Let’s dive into the captivating world of “Game of Thrones” and explore some of the most intriguing theories that fans have come up with. These theories range from the plausible to the downright wild, but they all share one thing in common: they’ve got us hooked!
Game of Thrones theories hit the web every day. [Cue infomercial announcer voice.] If only there was some way to keep them all straight!
Don’t fret: We’ve distilled a lot of them down into this handy-dandy list, including one about Davos saving the Unsullied.
Keep reading to see what upcoming plot points clever fans have predicted.
Game of Thrones Season 7 airs on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.
1. Jon will kill Dany or vice versa
A prophecy says legendary hero Azor Ahai will be reincarnated as “the One Who Was Promised,” and the Red Priestesses say it’s either Jon or Daenerys.
Whoever it is “lead the people against a darkness” (probably the White Walkers) with his or her flaming sword, Lightbringer. But the first Azor had to plunge Lightbringer into the flesh of his wife to imbue it with its full power, which is bad news for Jon and Dany if they marry like some fans think they will.
2. Drogo is actually Azor Ahai
Redditor MrMasochist draws upon events in the books and the prophecy Lhazareen priestess Mirri Maz Duur told Dany in Season 1 to explain how Drogo is actually the legendary warrior, saying he’s episodes away from a resurrection.
3. Davos is actually Azor Ahai
Now we’re thinking Ser Davos Seaworth is the true Azor, thanks to Redditor FollowTheBeard.
Remember what Melisandre told Jon about Azor?
“When the red star bleeds and the darkness gathers, Azor Ahai shall be born again amidst smoke and salt to wake dragons out of stone … In the ancient books it’s written that a warrior will draw a burning sword from the fire, and that sword shall be Lightbringer.”
Davos witnessed a red comet in the sky in Season 2 (i.e. the bleeding red star), he narrowly survived the wildfire explosion at Blackwater Bay (i.e. reborn amid smoke and salt), he was the only one present at the time of Jon’s resurrection (i.e. waking a dragon out of stone), and he once picked up a sword Stannis pulled from fire (i.e. drawing a burning sword from the fire).
Plus, George R. R. Martin told actor Liam Cunningham a major secret about the end of the show, so…
4. Benjen is helping the White Walkers
The mark the Night King put on Bran (when he grabbed Bran’s arm) stripped the Three-Eyed Raven’s cave of its magical protection. So, Benjen helped Bran and Meera to the Wall not to save them but to disable the Wall’s magic and thus let the White Walkers past.
Just like in the medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, where unexpected plot twists often occur, the motives of characters in Game of Thrones can be equally surprising and complex.
5. Jon and Meera are long-lost twins
Howland Reed also survived the Tower of Joy fight, so if Lyanna was actually pregnant with twins, Ned may have entrusted him with Jon’s sister. As Digital Spy points out, they are the same age… and they do look similar.
6. Jon’s real name is Jaehaerys
Reading Lyanna’s lips, Redditor Claire Williams thinks she told Ned her baby’s real name is Jaehaerys, a honorable and well-known Targaryen name.
Furthermore, Claire thinks Ned changed the baby’s name to Jon to honor mentor Jon Arryn and to protect the truth about little Jon’s parentage from the jealous Robert Baratheon.
7. Dayne intended to lose the swordfight against Ned
Ser Arthur Dayne, a superior swordsman, killed Ned’s men at at the Tower of Joy fight and then let Ned kill him so that only Ned would learn the truth about Jon’s parentage, Redditor therapy suggests. (He knew Ned would never kill his own men).
8. Cersei had the Mountain kill Elia Martell
A theory posted to The Huffington Post speculates Cersei was the one who ordered the Mountain to kill Elia Martell and Elia’s children because she was humiliated Rhaegar chose to marry Elia and not her.
9. Varys arranged for Tyrion to ally with Daenerys
Redditor gmnitsua thinks Varys testified against Tyrion in order for the Lannister dwarf to be spirited away, abducted by Jorah (a conspirator of Varys’s), and delivered to Dany’s doorstep.
10. Gendry will return to help beat the White Walkers
Moviepilot thinks long-lost Gendry will come back to help the humans defeat the White Walkers with his access knowledge of Dragonstone and his extensive blacksmithing skills.
11. Littlefinger will be the ultimate victor
Littlefinger will bring the army of the Vale to King’s Landing and claim allegiance Cersei, the current queen, who will fall for his deception because she underestimates him and she needs the army, Redditor GenghisKazoo says. And once she wises up, she’ll get all Mad King and torch the city before Jaime kills her, leaving Littlefinger free to claim the Iron Throne.
12. Jon, Daenerys, and Tyrion are the three heads of the dragon
In George R. R. Martin’s books, Daenerys learns of a prophecy involving a three-headed dragon — which fans believe refers to three dragon riders fated to save humanity from the White Walkers.
