How Arya’s Mysterious Request for Gendry Could Play a Pivotal Role in the Upcoming Game of Thrones War

Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Game of Thrones season 8 premiere.

The Game of Thrones season 8 premiere saw Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen and everyone in their combined entourage arrive at Winterfell to begin preparing for the war that finally pits the living against the dead. One of the most welcome sights in the group was Gendry, who immediately fired up the castle forges and got to work making weapons out of the dragonglass from the mine underneath Dragonstone.

As we know, dragonglass and Valyrian steel are the only two materials capable of killing White Walkers and wights. And thanks to the Hound’s request for a war hammer, we learned that making larger blades out of dragonglass is no easy feat. Perhaps most intriguing at all, we also caught a glimpse of a design for a new weapon that seems like it may play a pivotal role in the coming battle.

After reuniting with Jon, Arya stopped by the forges for a chat with Gendry, who she hadn’t seen since the Brotherhood Without Banners sold him to Melisandre back in season 3. After the two shared some banter that fans speculated was flirtatious, Arya pulled out a drawing of what looked to be a double-ended spear with a dragonglass blade and a Valyrian steel blade that were both detachable.

The season 8 trailer showed Arya fighting with a weapon that appeared to be staff-esque, so this could add up. Not to mention that when she was trying to become one of the Faceless Men, we saw plenty of staff-training montages.

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair‘s “Still Watching” podcast, Game of Thrones‘ armorer Tommy Dunne hinted that a weapon of this nature was on its way.

“There is one creation in season 8 that is absolutely phenomenal. It’ll be a showstopper,” he said. “That was great to finish. It was great to make, great to design it that it was about to be reverse-engineered and made into two different items.”

Sounds like Arya definitely isn’t planning on holding back when the Night King shows up at Winterfell.