Maisie Williams on Arya Stark’s big decisions in the Season 4 finale 

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"He looks at her and realizes that he\'s created a bit of a monster."

Warning: Spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 4 follow...

Maisie Williams is quickly becoming one of the most well known actresses of her generation. Her portrayal of Arya Stark on HBO\'s Game of Thrones has garnered her both critical acclaim and an outpouring of fan support and appreciation. When last we saw the increasingly bloodthirsty Arya, she was leaving Sandor Clegane - aka The Hound - behind. She\'d formed a remarkably compelling and nuanced relationship with the rough fighter, yet she refused to kill him even as he begged for relief. We were able to speak with the actress about her recently released feature film, Heatstroke. During the course of our conversation, we touched on Arya\'s big decisions at the close of Game of Thrones\' fourth season.

Williams had once said that her take on Arya\'s feelings about the Hound essentially amount to: "I quite like you, I\'ll kill you last." Ultimately, fans have been left to wonder if her decision to leave him alone to die on a rock was a cold act of revenge or one of mercy.

"It\'s that whole situation of being a child, because people forget that Arya is a child," the actress reflected. "I mean, I\'m 17-years-old, but I\'m playing about a 12-year-old, or around that age. We don\'t actually have a specific age on Arya, but she\'s still a child, and I think people are forgetting that. I think people expect Game of Thrones to...You know, we\'re in Season 4, and people still think the good guys are good guys and the bad guys are bad guys. It\'s not that. It\'s not at all. Just because they\'re your favorite character or they\'ve done something that you enjoyed in previous seasons, it doesn\'t mean that they\'re a perfect person."

"Arya\'s been through so much up to this point in that she doesn\'t know what\'s right or wrong," Williams continued. "She\'s still trying to figure that out. She\'s struggling to hold onto that little girl inside her, but she doesn\'t know how to. It\'s like when your mom says, \'Go apologize to your brother,\' or, \'I think you should apologize to me for what you\'ve done wrong\' - as soon as someone says that, you immediately don\'t want to, because you feel like it\'s being forced. You know, he\'s talking down to her and telling her how useless she is and how she doesn\'t know what she\'s doing and that I\'m a dumb girl; she\'s got these stupid dreams that are never going to come true. And then he turns around and asks her to kill him says, \'You know where the heart is. Go on, girl.\' She\'s just like, \'You know what? I put my trust in you, and you\'ve helped me out a lot, but I\'m not going to give you this final thing that you want. I\'m going to show you a lesson. You can\'t treat people like this and get away with it forever.\' I think that\'s what she\'s trying to do. Plus, she doesn\'t want to kill this guy. She makes it out like she\'s this hard, bada** girl that has no emotions, but he has done a lot for her. Maybe not killing him is the worse outcome or whatever you want to call it, but she doesn\'t want to kill him, and she wants him to finally take her seriously, and he does."

"He looks at her and realizes that he\'s created a bit of a monster," the actress said of the Hound\'s response to her decision. "She\'s really proud of that. Unfortunately, it\'s a really dark way of getting that message across, but she does. People were really pissed about that, and you have every right to be -- so was I -- but I think they\'re not looking at the bigger picture. People turn a blind eye to the kind of brutality that Arya\'s been put through. They just enjoy her storyline because she has these sarcastic lines and her and the Hound are constantly bickering. That bit\'s funny, and I think people really enjoy that, but it\'s not real, unfortunately. Game of Thrones focuses on what\'s real. So that\'s why Arya leaves at the end."

Brienne of Tarth finding Arya and the Hound is an invention of the series, as they never cross paths in that manner in the books. The shift that the show creators made not only gave us one of the series\' best fights, but it also provided a great character moment for Arya. It was notable that Arya rejected Brienne, because Brienne, in another life, could have been the child\'s mentor and best friend, as the only person that really is able to understood her.

"That\'s another thing people have been tweeting me a lot about," Williams said of the short-lived meeting. "I think she enjoys that small interaction she has with Brienne, and she\'s very intrigued by this woman, but Arya\'s intrigued by a lot of people. She was intrigued by the Hound back in Season 1 when he rode in with this big scar on his face. She was in awe of the guy, until she realized that actually no one is that person. No one is all they\'re built up to be. No one is doing anything for the right reasons. I think in Arya\'s eyes Brienne just ruins it for herself when she starts talking about how she sworn to protect her mother and all this stuff about loyalty."

"I feel like Arya\'s just kind of done with that, really," the actress reflected. "That\'s all she\'s heard her whole life. That\'s all she ever knew, was her family was these perfect people and did the right things and never wanted to upset anyone intentionally. Then she realized, actually, it doesn\'t matter if you\'re that person or not. It doesn\'t count. No one is playing by the rules. I think when Brienne comes out with this spiel about safety and the Hound puts her in her place, Arya really kind of believes that and is like, \'I understand you may be out to look after me, but nowhere is safe in this world.\' So that, again, is why she doesn\'t go with Brienne."

Arya is becoming quite the swordswoman in her own right at this point, as we know, but the actress sadly hasn\'t been able to enjoy any off-set homework with Needle. "They don\'t let me take anything home!" Williams exclaimed when asked if she had a practice replica of the sword. "But I\'m hoping when Game of Thrones finishes that they will let me keep Needle -- because it\'s made perfectly for my size! Maybe they\'ll put it in a museum or something, but afterwards, I\'ll hang that on my wall."

Arya has been one half of a few great series pairings - Arya and the Hound/Arya and Tywin Lannister - but the one person that Williams herself would like to go toe-to-toe with eventually is Lena Headey\'s Cersei Lannister. She does concede that it\'s "too soon in the story" for that particular confrontation, though. When asked who she believed would survive the meeting if her character and Cersei were to meet, the actress laughingly replied that she had no idea. Adding, "I\'m really glad I don\'t have to make the decision either, because that\'s a lot of pressure."

I think we\'d all like to see how that particular re-introduction would play out.

Stay tuned for all things Game of Thrones as we all await the Season 5 return.

Roth Cornet is an Entertainment Editor for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @RothCornet and IGN at Roth-IGN.

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