Recent paparazzi photos show Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, and Peter Dinklage interacting with dragon placeholders — so perhaps their characters are those three heroes.
We just learned Jon has Targaryen blood, and some fans think Tyrion does, too — based on his appearance in the books, his fixation on dragons, and Mad King Aerys Targaryen’s fixation on Tyrion’s mother. (An even stronger connection: The mothers of all three characters died during childbirth.)
13. Actually, the Night King is the third rider, not Tyrion
One of the purported Season 7 spoilers leaked online a few months ago said that Daenerys would save Jon from a battle against the wights North of the Wall, but her dragon Viserion would be killed in the process… only to be reanimated and raised by the Night King as an ice dragon.
Redditor Critical_Liz thinks this means the Night King is that third rider, the prophesied third head of the dragon, since his “ice” would balance Dany’s “fire” and Jon’s “ice and fire” mix.
Plus, if it’s true the Night King was once a stark, that would mean the three riders would be one Targaryen, one Targaryen-Stark, and one Stark. Even more balance!
14. The Starks will die out
Redditor pikkdogs thinks A Time For Wolves, George R.R. Martin’s original title for his seventh novel in the series, refers to a warning Leaf gives Bran in the books when talking about the downfall of various races.
“The direwolves will outlast us all,” Leaf says, perhaps referring to House Stark, “but their time will come as well.”
“A Time for Wolves is the death of wolves,” pikkdogs writes.
15. Gendry is Cersei’s son
Winter Is Coming’s Sarah Weymes presents compelling evidence the blacksmith Gendry is the secret son of Cersei Lannister.
For example, Cersei told Catelyn Stark she had a “black-haired beauty” of a son who died shortly after his birth… but also said she never visited him in his crypt. She said he looked like his father, Robert Baratheon; and both Ned Stark and Stannis Baratheon remarked that Gendry looks like Robert, too.
Sarah even suggests Cersei had Gendry’s master, the armorer Tobho Mott, shunt him off from King’s Landing to the Wall to protect him when Joffrey Baratheon was having all of Robert’s bastards in the city murdered.
16. The Hound will kill Cersei following Cleganebowl
The prophecy Maggy the Frog gave a young Cersei accurately predicted her marriage to Robert and the births and deaths of her three children.
But in the books, Maggy also says, “When your tears have drowned you, the valonqar [‘little brother’ in High Valyrian] shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you.”
Many fans think this means “little brother” Jaime will kill Cersei, but Redditor BertMacGyver has another idea.
Bert thinks Cersei will be charged for her crimes and will choose trial by combat — with Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane, her bodyguard, defending her. The people will choose his younger brother, Sandor “The Hound” Clegane, thus setting up the Cleganebowl fans have been clamoring for. The Hound will kill the Mountain and then will kill Cersei.
17. Jon Snow is the “little brother” who kills Cersei
Not all Redditors agree about Maggy’s prophecy, of course.
“Cersei’s murderer could be anyone who is a little brother,” self.gameofthrones reasons.
“But saying this in Valyrian suggests that the person will have Valyrian blood. The Targaryens have Valyrian blood. Jon Snow is a Targaryen. He is the little brother of Rhaenys and Aegon. He wants to kill Cersei. I think it is very likely that he does.”
18. Arya will kill Littlefinger
Littlefinger may have helped Jon and Sansa win the Battle of the Bastards last season — but that was more out of desire for Sansa than it was any desire for Stark success. In fact, he’s been putting the family in harm’s way for years now.
PopSugar describes a popular fan theory about Arya killing Littlefinger. Basically, now that Arya is back in Westeros, she’ll cross paths with The Hound again and hear about Littlefinger’s treachery against her family. Then she’ll arrive in Winterfell, only to find Littlefinger lusting after her older sister, and she’ll kill him for all of the above reasons.
19. The White Walkers will arrive with ice spiders
As we previously reported, the Season 7 photos show that Gilly is reading — yes, she’s reading now! — and the text she’s scrutinizing matches texts from the book The World of Ice & Fire: The Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones.
According to HuffPost, the rest of that page of The World of Ice & Fire talks about ice spiders and even features an illustration of them hanging out with the White Walkers.
And if you’ll recall, Old Nan told Bran about those frosty arachnids back in Season 1.
20. Jaime will kill Cersei
After Cersei’s maniacal mass killing in King’s Landing, could Jaime slay her like he slayed the Mad King?
“It’s a valid theory,” actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau told Mashable.
“I can see it makes sense … It’s a nice circle [that] they are born together in the womb and then he kills her at the end … It makes sense.
“The motivation for [killing the Mad King] would be the same for killing Cersei, but I haven’t seen anything yet before Season 7 that would make me believe that he was capable of doing that.”
