Arya Stark begins Game of Thrones as a precocious and plucky young girl, and she closes out the series as one of the most dangerous people alive. Arya's list of kills might not be quite as long as she wished it was at certain points during her character arc, but she has committed some impressive and horrifying assassinations in her time.
Like most people in this violent fantasy world, she has no problem getting her hands dirty. But which were Arya's most brutal and memorable murders throughout the show?
The Waif
Of all Arya Stark's most memorable murders, this one is probably the most understandable. Yes, she was still killing a human being, but frankly, the Waif started it.
Not only had the Waif tried to kill Arya before (and came close to succeeding), but she seemed to get a lot of personal satisfaction out of treating Arya badly. Plus, Game of Thrones didn't even bother showing the death scene, only adding the Waif to the Hall of Faces after it was already done.
The Night King
Once again, one of Arya's most epic assassinations also winds up being one of the least violent. Regardless of fan reaction to the final season of Game of Thrones, seeing Arya flying through the darkness to attack the Night King was awesome — and her Valyrian blade hand-switch was even cooler.
But the Night King's death wasn't at all cruel and drawn-out. There wasn't even any blood, so it still rates pretty low in terms of Arya's savage standards.
The Frey Soldier
Arya became accustomed to stabbing people pretty early on in her character arc, and absolutely no one would blame her for lashing out at the Frey soldier who was claiming to have mutilated her brother's dead body.
But still, the feral fury with which she cut that man up was unsettling to see, especially since she was still a pretty young child who hadn't even begun training with the Faceless Men yet. Clearly, she had the knack for assassination from the start.
Petyr Baelish
In a physical sense, it's fair to say that Petyr Baelish actually got an exceptionally kind ending — especially considering all of the havoc that he wreaked in the Seven Kingdoms. However, the cat-and-mouse aspect of his execution does up the brutality factor a bit.
Arya and Sansa came up with an elaborate ruse to make him believe that they were ready to go to war with one another, only for him to realize that his time had run out after it was already too late. It was a bit unnecessarily dramatic... though entertaining for everyone but Littlefinger.
Polliver
A huge aspect of Arya's character development is learning the difference between justice and vengeance. And while Polliver's death did seem fair considering what he'd done, it was clearly motivated by revenge as well.
Lommy was an innocent child who didn't deserve to die, and Arya knew it. Reenacting Lommy's death on Polliver and mimicking his own words right back to him was a particularly grim form of playacting — even though he totally had it coming.
The Stable Boy
Jon's advice to Arya to "stick 'em with the pointy end" wound up being more valuable than he ever realized.
As far as physical traumas go, the way in which Arya stabs the young stable boy with Needle when he attempts to capture her isn't nearly as gruesome as a standard Game of Thrones death. However, the fact that it's a child murdering another child makes it considerably more horrific.
Black Walder
If the utterly revolting aspects of baking people into pies becomes too much to bear, it's best to keep in mind that Black Walder is the one who slit Catelyn Stark's throat.
And thankfully, Game of Thrones actually omitted the difficulties of cutting up a human body and cooking it. But just thinking about the amount of time, energy, and stomach for gore required to make that happen still means that the Frey pies are one of Arya's most brutal kills.
Walder Frey
Although the TV series doesn't delve into it nearly as much as the books, there are certain cardinal sins in Westeros that are considered to be unimaginable transgressions. And as Bran lays out in the story of the Rat Cook, eating the flesh of your own blood is a true abomination.
So, the fact that Arya unknowingly served up a nice slice of Freys to the patriarch of House Frey before unmasking herself and gloating that the last thing he's ever going to see is a Stark watching him die was wild. And although Arya isn't the one to make Frey pies in the books, fans were still thrilled and repulsed to see that nod to A Song of Ice and Fire in the TV series.
The Remaining Freys
Considering what Arya likely wanted to do to the entire Frey family, it seems safe to say that they probably got off light. But by any reasonable terms, committing mass murder on that scale without batting an eye is absolutely horrific.
The Freys more than earned their karmic punishment, but the way in which Arya orchestrated a celebration that mirrored the Red Wedding and then left her final message that "winter came for House Frey" was scary.
Ser Meryn Trant
Before pretty much single-handedly saving the world, Arya danced on the line of villainy more than a few times, and at certain points, it wouldn't have been that shocking to see her become a legitimate bad guy. Arguably, there is no moment where Arya's darkness and brutality is more apparent than when she kills Meryn Trant.
The world is better off without him, but the fact that Arya emotionlessly and almost gleefully tormented and mangled him was very unsettling.