Tom Wlaschiha on Arya and The House of Black and White
This past Sunday we spent a goodly amount of time with Arya in the House of Black and White, as she learned how to tell lies more effectively, washed bodies, and assisted with suicide, before being taken down into the deep reaches of her place of employment to discover the Hall of Faces, and level up in her training. Through it all, her mentor has been the Faceless Man we met back in Harrenhal in Season 2, Jaqen H’ghar.
Or is he? After all, no one is anyone in the House of Black and White. Jaqen H’ghar is just a face a man wears so Arya (not to mention the audience) will be more comfortable.
Access Hollywood spoke to actor Tom Wlaschiha, who portrays Jaqen, about how he feels Arya’s training is going.
“In Season 2, he always saw a lot of potential in her, and in Season 2 she was very young, she was very impulsive. I mean, had she named the right three names, she could have ended the whole story right there, but she didn’t know better. But now, she has grown into a young woman and now she’s more thoughtful and she actually – she’s able to make much more of what Jaqen teaches her, and I think he wants her to become more conscious or to teach her and then use that knowledge to her advantage.”
He also spoke about how the show wanted Jaqen to show a different side of himself—in Season 2, he and Arya were friends, after a fashion. “[H]e’s very demanding with her and he’s certainly not going to make it easy on her, the whole training.”
But for many viewers, Jaqen and the faceless training aren’t the only things they’re curious about. There’s also “The Waif,” the apprentice who is just a little older than Arya, and yet much more advanced in her ability to lie. The character is played by Faye Marsay (viewers might recognize her from The White Queen). Wlaschiha says there is still more of her to come.
“We have a few scenes over the course of the season. I really liked acting with her because, again, it’s a character… that seems to have a secret and we don’t immediately see what it is or what it could be and yeah, that’s what makes it interesting.”
Oh, and about that theory that he and Syrio Forel are one and the same? Wlaschiha’s still not buying it, although he admits he couldn’t give you good reasons. He just personally doesn’t think it’s true.
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