[Arya Stark — Characters]
Later, Arya is accosted in her room by the Waif , who repeatedly asks her who she is, hitting her when she gives the expected response of "no one." Eventually, Jaqen arrives and demands the Waif to stop. He notices that Arya was about to attack the Waif with Needle and points out that Arya cannot be no one, as she is still wearing Arya Stark's clothes, is in possession of Arya Stark's silver, and was about to attack the Waif using Arya Stark's sword. In order to meet the order's initiation requirements, Arya throws her old clothing and silver into the lagoon. Too attached to Needle, however, she is unable to discard it and hides it among a few rocks nearby. Later, as Arya is sweeping the floor, Jaqen escorts Arya to an inner chamber where she is to help the Waif in stripping and washing corpses. The Waif doesn't respond when Arya asks what happens to the bodies after they are cleaned.
Aware that Jaqen sent the Waif to kill her, Arya points Needle at him in an accusatory manner, though Jaqen claims that she has finally truly become "no one", indicating the completion of her training as a Faceless Man. In reply, Arya reaffirms that she will never be "no one" and is and will always be Arya Stark of Winterfell. Lowering her sword, she then leaves the House of Black and White and Jaqen for good, making the ultimate decision to return to Westeros, her home.
Arya is often asked by the Kindly man, the waif and other characters "who are you?" and she answers "no one." They nearly always respond with "you lie", implying she has not yet let go of her past identity, thus unfit to join the Faceless Men. Arya has been using many false names during her plotline, among them: Arry, Weasel, Nan, Squab, Salty, Cat of the Canals, Beth, the lastly - Mercedene/Mercy; perhaps it symbolizes Arya's gradual loss of identity. Despite this, she retains her true identity as Arya Stark. This is brought up several times with her inner monologue where she says she was never any of those identities for true and by the Faceless Men who say she wears the other identities as one would wear a dress, but beneath those she is still Arya.
In Braavos , Arya Stark watches a play mocking the War of the Five Kings as part of an assignment from the Faceless Men . The actor playing Ned depicts him as a stereotypical "country bumpkin", much to Arya's displeasure.
In A Dance with Dragons , Theon's reunion with his sister Asha occurs under different circumstances. Instead of returning to the Iron Islands, Theon and "Arya Stark" (actually Jeyne Poole ) are brought to Stannis's camp. Asha has been taken captive by Stannis following the liberation of Deepwood Motte . By that stage, the Kingsmoot has already occurred and Euron is already leading the ironborn invasion of the Reach. In a reversal of their encounter in the books, Asha does not recognize her brother, who has been tortured and disfigured by Ramsay Bolton. When Asha realizes that scrawny, stinky, toothless old man is in fact Theon, she reacts with shock and disgust.
He meets with Catelyn as planned and delivers Eddard's remains as a sign of good faith. She greets him with angry recriminations over his betrayal of Eddard and rejects his poorly timed advances. He delivers Tyrion's suggested exchange terms; Jaime for Sansa and Arya Stark . Littlefinger lies that the Lannisters have Arya in their custody.
Cersei asks Littlefinger to collect information on the Tyrells, explaining that she fears that the Tyrells do not have the Lannisters' best interests at heart, but her father won't listen. Therefore, she asks that Littlefinger use his spies to try to find out what they're up to, because he has a good working relationship with them after brokering the Lannister-Tyrell alliance. He agrees, but Cersei warns him that this had better produce more results than when she previously asked him to find Arya Stark. Littlefinger orders one of his homosexual prostitutes, Olyvar , to act as Loras's squire and seduce him all the way to the bedroom. He does so and manages to get Loras to admit to the secret wedding plans. Olyvar relays this piece of information back to Littlefinger, who tests Sansa. When she declines her place on his ship, Baelish realizes Varys's plan and tips off Cersei and Tywin.
Petyr watches from the battlements as Arya Stark returns to Winterfell and later when she spars with Brienne . However, after the practice, Arya looks up at Petyr with a disapproving and untrustworthy look. Yet again hatching another cunning plan, Petyr bows from the high walls and walks away from Arya's view.
Following the Massacre in the Red Keep , Jeyne Poole is taken by force to one of Littlefinger's brothels, where she is viciously molested and beaten. In the third novel, Littlefinger comes up with the idea to wed her, disguised as Arya Stark, to Ramsay Bolton. Other than that, he has no contact with the Boltons.
Sandor is captured by the Brotherhood Without Banners , and is brought before Thoros of Myr at the Inn at the Crossroads . Sandor mocks the Brotherhood before revealing the identity of Arya Stark to the Brotherhood, who attempts to flee when she sees him. He is then loaded into a prisoner cart by Anguy , during which he is confronted by Arya, who angrily asks him if he remembers the last time he was here, but he simply says all poor inns look the same.
Sandor shows some discomfort from the bite wound that he sustained earlier, to which Arya replies he should have let her cauterize it with fire. The Hound dismisses it as a flea bite, but Arya mentions Sandor was much slower because of the wound. They are stopped by a guard. When Sandor mentions Arya Stark, niece of Lady Lysa, the guard tells them Lysa is dead, leaving Sandor dumbstruck and Arya in an uncontrollable fit of laughter over Sandor's repeated failed attempts to ransom her.