![]() So Needle could probably best be described as a “ long, thin blade.” Fitting Needle into her mummers cloak wouldn’t be difficult given GRRM regularly does impossible things with swords (like people drawing greatswords over their shoulder) – and after all he’s already told us the blade was long. Needle was too small to be a proper sword, it was hardly more than a toy. Hanging beside his dagger was a slimmer blade, too long to be a dirk, too short to be a man’s sword… but it felt just right in her hand. ![]() We see evidence of Needle being a relatively small blade when, after Arya recovers Needle at the Inn after the Hound kills Polliver, we get this description: It won’t hack a man’s head off, but it can poke him full of holes if you’re fast enough. The bravos use swords like this in Pentos and Myr and the other Free Cities. Note the question “Are you blind, girl?” to which the answer is a clear “No.” This just might signify that Mercy is no longer a creature of the FM as of that moment, especially since when Raff says his “line” a moment later Mercy becomes Arya for the first time since Arya became the Blind Girl, and evidently uses the blade that “did not belong to Mercy” to complete the killing.īack in AGoT Arya received a special gift from her brother Jon: “Well,” she said, “I don’t know how you’ll get there, then.” “Are you blind, girl? I’m bleeding like a stuck pig. “Walk?” His fingers were slick with blood. In fact, she initiates her exquisite slaying of Raff as Mercy, using Mercy’s fruit knife to make the first cut.ĭuring the murder, Mercy guides Raff into asking her to carry him, just as Lommy did way back in ACoK (For the record, the Lommy & Raff killings have numerous other clear parallels beyond the scope of this essay) Since becoming the Blind Girl, Arya has been a creature of the Faceless Men, playing their roles, learning their ways and obeying their rules. When she wakes up as the Blind Girl in ADwD, she is no longer called Arya by the Kindly Man, though she does occasionally recall that she was once called Arya Stark. This blade does not belong to Mercy, though the fruit knife does, distinctions of ownership we think are significant.Īrya has not been called Arya Stark in her own PoV since the Cat of the Canals chapter in AFfC. Of note, she has a small, sharp knife on her hip (the fruit knife) and another “ real blade” secreted in her cloak. She was made for eating fruit, for smiling and joking, for working hard and doing as she was told. A real blade, not a fruit knife like the one on her hip, but it did not belong to Mercy, no more than her other treasures did. She’d hid some coins in one of those, an iron key in another, a blade in the last. It was a real mummer’s cloak, purple wool lined in red silk, with a hood to keep the rain off, and three secret pockets too. Last of all she threw her cloak across her shoulders. She knotted it about her waist, and hung a knife on her right hip and a coin pouch on her left. ![]() Her boots were lumps of old brown leather mottled with salt stains and cracked from long wear, her belt a length of hempen rope dyed blue. Her blade flashed out, smooth and quick, one deep slash through the velvet and he never felt a thing.Īt the outset of “Mercy” we witness her preparing to go to the theater: She sharpened the steel on a whetstone until its edge glimmered silver-blue in the candlelight. Red Roggo had taught her how to use it, but she had not slit a purse since back before they took away her eyes. It took her three more days of watching before she found the way, and another day of practicing with her finger knife. We know from ADwD that she is adept at palming small knives: Mercy gave a gasp and stepped away, her face confused and frightened. Instead she slid her finger down along the inside of his thigh. Just before this she has apparently sliced his femoral artery with a different knife, most likely a small, sharp one that could be easily palmed: Both text and symbolism strongly hint that the blade that does Raff in is none other than Needle, last seen being hidden under a loose stone on the steps leading to the House of Black and White. This is not the first long, thin blade we’ve seen Arya with. A fine red rain followed, and in his eyes the light went out. She slipped it through his throat beneath the chin, twisted, and ripped it back out sideways with a single smooth slash. ![]() Raff the Sweetling looked up sharply as the long thin blade came sliding from her sleeve. When Arya stabs Raff the Sweetling in TWoW sample chapter “Mercy” she uses a “long thin blade” that was evidently hiding up her sleeve:
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