Arya Stark is known for her skills in subterfuge and disguise throughout Game of Thrones. As a Faceless Man trained in Braavos, she is adept at taking on different identities to serve her purposes. This has led some fans to speculate whether she may have disguised herself as a White Walker or wight at some point, in order to sneak into the Army of the Dead undetected. In this article, we’ll analyze the likelihood of this theory and examine the evidence both for and against it.
Arya’s Disguise Skills
First, it’s important to establish Arya’s capabilities when it comes to disguise. Through her training with the Faceless Men, she learned how to literally take on the physical appearance of other people by wearing their faces. This allows her to impersonate people convincingly, taking on their mannerisms and speech patterns. She used this skill on several occasions, like when she assassinated Walder Frey and his sons by posing as a serving girl.
She also demonstrates more conventional disguise skills even before her Faceless Men training. She is able to pose as a boy convincingly for long periods of time, hiding her gender from those around her. She can also adopt personas and alter her behaviour to sell a disguise, like when she acted the part of Mercy the actress while in Braavos.
So Arya clearly has the capability to disguise herself using faces or more ordinary costumes and acting. But could her skills extend to disguising herself as a White Walker or wight?
White Walker Appearance and Abilities
To pose as a White Walker, Arya would need to be able to replicate their distinctive appearance and abilities. White Walkers have pale grey-white skin and glowing blue eyes. Their bodies appear gaunt and partially decomposed. They wear armor and clothes made of ice.
Some key facts about White Walkers:
- They are very strong, able to throw grown men through the air easily.
- They can create and control wights by raising the dead.
- They wield swords and spears made of ice that can shatter steel.
- They are vulnerable to dragonglass and Valyrian steel.
- They appear to have magical powers related to ice and cold.
Posessing the strength and magic of an actual White Walker would likely be beyond Arya’s capabilities. But could she realistically imitate their appearance?
Could Arya Impersonate a White Walker’s Looks?
There are a few ways Arya could potentially disguise herself as a White Walker visually:
Using Faceless Men magic: If she peeled the face off a dead White Walker, she could wear it as a mask. This would transform her appearance, including the eyes and skin. However, we never see her use magic to borrow non-human faces.
Theatrical makeup and costuming: With the right makeup, contact lenses, clothes, and props, Arya could dress up as a White Walker. But the illusion might not hold up under close scrutiny.
Glamour magic: Some characters like Melisandre use magic to create glamours or illusions. In theory, Arya could use a glamour to take on the look of a White Walker. But she never demonstrates this magical ability.
Could She Mimic Their Behaviour?
Even if Arya could disguise herself visually as a White Walker, acting like one could give her away:
- White Walkers are silent and rarely make noises.
- They exhibit strange body language and movements.
- They’re incredibly strong with the ability to toss men violently.
- They can control and coordinate armies of wights telepathically.
Arya would struggle to accurately mimic these attributes for long without magical help. The risk of detection would be very high.
Why Would Arya Impersonate a White Walker?
For Arya to attempt this risky disguise, there would need to be compelling motive:
Spying: Posing as a wight or Walker could allow Arya to gather intel on their movements. However, we never see evidence of her infiltrating them this way.
Assassination: Arya could get close to the Night King by posing as a Walker before attempting to kill him. But she never tries this.
Escape: If captured by wights, Arya could pretend to be one of them to slip away. But she avoids capture when surrounded at Winterfell.
Overall there is no clear reason why Arya would need such a daring and difficult disguise in the show’s storyline.
Evidence For and Against the Theory
Here is the evidence fans cite for and against Arya disguising herself as a White Walker:
Evidence For:
- Arya has impressive disguise skills, including magically taking faces.
- She could have motive to infiltrate the Army of the Dead as a spy.
- Her stealth abilities would allow her to pull it off.
- It has not been explicitly shown to be impossible.
Evidence Against:
- Arya never demonstrates using non-human faces or glamours.
- Mimicking Walker body language and behavior would be very difficult.
- She had no clear reason to attempt this specific disguise.
- It would be an extremely high-risk strategy for her.
- No textual evidence or clues suggest she did this.
On balance, more evidence points to Arya never disguising herself as a White Walker compared to the evidence supporting the theory. But since it is never definitively confirmed or denied, the possibility remains open to interpretation.
Conclusion
In summary, while Arya has exceptional disguise abilities, she is unlikely to have impersonated a White Walker due to the immense difficulty and risk involved. Her skillset does not seem to include using non-human faces or magical glamours. She also lacked a compelling motive to attempt this disguise specifically, as more pragmatic options were available to her.
While clever in theory, the evidence suggests that Arya infiltrating the Army of the Dead by posing as a supernatural ice creature was likely beyond her feasibilities. Therefore, this fan theory, while imaginative, does not seem supported by the events as depicted in Game of Thrones when carefully analyzed. But as with any unconfirmed theory, it remains open for each viewer’s interpretation based on their own analysis of the show.
