# Game of Thrones 6.07 "The Broken Man" 6/5/16 \[Show Discussion\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 6, 2016, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631 "2016-06-06T00:20:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631/261 "2016-06-07T23:56:59Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I’m still trying to figure out why she didn’t have Sting with her. because hes…ah the hell with it. The lack of Needle, that is the clue I was missing. It seems super strange that Arya would be walking around, obvious as hell, tossing bags of money where people can see them, unarmed. This really does sort of scream mindfuckery on some level. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631/262 "2016-06-07T23:57:02Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I’m putting down my vote for the Waif stabbed Arya and there’s no trickery going on there. Mainly because of the scene of Arya walking through the street looking distraught. That scene wouldn’t make sense if it was anyone other that Arya. Yeah, people are being absolutely ridiculous about this face business. It was exactly as it seemed, there’s no grand trick, but we know Arya’s gonna be perfectly fine thanks to plot armor. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2016, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631/263 "2016-06-07T23:58:01Z")
Well, my idea on the blood packets came to me literally as I was typing up my reply. So if you guys wanna pick apart this very intricate, multi-layered theory, be my guest. But I will say that I think it’s still more likely than the theory that Arya is the waif and the waif is Arya. Most people have already pointed out that the Arya’s not going to be lulled into attacking “herself” for no real reason when there’s a better option of just running the hell away. Additionally, if the Waif really were disguised as Arya as a form of a trap, she’s gotta be really really stupid to have been caught unawares like that. But the biggest reason why that theory doesn’t work is that that’s not how the magic works. It’s been established that the faceless men get their faces from donations to the Many Faced God. We’ve seen the dead bodies with the faces being cut off. We’ve seen the hall of faces where the magic is drawn from. Arya isn’t yet dead. She has not donated her face. The Waif can’t turn into her. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631/264 "2016-06-08T00:09:34Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > But the biggest reason why that theory doesn’t work is that that’s not how the magic works. It’s been established that the faceless men get their faces from donations to the Many Faced God. We’ve seen the dead bodies with the faces being cut off. We’ve seen the hall of faces where the magic is drawn from. > > Arya isn’t yet dead. She has not donated her face. The Waif can’t turn into her. Not true. After Arya killed Meryn Trant and the Jaqen clone drank the poison, she pulls faces off the corpse until the last one is revealed to be her own. Yet Arya is still alive; how did her face get on the Jaqen clone if only faces of the dead can be worn? ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631/265 "2016-06-08T00:13:24Z")
But we’ve also seen the use of someone’s face even when that person is still alive! Just before Arya’s sight is taken away she pulls faces off of the dead “Jaqen”, eventually revealing her own. Edit: Dangit, beaten to the punch! ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631/266 "2016-06-08T00:24:47Z")
OK, new theory then. Arya actually died at the beginning of season 5 and we’ve been following a completely random acolyte for a year. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631/267 "2016-06-08T00:30:23Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > OK, new theory then. > > Arya actually died at the beginning of season 5 and we’ve been following a completely random acolyte for a year. Ha! I’ll up you one. Arya’s whole story arc has been a dream by Nymeria. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631/268 "2016-06-08T00:32:36Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > OK, new theory then. > > Arya actually died at the beginning of season 5 and we’ve been following a completely random acolyte for a year. Then why did this Arya clone kill Meryn Trant? He wasn’t marked for death by the Faceless Men. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631/269 "2016-06-08T00:32:58Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Arya isn’t yet dead. She has not donated her face. The Waif can’t turn into her. They are not consistent about this at all, the guy who drank poison last season did turn into her. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631/270 "2016-06-08T00:34:42Z")
> [@Duke\_of\_Rat](#): > > “It’s a boy, and young like Lord Karstark likes them” or something along those lines was how Umber presented Rickon - but Karstark seemed to chafe at the implication that he liked young boys… Of course he’d react that way; I imagine most Westerosi pederasts are firmly in the closet. > [@Duke\_of\_Rat](#): > > Speaking of the coin purse… > > Tommen is the King, he’s told us so. If the Queen has cut off his bedtime allowance, and her purse strings are his to plunder, then he really hasn’t got this whole king gig down very well. And don’t mean full on Ramsay action, just a regal demand for some sanctioned by The Seven hanky-panky… Tommen is very young, deeply in love with Margaery, and has no sexual experience other than with her (or his hands). Unlike Margaery he’s actually fallen under the High Sparrows spell, and we know the Faith frowns on fornication, even the heterosexual variety. Plus only his wife can provide him with an heir, courtesans cannot. And since he’s not Joffrey it’s safe to say he’s not going to rape Margaery out of frustration. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631/271 "2016-06-08T00:53:56Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Ha! I’ll up you one. Arya’s whole story arc has been a dream by Nymeria. Could be. But I still maintain that the entire universe is contained inside Tommy Westphall’s snowglobe ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631/272 "2016-06-08T02:59:14Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Not true. After Arya killed Meryn Trant and the Jaqen clone drank the poison, she pulls faces off the corpse until the last one is revealed to be her own. Yet Arya is still alive; how did her face get on the Jaqen clone if only faces of the dead can be worn? > [@BlackKnight](#): > > But we’ve also seen the use of someone’s face even when that person is still alive! Just before Arya’s sight is taken away she pulls faces off of the dead “Jaqen”, eventually revealing her own. > > Edit: Dangit, beaten to the punch! > [@DigitalC](#): > > They are not consistent about this at all, the guy who drank poison last season did turn into her. My take on this is that the faces she was pulling off the corpse were a hallucination related to the poison effect of wearing a face while someone. