Game of Thrones: Our Favorite Theories Heading Into the Final Season

We're still obsessed with Bran being the Night King but we promise there are more theories to be found here!

By Lauren Piester Apr 05, 2019 2:00 PMTags
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The time has almost come, friends.

Game of Thrones' return is still a couple of Sundays away, but that only means we've got less than two Sundays to prepare for the final season and the many mysteries it will solve, the many questions it will answer. Or hopefully answer. With only six episodes (even if most of them are extra long), there might not be time to answer every single one of our questions, but at the very least, the major fan theories about the show will either be proven correct or proven very, very wrong.

Some of the theories are insane and more fun than possible, and some feel like they just might be heading in the right direction based on everything we've seen so far. So let's break a few of them down, shall we?

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Game of Thrones Season 8 Premiere

Who Is the Prince That Was Promised?

This one is a prophecy, but it's a pretty big deal, as it's the idea that one of the show's characters will turn out to be sort of a reincarnated version of the legendary figure Azor Ahai, who ended the last long night and defeated the white walkers the first time around. To do that, he had to plunge his sword into his wife's heart, giving the sword her soul, and so it's likely whoever is the reborn version of him will also have to make some major sacrifices. Azor Ahai is from the books and hasn't been mentioned on the show, but the two prophecies are presumed to be related.

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As stated by Melisandre (who has screwed some things up in the past), it could be a prince or princess, and "when the red star bleeds and the darkness gathers, Azor Ahai shall be born again amidst smoke and salt." This warrior has to be someone who has the blood of a dragon, has awakened dragons from stone, and wields a powerful white walker-beating sword called Lightbringer.

Melisandre clearly believes the prince is Jon, and Daenerys obviously wants the gig, but plenty of other people in Weseros could also fit the requirements in less obvious ways. Some believe it's Jorah Mormont, and he'll have to kill Daenerys to fulfill the prophecy, but that just feels like a lame way for Khaleesi to go out, ya know?

Jon and Dany Will Have a Baby

We don't even know if the final season will cover a full nine months, but many fans believe that after how many times Dany said during season seven that she couldn't have kids, it only makes dramatic sense that she would get pregnant after hooking up with Jon Snow, before they find out how related they are and therefore what kind of a seriously Targaryen bloodline that kid would have.

That kid could probably rule the world if it gets a chance to grow up, and if Cersei's also actually pregnant with another pure Lannister kid, then what a showdown they could have in an eventual sequel series.

Then there's the other theory…

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Jon and Dany Are Actually Brother and Sister

Just like Jon's parental situation is not what he thought it was, it could be the same for Dany. There's a theory that she's actually the daughter of Rhaegar, and not Aerys, and they just said she was Aerys' daughter instead, especially since the ways that Dany has described her childhood have occasionally not made sense.

Since Jon is the daughter of Rhaegar and Lyanna Stark, that would mean they're siblings. Some take the fact that we've already got siblings hooking up on this show to mean we wouldn't have another, but what if they were just using Jaime and Cersei to prepare us?

They're aunt and nephew at least, so it's gross any way you slice it.

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Bran Is...Everything 

Is Bran the Night King? Is he all the Brans in history? Was he driving the Mad King crazy all those years ago?

We all know something is up with Bran, who is possibly the show's creepiest character after his transformation into the Three-Eyed Raven. He can time travel, he can warg into direwolves, and he can probably do a whole bunch of stuff we don't even fully realize yet.

The most famous other Bran in the history of the show is the Builder, the guy who built the Wall, and there's a theory that that Bran was also our Bran. There's also the idea that Bran went back and warged into all of these people, slowly affecting everything throughout time, and at some point getting stuck as the Night King. This would sort of explain why the Night King knows so much but hasn't done all that much until the end of last season.

This theory, even as people have tried to debunk it, got stronger for a lot of fans after the release of the first season eight teaser, which heavily featured Sansa, Jon, and Arya confronting their dead family members and their own future deaths. The fourth living Stark kid, Bran, was not included in this little trip through the Stark crypt, and his death statue was not seen with the others. Instead, we saw a feather (like that of a raven) turn to ice.

At the very least, Bran and the Night King are linked in some way, and Bran will definitely be part of the key to his defeat.  

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Cersei or Dany Will Become the Mad Queen

Dany's father Aerys was known as the Mad King, a paranoid man who tortured and burned anyone and everyone he saw as a threat, and people credited his incestuous lineage for his madness. That's not great news for a lot of people on this show, but especially for Dany, who's (as far as we know) his daughter and also the product of some incest.

She's also been known to be pretty brutal against anyone she believes to be her enemy, but so has Cersei. She may not be the same kind of product of incest, but she's been incestuous with her twin brother for most of her life, and all of her children have died, which can really mess with a person. She also doesn't really get the concept of mercy and basically, a showdown between Dany and Cersei is one we are totally terrified of.

Maybe Cersei will end up having to be unseated from her current throne after she goes mad, especially if her current alleged pregnancy doesn't survive.

The Night King Wants Baby Sam

Remember when Sam saved Gilly and her baby from her gross and evil father? Usually, the male babies born in that mess of a family were sacrificed to the white walkers and turned into white walkers. Gilly's baby was saved from that fate, so the theory is that the white walkers just want their brother back.

This would be very anticlimactic if that's the only reason the army of the dead is marching, so probably not, but it's an interesting idea!

Jaime Will Kill Cersei

This is a pretty widely accepted theory, especially if you know about the prophecy that was given to Cersei in the books about the "valonqar," which is High Valyrian for "little brother." She was told not only that all her children would die (true so far) but also that "when your tears have drowned you the valonqar shall wrap his hands around your pale white throat and choke the life from you."

Tyrion is Cersei's little brother, but technically, so is Jaime, since he's the younger twin. Either one could easily be the one to kill Cersei, but after all that she has put Jaime through and all that Jaime has allowed her to put him through, it would be rather poetic for him to do the deed.

Cersei's also on Arya's kill list, so if Tyrion or Jaime doesn't do it, Arya could put on one of their faces and do it for them.

Who's the Third Head of the Dragon?

In the books, when Dany visited the House of the Undying, she had a vision of a guy believed to be her brother Rhaegar, who names his son Aegon (the same name he gave Jon Snow, because he just really liked that name). When asked if he has a song for the baby, he says "He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire," and then to Dany, he says, "There must be one more. The dragon has three heads."

Dany didn't have this vision in the show, but we know the ending of the show is in line with George R.R. Martin's ending for the books, so if the prince who was promised is significant, it makes sense that the three-headed dragon is too, even if no one's quite sure what it means. Plus, the Targaryen sigil is a dragon with three heads.

The most common theory is that it's the three remaining Targaryens who will ride the dragons into battle, and even though there are only two dragons left, some fans think there might still be three Targaryens: Daenerys, Jon, and Tyrion.

Tywin was constantly saying that Tyrion was not his son, partly just to be cruel, but maybe he was right, and maybe Tyrion's mother Joanna had an affair with the Mad King—something that was rumored through the books.

Then again, there are only two dragons left alive, so unless Dany births another one, maybe the three dragon heads will remain in the books. And Peter Dinklage denied this theory himself, though it's not like he could just tell us if it were true either, right?

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The Iron Throne Will Become Meaningless

If the Seven Kingdoms split back up and go independent, as the North did when Robb and Jon became the King in the North, then maybe not as many people will have to die! That wouldn't be very exciting, but can you decide who deserves to rule all seven of the kingdoms, and who wouldn't immediately get murdered? 

We're just looking for ways to keep some of our faves alive, OK? 

Game of Thrones premieres Sunday, April 14 on HBO.