Jaqen Seems Happy With Arya's Decision On 'GoT'

So, it seems like forever since Arya started this whole journey to become one of the Faceless Men, a group of assassins who work for the Many-Faced God to kill whomever he tells them to. She initially met Jaqen H'ghar way back in Game of Thrones' second season when he was pretty damn helpful to Arya, getting out of the Lannister forces' clutches. Once she found the House of Black and White, her new path was to train to finally become one of the Faceless Men. Well tonight, she decided that she was Arya Stark and she was going home. Oddly, Jaqen seemed pleased with her decision. Was Jaqen's plan to help Arya rediscover her identity?

It looks like that may have been the case. The Waif almost took Arya out last Sunday, and when Arya managed to find Lady Crane (the actress who played Cersei in the Braavos theater production), who nursed her back to health, it was only a matter of time until The Waif found her again to finish what she had started. After all, the Hall must get a face. Well, she barely got a night's sleep when The Waif was chasing her through Braavos with a blade. Luckily, Arya prevailed and added a face that wasn't her own to the Hall — Waif's. Jaqen confronted her about it, but, oddly enough, he wasn't angry or aggressive at all once he had learned that she had killed The Waif. He even visibly smirked when Arya finally told him that she was Arya Stark of Winterfell and she was going home.

It seems like Jaqen never wanted Arya to fail. He constantly gave her slack and even gave her a second chance when she killed Ser Meryn Trant without permssion and then failed to kill Lady Crane as she was instructed to do. I don't think everyone got that special treatment when they were all training to be faceless assassins. It seems to be that Jaqen actually wanted to help Arya remember who she was and what her real purpose actually is. He also sent her to watch the play in Braavos to get back in touch with her story.

Could Jaqen be someone else? Could he actually be Syrio Forel, Arya's original fight trainer? There are theories regarding this and it seems to be a little more believable after this particular episode. Syrio was intent in his mission to train Arya and always had a soft spot for her, so maybe he continued to do so as Jaqen. It seems likely that there is more to his story, but for now I'm just glad that Arya is headed home.

Images: HBO; sortingfictionalcharacters