Just a groUping* of thoughts on the Braavos Plotline itself, what will come out of it and what is going to be the climax of the Arya in Braavos plotline.

Braavos was a city made for secrets, a city of fogs and masks and whispers. Its very existence had been a secret for a century, the girl had learned; its location had been hidden thrice that long. "The Nine Free Cities are the daughters of Valyria that was," the kindly man taught her, "but Braavos is the bastard child who ran away from home. -AFFC, Cat of the Canals

The "Secret City" in the Winds of Winter

Note: Most of the links to SSM's were found via the SSM search engine or from u/BryndenBFish's The Ultimate Winds of Winter Resource

Background

Link to: (MERCY)

Image: Mercy by Magali Villeneuve (the end of TWOW, Mercy I)

Maps: A Set of Maps directly involved in TWOW chapters by u/DutchArya

History of the Chapter

I mentioned that this chapter had quite a history. It's true. The first draft was written more than a decade ago. Originally, it was intended to be the opening Arya chapter after the infamous "five year gap," her first appearance in A DANCE WITH DRAGONS as initially conceived. Then it was supposed to be a part of A FEAST FOR CROWS, after I abandoned the five year gap and split the books. Then it was going to be the concluding Arya chapter in A DANCE WITH DRAGONS. But it seemed more like an opening chapter than a closing one, so shortly before ADWD was published my editor and I agreed to remove it from DANCE and shift it over into WINDS. Of course, it has been revised, tightened, polished, and tweaked at every step of the way, so the version on my website has some significant differences from the "five year gap" version. -SSM, I Broke the Internet: 27 Mar 2014

Recent Writing "Progress"

Mostly, it’s just me in Westeros, with occasional side trips to other places in the pages of a great book.

Now you will have to excuse me. Arya is calling. I think she means to kill someone. -SSM, Writing, Reading, Writing: 23 June 2020

and:

For the nonce, it is what it is. My life is at home, on hold, and I am spending the days in Westeros with my pals Mel and Sam and Vic and Ty. And that girl with no name, over there in Braavos. -SSM, Back in Westeros: 15 August 2020

New Arrivals

Just Arrived

• Ser Harys Swyft (Envoy for Tommen) along with at least some of the Mountain's Men

En Route

• Justin Massey, Tycho Nestoris (fArya is often theorized as )

Tycho has negotiated the payment of the crown's debt with Stannis (as well as a deal with Jon), it should be interesting to see if/how they interact with Harys Swyft (who is their to negotiate on behalf of the "queen").

The End of Arya's Story Arc

While GRRM stated that he "could" write an entire novel about Arya's Adventures in Braavos (and I have advocated for a novella or something outside of tWOW just so), during this time Arya can no longer be "Mercy" so she will have a new identity. This new identity could potentially be "Smudge".

If interested: "Smudge": A look at which POV that GRRM was describing

While I think we should expect a few more chapters, Arya definitely has unfinished business back in Westeros as we see from her dreams and her importance to the Jaime/Brienne/Lady Stoneheart/Sandor plotline.

We also know that GRRM will revisit Gendry and Arya at some point:

My friend asked him about Gendry and Arya meeting back up and when will Arya get her moonblood to which GRRM answered “soon”… and GRRM had an interesting response to Arya and Gendry meeting back up. I will let her tell you the answer. But I do know he said of Arya and Gendry that, “I’ll visit them again.” -SSM, Balticon Report: 30 May 2016

There is also the fact that she again has broke the rules of the faceless men. Once/if they find out its going to be hard for her to return.

Faceless Men Endgame (in Essos)

The Faceless Men are heavily involved in the Westerosi plotline and are such a wildcard due to the fact that they can be hired by anyone for the right price. The one consistent to remember is that this was a city founded by escaped slaves from Valyria. The faceless men have/potentially have:

• dragon egg
• citadel infiltration
• The Death of Dragons

While I don't necessarily agree with the theory, awhile back I theorized that the destruction of Hardhome was due to Valyrian dragonriders reigning fire down on what they thought was Braavos (secret city). Again its a fun unlikely idea.

Arya has violated the rules of the FM yet again. So something is bound to happen, I often see it theorized that they will hire her to kill someone in Westeros. Just keep in mind that person cannot be "known" to her. So maybe she gets tasked to kill someone she doesn't know in Westeros (and ends up messing up again like she keeps doing) or she lies (hopefully shes gotten better at it) and says she doesn't know someone (Cersei, unGregor, etc.)

Final Thoughts

It always should be mentioned that GRRM at least goes out of his way to mention lemon trees in TWOW, Mercy:

“Seven hells, this place is damp,” she heard her guard complain. “I’m chilled to the bones. Where are the bloody orange trees? I always heard there were orange trees in the Free Cities. Lemons and limes. Pomegranates. Hot peppers, warm nights, girls with bare bellies. Where are the bare-bellied girls, I ask you?”

“Down in Lys, and Myr, and Old Volantis,” the other guard replied. He was an older man, big-bellied and grizzled. “I went to Lys with Lord Tywin once, when he was Hand to Aerys. Braavos is north of King’s Landing, fool. Can’t you read a bloody map?”

Something else to note is the Iron Bank and the debts owed to it. Keyholders of the Iron Bank are in attendance at Arya's play.

If Interested

The Famed Courtesans of Braavos

Some "in the background" thoughts on TWOW, Mercy

As I mentioned, I would love to get a separate novella just containing the Arya chapters (would save space in the actual book too).

TLDR: Not much, but after her first chapter, Arya's identity as Mercy is out the window and there are numerous characters that have arrived/will arrive soon that should affect the end of this storyline in Braavos.