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This might be a crazy question... but in season 6 episode 1, why did no one help Arya while she was getting 'trained' (really, beat up) by the girl who is also a part of the Many-Faced-God group?

Again this might be a personal question but it was in the middle of the street, and not a single person helped out a blind girl or stood up for her? The girl just beat her up and left? I guess there were no chivalrous people in that era, lol.

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    because everyone there knows all about the many-faced god and don't want to get involved.
    – KutuluMike
    Apr 26, 2016 at 20:15
  • 4
    No one wouldn't help someone. No one knows what they shouldn't do.
    – cde
    May 2, 2016 at 18:21

2 Answers 2

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There are several clues that people in Braavos all know who the people of the many faced god are, and fear them (or at least, want to be thought well of by them):

  • When Arya was in Braavos last season, and was threatened by some street bravos, they slink away on recognising one of the faces of the kindly man who takes Arya in. This suggests that not only are they feared, but that the faces they use when in the public areas of the temple (the kindly man's old man face, the waif's serious girl face) are well known locally.

  • The fact that just showing anyone from Braavos a coin indicating that you're affiliated with them leads to that person doing whatever you ask to help you.

  • There's a little more on this in the books:

After Arya shows the coin, everyone from Braavos on her ship makes a point of being over-friendly and reminding her of their names. It's not confirmed why, but we later see that Faceless Men refuse assassination contracts if they "know this man"

  • A small one from the books:

A few Braavos civilians are enlisted to take on various faces/personas of Arya in menial roles as part of her training (for example, a trader is enlisted to teach her to sell cockles and then treat her like any other cockle seller until the temple wants her for something else). These people seem to understand that this is part of some mysterious but important temple business and obey without question or comment, no matter how strange or mundane the task.

  • The many-faced-god's temple is known as the "House of Black and White", and in these scenes the girl stands out as the only person on the streets wearing black and white (well, if you look closely it looks like very very very dark blue, but it was hard to find black dye in those days...). Another reason to think people would know who she was, or a least, who she represented.

So it makes sense that the most common faces the temple people use are well known, and that people in Braavos are well accustomed to people from this particular temple doing strange things, and know better than to interfere.

This explains not only why they don't intervene, but why they barely react at all - not even fearful watching or curiosity. "This is some sort of temple business. Don't look, don't react, don't get involved".

Everyone wants to be in the good books of the temple full of deadly face-changing assassins.

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    A good explanation, however, there's no indication that any of the Braavosi in the scene knew that the Waif is a Faceless Person, or that Arya is in training to become one.
    – Möoz
    Apr 26, 2016 at 22:45
  • The best explanation is that it is Braavos, there are Bravos walking around (mostly at night) picking fights all the time, it's normal and customary there; the scene would not have looked too out of place.
    – Möoz
    Apr 26, 2016 at 22:46
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    They don't need to know Arya, or that it's training, just that it looks like "temple business" therefore don't get involved. The Waif walks about in the public area of the temple sporting this face, as did the kindly man with the "old man" face that scared off the bravos, and clearly they both walk the streets in these fares; if his face was recognisable, it stands to reason that hers would be too (that, or the distinctive robes)
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Apr 26, 2016 at 22:49
  • Trouble with that explanation is, bravos fight for fun and status. I'd expect them to respond to seeing a stranger beating a blind beggar with something like "Hey, who do you think you are? No-one beats up beggars on this street but me!". But if everyone, even the bravos, know to not mess with the waif, that fits what we saw last session where even the bravos knew not to mess with the kindly man
    – user56reinstatemonica8
    Apr 26, 2016 at 23:00
  • Really interesting to know, however, isn't The Waif also still training? Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought she was, so she wouldn't get recognized by only her face. As mentioned above, this could be explained by the robes they wear. Edit: A quick search on the wiki told me that she's no apprentice. I stand corrected.
    – Madgarr
    Apr 27, 2016 at 9:42
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I had the same reaction when I saw it, it was weird. I assumed the people who were watching the fight just didn't want to get the same treatment Arya was receiving. If I remember correctly, the people watching were principaly some peasants with no combat training, it would explain why most of them just acted like nothing special happened. If I saw a street fight involving knives I would not interfere if I had no knife, I think it's the same case here, no one had a wooden stick to be able to teach a lesson to the attacker.

EDIT: In the latest episode, you can clearly see that the people in the street are just like her, homeless and defenseless. There is no way such people will defend anyone in case of a beating.

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