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Arya's Advice To Sansa On 'GoT' Was A Sweet Callback To Season 1

Helen Sloan/HBO

Spoilers for Game Of Thrones ahead. I'm not crying about what Arya said to Sansa, you are. Yes, in the third episode of the final season, Arya gave Sansa a dagger on Game of Thrones — and told her to "stick 'em with the pointy end" while we're at it. It was the perfect emotional callback to Season 1 just before the Battle of Winterfell goes down. "Stick 'em with the pointy end," in case you don't remember, was the same sarcastic advice that Jon gave Arya in second episode of Game of Thrones Season 1 when he gifted Needle to his little half-sister (well, cousin, but we didn't know) as a goodbye.

Here, Arya gave Sansa the dagger and told her to go to the crypts, and repeated the line when Sansa told her she didn't know how to properly use the weapon. Trust Sansa, a perfectionist, to worry about that now. It wasn't just great writing, either.

The dagger itself is also significant heading into battle. It wasn't the Valyrian steel catspaw dagger that once belonged to Petyr Baelish. Arya had other plans for that weapon. It's dragonglass — one of Gendry's. Just how many weapons was Arya carrying into this dang battle? Hopefully, in next week's episode, Sansa and Arya can have a little chat about those weapons and the blacksmith who provided them. Not much time has passed in Season 8, but they already have a lot of catching up to do.

Sure enough, and as many fans predicted, the Night King raised the dead in the crypts and Sansa had to use the dagger to defend herself. We didn't actually see her stab any wights, but she was prepared to — and having that dagger helped her lead as many people as she could to safety. It made for a hell of a moment between Sansa and her once husband Tyrion Lannister, too.

Also, as it turns out, Arya's advice came in handy for her as well. She surely used the pointy end of her custom built weapon courtesy of Gendry on the Night King later in the episode. Sometimes it's easier to just keep it simple, you know?

Will we finally get to see Sansa kill someone or something on Game of Thrones in the three remaining episodes of Season 8? On one hand, it would be badass to see her have to improvise. On the other, it's kind of cool that Sansa knows to stay in her lane, and can protect herself and maintain power in other ways.

Still, at the end of the day it was a sweet moment between the Stark sisters that called back Game of Thrones Season 1 without being too corny. Jon may have meant that as a joke, but he'd be proud to know that Arya is passing it along in an effort to keep the Stark pack alive and together. The Battle of Winterfell is over, and everything the Starks learned along their respective journeys paid off in a big way.

Editor's note: This post has been updated to reflect that Jon gave Arya the dagger in Season 1.