How old is Arya Stark? Game of Thrones fans concerned after THAT scene with Gendry

22 April 2019, 11:10

By Emma Clarke

Arya and Gendry shared a steamy scene in this week's Game of Thrones, which left some fans questioning how old the young Stark is - and what the age gap is between her and Robert Baratheon's bastard son.

After five long series, Arya and Gendry were finally reunited in the season 8 premiere last week.

While some fans are totally here for their romance, others are FTFO over the age gap.

So how old is Arya Stark in Game of Thrones and is Gendry drastically older than her? Let's have a look...

**WARNING: Season 8, episode 2 spoilers ahead**

READ MORE: Every celebrity cameo in Game of Thrones

How old is Arya Stark in Game of Thrones?

While it's not overly clear how old any of the characters are in Game of Thrones, there have been some snippets of information granted to viewers throughout the show.

In season 1, Arya is supposed to be around 11 years old. As we're now on season 8, we can deduce that the Stark assassin is now around 18 years old.

What's the age difference between Arya and Gendry?

While we kinda know how old Arya is, Gendry's age has never been confirmed - both in the show and the books.

But we gather there isn't a huge age gap and, as Arya is at least 18, it's all perfectly legal, so chill guys!

Joe Dempsie, who plays Gendry in the show, previously spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about his scenes with Maisie, saying: "I think it's implied in the books that there might be a romantic element to the relationship, and in the books I think the characters are significantly closer in age.

"I know from my personal experience, when we were filming the earlier seasons and people would ask about that and talk about that, I would feel slightly uncomfortable.

"I'm acting alongside a child here. I was a 25-year-old man. I sometimes found that question a little hard to address and a little tricky to answer."

IRL, Joe Dempsie is now 31 years old, and Maisie Williams is 22.

Gendry and Arya's sex scene

In the second episode of season 8, all those fan theories about Arya and Gendry's romance were confirmed, as the pair got it onnnn.

In the lead up to the scene, Arya is sat on the walls of Winterfell with The Hound and Beric Dondarrion. The Hound asks Arya if Beric is on her list of names, to which she responds "he was for a time". Perhaps she's just realised there are bigger fish to fry (I mean, the White Walkers' ambush is imminent), but we catch a glimpse of Arya's true personality coming through, instead of the cold-blooded killer we've grown accustomed to.

Getting up from the snow, she sassily says: "I'm not spending my last night alive with you two miserable old shits!", before she goes to shoot some arrows. Our favourite blacksmith, Gendry, then tracks her down to give Arya her custom-made weapon.

On what could potentially be their last night alive, Arya took the opportunity to experience some more *human* activities. She first quizzes Gendry over his relationship with the Red Woman, whom Gendry followed instead of Arya waaaay back when. Then, after he tells Arya about his ordeal with leeches, she demands he tell her his number (sis, don't ever ask that question).

Our ears pricked up, our hearts were pounding and our jaws were dropped, as we thought: "Shit! Is this actually going to happen??"

In true Arya fashion, she takes control of the situation, kissing him passionately on the mouth, before pushing him back onto bags of dragon feed or summink. She strips off, revealing the scars on her torso, and says: "I'm not the Red Woman, take your own bloody pants off" - yasss!

Why was the sex scene so controversial?

Okay, so fictional ages aside, there is still the question of actress Maisie Williams' age.

Yes, the star is now 22 years old, but she's been on the show since she was 11.

Some viewers have expressed distaste for the sex scene, because Williams would have had to undress in front of crew members she's known since she was a child.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Williams revealed that she at first thought the sex scene was a joke.

She explained that Sophie Turner (who plays Sansa Stark) had first told her about it, as she read the script faster than Williams. Show creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are notorious for pulling fast ones, too, so we can understand her disbelief.

“At first, I thought it was a prank,” she said. “I was like, ‘Yo, good one.’ And [they were] like, ‘No, we haven’t done that this year.’"

She also opened up about the nudity, saying: "David and Dan were like: ‘You can show as much or as little as you want,’” she said, adding: "So I kept myself pretty private. I don’t think it’s important for Arya to flash. This beat isn’t really about that."

“This is something she’s stayed away from, an emotion we’ve never really seen her engage with. David and Dan were like, ‘It’s the end of the world, what else would you have her do?’ This may be is a moment where Arya accepts death tomorrow, which she never does. It’s interesting to see Arya be a bit more human, speak more normally about things people are scared of.”

What are Game of Thrones fans saying?