Season 6, Episode 7 "The Broken Man" Discussion Thread

[Fist of Khonshu]

I like the 'Fight Club' theory, where 'Waif is actually Arya's split personality.

That one doesn't work very well because of the scene where Jaqen greenlights the hit on Arya.

 

[Matt]

That one doesn't work very well because of the scene where Jaqen greenlights the hit on Arya.

Not quite. She says something like "You promised" and he says something along the lines of "make it quick."

 

[Fist of Khonshu]

Not quite. She says something like "You promised" and he says something along the lines of "make it quick."

Are you saying that he didn't authorize the Waif? He has rank over her in this guild, and she nods to his command.

Anyway, the point is, it's a scene between them which excludes Arya's presence. Here it is for review:

[YT]MWURt5H4E7o[/YT]

Significantly, the Waif doesn't refer to herself in third person and uses "I" and "me". This has happened before in another scene. Also that she felt a need to exact a "promise" to be the one to take Arya out reveals that she's not a true Faceless Man above desires and this is a personal vendetta. She's had an irrational, sadistic hatred for Arya since the very beginning, almost as if she was Martyn Lannister's sister out for revenge against any Starks! As if -I'm not saying that's the case.

 

[BestGirl]

I thught Arya being stabbed was a dream sequence at first..it seemed so surreal and brutal…..

I think Arya had pig's blood stowed under her shirt and that's where the Waif stabbed her. She'll use the blood trail to lure the Waif to a dark room where she'll finally taker her on.

ETA: How does the Waif take Jaqen's face in the following scene? How does the corpse have Jaqen and Arya's face? Do they all have doppelgangers or something?

[YT]06i9SyqB6B0[/YT]

 

[Marvolo]

The waif put the knife in to Arya all the way up to the hilt multiple times and started slicing across her abdomen . It doesnt matter if Arya had a bag of pig’s blood under her shirt the knife would have went through the bag and sliced her belly open in multiple places. Arya's guts would be ****ed up.

 

[Victarion]

The waif put the knife in to Arya all the way up to the hilt multiple times and started slicing across her abdomen . It doesnt matter if Arya had a bag of pig’s blood under her shirt the knife would have went through the bag and sliced her belly open in multiple places. Arya's guts would be ****ed up.

Whatever was in her intestines would've been flooding her abdominal cavity.

 

[Fist of Khonshu]

I think Arya had pig's blood stowed under her shirt and that's where the Waif stabbed her. She'll use the blood trail to lure the Waif to a dark room where she'll finally taker her on.

The blood bag plan is high risk. As pointed out by others, what if the Waif goes for the throat as an assassin should? Or the eyes? What if she employs poisoned darts instead? There's no way to anticipate the weapons or the bodily location of the strike. Something else is up with this.

ETA: How does the Waif take Jaqen's face in the following scene? How does the corpse have Jaqen and Arya's face? Do they all have doppelgangers or something?

[YT]06i9SyqB6B0[/YT]

Good questions, BestGirl!

I just re-watched ALL of the Braavos scenes from S05E01 to the present, and this is the one that's preoccupying me the most in trying to solve the mystery behind what's currently happening.

We now know that the Faceless Men physically slice faces off of the bodies, it's not purely their weird sorcery, and these are the dead faces that they store in their great hall and use when they need a disguise. Yet we have this scene from the Season 5 finale involving faces from living characters. Was that just a crazy hallucination (or vision ala Luke Skywalker in the Dagobah cave) as Arya went blind? Or illusionary magic? I sense that the key to this current situation may be in that scene somehow. Nobody is really who they appear to be because they are all "no one" now...?

So who was posing as "Arya"? Some people think it's Jaqen, but I don't like that idea or the rationale people use behind it.

Whatever the case may be, Arya Stark is around somewhere! I do believe that there's more to Arya's recent scene than meets the eye because it's so incongruent with her previous appearance at her hideout. She's unarmed, and uncharacteristically careless and indiscreet.

In the preview for "No One", [BLACKOUT]the Waif's surpised expression indicates that she notices Arya (whom she thought dead) and then pursues her! Arya (if that's her) is leaping away like a superheroine and this is because: a) she was never stabbed and that was someone else, or b) she was miraculously and quickly healed. Maybe Lady Crane has some serious healing skills, or a magical potion-ex-machina! <groan> [/BLACKOUT]

I just pray that they write her out of this predicament in a plausible, intelligent and satisfying way. I realize that's a tall order to D&D. We'll see!

 

[Marvolo]

Maybe Jaqen decides he doesnt want her to die and saves her and heals her somehow.

 

[Fist of Khonshu]

If she has to be miraculously healed at all then I like that idea better, Marvolo, and it's very much in line with what Tom Wlaschiha said in his interview which I posted in the Arya thread:

http://forums.superherohype.com/showpost.php?p=33791707&postcount=63

Maisie's comments there may also hold a key to understanding how she gets out of this one...depending on the "skill" she's referring to...

 

[Kane52630]

 

[Marvolo]

Pretty much.

 

[TJByrum]

I've never cheered for the Mountain, but if he kills the hell out of the Sparrows next episode then it's okay to cheer for him, right?

