25 reasons Arya should win the Iron Throne

8. She’s calm under pressure

High-stakes scenarios are nothing new in Westeros, as Arya Stark is well aware of. Sometimes opportunities just fall into people’s laps, and A Girl has to handle each one differently. Arya is very good at keeping her heart off her sleeve, which allows people to form a semblance of trust with her. In Season 4’s opener “Two Swords,” she shows off this trademark skill when Polliver and the Kingsguard start antagonizing her and The Hound. She knows when to play her hand, and it got her what she wanted: Needle back and a stab wound in Polliver’s neck.

Basically, it’s hard to rattle Arya. Some may argue it’s because she’s basically dead inside at this point (smiling down at Walder Frey after splitting his neck open doesn’t exactly scream “well-adjusted”), but she’s always been able to keep her cool. She learned quickly through Season 1 what happens when someone shows too much emotion to the wrong people. It’s what landed her father’s head on a spike. Arya has had to keep her head down and play a role in order to get by, and only someone with a steady hand can do that.

The stakes are about to get even higher as we head into Season 7, and we hope Arya can keep up with the ice as she heads back towards Winterfell.