--- 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2100 og:image:height: 1181 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The 'Arya Challenge' Is the Best _Game of Thrones_ Phenomenon in the Realm > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. 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"}}]}] ```