Why It Matters If Arya and Gendry Are More Than Just Friends on Game of Thrones

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

After reuniting for the first time in years in the Game of Thrones season 8 premiere, Arya and Gendry consummated their relationship.

Fans have been speculating that there was more than just friendship between Arya and Gendry since the season 3 scene when Gendry rejected Arya’s plea for him to join her family by telling her, “You wouldn’t be my family, you’d be my lady.”

But it wasn’t until the second episode of season 8 that Arya and Gendry sealed the deal. After Gendry delivered the fancy new dragonglass weapon that she asked him to make in the premiere, Arya basically told him that she didn’t want to die without knowing what it was like to have sex with someone. Things quickly escalated from there.

“For us, what was interesting about this episode was always that it’s our last night together and everyone, I think, would face the end in different ways,” showrunner David Benioff explained in the post-episode breakdown. “Some characters want to make love for the first time because they’ve never done it before.”

Judging by Arya’s face at the end of the episode, it seems like her tryst with Gendry could turn out to be a one-off. However, there’s also a chance that their potential romance could be significant for Game of Thrones‘ endgame.

When Robert Baratheon first came to Winterfell to recruit Ned for the position of Hand of the King, he suggested that his son, Joffrey, marry Ned’s daughter, Sansa, to unite their two houses. We know that didn’t turn out so well. But since Gendry is Robert’s bastard, there’s still a chance that a Baratheon-Stark union could come to pass and be the thing that ultimately unites the Seven Kingdoms — just like Robert thought it would be.

Depending on whether or not you consider Robert Baratheon a usurper — we know that Daenerys certainly does — there’s an argument to be made that Gendry has a claim to the Iron Throne. But since Gendry seems to have zero interest in ruling the Seven Kingdoms, what seems more likely is that he will be the one to restore the Baratheon bloodline now that every other member of his family is dead. Perhaps Arya will be his partner in that task

Of course, they both have to survive the battle against the dead first.