Is Arya Replacing Lady Stoneheart? ‘Game Of Thrones’ May Not Need To Introduce The Undead Character

Arya Stark appeared only briefly in the “Game of Thrones” Season 6 finale, but her storyline was a shocker. She not only made her way to Westeros but also managed to take revenge for the deaths of her mother and brother. Book readers know that this wasn’t supposed to be done by the younger Stark daughter, but her mother’s zombie.

In George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” books, Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley) returned from the dead as Lady Stoneheart. She went on to seek revenge for the slayings of herself and her son, Robb Stark (Richard Madden), at the Red Wedding. In the novels, she is the one who kills Walder Frey (David Bradley), but the HBO series has deviated from this particular storyline. The showrunners haven’t introduced Lady Stoneheart at all, but it appears as though Arya (Maisie Williams) effectively may be taking her place.

In the Season 6 finale, Arya kills Walder, but before slitting his throat, she feeds him his sons in the form of a meat pie. Lady Stoneheart killed anybody associated with the Freys, Boltons or Lannisters, but Arya seemed to be more specific in taking her revenge. Really, everybody dining with the Freys that night could’ve been killed by Lady Stoneheart’s standards, but Arya keeps her aim focused on the men who directly hurt her family.

It would be difficult to say that Arya is Lady Stoneheart. She isn’t undead (although surviving that stabbing was pretty miraculous), and she doesn’t have as high of a body count as the revivified character in the books. At least, not yet. Still, it certainly seems as though the Lady Stoneheart storyline is being merged into Arya’s own. Several fans on social media have noticed the combination as well.

It may be time to accept that “Game of Thrones” isn’t introducing Lady Stoneheart. Even Natalie Dormer, one of many actors who departed the series in the Season 6 finale, noted that the writers were attempting to cut down the cast list as the drama heads into what is rumored to be its final two seasons.

“They have to tighten the storylines given however many episodes are left,” Dormer, who played Margaery Tyrell, told Entertainment Weekly. “They have to focus them down to get to the real business of the throne. Dany’s [Emilia Clarke] not far away. I appreciate they have to streamline, and they’ve come up with some ingenious ways to do that that the audience will not see coming. That’s ‘Game of Thrones’ all over, isn’t it?”

Just how much of Lady Stoneheart’s storyline will be handed to Arya? “Game of Thrones” fans will have to wait for Season 7 to find out.