Many “Game of Thrones” fans were left grumbling by the conclusion to Arya Starks’s journey in Braavos in this week’s episode. Fans weren’t worried too much that the girl that was once no one was going to die, but that didn’t help shake off the nagging feeling that there was no way Arya should have survived the stabbing the Waif gave her, let alone kill her after a parkour chase through city streets and over bazaars filled with fruit baskets.
Well, one fan who is well versed in the world of medicine can confirm to you that, yes, Arya’s wounds should have killed her several times over. Redditor Zahn1138 wrote a detailed medical analysis of major injuries sustained by “Game of Thrones” characters over the course of the series, from the boar attack that killed Robert Baratheon to the stab wounds that took down Talisa Stark at the Red Wedding.
By comparing what sort of wounds killed certain characters and what kind of treatments saved others, the post shows that Arya should never have reached Lady Crane in time due to the massive blood loss those wounds would have caused. Even if the blood loss didn’t get her, there’s no way Lady Crane should have been able to save Arya from dying from wound infection or peritonitis even with her experience with tending to wounds.
“Theoretically, some blood magic or even a prayer to the Lord of Light might save her. But none of that happens,” read the post. “Arya has some soup and sleeps it off, ready to engage in the most epic parkour competition Braavos has ever seen, cleverly breaking open her wounds again with a traumatic fall so that she can leave a trail of blood to lure the Waif into the trap she set for her in the dark.”
But why should we care? Isn’t “Game of Thrones” a fantasy? Zahn argues that it matters because Arya’s wounds betray the story’s internal consistency, damaging the cohesion of the plot and making it more difficult for fans to get invested.
“Surprises would be meaningless and pointless, because we’d have no expectations to be subverted. There’d be no meaning or understanding in [the story], and it would be thoroughly dull and exhausting to watch.” the fan said. “The best immune system is Arya’s plot armor. If I could study some of her armor I’d find a cure for
If you like your “Game of Thrones” talk with a skeptical tone rather than filled with crazy predictions, you might enjoy perusing through the rogues’ gallery of debunked fan theories below, including a theory that suggested Arya and the Waif were the same person.