Post by shymaid on Jan 2, 2020 15:51:50 GMT
The House of Black and White is a curious place, the Faceless Men are a curious bunch, and their training is odd to say the least. Much and more seems contradictory in that house, and often gives way to more questions than answers with every read. At least to me.
One of my bigger questions is Arya's new face, when she enters the persona of The Ugly Little Girl. Did she get a new face or not?
Arya is given a mark to kill in order to still earn her place with the Faceless Men. (Or was it the final test before entering the ranks of an acolyte? With the Faceless Men it's hard to say!) After reentering the life of Cat of the Canals to study her mark, she comes up with a plan and announces that she will take out her mark the next day, and she is taken down to the third level below in preparation. I will start at the point where she is seemingly given a new face.
Considering another potion they gave her made her blind, and another reversed the effect (or seemingly so), how do we know what follows is not an effect of the drink?
And her feelings after “the face” is pulled on, how much of that is the drink? How much is her expectation based upon his words that “this will feel queer”? Or a combination of the two?
So is there another way for us to tell? We are told to expect:
She completes the look by:
After leaving the House of Black and White, she takes the long way to the Purple Harbor. While she half expects to meet Talea selling her mussles, she then notes that it is too early for that, and too cold. In fact, she doesn't note meeting anyone until she comes to the Ragman's Harbor, Cat of the Canal's old stumping ground.
Tagganaro doesn't seem to recognize her, but neither does he flinch at the sight of her. The crowd doesn't take note of her either, though it's possible they all had their back to her. The seal, Casso, does seem to recognize her, but like the cats earlier, they know you by different means than animals do.
No mention of anyone making special note of her here either, though it is a busy day. In fact, it seems like the only time she is noticed, it is of her own making:
After hiding a long time waiting for the commotion to die down, she is able to get back to the House of Black and White without incidence. But how is that possible? With that face she should be very easy to recognize, word would spread and she could easily be caught.
All this tells me that we are not getting what we are told to expect. Her face does not give the reactions we were told it would, and as such I can't say I'm convinced she has the face we are told she has.
But does that mean she has no new face, or just that she was given a different face to what she (and we) are told? Honestly, I find it hard to say based on this. It's certainly possible she has another face, but not the hideous one that is described by the waif. A choice of a more normal looking face is also more natural and logical when it comes to assassins. It is better for them to be able to simply melt into a crowd, get lost in a sea of faces when needed. An ugly face or a beautiful one does not serve, as both ends of the spectrum is bound to be noticed.
Another curious note is down in the third level. We are told the faces on the walls are just skins, leather hoods; but while they were walking down the hall she notes “... smiling faces, frowning faces, faces full of greed and rage and lust, ...” How can skin show emotions? That requires bone structure and muscles underneath... So was it just loose facial skin hanging on the walls?
So is this it? Are there no way of telling us if she got a new face or not? There is one interesting bit found early in the chapter:
Hmmm, so to earn new faces she will have to kill a mark. But then she is given a face before she has completed her mission, in order to complete her mission which will earn her new faces... This sounds i bit like when she was seemingly punished for killing Dareon when they took her eyes, but when she got them back we learned that they would have done that no matter what she did as part of her training. So was that really a punishment? Are they toying with her in a similar matter here?
So now only one question remains: did she succeed or not? She could not stay to see the man bite into the coin and then keel over, so we don't actually know if he was successfully poisoned or not.
But was that really her task?
Was she far enough away for him not to notice her? I don't know... What do you think?
Perhaps it doesn't matter. In the end, she was given a promotion to acolyte status. And in true Faceless Man style, it is unclear if she actually managed her task.
One of my bigger questions is Arya's new face, when she enters the persona of The Ugly Little Girl. Did she get a new face or not?
Arya is given a mark to kill in order to still earn her place with the Faceless Men. (Or was it the final test before entering the ranks of an acolyte? With the Faceless Men it's hard to say!) After reentering the life of Cat of the Canals to study her mark, she comes up with a plan and announces that she will take out her mark the next day, and she is taken down to the third level below in preparation. I will start at the point where she is seemingly given a new face.
"Sit," the priest commanded. She sat. "Now close your eyes, child." She closed her eyes. "This will hurt," he warned her, "but pain is the price of power. Do not move."
