Why Was Game of Thrones' Faceless Man Scared When Arya Named Jaqen H'Ghar?
The Faceless Man Arya met at Harrenhal wasn’t Jaqen H’Ghar — and yet, he was terrified when she told him this name. Why would he react like that if he was safe?
Summary:
- The Faceless Man from Harrenhal pretended to be Jaqen H’Ghar, so Arya Stark told him to kill the man that goes by that name as a threat.
- Despite not being Jaqen, the Man was visibly disturbed by her order and asked her to retract it, though in retrospect, he had nothing to fear.
- Most likely, he was afraid because since Jaqen H’Ghar was already dead, he’d still have to kill himself to pay the debt to the Many-Faced God.
During her “stay” at Harrenhal, Arya Stark once again met the enigmatic man she’d saved earlier — the one who called himself Jaqen H’Ghar at the time. As we learn later, he was, in fact, one of the Faceless Men, the order of shapeshifting assassins who assumed Jaqen’s identity as a disguise and had nothing to do with the man.
Despite that, the Faceless Man was very clearly disturbed when Arya told him to kill Jaqen H’Ghar. Why would he be afraid? He wasn’t that person, after all. Right?..
Arya Cleverly Blackmailed the Faceless Man
Most Game of Thrones fans would argue that Arya Stark mishandled the power of having a Faceless Man at her disposal. With three names and an entire list of enemies to choose from, she picked way too insignificant targets — but, justified by the consequences or not, Arya still used her sinister power over life smartly once.
When she asked the Faceless Man to help her and her friends escape, he rejected the offer. To spite and blackmail him, Arya gave him his own name, Jaqen H’Ghar, effectively saying, “either you help us or you’ll have to kill yourself.” It was a brutal and clever move on her part, except that the Faceless Man was not Jaqen H’Ghar.
Still, her threat worked, and the assassin was clearly disturbed by her idea. Why?
The Faceless Man Had to Keep the Balance
The Order of the Faceless Men is closely tied to the Many-Faced God aka Death. According to the Fake Jaqen, lives and deaths had to be kept in balance, and since Arya Stark saved three people, he had to take three lives at her discretion. He promised her to kill those she’d choose, and this is the most important part.
By the time Arya met the Man, Jaqen H’Ghar had long been dead; otherwise, the assassin wouldn’t have had his face. He wasn’t afraid of having to kill himself — he merely knew that he was not able to kill Jaqen H’Ghar since Jaqen H’Ghar was no more. He needed a name of someone alive to maintain the balance of life and death.
The Faceless Man wasn’t disturbed by the prospect of his death from Arya’s order — he was disturbed by his inability to execute it. Most likely, if she hadn’t retracted the name, he would have still had to kill himself because of his inability to kill Jaqen H’Ghar, and in this confusing and twisted way, Arya’s threat was very real to him.