Between Jon Snow (Kit Harington) learning his true identity and Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) locking eyes with the alive-and-well Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright), last night's Game of Thrones season 8 premiere was as dramatic as it was straight-up awkward. The hour-long episode was an emotional rollercoaster from start to finish, but fans can at least rest easy (for now) knowing that the surviving Stark children have been reunited back home in Winterfell.
Still, it's not just their togetherness that's giving us flashbacks to happier times in the North: It's the way they're wearing their hair, too. With her new half-up hairstyle, Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) is giving us serious Jon Snow vibes — a look they can both trace back to the man who raised them, Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark.
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i just want everyone to know that arya wearing her hair like eddard stark is one of my favorite little nothing details ever.
— fooler initiative (@metroadlib) April 15, 2019
Arya's emotional growth has been mirrored by her physical evolution over the course of the series. In season one, she was just a young lady of noble blood, wearing braids and practicing needlework — much to her chagrin. Eventually, she cut off most of her hair into a boyish haircut to hide her identity while on the run from the Lannisters. Now, she's a hardened assassin who prefers to keep her hair out of her face, just like her late father did. Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), meanwhile, has had her half-up twists compared to both her mother Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley) and Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey).
"sansa was a lady, so courteous and eager to please. men would say she had my look, but she will grow into a woman far more beautiful than i ever was"
— ellie (@odairannies) April 13, 2019
"arya was a trial. forbid her anything and it became her heart's desire. she had ned's long face and brown hair" pic.twitter.com/nJ3S4w8u4q
Unsurprisingly, Arya and Sansa's resemblance to their parents is more than a coincidence: A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin even referenced it in the books, which one fan quoted in a tweet. "She had Ned's long face and brown hair," Martin wrote of Arya. Now that she's mimicking his signature hairstyle, too, the likeness is even stronger.
We don’t know what season eight holds for Arya and her new up-do — but looking this much like her father while taking down Cersei Lannister, the woman responsible for his death, would be our idea of poetic justice.