Will 'Game of Thrones' season 8 see Arya Stark as the valonqar who kills Cersei Lannister?
'Game of Thrones' season 8 has finally premiered and fans who have already made it through the first episode can rest sated with all the several touching reunions it offered. But among the many 'Yaasss!' moments, the one thing that hit us the most was how focused Arya Stark still is - amidst all the many emotional reunions - when it comes to her kill list. And now, as the show comes to a wrap with this final season, one can't help but wonder, will the youngest living Stark sibling finally take out the vile and vicious mad queen, Cersei Lannister? Is Arya the valonqar that was prophecied to be the end of Cersei's life?
Fan theories about the possibility of Arya (Maisie Williams) being the valonqar can be traced all the way back to season 7 that aired in 2017, where we saw the little Stark in all her faceless assassin glory, killing Lord Frey using someone else's face and then killing the rest of his house by wearing his face as a mask. Under expert training by Jaqen H'gar, Arya is not only an assassin with technique, but she can also kill people and use their faces as masks to work for her profit. And that has lead many to believe that she could possibly kill Cersei's (Lena Headey) brother, Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and then use his face as a mask to get closer to Cersei, and eventually kill her.
But that faceless assassin prospect isn't the only thing backing up this theory. Rewind to season 5, where the first episode started off showing a five-year-old Cersei having her fortune told by the wood witch Maggy, the Frog. On the show, we saw Maggy prophecying that Cersei will marry a king and have three children, who won't be fathered by him. We have seen that part coming true, as all of Cersei's kids were from her incestuous relationship with Jaime. But Maggy's prophecy also included the warning, "Gold shall be their crowns and gold their shrouds," meaning all of Cersei's children would die eventually - something that has also happened on the show.
However, there was a final part of the prophecy which even though the show didn't include, has still managed to gain massive attention as it is from the original books by George R. R. Martin, and somehow aligns with the way the story is unfolding on the show currently. Maggy's prophecy continued with the warning: "And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you." The reason this became more and more significant over time because valonqar in Valyrian means 'little brother,' and Cersei despises her little brother, Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage.) But technically, even though they are twins, Jaime is the younger one in the pair, making him Cersei's little brother and that only backs up the theory that even though it's not him directly, Arya puts on his face and takes down Cersei.
At the same time, Arya is also the youngest Stark sibling alive right now. And she might not be a little brother by gender, but she's no less than one when it comes to her fighting and combat skills - something that we haven't seen in most of the female characters on the show, apart from the gallant Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie), and everyone's favorite Khaleesi, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke). Add to that the fact that Bran Stark really isn't himself right now since becoming the three-eyed raven, and Arya is truly the little brother when it comes to Stark siblings at least. So maybe she will execute her little brother duties to her siblings - and the only family she has remaining - by avenging the brutal murder of her parents.
