CAUTION: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS AND SPECULATION
The most recent issue of Entertainment Weekly is all about Game of Thrones season 7. On store shelves now, fans can choose between any of five variant covers, one of which features Arya Stark as she’ll appear in the new season:
#GameOfThrones EW cover with Arya Stark @Maisie_Williams pic.twitter.com/e0jFHXJmbM
— reena ⎊ (@rmjsingh1) May 25, 2017
When this image came out, fans quickly focused in on the dagger Arya is wearing on her hip. If it looks strangely familiar, it should. The dagger, which is made of Valyrian steel, last showed up in season 1, when a mysterious assailant used it to try and kill a comatose Bran in the show’s second episode.
After Summer (RIP) saved Bran, Catelyn took the dagger to King’s Landing, where Littlefinger admitted it was his…or it used to be. Littlefinger told Catelyn that he’d lost the dagger to Tyrion Lannister in a bet, and he would certainly never lie about that, would he?
Anyway, one thing led to another, war broke out, and the dagger was mostly forgotten. But we assume Littlefinger held on to it. And then it showed up on Arya’s hip in a season 7 photoshoot.
Does this mean anything? Will Arya somehow get ahold of Littlefinger’s dagger in season 7, or did the prop department just hand it to Maisie Williams so she had something cool for her cover spread?
It’s an open question, but it looks like HBO isn’t done teasing the dagger. It showed up in a new, tongue-in-cheek promo pic from HBO Nordic, alongside other knifes on a magnetic cutting board.
Valyrian steel…for those especially tough cuts of beef.
Anyway, the fact that the dagger showed up in additional promotional material suggests that it wasn’t a coincidence that it was on Arya’s hip for that cover shoot. We’re not sure how it might play into the story, but with the White Walkers on the way, it doesn’t hurt for Arya to have a little Valyrian steel on person.