25 reasons Arya should win the Iron Throne

11. She’s someone to root for

No one in the Game of Thrones-verse has an easy life. They’ve all got their issues, as do we, but most of us don’t have the threat of a Ramsay Bolton over our heads at all times. Arya is one of the younger characters on the show, and if you’ve stuck with it since the beginning, you get to see her (and Maisie Williams) grow into a young woman. She becomes a character that we just want good things to happen to, and wonder when another hardship will eventually be her last.

In this scene from Season 2’s “Garden of Bones,” the Big Bad of King’s Landing Tywin Lannister almost acts like Arya’s rescuer here. He’s the only one who really sees her, or at least sees the potential. We all didn’t want her to be tortured by The Tickler, so at this point in the series we were all just hoping Tywin wouldn’t be too hard on her. She’s scrappy, and people like scrappy. They’re the kinds of characters you can’t help but want the best for, even if at times they become a bit much.

Some online have expressed that Arya’s escape from The Waif in Season 6’s “No One” may have been too Terminator-esque for their tastes. But so far I haven’t seen anyone actually wish ill on Arya Stark. She’s like the Westerosi little sister we never had, and we’ll be there rooting for her when times are toughest.