Still as stone, she thought. She sat unmoving. The cut was quick, the blade sharp. By rights the metal should have been cold against her flesh, but it felt warm instead. She could feel the blood washing down her face, a rippling red curtain falling across her brow and cheeks and chin, and she understood why the priest had made her close her eyes. When it reached her lips the taste was salt and copper. She licked at it and shivered.
Still as stone, she thought. She sat unmoving. The cut was quick, the blade sharp. By rights the metal should have been cold against her flesh, but it felt warm instead. She could feel the blood washing down her face, a rippling red curtain falling across her brow and cheeks and chin, and she understood why the priest had made her close her eyes. When it reached her lips the taste was salt and copper. She licked at it and shivered.
Does she really know why she had to close her eyes? If she has her eyes closed, how does she know that rippling red curtain is red? She doesn't, but as she thinks it's blood, it stands to reason it would be red. The taste is salt and copper, but that doesn't mean she is tasting actual blood. Bran IV in Clash is the only other place in the books were blood is given a coppery taste, remembering his wolf dream. Nowhere else is it described as tasting of both salt and copper. So the taste is hard to go by.
And even if it is blood, is it her own?
The kindly man says this will hurt, but she doesn't note any pain when the “cut” is made... In fact she notes the blade should be cold, but it is warm instead. So does he have the little sister of Lightbringer, or is it something else? If the cut that should hurt doesn't hurt, how do we know she was actually cut? Did he squirt something on her face along the line he made, something that ran down her face?
"Bring me the face," said the kindly man. The waif made no answer, but she could hear her slippers whispering over the stone floor. To the girl he said, "Drink this," and pressed a cup into her hand. She drank it down at once. It was very tart, like biting into a lemon. A thousand years ago, she had known a girl who loved lemon cakes. No, that was not me, that was only Arya.
Considering another potion they gave her made her blind, and another reversed the effect (or seemingly so), how do we know what follows is not an effect of the drink?
"Mummers change their faces with artifice," the kindly man was saying, "and sorcerers use glamors, weaving light and shadow and desire to make illusions that trick the eye. These arts you shall learn, but what we do here goes deeper. Wise men can see through artifice, and glamors dissolve before sharp eyes, but the face you are about to don will be as true and solid as that face you were born with. Keep your eyes closed." She felt his fingers brushing back her hair. "Stay still. This will feel queer. You may be dizzy, but you must not move."
Then came a tug and a soft rustling as the new face was pulled down over the old. The leather scraped across her brow, dry and stiff, but as her blood soaked into it, it softened and turned supple. Her cheeks grew warm, flushed. She could feel her heart fluttering beneath her breast, and for one long moment she could not catch her breath. Hands closed around her throat, hard as stone, choking her. Her own hands shot up to claw at the arms of her attacker, but there was no one there. A terrible sense of fear filled her, and she heard a noise, a hideous crunching noise, accompanied by blinding pain. A face floated in front of her, fat, bearded, brutal, his mouth twisted with rage. She heard the priest say, "Breathe, child. Breathe out the fear. Shake off the shadows. He is dead. She is dead. Her pain is gone. Breathe."
The girl took a deep shuddering breath, and realized it was true. No one was choking her, no one was hitting her. Even so, her hand was shaking as she raised it to her face. Flakes of dried blood crumbled at the touch of her fingertips, black in the lantern light. She felt her cheeks, touched her eyes, traced the line of her jaw. "My face is still the same."
Then came a tug and a soft rustling as the new face was pulled down over the old. The leather scraped across her brow, dry and stiff, but as her blood soaked into it, it softened and turned supple. Her cheeks grew warm, flushed. She could feel her heart fluttering beneath her breast, and for one long moment she could not catch her breath. Hands closed around her throat, hard as stone, choking her. Her own hands shot up to claw at the arms of her attacker, but there was no one there. A terrible sense of fear filled her, and she heard a noise, a hideous crunching noise, accompanied by blinding pain. A face floated in front of her, fat, bearded, brutal, his mouth twisted with rage. She heard the priest say, "Breathe, child. Breathe out the fear. Shake off the shadows. He is dead. She is dead. Her pain is gone. Breathe."
