How a forgotten Game of Thrones character gave Arya what she needed for the Night King battle (2024)

A long-gone Game of Thrones character gave Arya what she needed in the epic battle against the Night King in season 8, episode three.

Longtime fans will surely remember Syrio Forel, the master sword fighter who was hired by Ned Stark to teach Arya how to use Needle, the sword that was given to her by half-brother Jon Snow.

The lessons are kept a secret, with Arya’s sister Sansa believing Syrio is a dance tutor. Arya calls him "the greatest swordsman who ever lived".

What he really teaches her turns out to be a life-saving technique that she carries with her through the years, until reaching Winterfell again where she comes face to face with the Night King.

“You said right,” an indignant Arya replies indignantly to Syrio when he knocks the sword from her hand during one of their first classes, “but you went left!”

“And now you are a dead girl,” he replies coolly.

This lesson proves crucial almost a decade and seven seasons later, when Arya attacks the Night King before he can kill her brother, Bran, in the Godswood.

The Night King catches her by the throat and renders her left arm helpless. But she remembers her training, and drops the dagger into her right hand before plunging it into the Night King’s stomach and killing him for good.

What do we say to the god of Death? Not today.

Read how Melisandre gave another forewarning for Arya's future back in season 3, here.

Game of Thrones continues next Sunday on HBO in the US, and Sky Atlantic or NowTV in the UK