EDIT:Amaror said:
I gotta be honest, I found Arya more stupid in the book. In the show, the first name she gives is half a test to see if a person she really hates (the Tickler in this case) will actually die just by giving something as simple as a name. It's pretty similar to the book, though it was a different man (Chiswyck). In both cases, this is pretty logical, she doesn't know if Jaqen is telling the truth or even what to expect if he is. It reminds of Light Yagami's first kill with the Death Note.
The second name she gives is where it gets stupid in the book. At this point, she's been doing her death list prayer every night before she goes to sleep. There are a lot of people she wants dead, and she still has two names she can give Jaqen to guarantee their deaths. Of course, despite the fact that killing these people is all she thinks about, she completely forgets that she can, and instead does what she did with the first: name some nobody who's just kind of an asshole. Only after she gives the second name does she realize just how stupid she's been, realizing she could have given Jaqen Joffery's name or the Mountain's or Cersei's. But she didn't. She kill pretty much nobody.
Over with the show, however, Arya has been put into position as Tywin's cup-bearer, a position which allows her to hear sensitive war information that she wouldn't hear otherwise. Only when one of Tywin's soldiers finds her trying to steal a letter containing this important information does she seek out Jaqen to give the second name and ensure she is not found out. There's not much you can ask from her at this point, she would have had her head mounted on Harrenhal's outer wall if she hadn't killed him. It's understandable that she would waste a name out of shear necessity of survival.
How it goes with last name concludes with generally the same results in both the show and the book. You could say either way that the whole "give three names and they will die" bit was ultimately pointless other than to set up Arya eventually going to Braavos, but I just think it was much better handled in the show. Overall, I find Arya in the show much less unlikably bratty compared to how she is in the books. It wasn't until she got to Braavos that I found myself interested in her again.
The second name she gives is where it gets stupid in the book. At this point, she's been doing her death list prayer every night before she goes to sleep. There are a lot of people she wants dead, and she still has two names she can give Jaqen to guarantee their deaths. Of course, despite the fact that killing these people is all she thinks about, she completely forgets that she can, and instead does what she did with the first: name some nobody who's just kind of an asshole. Only after she gives the second name does she realize just how stupid she's been, realizing she could have given Jaqen Joffery's name or the Mountain's or Cersei's. But she didn't. She kill pretty much nobody.
Over with the show, however, Arya has been put into position as Tywin's cup-bearer, a position which allows her to hear sensitive war information that she wouldn't hear otherwise. Only when one of Tywin's soldiers finds her trying to steal a letter containing this important information does she seek out Jaqen to give the second name and ensure she is not found out. There's not much you can ask from her at this point, she would have had her head mounted on Harrenhal's outer wall if she hadn't killed him. It's understandable that she would waste a name out of shear necessity of survival.
How it goes with last name concludes with generally the same results in both the show and the book. You could say either way that the whole "give three names and they will die" bit was ultimately pointless other than to set up Arya eventually going to Braavos, but I just think it was much better handled in the show. Overall, I find Arya in the show much less unlikably bratty compared to how she is in the books. It wasn't until she got to Braavos that I found myself interested in her again.
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