The girl took a deep shuddering breath, and realized it was true. No one was choking her, no one was hitting her. Even so, her hand was shaking as she raised it to her face. Flakes of dried blood crumbled at the touch of her fingertips, black in the lantern light. She felt her cheeks, touched her eyes, traced the line of her jaw. "My face is still the same."
It seems clear that they did something. But it's not clear what they actually did.
Was the “blood” still moist enough to soften a dry skinmask? I am no expert, but in my personal experience blood dries pretty quickly when it is in a thin layer; so would it still be moist enough and the layer thick enough to moisten a whole mask made of skin? I have my doubts... In fact, she shortly after brushes dried blood off her face. But how would that be on her face if a skin mask is atop her own skin? Would it soak all the way through and then dry enough to flake off at a touch? I find this very hard to believe!
If we really pick at the text here, I notice that Arya tells us that the new face was pulled over the old, but she only notes scraping of dry leather over her brow... Wouldn't the feel be the same over the entire face...? How much is just implied, how much is Arya's own assumptions and expectations, and how much is real here?
The girl took a deep shuddering breath, and realized it was true. No one was choking her, no one was hitting her. Even so, her hand was shaking as she raised it to her face. Flakes of dried blood crumbled at the touch of her fingertips, black in the lantern light. She felt her cheeks, touched her eyes, traced the line of her jaw. "My face is still the same."
"Is it? Are you certain?"
Was she certain? She had not felt any change, but maybe it was not something you could feel. She swept a hand down across her face from top to bottom, as she had once seen Jaqen H'ghar do, back at Harrenhal. When he did it, his whole face had rippled and changed. When she did it, nothing happened. "It feels the same."
"To you," said the priest. "It does not look the same."
"To other eyes, your nose and jaw are broken," said the waif. "One side of your face is caved in where your cheekbone shattered, and half your teeth are missing."
She probed around inside her mouth with her tongue, but found no holes or broken teeth. Sorcery, she thought. I have a new face. An ugly, broken face.
"You may have bad dreams for a time," warned the kindly man. "Her father beat her so often and so brutally that she was never truly free of pain or fear until she came to us."
"Did you kill him?"
"She asked the gift for herself, not for her father."
You should have killed him.
He must have read her thoughts. "Death came for him in the end, as it comes for all men. As it must come for a certain man upon the morrow." He lifted up the lamp. "We are done here."
"Is it? Are you certain?"
Was she certain? She had not felt any change, but maybe it was not something you could feel. She swept a hand down across her face from top to bottom, as she had once seen Jaqen H'ghar do, back at Harrenhal. When he did it, his whole face had rippled and changed. When she did it, nothing happened. "It feels the same."
"To you," said the priest. "It does not look the same."
"To other eyes, your nose and jaw are broken," said the waif. "One side of your face is caved in where your cheekbone shattered, and half your teeth are missing."
She probed around inside her mouth with her tongue, but found no holes or broken teeth. Sorcery, she thought. I have a new face. An ugly, broken face.
"You may have bad dreams for a time," warned the kindly man. "Her father beat her so often and so brutally that she was never truly free of pain or fear until she came to us."
"Did you kill him?"
"She asked the gift for herself, not for her father."
You should have killed him.
He must have read her thoughts. "Death came for him in the end, as it comes for all men. As it must come for a certain man upon the morrow." He lifted up the lamp. "We are done here."
She is told she has a new face, but she can't feel any difference from her own. Between now and when she heads out to fulfill her mission, she doesn't look in a mirror. Why wasn't she given a mirror to actually see her new face? Both her and the reader is left to believe she is now an ugly girl with a broken face, but with no way of verifying it. We have no proof of her having a new face at all.
"Ugly. Women will look away when they see you. Children will stare and point. Strong men will pity you, and some may shed a tear. No one who sees you will soon forget you. Come."
Because:
"To other eyes, your nose and jaw are broken," said the waif. "One side of your face is caved in where your cheekbone shattered, and half your teeth are missing."
She completes the look by:
An ugly girl should dress in ugly clothing, she decided, so she chose a stained brown cloak fraying at the hem, a musty green tunic smelling of fish, and a pair of heavy boots.
By this we should expect her to be noticed by practically everyone she meets.
