When the Lannister guards come to pick Arya up whilst she is training with Syrio, he sends her away and continues to take them on with the wooden training sword.
Why didn't he pick up a metal sword from one of those guys he'd already knocked out?
He was obviously mocking the guards, showing them that he was a master at his craft and that he didn’t need a real sword. Had he a real sword he would most likely have killed them all.
shareI presume he did, once the camera cut away.
shareWe have no evidence that Syrio is dead. We heard a grisly scream after Arya left the training room. We did not see the Sword Master thereafter, and that is all that we know. I think many of us would have welcomed seeing him again. I choose to believe that he eviscerated his opponents. He MAY have picked up a metal sword from a dead adversary—but do not underestimate the value of a wooden sword! A bokken (in Japanese, a wooden training sword) is a deadly weapon. A steel sword is unbelievably fragile. It easily bends or shatters if it is not PRECISELY wielded. You can hack away all day long with a bokken. You can split skulls, take eyeballs, inflict all kinds of mischief. The greatest fight in all of Samurai history was between Mushashi Myamoto (the greatest Samurai of all time, a master calligrapher and swordsman) and his sworn enemy. The enemy had a katana 4 feet long, longer than any other sword ever forged, giving him an enormous tactical advantage. Mushashi carved a wooden sword of greater length out of a boat oar, and killed his enemy.
I choose to feel that Syrio prevailed and survived. Being a Master, he foresaw Arya’s path to the Faceless Men and to conquering The Night King, and saw that his work with his student was complete. He had created the true hero of Game of Thrones: the wit to charm Tywin Lannister, the strength to graduate herself from The Faceless Men, the sheer ferocity to conquer The Night King, the heart to make The Hound love her.
Somebody's an Arya fanboy! Which is, of course, totally cool.
Anyway, during the show there were constant rumors that Syrio was alive and was going to reappear, or appear in a book. Why not, it is possible that he survived, he's *that* good, and he wasnt the primary target of those soldiers anyway. They weren't being paid to kill him, they just wanted go get past him to the real target.
I sure hope Syrio Forel was still alive. All I know is Ser Meryn emerged from that fight seemingly unscathed, and never made any indication that he was unable to subdue Syrio. It's possible Syrio escaped without taking out Ser Meryn and Meryn didn't want to admit to anyone he couldn't kill Arya's trainer.
Even the Hound in a later season finds it amusing that Syrio Forel was bested by Ser Meryn, unless Syrio was horrible at his craft--which we know he wasn't.
Double Dumb are kings of cutting a scene right when it gets really good, we saw that explosively in Season 8 Episode 3 whenever one of our favorite heroes were about to be killed off, the camera cut away only to return minutes later to find our heroes still alive, though unexplained as to how.
They never did answer the question of Syrio.
I thought not, as he was close to Ser Meryn, and was killed.
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