At the end of ‘Game of Thrones,’ the youngest Stark girl set sail for lands that hadn’t even been mapped yet. Challenges—and the answers to many unsolved mysteries—likely awaited her. Some years ago , Tyrion Lannister gave his now-famous speech, Bran became Bran the Broken and the king of Westeros, Jon Snow ventured north, and Game of Thrones came to an end. In honor of the conclusion of the last piece of monoculture, The Ringer will spend all week looking back on Thrones—focusing not just on its final season, but celebrating its entire eight-season run, reminiscing about its host of memorable characters, and pondering where some of them may be one year later.The final glimpse of Arya in Game of Thrones showed her sailing off toward adventure, determined to discover something no one else ever has: what is west of Westeros. That gave Arya one of the most open-ended conclusions of any character in Thrones. She’s not locked down running a kingdom or patrolling the Wall—she’s free to do whatever she wants. Immediately, fans speculated about a potential spinoff series, which HBO just as quickly shot down. But what would Arya find to the west of Westeros? “No one knows,” Arya says in the series finale. “That’s where the maps stop. That’s where I’m going.” Arya had her own adventure in Game of Thrones that led her across one body of water, but that one involved death, violence, and trauma. In this one, an adult Arya would have more agency over her travels, and would be better able to wield her unique curiosity, grit, and determination to explore not only the wider world, but herself. And there is still plenty to discover about both.
Despite HBO’s reluctance to continue Arya’s story, we can still think about what happens as she travels west. Hey guys, welcome to my channel, please don't forget to like and subscribe and also click on the notification bell to remain updated. The maps may stop, but the world doesn’t. George R.R. Martin has confirmed that the planet Westeros is on is round, meaning that we can at least confirm that Arya won’t sail off a cliff. And given that in Martin’s universe, Westeros feels a bit like the United Kingdom and Europe and Essos feels like Asia, Arya may be heading for an unexpected landing on a continent that resembles the Americas. Or, the sea may wrap straight around to the eastern edge of Essos. The Sunset Sea isn’t completely empty. Let’s start with what’s closest to Westeros: Islands like the Arbor, Bear Island, and the Iron Islands dot the western coast—but these are well-populated strongholds that are part of Westeros itself. Visiting them would hardly be considered exploring—and not the kind of adventure Arya is seeking. For that we have to go a bit farther out. The island furthest to the west that is still considered part of Westeros is called Lonely Light, and it’s an eight-day sail from the Iron Islands. It’s ruled by a family called the Farwynds, who are considered a group of weirdos even by Iron Islander standards. Just to give you an idea of what I mean: At the Kingsmoot in A Feast for Crows, Gylbert Farwynd practically got laughed off of the island by the same people that elected Euron Greyjoy. But Lonely Light isn’t even the end of the known world. That would be a trio of small islands called Aegon, Rhaenys, and Visenya, located well to the south of Lonely Light—even more south than Westeros itself—but also far to the west, several weeks away from Oldtown. They were discovered only some 250 years before Arya’s voyage, and are uninhabited, but have fresh water and wildlife. That gives Arya two conceivable paths to begin her journey: up north and through the Iron Islands or to the south and toward that group of uninhabited islands, which would likely allow her to get as far west as possible before being in truly uncharted waters. Going up north would mean interacting with Yara Greyjoy, and Arya didn’t exactly leave their last interaction on the best terms: So let’s say Arya sticks to that southern route. It’d be a bit poetic for her to do so. While Arya says that “no one knows” what’s out there, she’s not quite correct. Arya is following in the footsteps—or, the wake, I guess—of Elissa Farman, who traveled west some two and a half centuries before Arya. Elissa was an adventurer who likely once possessed the three dragon eggs that eventually turned into Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion. It was she who discovered that trio of islands in the first place, after a terrible storm knocked them off course. #houseofthedragon #aryastark #westeros