A group of Lysene sailors were staggering from the Happy Port as she went by, but the girl did not see any of the whores.
They don't seem to make much note of her.
... she spied Cat's old friend Tagganaro tossing a ball back and forth with Casso, King of Seals, whilst his latest cutpurse worked the crowd of onlookers. When she stopped to watch and listen for a moment, Tagganaro glanced at her without recognition, but Casso barked and clapped his flippers. He knows me, the girl thought, or else he smells the fish. She hurried on her way.
Tagganaro doesn't seem to recognize her, but neither does he flinch at the sight of her. The crowd doesn't take note of her either, though it's possible they all had their back to her. The seal, Casso, does seem to recognize her, but like the cats earlier, they know you by different means than animals do.
Even on a cold grey day like this, the harbor was a busy place. She saw sailors on the prowl for whores, and whores on the prowl for sailors. A pair of bravos passed in rumpled finery, leaning on each other as they staggered drunkenly past the docks, their blades rattling at their sides. A red priest swept past, his scarlet and crimson robes snapping in the wind.
It was almost noon before she saw the man she wanted, a prosperous shipowner she had seen doing business with the old man three times before. Big and bald and burly, he wore a heavy cloak of plush brown velvet trimmed with fur and a brown leather belt ornamented with silver moons and stars. Some mishap had left one leg stiff. He walked slowly, leaning on a cane.
It was almost noon before she saw the man she wanted, a prosperous shipowner she had seen doing business with the old man three times before. Big and bald and burly, he wore a heavy cloak of plush brown velvet trimmed with fur and a brown leather belt ornamented with silver moons and stars. Some mishap had left one leg stiff. He walked slowly, leaning on a cane.
No mention of anyone making special note of her here either, though it is a busy day. In fact, it seems like the only time she is noticed, it is of her own making:
He would do as well as any and better than most, the ugly girl decided. She hopped off the piling and fell in after him. A dozen strides put her right behind him, her finger knife poised. His purse was on his right side, at his belt, but his cloak was in her way. Her blade flashed out, smooth and quick, one deep slash through the velvet and he never felt a thing. Red Roggo would have smiled to see it. She slipped her hand through the gap, slit the purse open with the finger knife, filled her fist with gold …
The big man turned. "What—"
The movement tangled her arm in the folds of his cloak as she was pulling out her hand. Coins rained around their feet. "Thief!" The big man raised his stick to strike at her. She kicked his bad leg out from under him, danced away, and bolted as he fell, darting past a mother with a child. More coins fell from between her fingers to bounce along the ground. Shouts of "thief, thief" rang out behind her. A potbellied innkeep passing by made a clumsy grab for her arm, but she spun around him, flashed past a laughing whore, raced headlong for the nearest alley.
The big man turned. "What—"
The movement tangled her arm in the folds of his cloak as she was pulling out her hand. Coins rained around their feet. "Thief!" The big man raised his stick to strike at her. She kicked his bad leg out from under him, danced away, and bolted as he fell, darting past a mother with a child. More coins fell from between her fingers to bounce along the ground. Shouts of "thief, thief" rang out behind her. A potbellied innkeep passing by made a clumsy grab for her arm, but she spun around him, flashed past a laughing whore, raced headlong for the nearest alley.
After hiding a long time waiting for the commotion to die down, she is able to get back to the House of Black and White without incidence. But how is that possible? With that face she should be very easy to recognize, word would spread and she could easily be caught.
All this tells me that we are not getting what we are told to expect. Her face does not give the reactions we were told it would, and as such I can't say I'm convinced she has the face we are told she has.
But does that mean she has no new face, or just that she was given a different face to what she (and we) are told? Honestly, I find it hard to say based on this. It's certainly possible she has another face, but not the hideous one that is described by the waif. A choice of a more normal looking face is also more natural and logical when it comes to assassins. It is better for them to be able to simply melt into a crowd, get lost in a sea of faces when needed. An ugly face or a beautiful one does not serve, as both ends of the spectrum is bound to be noticed.
Another curious note is down in the third level. We are told the faces on the walls are just skins, leather hoods; but while they were walking down the hall she notes “... smiling faces, frowning faces, faces full of greed and rage and lust, ...” How can skin show emotions? That requires bone structure and muscles underneath... So was it just loose facial skin hanging on the walls?
