Just re-watched the final episode of season 6. The scene in which Bronn and Jamie are in the Frey's and discussing who the server girls want to sleep with, the director takes time to show the first server girl lingering in her looks at the two of them. That server girl is the same one that Arya appeared as later to feed the Frey pie to Walder. It could be that Arya showed up later and killed that girl to take her place, but by the way the camera shows us the girl's examination of them I would say that was really our first view of Arya back in Westeros.
Never noticed it before, but quite cool on re-watching and realising what Arya has seen of those two up-close and what she may have been thinking in that moment.
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"If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?"
Well that's for Dany to go to war with Iron Bank with after she wins.
I doubt the Iron Bank will just look the other way and say don't worry about it.
But I'm not even sure how Dany is relevant. We are talking about the Iron Bank turning on Cersei. Unless you're saying they will back Dany, only for her to turn around and refuse to pay them the Iron Throne's debts. That'd be really bad business.
It is relevant, because the Iron Bank will back whoever they think will win, as they can only collect on the winner. If Dany loses, who do they collect from?
If what you were saying were true, that Dany would have to pay back Cersei's debt, then we wouldn't be having a discussion, as it would only make sense for the Iron Bank to back whoever had the Iron Thrones, as that is the only one they would have a guarantee of collecting from.
I too was confused why someone wouldn't just attack the Iron Bank and steal all their gold, hire a bunch of armies and conquer the known world. This sums it up pretty well:
The Iron Bank itself does not have a large standing army, though their currency repository is pretty well guarded. What's a much bigger deterrent is the fact that the Bank is considered such a stable and universal form of currency that they can essentially "buy" whatever military support they need from anywhere in the world.
The Iron Bank was formed in Braavos before the Doom, when Braavos was a "secret" city, so it was important that everything about the bank had to be kept hidden. They get their name, in fact, from the abandoned iron mine where they lock up the bulk of their currency stores. Since it's buried underground with only a single entrance, it's very easy for them to fortify and guard this repository. As they've grown bigger, they've also been able to use the money from their investments to purchase larger and more secure facilities. That means, anyone trying to overthrow them would have a pretty big hill to climb even if they could do so unimpeded.
More importantly, though, the Iron Bank is the source of financial stability across the entire planet. Again, this largely derives from it's original status as an independent country, not officially part of the Valaryian Freehold and, later, as one of the Free Cities. The Braavosi in general have a strong mercenary streak in their culture, so there is a general feeling that the Iron Bank "stays out of" political conflicts. This makes the bank very important to the various governments across Essos and Westeros. There are other banks in Essos (Pentos and Myr both have one) but those are largely considered "lesser" banks; The Iron Bank is the one that is universally respected and feared by everyone.
That means, among other things, that the Iron Bank is owed of money by nearly every major government on the planet. In a pinch, if the Iron Bank felt threatened, they would simply pay one of the major mercenary forces, or offer to cancel some debt from a country with a standing army, until they had a sufficient force to repel any invaders and/or re-conquer their homeland. An offer of payment from the Iron Bank is about as solid an investment as there is in that world, so they would have had no problem (for example) buying the entire army of Unsullied on credit, or paying the entire Golden Company.
Prediction: Iron Bank hires faceless men to defend Cersei thereby setting up the cathartic battle between Arya and Ja'qen
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Originally Posted by JohnnyB
Why would Arya want to battle her mentor?
The way Arya left Jaqen and he was just kind of grinning about it was very odd. It'd be a letdown if they didn't have some kind of interactions in the last two seasons. Their initial run-in also seemed like more than just a coincidence. I'd be surprise if Jaqen didn't have plans to be involved in the bigger scheme of things somehow.
