Transforming into a Swan: Swan Symbolism in Arya’s story
So my initial plan was to write about Arya’s swan symbolism more in depth and post it, but I thought screw it, I’ll just do a write-up of all the connections Arya has to the swan from her name meaning, visual cues in her narrative, symbolism and ties to mythology, as well as what this swan symbolism could add up to in the next two books and her endgame. And just like in my meta about Arya and her parallels to Cinderella in A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes there will definitely be some Arya/Gendry sprinkled within, which couldn’t be helped due to some of Arya’s very specific symbolism, so I’ll be talking about their potential romantic relationship as well. Now onto the main event.
Name Meaning
The name ‘Arya’ and the word ‘swan’ literally means “a song”. Arya is a homophone for ‘aria’, a term in opera that refers to a solo singing section usually performed by a woman. And the word ‘swan’ comes from the Indo-European root word *swen: “to sound or sing”. So in other words, the root words for ‘Arya’ and ‘swan’ are synonyms. And because of Arya’s many connections to swans and the root ‘aria’ we can also connect Arya to the Swan Song. The Swan Song refers to the ancient belief that swans sing a beautiful song before their deaths after spending their life in silence (swans make noise but they don’t sing, and Arya also can’t technically sing either, or at least Arya claims she can’t). A metaphorical phrase for a Swan Song means a final gesture, effort, or performance given just before death or retirement, which connects to the meaning of ‘aria’ being a solo operatic performance. ‘Aria’ also means ‘air’ and Arya expressly yearns to fly several times in her chapters. Wings are also mentioned which relates to ‘air’ as well.
If I had wings, I could fly back to Winterfell and see for myself. And if it was true, I'd just fly away, fly up past the moon and the shining stars, and see all the things in Old Nan's stories, dragons and sea monsters and the Titan of Braavos, and maybe I wouldn't ever fly back unless I wanted to. - Arya X ACOK
...I wish I could change into a wolf and grow wings and fly away. - Arya XIII ASOS
She might be bald and skinny, but Mercy had a pretty smile, and a certain grace. Even Izembaro agreed that she was graceful. She was not far from the Gate as the crows flies, but for girls with feet instead of wings the way was longer. – Mercy TWOW