So is this it? Are there no way of telling us if she got a new face or not? There is one interesting bit found early in the chapter:
That made him chuckle. "You will be the very goddess of humility, I am sure. But can you pay the price?"
"What price?"
"The price is you. The price is all you have and all you ever hope to have. We took your eyes and gave them back. Next we will take your ears, and you will walk in silence. You will give us your legs and crawl. You will be no one's daughter, no one's wife, no one's mother. Your name will be a lie, and the very face you wear will not be your own."
She almost bit her lip again, but this time she caught herself and stopped. My face is a dark pool, hiding everything, showing nothing. She thought of all the names that she had worn: Arry, Weasel, Squab, Cat of the Canals. She thought of that stupid girl from Winterfell called Arya Horseface. Names did not matter. "I can pay the price. Give me a face."
"Faces must be earned."
"Tell me how."
"Give a certain man a certain gift. Can you do that?"
"What man?"
"No one that you know."
"I don't know a lot of people."
"He is one of them. A stranger. No one you love, no one you hate, no one you have ever known. Will you kill him?"
"Yes."
"Then on the morrow, you shall be Cat of the Canals again. Wear that face, watch, obey. And we will see if you are truly worthy to serve Him of Many Faces."
"What price?"
"The price is you. The price is all you have and all you ever hope to have. We took your eyes and gave them back. Next we will take your ears, and you will walk in silence. You will give us your legs and crawl. You will be no one's daughter, no one's wife, no one's mother. Your name will be a lie, and the very face you wear will not be your own."
She almost bit her lip again, but this time she caught herself and stopped. My face is a dark pool, hiding everything, showing nothing. She thought of all the names that she had worn: Arry, Weasel, Squab, Cat of the Canals. She thought of that stupid girl from Winterfell called Arya Horseface. Names did not matter. "I can pay the price. Give me a face."
"Faces must be earned."
"Tell me how."
"Give a certain man a certain gift. Can you do that?"
"What man?"
"No one that you know."
"I don't know a lot of people."
"He is one of them. A stranger. No one you love, no one you hate, no one you have ever known. Will you kill him?"
"Yes."
"Then on the morrow, you shall be Cat of the Canals again. Wear that face, watch, obey. And we will see if you are truly worthy to serve Him of Many Faces."
Hmmm, so to earn new faces she will have to kill a mark. But then she is given a face before she has completed her mission, in order to complete her mission which will earn her new faces... This sounds i bit like when she was seemingly punished for killing Dareon when they took her eyes, but when she got them back we learned that they would have done that no matter what she did as part of her training. So was that really a punishment? Are they toying with her in a similar matter here?
There is one more detail I want to highlight, which might tell us something. Right at the end we find this:
The city watch is looking for a certain ugly girl, known to frequent the Purple Harbor, so best you have a new face as well.
When she was given the new face, we are led to believe the girl died some time before. "Death came for him in the end, as it comes for all men." the kindly man tells us, which sounds like it was some time after his daughter died. But if that is true, how could the girl still be known to frequent the Purple Harbor? If she died very recently, wouldn't Arya in her different roles have heard of her or seen her?
While I can't say for sure, I find it most reasonable to take this as another pointer against Arya getting a new face. Again and again we are told in the books that most people see what they expect to see, so with Tagganaro being the only one she saw who knew her, it's possible she looked different enough not to be recognized in a crowd. I for one is on the sceptic side of Arya getting a new face, and I guess I'd need a mirror or another POV where Arya shows up with a new face but is undoubtedly Arya underneath before I believe.
So now only one question remains: did she succeed or not? She could not stay to see the man bite into the coin and then keel over, so we don't actually know if he was successfully poisoned or not.
But was that really her task?
"When I kill him he will look in my eyes and thank me."
"If he does, you will have failed. It would be best if he takes no note of you at all."
"If he does, you will have failed. It would be best if he takes no note of you at all."
Was she far enough away for him not to notice her? I don't know... What do you think?
Perhaps it doesn't matter. In the end, she was given a promotion to acolyte status. And in true Faceless Man style, it is unclear if she actually managed her task.
