• Warning: Spoilers ahead for “Game of Thrones” season eight, episode two, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.”
• On Sunday’s episode, after a flirtatious moment on the season premiere, Arya had a surprisingly steamy sex scene with Gendry.
• “We’re probably going to die soon. I want to know what it’s like before that happens,” Arya tells him, just before she kisses him.
• Fans had strong reactions to the scene – including disappointment, considering Arya’s character arc has largely focused on independence and self-sufficiency.

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HBO’s latest episode of “Game of Thrones” featured a surprisingly steamy moment for Arya Stark, taking many fans by surprise.

After a flirtacious moment on the season premiere, Arya – the show’s resident symbol of self-sufficiency, single-minded determination, and female empowerment – had sex for the first time with Gendry, her old friend from earlier seasons.

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“We’re probably going to die soon,” Arya tells Gendry, on the eve of the White Walkers’ arrival at Winterfell. “I want to know what it’s like before that happens.”

The young warrior then leans in to kiss him, begins to strip, and commands him to take his pants off.

Fans had strong reactions to the episode’s sex scene, especially when it came to their apparent age gap.

Although Arya is meant to be 18 years old this season – which HBO conspicuously confirmed via Twitter on Sunday morning – she was just 11 years old when introduced on the first season.

And so many fans were simply taken aback, uncomfortable with the idea of Arya acting so grown up.

It’s also that Arya looks much younger than Gendry, who’s portrayed by 31-year-old Joe Dempsie – but she’s just a few years younger than him in the book series.

According to “A Song of Ice and Fire,” Gendry is just five years older than the youngest Stark, which would make him 23 on season eight.

Indeed, some fans were thrilled with the development, considering Arya’s close connection with Gendry on seasons two and three. The show also teased a romance after the characters rekindled their connection on the eighth season premiere.

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Some of the funniest reactions stemmed from Arya asking Gendry about how many women he had already been with.

Plenty of fans, however, reacted with disappointment and confusion.

Arya’s character arc has been largely focused on cultivating independence. She’s one of the show’s most formidable fighters and has never earnestly expressed interest in romance or in relying on others for fulfillment.

Given Arya’s development over the course of the series, the sex scene felt out of character for many viewers – and even a bit gratuitous.

Even Maisie Williams said she initially thought the scene was a “prank.”

Twenty-two-year-old Maisie Williams, who plays Arya, told Entertainment Weekly that she didn’t take the sex scene seriously when she initially read the script – especially considering how showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss have been known to prank their cast with bogus scripts in the past.

“At first, I thought it was a prank,” Williams said. “I was like, ‘Yo, good one.’ And [the showrunners were] like, ‘No, we haven’t done that this year.’ Oh f—!”

“It was really interesting because it’s a very human relationship for Arya,” she continued. “This is something she’s stayed away from, an emotion we’ve never really seen her engage with. David and Dan were like, ‘It’s the end of the world, what else would you have her do?’ This may be a moment where Arya accepts death tomorrow, which she never does – ‘Not Today.'”

The scene also unveiled some gnarly scars on Arya’s torso.

Gendry looked markedly surprised upon seeing the scars – most likely because he doesn’t know about all the hardships and training she’s gone through since they parted ways on season three.

We know that Arya has been attacked and even stabbed multiple times, but it’s unclear exactly where the scars are from. That could mean they will be important to her arc, especially given the camera’s lingering focus on them, or at least come up again later on the season (assuming she survives the forthcoming battle).

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