--- title: The Arya Challenge Is the Best Game of Thrones Phenomenon description: People are doing their best "Arya" as they say not today in videos spreading across the realm of the internet. canonical: https://time.com/5581862/arya-challenge-game-of-thrones/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-05-02T12:49:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:58:51.711Z og:title: The 'Arya Challenge' Is the Best Game of Thrones Phenomenon in the Realm og:description: People are doing their best moves with a carrot, a remote control and keys og:url: https://time.com/5581862/arya-challenge-game-of-thrones/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0b69a58bd4ac350/698949207cdbac1430d5f719/gameofthronesseason8episode3arya.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: GameofThronesSeason8Episode3Arya og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The 'Arya Challenge' Is the Best Game of Thrones Phenomenon in the Realm twitter:description: People are doing their best moves with a carrot, a remote control and keys twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0b69a58bd4ac350/698949207cdbac1430d5f719/gameofthronesseason8episode3arya.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The 'Arya Challenge' Is the Best _Game of Thrones_ Phenomenon in the Realm by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman May 2, 2019 12:49 PM UTC  Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) in episode three of Game of Thrones' eighth season. Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) in episode three of Game of Thrones' eighth season.Helen Sloan—HBO by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman May 2, 2019 12:49 PM UTC **Warning**: This story contains spoilers for _Game of Thrones_. The “[Arya challenge](http://time.com/5579377/game-of-thrones-arya-kill-night-king/)” has arrived — courtesy of the fierce warrior [Arya Stark’s heroics](http://time.com/5580357/jimmy-kimmel-live-game-of-phones/) as she drove her Valyrian steel blade into the Night King to kill him in the most explosive moment of Sunday night’s “The Long Night” _Game of Thrones_ episode. As if saving the day in the [godswood](http://time.com/5580286/game-of-thrones-theon-hint/) with her quick handiwork thanks to her years of combat training wasn’t enough, now the Stark assassin (Masie Williams) has mere mortal fans moving as “quick as a snake, quiet as a shadow.” People are getting in on the worthy hero’s weapon-passing trickery with videos naturally captioned with the hashtags “#aryachallenge” and “#nottoday,” echoing Melisandre’s callback to the words of Arya’s first teacher: “What do we say to the god of death? Not today.” The challenge has become a hit online, with people mimicking Arya’s slight of hand with the relic by dropping things like keys, a remote control and a carrot from one hand into another and then stabbing the air. See below for the best takes on the true champion: ## The Arya challenge with a microphone > [](https://twitter.com/PabloAlsina/status/1123832900883972096) ## The Arya challenge with an umbrella > [](https://twitter.com/rchmnds/status/1123693120120655873) > [](https://twitter.com/aviwechsler/status/1122737329918087168) ## The Arya challenge with a remote control > [](https://twitter.com/Osuane/status/1122699909755473920) ## The Arya challenge with a mug > [](https://twitter.com/thecorpcommguy/status/1123756999999676416) ## The Arya challenge with young warriors > [](https://twitter.com/mrhooker/status/1123748765041668098) ## The Arya challenge with fruit > [](https://twitter.com/phenomen79/status/1123707715660984320) ## The Arya challenge with vegetables > [](https://twitter.com/BenLangley/status/1123648591829045248) Of course, fans recognized the move from when she was sparring with Brienne the Tarth in Winterfell in season 7: > [](https://twitter.com/creapills/status/1123588049798148097) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5581862/arya-challenge-game-of-thrones/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5581862/arya-challenge-game-of-thrones/"},"headline":"The 'Arya Challenge' Is the Best Game of Thrones Phenomenon in the Realm","datePublished":"2019-05-02T12:49:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:58:51.711Z","description":"People are doing their best moves with a carrot, a remote control and keys","url":"https://time.com/5581862/arya-challenge-game-of-thrones/","keywords":["Newsfeed","game of thrones","onetime","game of thrones 2019","clickmonsters"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0b69a58bd4ac350/698949207cdbac1430d5f719/gameofthronesseason8episode3arya.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0b69a58bd4ac350/698949207cdbac1430d5f719/gameofthronesseason8episode3arya.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GameofThronesSeason8Episode3Arya","caption":"Arya Stark in Game of Thrones","creditText":"Helen Sloan—HBO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5581862/arya-challenge-game-of-thrones/","name":"The 'Arya Challenge' Is the Best Game of Thrones Phenomenon in the Realm"}}]}] ```