in the entire show, this was the first time we saw a glimpse of who this girl was going to become.
Then, there was, of course, that moment in season 2 when she repeated something similar to Gendry himself, back when she wasn't his bae. When Gendry first finds out that Arya is of noble blood and not a boy, he jokes that he should be addressing her as "mi'lady." Arya responds, "Don't call me mi'lady!" and he laughs it off. The proposal and rejection is even more of a savage burn now when you think about this conversation.
Then there was that time in the last season when she met Nymeria in the woods. "It's not you," she says out loud to herself, realizing that her direwolf was mirroring her when she refused to go back to Winterfell with her. This was also an important part of Arya's self-realization arc, where she understands that she had become someone who was meant to run wild and live her life on her own terms.
Gendry's proposal to Arya, right after he's been given the title shows that he doesn't get what she wants yet - and that's why her rejection is perfect for now.
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