Right?

 

[Dugath]

Was surprised and glad that the hound is back. He was/is my favorite character in this show. For some reason this episode had me giddy.

Him, Bronn and Jaime always crack me up.

On a bight note (for myself) we did not have to deal with Daenerys at all this episode. Unless it involves Jorah or Tyrion I would prefer she was not even in this show. Her stuff bores me.

 

[TJByrum]

Was surprised and glad that the hound is back. He was/is my favorite character in this show. For some reason this episode had me giddy.

Him, Bronn and Jaime always crack me up.

On a bight note (for myself) we did not have to deal with Daenerys at all this episode. Unless it involves Jorah or Tyrion I would prefer she was not even in this show. Her stuff bores me.

I think she suffers from the fact that the Westeros storyline simply isn't ready for her. She's kind of on the sidelines until the show is ready for her to come to Westeros and get involved in that whole scheme.

I like Jorah, and so that's why I like Essos stuff.

 

[Golgo-13]

That one doesn't work very well because of the scene where Jaqen greenlights the hit on Arya.

Maybe he wants one personality to destroy the other in order to see which one is stronger.

 

[BestGirl]

The waif put the knife in to Arya all the way up to the hilt multiple times and started slicing across her abdomen . It doesnt matter if Arya had a bag of pig’s blood under her shirt the knife would have went through the bag and sliced her belly open in multiple places. Arya's guts would be ****ed up.

My theory assumes that he had some sort of armor or padding under her shirt.

The blood bag plan is high risk. As pointed out by others, what if the Waif goes for the throat as an assassin should? Or the eyes? What if she employs poisoned darts instead? There's no way to anticipate the weapons or the bodily location of the strike. Something else is up with this.

She's sparred with the Waif many times so she probably knows her technique and can anticipate her moves ahead of time.

Good questions, BestGirl!

I just re-watched ALL of the Braavos scenes from S05E01 to the present, and this is the one that's preoccupying me the most in trying to solve the mystery behind what's currently happening.

We now know that the Faceless Men physically slice faces off of the bodies, it's not purely their weird sorcery, and these are the dead faces that they store in their great hall and use when they need a disguise. Yet we have this scene from the Season 5 finale involving faces from living characters. Was that just a crazy hallucination (or vision ala Luke Skywalker in the Dagobah cave) as Arya went blind? Or illusionary magic? I sense that the key to this current situation may be in that scene somehow. Nobody is really who they appear to be because they are all "no one" now...?

Thanks! t: Though I'm not sure that scene will have anything to do with how Arya will escape her current predicament, it would be neat if it did. If it doesn't I'll assume it's some sort of hallucinatory magic prior to her going blind.

Spoiler

I must see this man in Westeros! I wonder how long he'd last...

 

[Marvolo]

My theory assumes that he had some sort of armor or padding under her shirt.

She would have needed very thick armor. The knife was buried in her gut all the way to the hilt. It would have went through padding unless it was extremely thick padding and looking at her she clearly didnt have any thick padding or armor under her shirt.

 

[Charlatan]

I think she had a chainmail shirt against her body,maybe a small slab of meat after that and then the bag of pig's blood. it would feel to the attacker like she cut her. look like she cut her and still protect her. if you watch the attack in slow motion when she first stabs her the blood gushes out like an arterial spurt,the slows quickly and never spurts again which it would have with her next heartbeat if it were real. if she had an artery like that cut she wouldn't be up walking around either.

but this is a tv show and they have their limits on making it look real so who knows? It certainly is keeping us guessing.

 

[BestGirl]

That's the thing that got me. With injuries like that she ought to have died within minutes, not been able to get out of the water and walk down the street. Either it's fake blood or Jaqen is dressed up like her and will heal himself through magic.

 

[Reek]

you guys are kidding right??? This has to be a joke

She was stabbed, and the knife was twisted... if its some insanely ignorant twist like she was hiding a ribeye in her shirt, then this show has gone beyond the word of '****'.

 

[Reek]

well scratch that... they've made Aryas story so boringly stupid... it probably is a hidden ribeye

 

[Roose Bolton]

Lady Ribeye of Winterfell

 

[Reek]

"no no... you didn't kill the butchers booooooiiii... you just stole his product"

 

[Roose Bolton]

"Arya..you smell like...bacon."

 

[Fist of Khonshu]

She's sparred with the Waif many times so she probably knows her technique and can anticipate her moves ahead of time.

Yes they've sparred with quarterstaves, nothing else, and the Waif has had her number in every fight.

But this isn't a sparring situation, it's anticipating an assassination, and the intestines are not a sure bet. People can recover from knife or gunshot wounds there. I personally knew someone who survived a shotgun blast there.

Thanks! t: Though I'm not sure that scene will have anything to do with how Arya will escape her current predicament, it would be neat if it did. If it doesn't I'll assume it's some sort of hallucinatory magic prior to her going blind.

I think it may be relevant in the sense that things and people aren't necessarily what they appear, not in that scene, perhaps not in this latest scene either, nor even in the previews.