Full spoilers for Game of Thrones: Season 7 continue below. Check out our review of "Stormborn."
Game of Thrones' second episode of Season 7 featured a reunion of two characters who haven't seen each other since Season 1: Arya Stark, and her direwolf Nymeria. If you'll remember, Arya sent her young pup away back after Nymeria attacked Joffrey in the series' second episode.
After Arya made the decision to ditch her plan to kill Cersei in King's Landing once she learned that Jon Snow is now King of the North, she reencountered Nymeria and her pack in the woods. She asks Nymeria to return with her to Winterfell, but her direwolf leaves instead, prompting Arya to say the line, "That's not you."
Did she really mean that wasn't Nymeria in the flesh? No, of course that was one of the final two Stark direwolves left standing. Instead, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss explain in the Inside the Episode that the line was a callback to Season 1 as well.
"'That's not you' is a direct reference to what Arya herself said to her father when her father painted this picture for her of the life she could have as a lady of a castle and marrying some lord and wearing a nice frilly dress," said Weiss. "Arya's not domesticated, and it makes otal sense that her wolf wouldn't be either. Once the wolf walks away, at first she's heartbroken to have come this close, and then she realizes the wolf is doing exactly what she would do if she were that wolf."
Noted Benioff, "This scene hearkens back to Season 1. ... When she finally finds Nymeria again, or Nymeria finds her, and she of course wants her to come back home with her and be her loyal companion again, but Nymeria's found her own life."
Though Arya's original plan to go to King's Landing was derailed by her encounter with Hot Pie and her learning that Jon is in the North, it seems likely that this chance meeting with Nymeria will cause her to change her path again. It could be the wake up call that a happy reunion with her family is "not you" for Arya as well, and like her direwolf her path isn't being domesticated. With that in mind, she could decide to go back on her original path and head down to King's Landing to kill the queen.
It couldn't be at a better time, either, as Queen Cersei just landed a crushing blow on Daenerys Targaryen's army when Euron Greyjoy destroyed Yara's fleet and captured both the Greyjoy queen and Ellaria Sand. Even if Arya had headed north to Winterfell, she would have just missed Jon, as he is heading south to Dragonstone to meet with Daenerys Targaryen. At least Bran seems to be heading in the direction of Winterfell, where he'll find Sansa Stark ruling as stand-in Queen of the North.
The real question is whether Nymeria still has a role to play in the episodes to come. In George R.R. Martin's novels, Arya and Nymeria have an unexplored warg-like connection, similar to how Bran was connected to Summer. As Martin told Mashable (via Vanity Fair), "You don't hang a giant wolf pack on the wall unless you intend to use it."
Terri Schwartz is Editorial Producer at IGN. Talk to her on Twitter at @Terri_Schwartz.
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