Everything to Know About New Arya's Weapon Ahead of the Battle of Winterfell

From Harper's BAZAAR

Although most of the characters on Game of Thrones don’t know it, Arya Stark is one of the most skilled soldiers in Westeros. She’s a huge threat to the Army of the the Dead, and possibly, the Night King himself. Ahead of the Battle of Winterfell, she's equipped with a Valyrian steel dagger; her sword, Needle; and a new, somewhat mysterious weapon she had Gendry make for her. Tommy Dunne, the Game of Thrones “weapons master,” told Vanity Fair that the weapon is a “showstopper.”

In the Season 8 premiere, Arya shows Gendry a drawing of the weapon she wants him to make for her. Then, in Episode 2, Arya convinces a reluctant Gendry to actually make it once she demonstrates she’s very good at throwing dragonglass.

But what does the new weapon even do? And why is it so prominently featured in the first two episodes of the season?

Arya is comfortable using many weapons, but she has always valued stealth and strategy the most. As @thronesfacts points out on Twitter, Arya's especially skilled in fighting in the dark thanks to her training in Braavos at the House of Black and White, where she learned to fight blind with a long spear. It makes sense that she wants a similar weapon to fight a battle that is expected to take place into the night.

Arya's skills with a spear also stem from her training with Syrio Forel, her Braavosi tutor back in Season 1. The drawing of her new weapon shows that the two ends of the spear, made of dragonglass, are detachable, and can potentially become two dragonglass daggers. With the weapon as a whole and as two separate daggers (alongside her Valyrian steel dagger), Arya has an advantage over every other soldier in the upcoming battle: She can kill multiple wights at once, and she can kill White Walkers (perhaps, even the Night King?) with the dagger.

Arya’s also already established her superior skills using more than one weapon at a time. In Season 7, she trains with Brienne of Tarth and outwits her by incorporating two weapons into the fight. Brienne is so impressed, she later tells the Hound Arya doesn’t need protection anymore; the ones who get in Arya’s way, on the other hand, do.

Arya is a skilled warrior, and clearly has a strategy for the Battle of Winterfell. She does, after all, know death. On top of that, her new weapon, and her Valyrian steel dagger, she’s sure to be an MVP in the Battle of Winterfell. Hopefully this ensures she comes out of the battle alive.

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