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljFljgf2USk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljFljgf2USk) but they are very inconsistent so its really hard to pin down. I chalk it up to “A man does not talk about fight club” and leave it at that. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631/273 "2016-06-08T03:48:58Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Of course he’d react that way; I imagine most Westerosi pederasts are firmly in the closet. There’s no evidence he’s a pedophile beyond the verbal jab of a guy that’s obviously antagonistic. Sure, a pedophile would probably deny it, but so would an innocent man. Plus, that’s not even the guy you accused of it in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631/274 "2016-06-08T04:11:34Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Ha! I’ll up you one. Arya’s whole story arc has been a dream by Nymeria. Nonsense. The whole series is just a fever dream Bran has been having on his deathbed after being pushed off the tower. He’s got a filthy mind, that one 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631/275 "2016-06-08T04:14:03Z")
A different kind of X-Men: [https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/b1/7f/1a/b17f1a3ef5d12c34473e9a3118440d76.jpg](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/b1/7f/1a/b17f1a3ef5d12c34473e9a3118440d76.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631/276 "2016-06-08T04:37:48Z")
> [@Critical1](#): > > My take on this is that the faces she was pulling off the corpse were a hallucination related to the poison effect of wearing a face while someone. > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljFljgf2USk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljFljgf2USk) > but they are very inconsistent so its really hard to pin down. I chalk it up to “A man does not talk about fight club” and leave it at that. Yes. Arya clearly somehow used a physical face (that of the sick girl she persuaded to drink from the pool by lying to her that it would cure her) from the Hall to disguise herself, since she is seen returning it to its place. Yet the Jaqen who takes poison, and the Jaqen that the Waif seemingly transforms into, have Jaqen’s face at the exact same time, so this can’t be a single physical face. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631/277 "2016-06-08T05:03:00Z")
I think the most likely explanation is the obvious one. But it is also (if true) a very disappointing one, and one that would not have happened in the earlier seasons that hewed closer to the books. There has been a worrying tendency this season for people to do out of character stupid things when demanded by the plot… crossing my fingers that this is not such a situation. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631/278 "2016-06-08T07:11:02Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Well every time one of the Crows (or Tyrion, for that matter) has mentioned the wights to a southerner they got dismissive laughter about believing in “ghosts and grumpkins”. I reckon most people would be as shocked to learn that the bogeyman they dismissed as obvious bullshit was real all along as people from our world would if tomorrow we learned that there really were no-shit werewolves or vampires - even if they were explained by science rather than magic. Which tbh is an attitude I never quite got—I mean, not only is at least some measure of the supernatural present in this world (witness the dragon skulls), but more importantly, nobody builts a goddamn 100m wall of ice without having a bloody good reason for it. Even knowing nothing about that world, you come to that wall, you’ll probably think that there’s something not very nice on the other side of it (and something more dangerous than roving bands hald-starves wildlings). ---
**Author:** ![Oswald\_Bastable](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oswald_bastable/32/214_2.png) [@Oswald\_Bastable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oswald_Bastable)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631/279 "2016-06-08T07:16:03Z")
Although I threw the switcheroo theory out there earlier, I too think the Arya situation is most likely just as it was presented to us. The reason why speculation is so rampant, I believe, is because the last we saw of Arya in the last episode, she’d run away from the temple, recovered Needle and, appearing to be fully aware of the danger she was now in, found a quiet little hidey hole in which to nervously plan what she was going to do. Then, when we see her this episode, she’s boldly striding through Braavos throwing big bags of coins at ships captains. It almost feels like we’re missing something in between. Plus, those scenes did seem to be filmed in such a way to suggest something was not quite as it seemed (but that could just be misdirection). I still think there’s a 10% chance the first scene of the next episode will be Arya’s lifeless corpse lying in the temple while Jaquen, gently washing the body, says something about a death being required. This will likely be followed by a scene of Dany travelling through the desert (again) while her Dothraki get restless (again). She’ll show them her boobies (again) or her dragon (again) and they’ll all bow down to her (again). Then we’ll be back with Jaquen, who removes the face of the corpse he’s been preparing to reveal it’s not Arya at all. There’s a twinkle in his eye and subtle smirk on his face as the scene fades to black. :o OB ---
**Author:** ![Oswald\_Bastable](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oswald_bastable/32/214_2.png) [@Oswald\_Bastable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oswald_Bastable)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631/280 "2016-06-08T07:19:17Z")
Ooh, I forgot to add - my favourite scene of the episode was the lingering shot of the woman from the Hound’s religious community chopping potatoes. Surely that was a deliberate reference to the potato controversy from an earlier season… I guffawed anyway. OB [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-6-07-the-broken-man-6-5-16-show-discussion/756631.md?page=15)