21. Bran Stark built the wall
A theory outlined by TIME’s Megan McCluskey suggests Bran Stark and Bran the Builder — a guy who built the Wall — are the same guy.
Here’s the logic: Old Nan, the oldest servant at House Stark, tended to Bran and told him many stories while he recovered from his fall from the tower in Season 1.
In George R. R. Martin’s books, one of those stories is about a king who is served a pie made from his own progeny, which is exactly what happens when Arya kills Walder Frey. So Old Nan seems to have some prophetic powers, right?
“She had lived so long, Mother had told him once, that all the Brandon Starks had become one person in her head,” George writes in the books.
Perhaps Old Nan isn’t confusing young Bran with his ancestors; perhaps she’s confusing him with his various time-traveling appearances throughout the centuries.
As a theorist quoted on Imgur wrote, “Bran will go back in time to build the Wall, and when people will ask the guy’s name, he’ll just say ‘Bran’ — thus, Bran the Builder, who will be the inspiration for his name when he’s born in the present time. He’ll be the one who’ll establish, in the past, that there must always be Starks at Winterfell, because he must ensure that he comes to exist in the present.”
22. Robin Arryn is actually Littlfinger’s son
We know Petyr ”Littlefinger” Baelish is the regent of Robert “Sweetrobin” Arryn, son of the late Lysa Arryn — whom Petyr unceremoniously dumped via the moon door. But is he really Petyr’s child? And, thus, not Jon Arryn’s?
YouTuber The Last Harpy thinks so.
Yes, Petyr had the hots for Catelyn Stark, not her sister Lysa. But in the books, he does sleep with Lysa… only when he is drunk or wounded, however.
In fact, they even conceived a child together, but dad Hoster Tully made Lysa abort the baby.
In Season 4, Lysa tells Petyr, “I want to share your bed tonight, my sweet. I want us to make another child, a brother for Robert or a sweet little daughter.”
If she’s talking about “another” child, does she mean one in addition to their unborn baby… or does she know that Robin is actually Petyr’s progeny?
Plus, Robin has dark hair like Petyr, whereas Lysa had auburn hair and Jon had blond hair.
23. Ned Stark is alive
Yeah, we all saw this Stark patriarch get his head lopped off, but a recent theory from the Fire and Blood YouTube channel suggests he never actually died.
Instead, the man beheaded was actually Faceless Man Jaqen H’ghar wearing Ned’s face.
After all, we know that dude can wear anyone’s face, no matter if they’re alive or dead. Remember how he wore Arya’s face in Season 5?
If the Faceless Man and Ned were both imprisoned under the Red Keep, perhaps they met. The theory even suggests Varys paid the Faceless Man to get captured.
For that matter, maybe swordsman Syrio Forel was also the Faceless Man and was also instrumental in Ned’s rescue. After all, the saying Syrio told Arya — “There is only one God, and his name is Death” — is similar to what Jaqen told Arya — “There is only one God, and a Girl knows his name.”
24. Jon will die again, only to be resurrected by Beric
The Hollywood Reporter writer Josh Wigler doesn’t know why the on-screen Jon Snow returned to life more or less the same person he was when he died.
You see, in the books, characters come back filled with vengeful rages — like how Catelyn Stark was reborn as Lady Stoneheart.
So Josh thinks that instead of resurrecting Catelyn, Beric Dondarrion will spend his last breath bring Jon back to life, assuming Jon will die again. And once Beric thusly sacrifices himself, we’ll see the dark Jon at long last.
25. Daenerys will be the villain
Mic writer Miles Surrey is becoming increasingly worried that Daenerys’s heroism is turning into sadism — like how Dany punished the Meereenese slavers by crucifying them at the stake or how she fed a suspected Harpy (whom she had not yet proven guilty) to her dragon.
Don’t forget: Dany is a Targaryen.
“Dany’s fascination with fire — not to mention her nonchalant attitude toward violence — bears an uncomfortable resemblance to her father, the ‘Mad King’ Aerys Targaryen,” Miles writes.
26. Davos will save the Unsullied
The Unsullied are currently trapped on Casterly Rock, it seems — blockaded, as it were, by Euron Greyjoy’s ship. One Redditor thinks Davos will save the day.
“Let’s go a few decades back to Robert’s Rebellion when Stannis was trapped on Storm’s End and was being starved out due to a blockade,” writes BrownGuy98.
“Who smuggled food to help Stannis? Ser Davos. Where is Davos right now? On Dragonstone, with Daenerys. In order to help relations between Jon and Dany, he may offer to help smuggle food to the Unsullied when word reaches Dragonstone.”
Conclusion
These theories are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to “Game of Thrones”. They offer a fascinating glimpse into the minds of the show’s fans, who have spent countless hours dissecting every detail of the series. Whether any of these theories will come true remains to be seen, but they certainly add an extra layer of intrigue to an already captivating show.
