German actor Tom Wlaschiha played the enigmatic Jaqen H’ghar, in seasons 2, 5 and 6 of Game of Thrones, but sat this most recent season out. Would he, The Straights Times wondered, return for the show’s eighth and final season?
“A man knows nothing,” was all Wlaschiha would say about that. “That’s my standard answer to (avoid giving away spoilers).” You didn’t think he would actually spill any beans, would you?
Wlaschiha was talking to The Straights Times while in Singapore to celebrate HBO Asia’s 25th anniversary, and got a chance to reflect on how Jaqen H’ghar factors into the greater scheme of things, call him one of several “different teacher characters all been very important in making what she is now.” Although there were times when fans didn’t appreciate Jaqen’s particular brand of instruction.
"I found it very interesting that at the end of Season 2 when my face changed, I got a lot of reactions from fans saying, ‘We want you to come back! We want you to teach Arya!’ Then when I came back in Season 5 and I was beating her with the stick, the same fans said to me, ‘How dare you? I hate you! I wish you’d never come back!"
But whatever misgivings fans have, Wlaschiha stands by the harsh methods Jaqen used when training Arya to be an assassin during her stay in Braavos. “It’s rough methods at the House of Black and White, because in the end it was successful, no? In the end, she went back to Westeros and she’s quite an important player in the big endgame.” All’s well that ends in a pile of Frey corpses, right?
As for how he thinks the show will end, Wlaschiha has a tricksy answer. “My personal theory is that no one will sit on the iron throne.”
No one…isn’t that you?
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