Game of Thrones: Arya Stark isn’t home free just yet after season 7

As much as Arya Stark helped herself during Game of Thrones season 7, she still faces some problems going into season 8 of the show.

Now that we’ve covered the three characters who are pretty much at the heart of Game of Thrones — Cersei, Daenerys, and Jon — it’s time to widen our season 7 retrospective and grading time to some of the still-main but not-quite-central characters to the plot of the show. Who better to start with than Arya Stark?

(Er … don’t answer that.)

Having decided that the Braavosi assassin life wasn’t totally for her, Arya’s finally back on Westeros and finally actually part of the overarching narrative again! It’s been a long time coming. Of course, her plot to kill Cersei Lannister, which was the other Arya moment of the season 7 premiere, hasn’t come to fruition yet. Much as we’d love Arya to give Cersei some cool one-liner and then finally get her revenge, that’s probably not going to happen.

Why? Well, Arya’s got bigger problems ahead. Late last week, I wondered if the whole Stark family affair will continue being an affair, identifying Jon’s return as the potential catalyst for conflict.

Remember that Sansa effectively reminded us all that Jon’s closest to Arya in season 7. Much as the elder Stark sister was happy to quote their father, quoting him doesn’t necessarily mean she’s willing to forgive or be happy to have her opinions subsumed again. If Jon and Sansa are going to clash again, Arya seems like a natural ally for Team Jon.

Additionally, what’s to stop Arya from haring off to King’s Landing once Cersei’s treachery becomes known? When we talked about Cersei, we identified that as a problem, and Arya’s already shown an ability to infiltrate guarded castles and get to killing at the most inopportune times … for her victims, anyway. For Arya, it’s great, assuming she can get out as cleanly as she gets in, and that might be an actual problem for her.

As far as the Night King is concerned, of course that’s a problem, but, well, she’s a one-on-one type fighter, best used as a guided scalpel. Sure, she can duel against Brienne of Tarth and win, but that’s one knight.

Next: Game of Thrones season 8: 5 early predictions

However, for successfully reuniting with the bulk of her still-living family, managing to take out the majority of House Frey, and leaving herself in a fair position, Arya gets a B for season 7.