Winter is coming, just not soon enough for us fans.
The final season of Game of Thrones will return for its eighth and final season on April 14 this year. This cannot be soon enough considering that many of its fans were left on the edges of their seats since the Season 7 finale in 2017.
An official teaser released early this year brought about many a fan theory about how it will all end. Here are some of the more popular ones to wrap your head around before you find out what actually happens.
If you need to refresh your memory of Season 7, check out the trailer here.
Sansa and Arya meet their demise
Game of Thrones unveiled an official Season 8 teaser earlier this year, revealing Jon Snow, Sansa Stark, and Arya Stark together at Winterfell. This is the first time they are together since the first season. The sequence shows Jon, Sansa, and Arya finding their own graves in a corner of the Winterfell crypts. However, fans argue that Sansa and Arya’s statues look like them at present while Jon’s looks like an older version of him. Does this mean Jon survives the upcoming battle between the living and the dead, but the Stark sisters don’t? There is also the theory that the statues were projected by Bran Stark (who’s capable of communicating with the past) as a warning for his siblings.
Bran Stark is the Night King
It’s official. Bran is the Night King. I knew that bitch was dusty. I knew it the moment I saw him. #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/JxLsIlXE4S
— Melanie (@meyrenee) 14 January 2019
Arya statue young = dead
Sansa statue young = dead
Jon old statue = survived
Bran’s feather = night king #GoT #GameOfThrones #HBO #GameOfThrones8— 栗 (@KurisuToreba) 14 January 2019
This is one of the mega speculations that have been making rounds on the internet. Bran was not seen in the trailer that was released when he should be at Winterfell as he was there at the end of Season 7. The trailer also shows a cold gust of wind creeping into the crypt, hinting that the White Walkers are approaching. Some theorists speculate that Bran’s absence combined with this may prove that he is the Night King.
Jon and Daenerys are even more closely related
While some fans were thrilled when Jon and Dany consummated their romance at the end of season 7, some were appalled by the incest as the two are aunt and nephew. This theory takes it one notch further; Jon and Dany may, in fact, be half-siblings. There are a few telltale signs, such as Dany’s memory of lemon trees in Braavos (they don’t grow there but in Dorne) and the fact that fellow Thrones actor Alfie Allen has likened Jon Snow’s parentage to a “Luke Skywalker situation”, suggests that Game of Thrones’ newest couple could, in fact, be half-brother and half-sister.
The theory is that Daenerys was not King Rhaegar’s sister, but one of his children conceived with his first wife, Elia Martell. After Rhaegar’s death, Dany was smuggled to Dorne and brought up there in hiding, in the same way, that Jon was taken under Ned Stark’s wing as his bastard child. That means Jon and Dany share the same father (Rhaegar), but different mothers (Lyanna Stark and Elia Martell).
Jamie will kill Cersei
After the death of Tommen, the prediction made by Maggy the Frog that all of Cersei’s children will die has come true. There is the second part of the prophecy that is yet to materialise: Cersei will be killed by her “Valonqar,” or little brother. Many have assumed that it will be Tyrion who kills her, seeing that he already has a rocky relationship with Cersei. However, he’s not Cersei’s only little brother. Jaime, Cersei’s twin, was born a few minutes after her. Jaime is seen to be increasingly unhappy with the direction of the kingdom and his family are taking. Or Cersei could also die during childbirth, and this will also fulfil the prophecy, considering she was impregnated by Jamie.
Tyrion Lannister is actually a Targaryen
During Game of Thrones Season 6,” Tyrion Lannister gets close to Daenerys’ dragons, the ones locked up in the catacombs, and unchains them. Instead of roasting Tyrion, Rhaegal and Viserion seemingly take to him. The dragons have never been friendly to anyone besides Dany. Did they sense that Tyrion was there to help them, or is there more to it? Tyrion is believed to be one of the prophesied heads of the dragon along with Dany and Jon. This is from the theory that mad King Aerys Targaryen had an affair with Tywin Lannister’s wife, Joanna, the mother of Tyrion. This gives a plausible explanation to why Tywin hated him so much. There was also the scene Tywin saying “you’re no son of mine” just before Tyrion shoots him with an arrow. Although this could just be part of Tywin’s constant rejection of Tyrion’s suitability as a Lannister, it’s something constantly hinted throughout the first four seasons.
Jon Snow is Azor Ahai or The Prince Who Was Promised
Melisandre’s prophecy states that The Prince Who Was Promised will have the blood of the dragon and will be reborn in smoke and salt (in the books Jon’s wounds smoke and his comrades cry salty tears all over him). Whenever she’s looked into the fires for Azor, she’s only seen things to do with snow, which can’t be a coincidence. In addition, Jon picked his Night’s Watch post over his lady love (Ygritte), which ties into the original Azor Ahai and Nissa Nissa prophecy. It was said that Nissa Nissa was the wife of the legendary hero Azor Ahai. In order to unleash the powers of the sword Lightbringer so that he could defeat the darkness of the Great Other, he had to sacrifice her by plunging it into her heart.
Before you put your trust into any of these theories, remember that this is the Game of Thrones. It has surprised its audience once too many times. Anything is possible.
Images: HBO